Regarding The Tycoon's Toddler...

She forced herself to move closer and hold out her hand to him. “I’m Lindsey,” she said simply, not about to make this any more formal than necessary. She didn’t need more barriers between them. “Just a few minutes, that’s all we’ll need. Not a lot of time. A brief meeting.”

He put the jacket over his shoulder, looping his finger in the collar, then took her hand in his. She’d known there was strength in his hands. She’d felt it when they’d kept her from falling in the stairwell. But she wasn’t prepared for a jolt of awareness when his hand closed over hers. Or the heat that radiated from him. Or the sudden dryness in her mouth at the contact.

“A few minutes,” he murmured.

She barely kept a sigh of relief from escaping as she eased her hand back. She needed to think clearly to make these few minutes count. And if she had contact with him, she just couldn’t think with any clarity. On some level she wouldn’t explore, the man was damn sexy. That was dangerous. Diverting. She didn’t need that. “Okay, let’s get right to the point,” she said, gripping her purse strap that was looped over her shoulder.

“We’ll have to talk on the way out,” he said.

“Sure, that’s fine,” she said, taking what she could get, but hoping for some miracle that would make the man stop long enough to listen to her and understand what she needed. “If that’s it, I’ll take it.”

For a flashing moment she was certain he was going to smile. And it was the same as it had been the first time she thought she’d caught that expression. She literally held her breath, bracing herself for it. But the expression never came to pass, the shadow flitting away.

“Well, I can walk and talk at the same time if you can,” he said.

“Sure, of course.” Nerves, that’s what it was. It was making her neck ache, and she eased her grip on the purse strap. Her hand was almost numb from clenching the leather. Nerves. And she only had a few minutes to do what she had to do. “Should I just start, then you can ask any questions you have?”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” he murmured. He turned, flipped open his briefcase, dropped the pen into an inside pocket, closed the case and gripped it in his free hand. “Go ahead,” he said as he turned and strode past her toward the door.

She hurried after him, out into the corridor, walking quickly to keep up with his long stride. It really would take a miracle to make this man stop, even for a few minutes. Somehow she knew that this man was seldom still, that there was always an impatience to get on with things.

“As I see it—” she started quickly, double stepping to get closer to him “—it’s all about doing right by a child, giving the security that child needs, and giving that child attention in good surroundings. Making that child feel safe.”

She wasn’t sure he was even listening to her, until he spoke over his shoulder. “Okay, quality time and care. Sounds good to me.”

She was a bit taken back that he seemed to be agreeing. She saw a glimmer of hope. “Children are so precious, and they need to know that. I guess you could use that term ‘quality time,’ but I’m getting a bit sick of it. It’s used as an excuse to ignore the child for the rest of the time. But children need attention and reassurance and—”

She cut off her own words, when he unexpectedly stopped by the door to Zane Holden’s office complex, the empty offices she’d left moments ago. “Let’s go through here,” he said as he pushed the door open and went inside.

For a moment she thought Zane Holden might be around, that she could talk directly to him. But the offices were as empty as they had been earlier. She followed this man, who was like a human whirlwind, drawing everything in his path along with him. Including her. She crossed the conspicuously upscale den-like area and followed him through a door on the far side.

They were in a positively expansive room with walls of glass, a desk that looked as if it floated over a huge chunk of marble and metal, and pictures everywhere. But these were pictures of buildings, of partially completely blueprints. There were two solid walls, and she didn’t have a clue how they could “go through” here and get anywhere. But Terrel didn’t stop. He tossed his jacket on a very messy desk, reached for some papers, put them in his briefcase. He slipped on the jacket and tugged at his cuffs as he looked at her.

“Is it time for questions?” he asked.

“Excuse me?”

He took the pen out of the briefcase, tucked it into an inner pocket of his jacket, then closed the case. “You stopped talking, so I assumed it was question time.”

Was he serious? The man was totally unreadable when he looked at her, so she said the truth. “I was just looking at this place. I mean, it’s big enough to house a small nation and then some. It’s huge.”

He glanced at the room. “I guess it is. But it’s just an office.”

“Nice office,” she murmured.

“Can I ask you something?”

She was wasting precious time. “I’m not finished. I didn’t mean to give you the impression that that was all there was.”

“It’s not about child care. I wanted to know where you heard the things you repeated in the stairwell.”

Obviously the man wasn’t about to forget, so she had to watch every word. Being vague was her best bet. “Why?”

“Well, from where I sit, you’re not a long-term employee around here. You don’t own stock in the company, do you?”

“Of course not.”

“Then, where did you get all that from?”

She could say How stupid do you think people around here are? but she caught herself. Vague. She had to be vague and unoffensive. “I just listened to some people around here talking. It seemed to be the main topic of conversation. I told you, I didn’t mean to offend. I have this terrible habit of just saying what I think, and I’m working on changing that.”

He shrugged, tugging at his cuffs again. “Maybe you should,” he said.

She felt fire in her face. But thankfully he never saw it. He turned to get his briefcase, picked it up and said, “Go on. We don’t have much time.”

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