Twin Ties, Twin Joys: The Boss's Double Trouble Twins / Twins for a Christmas Bride / Baby Twins: Parents Needed. Raye Morgan

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СКАЧАТЬ assumed it was Craig Carver, Mitch’s cousin, who she’d heard was transferring from the Dallas branch of the family firm. She’d never met Craig. Unfortunately she couldn’t say the same about Mitch.

      Closing her eyes, she swayed in silent agony. How was she going to do this? How was she going to tell this man she barely knew that he was the father of her two children? That what had seemed like a romantic interlude, a chance encounter, a fleeting intimacy, had turned into a lifetime commitment? One mistake, one night of letting down her legendary guard, a one-time retreat from a lifetime of caution, and she was destined to pay the price forever. And so was he.

      Not that her babies weren’t worth it. She couldn’t even think about them without smiling. They were her joy, her life. But their father was her dilemma and her complication. And now she had to tell this man who had made no secret of his determination never to settle down, never to live a conventional life, that he had a pair of anchors, whether he liked it or not.

      She knew he wouldn’t be happy about it. Would he hate her? Hate them? It was clear he wouldn’t want to let anything as mundane as children get in the way of his work. She wasn’t real clear on just what he did out there in the world. She had the impression he went where people paid for his services, but she was also pretty sure he spent more time using his brain than his brawn. Nevertheless, there was plenty of danger involved, and she knew from what he’d told her that the excitement was intoxicating to him. He loved it. So what was he doing here?

      A speedy wipe-down with the towel and then she was slipping into the fresh clothes her friend Marty had supplied: a jersey top and a cute denim skirt. Both were a little large for her slim figure, but they would do.

      She rolled the soggy dress she’d worn to work that day in the towel, fluffed her shoulder-length blond hair under the wall hair dryer for a few minutes and peeked out into the office to see who was there.

      No one. Super. In just moments she was back on her own floor, her own desk in her sights, when someone called from behind.

      “Hey, Darcy!”

      It was Kevin, he of the errant café latte. She kept walking, but he caught up with her.

      “Hey, I really, really am sorry.”

      He looked sorry. He was young and bright and he seemed to have something of a crush on her, but he certainly did look sorry.

      “Forget it,” she said shortly, reaching out to pick up the papers filling her in-box.

      “Really Darcy, it was an accident. I just leaned over the rail to look at you and the cup slipped and …”

      “Sure, Kevin. I understand. Don’t think another thing about it.” She began riffling through the papers, though she didn’t see a thing. She was wondering where Mitch was—mainly so that she could avoid him. She needed time to think.

      “I’d love to make it up to you, Darcy,” Kevin was saying, looking puppy-dog hopeful. “I thought maybe I could take you out to …”

      Kevin’s suggested destination was to remain forever unknown. Before he got the name out, the elevator doors across from her office opened and Bill Monroe, her amiable boss, stepped into their conversation.

      “My office, Darcy,” he said, cocking a stern forefinger her way. “Right now.”

      “But …” She glanced at the clock on the wall over the elevator. “I really don’t have time this morning. I’m running a little late and I’ve got people waiting for some research I’ve been doing and—”

      “Forget that,” Bill said flatly. “I need to talk to you right away.”

      There was a grim look on his normally jovial face as he headed for his office. Kevin shrugged dejectedly and disappeared down the stairs. Darcy sighed, stowed her things away and looked up to find Mitch coming toward her.

      “Oh, hi,” she said awkwardly. It gave her quite a start to have him casually turning up where she wasn’t used to seeing him. It also gave her an opportunity to really look at him, and for a moment, that was what she did.

      He looked so different, it was a wonder she’d recognized him right away. She flashed back to that weekend in Paris and what he’d looked like then. She’d been sharing a small place with Jimmy ever since she’d arrived in Paris. Apartments were impossible to find in the area near where they both worked at the same company. Their mothers had been best friends, so they’d known each other forever, and it had seemed only natural to share a place.

      When she’d heard that Mitch was dropping by, she’d had a few seconds of excitement before she’d reminded herself that he wasn’t coming to see her. He probably didn’t even remember who she was. So when the doorbell had rung, she’d gone to let him in, not expecting much but pleased to be seeing someone from home. Opening the door, she’d found him standing there and her world had fallen out of the sky.

      He’d been completely wild, totally exotic, like a fictional hero. His hair was a long, thick tangle framing his outrageously handsome face. His body had been spectacularly displayed in a tight, clinging shirt and torn jeans that molded to his muscular legs like something that had grown to cover him. He was reeking with attitude and looked like a young freedom fighter, a rebel, a revolutionary, ducking in out of the street to evade a pursuer. Even now, the memory of how provocatively fine he’d looked took her breath away.

      She’d fallen for him like a ton of bricks, right there in the doorway to Jimmy’s tiny flat. Not that it should have been surprising. After all, even though she hadn’t seen him for years, she’d had a crush on him since she’d been a child. Of course, he’d never noticed her in those days.

      Only, this time he did.

      “Hey,” he’d said, looking deep into her eyes. “Hey yourself,” she’d said back, looking dreamily into his.

      “What’s your name?” he’d asked, proving her theory.

      “Darcy,” she’d responded, just as glad he didn’t remember the awkward girl who’d mooned after him in the old days.

      “I’m Mitch.”

      “I know.”

      He’d smiled and she’d swooned toward him.

      “Want to run away with me?” he asked her softly, leaning even closer.

      She’d nodded without hesitation, knowing it was just banter, but answering in all sincerity. “Yes,” she whispered.

      His gaze had seemed to devour her hungrily and for one long moment, she’d lost herself in his blue eyes.

      “Hey, Mitch,” Jimmy had called out from the kitchen. “You finally got here.”

      And she’d pulled back, thinking the moment was over, that the relationship between the two men would be the focus of the rest of the day. But she’d been wrong. The magic that had sparked between them didn’t fade. As soon as they got the chance, they’d gone out into the city together, and things had gone from pure delight to rapture.

      At first she’d looked on that exciting weekend as a mistake, but one that was just too delicious to really regret—a romantic episode she would treasure forever. It seemed the kind of thing you read about in books or saw in movies. He’d come into her life СКАЧАТЬ