Free Taming Graeme (Taming the Billionaire) by Kate Britton Page B

His cousin Amanda was sitting at a table alone.
      “Hi, Mandy. Can I join you?”
      “Hi, Graeme. Certainly. I just ordered.”
       He hailed the waiter and quickly ordered.
       “So, how was everything while I was away?”
       “Pretty quiet, actually.”
      “Any gossip to report?”
    “Not much. I think Rose’s marriage might be a little rocky right now. She was upset with her mother-in-law interfering all last week. I think her husband Brian is a bit of a Mama’s boy.”
      “Oh? I’m sure they’ll work it out…”
      “Yeah, as soon as his mother goes home. She’s been visiting last week, but I think she goes home to Liverpool tomorrow.”
      “Anything else going on?”
      “Olivia seems to be settling into Currency Trading really well. She’s working so hard. She has a new boyfriend and he left her a list of what he wanted her to learn last week. He must be in finance, because he knew what she needed to learn alright. Anyway he told her she had to stop being rude and nasty, and she’s been trying really hard. They really like her in her new office.”
      “She told you her boyfriend said all these things?”
      “Mmmm…” Amanda paused to sip her cola. “She hasn’t been winding me up all week. Says he wouldn’t like it, so she mustn’t.”
      “Well, that’s a good thing, isn’t it, Amanda?”
      “I think she really likes him a lot, Graeme.”
      “Why do you think that, Mandy?”
      “Her eyes shine when she talks about him.”
      “Do they now?”
      “She may be falling in love with him. That’s what I think, anyway.”
      “Really?”
      “But she doesn’t think love is involved.”
      “What’s his name?”
      “You know, I can’t remember her saying. She just said he’s a bit older than her, and I think he’s divorced, couple of kids who don’t live with him…he has an executive position somewhere. That’s about it. Except he really runs her life now, obviously. Picked out all her work outfits last week, had her eating better, going to the gym, sent her to get her hair cut.
      “She loves it. Says he makes her feel cherished, cared for. You know, the way she spoke, I almost think it’s the first time in her life that she feels that way. She grew up with quite old grandparents. Apparently her mother had her at sixteen or seventeen and just dumped her on the grandparents and took off. And they sound like a cranky old pair of geezers, Graeme. I know they used to punish her a lot if she did anything wrong, that slipped out one day when we were talking.”
      “Anything else going on?”
      “Linda’s getting married to Gordon Reese. I guess they were going out for a while and now she’s preggers, so he’s doing the right thing. I think he’s quite stupid actually, but he is good looking, and as long as he doesn’t make any really stupid mistakes, the guys in the Bond Department will find jobs he can accomplish.”
      “Well, that’s a nice lot of gossip you gathered for me, little cousin.”
      “Oh, your old girlfriend from Geneva called you while I was manning Reception on Thursday. Glad I remembered. She’s coming into London Wednesday week and she was hoping you could put her up for a few days. Goes back the following Sunday. Coming for a wedding, she said, and wants you to go with her. I didn’t mention that to Julia when I saw her Saturday at Auntie Betty’s birthday, which incidentally you forgot about and didn’t show up for. I know how your daughters feel about Francine.”
      “Thanks for that, Amanda. Just tell me when I can do you a favour…”
      “Can I have a raise?”
      “Not that big a favour, but nice try.”
      When Graeme got back to the office, he shut his door and called his friend Michael.
      “Hello, Michael. Graeme here. Got a minute?”
      “Hiya, Graeme. What’s up?”
      “I may have a small problem raising a very pretty head in a day or two.”
      “Problem with your new