He glanced to the bath picture that was still up on the screen. “This is a very unique situation. And I recognize that there is a lot of money at stake. I understand that Coast Eagle Airlines needs to be run effectively. And I understand that guardianship of Zachary Henderson is pivotal to the operation of the company and therefore to the safety and livelihood of thousands of employees and passengers.”
Destiny’s hand tightened on Cole’s shoulder.
He turned to glance at Amber, and the worried expression on his face made her stomach sink. She blinked against tears all over again.
“However,” said the judge, “the purpose of this hearing is to determine the best guardian for Zachary Henderson. I cannot let any of the complicating factors impact his well-being and his future.” He lifted the gavel. “Therefore, I find in favor of the plaintiff. I grant full and permanent guardianship of Zachary Henderson to Cole Henderson.” The gavel came down.
Amber didn’t hear a thing as she burst from her seat at the same time Cole turned to face her.
She rushed through the little gate and flung her arms around both of them, her heart overflowing with gratitude.
Cole chuckled as he held her tight. “I can’t believe you did it.”
“Did what?”
“Turned Zachary into a puppy.”
She pulled back and grinned. “I was so scared. But he went straight to you.”
“You’re a genius.”
“It was a big risk.”
“It worked.”
“Well done, you two,” Destiny chimed in, clapping one hand on each of them.
“Well done, you,” said Amber in return. “You were brilliant.”
“That was a great idea.”
“So was using the pictures on my phone.”
Roth marched past them, stone-faced, staring straight ahead.
Cole watched his back for a few seconds. “It’s going to be an interesting day at the office tomorrow.”
“I’m going to worry about that tomorrow,” said Amber.
Cole gave her a nod. “Agreed. Tonight, we celebrate.” A trace of concern seemed to flit through his eyes. “Tomorrow, we figure out the rest.”
Thirteen
Cole set the champagne bottle on the fireplace hearth, handing one flute of champagne to Amber and taking the other for himself. “It’s very convenient to have a well-stocked wine cellar.”
“It is. And I finally managed to figure out the code,” said Amber.
She was sitting beside him on the thick carpet, leaning back against the sofa. Zachary was fast asleep in bed, Otis on guard in the hallway outside his door, and the lights were dimmed throughout the penthouse. The flickering gas fire blended with the tiny white lights of the Christmas tree.
“Some of the wine is locked up?” Cole asked.
“I mean the color code to the price and vintage.”
“Yeah?”
She raised her glass. “Oh, yes. We are enjoying a very fine vintage.”
He didn’t have the heart to tell her that champagne all tasted the same to him. “We have a lot to celebrate.”
“You were brilliant.”
“No, you were brilliant. I just picked up the ball.”
“And carried it across the goal line.”
“You threw the hail Mary pass.”
She grinned. “I did, didn’t I? To us, then, and our mutual brilliance.”
“Don’t forget about Zachary.” If they’d scripted the event, the kid couldn’t have pulled it off any better.
“He was perfect.” She took a sip. “Oh, this is a good one.”
Cole followed suit. It tasted like sweet, bubbly wine to him. “It is.”
“I guess you’re the chair of the board now,” she said, stretching her arms out as she leaned back.
Cole felt an uncomfortable pull in his gut. “We should talk about something else.”
“Did you see the look on Roth’s face? He is both furious and terrified.”
“I don’t see him at Coast Eagle for the long term.”
“Are you going to fire him right away?”
Cole took a swig of the champagne, wishing it was something stronger and less sweet. “That’s a complicated decision.”
And it wasn’t a decision he was in a position to make. He’d have to be willing to stay at Coast Eagle for weeks, maybe months before he could figure out the quagmire of the company’s inner workings. Not that he held out hope for Roth, but a knee-jerk reaction wasn’t in the best interest of the company.
“You’ll have to hire a president. Max is anxious to get back to the legal department.”
Cole finished the glass and set it aside, fighting an urge to grab Zachary and drag Amber with them to the Alaskan border. Nobody else mattered.
“Can we talk shop tomorrow instead?” he asked, easing over beside her. “You look beautiful in the firelight.”
Her blue eyes softened. “You think?”
“I know.” He touched his finger to the bottom of her chin, lifting it ever so slightly to give her a kiss.
The champagne tasted a lot better on her than it had in the glass.
“Thank you, Cole,” she whispered against his lips.
He scooted closer still and framed her face with his hands. “I’d do anything for you.”
Her smile was beautiful. She was beautiful. She was smart and strong and capable. And she was the sexiest woman he’d ever laid eyes on.
He kissed her.
Then he kissed her deeper, longing radiating through him, pushing everything out of his mind, everything but Amber and how much he needed her.
When he came up for air, he reached for her glass, setting it aside. Then he lay back, easing her on top of him, loving the press of her soft body against his. He ran his hands along her back, down to her thighs, remembering the exquisiteness of her form.
He slipped his hand beneath her shirt, touching the hot, supple skin of her back, stroking his palms upward.
“You’re distracting me,” she told him.
“That’s the idea.”
“We have to talk.”
“I know.”
“There are a thousand decisions to make.”
“Not tonight.”
“But—”
“Shh. Give me tonight.” He could hear a note of desperation in his own voice. “The world will come apart soon enough.”
“It won’t be that bad.”
But Cole knew it would. It was going to get very, very bad. He was Aviation 58, and she was Coast Eagle. And now he had Zachary.
* * *
When his office door burst open, Cole looked sharply up from his desk. He wasn’t a stickler for protocol, but the action seemed rudely abrupt.
Then he saw that it was Roth.
He set down his pen and sat back in his chair.
Roth advanced into the room. “I want an explanation.”
“Of what?”
The only unexpected thing Cole had done so far was to not fire Roth. And that was only because he wanted to leave that option for whoever became the next president. And he doubted Roth would demand an explanation for keeping his job.
“You were talking to Kevin Kent,” Roth announced.
Cole was forced to hide his shock. Only Luca and Bartholomew had known about this morning’s call. He couldn’t imagine either of them telling Roth.
He bought himself some time while he mentally calculated both the damage and his next move. “And?”
Roth braced his hands on Cole’s desk, leaning forward. “And we both know what that means.”
“Do we?” Cole asked. His tone was mild, but his brain was still scrambling.
“It means you’re looking to sell. Are you going to liquidate your interest, Mr. Loving Half Brother? Do you care so little about the Coast Eagle legacy that you’d sell it off, maybe break it up, whatever it takes to free up the cash that kid got you?”
“Leave my office,” said Cole.
“If you’re
holding a fire sale, the senior management team deserves an explanation.”
Cole felt his blood pressure creep up. “The senior management team will deal with whatever the owner decides.”
“So you’re selling out and pocketing the windfall,” Roth spat.
“Leave,” Cole ordered.
“No regard for anyone or anything else?”
Cole heard a gasp.
He glanced past Roth to see Amber in the doorway. Her eyes were wide and her face was pale as she clung to the doorjamb.
He swore under his breath, even as he vaulted from his chair. She was quick to turn away, dashing down the hall toward the elevator.
He followed at a run. When he caught her, she was frantically stabbing the down button.
“Calm down,” he told her in an undertone.
She didn’t look at him. “Is it true?”
“I’m not having this conversation in the foyer.”
In his peripheral vision, he caught the interested look of Sandra, the executive receptionist. He remembered how friendly she’d been with Roth the first day he’d visited. And it occurred to him that she had a phone number readout on her switchboard.
Amber turned, jaw clenched. “Just tell me if it’s true.”
“Come back to my office.”
“Tell me the truth. Are you going to sell Coast Eagle?”
He scrambled for a way out of the conversation. “It’s complicated. We need to talk. And we can’t do it here.”
She pressed her lips together, staring at him with disdain.
“Come back to my office, where it’s private. You can hate me just as easily there.”
She didn’t answer.
“Amber,” he prompted.
“Fine.”
He turned and gestured for her to go first.
He let the distance grow between them. Then he stopped at Sandra’s desk. He pinned the woman with a furious glare. “If you ever research my phone calls again and report them to anyone, I’ll fire you on the spot.”
The color drained from her face.
Leaving, he followed Amber into his office.
She was standing at the window, back to him, staring into the sunny Atlanta afternoon.
He closed the door, composing and discarding opening lines. “I was going to talk to you tonight.”
She turned. “I can’t believe I fell for it—hook, line and sinker.”
He automatically moved toward her. “You didn’t fall for anything. I’ve barely decided. I only decided this morning that selling is the best thing for everyone.”
“You mean the best thing for you.”
“No, not for me.” He amended that statement. “Yes, okay, for me. But only because I could never do it. It’s not humanly possible to run two airlines. I wanted to do it. I thought about doing it. Believe me, I came at doing just that from every angle I could.”
“Over an entire two days?” she taunted.
“And before.”
“Before? You’d planned to sell out before we even went to court?”
“I didn’t plan to sell out. I considered the possibility that I might have to sell out.”
“You don’t have to do anything, Cole.”
He hated the coldness in her eyes. “I have a plan.”
“Clearly, you’ve had a plan all along. Do you have a conscience? Do you have a soul?”
“A plan for us,” he explained. “I want you to come to Alaska as often as you can.”
She reached out to grip the window ledge. Her voice was a rasp. “Alaska?”
“To see Zachary. And me, of course.” He hoped she’d want to see him. She had to want to see him. He’d come to need her in his life.
She scoffed. “Last time you invited me to Alaska, you admitted you were being insincere and misleading, even manipulative.”
It took him a second to remember his words. But he did, and he regretted them deeply. “That was a long time ago.”
“The truth is the truth, Cole. Like I said back then, you don’t need to worry. I won’t be dropping by Alaska to bother you.”
“Will you hear me out?”
“I don’t think so.”
“For Zachary’s sake, will you please hear me out?”
“Are you taking him away from me?”
“I’m taking him to Alaska, yes. But—”
“Then there’s nothing more to say, is there?”
There was plenty more to say. But he could see that this was pointless. Maybe they could talk in a few days. Or maybe he should be patient and let things settle.
Zachary had to be his priority just then. And the Cambridge deal needed his immediate attention. He also needed to get back to Aviation 58. He couldn’t stay away any longer.
He didn’t want to wait to square this with Amber, but maybe it was for the best. She wasn’t going to listen to him right now.
“I’m trying hard not to hurt you,” he told her.
She moved for the door, her voice stone flat. “So nice that you at least tried.”
* * *
Amber was never going to forgive Cole Henderson, and she’d probably never forgive herself. He and Zachary had been gone for nearly a week, and she’d rehashed every minute of the past month inside her head trying to figure out where she went wrong, and how she could have so thoroughly misjudged him.
“I should have realized,” she told Destiny.
“Realized what?” Destiny was across the table from her at Bacharat’s. It was Friday night, and the last thing Amber wanted to do was go back to the empty penthouse.
“I should have realized that with this much money at stake, all men would be ruthless.”
Destiny toyed with her martini for a moment. She started to speak then stopped herself.
“What?” Amber asked.
“Don’t shoot the messenger.”
“Are you actually going to defend him?”
“No. But do you think maybe you should have heard him out?”
“Absolutely not.” Of that, Amber was certain.
“Why?”
“Because he’d only make up more lies. You can’t trust a liar.”
“To be fair, you don’t know he was lying.”
Amber’s voice rose. “I thought you said you weren’t going to defend him.”
“I’m not defending him.”
“The man had a billion-dollar deal lined up less than forty-eight hours after he won the court case. You don’t think that required a little preplanning?”
Destiny didn’t seem to have an answer for that.
“I hate to say this,” Amber continued, and she really did, “but Roth’s right when he says it all looks suspicious.”
Destiny paused a beat before responding. “Does it bother you that you’re siding with Roth?”
It did bother Amber. But, bottom line, Cole had breezed into town for three short weeks, romanced her, then left with her nephew and a billion dollars.
“I made a huge mistake,” she said, swallowing. “What if I never see Zachary again?”
“That’s simply not going to happen,” said Destiny.
“He’s in Alaska.”
“You can go to Alaska.”
Amber shook her head. “No. No, I can’t.”
Destiny stared hard. “You can. You will. Not tomorrow and not next week, but you will go see Zachary.”
“I’m mortified that I fell for Cole’s act.”
“I’ve known you for five years. You are not going to let your embarrassment get in the way of doing the right thing for your nephew.”
“You sound like you have faith in me.” Amber wasn’t sure she deserved anybody’s faith.
“I have nothing but faith in you.”
“Thanks.” Amber polished off her martini, trying to feel some faith in herself. “I think I need another.”
“I’m with you.” Destiny signaled for another round. “Luca has been texting all day.”
“I’m sorry it went bad with Luca.”<
br />
“It didn’t go bad with Luca.” Destiny’s tone was a little sharp.
“I didn’t mean—”
“It was too short with Luca.” Destiny’s tone mellowed. “But it was all good. I really do miss him.”
“I don’t miss Cole.”
“That’s a big fat lie. You might be ticked off at him, but you have to miss him.”
“I’m—”
Destiny spoke overtop her. “This sharing-our-feelings thing isn’t going to work if you’re just going to lie to me.”
Amber tried to wrap her head around the jumble of her feelings for Cole. “I can’t miss a man who didn’t exist.”
“Tell me something,” said Destiny, propping her elbow on the tabletop and her chin on her hand. “If Cole was real, if the guy you met was authentic, would you be in love with him right now?”
“That’s a pointless question.”
“I saw you at the courthouse,” said Destiny. “How you looked at him. How he looked at you. In that moment, you were a goner.”
Amber remembered. And she experienced the feelings all over again—the intense rush of pride and respect for his strength and honesty, the knowledge that Roth had been vanquished and Zachary was safe, the certainty that she didn’t have to worry anymore, that somebody else would help shoulder the burden, and the way he’d immediately turned toward her, the emotion in his eyes, her absolute certainty that nobody else in his world mattered, just her and Zachary.
“Amber?” Destiny prompted.
“Yes,” Amber admitted. There really was no reason to lie to Destiny. “If that guy, the guy from the courtroom... If that guy truly existed, I’d be a goner.”
Destiny’s phone chimed. She looked at the number display and then put the phone to her ear. “Destiny Frost.”
She listened for a moment, and her eyes narrowed.
Amber selfishly hoped that whatever it was wouldn’t drag Destiny away tonight.
“What kind of paperwork?” asked Destiny. She sent a puzzled glance Amber’s way.
Amber frowned.
“Is there a rush?” asked Destiny. “I’ve had a couple of martinis.”
Amber couldn’t help feeling disappointed. She didn’t want Destiny to leave.
“We’re at Bacharat’s.”
We? Amber glanced around the room, looking to see if she recognized anyone else from Destiny’s firm. She didn’t.
The Missing Heir Page 18