A Baby for the Boss(29)

“He had stuff shipped? All the way to Ireland?”

“Well,” he said, smiling a little, “not really. He had the movers stack it on the company jet and we flew it over ourselves. Still, would’ve been easier to buy it all there, but he found some nice stuff. Told me to check it out.”

“Okay, when do you want to do that?”

“Next week’s fine. We’ve still got plenty to arrange before then and...” he paused. “Aren’t your new drawings of the Wise Woman due in tomorrow?”

“Yeah, they’re nearly ready,” she said, feeling a slight twinge of guilt. Usually, she turned her work in early, but she’d been so busy with everything else...

“If you need an extra day or two, don’t worry about it.” He walked closer. “I know you’ve been busy, picking up the slack on the hotel work.”

“I don’t mind helping.”

He looked down at her. “And I appreciate it.”

Her mouth was dry; her heart was pounding. She stared into his blue eyes and felt heat slide through her in a thick rush. Just being close to Mike was enough to weaken her knees—and her resolve. This was so not a good idea.

A quick knock sounded on the door and Sean walked in, already talking. “Hey, Mike? You’re not going to believe what—” He stopped, looked from one to the other of them and asked, “Am I interrupting something?”

Mike took a single long step back, shook his head and said, “No. We were finished. Weren’t we?”

Jenny shifted her gaze from Sean back to Mike and saw in his eyes that whatever had been looming between them was gone now. Probably a good thing, she acknowledged silently, but oh, she really wished Sean hadn’t shown up.

“Yes,” she said, when she found her voice, “we’re finished.”

And as she left the brothers alone, she thought those words had an eerie finality to them.



“Interesting,” Sean mused as soon as Jenny had slipped off down the hall. He turned to look at his brother. “Something you want to share with the class?”

“No,” Mike said shortly, hoping that Sean would let it go. But of course he didn’t.

“I knew there was something going on between you two.”

“You don’t know anything about it,” Mike insisted and walked around his desk to sit down.

“Oh, please. Am I blind?” Sean laughed and dropped into the chair opposite his brother. “That was an almost-kiss moment.”

“Butt out, Sean.”

Ignoring his brother, Sean continued. “Things were tense as hell between you guys before you went to Laughlin. When you came back it was tenser.” He paused. “More tense? Whichever. You know what I mean.”

“Yeah, I do, and I wish to hell you’d get what I mean when I tell you to back off.”

“Oh, I get it,” Sean assured him. “I’m just not listening. So tell me. What’s with you and the oh-so-delicious Jenny Marshall?”

Mike’s gaze snapped to his brother’s. “Watch it.”

“Oooh,” Sean mused, grinning now. “Territorial. A good sign.”

Well, walked right into that, didn’t you? Mike’s brain whispered.

“Damn it, Sean, stop.” Mike tapped a few keys on his laptop, hoping to look too busy to sit and talk to his brother. “What did you come in here for in the first place?”

Still grinning, his brother eased off. “I wanted to tell you about the Wyoming property.”

Mike frowned. “A problem?”

“Not with the place itself,” Sean told him. “The sale went through, it’s all ours. My problem is with the contractor.”

“I’m having some issues there myself,” Mike said, thinking about all the problems involved in getting a hotel up and running.

“Yeah, but your contractor’s a guy. You can talk to a guy.”

“Who’s yours?”

“Supposedly the best one in the area. A woman. Kate Wells.” Sean shook his head, jumped from the chair and paced the short distance to the window. “It’s the middle of the damn winter and she wants to get started on the inside of the hotel. Says why waste time? Says she can’t have the crew out working in the snow, but her schedule’s clear now, so she wants to take her guys inside and start the renovation early.”

“That’s a problem?” Mike leaned back in his chair and tried to keep his mind on Sean’s issues. Not easy when Sean was right about the almost-kiss moment. Seconds ago, he’d been about to—what? Kiss Jenny? Grab her, hold her? Close the office door and lay her down across his desk?