been trying to reach you, but you didn’t answer your cell phone,” she told him. “I have to go to a faculty cocktail party right after work, so I can’t make dinner at Harry’s tonight. I’m sorry to cancel so late, but my boss just informed me attendance is mandatory. Apparently, the department head wants to impress the university president with our show of support.” She grimaced. “I’d rather spend an hour or two being tortured by cannibals, but I can’t get out of it.”
“Sounds pretty bad,” he said with sympathy. “Did you let your mom know we won’t be able to join her at Harry’s?”
She nodded. “Mom said she’d apologize to Harry for me.” She looked up at him. “You should go, anyway—everyone has to eat, right? And maybe you could pin Harry down about the contract.”
He shook his head. “No, thanks—I think I’ll pass.” He smiled, a slow curve of his lips that made her breath hitch. “Just wouldn’t be the same without you.”
“I hate to interrupt you two,” Connor broke in. “But don’t you think you should introduce us to the lady, Eli?”
Frankie had been so focused on Eli that she’d all but forgotten the presence of the other four men. Now she realized they were all watching her and Eli with interest and curiosity. Even the older man had a curious gleam in his eye.
“Sorry,” Eli said easily, clearly not the slightest bit concerned at Connor’s inference he’d been lacking in manners. “Frankie Fairchild, these are my brothers—Connor, Ethan and Matthew. And the gentleman in the chair there is our grandfather, Jack.” He bent to whisper in her ear, loud enough that the others could hear. “All of them are disreputable and untrustworthy, and they cheat at cards—so watch out if you ever get in a poker game with them.”
“Good afternoon,” Frankie said, her amused gaze meeting each of theirs. Eli’s three brothers were as tall, brawny and as handsome—each in his own way—as Eli. They all had coal-black hair and blue eyes and an air of assured male strength. In fact, she thought dazedly, the amount of testosterone filling the air was palpable. She glanced at Jack and found him watching her shrewdly. She felt her cheeks warm under his knowing gaze.
“They’re kind of overwhelming, all in one room, aren’t they, missy?” he asked, his blue eyes warming. “Just like their grandpa, they have to beat women off with a stick.”
“Geez, Granddad,” Matt groaned, giving Frankie an apologetic look. “Sorry, Frankie. We can dress him up but can’t take him out—not anywhere in polite company, at least.”
“Hmmph,” the older man snorted. “Who’d have guessed I’d run into polite company in a construction trailer? Usually it’s just you four, and you don’t qualify as polite.”
Frankie laughed out loud. She could easily see the affection between the four brothers and their grandfather and was charmed. “I’d better get going.” Frankie looked up at Eli and found him watching her, his blue eyes half concealed by thick lashes as he looked down at her. “I’m keeping you from your work, and I have a class in—” she glanced at her wristwatch “—twenty-five minutes. I’ll leave and let you all get back to what you were doing.” She waved a hand at the drafting table with its unrolled stack of blueprints held flat by a large rock sitting on each corner.
“You’re not keeping us from work,” Eli told her.
“Not at all,” Ethan added, his voice a slow, deep drawl.
“We were all tired of looking at these damn blueprints,” Connor added.
“Nevertheless, I’d better get back to campus.” Frankie turned, and Eli was there before her, opening the door and holding it for her. “It was nice to meet you,” she told the four Wolf men.
They echoed a chorus of goodbyes, and Frankie stepped outside, followed by Eli, who pulled the door shut.
“Where are you parked?” He frowned at the wet ground.
“Just over there.” Frankie pointed at her car, just beyond the big dual-wheeled white pickup.
Eli took her elbow, scanning the ground between the steps and her car before walking beside her. “You’re not wearing the right kind of boots for this weather. I’ll get you a pair of rubber mud boots to keep in your car.”
Frankie felt inordinately pleased that he seemed to expect her to visit again. “That would be nice,” she murmured.
They reached her BMW, and he pulled open the door.
“How long do you think you’ll have to stay at the cocktail party tonight?” he asked, leaning on the open door to look down at her as she turned the ignition key.
“Not too long, I hope,” she told him. “I’m planning to slip out as soon as possible and head home. It’s been a long week—I think I’ll curl up in front of the TV and watch something mindless.”
He chuckled. “Sounds like a good plan. Drive carefully.” He stood back, closing the door with a quiet thunk.
As Frankie negotiated the bumps and puddles of the lot and turned onto the smoothly paved street, she could see Eli in the rearview mirror. He stood, hands thrust in jeans pockets, the sun glinting off his black hair, watching her drive away.
She’d been looking forward to seeing him this evening, and having to cancel their dinner date made the prospect of the boring cocktail party seem even more dull.
She turned a corner and could no longer see Eli nor the construction site.
No doubt about it, she thought with a sigh. She was much more interested in spending an evening with Eli than schmoozing at a cocktail party with her boss and coworkers.
Apparently, she wasn’t immune to the lure of a tall, dark and handsome man. Especially not when the man was Eli.
Eli watched Frankie’s car disappear into traffic before he turned and reentered the work trailer.
“Pretty woman, Eli. Where’d you meet her?” Connor asked.
“Does she have a sister?” Matt asked, grinning when Eli shot him a quick glare as he crossed to the kitchenette and poured a mug of coffee.
“Yes, she has sisters, and no, I’m not going to introduce you,” Eli said as Matt’s eyes lit with interest. “And I’ve known her since she was just a kid.”
“Yeah?” Ethan frowned at him. “I don’t remember a girl named Frankie.”
“Francesca Fairchild—she’s Justin’s cousin.”
“I still don’t remember her,” Connor said.
“She must be Cornelia Fairchild’s daughter,” Jack said with a decisive nod. “Cornelia’s the widow of Harry Hunt’s original partner—I heard the families stayed close after Cornelia’s husband died, and the girls consider Harry their uncle and his boys their cousins.”
“That’s right.” Eli carried his mug to the drafting table and set it on the ledge above the blueprints. “Frankie’s closer to Justin than any of his brothers. I met her through Justin when she was still in grade school.”
“Was
