by Ava Miles
“Come on,” Caitlyn said, leading her out of the boardroom, “you’re tired and we need to take care of you before we fall apart.”
“I can’t believe he pushed it,” Flynn said, putting his other arm around her. “What was Con thinking?”
“He wasn’t,” Trevor said in a savage voice. “He’s all torn up inside. I have half a mind to go after him and punch him. He twisted our arms. No one else wanted this.”
“Violence won’t solve anything,” Caitlyn said. “Lose the tough-guy routine for a moment. Michaela is—”
“Fine,” she said, but she wasn’t.
Her brother had just been fired, and it was partly her fault.
Was he lost to them for good?
Chapter 28
Connor was out?
Boyd couldn’t wrap his mind around Clara’s announcement.
“How is that possible?” He’d known it was in the realm of possibility, but rather like living on Mars. Way out there.
“He pushed for a vote,” Clara said, twisting her diamond bracelet. “Shawn’s voice cracked when he told me. Oh, this is horrible. I feel responsible in some ways.”
Boyd did too, but he knew people made their own choices, and Connor had made a few bad ones. But Michaela and the rest of the Merriams must feel horrible. Surely this would make all of them, even Shawn, hate his guts. He’d been right to let her go, but God, it still hurt like hell.
“Clara, if my opinion counts at all,” he said, “you did the right thing. Standing against your nephew and the family company on behalf of the village made you one of the most admirable women in the world.”
“Hear, hear,” Arthur said, crossing from where he’d been looking out the French doors of their suite. He put an arm around her. “It’s a shock. No one argues that, but Connor could have addressed this in a different manner. My God, I hope he finds the help he needs.”
“Shawn said no one knows where he is,” Clara said, worrying her diamond bracelet. “Not even Flynn, and you know he’s got every tech gadget at his fingertips.”
“Maybe some time off will help him,” Boyd said. “Connor’s probably been working twenty-hour days since he started working for the company at sixteen.” A man could snap under that kind of continued pressure.
“All right, I’m pushing that aside for now,” Clara said with a firm shake of her head. “How are we coming along with partners, Boyd?”
He almost hated that word now. How long would it take for his brain not to immediately flash to Michaela when he heard it? “I have three solid companies preparing proposals to share with the tribe. I didn’t tell them about the find per se, but I asked them for their best offers as the president of a new company that plans to discover the next big plant medicine.” Luckily, they’d believed he was capable of that, something that had boosted his corporate confidence.
“Good thinking,” Arthur said, tossing him a red hot.
“It’s good to hear such encouraging news,” Clara said. “Now, when are you going to visit Michaela and make up with her?”
He fell back into a chair as Hargreaves came in with a tea service. “Clara, how can you ask that after what just happened to Connor? No Merriam would welcome me with open arms, least of all Michaela.” Again, the thought about her not calling him burrowed under his skin. Maybe everyone was pushing for something Michaela didn’t want anymore.
“You’re wrong about Michaela, and you’re wrong about the Merriams, Connor excluded perhaps,” Clara said, coming over and sitting on the adjacent couch as Hargreaves poured three cups of tea. “Thank you, Hargreaves.”
The butler nodded, but not before sending Boyd a significant look as well.
“Boyd, you love Michaela and she loves you,” Arthur said, sitting beside him. “Like I tell all the young people, love is a choice, and when you hit a bump in the road, you fix it. So fix it. We’re here to help.”
“I don’t see how you can,” Boyd said, holding up his hands. “Like I told Shawn, love isn’t enough in our case. With the Connor situation, the Merriams are going to band together more than ever, and they should. I like all of them. Well, mostly. Connor and Quinn were always hard-ass mysteries to me. But seriously, I’m a reminder of their unhappiness, and I won’t do that to Michaela.”
Arthur rolled the red hot around his teeth. “What if Clara and I got all of the Merriams—except Connor—to sign a petition saying they’d support you and Michaela getting back together and not take a sock at you at the holidays?”
Boyd shook his head. “Be serious.”
“He is being serious in his own fuddy-duddy way, Boyd,” Clara said heavily. “So, you don’t want to be the cause of any unhappiness. It’s laudable. But I think you’re selling the Merriams short.”
How could she think that after her own exile years ago? They might have mended fences now, but Shawn clearly had tempered. He didn’t believe the same could be said about Quinn and Connor, and who knew what the rest of them thought? “Did you see the way Quinn looked at me at your impromptu soiree the other day? Big Bad Wolf number two is still around, and it sounds like he’s Michaela’s boss now. Do you really think he’s going to pat me on the shoulder and joke with me over the Merriam punch bowl?”
Clara huffed more than she sighed. “So it won’t be easy. It’s still no reason not to try.”
“Too much is stacked against us,” Boyd said, ignoring his tea. “And I’ve had time to think about something else. Michaela’s always wanted to work on the flower. It’s been her dream. It’s bound to come between us if I’m working on it and she’s not. I wouldn’t even be able to tell her about my finds.”
“I hate thinking you might be right there, Boyd, as much as I hate drinking this infernal tea,” Arthur said, pushing it back when Clara pushed it toward him.
“Green tea is good for you,” she said, her Merriam green eyes narrowing. “Michaela not working on the flower is a problem. It’s been bothering me as well.”
“Connor really screwed that up.” He popped in another red hot.
“Yeah, he did,” Boyd said, rising to his feet. “I’m going to take off. I have some other matters to see to. When are you two heading back to Dare Valley?”
“In a few days,” she said, “but we’ll see you before we go, of course. How about dinner here in our suite tomorrow night? I’d like you to walk us through how many flowers you expect you’ll need in the next six months so Arthur and I can plan our return trip to work with the tribe.”
Arthur groaned. “It’s not that I don’t love the village, but I hate that damn river. When I get home, I’m making Jill and Brian remove Hungry Hungry Hippos from the twins’ playroom. And I’m confiscating any copies of Fantasia. I do not want any of my relations thinking hippos are nice animals. I’ll tell them to run if they ever see a live one.”
“Oh, Arthur, you’ll only scare the children,” Clara said, waving her hand at him. “Come on, Boyd. I’ll see you out.”
She walked with him to the front door and gave him a hug, something she’d started to do every time she saw him. He had to admit he rather liked it. She was a dear woman.
“Don’t give up hope, Boyd,” she said, poking him in the stomach like she sometimes did her husband. “Arthur gave himself the moniker of the Matchmaking Jedi on our last trip, and I’ll confess, it ticked me off some. But if I can pull something off to bring you and Michaela back together, I figure I’ll be ahead of him, and I do so love the sound of that.”
He kissed her cheek. “You’re wasting your time, but I wouldn’t dare say that to a woman who trekked up and back to the Valley of Stars.”
“Smart boy,” she said, patting him on the back. “Now, get out of here. I have some thinking to do.”
He wouldn’t let himself hope—it was too painful—but she’d surprised him before.
Perhaps Clara Merriam would be his miracle.
Chapter 29
Clara was as ready as she’d ever be.
The sight of the double doors
leading to the CEO’s office still gave her heartburn, but she bore down and let herself inside. She knew she looked her best, clad in an elegant black suit with cream heels, her hair coiffed like a corporate executive. Arthur had insisted this was her show, the silly man, but at least he’d promised he’d be waiting for her back at the suite with Hargreaves, gin and tonic fixings ready.
“Aunt Clara,” Quinn said, typing hard enough on the keys to remind Clara of an angsty drummer, “if my father hadn’t told me that you wanted to talk about Michaela’s happiness—something we’re all worried about—I wouldn’t have been able to give you my time. With Connor leaving, you might imagine I’m more than swamped. I’m under siege.”
And she was about to propel a business cannonball at him from her hastily prepared trebuchet. “Then let me come to the point. May I sit?”
“Please,” he said, gesturing to the seat in front of his massive paper-covered desk.
“Indulge me a moment. Is it fair to say some in the pharmaceutical world might notice you fired your department head around the same time Connor was replaced as CEO?”
“Not just in that world, Aunt, something I’m preparing a plan for now.”
“Daunting, no doubt. If they dig, they may discover the trip to Kenya and other events. While the tribe Arthur and I are dealing with aren’t open to outsiders, other tribes visited by your brother—in a Merriam helicopter, no less—may well choose to share events with interested parties.”
His mouth twisted into something like a snarl. “How does this involve Michaela and how do you plan to help? By telling all the Maasai to keep things under wraps?”
“I can’t make that promise,” she said, pressing her hands on her thighs. “But I did look at the company’s profits in the pharmaceutical area over the last five years. They’ve been strong, but recent events could change that.”
“I know that,” Quinn said like a cross bear. “I plan on fixing it. I need to hire someone to replace Iggie and finalize a damage control plan. You aren’t suggesting I replace Iggie with Michaela?”
She fought back an unladylike snort. “Of course not. That still wouldn’t address the main components of Michaela’s happiness. Boyd and the flower.”
“We can’t work with you on the flower.”
“No, but your sister can if she’s no longer working for Merriam Enterprises.”
His brow rose. “You want me to fire my own sister?”
“No. I think you should spin off the natural health science part of the pharmaceuticals subsidiary and sell it to Evan Michaels. As you know, he’s a billionaire who legitimately wants to make the world a better place, and he’s just created a new company backed by your brother J.T. called GreenSolutions, so it has family ties, which are important to Michaela.”
“You want me to sell off a profitable Merriam subsidiary to improve my sister’s love life?” Quinn asked, putting his elbows on the desk and studying her like she was mold on top of his leftover takeout.
She wouldn’t back down. “Evan has the kind of vision your Grandpa Emmits had about the future, and your current subsidiary is in big trouble after Kenya. I think your health science department would be the perfect addition to what he’s doing. It’s run by Chase Parker—”
“I know Chase and think he’s one of the best CEOs out there, but—”
“If this new flower really is the miracle cure Boyd and Michaela believe it to be, wouldn’t it make sense for it to be distributed by a company whose entire mission statement is about improving the world?”
“And Michaela and Boyd could work together on the flower like they wanted all along.” He sat back in his chair and smoothed his silk tie. “Boyd’s on board with this?”
“I ran my idea by your father first to see if it would fly. I haven’t talked to Boyd about it yet.”
Quinn rose and came around his desk, resting his backside on the edge. “I want my sister to be happy—I could give a flying flip about Boyd—but this is—”
“A practical solution,” she said, withdrawing the folder she’d prepared from her handbag and handing it to him. “You’re going to look like you have egg on your face in the market once news of the…incident in Kenya gets around to other competitors’ water cooler talk. I mean other companies and local groups may never want to work with another Merriam employee after hearing how your brother and department head hired mercenaries to threaten the Maasai. You remember how badly World Wildlife Fund’s contributions fell when people heard they’d hired mercenaries to kill poachers?” She tsked, and Quinn’s jaw started to tick. Good, she was getting through to him.
She went on: “Arthur isn’t planning on including these disparaging events in the articles he’s working on, but he and I are going to be called for interviews once Boyd issues a press release about the flower. I won’t lie if we’re asked directly about the mercenaries, and neither will Arthur.”
His green eyes were hot as they stared her down.
“Boyd doesn’t have a manufacturing and distribution partner yet,” she said, matching his regard. “I figure you can save yourself an uphill battle in the health science world—”
“What about Michaela?” Quinn asked, cutting her off. “She’s a Merriam. Do you really think she’ll want to work for another company?”
And Clara wasn’t a Merriam? Oh, she could box his ears. But she knew a person got more flies with honey than vinegar. “J.T. is on Evan’s board and is an investor in GreenSolutions. It already has Merriam ties. And yes, she’d do it to have Boyd and to work on the flower. With your blessing…I’d say it’s a certainty.”
“And Boyd?” Quinn asked. “Is he to have everything then? He detained one of our employees.”
Clara narrowed her eyes at him. “He’d be selling his company to GreenSolutions as well. That’s what we call compromise, my boy. Besides, he loves your sister and he saved her life. I’m telling you right now, Quinn Merriam… Arthur and I might have brought back the flower, but Boyd kept her going by sitting at her bedside for two days and nights without a care for himself. When you consider my proposal, you might consider that along with your sister’s happiness.” She stood, yanking on her suit jacket. “Good day.”
Striding out of his office with dignity, she punched the elevator button hard enough to break a nail. Well, she’d done her part. If Quinn wanted to be hardheaded, there was nothing she could do about it.
No one had ever said matchmaking was easy.
* * *
Michaela threw the new set of magazines aside after her mother left the room.
She’d banned all academic journals and Michaela’s phone, saying she wouldn’t listen to any back talk given the state Michaela had come home in after the board meeting. Her mother had sworn up and down she was running a low-grade fever, but would she show the thermometer to her? Nope. Assumpta Merriam was going to have her way. End of story.
A knock sounded, and she breathed a sigh of relief. Her mother wouldn’t knock. “Come in.”
Quinn entered and closed the door, decked out in one of his Big Bad Wolf suits. He looked haggard though, as if Little Red Riding Hood kept evading his teeth.
Oh, she shouldn’t joke about it. This week had been horrible for everyone.
“What are you doing here?” she asked, sitting up higher on the pillows. “It’s two o’clock on a Wednesday. Flynn told me you turned down everyone’s offer to go out for a beer last night. Of course, Mom wouldn’t let me go. She’s got me in lockup.”
“For good reason,” he said, sitting on the bed after unbuttoning his jacket. “She’s worried about a relapse after the other day. Work with her. She told Dad she’s this close to calling the doctor back in.” He held up two fingers an inch apart for emphasis.
“I’m sick of this,” she said, huffing back into the pillows. “You need me back at work—”
“I need you to get well,” he said, shaking his head and looking down at his lap. “That’s why we have sick leave. Now, as for the reason I came�
��”
She wanted to reach out to him. He looked so vulnerable suddenly, and it struck her that his life had been upended as surely as hers had been.
“Aunt Clara came to my office yesterday with a business idea after talking it over with Dad. I wasn’t very receptive at first, but I looked over the folder she prepared, and I have to say I’m starting to think she might have some Merriam business sense after all. I can see why Dad told her to talk to me.”
Michaela rolled her eyes. “She has a B.A. in business, Quinn, and you should have seen her with the Maasai.”
“She thinks we might be smart to sell off the health science arm of Merriam Pharmaceuticals,” he said, playing with the edge of her quilt. “After what happened with Connor and Iggie, we’re going to have an uphill battle in that market for a while, especially if word gets out. Iggie has been making some threats since he’s unhappy with our decision to let him go, something I didn’t mention to Aunt Clara.”
Oh, dear. “So he’s being a jerk to the end, huh?”
“Yeah, and he’s not our only problem.” He paused. “I reviewed the file on your so-called demotion, and I disagree with the findings. You shouldn’t have been the one to broach a nondisclosure with your boyfriend. That’s ridiculous. You weren’t his manager. Iggie and Human Resources didn’t do their job. His lack of management has been causing problems for some time from what I’ve seen. I don’t know how Connor missed it.” His face darkened.
Her own heart clutched. “Iggie was good at kissing…ah…”
“Ass?” He harshly laughed. “God, hearing you say that in your froggy voice is pretty damn funny. I must be tired.”
“And stressed. You have a lot on your shoulders. Thank you for reviewing my demotion. It felt…wrong at the time.”
“Iggie also didn’t treat Boyd well. I had it in confidence he led the charge on calling him a scurrilous nickname.”
“Michaela’s Boy Toy? I didn’t know until this trip. He’d wanted to handle it on his own.”