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“B and B’s?” Neil sounded predictably appalled, as if he’d just been asked to work on a line of brothels. “I think that’s a project Libby could handle on her own.”
Kane shook his head. “I want both of you involved. This is Beth’s idea, and it goes at the top of the list.”
Beth.
Kane’s wife.
The magic word.
A warm smile crossed Neil’s face, so apparently he was fond of his new sister-in-law. “Beth does love old places. We’ll make it our first priority.”
“Good. The two of you can go over the proposal this afternoon. You’ll have until after Christmas to get things moving on it before we start the formal reorganization.”
Libby’s fingers tightened on the file. She’d worked on putting the proposal together and had hoped to be assigned to the project, but this wasn’t what she’d had in mind.
“Today?” Neil asked. He cast her a sideways glance that made her squirm.
What was it about him that made her so…aware?
“Today,” Kane said firmly.
Libby edged toward the door. “In that case, I’ve got a lot to do in the meantime. Thanks again, Kane.”
“No thanks are necessary. Your contract will be ready in a few days, along with a generous salary boost. You’ll always have a place with us, Libby.” From years of working with Kane, Libby knew he was reassuring her that no matter how things turned out with Neil, her place with the company was guaranteed.
“That’s nice to hear.” She forced herself to leave at a dignified pace, only to have Neil follow her.
“It isn’t afternoon yet,” she snapped. As a rule she tried to be calmly courteous with him, but Kane’s announcement had scrambled her brains worse than an eggbeater.
“Now is as good a time as any. Kane likes the teamwork approach, remember?”
Libby practically snorted. Neil O’Rourke wasn’t a team player. He enjoyed being in charge too much for that. Thankfully, except for his brief time as acting CEO, she’d hardly seen him over the years. He’d traveled all over the world for the company, earning a reputation as a tough and able negotiator.
Too bad he wasn’t better with people. She wasn’t the only employee who avoided him; his cool direct gaze could cut right through a person.
“A leopard can’t change his spots,” she muttered, not that he’d understand. Neil honestly didn’t seem to know he had the corporate persona of a runaway locomotive, mashing everyone in his path. Kane was indulging in wishful thinking if he thought his brother would listen to anyone on how to run the new division, much less to her.
Maybe Neil was different with his family.
Maybe.
She was acquainted with two of his sisters, Shannon and Kathleen, and thought his mother was a lovely woman, but Neil was a puzzle beyond words.
A small frown creased his forehead. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“Oh, come on. Teamwork? You?”
The note of amused disbelief in Libby’s voice irritated Neil. He knew it was his fault they didn’t get along—he’d acted like an oversexed jock on the one date they’d had years ago. A naive preacher’s daughter and a former college football star weren’t a good mix. People who thought that all preacher’s daughters were wild as sin didn’t know anything. Jeez, she was practically a nun.
Yet he didn’t dislike Libby, he just didn’t think she was vice president material. She was too softhearted, an innocent with the cutthroat business sense of a newborn kitten.
“You can’t know how I feel about teamwork,” he said slowly.
“I have a pretty good idea.”
His eyebrows shot upward. “I don’t think a single date gives you that much insight to my character. Especially since we’ve hardly said ‘boo’ to each other ever since.”
It was the first time since that disastrous night the subject had been directly raised, and relief crept through him. They should have cleared the air a long time ago instead of just going their own way and avoiding contact.
Hell, he probably wouldn’t have thought about it again if she hadn’t been so damned desirable…and so very prudish with her sexy little body. If he’d learned nothing else, it was that dating co-workers was a lousy idea.
“Maybe, but it was instructive,” she snapped. Her green eyes were stormy and Neil restrained a grin. This was an interesting side to Libby; he wanted to see more. It was like watching the kitten discover she had claws.
“That was a date, this is business,” he said.
“I’ve heard about the way you work. And I saw it for myself when you were in the CEO’s office. You obviously have to be in control, no matter what.”
“Isn’t that what we all want?” he asked.
She made a disgusted gesture. “Not all of us have a fetish about it. You must be ready to chew nails over Kane making me a vice president.”
Neil wasn’t thrilled, but he’d never admit it to Libby. And since he planned to make the New Developments division the most successful in the company, he would have to deal with her one way or another. Besides, it could be a lot of fun teasing that pink color into her cheeks.
“Especially with me being a woman,” Libby added.
“What?” He scowled, no longer amused. “I don’t have a problem with qualified women in business, so don’t put words into my mouth.”
“Ah, but you don’t think I’m qualified.”
“That remains to be seen. Your qualifications, that is,” Neil said, giving her a measuring glance. Libby certainly looked the part of a career woman…now. But the day they met she’d been wearing an unstructured sweater and skirt.
That damned bulky sweater should have been his first clue, he thought irritably. It had practically screamed small-town innocent, but even the most sophisticated women had been wearing the down-home earthy look back then. If he’d known she was a naive virgin he would have stayed a thousand miles away.
“I’m sure you’ll do a fine job,” he said, distracted by the memory. Or was it the memory of sweet curves that fitted perfectly against him?
Damn. Where had that come from? Libby had a fine body—not that she did anything to advertise it—but he’d been with his share of gorgeous women. Willing women who didn’t have marriage and a baby carriage on the mind.
“Marriage and a baby carriage? What do you mean by that?” Libby demanded.
Neil winced, realizing he’d muttered the last part aloud. “Er…I was thinking about Kane,” he said. “He’s turned into a huge advocate of marriage and children ever since he met Beth.”
“Is that so terrible?”
“Depends on how you see it. I think it must be hard to keep your focus while at the same time dealing with a nagging spouse and kids.”
“You mean a nagging wife. But for your information, not all wives nag,” Libby shot back, though she didn’t know why she bothered. Neil’s views on the incompatibility of marriage and business were infamous.
“I just meant…” He shrugged. “Forget it. I guess marriage is all right for other people.”
“Wow. Isn’t that big of you.”
Neil looked surprised by her sarcastic tone, and to be honest, Libby was surprised herself. She’d never spoken her mind to him, not since that embarrassing night when she’d said all sorts of things about men who expected to sleep with a woman on the first date.
She sighed, a hollow feeling in her tummy.
Principles were fine things, but she was awfully tired of going home to a lonely house in the evening.
“I’m not going to hold anything against an executive who wants to get married, if that’s what you think.”
Libby rolled her eyes. “As if your brother would let you.”
Neil regarded her curiously. “You think Kane and I are that different?”
“Like night and day.”
“Because he got married.”
“No.” She shook her head in exasperation. “Because he’s nice, and you’re…” Libby stopped, realizing if she’d sounded rude before, it would be nothing to calling him a smug, self-centered chauvinist with the compassion of a fence post.
Swallowing, she dropped into the chair behind her desk. He couldn’t seem to understand that the people who worked for O’Rourke Enterprises were people, not machines, with lives outside the company that were important to them.
“I’m what?”
The small twitch to Neil’s mouth suggested he had a good idea of what she’d almost called him. He sat on a chair himself and stretched out his legs. From head to toe he was the consummate executive—from his expensive suit to his ice-blue silk shirt and perfect tie. There was only one time she’d ever seen him in a less than immaculate state, and that was the night they’d almost…
She put a hasty brake on her thoughts. Okay, Neil could be charming when he wanted something, and he’d come very close to getting what he’d once wanted from her. It didn’t mean anything.
“Well?” he prompted. “What am I?”
“You’re just…different.”
“Different, as in ‘not nice.”’
“I didn’t say that,” she said, annoyed.
“You didn’t have to.” Neil told himself he should stop. This wasn’t the right way to start their new relationship as president and vice president, but he didn’t want to work with veiled hostility simmering between them—he’d take open warfare over that. For that matter, conflict could be very good for business.
“You said not to put words in your mouth, so don’t do it with me.”
Yet her cheeks pinkened, and he knew she felt guilty for whatever she’d been thinking—which just proved she hadn’t changed over the years.
Sweet.
Innocent.
With an interesting streak of temper. Rather like her hair, a rich silky brown with hints of hidden fire—it was still long, caught back in an attractive French braid, though small tendrils had escaped and framed her face.
Neil shifted in the chair. He didn’t have any business thinking her temper was interesting or not. Libby was off-limits. Of course, that didn’t mean he couldn’t enjoy the situation.
“Are you thinking about tying the knot, and are afraid my beliefs about marriage will be a problem?” he asked. “The company policy is clear—we’re a family-friendly business. So you have nothing to be concerned about, no matter what my personal feelings are on the issue.”
Libby stared in astonishment and he cursed his wayward tongue. He really hadn’t thought that much about her over the years, but now that she was going to be his vice president, all sorts of questions were banging around in his head.
Most of them were none of his concern.
And he certainly shouldn’t be wondering if the faint scent of vanilla drifting from her skin was a perfume, or some other bit of unique feminine chemistry. Hell, it wasn’t the least bit sophisticated, but on Libby the fragrance was fresh and light, without being cloying.
“No, I’m not thinking about ‘tying the knot’ as you put it,” she said. “I hate that phrase. It makes marriage sound like prison or some other type of captivity . Do you think Kane feels that way about being married to Beth?”
“Of course not.”
“Then let’s drop the subject. We’re supposed to be talking about the B and B proposal, remember?”
He remembered.
He rarely thought about anything but business, though his mother was doing her best to distract him with introductions to “nice young women.” Nice single women, of course. Having finally gotten two of her sons married, she wanted to see all her children taking a trip down the proverbial aisle, followed a few months later with the announcement that a baby was on the way.
Libby pulled a pen and pad of paper from a drawer. “How do you want to get started?”
“Give me a quick rundown on the project.”
She kept her spine straight, barely skimming the back of her chair. “The first active steps will be choosing sites and contacting historical societies for local history and background.”
“What?” Neil rocked forward in his chair. “We have to deal with hysterical societies?”
“That’s historical societies,” Libby corrected, the corners of her mouth twitching despite herself. Historical societies could be very passionate about their work, but she liked working with people who cared. “Of course we’ll have to talk with them, and consult with restoration experts and contractors. By the way, we should use local people as much as possible as part of the community development aspect of the project.”
He grimaced without looking particularly upset. “You mean we’ll be restoring old buildings that should have been demolished decades ago. I don’t suppose we could buy a bunch of existing bed-and-breakfast inns and slap our name on them?” he asked, a rueful humor in his voice.
She barely kept from rolling her eyes. Neil was so focused on the future, he couldn’t see the benefit to saving wonderful old survivors from the past.
Modern, that defined Neil O’Rourke.
Glitz, high finance, his world moving at lightning speed. If he went on vacation it was to five-star hotels in the most exotic and glamorous places, so bed-and-breakfast inns weren’t likely to interest him. He avoided ties that might slow him down—like a wife and children. The idea of spending a quiet evening at home would probably horrify him.
“I don’t suppose we can.” Libby handed him the file. “Why don’t you go over this on your own? I’ll come by your office at one this afternoon so we can discuss it.” Without waiting for acknowledgment, she headed for the door and stood by it, making it obvious she expected him to leave.
“Libby…”
She looked at his handsome face, and the same old shiver went through her tummy. Why did she have to be attracted to him? Wasn’t attraction supposed to be based on respect and liking, more than chemistry? She didn’t know Neil that well, but she didn’t like him, so it wasn’t logical the way her body responded whenever he walked into the room.
“Yes?”
“We should talk about what happened eleven years ago. Get everything said and out in the open.”
Her pulse surged. “That isn’t such a good idea.”
“Why not? Haven’t you wondered what would have happened if we hadn’t stopped that night?”
