A Baby in the Bargain Read Online Free PDF Page B

into alarmingly involuntary daydreams...
    “He has very nice hair,” she went on. “Actually, that picture of him in the paper didn’t do him justice. And neither did the ones of him on his website. He has great hair—kind of a sandy-brown—”
    “Is it neat and clean or does he look like he needs a haircut the way Reggie always did?”
    “It’s neat and clean. But not so neat that he looks stuffy or severe.”
    “Clean-shaven or scruffy?”
    “Clean-shaven.” Leaving that sharply chiseled jawline and that sexy off-center dent in his chin clearly visible. Visible, and such a perfect match to the rest of his bone structure. His face was just rugged enough that he couldn’t be considered a pretty-boy—which is what GiGi had called Reggie.
    “Is he a big man? He looked like a big man in that picture. Bigger than whoever that was he was shaking hands with,” GiGi commented.
    “He is a big man. Tall. With broad shoulders.” Impressively broad shoulders...
    “Stocky or lean?”
    “Lean. He’s not fat in any way.”
    “Scrawny like Reggie?”
    “No, definitely not scrawny, either. I think he was all muscle under the overcoat he was wearing.” All muscle and masculinity...
    “What about his eyes? What color are his eyes?”
    “The most beautiful green you’ve ever seen—a shimmering sort of sea-green...”
    And then it struck Jani that these questions were out of the ordinary and she realized that her grandmother had set a trap for her. A trap she’d fallen into by rhapsodizing somewhat about Gideon Thatcher’s appearance. And now GiGi was smiling knowingly.
    “Not that I care how he looks,” Jani added in an attempt to do damage control. “He could be a troll and it wouldn’t matter. He’s just the person I need to deal with to do what we need to do. Male, female, good-looking, not good-looking, it doesn’t make any difference.”
    But her grandmother was staring at her from beneath raised eyebrows and still smiling.
    In spite of what Jani read in the elderly woman’s expression, GiGi said, “No, of course it doesn’t make any difference that he looks even better in person than in his pictures. I was just curious.”
    “ He hates us, GiGi,” Jani repeated, emphasizing each word for effect to warn the older woman away from whatever she was thinking.
    “And that’s what we’re going to try to make up for,” GiGi concluded.
    “His secretary called this morning to arrange for me to meet him for coffee after work tonight. What am I supposed to do if he just gives me a flat no on our proposal and won’t have anything to do with me?”
    “He wouldn’t need a whole cup of coffee to do that, he could have said that on the phone. Or had his secretary tell you. If he wants to have coffee, I think there’s hope.”
    But what exactly was her grandmother hoping for? Jani wondered.
    “I suppose,” she agreed. “Although he could just want a check from us and to never set eyes on me again—what then?”
    GiGi laughed. “Persuade him otherwise,” she suggested.
    Jani rolled her eyes. “Easy for you to say,” she muttered.
    But that was all she said on the subject. She had to get back to work and, since they were finished eating, she stood to clear the table.
    As she did she was thinking about that meeting with Gideon Thatcher tonight, and calculating if she could run by her house to change her clothes before going back to the office.
    Because when she’d gotten dressed this morning she hadn’t known she would end the day seeing him again.
    Now that she knew she would be, she was wishing she’d worn her better butt-hugging slacks.
    And the new blouse with the collar that stood high around the column of her neck but didn’t quite meet in front until the first button just barely above her cleavage.
    It wasn’t a work outfit—in fact she never wore anything to work that even hinted at cleavage.
    But when it came to Gideon Thatcher she thought she could use all the help she could get.
    Just