“Siblings and almost-siblings?”
“My family has a colorful history when it comes to kids. There were six biological kids and a slew of adopted and foster kids my parents took in over the years.”
“Really?” That was interesting, especially given Rand’s stand against his secretary having children. It had left Lucy with the impression that he might not like kids, that maybe he’d been an only child himself.
“Did you resent your parents taking in foster children?” she asked as their meals were served, thinking that maybe resentment had turned him sour on the subject.
“Did I resent it?” he repeated as he liberally salted his food. “No, why would you think that?”
Lucy tasted a small bite of the pot roast, judged it more than edible, and then said, “You’re so against single mothers as secretaries.”
“Just because it interferes with work. I like kids well enough and I certainly never resented my folks giving a home to foster kids.”
“How did your parents start that? Had they done it before having a family of their own and just kept it up afterward? Or had they already had all of you and still wanted more?” she asked then, as they both settled into eating.
“It didn’t start until after they had five of us. When I was thirteen one of my brothers, Michael, was killed by a drunk driver while he and the other twin, Drake, were out riding their bicycles. It was a rough time after that. My father in particular went into a deep depression. My mother got the idea of taking in kids without homes when my dad confided some things about his own growing-up years. The suggestion struck a chord in him. In fact, it was sort of a turning point for him. He realized that family was the most important thing to him and decided to give up politics and focus on his home life. Since then they’ve become pretty well-known for taking in stray kids. In ‘91 someone even left a baby on their doorstep.”
“Wow. They must be great parents.”
“I’d say they’re pretty normal. They had their strong points and their weak points like most parents. Not that I’m complaining. I had a terrific childhood. But I hated it when my dad was here and we were all in California. It was lousy having an absentee parent. Maybe that’s part of the single-mother-secretary thing. When you have kids, you need to be able to be there for them. The way I work makes that impossible, which is why I don’t have kids myself and why it’s important that my secretary not have them either. Something has to give and I believe when you’re a parent, that ultimately has to come first.”
“So no parents for secretaries,” Lucy summed up.
“In my office, anyway. I’m devoted to my work and I need my secretary to—”
“Be devoted to you.”
“I was going to say that I need my secretary to be as dedicated as I am.”
“To the exclusion of his or her own life.”
Rand had the good grace to laugh and flinch at once. “You’re really hard on me.”
“Not as hard as you are in your demands of a secretary. I guess you can dish it out but you can’t take it.”
He eyed her with a combination of amusement and wariness as he flipped open his cell phone and paged his driver to tell him where they could be picked up since they’d both finished their meals.
Then, without skipping a beat, he said, “I just think people need to prioritize. If you have kids, you need to accommodate them, arrange your life around them and avoid demanding jobs. If you have a demanding job—”
“Or boss.”
“Or boss. You shouldn’t have kids because they get shortchanged.”
“Is everything so black and white for you?”
“Not everything. But this is.”
“So no kids for your secretary and no kids for you.”
“Exactly.”
“Ever?” Lucy asked as Rand tossed two twenty-dollar bills onto the table without having seen the check.
“I don’t know. I’m not sure I could ever do what it takes to be a father. Maybe someday. But a far-off someday. Like when I retire.”
“Retire? You want to have kids after you retire?” Lucy said, laughing at the notion as they both put on their coats.
“I plan to retire fairly young.”
“Not young enough to wait until then to have kids, I’ll bet.”
“What makes you think so?”
“You’re crazed. You won’t be able to even slow down anytime soon, let alone retire.”
“Then I guess it’s no kids for me.”
“Seems like a shame,” Lucy observed as she got into the back seat of the Town Car when it pulled up outside the diner.
“Why is that?”
“From the way you talk I can tell family is important to you.” That made him all the more appealing, something Lucy didn’t want to acknowledge to herself.
“Family is important to me. That’s the point. If you have a family, they have to be the most important thing in your life.”
“And instead your job fills the bill?”
“Completely.”
“Your job can’t curl up on your lap to read Dr. Seuss or melt your heart with a smile or tie your shoes when you’re too old to do it yourself.”
“I like my job,” he defended.
“Enough to exclude everything else?”
He smiled the most wicked smile she’d ever seen. “It excludes kids. No one said it excluded everything else,” he said with a tone full of innuendo.
Lucy rolled her eyes. “I give up.” Although in truth it wasn’t their arguing she was so willing to throw in the towel on. It was that the innuendo was too scintillating to be safe for her any longer. Especially when that wicked grin had an incredibly heady effect on her.
“And here you were holding your own so well,” he said as if he were disappointed that she wasn’t continuing to challenge him.
Somehow when Lucy had gotten into the car she hadn’t slid completely to the opposite end of the seat. And somehow when Rand had followed her in, he’d slid a little more toward the center than he’d needed to. Lucy hadn’t noticed it before, but now she realized that they were only separated by about six inches. Plus Rand was turned at a slight angle and had his arm stretched across the seat back so near to her she became aware of his coat sleeve brushing her nape.
It all worked together to allow him to look directly at her. To study her with a warmth in his eyes that made her want to take off her coat.
Then he said, “Tell your aunt thanks for me.”
“For what? Providing an adequate sparring partner?”
He laughed lightly. “Well, for that—I always enjoy a good debate. But also for sending me the best secretary I’ve had since she left.”
It flashed through Lucy’s mind to say he hadn’t had her, but she caught herself before she uttered the words.
What was she doing? she asked herself. Was she really on the verge of flirting with him? Was one long workday and a Blue Plate Special all it took to drop her guard?
But it wasn’t easy keeping her guard up when the man