It suddenly struck him that he’d just discovered another major difference between himself and Nicole. She had a life. Friends. Interests. Passions.
All he had was his work.
“I thought about asking you to join me this morning,” Nicole confessed, her voice a bit tentative.
“Why didn’t you?” he asked, genuinely curious.
She shrugged. “Well, you were sleeping so peacefully. And, besides, I didn’t think you’d be interested.”
“Why?” he asked again.
“The church I usually attend is a tiny Baptist church a few miles out of Whitehaven. It’s very informal. Most of the members are farmers and laborers.”
“My grandfather was a farmer,” Andrew informed her. He didn’t bother to add that Andrew Colton Tyler, Sr., had been a very wealthy farmer from a long line of landowners. There’d been few common laborers in the Tyler line.
“And I would have enjoyed meeting your sister and your cousin,” he added.
“Amy’s sweet, but a compulsive tease. Nate’s very quiet and moody. Some days he can be charming, but other times he hardly speaks.”
“Which was he today?”
“Oh, he was the brooding genius today. Apparently he’s having trouble with a new computer program he’s working on. Something that simplifies surfing the Internet, I think he said. Anytime he has problems with his work, he gets crabby. Not enough to keep him from a free meal, of course,” she added with a laugh.
Andrew lifted an eyebrow. “Free?”
“Amy and I usually pay for lunch. Nate never has any money.”
Andrew noted that Nicole didn’t seem overly concerned about her cousin’s freeloading. Since she’d already mentioned that she partially supported her sister, he suspected that she was the one who’d picked up the full tab for lunch. And considering that she was currently unemployed, he figured her own finances had to be getting strained.
He was tempted to ask; after all, he had plenty. He would be happy to help her out. But something told him Nicole wouldn’t take the offer quite in the spirit he’d intend it. Pride was a tricky thing, and Nicole seemed to have her share of it. She’d never asked him for anything. She was obviously the self-sufficient, independent type.
While he admired her competence, he couldn’t help wishing there was something he could offer that would make her want to stay with him. It was the first time ever that he’d ever wanted a woman to want something from him.
He wondered if he could help her in a less obvious way. “Your cousin is good with computers?”
“Are you kidding? He’s a genius. There’s nothing he can’t do with one. He built his first computer when he was sixteen and he’s been doing amazing things with them ever since.”
Andrew couldn’t help smiling at the pride in her voice. “Why hasn’t an employer discovered his talent?”
She made a face. “He’s had a few offers—and accepted even fewer of them—but he’s really not the corporate type. To put it in kindergarten terms, he doesn’t work and play well with others, I’m afraid. I love him dearly, but he’s a bit...well, strange. Geniuses often are, you know.”
“So I’ve learned,” he said, his smile deepening. Andrew had worked with a few computer geniuses in the past few years. Some had said he had a gift for communicating with them. He’d always considered it just a part of his job.
To get what he wanted from them, he’d learned to deal with them. As simple as that.
“I’d like to meet your cousin. I’m always interested in new talent for my own company. And I’ve worked with a few designers that other people have considered too difficult.”
Nicole’s eyes lit up, making Andrew glad that he’d made the impulsive suggestion. “I’ll arrange an introduction,” she said immediately. “Next Thursday, if possible. He’s usually in a good mood on Thursdays.”
“Why Thursdays?”
She shrugged. “He just is. But never try to talk to him on a Tuesday. He’s impossible on Tuesdays.”
Andrew only nodded.
“I’ll call him tomorrow and talk to him about it. He’s fairly approachable on Mondays. Unless—” She suddenly paused and looked at Andrew suspiciously. “You really are interested in meeting him? You aren’t just doing this for me, are you?”
Andrew had always been lousy at lying. He’d never bothered to learn how to do it well, since his usually blunt candor had served him well enough in the past. “Yes, partially for you,” he admitted. “I won’t go so far as to hire him, even to please you, if he has nothing to offer. But if he does, then I’ll be the one who benefits from his talent.”