The Paternity Proposition(19)

When she stepped out of the dressing room, Grace seconded her decision. "Oh, Julie. It's perfect! Simple, yet elegant and daring. Now all you need are some strappy sandals...."

"Like these." The boutique owner lifted a pair of gold thong sandals with killer, four-inch stiletto heels from their box. "And this for your hair."

The comb she slipped from a velvet drawstring bag glittered with the same zodiac signs as on bodice and was obviously crafted to wear with the dress.

"I would suggest catching your hair up on one side, like this." Helen demonstrated, deftly anchoring the comb at Julie's left temple. "See how it draws all eyes to your face? You don't need earrings or a neckless. Any additional jewelry would be overkill."

Good thing, as Julie didn't have any pieces that came close to the sparkle in those suns and stars.

"Well?" Helen stood back and viewed her efforts a smug smile. She had her customer hooked and knew it. "What do you think?"

"I think we need to negotiate a down payment and monthly installments."

The boutique owner laughed and shook her head. "I'll sell you the entire ensemble for five hundred and your promise to drop the name of my shop at least a dozen times tomorrow night."

Julie didn't hesitate. With only a small pang, she bid farewell to the little that was left in her bank account.

"Done."





Nine

Julie and Grace celebrated the success of their expedition with a late lunch on the tree-shaded patio of a Mexican restaurant. While a fountain gurgled in the background, they dug fresh-baked tortilla chips into bowls of salsa and Grace satisfied Julie's curiosity about her career choice.

"Actually, I'm not a professional nanny," the blonde confided hesitantly. "I teach junior high social studies, or did until my … my dad got sick and I quit my job to take care of him."

"He okay now?"

"He passed away."

"I'm so sorry."

"So am I." Grace crumbled a chip and didn't look up as she continued. "I was at loose ends for a while after that, then Delilah heard I was sending out resumes and offered me this temporary position."

Okay, so DD wasn't the wicked witch of the west. Julie hadn't gotten a glimpse of her good side yet, but apparently she had one.

Brushing the crumbs, Grace steered the conversation away from a subject that was clearly still painful to her. "I know you don't need any additional jewelry. You do need a bag, though. Want to check that secondhand shop for a little beaded number?"

What the hell. Her bank account was already mortally wounded. Might as well put it out of its misery.

"Sure."





After another successful foray, Grace pulled her Civic up at the curb outside the DI building just past 4 p.m.

"Delilah insisted on signing me up for a guest membership to the Oklahoma Country Club's health spa," she said as Julie gathered her purchases. "I'm going for a swim and a sauna later. Sure you don't want to join me?"

"Thanks, but Alex said something about dinner tonight."

Julie glanced up to find Grace regarding her with an odd look in her eyes.

"What?"

"Nothing."

"What, Grace?"

"It's none of my business."                       
       
           



       

"What isn't?"

"Well … " Her mouth tipped up at the corners. "You and Alex seem to have, uh, reconnected."

"Uh-oh. Is it that obvious?"

"Only to someone who's seen how stressed he's been the past few weeks."

Like his child's caretaker, Julie thought, and his brother and-big groan here-his mother.

"I can understand how discovering after the fact that you might be a father could stress a guy out." She paused with her hand on the car's door latch. "I'm not Molly's mother, Grace."

"I know. Delilah said you told Alex so up front. She's not completely convinced," the nanny cautioned.

"That's her problem, not mine."





Sincerely hoping that blithe assertion was true, Julie headed for the elevator with her purchases. She was zinging up to the guest suite when her cell phone buzzed. A glance at caller ID kicked up her pulse several notches.

Oh, for pity's sake! What was she? Eleven?

Still, she couldn't keep the smile from her voice when she answered Alex's call. "Hey, you."

"Hey to you, too."

"Where are you?"

"Still in Tulsa. We've pinpointed the problem but not the fix. Looks like I'm stuck here the rest of the day and most of the evening. I've got a few more of my people on their way over to join us. If our team doesn't come up with a solution in the next four or five hours, we might have to overnight."

"Hope you work it out."

"Me, too."

His husky reply echoed her own heartfelt sentiments.

"How did the shopping go?"

"Good." She hugged the dress bag draped over her arm. "Grace and I found some terrific bargains."

Bargain being a relative term, of course. Resolutely, Julie reminded herself that her gown was a steal compared to what Delilah and her circle would spend for one.

"I talked to Blake a little while ago," Alex was saying. "He'd like to take you to dinner."

"He's spent his day babysitting Molly. He doesn't have to spend his evening doing the same for me."

"He wants to."

"That's nice of him, but please call him and tell him he's off the hook. I've got some things I need to do this evening."





Checking in with Dusty topped the list. Then she needed to boot up her computer to take a look at their schedule for next week. She also wanted to make sure they had enough in reserve to cover the additional chemicals Dusty had ordered without her knowledge. Alex had kept her so occupied the past few days she'd let Agro-Air business slip to the back of her mind.

The second and third tasks proved far easier than the first. The fact that Dusty didn't answer either the office phone or his cell tied a small knot of tension in the pit of her stomach. Nor did Chuck Whitestone know his present whereabouts. Since the mechanic couldn't be bothered with hauling around a mobile phone, it took five calls before she located him at the Highway 21 Diner.

"Do you know where Dusty is?" she asked after he'd ambled over to the diner's pay phone.

"Said he was takin' off for the weekend."

"Off where?"

"Didn't ask."

"He's not hitting the slots, is he?"

"Didn't ask," Chuck repeated in his economical way.

"Tell him to call me if he contacts you, okay?"

"Will do."

Julie hung up and chewed on her lower lip. She could think of several reasons why Dusty didn't answer his cell phone. The most worrisome was that he couldn't hear it ring over the clamor of a busy casino. Or he might have heard it but checked caller ID, saw it was Julie, and didn't want to clue her in to his whereabouts.

At least he'd paid for that last batch of chemicals. Agro-Air's bottom line was almost as flat as Julie's eviscerated personal account now. She just hoped Dusty wasn't borrowing against the promise of future income springing from their partnership with Dalton International. No contracts had been signed yet. The Daltons could still back out of the deal if a debt collector drove up and towed away all their equipment.

The distinct possibility ate at Julie's pleasure in her purchases. She eyed the zippered bag hanging on the closet door, wondering how she could have been crazy enough to plunk down five hundred dollars for a dress, shoes and a spangly comb. Even the thirty dollars she'd shelled out at the secondhand store for a rhinestone-studded evening bag pinged her conscience.

She seriously considered returning the gown tomorrow and backing out of the fund-raiser. Might have done exactly that if Alex hadn't sabotaged her half-formed resolution by leaning on the doorbell to the guest suite mere moments after Julie rolled out of bed at her usual oh-dark-thirty the next morning.

She was barely awake. She'd slapped some water on her face and attacked the night fuzz on her teeth before making coffee, thank goodness, but she was still in the OSU Cowboys athletic T she wore as a sleepshirt and her hair could do double duty as a crow's nest.                       
       
           



       

Alex didn't seem to mind, however. Either that, or he needed a vision check as he swooped in for a quick kiss. "'Morning, beautiful."

Now he, Julie thought when he un-swooped, looked like every woman's secret fantasy come to life. All dark gold hair and wide shoulders and white squint lines at the corners of smiling blue eyes and …

"Get dressed."

The preemptory command interrupted her inventory. "Huh?"

"I've got a surprise for you."

"What is it?" she asked warily.

"Wouldn't be a surprise if I told you." Turning her by the shoulders, he aimed her at the bedroom. "Get dressed."

"All right, already."

Julie complied with the order, more than a little disappointed that this surprise involved putting on clothes instead of peeling them off. When she trudged back into the living room in jeans and a tank top and hinted as much, however, he just laughed.