Mistletoe Maneuvers

the role of surrogate parent very seriously. She was great about the whole tennis thing. Even though she was already older she flew with me all over the world. She attended every match.”

“I heard you turned down an opportunity to go pro.”

“I don’t know about that,” she said modestly. “But I knew that if I chose to go any further, it would’ve taken all my energy and time. I wouldn’t have been able to go to school or get my MBA.”

“Education is important, but not many people turn down an opportunity to be a professional athlete.”

“Ultimately I felt like I had little choice. I made a promise to my father.”

“You promised him you’d get your degree?”

“No,” she said, her eyes meeting his. “I promised him I’d get his company back. I knew in order to do that, I was going to need all the education and experience I could get.”

He sat there for a moment, too stunned to speak. He had always known that she was on some sort of mission to take over the company, but he had never imagined that it was an instruction that had come from Howard Lawrence himself.

“But I still play tennis,” she said. “At least, as much as I can. I’ve even fantasized about investing in a tennis camp one day. Either on my own or through Lawrence…and now we’re back on business.” She grinned apologetically and shrugged. “I’m not very good at this small talk, am I?” Without giving him a chance to answer, she asked, “What are you doing for Christmas?”

“I’m sure I’ll be working,” he said. He wanted to question Lessa more about her promise to her father, but now was not the time. Not with Sabrina lurking about. He had to take advantage of Lessa’s question to steer the conversation back to neutral ground.

“At the office?”

“No. I usually visit one of the resorts,” he said.

“Not exactly Norman Rockwell.”

“Norman Rockwell?”

“The big family sitting around the table while the father carves the turkey. My aunt is always apologizing for my lack of family. She blames herself for not having children. She’d like nothing better than the big family gathering, crammed with kids and noise.”

“Well, if noise is what you’re looking for, you’d love my family get-togethers. Deafening.” He smiled and said, “My brother and sister aren’t too bad, but I have a big extended family. Lots of cousins, nieces and nephews. Family dinners are pretty crazy. “

“Your brother and sister are married?”

“They’ve both been married and divorced. In fact, my sister is about to get married again.”

She took a sip of her wine. “So you’re the only one who has never been married?”

“Or divorced, as the case may be. I’m the anomaly. They can’t quite figure me out. So every time we all get together the big discussion is usually about who they are going to fix me up with.”

“But you hardly need help finding dates.”

“Apparently they don’t like my choices.”

“You’ve brought a lot of girlfriends home?”

“I’ve only made that mistake a couple of times.” He shook his head. “Disasters. But then again, they all loved Karen.” All these years later, it was still difficult to talk about her.

“Karen?”

“I was engaged a long time ago.”

Conversation died and the room seemed to go quiet. So much for neutral ground. Why had he mentioned Karen? He never spoke of her. Most people at the office had no idea he’d ever been engaged.

“And what happened? No, let me guess. You stood her up at the altar in front of three hundred guests.”

“No.” Let it go, he warned himself. Switch the subject. But for some reason, he couldn’t. It was the way she was looking at him, so certain that her impression of him as a cold, uncaring bastard was correct. “She died.”

She sat still, stunned.

“I was still in grad school. I was studying, so I asked her to come to my apartment after work. She was half a block away when a drunk driver hit her. I don’t think I’ll ever forget that moment. To pick up the phone and hear a stranger tell me that she wasn’t coming home…that she was never coming home.”

“I’m so sorry.”

He expected her to glance away, to do what most people did when they found out. To make some off-the-cuff comment and attempt to change the subject, but she didn’t. She looked straight at him and said, “I can’t imagine anything more awful. You must miss her.”

“We were high-school sweethearts. We dated all through college. I thought I had everything planned out. We were going to buy a house, have kids. And in a split second, it was all gone.” He ran his fingers through his hair. Why was he telling her this?

“My father suffered the same kind of loss,” she said. “My mother got sick and died only a month later. They had been high-school sweethearts, too. He never got over it either.”

He had known that Howard’s wife had died and he had known that she had been his original partner. But he had never thought about the implications of that partnership.

“You know, when my father died, my Gran said he was still right here,” she said, putting her hand over her heart. “And that part of him would never die, it would always be right there. And she was right. I can still feel him.”

He could see the pain in her eyes and was struck by an urge to soothe her. “How old were you when your mother died?” he asked.

“I was three. I don’t really remember much about her. My dad never really spoke of her but my Gran said she was one of the most determined and feisty people you’d ever want to meet. She said that from the first moment my father met her, he fell in love. My aunt said he was devastated when she died. He shut down. He dated, but he never saw the same woman longer than a month. I think he just couldn’t stand any more pain. He couldn’t allow anyone in because he was afraid of getting hurt again.”

Rick glanced away. Without realizing it, she had just summarized his life. “Or maybe,” he said, “he never again met anyone that special.”

“Maybe,” she said. “I’d like to think my parents shared the kind of love that comes along once in a lifetime.”

“I’m sure they did,” he said.

Her eyes, misty with emotion, narrowed. “I know what you think about me, Rick. The spoiled woman motivated by greed. I know you think I have no right to this company. But you have no idea how important this business was to my dad. It was more than a job, much more. He and my mother started it together and he felt that this company was still an extension of her somehow. That he was fulfilling her dream. Their life together.”

“Lessa,” he began. But what could he say? She was right. He did think that she was a spoiled girl with a keen sense of entitlement. And although she was turning out to be more complicated than he had thought, he could not-no, he would not-allow emotion to cloud his judgment.

But before he could say anything, she spoke. “Sabrina’s behind you.”

He put his arm around Lessa and slipped his hand under her shirt, caressing her bare shoulder. “Act as though I just said something very sweet,” he whispered.

She smiled at him, but it was obvious that his touch made her uncomfortable. Apparently their conversation had done little to change her feelings toward him. If she wasn’t careful, Sabrina would be on to them.

He felt a presence behind him and heard Sabrina say, “Well, what do you think of my dining room? It truly is romantic, isn’t it?” She walked around the table and took a seat across from him.

“Did you bring the contract?” he asked.

She shook her head. “My adviser is looking it over. He should have it to me momentarily. So you might as well enjoy your dinner,” she said, signaling a waiter.

Lessa ordered a steak and a side of rice.

“I’ll have the same,” Rick said. He appreciated a woman who was willing and able to eat.

“How compatible,” Sabrina said. “You even order the same food.” But it was obvious from the tone in her voice,