Her Man Friday(86)
Author: Elizabeth Bevarly

"Denise," she said to the woman seated next to her, the one Leo had come to think of as Silk Woman, "how are we coming on the Denby acquisition?"

"Moving right along, Lily," she said. "Smooth as silk."

"Excellent," Lily replied. "Angela?" she added for the benefit of the next woman down the line, the one seated between Halston Man and Versace Man, whom Leo had dubbed, for reasons that were obvious, Mousse Woman. "What’s up with Richard Steiner? Is he coming around?"

"He will," Mousse Woman said with conviction, touching a finger to her permanent wave—but not too hard. "Don’t you worry about a thing."

Versace Man and Halston Man looked a bit miffed for some reason, but kept their comments to themselves. Leo shook his head and bit back his laughter. Lily sure had shaken things up in the last five years. Sure there had been some problems in the beginning, after she and Schuyler had gone public with their arrangement. The billionaire had put Lily firmly in charge of the company, so that he could focus on all the research and development that he’d always enjoyed most. A lot of the old boy network hadn’t liked that much. But Lily and Schuyler had stood firm, and they had stayed a team.

A very effective team, too, not surprisingly. Because it hadn’t taken them long to recover from the brief downturn the company had initially suffered. And now that she was unhampered in her position, Lily was able to function in a way that outpaced even her earlier performance. The company was growing by leaps and bounds. And nothing would stop them now.

A cry of dissension erupted then, something that turned every head at the big table in Leo’s direction. Leo himself scarcely noticed, however, because he bent down over the stroller beside him and picked up a blue-flanneled, three-month-old Andrew, rocking him gently to quiet him. But Andrew would have none of it, clearly had something else on his mind, so Leo shrugged and threw Lily a resigned look.

"Oh, bring my sweet baby boy over here," she cooed, reaching for the top button of her high-powered executive blouse.

On her other side, Cohiba Man blustered and coughed and started to object.

Lily rolled her eyes. "Look, Cyrus, if I’ve told you once, I’ve told you a million times. That breastfeeding policy stays. You do not want to challenge me on this."

As quickly as he had started to object, Cohiba Man settled down. He reached inside his jacket and lifted his cigar to his mouth, then, obviously not thinking clearly, reached back once more for a lighter.

"And that no-smoking policy holds, as well," Lily told him.

He opened his mouth to protest again, but she narrowed her eyes at him fiercely. "There’s an opening in the Abu Dhabi office that I need to fill," she reminded him.

He shut his mouth, then shoved the unlit cigar into his pocket with his lighter.

Leo chuckled again as he carried little Andrew to Lily for his lunchtime feeding, but no sooner had he placed the baby in her arms than another hungry cry erupted from the stroller. Figures, he thought. Julia always had to have ‘whatever her twin brother was having. He retraced his steps to the stroller and extracted the other baby, then glanced down at his watch.

"Look, Lily, I have to be in Haddonfield in thirty minutes to meet with the carpenters," he told her. "Can I leave the twins with you for the afternoon? Schuyler and Caroline and the baby have already left to go visit Chloe at Juilliard. And don’t forget—the New York Symphony is performing her piece at the Met this weekend. I want to be out of Philadelphia early Friday morning to be sure we get there in time."

Lily nodded as she gazed down with undisguised and unadulterated love at the tiny boy nestled to her breast. "No problem. Let Marvin take Julia for a few minutes. He’s great with her."

Leo surrendered his daughter to Charlton Heston Man, who cuddled the little baby in his arms and, in that voice of God, stated quite adamantly, "Cootchie. Cootchie. Coo."

"She’s beautiful, isn’t she?" said Thesaurus Man beside him. "Delicate. Well-favored. Bonny."

"Just like her mother," Leo agreed, adding to himself, strong, commanding, smart.

Yeah, things had worked out pretty well, all things said and done, he thought. Life didn’t get much better than this. He moved to stand behind Lily, ostensibly to give her a quick kiss goodbye.

But as he leaned forward, he couldn’t help whispering a few choice, and very erotic, promises into her ear. She chuckled low as she nodded and murmured a single word in response. "Tonight."

So Leo brushed his lips over her cheek one final time, and bid her a very reluctant goodbye. And as he left the boardroom, he heard the newest board member, the one who’d begun working just this week, Scarf Woman, ask, "So that was Lily’s Mr. Rigby, huh? Very cute."

He halted just outside the door, to see what the response would be. "No, no," he heard Silk woman pipe up, her voice laced with good humor. "That was her man Friday."

Smiling to himself as he headed out, Leo conceded that that was certainly true.