Seducing the Old Flame (31 page)

But she did love him.

She wanted to be his wife.

The mother of his children.

Now if the Savannah Blue project came through where he could
breathe easy financially everything would be perfect.

“What are you thinking?” she asked, dragging his attention back
to her.

“About what a lucky man I am.”

Her full lips turned up in a smile.
 
“Good answer.”

Tabitha slid into one of the comfortable leather seats in the
conference room and arranged the folders she carried into a neat stack on the
glossy coated table.

She’d meant to be early for this meeting, but several trips to
the bathroom had done away with the best of intentions.

“You okay?” Harold asked, eyeing her with intent dark eyes.

“I’m fine.”
 
She planned
to tell them about her engagement to Jason and her pending motherhood, but not
until after a decision had been made on the Savannah Blue shopping complex.

“Coffee?” Ben asked, pouring himself a cup.

Tabitha shook her head.
 
“No thanks, I’m cutting back.”

Ben and Harold’s eyes rounded.
 
“Since when?”

Okay, so she was an avid coffee drinker.
 
Coffee wasn’t good for her baby so she’d
given it up.

“I just have.”

“Now there’s a typical feminine response.”
 
Ben laughed and pulled up a chair across from
Tabitha.
 
Harold sat at the end of the
table and glanced over the agenda he’d prepared.
 
Harold was a man with a plan at all times
kind of guy.

“That would be because I’m all female,” Tabitha said with a wink
at Ben.

“Okay, let’s get started,” Harold said.
 
“We’ll clear out this little stuff first,
then go over the Savannah Blue proposal.”

For the next thirty minutes they reviewed projects.
 
Tabitha’s anxiety level grew.
 
Why she didn’t know.
 
She already knew what was going to happen.

Ben would say go for it.
 
Harold would say it was too risky even though Bill Banks was an old
friend, because Harold didn’t play nepotism.
 
She was going to abstain from giving an opinion for personal reasons.

Then she’d tell them about her pregnancy and plans to marry the
owner of Kelly Construction.
 
That would
cause some tongue-wagging.

“Tabitha?”
 
Harold waved
his hand in front of her face.
 
“What’s
with you today?”

“Nothing.”
 
She shook her
head.
 
“Sorry about that.
 
You were saying?”

He and Ben exchanged looks.

“Nevermind what he was saying, I want to hear about whatever has
you so distracted,” Ben said.

She glanced down.
 
The
Savannah Blue folder was the only one left in her stack.
 
She picked it up and handed it to Harold.

“Here’s my notes on the Savannah Blue Shopping Complex.
 
I appreciate the opportunity to provide
insight on this proposal, but I’m going to have to ask to decline from stating
an opinion one way or the other.”

Harold dropped the folder onto the table with a thud.

“Why the hell would you do that?” Ben asked.
 
“You’re third in command here and, might I
remind you, it’s an honor and a privilege to be included in the decision making
process.”

“I know and am very honored.
 
However, I can’t make an objective decision about this project and feel
it best that I not play a role in the decision one way or the other.”

“Commendable, but not acceptable,” Harold commented.
 
Picking up the folder, he skimmed her
notes.
 
“Besides, I’ve worked with you
long enough to read your thoughts in what you’ve written.
 
You think this project could be highly
profitable, but isn’t worth the risk.”

Bingo, but she wasn’t telling him that.

“It’s the Kelly Construction guy, isn’t it?” Ben asked.
 
“The one you used to sleep with?”

Harold shot Ben a scowl, then frowned at Tabitha.
 
“You have a relationship with someone at
Kelly Construction?”

Tabitha nodded.
 
“The
owner.”

“What kind of relationship?”

“I could tell you to mind your own business, but I guess in this
case this is sorta your business.”
 
Tabitha sighed.
 
“I’m engaged to
the owner of Kelly Construction.”

Both men’s jaws dropped.

“Engaged?”

“You?”

Their gazes lingered on her bare left hand.
 
“We’ve not gone ring shopping yet.”

“Does that mean this was a spur of the moment decision?” Harold
asked, scratching his chin.

“Jason wasn’t planning to propose the night he did.
 
We’ll get a ring later.”
 
She lowered her hands to her lap, out of
view.

Poor Jason had worked all weekend.
 
Sixteen hours yesterday alone.
 
Last night she’d not even seen him, just
talked to him on the phone for about thirty minutes before he’d crashed.

She was sure he’d get her a ring, something special, once he had
time.

“So why did he?” Ben asked.

“Now that really is none of our business, Ben,” Harold reminded.

Tabitha took a deep breath, then shrugged.

“Congratulations,” Harold offered, although he didn’t sound
convinced or thrilled.
 
“I think.”

“Yeah, me too.
 
Wow.”
 
Ben’s forehead scrunched up as he regarded
her in a whole new light.

“So what does this mean work-wise for you?” Harold asked,
tapping his pen against his notepad.

“What do you mean, work-wise?
 
You promised me a shot at becoming a partner next spring.
 
I expect to make partner.”

“You don’t see marriage interfering with your career?”
 
Harold stared at her with a serious
expression.
 
Too damned serious.

“No, I don’t.”
 
At his
raised eyebrow, she added, “Oh, don’t get me wrong.
 
I know there will be changes in my life, but
I’m damn good at what I do and you know it.
 
Marriage is not going to change that.”

“I sincerely hope not.”
 
Harold and Ben exchanged another look.
 
Some type of male bonding and praise the stars we don’t have to do the
wedding bells thing look.

Thank heavens she hadn’t told either of them about her pregnancy.

She’d never pegged either of them as male chauvinists
before.
 
Then again, she really couldn’t
knock either of them.
 
They’d always
treated her more than fairly and hadn’t judged her lifestyle as long as she
performed top-notch in her job duties.

She’d just work damn hard to make sure she stayed top-notch.

“Well, in light of everything that’s occurred here, I need to
rethink my view on the Savannah Blue project.”

“Harold, I don’t want you to okay the project just because of my
relationship with Jason.”

“I’m not.
 
I already
supported the project.
 
It’ll be awhile
before it pays off, but when it does, it’ll be big.
 
In light of your connection to Kelly
Construction, I’m wondering if our investors might see that as a conflict of
interest on a project with this much risk involved.”

He’d been going to okay the project?
 
And now he wasn’t sure.
 
Hell fire.
 
She turned to Ben.
 
“What about
you?
 
What was your take on all this?”

Ben shrugged and tossed her a folder with his notes neatly typed
up inside.

Tabitha skimmed his notations, then met his gaze.
 
“You voted we fund them.”

Incredible.
 
Harold and
Ben had both decided to fund the project.

Had being the key word.

“You’re telling me that my involvement with Jason is going to
possibly cost him a multi-million dollar contract?”

Harold didn’t meet her gaze.
 
“I need to think about this.
 
Consider all the angles our investors might see this from.
 
We’ll meet back after lunch.”

“Harold?”

He looked up.

“I can’t do anything that would hurt Jason like this.
 
This project is important to him.
 
Knowing that you and Ben both agreed to fund
the project, well, I’d rather leave the company than cause Jason to lose this
job.”

What was she doing?
 
What
could she do?

“I don’t think that will be necessary,” Ben hurriedly
assured.
 
“Can’t you just postpone this
engagement for a few years?” he suggested, only half-joking Tabitha was sure.

“Would that smooth things out?” she asked, afraid of the answer.

“Let’s not be hasty.
 
We
just need to think about this and we’ll discuss viable solutions after
lunch.”
 
Harold paused, cast a
sympathetic look toward Tabitha, then left the room.

“He’s going to kill the project,” Tabitha said the moment the
door closed behind Harold.

“That’s the impression I got, too.
 
No way will his sense of ethics allow him to
okay this now.
 
Damn shame as we could
make millions on that deal.”
 
Ben leaned
back in his chair and eyed her.
 
“So,
tell me, Tabitha, how invested are you in this engagement?”

Chapter Sixteen

Jason wiped the sweat from his brow, wondering how the wind
could bite into him and he could sweat at the same time?

 
“Hey, man, there’s a
really hot chick in the office waiting on you,” Rooster said, over the two-way
radio.
 
“Same one that was here a month
or two ago.”

“I’ll be right there,” he said into his radio.

Tabby was here?
 
He
smiled.
 
Why was she here?
 
What kind of surprise did she have planned?

Maybe she’d brought him some Chinese for lunch.

Grinning the entire walk to the trailer, Jason bounded up the
steps.

“Tabby?” he said, entering the office and, ignoring the payroll
receptionist and Rooster, he grabbed Tabby’s hand and pulled her to a back room
normally just used for storage.

He pushed the door to and locked it.

“God, you’re a sight for sore eyes,” he said, before taking her
into his arms.
 
“I missed you last
night.”

She didn’t meet his gaze, nor did she melt in his arms.
 
Actually, he’d say she was quite stiff.

“What’s wrong, Tabbycat?” he asked, then a horrible thought
occurred to him.
 
“The baby?
 
He or she’s okay?”

Tabby’s eyes closed.
 
“The
baby’s fine, Jason.”

“Thank God.”
 
He lifted
her chin, forcing her to look at him.
 
If
her eyes ever opened.
 
“Tell me what’s
going on.”

“We can’t be engaged anymore.”

Jason mentally reeled.
 
May have physically, too.
 
It sure
felt like someone had delivered a staggering blow to his gut.

“Why the hell not?”

Her eyes opened and she winced.
 
“I just can’t be engaged to you.”

“Okay, simple enough to fix, we’ll skip the engagement and get
married right away.”

“Jason, I thought I could do this, but I can’t.
 
Engagement, marriage, the whole forever and
ever bit, it’s just not me.
 
I can’t
imagine the thought of being with just one man for the rest of my life.”
 
She swallowed and met his gaze.
 
“Not even you.”

“What the hell are you saying?”

“That it would only be a matter of time before I’d start feeling
closed in.
 
We’d start fighting, and I
just couldn’t stand it.”

Jason shook his head, trying to clear the ringing from his
ears.
 
This wasn’t happening.
 
Tabitha wasn’t running away from what they
could have together.