“Who is it?” he asked, hoping to God it wasn’t his father. Although his father would never wait in the lobby like a guest. He’d officially passed the Gauthier mansion on to Matt, but the old man still took ownership of this office. It didn’t matter that he hadn’t practiced law here since becoming an appellate court judge in New Orleans several years ago.
“It’s Professor Tamryn West,” Carmen answered.
“What?” Matt shot out of his chair. “You’re kidding me.”
“I am not,” Carmen said. “Should I send her in?”
“No.” He came around the desk. “What the hell is she doing here? Doesn’t she teach somewhere up on the East Coast?”
“Boston,” Carmen answered. “The woman came all this way, Matt. Youhaveto see her.”
“No, I don’t.”
Carmen gave him a look. He hated that damn look. It was the same look his mother used to give him when she thought he was being stubborn.
“Shit,” Matt cursed. “Send her in. But if she’s not gone in five minutes, you’d better make up some excuse and come rescue me, Carmen. I mean it.”
She laughed. “What are you so afraid of when it comes to this professor?”
“Nothing. I just don’t like people snooping around in my business.”
“Fine. But she traveled well over a thousand miles. The least you can do is give her ten minutes of your time.”
“Seven,” Matt countered. “If she’s not gone in seven minutes, I want you to bang on the door and yellfire.”
Carmen shook her head, still laughing.
Matt went around his desk and sat, then immediately sprang from the seat. He didn’t want to feel as if he was at a disadvantage when he faced an adversary. He went around to the front of the polished oak desk that had occupied this office for the past sixty years and perched against it, crossing his feet at the ankles.
Carmen knocked on the door and opened it. “Professor Tamryn West is here to see you,” she announced.
Matt’s stomach bottomed out as he stared at the woman who’d just walked into his office. “You havegotto be kidding me.”
“You’reDr. West?”
Tamryn just barely held in the laugh that was precariously close to spilling from her lips. The look of shock on Matthew Gauthier’s face was priceless.
The rest of him looked…amazing.
Yesterday’s jeans and black T-shirt had been the stuff of carefully choreographed fantasies, but this morning’s charcoal-gray suit, Tiffany-blue shirt, and striped tie were fantasy-worthy in their own right.
“Good morning to you, too, Mr. Gauthier,” Tamryn said. She strode over to the desk that occupied the center of the vast office, stopping a couple of feet in front of him.
“Good morning,” he said with a note of apology, as if he’d been reprimanded for forgetting his manners. “You’reTamryn West?” he asked again.
She nodded and extended her hand out to him. “Dr. Tamryn West, professor of African American and women’s studies at Brimley College.”
He accepted her handshake, disappointment and disbelief clouding his face.
The office manager, who had introduced herself as Carmen, cleared her throat. “It looks as if my employer has misplaced his manners,” she said. “Can I offer you a seat, Dr. West?”
“Thank you,” Tamryn said.
“Yes, I’m…I’m sorry,” Matt said. He shook his head as if to clear it and gestured to one of the high-backed leather chairs. “Carmen, is there coffee?” He looked to Tamryn. “Would you like coffee?”
“I’m fine.” She waved off the offer.
“Well, I’ll leave you two,” Carmen said as she backed out of the office.
