Business or Pleasure? by Julie Hogan Page B

appeared with a cart laden with heavenly smelling coffee and several trays of desserts, Daisy reluctantly sat down and tried not to notice the weight and warmth of Alec’s big, hunky body as he brushed up against her.
    Breathe, she told herself. It’ll all be over in a few months. And still her skin flushed hotly as the pressure against her thigh increased and her body responded to Alec’s nearness in that traitorous way it had almost since the first day she’d met him.
    â€œSo, Alec,” Virginia said as she passed a cup of coffee to him. “I’ve been meaning to ask you. How’s your mother?”
    Daisy had taken countless messages from Alec’s mother over the years and spoken to her dozens of times. Barbara Mackenzie had a rushed, clipped voice and a way of speaking that always reminded Daisy of someone who was hailing a cab. Yet right at that moment, Daisy realized that she didn’t know anything else about Alec’s mother—not even what she looked like. Now that she thought about it, he didn’t have any family pictures in his office at all.
    Alec hesitated slightly before passing a cup of coffee on to Daisy. “Fine,” he said at last. “I believe she’s in Florence at the moment.”
    â€œOh, no. Last I heard,” Virginia said as she opened a little blue packet and stirred sweetener into her coffee, “she was back in London appraising some of the royal family’s jewelry.”
    â€œIs that right?” Alec asked, but not like it was a question. More like he didn’t care in the least about his mother’s whereabouts. “So tell me, Mrs. Baldwin—”
    â€œVirginia,” she interjected.
    â€œVirginia,” Alec said, nodding. “Tell me again how you know Barbara.”
    Daisy fumbled her tiny silver teaspoon onto her delicate china saucer. Barbara? He called his mother Barbara?
    â€œGoodness, I can’t even remember where we first met,” Virginia said with a questioning glance at her husband. “One function or another. Possibly one of the auctions she organized for Sotheby’s years ago. Before she started her own auction house.”
    Everyone had heard of Mackenzie Auctioneers, but until this moment, Daisy hadn’t known it belonged to Alec’s family. As Daisy swung her gaze back to Alec, she marveled at all the things she didn’t know about this man who could make her go all breathless and fluttery just by sitting down next to her.
    â€œAnd,” Alec said with a forced casualness that Daisy recognized from many tense negotiations with contractors, “is that how you found out about my company?”
    â€œI don’t think so,” Virginia said slowly, again looking to her husband for help in recalling a detail.
    â€œI read about your work in a trade publication,” Joseph said, coming to his wife’s rescue. “As I remember it wasn’t a very flattering piece, but the article’s pictures told us what we wanted to know.”
    Alec felt the tension drain from his body as he thanked Joseph for the compliment. Until tonight he hadn’t realized that the Baldwins knew who his mother was, let alone thatthey were all old pals from the damned neighborhood. The fact that they’d never mentioned it seemed strange, but the idea that he might owe this job not only to Daisy but to the mother he’d managed to completely avoid for the past few years was too sickening to contemplate.
    A warm ocean breeze fluttered across the terrace, bringing with it what Alec was beginning to realize was the scent of Daisy Kincaid. Sweet like sugar, spicy like cinnamon, enticing like fresh-baked cookies, it brought a slow smile to his lips—which was strange since he really didn’t feel like smiling at all.
    That afternoon in the hotel room, he’d only meant to tease her when he’d asked whether any of her old boyfriends had told her she snored. But when her