Seducing the Matchmaker

Chapter 2

The light tapping on the door alerted Derrick to the identity of his visitor even before the door opened. A gray head of hair peeked around the edge, and Derrick could not resist the smile that came to his lips whenever she walked into the room. Camille Massey, his business partner, his benefactor, his friend…his savior.

The elderly woman started to enter the room until she realized Derrick was on the phone. She started to back out, but he raised a hand to halt her.

“I have another meeting to get to. Can we wrap this up?” He spoke into the intercom while motioning Camille to come in.

He listened to some final comments, but his attention was riveted on Camille as she made her way across the room. She was moving more slowly than usual today. He frowned, knowing what that meant: her rheumatism was acting up again. Derrick was tempted to drop the phone and go help her. But Camille was a proud woman who would not welcome his assistance. The meeting was called to an end. Derrick said his good-byes and hung up the phone.

He sat back in his plush leather chair, waiting while she settled into the guest chair at the side of his desk, a large, comfortable wingback chair he kept there just for her, knowing the small if stylish guest chairs that decorated the rest of the office suite were uncomfortable to her brittle bones.

“Why aren’t you using one of the walking canes I bought you?” he asked gruffly, watching as she straightened the pleats of her skirt around her.

“Because I don’t need them,” she muttered and, once satisfied with her appearance, settled back in the chair. “Well?”

Derrick knew exactly what she was waiting for, but he wasn’t about to make it easy. “Well?”

Her soft brown eyes narrowed menacingly. “Don’t play with me, boy.”

Derrick burst into laughter. “Why not? You play with everyone else. We’re all just puppets on your strings, myself included.”

“Am I going to have to call over there myself?”

“You wouldn’t.”

She smirked. “Has twenty-five years with me taught you nothing?”

Derrick sat up in the chair. “Okay, you would. But don’t.”

“Then answer me.”

He sighed in defeat. “It went fine.”

“Fine? That’s all? Did they find a lady friend for you?”

“Camille, it’s not a supermarket. You don’t walk in and grab a girl off the shelf and carry her to the checkout lane. These things take time.”

She frowned. “How much time? You don’t wear well.”

He frowned back. “More than one day, that’s for sure. Apparently, she had to—”

“Who’s she?”

“Noelle Brown, the owner.”

Camille stared into his eyes for several seconds before her face spread into a wide grin. “Well, well…Tell me about this Ms. Brown.”

“Before you start cackling in glee, that’s Mrs. Brown.”

The smile disappeared. “Married? Humph, that’s too bad. I haven’t seen that look in your eyes at the mention of a woman in years.”

“Yeah, well, it won’t be that woman. You know how I feel about sharing.”

“Unfortunately,” she muttered, toying with the pleats of her skirt, “half of Philadelphia knows how you feel about sharing.”

Derrick decided to let the comment slide instead of getting into another argument about his lack of discretion last year, when he heard his then-girlfriend, Mira, was out club-hopping with another man. The media had made sure Derrick was aware of the situation and then sat back with their cameras ready and let Derrick be…Derrick.

Looking back, he would be the first to admit he did not handle it well, but controlling his emotions had never been easy. All he could remember was the pure rage he felt walking into the nightclub and seeing his woman pressed against another man on the dance floor. Later, Derrick would discover the man was Mira’s old college friend Byron, who also happened to be a happily committed gay man. By the time he discovered these facts, it would be too late to straighten things out with Mira. Because soon after, she would betray him on the front page of the Herald with the revealing exposé titled “The Man Behind The Myth.”

“Mira wasn’t the one anyway,” he muttered, feeling some need to defend his actions.

Camille twisted her mouth in a silent expression that spoke volumes.

“Did you see the plans for the Marquardt Building?” he asked, seeking to end the discussion regarding his troubled love life.

“Yes. When are you presenting them?”

“Next week.” He watched as she rubbed her right knee. “Are you okay?”

She smiled sadly. “Yes, just the cost of living too long.”

Derrick looked into the wise old eyes of the woman who’d come to mean so much to him and once again wondered where he would’ve ended up had it not been for the intervention of Camille Massey.

“Where would I have ended up if you hadn’t intervened in my life?”

Camille snorted. “You would’ve been just fine. You’re tough as nails, Derrick Brandt. You always have been.”

He huffed. “Who are you kidding? We both know I was a statistic just waiting to happen.” His eyes took on a faraway look as he remembered his troubled childhood. “If you hadn’t given me a job that day I showed up here.” He shook his head.

“Well, I did.” She rubbed her knee once more before struggling to her feet. Derrick was instantly at her elbow, gently steadying her. “And I have never regretted the decision.” She looked directly into his eyes, and Derrick couldn’t help feeling a sense of pride. She’d believed in him, and he’d gone out of his way to make sure she never stopped.

“Just keep me up to date on how things are progressing,” she said, heading to the door.

“All right, but not much should change between now and when we present the plans next week—”

She stopped and made a dismissive gesture with her hand. “Boy, I don’t care about the Marquardt Building! I’m sure you’ve got that completely under control. It’s your personal life that’s a mess.”

Derrick leaned against his desk and folded his arms across his chest. “Why this sudden interest in my love life?”

Derrick watched the brief sadness cross her face, but she quickly covered it with a smile. “Somebody needs to start taking a vested interest in it.” She started walking again. “Lord knows we can’t depend on your judgment.”

As Derrick watched her leave the room, he wondered if Camille had any idea just how close to the truth she really was.

Chapter 3

Together the couple leaned forward and gustily blew out the forty white candles on the beautifully decorated cake.

“Happy anniversary!” The room erupted in applause and well wishes for the happy couple standing at the head of the long, formal dining table.

As Kimber, Noelle’s older sister, stepped forward with a cake knife to begin dividing up the dessert, the crowd of family and friends gathered closer to offer hugs and congratulations to Gilbert and Claudia Brown. They were celebrating their fortieth wedding anniversary.

Noelle could not hide the wistful expression on her face as she watched her parents gaze at each other as if they were the only two people in the world. They had always looked at each other like that, and Noelle knew they always would.

She felt a tug on her pant leg. “Auntie.”

Noelle glanced down at her niece Lea, who was trying to get her attention.

The toddler grabbed the crotch of her pants. “Pee-pee, Auntie, pee-pee.”

Noelle quickly scanned the room and found her sister-in-law, Ann, standing with a group of family friends on the other side of the large dining room. Swooping the two-year-old up in her arms, Noelle quickly maneuvered her way through the crowd in her parents’ house.

“Hurry, Auntie, got go bad,” Lea whined, then promptly stuck the two middle fingers of her right hand in her mouth and began to suck on them like a pacifier.

Noelle quickened her pace. She knew from experience that once the finger sucking began, the clock was ticking. She elbowed and excused her way out of the crowded room and took the stairs to the second level, down the hall to the bathroom.

Once inside, she quickly slid Lea’s elastic waist pants down her short legs, along with the Huggies training diaper, and plopped the little girl on the toilet seat and waited.

After a moment, there was a small tinkling noise and then nothing.

Lea’s eyes lit up. “Auntie! Good girl!”

Noelle felt her heart swell with love and pride. “Yes, sweetheart, you are such a good girl.” She helped Lea re-dress and then hugged her close. “Look what you did. You’re becoming a big girl.”

Noelle lifted the small body up to the sink for hand washing, which was Lea’s favorite part of the process. She smeared soap on her hands over and over, playing in the water.

Just as Noelle exited, her brother, Raymond, came charging over into the bathroom carrying a little girl who was an exact replica of Lea.

When Ray and Noelle’s eyes met, the pair burst into laughter.

“Lena, too?” Noelle said, but Ray was too busy trying to get his second twin daughter settled on the toilet seat to stop for conversation.

Unlike Lea, Lena’s bladder was completely full and took several seconds to empty. While they waited, Ray leaned back against the door and closed his eyes.

The sounds of laughter, the occasional clinking of their mother’s fine china and the mellow sounds of the music of John Legend created a cacophony of sound drifting up to Noelle and Ray from the party below.

“You look tired.” Noelle noted the dark rings under her brother’s eyes and realized it was the first time she’d seen him in almost a week, which was unusual for her tight-knit family.

Ray smiled at his little sister. “Good to see you, too.”

“I don’t mean you look bad.” She playfully bumped up against him. “Just tired. Are you just now getting here? I didn’t see you earlier.”

He yawned sleepily. “Yeah, just finished a seventy-two-hour rotation at the hospital.” He reached down to help Lena, who was climbing down from the toilet seat.

“Look, Daddy!” Lena pulled up her Huggies diaper and pants before turning to point to the contents of the toilet.

Ray gave his sister a slight grimace before forcing himself to look into the toilet. “Wonderful, baby girl. You did wonderful.”

Not about to let her sister steal her thunder, Lea pushed her way between them. “Part of that me!” she declared, frowning up at her father.

“Well, you both did terrific. My little ladies are growing up.” He ran his large hand over the top of their matching curly afro puffs. Satisfied with the praise, the girls raced out of the bathroom.

“Hey, wait, Lena, you didn’t wash your hands!” Noelle made a grab for her, but they were already halfway down the stairs.

“Remind me not to eat anything Lena offers,” Ray chuckled as he reached forward to flush the toilet.

Noelle watched him silently. Every line in his body expressed sheer exhaustion. “The woes of being an ER doctor?”

Ray glanced up at her. “No.” He shook his head. “Trust me, little sis, the long hours—that’s the easy part of the job.”

Noelle understood at once. Unfortunately, she’d seen that sadness in her brother’s eyes before. Ray had lost a patient that day. “Wanna talk about it?”

He smiled softly. “No, but thanks for asking.” He crowded beside her at the sink to wash his hands. “So, what did you give Mom and Dad for their anniversary?”

“What do I always give them?”

“Not another gift certificate for dinner. For someone who makes her living creating romance, you sure stink at romantic milestone gifts.”

“By the time I finish making romance for my clients, I have no inspiration left for myself,” Noelle joked but instantly regretted it when her brother’s eyes sharpened on her face.

“You know, I’ve often thought that about you.”

Noelle could see where the conversation was going. Another one of her sibling’s infamous and indiscreet inquiries into her nonexistent social life.

In an attempt to steer it away from that direction, she folded her arms across her chest and glared at her brother. “Okay, Mr. Romance, what did you get them?”

“An all-expense-paid weekend at a romantic spa retreat in the Poconos.”

“Uh-huh.” Noelle frowned in disbelief. “That had to be Ann’s idea.”

“So what?” Ray didn’t even bother to deny that his wife was the brains behind it. “I still get credit for it.”

“Cheater.”

“Sticks and stones, Cupid, sticks and stones. So how’s the matchmaking business?”

Noelle hesitated sharing her good news for only a moment. “Great, actually. I picked up a very influential client today. If I find him a match, Love Unlimited will finally get some big play in the press. It’ll be in the big leagues!”

“Really? Who?”

“Derrick Brandt.”

“The architect?”

“One and the same.”

“Wow—way to go, kid. That’s definitely a name.”

Despite his words, something about Ray’s tone said he was less than enthused.

“What?”

Ray scratched his chin. “Isn’t that guy kinda known for being, well…something of a jackass to his girlfriends?”

Noelle winced. “Not just to his girlfriends. What about it?”

“I was just thinking that if you do find a match for him, great. But what if you don’t? I mean, someone in his position could make a lot of trouble for you, make it sound like the fault was with Love Unlimited—not him. Know what I mean?”

“Yeah, unfortunately I do. I hadn’t really thought about what would happen if I can’t make a match for him. Not to sound arrogant—but I always make the match. The idea of failing never occurred to me. But I admit, after meeting this guy, I am a little worried. He’s a total jerk. He spent the whole interview ogling me.”

Ray’s eyes widened. “Really?”

Noelle’s thin brows crinkled in indignation. “No need to sound so shocked, Ray. Men do hit on me from time to time, you know.”

“That’s not what I meant. He just looks so GQish. And you…you know.”

Noelle found the remarks surprisingly insulting, which was amazing considering some of the insults she and her siblings had exchanged over the years. Instead of letting him off the hook, she kept her silence and waited, watching to see how he would dig his way out of the remark.

“You know! You’re…so…Goody Two-shoes.”

“Are you kidding me? Goody Two-shoes? Me?”

“Oh, yeah.”

Just then, Ann peeked her head around the door. “Ray, when did you arrive? The girls just came downstairs and said Auntie and Daddy were in the bathroom. That sounded kind of strange, so I thought I better check it out. What are you guys doing up here? You’re missing the party.”

Ray crossed the room to his wife without delay. “Hi, honey. How was your day?” He mimicked his wife’s high-pitched voice.

Ann smirked. “Hi, honey.” She stepped up on her tiptoes to kiss his cheek. “How was your day?”

Wrapping her in a tight embrace, he sighed into her hair. “Better, now that I’m with you.”

The sincerity in his voice melted Noelle’s heart, and she suddenly had the feeling of being an intruder. This is what it’s all about, Noelle thought. Ray and Ann, her parents—they were the couples that had inspired her to start Love Unlimited.

Despite the nickname of Cupid bestowed on her by her brother, Noelle had never believed that there was necessarily one soul mate for any one person. She thought it more likely that there were certain people who just fit together better than others. And that if given the proper tools and assistance, those people could find each other rather than spending their lives going from one bad fit to the next. Because when it was right, there was a kind of magic that happened. Like what she was witnessing now.

With their arms wrapped around each other, the couple turned to leave.

“Ray, what did you mean by that Goody Two-shoes remark?” Noelle hated to interrupt, given the day Ray had obviously had. She knew all he wanted was some time with his wife. But the comment was bugging her, and she couldn’t seem to let it go.

“Nothing—I meant nothing by it.” With his arm still around his wife’s small waist, Ray turned back to face his sister. “Noelle. You are a beautiful, intelligent, successful woman, and you deserve only the best. But if even half of what I’ve heard about that guy is true, he’s bad news. Just…keep it professional.”

As the couple neared the stairs, Noelle heard Ann ask Ray, “What guy?” Their voices faded down the stairs before Noelle heard his reply.

Noelle leaned against the shower door and considered her brother’s words. She couldn’t shake the feeling that, whether intentionally or not, Ray had expressed more than he’d meant to. In fact, he’d probably expressed the same feelings anyone would upon hearing that superfine Derrick Brandt had come on to her: amazement.

Noelle had no delusions about her physical appear once. She was of average looks, nothing stunning, but she’d certainly drawn the attention of more than one man in her lifetime. In fact, Noelle was certain that if she were a smaller, more demure woman, she would probably be considered extremely attractive. But she wasn’t a smaller, demure woman. Standing barefoot at almost five-ten, she felt like a giant. And not even an elegant giant, like the regal models the world admired. She was plump.

Of course, the people who loved her called her big boned, but Noelle knew the difference. Her bones were not the problem. It was the meat on the bones, and there was more of it than she’d like. The result of a lifelong sweet tooth and overindulgent parents.

Noelle, and her siblings, Kimber and Ray, had each inherited their father’s build. Of course, on Ray it was considered an attractive feature. What woman didn’t love a big, strapping man to wrap her arms around? Ann certainly seemed to appreciate his height and girth. And even Kimber, although tall, had done a better job of resisting the after-dinner desserts of their childhood, and instead of being big boned, she’d turned out long and willowy. Men loved long, willowy women.

No, Noelle knew she was the only one of her siblings for whom the inheritance of their father’s genetics had not been a plus. At home, it had not in any way been a hindrance. She’d grown up in a house full of love and had never been given the feeling of being anything less than fantastic.

Gilbert and Claudia Brown had managed to do what all the daytime talk shows thought impossible. They’d managed to raise three emotionally stable, financially successful, well-balanced human beings. And after spending the first five years of her professional adult life as a licensed marriage counselor, Noelle had developed a greater appreciation of the uniqueness of her family.

That deeply rooted love, that feeling of complete acceptance, was what had made it so easy for her to give up her career as a counselor and open Love Unlimited.

Although stunned at first by such a drastic move, it hadn’t taken her family long to get behind the idea, and now she had their full support. And that of her happily matched clients.

As Noelle started down the stairs, she considered her brother’s words once more, and was certain of his meaning. Although he meant no harm, Ray was right. If handled properly, Derrick Brandt could be very good for business. But if not…

Noelle didn’t want to dwell on that too long. She had already discovered three women in her database that just might fit the profile for Mr. Brandt. Once she started sending him on dates, he would forget all about his momentary interest in her.

What happened in her office today was just the knee-jerk reaction of a man accustomed to chasing anything in a skirt. Noelle had seen the kinds of women Derrick Brandt chose to date in scores of pictures she pulled off the Internet while preparing for their interview.

But she knew Derrick Brandt’s type, and she definitely was not it.

As much of a brute as he was, he was just so sexy. A real walk-through-fire-for-his-woman type of man.

Chapter 4

Noelle Brown was exactly his type. Derrick couldn’t seem to stop thinking about the woman. Even as he sat at the head of the long conference table, only partially listening to the conversations going on around him.

At the last minute, he’d discovered a glitch in the plan for the Marquardt Building. The engineering firm wanted their building to be the preeminent example of new-age design. They wanted their building to say something. A symbol of stability to their clients and an intimidating foe to their competitors. The board of directors for Marquardt had a bold and daring vision for their new building.

Unfortunately, their vision did not include the ten emergency exits that were required by state code. And now, Derrick and his team of thirty had to find a way to include the necessary exits without diminishing the overall appeal of the building. This was a potentially disastrous development in this crucially important project, and yet…Derrick couldn’t care less.

All he wanted to do was go back to his office and call Love Unlimited. He just wanted to hear her voice. He knew he had a valid excuse. He could say he was calling for an update. It had been a full week since he’d interviewed with Noelle Brown, and she hadn’t so much as dropped him an e-mail regarding the status of his case. For the first two days, Derrick had been in a panic, taking her complete silence as a bad sign. He’d wondered if she’d reconsidered taking him on as a client after he’d left the office and had decided against finding the match. After the third day, his nerves had settled. That was when his accountant had informed him that the check he’d written as a deposit for her services had cleared the bank. So now, regrets or no, Noelle Brown was stuck with him.

He wondered what she was wearing at that very moment. Maybe another one of those form-fitting silk blouses that gave a little but not too much. He closed his eyes and tried to once again conjure the smell of her unusual perfume.

“What do you think, Derrick?” He recognized the voice of Tom, one of his chief engineers. The thin white man was standing beside Derrick’s chair.

What the hell am I doing? She’s a married woman. Derrick blinked and quickly replayed the last thing he’d heard. When he told Noelle Brown that he did not share his women, he meant it. No matter how desirable that woman was.

“Derrick?”

“Yeah, it might work. But the fire-resistant standard metal doors that we use for emergency exits won’t fit that scheme,” he answered smoothly.

“What if we paint them?” one of his interns nervously offered from the other end of the table.

“Paint them?” Tom whined. “What the hell difference would that make?”

Derrick stood and touched Tom on the shoulder to still the tongue-lashing he knew was about to be unleashed on the poor, unsuspecting man.

“That’s one suggestion. What’s your name again?” Derrick asked. There were always so many of them coming and going, it was hard to keep track.

The young man’s eyes widened when he realized who was addressing him. “K-K-Kenneth Pike, sir.”

Derrick smiled. “Can I call you Kenny?”

Kenny grinned widely. “Yes, sir.”

“Derrick,” Tom interrupted, “painting the damn doors is not going to—”

Derrick put up his hand to silence Tom. “Kenny, Tom here is opposed to your idea of painting the doors to create an illusion of continuity. On the surface, it sounds feasible, but there is a slight flaw in your suggestion. Can you think of what it might be?”

Everyone waited, allowing Kenny time to discover his own mistake. Several of the architects there had run this gauntlet before. Having their brain pitted against the brain of the master. None revealed the answer, for they knew if Kenny discovered it for himself he would be the better for it. The next time such a discussion occurred, he would think the problem through, instead of just blurting out his first thought.