It had been two weeks since the funeral. Two weeks and four days since she had gotten a phone call that made her sit down hard on the arm of the nearest chair. Three weeks, two and a half days since they had gotten back to Detroit from Savannah and waved Abbie away to his home in New York. And three weeks, five days, and a few hours since Abbot had confessed his love for her. Lily closed and opened her eyes slowly. Her heart still smarted when she thought of him.

"Miss Evans? You can go into the office now."

She stretched and rose to her feet, nodding her head briefly before putting a hand up to rest delicately against her forehead. She wasn't sure in the headache pounding through what seemed to be her whole body was the result of the strange, sudden migraines she'd been having recently or the fact that she'd spent the night before polishing off a bottle each of claret and brandy.

Lily straightened her unusually rumpled skirt, wondering if she had really been that mindless today. Of course, she had woken up with nothing but the murky thought that if she could just mire through the thick pain of this headache she'd consider the day a success. Now was her last task of the day, and she was gathering every ounce of concentration and patience she had to complete it. She stepped into the office of Kates Macleod, giving a brief nod to the blurred figure behind the desk before busying herself with digging something out of a briefcase.

"Um...good afternoon."

"Afternoon. Mind if I take a seat? It's been kind of a long day."

"Um, sure, I guess. What--"

Lily sat down quickly, pulling out a crisp black ledger and a folder full to bursting with neat piles of paper. She began carefully picking out sheets from the folder--forms, maps, spreadsheets--talking all the while in the most businesslike manner she could manage.

"You've already been briefed on the outline of the plan, but I've come here to work out some of the particulars. That last batch of furs sold like hotcakes to a few fashion houses, and I've already arranged for the finished pieces to be sold back to Rossi and Co. Clothing Distributors, labeled as 'raccoon fur'. Of course, the distance to and from Savannah--and the...problems we encountered on the way make this too risky an operation to repeat the journey on a regular basis."

She unfolded a small, simple map of the United States for quick reference, pointing carefully to the dots on the map that denominated the cities she spoke of.

"I've been trying to arrange for the goods to be shipped to Boston instead for a much shorter trip, but it looks like the furthest north the providers are willing to go is Beaufort, North Carolina. Our job is to...um, is to...you...you, um...you are not Kates Macleod."

She had finally looked up and gotten a good look at the person behind the desk, and it would appear to be a slightly puzzled young man. He laughed suddenly as she recognized her mistake and flushed. Lily's eyes flitted about the room. This wasn't even the right office. She leaped to her feet with a small squeak of attrition, quickly gathering her papers and sliding them carefully back into the folder.

Jack had been quite surprised at the red haired beauty who strode purposefully into his office and sat down with little more than a glance at him. The colour of her hair had been what he noticed first and he was filed with a familiar regret when he realised it wasn't his aunt Naomi. As he shook off the cobwebs of remorse he picked up halfway through the woman's explanation about furs. He smiled congenially, steepling his fingers, waiting for the woman to finish. She caught herself mid sentence, a look of confusion, then annoyance on her face.

"You are not Kates Macleod."

Jack laughed and stood up, reaching to touch the woman's arm.

"Lily. Lily Evans right? You work for my Gra- Uh, for Marietta Rossi? It's a pleasure to meet you Miss Evans. I'm Jack MacLeod, Kates' son."

Lily stopped in her tracks as she felt his hand on her arm. She looked into his face with wide eyes for a moment before breaking into a sheepish grin and shaking her head. She straightened her back, rolling her shoulders back into a perfect posture as she tucked a strand of her slightly tangled hair behind her ear.

"Oh, um, yes. I'm Lily...and yes, I work with Miss Rossi. Pleasure to meet you, Jack. I've heard some about you."

As she held out her hand to shake his, Lily studied his face. The grey pictures in Marietta's office really hadn't done any kind of justice to the jovial shine in his green eyes or the luster of his hair. She felt that her cheeks were hotter than before, even though she didn't feel quite as embarrassed. As he shook her hand, she cleared her throat to combat the vaguely familiar and uncomfortable fluttering in her stomach.

"Now, I'm afraid that my business is with your mother. She'd be in her office now, right?"

Jack smiled widely. Lily's hand was warm and smooth, her grip firm and sure. He had heard so much about her from his mother and other associates but there was no way their words had captured even a small percentage of her beauty and charm. Jack had to admit, he was a tad flummoxed. He wanted an excuse to keep her in his office a bit longer but knew his mother had been waiting for this report. Finally he stepped out from behind his desk.

"Yes, she's in there now. Why don't I walk you there and make sure you open the right door?" He smiled again, hoping his tone was a gentle tease and not condescending. After opening the door for her, he waked with her down the hall, stealing glances at her, admiring how she walked, and taking in the scent of her lilac perfume.

"Here we are Miss Evans. Feel free to drop back by my office before you leave." He gave Kates a small wave and gestured Lily inside, trying not to meet the knowing eyes of his mother.

Lily gave a soft, somewhat awkward laugh. She rested a palm briefly against her warm cheek before gathering her things and following Jack down the hallway. She noticed from the corner of her eye that he kept sneaking his eyes subtly over to her. She suddenly wondered why she was watching him from the corner of her eyes in the first place. Giving a silent snort, Lily focused her attention on the door they were standing in front of. There. Kates Macleod, right on the brass plaque. Two doors down from Jack's. And across the hall. Strange she had mixed up the offices. Before she could even raise her hand to knock, he had opened it for her and was smiling genially into her face.

"Here we are, Miss Evans. Feel free to drop back by my office before you leave."

She nodded and returned his smile, then suddenly touched his arm as he turned to go.

"Lily. Please--you can call me Lily."

Even as she spoke, Lily wondered what she was saying and why. He smiled and tipped an invisible hat to her before sliding out of her view, presumably back to his office. She breathed an incredulous laugh before entering the room. As she closed the door behind her, Lily noticed the slight smirk on the older woman's face.

"Hello, Lily."

Lily grinned sheepishly, listening to the door click closed behind her.

"Hello, Miss Macleod. I...seem to have gotten lost in my own thoughts and went into the wrong office." She paused for a moment before stepping forward and beginning to unload the folders and papers once more. She felt somewhat flustered still and accidentally let a map slide to the floor. She shook her head with a laugh and bent over to pick it up. As she straightened, she saw Kates' eyes twitching away from the front of her dress. Their eyes met awkwardly. Lily coughed and broke eye contact to pull out a sheaf of notes.

"So, yes, I've come to talk to you about the fur and feathers deal we've ventured into." She took a deep breath and continued in her short spiel about the situation. "So, what we need to do is to find some way to either efficiently travel back and forth from Beaufort, find a reliable but cheap liaison up to Boston where we can then take a day's trip back and forth...or find a way to convince them that traveling to Boston would be worth the trip."

Jack bounced on the soles of his feet, hoping that Miss Evans' wouldn't be too much longer. Every time he heard a door shut, he'd find himself looking up, wanting to see the red head smile at him. Finally he heard his mother's voice as the door to her office opened. He took his hands out of his pockets and smoothed them down his sides, trying to remain nonchalant. Lily appeared on the stairwell and Jack mentally rehearsed what he wanted to say.

"Lily, can I ride you home?" The words had flown from his mouth before he could choke them back and now he was almost too flustered to recover.

"I mean, I meant to say, that is, uh. Can I GIVE you a ride home?" The burning in his face was made worse when Lily finally recovered enough to giggle at him.

Kates listened to the jilted conversation from the hallway outside her office door and couldn't help but smile. Composing herself, she raised her voice so they could hear it outside.

"Oh, Lilly? Could you come back in for a moment? There was one last matter I wanted to clear up with you, that might be able to finish off this whole issue."

The affronted look on Lily's face melted away into a half-smothered smile as he retroactively completed his sentence.

"Well, if it's not out of your way, I suppose--"

She turned suddenly at Kates' voice. She glanced back to Jack with an ingratiating "one moment" gesture before stepping back into the office.

"Yes, Miss Macleod?"

Kates covertly let her eyes run over the younger woman and again swallowed the fire that rises in an aging beauty when she's presented with the beauty of youth.

There is one possibility I'd forgot to mentioned- only because it's just been brought to my attention within the last 48 hours. There's a fellow named John Kelly who runs a trucking operation near Boston Harbor who might be the solution to all our troubles. He's a freelancer, worked for a lot of different families when there's money to be made. If we send the right people and provide him the right... financial motivation, I'm sure he'll play ball and provide the trucks... and the union. I'd like you to go to Boston and try to work out a deal with this, as I have other business that has unfortunately monopolized my time. I simply can't away for anything other than an emergency. I can, however, provide you some assistance.

Glances up as her bodyguard, who she'd sent out before she began speaking to Lily, as he returns with Jack following behind him.

Jack, you'll be accompanying Ms. Evans to Boston. You're doing an excellent job as RHM, but you've never seen a deal like this go down. Ms. Evans should be able to provide quite the thorough education in these matters. If you need me for whatever reason, just call and I can be there on a private flight. But I don't expect this to be anything you can't handle.

Looks innocently at the two young people, who seem rather speechless.

Sound good to you, Lily?

"I...um...it sounds...well..."

Lily darted her eyes over to Jack, inadvertently meeting his gaze. She already felt inexplicably anxious around him. She could only imagine what a few days in a car with him would do. And spending time with him in a strange city? Well, maybe she'd get used to him at some point. Lily flushed slightly and looked back to Kates, trying to smooth over her slightly flustered appearance.

"I...I think that would be a good idea. Great idea. The man's name is Jack--um, John Kelly, right?"

She fumbled for a pen and scrap of paper, quickly scribbling the name and some information about him down as Kates provided it. After Kates stepped back into her office, Lily slipped the piece of paper into a folder. She glanced up and her eyes met once more with Jack's. She smiled to him and took a deep breath.

"Well, Jack, if that offer for a ride still stands, I'd be happy to plan the trip out a bit on the way."

Jack nodded, barely able to absorb what had just happened. He had inadvertently insulted the most beautiful woman he had ever met, and been assigned to go with her on a business trip he knew nothing about.

"When do we leave?"

Lily smiled and began to lead the way out of the building. As she began to speak, she felt herself falling into her business-oriented element once more: her heels clicked confidently against the polished floor and she felt her back straightening once more into the perfect posture that was second nature to her.

"Well, I was thinking some time this coming week. We'll probably drive--I've never much liked planes, to be perfectly honest, and trains are...well, dirty. There's something cozy yet thrilling about a car, though."

She glanced over to him as they approached the door. Once he scrambled to open it for her, she smiled and stepped through with a brief "Thank you" before continuing.

"Where's your car parked, anyway?"

"cozy yet thrilling?" Jack whispered to himself. Well that was a new take on the automobile. He motioned to the street where he had double parked, blocking a patrol car in. The furious look on the patrol man's face was more than enough to make up for the ticket he knew he wouldn't have to pay. At Lily's amused expression Jack plucked the ticket from his windshield and crumpled it, tossing the paper ball at the scowling officer.

"His car was parked here early this morning when I pulled up. But this is actually all our property, even the street lamps. Anyhow, I figured he was here seeing a mistress and she wouldn't mind a few extra hours with him." He winked at the officer as he pulled open the passenger door and gestured to Lily.

"After you miss."

On the drive to Lily's apartment they kept the banter light, Jack trying to learn as much as he could without sounding like he was prying. He almost regretted seeing the large brick building he was supposed to drop Lily in front of.

"Listen," he said as he opened her door and took her hand. "We obviously need to plan this trip to the nines. Can I pick you up for dinner later this evening? We can go wherever you want, but I know a few places we can talk and not worry about who's listening in."

Lily's usual, casually aristocratic poise had built quickly during the car ride--and melted almost immediately once he took her hand. She blushed in consternation tinged with a bit of anger at her inability to keep her composure. As he helped her out of the car, Lily cleared her throat and smiled warmly to him, listening to his request.

"Dinner? Well, um, sure. I'll be available around eight if that's fine with you."

Jack gave her a broad grin and assented. As she stepped up the walkway to her townhouse, she heard him crank his car into life once more. Lily turned and gave him a wave as he drove away. Once he was out of sight, she turned back to her house. As she fumbled for her keys in a familiar way, she felt her heartbeat slow down to its usual dragging pace and the predictable dark, welling emotion accompanying it. As she pushed her door open, she gave a soft sigh and hoped that they would get a lot done over dinner.

Jack drove as quickly as he could back to the Renaissance HQ and finished some paperwork, signing his name to a few checks and riffling through the slush fund for a couple of hundreds.

"Pay it back when you get home!" Kates called out to as Jack stepped past her door. He gave her a nod and grabbed the folder her secretary had prepared for him. After the short drive to his apartment he took a cat nap and flipped through the sheaf of papers. It was all business that could wait. He brewed a pot of coffee and took a shower, taking extra care to shave close and put on his finest suit. After three cups of coffee he didn't know if it was the caffeine or the thought of an evening with the beautiful Miss Evans.

"It's just business Jack, it's only business." He found himself chanting that as he drove back to Lily's apartment. What he saw waiting on the steps not only took his breath away, it also took his ability to sound intelligent. All of his careful rehearsed greetings flew from his mind and he was only left with one though.

"Hot diggity!"

Jack's exclamation took Lily aback for a moment. Then she laughed and glanced down demurely.

"I'll take that as a compliment, I suppose."

She hadn't been sure just what to wear to this dinner. If she was overdressed or underdressed, she'd stick out like a sore thumb--not very good for discussing discreet business. Not to mention the fact that she wanted to look nice for a dinner with so handsome a man, but not TOO nice since it was really just a business meeting. So she racked her wardrobe for a nice median. After a half-hour of searching, she found it in a deep crimson dress that hit a few inches below her knees--perfect with her black mink-lined coat. And now she was standing on her small porch, holding her hat and scarf in gloved hands and being brazenly admired by this young man standing at the foot of her steps. She stroked her updo briefly before walking down the steps. Jack scrambled suddenly to place his hand at her elbow in a gentlemanly way, helping her down, and kept it there as the two walked along the sidewalk and to the car. After he opened the car door, she paused and smiled to him.

"What restaurant are we going to, anyway?"