Free A Trap So Tender by Jennifer Lewis Page A

business thing with kisses? Intriguing. And not your style
at all. Didn’t you once refuse to kiss Danny Fibonacci because you thought he
wanted to steal your lemonade stand corner?”
    “Since he’s recently been accused of insider trading, I think I
was right on the money.”
    Crystal laughed. “What kind of business are you doing?”
    “Looking for an old cup. Or a piece of one.” She frowned.
Sometimes it was hard to keep her mind on that part of this whole adventure. She
had to remember that was supposedly the real reason she’d come to Scotland with
a virtual stranger. “It’s a family heirloom that went missing three hundred
years ago.”
    “Sounds like a really lame excuse for him to seduce you into
his lair.”
    “Hey! I have my own reasons for being here.”
    “Let me guess, there’s three of them—tall, dark and
handsome.”
    She glanced around the room, hoping there wasn’t a hidden
camera somewhere, or a bug. “Not in the least. Well, he is. But I’m here because
he managed to swindle my father’s factory away from him and I’m trying to figure
out a way to get it back.”
    She felt relieved to get her skullduggery off her chest.
Crystal did not offer reassuring encouragement, however. In fact, there was a
long silence at the other end of the line. “How are things going with your dad?”
Her voice sounded…wary.
    “Great. He’s pretty upset about losing his business, but all I
have to do is figure out why James wanted it so badly, then I can work out how
to get it back.”
    “James, huh? Have you tried buying it back?”
    “He said no when I had a Realtor ask him. But if I get to know
him I might find a better strategy.”
    “What if he still says no?”
    She bit her lip. She hadn’t really thought how she might
proceed if he downright refused to part with the factory. She suspected a
businessman like James would always have his price. “I’ll find a way. I have a
lot of money.”
    “This situation does not sound good. How do you know your dad
would even appreciate what you’re doing? You barely know him.”
    Crystal’s comment stung like a slap. “I’ve been spending a lot
of time with him.”
    “He could have come and visited you in California when you were
a kid. But he chose not to.”
    “It’s complicated.” Every year she’d hoped and prayed for a
visit and imagined it in her mind. She begged her mom to take her to Singapore,
but it was too expensive. Every year there had been excuses. She knew her mom
and dad had had a very bitter divorce, and she suspected her mom just wanted to
forget he ever existed.
    No more. Now she could finally share her birthday with her dad,
or phone him just to say hi the way she’d always dreamed.
    “I think it’s great that you’re trying to reach out to your
dad, and I know you mean well, Fi, but I don’t want to see you get hurt.”
    “I can take care of myself, thank you.” She wished she hadn’t
called Crystal in the first place. “In the meantime, I’m having an interesting
vacation in Scotland.”
    “It certainly sounds that way. I can’t wait to hear more juicy
details as they occur.”
    * * *
    Since she now knew that dinner
was an elegant affair served by waitstaff in the magnificent oak-paneled dining
room, she donned a black knee-length dress and put on a pair of pearl
earrings—smart, but not too over the top. Thank goodness for the little black
dress.
    Anticipation flickered in her nerves and muscles as she applied
lipstick and eyeliner. Two kisses already meant that a third was a virtual
certainty. While a casual observer might think this could make it easier to ask
him to sell her the factory, she couldn’t help thinking that it made the
situation way more complicated and awkward. Especially since he had no idea
she’d ever even heard of the factory.
    A knock on the door made her suck in a breath. “Come in.”
    The door swung open. “Dinner’s ready.” James stood in the
doorway, elegant as usual in a dark