“Okay.” Frankie turned back to the half-completed report on her desk as Sharon disappeared, the quick tap of her heels fading away down the hall.
Anticipation buoyed Frankie over the next day. But Friday morning brought disappointing news. Her department head emailed to tell her attendance was mandatory at an impromptu after-work cocktail party. She suspected her boss wanted to impress his superiors with the presence of the entire department.
Disappointed that she had to cancel her plans with Eli that evening, Frankie dialed his cell phone several times, but each time the call went immediately to his answering service. As the morning flew by and became afternoon, she grew more concerned that she wouldn’t be able to catch him before he left the house to pick her up at her condo.
She tried reaching him at the office, but when the message center picked up, she remembered Eli telling her that he’d given the secretaries the afternoon off. She left a message with the answering service but the operator couldn’t guarantee Eli would get it before Monday morning when the office staff returned and picked up messages.
Frankie hated the thought that Eli might think she’d stood him up but couldn’t think of another way to reach him.
Unless she could catch him on a job site, she thought with sudden inspiration.
She collected her purse and left her office in Liberty Hall. She was fairly certain she knew the address of the Wolf Construction site not far from campus. She had no idea whether Eli would be there or not, but she hoped to find someone who could tell her how to contact him. Within ten minutes, after a wrong turn that had her backing out of a dead-end street, she found the site.
The skeleton of what would become an upscale, five-story condo building rose in the air above her as she turned off the street and onto the bumpy dirt lot. Puddles of water left by the early morning downpour dotted the ground, and Frankie avoided them as best she could. Still, she knew her just-washed BMW would need another bath, and soon.
A contractor’s trailer stood at the end of the lot, and several pickup trucks were parked in front of it, two of which had Wolf Construction logos on their doors. Frankie hoped that meant Eli was in the trailer, and she mentally crossed her fingers as she parked next to one of the trucks and got out.
Skirting a muddy puddle, she climbed the two wooden steps and knocked on the metal trailer door.
“Come in.”
Frankie didn’t recognize the deep male voice, but nevertheless she pushed the door open and stepped inside, halting abruptly.
Three men stood at a drafting table that was littered with blueprints and notes. A fourth man, his eyes bright blue in a lined face below a shock of white hair, sat in a battered office chair, one foot propped on the opposite knee as he leaned back.
None of the four were Eli. All of them were big, broad and dressed alike in faded jeans, plaid flannel shirts and muddy work boots. And all of them watched her with alert male gazes.
Frankie returned their interested stares with a friendly but reserved glance. She’d never met Eli’s brothers or his grandfather, but the resemblance was unmistakable. These four had to be related to him.
“Hello. I’m looking for Eli Wolf.”
“I’m his brother Connor,” one of three men at the table drawled. “You’re too pretty for Eli, honey. I’d be happy to help you—with whatever you need.”
Taken aback, Frankie was speechless for only a second before the twinkle in Connor’s eye reassured her. She smiled. “Sorry—honey—but it’s Eli I need to find.”
“Smart woman.”
The deep, amused voice came from her left, and before Frankie could fully turn, Eli slipped an arm around her waist and bent to brush a quick kiss against her cheek.
“Hi, Frankie. What are you doing here?”
“I’ve been trying to reach you, but you didn’t answer your cell phone,” she told him. “I have to go to a faculty cocktail party right after work, so I can’t make dinner at Harry’s tonight. I’m sorry to cancel so late, but my boss just informed me attendance is mandatory. Apparently, the department head wants to impress the university president with our show of support.” She grimaced. “I’d rather spend an hour or two being tortured by cannibals, but I can’t get out of it.”
“Sounds pretty bad,” he said with sympathy. “Did you let your mom know we won’t be able to join her at Harry’s?”
She nodded. “Mom said she’d apologize to Harry for me.” She looked up at him. “You should go, anyway—everyone has to eat, right? And maybe you could pin Harry down about the contract.”
He shook his head. “No, thanks—I think I’ll pass.” He smiled, a slow curve of his lips that made her breath hitch. “Just wouldn’t be the same without you.”
“I hate to interrupt you two,” Connor broke in. “But don’t you think you should introduce us to the lady, Eli?”
Frankie had been so focused on Eli that she’d all but forgotten the presence of the other four men. Now she realized they were all watching her and Eli with interest and curiosity. Even the older man had a curious gleam in his eye.
“Sorry,” Eli said easily, clearly not the slightest bit concerned at Connor’s inference he’d been lacking in manners. “Frankie Fairchild, these are my brothers—Connor, Ethan and Matthew. And the gentleman in the chair there is our grandfather, Jack.” He bent to whisper in her ear, loud enough that the others could hear. “All of them are disreputable and untrustworthy, and they cheat at cards—so watch out if you ever get in a poker game with them.”
“Good afternoon,” Frankie said, her amused gaze meeting each of theirs. Eli’s three brothers were as tall, brawny and as handsome—each in his own way—as Eli. They all had coal-black hair and blue eyes and an air of assured male strength. In fact, she thought dazedly, the amount of testosterone filling the air was palpable. She glanced at Jack and found him watching her shrewdly. She felt her cheeks warm under his knowing gaze.
“They’re kind of overwhelming, all in one room, aren’t they, missy?” he asked, his blue eyes warming. “Just like their grandpa, they have to beat women off with a stick.”
“Geez, Granddad,” Matt groaned, giving Frankie an apologetic look. “Sorry, Frankie. We can dress him up but can’t take him out—not anywhere in polite company, at least.”
“Hmmph,” the older man snorted. “Who’d have guessed I’d run into polite company in a construction trailer? Usually it’s just you four, and you don’t qualify as polite.”
Frankie laughed out loud. She could easily see the affection between the four brothers and their grandfather and was charmed. “I’d better get going.” Frankie looked up at Eli and found him watching her, his blue eyes half concealed by thick lashes as he looked down at her. “I’m keeping you from your work, and I have a class in—” she glanced at her wristwatch “—twenty-five minutes. I’ll leave and let you all get back to what you were doing.” She waved a hand at the drafting table with its unrolled stack of blueprints held flat by a large rock sitting on each corner.
“You’re not keeping us from work,” Eli told her.
“Not at all,” Ethan added, his voice a slow, deep drawl.
“We were all tired of looking at these damn blueprints,” Connor added.
“Nevertheless, I’d better get back to campus.” Frankie turned, and Eli was there before her, opening the door and holding it for her. “It was nice to meet you,” she told the four Wolf men.
They echoed a chorus of goodbyes, and Frankie stepped outside, followed by Eli, who pulled the door shut.
“Where