The Baby Track Read Free Page B

McKay might be Mimi’s idea of one. She almost smiled.
    But she didn’t. She had left a stranger in her office while she’d run off like a high-strung schoolgirl, she reminded herself. A sobering thought, indeed.
    “I don’t know what to make of him, Mimi,” she said frankly. She did know that he’d had a powerful impact on her, that she had never met another man who affected her so viscerally, so physically. And that made him dangerous, indeed.
    He was also still in her office and she had no other choice but to return and deal with him. Courtney squared her shoulders and headed back down the corridor toward her office, the transcript in her hand.
    It would be just her luck if Connor McKay turned out to be who he had claimed he was when he’d first entered her office—an eccentric billionaire with a seven-figure check to donate to National Public Broadcasting, a sum that would catapult the struggling three-year-old network out of the red and into the heady zones of profit.
    Courtney found herself half believing it by the time she’d reached her office. She opened the door and stepped inside.
    Two
    He was sitting behind her desk, eating her cheesesteak.
    “It’s great.” Connor held up the other, untouched half of the sandwich. “Have some.”
    Courtney reached an irrevocable conclusion. ‘ ‘ Whoever— and whatever—you are, you are definitely not an eccentric billionaire with a generous donation for the network.”
    He laughed. “Don’t tell me you actually thought I was? Say, would you like to buy some oceanfront property in Nebraska?”
    She walked over to her desk and snatched the other half of her cheesesteak. “I don’t recall asking you to join me for lunch. And I certainly didn’t invite you to eat my lunch.” “You couldn’t eat the whole thing by yourself. This is a big sandwich for such a little girl.”
    Courtney rolled her eyes heavenward. “I’m twenty-five year? old, I’m self-supporting and a taxpayer. What I am not is a little girl.”
    “Twenty-five, huh? You look younger.”
    “If that’s a compliment, thank you. If it’s an insult, consider it ignored.” She sat down on the only other chair in her small office, which was placed alongside her desk. “And the reason why I ordered the full-sized cheesesteak is precisely because I can eat the whole thing myself. I’m starving. I had no breakfast this morning and very little dinner last night.” She took a generous bite of the sandwich. What was the point of standing on ceremony with this office-crashing lunch-napper?
    “Harcourt was too stingy to spring for dinner, wore you out in bed and then cheaped-out on breakfast, too, huh?” Her head jerked up and her eyes collided with his. To her everlasting consternation, she blushed. “That is none of your business, Mr. McKay.”
    “This Harcourt guy sounds like a major pain, Gypsy. He’s cheap, he has a sister who doesn’t like you. Is he really worth your time?”
    “I refuse to discuss Emery Harcourt with—”
    “Emery? You’ve got to be kidding. His name is Emery Harcourt? Honey, he’d better be dynamite in the sack to make up for that.”
    Courtney tossed down her sandwich and jumped to her feet. “He is not dynamite in the sack! And I—”
    “I’m sorry to hear that,” Connor cut in gleefully. “But no sorrier than you, I’m sure. So, you’re after him strictly for his money, hmm?”
    “You’re deliberately misinterpreting everything I say!” Courtney accused. Part of her acknowledged that she was overreacting to his teasing and that he was reveling in her heated responses, but she promptly absolved herself. The man frustrated her beyond endurance!
    Connor finished his half of the sandwich and took a long swallow from the can of cola. “What’s to misinterpret, Courtney? It all seems pretty clear-cut to me. You’re an ambitious, social-climbing gold digger who doesn’t mind putting up with cheap, impotent Emery Harcourt because—”
    “He is not