The Queensbay Series: Books 1-4: The Queensbay Box Set

by Drea Stein

  “So,” Heather hissed, “how was it?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Caitlyn tried to claim loftily, but Heather just rolled her eyes.

  “Oh please, you’ve been glowing since you walked in here, and Noah looks like he’s walking on cloud nine.”

  Caitlyn glanced around and beckoned Heather closer. She dropped her voice. “Amazing. Better than amazing.”

  Heather moaned and put a hand to her chest. “Details.”

  Caitlyn laughed. “No way. But you were right about what-ifs. There’s only one way to answer them.”

  Heather gave her a wicked smile. “Hopefully you’ll have to try again just to make sure.”

  “Out,” Caitlyn said playfully, and Heather laughed herself back to her desk.

  Chapter 37

  “Caitlyn,” Sam began. He had called her into his office towards the end of the day. She knew it was designed to throw her off schedule, when she had planned to leave early to get things done before Noah came over.

  “I had a disturbing question from the Harts the other day.”

  “The Harts?” Caitlyn searched her memory and then remembered how Sam had pulled her out of her meeting with Tony to ask for information.

  “Yes, apparently they tried to get some money of their account and, well, embarrassingly enough, the check bounced.” Sam’s eyes were steely behind his glasses.

  “Really?” Caitlyn said casually. “Did they recently do another large withdrawal?”

  “No. That’s just it. According to their statements, there should have been plenty of money in the account. Plenty. But there wasn’t.”

  The panic, unbidden and unjustified, rose up in her. It was a familiar feeling, one she hadn’t felt since London, and but like that time, this was overwhelming, threatening her ability to think. But she must. She took a deep breath and schooled her face into a blank mask.

  “Of course I rectified the situation, Caitlyn. The Harts have their money now. Perhaps it was just an accounting error. But make no mistake, I will be looking more deeply into this.”

  Sam sat behind his broad desk, arms crossed. He was smirking, if such a thing were possible, and she knew he was taking pleasure in watching her, waiting for her to squirm.

  He leaned forward and dropped his voice. “I heard what happened in London. I don’t know how you managed to hush it all up, who you managed to convince with your poor-little-me act, but it won’t happen here. I’m on to you, and if I find so much as a penny out of place, Caitlyn, you’re done here, and in the business. No one will touch you when I’m done with you.”

  She fought the urge to rear back. She had known that Sam Harris didn’t like her, but this was the first time he’d made a personal attack. And bringing up what had happened in London. It had been buried, rightly so, since she had done nothing wrong. But a rumor, a slightly different spin on events, and she knew how it looked.

  “Oh, I assure you, everything is in order.” She rose, managing to look down at him with all the resolve she could muster before letting herself out.

  Caitlyn walked down the hallway, trying to shed the panic. She thought about what Sully had told her. She’d been busy, too busy thinking about Noah, wanting Noah, to focus on what was important. Her own life. Her own reputation. Michael St. John had nearly destroyed all that she had worked so hard to build. She couldn’t let that happen again.

  Chapter 38

  Even after the meeting with Sam, Caitlyn was home early enough to get dinner started. Unlike Noah, she could cook when she wanted to and had even taken a week-long cooking class in Paris. Tonight, she had planned steaks with a blue cheese sauce, a mixed green salad and some crusty bread she’d picked up from the market. The cooking soothed her, focusing her to think

  But before she did anything else, she went to her room and opened the lid of her jewelry box, the polished wood cover lifting to reveal the red velvet lining. It had once played “Greensleeves,” a long time ago, but it was broken, and she’d never gotten around to having it fixed.

  She picked up the ring from the bottom of the velvet-lined drawer, where she had tossed it, carelessly almost. She’d kept it only because he insisted she should, a way to remind her, to force her to reconsider. But now she knew for certain there wouldn’t be any reconsideration. She didn’t need Michael or his promises, the allure of his perfect, well-ordered, elegant life. Deep down, he was a treacherous, cheating bastard. The trouble he had made for her was coming back to haunt her. She didn’t need that in her life. It was time to send the ring back.

  <<>>

  Noah showed up for dinner with a bottle of wine and flowers. He kissed her, a passionate, hot kiss, but through it she heard his stomach growl.

  “Are you hungry?”

  He nodded sheepishly as she handed him a glass of wine. “I kind of got caught up in things. I forgot to eat.”

  She pulled him to the kitchen. “Come, we have all night. Let’s eat now.”

  Caitlyn had set the small pine table in the kitchen and had their salads ready to go. The steaks took just a moment, and she watched as Noah nibbled on some of the cheese and olives she had put out as appetizers.

  “This is nice,” he said.

  “What do you mean?” she asked as she put the steaks on.

  “Just sitting here, talking.”

  She looked at him. “What are we talking about?”

  “I don’t know. How about you? What have you really been up to the last few years?”

  She sighed. She knew she needed to tell him, no matter how painful it was. Caitlyn took a sip of her wine, letting it roll off her tongue. “It’s nice, the wine.”

  “I live near Napa, so I know my wines,” he said, “and you’re avoiding the question.”

  “I was engaged. To man named Michael St. John. And then I broke it off.”

  “Why?”

  “He just wasn’t the right one for me.” Caitlyn picked up a knife and put it down, unsure what to do with herself.

  “I’m sorry.”

  She shrugged. “Better before the wedding than after. But I guess I felt a bit lonely.”

  She didn’t, couldn’t let her emotions show. “It seemed like a good time to return to the mother country, if you know what I mean,” she finished.

  Noah nodded.

  “And you? Ever married, engaged?”

  “You would have heard.”

  “I’m not sure that I believe that. You seem like you’d be quite a catch.” She meant it. She would have thought Noah Randall would have been off the market long ago.

  “Internet billionaires are a dime a dozen out there in California. You have to be rich, spout poetry and speak five languages to really stand out,” he said, his eyes twinkling.

  She laughed. “Ah, the perils of success.” She got up and took their steaks off her grill pan and set them on plates, drizzling her sauce over them and adding small heaps of onion straws on top.

  “Wow, that looks fancy,” he said, as she placed it in front of him.

  “I took a week-long cooking class in Paris.”

  “My very own Julia Child,” he said, taking a bite. “Delicious.”

  “Thanks.” She took a bite herself, chewed, swallowed and then asked, “So what have you been doing. I mean, since you sold TechSpace?”

  “Well, I took a trip. Six months. Traveled the world, catching waves, eating, drinking, hanging out,” he said.

  “Then what happened?”

  “I woke up one morning, bored.”

  “I hear that happens to billionaires,” she said lightly.

  “You’d be surprised. But I met some people on my travels. And I decided that it was time to start something new,” Noah told her.

  “New?” Caitlyn’s eyes had lit up, matching his own enthusiasm.

  “Well, not that new. Solar power.”

  “Solar power?” There was an interested gleam in her eye.

  “It’s big out west, as you can imagine, and it’s catching
on in the rest of the country. It’s because technology has advanced so that the solar panels are much more efficient.”

  “Interesting.”

  “Yes, well, they need someone who’s comfortable with technology to help them develop some custom software, the stuff that will help turn your home into its own little power plant. Plus, the fact that I have successfully built a company before doesn’t hurt.”

  Caitlyn smiled. “No, I’m sure it doesn’t. It sounds good – good for you and good for the earth. Profits and passion.”

  “Yes,” he agreed, excited. “It is. It’s what I’ve always dreamed of, and now it’s happening. All of the hard work, all of the choices are paying off.”

  “You mean dropping out of college … heading out west with a few friends and a laptop?”

  His decision had created something that had never been fully addressed by them. He had thought she hadn’t wanted him to go because she didn’t believe in him or, worse yet, because she was a snob – that she wanted him only if he stayed in college, graduated, went to business school, worked at the firm.

  “I should have been more supportive of you,” Caitlyn told him, putting her fork down and looking at him. “You needed someone to believe in you, and what I said, well, you must have thought that I didn’t.”

  Noah shook his head slowly. “I don’t need an apology, Caitlyn. I probably should be giving one to you. I called you a snob, and worse.”

  “Yes, as I mentioned, I think ‘tease’ was another one of the insults.”

  Noah reached out his hand and took hers, holding it tight. “And for that, I am truly sorry. I didn’t mean it like that. And I didn’t really think about what it might mean to you. About your mother and your grandfather.”

  “It’s not that I didn’t want to be with you, Noah. It was just that…”

  “You were young. I was older.”

  “I never felt like you were taking advantage of me,” Caitlyn told him, and she hadn’t. The Noah then, just as the Noah now, had a way of making her feel wanted, safe.

  “Good. It’s just … I wanted you, badly. In case you couldn’t tell. My pride was wounded.”

  “That’s not what I meant to happen. I just got scared. And then my grandfather…”

  He nodded, still holding her hand. “And I was a jerk about that. I felt like I had to leave, that if I didn’t go, then the opportunity would pass me by. I could have waited. I’m sure I left you scared, alone.”

  Caitlyn nodded. “It was difficult, but I got through it.”

  He kissed her hand gently, tenderly, and looked at her. “And are you scared now?”

  She closed her eyes, swallowed. “Not about this.” She stood up, and he rose with her. Caitlyn slowly led him out of the kitchen, up the stairs and to her bedroom, kissing him along the way, slowly peeling the clothes off of both of them until they were standing together. She turned to face him, pulling him close to her. He didn’t wait for anything more but kissed her deeply, slowly, savoring her, taking his time being gentle with her as they fell together on the bed, exploring each other, loving each other.

  Chapter 39

  Michael St. John looked at the FedEx package on the desk. It was late in the evening. He was scheduled for dinner in an hour, but he had waited until now to open it. His secretary had signed specially for it. Michael poured himself a drink from the bottle of single malt. Alcohol in private offices was frowned upon, but he didn’t care about the rules. He sipped, noticing that he already needed another bottle; he’d replaced it just a few days ago.

  He looked at the return address, and his jaw clenched. Throughout the day, he had looked at it, aware of whose it was and what might be inside. She could have sent it straight home, instead of to the office. Several people, including his secretary, might have guessed the contents as well. In that case, it would be all around the office. Caitlyn’s final go to hell.

  Michael opened the package anyway, and there nestled among protective wrap was the black box. He removed it from the package and flipped open the lid, the hinges stiff and tight. It was there, all fifty thousand quid of it. It glinted in the fluorescent office lights. Almost absently, he moved it around, letting the light catch the stones, creating a rainbow of prisms on the floor, the wall, before he put it aside.

  She had included a note. A single cream-colored card, her handwriting, which was beautiful, staring up at him. In no uncertain terms, in black and white, in elegant, cursive script, she told him it was over.

  He put the card down and looked at the ring. It wasn’t quite over, he thought. Caitlyn Montgomery had another thing coming.

  Chapter 40

  “Let’s see,” Heather came in. Her skirt was just this side of professional in a muted leopard print, but the outfit was salvaged by an understated black blouse. “You have two, count ’em, two messages from Mrs. Smith-Sullivan, one message from Johanna Temple and a stack of mail.”

  Heather placed everything on Caitlyn’s desk. She jumped a little, brought back to now.

  “Are you okay? You seem a little distracted,” Heather said.

  Caitlyn shrugged. It was nothing, really – nothing she really wanted to discuss. Things were going along fine, too fine, it seemed. She was making progress uncovering deals, she had potential clients and she and Noah were spending a lot of enjoyable time together. But it all had an air of playacting about it, as if the director would call “cut” soon or the curtain would come crashing down. Perhaps it was the fact that Sam was watching her, literally his eyes following her. She had started to look through her accounts, trying to uncover anything out of the ordinary, but so far, things were looking okay.

  “It’s nothing.”

  “It’s the time of year,” Heather said with authority. “Not quite winter, not quite the holidays and all of the newness of fall has worn off.”

  Caitlyn looked out her window. It was unremitting gray out there and had been for three days. The sky was gray, the water was gray and everything was whitewashed in gray. It was the kind of non-color you could lose your way in.

  “True, I’m sure it’s that, so…” Caitlyn thought for a moment, “mannies and peddies after lunch at Sunny Spa?”

  “Perfect. I’ll call ahead, make sure they hold the space for us. I’ll have The Golden Pear make us something to go,” Heather planned.

  “Perfect.” Already Caitlyn could feel her mood lifting.

  “Great, and just so you’re warned, I plan on pumping you for details.”

  Caitlyn smiled. Perhaps a little girl talk was what she needed.

  <<>>

  “So the sex is good,” Heather said around her cappuccino.

  “Not so loud,” Caitlyn hissed. Sunny Spa had an unassuming storefront in a strip mall, but inside the walls were lemon yellow and the vibe was definitely hip. Frothy music beat from hidden speakers, and the staff was young and good-looking. The owner, Randy, had sought Caitlyn’s advice about the possibility of taking the concept and opening some more locations, and Caitlyn had been intrigued. She figured that come hell or high water the ladies of Queensbay were not going to skimp on their pampering.

  “Well, it’s nothing to be ashamed about. You’re thirty years old, unattached…”

  “Twenty-eight,” Caitlyn corrected.

  “Almost twenty-nine.” Heather liked to needle her about her age. “And there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be enjoying a healthy sexual relationship with your boss.”

  “Shh,” Caitlyn hissed again.

  “It is healthy. I mean, it was worth the ten-year wait, wasn’t it?”

  Caitlyn closed her eyes as the warm water from the pedicure chair bubbled around her, letting herself drift off into a rush of memories of her and Noah. The way they fit, their bodies moving with each other, the way she had quickly become attuned, once again, to his every mood, and he to hers. They were in sync again, and it was the deepest, most satisfying feeling she’d ever had.

  “Very healthy. And very worth the wait,” Caitlyn co
nceded, if only to get Heather to shut up.

  And that was the problem, she thought, as Heather went on about her last disastrous date. She and Noah hadn’t talked about anything more than the present, which was how Caitlyn wanted it. But she could sense in the way Noah looked at her that he wanted more. He had always wanted more, been the more passionate of the two of them, and now she could feel his eyes watching her, waiting for something that would give him the go-ahead to say more.

  Don’t rock the boat, was all she could think about. Things were going fine, and after the last year and the blow up with Michael, she didn’t need deep and heavy; she needed light and easy.

  “Well, it’s not a relationship,” Caitlyn said quickly in response to something Heather had asked. “We’re just dating. You know, seriously dating.”

  Heather squiggled around in the pedicure chair, and her cat-shaped green eyes pinned Caitlyn down. “Oh, is that what you’re calling it these days?”

  Her laughter trilled, and Caitlyn closed her eyes, trying to close down any thoughts of the future and instead enjoy the present.

  <<>>

  Noah found her after lunch. He knocked, came in and shut the door behind him.

  “Is everything okay?” she asked.

  He shrugged. “This is the right kind of privacy. Anyway, something came up. I have to go to California for a while, not long. And,” he watched her carefully, “I thought then I would just go to my mother’s in Ohio for Thanksgiving. I’d be back that weekend, at the latest.” Noah saw the look of disappointment in her eyes, quickly replaced with one of nonchalance. Still, he was oddly grateful that he got even that.

  “Do you have plans for Thanksgiving?” Noah asked her.

  She answered quickly. “Of course. Adriana invited me over. She’s having a dinner for some friends and assorted family.”

  “Oh good.” He had wanted to ask her to come with him, if not to California, at least to his mother’s house for the holiday, but the way she had made plans let him know she didn’t want to be asked.