Free McKnight in Shining Armor by Tami Hoag

jitters. “Look, Alec, I’m not fishing for pity or anything here, but I think you need to understand things that aren’t that simple when you’re trying to raise two kids and keep a business from going under.”
    Alec stiffened a little. Watching for her reaction very carefully, he said, “Your business isn’t doing very well?”
    Kelsie played with her silverware, wishingshe’d kept her mouth shut. “Things could be better.”
    A thread of tension tightened between them and tightened a little more when he said, “If, for instance, I reconsidered on the Van Bryant deal.”
    Kelsie’s head shot up, her eyes not avoiding his now. Her heart beat a little faster. She couldn’t have been that wrong about him, could she? “Is that one of the perks I get for going out with you, Alec?” she asked with deadly quiet.
    “Did you think it would be?” he returned.
    “For the record, no,” she said, seething inside. How dare he think that of her? He’d practically dragged her to this damned restaurant, and yet he had the utter gall… She pushed her chair back from the table and started to get up to leave. “Thanks for the lovely evening.”
    “Kelsie, wait.” Half out of his chair, Alec caught her wrist, thinking he more than deserved the glare she shot him. “I’m sorry. I think we both hit a nerve. Truce, okay?”
    Kelsie sat just as the waitress brought their dinners. After the woman had arranged the plates ofsteaming, wonderful-smelling food on the table, she left them alone.
    “I’m sorry,” Kelsie said, poking a fork at her almond chicken. “I told you, I’m not very good at this dating stuff.”
    “It’s simple,” he said, digging into his beef with broccoli. “We make small talk, have a nice dinner, we go back to my place, and you let me ravish you.”
    Kelsie almost choked. The look on her face was one of pale, wide-eyed panic.
    Alec had to laugh. “Honey, I’m teasing,” he assured her. Not that he didn’t want to take her back to his place and ravish her. His imagination had been going wild on that particular topic practically since the moment he’d met her.
    Kelsie sighed in relief and tried to ignore the tiny nip of disappointment inside her. It had been so long, she wasn’t sure she remembered how to be ravished, but there was little doubt in her mind that Alec could give her a top quality refresher course. She struggled to push the thought out of her mind and remember she was just having dinner with him, not a relationship.
    “Where’d you go to college?” he asked, effectively ending both their forays into fantasy.
    “I didn’t.”
    Alec’s brows bobbed up in surprise. “I figured you had to have a degree in zoology. Where did you learn so much about animals?”
    She grinned. “
Wild Kingdom
. I never missed an episode as a kid.
National Geographic
specials too.”
    “Why didn’t you pursue it?”
    Kelsie hesitated. She almost said fear, which would have been a large part of the truth. The idea of leaving her safe, closed environment for college had terrified her then. Instead, she gave her stock answer. “I got married. We started our family right away. I used to think about going to college, but I don’t anymore. I like what I’m doing. How about you? What’s your story, Alec?”
    “Pretty boring stuff.” He smiled. “Born and raised in Edina, a business degree from the University of Minnesota, went to work at Glendenning. I live in Minnetonka and like to run every morning.”
    “Aren’t you awfully young to be a vice-president?”
    “I’m ambitious, and determined—remember that.” He gave her a wink.
    “Do you have family in the area?” she asked, feeling remarkably relaxed now that her initial nervousness had passed. They were sharing a lovely meal and conversation; there was nothing scary about it.
    Alec nodded. “My dad still practices law downtown. Mom has a little needlecraft store. I have some aunts and uncles and assorted cousins scattered around.