relieved to hear it, though of course they hadn’t said so. The period allowed for her to change her mind passed, Devin was theirs, and she disappeared from their lives. But before she left, she’d given them a copy of the birth photo, and Cheryl had treasured it.
She looks at it now, thinking back to that time, almost nine years ago. She’s remembering it now, because after all this time, she’s afraid that Erica might be back. Cheryl thought she saw her a couple of weeks ago, in the park, watching Devin kick a ball around, and she had a camera around her neck. But she was gone before Cheryl could be sure.
CHAPTER SIX
ERICA SHOWERS, DRESSES in a short black skirt and silky sky-blue blouse, and applies her make-up carefully. She studies herself in the mirror, pleased, thinking about the meeting with Patrick the day before.
She hadn’t really known what to expect. It’s been a long time. He was looking good, she has to admit. Older, of course, but he’s the kind of man who looked better with a bit more maturity. His tall frame had filled out a bit. His dark hair was shorter, nicely cut, and he’d been wearing an expensive-looking suit.
He hadn’t been happy about her showing up at his firm, that was obvious. He was nervous; that was obvious too. He’s probably afraid of her coming back into his life, afraid of the old attraction firing up again, getting between him and his new wife. Maybe he should be afraid. He never could keep it in his pants.
Her attractiveness has always been one of her best weapons.
Patrick struggles all morning at the office, unable to concentrate. He notices that Niall is humming quietly to himself, which only irritates Patrick. Around lunchtime he hears Niall leave his office and talk to Kerri at the front desk on his way out.
From his window, Patrick stares out at the river, his mind dull. He has so much work to do, but instead he thinks about how Erica had come to his office, pretending she didn’t know him, when she’d known he was here all along. She’d deliberately put him in an awkward position.
Yesterday, he’d casually asked Niall how the interview went and Niall had said, ‘She’s not the best candidate,’ and Patrick had felt relief. She wouldn’t be back in the office. He will never have to explain that they actually know each other, although they hadn’t let on. And she’s not interested in the job anyway.
He rises from his chair and walks tiredly over to his draughting table. He’s working on a high-end new build of a house for a prominent doctor, and he needs to focus.
Niall looks across the seat to the woman driving the car. The windows are down and the wind is blowing her hair around her face. He notices she’s wearing designer sunglasses. Again he wonders why she was interviewing for a temporary admin position. Perhaps her husband has left her recently. Perhaps he will find out.
He’d been surprised when Erica Voss called him at the office that morning, inviting him to lunch. Not typical behaviour for someone hoping to get a job – a bit forward. He’d hesitated briefly, until she said she could pick him up in front of the fountain downtown.
He feels a familiar stirring in his blood – he suspects he knows why she asked him. She’s looking very sexy today, he notices. When she came to the office on Monday for her interview she’d been conservatively dressed in a trouser suit, but today she’s wearing a tight-fitting skirt and a silky blouse, and showing some leg and cleavage. He studies her appreciatively.
‘What?’ she says, glancing at him playfully.
‘I’m wondering why you’ve asked me to lunch.’ He hadn’t called her back about the job. In fact, he’s not going to make her an offer. She’s too gorgeous – too sexy – to have around the office. His wife, Nancy, would go ballistic. He hopes she doesn’t think this is how she’s going to get the position. If so, he’ll have to let her down. He doesn’t mix business and pleasure.
‘It’s a celebration lunch,’ she says.
‘What are we celebrating?’
‘I’ve just got a job at the hospital in Newburgh.’
He feels his smile broadening. This isn’t going to be a problem then. The mutual attraction he’d suspected during their interview hadn’t been his imagination after all.
She brings the car to a stop in the parking lot of the Connaught Hotel, at the end