Dynasties:The Elliots, Books 7-12

by Various Authors

  “I’m—” he stopped to clear his throat “—glad that we’ve finally got this out in the open, lass.”

  His use of the pet name he’d called her when she was a little girl caused tears to pool in the corners of her eyes. “I am, too, Dad.”

  “I…love you, Fin. Can you ever find it in your heart to forgive me?” The hitch in her father’s voice sent tears streaming down her cheeks.

  “Yes, Dad. I forgive you.”

  There was a long pause as if they both needed time to get used to the fact that they’d finally made their peace with the past.

  “I’m going to marry Jessie’s adoptive father,” Fin said, breaking the silence.

  “Does he make you happy, lass?” Patrick’s voice held a fatherly concern that she knew for certain she’d never heard before.

  “Yes, Dad. He makes me very happy.”

  “I’m glad you found him. He seems like a good, hard-working man. And he did a wonderful job raising Jessica.” Her father surprised her further when he added, “I also think it’s wonderful that we’ll have a new grandchild soon.”

  “You don’t know how much that means to me, Dad,” she said, meaning it.

  “How are you going to juggle time at the office with a new baby?” he asked, giving her the perfect opportunity to tell him the second reason she’d called.

  “I’m not even going to try.” She took a deep breath as she prepared to end her career and kiss the CEO position goodbye once and for all. “Effective immediately I’m no longer the editor-in-chief of Charisma.”

  “Are you sure that’s what you want?” From the tone of his voice, she could tell her father already knew the answer.

  “Yes, Dad. I want what Mom always had—time to be with her babies.”

  “I can’t fault you for that, lass.”

  “Dad, there’s one more thing.”

  “What’s that?”

  “I think Cade McMann would be an excellent candidate for my position. He knows the magazine inside out and he has fantastic instincts. You can trust him and his judgment to keep Charisma on the right track.”

  “And he’s part of the family now,” her father said, sounding thoughtful.

  After telling her parents again that she loved them and that she’d see them at the New Year’s Eve party they were holding at The Tides, she hung up the phone and went in search of Travis. She felt more at peace than she had in twenty-three years and finally ready to start the rest of her life.

  “You look absolutely beautiful, Fin.”

  Smiling at her daughter, Fin asked, “Is your dad ready?”

  “I think he’s going to wear a hole in the floor from pacing so much,” Jessie said, laughing as she finished with the tiny buttons at the back of Fin’s wedding dress. “Cade and Mac have both threatened to tie him down and Spud offered to supply the rope.”

  Fin laughed. “He asked me two days ago if we couldn’t just elope.”

  Tears filled Jessie’s eyes as she nodded. “Dad loves you so much. We all do.”

  “And I love all of you.” Fin gave her daughter a watery smile. “Here we go again. We’re both going to ruin our makeup if we don’t stop crying.”

  Dabbing at her eyes with a tissue, Jessie smiled. “I’m just so happy for both of you.”

  Fin hugged Jessie close. “I’m happy for all of us. I have a beautiful daughter, a wonderful son-in-law and I’m marrying the man I love.”

  “It’s time, Aunt Finny.”

  Looking up, Fin smiled at her niece. Marriage to Mac Riggs definitely agreed with Bridget. There was a sparkle in her eyes and a glow about her that hadn’t been there before she met the tall, dark-haired sheriff of Winchester County.

  “We’ll be right there,” Jessie said, hugging Fin again. “Let’s go take pity on Dad before he has to have the floor resurfaced.”

  As Fin followed the two young women down the stairs of the Silver Moon ranch house, her heart skipped a beat when she saw Travis, standing straight and tall in the tuxedo he’d worn for Jessie and Cade’s wedding. When she’d asked him what he was going to wear for their wedding, he’d just smiled and told her not to worry about it.

  When he met her at the bottom of the steps, she touched his handsome face. “You said your tux would hang in the closet, never to be worn again.”

  He grinned. “Do you remember what you told me when the kids got married?”

  “I said you looked handsome and—” her cheeks heated and she smiled as she realized why he’d worn the tux “—incredible.”

  His low chuckle sent waves of longing throughout her entire body. “That’s right. And since the doctor gave you a clean bill of health yesterday—”

  “You wanted to amaze me?” Fin asked, laughing delightedly.

  “Honey, I intend to amaze both of us tonight after we’re alone.” The promise in his blue eyes made her tingle from head to toe. “But right now I want to make you mine.”

  She smiled at the man she loved more than life itself. “I am yours, Travis. For now and always. Never doubt that.”

  “And I’m yours, sweetheart.” He gave her a kiss so tender, she thought she might melt into a puddle right then and there. When he raised his head, he offered her his arm. “Let’s mosey on over to the fireplace and let Mac make it official.”

  And as they took the vows that made them husband and wife, Fin looked forward to an amazing future filled with love and happiness beneath the wide Colorado sky.

  Beyond the Boardroom

  Maureen Child

  Contents

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Chapter Twelve

  Epilogue

  One

  “Okay then,” Rachel Adler said, keeping her voice pitched to be heard over the thumping of running feet and the hum of the treadmill. “I’ve got you booked for dinner with Tawny Mason tonight at eight.”

  “At Une Nuit?” Shane Elliott asked, reaching for his water bottle, tucked beneath the cord at the head of the machine.

  “Where else?” Rachel muttered with a little shake of her head. Why in heaven would he even ask? she wondered. Hadn’t she been taking care of every detail of Shane’s life for four years now?

  “Good.” Shane took a long drink of water and Rachel’s gaze locked on the bobbing motion of his Adam’s apple. Seriously, even the man’s neck was sexy.

  When he’d finished off the last of the water, he wiped sweat from his face with the towel looped around his neck and tossed Rachel the empty bottle. “And call ahead. Have Stash order in some flowers for, um…” He waved one hand in a silent attempt for help.

  “Tawny,” Rachel provided dryly as she set the empty bottle down on the floor beside her. For heaven’s sake, the man couldn’t even remember his date’s name.

  Plus, he knew as well as she did that Stash Martin, manager of Une Nuit, never missed a beat when getting the Elliott family table ready. There would, she knew, be flowers, champagne and some delicious appetizers just waiting for Shane and Tawny.

  Tawny.

  What kind of woman named her daughter Tawny? A stage mother, hoping for a starlet daughter? Or had the woman taken one look at her newborn baby girl and decided…future bimbo?

  “Right.” Shane nodded. “Tawny. She says her mother named her for the color of her eyes.”

  Rachel rolled her own green eyes.

  Shane grinned at her and Rachel’s stomach did a quick dip and spin.

  If she could have managed it without looking like a complete idiot, she’d have kicked her own ass. Honestly. Why was it Shane Elliott who could turn her insides to mush with a simple smile?

  The first three years she’d worked with the man, everything had been fine between them. They’d had a go
od working relationship and Shane even appreciated Rachel’s sometimes quirky sense of humor, when most of her previous employers hadn’t. Then she’d had to go and ruin the whole thing by falling for him.

  For the last year she’d suffered silently, wanting him every day, dreaming about him at night, all the while knowing that he thought of her only as Good ol’ Rachel.

  Idiot.

  “What do you think?” he asked, clearly oblivious to her thoughts. “Roses?”

  “Huh?” She blinked, shook her head and reminded herself to concentrate on the moment. “Right. Flowers. Roses are boring.”

  “Really?”

  “Trust me.”

  “I always do,” he said, giving her another of those smiles that had the power to zap an unwary female at twenty paces.

  She couldn’t do this much longer, she thought. Couldn’t keep working with him every day and dying a little more every day. Couldn’t set up his dates with other women and imagine him in bed with every one of them. Couldn’t keep wasting her life away waiting for the wrong man to wake up and stumble on her.

  Sighing, Rachel flipped through her memo book, scanned the notes she kept on the legions of Shane’s women and found what she was looking for. “Tawny prefers daisies.”

  “Sure, I remember now. Such a simple girl.”

  “Simpleton, you mean,” she muttered again, keeping her voice low enough that her boss’s running feet would drown out the comment.

  “What was that?”

  “Nothing.” She automatically handed him the second bottle of water she’d brought with her to the executive area of the company gym on the fifth floor.

  “Rachel, what would I do without you?” he mused, not really expecting an answer.

  But oh boy, could she give him one. Rachel was Shane’s right hand at The Buzz, one of the magazines in the Elliott family empire. As a weekly entertainment magazine, The Buzz covered all the new movies, did interviews with up-and-coming directors and fawned over whichever actor or actress was the current hot topic. And as editor in chief of The Buzz, Shane did his best to keep on top of everything going on around him.

  Of course, when she’d first come to work for him, he hadn’t been so involved. Instead he’d tried to avoid the office as much as humanly possible. But slowly, Rachel had convinced him to enjoy his job more.

  Back then, he’d resented being pulled into the family business. But Rachel had seen just how good he was at not only handling the day-to-day running of the magazine but at dealing with people and managing disasters. She’d eventually convinced him that he was meant to run this business.

  And he’d really come into his own over the last several months—ever since his father, Patrick, had kicked off a competition among his children.

  Old man Elliott had determined that the best way to name a new CEO of Elliott Publication Holdings was to see who was willing to work hardest to earn it. At the end of the year the editor in chief of whichever one of the magazines showed the most proportional profit growth would become Top Dog.

  And The Buzz was the front-runner.

  Shane’s father was due to announce the winner any day now.

  Patrick was a sneaky old man, in Rachel’s opinion. Nice, sure, but sneaky. He’d found a way to make his grown children admit just how much they wanted to succeed. By pitting them against each other, he’d been able to sit back all year and watch them discover themselves.

  And there had been plenty of discoveries, she thought, remembering all of the turmoil over the last year.

  “Did you put that call in to Fin for me?” Shane asked, breathing hard as he picked up the pace on the treadmill.

  “Yes,” Rachel said, flipping back a page in her memo book. Smiling, she read off, “Fin says and I quote, ‘Tell Shane he needs to get away from the city and smell some fresh air. Come to Colorado and I’ll teach him to ride a horse.’”

  Shane laughed. “A month on a ranch and she’s Annie Oakley?”

  Rachel chuckled along with him. She couldn’t help it. Shane’s twin sister had been sad for so long, it was good knowing that she was finally happy. She’d reconciled with Jessie, the daughter she was forced to give up for adoption so many years ago. She was married to a man she was clearly nuts about and her newly discovered pregnancy was the icing on the cake. “She’s happy.”

  “Yeah,” Shane said, his running steps slowing a little as he thought about the sister he was so close to. “She really is. But damn, I miss having her around.”

  His eyes narrowed thoughtfully as he stared straight ahead, out the bank of windows overlooking Park Avenue.

  “I know,” Rachel said. “But she’ll probably come back home for Christmas.”

  “Christmas.” He shut off the treadmill, stepped neatly to one side and used his towel to wipe his face again. “It’s December, isn’t it?”

  “All month,” she agreed.

  “Have I started shopping yet?”

  “No.”

  “Damn.” Grabbing the second bottle of water, he chugged down the liquid, then handed off the empty bottle. “No time to worry about it now, though. I’m gonna grab a shower, then I’ll see you back in the office in half an hour. I’d like to take a look at the new copy for the magazine before it heads out to production.”

  “Right.” Rachel winced as she thought about one column in particular that he’d be going over.

  As if reading her mind, he turned and called back, “The new Tess Tells All column was turned in on time, right?”

  “Oh, yeah. She’s very dependable.”

  From across the room, Shane winked at her. “Just like you, Rachel.”

  She watched him disappear into the men’s locker room and as the door swung shut behind him, she whispered, “You have no idea.”

  A few hours later, Shane listened with half an ear as his art director, Jonathon Taylor, laid out plans for next summer’s Fourth of July edition even as snow flurries dusted the windows. On a weekly magazine, they usually operated months in advance. And the specialty editions required even more in-depth planning.

  Jonathon really thrived on the rush of trying to outdo himself with every holiday issue. And damned if he didn’t pull it off most of the time. Right now Jon was in the midst of describing, with wildly waving hands, his salute to patriotism, centering on celebrities dressed in red, white and blue. Not original, but knowing Jon, it would be great.

  Sandy Hall, the managing editor, was practically frothing at the mouth. No doubt she had a complaint or two about the money Jonathon was budgeting for his blowout edition.

  And Shane would have to listen to both sides and make a decision. Used to be that he hated being here, listening to all of the day-to-day drama of the magazine’s inner circles. Now, though, he was enjoying himself.

  Amazed him to admit it, but there it was. He’d been getting a charge out of running The Buzz for months now. Surprisingly enough, Shane realized he was pleased. Proud, even, of how well The Buzz was doing. He’d gone into this contest with halfhearted enthusiasm. But as the months had worn on, Shane had found himself being swept up into the competitive spirit. Nothing an Elliott liked better than a contest.

  “So—” Jonathon was wrapping up his speech “—I figure if we shell out top dollar to a few of the biggest celebrities, the rest of ’em will come along, too. Nobody wants to feel left out.”

  Before Shane could respond, Sandy stood up, brushed her short blond hair back from her eyes and narrowed her gaze on Jon. “And if we pay top dollar for a handful of celebs, who’s going to offset that expenditure?”

  “You have to pay to play,” Jon said smugly, shooting a glance at Shane as if knowing he’d back him up.

  And he did. “Jon’s right, Sandy,” he said, holding up one hand to keep his managing editor’s temper in check. “We get the right people into that issue, the advertisers will line up to be a part of it. Plus, we’ll sell more copies.”

  “The budget’s already stretched pretty thin, Shane,” Sandy said
, sneering at Jon’s gleeful chortle.

  “Bull.” Shane stood up behind his desk, swept the edges of his jacket back and stuffed his hands into his pockets. “You know as well as I do that the profit margins are way up. We’re beating the pants off the rest of the Elliott magazines. And we’re going to keep doing it. And the way we’re going to keep doing it is by not cutting corners.”

  Jon slapped one hand to his chest and bowed his head as if in prayer. “Brilliant, my king, brilliant.”

  Shane laughed at the dramatics, but hey, it was good to be king.

  “You’re only saying that because you won,” Sandy pointed out.

  “Sure,” Jon said, grinning at her now that he’d made his point.

  “Before the bloodletting starts up again,” Shane interrupted, looking from one editor to the other, “has either of you made any headway on the job I gave you?”

  Jon and Sandy looked at each other, shrugged, then turned back to Shane.

  “Nope.” Sandy spoke first, clearly reluctant to admit that she’d failed. “I’ve talked to everyone I know and nobody has a clue about this woman’s identity.”

  “I second that,” Jon said, obviously disappointed. “Our little Tess is like Spider-Man or something, keeping her secret identity so secret, there’s not even a whisper of gossip about her.”

  Just what Shane hadn’t wanted to hear. Damn it. Tess Tells All was the most popular column in his magazine. They’d picked up thousands of new readers thanks to the anonymous woman’s talent for being both funny and insightful.

  Seven months ago The Buzz had carried the very first of the mystery woman’s columns.

  The response had been immediate. Calls, e-mails, letters, all from people who wanted to read more from Tess. But the woman was untraceable. She faxed her monthly column in from a different location in the city every time and her checks were sent to a PO box and then forwarded to yet another.