Merger to Marriage (Boardrooms and Billi - By Addison Fox Page 0,28

than optimistic. That said, I’ve got a few connections and think we can work on a solution. Join me for dinner tonight and we can work through the specifics. I’d also like to talk to you about our merger idea.

Holt

Mayson re-read the email again. The fact that he’d followed up on something so important to her touched her even more than she could have ever imagined. But it was that last mention, of a merger, that had her stomach in knots.

How could she marry a man she didn’t even know? No matter what the reason—and a baby was a strong incentive—she still couldn’t shake the fear that marriage to Holt was a big mistake. She’d lived with the consequences of her parents’ mistake her entire life. Could she really consign her child to the same thing?

An impulsive streak of interest pushed against the unsettling thoughts and Mayson allowed her gaze to scan the email once more. The succinct tone of his note was oddly endearing in its brevity, but she couldn’t resist the urge to push against that formality a little bit.

With quick fingers, she replied to the message, a smile playing about her lips as that impulse overtook her reservations.

Holt:

My sincere thanks for your follow up on this. I’d love to meet you for dinner, but sadly we’re putting several issues to bed tonight, which means I’m unlikely to see mine until far too late. Could we raincheck until tomorrow?

Mayson

Even as she typed the words, she knew the mention of her bed was fraught with innuendo. So it was with no small measure of feminine power and pleasure that she hit the send button.

…

Holt rubbed his stomach, the image of Mayson McBride’s bed, with her lying tousled and sated in it, foremost in his thoughts. Damn, but the woman had him in knots.

Tight, twisted knots that gripped him in a fever of heated images and a desperate need to spend more time with her.

He’d kept an image of her, as she sat in the gazebo washed in moonlight, framed in his mind. The moment had caught him up, the surreal nature of it so surprising he would have thought he was dreaming if she hadn’t spoken to him.

Their conversation in the gazebo hadn’t gone at all as he’d expected, especially the direction once he’d suggested marriage. It was interesting to him she immediately took his suggestion to a place of business, but maybe she had a point. People married for many reasons, but anything between them would be a merger of interests.

Why did that idea leave him cold? And why was he suddenly so panicked that marriage was the only answer to keep their child safe?

He’d gotten word from his security firm that his mother was firmly ensconced in France, and other than daily strolls on the beach and endless demands of the villa’s chef, she’d been relatively well-behaved. So why was he loath to have her find out about the baby? And what would Mayson think of his mother? Of where he came from? If she did agree to the marriage, he could hardly keep something like that from her.

The knowledge of what he came from was a tightly guarded secret that even his closest friends didn’t know. Holt knew there were those who’d think he was ashamed, but he knew the reality went far deeper. He’d been raised in a family where life choices skated the edge—and usually floated over—what was legal. He’d sworn the moment he’d broken free that he was going to build a legacy. Something he could be proud of.

With determination burning under his skin, he hit reply on the email.

Mayson

While the image of your bed will no doubt leave me in knots all afternoon, I’d still like to see you before you get into it. I’ll pick you up at ten. Although I’d normally suggest a rich Bordeaux as a reward for a hard day’s work, all things considered, I’ll bring hot chocolate instead.

Holt

Satisfied the missive would make his point, he hit send, already envisioning her expression when she read the email. And with that vision ripe in his mind came another, far less lush and tainted with the rotten stench of resentment. His mother, smiling at him with that greedy look that was never far from her features.

Why was he thinking of her? He wasn’t like her. Had made very deliberate choices to not be like her. But her blood still beat in his veins.

He knew if he was going to pursue