Free Double Play by Nikki Duvall Page A

checked herself.  “Just a sore
jaw,” she said with a slight smile. “The Titan trainers gave him a clean bill
of health. He’ll be good as new in a day or two.”
    “Well,
that’s a relief,” said Victoria. “I don’t know why you two have been hiding
your romance, though,” she said. “I mean, I could certainly tell there was
something between you at the benefit, but who would have guessed you were
engaged? I thought you were with Mark.”
    “It’s
not the way it looks.”
    “Obviously,”
said Victoria. She leaned in closer and lowered her voice, as if they were two
girlfriends sharing a secret. “Mark is a bit of a bore, don’t you think? I
mean, I don’t have to think twice about who I’d rather have in the sack.” She
smiled a dirty little smile and flipped her ponytail. “Mark is probably more
stable, though.” She sighed. “Too bad you can’t have them both.”
    “Mrs.
Pryor…”
    “Actually,
it works perfectly with my little plan,” she said, sitting on the edge of her
chair. “I’ll pay you triple what you’re making now. You and J.D. can move into
one of the Federals properties in Manhattan. Your driver will drop you at the
office every morning on the way to the stadium.” She leaned back with a
satisfied smile. “You’ll love New York, Halee. The city never sleeps.”
    Halee
set her reading glasses on the piles of paperwork before her and took a sip of
coffee. “We’re not engaged.”
    Victoria
raised her brows. “Who?”
    “J.D.
and I. We’re not engaged.”
    “You’re
not?”
    “No.”
    “The
Barbarian?”
    Halee
shook her head.
    “Then
why…”
    “The
papers got it wrong.”
    Victoria
stared at the newspaper headline with a puzzled expression. “That’s too bad,”
she said thoughtfully. “J.D.’s contract requires a fiancé.”
    Halee
could feel Victoria’s pity seeping from across the desk and her own shame
rising pink and hot through her neck. A knot formed in her throat. She pulled
Ty a little closer. “He has one,” she said. “It’s just not me.”
    An
uncomfortable silence lingered between them for several moments. “Well, believe
me, you’re better off,” said Victoria with forced exuberance. “He may be devastatingly
attractive, and charming as any southern boy, but if you ask me, he comes with
too much baggage, too much to prove.”
    Halee
cleared her throat.
    “I
still want you to come to New York.”
    “I’m
happy here,” Halee insisted. “They need me here.”
    Victoria
pursed her lips and thought for a moment. “What if I offered you both offices?
We can provide fifty percent support here, fifty percent in New York. You can
travel back and forth, mix things up a bit.”
    “To
be honest with you, Mrs. Pryor, I’m in the final stages of an adoption. I can’t
leave Chicago right now.”
    “Adoption?”
Victoria stared at Ty with disdain. “Why would you saddle yourself with a child
at your age?”
    “Because
he needs me.”
    “That’s
ridiculous.”
    “Not
for him.”
    “So
let someone else step up. You have a future…”
    “I’ve
decided,” said Halee quietly.
    Victoria
sighed and studied Halee’s face. “Foolish girl. Bring the child with you,” she
said with a shake of her head. “With the salary I’m offering, you’ll have no
trouble providing him with a nanny.”
    “I’d
like some time to think about it.”
    “Call
me in the morning,” said Victoria, rising to leave. “I’d like you to start as
soon as possible. And Halee,” said Victoria, pausing by the door, “if it’s J.D.
getting in the way of you saying yes, I can make him disappear. Just say the
word.” She shut the door behind her.
    ***
    “New
York is no place to raise a baby.” Rita shoved a piece of buttered bread into
her mouth. “There’s a whack job on every corner.”
    Halee
stared listlessly at her full plate of salad and rearranged the leaves from one
side to the other with her fork. “Chicago’s any better? At least on a New York