Giles caught her looking. “All right. I guess you want to get going. I’ll see you later.”
Gina flashed him her friends-with-benefits smile but didn’t say anything.
Nothing remained but for him to turn around and walk away, and that’s exactly what he did. He gave her one last furious glare and strode out of the airport.
Gina stayed rooted to the spot until she saw the limo glide past the entrance. At that moment, the first piercing cry ripped through the baggage claim. Gina’s shoulders slumped. She turned around, walked over to the capsule, picked it up, and carried it to a nearby bench to sit down.
Chapter 3
Gina tapped out an email on her laptop. She balanced Winnona on her lap with one knee and hit Send. She opened the progress report she was working on and got one paragraph written before Winnona started to fuss.
She lifted the baby onto her shoulder and patted the child’s back. She hunted through the keys and pecked with one hand as she shushed Winnona while she mapped out the next section of the report.
She picked up her e-job where she left off since she moved into this apartment three weeks ago.
Giles wasn’t happy about her spending all her time at home, but he couldn’t fault her work. He gave her better job success ratings than ever, but maybe he just wanted to flatter her.
Normally, taking care of Winnona didn’t interfere with her work, except for times like now. Winnona fussed more and started to cry.
When this sort of thing happened, Gina took a break and returned to her work later. No big deal.
Winnona didn’t think it was no big deal, though. Whatever was bothering her exploded into a bigger deal than Gina ever saw. The crying turned to wailing. Gina tried to give her a bottle. No go. The wailing turned to bleating. Gina walked around the apartment and bounced Winnona on her shoulder.
Forget it.
The bleating turned to full-volume screaming, and from there, it escalated to purple-faced thunder. Gina held Winnona close and did her best to comfort her baby. She tried all her old tricks. She put Winnona in the carry capsule and swung it around in a circle. When that didn’t work, she lay down on her bed with Winnona by her side.
Dream on.
She picked Winnona up and carried her out into the sunshine on the balcony. Winnona screamed to wake the dead.
Gina didn’t know what to do. She checked Winnona’s diaper. Clean as a whistle. She massaged her stomach. Winnona flailed and screeched louder than ever—if that was humanly possible. Gina wanted to cry, too. She could only keep moving around the apartment and pray for a miracle. Times like this made her cling to her baby for dear life. She ached to help this tiny person. If only she could talk to Winnona, she would do anything to relieve her distress.
As it was, she could only keep trying until the storm passed. Gina paced around the apartment. She tried Winnona in every position imaginable, but nothing helped. Winnona’s shrill screams stabbed into Gina’s ear, but she dared not put the baby down.
She went on her twentieth circuit of the apartment. If nothing changed quick, she would put Winnona in her front carry pack and go for a walk to the beach. That worked sometimes. Gina just passed her computer, which sat open on the desk. The screen went dark, and the screen saver came on. Gina hadn’t taken the next step when the screen blinked bright again. Her report showed up on the desktop, and the little black Skype window flashed across her view. The computer made a phone-ringing sound.
Giles Pendragon Calling….
Gina stared at the dots trailing sideways. Oh, please, dear God, not now. She touched her mouse pad and clicked the red Hang Up button. The black window disappeared. Phew!
She started walking when the phone sound started again. She barely heard it over Winnona’s cries. Giles Pendragon Calling…. Gina’s heart froze. He couldn’t be calling her now—not now, of all times. She couldn’t. She hit the Hang Up button one more time and walked away.
That phone ringing sound cut straight through the noise ringing in Gina’s ear. Giles Pendragon Calling…..Didn’t that guy ever get the message? Not now, Giles. Get that through your head. She hit the Hang Up button one more time. She walked away without looking back.
This time, when the phone ringing sound caught her ear, she didn’t bother to turn around. She didn’t even approach her computer. Let him sit and spin. If he couldn’t get the simple message that she didn’t want to talk right now, let him stick it where the sun don’t shine. She wouldn’t hang up. She waited for him to give up and leave her alone.
He didn’t give up, though, and he didn’t leave her alone. He called her again and again. He could see she was online. She kicked herself for not changing her status when she had the chance. She got in the habit of taking herself offline at all times when she didn’t have a scheduled call with him. Then he never got tempted to call her out of the blue, like now.
Gina glared at her computer. That dumbass! What was wrong with him? She would kick him in the nuts next time she saw him. That would teach him a lesson.
She took another lap around the apartment. Winnona cried herself hoarse. Gina couldn’t hear the ringing sound anymore, but she saw the blinking dots when she came back to her computer.
She couldn’t talk to Giles right now. She couldn’t hear him even if she wanted to. What was she going to do? She could send him a quick message telling him now wasn’t a good time, but that would only make him curious. He would want to know why.
Her mind whizzed through the possibilities. When you came down to the simple facts, he was still her boss. She had to talk to him. He might want to tell her something important. How could she talk to him with this mayhem going on?
She thought fast and grabbed Winnona’s carry capsule. She stuck Winnona in it and set the capsule on the floor. She rocked it with her foot, but it did no good, just the way Gina knew it wouldn’t. She took a deep breath and punched the green telephone button.
The ringing noise stopped, and the screen shivered. Then Gina heard the yelp of Winnona’s voice feeding back through Giles’s microphone. Gina winced, but she had to go through with her plan.
The viewing window appeared with Giles in it. He was in his office. He wore his hair slicked back over his ears and that crisp egg-shell gray suit she liked so much. He looked magnificent with his broad shoulders jutting out beyond his leather chair.
He scrunched his handsome face up in pain. His voice squelched across the airwaves. “Ms. Kemp? What is that noise?”
She moved her mouth close to the microphone and bellowed as loud as she could. “It’s some neighbor’s kid having a tantrum. Let me call you right back.”
His face cleared, and he nodded.
Gina swallowed the lump in her throat and hit the Hang Up button. Dear God, please oh please, let this work. She gathered up Winnona and hurried to the kitchen. She stuck a bottle in the microwave and zapped it for fifteen seconds. All the time, she offered silent pleas to the great angel of n babies in the Sky. Oh, please. I’ll do anything. Please let this work. Let this be the time. Holy Mary,
Mother of God, pray for us sinners, now and the hour of our death, Amen.
That last little bit came back to her out of her distant parochial past. This must be a desperate situation or she would never have remembered it. She snatched the bottle from the microwave and hustled back to the computer. She positioned Winnona in the crook of her arm and touched the bottle to the baby’s lips.
Like magic, Winnona opened her mouth and latched onto the nipple. Gina’s heart thumped out of her chest. It was working. It really was working. She balanced the bottle with her other hand and hit the call button. The dots started blinking, and the phone started ringing.
Winnona kept her eyes closed and sucked. Blessed, heavenly peace returned to the apartment. The viewing window reappeared with Giles smiling from ear to ear. “Did you kick the crap out of him or something?”
Gina gave a nervous laugh. “I think his dad showed up. How ya doing?”
Giles swivele
d in his chair. A little humor always put him at ease. The longer Winnona stayed quiet, the more Gina relaxed. That was a close one.
“You’re coming into the office tomorrow.”
Gina’s head snapped up and her breath caught in her throat.
“What?”
“You’re coming in. We’ve got a big contract meeting with Southern Mining, and they won’t negotiate with anyone but you.”
Gina let out her breath. She knew this day would come. She had to face this along with everything else. She strained every nerve to keep her voice steady. “Alright. What time?”
“Eleven-thirty in my office.”
“You bet.”
He cracked a grin. “Wear that tweed miniskirt I like and don’t wear any panties.”
Gina cringed. “We’re negotiating a contract, not my panties.”
His eyes almost glowed.
She knew exactly what he was thinking.
“We’ll get the contract in the bank, and then I’ll take you out to lunch.”
Oh, of course. Lunch. How could she forget about lunch? Lunch with no panties on under her miniskirt. Of course. She knew all about that.
“Look, Mr. Pendragon. I don’t think I’ll be able to make lunch. I have a prior commitment.”
“Cancel it. You’re going out to lunch with me instead.”
“I can’t cancel it.” I can’t cancel it because I’ve got a two-month-old baby at home that’s never been left without her mother. I wouldn’t be able to sit still through lunch anyways.
He leaned closer to the screen. “Just be there. If you want to wear panties, I won’t fire you.” He clicked off before she could answer.
Gina sank back in her chair.
Winnona finished the bottle and sighed in her sleep. The baby settled into her arms.
Gina set the bottle on the desk and gazed down at her sleeping infant.
How could she leave this tiny life, even for a few hours? She would be a nervous wreck all through the meeting, and she would race back home the minute it ended. She wouldn’t give Giles a second glance when she had Winnona to rush home to.
Gina wrapped a blanket around the sleeping bundle. “What are we going to do with you?”
Chapter 4
Gina rushed around the apartment, and she definitely kept her panties on. She gathered up every spare scrap of material the sitter could possibly need. “And here’s another pile of wipes. There are four bottles made up in the fridge. You shouldn’t need that many, but you never know what might happen. The heating instructions are on the kitchen counter, and there’s another pack of diapers in the hall closet. Here’s my front carry pack. You probably don’t want to take her out for a walk, but if you have to go anywhere, like in the event of an emergency, it might come in handy. You never know. Here’s my cell number, and here’s the number of the office where I’ll be in case you can’t get me on my cell. Come to think of it, I’ll have my phone turned off during the meeting, so only use it in case of dire emergencies. Okay? No, wait. I’ll put my phone on vibrate, so I can check if it’s you. That’s a better idea. That works, doesn’t it?”
Maggie, the sitter, stood behind the kitchen counter. A knowing smirk spread across her face while she listened to this tirade. She was a forty-year-old mother of five teenagers from another apartment down the hall. She’d seen it all and lived to tell the tale. She could handle two hours with a newborn.
Gina never trusted anyone the way she trusted Maggie, but she couldn’t stop ranting about every possible contingency.
The clock struck eleven-fifteen. Gina couldn’t delay any longer. She gathered her paperwork along with her laptop and bolted. She couldn’t face Winnona to give her a goodbye kiss. If she looked at her baby daughter’s face, she would lose her nerve. This first heart-destroying separation distressed Gina far more than it distressed Winnona.
Maggie didn’t say goodbye, either. She bent over Winnona’s carry capsule and cooed in the baby’s face. The last sound Gina heard— besides the pounding of her own heart—was Winnona gurgling back at Maggie.
That ungrateful little beast actually had the nerve to like her sitter!
Maybe she liked Maggie better than Gina. Maggie had all the moves. What did Gina have? Nothing. She laughed nervously at her own silly self.
Gina raced downstairs to find the cab waiting by the door. She dove into the back seat before she could change her mind.
The cab wheeled into traffic.
Gina gave the driver the address, but she couldn’t relax. In five minutes, she would face the firing squad. Would Giles be able to see the bright red letters imprinted across her forehead that read Mother for all the world to see?
The cab pulled up in front of Infrastructure Consultants. That name didn’t scratch the surface of Giles’s multibillion-dollar contract firm. The man weaseled his claws into every major development happening in every corner of the globe. He worked himself up from a penniless engineering student at CalTech to founding one of the most lucrative firms in the Northern Hemisphere.
He started to dig in his roots in the Southern Hemisphere, too. That’s why he sent Gina to New Zealand in the first place. He wasn’t satisfied with all the money and contracts one man could ask for. He wanted to rule the world, and he wasn’t far from it now.
Gina went on autopilot when she stepped out of the cab. She’d walked into that office a million times without batting an eyelash. She could do the same thing today, and she would do it. Everyone at Southern Mining knew she was a mother. They’d never seen her without that bright red lettering on her forehead.
Only one person upstairs worried her. She had to act casual. She had to keep it cool, like nothing between them ever changed.
He already knew everything between them changed. That was the problem. He wouldn’t accept her at the negotiating table like an old colleague with a raft of expertise under her belt. He would be on the eagle-eyed lookout for the slightest hint of disturbance in her. He would keep her under a microscope until she cracked and told him what was going on.
She’d never kept a secret from him before, especially not one as big as this. She always thought she could trust him with anything. She told him everything, but that was light years away now. Now everything hinged on her keeping the charade going. She had to talk shop and stay away from anything personal.
She thought she’d die of happiness when she met the Southern Mining negotiating team in the elevator. They chatted and joked with Gina, just the way they used to do Down Under. She asked after their wives and kids, their hobbies and challenges. They all picked up where they left off. They could have been back in Auckland instead of on the opposite side of the Pacific.
Gina started to unwind. She could waltz through this negotiation with her hands tied behind her back. She could talk to these guys, and they trusted her. She started to see the light at the end of the tunnel when the elevator dinged on the tenth floor instead of rising straight to the seventeenth where Giles kept his office.
The doors slid open, and Giles stepped into the elevator.
A cloud crossed his face when he spotted Gina. The next instant, he wiped his countenance clear. He backed up against the wall to take his place facing the door. He nodded to Gina. “All set?”
Gina jerked her chin at the man standing next to her. “I was just telling Luke here about the results in my report.”
Giles’s head whipped around. “You haven’t even told me about them, and you’re sharing them with the other side?”
“I was just telling him the results favor both sides. We couldn’t ask for better results, and now Jerry Tompkins over there is planning to buy a new fishing boat and build a house on Lake Wairarapa.”
Giles stared at her.
Gina smiled up at him. He didn’t have a clue what she was talking about. He glanced around the circle of New Zealanders, who all smiled at Gina. She spoke their language. She was one of them, while Giles looked in from the outside.
Wesley Faulkn
er spoke up from across the elevator, “You could come back to Wanaka on your commission, Gina. You could come out white-baiting with me and the team.”
“I would love to come back to Wanaka sometime, mate,” she replied. “Let’s get in there and get this thing done.”
The elevator hummed to a stop on the seventeenth floor. Jerry tried to bow to Gina to exit first, but she held back. “Ladies first,” Gina told him. “I insist.”
The whole team burst out laughing.
Luke slapped Wesley on the back, and Wesley and Jerry embraced. They cascaded out of the elevator surrounded by a halo of glowing positivity and goodwill.
After the Southern Mining team emptied out, Gina took a few steps forward to follow them when Giles caught her hand. He pulled her back around the corner while the team moved toward his office.
Giles darted forward to murmur into Gina’s face, “I knew you were the best person for this negotiation.”
Gina’s eyes widened. “You knew? You said they requested me.”
He shrugged. “You do all the talking in there. Knock their socks off, just the way you know how to.”
“I won’t have to knock their socks off, Mr. Pendragon. The results will do all the hard work for us.”
He stared at her. A wicked glint sparked in his eyes. “Say that again.”
“Which part? The part about the results?”
“Call me Mr. Pendragon again.”
Gina felt her cheeks heat up. His nearness played its thrilling notes along her body. She couldn’t get into this with him right now. She had to keep her eyes on the prize. She had to do her job and get out of here, so she could go home to Winnona. “I’ve always called you….that.”
“Say it again, Ms. Kemp,” he whispered low. “I want to hear you call me that. You know I can’t stand it when you talk to me like that.”
Gina’s blood scorched in her veins. She had to stop this thing before it started. “We’ve got a negotiation waiting for us, Mr. Pendragon….”
She didn’t mean to say it. It just slipped out through force of habit. She’d never called him anything else in the whole time she’d known him.
Beauty and the Billionaire_A Bad Boy Romance Collection Page 9