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“Good luck. Apparently Paige booked the entire spa for the whole afternoon. If you want an appointment, you’ll have to get a date.”
“I hate her.”
Ashley laughed as she made her way to the door. “She outmaneuvered you on this one but, if you stopped being mad at her for two minutes, you might realize this is a win-win situation.”
Or Megan could lose the bet, her pride and her heart. And that was a risk she had vowed never to take again.
Gage went for lunch with his dad and his brother on Thursday, as they tried to do at least once a month. Sometimes they chatted about business, sometimes about nothing in particular, but always it was a time the three men enjoyed together.
“I’m glad to see you’re taking my advice,” Allan said, as he stirred cream into his coffee.
“About?”
“Finding a nice young woman. A different kind of woman.”
Gage frowned, wondering what his father was talking about. Only a few days had passed since he’d learned about Garrison’s retirement and his father’s conviction that he could prove his maturity by settling down, and he hadn’t been out with anyone since then. In fact, aside from having coffee with Megan.
He glanced at his brother, who lifted his shoulder in silent apology. “I happened to mention that I saw you and Megan Roarke in the cafeteria the other day.”
“A lovely girl,” Allan interjected. “Not your usual type, which is why I was so surprised when Craig told me.”
Told him what? Gage wondered, starting to feel more than a little bit uncomfortable with the implications of his father’s words. He looked to his brother for help, but Craig was focused on his cheesecake—or maybe just focused on avoiding Gage’s silent plea for help.
“And I’ll admit to some initial concern about your working relationship,” Allan continued. “But the more I thought about it, the more I realized she’s exactly the type of woman you need—”
His father thought Megan was the type of woman he needed? Gage wasn’t just uncomfortable now, he was completely baffled. Where would he ever get such an idea? How had his usually rational father made the hugely irrational leap from a cafeteria meeting to a personal relationship?
“—and I trust that you will both continue to behave professionally in the lab.”
There were so many assumptions in his statement that Gage wasn’t sure where to begin to refute them, so he only said, “I think you’re reading too much into a cup of coffee.”
“Am I?” Allan sounded disappointed.
Again, Gage looked at Craig, but his brother remained intent on finishing his dessert, leaving him to fend for himself. Or maybe Craig also believed that Gage was involved with Megan.
Gage frowned over this thought as he considered his response to his father’s question. The last thing he wanted was to have yet another dialogue with his father about his dating habits, but he had to correct his mistaken assumption about his relationship with Megan.
Or did he?
He mulled over that question as he sipped his own coffee.
Maybe if his dad believed Gage was seeing Megan, a woman he obviously approved of, Allan would be more willing to support him in his bid for the V.P. position. And it wasn’t entirely untrue, since they would be seeing a lot of one another while they were working on the Fedentropin trial together.
“It’s just that it’s kind of, uh, premature to talk about where things might go with Megan and I,” Gage said.
His father nodded. “The beginning of a new relationship can be difficult enough without the pressure of any extra scrutiny.”
Gage didn’t quite meet his gaze. “Thanks for understanding.”
“But I know your mother would love to meet her, whenever you’re ready,” Allan continued.
Craig pushed his now-empty plate aside.
“I’ll let you know,” Gage told his father, even as he wondered, What have I gotten myself into now?
By Thursday afternoon, two days before Ashley’s engagement party, Paige still hadn’t let up in her campaign to convince Megan to invite Gage to the big event. By then, Megan was sure she’d waited too long. There was no way he didn’t already have plans for Saturday night. Men like Gage Richmond always had Saturday-night plans.
So when he returned to the lab after his lunch, she decided to broach the subject in the hope that finally doing so might convince Paige to let her have the spa appointment she’d made.
He glanced up when she approached his desk, and she saw surprise—then something else that she thought might have been pleasure—flicker in his eyes. Then he smiled, and her heart leaped and her knees quivered, and she knew this was a bad idea. Definitely a very bad idea.
“Hi, Megan.”
As much as she was tempted to turn around and walk away, she knew she had to see this through. She forced a smile, considered her words. She’d never been very good with chit-chat and was too nervous to waste time on idle chatter anyway, so she simply blurted out, “Do you remember saying that if I ever needed a favor, I could come to you?”
“Sure,” Gage agreed easily.
“Well, I need a favor.”
He smiled. “I got that part. What do you need?”
She drew a deep breath. “A date.”
He raised his eyebrows. “For what? When?”
“My sister’s engagement party. Saturday night.”
He didn’t blink at the mention of an engagement party, the type of occasion that would make most men—especially those of only casual acquaintance—balk. All he said was, “This Saturday?”
She nodded. “I know it’s short notice and I’m sure you already have plans but—”
“What time should I pick you up?” he interrupted.
She stared at him. Blinked.
He waited patiently, that sexy half smile on his face, while she scrambled to unscramble her brain and find her voice again.
“You want to go … with me?”
“Sure,” he said again.
She opened her mouth, then snapped it shut.
If he was willing to be her date for Saturday night, who was she to try to talk him out of it?
“Time?” he prompted.
“Eight o’clock. At the country club. But I should probably be there a little earlier than that.”
“I’ll pick you up at seven.”
“Great. That would be—um—great.” She was still a little baffled by his easy acceptance. “Thanks.”
She turned around and went back to her own work station, not entirely sure she comprehended what had just happened.
Apparently she had a date with Gage Richmond. She’d asked—and he’d said yes without any hesitation. In fact, he’d seemed almost eager to accept her invitation.
But why?
A woman with a genius IQ was smart enough to know that a man who hadn’t looked twice in her direction in the three years she’d worked at Richmond Pharmaceuticals wasn’t suddenly overwhelmed by the desire to spend time in her company. No, she was certain that Gage Richmond had an agenda. Men like him always did.
And despite the rather sheltered life she’d led, she had known men like him before. Men who were far too good-looking, too charming and too self-confident for a woman like her to stand a chance.
She’d been taken in by seductive eyes and sexy smiles before and wouldn’t fall easily again. Of course, the first time had been when she was only in high school and assigned as a lab partner to the captain of the football team. On the first day of class, Darrin Walsh had given her a slow, bone-melting smile that had made her his willing slave—then he went on to flirt with the cheerleaders while she wrote up his reports.
She’d learned her lesson from that—or so she’d thought until she’d fallen head over heels in college. Sam Meyer had been another teaching assistant in the biochemistry department, and the first man she’d really thought understood her hopes and dreams—until he stole one of her research papers and tried to pass it off as his own. He’d been expelled and she’d vowed never to trust her fickle heart again.
Then came Bill Penske. He’d been more her type—a little shy, a little geeky, a lot inexperienced. He’d been her first lover, and she’d been his. The event had been so uninspiring that Megan hadn’t found herself wanting to do it again. They’d parted ways only a few weeks later.
She was older now, and wiser, and though she’d dated casually and infrequently since then, she knew that she was still completely out of her league with a man like Gage Richmond.
But whatever his agenda, she could hardly object when she had one of her own.
She only hoped she wouldn’t regret it.
Chapter Four
Ihave a date.
It was the first thought on Megan’s mind when she woke up Saturday morning, and one that immediately caused a full-scale panic.
Because she didn’t just have a date—she had a date with Gage Richmond. Her boss’s son. Heir to a pharmaceutical empire. And the most spectacular-looking man she’d ever met.
Megan groaned aloud as the full impact of what she’d done finally hit her. Who did she think she was kidding? Anyone who saw the two of them together would know that Gage was doing her a favor.
“Rise and shine, sleepyhead.” Ashley pushed open the curtains so that sunlight spilled through the window. “We’ve got things to do today.”
Megan pulled the covers up over her head. “I changed my mind.”
“You can’t change your mind.”
“I’m sick.”
Ashley yanked back the covers and touched the back of her hand to her sister’s forehead. “Lying fibberitis?” she guessed.
Megan stuck her tongue out at her.
“Immature lying fibberitis,” Ashley amended her diagnosis.
“I feel clammy and weak. My stomach is in knots and my heart is pounding.”
“Those are signs of anticipation, not a viral infection.”
“Remember you said that when I throw up on you.”
“You’re not going to throw up.”
“I really don’t want to do this.”
“I really don’t care,” Ashley said unsympathetically, tossing a pair of jeans and a blouse onto her sister’s bed. “Get dressed—we’re meeting Paige for brunch and some shopping before our appointment at Gia’s.”
“I don’t want to go for brunch. I hate shopping. And I love you, Ashley, but I really don’t want to go to your engagement party.”
“You want to go,” Ashley insisted. “You want everyone who ever dared pity you for being alone to see you with Gage, but you’re afraid that he won’t show up so you’re pretending to be sick so that you can cancel before he has a chance to stand you up.”
It was such an accurate assessment of everything she was feeling that Megan could only stare. “How do you know these things?”
“Because I’m your sister and, believe it or not, everything that you’re feeling is completely normal.”
“Maybe he won’t show.”
“He’ll be here.”
“How do you know?”
“He’s a good guy. Thoughtful. Solid. Dependable.”
“You got all of that from a five-minute conversation on the doorstep?”
“An initial impression that was reinforced by our telephone conversation this morning.”
“He called you?”
“I think he was actually calling you,” Ashley explained. “But when I told him you were still sleeping, he settled for talking to me.”
“Was he calling to cancel?”
“No, he was calling to see if the party was black tie.”
“Is it?”
Ashley smiled. “No. But I was impressed that he would think to ask, that it would matter to him to be appropriately dressed for his first date with you.”
“First and last,” Megan mumbled.
“Give him a chance.”
“Come on, Ash. You know it’s not him, it’s me. I get nervous and I don’t know what to say. Or, worse, I start talking about work, because it’s the only thing I’m comfortable talking about. After a half an hour in my company, he’ll be looking for excuses to head for the door.”
