The Rogue's Fortune. Cat Schield

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      Success had come easily since she had started immersing herself in her work a year ago, to keep despair at bay after her sister’s death. If she was busy, she had no time to fall prey to the depression that lurked in the shadows. It wasn’t long before she discovered that running herself into a state of exhaustion wasn’t something she could do forever.

      She needed a personal life, but thanks to her rotten taste in men, dating brought her more heartache than happiness.

      What had struck her hard after losing her sister, brother-in-law and niece in a car accident was how alone she was. Her parents had moved from upstate New York to Oregon right as Elizabeth started her freshman year of college. In the seven years they’d been gone, they’d never returned to the East coast. It was as if with both their children grown, they’d started this whole new life for themselves.

      When they’d first announced that they were moving Elizabeth had been bothered by their abandonment. But after she moved to New York City and started college, she’d fallen in love. Not with a man, but with the city. The excitement and the possibilities of living in such a wonderful place. And she’d never once felt lonely.

      It had helped that her sister was a couple hours away by train. But with Stephanie’s death, a hole had appeared in her heart. What she wanted was a family. That’s when she decided to make a family of her own. Unfortunately, as fabulously as her career was progressing, things on the baby front weren’t going so well. Two rounds of in vitro had failed.

      She was all out of money. Her dreams of motherhood wouldn’t be coming true this year.

      Elizabeth’s heart wrenched in dismay.

      She should be flying high. Last night’s triumph was yet another step upward professionally. She was crossing career goals off her list ahead of schedule. But what good did all her success do her when the reason she was working so hard was to provide for the child her body refused to conceive?

      Maybe if she’d been more positive during the second in vitro try. Kept her hopes up. Spent her days and nights visualizing a baby in her arms rather than bracing herself for disappointment. Maybe then things would have turned out better.

      If her sister could hear her thoughts, she’d agree. Stephanie had been an advocate for positive thinking since she was a freshman in high school. Top of her class. Head cheerleader. Captain of the women’s volleyball team the year they won state. Whatever Stephanie visualized, she made happen.

      And what would her sister say about Elizabeth’s pity party for one? Stephanie would tell her to pull out a piece of paper and write her goal at the top, then list all the things she could do to move forward.

      Elizabeth settled her purse in a drawer and hung up her coat. Flopping into her desk chair, she set a yellow legal pad in front of her and wrote Motherhood at the top. Below that she doodled dollar signs.

      How to afford more in vitro treatments? Save money until she could afford to try again. Economizing wasn’t the answer. She already lived in the smallest apartment she could stand, a tiny studio in Chelsea with a view of the neighboring building’s wall. What she needed to do was increase her income. And the fastest way to do that? Demand that Josie make her a partner. She was already bringing in more money than all of Josie’s other planners combined. It was time she reaped some of the benefits of all her hard work.

      Feeling more determined than when she’d left her apartment an hour ago, Elizabeth headed for her boss’s office. With each step she took, she gained confidence in her plan.

      It was the perfect opportunity to make her pitch. Last night’s party had been a huge success. She’d made a dozen contacts and fielded interest from at least eight people who wanted her to help with their holiday parties. Her career was about to go from fast track to supersonic.

      “Josie, do you have a second?”

      The fifty-eight-year-old head of Josie Summers’s Event Planning sat like a queen on a cream damask sofa in her enormous corner office. A silver tray with an elegant coffeepot sat on the low table before her. On the round table that stood halfway between the door and her boss’s ornate cherry desk was a vase overflowing with the most gorgeous long-stemmed red roses Elizabeth had ever seen. Things must be going better between Josie and her boyfriend of twelve years.

      Her boss waved Elizabeth in. “Darling, we’re a triumph.”

      “Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves,” Elizabeth said. “The auction raised three million for children’s cancer research.” She sat beside Josie and accepted the cup of coffee her boss handed her. “Kendra called me this morning and said her boss was pleased with our handling of the event.”

      Even though Josie hadn’t been involved with any aspect of the planning, she claimed credit for every success.

      “Well, I should say so.” Josie crossed her legs and leaned forward to pour coffee into a second china cup. She sipped and eyed Elizabeth over the rim. “Josie Summers’s Event Planning offers nothing but sublime perfection.”

      “Absolutely.” Having her boss take credit for her successes didn’t sit well with Elizabeth, but she needed her job and wanted to keep it.

      Until coming to work for Josie, she’d never been one to tout her accomplishments. She’d always done her best without expecting anyone to praise her. But it hadn’t taken more than six months in the cutthroat world of event planning for her to realize that if she wanted to get ahead, she not only needed to be the best, she had to make sure everyone knew it.

      “I’ve already received a half dozen calls this morning about upcoming events thanks to the work we did last night.” The diamonds in Josie’s ears winked. “Josie Summers’s Event Planning is the best in New York. It’s about time everyone recognized that.”

      Thanks to all Elizabeth’s hard work. She forced a smile. “That’s great. And part of what I wanted to talk to you about this morning…”

      “Oh, and those came for you.” Josie indicated the roses. “They were delivered to me by mistake.”

      Elizabeth regarded the extravagant bouquet. She felt oddly light-headed. It was the sort of thing a man sent the woman he loved. “For me?”

      Josie picked up a small white card and handed it to Elizabeth. “Another admirer, from the looks of it.”

      Stifling her resentment that her boss had already read the card, Elizabeth slid it out of the envelope and stared at the bold script.

      I have a proposal I’d like to discuss with you. RB

      She had no trouble imagining the sort of proposal Roark Black had in mind. Proposition was more like it. Remembering the way his gaze had slipped over her last night, heat rushed into her cheeks. Conscious of her boss’s avid curiosity, she mastered her expression and held very still. Difficult when she wanted to run from the room and the implications of that message. But fleeing would do her no good when the danger lay inside her. The searing curiosity about the enigmatic treasure hunter. What would it be like to have those mobile lips capture hers? His hands gliding over her skin as if she was a priceless artifact he’d been searching for all his life?

      “Elizabeth?”

      “Hmm?”

      Josie’s voice held amusement. “Who is RB?”

      She СКАЧАТЬ