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these last several months. If Justin lost the
deal, his expansion plans for the CycleMania chain of bike
stores—an additional source of revenue for the agency—would be
postponed. He’d said so during one of their many conversations
leading to the development of the preliminary advertising plan. He
needed the deal with Willoughby Bikes to make his expansion fly,
and she needed him to get it.
    “Something personal?” She shook her head. “I
don’t understand.”
    His gaze drifted over her. Abruptly, his
finger stopped tapping. “You will. You see, I need your help.”
    “Not an issue,” she said without missing a
beat. “What can I do?”
    “Come with me to Whistler.”
    Her pulse fluttered. “What?” She put down her
romaine-laden fork.
    Justin regarded her with his deep-set,
thickly lashed eyes. “Nathan Willoughby wants to spend a few days
in Whistler and Vancouver checking out my stores and the mountain
biking trails in the area before we sign the deal. Right now he’s
in California with his wife, doing the same with the new U.S.
distributor. He arrives in Vancouver tomorrow.”
    “With his wife?”
    “Kathryn. Yes.”
    Oookay . Magee rubbed her neck. She must be suffering
from an anchovy-induced stupor, because she still couldn’t make the
connection. “And you need me…why?”
    “It’s a couples thing. You know, relaxation
before business. At any rate, Tina, my girlfriend—” Jus-tin
practically ground out the word “—let me know an hour ago that
she’s not coming.”
    “Oh.” Magee gazed at him. “Is she sick?”
    “No. She dumped me.”
    “D-dumped you?” In Magee’s world, that meant
he didn’t have a girlfriend.
    “Yes,” he said without cracking a smile. “And
that presents me with a problem. I can’t go to Whistler alone. I
need you to come with me, as a replacement, of sorts, for
Tina.”
    Magee blinked instead of insulting her client
by bursting out laughing. The man’s girlfriend had cut him loose an hour ago and he was already cruising for a replacement to accommodate a
deal?
    Her opinion of Justin Kane slipped several
notches.
    “It’s business, you understand,” he
continued. “Willoughby Bikes is grounded in the long-standing
English traditions of loyalty, family honor, and trust. Stability
in business and relationships is important to both Nathan
Willoughby and his father. That’s why the company invested so many
years building a reputation overseas before entering the North
American market. That’s also why I can’t tell Na-than that Tina
turfed me.”
    “Because then he wouldn’t find you
desirable?” Magee asked before she could stop herself.
    “In a way. If my personal life isn’t under
control, how can Nathan believe that my business is?”
    A male perspective, if she’d ever heard one.
And she’d heard enough in her twenty-nine years to last her ninety,
thank you very much.
    She swigged her ice water. “So what you’re
saying is that by telling him you could risk the deal.”
    “Precisely.” He had the audacity to smile.
“I’m glad you understand.” He finished his minestrone.
    “To be honest, I don’t.” She swept the
crouton off her lap and ground it into the floor with her shoe.
Other than for the stated business complications, didn’t Justin
care that his girlfriend had bro-ken up with him? If so, he hid it
well. “I don’t understand why you need me. Can’t you ask a female
friend?”
    “You seem upset. Why?”
    “Because. I don’t like the sound of
this.”
    “You don’t have to like it. You just have to
help me.”
    “Again, why me?”
    He stared at her. “I can’t take any woman
along. I need someone who mountain bikes.”
    Magee’s stomach flip-flopped. She couldn’t
mountain bike to save her life. Thinking about the sport terrified
her.
    There it was, her secret exposed…if she chose
to expose it.
    But she couldn’t tell Justin the truth now . If she
did, he might terminate his contract with her father’s