The Accidental Boyfriend. Maggie Dallen

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СКАЧАТЬ Lucia, following closely behind her. Lucia was shaking her head and giving Daniel a wide-eyed look of warning.

      Jack exchanged looks with the other two men. Oh no, she’d seen the picture.

      When Ivy came to a stop before them, out of breath from the long walk inside, Jack was ready to confess.

      “I swear, Ivy, I didn’t know—”

      “Daniel, we have to go to Paris,” Ivy said at the same time.

      Jack stopped midsentence and turned to Daniel, whose jaw had dropped open in surprise. Daniel got to his feet and gently ushered her into a chair at the table. “Sweetheart, what are you so worked up about?”

      “I need to get to Paris,” she said as Daniel propped up her feet and poured her a glass of lemonade. Watching Daniel, the coldhearted, ruthless tycoon, become a doting nursemaid over the past few weeks had been a constant source of amusement for Jack and Brunelli.

      “Honey, you know you can’t fly in your condition,” Daniel said.

      “Then you need to go to Paris,” she told him.

      Daniel sat back in his chair and, in a calm voice of reason, said, “I was rather hoping to be present at the birth of my first child.”

      Ivy let out a sigh but she nodded her agreement.

      “What’s wrong?” he asked. “Maybe we can come up with a solution that doesn’t involve either of us flying to Paris today.”

      “It’s Holly,” Ivy started.

      Brunelli’s eyes shot to Jack, who subtly shifted in his seat so he could run away, if necessary. No one in this room knew his tendency to love ‘em and leave ‘em as well as Ivy did and if she thought for one second that her sweet, innocent sister was another notch on his bedpost, well she’d be a very pregnant, but very frightening, force to be reckoned with.

      “What about Holly?” Brunelli asked, his gaze still locked on Jack.

      Ivy blew an errant auburn curl out of her face. “She’s on a wild goose chase in Paris.”

      “Holly’s in Paris?” Daniel said.

      “Paris, France,” Ivy clarified, as though there was some doubt as to where Paris was located.

      “I thought Holly was coming back to Italy to meet the baby next month,” Jack said. Not that he’d given it much thought or anything. He’d just rehearsed what he would say to her about six thousand times. Every time, it started with an apology. He was still ashamed of the way he’d ended things that night.

      “She’s still coming here, but she decided to go to Paris first so she could chase after some guy.”

      Jack’s brain went black. Before he could come up with a nonchalant way of asking why the hell Holly would be chasing after anyone—the woman was a goddess—Ivy was off on a tangent.

      “This is just like her. Act first, think later. No, more like act first, think never. And now I have to tell my mom and dad that Holly ran away. I mean, she’s a grown woman, sure, but they still worry and it’s not like—”

      Daniel put a hand over hers and it seemed to bring Ivy back to the present. She got a dreamy look on her face as she gazed adoringly at her new husband for a moment. Then she was right back to her old self.

      “I’m worried about her,” she said. Her lips pressed together in a thin line as she crossed her arms over her chest.

      Jack couldn’t take it anymore. “Who’s the guy?”

      All eyes turned to him and he cleared his throat a bit. Perhaps that had come out a tad more…intense than he’d intended.

      He tried again. “I mean, why is she chasing after this guy?” Leaning back in his chair he tried to project calm indifference but he didn’t miss the odd looks he got from the others at the table.

      “Benjamin,” Ivy said his name on an exasperated sigh.

      “Who’s Benjamin?” Now it was Daniel’s turn to sound a touch too angry, but it didn’t seem to strike anyone as odd coming from the overprotective brother-in-law.

      “Is she in trouble?” Brunelli asked. The old man’s wrinkled brow was creased more than usual in concern.

      “No, not really,” Ivy said.

      Jack let out a pent up breath.

      “She just wants to marry him.”

      Jack froze. “What?” Luckily his not-so-manly screech was drowned out by similar outburst from everyone at the table. “So are you telling us that Holly has a boyfriend?” His voice sounded strange to his own ears. Oh God, he sounded like a jealous lover.

      Daniel and Brunelli both turned to him with a glare and Brunelli gave a short nod toward the magazine, which was currently jutting out from beneath Jack’s behind.

      Lucia answered this one, a hint of a smile hovering on her lips. “Had a boyfriend. He’s the one that got away.” She reached over to grab a grape from the fruit bowl in the middle of the table. “I think it’s romantic that she’s going after him.”

      Ivy rolled her eyes. “Benjamin is sweet and all, but….”

      But? Jack waited for her to continue but she just shook her head and sighed. But what? Was he a bad influence on her? Was he a player? Would he break her heart?

      “It doesn’t matter why she followed him, the problem is, Holly followed him to the wrong Paris.”

      Daniel frowned at her in concern. “Have you gotten too much sun today, sweetheart?” He reached over to place a hand on her forehead to check for a fever but she swatted him away.

      “Holly is in Paris, France,” she stressed again, “and Benjamin is in Paris, Texas.”

      There was a quiet beat as everyone digested the fact that Texas had a Paris of its own.

      Lucia’s eyes widened in horror. “So Holly is alone in France and Benjamin is—”

      “At an IT convention in the lone star state,” Ivy finished. “Yeah, that sums it up.”

      “Can’t we call her?” Daniel asked.

      Ivy shook her head. “Her phone is off since she’s out of country. She won’t check in again for days, maybe a week. And she’s terrible at checking email.”

      “Do you know where she’s staying?” Brunelli asked.

      “No, she didn’t say. But calling would do no good. She always uses different names when she travels.”

      Jack and the others looked at one another in confusion and Ivy added, “You know, like celebrities use?” At their silence she mumbled, “You guys don’t know Holly very well, do you?”

      Jack opened his mouth to protest but stopped himself. Of course he СКАЧАТЬ