She rubbed her forehead. “Mr…” she stopped, seeing his eyes narrow at the slip. “Sebastian,” she corrected, “I don’t want your money. You saved my father’s home and his dignity. That’s all I needed. That’s all I agreed to.” Her arms dropped back down to her sides. “But I really do have a meeting soon. I enjoy the intellectual challenge of my job and I’m not giving that up. I also earn a very good salary, so I don’t need the monthly amount that you stuck into that agreement.”
He didn’t relent. “Your savings account was depleted several months ago.”
How in the world did he…oh, right. As bank owner, the man had access to all of her bank accounts. It would be simple for him to find out how much she had in her accounts. “You’re right. I paid off the first round of medical bills for my mother and the funeral expenses.” She paused as pain hit her. Pain for the loss of her mother. Pain for how much she missed her every single day. She swallowed back that sadness, just as she’d done every time it had come to her since the day her mother had succumbed to the cancer. “Regardless of my bank account balance, I don’t need your money.”
He sighed and Deni thought that he looked…tired? No, that wasn’t quite the word. But different. Sebastian looked different for a brief moment. “Deni, you married me in order to get money. You can’t say you don’t need my money.”
Good point. “Okay, I don’t need more of your money. Other than what I earn by doing my job.” She stepped closer. “I know that you have all the power in this relationship. You control everything right now. But please, I’m good at my job. I like it and I enjoy the people I work with. Please don’t fire me, on top of everything else that I’ve had to deal with over the past several months.” She paused for a moment, trying to tamp down the panic. “I apologize for the way I spoke to you a few minutes ago in my office. That wasn’t appropriate and it won’t happen again. Please,” she looked pleadingly at him, “don’t fire me. I really am good at my job.”
Sebastian blinked. She liked working? Every woman of his acquaintance considered working a job to be beneath them.
No, that wasn’t accurate. He had many women on his staff that were outstanding employees. He prided himself on promoting a gender neutral workplace. He’d even gone so far as to bring in a third-party company to evaluate if there was any gender discrimination or pay inequity. They’d found several minor issues and he’d already ordered his personnel department to rectify those and put other policies in place that would go even further.
It was only his ex-wife and her friends who were leaches on society and their husbands. Their career, literally, was hooking the wealthiest man they could find, marrying him, then one-upping each other on their spending sprees.
Deni was so completely different from his ex-wife in every way. She was fresh and alive, vibrant and caring. And yes, there was a chemistry between them that was intense and startling. Of all the things he’d tried to anticipate during this custody battle, being attracted to his ‘wife’ wasn’t one of them.
“You enjoy the job?”
She shrugged and his eyes moved lower, noticing her breasts pressing against the material of her dress. Damn, he shouldn’t notice things like that. But…
“I love my job.” She laughed softly and the sound made his body react even more intensely than before. “Not all aspects of it. There are times when I am standing in the copy room for too long, trying to get copies for a meeting. Or when I mess up. I don’t enjoy that.”
“What do you mess up?” he asked, his eyes sharpening.
Another laugh and he gritted his teeth. “I’m not going to tell you what I mess up,” she replied, and damn if he didn’t like that too. There were too many things about this woman that he liked.
When she glanced at her watch, he wanted to pull her into his arms and kiss her until she forgot about her damn meeting. Which was absolutely absurd. He wasn’t that kind of man! He didn’t allow his passions to interfere with…anything!
But even as he thought that, he realized that he’d never felt this kind of passion for a woman before. An ironic occurrence, he thought. He had the absolute worst luck with women lately. First he married a woman who was a cold-hearted, mercenary viper right to her core. Then he meets a woman who…well, she seemed to be honest and sweet.
But so had Meredith initially, he thought and pulled back. He wouldn’t ever trust another woman. Meredith had driven that message home in the most painful way. And Chloe was suffering for his mistake. She didn’t deserve what had happened to her, but at least he now had his daughter in his house, in his care.
Never underestimate the power of a woman, he reminded himself. They were scheming, conniving liars.
“Right. I’ll leave you to your meeting then.”
Deni smiled and he gripped the arms of his chair, trying not to react to her eager expression. “Thank you!” she gushed. She started to step forward, then obviously caught herself and pulled back. “Right. Gotta go. Variances,” she whispered. He suspected that she was surprised by her actions and was trying to get away.
She turned on her heel and Sebastian couldn’t stop his eyes from lowering to her butt. The dress she had chosen for the day hugged her bottom perfectly. And damn it, there weren’t any panty lines. So she was either wearing one of those tight things that were like a girdle but called something else. Or she was wearing one of those sexy pairs of panties that didn’t leave lines.
Hell!
The door closed gently and he was left with an aching erection and more curiosity than he knew how to handle. Women weren’t curiosities, he told himself even as he moved over to his desk. Women were nice and had a very specific place in his life.
“Ms. Eldrich,” he said, pressing the intercom.
“Yes, Mr. Hughes?”
“What’s on my calendar for the next two hours?” he asked, not really sure why he was asking. Ms. Eldrich was incredibly efficient and always warned him when there was a meeting well in advance so he could review the materials.
“You have a lunch appointment in an hour. And you have the quarterly reports from the directors at two, sir,” she reported.
He considered for perhaps two seconds. “Find out where the mortgage variance meetings are being held. The next should be in ten minutes.”
There was a pause and Sebastian thought his usually unflappable assistant’s expression would be amusing.
“Yes, sir,” she replied back.
About sixty seconds later, she walked into his office and handed him a piece of paper. “Would you like me to get copies of the reports?”
He took the piece of paper and looked at it, noted the conference room number and nodded with satisfaction. “Excellent. Thank you. And no. I don’t want to give anyone advance notice of my attendance.”
He stood up and hurried down the hallway, eager to see his ‘wife’ in action.
Minutes later, he stepped into the conference room filled with people he’d never met before. As soon as the door closed and the occupants recognized him, all conversation halted.
“Please continue,” he encouraged. One of the men sitting at the table stood up, offering his chair to Sebastian. But instead, he chose a chair over by the wall, wanting to listen and observe.
He couldn’t stop a chuckle from escaping when Deni glared at him. But he only lifted an eyebrow while the others around the table struggled to continue.
The conversation faltered for several minutes, but eventually, the meeting resumed, although it was much more stilted than before.
When it was Deni’s turn to speak, Sebastian couldn’t help but be impressed. She was articulate and precise. When her manager asked a question, needing more information or clarification, she knew the answers immediately. The others who had spoken had been good, but they’d occasionally replied, “I’ll get that information for you.” Which implied they weren’t completely informed. His directors knew that being unprepared for any meeting with him was a deadly sin.
At the end of the m
eeting, he slipped out without a word to anyone and headed back to his office. He had to give Deni credit. She’d done an excellent job. He wondered what she would do if he called the human resources department and told them to promote her.
With a chuckle, he instinctively knew that she’d be upset. How he knew that after their few brief conversations, he wasn’t sure. But he just…knew.
Chapter 9
Deni walked into the house that night, ready to do battle. It wasn’t fair for Sebastian to invade her meetings like he’d done today. Her boss had been confused, worried that she’d done something wrong. In fact, all of the managers had been a bit disconcerted by his presence.
Deni looked around, irritated again that there wasn’t a place for her to toss her keys. In her apartment, she’d just toss them onto the counter. But in this mausoleum, everything looked so neat and organized. That’s when she saw the little girl. “Chloe? Are you okay, sweetie?” Deni asked, stuffing her keys into her purse and dropping it right by the door before walking over to Chloe, who was sitting on the stairs, looking small and worried.
“Are you my stepmother?” she asked.
Deni tried to hide her surprise, but Chloe always watched so carefully. They’d sort of had this conversation that day on the patio. But neither of them had delved into their relationship too closely at that time. “Yes, I guess I am,” Deni said, sitting down next to the small girl on the stairs. “Is that okay with you?”
“Why do you guess?”
Deni wasn’t sure how to respond. Honesty was probably best. “Well, it’s true that your father and I married a few weeks ago. But we have a different kind of relationship than most married couples,” Deni qualified.
The child’s grey eyes watched Deni carefully. “Different how?”
Oh boy. Deni should have anticipated that one. “Well, your dad and I are friends.”
The child contemplated her answer. “My mom and dad aren’t friends. They hate each other.”
Yikes! That’s a pretty heavy burden for any child to have to carry. “I’m sure they don’t hate each other,” Deni said with hope.
“My mom says she hates my dad. She says he’s a cheap bastard and I should ignore him and stay away from him.”
This just kept getting worse, Deni thought. “Well, you’ve met my dad and I like my father very much. So, I can’t imagine avoiding yours.”
Chloe looked up at Deni earnestly. “What do you do with your dad? Besides dance in the kitchen. Which he didn’t do the last time you were there.” Deni smiled but turned away. She’d already mentioned to her father that he’d have to dance with Chloe if he ever saw her again.
“Oh, we talk mostly,” Deni explained. “When I have problems, I go to him and he helps me work through the issue. Sometimes, we just sit and talk about memories.”
“What kinds of memories?”
Deni swallowed the pain, blinking back the tears. Memories of her mother popped into her head. “Of good times we’ve had in the past.”
“Like what?”
Sheesh, Deni needed to figure out how to talk to kids. They liked details. But Deni thought back to conversations she and her father had had over the past several months. Memories from times when her mother was alive. Before the cancer. “Every year, my mom would go on this church weekend retreat with the other ladies in our church. So it was just me and my dad at home together.” Deni smiled. “As soon as she walked out of the house, my father and I would rush to the store and get white chocolate chips, milk chocolate chips, whipped cream – the real stuff that we had to make ourselves with a mixer, and lots of sugar.” Deni smiled at the memory and Chloe’s eyes sparkled. It was the first real reaction Deni had seen on Chloe’s face. “We’d get a bunch of strawberries. Then we’d pack everything up, stuff a blanket into the car, and head out to find the perfect picnic spot. Sometimes we’d find a place up in the mountains. Once we found a waterfall. Another time, we hiked to a big rock. Wherever it was, we’d spread the blanket out, take out the whipped cream and melted chocolate and other stuff. Then we’d eat strawberries dipped in melted chocolate or dunked in the whipped cream until we were sick!”
Chloe giggled, just as Deni had hoped and the sound was pretty amazing!
“What happened next?”
Deni shrugged, leaning back against the stairs as she slipped her heels off, stretching her feet. “Then we’d head back home and watch movies for the rest of the weekend. We knew when my mom would be home so we’d make sure to clean everything up before she arrived back.” Deni smiled at the girl. “She never knew about our strawberry festival, but we did it every year.”
Chloe leaned her arms on her tucked-up knees. “Do you still do that?”
Deni thought about it. “No,” she replied, with quiet surprise. “We haven’t done it since I went away to college.”
“Why not?”
“Time,” Deni explained. “When I got older, I didn’t have the time for it. But I should have made the time,” she thought wistfully.
Chloe was silent for a moment. Then she said, “I don’t think my dad would take me on a picnic like that,” she said and there was a bit of sadness in her voice.
Deni nodded. “Yeah. I don’t think he would either. But I bet your dad would do other things with you.”
She nodded. “He reads with me every night.” Her face turned sad. “When I’m with him. My mom doesn’t want me with him though.”
Deni knew that the evil Meredith didn’t want this sweet child to be with her father because that would limit the child support payments. She wondered what was happening with those now that Meredith no longer had full custody.
“What else do you and your dad do together?” Chloe asked.
She thought about it for a moment. “We used to go camping. That was always a lot of fun.”
Chloe looked confused. “What’s camping?”
Deni laughed. “Well, it’s when you go out to the mountains or maybe the beach, set up a tent and sleep in it. We would cook over a campfire. I used to fish with my dad, but then I decided that fishing was boring.”
“What did you cook?” she asked, more curiosity in her pretty eyes now.
Deni had to really concentrate to remember what they cooked. “One year, we got one of those heavy metal pots, I think they are called a Dutch oven, but I don’t know why, and we made fried chicken and biscuits in that.” Deni laughed. “I wouldn’t recommend that though.”
“Why not?” Chloe asked, obviously fascinated.
“Because it’s really hard!” she laughed. “And camping should be fun. The last time we went camping, we brought all of our food so we didn’t have to cook. But we still had a camp fire and made s’mores.” At the confused look on Chloe’s face again, Deni explained. “S’mores are when you roast a marshmallow over the fire until it turns nice and brown and pretty, then put it in between two pieces of chocolate and two graham crackers. The warm marshmallow melts the chocolate and, in theory, the crackers keep the sticky stuff from getting onto your fingers. But as soon as you bite into the s’more, the chocolate and marshmallow ooze out and it’s a delicious mess! It’s the absolute best part about camping!” Deni smiled. “In fact, just the thought of making s’mores makes me want to go camping again!”
The heavy front door opened and Deni watched as Sebastian stepped inside. Immediately, the housekeeper appeared to take his coat and briefcase, whisking both away. It occurred to Deni that the housekeeper hadn’t magically appeared to whisk away Deni’s purse and coat. Hmph!
Chloe saw her father and jumped up, running over to him. “Dad! Can we go camping and make s’mores and fried chicken and sleep in a tent?”
Deni cringed when Sebastian looked over at her. “Camping?” he asked. The word came out like a curse.
Deni stood up, grabbing her shoes. “Don’t knock it ‘till you try it,” she said with a forced smile. “I’ll leave you two for…”
“But what about dinner?” Chloe asked. She turned to her fathe
r. “Dad, Luther’s family always eats together as a family,” she said with the kind of pleading voice only a five year old could get away with. “Shouldn’t Deni eat with us too? She’s family.”
“I have work to do,” Deni said, trying to give a plausible excuse so Sebastian could eat privately with his daughter.
“That’s what my mother always says,” Chloe pleaded. “I want to hear more about camping. Please?” she begged.
Sebastian turned to face Deni, clearly not amused. “Chloe would enjoy your presence at dinner tonight. Perhaps you could do your bank business later, if we promise to be quiet and not disturb you?”
She could hear the sarcasm in his voice, but wasn’t sure how to get out of dinner. Chloe was dancing around them, obviously excited at the idea of them having dinner together as a family. Since this was the first time that Deni had ever seen anything even close to excitement on the small child’s features, she didn’t want to deny her.
Giving in, Deni pulled her eyes away from Sebastian’s and looked at an identical pair in the more inviting child’s face. “Let me just go change clothes and I’ll be right back down, okay?”
Chloe clapped her hands in delight. “Thank you!” And she turned to beam up at her father. “Deni is going to join us!” She leaned in and gave her father a hug around his leg. “This is going to be much more fun than having dinner in my room at Momma’s house!”
Deni had just turned away when she heard that announcement. She looked over her shoulder at Sebastian, who was looking at Chloe. They shared a startled glance. Had this sweet child been relegated to her room while living with her mother?
Deni was starting to realize that anything was possible where Meredith was concerned.
Ten minutes later, Deni walked downstairs. Walking into the kitchen, she found the housekeeper busy putting food on three plates. But Chloe and Sebastian weren’t anywhere around. “Do you need help with that?” Deni asked.
The kind housekeeper smiled, shaking her head. “Goodness, no dear. You just go on in and sit down at the table. I’ll serve dinner in just a moment.”
Wanted: Wife for Hire (The Diamond Club Book 8) Page 6