Chapter 8
Raven groaned as the plane landed in San Antonio, Texas. It was hot and muggy here, but she also knew that the city was beautiful and quirky. It had a western style charm that was unique. She’d been here several times and had loved sitting by the river, sipping coffee in the morning or a glass of wine in the evening.
Her phone pinged and she looked down at it. Another text from Tim. “Please call me,” was all it said. Even as she mentally sighed, a text from Brock popped up on her screen. “Anything more from your admirer?” he asked.
That was an easy answer. “Not a peep,” she texted right back. In fact, she’d completely forgotten about the letter she’d received several weeks ago. She had been too preoccupied with Tim and…and all of the confusing emotions that were swirling around in her heart. There hadn’t been time for her to wonder about that odd letter.
Which was strange, she thought. Normally, that would have really bothered her.
Dismissing both issues, Raven stuffed her phone back into her pocket and continued towards the taxi line. She blinked back the tears, not wanting to cry any longer. She’d cried enough. It was time to move on.
Over the past week, she’d managed to avoid Tim, but Raven knew that she was being cowardly. She couldn’t avoid him forever. Nor should she. He was her client and she owed him the professional courtesy, even if that courtesy was to tell him that she couldn’t help him find his future partner.
She wanted all of him to herself. She’d realized over the past several weeks that she’d truly enjoyed, no, loved their sporadic dinners together. Knowing that she would be seeing Tim for dinner had made the day special. Anticipating seeing him at night meant that nothing went wrong during the day. Even if something bad happened during the day, that was just one more thing she could tell him over their shared meals.
Granted, the purpose of those meals had supposedly been to discuss the candidates she’d found, or to go over the dates he’d shared with other women. But Raven hadn’t cared why they were meeting. She’d just looked forward to seeing him.
Now, after their episode in his office….now she’d care. Now she might just burst into tears if she had to sit across the table from him and listen to him decide on a candidate. Nope, there was no way she could sit down and listen to him tell her that he had chosen one of the women she’d found for him.
She’d refund her fee to Bailey and Matteo and explain that she couldn’t finish the job. It would be a significant black mark on her reputation, but Raven had come to the conclusion that her heart simply couldn’t handle helping Tim find someone else to marry.
“Raven Markley?” a voice called out, interrupting her mental flagellations.
Turning, Raven forced herself to smile in greeting as she extended her hand to her new client. “Hello, Your Grace,” she said to the tall, handsome man. Edward Henderson, Duke of Finhearst. The dark brown hair and sharp green eyes were an interesting contrast. Combined with the square jaw and the broad shoulders, Raven sighed with…something. Regret? That was ridiculous. She wasn’t even slightly attracted to this man! Granted, there was something about him that she knew many women would like, but Raven understood that her heart was completely taken with a tall, handsome, uber-logical man who looked at her as if she was completely nuts.
“Please, call me Edward,” the Duke of Finhearst said.
She nodded, shaking his hand. “Edward it is,” she replied with a smile. “And please call me Raven.” Raven gestured to the table she’d reserved for their conversation. “Is this okay?”
Her newest client glanced at the table, then nodded sharply. “It’s fine,” he told her.
They sat down and the waiter arrived immediately, bringing them coffee and a platter of pastries.
“How did you hear about my services?” she asked, stirring a touch of cream and sugar into her coffee.
“Actually, your name was mentioned in a club that I just joined in Philadelphia,” Edward replied, sipping his black coffee. He shook his head, almost as if silently laughing at the idea of the club. “I hadn’t intended to join the place, but after visiting, I discovered that it was a good business investment.”
Raven grinned. “I suspect that you’re referring to TBC?”
He looked up from the tray of pastries, startled that she would know about the semi-secret club. “Exactly,” he confirmed. “You know of it?”
She nodded. “I’m good friends with the owners, as well as several members.”
“Sheik Zahir told me that you’d found the perfect match for him.”
Raven laughed and shook her head. “I didn’t find Mandy for him,” she corrected. “He’d hired Mandy Sullivan to do some accounting work for him and I pointed out that they were falling hard for each other. It was a simple case of pointing out the obvious.”
Edward smiled and Raven was stunned by the impact of that smile. Oh, this was going to be fun, she thought eagerly!
“Well, you have an excellent reputation.” He sighed, rubbing his forehead as he placed a croissant on his plate. “I just recently accepted the title as Duke of Finhearst. My father and I were estranged for years. My mother never married him and,” he sighed with what she suspected was exasperation. “Suffice it to say, my father never acknowledged me until he realized he needed an heir. So now I’m stuck with the ridiculous title and all the women throwing themselves at me, literally in some cases. I need to just marry someone so that I can get back to concentrating on business.”
Raven smiled. “You enjoy business?” she asked.
He grinned back at her. “I enjoy the challenge of beating others in the game,” he explained. “I had already built up a significant corporation before my…sire…dumped this title on me.” He broke into the croissant. “Now I have to focus on fixing the problems my father created with his ineptitude and I don’t have time to…” he leaned back, shaking his head again. “I just need to get this over with. I want a wife who is willing to shield me from the various women who like to manipulate situations. Their efforts are getting in the way and already, some of these women are creating risky situations. Someone is going to get hurt.”
Raven nodded her understanding and her heart ached. Another man who didn’t believe in love. First Tim, now this guy! What was it about men and their disbelief in emotions?
“So, you’re not interested in a love match.”
He snorted. “I don’t have time for love, Raven.” He set his coffee cup down firmly on the saucer, creating a harsh rattle. “Last week, a woman parachuted into my backyard.”
Raven stared at him, then burst out laughing. “Oh my, that’s…bad,” she whispered, covering her mouth to try and smother her amusement.
“Her parachute got caught in a tree and she was hanging there for four hours until she could reach her cell phone and call for help. The emergency crews had to bring in a special vehicle to reach her.” He sighed heavily. “And the month before, a woman secreted herself onto my yacht in a box. She kept herself hidden from my crew until she thought the ship was sailing, thinking that I wouldn’t be able to get rid of her until my ship docked again.”
Another stifled laugh, but she managed to say, “What happened to her?”
“The cleaning staff found her. The ship was going in for scheduled maintenance. I was in Iceland at the time.”
Raven finally gained control of her laughter and held up her hand for him to stop. “Okay, I get it. You need help.” She sighed and pulled out her pen and notebook. It was such a relief to worry about someone else’s problems for a little while. She’d been trying to figure out how she would face Tim again after their…interlude…and so far, she hadn’t come up with any ideas.
For the next hour, she asked him questions, the whole time, she was stunned by how similar Edward’s answers were to Tim’s. Both men didn’t really believe in love, considered marriage to be more of an obligation. At least Edward was trying to marry in order to stop the chaos that other women were bringing into his life. Tim’s reaction to marriage and forever-after was…well, he just didn’t believe in it.
“Edward?” a male voice called out, interrupting their conversation.
Raven turned and saw Antonio del Campo, the future Marquesso del Campo, coming towards them.
Edward’s dark eyebrows lowered with irritation until he focused on the man. Then his face brightened. Edward quickly stood up and smiled, doing the bro-hug thing.
“Antonio, you old bastard!” Edward laughed.
It was such a shock to hear the distinguished, British accent speaking in such a way, but Raven stood as well, smiling as the two men moved apart. After the two men laughingly separated, Edward turned to introduce Raven. But Antonio interrupted his friend, his eyes lighting up in greeting.
“Raven!” Antonio called out, then his surprise turned serious. “Why are you here instead of driving my friend crazy?”
She pulled out of his gentle hug and looked up at him quizzically. “I’m sorry?”
“Tim has been haunting the club lately,” Antonio explained. “I estimate that he’s won a small fortune at the poker tables over the past week.”
Raven’s heart sputtered. “Haunted?”
“Si,” Antonio replied with a nod. “He looks horrible. I thought that you and he were going to make an announcement soon. But the way he’s been lately…” he didn’t finish the statement, just let the unspoken question hang in the air. When Raven didn’t reply, Antonio continued. “Did something happen between you?”
Edward, who had been standing off to the side, interrupted. “You are the mysterious woman that Tim Armstrong has been seeing?”
Raven was stunned. She looked from one handsome face to the other, then back, trying to figure out what they were talking about.
“I’m sorry, but are you saying Tim is gambling too much?”
Antonio did that casual, European gesture that could be translated several ways. “He has…not been himself lately,” he finally replied.
Raven’s eyes widened even as she tried to hide her reaction. Still, everything inside of her screamed that she needed to get back to Tim. She needed to find out what had upset him! She remembered all of the text messages that she’d ignored over the past few days and guilt tumbled on top of her concern.
Turning to Edward, she did something she’d never done before. “I hate to cut our meeting short, but can I get back to you with any more questions?”
Edward’s eyes narrowed, but after a brief moment, he nodded with a smile. “Absolutely. Your man needs you.”
Raven ignored the chuckle from Antonio as she rushed through the various tables, determined to get back on a plane to Philadelphia…and back to Tim. She had to know what was going on with him!