“That won’t be necessary, sis. I already have plans. A date, as a matter of fact.”
“Oh? Who with?” Bea’s contemplative look turned to a smile. “You’re gonna give it another go with Darla? Am I right? Of course I am. I knew you’d love her! I am an awesome matchmaker!” Bea beamed with delight. Garrett couldn’t believe how dense his sister could be at times.
“As usual, no, Beulah. You’re wrong. It’s actually the woman I jumped in the fountain for.”
“I should have known a woman was the reason behind this whole fountain fiasco. And what have I said about calling me Beulah in public? Never do it. Anyway, who is this mystery woman? Who are her parents? What’s her pedigree?”
“Why does any of that matter? Besides, the answer to all three questions is I don’t know. I don’t know a thing about her except that she’s beautiful and was surrounded by children.”
Bea crossed her arms over her chest and stared at him skeptically. “Since when have you been interested in children? You’ve never dated a mother before. If I had known, I could have set you up with Cynthia Ashbury. She’s a lovely woman and has two sons.”
“Again, you’ve got it all wrong. I doubt they were her own children, unless she was vying to be the next Angelina Jolie. I think she’s a teacher. It looked like a field trip.” Garrett thought for a moment. “They called her Miss…Miss Maddie.”
“Maddie? Is that a first or last name?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t catch that. But, make no mistake, I will find her.”
“And what about Dalton? Do you think he’ll like her?”
Garrett sighed heavily. “I don’t know. Who knows what or whom Dalton will or won’t like anymore. He’s a completely different person now.”
Bea sat down beside Garrett and put her arm around him. “I know what you mean.”
Garrett studied his sister for a moment. “You know, I think we’ve probably all changed.”
“How so?”
“Well, for a while, I’d fuck any woman with a pulse, and you?” He looked at his sister’s face, trying to determine whether she was ready for his honest assessment. Truth was he thought his sister was losing her mind, jumping from one random project to the next to distract herself. Usually a complete flirt, she would pursue and then dump any man she fancied. And the men? If they didn’t try to wrangle her first, they were more than happy to be caught in the clutches of Bea’s perfectly manicured nails. But she’d recently completely shut herself down from men, instead forcing them to date others. The earnestness in her face told him that today was not the day for honesty. “Bea, I think you’re actually handling this quite well.”
Bea put her hands in her lap and shook her head. “You really think so?”
“Sure.” Garrett knew his twin could almost always tell when he lied, but he hoped this was one of the few times he could get one past her.
Bea sat quietly for a moment and shifted in her seat. They both hated silence.
“You think they’re gonna name that fountain in our honor?” Garrett asked as a joke. He couldn’t take another second of quiet. Bea slowly nodded, and her face brightened.
“You better believe it. For twenty-five grand, I want the Ellis name etched into the side of it in big, bold letters. Tastefully, of course.”
* * * *
Madeline took a deep breath and exhaled, rolling her shoulders and stretching her neck back and forth. The tension in her muscles had only gotten worse after nearly dislocating her shoulder from reaching for that bear for so long. She waited in the office she shared with Erika for her to get off the phone. She spoke with one of the board members of the children’s center. Even though Madeline could only hear half the conversation, the look on Erika’s face, the furrow of her brow, her clipped “I understand” and “Are you sure?” responses, and the way her usually full lips tightened to a thin line spoke volumes. Erika hung up the phone with a groan and put her head on the desk.
“That bad?”
“That bad,” Erika said into her arm.
The knot forming in Madeline’s stomach suddenly undid itself and flipped over. She felt queasy. “So what does that mean exactly?”
“The board fired Spencer, so it looks like we’re down a director of funding.”
“Are you serious? What happened?”
“Remember how you thought Spencer was a little shady? Well, it turns out you were right. He never did a damn thing.”
“I knew he was sitting at his desk doing nothing all day.”
“We lost our federal grant, and his ineffectual fundraising efforts have come up completely empty-handed.” Erika sat up and put her head in her hands, massaging her scalp. “How do such incompetent people get put in charge of anything, let alone a massive non-profit with so many children’s lives in the balance?”
“So what now?” Madeline asked.
“Unless somebody comes up with the funding, the center is closing.”
“So how much longer can we stay open? Six months?” That would give them enough time to transition the kids into other programs if they couldn’t raise the money.
“Ha! More like one. Maybe two months. If we can’t raise at least two hundred thousand dollars by the end of next month, the center is going to have to shut its door—”
“Two hundred thousand dollars? That is impossible. We can’t raise that much money in a month. How could this happen?”
“It’s just ridiculous. I think our kids in remedial math could’ve handled the money better than Spencer did.”
“Yeah, especially if we could have had more time to work with them. The extra tutoring has made a big difference in a lot of these kids and now we’re going to have to turn everyone away. All that progress erased. And all our kids will be back on the streets with nowhere else to go.” Madeline sighed deeply.
“I don’t know how we’re going to tell the kids and their parents. It will just break their hearts.”
“It breaks my heart just thinking about it.” The knot in Madeline’s stomach slowly but steadily traveled up to her throat until it seemed to reach her eyes, forming hot tears that threatened to break free. She quickly swiped under her lower lashes before the tear had a chance to fall. She glanced at Erika who looked to be going through the exact same emotional response.
Hating the sight of her friend looking so despondent, Madeline tried her best to find a way to transform hopeless to hopeful. She sat up, straightening her spine and lifting her chin up. “You know what? We can do it. We can be the new directors of funding.”
“But you’re already the director of programming, and I’m director of marketing, and we already spend what free time we have with the kids. How many more hats can we wear?”
“One more wouldn’t hurt, Erika. We can’t let the kids down, and I refuse to let poor management close this place down. What is it that we always tell the kids? That if you work hard and put your mind to something you can accomplish it.”
Erika got up from her desk and walked over to Madeline’s without saying a word. She put the back of her hand against Madeline’s forehead and then her own. “No sign of fever.”
“Erika, stop! I’m serious.”
“Yeah, seriously crazy.”
“I’ll even work for free if I have to. That’s how we got started here when we were in college, as volunteers, and we did it happily.”
Erika was silent for a moment and just the very corners of her lips curled up in a hint of a smile. “We did have a lot of fun back then, huh.” Her brief yet blissful trip down memory lane was immediately cut short by her famous pragmatic side. “But we ate nothing but Ramen and cereal. I can’t go back to that kind of lifestyle.” Madeline sighed, waiting for Erika to burst her bubble with a sharp dose of reality. “But that’s not the point anyway. Do you know how much work you’re going to have to take on? You won’t be able to be with the kids as much one-on-one.”
Madeline slumped down in her chair. Erika was right. She hated the idea of losin
g time with the kids. But then her mind went back to the field trip and how she could barely keep her kids in line all day. If it hadn’t been for the handsome stranger, it could’ve been complete pandemonium. Her cheeks warmed again, and she felt herself grinning during what could possibly be the most inappropriate moment. No, she needed to focus. What she loved was helping these children and perhaps being behind the scenes raising money would ultimately serve them better. It was time to move forward.
“It’s fine. We can do this. We have to at least try. Come on, Erika, please help me. Please. I promise I will never ever, ever ask for anything again. Plus, I’ll come over and do your dishes every night and all the vacuuming and—”
“All right, all right, fine. I’ll help you. Just stop begging. I can’t take that puppy-dog face anymore.” Erika smiled as Madeline stood and grabbed her friend in a warm embrace.
“Thanks, Erika. This means so much to me.” Madeline let out an excited giggle and then took a deep breath. “No time for celebration though. We need to get busy.” Madeline picked up her yellow legal pad and a pencil.
“Funding. We need funding. Without money, we can’t do a damn thing.” Erika chewed her bottom lip as she thought.
“It’s too late for us to apply for federal grant money, and even if we could, it wouldn’t get to us in time, but we could hit up private donors. Dallas is full of millionaires wanting to dole out cash to make themselves look better at their galas and whatnot. And there’s always the surrounding suburbs.”
“Yeah,” Erika’s eyes lit up, “there’s Preston Hollow, Highland Park, Lakewood, and, of course, Male Order.”
“Male Order? What kind of name is that?”
“I’ve always wondered that myself. It seems so strange. Anyway, it’s a small town less than an hour away. It’s known for the SoMale shopping district and museums. It’s completely loaded with lots of old money. I can’t imagine how they’ve managed to keep it so small and remote, though.”
“Hmm…well, it sounds interesting. Maybe I’ll make a list of businesses there and start setting up a few appointments to convince these bigwigs it’s time to spend their money on other things besides caviar and mink coats.”
Chapter Two
Dalton Ellis tuned out his brother’s nonstop chatter. He had flown in from China at four o’clock that morning after conducting some business with sister corporations overseas for the past week. His head pounded, his eyes were gritty from not getting enough sleep, and he still had yet to drink his coffee.
“About a week ago, we got a fountain named after us down at the arboretum in Dallas,” Garrett quipped in an altogether too-cheery manner. “It cost a pretty penny, but it was worth it because—”
Dalton mumbled something but it was unintelligible, even to himself. He just wanted his brother to stop talking about all the inane events that happened while he was gone and get back to business.
“Uh, hello? Dalton?”
Dalton sighed. “I’m listening.”
“Fine, fine. Touchy this morning, are we?”
They walked through the lobby of Ellis Energy, their clipped strides and long legs quickly covering the distance from the front entrance to their private elevator. Their employees gave him a wide berth, and those brave enough to meet his eyes gave him tentative smiles and rushed in the opposite direction. Thank God. He really did not have the patience to play Mr. Nice CEO this morning.
“Yes, I am a little touchy this morning. Remember that conference call we were supposed to have?”
“What conference call?”
“My point exactly.”
“Aw, come on, Dalton, you can’t really expect me to get out of bed before seven, can you?”
“Oh, of course not, little brother. I completely understand that you need to get your beauty rest and a few more rounds out of the lucky ladies you bring home.”
He barely managed to keep the annoyance out of his voice. He understood his brother’s acting out. He really did. He’d been there, done that and wished he was still at that point in his life, but things were different now. When Garrett’s acting out interfered with the company’s business, Dalton could not help but get just a tad pissed off. They had to put on a united front, especially since things at Ellis Enterprises were currently unstable at best. Their parents’ deaths in a car accident a little over a year ago had unhinged more than his and his siblings’ lives.
Garrett made a show of brushing off his suit jacket. “Of course they’re lucky.”
“Right.”
“Anyway, what I was talking about was the fountain that now bears the Ellis name.”
Dalton stopped and faced his brother, deciding that it would be more efficient to humor him and get this conversation over with. “A fountain. How the hell did that happen?”
“Well, I was on this horrible date Bea forced me into.”
Dalton smirked. “Another one of those grubbers?”
“Yeah. And category-five clinger.” Garrett shivered. “I hate clingers, and then—”
Dalton waited for his brother to continue, but Garrett’s eyes homed in on something over Dalton’s shoulder. When their gazes met again, something predatory sparkled back at Dalton. That was the look Garrett got in his eyes when he saw something—someone, really—he particularly liked.
“What?”
“I’ll be right back.” Garrett stepped around Dalton and headed toward the receptionist’s desk.
“Goddamn it, Garrett—”
Dalton watched, impatient, as Garrett crossed the lobby and casually leaned over the desk, his best I’ll-get-in-your-panties smile on his face. Shit. Dalton knew that look. Hell, he used that look himself. What was Garrett up to? Dalton checked his watch, saw they had a few minutes to spare, and then observed his little brother close the deal. Garrett sidled up to the secretary and said something suggestive, judging by the cocksure half-grin on his face. Then, there it was—the blush, the looking away, the goo-goo doe eyes. Garrett gestured toward a petite woman flipping through a magazine without even looking at the pages. Her purse overflowed her lap and the chair she sat in seemed to swallow her, but he caught a peek of the tops of her high, sweet-looking breasts and, damn, did she have the most amazing hair he’d ever seen. It had every shade of red, gold, auburn, and amber in it, and even though she had it in some sort of twisty do, her features were still soft and delicate in the morning sunlight.
Perhaps he stared at her too long. Her fingers stiffened on the edge of the page they held, and she looked up, her eyes somehow landing on him even through all the people bustling between them. Dalton held her gaze, assessing her sloping cheekbones and softly squared jaw. What really held his attention, though, were her eyes. For having such creamy, luminous skin and all of that fiery red hair, she had brown eyes. She gave him a polite smile and went back to absently flipping through her magazine. And he kept staring at her.
The need to cross the room and talk to her stirred within him, and he’d almost taken a step toward her when he came to his senses. He did not have time to pursue anyone right now, let alone a woman who appeared to be as sweet as she looked. Hell no. If he planned on going for anyone at the moment, it would be someone looking for a no-strings-attached fling—a woman who would not demand anything from him and Garrett other than more orgasms, which was more than fine by him. He could use some of those himself, but he drew the line there.
He turned his attention back to his brother and saw Garrett strutting across the marble floor toward him, the look on his face saying he was pretty damn smug about something. Dalton turned and strode toward their personal elevators.
Garrett fell into step with him. “I was thinking we should schedule a last-minute meeting this morning.”
“For what?”
“You know, to discuss some stuff.”
“Let me get this straight. You actually want to sit through a meeting?”
“Yeah. Of course.”
“All the way through?”
“S
ure, why not? I’ve been thinking about some stuff for a while and, hey, I think it’s a pretty decent idea.”
Dalton called bullshit on that one. The only good ideas that came out of his brother’s mind dealt with women and maybe, just maybe, some decent business savvy every now and then. But Garrett only acted like a grown-up when he wanted to, and for the past few months, Garrett had been anything but.
He was getting impatient waiting for his brother’s big reveal. “What idea, Garrett?”
“I’ve been thinking about playing a more active role in our company’s philanthropic efforts.”
Philanthropic efforts? Dalton halted in mid-stride and gave his brother a thorough once-over. He still looked the same, but something was off. Garrett was never one to suggest boosting the company’s philanthropy, let alone getting hands-on involved.
“Garrett, what the hell are you talking about?”
He just gave a mighty shrug. “I don’t know. I just think we should be more active in the community.”
“Garrett, you’re wasting my time.” He started toward the elevators again, but Garrett stayed on his heels.
“What? Why am I wasting your time? Philanthropy is a huge part of our company’s philosophy. I mean, Mom really loved helping the kids out.”
Something about the way Garrett pressed the subject made sirens go off in his head. “What is this really about?”
“What’s what about?” Garrett’s face resembled that of a five-year-old sneaking candy out of his mother’s purse.
“We’ve never personally handled philanthropy before, Garrett. You know this. That’s what we have a public relations department for.”
“True, but—all right, fine. I met this girl.”
Dalton clenched his teeth together to keep from ripping his brother a new one. “It’s always about a girl with you.”
“Hey! I resent that comment. This one is different. She was at the park with all these kids, and it got me thinking.”
Mitchell, Ava and Holiday, Sydney - A Bride for Two Tycoons [Male Order, Texas 1] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting) Page 3