Prologue
Yank Morgan leaned back in his favorite chair and puffed
on a Montecristo cigar. Damn, life was good. As good as it
could be with his three nieces sick with colds and too
quiet for his peace of mind. He’d been caring for them
since their parents died in a plane crash a little over a
year ago and he’d done his best to maintain normalcy for
them and for himself. Hence his weekly poker night with
the guys.
"Hey, Morgan. You folding or what?" Curly asked.
"Depends on your hand."
Curly glanced at his cards and rubbed his hand over his
bald head, a sure sign the man’s hand sucked. "What the
hell. I’m in."
"Me too." Spencer Atkins, Yank’s friend and business
rival, tossed his bet onto the pile of chips in the center
of the table and pulled on a long drag of his cigar.
"Better not inhale," a small female voice warned.
Yank frowned and turned to the doorway. His middle
niece, Sophie stood in her flannel nightgown and glared,
arms folded across her chest.
"You’re supposed to be resting," Yank said.
She shrugged. "My nose is stuffed. I want Lola," she
said, speaking of his assistant and one time lover, not
that any of the girls knew that last part. Lola was the
only female influence the girls had.
Yank didn’t discourage their relationship. But the woman
complicated his life to no end and reminded him of their
once hot affair. He had his hands full with three little
women. He didn’t need a fourth female makin’ demands on
his time and forcing him to give up the important things.
Things like cigars and poker.
"Can I call her, Uncle Yank? Please?" Sophie asked.
"Yeah can she call her?" Spencer asked, laughing. "As if
you’d say no. It’s no hardship having that beautiful woman
around twentyfour - seven, is it, Morgan?"
Yank scowled. "Take some aspirin instead."
"Aspirin’s no good for children. There’s a new study
out that shows it can cause something called Rheyes
syndrome. Lola would know that," Sophie said in an
accusing tone.
He groaned. "You wanna call her, call her. Just make
sure she knows I’m tied up with the boys."
Sophie rolled her eyes. "She knows. Everyone knows
Tuesday night’s poker night." Sophie ran over and kissed
his cheek. "Thanks, Uncle Yank. I promise not to bother
you again."
He hugged the little girl tight. "You never bother me."
She clasped her hands behind her back. "You mean that?"
she asked in a serious voice, one too old for her eleven
years.
Losing parents did that to kids, Yank had learned.
Annabelle, the oldest, had taken over the motherly role
whenever Lola wasn’t around, bossing her sisters and making
sure everyone behaved. Micki, the youngest, tagged along
with him everywhere he went, never giving him time or space
to breath, obviously afraid if she did, he’d run away and
never return. And Sophie lost herself in books as if she
could escape into another world. But she also used the
knowledge she learned to try and control everyone and
everything around her.
Yank figured she thought if she orchestrated life, she
wouldn’t lose people around her the way she lost her
parents.
When had he turned into a damn shrink, he
wondered. "Go," he said softly. "The sooner you call Lola,
the sooner you’ll get some sleep."
She nodded. "Okay." She ran out of the room and he
heard her chattering on the phone from the kitchen.
"Sorry," he muttered. "Let’s get back to business."
Spencer lifted his glass and took a sip of the
whiskey Yank kept in the bar. "Son of a bitch. I’m out."
With a scowl, he folded his hand. "I’ll just have a smoke
and watch Yank take the rest of you suckers for all you’re
worth."
A few hands later, Spencer reached toward his right
where he always kept his cigar and narrowed his
gaze. "Winning’s not enough for you, Morgan? You have to
stoop to stealing Stogies for fun?"
Yank tossed his cards onto the table. "I take
offense to the implication. I’m winnin’ fair and square.
I didn’t take your damn cigar. Maybe you’re getting old
and you forgot whether or not you lit one."
Curly rose to his feet. "Come on, boys. We don’t
need to fight amongst ourselves. Spence here can have my
cigar. If my wife smells it on me she’ll douse me with
kerosene and light a match." He glanced down. "Hey wait a
second …"
Yank winced. "Yours is gone too?" he asked, a
sneaking suspicion dawning.
The other man nodded.
"Mel?" Yank turned to the fourth man.
"Mine’s gone too."
Yank groaned. "Sophia Francesca Jordan!" he
bellowed. "Get in here now."
"You don’t have to yell, Uncle Yank. I’m right
here." Sophie’s voice sounded from beneath the card table.
The little sneak. How had she gotten underneath there
so quickly, he wondered.
She tried to stand too soon and bumped her
head. "Ouch!" Finally she stood in front of him, guilt
written all over her little face. Her cheeks were pink and
her blue eyes too wide and innocent.
"Give the boys back their cigars," Yank demanded.
Her eyes filled with tears. "But …"
"Don’t tell me you didn’t take them. What else
would you be doing sneaking ‘round under there?"
She shook her head. "I wasn’t going to say that."
"What were you going to say?" Spencer asked in a
surprisingly kind voice considering he’d nearly strung Yank
up alive for stealing his cigar. Faced with the midget
culprit, his tone gentled as it always did around Sophie.
He had a soft spot for the middle kid.
Sophie clasped her hands behind her long flannel
nightgown. "The Surgeon General says smokings bad for your
health. It’ll turn your lungs black and clog your arties."
"Arteries, doofus," Annabelle said, walking in
from the doorway. "Sorry, Uncle Yank. I fell asleep and
forgot to watch her. It won’t happen again." She grabbed
her sister’s hand and pulled, trying to drag her from the
room.
"Stop," Sophie whined. "I’m right and they all
know it."
"It doesn’t matter. They’re guys and guys smoke."
Now the third Musketeer chimed in. Micki surprised them
all by walking in from the kitchen. In her hand, she held
the ash tray with all the men’s cigars.
"Hey, it took a long time for me to collect those
without them noticing," Sophie said.
"But they weren’t yours to take." Annabelle walked
around the room, handing each man a used cigar.
In all likelihood nobody got the right smoke and
Yank cringed. "I think it’s time to call it a night."
"If Lola had come, none of this would have
happened," Annabelle said. "She’d have kept Sophie busy in
the kitchen.
"If Lola had come, she’d be sprayin’ Lysol around
all our heads," Yank muttered.
"That’s not nice, Uncle Yack." Micki smacked him on the
shoulder with her little hand.
"See?" he said to his friends. "This is why I
won’t git married ever. I already got three little women
telling me what to do."
Curly shook his head. "Bad attitude. It’s more
like with three little girls. No woman in her right mind
would have you."
"Except Lola and Yank’s not bright enough to know a
good thing when he’s got one," Spencer said with a laugh.
"This from someone who’s already got one divorce
under his belt."
Sophie pulled the sleeve of Spencer’s
sweater. "Really? You were married? To who? When? How?"
"None of your business, little girl." He softened
his words by patting her on the head.
"Like that’ll satisfy her. Sophie needs to know
all details about all things."
"What’d she look like? Why’d she leave? Or did you
leave?"
Yank chuckled. At least she’d stopped harassing
them about the cigars. Though given Sophie’s inquisitive
nature and need to control everything and everyone around
her, he should probably lock up the Cubans. Heaven help
the man who had to deal with her when she grew up.
Chapter One
"According to a reliable source, top sports agent
Spencer Atkins, of the recently merged firm Athletes Only
and its subsidiary PR firm The Hot Zone, is gay." Sophie
Jordan read the line in the most prominent New York City
gossip column aloud and groaned.
How would the players Spencer represented react to the
news? How would Spencer handle being outed not of his own
free will? But most importantly, how in the world had this
secret come out now, well over a month after she and her
family had learned the news for the first time?
In the time since they’d learned the truth,
Spencer’s "outing" had been put aside in favor of more
pressing projects – the merger of Yank and Spencer’s sports
agencies and the all important spin, letting people know
that "we’re better and stronger than ever". Enough time
had passed that even Sophie who normally covered all bases,
however unlikely, had dismissed the possibility of the
story being leaked.
"Guess I thought wrong," she muttered. Sophie hated
being wrong. It meant she’d miscalculated and the feeling
sent her spiraling into an anxious frenzy, the only
solution to which was regaining her precious control.
Problem was, Sophie, who shined behind the scenes,
didn’t see any way to find her center. She couldn’t hide
behind books or To Do Lists now. She couldn’t even push
her sisters to the forefront of the storm and handle things
in the background. Chaos reigned and she was the only one
available to handle the media mess sure to follow.
Annabelle was home on maternity leave with her baby
girl, Sydney, and Micki was on her honeymoon with Damian
Fuller, her retired center fielder husband. Their
receptionist had called in sick, the temp agency still
hadn’t sent anyone over to cover and the phones were
ringing off the hook.
She glanced at the flashing switchboard behind the
reception desk and envisioned the many messages on
voicemail, the reporters asking for confirmation of the
story and the players they represented who were thrown into
panic because the status quo they understood had been
shattered. She didn’t want to believe they’d turn against
Spencer because of his sexual orientation. Her family felt
no differently about Spencer upon hearing the news. But
knowing human nature and athletes in particular, Sophie
expected a difficult transition period anyway.
Anxiety and upheaval were things Sophie understood all
too well. In the last few months, her life had drastically
changed by her sisters marriages, followed by Uncle Yank
and Lola’s reunion, leaving Sophie as the odd woman out.
Lola had taken over dealing with Uncle Yank’s macular
degeneration and post surgical physical therapy for his
broken hip.
Without someone else’s issues to focus on, Sophie had
been left at loose ends. Add to that the merger of Atkins
Associates and The Hot Zone, and life as she knew it had
been blown to bits. Normal was nowhere to be found.
So yes, she could relate to the players being in a panic
over the new status quo. They, like Sophie, would just
need to adapt to the notion of change.
As if willing it could make it so. She shook her
head. If adapting were simple, Sophie wouldn’t be feeling
so lost and out of control right now.
She glanced at her watch and realized it was already ten
A.M. Where in the world was the man of the day? Spencer
always arrived at the office punctually at nine. It was
one of the things she could count on in her suddenly crazy
world.
His prompt nature and conservative ways were a part of
what Sophie enjoyed about him. She could relate to his
methodical means of coping with life, which were much like
her own. From the time she’d moved in with Uncle Yank, she
and Spencer had had a father daughter type of connection.
He’d always given her the attention and respect that often
got lost within her own family, thanks to her being in the
middle of Annabelle, her oldest vibrant sister and Micki,
the youngest sibling who seemed to fit right into Uncle
Yank’s athletic life.
"Ms. Jordan?"
Sophie glanced up to see a woman standing before
her. She had to be in her early twenties and by her
tentative expression, definitely not wizened in the ways of
business.
"Yes, I’m Sophie. Please tell me you’re from the
Helping Hands Temp Agency?"
The brunette nodded. "My first day actually. I’m
Nicki Fielding."
"Nice to meet you." Sophie swallowed over her
disappointment in being right since she could use an
experienced receptionist. "As long as you can answer the
phones, say no comment until The Hot Zone is ready to issue
a statement, and take messages, you’ll do just fine."
"No computer work?" the girl asked.
"Not today, you won’t have time." Sophie lightly
prodded her towards the front desk where the telephone
still rang, the lines lighting up like fireflies and prayed
Raine would get over the flu soon.
"Okay, the main desk is covered," she said
aloud. "Now I can move on to the next order of business."
Spencer. Just where was he?
She dialed his home number, but his answering machine
picked up immediately. She tried his cell phone next but
it went right to voice mail. She pursed her lips. It
wasn’t like him not to check in if he was going to be
late. Had the media leak sent him temporarily underground?
She worried about how he’d handle the public and the
press and she was concerned about his mental state. After
all, he’d kept this secret for a lifetime. He’d always
been vague about his prior marriage. She remembered asking
him about it when she was a little girl. She’d never
received a straight reply and now Sophie understood why.
He must be in a panic now.
Sophie knew she had to find him and soon. In addition
to being someone she looked up to and respected, he was a
close friend of the family and had been for years, even
before the merger. He’d never let business rivalry affect
his friendship with Uncle Yank and he’d been there for Lola
when she thought things were over with Yank for good. It
was time the family returned the favor even if Sophie was
the only family member around to do just that.
She looked forward to the challenge and not just because
helping Spencer spin his life story to the press would give
Sophie something to think about besides being alone and
uncertain of what turn her life would take next. Although
she had to admit the diversion had merit.
No, Spencer Atkins was a good man with a good
heart. He’d weather this "coming out" with Sophie
representing the absent Hot Zone family members. He
deserved nothing less.