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The Exhibition (An Executive Decision Trilogy)

Page 16

by Grace Marshall


  ‘What that means –’ she turned slightly to face him ‘– is that I’ll need to record a commentary from you and from Kyle.’ Then she added, ‘I’ve looked through your images and chosen the ones I want to use. I’ll get a list emailed to you this afternoon. What I’d like to do is have Carla do that commentary in the form of an interview after she’s had a chance to study your work. Then the loop will contain a commentary on the photos, what they mean to the photographers, the environmental implications, and so on. It’ll all be mixed in with some of the best shots of the success stories of reclamation and humans living in harmony with nature. It won’t run so loud that it’ll disturb people; in fact, it may very well be subtitled. But there’ll also be smaller monitors placed strategically in quiet nooks and crannies where people can turn up the volume and listen in more detail. But the material itself should be eye-catching and well done enough to hold people’s attention and hopefully send them scurrying to learn more.’ She shrugged slightly and Harris noticed the color in her cheeks that was either a modest blush or just understandable excitement for her vision of the opening exhibition. And though he didn’t think it was possible, that slight blush made her even more desirable.

  ‘I know we’re a little pressed for time and that’s my fault for waiting so long to be persuasive enough to get you on board, but still, it’s all very doable without too much pressure. So, what do you think?’ Her voice was a little bit breathless, full of energy and enthusiasm. ‘Is this something you’re OK with?’

  It took Harris a second to realize she was talking to him and not to the general audience. ‘Yeah, of course. It sounds like a great idea. Just let me know what you need me to do.’

  ‘Perfect.’ Instead of the adoring thanks he would have liked, she turned her attention back to Ellis. ‘I’d like to have Carla ask you a few questions too, Ellis, since Vigilant Trust is your brainchild – yours and Harris’, that is – and since you’re a recognized crusader for the cause.’

  ‘Of course.’ Ellis nodded enthusiastically. ‘You know I’ll do anything you need me to do on this.’

  ‘I don’t suppose anyone will be terribly surprised to hear that the Ryde Agency is taking care of the PR for this project.’ She smiled as though she was thinking of a private joke. ‘Pretty much a waltz in the park and easy money for Ryde, but hey, I have friends in high places.’

  ‘I’m glad to hear that the Ryde Agency is back in business full strength and giving the competition a run for its money,’ Dee said.

  Harris nodded his agreement, still amazed that Kendra and Stacie had hit it off so well. But then he shouldn’t be, he supposed. Ellis had been right: give the woman half a chance and she’d win you over. That was the problem. She’d won him over a little too well. And now he was suffering the consequences, even if she wasn’t. Well, he’d just fucking get over it, he told himself. He didn’t believe in going where he wasn’t wanted. He’d just back off, give her space and keep it all professional, just like she wanted. Then he remembered the email he had received just before the meeting, and nerves shivered in his belly. God, what on earth was the woman playing at? Well, he’d have to find out, and he’d have to warn her up front if she didn’t know how dangerous Terrance Jamison was, but he couldn’t imagine she didn’t, and that scared the hell out of him.

  Just then both Ellis and Dee’s secretaries arrived toting several large paper bags with twisted twine handles. The smell coming from inside would have made his mouth water if he didn’t have more pressing things on his mind than filling his stomach.

  Harris was relieved that even through the meal, the focus was on Vigilant Trust and on the opening exhibition of the gallery. He ate without tasting, not wanting to draw attention to himself by not eating, and he did his best to stay focused on the plan, which was a damn good one. Stacie’s exhibition would be spearheading several major reclamation projects in the Northwest that would dovetail nicely with the photographers’ exhibitions and the film she had hired Carla Flannery to produce. The woman’s mind was a fascinating place to be pulled into, and yet it had chosen to leave him in the middle of the night without saying goodbye. And it had led her deliberately into an extremely dangerous place. Neither of those facts was ever far from his mind through the meal and through Stacie’s plan.

  They’d just dispensed with the fortune cookies when Ellis’ BlackBerry buzzed. ‘That’ll be Lynn telling me that my 2 o’clock is here.’ He raised a hand when people started to shift. ‘No need to rush. The meeting’s in the library, so just relax and finish your lunch.’

  Dee washed down her cookie with a gulp of iced tea and stood to join him. ‘I’m seeing Alan Marston for a last minute planning meeting before Jason gets here from Paris and the real fun begins.’

  ‘Al’s here?’ Stacie said. ‘Give the man a bear hug for me.’ She looked down at her own watch. ‘If he’s free for dinner maybe he’d like a little company. I’ll give him a call. Anyway, I have to go too.’ She began to gather her stuff.

  Harris laid a hand on the middle of the blueprint before she could roll it back up. ‘We need to talk before you go,’ he said. The panicked look that crossed her face was nothing more than a flash, but he caught it. He held her gaze. ‘About the clear-cut.’ That seemed to relax her just a little bit. At least the thought that he might bring up her leaving his bed without saying goodbye made her nervous. That was something, he supposed.

  ‘Clear-cut? What clear-cut?’ Ellis asked, stopping mid-stride. Dee too stopped in her tracks. And Harris realized it might be a good time to have some powerful allies.

  He spoke to Ellis, but he held Stacie’s gaze. ‘The one Stacie nearly got herself killed in last week.’

  Ellis dropped back onto the couch and Dee with him. All eyes were on Stacie. ‘Stacie?’ Ellis’ voice was full of warning.

  ‘I was checking it out,’ she said, folding her arms defiantly across her chest. ‘It’s Bald Hill, Ellis. You remember?’

  ‘Of course I remember.’ His expression hardened; his jaw tensed. ‘You know I remember, but dear God, Stacie, why would you want to go back there now?’

  ‘I wanted to see if there was any way it could be one of the reclamation projects.’

  Ellis’ gaze softened. ‘Stacie, you know it can’t be. Believe me, I’ve thought of that, and there’s nothing I’d love more, but you know the damage is too great. There won’t be the funds for at least several more years for anything of that magnitude, and that’s if we can find a way to stem the erosion. Plus –’

  ‘The Bald Hill clear-cut was the result of a timber rights sell-off that Terrance Jamison orchestrated,’ Harris finished Ellis’ sentence.

  Whatever it was Ellis said under his breath, Harris figured it probably wasn’t very nice.

  ‘I know,’ Stacie said. ‘I know all of that. But I had to see.’ She turned her attention back to Harris. ‘I wouldn’t have been in any danger if the storm hadn’t blown in, and that’s my fault for not checking the weather before I headed up there.’

  ‘Stacie, stay away from Jamison or anything that involves him.’ Ellis’ voice held a lethal edge. ‘The man’s capable of anything.’

  Her spine stiffened; the hammering of her pulse was visible against her throat. ‘I know what he’s capable of.’ Then, with a quick intake of breath and a settling of her shoulders, she forced a smile that almost passed for relaxed. ‘Believe me, I know what a nasty piece of work he is.’

  The tight knot between Harris’ shoulder blades convinced him Stacie wasn’t being completely above board, but then he had suspected that for a while now.

  Ellis still held her in a gaze that would have peeled paint. ‘Stacie, I mean it. Stay away from anything that has to do with Jamison. He’s bad news.’

  ‘I’m not going to go back up there, so relax, will you? It was a bad idea, that’s all.’ She started to roll up the plans again and offered a wicked smile. ‘Even I have a bad idea every once in a while.’

  But Harris didn’t believe her fo
r a moment, and he doubted that Ellis did either if the look on his face was any indication.

  ‘Go on.’ She shooed Ellis and Dee with a nod of her head. ‘You’ll be late for your meetings. I’ve been properly chastised.’ She shot Harris a quick glance.

  ‘Stacie, I mean it, this is –’

  ‘Just go, Ellis. I said I’ll stay away from the clear-cut, all right? Now go, both of you.’

  Ellis and Dee left reluctantly, pulling the door shut behind them and leaving Harris and Stacie alone.

  ‘Oh, stop looking at me that way, Harris,’ she said. ‘I told you I’m not going back, so problem solved, wouldn’t you say?’ She shoved the plans in her bag and turned to go, miscalculated the position of the coffee table leg, tripped, and sent herself sprawling across the floor, bag flying in the opposite direction.

  Instantly he was on his knees next to her. ‘Jesus, Stacie, are you trying to kill yourself?’ When he offered her his help up, she pulled away.

  ‘Don’t. OK, Harris, just don’t. I’m fine. I’ve been stumbling around my whole life and I’m not dead yet.’ For a second, he thought she was going to cry, which was not like Stacie at all.

  ‘Hey, are you all right?’ he asked, this time not allowing her to push him away as he helped her to her feet, then guided her back onto the loveseat. ‘I’m sorry. Let me look at that.’ He cupped her calf in his hand where he could already see the knot swelling in the middle of her left shin. ‘I’ll bet Ellis has ice in the fridge. Just hold still.’ He moved to the bar area where the fridge was and found an ice pack. ‘Thought Mr. Thorne would be prepared for the odd bump or bruise,’ he said, returning to his position on the floor between her legs. She caught her breath with a sharp hiss as he gently rested the ice pack against the goose egg. ‘It’s gonna sting a bit until it starts to freeze,’ he warned her, resisting the urge to kiss it better. Instead, he stretched to pick up her bag and handed it back to her.

  She took it from him, hoisting it onto her shoulder as though she was preparing for a quick getaway. ‘This is getting to be a habit,’ she said, nodding down at the abrasion on her knee – now nearly healed – from the fall she had taken in the clear-cut.

  It was good to hear her sounding more like her old self. He smiled up at her. ‘Not that I wish you pain or anything, but your stumbling about does give me a chance to fondle sexy female legs, something I don’t get to do very often.’ He shrugged. ‘Unless you count the female badger I rescued from a trap last spring. But she nearly bit my finger off.’

  She smiled down at him. ‘I promise I won’t bite, Harris. Not unless you ask me to.’

  He couldn’t keep from smiling back. ‘Now there’s an intriguing proposition.’

  She was instantly serious again. ‘I’m sorry, Harris. I should have never dragged you into that mess at the clear-cut. It’s just that – well, I never dreamed you’d come after me.’

  ‘I never dreamed you’d go up there alone in such weather. Hell, I wouldn’t have wanted to be in that place alone in any weather.’

  ‘Don’t worry.’ She spoke softly, avoiding his gaze. ‘We won’t be going back there.’

  For a second, they were both silent. The table was still strewn with the remains of their lunch; the sound system still played soft chamber music Harris didn’t recognize. It just slipped out. ‘Why did you leave?’

  She smoothed the hem of her skirt unnecessarily and took a deep breath. ‘I got scared, Harris.’ She still wouldn’t look at him. ‘You know when you wake up and wonder what you’ve just done.’

  He lifted her chin so she couldn’t avoid his gaze. ‘Are you sorry it happened?’

  ‘Of course I’m not sorry. I just don’t want you to get hurt. And there are things … Things you don’t know.’

  Before he knew what he was doing, before he could control himself, he let the ice pack fall away and slid up onto the couch next to her. He pulled her into his arms and took her mouth. She offered only a whimper of surprise before she slipped her arms around his neck and returned the kiss with a ravenous passion that startled him, that delighted him, that frightened him just a little. And then he couldn’t get close enough. There was too much clothing between them, too much air, too many unspoken words.

  ‘Are you planning on hurting me?’ he asked, when he pulled away breathless.

  ‘Of course not, but there are things … things that you don’t –’

  ‘Things that I don’t know about. Yes, you told me that, but I don’t need to know everything, Stacie. I just need you to stay until we’re finished, and we were nowhere near finished when you left. You know that.’

  A single tear slid down her cheek and she wiped it aside angrily. ‘Harris, please don’t make this more difficult.’

  He pulled her to him so tightly that he forced the breath from her and he kissed her again, kissed her until she clung to him, kissed her until she yielded. ‘I am going to make it difficult, Stacie. I’m going to make it as difficult as I can for you to walk away next time.’ He held her face in his hands and forced her to look at him. ‘I don’t know what the hell’s going on, but I do know that it’s good when we’re together, and I want more and I’m pretty sure you do too.’

  She closed her eyes and swallowed a tight breath. ‘Harris, you don’t know what you’re asking.’

  ‘Then suppose you tell me – or at least give me a hint.’ She tried to pull away but he held her. ‘Does it have anything to do with that clear-cut, with Terrance Jamison?’

  This time, the beautiful blush drained from her face and her features were porcelain pale. ‘Harris, I –’

  The door burst open and one of the cleaning staff stepped in. When she saw them, she reddened and apologized profusely in a very strong Polish accent. ‘I didn’t know that anyone was here. I’m so, so sorry. I will come back later.’

  ‘No, it’s all right.’ Stacie somehow managed to sound like it was business as usual again. ‘It’s all right, we’re finished here, and I was just leaving.’ She forced her way up from the sofa, shouldered her bag, and fled, this time without stumbling.

  By the time Harris pushed past the embarrassed cleaning lady and made his way to the elevators, Stacie was nowhere in sight. It didn’t matter, though. He knew that Stacie hadn’t run because she didn’t want to be with him. If she was scared, well, he could deal with that. Right now he’d give her a little space to let her nerves settle a bit before he texted her, or maybe he’d just drop by the gallery unexpected. After all, he really should find out just where this amazing exhibition he’d agreed to would be taking place. An artist needed to know these things. Stacie was about to find out that he was at least as tenacious as she was. In spite of her obvious discomfort, in spite of the fact she was clearly hiding something that distressed her, all at once, his day felt a whole lot brighter.

  Chapter Eighteen

  He didn’t kiss her when he opened the hotel room door. He didn’t invite her in. He didn’t even offer her a smile, in spite of the fact that they hadn’t seen each other in two weeks, and in spite of the fact that his regular texts left her hopes soaring. Then there were the gifts – expensive jewelry, clothes, rare art books, something almost every day. She’d been convinced he really did want to be more than just her mentor. She’d been convinced that maybe he really did find her irresistible. The edgy anticipation she’d felt, the elation mixed with a good jangle of nerves that Terrance Jamison had flown her to Oregon to be with him – even flown her first class – dissolved into a knot of dread.

  He stood in the doorway just looking her over with that distant look of his, the one that, for some reason, always frightened her a little bit. It somehow made her feel more like an object than a person. But then surely it was just his way. Surely the man didn’t get to where he was in the business world without a good poker face. At last he spoke. ‘Why aren’t you wearing the dress I bought you?’

  Instinctively, her hand came to rest against her chest, just above her breasts, and she couldn’t fight bac
k the resulting blush. ‘Mr. Jamison.’ Her voice came out high and thin, not at all the confident purr it had been in her fantasies. ‘I couldn’t wear it in public. I brought it with me, of course. But I thought it was just for … you know … for us.’

  For a second, he said nothing, only held her gaze until she looked away, embarrassed, confused. At last he spoke. ‘You have nice breasts, Ingrid.’ Jeez, did he have to say it so loud? Anyone could be passing by. Anyone could hear. He continued as if they were simply talking about the weather. ‘You shouldn’t be ashamed to show them off.’ With her still standing in the hall outside his door, he shoved her hands away from her chest and gave each breast a hard grope followed by a look of distaste. ‘With those dowdy bras you wear, it’s hard to tell what’s real, and I like to know what I’m getting. I like to see your tits under your clothing, not all this padding.’

  With that, he ran a hand up the lapel of the summer shirt dress she wore and gave it a hard yank. She yelped as buttons went flying. But before she could fold her arms across her now embarrassingly exposed cleavage, before she could even give a quick glance around to make sure no one was watching, he pinned her arms to her side, shoved the dress off her shoulders, and kissed her savagely.

  Just when she feared she’d suffocate, just when every muscle in her body warned her to recoil and run away, he pulled her to him and held her close, and his touch became soothing, like the touch she’d seen her father use on a frightened calf. And her fear dissolved into desire that was even more alarming. How could she desire him after what he’d just done?

  When at last he pulled away, they still stood in the open door, and he still hadn’t invited her in. ‘You need to show me what you’ve got, Ingrid. You need to show everyone what you’ve got. That’s what you’ve wanted from the beginning, and I’m happy to see, so don’t play coy, don’t hide it.’

 

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