by LETO, JULIE
“Leo betrayed me for money.”
“The quest for cash can make people do all sorts of stupid things.” Since knowing Ariana, he’d honestly begun to see that truth with painful clarity. Most of his stupidity had luckily harmed only himself. He’d missed out on so much—experiences and emotions Ariana had shown him over the past few days. Adventure, risk, desire. Love. But of all the places in the world to admit that to her, inside Randolph’s study wouldn’t do. They’d put this episode to rest and then move on to what he now knew to be the more important things.
“Do you think that’s why Randolph got involved with Leo?” she asked. “For money?”
Max shook his head. That scenario didn’t make any sense. The money to be had was with Max and the Pier deal—the deal Max had brought to Randolph’s attention nearly a year ago. But without a doubt, Randolph and Leo had nearly ruined everything.
He and Charlie had met with the Darlingtons and the other investors earlier as planned, and performing their best tap dance, had soothed the uproar. Max hadn’t had time to worry about why his former father-in-law-to-be had missed the gathering. The meeting had run long and he’d barely made his appointment with Donalise Parker of The Bay Insider.
“No, but money is the reason The Bay Insider printed the pictures. Increased circulation, just as we suspected. No big conspiracy there.”
“You found Donalise Parker?”
Max downed more coffee. “She wasn’t happy meeting me, but her largest advertiser was a client of mine.”
And that fact had given him the idea of how to handle the newspaper once and for all.
“And she verified what Leo told us?”
“She paid him for the pictures and wrote the copy herself. Her paper appeals mainly to the young crowd, and she wanted to reach a bigger demographic. The development controversy, the sex scandal with a major player—too much titillation for her readers for her to pass up on.”
Ariana set her cup and saucer down on the side table. “Then what’s to keep her from sending someone else after us?”
Max grinned, knowing Ariana would enjoy his tale as much as he loved telling it. “I brought along a copy of the classified section of her paper. I carefully pointed out all the real estate agents’ ads—all the agents who were friends or acquaintances I could easily persuade to suspend their advertising dollars. Her tabloid stood to lose some serious cash flow.”
Ariana clapped her hands on her knees. “You didn’t! I love it. But aren’t real estate ads tiny? How bad could that really hurt them?”
Charlie entered the room at that moment, shaking his head and chuckling since he knew the rest of the story firsthand. “You should have seen him, Ariana. He saved the big gun for last.”
Max shrugged off Charlie’s compliment, but pride swelled his chest all the same. Though he wanted to find out what Charlie was doing here at nearly four in the morning looking as if he’d been here for a long while, he chose to finish telling Ariana this story first. Easing her mind took precedence over everything else. She took precedence over everything else.
“The investors I organized for the Pier deal run the gamut of the financial world,” he explained. “Bankers like Randolph. CEOs of major corporations. Brokers. I just showed Ms. Parker a letter we’d hashed out at our meeting that promised to cancel approximately fifty percent of her entire advertising revenue if she didn’t cease and desist her personal attacks.”
“We should have thought of it the first time they complained about the Pier deal,” Charlie groused as he poured coffee for himself.
Max clucked his tongue. “Now, Charles. That wouldn’t be fair. Silencing the press, denying their First Amendment rights with blatant blackmail.”
His holier-than-thou tone didn’t fool Ari one bit. “Isn’t that what you did anyway?”
Max set his coffee down and then did the same to hers. “As far as I’m concerned, Donalise Parker forfeited those rights when she printed that picture of you.” He took her hands in his, massaging her fingers. He realized then that he couldn’t stand being near her and not touch her. No matter what happened in the next few days, he couldn’t possibly let her go.
“Luckily, Ms. Parker agreed to my terms. And as soon as we find out what Randolph had to do with all this…”
Randolph stormed into the study at the sound of his name. “…You can go back to having your sordid little affair with impunity.” His voice brimmed with tightly controlled annoyance, softened only by the pure exhaustion that reddened his eyes.
Max stood, taking Ariana’s hand as she rose beside him. “Watch what you say, Randolph,” Max warned. His tone was even, but the threat was clear. “The one who made our affair sordid was you.”
Randolph stopped, dead still, and Ariana watched as the two men squared off and psychologically and physically took their corners. Randolph strolled to the other side of his desk. Max pulled her with him and then offered her a seat directly across from the massive antique table. Ariana didn’t want to sit, but when Max silently insisted by turning the chair toward her, she didn’t argue.
He remained standing, as did Randolph. Charlie stayed at the sideboard, idly stirring his coffee, which Ariana knew for a fact he drank black and with no sugar.
“I want you off the Pier deal,” Randolph demanded, slamming his fist on the leather blotter.
Charlie’s eyebrows rose over wide eyes.
Max hooked his thumbs on his belt loops.
“It’s my deal, Randolph. I personally recruited every single investor, including you. Why would I back off now, when I stand to make millions? Was that your scheme? To force me out?”
Ariana watched Randolph fume at Max’s confidence, his easy, level tone and utter disregard for the older man’s command. Randolph’s nostrils flared like a raging bull’s, but he folded himself into his chair, gripping the armrests. “You’ve humiliated my daughter, my family.”
“I would never do anything to hurt Madelyn,” Max said evenly.
Randolph growled. “You didn’t love her!” he insisted. “And you were going to marry her anyway. For her money. Her position.”
Max took that moment to sit. He couldn’t argue that point with Randolph, Ariana knew. But Max did care for Madelyn and, in many ways, Ariana was grateful. His caring for his friend, no matter how selfishly motivated in the beginning, had played a hand in bringing Max and Ariana together. Knowing that talking about his feelings for Maddie would be difficult for him with her there, she laid her hand over his and gave his knuckles a little squeeze.
He rewarded her with a tilted, grateful grin. “I loved Maddie enough to try and make her happy. She only wanted to marry me to please you and Barbara. But she came to her senses and changed her mind. She didn’t want to jeopardize the Pier deal by canceling the wedding, so she pulled a disappearing act and asked me to lie low until she could tell you the truth herself. Obviously, you found out sooner, thanks to Leo Glass.”
Randolph winced at the mention of Leo’s name. “Did he tell you how he broke our deal by selling the photographs to the newspaper? The humiliation Barbara has faced! Both of us! This is exactly what I suspected would happen.” He wagged his finger. “I knew your uncouth ways would come back to denigrate this family. I only wish Madelyn had come to her senses sooner.”
Max swallowed whatever bitterness Randolph’s reference to his past caused. “Why didn’t you warn her about me before? We were engaged for six months.”
“I encouraged Madelyn’s relationship with you because of Barbara. For whatever reason, my wife likes you. I couldn’t openly oppose you without proof of your coarse character.”
“So you hired Leo Glass.”
“I hired a private investigator. Your business dealings were all legitimate, but you spent an inordinate amount of time at Ms. Karas’s restaurant. Mr. Glass pointed us in the direction of your affair.”
Ariana had remained silent long enough. “What affair? Max and I had never even been alone together until Friday night
.”
“Yes, my dear.” Randolph said with a condescending nod. “You slept with the groom on the night before his wedding. How genteel of you.”
She started to stand and protest, but Max stilled her with one glance. A glance that said, “Let me.” He’d deferred the Leo situation to her. Fairness dictated she give him the same consideration with Randolph. Besides, she really liked seeing Max so coolly in control. When his dictates weren’t leveled at her, the power was a real turn-on.
“You don’t mean to be disrespectful to Ms. Karas, do you, Randolph? By now I’m sure you know that we weren’t having an affair before Friday.” Max shot his gaze, neither accusatory nor angry, to Charlie. “And you also know that Ms. Karas thought I was the best man, not the groom, on Friday night. And that Madelyn had left immediately after the rehearsal dinner. And that Leo slipped something into my drink.”
Randolph huffed. This man didn’t like being thwarted any more than he liked being wrong. “Leo told me about your liaison shortly after Madelyn called to announce your supposed elopement. I knew then that she was lying and assumed it was to save face after your rejection. I decided to use the pictures to force you out of the Pier deal, as pay-back for hurting my daughter. I didn’t know until Madelyn called tonight that she’d been the one to cancel the wedding because she didn’t love you. But the newspaper’s involvement was Leo’s doing alone. I wanted this to be a private matter.”
“Well, that didn’t happen and neither will my abandoning the development of the Pier.” Max stood. He’d obviously heard all he came to hear. He glanced at Randolph, who remained seated, then held out his hand to Ariana.
“Randolph, let me give you a piece of advice. Next time you have a concern over your daughter, why don’t you actually break down and have a conversation with her? Talk to her instead of trying to just take over and micromanage her life. That’s why she left, you know.”
As he let out an exhausted sigh, Randolph’s shoulders sagged. “So I’ve learned, the hard way.” He locked gazes with Ariana, but whatever he intended to say to her caught in his throat. He turned back to Max. “I’ll call each of the investors today and assure them of my support of the deal—my support of you, Maxwell.”
He attempted eye contact with Ariana again. “Ms. Karas, I’m not certain there’s anything I can do to compensate you for your unfortunate involvement.”
Ariana’s dark eyebrows arched above wide eyes. “Speaking to me with respect is a very good start, Mr. Burrows. But other than that, no, there’s nothing you can do.” She stood and extended her hand, but pulled back briefly just as Randolph was about to accept her handshake. “Wait, there is one thing…” She took his proffered hand and held it firmly in hers. “I ran away from my father, from my family, for much the same reasons Maddie ran from you. But I did it when I was a lot younger.”
The regret in her voice was a sound Max hadn’t heard before. She’d always talked about her emancipation with a tinge of romantic adventure, but comparing her circumstance to Maddie’s showed him the sacrifice she’d made in running away. He braced a hand on her shoulder.
“Show your daughter some respect when she gets back, Mr. Burrows. She cooked up her engagement to please you. She ran away to please herself. You’d better give her a reason to stay home, or she won’t. You’ll lose her forever, and that’s not good for either of you.” She pumped his hand gently, obviously as aware as Max was of the moist glaze that had formed over the man’s eyes.
“Come on, Uncle Randy,” Charlie said, breaking the somber mood with the endearment, “let’s go check on Aunt Barbara.”
Without argument, Randolph released Ari’s hand and followed his nephew out. They shut the door behind them, leaving Max and Ari alone.
“Well,” Ariana said with a sigh. “That’s that. No more photographers. No more lies. What do we do now?”
Max encircled her waist with his arms and tucked her against his chest. “I have an idea, if you’re not too exhausted.”
She leaned back just far enough to look into his eyes. “Too exhausted for one of your ideas? I can’t imagine.”
16
WITHIN HALF AN HOUR, Max was weaving his way up the road to the top of Twin Peaks in a borrowed pickup with Ariana snuggled beside him. The hills, the second and third tallest vantage points in the city, were nearly deserted in the early-morning hours. A few joggers huffed toward the top. A group of bicyclists congregated toward the bottom, stretching and checking their bikes in preparation for a grueling uphill run. Max had heard about the dazzling panoramic view of the city from here, but he’d never seen it. And with the dawn, he anticipated the sights would be magnificent. Though not nearly as magnificent as the woman beside him.
He drove until he spied a quiet and secluded spot on the hill, well beyond the paved spaces earmarked for tour buses and tourists.
Daybreak was close at hand, but the skyline still sparkled as they parked. Ariana dug a blanket out of the compartment behind the seat.
“Uncle Stephano used to take Aunt Sonia here all the time,” she explained. “It’s supposed to be a stunning view.”
Ariana pulled her jacket closer and bounded out of the truck before he could tell her the only stunning view he needed could be had by looking at her. She released the latch on the flatbed and climbed aboard, tossed open the metal trunk and then spread a second blanket for them to sit on.
“This is your way to beat the cold?” Max got out of the truck, somewhat disappointed that she planned to rely on thick wool rather than good loving to heat their chilly skin.
She made a show of looking both right and left. For the moment, they were alone. But that could change at any moment. “I’ve had my fill of public displays, Max.”
He climbed onto the truck bed. “Can’t argue that point.”
He sat with his back against the cab and held out the other blanket until Ariana snuggled in beside him. She held a bottle of wine and two glasses.
“Your uncle is one prepared guy,” he quipped.
Ariana laughed as she dug for the corkscrew and adeptly popped the cork. “Stephano only donated the use of his truck. I brought the wine. After I found Leo, I was planning on surprising you at your house.”
He accepted the full glass of something dark and sweet-smelling, but only swirled the liquid while she poured her own glassful and then set the bottle aside.
“You shouldn’t have gone after Leo alone, Ari. And I’m not saying that because I want to control you or tell you what to do…”
“I know.”
“E-excuse me?”
She grinned at his sputtered response. “I’m obsessive about doing things my own way. I’d like to say it’s a hard habit to break but, truth is, it’s a reflex I’ve developed after getting hurt. First by my family not trusting me to run the restaurant. Then by Rick not trusting me to breathe without his direction.”
“Things happen,” he said, adjusting the blanket so he could slip his arm around her. “It’s human nature to protect yourself any way you can.”
“Even at the expense of love?”
She locked her gaze with his. Max saw the hopeful uncertainty lingering in her eyes and recognized the emotion as exactly what he was feeling himself.
“Love is the first thing we seem to sacrifice,” he admitted. He most definitely had—in the past, but not anymore. “Pretty stupid, huh?”
She glanced down into the dark depths of her wineglass. “I don’t know if it’s stupid or not.”
She took a sip, then twisted around to abandon her glass on top of the metal trunk they were leaning against. When she turned back, her expression was so stricken, so utterly confused, Max couldn’t bear the agony of watching her not know that he loved her, that he was willing to sacrifice everything he owned, now and in the future, to have her love him the way he loved her. With his hand still behind her, he pressed her flush against him and captured her mouth before she could say another word.
Over the past four days, they�
�d touched a thousand times. Each press of lips, each act of intimacy, had paled compared to this simple kiss. He wanted nothing more than to hold her, feel her connected to him. A part of him. Forever.
She pulled away, her eyes sad. “I can’t do this, Max.”
“Can’t do what?”
“Pretend I don’t love you!”
His heart swelled. “Who asked you to?”
“No one. You. Me. We were supposed to be together only for this one week. How can we make it work beyond this? I can’t give up the restaurant.”
“And I’d never ask you to.”
“So you want to have a relationship on stolen moments? Breaks from the dinner crowd? How about when you get bogged under with construction at Pier Nine? I’m just organizing the renovation of one restaurant and I can’t believe how much time and effort and energy it takes.”
“You know, for someone who can instigate some incredible spontaneous excursions, you think too much.”
“I think too much?”
Max couldn’t believe the words forming in his brain. Since he’d known Ariana Karas, he’d become another person, a better person. The man he had been destined to become before his quest for financial stability overtook his life. He wasn’t fooling himself. Accepting these changes wouldn’t be any easier for him than they would be for her. But he was willing to make the effort…if she was.
“We’ll make it work.”
“How?”
“I don’t know exactly. And that’s the beauty of it. We don’t have to know. I didn’t know anything about Chinatown until you took me on a tour. You didn’t know we were going out on the bay until I took you to the boat. But we had wonderful adventures without a plan.” He set his wineglass next to hers, needing both his hands to capture her cheeks, hold her steady while he convinced her they could make this work. “We’ll both have to change our ways, Ari, not just you. I love you too much.”
“You do?”
“Didn’t you know that? Couldn’t you tell? I’ve never loved anyone before, Ariana. And you know what? I’d go back on food stamps if that’s what it took to have you in my life. All these years, I never really understood my parents. How they stayed together when they had nothing.”