The Exhibition (An Executive Decision Trilogy)

by Grace Marshall

  His hand moved from her hip up along the outside of her breast and to the bodice of the dress that showed more cleavage than she would have preferred. ‘Your curves, Stacie, your lovely womanly curves; it wouldn’t do for you to lose them, now would it? He ran the slight cup of his palm over each of her breasts in turn, catching his breath at the feel of her nipples responding to his warmth.

  ‘Oh my dear, you have no idea how exquisite you are, do you? You never have. That’s a part of what’s always made you the most intriguing woman I’ve ever known.’ He kissed her collarbone, then slid one strap away from her shoulders. His cool lips nibbled an arc of kisses along the rounded muscle of her shoulder. ‘You were the work of art I most wanted to possess that first night we met in New York. I could see nothing else, think of nothing else, dream of nothing else.’

  He reached behind her and, with a slow, practiced hand, unzipped her dress.

  And she held herself. She didn’t flinch, she didn’t stiffen. She held everything inside. This was not unexpected. This was a part of the price, the price she was willing to pay. She ignored the rise of bile in her throat and swallowed it back. She could do this. She had to do this. And she would.

  With a flick of his thumbs, he slipped the dress off her shoulders. As it slid down her body to pool around her feet, he caught his breath. ‘Dear God, Stacie Emerson, how you have haunted me all these years, and tonight –’ He cupped her cheek and took her mouth in a lingering kiss. ‘Tonight I’ll have you again at last.’ He took her hand and steadied her as she stepped out of the dress, standing before him in nothing but stockings and garter belt and dangerously high heels. His gaze felt as physical as his touch had been as he studied her body the way he would a piece of art. Then he took her hand and led her to the bedroom.

  And Stacie Emerson did what she had to do.

  Jenny knocked softly on the open door to Stacie’s office and stuck her head around it, looking slightly nervous. ‘Um, Harris Walker’s downstairs. What do you want me to do?’

  Stacie nearly dropped the sandwich she’d been nibbling while going over the schedule of events, and everything in her tensed and ached with yearning. She was about to tell Jenny to send him away, but then she remembered he hadn’t yet seen the finished film loop.

  ‘Good. Jenny, take Mr. Walker into the small guest lounge and put the film loop on for him to watch. Tell him it’s important that I get his final approval while there’s still time for Carla to edit it.’ There wasn’t time for Carla to edit it. It was a done deal now, but that didn’t matter.

  She listened, with her heart in her throat, to Harris’ protests as Jenny escorted him into the small guest lounge. She could hear Jenny explaining what Stacie wanted him to do, and then, at last, there was silence. She waited another minute, until she could stand it no longer, and then she slipped into the control room for the security cameras and pulled up the monitor for the small lounge, keeping the door open just in case any of Jamison’s men got suspicious. Sure enough, Harris was there. She made a grab for the chair and nearly missed it, she was trembling so badly. She could see his impatient face waiting for the film loop to begin and no doubt planning to storm the ramparts the very second it was done. A quick search of the other security monitors showed two of Jamison’s men at either end the main exhibition hall, seated as though they were docents at a museum, looking rather bored. A third stood at the main entrance and a fourth was at the private rear entrance. A look around the parking lot showed no sign of any vehicles she didn’t recognize. She didn’t know how Harris had managed to sneak in, but it didn’t matter. No rules had been broken. If any of the security team entered the lounge or her office, what they’d see was Stacie checking out the security system and one of her key exhibitors downstairs in the lounge, watching the film loop that he starred in. With a trembling hand, she flipped the switch. Harris nearly jumped out of his seat when, rather than the film loop, the image of her, finger pressed to her lips to shush him, came onto his screen.

  ‘You’re not supposed to be here,’ she said.

  ‘No, I’m just not supposed to be here with you.’ He offered her that wry smile of his that she’d love to kiss off his face and, in happier times, she would have. ‘I couldn’t stay away, surely you know that. I had to know you were all right.’

  ‘I’m fine, Harris. He didn’t hurt me, and anyway, once Ingrid was away and I knew you were safe I was a good girl, and did what I was told.’

  His face darkened; the look of pain made her ache to touch him, to hold him and reassure him. For a second, he struggled to find his voice, and when he spoke, the words were tight, as though something horrible might happen if he lost control. ‘I slept at home last night, and I … I couldn’t stop thinking … and I wanted to rip his throat out and –’

  ‘Harris,’ she interrupted. ‘I didn’t have sex with him.’

  She heard his groan of relief, and he scrubbed a hand over his face. ‘How? Surely he wanted you? I mean, how could he not want you?’

  ‘Oh, he wanted me all right.’

  ‘Then what happened?’

  ‘I threw up on him,’ she said, as matter-of-factly as if she’d been telling him the weather.

  Harris shoved his hand over his mouth to fight back a sob of laughter. ‘Seriously? On purpose?’

  She nodded. ‘It wasn’t that hard to do under the circumstances.’ For a second, they only sat smiling at each other, and then she felt her smile slip. ‘Harris, my convenient little stomach bug is just a temporary fix. You know that. In the end, I’ll do what I have to. I need you to understand that.’

  ‘No! I don’t understand. I don’t understand at all. And, Stacie, when this is over and we get you out of this mess. He’ll pay. He’ll pay dearly for everything he’s done to you. I promise.’

  ‘Harris, I don’t want to talk about him, OK?’ She leaned closer to the control panel, a poor substitute for the intimacy she craved with the man whose face on the monitor looked so pained. We only have a few minutes. Tell me something good. Tell me something that I can hold on to.’

  ‘Doug saw our mountain lion again yesterday. He says she’s looking pretty pleased with herself.’

  Stacie closed her eyes for a second, letting his words sink in. Then she smiled back at him. ‘There’ll be kittens in a few months.’

  He nodded. ‘I’ll take you to see them when Doug gives the OK.’

  ‘I’m counting on it,’ she replied, not daring to think that far ahead, but wanting to so badly. ‘What else?’

  ‘Wade’s working on some promising technology that will help prevent erosion and reclaim damaged land that’s already suffered from erosion.’

  ‘That’s good news.’

  ‘I went for a swim this morning in the waterhole. Water’s just freezing, and not nearly as much fun without you.’ He pressed his hand to the screen. ‘Stacie, I love you.’

  But before she could respond, in the background she could hear male voices heading toward the small lounge. With an urgent gasp, she flipped the switch. The film clip continued, and Harris’ face was gone. His last words settled around her with an impossible mix of pain and hope.

  Chapter Thirty

  ‘This is getting to be a goddamned habit,’ Al Marston said. The big man had just arrived from New York for meetings with Dee and for the opening exhibition at New World Gallery West tomorrow night. ‘Wade, if you’re planning on taking up entertaining, you really ought to see if you could hire Beverly’s decorator back. The place is a dump.’

  Wade ignored him, settling into his ratty recliner as though he were about to hold court. Dee, Ellis, Flannery, and Kendra were already there as Marston settled onto the sofa next to Harris with a grunt. ‘What the hell’s going on? How’s Stacie?’

  ‘Stacie’s fine,’ Wade said. ‘She’s just fine. But the one thing Stacie Emerson is not is broke.’

  There was a collective intake of breath, and then the room went silent. ‘It took some serious doing to track down the woman’s r
esources. Whoever set up this scheme for her was a bloody genius.’

  All eyes were on Kendra. She shook her head. ‘She’s K. Ryde’s client, so don’t ask. What you’ve found, you’ve found, but don’t ask.’

  Harris exploded. ‘Goddamn it, Kendra, this is Stacie we’re talking about!’

  ‘I fucking know who we’re talking about, Harris. So let me do my job, for Stacie’s sake.’

  Wade only looked from one of them to the other as though they bored him, and then he said, ‘It doesn’t matter who did it. So far I’ve traced down enough liquidity to buy the gallery outright several times over and still take half of Portland out for big party after the exhibition.’

  That got everyone’s full attention. He continued, ‘I don’t know what the woman’s playing at, but she sure as hell doesn’t need Jamison’s money. She doesn’t need anything from him.’

  ‘It doesn’t matter what she needs from him,’ Ellis said. ‘If he harasses Stacie through threatening her friends and through vandalizing her gallery, the odds are in his favor, and he knows it.’

  ‘But why?’ Flannery asked. ‘Why would he do it? Ellis, do you think it could have something to do with you? I know you say not, but I can’t think of any other reason.’

  ‘That little lady got the best of him.’ Marston shook a thick finger at everyone. ‘And she did it in front of the whole goddamned world, including the press and his rich associates. Ya’ll know Jamison has an ego bigger that the whole fucking state of Texas. Don’t you see? He can’t let that slide, even if it takes him, say, ten years.’

  Wade nodded slowly. ‘That may well be, but that doesn’t explain why all of Stacie’s money has been hidden away over the past five years until it looks like she’s living off her dwindling savings. Jamison had nothing to do with that. Jamison doesn’t know that or he wouldn’t be pumping money into an account Stacie just recently set up, now would he?’

  ‘All I know for certain,’ Ellis said, ‘is that Ingrid Watson was, for all practical purposes, kidnapped, beaten, and probably raped, and Kenny Hearn is dead because of this man’s obsession with Stacie. Now whether the woman says she’s safe or not, she’s not.’

  ‘I want her out of there.’ Harris had been listening quietly to all the facts, the knot in his stomach getting tighter and tighter each second and the urge to storm the gallery and take Stacie by force growing stronger and stronger. ‘I don’t care how we have to do it. I don’t care what we have to do. I don’t want that bastard laying another hand on her.’

  ‘I’m with Harris,’ Flannery said.

  ‘Hear, hear!’ Marston added. ‘We have to get her out and get her away from that sack of shit.’

  ‘Then we’re talking kidnapping,’ Kendra said. She raised her hands as though to deflect the multiple glares of the people around her. ‘Stacie Emerson’s not Ingrid Watson. She’ll have to be taken by force. You’ll be taking her away from her gallery, from her home, from her friends.’

  ‘I don’t care,’ Harris said. ‘I’ll go with her. We can find a way to keep the gallery open, or hell, buy her another one, I just want her safe! I just want her safe.’

  ‘If we can get her away to someplace safe just for a little while, perhaps we can build a case against Jamison,’ Dee said. ‘I mean, there has to be a way.’

  ‘We can try,’ Wade responded. ‘But it’ll take time, and we’ve got to deal with Valderia or there’ll be the biggest clear-cut of virgin forest in history.’

  ‘First we get Stacie to safety,’ Harris said. ‘Then I’ll do whatever you need me to do where Valderia’s concerned.’

  ‘The exhibition would be the ideal time to take her,’ Flannery said. ‘My people set up one hell of an impressive security system for the gallery, so I know it inside-out. We can get her out right after her closing speech. The festivities’ll go on for a while, and it’ll be easy to get her away. I’ll have a plan ready in a few hours, if you want me to go with it.’

  Everyone was staring at Kendra again. She forced a huge sigh and said, ‘Speaking strictly for Kendra Davis, I want her out of there.’

  ‘We all agree then,’ Ellis said. ‘We need to get her to safety. There’s no doubt.’ He turned his attention to Flannery. ‘Martin, do what you have to and let us know what you need us to do.’

  Harris said nothing. His mind was already made up, regardless of anyone else’s consent. He had no intention of leaving Stacie in Jamison’s hands one second longer than necessary. That everyone was now in agreement, that powerful forces were in on the plan, made him feel marginally better. But ultimately, he knew he wouldn’t really feel right until he had Stacie away from Jamison and safe back in his arms.

  As she always did on the night of a big exhibition, Stacie had taken extra time to get ready. And if anything, in this case, she had taken even more time. Jamison had wanted to buy her a new gown for the evening, but she already had one of her own choosing and she had bought it with just this event in mind. This was a big night and she would not preside over it looking anything less than perfect.

  She was nearly ready when Jamison came into her room without knocking. He never knocked and that took some getting used to. But it was a small thing, really. Not worth her notice when there were so many bigger things pressing. As he stood in the doorway, admiring her in the black sheath, which hugged her curves and caressed her breasts in a shimmer of silk, for a moment she was struck by how stunning he was in his tux and black tie. She never saw him that way any more. After New York, for her, the outside charm and good looks could never again be enough to disguise what lie beneath. She was just settling Al’s pearls into place around her neck when he stepped in close behind her and took them off.

  ‘Pearls aren’t worthy to rest around your lovely throat, my darling.’ He pulled a padded box from his breast pocket and took from it an elegant choker heavily set with diamonds and rubies. ‘These stones are exquisite, each one hand-chosen for this necklace, each one perfect. And you, my beautiful Stacie, outshine them all.’ She watched in the mirror as he hooked the choker around her throat. ‘Do you like it?’

  ‘It’s beautiful, Terrance.’ It was all she could do to keep from gritting her teeth. She didn’t want his gifts, she didn’t want his blatant show of ownership. She wanted Al Marston’s string of pearls and what they represented for her. But she said nothing.

  ‘I’m so glad you like it.’ He didn’t move from behind her, but continued to look her over through the mirror. All the while, he stroked the nape of her neck just below her left earlobe with the back of his index finger. ‘And I have another surprise for you darling.’ He didn’t wait for her to ask. ‘After the exhibition’s over tonight, I have the jet on standby to take us back to New York. I find Portland so provincial and a little too claustrophobic for my taste. And really, Stacie, I think the best way to keep you out of trouble is to remove you from the temptation.’ He offered her a conspiratorial smile. ‘Oh come now, I’m not a fool. I know that as long as you’re here, and Mr. Walker’s here, you’ll be tempted, so you see, I’m doing this as much for his safety as I am to protect what’s mine. Jenny seems competent enough. I’m sure she can run the gallery here for you, and it’ll be in very good hands. So I’ve taken the liberty of having a bag packed for you, darling, and I’ve arranged to have my usual suite at the Plaza. You’ll love it. And once we’re there, we can celebrate your triumph together.’

  He continued to gaze at her in the mirror, standing so close that she could feel the press of the dressing table up against her thighs. She made no attempt to move, but allowed him to admire his acquisition. She knew that’s how he saw her.

  ‘My goodness, you are exquisite,’ He ran a hand up over her belly to cup her breast. His eyelids grew heavy, and his breath caught as he raked her nipple with his thumb. ‘So very exquisite.’ He brushed a kiss against her nape, then another below it, on her shoulder. Then he sighed and smiled up at her in the mirror. ‘Oh, and one more thing, Stacie. When we get to New York and when w
e’re comfortably ensconced in my suite at the Plaza, I’ll expect my reward. Your misfortunate illness the other night may have bought you a night or two’s reprieve, but after tonight, you’ll have no excuses, nothing stressing you, nothing upsetting your … delicate system. And I promise you this time I will fuck you even if I have to do it while you’re bent over the toilet retching. Now hurry along, sweetheart. The limo’ll be arriving shortly.’

  Once he’d left the room, she grabbed Al’s pearls from the dressing table and stuffed them into her bag for luck and for courage. Tonight she would need all she could get of both.

  Chapter Thirty-one

  ‘Damn, Stacie Emerson really knows how to throw a party,’ Kyle Waters said, moving to Harris’ side and lifting his champagne glass in salute. ‘And she knows how to make her exhibitors feel like they own the world, I’ll say that for her.’ He looked back over his shoulder at the woman in a tiny gold cocktail dress he’d just been chatting up and smiled.

  ‘Have you seen the Japanese exhibit?’ His eyes took in the woman’s backside when she turned and sauntered off toward the main exhibition hall. ‘I felt like I was transported right back into the time of the Shoguns. And from the looks of the Japanese contingent, and Mr. Fukuda’s little speech, I’d say they’re pretty pleased too.’

  He nodded his head to a woman in blue who was talking to Dee and Ellis. ‘That’s the reporter from the New York Times. Has she spoken to you yet? And over there, the guy who looks like his tux has been too heavily starched, he’s from Time Magazine. It’s a regular who’s who of the biggies in here. How the hell does she do it?’

  Harris shot a glance at Kendra, who was dressed in red satin, her arm laced through Garrett’s. ‘She has a good PR firm,’ he said. Though he couldn’t see Stacie at the moment, he knew she was in the small lounge speaking to the Japanese reporters. He could see Jamison hovering near the door, making sure Stacie didn’t escape him. The desire to do the man serious bodily harm washed over Harris like a wave of nausea, and he barely heard what Waters was saying about the reporter from The Oregonian.