“So you’re not in France anymore,” he noted.
She stared at him so intensely, he almost took a step backward, and at the same time, he realized there was one thing that had changed. She’d fallen for him that night just as hard as he’d tumbled for her. He’d seen it in her eyes, felt it in every move she made. But that was all gone now. Her gaze was wary and speculative. Her body language was defensive. She looked like a woman who expected to be under attack. And she definitely wished he hadn’t shown up on her doorstep.
That triggered his curiosity. He knew why he wanted to stay away from her. But why did she want to stay away from him? Was she angry that he hadn’t tried to contact her in the last two years? Or did it have something to do with that same guilt he was feeling?
“No, I’m not in France anymore,” she admitted. “I transferred to Atlanta first, but they needed me here, so I packed up again and moved to the San Antonio area. And here I am, in Terra Dulce.”
Here she was. Which meant they were going to be working in near proximity for the next year. He nodded, not really sure why that gave him such a feeling of foreboding. After all, when you came right down to it, they hardly knew each other. Just because they’d shared that one night in Paris didn’t mean they had to be buddies. They didn’t have to see each other socially just because they had both landed back in the same town. They would probably just greet each other in the halls now and then and leave it at that. He wasn’t going to be here all that long, anyway. Keep it casual. That was the ticket.
“I heard about what happened to Jimmy,” he said softly, mentioning the friend whose Paris apartment was the place he and Darcy had met. Jimmy had been killed in a race car incident just days after Mitch had left France for Brazil. “Sorry I didn’t hear in time to make the funeral.”
She looked nonplussed for a moment, then nodded.
He could have said more. He could have explained that he was in a South American jail about the time Jimmy was being eulogized, not sure if he was going to make it out alive himself. Of course, he obviously had been released. The odd time in various jails was just one of the minor drawbacks of his chosen line of work. But that seemed a bit much to lay on her at the moment.
Jimmy had been their tie, and at the same time, what might now stand between them. Mitch and Jimmy had been childhood friends. They’d lost touch after high school, but he’d heard that Jimmy was working in Paris, and when he was passing through, he’d looked him up. He’d found his old friend changed and a bit distant, but he’d also found Darcy. She was living with Jimmy but it was never clear to him just what their relationship was, and he had to admit, he hadn’t really wanted to know. She had seemed eager to get out of the tiny, cramped apartment so the two of them had left Jimmy behind and taken in the sights and sounds of the French city. Very quickly it had been as though Jimmy didn’t exist. For the next day and a half, they had been so wrapped up in each other, nothing else seemed to matter.
“He was a great guy,” he said gruffly.
She winced, then nodded again, biting her lip. “Yes. It was a shame.” But after a moment, she was issuing a significant look his way. “Do you mind?” she said, nodding toward her towel.
“Oh. Sure. Sorry.” He started to close the door, then stopped. “Wait a minute. You haven’t told me what you’re doing here. I thought this was my new office.”
She blinked at him, searching for words. “I … uh …” She shrugged helplessly. “I was the victim of an industrial accident. One of our financial department geniuses dumped his café latte on me.”
He stared at her. “From head to toe?” he asked, noting her wet hair.
She nodded. “He was on the second floor catwalk and I was down in the lobby….”
“Okay. I get the picture.” He couldn’t resist a quick grin. “He must have been really mad at you.”
She opened her mouth, obviously to protest his characterization of the incident, but he held up a hand. “Never mind. I’ll leave you to your grooming tasks. Nice to see you again, Darcy.”
She’d been turning away but her head snapped back around at that, as though she thought she might have caught a joking reference to her too-revealing appearance and she glared as he quickly closed the door.
Once outside, he stopped for a moment, like a man checking out his body parts after a risky maneuver. Everything was still in one piece. Everything, that was, except his peace of mind. It looked like he was going to have Darcy Connors back in his life, one way or another. And that was something he hadn’t counted on. When he’d agreed to come back and work in his family’s company he had assumed Darcy was still in Paris. It hadn’t occurred to him that she might be working at the home office.
He took a deep breath and told himself things would be different. He wasn’t passing through on his way to danger and adventure this time. He had other things on his mind and a better perspective. He wasn’t going to let a provocative woman tangle up his emotions. He would keep his libido in check.
But damn! It wasn’t going to be easy. There was something about that woman that appealed to him in ways he didn’t understand. And that low, sexy voice just knocked him out. It appealed to him in ways he understood too well.
Steady, he warned himself.
Straightening his tie, he started for the elevator. He didn’t want to be standing here waiting when she emerged.
Darcy was in shock. Mitch Carver was back. The man who had been unreachable, unfindable and unfathomable for the last two years was suddenly back and very much available, and that meant she was finally going to have to do what she’d been unable to do all this time—tell him about the twins.
Of course she had to tell him. But … A feeling very like panic fluttered in her chest. Yes, she was going to tell him, but not right now. She wasn’t ready. She hadn’t prepared. She’d pretty much accepted that it might never be possible to tell him. And now, suddenly, it was. So how was she going to do this?
She groaned, her shoulders slumping. If only she’d had some warning. Lately it seemed everything came at her so fast, she was never ready. And that meant she always seemed to do the wrong thing. Like this morning. Knowing the office was empty and unused, she’d been sure she would have time for a quick shower before anyone even noticed her missing from her desk on the second floor. And what happened? Mitch Carver showed up to catch her at it. Of all people! She’d never dreamed that could happen.
When she’d heard a Mr. Carver was coming in to take over Property Acquisitions, she’d assumed it was Craig Carver, Mitch’s cousin, who she’d heard was transferring from the Dallas branch of the family firm. She’d never met Craig. Unfortunately she couldn’t say the same about Mitch.
Closing her eyes, she swayed in silent agony. How was she going to do this? How was she going to tell this man she barely knew that he was the father of her two children? That what had seemed like a romantic interlude, a chance encounter, a fleeting intimacy, had turned into a lifetime commitment? One mistake, one night of letting down her legendary guard, a one-time retreat from a lifetime of caution, and she was destined to pay the price forever. And so was he.
Not that her babies weren’t worth it. She couldn’t even think about them without smiling. They were her joy, her life. But their father was her dilemma and her complication. And now she had to tell this man who had made no secret of his determination never to settle down, never to live a conventional life, that he had a pair of anchors, whether he liked it or not.
She knew he wouldn’t be happy about it. Would he hate her? Hate them? It was clear he wouldn’t want to let anything as mundane as children get in the way of his work. She wasn’t real clear on just what he did out there in the world. She had the impression he went where people paid for his services, but she was also pretty sure he spent more time using his brain than his