The next morning, Penelope was standing at the Bridgerton Foundation's Donor Appreciation Brunch with Eloise and Edwina Sharma discussing the agenda for the day when Anthony scurried (yes, scurried) into the room. His hair was damp and he was hurriedly tucking his black polo shirt into his jeans. She immediately felt a flash of heat at the sight of him and took a drink of her mimosa to cover her reaction.
He'd been sound asleep when she left his room earlier. She hadn't had the heart to wake him knowing that he'd rarely had a decent night's sleep since his wife passed away. But, she was coordinating the Foundation's conference and needed to be at the brunch bright and early. So, Pen slid out of his embrace, hastily dressed in her cocktail dress and heels from the party, and made a beeline for her room two floors up so that she could shower and change in time for the event.
As Anthony adjusted the cuffs on his khaki blazer, Benedict walked over to him and slapped him on the back, "Good of you to join us, brother. Did you get lost on the way down from your room?"
He whacked Ben on the back of the head teasingly in response, chuckled, and said, "No, I, ah, overslept this morning."
As Anthony said the word "overslept" he shot a subtle but heated glance toward Pen, causing her to take another drink of her mimosa to cover her flustered reaction.
"Getting too old to party so late, huh?" his brother-in-law Simon, who was standing nearby with Daphne, asked.
In response, Anthony gave Simon, one of his oldest friends, the middle finger. This scandalized his mother, Violet, who scolded them both with a stern, "Boys. Behave."
Chagrined, Anthony bowed his head toward his mom and then made his way over to their group, stopping briefly to pour himself a coffee at the sidebar first. When he reached them, he smiled, "Ladies. Good morning. What's on the agenda for today?"
Knowing that was her cue, Pen sat her mimosa down on a nearby windowsill and lifted her tablet. She adjusted her black-rimmed glasses and ran down the list of events and Anthony's responsibilities. After the donor brunch, he and Edwina were presenting a check to the hospital for the construction of the new Kathani Sharma Memorial Trauma Center. Then, later, he and his mother were facilitating a symposium on anaphylaxis awareness and preparedness in memory of his late father. Tonight, he'd be giving the closing keynote. Between those events, Pen penciled him in for a meet-and-greet with UNLV students interested in interning at Bridgerton-Hastings in the fall so that he could take some time to himself to recharge before his speech.
When she was done, she looked up from her tablet, but didn't say anything. She knew that Anthony was still processing his schedule.
A few seconds later, he joked. "That's it?"
She smiled. "I'm sure you can handle it."
He turned to El. "Is she working you this hard, too? Or does she save that only for me?"
Pen had to stop herself from snapping her head toward him at the double-entendre. Soon, she heard El respond, "Nope. My schedule is booked, too. So is Edwina's. She even put Greg and Hy to work in the on-site daycare today. No one is immune. Except Colin."
At that, Anthony looked directly at her. "Why Colin?"
"He left me a voicemail and said something came up and that he would need the day to handle an emergency with Marina. Annie is going to cover my duties so that I can take his meetings."
Anthony nodded curtly at her answer. They both knew what Colin's emergency was. "Thank you for covering for him at the last minute. I know you have a lot to do behind the scenes this weekend."
She blushed, but not because of the undercurrent of heat between them, but because he saw and appreciated her contributions to the Foundation's annual conference. "You're welcome. It's not so bad. I get to host writing workshops for local high school seniors and UNLV writing majors, so it's right in my wheelhouse. I don't have the Bridgerton name, but I am an investigative journalist, so…" Pen let the rest of the sentence fall off with a shrug.
"They are some lucky kids," he stated.
When El and Edwina chimed in with their agreement, Pen felt butterflies of happiness and couldn't wait to get started.