Emma Darcy - The Billionaire's New Year Gift

“Why?”

“He’s concerned that you might be involved with drugs.”

“ What? ” She looked aghast.

Alex studied her. Julie was a good actress, but he didn’t think her reaction was fake. She looked genuinely shocked.

“Geez,” she said. “You’d think he’d know me a little better than that. I know why he thinks this, Alex, but he’s wrong.”

“Why does he think it?”

“Because Penn—you met him last night, the really tall one with the sort of reddish hair?—was busted at a party where they were doing coke. But I don’t do drugs. I never have. They scare me.”

Alex felt tremendous relief. Her voice rang with conviction, and he believed her. “I’m really glad to hear that.”

“Did you really think I might be involved in that scene?”

“I didn’t know what to think. I only knew that Terrence is concerned enough to ask me to keep an eye on you while he’s gone.”

“Where’s he going now?”

“Singapore. Didn’t he tell you?”

She shrugged. “He might have. He travels so much, I lose track of what he’s doing.”

She stopped talking as their waiter appeared with their food.

Once he left them alone again, Alex said, “What happened with your friend Penn?”

“What do you mean?”

“Was he charged? You said he was busted.” He forked one of his scallops.

She grimaced. “Yes, he was charged with possession.”

“And what happened?”

“I don’t know. His dad’s pulling some strings, I think. You know his dad, actually. Senator Penn-bridge?” She ate some of her quiche.

Alex just shook his head. Why should that information surprise him? It happened too often, in his opinion. Kids with rich parents rarely paid the price for their foolish or unlawful behavior.

“I’d feel better if you didn’t run around with him anymore.”

Julie put her fork down and drank some of her iced tea. “But Alex, he’s my friend. I like him.”

“He sounds like a bad influence to me.”

“He’s learned his lesson. That bust scared the hell out of him.” Picking up her fork, she resumed eating.

“For now maybe,” Alex said skeptically.

“I told you. I don’t do drugs. Now will you quit worrying? And will you tell Dad to quit worrying, too? I’m not a child. I don’t need a keeper.”

Alex figured he knew how parents must feel when their kids got older and they couldn’t supervise their every moment as they did when they were little. You just had to trust that you’d taught them right and they’d be okay. Julie might be spoiled, but she was basically a good girl. She’d probably be just fine. Anyway, what choice did he have but to trust her?

As if she’d read his thoughts, she smiled and said, “Now, c’mon, Alex, quit looking so serious and let’s enjoy our food.”

Alex had always known when to fold. Returning his sister’s smile, he nodded and turned his attention to his lunch.

Normally, P.J. really enjoyed her weekends, but for some reason, this weekend she felt restless.

She did her laundry, cleaned her condo then took a long, leisurely bath and washed her hair. These activities should have made her feel virtuous and proud of herself. Instead, they left her wishing she had somewhere to go, something fun to do and someone to do it with.

Here she was, thirty years old, single, and with nothing better to do on a Saturday night except watch a movie on DVD and order in a pizza. She’d be willing to bet Carrie Wancheck wasn’t sitting home alone tonight. Or Alex, either.

Now why had she thought of those two, practically in the same breath?

Oh, you know why .

Was it possible that Carrie had accomplished her mission of catching Alex’s interest? She hadn’t been at Jake’s the night before, either, and when P.J. had casually asked about her, one of the guys said Carrie had bragged that she had a hot date. A sleep-over date , he’d said, and the others had all laughed knowingly.

What if that hot date had been with Alex? Although it was the last thing she wanted to think about, P.J. couldn’t help imagining the two of them in bed together. Carrie had a fantastic body—toned and slender, with curves in all the right places. What man wouldn’t desire her?

The idea of the two of them together made P.J. want to throw up. And that made her even more disgusted with herself. Why did she care anyway? You don’t want him. So what’s the problem?

But even as she told herself this, P.J. knew exactly what the problem was. She did want him. And unfortunately, what she’d imagined to be a corresponding interest from him had turned out to be just plain normal friendliness on his part. Because if he’d been going to make a move in her direction, he’d darned sure have done it by now.

Really disgusted with herself now, she decided that once and for all, she would wipe Alex Noble out of her mind. Not only that, she would stay away from him at work as well as after work. If that meant she would have to give up going to Jake’s, so be it. She needed some new interests in life, anyway. In fact, instead of just giving lip service to some of the areas that interested her, it was past time to put some of those interests into action. Like volunteering at a women’s shelter. And getting involved in politics.

It was a good thing she had that management meeting in Seattle this week. She needed to get away. Maybe after a week of meetings, she’d have her head back in the game again.

And nowhere near Alex Noble.

The week went fast for Alex. They were extremely busy at work, and it felt as if he’d no sooner had lunch than it would be time to punch out.

After work, he always ran his five miles in Jansen Park. He kept hoping he’d see P.J. there since Chick Fogarty had told them she was in management meetings in Seattle this week. But she didn’t come to the park, or if she did, she came earlier or later than he did.

Because he was curious, he gave Gray a call and found out the meetings would be over by noon on Thursday. While he had Gray on the phone, he asked him how his bride hunt was going. As always, Gray was noncommittal.

“What about you?” he asked.

“I’m working on it,” Alex said.

After they’d hung up, Alex wondered if P.J. would be back to work on Friday. He hoped so. Now that he’d decided Miss Paige Jeffers Kinkaid was the perfect candidate for his bride hunt, he was determined to make some forward progress in his campaign to win her.

On Friday morning, as he entered the quad, the first person he saw was P.J. sitting at her desk. She looked up when she heard his footsteps. “Good morning.”

“Good morning,” he said, smiling down at her. She looked great in a short-sleeved sweater the same blue as her eyes. It hugged her breasts and Alex couldn’t help noticing the faint outline of her bra. “How were your meetings?”

She shrugged, not meeting his gaze. “Fine.”

Alex started to say something else, but she’d already turned her attention back to her computer.

Alex frowned as he walked away. She certainly wasn’t very friendly this morning. He wondered if something was wrong. And if so, if it had to do with him. Could she have found out who he was? But he didn’t have time to think about her for long because only minutes later the morning orders began pouring in.

Again, the day went by fast. He barely saw P.J. When he passed her desk, she always seemed to be somewhere else, and she wasn’t around at lunchtime, either. And when he did see her, she never stopped to talk, not even for a few minutes. By the end of the day, he had the distinct feeling she was purposely avoiding him.