by Thorpe, Kara
Georgiana glanced away from the road long enough to glare at him. “I don’t recall giving you permission to access my health records.”
“Extenuating circumstances,” he replied succinctly, scrolling through the report. “I should send a copy to Doctor Flores to see if he catches anything.”
“No!” Georgiana’s fingers clutched the steering wheel. Aware of Robert’s intense, observant eyes boring into her, she took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “Prask didn’t drug me. There’s no need to bother the doctor. He has his hands full with your father.”
“He’s been after you about your health, hasn’t he?”
There was no point lying to him. It was obvious she wasn’t a model of vitality, and he obviously had access to NORA’s extensive database. There was no way she could keep him out of the computer system; she just didn’t possess that level of skill.
“I’m afraid to take a nap when I’m visiting Dan because I’m sure Doc Flores will have me admitted while I’m sleeping.”
“Perhaps that wouldn’t be such a bad thing.” He held his hands up in surrender at the first hint of anger in her eyes. “I know it’s none of my business, but you’ll do Tab no good if you’re incapacitated. If you need help with anything at all, doll, you just have to ask.”
“It’s nothing a week of sleep won’t cure. I think Yvonne penciled it in for some time next year.” Her wry smile faded when Robert’s fingers grazed the inside of her elbow. Her stomach flipped at the concern and sincerity on his face. She let go of the steering wheel to squeeze his hand. “Thank you, Bobby. I appreciate the offer.”
In the hospital parking garage, she followed the directions Robert relayed from his driver and parked beside Dan’s silver Maybach 62S. She whistled lowly, swiped a hand under her chin to make sure she wasn’t salivating. The Maybach was an elegant piece of machinery and one of Dan’s favorite cars. She gave Robert credit for having big cojones. She wouldn’t have dared borrow that particular vehicle, nor would she have let someone else, even a trusted employee, drive it.
While Robert spoke with the two men at the rear of the car, she reverently ran her fingertips across the warm, glossy hood. In the four years Dan had owned the car, he’d let her change the oil once, and that was only because he’d broken his right wrist. He’d sat on a stool and barked orders while she worked. The stress of having him double-check every move she made hadn’t diminished the pleasure of working on a magnificent car.
“Would you like a ride, Ms. Collier?” The blond man sandwiched on Robert’s right patted the Maybach’s trunk. Georgiana winced at the clink of his heavy gold college ring hitting the car.
“She’d rather you pop the hood so she could ogle the engine,” Robert teased, folding a suit bag over his arm and leading the other two around the car. At her side, he slid his palm against hers and twined their fingers.
Even in high school, Georgiana had never been one for holding hands, but she was starting to appreciate the symbolism. Validating their engagement was going to take more than grand gestures or well-placed bits of gossip; they needed to appear comfortable together and united.
“It has a V12 biturbo gasoline engine. 620 horsepower. Zero to sixty in about five-point-two, which is nice but not amazing. Granted the top speed isn’t particularly fantastic, but for a luxury car it’s impressive.” Georgiana shifted awkwardly when three sets of eyes turned on her. She’d forgotten that Robert’s employees weren’t familiar with what Yvonne called her ‘geek moments.’ She shrugged self-consciously. “I mean, it’s a cool car.”
“Yes ma’am it is,” the blond man responded, a broad grin lighting up his otherwise plain face.
Robert quickly introduced her to his assistant Cedric, a tall, dark-haired, husky man who looked like he could give Robert a run for his money in terms of a poker face. Allan, the cheerful, blond driver and bodyguard, shook her hand so vigorously her teeth rattled. She was glad to hear that Cedric had already been in contact with Yvonne. If she and Robert were going to work together, it was imperative their assistants cooperate with each other.
Suit bag and briefcase successfully delivered, Allan and Cedric piled into the front seat of the luxury sedan. Georgiana felt the purr of the engine in the soles of her feet and the thrum of her pulse. If she were lucky, her new status as future daughter-in-law-to-be would earn her a test drive in the Maybach.
Robert and Georgiana were alone on the short walk from the parking garage to the hospital’s entrance, but he didn’t relinquish her hand. “I need to change clothes. You do not have to wait for me. We know Dad is already awake.”
“No, no.” She hoped he couldn’t see how terrified she was of facing Dan alone. There was no doubt he was going to be thrilled at the prospect of a Collier-Norwood merger, but he was certain to have a few choice words for them about having to hear it from a third-party.
Robert’s lips quirked. “I don’t blame you, doll. I think we’re better off going in there together.”
Just outside the double doors, he pulled her towards a pair of concrete benches under a blooming Texas Redbud. He let go of her hand long enough to retrieve a small, black box from the front pocket of his suit bag. With a steady, gentle touch, he popped open the box and slipped a circle of alternating purplish pink and white diamonds set in platinum on her left ring finger.
Heart in her throat, she lifted her hand to get a better look at the ring. The radiant-cut stones were flawless, and the platinum shimmered in the morning sunlight. The quality of the ring was impeccable, but she was happiest with the overall size of the ring. It was typical of the women in her social sphere to use their wedding and engagement rings as status symbols. The more carats on the finger usually meant more money in the bank, or at least that was the illusion one wanted to give.
Georgiana was not a fan of large, statement pieces. They tended to get caught in her machinery or lost in the black hole she called a lab. With its rare purplish pink diamonds, the engagement ring was flashy enough to appease even the sharpest tongue, but low-key enough to not be a safety hazard if she forgot to take it off.
“Cedric has good taste.” Reminding herself that his assistant had undoubtedly picked out the ring and used the Norwood name to acquire it at the last minute helped her from losing perspective. It wasn’t a real engagement. There was no point in getting attached to the ring.
“Cedric may have picked it up for me, but I selected the ring, Georgiana.”
“Oh,” she murmured, tears unexpectedly stinging her eyes. It was a touching and unexpected gesture. Especially given their engagement was a sham. “It’s gorgeous.”
“So are you.”
Robert tilted her chin up and, unable to resist the sparkle in her eyes, kissed her breathless. He lifted his head, smiled down at her. Her tinted balm had turned his lips a ghastly pink. Grinning and giddy, she swiped her thumb across his bottom lip.
“Afterparty isn’t really your color. You’re more of a Hot Pepper or Happy Hour, I think.”
Robert’s tongue chased her thumb off his lip. His brow furrowed at the faint hint of orange sherbet. “Is that flavored lip balm?”
“Yes. I bite my lip all the time when I’m working, and I got tired of eating wax, so Claire used one of her contacts to mmpgh.”
Robert dipped his head down for another taste. His large hands cradled her head and sank into neat braid she’d spent ten minutes perfecting. By the time he’d successfully removed every drop of balm from her lips, even his knees were weak. He made a mental note to have Cedric purchase stock in the cosmetic company. He had a feeling their revenue was going to see a severe upswing.
“We have an audience, doll,” he warned, catching sight of the scrub-clad women hovering near the glass doors. He felt the flutter of her eyelashes against his cheek.
“Course we do. You always have an audience.” She reluctantly pulled away from Robert. Her hands flew to her head in an attempt to smooth her hair. “We should get inside before someone calls a reporter.�
�
While Robert changed clothes, she ducked in to the bathroom. She sighed at the sight reflected back at her in the mirror. Her lips were swollen and her hair was a mess. Her floral-print silk tank top and black suit jacket were wrinkled. She looked like she’d spent an hour making out in the backseat of her car. Dan would never let her hear the end of it if she waltzed into his room in such a state.
By the time she emerged from the bathroom, Robert was waiting near the wall of windows. He appeared imposing in his black, pinstriped suit and combed hair. Her palms itched with the desire to muss that thick, soft hair. When he turned around and flashed a warm smile, the breath caught in her throat.
“We match,” she murmured, voice embarrassingly high and thready. At his quirked eyebrow, she gestured weakly at his red tie and then her red stiletto pumps. “We match.”
“Yes, we do.” He shifted his briefcase from one hand to the other and grasped her wrist. “Think we’ll make Power Couple of the Year?”
“Ha!” Feeling back on solid ground, she elbowed him in the ribs. “Thought that was you and your ego.”
He chuckled warmly in her ear and tugged her down the hallway. “Not this year, doll. With your brains and my -.”
“Beauty?”
“Brawn,” he corrected, eyes narrowed in a mock-glare, “you and I are a shoo-in.”
She was laughing as he pushed open the door to his father’s hospital room. His gentle teasing successfully took her mind off her nervousness over facing Dan. “Good morning, Dan,” she greeted cheerily.
“Good morning, Georgie dear.” His eyes dropped to the ring sparkling on her left hand. “Or should I say daughter?”
Georgiana’s smile dipped. Robert clucked his tongue reprovingly. Since the fake engagement was his idea, he felt it only fair he shouldered the majority of his father’s anger. “Now, now, Dad. I thought you’d be pleased with the news.”
“I am, but I would have liked to hear it directly from you two and not from that damned Missy Galvan.”
Dan pressed a button on the side of the bed so that he could sit upright. He shook his head in fond dismay and waved them forward. Once the door slammed shut behind them, Georgiana shook her hand free from Robert’s grip. She sank onto the sliver of bed by Dan’s side.
“Bobby told me about the test results. I can’t believe it was poison.” She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her lips to his cool, dry cheek. “Prask should be dragged through the streets by his ankles and then hung. With his own intestines.”
Dan patted her shoulder, winked at Robert over her head. “Now, now, Georgie. You skipped breakfast, didn’t you? You know missing a meal makes you bloodthirsty.”
She sniffled, swiped at the tears gathering in her eyes. “Sorry. I just… I could have lost you. Over nothing. Prask has nothing to gain with your death, and I’d like to wring his neck.”
“I love you, too, dear. Why don’t you run down to the cafeteria and grab a cinnamon roll. It’ll make you feel better.”
“I could use one, as well.” Robert spoke up. He knew his father was anxious for them to have a moment alone. He had been on the receiving end of a few warnings from overprotective fathers, but he’d never imagined he’d receive one from his father.
Georgiana glanced back and forth between father and son. With a roll of her eyes and huff of impatience, she slid off the bed and grabbed her purse off the side table. “Don’t worry, I’ll take my time.”
Robert crossed the room and settled in the upholstered chair between the two beds in the room. He leaned back and propped his feet on the lower rungs of his father’s bed. “It is not my intention to hurt Georgiana, Dad.”
“She’s not like the other women you’ve dated. She won’t be happy with only holding your attention during the constant stream of parties and exotic vacations. She won’t move to New York, either. Her life is here in Houston.”
Robert stuffed his hands in his pockets. He’d hoped to put off telling his father about his arrangements for the Norwood Systems head office, but things rarely followed his initial plans, especially when they involved his father. “I’m moving to Houston, Dad. I’ve already set in motion plans to make Houston the headquarters for NS once again.”
“Good.”
“Good.” Robert knew better than to assume that was all his father had to say on the subject. It was time to be proactive. “I’ve seen Tab. I know all about his accident. I understand Georgiana’s been under unimaginable stress lately. You have my word that I will not add to it.”
Dan snorted, ran a hand through his silver hair. “Don’t see how anything could, son. I’ve been up all night thinking about Prask. I don’t like the way he’s been fixated on Georgiana. There’s no telling what he’ll do if he decides she’s in his way.”
“I know.” Robert didn’t want to bring up Prask’s potential involvement in Tab’s accident. Though his father was recovering at a remarkable rate, there was still the possibility of a set-back. “Georgiana and Tab are moving in to the house. I’ve already instructed Allan to evaluate Collier Analytics’ security.”
“Have you informed Georgiana of that fact?”
Robert winced. It wasn’t a conversation he was looking forward to having. “Not yet.”
Dan rubbed his chin as he eyed his son critically. “I like the ring. It’ll match your mother’s wedding ring nicely. I assume you still have it and didn’t give it to one of your women.”
“It’s in the vault at the house, Dad.”
“Excellent. Your mother was good friends with Corrine. She thought Georgiana was precocious and adorable. You two were too young for them to do any matchmaking, but I’d like to think they’d be pleased with the way things worked out.” Dan spun the worn gold band on his left hand. He missed his wife keenly. Andrea would have known exactly what to say to their son. “I’d believe it if you were engaged to anyone, even that Tammy. You’ve done plenty of fool things in your life. Georgie’s not impulsive like you. She’s never done anything like this.”
“I can be very persuasive when there’s something I want, Dad.” A slow grin spread across Robert’s face at the remembered taste of Georgiana’s lip balm. “She’s what I want. She’ll make the perfect wife.”
“Taking the Board’s nagging to heart?” Dan’s teasing smile faded when Robert didn’t deny the accusation. “She deserves more than a cold, impersonal business relationship. That girl’s been through a lot the last couple of years, son.”
“I assure you, Dad, my relationship with Georgiana will be anything but cold or impersonal.”
Dan looked as if he was going to vomit. “It’s one thing hearing about your escapades when you’re off in New York, but I expect you to act with more discretion here. With Georgie.” His face smoothed out when Robert nodded in agreement. “I won’t lie and say I’m not wary of the suddenness of your engagement, but you’re both adults.”
“So we have your blessing?”
“For what it’s worth, yes you do.”
The door opened before Robert could come up with a suitable reply. He glad they had secured his father’s blessing because if Georgiana was the only one who saw their engagement as a sham it would be easier to convince her to make it a reality. The hint of pride his father’s blue eyes touched something deep in Robert’s soul and brought a swell of emotion to his throat. How long had it been since he’d seen that look?
“Glad to see you haven’t killed each other. That would have been a pain in the ass to explain to the authorities.” Georgiana dropped a warm, napkin-wrapped pastry in Robert’s lap and perched on the bed near Dan’s feet.
“I thought you were going to take your time,” Robert said, biting into the apple and cinnamon-filled roll.
“I lied, and I’m nosy.” Georgiana shrugged and licked a bit of icing off her thumb. “You’ll get used to it.”
Chapter Fifteen:
Suit jacket looped through the strap of her purse and tank top clinging to her sweat-slick back,
Georgiana stumbled in to Yvonne's office. She winced when her bare left foot struck the edge of a chair. Her fashionable, but definitely not designed for hiking, red pumps had been abandoned on the landing between the sixth and seventh floors.
"The elevator's out," Yvonne announced, not bothering to look away from her laptop screen. "Maintenance is aware of the problem."
"And you couldn't have called to warn me?"
"I didn't realize warning people of major headaches was company policy. I mean, I know it's common courtesy, but I don't think that is company policy, either.
Georgiana plopped a rectangular, red-with-embossed-roses box on the corner of Yvonne's desk. "Ta da," she said, wriggling her fingers over the box in an attempt to make up for her lackluster greeting. Her plans for a big, extravagant reveal had dissipated the instant she realized she'd have to walk the fourteen flights of stairs to her office.
"I didn't want to believe it when three different people called to tell me that you were engaged to Robert Norwood. I thought that surely I would be one of first five people you told, even if you had been keeping it a secret from everyone else." Yvonne kept her eyes fixed firmly on the laptop and tapped her fingers on the keys so hard Georgiana feared for the motherboard. "'Not my boss,' I thought, 'Not Georgiana. We're friends, and she can be a little flaky, but she's good with the big stuff.'"
"We are friends, Yvonne."
Yvonne growled. "Besides, she knows my job is to absorb and deflect. I can't effectively do either if I don't know what's coming. A heads' up is the very least she can do when she plans on hooking up with the nation's most eligible bachelor six years running. Furthermore, she... ohmygod! Is that a C.P. Custom?"
"Ta da," Georgiana repeated, managing to summon a dash more enthusiasm.
Yvonne sucked in a fortifying breath and used the sharp, manicured nail on her thumb to slit the tape holding the ends of the box closed. The faint aroma of lilacs and roses wafted from the delicate, pink tissue paper when she lifted the lid. Her jaw fell open at the sight of the midnight blue chiffon beaded-waist gown.