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“Warren would be more than willing to pay for all the travel expenses, or you could use his private plane. If you want to give me some dates, I’ll arrange everything before I leave Boston.”
As soon as the words left his lips, Dylan knew he’d said the wrong thing. For a few seconds, Callie glared at him, her eyes flashing with anger. The emotion made them even bluer, if that was possible.
“If Mr. Sherbrooke is in such a rush to meet me, why didn’t he come himself? Why did he send you instead?” Callie snapped, her tone cold and unfriendly. A tone she hadn’t used during his first visit.
Dylan knew he gave her a reason for Warren’s absence during their first meeting, which meant she’d either forgotten or didn’t accept it. Something told him the latter was more likely. Still, just in case, it would be better to stick with his orginal excuse.
“He’s campaigning on the West Coast.” Dylan gripped the back of a kitchen chair. “I thought I’d mentioned that.”
Shifting in her seat, she nodded. “You did, but he could have come when he finished, couldn’t he?”
Unexpectedly, she gave him a small knowing smile. “If he really wanted to meet me, wouldn’t it be easier if he came rather than send you?”
He sensed she already had an idea of why he’d come instead of Warren. Still, he needed to answer her question. The truth was going to sound crass, but it would be better to get it out in the open now. If it came out later, it’d be much worse.
“He wanted to come himself. We advised him otherwise.”
“We?” Her eyebrows rose.
“His campaign adviser, my mum, and me. We were afraid of what might happen if the media learned about you now during the campaign.”
He felt like a real ass admitting the truth aloud. He probably didn’t want to know what she thought of him. Without her even saying a word, he knew he’d hurt her. It was something he regretted more than he expected, which made no damn sense because he barely knew her.
“There is no way of knowing what kind of spin the media might put on the information,” he added when Callie remained silent.
She’d expected as much, still it hurt to hear it. Don’t let it bother you. What did you expect anyway?
“I see. So he always does what others tell him?” Despite her best effort, she couldn’t keep her voice from catching.
A warm hand folded over hers. The feeling of his unexpectedly rough skin against her hand sent unwanted tingles up her arm.
“I didn’t mean to upset you, Callie,” he said, using her given name for the first time. “Normally, he does what he believes is best.”
For most of her life, she’d disliked her first name. It had been different from everyone else’s growing up. She hadn’t known anyone else with her name. More than once, she’d wished her name was something more common like Melanie or Michelle. When Dylan said it though, Callie sounded beautiful, special. Callie didn’t know exactly why it sounded so much better coming from him, it just did. Maybe it was due to his accent, or perhaps because it came from such a gorgeous man. Whatever the reason, she could have listened to him say it all day long.
“And he didn’t think coming to see me himself was best?” She kept her eyes focused on their hands, afraid he would see how upset their discussion made her.
Dylan cleared his throat before answering, as if he was uncomfortable with the conversation. “I think he realized he was too emotionally connected to make an impartial decision, so he agreed to let me come and arrange everything for him.”
Even if every word was true, it didn’t change the fact that she didn’t want any charity. She didn’t want Warren Sherbrooke to think she expected anything from him. As far as she was concerned, he was nothing more than a sperm donor who’d been involved with her mother. Perhaps this view would change one day, but right now she couldn’t really think of him in any other way.
“I appreciate your honesty,” Callie said in a much kinder tone. Somehow, Dylan’s sincerity killed much of her anger. “But I can’t let Mr. Sherbrooke pay for my airfare, and I definitely don’t want to use his private plane. Any meeting will have to wait. I’m sorry.”
When Dylan remained silent, she assumed he finally accepted her answer and decided to give up. She started to breathe a sigh of relief when he sp
oke again.
“In that case, could you meet with him at his house in Newport? You could drive down and spend the weekend.”
Lord, this man doesn’t give up, does he? Persistence should be his middle name.
If Dylan was trying so hard, did that mean this meeting was really that important to her father? It seemed like it, and she had to admit she was more than a little curious about the man.
Only he can answer your questions, a tiny voice in her head whispered. Plus a weekend down in Newport would be a nice mini-vacation. She loved the area, always had, and if things weren’t working out, it’d be easy enough to come home. Newport wasn’t that far away, just a couple of hours.
Callie chewed her bottom lip and considered her options. She didn’t want to make the wrong decision. “That sounds okay,” she said slowly, her mind working. “There’s a long weekend coming up, and I could take two personal days to extend it.”
A smile she suspected had melted dozens of hearts spread across her visitor’s face.
