An Irresistible Bachelor(15)

He was looking forward to the meeting and there was no better way to spend a Sunday afternoon as far as he was concerned. One of the things he liked about the venture capital business was that it was twenty-four/seven. There was never any downtime, no wasted moments, always something that needed to be done. Sundays, holidays, birthdays, weddings. He worked through them all.

Hell, the day his father had been buried, he'd spent hah0 the wake in his study setting up the funding for a tech firm down in Atlanta. But that hadn't just been about business, he supposed. He'd found it difficult to mourn someone whose sustained disapproval had marked his life so indelibly, and getting some work done had seemed like a more productive use of time than faking sorrow.

Bad family dynamics aside, with every sunrise, there were places he had to be, things he needed to accomplish, people who wanted to get to him and his money. It was a nonstop, frenetic ride with no clear end in sight. In all that swirling chaos, he found purpose. He knew being governor of Massachusetts would be just as complicated and demanding. And if he ever made it to the Oval Office, the stakes would be astronomical.

Jack slid a silk tie around his neck and faced the mirror. He couldn't wait for the future.





Chapter 5





On Tuesday, Callie took a train up the coast of Connecticut to Boston's Back Bay Station and then transferred to a commuter rail line that took her out to the suburbs. As she stepped off in Wellesley with her old Samsonite suitcase and a toolbox full of supplies, site stared up a steep hill.

Now she knew why they called it Cliff Road.

By the time she walked up to a pair of stone pillars bearing the right number, her arms were going numb and she had pins and needles in her shoulders. She dropped her load and looked down the driveway. There wasn't much to see. The strip of asphalt disappeared into a thicket of underbrush and trees.

She picked up her things again and started down the last leg of her journey. She told herself, as she had innumerable times during the trip, that everything was going to be okay. She was going to do a good job and Jack Walker was going to be too busy running his business empire to bother with her.

And even if it was awful, nothing lasted forever.

When she rounded a corner, uneasiness came over her like a curse.



"Good fortune, my foot, she thought, looking at the mansion.

The house, which was painted a dark gray, was a towering mausoleum as it rose from its stone foundation. There were porches and cupolas and a tower at the top and the various eaves and corners threw off a host of shadows that made the place seem even gloomier. The grounds didn't help tighten the mood any. They were austere, with only clipped bushes and beds of pachysandra to soften the mansion's footprint. But at least there were several big trees on the property. The oaks and maples arched their limbs over a lawn that was big enough to play pro football on and the grass was just as well tended as any playing field's.

"She started walking again. The drive was a good hundred yards long and it split to wrap around the house. The left half went to the garage, which was two stories high and had four bays. The other led under a porte cochere that shielded the main entrance of the mansion. She went to the right.

When she got to the heavy front door, she dropped her suitcase and toolbox. Reminding herself she was an invited guest, not an interloper, she let the brass door knocker fall.

A woman in her forties answered it. As she looked Callie up and down, her eyes weren't unkind, but they weren't exactly warm, either.

"Yes?" The air of purpose about her suggested she worked at the house, though she wasn't wearing a uniform.

"I'm Callie Burke."



"The conservationist?" The woman's expression changed to one of surprise.

Callie nodded.

"Oh-ah, he told us you'd be coming." The woman frowned, taking in the orange suitcase and the furry coat. "Mrs. Walker was looking forward to your arrival."

Mrs. Walker?

"Actually, I was expecting to meet Mr. Walker."

"He's not home yet. She is here, though."

Surprise, surprise, Callie thought. She hadn't read that he'd been married, but then she hadn't been picking up the paper as much as she used to. The idea that he had a wife made her feel more at ease in a way.

Unless he really had been about to kiss her in front of her building, in which case she felt worse.

An awkward silence followed, until Callie said, "Is there something wrong?"