“What about kids?” Diana asked as though she were reading his mind. “What if you have kids? What traits would they have?”
Edward wondered if she was deliberately stalling, digging, or just too overwrought to look at the rest of the situation. He took a long drink of coffee and savored the taste on his tongue. “My mother obviously isn’t a shifter.”
“Oh!” Diana set her mug down on the granite countertop with a clatter. “She isn’t?”
For a moment Edward was taken aback. “Wait a minute… You thought…?”
“I figured that like had to marry like in order to carry on the family name.” Diana frowned. “You would have to. Right? So Tisha Olivares-King is a shifter—which hopefully is the reason she’s such a bitch, no offense—and then all of you would have to find a shifter to marry. So you would be searching high and low here in Dallas looking for a suitable mate. Right?”
“No. It isn’t like that at all.” Edward reached for Diana’s hand, but she drew it back at the last second and refused to let him touch her. “We can marry whomever we want. Then our children still carry the traits. I believe that it would be considered a dominant and not a recessive trait.”
“Oh,” Diana said weakly.
What was going on here? Edward could literally feel her pulling away from him. “Diana, what’s wrong? This doesn’t change anything.”
“I know it doesn’t.” Her words were quick and fierce. “You’ve been putting me off for years. Always one excuse or another. You aren’t interested in the job opportunities I send your way. You don’t want anything to do with the notion of dating me. You don’t return my calls.” She looked up at him and sighed. “I think I’m just starting to understand your reasons. That’s all.”
For a moment Edward could not speak. He had never actually looked at their relationship—or association would be more accurate—from Diana’s point of view. When you lived in the world of King dramatic bullshit you sometimes forgot that your actions and decisions could be interpreted a multitude of ways that were not flattering.
“Diana, I never meant to give you the idea that I wasn’t interested in you.” He said the words because they needed to be said, but there was no doubt in his mind that they were pale and paltry compared to what Diana needed to hear. “I never wanted to hurt you. I never intended to make you feel as though I was intentionally avoiding you. It’s just—well, it’s complicated.”
“Because of your mother,” Diana shot back bitterly.
She picked up her mug and wrapped her hands around the ceramic. It felt good to have her there in his kitchen. It felt good to have her in his apartment. Period. He had a feeling that this notion was absolutely one sided. Diana looked uncomfortable. She was stiff on the barstool and appeared uncertain about being here. Edward could only imagine that this was thanks to the recent discovery she’d made about his true nature, but he couldn’t be sure. That was all assumption and speculation. There was no way to know how she felt without asking her.
“Diana, please,” Edward began slowly. “Give me a chance to redeem myself.”
She was already shaking her head. “I can’t deal with this, Edward. I walked into your office today and I was assaulted by a wolf. Not only was it a wolf it was your brother. I watched you changed into some huge white beast while I cowered under a desk because I thought I was going to die. Your family can talk about secrecy all you want, but today an entire building full of employees almost got a front row seat for the werewolf rumble because your mother is trying to stir up trouble.”
Okay, so when she put it that way Edward could absolutely see her point. Their family was a disaster and why would she want to be anywhere near the mess when it exploded in their faces?
He took a breath to speak but never got the chance. The front door of his apartment slammed open and Jason came striding into the place. His younger brother was covered in cuts and bruises. They covered his face and his arms and probably covered the places that thankfully could not be seen beneath his blue jeans.
“What was that about?” Jason crowed. He was obviously hyped up after the fight with Orion and needed someplace to burn off some steam. “Why would he attack me like that? It’s not like the old bastard is much of a wolf to begin with!”
“Ahem.” Diana sent one pointed glare right in Jason’s direction about the time that Jason noticed that she was sitting at the counter.
“Oh, hey, Diana.” Jason looked from Edward to Diana and back. “I’m sorry. I didn’t realize you were here with my brother.”
“That’s quite all right.” Diana tipped her mug back to finish her coffee and then set it firmly on the countertop. She scooted off the barstool and hopped to the ground. “I was actually just leaving.”
“Diana, don’t.” Edward reached for her hand, but she pulled it out of reach. He closed his fingers over thin air but did not give up. “Please don’t go. Not like this. At least agree to have dinner with me so we can talk.”
She inhaled and exhaled a sharp breath of obvious frustration. “Fine. Dinner. Tomorrow night. And I swear if there’s any wolf messes I’m not going to give you a second chance.”
“Fine.” Edward put his hand on his chest and tried to show her that he was genuine. “I’ll pick you up at your place. What time?”
“No. I will meet you over at the Lone Star Grill at seven.” She pointed at him as though she were a teacher taking him to task. Then she stomped right out the front door of his apartment in a way that made Edward wonder if she would ever agree to come back.
“Whew!” Jason whistled as soon as the two of them heard the bell on the elevator ding to signal that Diana was gone. “That woman is pissed off!”
“She discovered today quite by accident that we are not exactly as we seem,” Edward said flatly. Then he pointed at Jason. “Your future bride spilled the beans.”
“Skye?” Jason was already grinning. “I could see her doing that. Especially if the woman is really interested in you personally.”
“What? Why?” Edward was flabbergasted. No. He was pissed! He snatched up Diana’s empty mug and put it in the sink. Then he poured himself more coffee. It was the wrong time of day to drink the stuff, but he didn’t care. What was it going to do? Keep him up more than he already would be? “Why would Skye do such a thing? It’s unforgivable!”
“No. It isn’t.” Jason folded his arms over his chest. He’d always been the devil-may-care-kind of man, but he had changed lately. Now he was into this family drama crap up to his eyeballs and seemed to relish every minute spent shaking all of their trees. “Skye realizes that the worst game a man can play with a woman is to let her believe one thing about him until she falls in love. If Skye thought that the woman was starting to fall for you or that she already had—because Edward, this chick has been carrying a torch for you for years. Then Skye would feel like Diana had a right to know what she was getting into!”
“Diana has not carried a torch for me for years,” Edward argued irritably. “Why do people always say that?”
“Because it’s true.” Jason shook his head. “You’re so obtuse. I swear. Sometimes it’s like your head is so far up your ass that you can’t see what’s going on right in front of your nose.”
That description and subsequent rude allusion to Edward being oblivious was not appreciated at all. But it wasn’t like Edward could totally discount Jason’s argument. He just needed to remind his brother what was at stake here. “What if she tells someone because she’s so angry at me?”
“Yeah. And who will believe her? Skye was the first one to say that to me and I’ll admit that I never actually thought about it in those terms before. But yes! Who would believe that kind of story? Maybe years and years ago. Decades. A Century. I don’t know. But in this culture? No way. Nobody will believe her. It will be just another attempt to get attention with sensationalism.”
“That’s kind of a screwed up way to look at it, don’t you think?” Edward did not bother to temper the sarcasm i
n his voice. “We can hide in plain sight and tell whomever we want about our true nature because the world around us has become so jaded and sensationalized that they’ll just think it’s another gimmick?”
Jason actually winked. He winked! “I find it rather liberating myself. Give it some time and you’ll realize how nice it is to be able to just stop worrying about being spotted all over the place.”
“You must be joking. What are we going to do? Just go running around downtown Dallas in our wolf forms? Or is that why you and Orion are fighting in public now? You’re just trying to give people a little something to talk about?”
The smile slid right off of Jason’s cocky face. “I don’t know about the fighting. I don’t know what Orion’s problem is lately. It’s been—complicated. He’s drinking a lot. Have you noticed?”
“Yes.” Edward didn’t like to talk about his brother behind his back. It felt unfair. “I also know that Mother has been riding him. I’m not sure about what though. Do you know what her plans are?”
“Stomp out the wolf? Develop the land? Take the company from us?” Jason snorted. “Surely you noticed that little trend. Right? She’s been making snide comments about running the company or about how she now owns most of it. I think that’s why she’s pitting us against each other. Don’t you think?”
“Because it will be easier to push us around and take our toys if we’re fighting with each other?” Edward said sarcastically. “Maybe. I don’t know. I can never tell with Mother. She’s a very surprising combination of savvy and ditzy. Sometimes I think her whole society glitz and glamour thing is only a cover-up for a shrewd mind that’s pretty damn good at looking out for number one.”
Jason was silent for a few moments as though he were thinking the whole situation over. Then he finally chuffed out a huge sigh. “I’m sorry about Diana. But I have to say this. And you can hate me for it if you want, but I need to say it anyway.”
“All right.” Edward steeled himself. Obviously this wasn’t going to be good. “Go ahead and say what you think you need to say.”
“The way that Diana is acting reminds me of Mother.” Jason waited a second as though he were actually afraid that Edward was going to attack him right then. When there was no immediate response he kept going. “Mother didn’t like it. She didn’t like the shifting. She didn’t like Dad’s true nature. She didn’t want anything to do with it. She wanted him to pretend that it was all just a big game of pretend or something equally stupid.”
“And that’s what you think Diana is doing?” Edward wanted to laugh in Jason’s face, but there was a niggling doubt that he could not ignore. “Why do you say that?”
“Because of what just happened.” Jason looked thoughtful. “You wanted to go to dinner. No, you can’t pick her up. Why? Maybe she wants her independence. Maybe something else. But then she tells you there had been be none of that wolf stuff? What does that mean? You have to make sure and act as human as possible? No using what? Your sense of smell? It’s just rude, Edward. I bet she has bits and pieces of her past that she wants you to accept. Why doesn’t she have to do the same?”
“This is an awfully big piece,” Edward reminded Jason.
“Is it really?” Jason shook his head and moved back toward the front door. “Think about that and tell me if you still feel the same way in the morning. And remember. We’re running tomorrow night out at the ranch. Right now we need all the team-building bullshit we can get.”
“Right.” Tomorrow night. Right after Edward’s date with Diana. At least there wasn’t that much chance of the date going well.
Chapter Eleven
“Diana, did you get that account settled?”
Diana looked up from her computer and had a total deer in the headlights moment when she discovered her supervisor, Gwen Pallister, leaning in through the doorway of Diana’s office. Gwen was a younger Pallister daughter and was working her way toward being made a partner. It tended to make her a bit of a terrier when it came to account services and closing deals. It did not make her popular with the junior agents like Diana who felt—and rightfully so—that they did all the work so that Gwen could steal all of the credit. In fact, that pattern of behavior had been burning Diana for weeks now. It was one of the driving reasons that she had decided to try and get a hold of Edward King once again.
“I believe I told you just yesterday on the phone that I was still negotiating with the gentleman in Abruzzo.” Diana did her best to sound chipper and not rude. It was a freaking struggle.
Gwen pushed Diana’s door open and stepped into the office. With her stylish short brown bob, dull blue eyes, and pancake makeup, she looked awfully nondescript. Perhaps that’s why she always chose to dress in clothing that screamed for attention. At the moment Gwen was wearing a pair of knee high Ferragamo boots with her short black and white dress. She looked as though she had just returned from a shopping trip to Italy herself. Perhaps she was getting a bit upset with Diana because the delayed closing on this huge palazzo in Italy was causing Gwen to have to push back her much anticipated trip to take their Dallas-based client to take possession of his new property. What an interesting thought.
“You listen here.” Gwen’s tone turned flat rude. “You need to understand that we are not going to be standing around looking like idiots when all of this goes to hell just because you can’t close a deal. Give me the contact and I’ll do it!”
“He doesn’t like dealing with women.” Diana was tempted to just let Gwen be the one to screw everything up. But the client really, really wanted this property. It was an unusual sale opportunity just because this particular property had been handed down generation after generation and had never been sold. It was a once-in-a-lifetime chance and Diana was trying to tread carefully in order to prevent the sale from falling through. “The seller liked the buyer. He said that even though the buyer was American, he seemed like a good man. Mr. Lucietto is the buyer. He has roots in that part of Italy. The seller—Mr. Amatuzzio—would never consider the sale otherwise. If you go in there and start being pushy the whole thing will blow up in your face. I can promise you that.”
“I’m sorry, but did you just try to imply that I,”—Gwen placed one manicured hand on her chest—“I would screw things up? Did you just try to say that I could possibly do something to ruin this sale? That’s preposterous!” Gwen’s expression began to swell toward anger. She had a fair complexion and when she got mad her face slowly began to turn the most unbecoming shade of magenta. “I hope you realize that this is your fault! If you had done your job appropriately then it wouldn’t matter what the seller said! You have to make those investment and real estate contracts airtight!”
“A little difficult, don’t you think, when your buyer and seller sit at a table at a little café in Abruzzo and drink coffee and decide the terms on their own? What was I supposed to tell them? No?”
Gwen sputtered for a moment and Diana actually thought the woman might explode. But another knock on the door acted like a total stay of execution when Gwen’s grandfather came sauntering into Diana’s office with a big smile on his face and an unknown couple hot on his heels.
“Oh, I’m sorry, Diana,” Mr. Bryan Pallister said with a glance at Gwen. “I didn’t realize that you had a meeting. I have a couple of new clients that I would like for you to meet. I think that you would be the perfect one to try and find a good investment plan for their retirement. They’re thinking Italy, and I know that is right up your alley.”
“I would love a place in Tuscany where we could take long walks by the river and stop for a cup of coffee at a café on some romantic corner!” The woman was gushing as she pushed right past Bryan Pallister and Gwen in order to get a better look at the black and white photographs that Diana had taken over the years on her trips to Italy. They often made great talking points for new clients. The woman turned and pointed to a photograph. “Something like this, Joseph!”
“I’m sorry,” the man told Diana. “My wife see
ms to have forgotten all of our manners. My name is Joseph Orville, Sr. and this is my wife, Francesca. Her mother was Italian, although I believe her parents came to this county a good number of decades ago.”
It was almost as though the entire room had forgotten that Gwen existed. Diana could well see the importance of making sure her new clients felt as though they were the most important thing in her world right now, but there was no doubt in Diana’s mind that Gwen was going to make her pay for it later.
Not that Bryan Pallister seemed to realize that he had just walked into a situation of severe friction. He was such a jovial older man that he often reminded Diana of Santa Claus with his round belly and white fluffy hair and beard. He often wore thin-rimmed glasses too. They always looked a bit delicate for him and very square. But there was no doubt that he was a very nice man and a hard worker. He wasn’t much taller than his granddaughter with her heels on but instead of a sourpuss face like her, he always had a welcome smile on his lips. The only thing that was missing was the red suit and suspenders. Mr. Pallister favored his custom-made double breasted suits that sometimes made him seem as though he’d escaped from a nineteen twenties era photograph.
“I suppose I’ll leave you to your new clients then,” Gwen said with false sweetness. She beamed at the couple and then she turned and gave Diana a very pointed look. “If you’ll just give me the Lucietto file, I’ll take care of those final details so we can close the deal.”
“That’s my Gwen,” Mr. Pallister said fondly. He lightly touched his granddaughter’s shoulder. “She’s always thinking ahead about the best way to keep our customers happy.”
Great. There was no doubt in Diana’s mind that this had just become a trap. If she argued and said there was no need to give Gwen the file, she was basically cutting her down in front of Bryan Pallister and in front of new clients, which Mr. Pallister would not appreciate after he’d just made a point of complimenting Gwen. But if Diana gave Gwen Pallister the Lucietto file, that woman was going to ruin that deal before she had finished her first sentence to Mr. Amatuzzio.
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