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avoid Fin, she’d been having these dreams. Hot,
erotic dreams, where his clever hands and mouth did things that made her
scream.
    Throwing back the covers, she glanced at the clock as she
climbed out of bed. Three in the morning. Too early to get up for the day but
not too early for a cool shower before she tried to get back to sleep.
    * * * * *
    Just one more day. In a little over twenty-four
hours, Marianna would arrive, and Jillian would legitimately be so busy with
the bride that avoiding Fin would be easy. Not like the last few days. She was
getting tired of peering down corridors and scanning rooms before she entered.
Not to mention, as sensible as her decision to avoid him was, she kind of
missed him. Even when her stomach was tied in knots, he was wonderful company.
    She sighed and wandered to her desk. In a little while she
was meeting with Ryan Fitzpatrick Gallagher—she couldn’t think of him without
using all three names—to finalize the menu details. Marianna had made another
middle-of-the-night call demanding changes, and while Jillian was more than
ready to commit homicide, the fabulous Tullamore staff had taken everything in
stride. She was definitely going to offer a Tullamore destination wedding
package as part of her services when she got home.
    Sitting at the desk, she picked up the phone and dialed her
office. Kate should be just getting in now. She didn’t really need to check in;
her assistant had proved to be extremely capable of managing the business
without her.
    “Jillian Baxter Events, this is Kate.”
    “Hi, Kate. How are you?”
    “Jillian! I’m fine, just getting sorted for today. I’m so
glad you called though.”
    A frisson of worry shot through Jillian. “Is something
wrong?”
    “No, not at all. Well, not really.” Kate hesitated. “It’s
just—well, remember how Damien’s aunt died?”
    Jillian blinked. Damien was Kate’s boyfriend, and his aunt
had died about three months prior. Jillian had given Kate some time off to be
with Damien’s family at the time. “Ye-es, I remember.”
    “Well, her will has been probated, and Damien inherited some
money.”
    “Lovely! Oh, I don’t mean that how it sounded.” Jillian
winced. The death of a family member was never lovely.
    “I know, don’t worry. Anyway, we’re going to take a short
vacation somewhere, but we were also thinking…you know how we’ve always wanted
to work together?”
    Jillian went cold. Damien was a project manager, and Kate
had once confided that the two of them had considered going into business
together, Kate planning smaller, personal events while Damien specialized in
corporate planning. But if they were to do that, Jillian would lose the best assistant
she’d ever had.
    “I know.” She squeezed the words through her suddenly tight
throat.
    “Well, we thought about starting a company, but it’s really
not a good economy for that right now, plus I really love working with you, so
we thought, maybe, we could buy in to your company.”
    Silence. Jillian tried to get her head around what Kate was
saying. “What do you mean?”
    “We’d like to buy in as partners,” Kate’s words tumbled out
in a rush. “Damien has a business plan for expanding into corporate planning, and
the injection of capital would allow for that without affecting the existing
business. You don’t have to decide now,” she added. “Just think about it, and
when you get back we can talk.”
    “Okay.” Jillian took in a deep breath. “Okay, we’ll talk
when I get back.” Her mind racing with the possibilities, she asked a few
desultory questions about the schedule for the day and said goodbye.
    She’d never thought about expanding into corporate planning,
mainly because her preference was for personal events. But with Damien looking
after that aspect of the business, it was a very real possibility.
    She glanced at the clock and dragged herself away from her
thoughts. Time to head downstairs.

Chapter