“Good afternoon, Mr. King.” A young woman beamed up at him from what felt like just a few inches away.
Zane froze. He couldn’t just ignore her. But beside him he felt Landry stiffening as though the young woman had just suggested she and Zane retire to a corner of the crowded elevator for some illicit love play. What the hell? Landry knew that Zane wasn’t that kind of guy? Didn’t she?
“Good afternoon,” Zane murmured. There. That was completely neutral and innocuous if uncomfortable.
The ride up in the elevator was absolutely interminable. Maybe they should not have come here. That was on Zane’s mind by the time the doors closed on the ninth floor and the elevator headed up to floor ten. Now there was only Zane and Landry inside the elevator. The tension was so thick he could have cut it with a knife. This was not a pleasant way to begin their life together. If this was a beginning.
The doors opened on the tenth floor and Zane stepped out. He swept Landry along with him. The two of them whipped right past the receptionist as though she weren’t even there. Perhaps in Zane’s head, she wasn’t. He rarely spoke to Candace the receptionist in spite of the fact that she had been sitting there for years now. Zane tried to see Candace from the viewpoint of an outsider—particularly a woman. The woman was in her late twenties. Today she was wearing a ruffled white blouse and high waisted black pencil skirt. Her dark hair had been pulled back into a bun and she was wearing glasses, but she had the look of a librarian-themed stripper. Great. That wasn’t going to help Zane’s case at all. He was starting to become paranoid.
“Where are we going?” Landry whispered to Zane as he followed the left hallway back toward the corner office that his brother Orion occupied.
Zane put his hand on the doorknob. The plate on the door read Orion King – Head of Operations. “I’m going to start with Devon and Orion.”
“Oh. Shall I wait out by the receptionist’s desk then?” She was already tugging her hand free of his and trying to head back down the hallway.
Zane grabbed her fingers and then wrapped his hand around hers. “No. You stay with me.”
“Zane, that’s really not necessary. You probably have things to discuss with your family that would be easier done without me around,” Landry protested.
“You are my family.” He felt as though he had to stubbornly make this point or risk losing it for good.
Zane pushed open the heavy double doors that led into Orion’s office. Thankfully, the place was not a tomb today. The blinds were open. Light spilled into the huge space. Devon was seated on the corner of Orion’s desk. Orion was leaning back in his seat. He looked totally sober. That was a change from the recent trend of seeing him passed out pretty much all over the place. It didn’t seem to matter. Orion could drink bottle after bottle of Absinthe and still manage to not need a liver transplant.
“Gentlemen,” Zane said as he nodded to his brothers. “Is she here?”
Orion raised an eyebrow. “Assuming you’re referring to our mother, the answer is yes. Although I could not say where she is. She stormed out of my office about twenty minutes ago after she got off the phone with you.”
Devon made a point of leaning around Zane to nod at Landry. “Ms. Fisher, nice to see you again.”
“Thank you,” Landry said quietly.
“Yes, Landry.” Orion cleared his throat. “It would seem that congratulations are in order, but I feel like I should ask you if you’re all right after the ordeal with that parent first. I’m so sorry something like that had to happen to you.”
“Thank you.” Landry’s voice was so quiet that Zane had to turn and look at her to be sure that she had spoken.
What was going on with her? What was going on with any of them? They were supposed to be happy, right? This was good. It was good news. It was the way he wanted his life to unfold so why didn’t he feel better about it?
“So,” Devon said pointedly. “Care to explain what the press conference was all about?”
“It was actually Skye’s idea.” Zane quickly outlined their youngest brother’s wife’s suggestion to use the biggest stage he could find to get rid of the bullshit reporting of the Dallas Star.
Zane had barely finished his explanation when Orion’s office doors slammed open with a decisive bang. Both heavy wood doors bounced off the walls and nearly swung shut again. It was all rather dramatic. But since the person who swept into the office was Tisha Olivares-King, it was probably to be expected.
“There you are!” Tisha exclaimed with enough drama to single-handedly take Broadway by storm. She exhaled an enormous sigh and reached for Zane’s arm to pull him away from Landry.
“Mother, what are you doing?” Zane let go of Landry’s arm. It was either that or yank the poor girl’s arm off thanks to his mother. “You act like you’re glad to see me. How long ago was it that you threw me out of the house? One day? Two?”
“Does it matter?” Tisha waved it off with one manicured hand. “You’re back! I’m so glad. I have this wonderful party I want you to attend. It’s at the home of one of my dearest friends, Mrs. Olivia Dunlop.”
Zane shook his head. “A party? What are you talking about? You tossed me out. You threw my clothes on the lawn. Remember?”
“I was mad.” Tisha pivoted just enough to actually put herself between Zane and Landry. “Then I saw that story in the Dallas Star and I realized that I did you so wrong, my poor boy. You know? So I’m going to make it up to you.”
“The story in the Dallas Star…” Zane gaped at his mother.
Devon snorted and started laughing, but it was Orion who called her on it. “Mother, don’t treat us like idiots. We all know that you were the one to contact Carolyn Phillips and tell her to run the story.”
“So let’s be frank then, shall we?” Devon continued. “What’s your angle here? Did you expect the story in the paper to end differently or something?”
“I certainly didn’t think he’d go proposing to the first woman that happened along!” Tisha snapped.
“Hello?” Zane waved both hands at his mother. “Landry and I are both standing here.”
“Landry isn’t,” Tisha snorted. “What? Did you not notice that she just turned and walked out? The girl was so badly bred. Seriously. I cannot imagine why you would even begin to entertain the notion of marrying a woman whose parents went bankrupt and then killed themselves. That is some bad blood, Zane King. You cannot possibly think to include that in our family tree.”
“I’m sorry, are we somehow needing to improve our standing in the nonexistent peerage of Texas?” Zane snarled sarcastically. “And don’t talk that way about Landry. Ever. Do not make me drag out your family heritage. I’m pretty sure you’ve got some sheep of a different color in your family tree too.”
Tisha put her hands on her hips and stomped her heeled boot on Orion’s polished wood floor. “I do not!”
“Hey!” Orion snapped his fingers and pointed at her boots. “Don’t be scratching my floor with those things. They’re like a weapon!”
“Oh, my shoes are bad but all of the vomit you’ve been spewing all over every floor you come into contact with is fine. Right?” Tisha said nastily. She glared at Orion. “Don’t you dare say a word to me about my shoes, my decisions, or anything else, Orion King. You’re skating on thin ice with me and with this company.”
Zane pinched the bridge of his nose. “If you guys are going to start arguing about who the big boss is, I’m going to go and find Landry.”
“Stick around,” Devon requested mildly. “I believe our mother needs to understand exactly where she stands.”
“I know where I stand.” Tisha looked like an angry demoness standing there with her big blonde hair, her thick makeup, and a dress that had been designed and made for a woman half her age. Zane expected to see the curve of his mother’s butt cheeks pop out at any second and that certainly wasn’t something any son wanted to contemplate.
Zane was done. He needed to find Landry. That shoul
d have been his first priority, but here he was stuck in this family hell. So it was time to step it up a notch. “I’m assuming that Devon is talking about my decision to forfeit my portion of the company holdings that was outlined in Dad’s will. Right?” He practically had to yell to be heard over the sniping din of conversation going on around him.
Of course that was up until his words sank into Tisha’s brain. Then she swiveled her head to glare at him. “What did you say?” she demanded. “Tell me you didn’t just say that you gave up your shares to these two clowns?”
“I did actually.” Zane snorted. “And I can’t really believe you would be surprised. Or maybe what you’re surprised about is that I could, considering you threw me out of the house. But you can’t actually change anything about that will, Mother. This isn’t your company and most of what you’ve managed to get has been from your former lover and not your husband.”
Devon’s smug smile was aimed right at Tisha. “Of course, that’s also why this whole thing is still tied up in probate and we’re only operating based upon that court order by the district judge allowing business to go on as usual with Orion and I having sole authority to make day-to-day operating decisions.”
“Wait. What?” Tisha’s painted lips parted for a moment and then pressed closed as she seemed to decide that it was in her best interest just to shut up for a moment.
“I know,” Orion said mockingly. He pressed his fingers together and steepled them in front of his face. It was odd. But sitting there behind his desk in that position he reminded Zane so much of his father that it almost hurt. Then Orion twisted his lips into a smirk. “But you have to understand, Mother. You don’t run this business. You never have. If you think that any judge will just give up the day-to-day operating decisions to a woman with no official background in business or in anything but the spending of profits, you’re out of your damn mind. This is Texas.”
Oh, that didn’t sit well with the widow of Mac King. She spun around and glared at them all in turn. “You’re conspiring against me.”
“No, Mother,” Zane murmured. “I’m just trying to make sure that I can live my life without the bullshit interference of this family. That’s all.”
“You.” Tisha stared at him for a moment. He could see her eyes cutting surreptitiously back toward her other two sons. It was like she was trying desperately to decide the best way to proceed. “You should come to the party at the Dunlop’s house tomorrow night. It’s an outdoor party on their beautiful patio. Bring Landry. It would be the best way to introduce your fiancée to the rest of Dallas society.”
Zane blinked. He was pretty sure that most of Dallas society knew exactly who Landry Fisher was. They knew her, her parents, her grandmother, and their family’s sordid history probably better than Landry did. But his mother was making a very interesting offer.
“You really want him to go to your party?” Orion snorted. “That’s rich.”
Tisha rounded on Orion. “You better watch yourself or you’ll be back on the floor in a puddle of vomit.”
That was the most interesting threat that Zane had ever heard his mother make. Was she trying somehow to suggest that she was the one in control of Orion’s drinking? That was absurd. Nobody had control over that but Orion himself. Sure. Their mother was enough of a pain in the ass to make all of them want to start drinking, but it certainly wasn’t like she was forcing Orion to do it.
Tisha swung about and blew Zane a kiss. “See you tomorrow night!”
Then she was gone and Zane was left staring after her almost as though he had just watched a natural disaster walk in and then back out of a room without having any idea exactly what the damage looked like.
Chapter Twenty-One
Landry could still hear the King brothers arguing with their mother when she had made it all the way back down the hallway to the receptionist’s desk. The animosity between the members of the King family seemed to far surpass even what she could remember of the prickly relationship between her mother and her grandmama. Grandmama had been Landry’s father’s mother and it had been very obvious from the beginning that she had not approved of the match.
Pacing a little bit in front of the selection of padded leather chairs that occupied a cozy seating area in the waiting room, Landry tried to decide if she was going to sit down or not. Somehow she could not decide. She just didn’t know if she wanted to be here or not.
“They fight like this all the time.”
Landry spun about and started at the receptionist. She was a woman in her late twenties. That much was obvious. Her dark hair was swept back into a bun, but the way she had coaxed a bevy of soft pieces of hair to fall around her face suggested that the bun was not no nonsense at all. Landry had known women like this one before. They liked the idea of teasing a man’s brain to think about what it would look like for the woman to reach up and unfasten the bun. Men liked that visual image and a certain kind of woman knew how to take advantage of that.
Landry tilted her head to one side. “I think lots of families fight like this all the time.”
“Especially when there are millions of dollars involved, right?” One corner of the receptionist’s mouth quirked up into the semblance of a smile. “My name is Candace. Are you Landry Fisher?”
“Yes.”
“I saw you on television. It was a nice proposal and all. Too bad the rain totally ended your screen time. That’s a valuable commodity in this business.” Candace seemed to be insinuating something, but Landry could not decide what it was. It didn’t take Candace long to explain herself. “Screen time will get you major points with Ms. Olivares-King. She likes the attention. She believes it makes the family and their business more visible.”
“I see,” Landry murmured. “So you’re suggesting that by making sure that the whole proposal was on camera for the masses to see on the evening news, it means Tisha will be more accepting?”
Candace lifted a shoulder in a careless shrug. Her clothes were not suggestive, except that they were very suggestive. She was a beautiful woman, and she knew how to use it to her advantage. Landry was wearing her usual school uniform of khaki pants and a long-sleeved Washington Middle School T-shirt. She felt absolutely dowdy and unfashionable next to Candace. It did not help that Candace seemed to be determined to somehow put Landry in her place.
“He’s quite a catch you know,” Candace finally told Landry.
Landry felt her eyebrows shoot up into her hairline. Her ponytail had gotten wet in the rain and the long red hair was beginning to frizz and curl in the humidity. Landry pushed it impatiently away from her face. “Zane? Is that who you’re talking about?”
“Yes.” There was something about Candace’s tone of voice that made Landry very uncomfortable. “Zane is quite the ladies man. He’s always making them smile. The man could make a nun hang up her habit, if you know what I mean.”
“Let’s say I don’t,” Landry shot back.
Candace paused, but only long enough to warm to her topic. “Oh, come on now. You’ve managed to snag the playboy of the King family. That’s a pretty big deal, don’t you think?”
“The playboy?” Landry snorted and shook her head. “I’ve known Zane all my life. He’s not the kind of man to play the field like that.”
“You’ve known him all your life, have you?” Candace smirked. “So you’ve been keeping tabs on him for the last few years? Because I’ve never seen you, but I’ve seen him with dozens and dozens of women. I’ve taken his phone messages, remember? And let’s just say I’ve got the florist on speed dial.”
“The florist,” Landry whispered weakly. This was a whole new side of Zane that she had never really considered before. What did this mean? Was he really a player? “I don’t believe that Zane is a cheater or anything of the sort.”
“Oh, I don’t know about that,” Candace said quickly, obviously backpedaling. “But then again I’ve never seen him settle down with one woman so I don’t suppose I can comment on that.”
“Settle down with a woman,” Landry whispered.
Landry swallowed back the lump that had formed in her throat. Her mind was automatically going back to all of the young women staring at Zane and calling out to him as though they knew that he would welcome their attention. What if he normally would have? What if the only reason he wasn’t letting them hang all over them was simply because he was set on having Landry right now? What if that changed? The idea that he could someday be with half a dozen other women while the two of them were married or engaged or even just together was horrible. It would be one thing if he was just a roommate. That was different. But if he was something else, then she would have to deal with the idea of infidelity and that was absolutely unacceptable.
“I don’t believe you,” Landry whispered to Candace.
The receptionist exhaled a huge sigh. She pressed her full painted lips together and placed her hand down on the top of the counter. “Look, I want to be frank with you.”
“Why?” Landry shot back. “Why would you care about me? What’s in it for you?”
“Are you kidding me?” Candace the receptionist gestured to her immediate surrounding environment. “I’m sitting here and you can ask me that? I work for these people. It’s like being caught in a meat grinder. Every single day you have no idea if the whole place is going to blow up in your face. Lately I’m not even sure my direct deposit is going to happen!”
“All right, so why help me?” Landry pressed. She wasn’t buying into an altruistic intention for this red-lipped, tightly-clothed receptionist trying hard to look like she wasn’t trying at all. “Again. What’s in it for you?”
“I’ll admit that I don’t really want Zane to marry.” Candace admitted. She seemed almost too eager to share that information. “He’s hot. He’s a flirt. And maybe there’s a part of me that is pretty sure that I can get him back into my bed, which will certainly get me some monetary kickbacks.”
“Wait. Did you say back into your bed?” Landry squeaked.
Billion Dollar Wolves: Boxset Bks 1-5 Page 63