“You know I will.” He nodded. “I didn’t see anything in the book about you traveling this week.”
“It was unexpected.” Not wanting to rouse his suspicions, she added, “I just need to smooth some ruffled feathers and assure him we can take care of all his needs.”
“Well, if you need to show him a good time I can give you a list of the area’s hotspots.”
“I appreciate that, but that’s not my scene and I don’t think the client wants that either. Though I’ll keep it in mind if that comes up.” She didn’t want him to wonder about the client, or start to ask questions, so she quickly changed the subject. “Now, if there’s anything I can do for you, just let me know.”
“I’ve got it under control, Dottie makes sure of that.”
She nodded, knowing his personal assistant Dottie wouldn’t allow the clients to suffer while London was enjoying the nightlife and showing the clients a good time. She made sure he did the real work as well, and for that, the whole family was thankful. Maybe Mom’s latest cancer treatment was forcing him to grow up, because he’d never offered to take any of Paris’s work no matter how busy she was.
She leaned back in her office chair letting her gaze drift back to the window. Since cancer had touched their lives, things had grown a little darker around the house. While London let himself get sucked into the party scene to forget what was going on with their mother, she had drowned herself in work. That needed to change, for both of them. She had to have a life outside of work, so maybe Dad was right. Maybe it was time to hire an assistant.
Chapter Two
Paris skimmed the file for the hundredth time, mentally quizzing herself to make sure she had the details right for each of the clients. She wanted to have the basics down, allowing her to cut to the important questions she needed to ask. The biggest one weighing on her thoughts was why. Why had they chosen to find a woman together? Especially Aiden, who had women fighting over him, clamoring to dance with him at nightclubs. Why was he seeking Beyond Monogamy’s help to find him a wife?
She tried to empty her thoughts of any preconceived impressions the media caused. After all, her family was no stranger to yellow journalism. Reporters, journalists—they all wrote what they knew would sell. It didn’t have to be the truth, as she had already learned by reading the tabloids.
When the company emerged from the shadows and started helping people find matches, the tabloids had reported all kinds of ugly stuff about the whole family. Maybe that was what happened with Aiden. Either way, it was her job to find out. If he still had the playboy attitude, she wasn’t willing to help him. The company had a reputation to uphold. It would not be brought down because of an unsuccessful pairing.
“Miss Nelson, we’ll be landing in ten minutes.” Jake Thornstead, the pilot, announced over the intercom.
She gathered the printouts for each of the men into the manila folder to place it in her laptop bag and prepare for landing. The picture of the three men standing in front of a sprawling log home caught her attention. She had assumed it was the home of the three men, where they had settled down after Aiden retired, but it wasn’t the home that caught her attention. It was the smiles on each of their faces. Each had their own appeals, while all of them were easy on the eyes. She’d at least have something nice to look at while she was there.
She scolded herself for even thinking it. She was there to do a job; it shouldn’t matter if the men were good looking or not. Though according to the heat rushing up her cheeks, it mattered a whole lot. Looking at the picture of the three of them made her feel as if they were looking into her soul. Their eyes penetrated beyond her business façade, seeming to peer into what she had kept hidden all these years.
“That’s crazy,” she whispered before shoving the picture into the folder with the rest of the documents just as the plane adjusted its altitude for landing. “Pull it together. You can’t be flushed when you meet them.”
She grabbed her compact mirror from the bag to check her makeup and hair one final time, telling herself she was doing it because she needed to make a good impression for the company’s sake. She ran her fingers through her long brown hair, fluffing it into position before tossing the mirror back in her bag and leaning into her chair.
The few moments she had while they made their landing might be the only reprieve she received from work, because after she was done here there wasn’t a doubt in her mind the work had already begun piling up on her desk back home. They never had time off without paying for it later, especially now that it was only she and London doing most of the matchmaking. Where five had done the job before, now only two remained. Best case scenario, her mother would go into remission and the three parents could once again resume their work within the company, easing the load off her and London. On the other hand, if the treatments continued they might have to look into hiring help—especially an assistant for her.
The plane touched down on the runway as she continued to ponder the idea of actually hiring an assistant. She wasn’t sure she could give up enough control in order to let the assistant work. If she just double checked everything once the assistant completed the work it would take twice as much time. What she needed was someone like Dottie, someone she could trust to do the job correctly.
When the plane came to a halt, she took a deep breath and stood. Jake would finish shutting down the engine before he opened the plane door for her, but she needed to stand to work off some of the tension in her shoulders. She wasn’t sure why she was so worked up about meeting these clients, and the best she could come up with was because it swayed from the normal routine of things. They didn’t usually travel to clients, especially not without more information on them. This meeting was like an interview. While she evaluated them, they would be doing the same with her and the company as a whole. She needed to make a good impression on them because her father was right; this could open all kinds of doors for the company.
“Miss Nelson.” Jake called to her as he emerged from the cockpit, placing his captain’s hat over his dark brown hair which showed early sprinklings of gray throughout. “Are you ready?”
“Yes, thank you.” She slipped her arms into her coat and grabbed her bag off the seat before she proceeded up the wide aisle of the private jet. “I’m not sure how long I’ll be.”
“Don’t worry about that. The plane will be gassed and ready to go when you are.”
“Thank you.” She gave him a quick smile because she knew that no matter what happened at this meeting Jake would be waiting, ready to rush her back to the safety of the Nelson house. Not that waiting was that big of a hardship for him, since the Nelsons had made sure the new jet had sleeping quarters for themselves, as well as a private area for Jake where he could rest while waiting for them to return from whatever business they had to attend to.
He unlocked the door and let the steps unfold. “Good luck with your business dealings, Miss Nelson.”
“Thank you.” She buttoned one of the middle buttons on her coat to keep the wind from blowing it open as she came down the plane’s steps and made her way to the black SUV waiting for her.
Her heels clicked off the last step as a man came around the SUV, his black cowboy hat slung low on his head, hiding his eyes. He was clad in a chocolate brown jacket, with the blanket lining showing around the collar that fell at his hips. His long legs were encased in stonewashed jeans; a pair of black cowboy boots perfected his image.
“You must be Mr. Fitzgerald.” She held out her hand to him.
“Kain, please. You must be Mr. Nelson’s assistant.” He glanced past her toward the jet.
“Actually, I’m his daughter, Paris. I thought my father had called you to explain that I would be taking his place.”
“No, he didn’t.” Kain crossed his arms over his chest, suddenly making himself more intimidating. “Considering I’ve done all my dealings with him to date, I expected him to show up for this meeting.” His tone let her know he was somewhat put of
f by the fact that Paul had not come personally.
“I understand, and on behalf of my family I’d like to apologize for someone not calling you before I arrived. There’s an urgent situation that required his attention.” She hated that she felt the need to apologize but she wasn’t going into personal details on why her father had stayed home. “If you’d prefer to wait until he can make the trip personally, I can return to the jet and be on my way.” She raised an eyebrow at him, almost daring him to tell her to get out of there, because she’d be damn sure that her father heard about it, and Beyond Monogamy wouldn’t be taking them on as clients as a result. They weren’t into playing games for the spoiled rich, not when there were real clients who wanted and needed their help; those were the ones who truly mattered to her.
“No.” He shook his head. “Aiden has been looking forward to getting this process started. I just hope you’re not wasting our time. I’d rather not complete this interview again with Mr. Nelson.”
“I assure you that will not happen. I’m going to handle your matchmaking experience. Now if you wouldn’t mind, I’d like to get into the SUV and be on our way. It’s cold out here.”
The corner of his mouth turned up into the first smile she had seen from him. “Growing up in Thermopolis, I’m used to the cold and tend to forget about it.” He pulled open the passenger door and waited for her to get in. When she did, he shut the door and went around the SUV to the driver’s side.
She watched him as he climbed into the large SUV and tried to hide her surprise. He wasn’t what she expected from his file. Kain looked like he should have been working security for Aiden, or possibly in some aspect of law enforcement, not a lawyer. He was intimidating, and when he stared down at her, it was as if he was looking through her. If she had some deep dark secret, she’d have confessed under the scrutiny of his gaze. Though that might come in handy for him during a legal trail. He was just so different from her own lawyer father, Mathew.
“Aiden and Cody are waiting for you at the house. I had some business to attend to in town before meeting the plane, so I was elected to pick you up,” he explained, throwing the vehicle into drive.
“I appreciate you picking me up.” She forced herself to look away from him and focused her attention outside the window. “It’s beautiful here.”
“I wouldn’t want to live anywhere else.” He turned off the small landing strip and onto a gravel road. “This is actually my brother’s land, he purchased it from our parents when they wanted to downsize now that all of us are older. It’s when we put in the landing strip. We’re basically the only ones who use it, but when Aiden’s career was more active it was almost mandatory for us so we could get home. Many times we would only have a few days to get away, and flying into Denver, then the small plane to Casper…it was just too much, especially in the winter when you could end up snowbound.”
“Sometimes those little trips, a few days of rest and relaxation, make all the difference.” She ran her hand over the leather laptop bag she had on her lap. What did she know about vacations? She never took time off. The day before, she’d thought about getting away once the weather was nice, but it had been more than a year since she’d actually taken a day off. Her mother’s cancer had changed things for all of them, and the one thing she had given up was personal and vacation time. If she wasn’t working, she was helping her fathers care for her mother.
“They can be, except when it’s filled with more things to do. Now that Aiden has retired, there’s a different pace to life. One I didn’t know I missed until I had it again.” He glanced over at her. “We have a twenty minute drive to the house, but if you’d like to stop in town for anything, we can.”
“I’m fine, thank you. I’d just like to meet the others. I’ll meet with all of you together and then I’ll speak with each of you separately as well.”
“Well, we have some time if there’s anything you’d like to ask me now.” He sped by a house just as a man was grabbing stuff from the mailbox, and he waved his hand full of envelopes. “My brother,” he explained, returning the wave.
“It’s not how we normally do things, but we might as well put this time together to good use.” She unclasped the buckle on her bag and grabbed her notebook.
“Why do you prefer to meet with the clients together first?”
“That way we only have to explain how the process works, what to expect, and it allows both sides to get an idea of each other. Then we don’t have to waste any time. Once some clients find out how the process works, what information will be needed, and how far we dig into everyone’s backgrounds, they decide to explore other options. That being said, we look into each client’s background as protection for everyone involved in the matchmaking experience. We don’t want to match you with someone with mental issues or someone who is only after your money. We want the match to work, just as you do.”
“It’s one of the reasons we chose your company.” He turned onto a paved road before looking over at her. “Beyond Monogamy has a reputation of being thorough, and I’ve read the matches tend to last.”
“Dad mentioned you were referred to us by a colleague, so it’s always nice when a client does research before contacting us. It shows they’re serious about finding someone.” She flipped the notebook open to a blank page. “Do you have any questions I might be able to answer?”
“How about one about you?” He didn’t give her time to tell him this wasn’t about her before he continued. “I know it’s a family business, but why do you do it? You seem like a sweet lady who could do anything she wanted. Why work in a business that is so controversial?”
“Joy.” She smiled, thinking about the happiness she could see in the faces of her clients when a match worked out. “It might be a family business, but my parents would have been supportive if I had chosen to go into another field. I had never even considered it. I love my work. There’s nothing better than bringing happiness and joy to others. To see the love in their eyes and knowing I brought them together. Many of the clients I have matched remain in touch with me, which is nice because I get to see how things work out for them. I have a board in my office just for pictures of happy clients, and over the years, many of them have sent pictures of their children. It’s the reason I knew the battle was worth it.”
“What battle?”
“The legal battle. Mathew fought it in the courts, but the rest of us were behind him all the way. We worked to make this lifestyle legal for those who wanted to live it because love isn’t just limited to one person. Sometimes you need multiple people in a relationship to make it work, each giving each other something different, to make a complete and strong bond. Being on the front lines of this battle brought more attention to my family than I ever thought possible, but it helped others come forward and embrace what they truly wanted out of life. Don’t get me wrong. There were times we were concerned for our safety, that my parents might be arrested, but in the end, it worked out. Well, it is working out.”
“Is?” He glanced toward her.
“The threatening letters still come by the truck load, but we take precautions to keep us safe.”
“Don’t you ever fear that one day someone opposed to the choices your family and the company represents will intend to harm you?”
“If you mean are there times I’m afraid for my life, or the lives of those I love, the simple answer is yes. I was raised to stand up for what I believe in, and I’ve seen the good things this lifestyle as to offer. My dads made sure I could handle myself. I think they were rougher on me because I’m their only daughter. Self-defense lessons nearly every day growing up, even now we still work though the routine at least once a week. I think I was ten when they first took me to the range and taught me gun safety. When I turned twenty-one they made sure I received my concealed weapon permit. Even with all that, we have security at the house, and they usually travel with us when we’re meeting clients.”
“Then why did you come alone today?”
She turned slightly in her seat to look at him. “This situation called for a little more privacy, and after my father and I spoke about it he felt I would be fine. He assured me that one of you would pick me up at the landing strip and would take me back. With Jake—the pilot—standing by for when I wanted to leave, we thought it would be acceptable to make this journey without my normal security detail.” She raised an eyebrow at him. “Though I’ll say this now…if you or anyone else here have other ideas on why you brought me here, I suggest you rethink it. I’m not just some woman who needs someone to protect her. I do a fine job of that myself.”
“How could we have called you here for other means when we didn’t know you’d be the one who would arrive? We expected Paul Nelson.”
“It wouldn’t have been unheard of to invite someone under the pretense of seeking their services only to hold them hostage to use them as leverage to try to get the new law reversed. If it were anyone else other than Mr. Dalton, it could be said that you sought a ransom.”
“If you thought any of that, you wouldn’t have come.”
She nodded. “You’re right. If there was even the slightest doubt. I wouldn’t have come, not even with a team of security guards at my back. I’d rather pass over a client, no matter who they are, and live another day than risk myself or my family. After all, as much as I love the work I do, this is just a job, and family is so much more than that.”
She wasn’t sure what to think of Kain. One minute he seemed to open up to her, to let down his hard exterior, and then it was as if she was back at square one. He was distant, and the way he phrased things put her on edge as if she was on trial. If he did this with a prospective match, it could make for an icy beginning, one that might never get past the first step.
Once she got a better understanding of the others and decided if she was actually going to take them on as a client, she’d have to sit down and talk to him about his off-putting attitude. Otherwise, they were wasting their time.
Theirs to Treasure (Beyond Monogamy Book 1) Page 2
