by Anna James
Clair crossed her arms over her breasts. “Don’t play dumb with me. Dante told me the two of you argued and you left. I swear he is no better than you sometimes!”
Sophia laughed, despite her unease. “Did you tell him that?”
Clair grabbed the handle and thrust the door to the clubhouse open. “As a matter of fact, I did.”
“What did he say?” They stepped into the cool interior, wandered through the Pro shop and into the main hall.
“Nothing. He glowered at me the same way you do when I mention him to you.”
“Who’s there?” Caroline popped her head out of the room at the end of the hall. Her lips curved up into a big smile. “Sophia, it’s good to see you again. It’s been too long.”
Clair threw her an “I-told-you-as-much-last-night” smirk and Sophia wanted to groan. She sensed a lecture coming on, and knew she was right when Clair murmured, “You’re on your own. Come out and join us when you’re done in here,” and then headed out the way they’d come in.
Sophia sighed. Might as well get this over with, she thought, and walked the short distance down the hall to join Caroline. Her eyes widened when she stepped into the elegantly decorated room. “Wow, this looks great. Is there anything else you need me to do?”
Caroline gave her a tender look, grasped her hands and drew her over to one of the tables. She pulled out a chair, tapped the cushion and gestured for her to take a seat. “First tell me how you’re doing.”
Sophia smiled brightly. “I’m fine. How are you?”
Caroline shook her head. “No, you’re not. You’ve lost more weight, and it’s obvious you’re not sleeping properly either. You have dark circles under your eyes.”
Her stomach knotted and she let out a nervous laugh. “I look that bad, do I?”
Caroline’s expression turned sympathetic. “We’re worried about you.”
“I…”
“Gil was my brother. I miss him, too. We all do.”
She swallowed, working hard to keep her voice steady. “I’m not as bad off as you seem to think. Yes, I’m having a little trouble sleeping…” Although her trouble sleeping lately had more to do with Dante Leone than with losing her father, but she wouldn’t mention that fact. “Isn’t it natural, under the circumstances? It’s only been a few months since…” Her breath hitched. She turned away so Caroline couldn’t see the tears in her eyes. “I miss him so much.”
Caroline enveloped her in a tight hug. “I know baby, so do I.”
Sophia fought for control, but the sadness and grief buried deep down came pouring out despite her efforts. For a few minutes she allowed herself the comfort of Caroline’s warm embrace, and then eased away. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to start blubbering.”
“Honey, you don’t have to apologize. I know what you’re going through.” She grasped Sophia’s hands and squeezed.
Sophia sucked in a deep breath and tried to smile. “Okay, what’s left to do to get ready for the shower?”
“Nothing.” Caroline pulled her to her feet and they both walked out into the hall. “Let’s join the others out on the veranda, visit for a few minutes and enjoy a cool drink before the chaos begins.”
Sophia spotted Dante seated with Clair, David and Sam the moment they exited the building. “Damn it, Caroline. What’s he doing here?”
Caroline shrugged her shoulders and breezed by her.
Sophia turned and went back indoors. After grabbing her purse, she headed toward the back entrance, eager to make good her escape. No, I can’t leave. She wanted to stay and enjoy the party. Dante should go, not her. What was he doing here anyway? Stupid question. Clair had probably invited him after last night’s attempt to get them together failed. What was so damned important that he needed to speak to her about anyway?
She wanted to scream out her frustration, no, throw something, preferably at Dante, and laughed out loud at the sheer stupidity of the thought. It released some of the tension inside her. Who cared if Dante was here? She’d handle him. Make pleasant conversation, even, and would not, under any circumstances, let him get the better of her.
Feeling confident and in control, Sophia strode toward the patio. And collided with a very hard, very masculine body.
“Running away again?” Dante inquired mockingly.
She lifted her chin. “Not at all, I—”
He laughed—a rich, warm, gravelly sound that caressed her senses. She stared up at him and her mouth went dry.
“Sophia?”
Oh, the way he said her name. With a low rumble in his chest that scraped over her in the most satisfying way. She shivered. Damn, it wasn’t fair.
One perfectly shaped eyebrow winged up.
“What?”
“Your hand?”
She frowned, then glanced down and almost gasped out loud when she found her palm resting on his chest. How had it gotten there? She didn’t remember placing it on him.
“Well?”
“Get out of my way.”
He didn’t budge. “You’re not going to play any more games with me.”
She shoved harder. “Move.”
“No.”
“Who’s playing games now?”
He stepped closer and gazed at her steadily. “I don’t play games.”
The citrus scent of his cologne drifted past her nostrils. A slight tremor ran through her as his head descended toward hers. No way. Not again. She drew in a deep, audible breath and took a step back.
His lips tightened into a thin line. “Like hell you’re not. Last night was a game for you too, wasn’t it?”
“No!”
“You haven’t changed a bit, have you? You’re still playing games with me. You played games with Malcolm Foster, too, and got one of our most valued employees fired.”
She almost doubled over from the verbal blow, but wouldn’t give him the satisfaction of knowing he’d gotten to her. Instead, she straightened her shoulders and rose up to her full five feet ten inches. No damn way would he get away with saying that to her. “You son-of-a-bitch! Malcolm Foster got what he deserved. Last I checked a woman doesn’t have to put up with harassment on the job, even from a valued employee, and especially when the valued employee gets stinking drunk at a company party and tries to cop a feel.” She shoved a pointed finger in his chest. “And furthermore I—”
Dante’s eyes grew wide. “Sophia—”
“No, you started this.” Tears gathered in the corners of her eyes and she blinked them away. Not going to cry. Not in front of him. She wouldn’t give him the satisfaction. “How could you believe I’d fabricate a lie of such magnitude?” One tear trickled down her cheek. Damn. She whirled around so he wouldn’t see. “Just leave, Dante. Please.”
He didn’t move, couldn’t. Hurt radiated off of her in waves. Had he gotten it wrong? No. Mal was his friend. He wouldn’t have lied. Would he?
He remembered Gil’s insistence Malcolm’s employment with the company be terminated, no matter how hard Dante tried to talk him out of it. Gil walked in and caught Mal with his hands on Sophia. Mal insisted he’d misunderstood. Sophia had wanted his advances and panicked when her father walked in and caught them in the act.
He knew that story all too well. Hadn’t she done something similar to him six years ago when they’d first met?
“I asked you to leave, Dante.”
“We need to talk. It’s important. I wanted to discuss this with you last night, but I—”
She shook her head. “Forget about it. What happened, well, it shouldn’t have.”
He let out a harsh breath. Damn straight it shouldn’t have. What the hell had he been thinking?
Logic hadn’t come into the equation. The minute he’d made contact with her soft, smooth skin, he’d reacted. If she hadn’t pulled away, he might well have… No. He prided hims
elf on being a civilized man, not some barbarian who tossed a woman over his shoulder and carried her off to his cave. Besides, it didn’t matter. He had more important things to deal with right now. “I agree. But that’s not what I wanted to discuss with you.”
“We have nothing to say.”
He didn’t want to do this. Had spent days trying to come up with an alternative to no avail. “I want you to come back to Baker.”
She turned around to face him, her eyes wide. “No way, Dante.”
Damn it. He needed her back. The future of Baker Investments hinged on her returning. He drew in a short, sharp breath. “I am prepared to compromise. We run the firm together.”
Her mouth fell open and she stared. “Let me get this straight. You want to run the company together? We haven’t managed that yet. I don’t see how we can.”
“Things have changed.”
“What’s changed? Not your opinion of me, and certainly not the fact that with Allen’s third you’ll own more of the firm than I will. Why would you suddenly want a partnership now?”
So, he’d been right. She’d overheard his conversation with Allen. Heat crept up his neck, which pissed him off because he had nothing to be embarrassed about.
“Are you going to deny you agreed to buy Allen’s share of the company?”
Ah, hell. “I had no choice.” He’d done what needed to be done.
“There’s always a choice, Dante.”
He remembered the choice she’d made six years ago. How she lied to him. Thank God he’d seen her true colors before she’d made a complete fool of him. “I have first right of refusal to purchase any shares the Bakers or you choose to sell.”
Her eyes narrowed. “Fine.” She straightened her shoulders and held her head high. “You should know I’m planning to sell my part of the company as well. Myer and Kane have made me an offer and I plan to accept.”
Every muscle in his body froze. He could not let that happen. Not after everything the Kanes put him through. He’d be the laughingstock of the financial community. “You’re going to work for our top competitor?” For the son-of-a-bitch, sleaze ball, James Kane?
“Yes.”
Did Sophia hate him that much? “Why?”
She dragged stiff fingers through her long, brown hair. A memory of those soft, silky strands gliding over his body as she—
“Look at it this way, with Allen’s share and me out of the way you’ll own the firm outright and you won’t have a partner questioning your decisions. It’s what you wanted from the moment you learned you inherited it.”
What he’d wanted was her…out of his life, once and for all.
What he’d ended up with was a business in financial turmoil and all his hard work and dedication would be for nothing if he couldn’t convince her to come back. He was only the investment accountant. Gil was the financial advisor. Yes, there were others they employed, but none with Gil’s experience and expertise now that Mal was gone except Sophia.
Why had he let his bitter anger get the better of him? He couldn’t afford to let their past get in the way. No way would he lose the company he’d help build from the ground up. No way would he let James Kane or his back-stabbing, bitch of a daughter win. Yet that’s what would happen if he didn’t get a hold of himself. “I thought you cared about what happens to the firm? You were adamant about that in the past.”
“I do care. I worked my tail off to prove I had what it takes to run the business successfully.”
“You were in over your head, but your stubborn pride wouldn’t let you admit it.” He raised a hand to silence her when she tried to speak. “An MBA from Wharton School of Business is impressive, but doesn’t give you the expertise you need to run a company. Only experience will give you that.”
Her face reddened. “Well, I certainly won’t get that if I come back to Baker Investments. Not with you there. At least Myer and Kane will give me a chance.”
“I—” She was right. He hadn’t given her a chance. He’d wanted Sophia gone and done everything in his power to make that happen.
He had to find a way to put the past behind him and work with her if he wanted to succeed. Gritting his teeth, he let out a harsh breath. “I’m sorry.”
Her mouth fell open. Again.
He almost laughed, would have if the situation wasn’t so serious. “Baker Investments needs you, Sophia…” He closed his eyes. Just say it. “I need you. McCormick, Pepperdine, Brown and some of the other accounts are threatening to take their business elsewhere if you don’t return. They’re unhappy with the way Allen has been managing their portfolios, and worried the company has lost all its expertise now that you and Malcolm are gone. If they leave, we can’t afford to stay in business. Do you really want to see everything your father worked for destroyed?”
Chapter Seven
Sophia sat at her desk the following Monday at the Baker Investment offices reviewing the proposal she’d created for the meeting with John Brown later in the afternoon.
Instead of spending another leisurely day at the resort with her aunt and cousin as originally planned, she’d driven back to LA early Sunday morning and went straight to work. It took most of the day to assess John’s portfolio, but the long hours had been worth it. She was pleased with the results of her efforts and hoped John Brown, and Dante, would be, too.
Dante had been right. She didn’t want Baker Investments to go under. Walking away had been a crazy idea and she chalked up the rash decision to the stress she’d been under since Gil’s death.
But several critical questions remained. Would Dante be true to his word? Could they work together without driving each other crazy? Could they put the past behind them? She had to try.
Proving her father’s faith in her was justified by carrying on his legacy was most important to her. How had she believed otherwise?
The tapping on her office door pulled Sophia from her thoughts. She glanced up. “Dante.”
He strolled in and dropped his tall, lanky frame down into one of the chairs in front of her desk. “Tell me you’ve reviewed the Brown portfolio and have an idea on how to salvage it.”
Sophia smiled and handed him the folder containing her proposal. “Take a look at this and let me know if I need to tweak anything based on new requirements he may have developed since I’ve been away.”
Dante nodded. “Have you come up with anything for the other two clients yet?”
She slid open the desk drawer, pulled out another folder and handed it to him. “Here are my recommendations to fix the Pepperdine account. I’ll need a little more time before I can give you something for McCormick. Malcolm managed his investments before Allen, and I’m not as familiar with it as I am with the others.”
“All right.” He stood, a pensive expression on his face. “You should know Allen approached me about buying him out, not the other way around. He also made it clear if I was not interested he would sell his interest to someone outside your family.”
Outside the family? Translation, he wouldn’t sell his share to me. She nodded.
“I don’t want to come between you and your brother, but I won’t allow any part of this company to belong to outsiders. I’ve worked too hard to lose any part of it. I gave you my word we’d run the company as equal partners and I intend on keeping it, regardless of the split on paper.”
She’d been wrong about his reasons for buying Allen’s shares. He wasn’t being malicious. He wanted to protect the business he’d helped build. She could understand that driving need. Finally, they had some common ground between them. Maybe they could make a go of this after all? “Okay.”
Dante nodded, turned and strode out the door.
Two hours later he burst back into her office and slammed one of the files she had given him earlier down on her desk. “Brown has canceled our appointment for this afternoon. He met with M
alcolm Foster this morning over at Myer and Kane. John has decided to let them take care of his investment needs.”
Sophia gasped. No damn way! “Since when does Mal work for Myer and Kane?”
“Are you saying you didn’t know?”
“How would I?”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “Up until the day before yesterday you’d planned to work for them.”
Talk about making irrational decisions! This one had come back to bite her in the ass but good. Why had she ever considered, for even a moment, going to work for their competitor? Okay, she’d still been angry, no, furious, over what she saw as Dante’s nasty behavior when he agreed to buy Allen’s share of the company, and when he’d accused her of lying about what happened with Malcolm… Well, she’d lost it. She’d let the words spew from her mouth without a care for what she was saying. The man drove her utterly insane. Sophia lifted her head high and glared at him. “We never discussed current employees in the one and only conversation I had with James Kane, who called me, by the way, not the other way around. And for the record, I turned the job down.”
Dante frowned. “But you said—”
She waved a hand in the air, dismissing the notion. “It was a standing offer. I could have taken him up on it at any time.” There was one more thing she needed to make clear. “And I didn’t lie about what happened with Malcolm. I never encouraged his advances and I made it crystal clear I wasn’t interested in a personal relationship with him.” Working with him had been bad enough!
The muscle in his neck jerked.
He still thought she was lying. Damn. She wanted to scream out her frustration. “If you don’t believe me, ask Clair. She knows the truth. Heck, so does everyone else in the office. They were there. Saw the way he acted. Not just at the Christmas party, but other times, too. You weren’t even around.”
She held her breath, waiting for him to say something, anything, but he only stared at her. When he finally spoke, long minutes later, he said, “Right now, we need to concentrate on getting the Brown account back. We can’t afford to lose his business.”