both at fault yesterday?”
“Maybe.” And there it was, she thought as his rueful smile broadened, the legendary McCabe charm.
“Well, good.” He came forward and briefly shook her hand to seal the truce. “Then we have something in common.”
Eve’s skin tingled as they broke contact and politely stepped away from each other. He inclined his head. “So what’s next?” he murmured.
She drew a deep, bolstering breath, then took a seat in the armchair and opened her briefcase. “I’m ready to meet your demands.”
His phone chimed. He peered down at it, then set it aside. His full attention on Eve once again, he asked, “What stopped you yesterday?”
Watching him take a seat behind his desk, Eve sensed sugarcoating the situation would get her nowhere with the accomplished businessman. “I didn’t want to proceed because I felt selecting a property for you, without knowing anything about you or your specific needs, would be a disservice to us both.”
He pressed his fingertips together. “In what way?”
“If you end up purchasing a home you’re unhappy with, that dissatisfaction will eventually be heaped on Loughlin Realty. And more specifically, me.” Hesitating for a moment, Eve crossed her legs and discreetly tugged her skirt a little lower over her knees. “My reputation depends on being able to find the exact right home for my clients. If I can’t do that, I may as well not continue as an agent.”
His dark brows furrowed. “That’s why you wanted me to fill out the forms?”
Finally, they were getting somewhere! “I don’t even know how old your daughter is. Or if she lives with you full-time or part-time, or simply visits.”
“Tiffany lives with me fifty percent of the time. My ex and I share custody.”
“Do you want her to go to public or private school?”
“Probably public, if we’re in the Highland Park district, but we’re not there yet. She’s just turned one.”
What was it about this man that had Eve losing her equilibrium? Usually, she was much better at maintaining a casual, inscrutable demeanor. Blowing out a breath, she attempted to rein in her reaction. “You must be very recently divorced.”
“It was final last summer. We were separated for a year and a half before that,” he related mildly.
And his child was one now, Eve thought, doing some quick calculations.
* * *
“AREN’T YOU GOING to say it?” Derek asked, something akin to disappointment on his handsome face. He studied her bluntly. “What a terrible person I must have been to have left a pregnant wife?”
This felt like some kind of a test. Deliberately, she held his gaze. “I’m sure you had your reasons.” Her manner matter-of-fact, she continued, “In any case, it’s none of my business.”
He appeared to be mulling that over. “So when did you want to get started?” he finally said, after a long, awkward pause.
Glad he had decided to use their firm for his home search, after all, Eve smiled. “I’m available anytime.”
“Right now?”
Another test. Eve inhaled and smiled again. “Absolutely.”
Derek stood and reached for his coat, all McCabe determination once again. “Then let’s go.”
Chapter Two
“Mind if I drive?” Derek said as they walked out the door of his swanky office complex.
Whatever the client wanted. Within reason. That was the rule. “Not at all,” Eve fibbed. “Where are we going?”
“I have to pick up my daughter by five-thirty. I’ll have her until tomorrow evening.” He paused to help Eve with her coat, and then escorted her out to a late-model Jaguar SUV. He opened the passenger door, waited for her to slide in, then circled around to the driver’s side.
Impressed with his good manners—it had been a long time since she had met anyone so naturally chivalrous—Eve pulled out her notebook again. Determined to keep things strictly business, she asked, “You want to take her with us when we look?”
“Tomorrow, when we go see the house we select, yes. As for this evening, I plan to take her back to my hotel, feed and bathe her, and then put her to bed.”
Eve wasn’t sure where that left her and the business she needed to conduct.
Derek continued, “And while I do all that, we’ll have a little chat about what property would be best suited for my daughter and me.”
Eve wasn’t surprised. Most single parents were adept multitaskers. Still, she would have preferred they talk under less intimate circumstances. She wanted to know only enough about him and his life to do her job well. Anything else would be just too personal.
He turned onto Crescent Avenue. “I assume you have most of the property specs on the computer?”
Eve nodded. “Including visual tours.”
“Then we should be able to pick one.”
Derek parked in the driveway of one of the largest, most elegant properties in Highland Park. “Mind giving me a hand? There’s a lot of stuff when we switch back and forth.”
So now she was a bellboy, too. What next? A nanny? Tamping down her irritation, Eve flashed a smile. “No problem.”
This time, she managed to exit the sedan before Derek could gallantly lend a hand. If he noticed her effort to keep things on an impersonal level, he didn’t show it. Instead, he seemed distracted, almost eager, as they walked to the front door. The doorbell was answered by an attractive brunette in a silk shirt, heels and jeans. She had a pair of reading glasses perched on the end of her nose and a pen tucked into the short, sophisticated curls above her ear. Her expression was intellectual—and kind.
“Hey, stranger!” She greeted Derek with a friendly pat on the arm and a peck on his cheek. “How’s the house-hunting going?”
Derek inclined his head at Eve. “We haven’t really started yet. Carleen, this is Eve Loughlin. Eve, Carleen Walton, my ex-wife.”
The woman grinned and extended her hand. “It’s nice to meet you,” she said.
They certainly were friendly, Eve noted. Maybe the most amiable exes she had ever seen. “Nice to meet you, too,” she replied.
A tall forty-something man ambled up with a baby in his arms.
“And this is Craig, my husband,” Carleen continued. “With our baby, Tiffany.”
And what a beautiful baby she was, Eve could not help but note.
The one-year-old had a cloud of dark curly hair, like her mom’s, and Derek’s vivid sea-blue
