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He frowned again, but she could see that he was considering what she was saying. It was a start, Sadie told herself, so she went on.
“Is offering him more money such a horrible thing?” she asked. “Hasn’t he earned it? Richard Donatello built a company that you badly want. Maybe if the kids see that you treated their father well, they’ll back off.”
“Maybe.” He nodded thoughtfully.
“And think about it, Ethan...you paid me an extra hundred and fifty thousand for one month.”
“Yeah,” he said tightly, “that was personal. This is business.”
He had the wide windows behind him, where gray, January clouds scuttled across the horizon, hovering over a sea the color of steel.
“Not completely,” she argued, and watched one of his eyebrows arch. “Business, sure. But it’s also about family. Their family, Ethan. A legacy as important to them as yours is to you.”
A couple long, tense seconds passed before he nodded again. “All right. You’ve made your point. I’ll give it some thought.”
Sadie knew when to leave well enough alone. “Okay, good. Now back to the personal front—”
“I don’t have time for a quickie today, Sadie.”
She blinked and her head jerked back as if she’d been slapped. Staring at him, she could see that he wished he hadn’t said that, but it was enough to know that he was thinking it. “I don’t remember asking for one.”
“No, you didn’t.” He sighed, shook his head and rubbed the back of his neck. “I’m sorry. That didn’t come out right.”
“Oh, I don’t know. You made yourself pretty clear,” she said stiffly. And she’d really love to know what had brought on such an insult to her—to both of them. What they’d shared had been far more than a “quickie.” There’d been emotions involved as well as their bodies, but apparently, Ethan didn’t want to admit that to her or himself. “As it happens, I wasn’t talking about sex, Ethan. I was going to tell you the agency is sending over another housekeeper to be interviewed tonight.”
“Oh.” He frowned. “Fine.”
Apparently he was going to pretend he didn’t say anything, and she was supposed to pretend she hadn’t heard it. Well, fine. She could do avoidance and pretense as well as anyone. Hadn’t she been hiding her love for this idiot man for five long years?
“Her name is Julie Cochran. She’s a single mother of a five-year-old. She’s a good cook, has no issues with also looking after a baby, and she really needs the job.”
His jaw dropped and his eyes went wide. “You want to move another child into my house?”
Sadie almost sighed. She’d really thought they’d been making progress over the last few days. Hearing him now was more than disappointing. “I’m sure the little girl doesn’t have the plague or anything, so you should be safe.”
“That’s not funny.”
“No,” she agreed. “None of this is funny. But Julie is a single mom who needs work. The agency says she’s one of their best—”
“Then why is she out of work?”
“Because the woman she worked for was elderly and recently died.”
He frowned. “Oh.”
“Ethan, you want someone good with kids. Well, Julie is. The housekeeper’s quarters are big enough for her and her daughter, and she’s a cook, as well.” She shouldn’t have to work so hard to sell him on this. “She pretty much hits every point you needed.”
“I didn’t need another child,” Ethan ground out. “Hell, I didn’t want the one I’ve got.”
“Wow.” Sadie just stared at him. For some reason, she’d thought he was coming around a little. He was helping take care of Emma. He’d fed her and bathed her the night before. The two of them together had tucked the baby in for the night. So what was the problem?
“Damn it, don’t look at me like that.”
“How?” she asked. “Horrified? Disappointed?”
“Either,” he muttered. “Both.”
“I don’t know who I’m more insulted for,” she admitted. “Me or Emma.”
