Fixed Up with Mr. Right?

by Marie Ferrarella

  She still chose a suit to wear, but it wasn’t one of her more somber ones. This suit was an eye-opening turquoise. The pencil skirt was teasingly shorter than the one she’d worn when she’d had lunch with Jackson. The hem found its place somewhere along her thigh rather than her knee, exposing very shapely legs. The blouse was a satiny shade of cream.

  And just before she left, she took a pair of cream-colored strappy heels with her. They were a full inch higher than the ones she usually wore to the office.

  All in all, she looked like Hollywood’s idea of a lady lawyer in a romantic comedy—and she knew it. What wasn’t clear was why she was doing it.

  Catching a glimpse of herself in the downstairs dining-room mirror, Kate hesitated. If she wasn’t running late this morning, she would have hurried back up the stairs and changed into her usual somber apparel.

  Or so she told herself as she dashed out the door.

  “Hey, you look pretty good,” Kullen observed as, nine hours later, she passed him in the hall on her way to attend Wainwright’s gathering.

  Kate stopped for a moment and looked at him. “You sound surprised.”

  “I am,” he admitted. “I forget how good you can look when you’re not trying to impress Rothchild with your brains.”

  He was referring to her father’s edict that men didn’t believe that a woman could be both attractive and smart. If she wanted to get somewhere in this field, her father had told her that she would have to pick which way she wanted to be perceived. Pretty or intelligent.

  Because her father so seldom went out of his way to mentor her in any fashion—that sort of thing he saved for Kullen—she took his words to heart and made her choice. She picked smart and the subdued clothes that went with that.

  But because she didn’t want to hear any of Kullen’s pseudo-intellectual observations, she pretended not to understand. “I’m not even going to try to unscramble that. I’m just going to take my compliment and leave.”

  “Speaking of which,” his eyes swept over her again with even more interest than the first time, “where are you leaving to?”

  She wasn’t about to surrender information so easily. “Maybe I’m going home.”

  Kullen shook his head. “Not looking like that you’re not. You got a date, Katie?” he asked incredulously.

  It had been a long day and her temper had grown shorter by the hour. She had little patience left for Kullen’s inquisition. “What, Mom has you spying for her now?”

  “Ever think that maybe I’m concerned about you?” There wasn’t even a glimmer of a smile on his lips.

  She knew he cared about her, as she did him. But that didn’t mean that he would miss a chance to bedevil her. “Nope. It never occurred to me.”

  Kullen placed a hand dramatically over his heart. “I’m wounded.”

  “You’ll heal,” she assured him. “Don’t forget to get your bimbo shots. Prolonged exposure to bimbos causes wounds to fester,” she tossed over her shoulder as she turned a corner and came to the bank of elevators.

  Behind her, in the distance, she heard the sound of her brother’s deep laughter.

  Well, at least one of Theresa Manetti’s children was happy, Kate thought.

  Half an hour later, after crawling through rush-hour traffic, she left her car in the parking structure across the street from the bank. It had taken her thirty minutes to go ten blocks.

  The Republic National’s building was twelve years old and, at its inception, had been the last word in modern. It still was.

  Standing fifteen stories tall, every one of its floors was filled with offices that were in some way connected with the bank. Impressive by day, with the sun reflecting off each one of its carpet-to-ceiling glass-framed floors, the building was even more impressive at night with the rays of the full moon glinting off its otherwise darkened windows.

  The building looked beautiful, but cold, Kate thought, approaching the edifice.

  The description echoed in her brain.

  Was that how people saw her? She knew without conceit that she was attractive. Knew it in the same way that she knew her eyes were a deep blue. She hadn’t done anything to make them blue, they just were. So it was with being attractive. Yes, she spent time in the morning putting on makeup, but it was just a smattering. Nothing earth-shaking or image-changing. She was what she was and she was satisfied with that.

  Why was she even thinking about this? she upbraided herself. Her mother, she thought. Her mother had started this by playing matchmaker.

  Sorry, Mom, that ship no longer docks here.

  She had to walk past a security desk in the lobby before reaching the bank of elevators. Kate paused to sign in. Again she briefly entertained the idea of just turning around and going back out. She could offer some excuse to Wainwright about having something come up at the last minute—it wasn’t that much of a stretch, things were always coming up.

  But at bottom, she knew that would be running and Anthony Manetti’s daughter didn’t run. It was as simple—and as complicated—as that.

  Besides, Kate silently asked herself as she stepped into the elevator car, what was she afraid of? She knew damn well what happened if she gave in to chemistry, so she wouldn’t. There was nothing to be afraid of, she silently insisted.

  Her stomach tightened as the floors went by.

  The conference room had recently been remodeled. Among other things, the east wall had been taken down, merging it with the other conference room and creating a single room that was twice as large. It was a show of confidence to its employees that they expected better economic times to be just on the horizon.

  Aside from the regular conferences, the room could now handily accommodate social gatherings at Christmas and other festive times of the year. It was certainly large enough to hold all the department heads and their people without anyone being forced to literally rub elbows.

  All but awash in milling bodies the moment she walked into the conference room, Kate took the opportunity to acclimate herself. Was Jackson really in charge of all these people? He looked almost too young for that sort of responsibility. But then, she supposed that being forced to be his brother’s keeper had left him little time for a carefree life.

  She scanned the area for his face.

  He saw her the moment she walked in.

  Jackson stopped in mid-sentence as the elevator announced its appearance with a distinctive bell. He glanced in its direction each time he heard the bell. Two beats later, his family lawyer, true to her word, entered.

  But with a hell of a difference. Even though that was what she was, Jackson found it difficult to think of Kate Manetti as his new family lawyer. She was far too vivacious to be a straitlaced lawyer. Or even a terrific lawyer.

  If Jonah saw her, he would do his damndest to try to add the woman to his trophies. Jackson suddenly felt very protective of her.

  “Excuse me,” he murmured to Ed Wynters, the man he’d been speaking to. He placed his wineglass on the table. “I see someone I need to talk to.”

  Wynters, the vice president of Equity Loans, turned around to see who the new district manager was referring to. A wide smile flittered over the VP’s portly face.

  “I’d need to talk to her, too, if I wasn’t such a happily married man,” he added with just a touch of a sorrowful note lingering on the last three words.

  Jackson didn’t offer a response. He was already weaving his way toward her.

  “You made it,” Jackson said when he reached her. Instinctively he sensed that she wouldn’t have wanted any undue attention directed her way, which was why he hadn’t shouted his greeting from across the room.

  Kate turned to the sound of his voice. “I said I would,” she reminded him, conveniently omitting mentioning that she’d almost turned around twice while en route. All he needed to know was that she was here, not the indecision that had marked her path.

  “Yes,” he acknowledged, “I remember. But a great many things can happen between
‘yesterday’ and ‘today’ to change that.”

  That hit a little too close to the truth for her comfort. Wavering and uncertain was not the kind of aura she wanted to project publicly or privately.

  “Luckily, they didn’t.” She took a breath and forced a smile to her lips. “So, did you bring the papers with you?”

  “Don’t tell me you intend to grab and run. Stay a few minutes,” he coaxed, slipping a hand lightly to her waist and guiding her in the direction of the buffet table. “Enjoy the food. It’s really excellent.” He realized he was praising her mother and laughed at himself for forgetting. “But then, you’d already know that, wouldn’t you?”

  “Yes, I would know that.” Her mother was an excellent cook, there was no denying that. The woman’s flaws came under the heading of motherhood. Theresa Manetti really needed to learn to butt out unless her opinion was specifically requested.

  As she spoke to Jackson, Kate couldn’t shake the uneasy feeling that she was being watched. She scanned the room, trying to locate her mother. Because of all the people milling around, getting in the way, it was impossible to see everywhere.

  And somewhere in all this, Kate would have bet a year’s salary, her mother was lurking. Theresa Manetti made it a rule to be on site for every party she catered in order to make sure that everything went smoothly—and to do damage control if it didn’t.

  But if her mother knew she was here, Kate suspected that the woman would probably be trying to keep a very low profile.

  Come out, come out wherever you are. You can’t hide forever, Mother.

  Abruptly, Kate realized that her newest client was asking her a question. Forcing a smile to her lips, she turned her attention to him.

  “I’m sorry, I thought I saw someone I knew. I didn’t. You were saying?”

  “Would you like something to drink?” Jackson gestured toward the minibar that had been set up just beyond the buffet table. “The bar looks small, but it has just about anything you might want.”

  She caught herself sparing a side glance in his direction. The words I don’t know about that popped up in her head out of nowhere. Recovering, she was just grateful they hadn’t emerged on her tongue, as well.

  Out loud, she dismissed the offer. “I’m driving.”

  “Not this minute,” Jackson countered.

  “No,” she agreed, holding her ground like a soldier, more stubborn than brave, “but in a few.”

  “Stay,” he coaxed in a voice that could have just as easily been used for seduction. “I thought of a few more things to ask you.”

  It was an excuse made out of tissue paper. But, even knowing that, Kate allowed herself to be led to the bar. So what could it hurt to stay awhile? After this, she was going home and nothing pressing awaited her.

  “A screwdriver,” she told the man behind the bar.

  Jackson’s eyes slid up from her toes to her face, taking a prolonged route up. She could almost feel him doing it.

  “Nothing more exotic?” he asked her.

  Why was it suddenly warm in here? Had a few hundred more people been brought in? Or was the oxygen being sucked out? she wondered nervously.

  “I don’t need anything more exotic,” she managed to answer as the heat evaporated the saliva from her mouth. “I like screwdrivers.”

  “I’ll try to remember that,” he replied.

  Why did that sound like a promise?

  The cold glass when the bartender handed it to her felt exceptionally good in her hand.

  “Mrs. Manetti, I’m running out of napkins,” Eva, a pretty little redhead, declared as she approached the woman who was all but a patron saint in her eyes. Because of Theresa Manetti, she was in a position to accumulate enough money to allow her to pay for her second year of college instead of dropping out.

  “There’re more in the truck, Eva.” Pausing, Theresa fished out her car keys from her pocket. She held them out to the girl. “Here, take Jeffrey with you and go get them. The truck’s parked in the basement directly by the elevator.”

  Eva’s smile was tolerant. “I don’t need Jeffrey to come with me, Mrs. Manetti. I can get the napkins by myself.”

  “It’s after hours in an office building and you’re a very attractive young woman.” Theresa patted the girl’s cheek with affection. The young were fearless. The not-so-young knew there was an underbelly that wasn’t always so nice. “Better safe than sorry, my dear. Humor me. Take Jeffrey with you.”

  There was affection in Eva’s voice as she said, “You worry too much.”

  Theresa laughed softly. “My daughter tells me that all the time.”

  “My mother never tells me that,” Eva confided. She considered for a moment, then said, “I like you worrying, Mrs. Manetti. I’ll take Jeffrey.”

  “That’s my girl.”

  When Theresa looked back to where she’d first spotted her daughter standing, talking to Jackson, Kate was no longer there. And neither was Jackson. She could only hope that they had slipped away together. The next moment, another one of the servers she’d hired was asking her about one of the trays of appetizers.

  Before she knew it, Theresa had lost herself in the dozen and a half details that always arose at a catering function, all of which demanded her attention.

  “So what are those questions you wanted to ask me?” Kate prodded. Several minutes had gone by and they had all been immersed in small talk and an undercurrent of flirtation on Jackson’s part. She couldn’t help responding to him. In her defense, any woman with a pulse would have. As long as she didn’t allow herself to take it seriously, she’d be fine.

  He smiled into her eyes over his drink. “Are you always this focused?”

  She was caught up in a verbal version of dodgeball, she thought. Well, two could play that game. “Is that one of the questions or something that just occurred to you on the spur of the moment?” she asked.

  His gaze made her warmer. She shouldn’t have had a sip of the screwdriver. That didn’t help matters any. “Would there be different answers depending on the circumstances?”

  All right, she’d play along. And then maybe he’d give her those papers. “I’m here as your lawyer,” she emphasized, “so yes, I try to always be this focused.”

  “And if I’d asked you to come here not as my lawyer but as an extremely attractive woman, then would you be this focused?”

  Because the intensity of his gaze had caused her mouth to go dry, she didn’t answer until she took another sip of her drink. A long one. “But I’m here to pick up your papers. The ones to enable me to extend the life of your brother’s trust fund, remember? That would make me your lawyer, not your guest.”

  “Could you forget about the trust fund for the next few hours?” he requested. “This is the beginning of the weekend. There’s no need for you to work on anything until Monday morning.”

  She had to remind herself to breathe. Not good.

  Clearing her throat, Kate forced the words out. “I like to stay ahead of things,” she informed him. “That means sometimes not just burning the midnight oil but the weekend one, too.”

  His smile found its way to each and every one of her bones, threatening to melt at least half of them. “Well, I’m certainly glad your mother gave me your number and your brother turned out not to be available. I’m obviously getting my money’s worth. Speaking of which—”

  She’d lost the reference point. “Money?” Kate asked uncertainly.

  “No,” he laughed. “Your mother.” He pointed to the left with his glass. “She’s right over there.”

  Kate turned and saw the woman. Eye contact was definitely established. “So she is.”

  When Kate made no move either to wave at the woman or walk over to her, Jackson’s curiosity was aroused. “Are you two not on speaking terms?”

  “She’s working. I don’t want to break her concentration.” And yelling at her mother would definitely break her concentration, Kate added silently.

  “So this is why
you couldn’t lend me the money when I asked you to the other day.”

  The accusation came from behind them. Jackson and Kate turned around simultaneously, although Jackson didn’t really have to. He knew who it was.

  “I’m hurt, little brother. You didn’t invite me to this little party you’re throwing. But you can make amends,” the man said magnanimously. His eyes washed over her in a slow, obviously appreciative motion. Kate felt as if her clothes had just been melted away. She resisted the urge to throw her hands up around herself to cover her nakedness. “You can introduce me to this magnificent creature.”

  Kate instinctively knew this had to be Jonah.

  Chapter Five

  Tension traveled through Jackson’s shoulders, making them rigid. He braced himself for a scene. Jonah knew where he worked, but his brother hadn’t known anything about the get-acquainted party that he’d decided to throw. Was he here at this time by accident, or had he turned up with some kind of agenda?

  “Jonah, this isn’t the time,” he told his brother quietly.

  “Oh, but this is exactly the time, little brother,” Jonah assured him. His eyes never left Kate. “Now, tell me, just who is this lovely creature and how did you get lucky enough to meet her?”

  Jackson looked at her as if he was asking her permission to make the introduction under these circumstances. She inclined her head ever so slightly, intrigued by Jackson’s reaction. Just like that, Kate thought, Jackson Wainwright had turned from a sensual man into a protective one. She had to admit she rather liked that quality in a man.

  Careful, Kate, don’t lose your focus.

  Ever so subtly, Jackson guided them to a lesser trafficked corner. “Jonah, this is our new lawyer, Katherine Manetti. Kate, this is Jonah, my older brother.”