Tempted by the Wrong Twin (Texas Cattleman's Club: Blackmail 8)
She shrugged. “I don’t tend to hang out at the water cooler.”
“I seem to have let part of your secret out,” he said, clearly pleased with himself.
“It seems you have.”
With a finger under her chin, he tipped her face up to look into her eyes. “Are you sorry?”
“Not really,” she said, and realized it was true. “I wasn’t deliberately keeping it a secret, I just haven’t told anyone. I’m normally fairly self-contained.”
He smiled knowingly. “Seems I’m not the only one with hermit tendencies.”
“I suppose that’s true.” She’d never thought of herself as a hermit or considered cutting herself off from people the way Nick had since he’d returned home, but she had always been a bit of a loner. “You’ve been physically isolating yourself, and it’s probably fair to say I emotionally isolate myself.”
“Well, maybe you used to emotionally isolate yourself,” he said. “Now you’re married with two babies on the way and stepmother to a three-year-old.”
“And I’m adjusting,” she said, attempting a reassuring smile before adding, “slowly.”
“How about we help it along a little?” His voice was deep and smooth and laced with mischief, daring her to put a foot out of line.
“How?” she asked, equal parts curious and wary.
Raising an eyebrow and keeping her gaze, he lifted her left hand up to shoulder height and pointed to her wedding ring, then his own. The murmurings floating through her door increased to a buzz.
She laughed and rested her forehead against his chest. “Not into subtlety?”
“Not really my forte.” He stepped back, smiled generously at the crowd then placed a hand on Harper’s stomach. The assembled group—which, by now, was almost the entire staff of the company—gave up any pretense of being there for any other reason but gawking. They clearly thought they were at the unveiling of a secret office romance between the CEO and the company attorney—the most delicious piece of gossip all year. Most people were grinning, a couple had their mouths open in a wide O, and Tom gave her a double thumbs-up.
Harper blew out a breath and caved in—she gave her coworkers a little wave and then put her hand over Nick’s on her stomach.
“You know,” she said, “it’s going to be impossible to get any work done for the rest of the day.”
“Worse things have happened.”
“You should care about this, as a co-owner of the company.”
“As a co-owner of the company, I find this scenario more amusing and satisfying than a few extra hours of completed work.”
The elevator pinged, and the doors slid open, revealing Malcolm. The murmuring stopped as the actual CEO walked through, glancing around, clearly wondering why the people he paid to work at these desks weren’t actually doing that.
Then he caught sight of his brother, and understanding dawned on his face. He headed over to them. The silence dissolved, and the gathered people realized that they hadn’t just witnessed a scene between Harper and Malcolm—which was juicy enough—but this was, in fact, a rare sighting of the fabled identical twin. The buzz began again, people not even bothering to whisper anymore as they shared tidbits of information they had about the other partner in Tate Armor.
“So,” Malcolm said as he reached Harper’s office door, “the newlyweds can stop traffic. That’s as good an omen as any for a marriage. Though I’d be careful with these displays of unprofessional behavior in the office, Nick. One of the company owners is ex-military, and I hear he takes the professionalism of his staff very seriously.”
Nick rested an arm around Harper’s shoulders. “Our marriage doesn’t need good omens—it’s doing fine on its own. In fact, I’m here to take my wife out to lunch.”
Malcolm checked his watch, his face deadpan. “Is it that time already? I haven’t had lunch, either. I might join you.”
Harper was enjoying the banter between the brothers, but Nick clearly wasn’t in the mood. “This is a private lunch date,” he said and tugged on
Harper’s hand.
She grabbed her bag and let him lead her to the elevator. Nick hit the down button, the doors whooshed open and they stepped in. As she turned, she saw all her coworkers and boss gathered together, having been thoroughly entertained by her and Nick, and instead of finding it intrusive or a nuisance, as she would have a few weeks ago, she felt stirrings of mischievousness. Like she was playing hooky by going out to lunch...and enjoying it. Just before the doors closed, she bit down on a grin and gave another little wave to the crowd.
* * *
When they reached the security desk just inside the building’s front doors, Nick stopped to thank Steve, the guard, and pick up Frank, who’d been sleeping behind the desk.
The dog even looked a little pleased to see him. When Nick had left him there on his way to get Harper, Frank had seemed to accept it as if he was being handed to yet another owner. The fact that he seemed to be moderately pleased to be back with Nick was an improvement.