by Megan Bryce
“Should I go tell Maggie that she needs to yell at you?”
She coughed a laugh out, gripping his shirt. “No. She looked like she was saving that up for Cole.”
“Good. She owes him a punch or two.”
She raised up to look at him. “It matters, doesn’t it? That what we’re doing is for us and not for Caldwell.”
Tanner took a deep breath, told the truth. “It always seemed like no matter how I did, I never saw the reward. It always got sucked into Caldwell and Caldwell was never mine.”
She rubbed her hand on his chest. “Now it’s ours. We’ll see the reward, we’ll feel the pain.”
He said softly, “Thank you.”
She smiled at him, the sun coming out to shine on him. Somehow she knew him, better than he’d ever feared. Knew him and stuck by him and loved him.
He kissed her and said, “If Maggie finds out we were involved in Harwood’s loans, I’ll stand in front of you.”
She chuckled, kissing him back. “If she ever finds out we were involved, that won’t save me.”
Maggie climbed Cole’s steps, trying not to stomp.
He opened the door to let her in and said, “I’d forgotten what you looked like all gussied up. Like you’re going to kick my tail and enjoy doing it.”
“I am. And I will.”
He cocked his head. “Mad at me. You spend all week not getting mad at me and the second I let you out of my sight, this happens?”
She slammed the copy of his check into his chest. He uncrumpled it and said, “Oh.”
“Oh? Oh?!”
“Magg–”
“Thanks for telling me, Cole. Thanks for telling me that you own thirty percent of my company as of Monday!”
“Would you believe me if I said I forgot about it?”
She growled at him and he said, “No, guess not. I really thought Ginny would tell you. Before this. And then, okay, I didn’t want to get you mad at me when we were living in a very small space together. Not when we were having so much fun.”
She turned away, this time not caring about stomping down the stairs, and he said, “I know you can stop it. Ginny said she needed your approval.”
She turned around, flinging her arms up in the air and shouting, “I’m the one who has to tell my sister no? I’m the one who has to say go find yourself some other schmuck to take your share of the company because I veto the one who already paid you way too much for it? Thanks, Cole. Thanks for making me the bad guy.”
Cole nodded, looking down at the copy. “Your sister is not a bad negotiator. I was a little surprised at how much she got out of me.”
“She’s a Caldwell. Even if she wants to be a Beaumont.”
Cole looked up at her, his brows knitted together. “Oh, Maggie. She’s not abandoning you.”
Maggie sucked in a deep breath, her body freezing into a tight knot.
Her sister was abandoning her.
Her mother her died. Her father had slid slowly away.
But she’d always had Ginny. Had always known there was one person on this earth who would stand behind her. Always.
And now her sister was jumping ship. Maggie knew the captain always went down with the ship, she’d just thought she’d have a little company.
“She sold her shares. To you.”
Cole took a step down, reaching for her, and she said, “Don’t touch me, you jackass.”
He didn’t listen to her. He kept coming, wrapping his arms tight around her, bringing her in close between his legs. He said, “Oh, baby. It doesn’t mean to her what it means to you. You know it doesn’t.”
She kneed him as hard as she could.
He groaned, grabbing himself and falling back on the stairs. He wheezed, “Fucking hell, Maggie.”
“Don’t. Call. Me. Baby.”
He closed his eyes, his skin pale, his lips wheezing out obscenities.
Maggie watched him, her anger fading in direct proportion to the intensity of his groans, the number of times he appealed to God.
She watched him and couldn’t help it that her lips started twitching.
He opened his eyes to find her biting her lips to keep from laughing and he whispered, “That had better have wiped my tab clean.”
A snort escaped, her shoulders shook. “I told you I’d save it for when I was really mad.”
He closed his eyes again. “You did.”
He tried to stand and he looked up at her. “Are you going to help me?”
She reached down, grabbing his arm, pulling him up. He leaned heavily on her shoulders as they took the few steps back up and inside.
She helped him into his recliner and said, “Ice?”
He nodded and she went to the freezer, a bag of broccoli the closest thing she could find.
She wrapped it in a paper towel, bringing it back to him. “It was this or bacon.”
He carefully fit it between his legs, nearly sitting on it. “I think you made the right choice.”
He looked at her solemnly and said, “I apologize for calling you baby.”
“Thank you.”
“I do not apologize for buying up shares of a company that is in the beginning stages of a turn-around. A company that will be worth a lot more in just a few years.”
She pursed her lips, shaking her head. “You paid a premium for it.”
“I paid for the management. She won’t stop until Caldwell’s worth more than it was when she took over. And I know there’s no way in hell she’s selling her shares.”
She flopped into the other recliner and stared at the ceiling. She said, “I own thirty percent. I vote another twenty percent for my father.”
“So if I can get Ginny on my side I can block you but that’s it. Stalemate.”
She turned her head toward him. “You won’t get my sister to vote with you.”
“Probably not. But I’m not planning on fighting with you on how to run Caldwell. You’ll always care about it more than I will and I don’t have any time anyway. I’ll just be a silent partner.”
She snorted.
He held up his hands. “We worked well together this week, didn’t we?”
She nodded. “We did. But you weren’t silent.”
He chuckled, adjusting the broccoli.
She said, “And this is different. I was a guest in your business. You’ve moved yourself into mine.”
An outsider in her company. Not a Caldwell. Maggie never thought she’d see the day.
Had done everything she could to keep everyone out.
And her sister had waltzed over to the last man in the world any Caldwell should think of selling it to and gave it to him.
Okay, yes, for a small fortune. Okay, yes, for more than anyone would ever pay for it if they were being rational.
It was a good move on her sister’s part. A horrifying, traitorous, good move.
And he’d snatched it up. Knowing how Maggie would hate it. Still done it.
Her sister, too. Done it knowing what it would mean for Maggie.
Maggie closed her eyes, covering them with one hand and thinking she was going to have to find someplace to stay tonight. Someplace where she could be alone. Someplace she could get over the betrayal by both of them.
She pushed out of the recliner and looked down at his crotch. “You need more ice before I go? There was a bag of cauliflower that might work.”
“You’re not staying?”
“No. I think I’ve incapacitated you for the night.”
“I think it’ll be longer than a night but you can still stay.”
She shook her head, turning from him, and Cole said, “I should have told you, Maggie.”
“On Monday.”
“Tuesday, at least. I was, originally, waiting for Ginny to tell you.”
Maggie grabbed the copy of the check off the counter and Cole said, “If we’re not going to get naked, we can go get your ring.”
She’d forgotten about the ring.
“I don
’t want one, Cole. Really.”
“How many people have commented on the lack of one?”
A lot. Too many.
People didn’t normally get engaged without a ring.
Maggie said, “Do we even need to play this thing out? I’ve got new terms from my creditors already.”
Cole’s eyes darkened, his mouth firmed. “You’ve turned it around, huh? Making enough money for next year when your three moratoriums end?”
No, she wasn’t.
And at the moment, she didn’t really care if she ever did.
Maybe Cole would buy her shares as well. Maggie could start her own company, start fresh. Abandon nearly one hundred years of sacrifice, hard work, family.
She didn’t know how her sister had done it.
He pushed himself out of the chair, wincing. “Let’s go get a ring then.”
Maggie said, “Can you even walk?”
“Yes. Maybe.”
She watched him hobbling around and said, “I would apologize but I have warned you.”
“And I just want to be certain the kick was for calling you baby. As long as I don’t do that again, you won’t do this again?”
She hesitated and he stopped. “This was for calling you baby, right?”
“Yes.”
“And you’re not going to do it again?”
She hesitated again and he cussed.
She said, “Are you going to buy anymore of my company behind my back?”
This time he hesitated and she raised her eyebrows at him. She said, “Cole. Next time you think of buying my company behind my back, know that I will not be kneeing you in the balls. I’ll be getting my Daddy’s shotgun and shooting them off.”
He blew out a breath. “I will take that into consideration.”
He headed back for his chair. “I don’t think I can do a ring today, after all.”
“Good,” she said. And she left.
Maggie returned home.
She didn’t want to stay in a hotel, couldn’t justify the expense when she could just lock herself in her room and pretend she was alone.
But Ginny’s car was gone when she got home and Maggie wandered down to her father’s room.
She sat in the quiet room, listening to his machine beeping, and closed her eyes.
She never talked to him, not like Ginny. Maggie didn’t know if he could hear or not. It was just she felt stupid talking to him about things he couldn’t enjoy anymore. Things he wouldn’t be a part of again.
She felt silly telling him her problems. Because all problems had to seem silly when death was chasing you.
Except she thought he might know what it felt like to be alone. Thought he might know what hopeless felt like.
He’d know, too, what Ginny selling her shares meant.
Her father would have never allowed it. Not to a Montgomery, not to anyone.
Ginny had said that Maggie always did what was best for Caldwell and it wasn’t true. She’d tried and she’d failed. And if she failed again, she couldn’t drag her sister down with her, not when there was a chance. Not when there was a beginning staring them in the face.
But she wouldn’t tell her father any of that, just in case he was listening. Instead she would sit next to him and hold his hand. She would blink back the tears threatening to fall.
Because if a dying man wasn’t going to cry about his hurts, she wouldn’t cry about hers.
Megan BryceSome Like It Ruthless
Twelve
Maggie kept out of the way of both Ginny and Cole the entire weekend. She turned off her cell, holed herself up in her office. She’d forgotten how it felt to be unreachable, how freeing it was.
The offices were deserted Sunday evening and she wandered around, seeing what reality was, remembering Caldwell’s glory days. Saw utilitarian industrial carpet, remembered cool marble. Saw walls painted a stark gray, remembered great art and rich foliage. This was bootstraps, this was survival. No room for luxuries. No room for a sore heart, no room for petty pride.
Maggie remembered when her office was right next to her father’s, remembered how Ginny had always worked downstairs.
Not an owner, an employee.
The company had always been Maggie’s future, always been Maggie’s inheritance, because she’d chosen it, because it called to her.
She would do anything to save it. Even do it all alone.
When Maggie finally left for the night, she found Cole parked behind her car, sitting in his truck, talking on his cell. He saw her and pushed his door open, shoved his phone into his pocket.
He stayed behind the open door, using it as cover. “Out here alone, Maggie?”
“As you see.”
His nostrils flared and he looked above her head. “I’ve been calling you.”
“I didn’t want to talk to anyone. I had work to do. A future to plan for since things are different now.”
“They’re not. Only difference is who to make the checks out to.”
She laughed. “That’s pretty optimistic, Cole. It’s been a while since any kind of check was made out.”
“It’s only a matter of time.”
Maggie guessed that if you had to have an outside investor, it wasn’t a bad idea to have one who believed in you. If you had to be out-snaked, best it was done by someone who had a much bigger pie to worry about already.
She said, “Why did you track me down?”
“I wanted to make sure you were…still talking to me.”
Cole ran his eyes down her long legs to her flip-flops. Might as well be honest with himself. He’d wanted to make sure she was okay. Wanted to make sure she was still coming out to Midland tomorrow.
“Looks like I am.” She nodded to his crotch. “Are you recovered?”
“Physically. But I’m having a hard time with the nightmares. Some night sweats. Reflexive blocking when a blond gets too near.”
Her lips puckered as she tried to keep from laughing. “I’ll try to keep my distance.”
“I was hoping you’d kiss and make it all better.”
“You just said you were better, physically. You want me to kiss your nightmares away?”
“Okay.”
“No.”
He looked at up at the night sky, wishing he could see stars. Wishing he was out in his little trailer, in the middle of nowhere, his cool blond snuggled up to him. Not mad at him.
He said, “How long you gonna be mad about this?”
She smiled a big pageant smile and said with an exaggerated drawl, “Pretty long time.”
He grinned at her, slamming the truck door and walking towards her. “I’ll pick you up tomorrow morning, we don’t need two cars out in Midland.”
Her smile fell back down to normal wattage but she didn’t say anything.
He said, “And we still need to get a ring.”
“Yes.”
He stopped and she unlocked her car, setting her briefcase inside.
He said, “I was expecting a fight.”
“Why? I still want to save Caldwell. It’s mine. It was given to me to care for and unfortunately using you is my best hope.”
“And now that you’re dragging me along with you?”
“Did you think I’d sink my ship just because a pirate snuck on board?”
“The thought might have crossed my mind.”
“No. It’s mine. You can come along for the ride but the ship’s still mine.”
“I can help. More than just giving you deals. We can be partners.”
She shook her head, a smile hovering at her lips. “Silent partner, Cole. I know it’ll be hard but that’s all you’re getting.”
“Gonna do it yourself, Maggie?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“To prove I can.”
He looked around the empty parking lot. “Who are you proving it to? No one cares.”
“I care, Cole. I need to prove to myself that I didn’t squander my birthright. That I�
��m worthy of what I’ve been given.”
“You’re not.”
He saw the fire spark in her eyes and he said, “No one is. No one deserves so much, no one is worthy of so much. It’s not a matter of worth.”
“Then what is it?”
“Pride. You don’t want to be the kind of person who pisses away a fortune. You don’t want to be that third generation.”
“What third generation?”
“Shirtsleeves to shirtsleeves in three generations.”
She looked at him a long moment before saying, “I am the third generation.”
“See, there you go.”
She glared at him. “So you think I should just give up? Easy come, easy go?”
“No. But I want you to remember that one day the Caldwell fortune will be no longer. It will get pissed away.”
“Not on my watch.”
“No. You came begging to your greatest nemesis to keep it from happening. I don’t think it’s happening on your watch.”
She stuck her nose in the air. “I didn’t beg.”
“Oh, you did. I should have recorded it.”
“I didn’t beg then.”
“I’ll remember it how I like, and you were naked and begging. On your knees. And you called me master.”
She caught her laugh before it left her mouth but he saw it. Saw the twinkle in her eyes, the lifting of her mood.
She said, “Just remember that after I ‘called you master’, I introduced your boys to your throat.”
He remembered. His boys remembered.
And he might have deserved it. Just hadn’t really expected to have to pay.
He adjusted his belt buckle and she didn’t try and hide that laugh. He took another step forward, trapping her inside the open car door.
She said softly, “You’re getting within striking distance of a blond, Cole.”
“Need to get over my fear. My trailer’s pretty tight with the two of us.”
She cocked her head and gave him that look that all men were familiar with. She said, unnecessarily, “I don’t think so.”
“Yes. I’m a bastard; you reminded me of that fact. Now we’ll move on.”
“You may be ready to move on but I am not. Not ready to be friendly with the pirate who snuck on board behind my back.”