decided to go.
“Mr. Ramsey, I’ll leave you now in Meghan’s expert hands. I’m glad we got the chance to meet.”
“The pleasure was mine, Mr. Alderman, and please call me Michael. I have a feeling my attorney and I will be in conference often, and I’m hoping we can run into each other again sometime,” he said, as he rose to shake Henry’s hand.
“I’ll look forward to it, Michael, and you can call me Henry. I’m sure you will find Meghan is the best there is for this sort of affair,” he said, before letting himself out of the room.
Michael stared after him in amused wonder. Then, calling his own temporary truce with Meghan, he turned and gave her a wry grin. “He wasn’t much help to you, was he?”
“He meant well,” she retorted with a shrug.
“That’s true,” he conceded, the truce over. “Now, can we say the same for you?”
Meghan decided there were too many potholes in the road ahead and tried to steer clear of them.
“Shall we discuss your acquisition, Mr. Ramsey?” she asked formally.
“Ah,” he said, as if suddenly enlightened. “We’re all business in the daylight hours too.”
“That’s up to you, Mr. Ramsey. I’m leaving at one o’clock. You can sit there and torture me until then if you want to. However, you will be charged for my time, and we won’t be any closer to reaching a settlement on your property. The choice is yours,” she pointed out tersely, sitting down in her chair and crossing her legs comfortably.
“Oh, good. Then my choice does occasionally matter,” he said sarcastically. He opened his briefcase and brought out a file folder. He flipped it carelessly onto the top of her desk.
“I have a verbal agreement to buy out Dobson Publishing Company,” he began in a professional tone as cold as her own. “I want total ownership, complete rights, and the use of their good name for as long as I own the company. In return for which I will give them their total asking price. I then wish to have the necessary papers drawn up to incorporate it into Texacal. Their attorneys’ names and addresses as well as those of my attorneys in Texas, and several other minor stipulations, are listed in there also.”
His instructions were clear to Meghan and left her with nothing to say. He closed his briefcase, latched it, and stood to leave, saying, “If you have any questions, you know where to reach me.”
At the door he turned to study her intently, then cautioned her, “I’m not through with you, Meghan Shay.”
She returned his steady look and uttered, “I didn’t think you were, Mr. Ramsey.”
Meghan’s appointment with her doctor took place over lunch in an Italian restaurant that Meghan and Lucy often frequented.
“Oh Lord, Meghan, what are you going to do?” asked a terrified Lucy after listening to the horrifying story.
Morose, Meghan shrugged and glanced across the table at her friend. “I don’t know,” she stated dully, then as an afterthought added, “You don’t happen to have a bottle of pills I could take?”
“Meghan,” Lucy gasped.
The red-haired mother-to-be propped her elbow on the table and laid her forehead in her hand. “Relax,” she mumbled. “It was just the first thing that came to mind. You know I’d never do anything to harm the baby.”
“Oh Lord, Meghan,” Lucy repeated, for at least the tenth time since their meal was served.
Peeking through her fingers at Lucy, Meghan released a derisive half laugh and offered, “Just imagine what he’d say if he found out I’m pregnant.”
“Oh Lord, Meghan!”
Lucy’s remark drew the attention of some of the other diners. Glancing around at the onlookers and then back to one another, the women broke into giggles. The tension effectively drained from the conversation, Lucy encouraged Meghan to eat some of her untouched meal.
After two or three small, tasteless bites of superb manicotti, Meghan began to play with the cherry tomato in her salad. Thoughtfully turning
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