jaw. The deep, deep eyes with just a hint of crinkle at the outer corners. And his mouth! That mouth! No wonder it had taken her a few sketches until she got it right. Lips not so full as to be feminine. Lips she longed to explore with her own, not with her paintbrush...
“The first of many to come, I hope.” Holly slipped her arm through Ethan’s in a way she thought a fiancée in love might. His muscles jumped, but at least he didn’t bristle and pull away. “Ethan’s not keen on sitting for me.”
“He never was,” Louise agreed. “Didn’t we have to bribe you with sweets in order to get you to stay still for those Christmas portraits every year?”
“I told Holly about that crotchety old painter who smelled of pipe tobacco. She is lucky I was not scarred for life.”
Conversational banter. Check. This couldn’t be going better.
“I see you captured that distinctive curl of hair over Ethan’s forehead,” Louise noted.
That curl had captured Holly—not the other way around. The magnificent way his wavy hair spilled over in front. Just a little bit. Just enough...
It was the one thing that wasn’t completely tamed and restrained about Ethan. Somehow that curl hinted at the fiery, emotional man she knew lay beneath the custom-made suits and the multi-million-dollar deals.
“I certainly never learned how to paint or draw,” Ethan said, with a convincingly proud smile of approval at his fiancée’s handiwork.
While they chatted about the painting Fernando moseyed over to Ethan’s desk. Out of the corner of her eye, Holly saw him snooping at the papers on top of it.
Fernando was making himself a bit too much at home. Funny that Holly felt territorial after only two days. She knew that Fernando used this apartment frequently. But he didn’t keep any of his personal possessions here because other employees and associates of Benton Worldwide also used it when they were in New York.
Still, she didn’t think Fernando had the right to be looking at anything Ethan might have put down on the desk. But it wasn’t her place to say anything.
“Louise, would you like to sit down at the table?” Holly suggested.
She took Louise’s elbow and guided her toward the dining area. Ethan and Fernando followed suit behind them.
Holly overheard Fernando hiss to Ethan, “I know what you’re up to. You’ve found a wife so that Louise will retire and you can take over. If you think I’m going to spend the rest of her life getting sunburned on a boring island, you’ve got another think coming.”
“SO FAR SO GOOD,” Holly said as she placed four plates on the kitchen counter so that she and Ethan could begin to serve dinner.
“Except that I had forgotten how much I detest that little Fernando,” he retorted.
Holly was only playing the role of soon-to-be member of this unusual family. She shouldn’t be privy to the disagreements and resentments that might lie beneath the surface. So it wouldn’t be proper for her to ask Ethan what Fernando had meant about not wanting to move to Barbados when Louise retired. Obviously the comment had made Ethan mad.
She removed the lid of the slow cooker. “Where did they meet?”
Speaking in a hushed voice, because Aunt Louise and her man-toy weren’t far away at the dining table, Ethan explained. “Our office manager at Headquarters hired him. His title is ‘Client Relations Coordinator,’ or some such nonsense. He does scarcely more than order fancy coffees for meetings and come here to New York or go to Europe to spend the company’s money. Of course I cannot fire him.” Ethan gritted his teeth. “As much as I would like to.”
With serving utensils, Holly lifted hearty chunks of the pot roast onto each plate. Ethan reached in with a fork to assist her. They worked seamlessly as a team, anticipating each other’s moves. Now pros at navigating the square footage of the small kitchen.
“What does she see in him?”
“Companionship. I suppose he makes her feel younger. She was devastated after Uncle Mel died.”
“She must miss Mel horribly.”
“They were a partnership in more ways than I can count. Not being able to have children brought them even closer. Taking me in was another thing they did together.”
With Ethan having witnessed such a solid marriage between his aunt and uncle, Holly wondered why he was so adamant that he himself would never marry for love. What had happened to close him off to the possibility?
Ethan ladled mashed potatoes while Holly spooned gravy on top. “So Fernando has been able to fill the hole left by your uncle’s death?”
“Hardly. He could never step into my uncle’s shoes. But I will grant that he provides a diversion. Within a year of Uncle Mel’s death Aunt Louise began having symptoms of this hereditary neuropathy that she remembers her mother suffering from.”
“Losing your husband and developing an illness, one after the other. That’s awful.”
“She could have sunk into a depression. Fernando at least gives her something to do. He keeps her busy with Boston society dinners and parties on Cape Cod. He will do the same in Barbados. I will remind him that I am the boss as often as I need to. We know a lot of people there. He can develop a social calendar for her.”
“Give her things to look forward to?”
“Yes. Without children, there are no grandchildren on the horizon. Although I suppose she assumes you and I will have...” He trailed off.
Children. With Ethan.
The mere thought halted Holly in place. A home of her own. Filled with noise and food and laughter and love. Beautiful toddlers running around with reddish-brown tufts of hair falling onto their foreheads. Tall Ethan reaching down to hold little hands.
Did he ever think about having children?
He’d frozen too, holding a spoon in his hand, also lost in contemplation. Was he picturing the same thing?
He’d be a good father. The way he put so much care and thought into his aunt and what was best for her was like the devotion and concern she had for Vince, having practically raised her brother single-handedly because her mother had proved incapable. She had more of that kind of love to give.
Someday.
It wasn’t going to be now.
That was much further far down the line. If ever.
No, this current arrangement was ideal. A new life for herself in New York. Not being pulled down by other people. Putting herself first. Free at last.
Everything was upfront with Ethan. There was zero chance of her being hurt. Zero love. Zero disappointment. So he was intelligent and intense? And gorgeous? That was ultimately irrelevant to the duties at hand. They were two professionals, doing their jobs.
Holly used tongs to crown each dinner plate with roasted carrots. Forging ahead. Although she wished her fingernails weren’t spotted with paint.
“We did it. Dinner is served.”
As she carried two plates to the dining table, she saw Fernando’s hand atop of Louise’s. The older woman’s face did seem to have a livelier blush with his attention on her. Even if Fernando’s intentions were less than honorable, Holly could understand the purpose he filled. Life was all about compromises.
Ethan brought the other two plates. While he poured water she ducked back into the kitchen for rolls and butter before sitting to eat.
“Holly, this is delicious,” Louise proclaimed.
“I’m glad you like it. You sound