Dianne Drake – The Bachelor's Cinderella: The Frenchman's Plain-Jane Project (страница 16)
Automatically Meg placed her hand on his shoulder. “No, the whole thing looks great, very visually appealing, and I think in other instances we might use this particular font. Maybe down the line once we’ve started winning people over. For now, do you have something…I don’t know. Bold but still classic? Slightly edgier but not so much so that people will notice the font before the furniture?”
“Yes, that’s the problem, isn’t it?” he said. “I think…Yes, I’ve got just the thing. I’ll change this and get it back to you asap. And, Ms. Leighton?”
She blinked. She still wasn’t used to people calling her Ms. Leighton.
“Good eye,” the man said. “Mr. Gavard and I knew that something was off just a bit, but we hadn’t decided what.” And he went back to his work as if nothing out of the ordinary had happened.
For Meg, however, it was an amazing moment.
“I know it’s nothing,” she told Etienne, “but I didn’t really feel as if I was helping all that much until this moment. It felt as if I was playing at the job.”
“You’re joking, right? You’ve been running rings around all of us, Meg.”
“Not you.”
“Even me. You have a seemingly endless abundance of energy.” And then he smiled. There were those intriguing sexy dimples again. Her breathing kicked in. She concentrated on taking slow, deep breaths so that he wouldn’t see how he affected her.
“I just…when I’m worried, I tend to move faster, talk faster, do everything faster,” she admitted.
“We’re doing as much as we can. I don’t want you to make yourself sick,” he said.
“And I don’t want you to make yourself sick, either.” She raised her chin.
Etienne considered that. “I feel fine.”
“You’re driving yourself.”
“Bad habit,” he admitted.
“I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
“Don’t you, Meg?” he asked, and his words sounded like a caress. “Why not?”
“Because.” She crossed her arms.
He grinned. “Good reason.”
“I’m working on the reason. No, I know what the reason is, but you might think it’s silly.”
“There’s nothing wrong with silly. Sometimes.”
She considered that. “It’s just…you’ve been in Chicago for weeks. Have you actually seen any of the city? That is, I know that you know a lot about it, but while you’ve been here you haven’t had time to do anything except take care of Fieldman’s and me.”
“Ah, you’re worrying. Don’t worry, Meg. I like taking care of you.”
Those words, that deep voice, the way he was looking at her…For a second, Meg wanted to purr like Lightning, to lean in to him. But this wasn’t about her giving in to her foolish desires.
“Well…” she said. “That’s…that’s nice, but now I think it’s time that I took care of you.”
He raised that brow.
“Don’t do that.”
“Don’t do what?”
“You know. That thing you do with your eyebrow. You’re trying to distract me.”
He looked mildly amused. “I didn’t know it distracted you.”
She gave him a “you’ve got to be kidding” look, but she had made the comment about his eyebrow without thinking and now her thoughts were catching up to her words…as usual. It was probably better not to pursue this topic any further. She didn’t want to have to admit how susceptible to him she was.
“All this time you’ve been the one guiding me. I think…I
“For…?”
“Sightseeing. Playtime. You actually taking a breather from work and getting out into the city for something other than baby-sitting all of us. Me, being the guide for a change.”
“You’re going to take me out, Meg?”
Okay, she was blushing. She knew she was. Why had she ever thought that she wasn’t a blusher? Or, more to the point, why did she only seem to react this way with Etienne? She didn’t want to know.
“Is there something wrong with a friend taking a friend out to see the town?” she asked, tilting her chin high.
He grinned. “Not a thing, and yes, I’d be delighted to have you as my tour guide.”
They smiled at each other. The phone rang and Meg started to leave. Behind her, Etienne picked up the phone.
“I’m afraid that won’t be possible. When you sold the business to me, I made it clear that you were selling everything.”
Meg stopped in her tracks as Etienne’s voice broke the silence.
“You know that you have absolutely no claim to the Fieldman’s name,” he said. “And I’m not interested in allowing you to buy back in to the company in any way. Your association with the company and with everyone in it has ended. Don’t approach me or anyone here again. Don’t call.”
Meg’s heart started to pound. Hard. She turned back toward Etienne. Her eyes must look huge. She probably even looked a little scared, but she couldn’t help it. And she couldn’t help noticing that while Etienne’s voice had been as cool as ice, his jaw was tight and his hands were curled into fists.
“Has he called you before?” Her voice came out much too softly.
“Once. I barely managed not to ask him to meet me in a dark alley. After the way he treated you, it was what I wanted to do, and it would have made me feel a hell of a lot better to hit him. But getting into a physical altercation with Alan would only hurt you. He’s the kind who likes to bring very public lawsuits. But, Meg…”
She waited.
“He can’t hurt you. Or anyone here. I’ve made sure of that. I have an airtight contract. He has no legal recourse. Still, if he ever calls here or approaches you in any way, I want you to call me. I don’t think he’d be that stupid, but still…As much faith as I have in your abilities, I don’t want you to have to be the one to deal with him.”
Her heart stopped pounding. It melted. She barely managed a nod. “Thank you,” she said.
Etienne shook his head and gave her a crooked smile. “It’s just the way business goes,” he said, even though she knew that wasn’t true. “Now, weren’t we on the verge of going out to have fun?”
“I think I might have promised you something like that.”
That was how, just a few hours later, Meg found herself standing under The Bean in Millennium Park.
“It’s an odd nickname for something with a name as beautiful as Cloud Gate,” Etienne conceded of the highly reflective steel sculpture that did bear a striking resemblance to a bean. “But it’s a very beautiful and imposing structure. Look at us, Meg. Look what all that work is doing to our bodies,” he teased, as they stared at their distorted images in the sculpture.
She bopped him on the arm. “Etienne, you promised to transform me into a gorgeous woman, not this hideous creature I see here. What have you done to me, you evil man?” she teased.
A group of teenage tourists standing nearby gave the two of them a strange look, and Etienne held out his hands in mock surrender. “She’s been working much too hard,” he told them, and Meg couldn’t help laughing. “Her mind is going.”
“Maybe she’s a little crazy, but your woman has some fine legs,” a boy in the group said.
Etienne chuckled. “I couldn’t agree with you more,” he said.
“They think we’re strange,” Meg told him as the two of them moved on through the park.
“And involved,” Etienne pointed out.
Instantly Meg sobered. She didn’t want him to think that she was growing too attached to him. She didn’t want to grow too attached to him. “Well, at least
“And friends,” he reminded her.
“Yes. And this friend still has more to show you.” It was Thursday and there would be a concert at the Pritzker Pavilion later, but it hadn’t started yet, so they walked over to the Crown Fountain, two huge structures connected by a reflecting pool and projecting the everchanging images of over one thousand Chicago residents. “The kids love it when an image opens its mouth and water flows out. It’s pretty cool. Come on.” And without another word, Meg took off her shoes, held them in one hand and walked out into the reflecting pool.
Etienne shook his head and followed suit. “When you told me you were going to take me sightseeing, I was picturing something more dignified.”
“Museums?”
“Maybe.”
“Theater?”