Kate Takes Care Of Business (2 page)

Except for the creak of wheels and the clip-clop of heavy hooves, all seemed quiet now and Kate enjoyed being next to Reid on such an unexpected romantic night. He took her hand and Kate moved closer.

In the shadow under the canopy, he put his arm around her and held her close. Reid’s gaze traveled over her face and searched her eyes. “You’re beautiful, Kate, too beautiful to be riding in a carriage beneath the moon with a guy like me. We’re so different, it’s hard to agree on anything and I know it’s crazy but . . . I like
that
.”

His head, golden in the moonlight, bent. His mouth brushed hers gently with a tentative, searching kiss.

Kate was surprised that her entire body was trembling and, at the moment, was convinced that Reid was shaken too. Silence lengthened between them, making her uncomfortable. He didn’t try to kiss her again and she took a cab back to the hotel alone while he took another uptown to his apartment. He’d said nothing about seeing her again, but she hoped that he would call her within a day or two. She constantly checked her cell for missed calls and messages but there were none.

Kate could have easily written off Reid but their evening together gnawed away at her confidence in ways that alternately thrilled and upset her.

Yes
. She definitely wanted to meet Reid Griffin again.

CHAPTER THREE

Kate dried her hair with a towel and looked out from her hotel window at the opposing New York skyline towering on both sides above the lush trees of Central Park.

April, May, and June had come and gone and here she was at another stockholders meeting in July without a single call or text message from a tall and inconsiderate young man with wild hair that refused to be combed.

Lucille Cooper had called to make sure she had arrived safely and to tell her to remind her father to take his medication on an empty stomach before meals. She had been the personal assistant to Kate’s parents and had decided to stay on when Kate’s father asked her.

Lucille made all the travel and hotel arrangements and stayed on top of her father’s business schedule. She doted on Kate like a maiden aunt, a slight woman with retro horn-rimmed glasses, she could be a little annoying sometimes especially when she called during Kate’s much-needed shower.

There was a knock on the door. She was famished and room service said they would be there in ten minutes. “Just a minute.” Kate tightened the belt around her robe stepped to the door. “Is that room service?”

“Yes. I’ve got exactly what you ordered, Miss Winslow.”

What the—
Kate opened the door and stared. Her mouth tightened when she saw his face.

Standing in the hall was the tall, loose-limbed guy with unruly, sun bleached blond hair. His light eyebrows arched mischievously. “Hello Ms. Winslow. You’re looking exceptionally beautiful today.” He grinned at her, dark eyes wicked with allure. “I’m hungry too and I’ve been stuck inside working all day. How about I take you for a late lunch at the Boathouse . . . and a chance to explain.”

Speechless and too startled to move, Kate watched Reid Griffin walk into her room leaving the door open behind him.

As she stepped forward to close it, she heard another familiar voice.

“Kate? I should have called but I forgot to tell you that—” Her father stood in the open door. She knew he recognized Reid. “Mr. Griffin?” Dad looked at her, his frown deepening. “I’m sorry.” He turned to leave. “I’m interrupting.”

“Not at all, Dad.” She took hold of his arm. “Reid, I mean, Mr. Griffin was just paying a friendly visit.”

Her father turned to Reid. “Don’t you think you could have picked a more appropriate time for a social call, young man?” Her father’s voice dripped icicles. “Or were you expecting to sweet talk something out of my daughter on what’s really going on at Hallman and Winslow before she’s even had a chance to get properly dressed?”

“Dad!” Kate was mortified. She tried to say something more, but she couldn’t.

“No sir, but I do want to interview you later when you have the time.” Reid smiled at her.

Kate glanced at her father. He looked like he was about ready have Reid thrown out of the hotel . . . or do it himself. “My father is very busy as you can well imagine.”

“Just five minutes. That’s all I’m asking.”

Dad huffed. “We’ll see, Mr. Griffin, as long as we understand each other.”

Kate was relieved to hear the quiet humor coloring her father’s tone. He winked at her without a hint of his former displeasure.

“Of course Mr. Winslow,” Reid answered apologetically. “No doubt you’ll be busy until the meeting so I thought it might be a good time for me to meet with Kate over an informal lunch. I’d like to finish our interview as part of the series I’m writing on the children of successful captains of industry like yourself.”

“Oh?” Her father turned to her again. “Is that true Kate?”

“Yeah, Dad. Absolutely. Isn’t that a great idea?” The tone of her quick response defied him to suspect any other reason for Reid being in her room. “I’ll be ready in a few minutes.”

Her father’s brows drew together in an agonized expression.

Without waiting for him say something that would embarrass her more, Kate hurried past her father and Reid and went into the bedroom. She shut the door harder than she wanted to.

And you had better have a good reason, Reid Griffin, or this will definitely be the last time I see you,
Kate said to herself as she dressed. She chose the sleeveless cotton twill top in burnished gold and her sexiest butt hugging jeans. Putting the final touches on her makeup, Kate could hear the men talking outside in the suite.

“I don’t suppose,” Reid said, “that it would do any good to ask how you think the stockholders will vote this year? Richard Hallman and you appear to be at the opposite ends of the spectrum on your company’s outsourcing plans.”

“You suppose correctly, Mr. Griffin.” Her father sounded rigid with anger. “But whatever our differences, both Mr. Hallman and myself have only the company’s and the shareholder’s best interests at heart.”

“I wouldn’t have assumed otherwise, sir, but with all the rumors—”

“And that’s all they are. So, if you want to report the truth you’re going to have to wait until our press meeting, unless it’s your intention to misinterpret something Kate might say. I have to trust that she has the common sense to know better. We can’t afford more damaging lies in the media.”

Listening, Kate heard her father repeat the words “damaging lies,” echoed by Reid’s repeated denial about the reason for his
informal
lunch with her.

Anger, succeeded by determination, swept over her. Was her father doubting her intelligence and tact? Was Reid interested in
more
that just a chance to apologize for ignoring her since April?

That settled it. She could and would learn every aspect of her father’s business. She wouldn’t stay on the outside and attend these meetings just for moral support any longer. Kate had absorbed much over the years listening to her father discuss business with Mr. Hallman and the other members of the board. She had ideas about how to improve operations and this was the time to tell her father about them.

Her cell chimed on the dresser. As she expected, it was a text message from Sterling.

Bored with the party and people. No fun without you. On my way to NYC. See you soon. Love. Sterling.

Sterling had just taken delivery of his built to order Brabus Rocket 800, his “Benz on bennies” as he liked to call it. He and his father were crazy about cars and Sterling even raced occasionally on the European circuit. He bragged that it was the fastest street legal sedan in the world and didn’t mind blowing an insane amount of cash because he liked to drive their friends around in style to the clubs and parties.

Sterling didn’t care about speeding tickets. “You have to pay to play,” was his standard excuse. He preferred taking the back roads and if he didn’t get caught he would be in New York before the night was over.

Kate touched up her blush feeling at once excited and pursued. Knowing that Sterling was racing toward her was enough to prevent any possibility of falling under the charming spell of the handsome young man on the other side of her bedroom door. Seeing her closest friend tonight would take her mind
and
her father’s off the troubling presence of Reid Griffin.

Her parents had always loved Sterling like family and it was no secret that Dad would have loved her to marry his business partner’s son. A marriage like that would go a long way to smoothing over the rough piece they were going through now with their current disagreements.

Sterling had just squeaked by and graduated from Harvard with an undergrad business degree but Kate knew he did that more to please his father than anything else. Still, thanks to his father's influence, Sterling had a choice of good positions waiting for him at the company.

And eager young woman at the country club.

Most of the girls in their crowd envied her affair with Sterling. The-way-too-flirty-for-her-own-good Bridget Sutton in particular who assumed Kate would be the lucky one to marry him leaving her stuck with boring Jeffrey Wexler.

Well, she and Sterling did have their
secret
promise, didn’t they? And, maybe, if Kate changed her mind they wouldn’t have to wait until they turned forty. Kate emerged from the bedroom with her Carolina blue eyes glinting.

Her father turned to her. “Just got a message from Sterling. Better not wander too far or stay out too late. He’d be disappointed to arrive and not find you here.” He looked at Reid. “He’s like his father, very concerned about the people he cares about.”

Kate snickered. “Jealous, you mean.” From beneath her long dark lashes, she shot a glance at Reid. She wondered how he was taking her father’s “look but don’t touch” warning, but she couldn’t tell anything from Reid’s thin smile. She titled her head to the side. “You
do
realize that no one goes to the Boathouse for the food except tourists.”

Reid’s appreciative eye traveled from her face to her tight jeans. “But you can’t beat the view can you?”

Kate felt a warm glow flow through her. “Then I hope there’s a cab waiting for us downstairs. My father and I are on a tight schedule.” She took a step closer to him. “We will be back in time to meet my friend, won’t we, Mr. Griffin?”

Reid grinned at her. “I won’t keep you any longer than I have too, Ms. Winslow.” His firm mouth curled as if on the edge of laughter.

Unless you want me to.
Reid’s expression answered her unspoken thought. Kate kissed her father on the cheek. “I’ll call when I’m leaving.”

CHAPTER FOUR

The view from the Boathouse was wonderful. From under their patio umbrella, Kate gazed out at the swans gliding by on the placid water. She was glad Reid had chosen a relaxing retreat from the stress and worry of the hotel filled with demanding stockholders eager to have their meeting.

The food might be forgettable, the service uneven and there were too many tourists for her liking, but surrounded by water and trees, Kate felt that there were just the two of them in this small, serene corner of her busy world.

“And that’s why it took me this long to get back to you. I thought you had a terrible time that night and I didn’t want to make you angry and scare you away by being one of those pushy, dumb-ass guys who can’t figure out when a woman is telling him politely to get lost.” He reached across the table and took her hand. “I like you too much, Kate, and I’d never do anything to jeopardize our friendship. I only hope you can forgive me . . . and give me another chance.”

A part of Kate reveled in his open admiration and respect for her. She appreciated Reid’s honesty but it wasn’t the first time she’d heard an explanation like that. Sterling had said something similar and they might never have had the affair she’d desperately desired unless she made the first move.

Kate looked down at his hand over hers. She knew she wasn’t a prude in private but sometimes she wanted to be literally swept off her feet by a man as in picked up and carried to a big, clean, comfortable bed for some intense, mutual ravishing and cuddly canoodling after that.

Maybe it was just an overly excitable teenage girl’s fantasy or if it actually happened it wouldn’t be the most amazing sex she’d ever had in her life but there it was—an unfulfilled desire that woke her from her dreams with a sweet, aching need that had yet to be satisfied.

Still, back in the real world, she caught herself thinking that things weren’t so bad in this one small corner. “Thanks. I needed to hear that.”

“So . . . do I get a second chance?”

Kate laughed. “No so fast, mister.” She withdrew her hand. “I don’t think I should let you off that easily.”

Reid picked up his imported Dutch beer and looked out on the water as he sipped. He was slim but hard-muscled in his light red cotton shirt. She liked that he had left an extra button unfastened. He definitely looked as if he’d been working out since the last time she saw him.

Kate smiled. Nothing wrong with a man showing off a little . . . when he’s got something to show. Every admiring glance she stole told her that his arms looked more than capable of picking a girl up and delivering her safely to any waiting bed she might desire.

“Nice,” Kate said.

“What’s that?” Reid turned his gaze from the water.

Kate blushed in embarrassment. Had she been staring at him a little bit longer than she should have without being obvious? She looked away from him and out at the water. “The lake, I mean, it’s nice to be here if you can’t get away and swim in a real—” She realized that she was babbling and stopped.

Reid sipped his beer. Another tense minute passed before he spoke in an offhand voice. “Sterling Hallman’s family has a big vacation home on Chesapeake Bay, don’t they?”

Sterling? Why was he asking about him of all people?
Kate began to wonder just exactly what it was that Reid wanted of her. Studying him with pensive curiosity, she cleared her throat. “They’re wealthy now but it wasn’t always that way and I can tell you that Mr. Hallman worked
almost
as hard as my father for every dollar he’s made and lost along the way.”