“I’m sorry.” He picked up the hand closest to him and held it tightly, hoping his grip would say what his words were too inadequate to convey.
She exhaled deeply. “The doctors don’t believe the effects will be permanent. But he hasn’t responded well to conventional treatment. And, obviously, the schools have stopped calling.”
He pulled her to him, nestling her head against his chest. “Why didn’t you say anything before this?”
He felt her shrug. “It’s not anyone’s business but ours,” she said after minute. “Mine and my family’s.”
“I could’ve helped.” His mind raced with avenues to explore, favors to call in. Medevco, the company Evan Fletcher and Grayson Monk pitched at Monte Carlo Night—weren’t they involved in cutting-edge medical research? He was sure he’d read something about rehabilitating spinal-cord injuries in the prospectus they sent him.
She raised her head. “You have helped. Why do you think I accepted your job offer? We needed the money.”
“I thought...” He stopped. The truth was his parents showed him everyone had a price. He thought he’d named hers. “I needed your skills, I made you an offer, you accepted. It’s not a complicated equation.”
She sat up and looked down at him. Golden curls hung in her face, begging him to twist them around his fingers and pull her face to his so he could kiss her senseless. Before he could suit action to thought, she gathered her tresses into a bun and tucked in the ends so it stayed put. “Your offer was preposterous.”
Now it was his turn to sit up. “You said yes.”
“Because I love my family and want to help them.” Her gaze, which had been pinning his in place, dropped to the bedspread. “And, yes, now I can start my own executive search agency. But if we hadn’t been desperate to pay for Matt’s therapy, I wouldn’t have jumped like I did.”
Her sheets, which previously had felt silky smooth, began to chafe. He couldn’t find a comfortable spot. “It was a generous offer.”
“I agree. And I appreciate being able to help my family. I owe you a lot.”
“But you wouldn’t have accepted otherwise.” Not only were the sheets itchy, but the room was too hot. He pushed the covers down.
“No. I like taking bets, but finding you a wife? That would have been too professionally risky, even for me.” She smiled at him, but it quickly turned into a frown. “You seem restless. Anything wrong?”
“No.” Yes. Danica accepted his original offer only because of her family. Not for her own financial gain. It was counterintuitive to everything he knew to be true.
And he believed her. Her room spoke loudly of her affection for her family. Clusters of photo frames and mementos, cheap in price but cared for as if they belonged in the Louvre, told a clear story.
His carefully ordered world, already wobbling in its orbit, started to tilt. So, when Danica declared her love for him to his parents, did that mean...
No. It was a ploy. A feint in the bigger war. She said that only to win the battle.
Didn’t she?
A shrill noise came from the direction of his discarded trousers, crumpled where they had been thrown. They both looked in that direction. “That’s the ringtone for Anjuli,” she said. “You should pick up.”
He got out of bed and stalked to his pants. “Yes?”
“Check your texts,” Anjuli said and hung up.
Frowning, he looked at his screen. Several texts crowded the display. Nestor Stavros had unexpectedly returned to Palo Alto. He wanted to see Luke. Tomorrow.
He opened his mail app. His inbox was a jumble of new spreadsheets, press requests from his corporate communications team and questions about catering for the meeting. Too many details he had to get right. Now.
Danica cleared her throat. “What did Anjuli want?”
“I have to leave.”
She blinked. “Right now?”
“Nestor Stavros came back to town early.” He picked his shirt off the ground and buttoned it, then rebuttoned it when he realized he was off by a buttonhole. “He wants to meet in the morning.”
She became very still. “The acquisition.”
“Yes.” He looked around for his socks. He found one by the door and the other under the bed.
She started to push back the covers. “Let me throw some clothes on and I’ll go with you to the office.”
“No need.” He thrust his feet into his shoes and tied the laces, and then tried to give her a smile. He wasn’t certain he succeeded. “Enjoy what’s left of your time off.”
Her gaze locked on his. “Are you okay?”
No. “Yes.” Patting his pockets to make sure he had his wallet and keys, he straightened up and tried to give her a smile. It felt more like a grimace. “We’ll know tomorrow if the marriage is a success.”
“If the marriage is a—oh. Right.” She sat back against the pillows. “So, do I say good luck, break a leg or...?”
“Let’s hope for the best possible outcome.” He wanted to kiss her, but he was afraid it would cause him to stay with her for, oh, at least a week. Or whenever the food ran out. He settled for resting his lips against her forehead, allowing her scent to envelop him one more time before he left. “I’ll drop the truck by the house and pick up my car before going to the office. It will probably be an all-nighter.”
“Of course.” She gave him a bright smile. “I might stay here, then, so I can see Mai when she gets home. One more girls’ night.”
There was a note in her voice he’d never heard before, but he shrugged it off as he hopped into his car. The prize he had been chasing for so long was in his grip. His employees could look forward to a very lucrative payout. Everyone would win.
But he couldn’t help feeling he was missing a very big chunk of the game he was playing, and he’d left the clue to discovering it lying in a warm bed.
Ten
Danica walked the short distance from the train station to the Ruby Hawk offices, her gaze focused on the sidewalk. The weather had taken a chillier turn overnight, mimicking the cold descending on her heart when Luke exited the afternoon before.
She spent last night wide awake, trying to solve the mystery of why Luke had left so suddenly. Yes, he had to prepare for the meeting with Nestor, but something had been bothering him before he ran out of her home as if it were a condemned house. Had it been a mistake, allowing Luke into her private space, surrounded by her photos and mementos? Did it make him see the gap between them as insurmountable? There weren’t a lot of ski medals and golf trophies hanging in display cases and littering her shelves after all. She pushed open the glass doors, barely hearing her coworkers’ cheery hellos.
Maybe she’d revealed too much about her family? She didn’t speak much about her brother or her parents’ flight to the United States to escape a war determined to tear them apart. Her family long learned words of sympathy came quickly, but soon faded and disappeared—or even turned to annoyance—while problems lingered. So they stayed quiet and smiled as if they didn’t have a care when asked, leaning only on each other.
Or maybe she was the problem. The few times she trusted someone enough to let them in, they left. Tom, her college boyfriend, hadn’t wanted a partner whose family couldn’t help support them. He’d discarded her for a fellow law student, whose biggest concern had been choosing which white-shoe firm to work for after graduation. Her former boss Johanna took off as soon as something shiny was dangled in front of her, heedless of the employee she knew was counting on the promotion. It was only par for the course, now that the acquisition was almost a reality, that Luke would be eager to finish this pretend marriage as soon as possible.
She pushed open the door to her tiny supply closet. Then she stopped short, her hand still on the doorknob. Her office was already occupied.
Irene Stavros leaned against a corner of Danica’s desk, r
eading something tucked in a manila folder. “Hi!” she said with a cheerful smile. “I couldn’t concentrate in the engineering bullpen, and my father is in Luke’s office.”
“Hi,” Danica responded automatically. Irene looked spectacular. Her teal jersey dress clung in all the right spots, the color complementing her glowing olive complexion. If she wore any makeup to enhance her skin’s flawlessness, Danica couldn’t detect it. “Make yourself at home.”
Irene beamed. “Thanks.” She hopped off the desk and took the guest chair in front of Danica’s desk. As soon as Danica sat down behind it, Irene began to speak. “I have so many things I need to discuss with you.”
Danica switched on her computer, holding her sigh inside. Small talk with Irene was nowhere near her list of top ten things to do. “I’m all ears.”
Irene clapped her hands and rubbed them together as if they were coconspirators. “Brilliant.” She handed Danica the folder. “Let’s start with what to say to the media.”
Danica put it down on her desk without looking at it. “The corporate-communications department handles the press.”
Irene shook her head, her shiny black tresses tossing as if they starred in a shampoo commercial. “We need to talk about Cinco Jackson and the story he is chasing.” She raised an impeccably groomed eyebrow. “You’re a big part of it.”
The amorphous dread that had started to gather when Danica first spotted Irene coalesced into a hard, painful ball in Danica’s stomach. “What story?”
Irene tapped the folder. “The one about Luke hiring you to be his wife to secure the acquisition, of course.”
* * *
Luke greeted Nestor Stavros and ushered him to the conference table occupying the corner of Luke’s office. “I hope you had a good flight?” he asked, taking the chair opposite him.
Nestor smiled and adjusted the cufflinks on his white linen French-cuff shirt. In contrast to Luke, who wore his usual work uniform of khaki trousers and a blue-checked button-down shirt, Nestor had on a fine wool Italian suit, custom tailored to make the heavily muscled man seem even more imposing. One would be hard pressed to tell Nestor had thirty years on Luke if it weren’t for the liberal sprinkling of silver hairs at Nestor’s temples and the deep creases at the corners of his dark eyes.
“Comfortable but long.” His accent was a surprisingly harmonious combination of his native Greece and his adopted country, Australia. “It gave me time to review the documents. Impressive, the work you’ve accomplished.”
“Good to hear.” Luke leaned back in his chair. The welcome rush of adrenaline that accompanied a business negotiation hummed in his veins. The dance had begun, and they both knew the steps. “All is in order?”
“Mostly.” Nestor did his own leaning. “Irene told me about your marriage. I am impressed. I didn’t think you would go through with it.”
“I met the right woman.” Luke’s words were glib. But as they left his mouth, he realized the truth. He did meet the right woman. Danica didn’t have an Ivy League degree or come from generations of money. But she was...
Danica.
And that was all she needed to be.
The realization sank in, like a stone thrown into a lake. But the ripples it caused weren’t upset or denial. On the contrary. For the first time in weeks he was supremely confident in his insight. Danica was his wife. The only wife he’d ever want.
But did she feel the same way? She didn’t tell him about her brother even though he could have easily helped. Forget money. He had connections all over the world. He could have called in favors.
Nestor cleared his throat, snapping Luke’s attention back to the meeting. “Lost in thoughts of your bride?” A knowing smirk appeared on Nestor’s face. “It’s just the two of us. You can drop the pretense.”
“There’s no pretense.”
“You managed to fall in love and get married in such a hurry? You? A Dallas?” Nestor scoffed. “I admit I was reluctant to buy Ruby Hawk if you came with it. You come from a family that does not honor its obligations and is always chasing the next attractive...deal.” He took a long sip of water from the glass in front of him, regarding Luke coolly over the rim. “My board begged me to walk away. But then Irene suggested the marriage clause. She said if you wanted the acquisition badly enough, you would find a way to make it happen, thus proving you have the drive and commitment we demand. Well done.” He held out his hand to be shook.
Luke didn’t take it. “The marriage clause was a ploy.”
Nestor took his hand back with a small shrug. “I wouldn’t say ploy. Think of it as the big battle before leveling up in a video game. After all, that’s why we’re acquiring Ruby Hawk. To enhance our interactive game technology.” He took another sip. “Few have the persistence to make it this far. Much less get married just to secure the deal. That is the need to succeed at any cost I want in my people.”
The air conditioning in his office must be set below freezing. That had to be why Luke’s lips were numb and his fingers had lost all sensation.
“We have an agreement?” Nestor indicated the papers at Luke’s elbow.
Bile started to rise. Luke pushed it down and drew the stack toward him. “Let me take a final look at the term sheet.”
The offer was a good one. The stock his employees took in lieu of market-rate salaries would pay out at a rate beyond their wildest expectations. They deserved it for all their hard work. For placing their trust in him.
The hollow pit in his stomach grew into a yawning crater.
Nestor handed him a fountain pen, engraved with the date and location. “I had this made for the occasion.” He chuckled. “To celebrate the marriage of our two companies.”
Luke dropped the pen on hearing the word marriage. It rolled off the table and he leaned down to pick it up, but his fingers encountered something flat and circular instead. He pulled the item up, keeping his hand below the table.
It was a poker chip. A five-hundred-dollar poker chip. The one Danica handed to him at the Peninsula Society fund-raiser.
He stared. He’d been carrying it in his wallet ever since that night. It must have fallen out. A vision of Danica, her eyes sparkling as she watched the roulette wheel spin, danced before his eyes.
Nestor tapped the table. “There’s champagne on rapidly melting ice.”
Luke slipped the poker chip into his pocket, picking up his pen with his other hand. He sat up and pulled the stack of papers toward him. It really was an advantageous deal for Ruby Hawk Technologies, one that would ensure Luke’s legacy would thrive and grow beyond what he could accomplish on his own.
His hand hesitated, the pen hovering over the paper.
* * *
Danica did her best to stop gaping like a fish yanked out of the water. “What? I don’t—I mean...” She trailed off, still parsing Irene’s words. She knew? How?
“I believe you wrote this.” Irene took out a piece of paper and showed it to Danica.
It was a printout of her first contract with Luke. The one she created and sent via email the day they met. Danica froze.
“You remember Johanna?” Irene continued. “Of course, now Johanna works for the Stavros Group. When Cinco contacted her about the mysterious recruiter working for Luke Dallas who married him out of the blue, she was happy to look at the Rinaldi Executive Search files to see if there might be anything...untoward...we should know about.” Irene indicated the contract. “That’s what we found.”
“This is a contract to act as a recruiter.” Danica forced the words past her numb lips.
“Read the third paragraph. For a wife. In order to close the Stavros Group acquisition. And it seems one of your candidates was Cinco’s fiancée. Bad luck, that.”
Danica closed her eyes, but it didn’t stop the horrifying visions playing before her. Luke’s integrity questioned, her professional reputation destro
yed beyond repair...her parents discovering her marriage had been a sham. “You can’t blame Luke for trying to jump through the ridiculous hoops you set up—”
“Oh, I don’t blame Luke for trying. Nicely done, by the way. Brava.”
Apprehension prickled Danica’s scalp. “What do you want, Irene?”
Irene smiled. It didn’t reach her eyes. “Don’t worry. I told Cinco I set you two up, and it was love at first sight. He’ll find something else to write.”
Irene killed the story? This wasn’t a threat? “I don’t understand.”
“We’re buying Ruby Hawk. We look after our own.” Irene folded her hands on the desk. “And now you know that we know the truth. Consider it a favor saved in the bank. Just in case.”
So it was a threat. “In case of what?”
Irene spread her hands wide. “Luke is happy to acquiesce to us now because of Ruby Hawk, but in the future?” She tapped the folder again. “We have insurance against any future rebellion. I don’t need to tell you how much of a scandal we can spin this to be. But please, understand this isn’t personal. I very much like you.” She smiled, her even white teeth gleaming.
Danica didn’t return it. She had to find Luke and warn him. If he signed the deal, he would be under the Stavros thumb. For good. “Anything else? I have work to do.”
“Oh, yes, ‘work.’” Irene made quote marks in the air with her fingers. “I am sorry, however, that you got dragged into this. You blindly walked into a game you didn’t know you were playing. I blame Luke.” She shrugged. “Desperate times, desperate measures.”
The dry toast Danica choked down for breakfast threatened to make a reappearance. “I married Luke because I care for him.”
Irene’s smile turned into a smirk. “Of course. He’s very attractive, especially in the bank account. And he knows how to use his words to get what he wants. But let’s be honest. There’s a reason why Luke and I aren’t together. He is simply incapable of expressing any emotion that wasn’t plotted on a spreadsheet. I’m sure you noticed that even in bed, he leaves after he gets what he wants. But well done on getting the diamond ring. At least you have something of tangible value in return.”
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