LITMIR.BIZ

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      The meeting was not a success.

      They came up with zip. The alternative features simply wouldn’t do. Either the slant was wrong or the story wasn’t big enough for the cover. There was nothing in the works that could effectively be moved up. Fresh ideas were in short supply.

      Arnie told her to “work it out” and get back to him by the end of the day.

      After the meeting, there was lunch. B.J. took a pass on that. She ate more crackers from the box she’d stowed in her desk and drank some water and racked her exhausted brain for a solution to the cover-feature dilemma. Racking did nothing. Her brain refused to spit out a single viable idea.

      The afternoon brought more meetings. Tense ones. She made frequent trips to the restroom and avoided the eyes of her colleagues. When she wasn’t in a meeting or hugging the toilet bowl, she received sniggering and/or sympathetic calls from acquaintances and associates who had seen—one even went so far as to say she had devoured—the “Man-Eater” article.

      At four-thirty she met with Arnie again—to tell him she’d have something for him by the next day. Arnie was not pleased.

      At five, as she and Giles were brainstorming madly, her outside line, set on silent page, began flashing. She glanced at the display. Her father. So not the person she wanted to talk to right then. But also not someone she could ignore.

      “L.T.,” she said to Giles. Her father’s name was Langly Titus, but everyone, including B.J., called him L.T.

      Giles nodded, got up, and left her alone.

      She picked up. “Hello, L.T.”

      “We need to talk,” said her father, and then fell silent. L. T. Carlyle fully understood the power of silence. He would make pronouncements, then wait. And wait some more. First one to speak was the loser. L.T. never lost.

      B.J. allowed a full count of ten to elapse before prompting wearily, “About?”

      More silence. Then, at last, “First, and of minimal importance, that pissant, Wayne Epstein.”

      “Wyatt. Wyatt Epperstall,” she patiently corrected as her stomach gave a nasty little lurch. So. L.T. had read the “Man-Eater” article. She wasn’t surprised. Though he rarely left his world-famous mansion, Castle Carlyle, upstate, L.T. made it his business to know just about everything that was going on in the outside world. He subscribed to every newspaper and magazine known to man, TopMale included. And he could read two thousand words a minute.

      “Wyatt, schmyatt,” grumbled L.T. “A wimpy, whiny-assed piece of work if ever there was one. Didn’t I warn you about him?”

      “Yes,” she said carefully. “I believe that you did.”

      L.T. laughed his lusty laugh. “But I have to say, B.J.

      You make your old dad proud.”

      “Oh? How’s that?” she asked, though she knew she wouldn’t like the answer.

      She didn’t.

      He said, “‘Manhattan Man-Eater.’ That’s my girl. Tough, smart and always on top. Takes after her old man, and that is no lie.”

      “Gee, L.T. I never thought of it that way.”

      “Do I detect a note of sarcasm? Stand tall. Be proud. Let the Waldos of the world whine and whimper.”

      “Wyatt. The weasel’s name is Wyatt. And I’m sorry. But I don’t see it that way. That article just happens to be a total invasion of my privacy.”

      Her father swore. Eloquently. “B.J. You shame me. You’ve got to do something about that Puritanical streak.”

      That was way below the belt. B.J. was no Puritan, far from it. But she wasn’t an exhibitionist either. She wanted the details of her private life to remain exactly that: private.

      She said nothing. She told herself she was exercising the power of silence on L.T. for a change, though in reality she was simply too frustrated and miserable at that moment to speak. Her head pounded and her stomach kept threatening to eject its contents all over her desk pad.

      She hated to admit it, but maybe she should have stayed home today, after all.

      L.T. moved right on to the next item on his agenda.

      “I heard about the Three Wise Men.” Again, no surprise. Arnie would have called him. “Too bad, so sad. And I’ve got it covered.”

      She sat a little straighter. “Meaning?”

      “I’m on top of the problem. I’ll tell you all about it. Tonight. Dinner at eight. Be here. We’ll put this situation to bed.”

      “A story?” She sounded ridiculously grateful—and she didn’t even care that she did. “You’ve got my Christmas feature story?”

      “I have. And it’s good. Very good. Puts those puny Wise Men to shame—if I do say so myself.”

      “The story. What is it?”

      “Tonight.”

      “L.T., I can’t. Not tonight. I’ll be here at the office until nine, at least. I have a mountain of work to…” She heard the click, right there in the middle of her sentence. Her father had hung up.

      During the limo ride upstate, B.J. tried to work. Her queasy stomach wasn’t going for it. She ended up staring out the window, tamping down her frustration and resentment that L.T. just had to step in, that he’d ordered her presence upstate and refused to listen when she tried to tell him she didn’t have time for the trip. The loss of the Wise Brothers was her problem, her challenge to handle as she saw fit.

      Or at least, it should have been.

      Then again…

      I’m a true professional, she reminded herself—which meant she’d take any help she could get. And as autocratic as he could be at times, her father was a genius when it came to knowing—and getting—what was needed for Alpha. So if L.T. said he had her cover story, he probably did.

      She shouldn’t be so put out with him—and she wasn’t, not really.

      Not any more than she was put out with her life in general in the past five days. Or maybe not so much put out as freaked out. Since the stick turned blue, as they say. Since the panel said pregnant.

      Six years since she called it quits with…B. She’d moved on. He’d moved on.

      And then, seven weeks ago, she’d run into him. Your classic Friday night at that great club in NoHo, the underground one with the incredible sound system. Fabulous music and one too many excellent Manhattans and they’d ended up at his place. She wasn’t careful—with B, that had always been her problem: a failure to be careful.

      Or one of her problems, anyway. To be painfully frank, there were several.

      So she’d slipped up, she’d reasoned, feeling like a drunk off the wagon, a junkie back on the stuff. Once in six years. That wasn’t so bad she kept telling herself. Oh, no. Not so bad. Not to worry. She wasn’t taking his calls. He was out of her life and she’d make absolutely certain that what had happened in September would never happen again…

      And then, just when she’d pretty much succeeded in convincing herself that one tiny slip-up did not a crisis make, she’d realized her period was late.

      Very late.

      Thus, the disastrous encounter with the pregnancy kit five mornings ago. Now, everything was all messed up all over again.

      And speaking of again, she was doing it. Again. Thinking about B, and what had happened with B and the result of what had happened with B—all of which was not to be thought about. Not tonight. Not…for a while.

      The limo rolled up to the iron gates that protected the Carlyle estate. The gates swung silently back. The

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