the man with whom I would be the most compatible.”
“Of course you intend to meet him before you marry him?” Derrick teased, looking incredulous.
“I would not have to,” Ellie assured him. “That’s how much I stand behind my methods, but…” Pausing, she shrugged gamely. “I can’t expect anyone else to play by my rules, and so…”
“So?”
“The announcement will be made next week.”
“And what do you expect to come from this?”
She flashed him a grin. “Besides publicity from you for Future Trends? Mr. Mills, I’m not sure you appreciate the full gravity of what I’m saying. This man will be The One. I will be able to do anything with him…and everything. I can bed him, wed him. Make mad, passionate love. He will be my alter ego and very best friend. That’s what I’m looking for, and—”
“My, my,” her interviewer interjected. “This is interesting, indeed. Other papers may want to follow this, watch the story unfold.”
It was what she’d been hoping for. If things went smoothly, she could actually make a mint in new business, and garner the resources for taking over Lee Polls, if she chose to do so. She took a deep breath. “Let me just finish by saying that I know two things. First, and I speak as a statistician.”
“To say?”
“The numbers never lie.”
“And…”
“Second, as a woman, I’d say…”
He leaned even closer. “Yes?”
“I always get my man.”
He would be better than Robby Robriquet in every way. Sexier. Smarter. Richer. Hotter in bed. And the only remaining question was his identity.
Chapter Three
DADDY EDDIE WOULD pick this booth, Robby thought, sighing as he finished off his burger. As he pushed aside his plate, he stared down to where, years ago, he’d carved his and Ellie’s initials into the wood of the table, a practice the proprietor of the Night Rider, Clancy O’Dell, had long encouraged. Blinking, Robby glanced away, adjusting his eyes to the dim interior, the long, ornate bar and mirror, pool table and jukebox.
He paused to survey a photograph signed by his best friend, J. D. Johnson, who was depicted playing his guitar. Ever since he’d become famous as a country-western singer, J.D.’s picture had graced the walls of all the local eateries and businesses, and Robby felt a surge of pride regarding his friend, not to mention relief, since their relationship had gotten back on an even keel. In fact, since J.D. and his wife, Susannah, had reunited, J.D. had come to the Night Rider on weekend nights to play for the locals.
Robby’s gaze returned to Daddy Eddie, and he wished it hadn’t. Some days, it was damn hard to look at the man, since Ellie was his spitting image. Every glance at the man made him think of Ellie. Just like his daughter, he looked as if he’d recently stepped off the boat from merry ole Ireland. He had the same wavy dark hair that was nearly black in most light, and the same pale, pink-toned skin and blue eyes. The only difference was that Daddy Eddie spent more time in the sun and was covered with freckles. Daddy Eddie’s lips were thin and usually pursed, too, while Ellie had been lucky in getting her mama’s mouth; she had luscious bee-stung lips she always glossed in pink. Otherwise, she was her father’s child, all right, in both looks and temperament.
“The future of Future Trends,” spat out Daddy Eddie, his voice exposing a competitive edge as he removed a plaid cap and placed it on the scarred, rough-hewn wood table. Leaning back, he sipped a frothy head off a lager as he continued to study the newspaper article about Ellie.
“‘It’s easy to see why so many clients have followed Ms. Lee from her father’s company. Poised and bristling with intelligence, Ms. Lee is one of those women who has it all. Brains, looks, ambition and a fearless go-getter attitude…’”
Daddy Eddie’s voice trailed off as he continued reading, mouthing the words. “Has it all,” he muttered, his blue eyes, so like Ellie’s, skewering Robby’s. “That girl doesn’t have jack. She’s running an office out of an apartment, for God’s sake, and in that degenerate hellhole that some people call New York City. Why, I could have gone there, myself, years ago. But no. I stayed right here in Banner, Mississippi, hiring local people and taking care of my own community.”
“You’re the biggest employer in the area,” Robby agreed, feeling compelled to acknowledge Daddy Eddie’s accomplishment. At a time when so many businesses had closed shop in the area, the contribution was even more valued.
“That’s right,” Daddy Eddie fumed. “I never outsourced, and I never laid off anyone, not even when times were at their toughest and the payroll was hard to meet. My grandpa somehow kept on everybody during the Great Depression. But Ellie? She’s run off to the big city now. She’d doesn’t give a rat’s behind about heritage. And she’s scarcely even had a boyfriend, which is downright pathetic at her age. Why, even if she found a man fool enough to date her, she can’t so much as boil an egg. Face it, my little girl is ruined.”
Pausing, Daddy Eddie shook his head. “You should have seen what happened the last time her mama asked her to help with a pot roast. A simple pot roast! Let me tell you, we had TV dinners that night! And she nearly burnt them to a crisp.”
“Cooking isn’t her strong point,” Robby couldn’t help but concur. If the truth be told, Ellie wasn’t any better at takeout. During their months of bliss, she preferred to lounge around, naked in bed, while Robby got dressed and drove to the Night Rider or the Pizza Palace to pick up victuals. Not that he could tell her father that.
“Even I can make a pot roast,” muttered Daddy Eddie. “And I’m a man! Why, when she was at college,” Daddy Eddie plunged on, “her mother and I would visit. You know, how parents do?”
Not really, Robby thought, but he nodded dutifully.
“I couldn’t believe the boys she introduced to me! Miserable excuses for men! Pure pansies. All of them into art and music and such. Probably even ballet. Tap dancing. Sewing and home economics. You know what I’m saying, Robby?”
“Well,” Robby ventured diplomatically. “It’s not worth working yourself into a lather about it, Daddy Eddie. You know, you’re supposed to watch your blood pressure.”
“But you know what I’m saying?” Daddy Eddie demanded.
Unfortunately, Robby did. “Uh…yeah.”
“A man can’t get a grandbaby this way!”
About that, Robby wasn’t so sure. He and Ellie had a few scares, mostly because she was so hot and Robby couldn’t wait to find a condom. “Give her time,” Robby soothed.
Daddy Eddie didn’t even hear. “And her brothers are worse! Scoundrels, that’s all they are! They always go for the career women, the feminists. Why, absolutely none of my kids will reproduce, and I’m beginning to think it’s just to spite me. What did I ever do to them?
“Nothing!” he nearly shouted, answering himself. “Only worked my
