“There is nothing for him to know,” Tina said firmly, pushing Mr. Kelly right back into the chair he was about to vacate. All she needed was for the two men to start interfering and she and Drew would be standing before a judge with a shotgun aimed at Drew’s head. “You stay out of it. I’m a grown woman. I can handle my own social life.”
“You’re the one who picked Martin,” Mr. Kelly sniffed. “I heard what that nasal-sounding, self-indulgent scoundrel said to you yesterday. If you ask me, you ain’t got the scenting ability of a bloodhound.”
“I didn’t ask you. Now let’s just drop it. I have to get to work.”
“Don’t forget to talk to Sarah before you go,” Juliet said. She sighed heavily, and there was a hint of censure in her tone. “She’s been so upset, dear. I don’t think she slept a wink all night for fear she’d driven you straight into Martin’s arms.”
“You can both stop worrying about that. Martin and I are definitely through. I’ll go talk to Sarah right now and tell her that’s one thing she doesn’t need to fret about,” Tina promised.
The apology to Grandmother Sarah was easier by far than she’d expected. As soon as Tina admitted that she’d been with Drew the previous evening, Sarah’s eyes lit up with satisfaction.
“You don’t have to look so smug,” Tina chided.
Sarah paused in her dishwashing and said with feigned ferocity, “You just can’t admit it, can you, Christina Elizabeth.”
“Admit what?”
“That it doesn’t hurt to listen to us old folks once in a while.”
“I don’t mind listening to you. It’s when you take matters into your own hands that I object.”
Sarah blushed guiltily and attacked the oatmeal-encrusted pot she’d been scrubbing with renewed purpose. “I’ll try to remember that,” she mumbled.
“See that you do,” Tina said with severity, then grinned and hugged her. “I love you.”
“I love you, too, girl. We all do. Now run along to work.”
Tina gave her another squeeze, then left for Harrington Industries, dreading what she might find there. As soon as she arrived at the penthouse, she went straight to David’s office. As usual, he had arrived ahead of her. Paperwork literally spilled off his cluttered desk. She moved several folders and sank down in a chair across from him, noting again that for a man of twenty-five, who radiated calm professionalism and dressed for the precise image, he was amazingly untidy otherwise.
“So,” she said. “What did you find?”
“Nothing.”
Her eyes widened in surprise. “Nothing?”
“The price of the Harrington Industries stock is steady. The volume is steady. There hasn’t been a single thing out of the ordinary in the last few weeks. I can’t figure it out. What made you think something was going on?”
“It was just a funny feeling. I guess my feminine intuition blew it this time,” she said as relief flooded through her. It was true, then. Drew wasn’t after the company. After their closeness yesterday, the feelings that had flourished, she couldn’t believe that he was trying to use her, either. Perhaps it was just as he’d said, and his interest was only in relieving her of pressure. Now that he knew she didn’t want that, he would drop all talk of a merger.
“What do you want me to do now, Tina?” David asked.
“Keep an eye on things and let me know if the situation changes. Hopefully I really was all wrong about this.”
Once she’d left David’s office, she pushed the issue to the back of her mind, knowing that he’d stay on top of it. She spent the morning in meetings with her art department designing the materials needed for the stockholders’ meeting. It was after noon when Jennifer came in and stood in front of Tina’s desk with her hands behind her back. She was fidgeting nervously. Jennifer never fidgeted unless things were really bad. It made Tina’s pulse slow with dread.
“What’s up, Jen?”
“Have you seen this?”
“What?”
She handed over the Miami paper. Gregory Hanks’s column bore a headline forecasting Dark Days Ahead for Harrington Industries. Tina unconsciously balled her hand into a fist as she scanned the damning article, which detailed her problems with DCF and predicted trouble at the stockholders’ meeting as a result.
“We’re already getting calls,” Jennifer said when Tina had thrown the offending newspaper on her desk. “Mr. Davis was threatening to take over the company himself.”
“That might be interesting,” Tina said dryly. “Why didn’t you interrupt me?”
“David’s been handling the calls, except for Mr. Davis’s. I had the pleasure of talking to him.”
“Get David in here.”
He was there within minutes, his expression harried, his tie loosened. Astonishingly, he looked even more frazzled than Jennifer had a few days earlier.
“What are they saying?” she asked bluntly.
“They want to know what you plan to do about the report. They figure it’ll be picked up in the Wall Street Journal next.”
“What can I do about it? The facts are accurate. I can’t very well challenge Gregory Hanks on his interpretation of them or on his predictions.”
“Damn, Tina. This is going to blow up in our faces. Can’t you get rid of those people until after the stockholders’ meeting is over?”
Tina glared at him, and David promptly looked guilty.
“Sorry. I just thought it might help.”
“It wouldn’t. Then somebody would probably write that I’d cast them out into the street. Besides, I have no intention of allowing this to force me into abandoning my friends.”
“Well, you’d better do something or you’re going to have a mutiny on your hands in New York.”
“And here?” she asked perceptively.
David sighed. “No. Not here. Jennifer and I will do the best we can. Just try to think of something, please,” he pleaded.
No matter how hard she tried over the next few days, though, Tina couldn’t come up with a quick solution that would settle the nerves of the stockholders while allowing her to stand up for her principles. Drew sensed her anxiety and tried to reach her. In fact, he did everything he could think of to distract her, short of kidnapping her.
Each morning she found a fresh rose on her desk. He turned up daily at lunchtime either with a picnic basket filled with Sarah’s tempting goodies or gourmet take-out for which he must have bribed the chefs at the best restaurants in town. He was back every day at five-thirty to pick her up. If she wasn’t ready to leave, he sat and waited, subtly pressuring her to wrap things up and take some time for herself.
Best of all, he didn’t probe. When she walked out of Harrington Industries at night, she dropped the mantle of corporate president and became a woman in love. Not that she and Drew had much time alone to be lovers. It seemed everyone who’d conspired so valiantly to get them together was now just as busily conspiring to keep them apart—or at least out of each other’s arms.
Rather than attending a round of parties or going out to fancy restaurants or even hiding away by themselves, they spent their evenings playing cards or singing along to old records under the approving gazes of Seth and Sarah and the others. It had the feel of a slow, old-fashioned courtship, except for those scant occasions when they managed to slip away for hot, stolen kisses in the moonlight. One night they actually outlasted everyone else and played a raucous game of strip poker, their eyes constantly darting to the door in fear that Mr. Kelly might take one of his middle-of-the-night strolls and discover them surrounded by cards and discarded clothing.
If it hadn’t been for the threat hanging over her head, Tina would have been deliriously happy. Loving Drew was as fulfilling and exciting as she’d imagined. He was tender and supportive, always ready with a pep talk or some crazy gift
exactly when she needed cheering up.
Around the house, things were almost perfect. Seth helped Mr. Kelly with the gardening. They both came in to breakfast each morning moaning and holding their backs. Tina had a feeling that there wasn’t a thing wrong with their backs that a little sympathy couldn’t cure. They both seemed to perk right up the minute Sarah and Juliet hovered over them with hot tea and homemade coffee cake.
Mr. Kelly continued to grumble about Aunt Juliet’s petunias, but he planted them just the way she wanted them. Although he blustered and fussed, there was a definite sparkle in his eyes when she threw her arms around him and kissed him on the cheek for doing it. Juliet spent the rest of the day acting thoroughly befuddled.
Whenever she’d let him, Seth tried to win Sarah over. Tina came in one afternoon and caught them dancing, spinning around in a graceful circle to an old Glenn Miller album. She stood in the doorway and watched, clapping enthusiastically when Seth ended the dance with a low dip that had Sarah’s head barely two feet from the floor.
“Oh, my, you’re making me dizzy,” Sarah complained when she was rightside up again, but there was a genuine hint of laughter in her voice. She waved her hankie in front of her flushed face and avoided Tina’s amused eyes. “I’m too old for these wild dances, Seth Landry.”
“That was a waltz, Sarah, and you’re only as old as you feel,” he countered in his calm, easy manner.
“I feel ancient.”
“You look twenty-two again with your cheeks all rosy.”
Sarah scrambled out of Seth’s embrace and backed toward the door. “Don’t start that nonsense again. I’m sixty-seven and I look it. I spent a lot of years getting these character lines and I’m not going to deny them now. Your flattery won’t make a bit of difference.”
“I love every one of your character lines. What do you think, Tina?”
“I think I’ll stay out of this one.”
“Smart girl,” Sarah grumbled as she tried to slip away. Seth grabbed her hand and whirled her neatly back into his arms. He planted a kiss soundly on her lips before chuckling and releasing her. “Think I’ll go see what that son of mine is up to.”
“So, what’s the story?” Tina asked when he’d gone. “Are you and Seth getting serious?”
Sarah turned as pink as one of her favorite roses. “Oh, posh-tosh, girl. Don’t go talking craziness. That man is never serious for more than a minute at a time.”
“You know what I mean.”
“Mind your own business.”
“The way you did?” Tina retorted leaving a sputtering Sarah behind her as she went in search of Drew. She found him in the yard playing ball with Billy, for whom he was rapidly filling in as a surrogate father. With Drew’s assistance and encouragement Billy had even started doing his homework. Miss Maxwell had sent a note home just last week expressing astonishment—and relief, Tina suspected—at the improvement.
Tina watched the two of them together, allowing her imagination to toy with the notion of Drew as a husband and father. The thought held enchanting possibilities. A few minutes later, when Drew slammed a baseball through her kitchen window, she could only shrug. He looked so pleased with himself, she couldn’t have ranted and raged even if she’d wanted to. Besides, Sarah came out of the house shouting enough for all of them. She wasn’t a bit pleased about having glass all over her counter.
“I’m sorry, Sarah,” Drew apologized. Just the same, he couldn’t quite wipe the satisfied smirk off his face.
“I should think you would be,” Sarah huffed, though Tina thought she detected the beginning of a sparkle in her eyes. “You’re old enough to know better. What kind of an example are you setting for Billy?”
“I’ll pay for the window,” he suggested, and Sarah threw up her hands.
“Of course you will. Now go on back out there and play,” she said as if she were talking to a troublesome boy. “Just be more careful.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
Tina smothered a grin as she sank down on a lounge chair. A few minutes later, Drew came over to join her, nudging her legs aside on the chaise lounge to sit next to her. He was mopping his face and his bare shoulders were slick with perspiration, but Tina draped an arm around his neck just the same. She needed to be close to him, to absorb just a little of his strength.
“Hey, you’ll ruin that sexy dress. I’m all sticky,” Drew protested.
“I don’t care. I need a hug.”
He looked at her sharply. “Why’s that?”
She sighed. “Where do I begin? For starters, David threatened to quit today, and I suspect Jennifer will be right behind him.”
“Why would they do that?”
“Ever since those stories hit the papers, the phones have gone crazy. Every stockholder in the country is convinced that I’m about to ruin Harrington Industries. One man even said he’d heard I was turning it over to charity.”
Drew kissed her, nibbling lightly on her lower lip. When he did that, she couldn’t think, and he knew it. It was very effective as distractions went. Unfortunately, when he stopped, the image of David standing in her office yet again today, pleading with her to do something, came back in a rush.
“David still thinks I’m going to have to throw everyone out of here before things will settle down.”
Drew sighed. “He’s wrong.”
“That’s what I told him days ago, but what if he’s not?”
“Ah, my love, I sometimes wonder if you wouldn’t manufacture something to worry about if things in your life went too smoothly. Your meeting will go beautifully. Take Sarah, Juliet and Mr. Kelly with you if you want to. If they’re at the meeting, the stockholders will realize that they’re utterly charming and harmless.”
Tina’s eyes lit up. “What a wonderful idea! Drew, you’re a genius. We’ll take them to New York with us.”
His face clouded over. “I was kidding.”
“I’m not. It’ll be perfect.”
“I was hoping we’d have some time alone up there. Do you realize we haven’t had a single minute to ourselves in days?”
“Only too well,” she said with heartfelt sincerity. “Don’t pout, though. If all goes well, we’ll send them back the day after the meeting and we can stay on.”
“And do what?”
She gave him a bold wink. “Anything you’d like.”
“Promise?”
“Absolutely.”
“Then I’ll hold you to that.”
The day before the meeting all of them except a disgusted Billy, who’d been left with a friend’s family, flew to New York in the company jet. Juliet’s eyes were wide as saucers when they lifted off.
“Oh, my,” she muttered as the ground receded below them. “Are you sure this is safe?”
“Would you like a glass of sherry, Aunt Juliet? It would calm your nerves.”
“Why, yes, dear. It is a little early, but I think a glass of sherry would be very nice.”
Several glasses later, Aunt Juliet was ever so slightly tipsy and having the time of her life, at least until the pilot came into the back to tell them that they’d be landing soon. Juliet looked from him to the cockpit and back again.
“Who’s flying this thing?”
“I am, ma’am.”
“I meant now.”
“It’s on automatic.”
Her brow wrinkled in a puzzled frown. “You mean like one of those coffeepots you turn on the night before?”
“Something like that, ma’am.”
“Well, I declare. Do you suppose I could come up there and see?”
“I think you’d better stay right here, Juliet,” Tina said.
“It would be all right, ma’am,” the pilot said. “That is if you don’t mind.”
Tina shrugged and
Drew chuckled. “I think we’ve made a convert of her,” he said.
“Five glasses of sherry would convert a saint to a sinner,” Tina replied just as the plane took a sudden dip. “What the hell was that?”
The cockpit door flew open. “Sorry about that,” Aunt Juliet called gaily. “I’m still getting my wings.”
“Oh my God,” Tina muttered.
Drew patted her hand. “See, dear. If anything happens with DCF, Juliet can always try for her pilot’s license.”
“Very funny.”
The plane banked steeply to the left and Sarah got to her feet. “I’ve had just about enough of this.” She marched to the cockpit door. “Juliet, you get back here. Next thing you know my stomach is going to go all queasy and you’ll be up half the night with me.”
“I’m sorry,” Juliet said meekly, but her eyes were twinkling merrily as she came back to the passenger cabin and sat next to Mr. Kelly. “Isn’t this just the most wonderful experience?”
“What’s that?”
“I said isn’t this the most wonderful experience?” she shouted. “Turn your hearing aid back on. You’re missing all the fun.”
“You call this fun?” Mr. Kelly grumbled. “I’ll take my fun on the ground any day. Don’t trust these things.”
“We’ll be on the ground soon,” Tina soothed.
“Don’t know why we had to come up here in the first place. Nothing in New York but a bunch of thieves.”
“Oh, stop your grumbling. We came to help Tina,” Sarah said. “After all she’s done for us, it’s the least we can do.”
“Can’t see how parading us around like a herd of cattle going to market will help one bit.”
“It will,” Tina said. “The press has made me out to be some kind of nut for taking you in. That’s an insult to me and to you. It implies you’re not good enough to live where you do. Do you believe that?”
“Of course not.”
“Then it’s time people found that out for themselves,” Sarah agreed. She glanced pointedly at Juliet. “Just stay away from the sherry until Tina’s stockholders get to know us.”
Safe Harbor: A Cold Creek Homecoming Page 15