Jesus, his head hurt. And maybe his heart. Just a little.
“Tell me one thing,” he said, “then I’ll answer all your questions. Did you stop him from getting the technology from his Celentrex contact?”
“I’m not at liberty to—”
“Yes,” Pepper broke in. “We got to him first.”
“Pepper, for God’s—”
“Thank God,” Shane sighed, then another thought occurred to him. “So, if he doesn’t have the technology, and you’re here, and not out there providing him with some ready capital . . . how is he going to ransom his men? With his good looks? A promissory note, maybe?”
Landon sighed and darted a quick look at his youngest daughter. “Did you simply hand over the full dossier to him? This is why I worry. This is why I forbid you from signing up. I can’t be expected to keep an eye on you every minute, and then the second I’m occupied, you turn around and hand the suspects classified information.”
“I beg your pardon, but I had permission to bring them in on this. And if you’d only told me you were working for them, too, I could have communicated all this to you. But, no, you had to keep me in the dark and treat me like some little airhead with nothing better to do than file my nails and get my hair done. Well, I’m telling you, you’re all wrong here. Shane isn’t involved with Bjornsen. Never was. If you don’t trust me, trust Darby. She sure as hell should know, and she’d never sleep with a guy who—”
“Pepper!” Darby glared at her sister, then turned her glare on her father. “She’s right, though. And if you’d stop letting the same pigheaded stubbornness blind you with Pepper like you did with me after Mom died, you’d know she’s good at her job. Sure, she has her own . . . unique way of getting the job done, but she gets it done, or they wouldn’t keep giving her work, now, would they?” She didn’t wait for him to respond. She could see she’d gotten to him with the comment about her mother, but she couldn’t think about that now. “Shane isn’t involved in this. He was the one who figured out something was off about the whole Celentrex deal in the first place. He showed Pepper Alexandra’s personal files, proving it. Why would he do that if he was involved? Hell, he doesn’t even want Morgan Industries, much less Alexandra’s money.”
“Actually, that’s not entirely true,” Shane said, although now probably wasn’t the best time to mention that, he added to himself, sneaking a glance at Landon’s gun.
“What?” She turned to face him. “Since when do you care—”
“Since your father threatened to destroy what my ancestors spent the past couple of hundred years building. One wrong rumor, one wrong media story, and this will be the next Enron. I’m not letting my company take a hit when there was no wrongdoing on—”
“Your company? What does that mean? You’re not going to dismantle it? You’re going to stay and take over?”
He sighed. Why in the hell he’d opened his big mouth, he had no idea. Could he have timed this worse? “I don’t know what it means. All I know is, I’m not walking away from this and letting the company implode on some big scandal. I want the buyout to go through. Because it’s the right thing to do for a lot of people.” He looked at Landon. “Not because of some under-the-table deal with Bjornsen.” He looked to Darby. “But I also want to do what’s right for those same people in the long haul. Alexandra may or may not have exactly been living up to the family name she touted so highly, but that doesn’t mean all the people who sweat blood and tears to help her build onto the family empire deserve to get screwed. I’m not cut out to run the joint. I know that. But I can figure out who is. And you’re right, the money means nothing to me.” He looked back to Landon. “But my name does. Because I guess I am a Morgan first. And no one screws with what’s mine.”
He looked around him, seeing all that went beyond these walls . . . and felt the weight of responsibility settle on his shoulders once again . . . only this time, along with the terror, came a kind of excitement. Maybe even of entitlement. He might not have felt like a Morgan before, in anything beyond name. But by the time he left here, however long that might take, he would be a Morgan in deed. Of course, his version of Morgan might be a little different.
He grinned. “I guess I’m in for a different kind of adventure this go-around.” He looked at Landon. “And with all due respect, I might as well warn you now that I’m going to do my damnedest to see that your oldest daughter enjoys as much of it as I can convince her into sharing with me. So why don’t you and I have that little talk. Then maybe you can spend some time reuniting with your family.”
Landon studied him for another endless moment, then lifted his free hand and spoke into what appeared to be a slim gold watch. “Move in.” He looked at Shane. “Mr. Morgan, my agents will take a full statement from you.”
“Dad, I think—”
Landon turned his head sharply toward Pepper. “Don’t. I’ll talk with both of you later, after we’ve sorted this out. If the two of you will please retire to your rooms, I’ll send someone for you when I’m done.”
Darby stepped in then. “Excuse me, and please, take this in the spirit it’s intended, but go to hell, you arrogant ass.”
“Darmilla—”
“No one calls me Darmilla. No one in the family ever did. Just you. It’s Darby. Get used to it. Now, I believe that Pepper, as part of this team, needs to remain here, to see it through. And, as this is not your home, and I am a grown woman, you can no longer send me to my room when it isn’t convenient for you to have me around. I might have spent most of my childhood there, but I’ll be damned if—”
“Yes, you’re quite good at hiding,” he said flatly.
Pepper gasped and Darby looked like she’d been slapped. Shane took a step forward. Landon turned the gun his way.
“Stop it,” Darby said, though it was unclear whom she was speaking to. “Actually, he’s right.” She shifted her attention to her father. “I was hiding when I ran to Montana. Hiding from a pile of grief, with no one to turn to, to help me make sense of it. But I found something that made sense to me there, something I felt connected to in a way I’d only ever felt connected when I was with Mom. Something that was important to her, and that I truly love. I’m sorry you can’t be happy for me, or respect that.” She paused, took a breath, then said, “But I’m also sorry I didn’t try and take the time to understand you. You were grieving, too. I don’t know that I could have done much about that then, since I was only a child. But I’ve long since grown up. And I have no excuses now. I’m just as guilty as you are.” The corner of her mouth kicked up in that dry smile of hers that Shane had fallen for that very first day. “Apparently, I come by my bullheaded stubbornness honestly.”
Shane looked between father and daughter, and for a split second, he saw Landon’s expression falter. You idiot, he wanted to shout, don’t you realize the gift that’s staring you in the face?
Darby nodded to the gun. “Obviously there’s a lot more to you than I ever knew about. That’s my loss. But there’s a lot more to me than you know about. And that’s your loss. Maybe Pepper was right, and all we needed to do was come together, sit down, and talk things out.” She shot her sister a look, her expression as sober as he’d ever seen it. “Thank you for trying; I know this was important to you. But it doesn’t look like it worked out the way you wanted. I’m sorry for that, too.” She looked back to her father, but said nothing more.
When the silence spun out, Pepper took a step forward. “Dad?”
Landon finally cleared his throat. “As I said, this is neither the time nor the place to be having this discussion.”
Darby sighed in defeat. “Right. You give me a call when it’s the right time. You know where to find me.” She met his gaze with a level one of her own. “Same place you found Mom.”
A sharp knock came at the door. Darby stepped back to open it, and two men and one woman, all in full costume, filled the doorway. “Ah, it’s the cavalry.” She motioned them into the room. “Welcome
to the party.” She shot a look at Shane. “Come find me when this is all done, okay?”
“Remember your promise,” Shane called out, afraid she was going to be on a plane to Montana before he could extract himself from this mess. Of course, he’d just be on the next plane out, scandal or no scandal. But she nodded, and he breathed a sigh of relief. She’d keep her word.
Darby tugged her earpiece off, pulled the mike and camera out of her bodice, then smiled and handed them both to the nearest agent. “The mike is probably a bit sticky from all the sweat and hairspray. Didn’t take any pictures with the boob cam, though. A shame. I’ll never have enough cleavage to hide one in ever again.”
Then she was out the door.
“Darby, wait,” Pepper said, trying to shift past the new agents, to the door. “Just hold on a minute—dammit,” she swore when two more agents moved into the room and blocked her from reaching Darby in time. She looked at her father in exasperation. “Good God, you’ve got this many people on a case and not one of them saw Bjornsen leaving? Great work, Dad.” Then she took off after her sister.
Landon’s cheeks took on a deep flush even as he glared down those few agents whose lips had dared to quirk.
Shane grinned. “Quite the daughters you have there. If I were you, I’d be thinking about finding a way to hold on to them.”
“Well, look here, Aurora! We found the party, after all.” Vivian bustled into the room, holding on to an alarmingly elaborate headdress that looked like it came directly from the set of Moulin Rouge. As did the rest of her bawdy outfit, he noted, as she spied him and pushed past the other agents. “There you are! Naughty boy, might have known you’d be having a private soiree inside where it’s cool.”
“I beg your pardon,” Landon began, putting his hand out to stop her progress, “but this is private business; you’ll have to wait outside.”
Aurora gasped as she was pushed into Landon, knocking his arm and allowing Vivian to get past him. Aurora was laced and buttoned up to the hilt and breathing like she’d run a marathon. She’d been fanning her face with a wide lace fan, and she snapped it shut and slapped Landon on the arm. “Dear heavens, man, put that thing away,” she said, waving her fan at his gun. “Realistic costumes are one thing, but you can’t wave that around in polite company; it’s not done.” Then she stopped and squinted through the fancy opera glasses she was carrying in her other hand. She dropped them from her face and beamed. “Paul? Why, darling, when did you get in?”
Landon stood there, looking slightly stunned, as agents were busily moving into the room and pulling out various pieces of equipment, taking the key off the desk, and opening the file drawer.
Shane used the sudden commotion to duck around them and Paul. He leaned down and bussed Aurora on the cheek. “Excuse me, I have a damsel to hunt down.” Then he turned to Vivian and said, “Darling, you look fabulous. Love the hat.” He flicked at the two-foot pink ostrich feather as he ducked under it on his way to the door. “I’ll be in Darby’s suite,” he called back to Landon.
“Morgan, see here—!”
“Paul!” Vivian crowed, blocking Landon from following him. “When did you get in? I can’t tell you what a pleasure it was to meet your darling daughter Darby.”
“You tell him, Vivi,” Shane murmured under his breath. Then headed for the west wing at a run.
Cinderella Rule #23
You won’t always have the luxury of a second chance. So be careful with your first one.
—MERCEDES
Chapter 23
No, Pepper, I’m not hanging around to talk to Dad.” Darby scrubbed at the makeup on her face, wadding up one tissue after another. “I appreciate that you tried, I really do, but I extended the olive branch. He can take it or leave it.”
“Some olive branch. You all but defied him to ignore it. You missed some mascara under your right eye,” she directed from her position in the doorway. “You know, leaving a little makeup on wouldn’t kill you.”
“Yes,” Darby said, “it would. It’s not me, Pepper. None of this is me. Why doesn’t anyone want to see that?” She finished wiping her face clean, splashed water on it, and patted her skin dry. She tossed everything littering the counter into the rope-handled bag, then pushed it against Pepper’s chest as she moved back into the bedroom.
“Hey!” Pepper said, grabbing the bag to keep it from falling to the floor.
“You’ll get more use out of that stuff than I will.”
“What are you so mad about, anyway?”
Darby paused. She’d peeled out of the costume, which she’d flung on the chair and which Pepper had picked up and carefully put back on the various hangers and zippered bags it had arrived in. She’d pulled on the jeans and T-shirt she’d worn on the plane ride that now seemed like a lifetime ago, and was in the process of packing—probably breaking some fashion-code ordinance as silk and cotton alike were getting shoved in her grandfather’s Army-issue duffel with little care to things like folding or blocking.
Now she stared at the haphazard mess in front of her as she thought about Pepper’s question. “I’m not sure.” She finally huffed out a sigh and straightened, then looked at her sister. “Dad makes me nuts. But then, that’s nothing new. I guess I’m having a hard time dealing with this whole other life you two have been leading without my knowledge. I guess . . . I don’t know . . .” She trailed off, feeling stupid all of a sudden. It had been her choice, after all, to cut herself off from their lives. So she could hardly claim hurt feelings for being left out now. And yet, that’s exactly what she was feeling. Hurt.
Pepper came over to her and hugged her. “I’m sorry. You know I didn’t mean to hurt you. I just . . . I want you to be proud of me, Dar. Not mad.”
Darby felt tears threaten again and frowned them into submission. “I’m not mad at you. And I am proud. I just wish . . . I guess I just wish you felt like this was something you could have told me about. That you could have trusted me with.”
“I didn’t exactly lie to you,” Pepper said. “I called you when I needed you. And you were there for me. Even when I didn’t deserve it. All of that was real. And it was true, even if my reasons for needing your help were a bit more complicated at times than I let on. Besides, it hasn’t really been going on all that long.”
Darby wiped at her eyes, sniffled once, then slumped down on the edge of the bed. Pepper sat down next to her and put her arm around Darby’s shoulders.
“So . . . how long has Dad been doing the real spy stuff?”
Pepper shrugged. “I’m not sure. I didn’t realize until today how fully involved he was. Apparently, keeping secrets is a Landon family trait.”
Darby glanced at Pepper and a corner of her mouth quirked. “I can’t believe you actually kept any of this quiet. You’re terrible with secrets.”
Pepper smiled. “I know. But this was important. And . . . I wanted so badly to succeed at it, to prove to both of you that I could do something important and not just be an irresponsible pain in the ass all the time.”
“You’re not a pain in the ass,” Darby said, bumping her shoulder. “All the time.”
Pepper swatted her and laughed a little. “Oh, thanks.”
“Well, you have to admit, this whole thing wasn’t exactly a picnic for me. I still can’t believe I let you talk me into this. You know, you might just have a future in espionage. If you can get me involved in your schemes, you could probably talk anybody into anything.”
Pepper’s face lit up. “That’s the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”
Darby laughed, but returned the sudden exuberant hug from her sister. “Well, I mean it. And I am proud of you. I’m sorry Dad is hassling you about sticking with it, but if this is something you really want to do—for you, not to impress anyone, but because you believe in it—then do it. I’m a firm believer in that, if nothing else.”
She stood and silently went back to tossing stuff in her bag. Pepper took each item back out and folded th
em before repacking them.
“Your support means a lot to me,” Pepper told her. “I am going to stick with it. Although with Dad’s current attitude, I might be spending my breaks with you instead of here at home.”
Darby paused. “You know, you could think about getting your own place. In fact, I really think you should.”
Pepper paused in the middle of folding another shirt. “You know, that’s not a bad idea. I guess my trust fund is out of reach for life.”
“Here’s an idea,” Darby said dryly, “you could save some of the money this super secret spy agency is paying you and buy one yourself.”
“Oh, go ahead, make fun. But just maybe I will. And then I’ll have a huge housewarming party and you’ll have to come, since it was your idea. So there.”
Darby smiled. “You buy yourself your own house, without any help from me or Dad, and I’ll throw the damn party for you.”
“Well, there’s incentive right there. And you do owe me a thank-you, by the way,” Pepper said.
Darby snorted. “What on earth for?”
“Shane Morgan. If I hadn’t conned you into coming, you’d never have met him.”
Darby’s heart squeezed painfully. She didn’t want to think about Shane right now. It was hard enough just dealing with all the family shit that had come down on her. She’d think about Shane again when they had their talk. No need to endure the heartache before she needed to. “I don’t want to think about that right now.” She impulsively leaned down and bussed her sister on the cheek. “But, yes,” she said quickly, before she lost her nerve. “I do owe you for that one.”
The Cinderella Rules Page 31