A Diamond For Christmas

He laughed. “We have all day. And I’d like to get a good feel for what this division does to justify its existence.”

John straightened with affront. “You can’t have a department store without ads in the local paper.”

Rory laughed. “Relax.” He glanced at a red-haired woman who was the only one in the department still working. “I’d like to start with her.”

She glanced up, pointed at her chest. “Me?”

“Yes. You are…”

“I’m Rose.”

“And you do what?”

“Layout mostly.”

“Great. Where can we talk?”

John gestured toward a small conference room and Rory motioned for Rose to join him there.

Unusually comfortable with Shannon, Rory didn’t think twice about the fact that she was always with him when he made his visits, until she stepped into the conference room with him and Rose. It was only day two of his tour, but he suddenly realized that he’d never once been alone with anyone from her staff. Worse, he hadn’t once questioned the fact that Shannon stuck to him like glue. Normally, he’d ask for time on his own. Time to see the store. Time to get the real scoop from employees. Yet, with Shannon, he’d never even thought of it.

By eleven o’clock they’d interviewed everyone and were back in John’s office. At the end of that time he’d also concluded that he’d never questioned Shannon’s continuing presence because he liked her and he liked spending time with her. But even friends checked up on each other’s facts and figures in a business deal. He’d been so preoccupied with the personal side of their relationship that he’d fallen down on the job. He might not insist she back off from his department visits just yet, but before this week was out, he’d get some private time with everyone. He’d also spend the evening on the internet, checking things out even more. Then, in the morning, before he came to the store, he’d talk with some of her vendors.

“So are you ready to break for lunch?”

Jarred out of his reverie, Rory said, “Yeah. Sure.”

John rose from his seat. Papers of various and sundry kinds and sizes littered his desk. “Why don’t I come with you? We can continue our discussions over a hot roast beef sandwich?”

Rory was about to decline with an apology, but Shannon beat him to it. “That would be great, but Rory has his daughter with him. She’s been stuck in my office all morning. I don’t think we should bore her with business.”

John easily backed off. “I’ll see you after lunch then.”

Shannon said, “Great.”

But Rory kept himself a step or two behind her as they walked out of the advertising offices, concerned that she’d answered for him. Normally, he wouldn’t care, except the night before she’d been so quiet. And today she was all but bursting with confidence.

Of course, she was trying to sell him her company. And from what he’d seen of her dealings with staff, she was a take-charge person.

His libido instantly wondered how that would play out in bed and in his head he cursed himself. It was that kind of thinking that had gotten them to this place. He’d already promised himself that he wouldn’t make another move, wouldn’t say another inappropriate word until they had this deal done. And he wouldn’t.

When they entered Shannon’s office, Finley was deep in play. Striding over to the desk, he said, “Hey, aren’t you ready for French fries?”

She didn’t take her eyes off her computer screen. “Just one more minute.”

He glanced over at Shannon and the look of love on her face for his little girl nearly did him in. How could he not fall for the woman who loved his daughter? Especially when her own mom hadn’t?

He sucked in a breath, told himself to think about this later and said, “Come on, Finley. I have lots of work to do this afternoon. We need to go now.”

She sighed heavily, but got off the chair and scampered over to Shannon, who took her hand and led her out of the office.

A strange sensation invaded his chest. Four days ago, he thought he’d never see his normal daughter again. But a little bit of time with Shannon had changed everything.

And he wondered if that wasn’t a big part of why he liked her so much, why he was so ready suddenly to jump into another relationship.

Was he really seeing Shannon romantically or was he only falling for her because he wanted help with his daughter?

They walked through the cafeteria line, choosing their lunches, and when Finley picked whipped-cream-covered cherry gelatin and pie as her main course, Rory simply took those dishes off her plate and told her to choose again.

But Shannon smiled and said, “I’ll bet your dad would let you keep the gelatin as your dessert if you picked a better main course.”

Frowning, Finley studied the available food. Finally, she took a salad and an order of fries. But Rory stared at Shannon. He remembered that they’d formed an alliance. He’d been the one to suggest it. But his question about his motives in wanting a relationship with Shannon came back full force. He suddenly felt as if he were using her. And, even worse, that he might be thinking of Shannon romantically just because he wanted a mother for his child.

Nerves skittered down his spine. What if he was? Oh, lord. What if he was?

Then he was scum.

They found a table in the back and once Rory opened Finley’s little packet of ranch dressing and poured it on her salad, she started to eat. Her mouth full of lettuce, she said, “I really like the game, Shannon.”

Shannon and Rory both said, “Don’t talk with your mouth full.”

Shannon quickly looked down at her own salad, but those odd feelings floated through Rory again. It was wonderful to have a partner. Wonderful to have backup. With Shannon around, it wasn’t just him against Finley. He had an ally.

Finley chewed and swallowed then said, “I also forgot to say thanks.”

The guilty sensations bombarding him intensified. That morning he should have prompted Finley to thank Shannon and he’d forgotten. He was proud as hell that Finley had remembered, but it served as yet another reminder that he wasn’t as good with Finley as he needed to be. And he was getting comfortable with Shannon picking up the slack.

Shannon said, “You’re welcome. It was my pleasure. I appreciate you being so patient while I show your dad my store.”

Kicking her feet under the table, Finley grinned.

Rory’s heart about burst in his chest. Not from love or even pride. From some hideous emotion he couldn’t name. He didn’t have to ponder or think this through. Finley liked Shannon. She liked having a woman around. Having a woman around settled her. Was it any wonder he was interested in Shannon? Any wonder he wasn’t demanding to see her store on his own? He wanted to stay in her company and in her good graces. He didn’t want any friction between them so she’d continue to help him with Finley.

He was double scum.

Once they returned Finley to Shannon’s office and Wendy’s care, they started up the hall to the advertising department again, but Rory stopped her by placing his hand on her forearm.

“Wait.”

She turned, smiled. “What?”

“I want some time alone with the people in advertising.”

She didn’t hesitate, her smile didn’t slip. “Sure. No problem. I understand that you’d want to see what they’d say when the boss isn’t around.”

“And I think I’d like to be by myself tomorrow when I spend the day with accounting.”

Again, her smile didn’t slip. No hesitation when she said, “Sure.” Her smile actually grew. “I’ll be happy to spend this afternoon and tomorrow with Finley.”

His heart lurched. She really did love Finley.

“And I also thought it would be a good idea for the two of you to come to my house for a little more decorating tonight.”

She might not have hesitated, but he did. He wasn’t at all sure that was a good idea. Except, he was confused about his feelings for Shannon and maybe a little private time would clear everything up for him?

“Are you sure we’re not an imposition?”

She laughed her wonderful musical laugh and his heart about kicked its way out of his chest. How could he ever worry that he only wanted to spend time with Shannon because she was a good mom to Finley? He liked her. God, if he liked her any more he wouldn’t be able to hold off telling her until after he made a decision about the store.

“I love having you around.”

He caught her gaze and found himself trapped in her pretty blue eyes. “Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. And don’t bring food. I’ll cook.”

He chuckled, glad she’d said something that could bring him back to reality. “Thought you couldn’t cook?”

“I wasn’t thinking anything fancy. Just macaroni and cheese and hot dogs. Things Finley might be missing since you’re on the road.”

His heart expanded again. She was so good to Finley that it was easy for him to see how he could be confused. But he wasn’t confused anymore. She was beautiful. Smart. Fun. He liked her.

Ha! Take that, Fate. He liked her.

He frowned. Great. He liked her. But he couldn’t tell her or make a move until after their deal was done. And he was about to spend private time in her company. This night might not be the piece of cake that he thought.

That night when they arrived at Shannon’s house, she opened the door and welcomed them inside, proud of the scent of macaroni and cheese and hot dogs that greeted them.

Impatient while her dad helped her out of her jacket, Finley cried, “Hot dogs!”

“Yep. And macaroni.”

“All right!”

She turned to take Finley’s jacket and saw Rory shrugging out of his coat and she did a double take. He wasn’t wearing his usual dress shirt and dress pants. Instead, he wore jeans and a T-shirt. She’d seen him in jeans, of course, but that was over the weekend when everything was awkward. Tonight he looked so relaxed, so casual in her home, that her pulse fluttered.

She sucked in a breath. Reminded herself she could do this. For the opportunity to spend time with Finley, she could be with Rory without giving in to her attraction.

“Right this way.”

She led them into the kitchen and walked directly to the stove. Pulling a tray of hot dogs from the broiler, she said, “Everything’s ready. Take a seat.”

At the table, Rory put a hot dog on a bun for Finley, who eagerly bit into it. “This is good!”

Shannon took a quick swipe over her mouth with her napkin to keep from scolding Finley for talking with her mouth full. Rory had been giving her odd looks all day. It had taken a while but she’d finally figured out that she might be overstepping her boundaries by constantly mothering Finley. Whether he’d asked for help or not, she was just a bit too helpful. So it was best to back off a bit.

She served yellow cake for dessert then accepted Rory and Finley’s help clearing the table. When the kitchen was cleaned, she turned from the sink and said, “Okay, everybody, let’s get our coats on.”

Rory’s eyebrows rose. “Coats?”

“We’re going to put up the outside lights.”

Finley clapped. Rory frowned. “It’s dark.”

“I know. But my dad has a big spotlight that we can use.” She laughed. “It’ll light up the whole yard.”

“Setting up seems like it will take more time than the actual decorating.”

“I know. But my parents will be home soon. And I was going to do this last Saturday—” She paused. She didn’t want them to help because of a guilt trip. “Never mind. I didn’t mean that like it sounded. I only meant that I was running out of time.”

But it was too late. Rory said, “Of course, you’re right. We’ll set up the big light and decorate.”

After shrugging into his coat and assisting Finley with hers, Rory followed Shannon out to the shed behind her house. Though they’d been there on Saturday to get the sleds, he took a closer look this time around, as Shannon dug through a mountain of junk stored in her shed.

“What is all this?”

She peeked up. “My parents had no use for a lot of their things when they moved to Florida.” She pointed at a snowblower. “Especially winter things.” She went back to working her way through boxes and containers. “So they left it all with me.”

He looked around in awe. “I’m not sure if I envy you or feel sorry.”

“Feel sorry. Because if I have to move to a warmer climate when I sell Raleigh’s, I’m going to have to have a huge yard sale. If I stay in snow country, I’ve gotta move all this stuff to whatever city I end up in.”

He laughed.

“Ah-ha! Here it is.” She struggled to get the big light out of a box and he raced over to help her. Their gloved hands brushed and though Rory felt an instant connection, Shannon didn’t even react.

Which was fine. They were wearing gloves. Besides, did he really expect her to have heart-racing, pulse-pounding reactions every time they touched?

Hoisting the light out of the box, he frowned. He was having heart-racing, pulse-pounding reactions around her. It only seemed fair that she would have them, too.

After they set the light on the floor, she scrambled away. “I have an extension cord.”

He glanced over his shoulder and saw that she held a huge, orange heavy-duty extension cord.

She grabbed the neatly bound electrical cord of the spotlight and connected it to the extension cord. “I’ll unwind as you walk out to the yard. When the cord stops, that’s where the light sits. Anything that isn’t lit by the light doesn’t get decorated.”

He chuckled. “Sounds like a plan.”

He walked out into the snowy front yard. When he ran out of extension cord, he unwound the light’s cord and went another ten feet.

“That’s it!” he called and Shannon and Finley came out of the shed. Shannon held a huge roll of multicolored lights. Finley skipped behind her.

“I’d like to put these around the porch roof.”

He glanced over at it. “We’ll need a ladder.”

She motioned with her head to the shed behind her. “It’s on the wall. I’ll turn on the spotlight.”

He easily found the ladder and when he carried it out of the shed, he quickly noticed two things. First, the spotlight could illuminate a small village. Second, she and Finley sat on the porch steps, laughing, waiting for him.

He stopped walking. He loved that she was so affectionate with Finley, but right now, dressed in simple jeans and her dad’s big parka, with the flood light making her hair a shiny sable and her big blue eyes sparkling, he liked her. He liked everything about her. He even liked that she’d sort of conned him into helping her with the big job of outdoor decorating.

And he was getting a little tired of pretending. A little tired of holding back. He’d waited two long years to find somebody else. He didn’t want to wait another ten minutes to enjoy her. He wanted her now.

He headed to the porch again. Since they’d already proven that they could be professional at work even though they had a totally different connection outside the office, he was going for it. He might not seduce her or even kiss her, but tonight by his behavior he would show her that he liked her. And if he was lucky he might even force her to admit she saw him as more than a potential purchaser for her store.

And after that, let the chips fall where they may.

He thumped the ladder against the porch roof. “Okay,” he said, huffing just a bit because the ladder was heavy. “I think we need an assembly line. Put the lights on the porch.”

Shannon turned and set the big roll of lights on the floor behind her.

“Finley, you stand by the roll and carefully unwind them as Shannon feeds them to me.”

He grabbed the ladder, jostled it to be sure it was steady, and said, “I’ll be up here.”

He paused, faced Shannon. “Once I get up there, is there something to hang the lights on?”

“The previous owner left her hooks. They’re about six feet apart.”

He started up the ladder. “Perfect.”

He looped the string of lights on the first hook on the right side of the porch and strung them on hooks until he couldn’t reach the next one. Then he climbed down to reposition the ladder. At the bottom of the ladder, he smiled at Shannon. She quickly looked away.

Deciding he’d simply caught her off guard, he moved the ladder over to the center of the porch, climbed up and hung the rest of the lights. When he came down, Shannon skittered away from the ladder.

Okay. He hadn’t imagined that, but she could be eager to get done, not in the mood for tomfoolery.

He brushed his gloved hands together, knocking the roof dust and snow from them. “What now?”

“Now, I have a Santa’s sleigh to set up in the front yard.”

He peered at her. “Really?”

“Hey, my dad loves Christmas. It would be a disappointment for him if we didn’t set up the sleigh.”

“Okay.”

They walked into the shed and Shannon went directly to a lump covered by a tarp. Flinging it off, she revealed a life-size Santa’s sleigh, complete with a plastic life-size Santa.

Finley crept over. “Wow.”

Rory laughed, amazed that things Finley used to hate now amused her simply because Shannon got her to relate to Santa the same way she did cartoon characters.

She turned to him with wide eyes. “It’s so big.”

“Yeah, it is,” Shannon agreed. “But my dad loves it.”

Rory walked over. He knocked on the sleigh and confirmed his suspicions. “It’s plastic.”

“Yeah. That’s how I know we can lift it.” Shannon faced him, so he smiled at her.

She quickly turned away. “Anyway, it’s light. Won’t be hard to carry out. We just have to anchor it.”

Disappointment rose, but he smashed it down. They were working. She was single-minded in her determination to get the house and yard decorated for her dad. She wasn’t rebuffing him as much as she was simply focused.

Once they got into the house, he’d be better able to gauge her mood.

They worked like a well-oiled machine. Rory took one side of the sleigh. Shannon took the other. Because Rory was walking backward, Finley directed their steps. When they had the sleigh set up, they brought the reindeer out and lined them up them in front of the sleigh. Shannon arranged small red and green floodlights around the big plastic sleigh and turned off the huge spotlight.

Multicolored lights twinkled around the porch. Santa’s sleigh sat in a flood of red and green light. Finley jumped up and down, clapping her hands. Shannon looked extremely pleased that the decorating was done. And he was feeling downright jolly himself. Now that the work was done, they could play. So he reached down, grabbed two handfuls of snow, patted them into a ball and threw it at her.

She turned just in time to see it and ducked. “Hey!”

“Hey, yourself.” He reached down again, grabbed more snow and tossed it before she could react. This snowball thumped into her thigh.

Finley screeched with joy and bolted behind Santa’s sled for cover.

Shannon brushed idly at the snow on her jeans, glanced over at him and casually said, “You want a war?”

He motioned with his hands for her to bring it. “You think you can beat me?”

Rather than answer, Shannon bent, scooped snow and hurled a snowball at him. He dived behind an available bush. But that only gave Shannon time to scoop up two more handfuls of snow and heave them at him.

She was good. Fast. Having been raised in snow country, she seemed to have a system down pat. And Virginia boy that he was, he didn’t quite have the technique she did.

The battle lasted no more than five minutes and ended when he saw Finley shiver.

Walking out from behind the bush, he raised his hands in surrender. “Finley’s cold.”

Shannon thwacked one final snowball into his chest. “You lose.”

“Hey, I’m from the south. Considering that we get about two snows a year, I think I held my own.” She laughed.

And his heart did a small dance. He’d been correct. She’d missed all his smiles and cues because she was focused on decorating. But things would be different now that they were done.

When he reached the porch steps, he caught Finley’s hand and slid his other arm across Shannon’s shoulders. She immediately slid out from underneath it.

Running up the steps, she said, “I’ll make cocoa!”

Finley scrambled after her.

But Rory stayed at the bottom of the steps. What the heck was going on here? He wasn’t so bad at reading signals that he was misinterpreting Shannon’s. She felt something for him. He knew she had. He frowned. Had. Maybe had was the operative word? Maybe they’d had fun over the weekend, but she didn’t feel anything more, anything deeper?

CHAPTER EIGHT

WALKING INTO Raleigh’s Department Store the next morning, Rory had the unshakable feeling that whatever he and Shannon had been feeling for each other over the weekend, it had slipped away.

Disappointment lived in his gut. But with his gloved hand wrapped around Finley’s much smaller hand as they walked through the brightly decorated store, he reminded himself that he had a child who was his first priority and a potential store purchase that was his second. Sure, Shannon was the first woman in two years to catch his eye, but she clearly wasn’t interested.

He had to be a man and accept that.

He walked into Shannon’s office with Finley in tow and she jumped off her seat. “Finley! I’ve got a great day planned for us.”

He should have been happy that she was so eager to amuse his daughter while he worked, except he had the weird feeling that their roles had flipped. She now liked Finley more than she liked him.

Which was cute and nice, but he felt like last year’s handbag. A must-have when it was in style, totally forgotten now that it was old news.

Finley skipped over. “What are we going to do?”

“Well, first I have to get some work done. But that should only take me a couple of hours. After that I thought we’d go outside and stroll through the park. So you can see a bit of the city.” She glanced at Rory. “If that’s okay.”

If her eyes shone a bit, it was over the prospect of having fun with Finley. Not because she was happy to see him, or tremblingly aware of their chemistry.

“Sure. It’s fine.” His heart beat hollowly in his chest. There was no more doubt in his mind. If she’d ever felt anything for him, she’d rejected it. He took off his topcoat, hung it on her coat tree, walked over to Finley and stooped down in front of her. “You be good for Shannon.”

She nodded. “I will.”

Shannon rounded her desk. “I’m sure she will, too.”

Rory peeked up at her. Her pretty black hair spilled around her, a tumble of springy curls. Her blue eyes sparkled with happiness. She was, without a doubt, one of the most beautiful women he’d ever seen. And she was sweet. Nice. Smart. Fun.

An ache squeezed his heart. He’d lost her even before he’d had a chance to fully decide if he wanted her.

Realizing that was probably for the best, he gave Finley another reminder to behave then headed for the accounting department. An examination of the books confirmed what he’d suspected from looking at the annual statements she’d sent him. Raleigh’s Department Store made a lot of money even when her dad ran it. But profits had leaped when she’d taken the reins.

At noon, he ambled back to Shannon’s office suite. Wendy wasn’t at her desk, so he walked back to Shannon’s office, only to discover Shannon wasn’t there, either. With a sigh, he strolled to the window and gazed out. The city below bustled with activity. Silver bells and tinsel on the streetlamps blew in the breeze. The gazebo in the center of the little park looked like it was wearing a white snow hat. The city was small, comfortable. It would be a good place to raise a child. And, if he bought this store, he’d need to spend so much time here for the first three or four years of ownership that it might be a good idea to move here.

“She’s happier than I’ve ever seen her, you know?”