Total pages in book: 166
Estimated words: 156145 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 781(@200wpm)___ 625(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 156145 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 781(@200wpm)___ 625(@250wpm)___ 520(@300wpm)
“Gideon. Sit, please.” She motioned at the chairs in front of the desk.
Maybe she could pretend this was like any other job interview, but he couldn’t stop staring at her. She wore a dark gray dress that set off her pale skin and dark hair, leaving the only color present in her blue eyes and red lips. It created a striking picture. The woman was a goddamn gift. She always had been.
Jeff, you fucked things up beyond all recognition when you threw her away.
Focus.
She hadn’t arranged this meeting because of their past. If she could be professional, then he’d manage, as well. It was the least he could do.
Gideon sank into the chair and leaned forward, bracing his elbows on his knees. “You said this was about a job.”
“Yes.” A faint blush colored her pale cheeks, highlighting the smattering of freckles there. “This is confidential, of course.”
It wasn’t quite a question, but he answered it anyway. “I didn’t put together a nondisclosure, but I can do that if you need to make it official.”
“That won’t be necessary. Your word that it stays between us will be enough.”
Curiosity curled through him. He’d had clients insist on confidentiality in the past—it was more the rule than the exception—but this felt different. He set the thought aside and focused on the job. “It would help if you’d describe the position you want filled. It gives me a general idea of what you’re looking for, and we can narrow it down from there.”
She met his gaze directly, her blue eyes startling. “The position I need filled is a husband.”
Gideon shook his head, sure he’d heard her wrong. “Excuse me?”
“A husband.” She held up her left hand and wiggled her ring finger. “Before you get that look on your face, let me explain.”
He didn’t have any look on his face. A husband. Where the fuck does she think I’m going to find a husband? He opened his mouth to ask exactly that, but Lucy beat him there. “The timing isn’t ideal, but gossip has come down the grapevine that I’m being considered for partner at the end of the year. While that would normally be a cause for celebration, some of the old guard have very strong beliefs about single women.” She rolled her eyes, the first Lucy thing he’d seen her do since he’d arrived. “It would be laughable if it wasn’t standing in the way of what I want, but I watched Georgia get passed over for a promotion last year for this exact reason. She wouldn’t bend and they chose her male competition instead.”
She was dead serious.
Gideon took a breath, trying to approach this logically. Obviously she’d put a lot of thought into the idea, and if she was misguided, that didn’t mean he had to verbally slap her down. This Lucy, put-together and in control, was a far cry from when he’d seen her last, sobbing and broken. But that didn’t change the fact that they were one and the same. He could handle this calmly and get her to see reason.
But calm and reasonable wasn’t what came out of his mouth. “Are you out of your goddamn mind, Lucy? I’m a headhunter—not a matchmaker. Even if I was, getting married to secure a promotion is bullshit.”
“Is it?” She shrugged. “People get married for much less valid reasons. I almost married for love before, and we both know how that ended. There’s nothing wrong with handling marriage like a business arrangement—plenty of cultures do exactly that.”
“We aren’t talking about other cultures. We’re talking about you.”
Another shrug. As if it didn’t matter to her one way or another. He loathed that feigned indifference, but he didn’t have a goddamn right to challenge her on it.
She met his gaze directly. “This is important to me, Gideon. I don’t know about kids—I love my job, and having babies would potentially interfere with that—but I’m lonely. It wouldn’t be so bad to have someone to come home to, even if it wasn’t a love for the ages. Especially if it’s not a love for the ages.”
“Lucy, that’s crazy.” Every word out of her mouth cut into the barrier of professionalism he fought so hard to maintain. “Where the hell would I find you a husband?”
“The same place you find people to fill the positions normally. Interview. We’re in New York—if you can’t find a single man who’s willing to at least consider this, then no one can.”
Gideon started to tell her exactly how impossible it was, but guilt rose and choked the words off. He thought this plan was bat-shit crazy, and the thought of Lucy in some loveless marriage irritated him like sandpaper beneath his skin, scratching until he might go mad from it.
But it wasn’t his call to make.
And he was partially to blame for her single status right now.