Page 49 of Winning Winnie’s Hand

Nothing he was willing to find out.

“Well,” he said, clapping his hands together once, “we’d love to stay and chat, but Char has her daughters to look after.”

“Yes, yes,” Char said with a wave of her hand. “Typical Matthew, always slaughtering the fun.”

“That is him, isn’t it?” Winnie gave him a look.

He took a step away, hoping to force his sister to leave, but she paused again. “Do you want to come sit with us?” she asked Winnie.

Good grief, she was trying to kill him, wasn’t she?

“Oh, thank you so much for the offer,” Winnie responded, “but I’ve got some things I need to do back at the estate. Plus, I think if I stayed with you a minute longer, Matthew might blow a gasket.”

The girls laughed, but Matthew was over it. He wrapped his hands gently but firmly around his sister’s upper arms and coaxed her back. “All right, come along, Char.”

His sister waved goodbye, taking a few steps back.

“It was so nice to meet you, Char,” Winnie said with a wave of her own. Then she looked to Matthew, her eyes taking on a different light. “And nice to see you again, Matthew.”

He grumbled a response, then turned his back on the woman, not bothering to read her expression.

“It’s official,” Char said as they walked away. “She’s my favorite.”

Matthew shook his head. “Fantastic. She pulled the wool over your eyes, too.”

“Yep. I’m fully convinced. You need to marry her.”

Matthew nearly choked on his own spit. “You’re insane, Char. I would never marry someone like her.”

“Exactly. Which is why you should. She’d keep you in your place.”

He shook his head, though he chose not to respond. He’d come out there that afternoon to play with his nieces, and that was exactly what he was going to do.

All he needed was for that American to leave so he could stop being distracted by her runner legs, smooth hair, bright eyes, and charming smile.

A smile that he knew existed only to sugarcoat what she was going to tell him tomorrow during their meeting. Because he had a feeling that meeting was going to be the worst he’d ever have in his life.

And that was all due to Winnie Knox being his…Ugh…Boss.

Winnie walked away from the park and the Wintours, smiling as she pulled up her phone to respond to her sister.

She stole a quick glance over her shoulder, watching Matthew kick the ball to his nieces. He stole a glance at Winnie over his shoulder, then hurriedly darted his eyes away.

Winnie hid her widening smile and faced forward.

Nothing would ever happen between her and Matthew. Not only would that be entirely unprofessional, but they were far too different to make anything work between them.

But now that she knew who Char was, Winnie could stop suppressing her thoughts.

Matthew Wintour, great with kids, a good sport with his sister, and able to pull off medieval hair and a modern man bun.

She pulled up her text thread with Sarah, smiling as she responded.

Winnie

Yep. He is absolutely hot.

Then she let out an airy sigh and walked through the rest of the park, feeling lighter than she had in days.