Hot Property

by Lacey Diamond

  On second thought, it was Helen who had the most experience dealing with the board members. After all, she’d convinced them that promoting her was in their best interest.

  Betsy watched Helen put down the telephone and look her way.

  “Come on in, Betsy,” she offered.

  Betsy entered, noting Helen hadn’t flashed her usual smile when she went on to shuffle papers on her desk before sitting them aside. Then she clasped her hands together and gave Betsy, who had eased into the chair across the desk from her, her undivided attention.

  “I’m glad you could come in on such short notice,” she began, thoroughly confusing Betsy. “I believe it is Mr. Shultz that will be doing the interview though.”

  “Interview?”

  “Someone from the bank did call you to come in, didn’t they?”

  “Not that I’m aware of.”

  Helen twisted her cracked lips to one side. “You’re not here about the vacancy on the board then?”

  Betsy grinned. “I’m here to apply for a mortgage loan. But now you have me curious.”

  Helen smiled, but Betsy saw her blush with embarrassment. “I guess if I’m going to spill the beans I might as well go all the way.”

  “Please do,” Betsy encouraged, growing eager and impatient to know exactly what was going on.

  “Were you aware there was a vacancy?”

  Betsy nodded. “Yes.”

  “Seems a second one is coming available at the end of the year.”

  “Skylar Blakewood’s.”

  Helen’s eyes widened and her mouth dropped open. “How did you know that?”

  “A little bird told me,” Betsy said and winked.

  “Then you probably also know Mr. Blakewood's reason for resigning. His workload is keeping him much too busy to adequately fulfill his responsibilities as a board member.”

  Betsy had heard the same from Stephanie. Though she’d thought it wasn’t his heavy workload that was forcing him to resign his position. She firmly believed it was to appease his soon-to-be bride. She kept that thought to herself and allowed Helen to continue.

  “He has recommended you as his replacement, Betsy.”

  “What?”

  “Mr. Blakewood has asked the board to appoint you as his replacement.”

  Even when Helen repeated herself it still hadn’t fully sunk in. “Why me?”

  Helen sighed with a shrug of her bony shoulders. “You’ll have to take that up with Mr. Blakewood.”

  “Well I certainly will.”

  “Anyway, as President of the bank, Mr. Shultz was asked to approach you on the matter and give a report to the board at their next meeting, which in fact, is tonight.”

  “I don’t know what to say. Other than I’m stunned, interested--definitely interested.”

  “You would be the first female board member in the history of this bank, you know?”

  Betsy couldn’t think straight, but she hadn’t forgotten her last encounter with Stephanie. “But I thought Stephanie Rogers was to be the first?”

  Helen kicked back in her seat with a low chuckle. “So that’s the little bird you were referring to.”

  “Well she did mention--” Betsy stopped herself short after realizing she was about to defend the woman.

  “The relationship between Miss Rogers and Mr. Blakewood has presented a problem. But once Mr. Blakewood’s resignation goes into effect, Miss Rogers will be appointed.”

  “I see.” All too clearly, Betsy kept to herself. The excitement that had begun filling her vanished when Helen reminded her of the relationship between those two.

  “Actually, you would be filling the present vacancy. Miss Rogers will have to wait until after the New Year. Technically, it will be Mr. Blakewood’s position she will be filling.” She arched penciled eyebrows. “But certainly not by his recommendation.”

  Confusion filled Betsy.

  “Now,” Helen stated, “you said something about applying for a mortgage loan?”

  * * *

  Without realizing it, Betsy had walked several blocks to the park at the edge of town. She sat down on the bench that was closest to the river.

  It was very difficult to concentrate when the noise of vehicles crossing the nearby bridge plagued the area. Even if she were able to concentrate, she didn’t know which subject would come first. She was more than thoroughly confused and felt lost.

  Why had Skylar recommended her to fill one of the two vacancies on the bank board? Then there was that comment of Helen’s once she’d taken down the information on the mortgage application. “I don’t see a problem as long as you have Mr. Blakewood in your corner,” she’d told Betsy.

  What was that suppose to mean? And besides, at this moment, Betsy doubted Skylar would side with her on anything.

  She bent over and picked up a twig near her foot and heaved it into the river as she stood. She watched the one end of it dip beneath the cloudy water as the current began carrying it away.

  Perhaps like the twig, Betsy considered flowing with the chain of events taking place in her life. What would be wrong with accepting the bank’s offer? And if they granted her a mortgage loan without an ounce of hassle, why spoil things with questions?

  “That’s impossible,” Betsy said out loud and left the park.

  Betsy Alexander never had been much of a bystander when something was going on. Especially something that affected her personally.

  No, I won’t sit back and be still. Skylar Blakewood has a question or two to answer, she decided just before she rounded the corner to go in the front door of her office building.

  “You’re never going to believe this--” she started to say to Mary when she went in the door.

  Mary shook her head no and pointed toward Betsy’s office to stop her from continuing. Betsy got the message. Someone was waiting in her office to see her.

  Betsy leaned over the desk and whispered. “Who is it?”

  “Skylar.”

  “Just the man I want to see,” declared Betsy in a normal tone. Then she stood tall and marched up the steps.

  She stopped in her tracks on the landing. For several seconds she stood speechless. But after seeing him sitting behind her desk, with his feet propped on the edge, she couldn’t figure out if she was mad or amused. Maybe just jolted by seeing him again?

  She knew she’d vowed to throw up her rock solid armor around him, but the rock wasn’t as sturdy as she thought. As a matter of fact, it had cracked and all kinds of wondrous sensations were seeping through the crevasses.

  Pull yourself together, Miss Sensible began ordering. Millions of guys have soft blue eyes. Yes, but not like Skylar’s, Betsy responded in a moment of weakness when his eyes greeted hers.

  “I was beginning to think you weren’t coming back.” He swung his long legs to the floor and began getting up.

  “Well as you can see, I’m here.” Betsy brushed past him on her way around the desk.

  The mere touch of his suit jacket against hers sent shivers through her. By the time she was seated, still warm from his presence, she thought she had successfully sealed up the cracks in her armor. Wrong. She had gotten a whiff of him in passing as well, and the scent lingered.

  “I was on my way into my own office and thought I’d drop off the contract.”

  Betsy looked at him lost. “Contract?”

  “The agreement of sale. I put it there on your desk.” A moment of silence while Betsy began pulling it from the envelope she had delivered it to him in earlier. “Don’t worry, I signed it,” he added.

  Betsy took his word and let the envelope slide back down on her desk top. A “thank you,” came out because she couldn’t think of anything else to say at that moment.

  Then she saw that smug grin of his as he hovered over her from the front of her desk. “The extra dollar above list price was cute. But you can keep it. You’re going to need every dollar you can raise just to make the down payment.”

  The sarcasm in his tone
instantly riled Betsy. But she was determined to hide her agitation. “The down payment isn’t a problem.”

  “Oh? A rich uncle die or something?”

  “Sometimes you are--”

  “Don’t say it,” Skylar warned.

  Silence.

  Then, once their eyes held for what seemed like an eternity, Betsy blinked. And out of the blue hit him with a question on another subject. “Why did you recommend me to fill your position on the bank board?”

  More silence before the return of that smug grin of his. “I couldn’t allow Stephanie to be the only female member.”

  “I see.”

  “No. I don’t think you do, Betsy.” His voice had come at her in that husky whisper. And when she looked up into his eyes she saw extreme seriousness. “I can’t resign unless I know you’ll accept the position.”

  “Why me?”

  He sighed heavily. “Stephanie is accustomed to having her own way.”

  “She doesn’t get her own way with me.”

  “Precisely my point.”

  “Wait a minute,” Betsy beckoned as he turned to leave. But he didn’t. He stopped as asked. When he peered back at her, Betsy proceeded. “I don’t understand.”

  “You, Betsy Alexander, are the only woman I know that will buck Stephanie when it’s necessary. She’ll have all the other board members wrapped around her little finger before she attends her first meeting.”

  The only thing Betsy could do was watch him continue with his exit.

  She had no idea if a minute had passed or an hour when she saw Mary standing in the doorway, a sly grin on her face.

  “How much did you hear?” Betsy asked after she stood there too long without speaking.

  “Part of it. Were you really asked to be a board member?”

  “Sort of. I suspect Shultz will be calling here before the end of the day.”

  Mary bubbled with so much excitement that Betsy didn’t see how she had managed to sit down. But she had.

  “Well what do I tell him if he calls while you’re out?”

  Betsy shrugged. “Tell him I’ll return the call when I come in,” Betsy answered simply.

  “So are you going to accept?”

  Betsy didn’t answer right away because she didn’t know what it was. Lately, the demands of work left little time for anything else. Like Skylar, she’d be lax in her responsibilities as a member as well. On the other hand, Skylar had made a very good point about Stephanie not being able to get her way in matters where she shouldn’t if Betsy sat on the board.

  “I’d be serving with Steph,” she finally mentioned to Mary.

  “That reminds me, did you hear she’s getting married?”

  The last thing Betsy wanted reminding about was that marriage and grumbled, “I heard.”

  “For anybody else a New Year’s Eve wedding would be like ending the year with love. For Stephanie, the date means she’ll be able to file a joint tax return.”

  Betsy broke out laughing. When she finally got control of herself, she said, “That’s a good one, Mare. Probably true too.”

  “Of course it’s true. I just hope the sucker she’s marrying knows what he’s getting.”

  Betsy’s expression slowly grew serious. “What sucker? Skylar’s just as shrewd as Steph.”

  “What’s Skylar got to do with it?”

  Betsy stared at Mary. She wasn’t any paler than usual. Thinner, but not too thin. Maybe she had been working too hard. No doubt about it, she was long overdue a vacation because something was wrong with her. Why would she know Stephanie was getting married if she didn’t know who to?

  “Skylar’s who Steph’s marrying,” Betsy finally answered.

  Mary jumped up. “Well that’s not what the paper says. I have it on my desk. I’ll go get it.”

  Betsy watched her leave the office. But she really wasn’t seeing her. Her head swam. She was beginning to perspire and tremble. Her condition worsened when Mary bustled back up the stairs with the newspaper.

  She plopped it down on the desk under Betsy’s nose. “There it is in black and white,” she declared, pointing to the front page headline.

  Betsy snatched up the paper, holding it only inches from her eyes. She read the bold black headline. LOCAL SOCIALITE TO WED.

  Before Betsy allowed her gaze to move any further south to the story, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath. She was uncertain what she wanted to see when she located the name of the groom to be.

  Her eyelids flickered before opening fully. She scanned the small typed print. First, she searched for Skylar’s name. It was nowhere to be found. Then she found another name where his should’ve been.

  Gregory Allen and Stephanie Rogers are planning a New Year’s Eve ceremony…

  “Do you think it’s a misprint?” Betsy questioned Mary even though her eyes never left the article.

  “What misprint? I’m sure Stephanie wrote the article giving strict instructions nothing be changed.”

  “Oh God!”

  “What’s wrong?”

  Betsy lost her voice. Actually, she didn’t know what to say. What had she done?

  “Betsy, what’s wrong?”

  She glanced up at Mary, knowing her face must’ve drained to a ghostly shade. “I assumed it was Skylar. He wasn’t using me. It was real, Mare.”

  “You mean you and Skylar--”

  “Of course not,” insisted Betsy. Then the brief silence. “But we would have,” she confessed as if this was the first time she realized the truth.

  “You’re in love with him.”

  Betsy could feel tears on their way. She was on the verge of blocking them, her armor in place. But for what? Mary was her best friend. And if she didn’t soon release some of the building pressure she feared she might explode.

  Instead of giving Mary an answer with words, she opened the floodgates. By the time Betsy had squeezed out the last gush of tears, Mary had come around the desk and was massaging her shoulders.

  “Get it all out.”

  Once she had, Betsy began slowly raising her head out of her hands. Still sobbing and sniffling, she dug into her purse for a tissue. Found one, blew her nose, and muttered, “I’m sorry.”

  “For what? The day falling in love becomes a crime, I better be in another world.”

  Betsy didn’t fight the urge to smile. Actually, she almost felt like laughing when she tilted her head around to see the relieved smile on Mary’s face.

  “Thanks friend,” Betsy said, patting Mary’s hand that was draped over her shoulder.

  “You’re welcome.”

  The two exchanged a special smile of understanding.

  “Are you going to be okay?” Mary asked.

  “I think so.”

  “Hey, I got an idea. Why don’t you take the rest of the day and--”

  “No. Right now I need to work.”

  Mary started to leave and stopped in the doorway and looked back at Betsy. “Does he know you’re in love with him?”

  “No.”

  “Tell him.”

  Betsy listened, then watched Mary disappear. Once upon a time she had considered what Mary advised, which would’ve been the time to tell him. But now, well how could she possibly tell him now?

  Less than a minute later she heard Mary shout warning from her office. “Brace yourself. The bride to be is crossing the street heading this way. She doesn’t look happy.”

  For some reason, that fact didn’t bother Betsy in the least. She was rather anxious to see the beauty queen.

  “Is she in?” Betsy heard her demand to Mary the second she entered the building.

  Betsy surmised Mary pointed toward her office or nodded since she didn’t hear her speak.

  “You will not get away with this, Betsy Alexander.”

  Betsy arched her brow. “What’s that, Steph?”

  “You know damn well what. How dare you consider that seat on the bank board when you knew how much I wanted it?”

 
Betsy let her rant and rave. When she finished, Betsy spoke. “From what I’ve been told, you still have the appointment you were promised--”

  “But that’s not until after the New Year,” Stephanie reminded as she angrily paced back and forth in front of Betsy’s desk.

  Betsy leaned back in her seat; a smile played around her mouth. Now she understood what had riled the woman so. And it tickled her pink. “Now I get it. You’re upset because I’ll be the first woman on the board, right?”

  Betsy watched her plop down in a chair in the most unladylike fashion.

  Stephanie stewed for several seconds. Then, she looked across the desk at Betsy and smiled in a coaxing manner. “Be a good girl, Betsy, and tell them you’re not interested. Okay?”

  Betsy saw red when she called her a girl again. “I’ve made up mind, Steph. I’m going to be the first female to sit on that bank board.”

  Stephanie’s eyes narrowed as she stood and strutted toward the stairs. She stopped on the top step and craned her neck around before commencing her threat. “You’ll regret this.”

  “Don’t think so,” Betsy stated matter-a-factly.

  Then she saw Stephanie was about to proceed down the steps. But Betsy couldn’t allow her to leave just yet. “By the way,” she began in a raised voice, “congratulations again on your engagement.”

  “Congratulations to you too,” hissed Stephanie, “because you just got yourself uninvited to the wedding.”

  Chapter Ten

  Betsy’s last two appointments of the day cancelled. Any other day that would not upset her. But today wasn’t a day she wanted spare time on her hands. In fact, she’d be happy if the entire evening was filled with appointments. But it wasn’t.

  She didn’t need endless hours to think; to reconsider going to Skylar and explaining--what? That she’d thought he was using her. That she’d get down on her hands and knees if only he’d forgive her. If only they could go back to that morning in the donut shop and let the magic continue from there.

  Well my dear, Miss Sensible tuned in; you can swallow your pride and beg forgiveness. Or, you can keep your armor in place and proceed as an independent woman, one that doesn’t need a man running her life. Besides, loving the man openly will only lead to certain heartbreak all over again down the road. It always does.