He winked. “Maybe.”
The temperature in the office rose. Or maybe it was her. “When did you decide you wanted a serious relationship?”
“I don’t want one.”
Her gaze jerked to his. “I beg your pardon?”
“I don’t want a girlfriend or to get married. Not now, maybe not ever.”
Her mouth gaped. She closed it. Considered his words. Scratched her head. “Then why are you here?”
Wasting your time and mine?
“I need you to find two wives.” The serious glint in his eyes told her he wasn’t joking.
Hadley started to speak but then stopped herself. She leaned back in her chair before trying again.
“I thought there was nothing anyone could say that would shock me. You have.” The wealthy could be eccentric but this was on another level and illegal. “Polygamy is against the law.”
Blaise laughed. The deep, rich sound floated through the air, smacking into her and curling her toes. A totally inappropriate response to a man wanting two wives but not marriage.
What was wrong with her? And him?
“Based on the disgust on your face, I should clarify my needs.” He sounded as if this was amusing to him. “The women won’t be my wives.”
Say what? That didn’t clarify anything. “Whose wives would they be?”
“My two closest friends.”
“That’s…unusual.” She sounded exasperated, exactly how she felt. Something about Blaise left her unsettled and off-kilter. She didn’t like the feeling and wanted it to end.
“Is it?” he asked. “Henry Davenport is a good friend of mine. He thought you’d be able to help me.”
So that was how Blaise had found her. She took client confidentiality seriously, but Henry must have said something to him. “Your friend and I have a special arrangement.”
“Did you date him?”
Hadley laughed. Henry had never seen her as anything more than someone he hired. Staff, if that. Otherwise, she would have received an invitation to one of his elaborate birthday celebrations. She hadn’t. “No.”
“Does that mean you’re the brains behind his matchmaking?”
“Henry has his own skills for pairing couples, but our styles…complement each other.”
“Excellent.” Blaise leaned forward in his chair. “That means you know how to match people who aren’t your clients.”
She didn’t know what he was getting at. At this point, she wasn’t sure she wanted to know. “As I said, my arrangement with Henry is one of a kind.”
“No reason you can’t have two of those ‘arrangements.’”
“True…” But she needed more information to decide what to do. “Why do you want your friends to get married so badly you’re willing to hire a matchmaker for them?”
“I want them to be happy,” Blaise said without missing a beat.
That begged a question. “They aren’t happy now?”
Blaise’s lips folded in. “They could be happier.”
He wasn’t telling her the truth. “Do they know what you’re planning?”
