“I came because I think you had something here at work you wanted my help with. You spoke about a job, but I don’t need employment.” He sounded almost painfully polite. How odd.
Diana could not control the bitterness in her voice as she thought about what he was actually saying. “Because you have a job. With your family’s company even though they are preparing to screw you over.”
“Actually, no. I don’t really have a job with my family’s company.” He pursed his lips and his handsome features arranged themselves into a strange combination of confusion and thoughtfulness. “I never explicitly quit. But I think when I continually don’t show up they’ll probably realize what has happened.”
“You never quit,” Diana repeated. “I don’t understand.”
“It’s a rather long story.” Edward sighed and sank down into a chair in front of her desk. “You had something you needed help with. Can we focus on that?”
“Oh. Right.” Diana bit her lip and nearly told him that there was no point because the broker had already declared the sale to be out of the question. Mr. Amatuzzio had been too insulted by the American woman’s brash and pushy behavior.
“What’s going on? Maybe that’s a good place to start,” Edward suggested gently.
How could a man like him be so incredibly gentle and almost loving when the situation between them was such a mess? It was like he was willing to just let bygones be bygones and forget about it all. Yet he wasn’t standoffish or mad. And maybe he had no right to be. His family was the crazy bunch of lunatics. But he could have stood by them and he wasn’t. In a manner of speaking, he was standing by her.
“I had this deal in Italy,” Diana began slowly. Then she pushed the file across the desktop. “The details are here. But I think you could probably get a quick overview of the situation from reading it.”
There were a few moments of very potent silence as Edward flipped through that folder. She could not stop watching him. He was so efficient. Everything that he did was so casual and filled with unconscious grace. It was almost like he had no clue that he was such a handsome and well put together guy. She felt as though Edward was just modest and probably had no clue that he was the most handsome King brother of the five—or rather six—of them. With his dark blond hair and tanned skin he looked almost exotic, as though he were an outdoorsman who could also handle himself in any intellectual conversation that cropped up. In Diana’s opinion, that was a rare thing to find.
“Wow. This Gwen person,” Edward began slowly as he continued to flip back and forth between Gwen’s notes and Diana’s. “She’s a real heavy hitter. Is this the woman who supposedly saw Gemini King in the parking garage and is now ready to claim that you attacked her unprovoked?”
The reminder of that upcoming horror fest was not a welcome one. “That would be her. Her grandfather is the managing partner of this firm. She feels like this entitles her to some kind of special status as a partner. I don’t think she technically outranks me, but she does because he allows her to set herself above the rest of us.”
“That’s not healthy,” Edward murmured. “So this deal.” He laid his hand flat on the open file. “This is basically deciding the fate of your career?”
“It wasn’t, but now? Yes. I think that it is. I don’t know why Gwen decided to get involved. She was keeping an eye on it. I don’t know if she heard her grandfather talking about the deal in glowing terms and she decided she wanted a piece of the pie or something entirely different. But if I can’t fix this I’m going to be hitting the unemployment line.”
“Then let’s call.” Edward made it sound so very simple.
Diana snorted. “Like I didn’t do that already. I got off the phone with the broker in Italy right before you walked in.”
“Ah. No. I mean, let’s call Amatuzzio.” Edward pointed to the clock up on the wall. “It’s still before three o’clock there. We could have this potentially wrapped up before your boss gets here. That would be best. Don’t you think?”
“Yes.”
“And Gwen?” Edward’s tone turned sharp as nails. “Will she be in this morning, do you think?”
“That’s impossible to predict.” Diana wished that she could know the answer to that one. “If she decides to come in, it will be for dramatic purpose and nothing more. She won’t feel like she needs to work. She doesn’t work anyway.”
“All right so let’s fix this.” He picked up the phone and handed it to her. “Dial. Get him on the phone, we can do this together or I’ll talk to him. He sounds pretty old school.”
“He is.” Diana was starting to think that this had been a bad idea to begin with. How could Edward be so sure of himself? “How is your Italian these days?”
“Rusty, but good enough.” Edward twirled his fingers in the air. “Come on then. Let’s do it.”
Diana dialed the number and handed him the phone. She wasn’t entirely sure why she was doing this. She was trusting Edward with her career! Or maybe she wasn’t. Not really. In her mind, Diana had already written off this particular deal. Maybe she had written off this job too. It was hard to say. Maybe she just wanted things to go back to the way they were. Edward King was in her office. That was out of the ordinary. After all this time he was taking her phone calls and making an effort for her that he really didn’t have to. So what did it all mean?
“Signor Amatuzzio?” Edward’s accent was flawless.
Damn. Did he have a flair for the languages because he spoke dog? She almost giggled at the thought before realizing that she was being kind of rude and unfair to him. Maybe she was just kind of hard on him because deep down she was still angry at him for this constant merry-go-round of crazy.
The conversation was absolutely direct. That wasn’t usually the way the Italians did things, but then Diana could not hear anything of the other side of the conversation. She only heard what Edward was saying as he introduced himself as a business associate of Ms. Diana Appleton. “Yes,” Edward assured the man. “I wanted to come to you on behalf of our client Mr. Lucietto. I thought that you might understand for him that this is a chance to find his roots. The man has been away from the running of his family ranch for decades now. It wasn’t his choice. He was a younger son. Now he has done well for himself and has a chance to seek deeper roots in the Italian soil of Abruzzo. I know that you love your land and your palazzo.” Edward let that pause hang. Diana was utterly in awe of the flawless exchange in Italian and also of Edward’s choice of words. “You wish to retire and have no sons to carry on for you. This man has sons. They will not get a part of the family’s land here in Texas, but they will have the opportunity to pass on the palazzo in Abruzzo to their heirs and to those who come after so that you know that your home will be loved for so many more generations to come.”
There was a long pause. Mr. Amatuzzio was talking. Diana could hear his dulcet tones on the other end of the line. He did not sound angry. But a moment later Edward was chuckling and making several very unkind comments to Mr. Amatuzzio about the audacity of Western women. There was another short pause in conversation and then just like that it was all over. Both men thanked each other and Edward scribbled a date on a scrap of paper. Mid-November. The closing would take place in just two weeks.
“Of course I will be there,” Edward told the old man. “I look forward to meeting you in person. And Diana will come, of course. I have known her almost all of my life, you know. Yes. Yes. We will pass your regards to Mr. Pallister and tell him to keep his granddaughter locked up until he finds her a husband to control her mouth.” Edward winked at Diana.
She could not speak. She could barely process what had happened. The only thing on her mind right now was the possibility that Edward King had just patched up this deal with one international phone call and nothing more. It was only one more reason that Diana thought that Edward would be perfect for a job like hers. It was right up his alley. He just needed to say yes. That was it. One. Little. Word.
Chapter
Twenty-Seven
The expression on Diana’s face was priceless. Edward had never been so happy to make someone else happy before in his life. It was a simple sort of pleasure and yet it was also completely profound. He loved to watch the expressions cross her face. The casual hopefulness. As if she were afraid to hope against hope. Then there was the moment when she felt joy and was afraid to just let it out. She was demure and sedate and so tightly contained that Edward could not help but be reminded of that young woman who had always been on the fringe of his life. His friend. His confidante. And eventually—now—the woman he cared about more than anything else in the world.
“I’m sorry,” Edward said suddenly.
As soon as the words popped out he realized that they were very difficult to put into context considering what had just happened. Her office was just now brightening as the wan sunlight attempted to penetrate the thick cloud cover. Edward knew, just like everyone else in Dallas, that there was no point in hoping for sunlight. The gray clouds were going to win and it was going to start raining as though the air wasn’t already thick enough with humidity and damp.
“You’re sorry.” She seemed to need that clarification. “For fixing my deal and getting a closing date? You must be joking!”
“No. Not for that.” Edward reached across the desk and took her hand. He held it lightly in his and began tracing the veins and delicate bones beneath the skin. Her hands were so feminine. He longed to feel them stroking his skin and maybe even—eventually—his fur. “I mean for all of the hell that my family has put you through. Not just in the last few days either. I’m talking about the cumulative effect of my mother’s snobbery and the horrible huge secret that we’ve been keeping from the whole world.”
Diana bit her full lower lip. Her big blue eyes were clear and filled with thoughtfulness. “I suppose knowing what I know now—even though I almost wish I did not—sort of casts the rest of our childhood in a very new and different light. I can understand now why you’ve been pushing me away. I maybe even appreciate it.”
That didn’t make him feel encouraged. He did not let go of her hand. There was a part of him that was very much afraid that if he did he would never touch her again. He did not want to risk losing the warmth and softness of her skin. He wanted more and not less. So he lifted that hand to his lips and lightly brushed them over the satin soft surface.
“Is it that awful then?” Edward whispered. He gazed at her and felt as though the moment she rejected him would be the moment he turned into a lone wolf and left society for good. “You can’t stand the second part of my nature? You can’t stand the thought of me turning into a wolf and howling at the moon?” Okay, so that was probably an exaggeration that suggested he was being a bit devilish.
But thankfully she did not seem to mind. Instead she added her other hand to the first and gave him a gentle squeeze. “It isn’t that, Edward. But you’re not a single entity. You’re a pack. I think that’s the piece that has been missing during our lives. I never understood why you stuck around with this family who seemed determined to treat you as less than your brothers. It wasn’t fair.”
“It reminded you of your parents and the way they treated you.” He was guessing, but it was how he had felt about Diana’s parents. “Your mother and father were very much hard asses when it came to the way that they thought their daughter should behave and what she should be doing in her life. I think your mother and my mother could have actually been in competition for least supportive mother of the year.”
“I’ll second that.” She didn’t sound bitter. That was good.
Edward wasn’t there yet. He lightly kissed her hands. “You got away when they died. You put it behind you. I think that was healthy. I’m glad for you.”
“And you?” she pressed? “Does your status as a wolf shifter prevent you from just walking away?”
“I don’t know.” Edward was a bit ashamed to admit to himself, to Diana, to anyone that he had never actually thought about it in those terms. He hadn’t considered what would happen if he just walked away from his family. “I haven’t really put that plan into action, but I can promise you that it is a plan. I don’t know what’s happening with my brothers. I don’t care. I don’t want to know. I don’t think it matters to me. I want something else. I don’t want to be a part of the pack anymore.”
“Or maybe you just need a new and very different pack,” Diana suggested softly.
She was leaning forward toward their joined hands. For just a moment she leaned in closer. He let their hands drop a mere fraction of an inch. Just like that their lips were in such close proximity that only a hairsbreadth would have had them touching.
The moment seemed to stretch. The anticipation was delicious. Edward’s already heightened senses grew sharper. He could smell the sweetness of her breath as she exhaled and feel the whisper of it across his cheeks. Her light floral scent was perfect. It made him want to bury his face against her neck and kiss her until she squirmed and begged for more. The feel of her skin was softer than the softest petals of a delicate flower. She was warm and vital and so precious that he immediately wanted to put himself between her and disaster.
Finally Edward felt his lip barely brushing hers. It was almost as though gravity had pulled them closer. The taste of her exploded through his mouth and a low moan escaped his throat as he pressed his lips more firmly against hers and moved their lips together in an age old dance of passion. His eyes closed and he let his instincts take over. It was the most incredible moment he had ever experienced and he did not want it to stop. Ever.
“Excuse me, this is not that kind of place!”
The harsh words destroyed the warm moment of romance like a hot knife through warm butter. All of a sudden Diana was leaping away from Edward as though she had been stung. He did not allow himself to be so affected. Instead he turned around in his seat and lazily inspected the newcomer. Pale brown hair that looked almost like it had been sprayed into a helmet. Her eyes were that kind of nondescript blue that could not actually be called a color. And she was wearing clothing that had to have been left over from her Halloween stash.
Orange leggings. Who wore bright orange leggings to a professional office? Black sweater over the top and black boots. She looked like a reverse pumpkin or something. It was very distracting. But at the last second Edward realized that the woman was actually wearing a wrist brace on her right hand and that there was a very obvious bandage on her face as though she were trying to convince everyone who saw her that she was an injured party.
“You must be Gwen Pallister,” Edward murmured with amusement. Then he glanced at Diana. “Didn’t the wolf grab the bottom of her dress and rip it near her legs?” Edward did not want to slip and say that this was what the wolf had told him. But it was certainly tempting to do so.
“That was what I saw in the parking garage. “Diana stood up from her desk and put her hands on her hips. She glared at Gwen. “What are you playing at with the bandage on your face? Did you pop a zit or something?”
“Oh!” Gwen’s indignant squawk was much like a bird getting its tail stomped on. “You know very well that you sprayed me with mace yesterday after attacking me in the parking garage for no reason!”
“Of course there was no reason,” Diana retorted. “That’s why I didn’t do it. There was a huge wolf down there last night. It knocked you over and I was afraid it was going to bite you. So I used the mace. Yes. I’m sorry it got in your eyes, but I didn’t want your legs to get chewed up.” Diana made a sweeping gesture to indicate Gwen’s poison orange leggings. “And apparently you are walking just fine and do not require skin grafts or something so I should be commended for keeping you from harm and not accused of trying to hurt you myself.”
“You know,” Edward mused. “That wolf was seen near my neighborhood last night as well. In fact, it barged into my home after terrorizing some trick or treaters. So we have that wolf in our possession. We’ll just contact the animal control of
fice and back up Ms. Appleton’s story and then there won’t be any more question.”
“Liar!” Gwen shouted.
The woman was actually looking a bit panicky. Why? What had she been doing with this story? Was there some kind of payoff for her? Surely she hadn’t been paid off by Tisha. No. It had to be of a more personal nature. Something to do with her grandfather no doubt.
A solid knock on the doorframe seemed to answer that question. Gwen swung around and immediately launched herself at the older man in the doorway. She grabbed his arm and began hanging off of him as though she could not stand on her own.
“Oh, I’m sorry, Diana. I didn’t realize you had a guest.” The older man could have only been Mr. Pallister.
He seemed like a kindly older man who probably had no idea how to deal with his bitchy and overdramatic granddaughter. Edward almost chuckled to himself over that observation. Such was the way of things so often these days. Or in Edward and his brothers’ case, they had to deal with a bitchy overdramatic mother who could never manage to leave well enough alone and stop aggravating pretty much anyone she came into contact with.
“Mr. Pallister,” Diana said with painful politeness. “This is an old friend of mine. His name is Edward King.”
Pallister immediately stuck out his hand. “I thought I recognized you, young man.”
“We do look a lot alike,” Edward acknowledged with what he hoped was a warm smile. He was feeling rather irritated at the man’s clingy granddaughter who continued to hang on his arm. “But I am a very old friend of Diana’s and she had asked me quite some time ago to consult with her on one of her files.”
“Edward speaks wonderful Italian and has quite a knack dealing with older men who have very particular notions of a woman’s place in business.” Diana was doing a bang up job of absolutely ignoring Gwen. The young woman was trying to look injured and pathetic. She was really just looking pathetic.
Billion Dollar Wolves: Boxset Bks 1-5 Page 44