The phone rang and she jumped, grabbing it.
“Hello?” she said breathlessly, expecting bad news, just because it seemed to be that sort of day.
“Maggie?” Her friend Sharon sounded surprised. “Are you okay?”
“Oh.” Maggie tried to laugh. “Of course I am. I was just…sort of rushing around here when you called and you startled me.”
“Oh.” Sharon sounded a bit bewildered, but ready to accept the explanation as offered. “Well, listen. A bunch of us are going out to the Copper Penny for lunch, and I was just wondering…would you like to come along?”
Maggie grimaced. It was awfully nice of Sharon to include her. As the administrative assistant to Kane Haley, she didn’t often get treated like “one of the girls.” And she loved the Copper Penny. They had the greatest Caesar salads. But she knew she had to decline.
“I’d love to, Sharon, but I’m afraid I’ve got too much work to do.”
The work wasn’t the reason. Money was. She couldn’t afford to go out to lunch any longer. She had to save every cent for her baby.
“I think I’ll just stay in the office and have a sandwich,” she told her friend.
“You want me to bring you one back?”
“No. No,” she said quickly. “Thanks, though. I brought one from home.”
“Okay. We’ll miss you.”
She chatted with her friend for another moment, then hung up, smiling as she replaced the receiver, but feeling just a hint of envy. Sharon was pregnant, too, but she wasn’t hiding it. And she had a group of good friends to support her, not to mention the baby’s father. It must be nice having all that help.
Suddenly Maggie felt very much alone. Placing her hand over her stomach, she thought of her baby. Was she really sure she’d done the right thing? Was she going to be able to make it on her own? And was it fair to her child? She wished she’d waited a while longer before doing this. If only she’d confided in a few people, talked it over, listened to some other experiences before she’d jumped into this. Now she was about to make her boss her only confidant. Nothing was turning out to be the way she’d expected.
Pushing aside doubts, she got very busy during the next half hour or so, and had to run down to Financial to discuss some statistics they’d sent up that morning. When she returned, she assumed her boss had gone out to lunch. She knew Hannah and Kate, the two secretaries in the adjoining office, had gone. The building was quiet. Everyone was either off at a restaurant or down in the cafeteria. Pulling her paper bag out of a bottom drawer, she spread the contents out on her desk and looked at it.
One simple peanut butter sandwich on wheat bread, with just a touch of marmalade, one little box of dried cranberries and an apple. She’d had the same thing for lunch every day for the last month. Staring down at it, she tried to work up some enthusiasm.
“Eating at your desk again?” Kane Haley came out of his office, startling her. He peered at her lunch bag, then at her paltry meal. “Peanut butter sandwiches?”
“They are very nutritious,” she replied defensively, unwrapping the plastic and placing the sandwich out on a napkin as she glanced his way.
He was so handsome, his skin tanned even in the depths of winter, his dark hair just unruly enough to look casual. All in all, he was a very sexy guy. Funny how she seemed to be noticing that more and more lately.
He raised one sleek dark eyebrow as he gazed at her skimpy sandwich with a sardonic twist to his mouth. “I’m sure they’re full of good things. But not exactly gourmet fare.”
“I can’t afford gourmet fare at this point.” She looked away quickly, feeling flustered and wishing he would go on toward the elevator and leave her alone.
But he seemed in no hurry to leave. Instead of heading for the exit, he casually propped himself on the corner of her desk, one leg swinging, as though he were planning to oversee her lunching activities.
“Why Maggie,” he said, his voice warm with teasing humor. “Are you angling for a raise?”
Her eyes widened. “No, sir, I…”
He laughed. “Don’t worry. I put in a great evaluation for you just last week. I’m sure there will be something for you when Personnel gets through with their calculations.”
“Oh.” She wanted to thank him, but she didn’t want to sound too desperate. Even if she was exactly that. “I’m…well, thank you very much, Mr. Haley.”
“Don’t thank me.” His smile made her toes curl. “Your work is tops and you know it. I’d rather lose an arm than lose you.”
That did it. Guilt choked her. How was she going to tell him? He’d been so great to her and here she was, pretty much betraying him with this pregnancy. No matter how she worked it, she was bound to leave him in the lurch for a few months. There was just no way she could avoid it. Was there? She tried to think, but nothing came to mind. Unless she could work out a way to deliver her baby in the conference room and keep it stashed in the closet and never miss a minute of work. But she had a sneaking suspicion that wouldn’t work out. She was going to have to take some time off.
But luckily Mr. Haley was firmly behind the new day-care center that was being set up, right here in the building. She was planning to get her baby into it as soon as possible. But in the meantime, she was going to be leaving him in the lurch. And she felt downright crummy about it.
“Aren’t you going out to lunch, Mr. Haley?” she asked pointedly, hoping to jog his memory and speed him out the door.
He sighed, and, for the first time, she noticed that he was looking preoccupied again, despite his sense of humor. “No,” he said in answer to her question. “I don’t think I’ll go out. I can’t really eat anything.”
She studied him, concerned. He looked tired. Suddenly she wished with all her heart that she knew what was wrong. If she knew what was troubling him, maybe she could help.
“You don’t have any children, do you Maggie?”
Her shocked gaze met his and she flushed. How could she answer that one? “N…no. Not…not really.” Not yet, anyway. Was that lying? Technically, she didn’t think so, but she didn’t like it even so.
But he didn’t seem to notice her unease. He had a hint of that faraway look again. “I just wonder what it would be like to have a kid,” he said softly. Absently, he picked up one half of her peanut butter sandwich and began to munch on it. “Do you ever wonder?” he asked, looking into her eyes as though he thought an answer might be hiding in there somewhere.
Maggie’s breath caught in her throat. He was sitting so close and his eyes were so dark…. Suddenly she was very much aware of how the way he was sitting revealed the muscularity of his thighs.
Thighs! What was she thinking? She shouldn’t be noticing that. Swallowing hard, she tried to keep some perspective.
“Yes. Yes, of course I wonder,” she murmured, but she hardly knew what she was agreeing to.
“There’s something almost magical about babies, don’t you think?” he was saying.
But she was losing her train of thought. Her attention had been captured by the realization that his eyelashes were incredibly long. Why that made her feel light-headed she couldn’t have said. But she stared at them, fascinated, and the room faded around him. He had the most gorgeous eyes she’d ever seen. Weren’t eyes supposed to be windows into the heart? Did he have a beautiful soul to match his wonderful eyes?
She was swaying toward him and she knew it, almost as though he were drawing her closer magnetically, and somehow she seemed to be powerless to stop herself. Those deep eyes, the tiny hairs curling at his hairline, the tanned skin—masculinity