“I’m not saying she should start booking bands or ordering flowers,” Jenny shot back with a shake of her head. “Just that maybe it’s not such a crazy idea. I can understand why Scott thinks it’s worth examining more closely. Assuming he and Tess really are able to compartmentalize their work and personal lives so it wouldn’t affect their professional relationship, what could it hurt to go to a few parties together?”
“I don’t think anyone’s that good at compartmentalizing. I mean, seriously, could you work with Thad now after dumping him for Gavin? You don’t think that would be awkward?”
While Tess swallowed hard at the images Stevie’s question invoked, Jenny squirmed a bit in her chair. “I didn’t dump Thad,” she muttered, obviously uncomfortable with the blunt term. “When I told him Gavin and I had found each other again and realized we were still in love, Thad graciously bowed out.”
“Okay, that’s not dumping at all,” Stevie said, her tone fondly mocking.
Jenny sighed. “Still, point taken. I’ve crossed paths with Thad a couple times in the past six months and we’ve been perfectly civil, but I can’t deny it was awkward. I can’t imagine spending eight hours a day with him now that I’m happily married to Gavin.”
Jenny wasn’t just happily married, she was blissfully married, Tess thought with a touch of wistfulness. Jenny would always fret about the dangers in Gavin’s job, just as he occasionally became frustrated with the long hours her popular fashion boutiques required of her, but they were crazy in love.
“So even though you turned down a practical business-based marriage in favor of true love for yourself, you think this would be a good idea for Tess?” Stevie challenged.
Jenny tossed back her layered dark hair and lifted her chin in a familiar pose of obstinacy. “All I said was that maybe she should at least consider the possibility. And it wouldn’t be such a bad idea for Tess to examine her feelings for Scott. It’s not as if you and I haven’t wondered—”
Stevie cleared her throat loudly, but not before Tess figured out exactly where that statement had been headed. “The two of you have talked about my feelings for Scott?”
With a chiding look at Jenny, Stevie sighed. “Okay, maybe it’s crossed our minds that your total devotion to Scott isn’t entirely due to employee loyalty. But we both know you’d never overstep any professional lines,” she said hastily. “You’ve risen in the ranks of his company because you’re damned good at your job—irreplaceable, really—and everyone knows it. You’ve always insisted you had no romantic feelings for Scott, but I couldn’t help thinking sometimes you were denying those feelings even to yourself.
“It’s not like I’ve made a secret of my suspicions,” she added with a touch of defensiveness. “I’ve asked you several times if you’ve been so picky about the men you’ve dated lately because you’ve compared them to His Highness and they’ve all come up short. I just don’t want you to get hurt if it should turn out his feelings aren’t the same as yours.”
Tess felt her cheeks warm. She had to concede Stevie had quizzed her about Scott on more than one occasion, and each time she’d laughed and brushed off the questions. “I wasn’t comparing other men to Scott.”
“Not consciously, maybe, but subconsciously?”
“We are not getting into amateur psychoanalysis hour,” Tess grumbled into her teacup.
Jenny crossed her ankles and settled more comfortably into her chair. “You have to admit Scott has quite a few qualities you would naturally look for in a mate. Let’s face it, if you didn’t work for him and you met him online, you’d think he was exactly what you’re looking for.”
Tess looped a strand of her hair idly around one finger. “A workaholic confirmed bachelor with a noted weakness for busty blondes? Really?”
Jenny shrugged. “Obviously he’s not that confirmed a bachelor if he’s actively contemplating marriage and children. And he’s never married any of the busty blondes he dated, so maybe it’s not such a weakness after all.”
“He did propose to one.” With a slight scowl, Tess pictured the stunningly beautiful almost Mrs. Prince. Sharon had always been perfectly civil to Tess, though she’d had a subtle way of making it clear that as valuable as Tess might be to Scott in the office, he belonged to her after hours. Tess had never wanted to believe she’d thrown herself into an ill-fated romance of her own at about that same time as a reaction to Scott’s engagement—but there had been times in the past couple years when she’d wondered...
Jenny made a face. “And his engagement lasted all of—what?—five months?”
“Four.” Her own failed romance hadn’t even made it that long before it crashed and burned, a year or so before she’d met Jenny and Stevie. James had accused her of always putting her job ahead of him, and he’d been jealous of her relationship with Scott, though she’d assured him repeatedly that there had never been anything personal between her and her employer.
Jenny gave a hint of a righteous smile. “So there you go. After realizing said busty blonde was the wrong match for him, he started thinking about a right match...and maybe he finally realized she’d been right in front of him for a long time. Is that so hard to believe?”
“What is easier to believe is that my newlywed friend is seeing everything through romance-tinted filters these days,” Tess replied indulgently to Jenny. “It’s very sweet, but...”
“Was there any romance to Scott’s proposition?” Stevie cut in to ask.
“Not an iota,” Tess answered, and though she’d tried for wry humor, she was aware her tone came across more as grumpy. “Unless you consider ‘we make a hell of a team’ a passionate declaration.”
“Not so much,” Stevie said with a sigh. “Not even a kiss, huh?”
Tess took a too-hasty sip of her tea that made her cough. By the time she caught her breath again, both her friends were studying her much too closely.
Stevie leaned forward. “There was a kiss?”
“Well, yes. Sort of...coincidentally.”
Jenny’s cup hit the side table with an eager little thump. “Oh, this I have to hear. How did he coincidentally kiss you?”
“He, um, thought I’d hung some mistletoe in the office.”
Neither of her friends bought that explanation for a moment, as their expressions clearly informed her.
She sighed. “Okay, we knew what we were doing. I guess it was an impulse. Curiosity. Scott called it an experiment. I’m not sure I can explain it completely.”
Stevie waved a hand dismissively. “Forget explanations. We want details. How was it?”
“It was nice.”
Her friends groaned in unison at the guarded reply.
Stevie cocked her head skeptically. “You’re telling me that after six years of being pretty much joined at the hip with that undeniably great-looking guy, you finally kiss him and it’s just...nice?”
Jenny tsked her tongue. “I don’t believe it. Scott hasn’t spent time with all those busty blondes without picking up a few tricks.”
The image of Scott picking up kissing tricks from a series of blondes made Tess scowl when she realized just how intensely she disliked the idea. It was difficult to keep believing she wasn’t harboring secret feelings for Scott when just the thought of him kissing another woman caused a knot to form in her stomach.
“Well?” Jenny teased. “Was it good?”
“It was better than good,” she conceded with a sigh. “The man knows how to kiss. No surprise, I guess, since he’s so successful