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“No. I broke up with her because she may be gorgeous, but she’s as shallow as a dry creek bed.” Simon pulled a bottle of wine from his refrigerator.
“Don’t you think you should tell your brother what’s going on? He’s not going to want to marry someone who’s not sure which brother she wants.”
“She doesn’t want me.” Simon shuddered as he uncorked the bottle. “We weren’t good together. Besides, telling my brother his fiancée stripped down to her underwear in my condo is not a conversation I want to have a week before the only holiday my entire family gets together. It’s really important to me that we have a peaceful Christmas. I’ll worry about what I’m going to tell him after the first of the year.”
“You shouldn’t lie to your family about something this important,” she said, wishing she could make him understand. “Someone is going to get badly hurt.”
“And you know this because?”
“I just do.”
Simon stared her a long moment, waiting for an explanation that wasn’t going to come. At last he poured a glass of wine and pushed it across the counter toward her. “Taste the wine. You’ll find it’s an excellent vintage.”
To be polite, she took a tiny sip. The pale gold liquid smelled of pineapple and grapefruit and had a slightly mineral aftertaste she found appealing.
“This is good.”
He nodded. “I thought so too. I found it at a little winery in New Zealand at the beginning of the year. It’s been a good seller.”
A good seller? “What is it you do?”
“I import wine.”
So, he was employed. This knowledge made her reevaluate her impression of his lifestyle. Maybe she’d been too quick to write him off as a party guy.
“From where?”
“All over the world. It’s why I travel so much. I visit wineries to find unique wines.” He sat on the stool beside her, facing so their knees practically touched, and topped off her wine. “Drink up.”
She shook her head as she watched him pour, noticing she’d drunk half the glass. Already her head spun from the alcohol. “Getting me drunk is not going to change my mind about going home with you.”
The corner of his lip twitched, but Simon left her accusation unanswered. “I think we can help each other.”
“How so?”
“I saw the bill for your tuition in your textbook.”
Her muscles tensed, making her voice tight. “I’m a little behind in my law school tuition.”
“A little behind? They said you couldn’t return next semester unless you pay what you owe. How much longer do you have to go before you graduate?”
“Spring would…will be my last semester.” Her promise to her mother rode her shoulders like a friend she carried to safety. The burden might slow her, but nothing would persuade her to set it down. “That’s, of course, providing I pass my test tomorrow. A test I really should head home and study for.” Her light
tone masked her anxiety.
“You wouldn’t know this, but I’m from a family of lawyers. I’m the black sheep, the only one, excluding my mother, who didn’t become an attorney. My father is a federal judge, my uncle was the district attorney until he retired and my brother is assigned to the Judge Advocate General.”
“J.A.G.?” she echoed. Something about the way she said it made Simon frown. Her lips twitched when he muttered something that sounded like damn uniform.
“So, here’s the deal. You need something. I need something.” He leaned forward, intent and earnest. “You owe almost ten thousand dollars for tuition and I’m going to guess you don’t have enough money for your final semester. If you help me, I’ll pay what you currently owe and enough so you can finish.”
Caroline’s mind reeled at the enormity of what he’d just offered. Temptation dazzled her like the flash of paparazzi cameras. But as clarity returned, so did her common sense.
“I can’t accept money from you.” She shook her head at his astonishing offer while possibilities rolled around in her mind.
“You already do. For cleaning my house.”
“That’s different.”
