The Billionaire's New Year Gift. Emma Darcy

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СКАЧАТЬ of the people here. Financially, I mean. One of the girls in the shipping department, her little boy was sick and the girl either needed to stay home and take care of him or hire someone to do it and either way, she couldn’t afford it. P.J. heard about it and she made sure Evvie was taken care of.”

      “Taken care of…how?”

      “She started a sick-day pool. You know, she convinced the powers that be to let any employee who wanted to to contribute some of their sick days to Evvie so she could stay home and not lose pay. And P.J. contributed the most. Plus I heard she also gave Evvie some money.”

      The more Rick talked about P.J., the more Alex admired her. It seemed to him that she had exactly the same kinds of values he had. In fact, he couldn’t imagine finding another woman more suited to him.

      She was the woman he wanted.

      Now all he had to do was convince her she really did want to be married.

      “Hey, Alex, you have any interest in poker?” Rick asked later that afternoon.

      “I love poker. Play every chance I get.” He’d actually started a poker night with a couple of the guys who worked for the foundation.

      “Well, a bunch of us play twice a month, and we’re supposed to play tomorrow night, but Chick, who’s one of our regulars, can’t make it. Wanna fill in?”

      “Sure, that’d be great.”

      “It’s at Wayne’s house. He’ll give you directions.”

      When Alex walked into Wayne Crowder’s house the following evening, the first person he saw was P.J. He could see she was as surprised as he was, even though she tried to disguise it, just as he did. Alex wasn’t sure if he was glad or not. Having her there would be a distraction, and Alex took his poker seriously.

      Wayne brought Alex a beer and he joined the others at the table. They were playing in the dining room of the small bungalow, and Wayne had set out bowls of nuts, pretzels and chips.

      Alex noticed a high chair in the corner but no sign of a child or a wife. What he’d seen of the house was homey and had a woman’s touch, so he figured there must be a female in the equation.

      “Let’s get started,” Rick said. He began to shuffle the cards as the others dug out their money.

      “What do you guys play?” Alex asked.

      “Texas hold ’em,” Wayne said.

      “My favorite,” Alex said.

      “You play much poker, Alex?” The question came from Jim.

      “Whenever I get the chance.”

      Rick explained the rules. “No one’s allowed to lose more than twenty dollars. Once your twenty bucks is gone, you gotta just watch.”

      The first hand was a dud for Alex. Dealt the three of hearts and nine of spades, he immediately folded.

      P.J., on the other hand, had a pair of jacks in the hole and when the river card was a third jack, the pot was hers.

      “That was nice,” she said as she scooped up her winnings.

      “For you, maybe,” grumbled Jim.

      Alex smothered a smile. Most men hated losing to a woman. A lot of women might have made a disparaging remark, saying something like, “Oh, I was just lucky,” but not her. She grinned happily, quite obviously pleased with herself.

      Of course, considering her background, it didn’t surprise him that she had so much self-confidence or that she wasn’t falsely modest. It was funny how now that he knew who she really was, he could see evidence of it in everything she said and did.

      Rick dealt the next hand. Alex’s hole cards were the two red kings. Wayne folded immediately, throwing his cards down in disgust. P.J. bet the minimum and Jim called. Then it was Alex’s turn. He had decided not to raise, because he didn’t want to give his hand away. He’d wait and see what happened with the flop. “Call,” he said.

      The flop consisted of the Queen of Spades, the deuce of clubs and the eight of diamonds. P.J. again bid the minimum and Jim raised. Alex called again, and P.J. threw her money in, staying with the hand.

      When the turn card was another eight, Jim couldn’t disguise his excitement. Alex figured he probably had two eights in the hole. He almost folded, but then threw in his money. He’d stayed this long, he might as well see what the river brought. What it brought was the Queen of Hearts. Disgusted, Alex finally folded. He was certain Jim had a full house.

      But to his amazement—and Jim’s shock—after two more rounds of bidding and raising, P.J. revealed her hole cards to be the two missing queens.

      That hand set the tone for the night. Alex was a good player—a very good player, in fact—yet he was outplayed by P.J., who was not only skillful but lucky, and who ended up the night’s big winner.

      “See why we’re considering making this a men-only night?” Rick said, half-jokingly. “She cleans us out every time.”

      P.J. grinned. “Better not try it. I have ways of retaliating, you know.”

      As they got ready to leave, there was the sound of a car in the driveway, and a few minutes later the back door opened. A pretty dark-haired woman holding a sleeping child walked into the dining room.

      “Hey, Lauren,” chorused the men.

      Lauren smiled and said hello. Her gaze moved to Alex.

      “Honey,” Wayne said, “this is Alex Noble. He works with us. Alex, my wife, Lauren, and that’s our rug rat, Billy, sleeping on her shoulder.” Wayne’s smile was proud. “He was a year old last week.”

      “Hi, Lauren,” Alex said. “Nice to meet you.”

      By now, P.J. had gotten up and walked over to where Lauren and the baby stood. “Wow, he’s grown,” she said softly, touching his silky dark hair. Her smile was tender as she peeked at him. “He gets cuter every day.”

      Lauren smiled and Wayne beamed. “And smarter,” Wayne said.

      “And more demanding,” Lauren said. “He actually thinks he runs this household.”

      P.J. chuckled. “And I’d be willing to bet he does.”

      Wayne made a face.

      “Well,” Rick said. “We’d better be going. Let you people get to bed.”

      As Alex drove home, he kept thinking about P.J. How she’d looked that night—her face flushed with excitement, her hair tumbling out of its clips, her eyes sparkling. He thought about how they came from similar backgrounds and spoke the same language. He thought about how smart she was and how good with people and what a wicked game of poker she played. But mostly, he thought about how she’d looked and acted toward little Billy. It was obvious she loved kids.

      That was a huge factor to Alex, because even if Harry hadn’t made having a child part of the challenge he’d issued, Alex definitely СКАЧАТЬ