The Heir

by Joanne Rock

  Nicole had married him in front of a judge two days later, making one of Desmond’s biggest dreams come true. He’d been able to give Matthew his name and all the legal standing that brought with it right afterward, fulfilling a debt to his dead friend that had only added to the deepest sense of peace he’d ever known.

  Although not being able to see Matthew through the trees right now was unsettling that peace a little. Marcus Salazar was an excellent rider, and he’d formed a tie with Matthew over their mutual interest in horses, so Desmond had figured it was okay to let them ride together. But they’d been gone half an hour.

  “He’s fine. You should come join us by the pool.” Nicole’s voice beside him soothed his worry almost as much as the warm press of her body, her thin summer dress printed with pretty flowers making his hands itch to peel it off her.

  He’d never get used to the way she could ease him and stir him up at the same time. He hugged her closer, grateful for the feel of her curves and still not believing he got to call her his wife.

  “In a minute.” He kissed the top of her head while he kept his eyes trained on the trees. “How did you know what I was thinking?”

  She laughed, a light, musical sound that sent a little more of his worry packing. “You mean how do I know you’re the most adorable father of any fourteen-year-old ever? Only because I get to enjoy watching it every day we’re here. I never want this summer to end. Seeing Matthew happy has brought me so much joy.”

  “You think he’s okay?” Logic told Desmond he didn’t need to worry while his son was with Marcus. But figuring out how to parent with a kid half-grown wasn’t easy. Nicole, however, was a natural.

  He turned his attention to her, trusting her.

  “Remember his first two-hour interview when he met you?” she reminded him, threading her fingers through his as they walked toward the pool deck. “I’ll bet he has a lot of questions for Marcus, too.”

  “He’s an incredible kid.” Desmond stopped short before they reached the others, letting himself take in the sight of all his friends gathered in one place.

  Weston and his fiancée, April, were in the pool, Weston hanging off the side of her float while she sipped a margarita and fed him grapes. Gage was playing air guitar to the rock song that filtered through his outdoor speakers, while Elena, Astrid and Chiara danced in the grass.

  Miles and Jonah had just started a game of horseshoes. Devon Salazar and his wife, Regina, took over watching Jonah’s daughter. They were seated on either side of her baby blanket while Marcus’s wife, Lily, supervised from a chaise lounge. Lily was very pregnant and Regina only a little less so. The Salazar brothers seemed to have healed their old rift, their wives obviously fast friends.

  “He is an incredible kid,” Nicole mused from beside him. “And he’s got a fairly incredible life.”

  Desmond pulled her fully into the circle of his arms so he could see her lovely face. He leaned in to kiss her when she spoke again.

  “The only thing he’s missing is a sibling,” she said in his ear.

  A year ago the idea would have sent him running. Now? It felt so right he only wanted her all to himself to get started.

  “Be careful what you say to me in public, wife.” He couldn’t resist lifting her in his arms. “I might give you exactly what you ask for.”

  Her flushed face was the best possible answer. But he put her back on her feet before he forgot all about the barbecue.

  “Tonight,” he warned her, as he headed for the cooler. He’d need something cold to get through the next few hours.

  After that, he had every intention of making more of their dreams come true.

  * * *

  Dynasties: Mesa Falls

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  Joanne Rock

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  Scandalizing the CEO

  by Yvonne Lindsay

  One

  “This is where you’ll be working. Take a seat.”

  Begin with the end in mind, Tami told herself as she settled at the desk she’d just been shown to by the HR staffer who had greeted her on her arrival at Richmond Developments this morning. It was a policy that had led her to start many projects, not all of them successful, but she’d always maintained it was a good stepping-off point.

  Tami tugged at the unfamiliar skirt she was wearing. More into jeans or leggings and a T-shirt, herself, the suit she’d donned today screamed corporate chic at the same time as she’d screamed internally at the cost of it. Not because she couldn’t afford it, but because of the meals that amount of money could have provided at the shelter for displaced families that was run by the charity where she used to work. Her stomach clenched hard at the memory and the reason why she’d been forced to leave. The same reason she was here now.

  When her father had made his demands clear, her mom had smoothly stepped in and ensured she had the appropriate props for her new role. Clothes, shoes, makeup, manicure, hair—even a new smartphone. The list was endless. The end would justify the means, she reminded herself, and she could always return the Chanel suits to her mom to add to the collection for her next charity auction. The same could be said for the silk blouse she was wearing today, which was the same hue as Tami’s hazel eyes.

  The impeccably groomed HR staffer smiled but Tami noticed it didn’t so much as crinkle the skin at the corners of the woman’s cold blue eyes. Was everyone here like that? Remote and unfriendly? This job might be harder than she thought. Then another thought occurred to her. Was this woman the mole her father had within Richmond Developments? The one that had assured her of her own position here so she could spy on one of the joint CEOs? It wasn’t as if she could actually ask her, though, was it?

  “We try to run a paperless office in as far as it is possible here, so any note-taking will be on your issued device or your computer. You’ll be given your passwords by IT in the next half hour or so. Guard them carefully and share them with no one. Is that understood?”

  Tami felt the words like a punch to the gut. No one knew about the event that had driven her here—well, no one except her, her dad, the charity that was stripped of its bank-account contents and the pond-scum-sucking lowlife who’d stolen the funds. Okay, so some people knew. But with that very basic, common-sense admonition, Tami had again been reminded of exactly how stupid she’d been allowing her boyfriend to use her laptop. Ex-boyfriend, she corrected silently. She swallowed against the lump that had thickened her throat.

  “Don’t worry. I take security very seriously,” she answered. Now.

  She’d learned her lesson the hard way when her ex-boyfriend, Mark Pennington, who was the director of Our People, Our Homes, the charity they both worked for, had borrowed her laptop, accessed her banking code for duplicate authorization and then subsequently cleaned out the bank accounts. The bitter truth of his betrayal, the absolute abuse of her trust, still made her feel physically ill. And, while Tami was the kind of person who could forgive a lot, she’d never forgive Mark for stealing from those so much less fortunate, or for making her go to her father for help. She felt a personal responsibility to the charity and had offered to repay the missing two and a half million
from a trust fund her grandmother had established for her. The trouble was, her father was one of the trustees administering the fund and he’d made it clear to the other trustees that she was incapable of taking control of it as an adult—all because of a few rebellious choices when she was a teenager. But he’d agreed to distribute the necessary funds to her if she did what he asked and spied on his biggest rival.

  “Good,” Ms. HR continued. “Mr. Richmond will be here shortly. He mostly sees to his own needs in the office, but be ready to attend any meetings immediately. He’ll need you to take notes and load them to the cloud that you will share with him alone. Is that clear?”

  “As glass,” Tami answered, resisting the urge to add a salute and heel click at the same time.

  As if the woman could sense her irreverence, she gave Tami another cold, hard stare before nodding. “If you need me, you can reach me by telephone or email. My details are in the company directory in your computer.”

  “Thank you, I’m sure I’ll be fine.”

  The woman cocked a perfectly plucked and outlined eyebrow. “You’d need to be better than fine. Mr. Richmond delivers the best at all times and that’s exactly what he expects from his inner circle, too.”

  “Duly noted. Is that all?” Tami said as officiously as she could. No small feat for someone who’d rather be handing out meals to families or calming a confused child while her mom got some sleep on a cot nearby.

  “For now. Have a good day.”

  The moment she was alone, Tami sank down into the chair at her desk. At least it was comfortable, she noted as she gave it a spin.

  “‘Mr. Richmond delivers the best at all times and that’s exactly what he expects from his inner circle, too,’” she muttered as she looped around a second and a third time. “Well, how’s this for a circle?” She spun once more for the hell of it.

  There was a sound behind her and she rapidly put her expensively well-shod feet in their boringly practical pumps down to the carpeted floor, bringing herself to a halt as she turned back around. A man, in what was clearly a bespoke dark suit, stood in front of her. Impeccably dressed, from his perfectly shined shoes all the way up to his immaculately groomed hair. Even the light beard on his face had not a whisker out of place.

  “Ms. Wilson, I presume?” he said in a deep, well-modulated voice that turned her insides into molten honey.

  Wait, that wasn’t supposed to happen. She was off men for good, maybe even forever, wasn’t she? Especially after the last one. But, despite having been caught out, quite literally, fooling around on the job, and despite that weird reaction to the tone of his voice, Tami managed to gather her wits and stand up to greet him.

  “Yes,” she answered with the smile she’d been practicing in the mirror all weekend as she offered her hand. “Please, call me Tami. And you’re Mr. Richmond?”

  He looked at her with clear gray eyes that felt as though they were staring right through her. He hesitated a moment before taking her hand. The second he touched her, Tami felt a quiver of highly inappropriate interest ripple through her body. One that intensified into a distinct tingle that headed to her lady parts as his lips spread into a smile of welcome. He let go of her hand and Tami fought the urge to rub hers down over her thigh. That man needed to license that smile, she thought privately.

  “I’m Keaton. There are two Mr. Richmonds here in the office and we’re identical twins, so you’ll need to figure out how to tell us apart. You’ll be reporting to me, and only me. Is that understood?”

  She fought the urge to roll her eyes. What was it with everyone here with all the rules? It was going to make her job so much harder. These people needed to lighten up. Although, given the well-publicized drama when Keaton’s father suddenly died last Christmas and it was revealed that he had a whole secret life on the other side of the country, including another wife and kids, maybe she could understand their need to be sticklers for convention.

  “Ms. Wilson?” he prompted.

  “Oh, yes, sorry. Of course,” she said, feeling totally flustered at being caught not paying attention, again.

  Heat suffused her cheeks and she just knew her skin had gone all blotchy. Way to go on making a good first impression, she told herself.

  * * *

  Keaton watched as his new EA changed color. Judging by their interchange so far, he was beginning to wonder if he’d done the right thing in leaving the appointment solely to Monique in HR. Perhaps she hadn’t been quite as meticulous in her vetting procedures as usual. Or maybe it was merely an indication of the caliber of person now applying to work here at Richmond Developments, that Tami Wilson was the best of the bunch. Since the scandal involving his father’s second family and the damage the publicity had done to their family name, not to mention the company stock, morale had been low at the office. Several key staff had left, hence the recruitment of the woman standing in front of him doing her best impression of a beet.

  “Perhaps you could come in to my office and we can go over a few things together.”

  “Do you want me to make notes?” she asked.

  He watched as she caught her lower lip between her teeth. His gaze locked on to the lush fullness of that part of her and he was momentarily transfixed. Keaton gave himself a mental shake and dragged his eyes upward to hers. Hazel. He couldn’t remember the last time he’d met someone with precisely that shade of green-brown, nor with such thick dark lashes. Natural? he wondered. None of his business, he reminded himself firmly and gathered his thoughts to answer her question.

  “Unless you have a perfect memory, it would probably be a good idea. At least until we get a better grip of how we’re going to work together.”

  Or even if they were going to continue to work together, he realized. She was distracting. Far prettier than the male assistant he’d had previously, and wearing a suit and shoes that were definitely not straight off the rack. She was worse than distracting, to be honest. He did not need or want distraction. He and his siblings, Logan and Kristin, were fighting to keep Richmond Developments going, and with what he was about to tell Tami, he wondered if he shouldn’t just assign her elsewhere within the company because the idea of spending the next week alone with her sounded like his worst nightmare.

  He moved into his office and after a short while, Tami followed. He settled behind his desk and gestured to her to sit down in one of the chairs opposite him. She did so, unconsciously hitching up the hem of her skirt just a little. Try as he might, he couldn’t help but appreciate the shapely thigh, highlighted by the sheerest of black stockings, that she exposed with the action. She tapped a stylus against the phone device she’d brought in with her. Like her outfit, it was sleek and expensive-looking. Clearly, Ms. Wilson wasn’t short of a penny. He only hoped she worked as hard as she obviously shopped.

  But, it occurred to him, it also wasn’t the standard issue to Richmond Developments staff. Since pretty much everything in their offices was conducted electronically and maintained within a strictly operated company cloud, he could only assume she hadn’t been allocated her own device yet and that the phone was her own. He’d have to ensure that she understood that the moment she began to record company information electronically, it became the property of Richmond Developments. They couldn’t afford to have any of their property, intellectual or otherwise, inadvertently shared with the outside world. Their business rivals were circling like sharks, waiting for them to crumble in what was a difficult and highly competitive market.

  He decided to tackle the issue of the phone immediately, so he picked up his own tablet from the desk and logged in to a blank page. It wasn’t strictly protocol to share his device, but the document would upload to their shared cloud and she’d be able to access it from her computer and her own company-issued device once she had been given her passwords from IT.

  “Here, rather than clutter up your personal phone with company information,
use my device,” he said firmly, handing it over the desk toward her. “If you scribe in that window, it’ll convert your handwritten notes to text and we’ll both be able to access them after our discussion.”

  “Oh, okay, sure. My previous role was with a charity and we were a lot less strict on note-taking procedures.”

  She smiled as she said it, but he saw the question in her eyes. It surprised him.

  “We used to be less careful, but we recently decided to tighten everything up here. Anyway, tell me a little about yourself,” he began. “Exactly where were you working before you came here and what made you want to work for us?”

  “Oh, um... I was working for a charity that specifically assists displaced people. We not only provide kitchens and shelters, but also work toward placing our people in actual homes. It was challenging and rewarding work and I enjoyed it, but—” She swallowed and took in a deep breath. “It was time to change. As to working with Richmond Developments, it’s a well-established company with a strong reputation for integrity and an eye for detail. Who wouldn’t want to work with you? While my work with the charity allowed me a lot of diversity within my role, I see this as an opportunity to hone my talents in organization and project development, while bringing my personality and interpersonal skills to the table.”

  They were fine words, but Keaton couldn’t help feeling there was a lot there that she didn’t say. Like, if she enjoyed the charity work so much, why had she left?

  “And what do you do with your spare time?”

  She laughed then. A charming chuckle that sent a flurry of warmth spiraling through him. Keaton found himself involuntarily smiling in response.

  “Oh, spare time isn’t something I indulge in often. The work at the charity took up much of my spare time and I like to volunteer where I can, as well. Overall, I like to be useful and offering support to those in need is deeply fulfilling. But, during the evenings I’m not helping at the shelter, I find it relaxing to knit. Again for charitable causes like the homeless shelters and animal rescues.”