Free The Great Baby Caper by Eugenia Riley

the
arrangements. He dispatched one of his most trusted executives to London to manage my father’s holdings until I came of age and ability. He also insisted my
sisters and I go on holiday for the remainder of the school term and come stay
with him in America. That spring we spent in Denver was quite wonderful, a
healing time that all of us very much needed. But the girls and I got our noses
back to the grindstone soon enough, returning to our various schools in London. After that, we spent holidays and summers with Grandfather in Denver. Indeed, he
wanted the three of us to settle with him there, and seek American
citizenship.”
    “With you joining Bootle’s Baby Bower?” she suggested rather cynically. “Perhaps an attempt to rewrite
history?”
    “Indeed, but I felt obligated to
take on my father’s ventures instead.”
    “Of course you would have,” she
agreed sympathetically. “And I imagine you also adopted your dad’s policy of
keeping his and your grandfather’s business enterprises separate?”
    Mark offered her an amused salute.
“You’re a smart girl, Courtney.”
    “Well, I did wonder earlier why M.
Billingham never brought you around BBB. Now I know.”
    “Yes, I suppose I did honor family
tradition there. And besides, by the time I finished my education, both my
younger sisters were engaged to chaps in London. So I took the helm at
Billingham’s. I signed on at a propitious time, too, when Internet sales were
coming into vogue. I established our online store early and did it right, as
well as starting up one of the largest online pharmacies in the U.K. I also bought up a few failed e-businesses—music, electronics, fine jewelry—and
reorganized them into successes.”
    “Gracious—so you’ve become quite
an achiever in your own right.”
    He gave a shrug. “I make out
nicely.”
    Courtney was about to comment,
only to pause when the waiter came by, depositing their main courses. Seeing
Mark watching her expectantly, she picked up her fork.
    Following her lead, he tasted a
bit of shrimp. “Mmmmm,” he murmured ecstatically, “This—um—what do you call
it?”
    “Shrimp Creole.”
    He nodded. “Well, it’s excellent.
I commend your ordering skills, miss.”
    “Trying to butter me up, are you?”
she asked.
    He deliberately took a slice of
steamy bread from the basket, buttered it, and handed it to her. “Definitely.”
    She tasted the excellent bread and
chuckled.
    “Now that you’ve endured my
background,” he remarked, “tell me more about yourself.”
    “I’m afraid my upbringing’s not
nearly so interesting,” she admitted. “I come from the typical, middle-class
American family. I grew up in west Denver, where my dad owns a residential
air-conditioning company. My mother was a bit unusual in that she stayed at
home—but who can blame her with five children? As I’ve already mentioned I have
three older sisters and one younger brother. I pretty much followed the path of
my sisters—dancing lessons, Girl Scouts, cheerleader—that is, until I graduated
from high school. At that point, my older sisters had jobs, followed soon after
by marriage. By contrast, I broke the high school quarterback’s heart and went
on to college.”
    He winked at her solemnly. “You do
strike me as a heartbreaker, Courtney.”
    To cover the unaccountable blush
heating her cheeks, she coughed and forged on. “I got my BBA from the University of Colorado and won a scholarship to Harvard Business School for my master’s.”
    “My kind of woman,” he muttered.
“Now you’re making me feel like an utter pedestrian.”
    “Sure I am,” she mocked. “To
continue, my first couple of jobs were stepping stones, until I landed the
position as junior executive in charge of products at Bootle’s Baby Bower. From
there . . .” Voice fading, she narrowed her gaze. “Well, you know the rest.”
    “You’re now on the verge of
becoming the new CEO.”
    She shot him an admonishing