“Wyndemere,” Luc repeated, lifting his head. His confused expression mutated into a thunderous one. Bingley Junior retracted his leg immediately, but his father lingered a moment longer.
Ben cleared his throat diplomatically and pushed back his chair. “I’ll, uh, just go take care of the bill.”
“You can’t do it without me,” Elise murmured, shoving back her chair and rising. “I need a copy of the receipt for the records.”
Luc was at her side before she knew it and his fingers wrapped around her arm. “Gentlemen,” he said coldly.
Elise latched onto his arm. “We better hurry, darling. You know how Wyndemere is about punctuality.”
“Who is this Wyndemere character,” Bingley Senior demanded.
Elise did some quick thinking and decided to take a page out of her brother’s book, using her father’s reputation as a weapon. “Jeffrey Wyndemere, you know, the novelist. There’s a possibility that he might use Luc as the model for one of his characters.” She felt Luc tense next to her. Whether it was from the embellishment or the leer in Junior’s eyes, she didn’t have a clue and didn’t really care. “Darling, we better run. It was a lovely lunch and all. Bye.” She dragged Luc away from the table.
“Elise,” Luc growled when they neared the exit. “I thought we had agreed no more of that.”
“Luc, I was preventing a scene, not creating one. Besides, I merely said there was a possibility of Dad using you in one of his stories.”
He held the door for her and pushed her through it. “The way I feel now, there is more than a possibility. Where is Ben?”
“He’s probably getting the car,” she murmured.
Luc turned her around to face him. “What the hell was going on back there?”
“Don’t yell at me,” she snapped. “You’re not the one who had to sit next to Hands Bingley and—”
Luc’s eyes narrowed into slits. “He put his hands on you? Where?”
Elise told him and he turned on his heel, heading for the door. “Lucien,” she called, grabbing his arm. He tried to shake her off. “I am not letting you go back in there. It’s over with and—”
He brought them nose to nose and snarled, “Let go, Elise.”
She winced under the intensity of his Lucifer look. “I’m not letting go,” she said stubbornly. “You can beat them up after you and Ben buy the company, but not before. Please, Luc. Let’s just get in the car and leave.”
He scowled at her for a long, tension filled moment. “If they bother you again, I want to know about it. Is that understood?”
“Yes.”
“Good. Now get in the damn car before I change my mind.”
CHAPTER NINE
“You have a very attractive wife.”
Luc looked up from the figures he’d been staring at. “Yes, I do.”
Ben propped his feet up on the conference table and flipped over a page he was perusing. “Very intelligent.”
“Yes, she is.” What the hell was Ben getting at?
“She found all of the files we needed.”
Luc sighed. “Out with it, Ben.”
Ben glanced up. “I was just thinking how efficient and competent she is. That’s all.”
“Uh-huh.”
Ben returned his attention to the papers in his lap. “I could really use someone like her around here.”
“No deal. She works for me.” And only me, he added silently.
“I thought you might say that,” Ben murmured. “Are you having trouble adding these figures?”
“No. Why?”
“Because I’ve added this sheet four times and each time I come up five thousand off.”
Luc frowned. “Let me see.”
Ben dropped his feet to the floor and pushed the folder across the table. He tapped his thumb on the table while Luc punched in the numbers.
“Have you told her about the broodmare clause yet?”
Luc didn’t look up. He was halfway through tallying the numbers. “No.”
“Oh.” Tap, tap, tap. “Have you slept with her, yet?”
“What do you think,” Luc muttered.
“Ah.” Tap, tap, tap. “Are you gonna sleep with her?”
Luc punched the last number into the calculator and muttered an exasperated, “Damn.” The number was off by five thousand exactly. He tossed the folder on the desk and glared at his friend. “Why? Do you want to?”
“No.” Ben leaned across the desk and caught the folder, then fell back in his seat. “If she weren’t your wife, it’d be a different story, but… she is.”