by Addison Fox
She saw it the moment the teasing lights went out of both her sisters’ eyes. Camryn was the first to speak. “If he thinks he can romance it out from underneath you, the jerk is in for a surprise.”
Although that seemed like the most obvious answer for his sudden, seductive interest—and one she’d spent half the night turning over in her mind—it didn’t fit. Didn’t feel right. Nathan Cooper might be a lot of things—ruthless sitting at the top of the heap—but his ardor hadn’t seemed faked. In fact, it had seemed as if it had sucker punched him as cleanly as it had her.
“It’s not that.” Keira shook her head, searching for the right words to describe what she was feeling. “I can’t explain it, but one was completely disconnected from the other.”
“I didn’t mean that nearly as harshly as it sounded,” Camryn said. “Because you’re completely wonderful. But what do you mean, disconnected?”
“He thinks he can have a fling with me and a go at the company. Like I’m somehow separate from McBride Media.”
“You are separate, K.” Mayson waved a hand among all three of them. “We all are. Just because our last name’s on the company doesn’t mean we’re not individuals. We’re women first.”
“Yes, but his blithe assumption he can have both is infuriating.”
“He’s a powerful man borne of a powerful man.” Before either of them could argue with Mayson’s point, she said, “Please understand, I’m not excusing it, but it is in his blood.”
“That’s an excellent point. Sally and I were going over the financials again this morning and he’s following every takeover trick in the book.” Camryn began ticking points off on her fingers. “Major stock purchase followed by an SEC filing, wooing our other major investors—even that salvo in the Financial Journal had the distinct purpose of getting investors riled up. Nathan Cooper knows what he’s doing.”
“So why muddy that with attraction? He can’t be blind enough to think I’m not going to take this personally.” Keira dropped her head in her hands, the sheer stupidity of her actions the night before stabbing daggers at the base of her skull.
Mayson spoke first. “Maybe because he really is attracted to you.”
Keira turned over her sisters’ words long after they’d left to return to their offices. Mayson’s words, in particular, were more than apt. Nathan Cooper was a powerful man.
A powerful man who was no doubt very used to getting his way in all things.
With a sudden curiosity, she pulled up a search engine and typed in a few key words. An endless string of pages came up, all neatly catalogued around the life and times of West Harrison. She refined the query to consolidate a search for both West and Nathan and was still surprised to see more than one hundred pages of results.
When she clicked on the first one that seemed of interest, a gossip column popped up. This particular story dealt with a fund-raiser the previous spring for a children’s charity. Both father and son were attendees, and the columnist seemed almost gleeful that the two men hadn’t spoken.
Keira read through a few more stories, the underlying theme strangely consistent. Father and son kept up a cool facade of politeness with each other in public, but no one who was really looking missed the barely veiled disdain running between them. No wonder Nathan thought emotions could be separated as easily as flipping a switch. He clearly wasn’t raised with any. At least not by his father.
Keira’s thoughts drifted to the evening before, when she’d questioned him on his interest in pursuing a media company. He’d hidden it well and if she hadn’t been looking for it, she’d likely have missed it. But Nathan wasn’t unaffected by the mention of West Harrison. Those vivid blue eyes had dulled as their discussion turned to his father and his entire demeanor had stiffened, like a dog circling for battle.
Some scars are hard to hide no matter how hard we try, she mused as she clicked on one more article of interest. As she scrolled through the article that covered pretty much the same ground as the others, her phone buzzed.
“Yes, Stacy.”
“The lobby just rang. A Mister Nathan Cooper would like to see you.”
The urge to send him away or pretend she wasn’t there was strong, but Keira knew it would only stave off the inevitable. “Thanks, Stacy. Send him up.”
Keira clicked out of the article and turned off the search program. If she needed any ammunition to wage war on Nathan, understanding his relationship with his father was surely at the heart of the matter.
The real question was how to use that to her advantage.
…
Nathan rode the sleek elevator to the upper echelons of the McBride empire. He hadn’t been surprised when the security guard in the lobby directed him to the top floor of the building. Where else would the princess of the empire live?
He’d debated coming in the first place, trying to think through the best way to keep her off guard, but in the end he’d decided the slight olive branch of coming into her territory was quickly outweighed by the surprise nature of the attack. He knew legal would get involved soon, per her promise the night before as much as from the fact that legal always got involved, but for the next few days it was still just the two of them.
Negotiating. For her company, of course. But it was negotiation for her bed where his interests were far more…urgent.
As the numbers continued to rise on the elevator’s digital panel, his anticipation rose as well. What was it about this woman? And why had she gripped him with this sudden madness that had her filling his thoughts and crowding out everything else?
Images of her naked and in his arms had kept him awake most of the night, warring with the heated remembrance of kissing her lush lips. Plundering her mouth and the rich, sweet wine taste of her. His body tightened at the mere thought of her, and he shifted his feet as the tension that had gripped him all night assailed him again. He needed to focus on the task at hand. Whatever fire had been stoked between them the evening before needed to stay firmly in the background. It was time to initiate phase two of his battle for her company. And this intense, consuming need for her couldn’t stand in the way of that.
He wouldn’t let it.
The elevator stopped on the fortieth floor and, satisfied he’d put this crazy attraction for her firmly in its place, he stepped into the plush inner sanctum of McBride Media. It was time to storm the castle.
After braving the speculative looks of her assistant as she took his coat and escorted him down the hall, he smiled to himself while running the gauntlet toward Keira’s office. Gazes rose over laptops as the various occupants of the offices he passed glanced up at him, recognition hitting each face in turn. Within moments, he knew the grapevine would be humming that the enemy had breached the inner sanctum.
She sat behind a sleek desk, the cherry wood fashioned into a table with uniquely angled legs that managed to give the piece a very contemporary yet classic look. Just like Keira. Other than a small stack of folders, a thin laptop, and a phone, the desk was neat. Elegant. Refined. Also just like Keira.
She rose and moved toward him, her hand extended and her polite smile firmly planted. As their hands met, he didn’t miss the wariness that peeked through the dark brown of her eyes. “It’s nice to see you again, Mr. Cooper.”
“Thank you for making the time.”
She gave brief instructions to her assistant to bring in a coffee service before gesturing him to a chair opposite her desk. He didn’t miss the fact that she had a small meeting table across the room that she didn’t invite him to sit at. He admired the move and the business sense that went with it. A seat at that table would suggest they were equals. The two of them on opposite sides of her desk suggested she was in control.
For now, he reassured himself.
Only for now.
Once settled in her chair, she folded her hands on the desktop and offered him a smile. It was bland and well-mannered, as if she could erase what had happened between them the night before if she simply
shot enough politeness in his direction. “I have to admit, I’m surprised by your visit. I assumed the next steps would go through our lawyers.”
“I wanted to see you again. Get a feel for the company. Talk to you about what you see as McBride’s strengths and weaknesses.”
Keira waved her assistant in with the coffee and held her comments until the woman had again departed from the room after setting down two steaming mugs. “I can’t see how there would be any circumstance in which I’d give you information that would help you take over my company. In fact, I’m honestly surprised someone of your business experience would even suggest it.”
“I’m going to take over the company and I’d like to build on what you’ve already created. I think we got off to a poor start. I have no intention of letting go of you or your sisters once the deal is finalized. I need good people at the top and the three of you are more than adept.”
“Yes, we are.” She reached for her coffee, the same wary gaze she’d worn the evening before staring back at him.
“And you don’t believe I know that?”
“I don’t claim to know what you believe, Mr. Cooper.”
He couldn’t say what it was about her expression that chafed, but he didn’t find the same satisfaction he’d felt in deals past when an opponent had stared at him with a cautious and distrustful gaze. That expression in Keira’s warm chocolate-brown eyes was almost…embarrassing? And it wasn’t because she was a woman, he told himself. He couldn’t care less who sat across from him in a business negotiation. It was the deal that mattered.
Or it had always mattered. Before. So what was different now? And why did he see something else hovering in the depths of that mistrustful gaze?
Like pity.
Tamping down an unexpected tide of anger, Nathan reached for his mug, his movements deliberate.
“I think you’ve done some amazing things with the company. I have no intention of changing that.”
“I’m the group publisher. I run the organization. Surely in your vision of world domination, you don’t see my continuing in that role as a viable option.”
“Why not? I’m sure there are changes I’d like to make. Your decision, for example, to continue publishing Home and Family makes no sense.”
“It’s our flagship. And it’s far more profitable than the business and advertising presses would like to believe.”
He shrugged, unwilling to believe his intel on the company was flawed. “Then it’s a recent change.”
Her eyes went wide with mock innocence as she stared at him over the rim of her coffee cup. “Or maybe you need to admit you don’t know as much about the media business as you think you do.”
“Are you willing to bet your company on that, princess?”
“I’m not interested in betting anything. As I’ve tried to explain to you, McBride Media is not for sale.”
“You should have thought about that before you made the company public.”
“My father did that.”
Nathan immediately keyed in on the slight hitch in her voice as another few pieces of the puzzle fell into place. “And you’ve spent your life cleaning up Daddy’s mistakes, haven’t you?”
If he expected his words to crush her, he was in for some serious disappointment. Instead, her spine stiffened even further while her voice took on a harder edge as she skated dangerously close to the edge of well-mannered propriety.
“Innuendo and suspicion, Nathan? I’d have thought you had a far better arsenal of weapons than that. Especially since you’ve prickled up on the few occasions your father’s been mentioned.”
She was cool; he’d give her that. Of course, she’d have to be to survive—and thrive—in business as she had.
“You can’t run from the truth. His actions put the company in a vulnerable position by making it public.”
“And you somehow feel that vulnerability means it’s your God-given right to come in and steal it.”
“I’m not stealing anything, Keira.”
“That’s a matter of opinion.”
Before he could say anything, a discreet knock echoed from the doorway and her assistant came back in. “I’m so sorry to disturb you, but you said you wanted me to let you know when your car arrived.”
“Thanks, Stacy.”
As soon as the woman left, Keira stood, her actions effectively dismissing their conversation and him.
“I have a lunch appointment I need to keep. Which is probably for the best, as it’s clear you and I aren’t going to see eye to eye.”
“I’ll come with you.”
Nathan wasn’t sure where the response came from—had really only said it as a reaction to the heat of the moment—but now that the words were out the idea took on considerable merit.
And couldn’t deny his interest in seeing how she handled herself in a business transaction, one that was, presumably, not as tense and argumentative as what was evolving between them.
“I’m not bringing you on a business lunch.”
Warming up to the idea, he couldn’t stop the smile. His own meetings could wait. This was far more important. “Sure you are. It’ll give me a chance to see you in action.”
“So you can steal my secrets?”
“So I can see how it’s done right.”
He saw her momentarily stumble before she stopped stuffing a few items into a pricey designer tote to stare at him, her expression softening a few degrees. The shift in tactic was not nearly as subtle as he suspected she’d intended, but he was intrigued all the same. Keira struck him as a professional who did nothing without very deliberate intention.
“Nathan. I’ve worked to get this appointment for six months. It’s with the head of Rejuvenate Cosmetics. As someone who wants to take over my company, surely you can understand the importance of growing the business of a client like this.”
“All the more reason for me to come. I’ve known Simon since my university days. I’m sure he won’t mind.”
…
Keira fought the urge to scream in frustration.
Barely.
“You do realize that inviting yourself somewhere is rude.”
“Not the first time that label’s been thrown at me.” A quirky grin lit his lips and she fought the magnetic pull of that odd little smile that was both self-deprecating and perhaps the tiniest bit sad. Then the smile vanished as he leaned toward her with a conspiratorial wink. “People tend to find takeovers, as a rule, bad-mannered and impolite.”
“So why do them?” Her own words were out before she could stop them, her thoughts still filled with the sadness she’d sensed in him.
“Because I’m a businessman and it’s what I’ve built my company to do.”
“Surely you could find other ways to make investments. Other ways to grow your company.” Why was she even responding to this? Asking questions only gave credence to his choices and made it seem as if she cared.
Which she didn’t.
“I do make other investments, but this is a major strategy of Maverick Capital.” Clouds filled his blue gaze and yet again, Keira sensed there was something under the surface—something that pulled at her—before it vanished. “Come on. Simon doesn’t like to be kept waiting.”
Keira brushed off whatever strange fascination had given her even the slightest pause in her own anger and re-checked she had everything for her meeting. With one last dark glance in Nathan’s direction, she stuffed her proposal into her bag and breezed past him as she moved around her desk.
This was her game. Her meeting. Let him try to keep up.
Fifteen minutes later, insult was layered over injury as Nathan and Simon slapped each other in that harsh-yet-jovial way of men. Simon turned his attention toward her, his legendary charm front and center. “Keira. It’s so lovely to see you. It feels like we’ve been planning this lunch forever.”
“You’re a busy man. I understand how hard it is to get away. I appreciate you making the time.”
&nbs
p; “You’re quite busy yourself, from what I hear.” Simon extended a hand for her to follow after the maître d’ before falling in step behind her. If he’d thought it odd she’d brought Nathan along, he hid it well. More likely, Keira thought, he was too polite to admit he’d read the business press and knew exactly why Nathan Cooper was along on their lunch.
Once they were seated, Simon picked up where he’d left off. “Your company’s doing some outstanding things. I’ve heard nothing but praise for the new app you launched a few months back.”
“The beauty finder?”
“That’s the one. The whole office can’t stop talking about it. We’ve already seen a significant uptick in sales. I appreciate the exclusive you offered us for the mascara category during our new product launch.”
Keira took the opening that was offered, leaning forward as the rush of adrenaline hit her veins. “We’ve seen similar results off the data but obviously aren’t privy to your actual sales figures. I’m so pleased the consumer interest is generating results.”
She caught Nathan looking at her from the corner of her eye as she picked up her menu. His gaze was a warm blue and, if she wasn’t mistaken, there was a distinct note of admiration as he stared at her from across the table. If it had been simple lust in his eyes, she could have ignored it. Could have chalked it up to something ephemeral and not worth her time. But the acknowledgment of her accomplishment and understanding of her skills? That she couldn’t deny.
A shot of need arrowed through her belly and heat suffused her chest as her fingers began to shake, and she hastily set down her menu to clasp them in her lap. Unable to resist, she shot one final glance at Nathan and knew she was in big trouble. The admiration that had been there only moments ago had transformed into something else as need and want washed the bright blue in a bold swath of fire that threatened to consume her.
Her earlier words to her sisters came rushing back to her. He thinks he can have a fling with me and a go at the company. Like I’m somehow separate from McBride Media.
She was separate, wasn’t she?
As much as she loved her job, she was still a woman. And it was becoming increasingly evident the woman was in as much trouble as her business-focused alter ego.