by Lucy Monroe
“I did not call to be insulted.”
That was a given.
“Why did you call?”
“To say thank you, as I have done.”
“Though you had nothing to do with my motives, I acknowledge your appreciation. I guess we’re done, then?” she said hopefully, wanting nothing more than to get off the phone with this man who had spent a lot more years hurting her far more than her ex-husband ever had.
“You’re never going to forgive me, are you? Even though he’s taking you back.”
“I walked out. Not him.”
“But he’d drawn up the divorce papers.”
She didn’t need that reminder. “We aren’t getting married again anyway.”
“I heard.”
“Oh?”
“I spoke to Rhea.” If he expected her to feel guilty for not calling in two years, he was bound to be disappointed.
“I’m sorry. I could have negotiated a better deal for both of my daughters if you’d come to me instead of Ariston first.”
Oh, no, he was not going there. “Even retired and facing the collapse of your company, you’re as arrogant and business-minded as ever. I don’t need you negotiating anything for me. No matter how you see the situation between us, it was your treating me like an asset to bargain with in the first place that was the problem.”
“I was looking toward your future.” His voice was almost pleading.
“The company’s future you mean.”
“It is one and the same.”
“No, it is not. Not for me and not for Rhea. She almost lost her marriage because of that stupid company.”
“It wouldn’t have been a great loss. Samuel brought nothing to their union.”
“He brought himself and that’s all that Rhea needed, but you couldn’t let them be happy.”
“Their marital problems are not my fault.”
“Aren’t they? You’re the one that insisted Rhea had to take over Dioletis Industries, even though you knew she and Samuel had agreed to have children.”
“Now you’re blaming me for her miscarriages?”
“The doctor said her job was too high-stress.”
“She’s the CEO of a major concern—of course the job is high-stress.”
“You stepped down for your health, but expected her to compromise hers and that of her unborn children for the good of the company.”
“Rhea is only twenty-nine. She has plenty of time for motherhood if indeed she really wants it.”
“Oh, she does. And she’ll have it, along with a strong marriage, if I have anything to say about it.”
“She understands her duty.”
“Like you understood yours?”
“Yes.”
“You were clueless about your duty to our family, but Rhea is not going to be like that.”
“She told me about the marriage counseling.” The derision Chloe expected was missing from her father’s tone. “Perhaps your mother and I would have been happier if we had done something like that.”
Chloe didn’t know what to say. “That was unexpected.”
“I loved your mother, Chloe. I love my daughters.”
“You’ve got a lousy way of showing it.”
“I’m learning that.”
Wow. This was so not like the father she remembered. “Who’s been talking to you?” she wondered.
“Believe it or not, Samuel.”
“Seriously?”
“He is a social worker. It’s his job to have insights like that.”
“He’s very good at his job.”
“I’m sure you’re right.”
“I’m glad to hear you say that.”
“I’m sorry about Rhea’s miscarriages,” her father said in a tone that cracked with emotion.
“You said—”
“I know. Admitting when I am wrong is not my strong suit.”
“No.”
“I may have been wrong five years ago, but please believe I had your future in mind as much as the company’s.”
“I’m not sure I can.”
He sighed. “I want you to be happy, Chloe. I want that for Rhea as well. This deal with Ariston, I think it will make that possible, but I don’t want to see you hurt again.”
“Perhaps you should have thought of that before planning yet another business marriage before my first one was over.”
“Yes, I should have.”
“You mean that?” she asked with more hope than she’d thought she had left where her remaining parent was concerned.
“I do and I’m sorry.”
She’d never heard her father apologize. Not once. Not ever. She took a deep breath, feeling the sting of tears in the back of her eyes. “I forgive you.”
“Thank you. That means more than I can say.”
“How’s your blood pressure?” she asked without planning to.
“Much better. I’m exercising, eating right … but I miss my old life.”
“As chairman of Dioletis Industries.”
“As father to my children.”
“Rhea still sees you.”
“A lot less frequently than you might imagine. She never forgave me for how hurt you were by your marriage to Ariston.”
Chloe hadn’t known that. “She never said anything to me.”
“She said plenty to me,” her father said ruefully.
“The company will retain its name, but it’s going to be absorbed by SSE,” Chloe felt the need to say.
“I know and in a way, I’m very relieved. It cost me my wife, it cost me my daughters and eventually it cost my health.”
“But you still love it.”
“Yes.”
Finally there was something she and her father had in common. Loving unwisely. “It will be okay. Maybe grandchildren will make up for retirement.”
“I’m hoping you and Rhea will allow me the privilege of that role, though I’m fully aware I don’t deserve it.”
Wow. This humble side to her father was not something she was used to dealing with. “Just don’t try to turn them into little CEOs.”
“I’ll leave that to Ariston.”
“He’ll have to deal with me.”
“A formidable concept, I am sure.”
Chloe found herself laughing with her father for the first time in years. “Yes, it is.”
“Thank you, Chloe.”
“You’re welcome.”
“I love you.” It was the first time he’d said it since she was eleven years old.
The tears threatening finally spilled and Chloe didn’t try to hide them from her voice when she said, “I love you too.”
“Please don’t cut me out of your life again.”
“Don’t be an arrogant, cold manipulator, and I won’t.” He laughed alone this time, but she was smiling. “I won’t,” he promised.
And she thought maybe this time, it was a promise her father intended to keep.
CHAPTER EIGHT
IT took Chloe closer to three weeks than two to train her replacements and put her affairs in order.
Though she’d only lived in the small coastal community that catered to tourists for less than two years, she’d built up a life there. One that wasn’t defined entirely by the time she spent in her gallery and shop.
She was an adjunct member of the chamber of commerce as well as fundraising coordinator for their annual dinner auction. Finding someone to fulfill her community responsibilities took all her time outside her hours in the shop.
Well, the hours not taken up by Ariston’s frequent phone calls. He hadn’t been happy when she’d changed her flight to a week later before telling him.
He’d been positively cranky when she’d started making noises about having to do so again. That conversation had happened the night before and she hadn’t heard from him since. She would be grateful if she wasn’t certain it was the calm before the storm.
She might even miss the calls, though she wouldn’t admit that—even
under pressure.
While she was concerned about a lot of things, she wasn’t worried he’d changed his mind. According to Rhea the merger/takeover was in full swing.
Chloe’s musings were interrupted by the soft chimes announcing a customer in the gallery. Her new managers were organizing an inventory delivery in the shop next door, so she was manning the gallery alone. One of her final opportunities to do so—she was relishing her time here.
It had been a quiet morning, however, since they’d opened an hour ago.
Looking forward to interacting with a customer, she got up from her desk. She’d been making a list of people to contact in hopes of finding a new fundraising coordinator to replace her. So far, there were only two names on it and neither was she keen on.
The one woman she’d thought would do a stellar job had turned Chloe down because of prior commitments.
Forcing away the discouraging thoughts, Chloe curved her lips in her routine customer-welcoming smile only to have it freeze as she recognized her visitor.
“Ariston! What are you doing here?”
“Collecting my errant lover.” His cerulean gaze was too serious to be kidding.
“But—”
“I have brought a professional fundraiser and event planner with me,” he said, interrupting whatever she’d been about to say.
And honestly, Chloe wasn’t sure what that was. In order to have arrived right now, he’d have had to have left New York at the crack of dawn to have made the cross-continental flight, not to mention the drive from the nearest airport that could service his company jet.
Chloe’s gaze slid to the polished woman standing at Ariston’s side. Wearing a suit by a midlevel designer that would impress, but not intimidate the locals, the woman’s smile was just as perfectly targeted.
She put her manicured hand out. “Angela Carston. It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mrs. Spiridakou.”
“Ms., actually.” Chloe shook the other woman’s hand. “But you can call me Chloe. You’re really here for the annual dinner auction?”
“Angela, please. And your husband is paying me a very nice fee to do just that, yes.”
“Ex … husband, that is. And thank you for being here, regardless of your reasons for doing it. I’ll be able to fly to New York once I get you up to speed on what’s been done so far and our objectives for the auction.”
She turned to Ariston, but he looked a lot less pleased than she would have expected now that he was irrefutably getting his way.
“That should only take me a few hours, at most,” she told him. “This isn’t a Spiridakou & Sons Enterprises event, or even close to that magnitude.”
He didn’t smile, but he did nod. “Good. You can do so on the plane back to New York.”
“She can’t do the job from New York.”
“She will not. Angela will fly back commercially later this week.”
“Why did you make her fly out to begin with, then?” She frowned at him, not liking the idea the other woman had been forced duplicate travel on Chloe’s behalf. “You could have told me about it over the phone.”
“I assumed you would want to meet Angela before you allowed her to take over.”
“You didn’t show me the same courtesy regarding my own business.” Though she had to give him full marks for his choice in managers for her store and gallery.
The middle-aged couple were both enamored of the art world and Chloe had liked the wife’s work so much, she’d offered a permanent revolving spot in her gallery for the woman to sell her pottery.
“They were ideal,” he countered, as if reading her mind.
She smiled, unable to help herself. “They are.”
“And yet you are not in New York today.” His frown held something akin to consternation.
“I’m not leaving here without making sure my obligations are all taken care of.”
“So you said on the phone last night.”
“And your answer was to hire a fundraising expert?”
His shrug said it all.
If he saw a problem, he fixed it.
Chloe shook her head. “You’re probably paying Angela more than the funds we expect to raise with the auction.”
“I offered to donate a lump sum in lieu of the auction.” There was no mistaking the disgruntlement he felt at her rejection of his money.
“The auction isn’t just about raising funds for community projects. It’s a social event residents of the area look forward to all year long.”
“That was the impression you gave, yes.”
“Ariston!”
“What?”
“You’re very frustrating.”
“I do not understand why. You expressed your concerns and here am I, meeting them.”
Suddenly realizing that she and Ariston had stood there talking as if Angela wasn’t even in the gallery, Chloe felt heat crawl up her cheeks. She had ignored the other woman’s presence to the extent that Chloe had as good as gotten into an argument with Ariston in front of her.
A headache forming right behind her left eye, Chloe turned to the newly hired event coordinator and grimaced apologetically. “Please pardon my lack of manners. Thank you very much for flying across country at a moment’s notice to take on this job.”
“I’m happy to be here,” Angela replied, looking supremely unfazed by her very last-minute double cross-continental trips.
“Not that you’ll be here very long at this point.” Chloe’s grimace slipped into a full frown. “You can’t be looking forward to hopping right back onto the plane.”
Angela smiled winningly. “My job often calls for travel and I’ve got to say, flying in the Spiridakou jet is a lot more comfortable than commercial.”
“It is,” Chloe had to agree. “But even the most comfortable transportation doesn’t make up for spending so many hours of a single day in the air.”
“I notice you evince no concern on my behalf,” Ariston interjected in a teasing tone.
She found no humor to match his at that moment. “You do exactly what you like, Ariston.”
“Are you implying that I shanghaied Angela? I can assure you that is not the case.”
“No, indeed,” the event coordinator affirmed. “Ariston presented a very appealing offer, both in terms of remuneration and scope.”
“Then, here’s hoping his perception meets reality for you.” Because Chloe would not be happy with either of them if Angela didn’t follow through on the job.
If Chloe put their departure off with one more excuse, Ariston fully intended to simply pick her up and carry her off to the airport.
She’d insisted she needed to go over things with her new managers one last time, and then that the mayor had to meet Angela Carston and approve her taking over Chloe’s role as fundraiser for the community auction. Chloe hadn’t stopped there though, as Ariston might reasonably expect.
No, she’d then been adamant that she needed to call one of the local artists personally and tell him she was leaving for New York. According to Chloe, she’d already introduced him to the new managers, but the artist was both brilliant and a recluse, which meant a little extra coddling to make sure he knew he wasn’t being forgotten.
Ariston had actually found himself getting jealous until Chloe informed him the artist was in his sixties and determinedly gay.
When she’d said … finally … that she needed to pack her things up in the hotel room, that at least Ariston had been able to do something about. He’d instructed his security team to take care of it while Chloe and Angela met with the mayor.
But the meeting was over and Ariston was ready to be on the road. Had been hours ago, to be precise. “Come, Chloe. It is a ninety-minute drive to the airport.”
“Yes, I know.” Chloe took a last sweeping glance around her hotel room, much as she had the gallery when they’d left it.
He did not see what could have put that wistful look in her emerald eyes. “Surely you will not miss living out of suitcases?
”
“I wasn’t,” she contradicted while following him to the car.
“No. You had unpacked and organized your belongings as if preparing for a long stay.” He helped her into the back of the rented limo and the door shut behind them.
“Where is Angela?”
“She’s riding with the security team in the SUV.”
Chloe craned her neck to see out the tinted windows. “But I thought we were going to discuss what she will be doing in my stead.”
“Didn’t you already cover it in your meeting with the mayor?” he asked with some exasperation.
“Not all of it.”
“You will have plenty of time on the plane.”
The limo started to move and Chloe finally nodded and settled back in her seat.
They rode in silence for several miles, leaving the small town behind. Chloe’s beautiful green eyes never once strayed from the view out the window.
“You will miss your life here,” he realized aloud.
“Yes.”
Her easy agreement with no caveat that she was looking forward to returning to their life together bothered him. Her life here had been short and not where she was supposed to be.
He felt compelled to ask, “Do you regret agreeing to my proposal?”
“Business proposition, you mean,” she said very carefully, her tone tired and tinged with sadness he did not like to hear.
No more did he understand it. He was offering her a life only a minuscule number would ever witness, much less truly experience.
“You will never want for anything,” he promised her. “You will not regret returning to the Spiridakou family.”
“Won’t I?” Her troubled green gaze remained fixed on the view out the window.
A sense of impending doom had him crossing the limo, reaching to close the privacy window between the driver and them as he sat down beside her. “No, you will not. This is my vow to you.”
Finally, she looked up at him, emerald gaze measuring. “It isn’t something you can control, Ariston.”
“We shall see.” He would not argue with her. He would show her.
Then she would believe him and he would not even say, I told you so. In the interim, the time had come to remind her one of the reasons they worked as a couple.