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With these thoughts forcing his self-pitying concerns to the back burner, he was ready to face the day.
“Good morning,” he said, swiveling his chair to face her and letting the sun warm his back. She sipped her coffee and nodded, an intelligent, alert, but enigmatic smile forming on her face. It wasn’t an unusual look for her, and it always made him think she was operating with some master plan that one day would be clear to him. For now he allowed himself to enjoy the mystery. His work had taught him that he could never understand or control everything in his world, so he learned to enjoy the pleasure of discovery. That made it possible to find excitement even in setbacks—something unknown or uncertain finally was revealed, another piece of life’s puzzle was known. The unknown quantity was to be appreciated.
“You asked to be told if I was able to learn anything about Lissa Edwards.”
His heart raced, irritating him. He didn’t want the mention of her name to excite him, but he couldn’t deny he still craved her. “And?”
“She is in a hospital in New York.”
It struck him like a blow. “Really? What happened?”
“I don’t know the truth of things—the investigator confirmed just that much. Are you interested in the gossip?”
He didn’t want to be, but a knotting of his stomach let him know that he couldn’t ignore it. “Tell me,” he said.
“The story going around New York is that she was in rehab for a drug problem and recently released. She was checked into a private room in the hospital, but of course the doctors aren’t talking.”
“Drugs?”
“I don’t know. It’s just gossip. The detective in New York did confirm that someone named Joan Edwards was recently released. He discovered she has a sister by that name.”
“Of course, if she wanted privacy…”
“Personally, I wouldn’t use the name of a relative.”
“Who knows what people do or why they do it? But did she register at the hospital under her own name?”
Willa put down her coffee cup. “Indeed.”
“The detective…”
“I instructed him to find out why she’s in the hospital and to see if he can learn anything more about the rumor. If she had a drug problem, it could be anything from having damaged her body with them to an attempted suicide. If she didn’t have a drug problem…it could be anything at all.”
“I suppose.”
She tapped the stack of folders. “And this morning, we have a lot of information to go through if you intend to meet with all the people you are considering for the project.”
He sighed. “I see the paperless office is a ways off yet.”
“So far off that I think you might want to consider investing in an office-supply company.”
He got up from his desk and came over to where she sat. He looked down at her, at those lovely legs. Yes, he found her a damned attractive woman. Given the chaos of his life, that was getting to be a problem. He was finding it harder to ignore her attraction, and with no word from Lissa, he couldn’t even justify trying.
“I’ll get another cup of coffee and we can start on that mind-numbing pile of data.”
“I’ve asked the secretary to make a pot and bring it in.”
“You certainly do organize things amazingly, and you always manage to anticipate me.”
She smiled up at him, tilting her head and letting her eyes run over his body and up to his face, then locking eyes with him. It was a surprisingly sensual look for the office. “I hope I always please you,” she said. “Anything I can do to make you happy.”
It sounded like an invitation, he was sure it was. It
was the kind that doesn’t cross the line but says “I’m willing to go farther if you are.” It was also very tempting.
Then she turned her attention back to her stack of folders. “Why don’t we get started?”
He sat next to her, picking up a folder and forcing himself to concentrate.
# # #
Willa watched Julio closely when they flew to Milan the next day. She noted that Elaine didn’t hold his attention as she should. She noted he was distracted, and decided he was thinking about the American woman.
She needed him alert and focused. The project was critical. She would take steps to get him on track.
The meetings were, as usual, long, tedious sessions, filled with attention to mind-numbing details. She had the meetings recorded and would have them transcribed later, but she took copious notes herself to ensure she had the main points in hand to follow up on.
They ate dinner with the last contractor, a tiresome plumbing contractor who was more interested in profit margins and convenience—his—than trying to understand the vision of the project. Willa knew that the man was out of the running even before he submitted a bid, even before Julio told her essentially the same thing as they rode in a taxi back to the hotel.
She went to her room and showered and changed. Her room was on the same floor as his suite, and she picked up her new leather briefcase and carried it with her to his suite.
Milan had wonderful, elegant, expensive leather goods. That day at lunch, without any prompting, Julio had bought it for her as a gift—a token of thanks for three years of devoted service, he’d said. That was nice. Willa wanted more than nice from him, but she had him moving in the right direction. She had momentum, and the timing was good. He needed her now more than he ever had, and she intended to make sure he acknowledged that in a tangible way.
