One Bride Too Many: One Bride Too Many / One Groom To Go

“Doubt that, but thanks for…”

“I know, vouching for you.” Whatever that meant. “She’s perfect. I don’t know why she’s still single except she has a dynamite career. I hope you have a good time.”

“Thanks, I probably will, but I doubt she’s perfect.”

Oh, come on, Tess wanted to say.

“She’s a petite blonde with a perfect haircut.” There was that word again—perfect. “Plus she has porcelain skin with a flawless complexion, sky-blue eyes, a really tasteful wardrobe…”

“Whoa, I meant it when I said it’s what’s inside that counts.”

“Oh.” This was a new side of Cole Bailey. “Well, she works with a lot of volunteer groups including the Humane Society, so she must care about animals and people.”

“Well, you’ve helped me without even picking up the phone. Thanks, Tess. But I came here about the new products. I have to go to a builders’ supply place east of here, so I stopped on the way to tell you I’ll set up a sneak peek as soon as possible.”

“And to check whether I’d arranged a date for you yet?”

“That, too.” He grinned broadly. “But I knew I could trust you to keep your word. I’ll let you know how it goes with…” He hesitated.

“Jillian. Jillian Davis. You can call her at Industrial Savings and Loan.”

She watched him leave, surprised that his long, sexy stride still seemed so familiar. She didn’t know how the date would go, but at least some of the comatose cows were gone.

COLE QUIT WORK early, which for him still meant putting in a twelve-hour shift to take advantage of the long summer day, and pulled up to the brick building that housed the research department and administrative offices of Bailey Baby Products. He’d called ahead to make sure his mother would be there, not that she ever left her office at a normal quitting time. If workaholism was inherited, everyone in the family but little brother Nick, Junior, had gotten it from Marsh, although with the twins it was more a matter of survival for their fledgling company than a compulsion.

He took the elevator to his mother’s third-floor office suite, hoping Marsh wasn’t in the building. How many kids were expected to call their grandfather by his first name as soon as they started talking?

It didn’t much matter what Cole called him after the big blowup they’d had when he and Zack started their construction business. It’d been nearly a year since either twin had been at the plant, although for their mother’s sake, they were civil to their grandfather during occasional dinners at her house. Still, Cole didn’t want to bump into the old man. If he saw Cole, he’d harp on wanting him to take an interest in the family business.

The outer office was deserted. Sue Bailey worked long hours because she loved it, but didn’t expect her employees to sacrifice their home lives for the company.

“Mom?”

The door to her inner office was slightly ajar, and Cole stepped into the cool interior. Somehow his mother had managed to make an efficient working office seem warm and inviting. She loved aqua, and the deep pile of the carpeting was a vibrant, dark shade of her favorite color. The tinted windows of the corner office were flanked by lighter aqua drapes. White walls and sleekly modern white metal furnishings left no doubt that this was a place of business, but one side of the room had a low round conference table surrounded by comfortable chairs with seats upholstered in a geometric pattern of black, white and aqua.

“I’ve got a date with a nice girl Friday night,” he said without preamble.

His mother always looked happy in her work environment, but when she looked up at him she was positively glowing. He and Zack were doing the right thing—or rather, he was. His twin’s turn would come soon enough. Their mom had been rocked by the death of Nick, Senior, her husband, a good man who gave his stepsons as much attention as his own son, Nick. She put all her energy into running the business to forget her sorrow, and it helped her immensely. After two years of widowhood, she was like her old self again, Cole thought. But if she lost control of the plant because of her father’s high-handed manipulations, she’d be devastated.

“That’s wonderful, Cole!” She gave him a hug and walked to a table where a big pitcher, damp with condensation, was on a tray with two tall glasses. “Would you like some iced tea?”

It wasn’t his favorite beverage, but he was thirsty enough to drink Detroit River water.

“What’s this thing?”

Cole examined a gizmo on her desk while she poured tea for both of them. He wasn’t sure whether it was supposed to entertain babies or make them want to crawl back into the womb. He played with the weird spiral-shaped labyrinth wondering if maybe he’d accidentally hit on the truth when he told Tess his mom wanted grandchildren. Maybe part of her enthusiasm for her job came from loving babies. She had a lot to offer as a grandmother, so long as she kept the more bizarre Bailey toys away from them.

“It’s a toy. It must be a winner because you’re playing with it,” she teased.

He dropped it like a hot rivet. She’d gotten him on that one, and he grinned sheepishly.

“Tell me about your date.” She handed him the iced tea and daintily sipped hers.

“She’s a friend of an old acquaintance. Remember Tess Morgan?”

“Isn’t she the sweet girl who tutored you in British lit?”

“That’s her. She owns Baby Mart in the Rockstone Mall. She’s doing me a favor by introducing me to friends of hers. I promised her a sneak peek at the new product line.”

He walked around the office, noting without enthusiasm that she still had tons of pictures of him, Zack and Nicky on the walls. The cutesy photos used in early catalog ads embarrassed him. Poses of curly-haired twins with Bailey toys made him remember how bored he’d been as a child model—bored but successful. To her credit, his mother had refused to let them work for any of the agencies that besieged them with lucrative offers. She even stood up to Marsh in limiting how much work they did for the annual Bailey catalogs. It was one of the rare disputes his mother had actually won when it came to showdowns with Marsh. She did much better these days, but as chairman of the board, he was still a tyrant.

“I guess there’s no problem at this late date,” Sue said thoughtfully. “The new catalog will be ready next month for wholesale Christmas orders. A leak now wouldn’t be serious.”

“Tess isn’t an industrial spy,” he said dryly.

“Of course not. Actually, this is a good time to give her a preview. We have a display set up in one of the design labs for some potential investors.”

“Investors? Is Marsh going to go back on his word and agree to a buyout before he retires? Does he want to go public?”

“He’s always playing around with the possibility. It’s his way of keeping everyone on edge.”

His mother didn’t sound concerned. Cole was. It wasn’t his employees Marsh wanted to unnerve. Cole’s grandfather was holding the threat of a sellout over his head and Zack’s. He’d better find Ms. Right soon and insure that his mother wouldn’t lose control of the business.

“Why don’t you and Tess join your grandfather and the investors tomorrow? Their tour is scheduled for 9 a.m.”

He’d rather eat nails!

“I had in mind a private sneak preview. You know, give her a chance to look it over without the pressure of having Marsh there.”

“A private showing with Tess. I see.”

His mother smiled—slyly, he thought.

“She’s only a friend. I owe her. Tess and me? No, no way. Not my type at all, and she remembers me less than fondly from high school.”

“If you say so. Why did you persuade her to help you get dates?”

When his mother put it that way, it did sound ludicrous. When had he ever needed help meeting women? The only blind date he’d ever had was Zack’s fault. Some girl wouldn’t go out with him unless he found a date for her friend.

“She’s not getting me dates, Mom.” Maybe he sounded juvenile, but he wanted his mother to be perfectly clear on this. “She’s only putting me in the loop with some nice women. I don’t meet any when I spend all my time on the job.”

“She’s doing this just so she can see our new line?” She sounded skeptical.

“No, I’m showing it just to be nice.”

“Then why?”

He hadn’t been grilled like this since he drove without a license when he was fifteen.