The Boss and the Plain Jayne Bride. HEATHER MACALLISTER
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Jayne dropped her pen. “Is it time for lunch already?”
Sylvia held up her arm, which was decorated with three gaudy watches.
“Oh. Right.” Jayne pushed back her chair and pulled her purse from the file drawer.
“Aren’t you going to change your shoes?” Sylvia kicked out a sneaker-clad foot.
“Shoes?” Jayne blinked.
“The deli is at the other end of the mall by the movie theater.”
“Oh. Right. I should change.” Pace Waterman was in the Transco Tower, which was connected by a walkway to Houston’s Galleria mall across the street. Jayne and Sylvia frequently spent their lunch hours hiking through it for exercise.
Jayne stood staring at the bank of file drawers. Where was Garrett’s business? She hadn’t thought to ask. What if he opened the agency right in the mall? She might see him all the time now. She sighed.
Sylvia came into the room, gently opened the supply cabinet and removed Jayne’s walking shoes. “What’s up, Jayne?”
“Nothing.” Jayne slipped out of her pumps and worked her feet into the sneakers. She felt her face grow warm, so she bent to tie the shoes, hoping any evidence of a blush might be hidden.
“You’re acting just like you did the other night Are you feeling okay? Have you got an audit or something this afternoon?”
“I’m fine!”
“Then...Jayne?” Sylvia nudged her arm. “Have you met somebody?” she asked in a tone that meant “Have you met a man?”
“No!” Jayne responded too quickly and too loudly. She could tell by the triumphant smirk on Sylvia’s face. Drat. Now Sylvia would worm everything out of her. Sylvia could worm anything out of anybody. She was wasted in secretarial work. Her true calling was espionage.
Jayne crossed her purse over her shoulder bandolier-style and Sylvia linked their arms. “I want you to tell me everything,” she demanded.
“There’s nothing to tell,” Jayne protested feebly.
Sylvia patted her arm. “Why don’t you let me be the judge of that?”
Sylvia had wormed everything there was to worm by the time they reached the elevator.
“That’s it?” She snorted in disgust as they exited the elevator and made their way through the crowded foyer toward the walkway.
“I told you there wasn’t anything to tell,” Jayne pointed out, secretly hoping that Sylvia might put a hopeful spin on the events of Tuesday night. But not even Sylvia could interpret rendering succor after bashing someone in the leg as flirtng.
“But I didn’t actually believe you.” Sylvia frowned, then shrugged. “No matter. We’ll find you a man yet. In fact...” She cocked her head to one side.
“No,” Jayne refused automatically. Sylvia was continually trotting out male relatives for Jayne to date.
And sure enough... “My second cousin Vincent is going to be in his roommate’s wedding in Galveston. He’ll be staying with my aunt Ida a couple of nights. Why don’t I—”
“No.” Jayne closed her eyes against the thought of dating Sylvia’s second-tier relatives.
“Then ask out the man in your class.”
Jayne swallowed her automatic “no” and mentally tested the idea of asking out Garrett Charles.
Not possible. “I probably shouldn’t date students.” She walked faster.
“He’ll only be a student for a few weeks. You’re just too wimpy,” Sylvia scolded, jogging to keep up with her.
“I know.”
“Men like assertive women.”
Jayne shot her an exasperated look. “On what planet?”
“Uh, Planet Eros?”
“See? Aliens.”
“Speaking of, how about I set you up with Vincent?”
“Sylvia!”
She shrugged. “You gotta kiss a lot of frogs before you find a prince.”
“For the last time, I do not want to go out with your alien frog second cousin!”
However... Jayne stopped abruptly and snagged Sylvia’s arm. They’d reached the end of the mall walkway and were standing right by the travel agency they’d walked past on a hundred other lunch hours.
“What? What?”
Jayne pointed to a bright poster advertising fun in the Gulf of Mexico. “I think I need a vacation. Or a change in my life. A vacation would be a change in my life.” She turned to the gaping Sylvia. “I was thinking we could book one of those four-day cruises. They’re not very expen—”
“Yes!” Sylvia had recovered from her astonishment and was pushing Jayne through the double glass doors and straight over to the brochure display. “This is the best idea you’ve ever had!” She started taking two of every brochure with a ship pictured on it, handing one to Jayne as she babbled.
“When do you want to leave? Can we wait until I lose five pounds? What if we save up and go for a seven-day cruise? We’ll have to watch which line we pick.” She stopped gabbing long enough to flip through one of the brochures. “There are even singles cruises. We should go on one of those to increase the odds. Okay. I think we’ve got one of each.” She smiled brightly at Jayne. “Let’s go eat.”
Sylvia’s enthusiasm was infectious and they window-shopped through the mall all the way to the deli. Jayne followed Sylvia inside where she was nearly overwhelmed by the pastrami and pickle smell.
Sylvia inhaled rapturously, then sighed. “This will be our last pastrami on rye until after the cruise.”
“It will?” Jayne asked, a little overwhelmed by how fast and hard Sylvia had latched onto the cruise idea.
“We’ll have to start dieting immediately.” Sylvia flashed a big smile at a group of jacketless men, who scooted down on the benches, making room for the two of them. Or more precisely, for the vibrant Sylvia, who beckoned to Jayne.
Jayne was accepted only because it was obvious Sylvia wouldn’t sit without her. She sighed, but sat down on the bench just the same.
By the time the men left a couple of minutes later, Sylvia had collected three business cards.
Jayne leafed through her brochures and tried not to feel envious.
“So which ships look good?” Sylvia asked as she tossed two business cards into the ashtray and wrote a note to herself on the back of the third.
“I want to stick to the one that leaves out of Houston,” Jayne said. “It’s more convenient.” She found the cruise line’s brochure in Sylvia’s stack.
They paged through it until their sandwiches arrived. Just as Sylvia closed the brochure, Jayne caught a glimpse of compelling blue eyes. Blue eyes she’d sworn she’d seen before.
This was sick. She was obsessing about Garrett, imagining she saw him everywhere. Nevertheless, her heart picked up speed as she opened her own copy. She’d either find those eyes or she’d better start looking for a therapist.
Paying no attention at all to Sylvia’s chatter, Jayne searched the brochure, locating him immediately.
Garrett Charles was one of the people posing as passengers for the cruise line. Several of the group were in one of the deck lounges holding drinks with pineapple spears and tiny umbrellas. Garrett and another man stood at the railing nearby. He wore an open neck knit shirt that exposed his throat and just enough chest hair to send Jayne into a near swoon. And that