by Katie Dowe
“And loneliness is not an excuse to get a man into your bed with your children involved. There are creeps out there honey and they only want to get a foothold in. You have a little girl and a little boy to think about. Please remember that.”
“You are right,” she said with a sigh. “When you have children, they come first.”
“As they should. I have seen you with Barry and you loved each other. Don’t belittle his memory by turning to the first man who asks for your number.”
“I did not give it to him,” Laila said wryly. She squeezed her friend’s hands. “Thank you for everything.”
“That’s what friends are for.” Harper said as she got to her feet. “I have to leave. I will talk to you tomorrow.”
*****
Erin plopped herself onto her brother’s bed and sat there looking as he used the towel to wipe the sweat from his face. He had just come from his gym where he had been working out furiously. “I see I am going to have to start locking my doors,” he said mildly as he flung the towel over one of the chairs in his room.
“You know I am very good at picking locks darling,” Erin said in amusement as she looked at him. He pulled the wet shirt over his head and dumped it along with the towel.
“Do you mind?”
“Not at all,” she said as she made herself more comfortable on the bed.
He sighed in irritation. “What do you want Erin?”
“I want you to set me up with Adam.” She said bluntly.
“No,”
“Why not?”
“Because you tend to use men and dump them as soon as you get bored. Adam is a friend and I will not have that happening to him.”
“I could always do the job myself.”
“So do it. I want no part of it.”
“Darling you are no better than I am. Samantha is the longest relationship I have ever seen you in.”
“That’s different.” He sat on the sofa and massaged his instep as he looked at her.
“Because you are a man?” she challenged him.
“Precisely,” his dark blue eyes crinkled in amusement. “And you are a Shaw. Besides which Mother would have your head for breaking her best friend’s son’s heart.”
“This might turn out to be a love match.” She said with a pout.
“You said the same thing about the last two.”
“They were boring and lack adventure.”
“My answer is no.”
“Okay fine,” she said in a huff. “Not because there is no spark in your relationship does not mean you can take it out on me.”
“There is spark in my relationship.”
Her tapered brows lifted. “Is that so? Is that why you have been pommelling that bag in your gym? I could hear it all the way in here. You are sexually frustrated darling and anyone can see that.”
“I am not discussing my sex life with you. Now get out of my room and let me get some rest. I have an early morning meeting.”
She hopped off the bed. “Let me give you some unsolicited advice as a sister to a brother. You are wasting your time with Samantha. She wants long term but that’s the last thing you need with her.”
“Where is the advice?”
“You need a woman who challenges you and not some doormat who says yes to everything you tell her.” She floated away at that and closed the doors behind her.
Ethan clenched his fists and realized that she was right!
Chapter 2
“Darling it is so good to see you!” Faye gushed as she hurried over to hug her daughter. “Let me look at you,” her dark brown eyes searched her daughter’s face and quickly glanced at the thick dark hair spilling past her slender shoulders and down her back. Faye was a mixture of black and Indian and had some white in her. She had passed on all that to her only child and the combination was exquisite. Both mother and daughter usually turned heads wherever they went. They both had the same coffee and cream complexion and thick dark hair and slender built with curves. Harper played down her own beauty but her mother had no trouble flaunting it. She had come from a poor background and had her station elevated when she married her boss. She did her best to forget where she came from and wielded her power over her husband like a steel belt around his neck. Her husband was an amiable man with little ambition and more or less gave his wife a free rein over his life. “I thought you were going to chop off some of your hair,” she spread the thick strands critically, seeing the loose ends.
“Faye, leave our child alone.” Francis Simmons came into the foyer with a smile on his plain face. He knew that he was no match in looks for his daughter and wife and had seen the incredible looks every time they went out! “Come here and give your old man a hug girl.”
“Daddy, you old?” Harper scoffed as she pulled away from her mother and went into his arms. He smelled of comfort and Old Spice and had always been the arms she turned to when her mother frustrated her. She felt sorry for him and wondered if he knew that he was more in love with his wife than she was with him! He was just sixty but looked years older and her mother was in her fifties but took great pains to make sure she looked far younger.
“Tell your mother that. She is suggesting I get work done on my face and the slight paunch I have.”
Harper felt the anger inside her. “You are fine as you are and I love you just the way you are. If you change anything, there is no guarantee that I will.”
“Thank you, honey.” He kissed her on the forehead and tucked her hand through his arm.
A maid came just then to announce dinner and they went into the extravagant dining room. Her mother kept up appearances even if it meant spending more than she should and had redecorated the five bedroom town home three times in the last three years, claiming that the furniture had grown old with time. She had a live in housekeeper who did the cooking and the house work even though it was not necessary. “Thank you Melinda.” Harper smiled at the woman as she brought in the sumptuous meal of lamb and peppered steak. The dining table could hold twelve people and even though there was a small table just off the kitchen, her mother would never dream of using it.
“Darling, tell us about that little hobby of yours,” Faye said with a careless wave of her hand as she passed the salad plate to her daughter.
Harper looked at her in amusement. She had long learnt not to take anything her mother said to heart. She had learned the hard way and these days she brushed them off. “Hobby as you put it is providing care packages for our men and women who have been deployed to these countries and leaving their loved ones alone. We also provide packages for the women and men left here so that it is not so hard on them.”
“Our daughter the crusader!” Faye said with a laugh as she looked at her husband. “You take yourself too seriously darling.”
“I admire what she is doing,” It was rare that her father sided with her and she could see the look she gave him when he said what he did. “Keep it up.”
“I will,” Harper feigned interest in the rich meal and wished that she was eating a hamburger or something simple like some noodle soup!
“The ball was such a success,” Faye tried to bring back the conversation to herself. “I am sorry you were not there but Henry Matthews asked about you. He seems very interested.”
“I hope you told him not to bother.”
“Darling why are you so difficult? I am trying to be a mother to you and you refuse to meet me halfway!”
“I could hardly call you wanting me to marry to the first available man being a mother to me,” Harper said dryly. “Henry Matthews has been divorced two times and he is twice my age.”
“He is a very good catch and has a seat on the senate. Some say he is heading straight to the White House.” Faye insisted.
“Good for him. I hope he does a better job there than he is doing in his personal life.” She retorted.
They both looked over as her father snickered.
“It’s not funny Francis.” His wife said stiffly
. “Harper you are being difficult as usual. And Francis you have spoilt her ever since she was a child.”
“Someone had to,” Francis said gruffly. “We don’t get to see our daughter much and I know why. Each time she comes around, you are at her to find a rich husband. Enough.”
Harper sent him a grateful look even though she knew he would be paying for his support of her later after she has gone. They finished the meal in silence and went into the living room to drink the coffee and the pecan pie that was for dessert. Harper made her escape as soon as she could and hurried out to the freezing cold, wrapping her coat around her tightly. She made her way to her car and got in, closing the door quickly and waiting until the interior was warm enough before she left. Her small apartment suddenly felt a lot like home!
*****
“Come in darling,” Evelyn waved his son into the conference room where she was still seated after the board meeting. She did not have a real office even though she spent a lot of time at the company but would crash in some empty room whenever she was there.
Ethan took his seat opposite her and put his tablet aside. “Things sound positive in terms of the new drug that has been approved by the FDA. The side effects are minimal and we are finally getting a positive report on the people being treated for cancer.” She said in approval, a pleased look on her face.
“Don’t start celebrating yet.” Ethan said grimly.
“Darling, why not?”
“I did an extensive investigation or rather I had my investigative team look into the matter. Someone bribed or paid off someone at the FDA in order to fast track the approval. There is not enough time to see whether or not the drug really works.”
Evelyn stared at her son aghast. “That cannot be true.”
“I am afraid it is Mother,” he leaned back in his chair and felt the weariness of his position coming over him. He wondered how his father had coped with the pressure. He had passed the peaceful protesters out on the sidewalk holding up placards saying things like: “Stop aiding the cause of wars and sending our sons and daughters to their deaths.” He was sick of it.
“How could this happen and who did this?”
“I am going to find out. Rainer was very eager to push this particular drug.” He said referring to the main scientist they had on board.
“Rainer has been with us since the company first started,” Evelyn said as she looked at her son in horror.
“And he has been pushing for us to get that particular drug onto the market. We are one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world Mother and if this is true then the scandal will serve to destroy our credibility.”
Evelyn pushed back her chair and got to her feet. Her agitated movements took her over to the window to look down onto the street. Her eyes took in the protesters who stood huddled beneath their coats. It was December and the cold was brutal! What drove their persistence? She wondered. She turned to look at her son. “Let me talk to him.” She said quietly.
“No,” Ethan said firmly. “If he is responsible, he is going to deny it and try and destroy the evidence.”
“He is our friend!”
“Yours and Dad’s. I know, but please let me deal with this.”
*****
“You are very quiet. Is something wrong, my dear?” Clive Rainer asked as he slid the robe off her body. Evelyn forced a smile to her lips. Her son had told her to let him deal with the matter but she had to know for herself. It was vital to her heart! They had started seeing each other a year ago but had kept it a secret from their families. He had comforted her when she had seemed inconsolable and had understood because he had lost his wife to cancer five years ago. They had fallen into bed and take great comfort from being with each other.
“I am just a little tired, that’s all.” She had wanted to cancel seeing him tonight but she wanted to get at the truth or even feel him out.
He turned her to face him. “I saw you coming out of the conference room with Ethan. Is everything okay?”
She looked at him in surprise. “I had no idea you were at the main office.”
“I had a meeting with the PR department and I was happy to get out of the labs.” He ran his hands up and down her arms.
“You never told me how you got the drug approved so quickly.” She said casually as he led her to the sofa at the foot of the bed. Their lovemaking was surprisingly vibrant and she looked forward to being with him every chance she got which was not easy because each time she was coming to his apartment she had to use subterfuge and take roundabout routes to get to his place. She was highly visible as she was on a number of committees and was not ready for the world to know about her personal business.
He held her small hands between his and stared at the delicate skin. He had been friends with her and her husband and had fallen in love with her before his death. “The drug works my dear and they can see that. Why wouldn’t they approve?”
“Usually it takes years to get an approval from the FDA but you got it within months.” She said to him. She was barely restraining herself from asking him outright. She had opened up her heart to him quickly and maybe she had been too hasty in doing so.
“What’s going on darling?” he looked at her puzzled. “You were exhilarated about the news when I first came to you with it.”
“It’s just that with the people constantly demonstrating at our doorsteps and looking at us as greedy avaricious monsters who would do anything for money we have to be extra careful.” She said soothingly.
“You are right,” he squeezed her hands gently. “No wonder Ethan has put a hold on getting the word out there.”
“He has?” her surprise was genuine as she stared at him.
“He told me so today just as I was leaving. I don’t think that is a good idea but he is in charge. Maybe you could talk to him.”
“I am afraid not darling. Ethan is in charge and I have to allow him to take the lead. But I am sure it will not be for very long.”
“I hope not. I understand that one of our biggest competitors is coming out with something in the early part of next year and would not like them to get the jump on us.”
“I am sure they won’t.” she paused and wondered if she should prolong the subject without arousing his suspicions. She turned to him. “You do love me, don’t you?” she asked him.
He looked at her in surprise. “You know I do. I wish you would agree to go public with our relationship but I understand why you cannot right now.”
She nodded. “A woman sitting on the board of her husband’s company reminds the men there every day that they answer to me in some parts,” she smiled whimsically. “They hate it every time I take my seat and some have even gone ahead and voice it. My son is very young, younger than even the youngest one there but they don’t mind him running the company or what he says or decides because he is a man. It irks them each time I open my mouth.”
“That’s why you do it so frequently.” He said with a laugh.
“That’s right,” she smiled at him. She reached forward and clasped his dear face between her hands. He was almost sixty and she was sixty-two, two years older than he was but she looked so much younger. His hair had turned grey a long time ago and he wore a beard that she found endearing. “That’s why I want to be sure about us Clive.”
“I thought you were,” he said frowningly.
“I am darling,” she said with a brilliant smile. “I am.”
*****
Erica dipped her feet into the bath to test the water before sliding into it with a sigh. She had left the office and had made a dash to look for her friend before coming home. Her sister was nowhere to be found and Erica suspected that she had gone out as usual. They were identical twins but apart from their looks they were very different. Erin was daring and outgoing but she was quiet and preferred to settle in with a good book. But she had gone ahead and done the unthinkable. It had happened by chance. She had met him when she had been interviewing people for the acc
ounting clerk position. He had come in clutching his briefcase with an intense look on his swarthy face and she had been struck by the look in his eyes. He had not gotten the position but he had insisted on talking to her afterwards.
“Why did you want to see me Mr. Claymore?” she had asked him politely as she agreed. He had come into her office and closed the doors behind him. It had been a day after the interview.
“I know I am not selected,” he had told her quietly.
“We have not made our selection yet--”
“Please spare me the lies,” he had told her forcefully. “I know. I have been to enough interviews to know the deal. I am qualified but I am not what Shaw’s Holdings is looking for.”
“So if you already know that, why did you ask to see me?” she had inquired.
“Because I am hoping to throw myself on your mercy. I need the job. Any job no matter in what capacity until I can work my way up to being the ideal candidate.”
“Why?”
He sat in front of her. “I am an only child and my mother is dying.”
“I am sorry to hear that.”
“Are you? Or is it just something you say automatically?” he had asked her with a tinge of bitterness in his voice.
“I am really sorry to hear about your mother Mr. Claymore and I resent you thinking that you know me.” She had told him coolly.
“I am sorry,” he had muttered and stared down at his hands. He looked so dejected that she felt sorry for him.
“All right.” She had told him.
“What?”
“All right Mr. Claymore. I am going to hire you.”
He had looked at her in shock. “Thank you so much!”
“You can thank me by not disappointing me.” She had told him.
“I will make every effort not to.”
That had been three months ago and they had been working to get some figures ready for an early morning meeting and had stayed late in her office. Erin had already left and the others as well. She had gotten up from her desk and was making her way towards him when she tripped and almost fell but he had caught her. They had kissed and the passion had taken them so much by surprise that they had torn at each other’s clothing and made love right there in her office. He had tried to apologize and said it would never happen again but it did over and over again and she knew she was falling in love with him.