LITMIR.BIZ

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      Five

      “They have a unique take on the market,” Todd said from his seat across the conference table. “This would be a new area for us. We’ve talked about expanding and—”

      Todd broke off and tossed down the folder. “Am I boring you?”

      Ryan glanced at his cousin, then at the paperwork in front of him. “It sounds like a great opportunity.”

      Todd glowered at him. “You could at least pretend to care about the damn business. What’s wrong with you? It’s not that Nelson woman again? It can’t be. It’s been too long.”

      Not for him, Ryan thought, feeling both angry with himself and resigned to the situation. His attempts to contact Julie had gotten him nowhere. He’d blown it and he had to accept that. The thing was, he didn’t want to.

      Todd leaned toward him. “Dammit, Ryan, what’s the big deal? Women have been after us since we were fifteen years old. The money is just too hard to resist. We’re both sick of being the catch of the day. So why now? Why this woman?”

      “An excellent question,” Ryan admitted. “I don’t have an answer except to say she was amazing and I destroyed any chance I had with her.”

      “So you pretended to be me,” Todd said. “What’s the big deal? If she’s all that, then why can’t she see the humor in the situation?”

      Ryan didn’t answer. He’d given Todd a very abbreviated version of his date with Julie, leaving out the fact that he’d spent the night.

      “I swear, Aunt Ruth can be a pain,” Todd muttered. “When she suggested I marry one of her granddaughters, I wanted to choke her.”

      “I wanted to help,” Ryan said, knowing he’d gone into the situation willingly. The idea of exacting a little revenge had been too appealing to ignore.

      He’d let his pride take charge, always a dangerous decision.

      “Julie didn’t do anything wrong,” he said, more to himself than Todd, “and I hurt her.”

      “She was willing to go out with a man for money,” Todd pointed out. “That’s something.”

      Despite feeling like roadkill, Ryan smiled. “The date was free. I told her she should have held out for at least fifty thousand. After all, there had to be something significantly wrong with you for your own aunt to have to pay someone to marry you.”

      Predictably, Todd bristled. “She’s my aunt by marriage and there’s nothing wrong with me.”

      He and Todd were enough alike that Ryan had to agree. Despite only being cousins, they were so similar in appearance that they had often been asked if they were twins. But for once, he and Todd were going to part company. On the issue of Julie Nelson, Ryan could only have regrets.

      “You’re going to have to forget her,” Todd said.

      “I will.” In time. The question was, how long would it take?

      “Look at the bright side. If this went as badly as you said, I don’t have to worry about the other Nelson sisters wanting to marry me. So you’ve derailed Aunt Ruth.”

      “She’ll come up with another plan. You know she wants to see us both married. You got picked first because you’re a whole couple of months older, but my time is coming.”

      He had the sudden thought that if he had been picked first, then his date with Julie would have been real. He would have gone, expecting nothing, determined to get rid of Julie as quickly as possible, and she still would have won him over.

      He felt both sad and angry at the thought. Yes, he’d screwed up. He was willing to admit that, even crawl a little. Why was she so stubborn? Was the situation really that unrecoverable?

      He already knew the answer and, as he only had himself to blame, he had nowhere to put the excess emotion.

      “I’m going to the gym,” he said as he stood. Maybe a couple of hours on the running track or in the weight room would allow him to sleep tonight. Or at the very least, forget for a few minutes.

      But before he could leave, the door to the conference room opened and his secretary stepped in.

      “Sorry to interrupt, but there’s someone here to see Ryan. A Julie Nelson. She says it’s important. Should I show her in?”

      Todd looked at Ryan. “She must have checked out your latest financials and realized it’s a hell of a lot of money.”

      “Shut up,” Ryan said without looking at him. “Yes, Mandy, please show her in.”

      Seconds later Julie walked into the room. His chest tightened and he felt as stupid and clueless as a high-school sophomore on his first date. Relief, desire and excitement battled for his attention.

      She was gorgeous—tall and blond with blue eyes that flashed her every emotion. Right now they held a combination of controlled rage and contempt.

      “Good morning,” she said, her voice as low and sexy as it had been every night in his dreams. The navy power suit she wore concealed more than it showed, but he remembered the curves and soft skin underneath. Dear God, he remembered.

      She glanced from him to Todd, then smiled coldly.

      “There’s enough similarity in your appearance for me to know who you are,” she said. “The infamous Todd Aston III. It’s my lucky day. Two snakes for the price of one. The liar and the man afraid to do his own dirty work. Your mothers must be so proud.”

      Todd raised his eyebrows and nodded slightly. Ryan knew his cousin well enough to read his thoughts. Todd was impressed that Julie wasn’t stupid and wasn’t begging. If Julie had known that, she would have probably told Todd he needed to date a wider range of women.

      Ryan liked that he could predict what she was going to say—only the talent wouldn’t have much use. From the looks of things, she hadn’t dropped in to forgive him.

      “I didn’t expect to see you again,” Ryan told her.

      “It’s all about net worth,” Todd said, staring at Julie. “Isn’t it?”

      “I’d wondered why your aunt felt it necessary to offer money to get someone to marry you,” Julie said calmly. “I’d thought the reason might have something to do with a physical impairment. Now I realize the flaw is in your personality. How unfortunate and much more difficult to fix.” She looked at Ryan. “I need to speak with you privately. Now is a good time for me.”

      Todd stood, then raised both his hands in the air. “I’ll leave,” he said to Ryan. “Later you can try to explain what exactly it was that you missed.”

      With that he left. Ryan pointed at the empty chairs around the table. “Have a seat.”

      She hesitated, then sat down. He could feel the anger radiating from her.

      “I called,” he said, knowing it was pointless, but still compelled to make the effort.

      “I got the messages.”

      “And the basket?”

      “That’s not why I’m here.”

      “You never said thank you.”

      Her eyes widened in outrage. “Excuse me? You’re the one who lied. You made horrible assumptions about me and you lied about who you were and what you wanted and you’re trying to take me to task because I didn’t send a thank-you note?”

      “I …”

      She stood, which forced him to his feet.

      “You lied,” she repeated. “I don’t do liars. I could have handled pretty much anything else, but no. That would have been too easy.”

      “You were there because of the money,” he said, in

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