that he was friendly. Perhaps part of his surly reputation with some secretaries was caused by his being injured and isolated on a ranch.
She returned to the stack, until she heard the scrape of a chair.
He stood and stretched, flexing muscles in his arms. When he glanced her way, she was embarrassed to be caught staring at him again.
“Want some lunch?” Without waiting for her answer, he motioned. “C’mon, we’ll get something to eat. Rosie will have something fixed.”
“Thank you,” she said. “I still have letters, though.”
“C’mon. You’ll like Rosie’s cooking and she’ll be disappointed if you don’t come eat. Those letters aren’t urgent.”
“Very well. You’re the boss and I don’t want to hurt her feelings.” Glancing at her watch, Emma was surprised it was half past twelve. “I didn’t realize the time.”
“Time flies when you’re having fun,” he said, grinning at her. Creases appeared on either side of his mouth in an enticing smile that caused her to smile in return.
“So, Emma, tell me about yourself since we’ll be working together for the next month or so.”
Satisfaction flared because he must mean she would get to stay. “There’s not much to tell. I’ve been at Z.A.D. for two years now. I have an apartment in Dallas and have two sisters and two brothers. My sisters, Sierra and Mary Kate, and Connor, my older brother, are married. Bobby and I are single. What about you?”
“I have two brothers, it was three, one is deceased. My older brother became guardian of our little niece, Caroline.”
“That’s sad. Is your niece’s mother deceased, too?”
“No, her mother walked out when Caroline was a baby. She didn’t want to be tied down with responsibilities, although she had a nanny and someone to cook and clean.”
“I can’t imagine,” Emma said, staring at him.
He shrugged. “One more thing to sour me on marriage. My older brother felt the same way until this year. He just married in September.”
“You don’t want to get married and have a family?”
His mouth quirked in a crooked smile. “Not even remotely. The weeks I’m spending here recuperating are probably the longest I’ve stayed home in Texas in I don’t know when. I’m a traveler.”
“I’ve heard you work all over the world and I know Z.A.D. has offices worldwide. I have a vastly different life. I don’t want to miss a weekend with my family.”
“We’re poles apart there,” he remarked with a smile, directing her into a large kitchen with an adjoining dining room that held a table and chairs, a sofa, a fireplace, two wingback chairs and a bar.
“What’s for lunch, Rosie? Something smells tempting,” he said, raising a lid on a pot on the stove. A stocky woman in a uniform bustled around the kitchen. Her graying hair was in a bun and glasses perched on her turned-up nose.
“Chicken soup there and I have quesadillas or turkey melt sandwiches—your preference.”
“How about soup, plus—” He paused and looked questioningly at Emma. “Either of the choices have any appeal?”
“Of course. Quesadillas, please.”
“Good choice. Rosie’s are special. Soup and quesadillas it is. We can help ourselves, Rosie.”
Bowls and plates were on the counter. With that steady awareness of him at her side, Emma helped herself to a small bowl of soup, surprised when Zach set down his dishes and held her chair as she sat down. The gesture made their lunch together seem far less like boss and secretary eating together than a man and a woman on a date. Rosie appeared with a coffeepot, which Emma declined and Zach accepted.
When he sat, she said, “I’m sure everyone asks, what drew you to demolition?”
“A child’s love of tearing something down, probably. I have an engineering degree and I almost went to architecture school. I have architects working for me so we build where we tear down. We build sometimes where nothing has stood. I find it fascinating work.”
“I hear you go all over the world.” She didn’t add that she knew he was wealthy enough he would never have to work a day if he didn’t want to.
The Delaney wealth was well publicized. She had never known anyone like him before. His love of travel was foreign to her. His disregard for family and marriage dismayed her even more than his apparent disregard for his family history. He had a lifestyle she could not imagine, but the head of the company was light-years from her clerical job, which provided an excellent way to save money to finish her college education.
“So, Zach, your favorite locale is where?” she asked as Rosie brought a platter with steaming quesadillas to set between them.
“There’s too many to have a favorite. I love Paris, I love Torres del Paine, Iguazu Falls, the city of New York. They’re all interesting. Where’s your favorite?”
“Home with my family,” she said, smiling at him, and he shook his head.
“Okay, I’ll rephrase my question,” he said. “Where’s your favorite place outside of Texas?”
She lowered her fork. “I’ve never been outside of Texas.”
One dark eyebrow arched as surprise flashed briefly in his blue eyes. “Never been outside of Texas,” he repeated, studying her as if she had announced she had another set of ears beneath her red hair.
“No, I’m happy here.”
“You might be missing something,” he said, still scrutinizing her with open curiosity.
“I don’t think so, therefore, that’s really all that matters, right?” she asked, certain after today he would have satisfied his curiosity about her and lunch with the boss would cease.
“You’re missing some wonderful places and you don’t even know it.”
She smiled at him again, thinking he might be missing some wonderful family companionship and didn’t even know it. “As long as I’m content, it doesn’t matter.”
“So tell me about this family of yours and what they all do.”
“My family lives near me in Dallas. Dad is an accountant and my mom is a secretary. My younger brother works part-time and is in school at the University of North Texas. I’ve taken classes to become a teacher. This semester I didn’t enroll, but I hope to start back soon.”
“How far along are you?”
“I have a little more than half the credits I need. Back to my family—in addition to my siblings, I have five small nieces and three nephews. We have assorted other relatives, grandparents, aunts and uncles, who live in the same general area.”
“Big family.”
“My siblings and I visit my parents on weekends,” she said. “So do my aunts and uncles. There are anywhere from twenty to thirty or forty of us when we all get together.”
He paused as he started to drink his water, giving her a polite smile as if she said they spent every weekend at the park so they could play on the slides and swings.
“My family is definitely not that together,” he said. “We go our separate ways. Dad’s deceased and Mom disappeared from our lives when we were young.”
“We have different lifestyles,” she said, thinking this was a man she couldn’t possibly ever be close to even if circumstances had been different. His world and hers were poles apart. Their families were so different—hers a huge part of her life, his nearly nonexistent, what with his father being deceased and his mother walking out years earlier. Those events had to influence him and make him the man he was today.