Free A Trap So Tender by Jennifer Lewis

between them. The wind, and their ride, had
brought color to his cheeks and a sparkle to his eyes that made them seem far
less cold. Excitement prickled inside her. Would they kiss again? Where would
this lead?
    She’d never been in such a strange situation before. Maybe this
is what happened to people who sold their business and became wealthy overnight.
Men certainly didn’t sweep her off to their foreign estates when she was a
slightly geeky product designer and wannabe entrepreneur. In fact, she’d gone
for long periods without a single date. If she hadn’t done independent research
into James’s finances for her own nefarious purposes, she’d be tempted to assume
that he wanted to marry her for money to fix up his money pit of an estate.
Since she knew better, she couldn’t for the life of her figure out what he was
up to.
    An electronic tone interrupted her thoughts, and James reached
into his pocket. When he pulled out a phone, she realized this was the first
time she’d seen him take a call since they’d been together. She didn’t even
realize he had one on him.
    She turned away to give him some privacy, though her ears
remained pricked. Who was privileged enough to phone James away from the office?
He must have someone intercepting his calls somewhere, as a man with his fingers
in so many pies must get a lot of phone calls. Who was his assistant? She should
really know this stuff by now, but it was hard to find information about James
Drummond that wasn’t public knowledge.
    His conversation was a low murmur, but he was definitely
talking to a man. She could tell from the gruff, rather formal manner. After a
few minutes, he told the caller that he looked forward to seeing him, and then
hung up.
    “I didn’t know you carried a phone.”
    “I wish I didn’t, but the world expects you to be available at
all hours these days. My assistant screens all my calls. And this was a man I
have an interesting project in the works with.”
    “In Singapore?” Her stomach started fluttering. Was this the
project that had required him to grab her dad’s business?
    “Yes, among other places.”
    “Let me guess, a chain of hotels?” She wanted to know more
without actually asking.
    “Not exactly.” His face was a smooth granite mask, as usual,
and she could tell that was all the information she would get. Would James
Drummond ever kiss and tell? There was really only one way to find out.
    “I’m afraid I have to go sit in front of a computer for a
while. Some figures to go over. Do feel free to explore the place.”
    They walked down the stairs and back toward the inhabited part
of the castle. James was obviously preoccupied, and he wasn’t the type to fill
the air with noise just to be polite. Her brain was busy, too, wondering exactly
what would happen after dinner that night. She no longer had the excuse of being
exhausted from their flight, and James had already put some pretty impressive
moves on her.
    Not that she’d resisted too hard.
    Back in her room, she phoned her best friend, Crystal, in San
Diego.
    “What do you mean you’re in Scotland?”
    “It all happened so fast I didn’t have time to fill you
in.”
    “I’ve wanted to go there for years. I can’t believe you went
without me.”
    “It wasn’t a planned thing. James invited me and I couldn’t
think of a good way to say no.”
    “James? Not James from chem class.”
    She laughed, remembering the short kid with the acne and the
calculator in his hip pocket. “Not even close. This one’s a Scottish laird.”
    “Holy guacamole, you’re going to be a duchess.”
    “I think duchesses are English.”
    “Well, whatever they have in Scotland, then. A lairdess.”
    “I am not. I only just met him and there’s absolutely nothing
going on between us.” She froze when she realized she’d lied to her best friend
since third grade. “Okay, so we kissed once. Or twice. But other than that it’s
kind of a business thing.”
    “A