Conflict of Interest (The McClouds of Mississippi)

by Gina Wilkins

  “I’d be happy to,” she said, then gave Dylan a smile. “You might as well join us. As often as we encounter each other professionally—even on opposite sides, occasionally—it’s ridiculous to pretend we’re total strangers.”

  Both Nathan and Dylan looked dubious.

  “Attorneys and cops are rarely bosom buddies,” Nathan explained.

  “Not to mention my personal history with the McClouds,” Dylan added.

  “Then we’ll agree not to talk about work or past grievances,” Adrienne said firmly. “Trust me, I’ve had very pleasant meals at tables with authors, agents, editors and publishing executives. If a disparate group like that can put aside their professional conflicts for a few hours, I’m sure you two can. You grew up in the same small town, for heaven’s sake. You must have some mutual friends or root for the same sports teams—something in common.”

  “What we have in common is a long history of mutual dislike,” Nathan muttered.

  “Well, I like you both,” Isabelle asserted firmly. “And I think you should be friends.”

  After a moment of silence, Caitlin laughed.

  “A decree from Princess Isabelle,” Dylan said, his smile wry. “I suppose we can make an effort to be sociable—for an hour or so.”

  “Well, glory be.” Caitlin grinned as she moved toward the coffeemaker. “Maybe there’s hope for world peace, after all.”

  “Not if Gideon walks in anytime soon,” Nathan predicted glumly, setting Isabelle on her feet. “World War III’s gonna break out right here in this kitchen if he walks in and finds us helping ourselves to his food and sharing it with Smith.”

  “I’ll make Gideon behave,” Isabelle promised confidently, making the adults laugh again.

  While Adrienne wouldn’t have said Nathan and Dylan were friendly, exactly, as they dined on ham and cheese sandwiches with chips and pickle spears, they were at least civil. Yet both made a point of addressing their comments to either her, Caitlin or Isabelle, and rarely to each other.

  Though it was, of course, absolutely none of her business, she was still very curious about what had gone wrong between Dylan Smith and Deborah McCloud—and why it had left such hard feelings in her brothers. Adrienne was also intensely curiously about Dylan’s offhand comment about Isabelle’s mother being Gideon’s girlfriend.

  Was that the primary cause of his lingering antipathy toward his late father? Had he loved her? Did he see her face every time he looked at Isabelle?

  Darn it, why hadn’t he said anything to her? As much as she told herself he had been under no obligation whatsoever to tell her anything about his past, she was still irrationally angry with him for not doing so.

  Perhaps because the omission reminded her so graphically that he only saw her as a temporary diversion in his life.

  Gideon heard the sounds as soon as he stepped out of his truck and into his garage. Voices, laughter, the muted clatter of dishware—was there a damned party going on in his kitchen?

  His hands filled with bags from the office warehouse, he stalked toward the kitchen door. He froze in the doorway when he saw the group gathered around his table. He was surprised to see Nathan and Caitlin, of course, since he hadn’t expected them for another week. But he was absolutely flabbergasted to see Dylan Smith sitting there with them.

  Last he’d heard, which hadn’t been that long ago, Nathan hadn’t been any fonder of Smith than Gideon was. Now he was sitting here having afternoon tea with the guy?

  Apparently, the group had been laughing at something cute that Isabelle had said and hadn’t heard him open the door. Caitlin was the one who spotted him first. “Red alert,” she said comically.

  Everyone looked around at him, their smiles fading.

  Isabelle made a stern face and wagged a finger at him. “Now, Gideon. Be nice.”

  Dylan pushed himself to his feet. “I think I’d better be going. I, uh, have to do some laundry.”

  “Freeze, Smith.” Gideon set his purchases on a counter. “What the—” Catching a glimpse of Isabelle, he changed his words. “What’s going on?”

  Adrienne seemed to be the designated explainer. “Nathan and Caitlin decided to spend the rest of their honeymoon with Isabelle. Dylan dropped by to bring me something I had requested from him. We’ve been having a nice visit over coffee and sandwiches. Would you like something to eat?”

  How graciously she had offered him his own food, he thought with a scowl. “No.”

  “Coffee?”

  “No.”

  Dylan had taken another couple of steps toward the doorway. “I really think it would be best if I just go.”

  Gideon shot him a look. “Damn straight. And I’d better not find you in my house again.”

  Though the other man had obviously been trying to avoid a confrontation, he stiffened in response to Gideon’s surly challenge, his male ego piqued. “Trust me, I have no desire to pay any social calls on you.”

  Isabelle poked out her lower lip. “You can come visit me at Nate’s house, Officer Smith,” she said, giving Gideon a reproachful look. “Nate will be nice if I ask him to.”

  Now everyone was looking at Gideon as though he were the killjoy who had arrived to ruin their pleasant afternoon. Even Nathan looked more concerned with Isabelle’s displeasure than sympathetic with Gideon’s plight at finding an old enemy at his table. He’d never expected his own family to take Dylan Smith’s side over his.

  Dylan patted her cheek. “Thank you, princess Isabelle. I’m sure I’ll see you around town. I’ll make a point to stop and visit with you when I do, okay?”

  She seemed only partially appeased.

  Glancing at Adrienne with an I-warned-you expression that even Gideon could read, Dylan asked, “When will you be heading back to New York?”

  “Tomorrow. I’ll call you. You did leave me your number, didn’t you?”

  “It’s in the package. Have a safe trip back.”

  He left a heavy silence behind him when he departed without another glance at Gideon.

  “Well,” Nathan said after a beat. “That was fun.”

  Still itching to fight—especially after that cozy exchange between Dylan and Adrienne—Gideon rounded on his brother. “I shouldn’t have had to throw him out. You should have already taken care of that.”

  Her dark eyes glinting dangerously, Adrienne stepped toward him. “Isabelle, sweetie, why don’t you show Caitlin the pictures you’ve drawn at school this week? They’re in your room.”

  Caitlin eagerly seized the chance to escape the impending confrontation. “I would love to see your schoolwork, Isabelle. And I want to hear all about your week.”

  Still sending Gideon a look that gave him the urge to shuffle his feet on the floor like a schoolboy in trouble with his parents, Isabelle took Caitlin’s hand and left the room.

  “Now,” Adrienne said when she, Nathan and Gideon were alone in the kitchen. “Why don’t you vent your bad temper at the person who is responsible, rather than innocent bystanders? I invited Dylan into this house because he has become a friend of mine. I knew you wouldn’t particularly like it, but I didn’t think you would be quite so rude and ungracious about it.”

  “It wasn’t all Adrienne’s fault,” Nathan supplied gallantly. “I’m the one who suggested raiding your refrigerator. Caitlin invited Dylan to join us for a sandwich. So you might as well be mad at all of us.”

  “Trust me, I am.”

  Nathan nodded. “Fair enough.”

  “I just can’t understand why you’d suddenly be all cozy with Smith,” Gideon complained, shoving a hand through his hair. “I know we’ve nicknamed you Nathan the Peacemaker, but you’ve always disliked that guy as much as I have.”

  “What makes you think I’ve suddenly changed my mind about him? I haven’t, and he made no pretense to be any more fond of me. We agreed to be civil for a couple of hours for Adrienne’s sake and for Isabelle’s.”

  Something he, of course, had failed to do. Torn between self-r
ighteous indignation and an uncharacteristic ripple of guilt, Gideon glanced at his still-angry agent. “I didn’t like finding him in my house.”

  “You’ve made that perfectly clear,” she snapped, and he almost winced in response to her sharp-edged tone. “I apologize for my breach of etiquette, and I can assure you it won’t happen again. For one thing, I’ll be leaving tomorrow, and I doubt I’ll ever be in a position to invite anyone inside your house again.”

  Nathan cleared his throat. “I think I’ll go look at Isabelle’s drawings.”

  Ignoring his departing brother, Gideon concentrated on Adrienne, instead. “When did you decide to go back tomorrow?”

  Her voice was cool when she replied. “That’s pretty much been a given all along, hasn’t it? You asked me to stay for the weekend so I would have a chance to attend the festival. Now that your brother and sister-in-law have returned to collect Isabelle, there’s no reason for me to stay.”

  No reason at all why she should, he silently agreed—except that, no matter how annoyed he was that she’d brought Dylan Smith into his home, he still wasn’t ready for her to leave. It would have been nice to have a chance to spend more time alone with her, now that they wouldn’t be baby-sitting.

  He supposed he had pretty much blown any chance of a replay of last night’s spectacular lovemaking.

  Those intimate hours had replayed themselves over and over in his mind all day. He had needed to get away for a few hours to put the interlude into perspective. The emotions between them had flared uncomfortably high last night, but he’d convinced himself that there was no reason to be worried that either of them would be hurt. He and Adrienne were hardly inexperienced kids; they both knew the score and were both prepared to say goodbye when the time came to do so.

  He just hadn’t realized the time was quite so close.

  “Look,” he said, shaking his head in self-disgust, “I know you don’t understand the history between Dylan Smith and me. And I know you like the guy, for some reason I can’t imagine. What I’m trying to say is, I’m not really angry with you for inviting Smith in, even though he should have known better than to accept.”

  “How very gracious of you.” The ice dripping from her words made his skin chill.

  He had definitely blown his chance for another night of passion.

  “Gideon?” Caitlin stood in the kitchen doorway, looking uncertainly from him to Adrienne. “Nathan and I are tired, and we’d like to get home. I’ve got Isabelle’s things packed and she’s waiting in the living room to say goodbye.”

  “You’re leaving now?”

  She nodded. “I’m sure you’ll be glad to get back to your usual routines without worrying about keeping an eye on Isabelle.”

  Since that was exactly the way he should feel, he couldn’t imagine why he suddenly felt his scowl deepening. “I’ll come see her off. Adrienne?”

  “Yes, I’d like to say goodbye to her.”

  Isabelle waited in the living room with Nathan. Her big red suitcase and purple backpack sat by the door, and she held her white owl in one hand. Her expression was grave when she looked at Gideon, and he suspected she was still annoyed with him for being mean, in her opinion, to her friend Dylan.

  He swallowed a sigh and knelt in front of her. “I’m sorry I came home grouchy.”

  She looked at him through her lashes. “You made Dylan leave.”

  “Isabelle, you know Dylan and I aren’t friends. It has nothing to do with you or the way you feel about either of us.”

  “You’re making Adrienne leave, too. She said she’s going away tomorrow.”

  He shook his head. “Adrienne knows she’s welcome to stay here as long as she likes. But she was only here for a visit—like you were. And now she needs to go home—like you do.”

  “Then you’ll be here all by yourself. Won’t you be lonely?”

  Gideon was relieved when Nathan answered for him. “Gideon likes living by himself, poppet. It’s easier for him to write his books that way.”

  “Sometimes he forgets to eat. Adrienne makes him stop working so he won’t get too hungry.”

  It occurred to Gideon only then that his little sister was actually worried about him, even if she was still rather irritated with him. “I won’t forget to eat,” he promised. “When I get hungry, I’ll eat. I’ve been taking care of myself for a long time.”

  “But what if you get lonely?”

  “Then I’ll pick up the phone and give you a call,” he answered with a smile. “Maybe you can go have ice cream with me sometime. Okay?”

  She thought about that a moment, then nodded. “Okay.”

  And then she wrapped her arms around his neck and gave him a smacking kiss on the cheek. “Thank you for letting me stay with you, Gideon.”

  She still had a unique way of saying his name, he thought with an odd lump in his throat. He was going to miss hearing it.

  He stood to one side and watched as Isabelle and Adrienne said their goodbyes with hugs and kisses.

  “When will I see you again?” Isabelle asked.

  “I don’t know when I’ll be back,” Adrienne answered evasively. “But I won’t forget you, sweetie. And I’ll always treasure the picture you drew for me.”

  Nathan swung Isabelle into his arms. “I’ll call you,” he said to Gideon. “And thanks for helping out with Isabelle.”

  Gideon nodded. “I enjoyed it,” he said, and realized that it was the truth, for the most part.

  Nathan’s family departed in a final rush of words and noise that made the silence all the more noticeable when the door closed behind them. Pushing his hands into his pockets, Gideon looked at Adrienne, thinking of the other goodbye that faced them.

  She was probably more than ready to get back to her real life, especially after today. But, damn it, as much as it galled him to admit it, it wasn’t going to be easy for him to let her go.

  Chapter Thirteen

  As ridiculous as it was to think of a four-year-old as a chaperone, Adrienne was intensely aware of being alone with Gideon. She certainly had no fear of him, not after spending the past week with him, even in his worst moods.

  Gideon, she had decided, was like one of those quiet little dogs that growled when they felt threatened. For some reason her friendship with Dylan bothered him enough to make him growl.

  Understanding his bad behavior did not, of course, excuse it.

  Straightening her shoulders, she adopted a briskly professional manner when she turned back to him. “I’ll need to make some travel arrangements this afternoon—airline reservations, transportation to the airport—”

  “I’ll take you to the airport,” he broke in to say.

  She nodded. “Thank you. Since I’ll probably need to leave early tomorrow, I suggest we spend the rest of today talking business. I need your decision on several options, and we need to discuss what I should say to your editor when I talk to her next. If you think you’ll need more time for your current book, I’ll arrange for an extension on your deadline so we won’t have any contractual problems.”

  He nodded. “Fine. Let’s go to my office and talk business. I’d hate for you to leave feeling like you wasted a trip.”

  She certainly didn’t feel as though the time had been wasted, she mused, following him to his office. But she wouldn’t know until later whether it had been a big mistake.

  That all depended on how long it took her to get over the foolish infatuation she had developed for this thoroughly exasperating man.

  They talked about business for two full hours, Adrienne making copious notes as Gideon efficiently dispensed with the pending matters. She didn’t agree with all his decisions, and she felt it was her job to give her opinions. But in the end his wishes prevailed.

  Satisfied that they had accomplished all they could, Adrienne packed away her papers. “I suppose that takes care of everything until after I speak with your editor next week.”

  “Everything business related,” he agreed, movin
g toward her.

  She took a half step backward. “I should start packing my—”

  Her words faded when his hands fell on her shoulders. “We’ve gotten our business out of the way, but we still have some personal issues we need to discuss.”

  She made herself meet his eyes. “What personal issues?”

  “Well, for starters, there’s this.” He pressed his mouth to hers.

  Her hands rested on his chest when he finally lifted his head. “There is that,” she agreed huskily.

  “You’re not still mad at me?”

  “I was never—” She stopped, then made a face. “Okay, I was annoyed with you earlier. But this is your home and I had no right to invite someone in when I knew you wouldn’t approve. You had every right to be angry.”

  “Okay, we’ve both apologized for anything we might have done wrong. Can we put it behind us now?”

  She motioned toward the desk and the neat stack of paperwork they had worked on together. “I thought we’d already done that.”

  He nodded. “Professionally, of course. I have no doubt we’ll work together as well as we ever did. But I don’t want to spend our last night together talking business or glowering at each other.”

  “I don’t want that, either.”

  “So how about if we go out? We’ve spent the past week sitting here in the house with Isabelle. We deserve an adult night out, don’t you think?”

  Even though she suspected she was just asking for more achingly bittersweet memories, she nodded. “I’d like that.”

  “Okay, then.” He stepped back. “I guess I’d better change.”

  “Yes, so will I.”

  “By the way,” he said as they parted in the hallway outside the office. “I bought an answering machine while I was out. I’ll hook it up before you leave tomorrow.”

  “That should make things much easier for people who need to reach you.”

  He shrugged. “I suppose. But then, if I’d had it sooner, you wouldn’t have felt the need to come here.”