Brenda Harlen – The Engagement Project / Her Surprise Hero: The Engagement Project / Her Surprise Hero (страница 3)
“I asked Anne-Marie to set aside the cutest little dress that I know will look fabulous on you,” Ashley had told her.
Nothing had ever looked fabulous on Megan’s shapeless frame, but she hadn’t disputed her sister’s statement. There was no changing Ashley’s mind once it was made up and if she wanted her to buy this dress, Megan would buy the dress. It was certainly an easier solution than having to pick something out on her own.
She headed through the maze of halls toward the boutique. Thirteen minutes later—three of which were taken up with a phone call from Ashley, who wanted to make sure Megan hadn’t forgotten to stop at the mall and then, when she realized her sister was in the boutique, convinced her to let Anne-Marie pick out some jewelry to go with the dress—she was on her way back out again. A relatively quick and painless shopping experience, Megan thought gratefully, as she retraced her steps toward the exit.
An opinion that quickly changed when she stood at the doors and stared out at the rain pounding down on the pavement. With a sigh, she folded the dress bag over her arm and pushed open the door. She was halfway to her car when she realized her keys weren’t in her pocket—and totally drenched by the time she turned around again.
She tracked her keys down in Chaundra’s Boutique, by the register where she’d set them down to answer her sister’s call. She thanked the perpetually smiling Anne Marie again and left the store, wondering how anyone could be so perky all the time, thanking her lucky stars that she worked in the lab where smiling was optional.
Then she turned the corner and walked into a brick wall.
Okay, so it only felt like a brick wall, Megan acknowledged. What it was, in reality, was a man’s chest.
She berated herself for her clumsiness as she lifted her gaze and prepared to apologize. But the words stuck in her throat when she pushed her soggy bangs away from her face and recognized the man standing in front of her.
Gage Richmond.
The younger son of the CEO of Richmond Pharmaceuticals. The man whose mere presence always made her pulse race and her knees quiver.
The first time she’d met him, on her first day of work at the R.P. lab, she’d nearly melted in a puddle at his feet just because he shook her hand. The man was seriously hot—and Megan had been seriously smitten. Not that she would ever admit it, of course. In fact, she went out of her way to avoid him whenever possible because she didn’t want him to know that her heart beat a little bit faster whenever he was near. And she didn’t want to acknowledge—even to herself—that she was shallow enough to be attracted to a hard body and sexy smile, especially considering her past experience with his type.
On the other hand, no one she’d ever known quite measured up to Gage Richmond. He had thick, light brown hair that curled just above the collar of his shirt, stunning golden brown eyes surrounded by unbelievably long lashes, a strong square jaw and a temptingly shaped mouth. And then there was his body—a long and lean six feet two inches of delicious and delectable male.
“Sorry about that,” he said, holding out the keys that had slipped from her grasp when they’d collided.
“My fault,” she managed to reply, looking away again and desperately hoping that he wouldn’t recognize her.
“No, it was mine. I wasn’t paying attention to where I was going.” Then he destroyed her meager hope by saying, “It’s Megan, right?”
She nodded, a little surprised that he’d remembered. Men like Gage Richmond didn’t usually notice women like her, despite the fact that she’d worked for his father’s company for almost three years.
“I guess it’s really raining out there now,” he said.
“I wouldn’t know,” she said. “I generally just drench myself before coming out in public because I like the wet look.”
Ashley had often said her tendency to hide her fears and insecurities behind sarcasm was going to get her in trouble someday and, even as the words spilled out of Megan’s mouth, she wished she could yank them back.
But Gage only grinned. “I’d say it’s a good look for you except that you’re shivering.”
“The price women pay to be fashionable.”
“How about a cup of coffee to warm you up?”
Gage Richmond was asking
“Or don’t you drink coffee?” he prompted.
“No,” she said. “I mean, yes. I do drink coffee. But I’m not drinking coffee now. I mean, I don’t want any coffee. I want to go home.”
Megan could hear the words tumbling out of her mouth, but didn’t seem able to stop them. If they’d been in California, she could hope that the ground would open up and swallow her whole. But in Pinehurst, New York, earthquakes were extremely rare, so she was forced to live with the humiliating knowledge that she’d made a complete fool of herself in front of her boss’s son.
But Gage either didn’t notice or didn’t care that she was rambling almost incoherently, because he asked, “Is there anything I can say that would talk you into hanging around for another half an hour or so?”
“Why do you want me to hang around?” she asked bluntly.
He lifted one broad shoulder in a half shrug. “I’m kind of stuck trying to figure out a birthday present and I would really appreciate a woman’s input.”
“A birthday present?”
“For my seven-year-old niece,” he clarified.
“I don’t know a lot about kids,” she told him.
“Yeah, but you probably know more than me. Please?”
It wasn’t the word so much as the silent entreaty in those golden brown eyes. And if there was a woman alive who could say “no” to such a plea—and Gage’s reputation led her to believe that there wasn’t—she’d have to be a stronger woman than Megan because, even while her mind was scrambling for a reason to refuse, she was nodding her head.
Between his four nieces, Gage had garnered a lot of experience in gift buying over the past several years, most of it successful. But he always seemed to strike out where Lucy was concerned.
His youngest niece was a mystery to him. With the other girls, at least when they were younger, he could usually go into any store and pick up the newest and hottest toy. Of course, Gracie was almost a teenager now, so gift certificates to her favorite clothing stores were an obvious solution. The twins, Eryn and Allie, were close to the double digits and though they had little in common aside from their golden hair and green eyes, were both easily pleased. But Lucy, on the verge of her seventh birthday, continued to baffle him.
She was quiet—which maybe wasn’t so unusual considering that she was the youngest of four sisters—and very intense. Whatever she did, she did with 100 percent of her attention on the task, whether that task was reading a book, building a LEGO sculpture or kicking a soccer ball. He’d never known anyone—especially not a child—with such focus.
But the first time he’d met Megan Roarke, he’d been struck by the uncanny sense that he’d just been introduced to the woman his youngest niece would be twenty years in the future. It was more than that they were both blue-eyed blondes—it was the quiet intelligence that shone in their eyes and the concentrated intensity with which they applied themselves to a challenge. So he figured it had to be some kind of sign that he’d arrived at the mall to search for a birthday gift and he’d found the research scientist instead.
He led the way to the toy store and she followed. He knew she wasn’t the type to talk unless she had something to say and he didn’t mind the silence. It was a pleasant change from frivolous conversation, although he did wonder why she didn’t seem to want to talk to and flirt with him, as most women—and particularly those who knew him as the boss’s youngest and only unmarried son—were inclined to do.
He pondered this thought as he negotiated through the maze of promotional displays and sale items toward the back section of the store. Then he wondered why he was pondering. So what if Megan wasn’t interested in him? He wasn’t interested in her, either. She was far too staid, too serious, not at all the type of woman he usually dated.
Of course, he hadn’t dated much at all in the past year and he wasn’t looking for a date now. He was just looking for help in picking out a birthday gift for his niece.
Megan’s eyes widened as she turned down an aisle that was stacked floor to ceiling with pink packages of various shapes and sizes.
“This is where I generally start,” he told her. “Usually as long as it’s something new and in a big box, Eryn and Allie are happy.”
“Then why do you need my help?”
“Because it’s Lucy’s birthday.”
“How many nieces do you have?”
“Four,” he answered. “Lucy, who’s going to be seven, is the youngest, the twins—Eryn and Allie—are almost ten and Gracie is twelve.”
“I really don’t know a lot about kids,” Megan said again.
“But you have an advantage over me in that you were once a seven-year-old girl yourself.”
“A very long time ago.”
He didn’t believe it was so very long ago. In fact, considering that she’d completed her master’s degree in biochemistry at Columbia University just shortly before she’d started working at Richmond Pharmaceuticals, he would bet she couldn’t be more than twenty-eight.