panic when she found him here and discovered who he was. He would wager anything she would freak out, but there was no way he could have known. She’d refused to tell him who her client was, and his mother had only just told him about hiring a ghostwriter.
Alec couldn’t deny that part of him was excited to see her again, even if it was a bad idea given how he’d felt far too attached after what they’d shared following the crash. There was an undeniable pull, a longing for something more than one night and he knew it would be hard to resist. He couldn’t afford a relationship, not now, not with his job.
They joked at the office about installing a fake graveyard for the tombs of their lost relationships, but the demanding life of an investment banker was no laughing matter. It often meant sleeping and showering at the office, no family dinners, no birthday parties with the kids, or wedding anniversary dinners. People in his line of work didn’t care about or want these things. Neither did Alec.
Yet he knew with alarming certainty that his night with Brie had sown a seed of doubt about his life’s choices. And he couldn’t afford to doubt himself, not at such a pivotal time in his career. He paused in front of the blue suite with it’s two connected bedrooms, and knocked.
Simon’s voice came from the other side of the door. “Just a minute.” Then another shout came half a second later. “No, wait!” The door flung open and a boy of around twelve shot out in the hall, colliding with Alec.
“Oof!” Alec clutched his stomach and stumbled back.
“Sorry, sir!” The boy gasped.
“That you, Alec?” Simon appeared in the open doorway, frowning down at the boy. “I told you to wait, Brendan. You can’t go barreling into people, especially my friends. This is Alec, Morgan’s older brother.”
“You’re Morgan’s older brother?” the boy asked in excitement. It was clear by the way he said Morgan’s name that the man was his own personal hero.
“Er, yes. Hello.” Alec offered his hand and the boy shook it with solemn respect.
“Sorry for running into you, sir. I was excited to go sledding. Mr. Grange said he knew the best spots.”
“Indeed, he does,” Alec agreed. Mr. Grange was the Estate’s groundskeeper.
Brendan looked hopefully toward Simon. “Can I go now?”
Simon grinned and jerked his head at the boy to indicate he was free to leave. Brendan took off running down the hall.
“To be that young again,” Alec chuckled.
Simon smiled warmly in agreement as he watched the boy vanish down the stairs. Then he called into the room behind him, “Bridget, Alec’s here.”
Alec had only met Bridget once, a year ago when he had some free time while in New York. They’d come in from Rhode Island to meet him.
Bridget joined Simon at the door and embraced him in a warm hug. “Alec!”
“You keeping him in line?” Alec asked her.
“Trying.” Bridget laughed. “Did you see your parents yet? I’m afraid we’ve all heard about the emergency landing by now.”
“Thank God you’re not calling it a crash. Everyone else is acting like I rose from the ashes like a phoenix,” Alec muttered.
“Well, it’s a scary thing. Bridget just got off the phone with her friend. She was on your flight, too. Maybe you met her? Brie Honeyweather? She’s going to work on your mum’s holiday book.”
“I…did meet her, actually. I had no idea she was working with mum. I only knew she was a writer.”
“Is she okay? Brie is terrified of flying. She sounded calm on the phone just now, but she sometimes holds her anxiety inside until it gets to be too much and explodes.”
“She was shaken, but we had the night to calm down.” Alec assured Bridget. “The passengers were taken to local village homes close to where we landed. She was fine.” So, Brie was Bridget’s friend and he was Simon’s. To think that their two different paths had been on a slow moving collision course this whole time was unnerving.
“What a relief,” Bridget sighed. “I want her to be relaxed when she meets the countess.” Her eyes glinted with mischief. “I’ve been talking to your mum and we both think she and Morgan might be a good fit.”
“Morgan?” Alec choked on his brother’s name. “Fit for what?”
“To date, naturally.” Bridget grinned, and Alec could see why Simon fell for her. She was gorgeous, inside and out. But for that one moment, he didn’t like