by Dani Wade
No, no, no. “That inheritance is Marie’s and Nolen’s retirement,” she said. After everything they’d been through with James, they more than deserved the means to live out their lives comfortably. Not struggle day in and day out on a lifetime of counting pennies.
So instead of lowering the bar with his death, James had upped the ante. He was threatening not just his daughter and the town, but anyone who meant anything to Christina. Too bad he wasn’t here for her to take apart piece by piece.
Christina forced herself to speak, though the words would barely move past the tight muscles in her throat. “So if we don’t do this, everyone loses? You’re okay with carrying out those instructions?”
Canton inclined his head in that condescending way of his. “I am.”
The horror of what he was saying sank through the fog in Christina’s brain. “Why?” she murmured.
“Money.” Aiden spat the word out in disgust. “Why else? Did he make it worth your while, Canton?”
Once more the weasel gave that regal nod. “Very much so. But as James Blackstone was my client, I am obligated to honor his wishes.”
“I’ll bet,” Luke said.
Canton’s face took on a stony edge. “Again, you are welcome to bring in lawyers, but it will take time. Better to just continue as planned.”
Seeing Aiden practically vibrating with anger, Christina figured the plans had pretty much been blown to hell and back.
* * *
Aiden could have done without dinner at Black Hills’s local country club, where the elite of the entire northern county considered it a privilege to be seen. Give him a sophisticated restaurant in New York any day. This was simply people eating overpriced food for the chance to be ogled.
Right now, he preferred solitude.
But his brothers had insisted on a nice dinner before they both left. Luke would be away for quite a while as he got ready for racing season. Jacob was headed out to start preparations for moving back home. It would take him some time, but the move was a definite. The will said nothing about Aiden hiring someone to run the plant, so he was still abiding by the letter of the law.
James’s law. The cause of all the tension, especially between him and Christina. The wife he’d tried at the first opportunity to get rid of after persuading her to have sex with him.
Brilliant.
How could one woman make him feel so out of control and alert at the same time? He was always trying to guess what she’d do next—when she wasn’t driving him crazy with desire. Amazing. Christina was everything but amazed by him. They’d gone back to avoiding being in the same room except for meals, where Nolen kept a close eye on Aiden.
He was surprised Luke had been able to convince her to come with them. Yet here she was, seated on his left between him and Luke around the circular table.
The rich gold of the walls and amber lighting highlighted the dark brown color of her hair and emphasized the creaminess of her skin and the shadow along the neck he’d been itching to explore for days. He kept glancing her way, which was dangerous. He knew that. Still, he couldn’t stop.
Which was how he noticed the light in her eyes as she talked.
“Y’all remember how much fun the fair was growing up? At least, I really enjoyed the few times I got to go. And the kids at school always made a big deal about it. I think it’s a great idea.”
Wait. “What?” Aiden asked.
“Where have you been, dude?” Luke ragged him.
Mooning over a woman. “Just thinking about some work stuff. What’s going on?”
Jacob chimed in. “Christina has a great idea for building morale in the community. You know, considering all the changes and stuff going on, it might help to foster some goodwill. Show everyone you aren’t the same as old Scrooge, I mean, James.”
Aiden glanced toward his wife with a raised brow, causing her to shrug with a sheepish grin. “Women think about these things,” she said. “I was just considering how to signal to the community that you are trying to keep everything together, bolster sales and stuff, instead of prepping the mill to sell. It would be nice to do something totally unrelated to the mill that would just be a nice gesture for the community.”
Aiden leaned back in his chair. As an art dealer with his own company, he tended to work alone more often than not. He wasn’t really familiar with fostering a community’s goodwill; the extent of his charity thus far had been monetary contributions. But he could see her point, and Christina knew these people a lot better than he did. “So the idea is...”
“We could bring in a fair. Do a bunch of competitions with prizes, games, food, hire a carnival with good rides. We could even use the proceeds to sponsor something like new equipment for the playground downtown.”
As the others bounced ideas around, Aiden couldn’t take his eyes off Christina’s excited expression. It struck him hard that this woman had a seriously underused talent. He’d never known someone who could bring people together so easily and created a bond that snapped into place as seamlessly as LEGO pieces. Yet she continually remained on the outside of the circle.
Even though he wanted to resist, his brain couldn’t stop asking why.
Watching her so closely allowed him to catch the brief grimace that twisted her lips before her face resettled into the smooth calm that she constantly showed the world. He wondered what she was hiding beneath the surface. For once, he was going to find out.
“What’s the problem?” he asked.
She glanced around the table, then back at him. “What do you mean?” she asked when she realized he was talking to her.
Luke and Jacob tuned in, but Aiden ignored them. “I mean, why did you frown like that? What’s the matter?”
He could see the why-do-you-care expression form as she took a bite of her bread. Her standoffishness was getting old, even though the fault lay solely with him. He leaned closer. “It’s not nice to make me drag it out of you. Just tell me.”
Her pout was quickly squashed. Good girl. Because he wasn’t afraid to make a spectacle of himself. These people meant nothing to him, but he and Christina would be spending a lot of time together—another ten months, as a matter of fact. He wasn’t going to be miserable the whole time, and he didn’t want her to be, either.
“My father is sitting near the French doors,” she said with a tilt of her head.
Luke scoffed. “He barely qualifies for the title.”
“How would you know?” Aiden asked.
Luke sized him up for long moments, while Jacob simply watched the play from the sidelines. Finally, Luke spoke, “I actually talk to her, that’s how. Conversations have a way of revealing things like that.”
Ouch. His brother had been a bit touchy since the reading. Apparently, the aggravation ran a bit deeper than worry over his new race car. But it couldn’t compare to Aiden’s being schooled in front of the woman he—wanted. A lot.
Aiden chose to ignore his brother. “Do you talk to your family at all, Christina?” he asked.
Her shrug gave the impression that she didn’t care, but the teeth steadying her lower lip spoke otherwise. “Not if I can help it. But that’s okay. They aren’t much on talking to me, either. When they do, it’s more at me than anything else.”
Aiden looked over and noted that the woman seated at the table with Christina’s father was young enough to be her sister. Which reminded him to ask, “What about your mom?”
“I talk to her more often, usually when she calls.”
“To check on you?”
“Not really.”
Not wanting this to become a grill session, but anxious to keep her talking, Aiden asked quietly, “Then what for?”
Christina was silent for too long. Aiden was on the verge of pushing when Luke answered, instead. “She wants money.”
Huh? “I thought your parents had money,” Aiden said.
He should be irritated at her for rolling her eyes, but it was kind of cute. “My dad does. My mom falls into the genteel poverty category.”
“Ah, she’s always calling for a handout.”
“No,” she said, drawing the word out. “After the first year of my stint with Lily, she learned I meant no when I said it. I’m not even really sure why she bothers calling anymore.” She crumpled the last of her bread onto her plate, tearing tiny pieces off at a time.
“They divorced when you were...”
“Eight. The split between them was ugly. Very ugly.” Christina shuddered over memories he could only imagine. “Of course, my mother gave him a lot of ammunition to work with. Affairs. Alcohol abuse. That sort of thing.”
“And he left you with her?” Aiden couldn’t imagine leaving a child of his in that type of situation. Apparently, James had been a walk in the park compared to Christina’s childhood.
“Wealthy businessmen have a lot more on their minds than child rearing, or so he said.”
That must have hurt. Especially to a girl of eight.
“He basically paid Mother off to take me, giving her a generous amount of child support, though he stinted on the alimony in view of her numerous affairs. That didn’t stop her from asking for more, telling him I needed uniforms or new books for school, dental work, anything to con more money out of him. Sometimes she made stuff up, just to see if it would work.”
He eyed the polished man across the room. “Did it?”
“Not as often as she would have liked. Which made me more trouble than I was worth. Not a lot has changed since then, for either of them.” Christina moved her salad around on her plate. “Can we talk about something else, please?”
As the last of her earlier excitement faded from her eyes, Aiden’s guilt kicked in. People looking in from the outside probably saw her as privileged. He saw a hard childhood, a complicated life, and he hadn’t made it any easier. “How does she support herself without your income now?”
“Same way she did then. Always on the hunt for some wealthy man to support her bad habits. There have been quite a few, even another ex-husband, though it’s getting hard as she ages. I get calls for money every couple of months. Honestly, enough of my expenses are paid at Blackstone Manor that I have the extra money to spend on her, but...”
“It would just be wasted.”
She nodded. “Exactly. Instead, I’ve opened a money market account that I add to every month. Mother doesn’t even realize she has a retirement fund, without any of the work to go along with it.”
Acting on an unexpected desire, Aiden stretched his hand across the space between them. He didn’t hold Christina’s hand, but simply stroked his fingers along the back of it, once again savoring the smooth feel of her skin.
She shifted, uncomfortable with either the conversation or his touch. Christina didn’t talk about herself much. In all actuality, she didn’t put herself forward a great deal, only when she was advocating on behalf of someone else. Though she often complicated his own plans, forcing him to see all sides of the story, he couldn’t help but admire her motives.
The only other truly selfless woman he’d known had been his mother.
Aiden couldn’t help but compare Christina’s childhood to his own, at least before they’d come to live at Blackstone Manor. His father had been an attentive man, balancing his work as a professor of business management with an active family life. He’d generously lavished attention on his wife and children, which had made the move to the manor that much more unpleasant. After that, his father’s time had run out. He’d come home from work late every night exhausted, and left early in the morning before the boys were out of bed. Aiden had missed him with an ache that had been unbearable sometimes. Unfortunately, his mother had borne the brunt of his bid for more attention. Something he deeply regretted now.
He stared at the woman beside him, one who seemed so together and on top of things, and wondered what she had done to gain attention as a teenager. And instead of making those years easier, Aiden had tried to run her off from the only home she’d been able to create. Boy, he was a bastard.
She had taken her life in a much healthier direction than a lot of girls in her situation would have. It was just one more thing to admire her for; if only it didn’t make him feel like even more of a screwup. No amount of success in his work had ever made that feeling go away.
Which meant keeping his distance from her was all that much more essential. Developing any kind of relationship with her was crazy, but the simple truth was he couldn’t stay away. Deep down, he didn’t want to. He knew himself well enough to realize he couldn’t keep his hands to himself for the next ten months.
The question was, what should he do about it?
Twelve
Christina didn’t pull her hand back as quickly as she should have, but knowing that simple touch was the only thing she’d ever have from Aiden made it hard. Still, watching her father walk toward her table evoked more emotions than she could handle. Nerves and resignation churned in her stomach, not mixing well with what she’d had for dinner.
How, after all these years, could the man who had biologically sired her still make her want to shrivel up into a tiny ball to escape his notice?
George Reece paused next to their table, drawing all eyes to him. His presence was commanding, much the same way as James’s. Money, self-confidence and a hard personality would do that for a man.
Christina’s brother brought up the rear. His height and thick, dark hair matching his father’s, Chad was a couple of years younger than she was, but according to George, he might as well have been an only child. He didn’t have his father’s presence, instead putting off the I-don’t-care vibes of a young man with no responsibilities and even less drive. His gaze flickered around the table, before sliding away to assess if any of his peers were in the dining room.
Rounding out the trio was Tina, Christina’s stepmother. Or rather, the woman her father had married. After all, she was only twenty-eight to Christina’s twenty-six. With her stereotypical big blond hair and tan, she had the lithe figure of a woman who worked hard on her body, the blank stare of a woman who didn’t care about her brains and the fake boobs to crown her the ultimate trophy wife.
George never had liked ’em smart.
His gaze roamed the table before coming to rest on Christina. “Well, girl, aren’t you going to introduce me?”
Her muscles jerked, instinct urging her to hop to her feet and make introductions, but she resisted. Instead, she rose with carefully controlled grace and inclined her head. “Daddy. How are you?”
Approval drifted through his distinctive dark eyes, so like her own. She wished she felt some positive emotion, but truthfully, she never had. Self-preservation would do that to a girl.
“I heard through the grapevine you’ve been busy.”
But he couldn’t be bothered to call and find out for sure, could he?
Tina giggled.
Aiden stood as well, hopefully distracting everyone from Christina’s reddening cheeks. His full height only topped her father’s by an inch, but to Christina it could have been a foot. Her father’s condescending glare lost a little power when he had to look up. “I apologize for not recognizing you, Mr. Reece. It’s been a long time,” Aiden said.
“I’m sure living in New York for so long has dimmed your hometown memory,” George said, though his tone gave the impression he didn’t understand how anyone could forget him. “Luke, Jacob.” He nodded to each man in turn.
Finally, he zeroed back in on Christina. “It would have been customary to invite us to the wedding. Especially when you were marrying a Blackstone. Ungracious of you.”
Behind her father, Chad smirked. Her father
enjoyed his social position. It never occurred to her that her marriage would be the one thing guaranteed to garner his approval.
Jacob and Luke rose as one, but Aiden spoke before they could. “Considering my grandfather’s health, we thought it prudent to keep the ceremony very private.”
“Yeah,” Luke drawled. “I didn’t even know about it until it was time to cut the cake.”
Christina flushed as the memory flooded over her, despite Luke’s surreptitious wink.
George didn’t acknowledge the men’s excuses, but they seemed to put him in a better mood. “It’s about time you started making choices worthy of your heritage. Acting like the lady you should be, instead of somebody’s servant.”
Tina couldn’t help but add her two cents. “Well, it did help her snare a rich husband.”
Luke mumbled something that sounded suspiciously like “You outta know,” distracting Christina from the coming lecture. When he could be bothered, her father had criticized everything from her clothes to her reading material since she was born. Her nursing career was a particular sore spot.
Even more humiliating was that this should happen here, in front of Aiden. But in the same way it was hard to warn a speeding train of an impending collision, she saw no way to stop the man determined to see the worst in her.
“Christina’s not a servant. She’s based her career on helping those in need. But I’m guessing you’re not fond of doing unto others.” Jacob drawled. She thought he was echoing her thoughts, then realized he was referring to her father’s last statement.
“Why should I be?” George asked. “What good does it do me?”
She could almost feel the men jerk in surprise. Not her. She knew her father better than he probably realized. He was all about getting ahead, and dropping everything that didn’t help him do that by the wayside. Like the child he hadn’t wanted.
Aiden let her father’s comment slide. “Well, her care has certainly kept our mother alive all these years. We’re grateful to Christina for that.”