That Night with You (6 page)

Letting her mouth fall open, Charlie
feigned indignation. “I do not. I’ll have you know I’m wearing
white at my wedding.”

“
Only because your future
mother-in-law will be in attendance,” Mrs. Leder commented. “She
needs to believe her son is marrying a nice girl, but we know
better.” She waved off Charlie’s stunned expression. “I was young
and horny, too, Charlie. If my mother-in-law knew what her son and
I had been up to the night before our wedding, she would have never
let me marry into the Leder family…but I did. Thirty-two years of
marriage, two sons, and now I own two apartment buildings and four
business offices in Dallas.” She winked at Madison. “Just play your
cards right. Don’t jump into bed with him too quickly, and you
might just end up with that big rock on your finger like your
roommate.” She pointed to the oval-shaped diamond set in platinum
glistening on Charlie’s left hand.

“
Might be a little late for
that,” Charlie giggled.

“
Charlie,” Madison
yelled.

Mrs. Leder leveled her eyes on
Charlie. “Did I miss something?”

“
Mads has already slept
with her boss.”

“
No, it’s not like that,
Mrs. L,” Madison quickly clarified. “I think he may be this guy I
knew a long time ago. We had this…thing.”

“
A one-night thing, if you
know what I mean,” Charlie teased with a wink.

“
Oh, I get it.” Mrs. Leder
grinned. “No need to explain.” She looked Madison up and down. “So,
what did he say when he saw you today?”

Madison twisted her hands together,
mimicking the feeling in her stomach. “He acted like he didn’t know
me. He, ah, never got my name before when we….” She shrugged. “I
never met my boss until today, and I kept thinking he seemed so
familiar. I don’t think I should say anything to him.”

“
Of course you should say
something!” Mrs. Leder waved her hand delicately in the air. “Make
a casual reference like ‘Have we met before? You seem awfully
familiar,’ or you could ask, ‘Do you go to such and such
restaurant? I swear I’ve seen you there before.’ That might jog his
memory and get him to talk about it.”

“
I can’t do that,” Madison
admitted, shaking her head. “What if it is him and he does remember
me?”

Mrs. Leder’s devious smile took ten
years off her face. “Then I’d say you have one up on your
boss.”

Madison frowned. “I don’t get
it.”

“
Madison, honey, if you two
did as you kids say, ‘hook up,’ then he has to play nice with you.
He might not want everyone in his office finding out about your
past together. Could cause problems for him, but it could be a real
advantage to you.”

Charlie playfully slapped Mrs. Leder’s
arm. “Mrs. L, I never knew you had a bad streak.”

“
Child, I know how to play
this game.” She turned her eyes to Madison. “I may not look it now,
but in my day I was quite the catch. Duncan’s father hit on me way
before his son did. So by the time Duncan asked me out, I had his
father right where I wanted him, and knew there would be no
objections voiced to my dating his son.” She patted Madison’s
shoulder. “If it’s the same guy, use what you had together to help
you get ahead.”

Charlie turned to Madison. “Mrs. L is
right, Mads.”

Madison felt the apprehension in her
gust twist even tighter. “I can’t do that! He was…is a nice
guy.”

“
Nice guys don’t have
one-night stands, Madison. The nice guys get to know a girl first.
Don’t let him get away with it.” Mrs. Leder turned toward the
apartment door. “This is war, girl.” She gave a passing wave of her
hand. “Return the dish to me when you’re done.”

“
Thank you, Mrs. L,”
Madison and Charlie called almost in unison as the door closed
behind the older woman.

After she was gone, Charlie turned to
Madison with one arched eyebrow. “Take it from the former femme
fatale who also happens to be our landlady…go for it with the
hottie boss.”

Madison went back to the sofa and
picked up her wineglass from the coffee table. “You want me to take
advice from a seventy-year-old grandmother with a penchant for tuna
casseroles? I don’t think so.”

“
What could it hurt to ask
the guy, like Mrs. L suggested? Just bring it up
casually.”

Madison guzzled more wine. “Casually?
I don’t even know if it’s him, Charlie. I wish you wouldn’t have
said anything to Mrs. L.”

Charlie turned back to the kitchen
counter. “Come and eat some of this tuna casserole with me. And
don’t be so worried about what your boss will think. Better to find
out now if it’s him. What if you really like this job? You don’t
want to blow it, do you?”

Madison toyed with the notion of
saying anything to Hayden about her suspicions. While imagining him
standing close to her, she felt that funny tingle in her belly
return. The only other man who had elicited such a reaction had
been her onetime lover. Her mind may not have wanted to believe he
was her Harry, but her body was beginning to have other
ideas.

***

The next morning, Madison was sitting
at her desk and peering out her window at the clouds hovering about
the adjoining buildings. A light trickle of rain was tapping
against the glass as her mind kept rolling over the advice from her
landlady. She was supposed to be copying plans for a builder
waiting to start construction on a new home designed by Parr and
Associates. Instead, she entertained the multitude of ways she
could walk into her boss’s office and ask him if he was the Harry.
Every time she felt the courage to rise from her chair, that
nagging voice in her head barged in, warning her not to rock the
boat with Hayden Parr.

“
You’re somewhere else,”
Adam’s voice cut into her thoughts.

She turned to his desk. “I was
thinking about something.”

“
Obviously, you’re about as
thrilled with copying plans as I am.” He stood from his chair and
came up to her. “What do you say we sneak out for an early lunch
together? My treat?”

Madison glared at him and wondered why
Adam was suddenly being so friendly. She had grown leery of his
passing compliments, attributing his every action to some ulterior
motive. “Maybe we should just check to see if they have something
scheduled for us today for orientation.”

He leaned his elbows on her desk. “I
ran into Emma this morning. We had a little chat and she told me
our boss and Mr. Worthy were going to be tied up all day in client
meetings. So we’re on our own.”

Madison took in the curve of his
freckled forearms beneath his rolled up white shirt sleeves. “I
don’t want to have lunch with you, Adam.”

“
Why not? I think if we’re
going to be spending so much time together, we should at least know
a bit about each other.”

Madison picked up a number two pencil
on her desk. “I don’t think we should be taking off for early
lunches on our second day on the job.” Turning her attention to the
plans on her computer screen, she proposed, “What if Mr. Worthy or
Mr. Parr comes looking for us?”

Adam’s acerbic laughter bristled
against her skin. “I hope you’re not that naïve, Madison. You can’t
think that our bosses actually give a damn about us. The first day,
they give you lunch, pretend to be interested in your future plans,
but after that you’re simply a workhorse expected to produce.” He
went over to the window and took in the misty clouds. “Don’t kill
yourself for an employer. You’re always replaceable, and once
they’ve chewed you up and spit you out they will move
on.”

She thought of the way Hayden Parr’s
haunting eyes had lingered on her face. “I don’t know…Mr. Parr
seemed nice yesterday.”

Adam’s green eyes intently studied
her. “What did you two talk about while I was with Don Worthy? You
seemed awfully preoccupied while we were eating lunch.”

Madison put on a nonchalant smile. “He
just asked me some questions since we never got a formal interview
together. You know, about why I became an architect…the
usual.”

“
You’re sure?” His red
brows rose up his forehead, accentuating the freckles on his
cheeks. “You two seemed almost cozy.”

How was she going to put this guy off?
While scrambling to find the appropriate answer, she heard their
office door open.

“
Glad to find you two with
your heads together,” Hayden Parr announced as he breezed into the
room.

Madison’s stomach immediately clamped
down when she saw the handsome man. The cut of his dark brown suit
highlighted his wide shoulders and trim waist. When his eyes found
hers, she could have sworn there was a glint of some decadent
thought shimmering back at her. For a split second, she pictured
pushing the jacket from his shoulders and letting her
hands—

“
Mr. Parr,” Adam
exuberantly extolled, as he walked toward the man. “We didn’t
expect to see you today.”

“
No, I’m sure you didn’t.”
Hayden’s eyes shifted to Adam, but the amusement in them vanished.
“The reason I stopped by was to discuss something you brought up
yesterday, Adam.”

Adam’s ass-kissing smirk made
Madison’s stomach turn. “And what was that, Mr. Parr?”

Hayden glanced toward the window
overlooking downtown Dallas. “You wanted to know when you and
Madison were going to get your first assignment. Well, I may have
something for both of you.”

Madison cautiously stood from her
chair. “Both of us?”

He brushed his hand across his chin as
he gazed up and down her figure. “I was just meeting with my new
clients. They have two acres in Turtle Creek and want something out
of the ordinary; something that blends with the landscape and does
not detract from it. They want a natural-looking house that is also
modern in design and allows expansive views of the land from every
room. These clients have a great deal of money to spend, and
certainly want the house to reflect that wealth…but in a tasteful
way,” he added sarcastically. He stiffly shifted his hands behind
his back. “I would ordinarily give this to one of my more seasoned
architects, but I think I need a fresh approach with these people,
some new ideas. I thought perhaps I would let the two of you take a
stab at it. See what you come up with.”

The excitement in Adam’s
twitching feet was almost more than Madison could bear.
Could the guy be more obnoxious?

“
Wow, that’s fantastic.”
Adam dashed to Hayden’s side, waving his hands about in the air. “I
have so many ideas, Mr. Parr. I know you’ll love them. I can see a
ranch exterior that perhaps opens up to a grand hallway
with—”

“
That’s very ambitious of
you,” Hayden interrupted. “Don’t you think you should consult with
Madison first, since it will be both of your ideas?”

Adam appeared surprised. “But I
thought we were competing against each other. You know, have the
best design wins kind of thing.”

Hayden snickered. “That was not my
intention, Adam.”

“
Why not have us compete
against each other?” Madison debated. “Might give you a better idea
of our design styles, and you will then have two plans to choose
from instead of just one.”

Hayden’s eyes darkened as he pondered
the idea. “I usually don’t like pitting one architect against the
other. Are you are both all right with this?”

“
Great. I’m in,” Adam said
with way too much exuberance in his voice.

“
I’m game,” Madison
concurred.

Adam rubbed his hands together and
turned toward his desk. “I can’t wait to get started on a
presentation for you.”

“
Aren’t you forgetting
something, Adam?” Hayden questioned.

“
What else do I need? You
already told me what the client wants.”

Madison folded her arms over her
chest, displaying a smart grin. “The property, Adam. We need to see
the property. What good is designing a house to blend with nature,
if we don’t have any idea of the nature it is meant to blend in
with?”

The smile that spread across Hayden’s
lips was absolutely stunning, awakening the sleeping butterflies in
her stomach.

“
Very good, Madison. And
you’re absolutely right. You need to see the property.” He glanced
over at Adam. “Both of you.”

Adam clapped his hands together and
the loud noise made the butterflies in her stomach take wing.
“Great. We can take a look at it whenever you like.”

Hayden’s intense eyes crinkled up at
the sides as his grin widened. “How about now?”

“
Okay,” Adam agreed with a
shrug of his shoulders.

“
I have a car waiting
downstairs to take us to the property.” Hayden moved closer to
Madison’s side. “What do you say, Ms. Barnett, are you up for a
quick spin with me?”

She leveled her eyes on him. “You
don’t play around, do you, Mr. Parr?”

“
I like to cut right to the
chase, Ms. Barnett. Games are for cards, not people.”

For an instant, her eyes
held his and the room around them disappeared. She remembered Harry
saying the exa
c
t
same thing to her so many years ago. It was Harry’s voice and
Harry’s words.