The picture showed a fresh-faced, serious-looking P.J. Alex stared at the photo for a long time. The article called her an heiress. “Heiress to a great fortune,” it said. “The third of Peter Prescott Kincaid’s four children,” it said, “who will be attending Stanford in the fall.”
At first, he was indignant. What the hell was she doing, pretending to be an ordinary woman working at an ordinary job? Before long, though, amusement supplanted the indignation. She was doing exactly what he was doing. How could he be angry with her? He’d be willing to bet every single thing she’d told him had been the truth.
Well, well, well. This changed everything. And yet, did it? After all, if Alex did marry P.J., no one could ever accuse her of wanting his money.
So now he knew half of what he needed to know. And he’d just bet Rick could supply the other half. He decided the first chance he got, he would quiz Rick about her.
It was Wednesday before he got the chance. The two of them were eating lunch together in the cafeteria and Rick mentioned something P.J. had said earlier. “Hey,” Alex said after he’d finished telling the anecdote, “I’ve been meaning to ask you. What’s P.J.’s story?”
Rick, who had just taken a huge bite of his burger, chewed and swallowed before giving Alex a knowing grin. “I knew you liked her.”
“I’m just curious about her. You have to admit, she’s not exactly the kind of woman you’d expect to find in a warehouse.”
“Yeah,” Rick agreed. “I figured out a long time ago she comes from a different background than most of the women at the center. More educated.” He looked at Alex speculatively. “Kinda like you.”
“Me?”
“It’s obvious you’re a helluva lot more educated than the rest of us, Alex. Lotta the guys been wondering what you’re doing at the center.”
Alex winced. And here he thought he’d been fitting in so well.
“It’s no big deal,” Rick continued. “Most of ’em figure you got your reasons for working there. Hell, we all got our reasons. Anyway, I think P.J.’s family probably has some money or something. She pretends she’s like the rest of us, but you can tell she comes from a privileged background. I mean, even the way she talks is different, you know? Something must have happened, though,” Rick added, “because here she is.”
“Happened with her family, you mean?”
“Yeah. Maybe they don’t get along.”
Alex nodded. Yet on the night he’d met her jogging she’d mentioned having a date with her sister for dinner and the other night at the Thai place she’d said her family all lived in the area. She hadn’t sounded as if they were estranged or anything. On the other hand, she might have felt she didn’t know him well enough to mention any problems they might have. He certainly hadn’t said anything about his family. “Does she ever talk about them?”
Rick shook his head. “One time she just said they didn’t see eye to eye.”
That could have been a reference to the differences she’d mentioned regarding her job choice. Or it could be something deeper. Maybe she’s got a mother like mine. “How long has she worked for the company?”
“She started about six months before I did. In fact, we worked on the same team for a while.”
Alex wondered if Rick had resented the fact P.J. had been promoted to a supervisory position and he hadn’t.
“But it was obvious from the beginning she wouldn’t stay a picker for long,” Rick said. “She’s too smart.”
“Did you mind that? That she got promoted and you didn’t?”
“Me? Hell, no. I don’t want to be in management. Nothing but headaches managing people.”
Alex smiled. Rick was right. In fact, managing the staff at the foundation was Alex’s least favorite part of the job. Thank God for Marti. She was a jewel when it came to getting people to do their jobs without resentment or problems.
“P.J.’s a good boss. Lots better than I would have been,” Rick said.
“Wonder why she’s not married,” Alex commented, keeping his voice casual as he got to what he really wanted to know.
“Now that I can answer.” Rick grinned. “She doesn’t believe in marriage. Said there’s no way she’s ever gonna let some man order her around.”
Alex chuckled in spite of himself. That sounded like P.J. “Think she means it?”
“I’ve never known P.J. to say anything she doesn’t mean.”
The words were hardly out of Rick’s mouth when a voice behind Alex said, “Who’s taking my name in vain?”
Alex turned around. P.J. stood there, hands on her denim-clad hips, a mock frown on her face.
“We were just sayin’ what a great boss you are, boss,” Rick said.
P.J. rolled her eyes. “Yeah, right.”
“We were,” Rick insisted.
“Is that true, Alex?” she said.
“Scout’s honor,” Alex said, raising his right hand.
She fought against the smile, but lost. Soon all three were laughing. “Well, next time you have to fill out one of those surveys about our department, make sure you remember to say that,” she said. “Maybe they’ll give me a big raise.” Then she waved goodbye and left them to their lunch.
“She’s a good sport,” Rick said.
Alex nodded. He admired the way she treated her employees. She was professional, but she was also friendly. He could tell they respected her. He wondered what they’d think if they knew her background.
“She’s also a really nice person,” Rick added.
“Seems to be,” Alex said.
“No, I mean really nice. She’s helped out a couple of the people here. Financially, I mean. One of the girls in the shipping department, her little boy was sick and the girl either needed to stay home and take care of him or hire someone to do it and either way, she couldn’t afford it. P.J. heard about it and she made sure Evvie was taken care of.”
“Taken care of…how?”
“She started a sick-day pool. You know, she convinced the powers that be to let any employee who wanted to to contribute some of their sick days to Evvie so she could stay home and not lose pay. And P.J. contributed the most. Plus I heard she also gave Evvie some money.”
The more Rick talked about P.J., the more Alex admired her. It seemed to him that she had exactly the same kinds of values he had. In fact, he couldn’t imagine finding another woman more suited to him.
She was the woman he wanted.
Now all he had to do was convince her she really did want to be married.
“Hey, Alex, you have any interest in poker?” Rick asked later that afternoon.
“I love poker. Play every chance I get.” He’d actually started a poker night with a couple of the guys who worked for the foundation.
“Well, a bunch of us play twice a month, and we’re supposed to play tomorrow night, but Chick, who’s one of our regulars, can’t make it. Wanna fill in?”
“Sure, that’d be great.”
“It’s at Wayne’s house. He’ll give you directions.”
When Alex walked into Wayne Crowder’s house the following evening, the first person he saw was P.J. He could see she was as surprised as he