CHAPTER TWELVE

It wasn’t that she buried herself in work over the next two days, it was that work buried her. Sydney only wished it had helped. Keeping busy was supposed to be good for the morale. So why was hers flat on its face?

She closed the biggest deal of her career at Hayward, hired a new secretary to take the clerical weight off Janine and handled a full-staff meeting. Hayward stock had climbed three full points in the past ten days. The board was thrilled with her.

And she was miserable.

“An Officer Stanislaski on two, Ms. Hayward,” her new secretary said through the intercom.

“Stan—oh.” Her spirits did a jig, then settled. Officer. “Yes, I’ll take it. Thank you.” Sydney pasted on a smile for her own peace of mind. “Alex?”

“Hey, pretty lady. Thought you’d want to be the first to know. They just brought your old pal Lloyd Bingham in for questioning.”

Her smiled faded. “I see.”

“The insurance investigator took your advice and kept an eye on him. He met with a couple of bad numbers yesterday, passed some bills. Once they were picked up, they sang better than Springsteen.”

“Then Lloyd did hire someone to vandalize the building.”

“So they say. I don’t think you’re going to have any trouble from him for a while.”

“I’m glad to hear it.”

“You were pretty sharp, homing in on him. Brains and beauty,” he said with a sigh that nearly made her smile again. “Why don’t we take off to Jamaica for a couple of days? Drive Mikhail crazy?”

“I think he’s already mad enough.”

“Hey, he’s giving you a hard time? Just come to Uncle Alex.” When she didn’t respond, the teasing note dropped out of his voice. “Don’t mind Mik, Sydney. He’s got moods, that’s all. It’s the artist. He’s nuts about you.”

“I know.” Her fingers worried the files on her desk. “Maybe you could give him a call, tell him the news.”

“Sure. Anything else you want me to pass on?”

“Tell him…no,” she decided. “No, I’ve already told him. Thanks for calling, Alex.”

“No problem. Let me know if you change your mind about Jamaica.”

She hung up, wishing she felt as young as Alex had sounded. As happy. As easy. But then Alex wasn’t in love. And he hadn’t punched a hole in his own dreams.

Is that what she’d done? Sydney wondered as she pushed away from her desk. Had she sabotaged her own yearnings? No, she’d stopped herself, and the man she loved from making a mistake. Marriage wasn’t always the answer. She had her own example to prove it. And her mother’s. Once Mikhail had cooled off, he’d accept her position, and they could go on as they had before.

Who was she kidding?