She’d been a freshman that year, a shy-looking little thing with soft blonde hair and long-lashed brown eyes that she kept downcast most of the time, it seemed. The only reason he’d noticed her that first day she walked into the cafeteria was that Zena, the girl he’d been dating at the time, pointed her out.
“Hey, isn’t that kid from the Parker family? You know, the people your dad’s always blustering about. Parker Broadcasting?”
“Oh, yeah?” He turned to look, curious to see the spawn of his father’s sworn enemy but all he saw was a skinny girl with horn-rimmed glasses perched at the end of her nose, her brown eyes looking huge behind the lenses. Then he remembered. He’d seen her a few times at the country club but she’d been so tiny then, running around the place with an even smaller girl, both of them with their hair in pigtails. Now she was bigger but still just a little kid, probably thirteen or fourteen. And she looked totally lost.
“So that’s the next generation of Parkers, is it?” he said, growing thoughtful. As far as he knew the Parkers only had the two kids, both girls, and they looked like they would jump out of their skin if you said, ‘Boo’. Parker Broadcasting didn’t look like it had much of a future once the father retired. A threat, these girls were definitely not.
“Scrawny, isn’t she?” Zena scoffed. “With all the money they make you’d think they’d feed the thing.”
“Okay, Zena. That’s enough. Let’s not go there.” Sloane’s voice was firm as he cut her off. The kid might be from the family that was giving his dad high blood pressure but that was no reason to slam her. None of that was her fault. And even if it were, it was business. There was no need for personal attacks. “Leave the kid alone,” he said as he grabbed his tray and got up. “Come on, let’s get outta here.” He didn’t know why, but Zena’s gibe had triggered a sudden protective instinct, one that he could not explain. Why the hell would he feel protective toward a kid he hardly even knew? From the family of their biggest rival, at that? Talk about weird.
After that Sloane saw the girl around campus a few times but with his busy schedule as a senior and being on so many teams, the incidents were few and far between. But each time she’d looked the same – distant and reserved and shy, her arms full of books. And she was always alone.
Before he knew it, it was time for graduation and then on to university and his sightings of the young Parker became a faraway memory.
Until she jumped onto his radar screen almost fifteen years later – as CEO of Parker Broadcasting Corporation.
And that was when he realized that he’d totally underestimated the kid he’d seen so many years before. Now a grown woman – a tall, slender and beautiful one at that – she seemed to have hit the ground running, reorganizing her company and implementing a series of marketing strategies which, for the first time in Quest Media history, raised a real threat to the corporation's business. The girl – no, the woman – had him scrambling to respond to her attempts to court his cable TV subscribers and then she added a digital telephone division just like he had when he took over from his father. Damn!
And now, four years after her appointment as CEO, she wanted to meet with him? He could hardly wait to hear what his nemesis would have to say.
Three o’clock came around and, right on time, Mrs. Frawley called him to say she was bringing the visitor in. Seconds later there was a rap at the door and when his personal assistant opened it, an elegantly dressed woman entered the room. Mrs. Frawley closed the door quietly behind her.
For a moment the woman paused then she raised her chin and looked across the room at him. And there were those big brown eyes he’d seen back in high school. But now there were no glass lenses hiding their beauty. And this time there was no shyness there. No, this time those eyes were bold and full of confidence and they did not waver.
Sloane got up and crossed the room. “Ms. Parker.” He held out his hand. “Welcome to Quest Media.”
“Thank you, Mr. Quest,” she said in a low, almost husky voice and shook his hand. And hers was soft and warm, making her firm handshake all the more surprising. “Call me Melanie.”
“And you may call me Sloane,” he said, as he directed her to the chair across from his desk. As she stepped by him he caught a fleeting whiff of her perfume – cool, crisp and sophisticated, just like she was.
He walked back to his high-backed leather chair and sat down. “So, Ms. Parker…Melanie…how may I help you?”
Demurely, she folded her hands in her lap then tightened her lips. Then she gave a slight frown and bit her lip, a gesture that made her look nervous, which was strange from someone who’d seemed so bold just moments before.
Then she drew in a breath and raised her eyes to his. “I have a proposal to make to you,” she said, her voice slow and steady, “one which I hope you will consider. I want you to give me a baby.”
CHAPTER THREE
What the…
Sloane blinked then his brows fell. “Did you just say what I thought you said?” His voice came out hard and taut with disbelief.
“Yes,” she said, her voice stronger this time. “I would like to have a baby. By you.”
“Listen, lady,” Sloane said, his voice rough with irritation, “I don’t know what kind of game you’re playing but I don’t have time for this. I thought you were here to discuss business, not throw down this bull. Are you crazy or something?”
She gave a tight smile. “Or something.” Then she gave a sigh. “Listen, I know this is a shocking proposal but I’m actually quite serious. Let me explain.” She slid forward in her seat. “I’m thirty-three years old and I don’t know if you know anything about the workings of the female body but I’m getting quite close to that age when the chances of having a child start to grow pretty slim.”
“And what the hell does that have to do with me?” The more she spoke, the more convinced Sloane was that the woman was off her rocker.