Sweet Fortune

deliberate air. “Definitely a nice touch. And you're absolutely right. No one else is very likely to give me balloons for my birthday. Or flowers.” He touched one of the petals. “Thank you, ladies. Now, what was this about lunch?”
    “Pizza or hamburgers. Your choice.” Jessie perched on the edge of the desk. “Elizabeth and I are treating.”
    Vincent frowned down at his desk calendar. “Better let me check my schedule. I thought I had something on for today.”
    Elizabeth grinned hugely. “Jessie made Grace keep your calendar clear for today, Dad.”
    “Is that right? A conspiracy again, eh?” Vincent raised his brows at Jessie.
    “Whatever works,” Jessie murmured, fingering one of the petals of a brilliant red lily.
    “What the hell, it's my birthday.” Vincent turned back to Elizabeth. “Pizza or hamburgers, huh? That's a tough choice. I think I'll go with the pizza.”
    Jessie relaxed. The battle was over. It had not been too bad this year. There had been far worse battles in the past. Maybe her father was finally mellowing. She looked at her sister. “Pizza it is. Witness a true executive decision, kid. Dad is definitely a man of action.”
    “Damn right,” Vincent agreed as Elizabeth giggled again.
    Jessie hopped off the desk. “Let's get going. We want to beat the crowd to the pizza parlor. It gets real cutthroat in there at lunchtime.”
    The office door swung open before Vincent could get to his feet. Everyone automatically turned around to gaze at the man filling the open doorway.
    “Somebody die?” Hatch asked, his gaze resting on the bright bouquet of flowers.
    “Not yet.” Vincent stood up and reached for his jacket. “Just another birthday. My daughters are taking me out to lunch. Seems my calendar has been mysteriously cleared for an hour or so this afternoon.”
    “You can come with us, if you want,” Elizabeth told Hatch shyly.
    Jessie smiled loftily. “I'm sure Hatch is much too busy to join us. I'll bet he's got all sorts of megabuck deals that need his personal attention this afternoon. Isn't that right, Hatch?”
    Hatch regarded her meditatively, idly tapping the folder in his hand against the door frame. “I think I could manage to get away for an hour or so. Unless Vincent would rather hog all the female company for himself?” He glanced at the older man.
    “Hell, no. There's two of 'em. Enough to go around. You're welcome to join us. Jessie and Elizabeth are buying.”
    “In that case, how can I refuse?”
    “It's pizza,” Jessie warned quickly, her heart sinking. She could almost see the computer that served as Hatch's brain as it quickly reprioritized his afternoon. First things first. And item number one on his agenda was the courtship of Jessie Benedict, even if that meant taking an hour out of his precious schedule to eat pizza.
    “I'll try very hard not to get any tomato sauce on my tie,” Hatch said seriously.
    Jessie narrowed her eyes and decided he was not joking.
    “Jessie's going to tell us all about her new case,” Elizabeth announced. “She's going to start work on it right away while Mrs. Valentine is in the hospital.”
    “Is that right?” Hatch cocked a faintly mocking brow. “Going to help some little old lady talk to the shade of the dear departed, are we? Or maybe banish a few evil spirits from a haunted health club?”
    “No,” said Jessie, stung by the cool sarcasm. “As a matter of fact, I'm going to help rescue a young girl who's been kidnapped by a bizarre cult.”
    That wiped the condescension off Hatch's face. “The hell you are!”
    * * *
    His first, albeit vain hope was that she had been teasing him again, deliberately baiting him the way she so often did. If that was the case, he was reluctantly willing to admit that this time she had managed to draw a reaction.
    But as Hatch sat next to Elizabeth in the pizza-parlor booth and listened to Jessie talk about her new “case,” he realized this was no joke. He glanced at Vincent, silently willing the older man to put his foot down. Unfortunately, although Benedict looked singularly annoyed, it was obvious he was unable to think of any barriers to put in Jessie's path other than overwhelming disapproval. Disapproval was not doing the trick.
    Hatch glanced surreptitiously around. He felt out of place sitting in the garishly decorated pizza parlor. True, his and Benedict's were not the only two business suits in the restaurant, but they were definitely the two most