The Tycoon's Captured Heart (4 page)

“I need your expert advice,” Scarlett announced a couple of weeks later as she sat down among the four lovely ladies, accepting a cup of tea. 

Three of the four women snickered.  Livia shook her head.  “I doubt we’re experts at anything other than getting pregnant,” she commented, rubbing her slightly protruding stomach.  She was three months along while Sasha was about to burst with her first child any day now, Sierra was about six months along.  All eyes turned to Jina who immediately blushed. 

“Guilty,” she whispered as she nibbled on her fifth cookie.  “Morning sickness leaves me around noon and then I can’t find enough food to fill me up,” she said, delicately trying to carefully brush the crumbs from her fingers onto her napkin. 

Livia nodded her head while she pushed the cookies closer.  “Been there.  Done that.  Don’t ever want to deal with that again!”

Scarlett sighed.  “You’re all experts, obviously,” she said, gesturing to all of their pregnancies.  “You must be doing something right to be with the men in your lives.  You’re all madly in love and expecting so you qualify as experts in my book.  And I don’t have anyone else to turn to.”

Sasha rubbed her back.  “Well, I’d agree that we’re all mad.”

“Maybe the better term would be insane,” Sierra teased and the other women laughed. 

“What kind of advice do you need?” Jina asked.  The men were in the other room and Malik had their daughter, Lika, as the men discussed some sort of intricate business deal they were planning or hatching or whatever it was that five genius businessmen did when they got together.  Some might even consider it “planning to take over the world” and they wouldn’t be completely off the mark.  Those five men were brilliant at business and a menace to the global stock markets. 

Scarlett considered her predicament carefully, not sure how much to reveal to these women.  Her fingers trembled slightly at the thought of one of those men.  The bad one.  The horrible, obnoxious, truly-can’t-stand-him-never-wanted-to-see-him-again one. 

She shook her head slightly, trying to dismiss Grayson from her mind.  He’d run out of her house after their one night together faster than she’d ever thought the huge man could move.

“I need advice on how to catch a man,” she announced. 

The four other women watched the beautiful blond woman’s features carefully.  “Is there a particular man that you want to catch?” Sierra finally asked, the same question all of them wanted to ask.  She’d just gotten the words out first.  And all of them knew that she was madly in love with Grayson.  Was she finally going to act on her feelings? 

“Yes,” she replied.  Looking up at each of the women who had become like sisters to her.  “His name is Mark Sellers.  He’s an accountant who lives down the street from me.  He’s very nice, about three years older than me and…” she squirmed, feeling like a fraud.  “Well, he’s a very nice man but he is shy.  And I don’t know how to catch his attention and let him know that I’m interested.”

Four mouths fell open simultaneously.  “Mark?” Sierra said.  “Sellers?” Sasha went on.  The four of them looked at each other, not sure what to say.  Scarlett was in love with Grayson.  And what’s more, Grayson was crazy in love with her.  Why the two of them couldn’t figure this out was a mystery to all of them. 

Sasha straightened up, trying to be diplomatic about the idea.  “Well, an accountant.  That sounds like a very…nice man with a good occupation.  Very steady,” she commented.  “And he’s close by.”  She looked at Livia, trying to send her a silent message.  “I don’t think I’m a very good candidate to advise you, Scarlett,” she said, but her eyes turned to Sierra, sending the same message.  “I was married under duress and then left to wait for my husband to notice me for six years.  So I have absolutely no clue on how to gain the attention of a man.” 

Sierra caught on.  “And I doubt I could help you.  I kissed Harrison at my engagement party to another man.  And then he had to blackmail me into marrying him.  Any advice I could give you would be pretty pathetic.”  She hesitated.  “Livia?  What about you?” she suggested, shaking her head slightly. 

Livia bit her lower lip, glancing between Sierra and Scarlett, not sure what to do.  “Don’t look at me,” she finally said.  “I ran away on my wedding day.  Not the best candidate either.”

Jina chuckled when the eyes all turned her way.  She’d only been silent because her mouth was full with another cookie.  “Don’t look at me,” she said, her hand covered her full mouth.  She swallowed quickly.  “I only know how to avoid men.”  She patted her stomach gently.  “And obviously, I can’t even do that very well.”

The women all laughed while Scarlett stood up and filled the cookie plate again, placing it in Jina’s lap instead of on the table.  “Okay, so who would know how to get a man’s attention?”

“Grayson,” Sasha said firmly, even adding a nod of her head for emphasis. 

Scarlett choked on the sip of coffee she’d just took. 

While Scarlett tried to catch her breath, Livia nodded her head as well.  “Oh, I think Grayson is a perfect candidate to help you!  Of all the guys, he’s probably the best candidate.  I mean, who knows the mentality of a single guy like a single guy?”

“And Grayson has that look about him,” Sierra added, eager to add in her agreement to the plot to get those two together.  Something had to happen!  The two were crazy for each other and Scarlett was going in the wrong direction with this other man!

“The look that warns women off?” Scarlett snapped.  Oh, this wasn’t going the way she’d planned it at all.  Not in any way!

The others laughed softly. 

“What’s so funny?” Harrison asked, leading the rest of the men into the room.  They were here for dinner before they all flew out to various parts of the world once again tomorrow. 

Jina stood up, hiding her plate of cookies from her husband and daughter.  Not because she didn’t want the two of them to know she was eating them but because they would steal them from her and she was hungry!  “Scarlett needs a man-mentor.  She’s trying to get a guy to notice her and she wants someone who can give her advice.”

Every set of eyes except for one turned to look at Grayson.  Of course, he was furiously looking down at the blond-haired woman who constantly went to great lengths to drive him nuts.  This conversation was just another case in point. 

“We volunteered you, Grayson,” Sasha announced, leaning forward slightly so that Damon could massage the tension from her lower back.  She closed her eyes as his magic fingers accomplished the miraculous in amazing speed.  “We told her that you knew exactly what men want and would be able to tell her how to get this guy’s attention.”

“What guy?” Grayson asked through clenched teeth, hoping that his smile didn’t look as lethal as he felt. 

“I’m not giving you his name,” Scarlett interrupted before any of the ladies could offer him the information. 

Grayson leaned closer, trying to intimidate her.  “Why not?  If I’m going to help you get this guy’s attention, I should know his name, shouldn’t I?”

She turned furious blue eyes up to him, looking at him for the first time since she’d arrived.  “Like you’d help me in any way.”  She leaned back against the cushions, crossing her arms over her stomach, unaware of how the action pressed her breasts against the thin material of her silk blouse. 

But Grayson was aware!  He was painfully conscious of her lovely breasts pressing against that material and the way her nipples were taunting him, driving him even more crazy because he’d had his chance with her.  “You know I always give you exactly what you want.” 

She wasn’t aware of her hands fisting on her lap but the others all noticed.  “You don’t even know what a woman wants!” she snapped right back.

“Oh, are you saying…” he stopped and looked at the others who were avidly watching the interplay between him and Scarlett.  He snapped his mouth shut, his mouth compressing into a thin, furious line.  “Never mind.  We’ll discuss this in private.”

Malik shifted his tiny daughter on his hip.  “You gotta finish whatever it was that you were going to say, old man.  We’re all interested in what you thought she might be saying.”

Harrison, Damon and Stefan all nodded in agreement.  Something was going on between those two and they were sick of them sniping at each other.  It had been going on for a couple of weeks now and things had almost gotten interesting with that comment. 

When Grayson only glared at the men, Sierra stepped in, trying to ease the tension.  “About that man-mentor help for Scarlett.  What do you think Grayson?  Do you think you might be able to give her some tips on how to catch this man’s attention?”

“I think that’s a great idea,” Malik said, finding his wife’s stash of cookies and stealing one, winking when she glared up at him.  “Being Scarlett’s mentor in finding the man of her dreams seems right up your alley, Grayson.”

“It’s a perfect fit,” Stefan chimed in.  “What’s the guy’s name?  Do we know him?”

The others all laughed.  Well, everyone but Scarlett and Grayson.  Those two looked like they might just go for each other’s throats. 

Scarlett was the first to glance away and she uncurled her fists, laying her hands carefully on her lap.  “No.  I’m sorry.  Grayson won’t work.  This requires a gentle touch.  One doesn’t send a bull into a china shop.”

“I don’t remember you complaining about my touch the last time,” he snapped back at her.

Scarlett stared at the man’s brown eyes.  Were those yellow flecks near the center actually glowing?  She wasn’t sure, but he looked furious enough that it was possible. 
“I’ll handle it on my own,” she told him and glared right back at him, not intimidated in any way by this man who thought he was all so wonderful. 

Grayson just wasn’t going to let it go.  The idea of Scarlett, his Scarlett, in the arms of another man just made him want to punch a wall.  “Like you’ve been doing such a great job of that so far?”

She picked up the delicate bone chine of her cup, trying very hard not to throw it across the room at him.  “Like you would know!  Last time we spoke, you were racing away from me.”

“Last time we had a conversation, we were discussing…” he stopped and looked around, noticing that there were eight other sets of eyes that were watching and listening carefully.  “We’ll discuss this later.”  He turned to Malik, raising his eyebrows as if to say that dinner needed to speed up.

They all got the message and Malik nodded to a servant standing beside the doorway.  The man immediately nodded back and opened the doors to the dining room.  The others moved into the room, relieved to have a bit of the tension ease.  All of them were aware of Scarlett standing up and trying to avoid Grayson.  None were going to allow that to happen though.  In fact, by silent agreement, they all manipulated the table seatings so that those two were seated next to each other.  An occurrence that neither of them appreciated. 

When the salads were brought in, Malik quickly looked over to the two that looked ready to do battle with each other, waiting to see what might happen.  Sure enough, as soon as a salad was set down in front of Scarlett, she took her fork and carefully pronged each of the olives.  Very carefully, as if she didn’t think any of the others knew what was happening, she handed her fork to Grayson.  He accepted the fork, still glaring at her, and ate all of the olives. 

“Did you do that on purpose?” he asked his wife who was sitting at the other end of the table. No one else at the table understood what he was talking about, but Jina’s smile brightened.  “Of course!  It was a test.  I wasn’t sure that…well, that things were still…” she shrugged. 

“Still what?” Grayson asked. 

Jina shook her head.  Everyone else around the table shook their heads or rolled their eyes.  “It’s always been like that,” Harrison explained to the newest member of their group.  “As crazy as it seems.”

“What is crazy?” Scarlett asked as she inconspicuously took Grayson’s fork that held a stub of broccoli.  She knew that Grayson hated broccoli and she hated olives.  They’d developed a way for both of them to clear their plates over the years although no one knew what they were doing.  No hostess was ever insulted because one of them didn’t eat everything on their plate and neither one had to suffer through swallowing vegetables they didn’t like.  It was a win-win situation for all parties. 

Malik shook his head, not understanding why the two of them didn’t just admit they were perfect for each other. 

Grayson spoke up, changing the subject since he had no clue what the others were talking about, which seemed to be happening a lot lately.  “Nothing.  Back to this guy you’re trying to woo.  What’s his name?”

“You’re not helping me,” she told him, refusing to look at him. 

Grayson sighed, accepting that this would be his penance for that one night of bliss with her in his arms.  “Yes I am.  I’m going to help you get this guy if he’s really who you want.”

Scarlett took a deep breath, briefly closing her eyes.  The man she really wanted?  Was he stupid?  She shook her head mentally.  No.  Grayson definitely wasn’t stupid.  He was one of the smartest men she knew, present company included.  Even among a group of brilliant men, she still considered Grayson to be smarter than all of them.  She could be slightly biased, but she didn’t care. 

Which only meant that he didn’t want her.  She’d had her one night with him and that was all he’d wanted.  She had to stop mooning over him.  And she definitely had to stop dreaming about him.  She was exhausted because every time she started to fall asleep, her mind replayed that night over and over in her dreams.  Didn’t Cinderella sing that a dream is just a wish that one’s heart makes?  Yeah, Disney knew what they were talking about.  Her heart loved this man next to her.