“He certainly seems intent on the idea of seeing you married soon.”

“Tell me about it!” Janine cried. “I’d bet cold cash that when he brought up the subject he said you were the only suitable man he’d found for me.”

“Anton also said you have a generous heart, and that he feared some fast-talker would show up one day and you’d fall for him.”

“Really?” she asked weakly. Her heart stopped, then jolted to life again. Anton’s scenario sounded exactly like her disastrous romance with Brian. She sighed deeply. “So then he told you he wants me to marry someone he respects, someone he loves like a son. A man of discretion and wisdom and honor. A man he trusts enough to merge companies with.”

Zach arched his brows. “You know your grandfather well.”

“I can just imagine what came next,” Janine added scathingly and her stomach tensed at her grandfather’s insidious cleverness. Zach wasn’t someone who could be bought, at least not with offers of money or prestige. Instead, Gramps had used a far more subtle form of inducement. He’d addressed Zach’s pride, complimented his achievements, flattered him. To hear Gramps tell it, Zachary Thomas was the only man alive capable of taking on the task of becoming Janine’s husband.

“What did you tell him?” she asked, her voice low.

“I told him no way.”

Janine blinked back surprise mingled with a fair amount of indignation. “Just like that? Couldn’t you at least have mulled it over?” Zach was staring at her as though he thought someone should rush over and take her temperature. “Forget I said that,” she mumbled, fussing with her napkin in order to avoid meeting his eyes.

“I didn’t want to encourage him.”

“That was wise.” Janine picked up her water glass and downed half the contents.

“To your grandfather’s credit, he seemed to accept my answer.”

“Don’t count on it,” Janine warned.

“Don’t worry, I know him, too. He isn’t going to give up easily. That’s the reason I suggested you and I meet to talk about this. If we keep in touch, we can anticipate Anton’s strategy.”

“Good idea.”

Their salads arrived and Janine frowned when the waitress tossed Zach another suggestive glance. “So,” she began in a conversational tone once the woman had left, “Gramps was smart enough not to offer you a large incentive if you went along with his scheme.”

“I didn’t say that.”

She stabbed viciously at her salad. “I hadn’t expected him to stoop that low. Exactly what tactics did he use?”

“He said something about family members having use of the limousine.”

Janine’s fork made a clanging sound as it hit the side of her salad bowl. “He offered you the limousine if you married me? That’s all?”

“Not even that,” Zach explained, not bothering to disguise his amusement, “only the use of it.”

“Why…why, that’s insulting.” She crammed some salad into her mouth and chewed the crisp lettuce as though it were leather.

“I considered it a step above the cow and ten chickens you suggested the first time we discussed this.”