Million Dollar Mistake (24 page)

Jackson smiled. “Closer to home. Although my father would probably be flattered by the God comparison.”

Lorianne giggled. “You’re right. He is pretty much the lord of all he surveys.”

“And I always reacted by jumping in the opposite direction.”

“That’s pretty natural, isn’t it, Jackson?”

“Not when you almost get married because of it.”

“Almost? You did say, almost?”

Jackson stepped closer, inhaling the sweet floral scent that always seemed to surround her. “That’s right. But that’s not important any longer.”

“It isn’t?” she squeaked, jerking back as he leaned toward her.

“No. I’ve got something else on my mind.” With a sharp shake, he amended that. “Make that someone else.”

Lorianne stared at him, her eyes wide as the world. She seemed unable to catch her breath, much less talk. Finally, she pulled herself together to give him a cool, “I see.”

“Not yet, you don’t.” He smiled, releasing her. “But I’m hoping to convince you.”

She nodded. “I’ll look forward to that.”

“I hope so.” He frowned as a loose end popped into his mind. He didn’t like loose ends. He liked it when everything was organized in the right sequence. “One thing, though. You aren’t seriously attracted to Nicholas, are you?”

“Good heavens, who wouldn’t be attracted to the man?”

He tried to hide his chagrin. He’d been so sure she’d deny it. “So you are.”

“Why shouldn’t I be, with you throwing Raven in everyone’s face like confetti?”

“Point taken.” Was there a hint of jealousy in that comment?

“You’re not the only one who’s been expected to toe the family line, you know. Did you ever think of that?”

He rubbed his hand over his cheek. “No, no I never did. I always thought you—”

“Were falling all over my feet to have you?”

“Yes,” he admitted with a wry smile.

“What makes you think you’re such a bargain?” She scanned him head to toe. “From where I’m standing at the moment, you’ve been behaving like a child having a tantrum and hanging on to all the luscious goodies even when you know they’ll make you sick.”

“Thanks a lot,” he said, his voice dry as dust.

“You’re welcome. Now tell me why I’d want a man like that?”

“I can’t.”

“Damn straight.”

He laughed. “Okay, I can accept that. But, one thing—” he placed a hand on her arm to hold her still—“do you think you might want a man like that in the future? I mean, if he grows up enough to discover that what he was searching for has always been right in front of him?”

“I might.” Lorianne gave him a cautious smile. “Know anyone?”

He gave her a rueful grin. “I’m going to have my work cut out for me with you, aren’t I?”

She gave him a frank look. “Yes, you are. And I expect to enjoy every single minute of it.”

His hand shot out as if finalizing a tense business deal. “Want to shake on that?”

Nodding, she placed her palm against his for a brisk shake. “Done deal.”

Nicholas led Raven into the hallway, closing the exterior door behind him. “I don’t know about you, sweetheart, but after that walk I’m ready to relax on a warm beach.”

Raven smiled. “Oh, that sounds terrific, doesn’t it?”

He pulled her close for a minute, whispering, “Where we can be alone, so I can—”

“Ah, Nicholas,” J.R. said, coming up the hall toward him, waving a sheaf of papers. “Good news. I’ve got it all arranged. We just have to—”

Nicholas gave Raven a quick glance before darting back to J.R. “Uh, J.R., can we settle this later?”

“Settle what?” Raven asked.

“Nothing, darling,” Nicholas said, trying a smile as he steered her toward the stairs. “Why don’t we—”

“This will only take a minute.” Oblivious to everyone’s feelings, intent on his own concerns, J.R. flipped a page, pointing to a paragraph. “I had to revise—”

“Are the roads open yet?” Nicholas interrupted, after glancing at Raven’s curious and slightly suspicious face. This was not the time or place to make the big confession about his J.R. deal, he decided. He wanted her alone, preferably nude, when he did so.

“What?” J.R. looked up, seeming surprised to be derailed from his objective. “Oh. Yes, they are. So’s the airport.”

“Great,” Nicholas said with an enthusiastic clap. “Raven, why don’t you change out of those wet things and pack? I won’t be long.”

Raven glanced at them both. “Sure. I’ll do that.”

Nicholas walked over and bent to give her a small kiss, surreptitiously stuffing her bra, half of which was dangling down her hip, back into her jacket pocket as he did so. Watching her ascend the steps, only to turn at the top to blow him a kiss, he heaved a relieved sigh before turning back to J.R.

“What the hell is the matter with you?”

J.R. looked affronted. “What are you talking about? I thought you were anxious to get this business settled.”

“I am. But I’d prefer Raven doesn’t know until I’m ready.”

J.R. looked a bit sheepish, but tried to play it off. “I have to settle this matter before my banker leaves on vacation tomorrow.”

Nicholas glanced over his shoulder. No sign of Raven. “Then let’s go to the library and settle it.”

Chapter Ten

In the hallway upstairs, out of sight of the two men below, Raven listened. Something was up. She didn’t know what, but Nicholas had seemed uncomfortable and even guilty. Of what she had no idea, but she was going to find out. She’d accidentally overheard a private conversation in the library before, but this time—she’d eavesdrop on purpose.

Moving in the same stealthy manner she’d perfected as a child, Raven tiptoed down the hallway to the second-story loft overlooking the Exeter’s library. Easing the door open, she crept inside. She could just see Nicholas and J.R. below, standing by the desk on the far side of the lower level. She tucked herself back among the bookshelves and listened.

“First of all, good work, son,” J.R. said, clasping Nicholas’s shoulder. “When I first saw you, I knew you were the right man for the job.”

“Which job was that?” Nicholas asked, his tone dry as dust. “We discussed two of them.”

“Both, dammit. Getting rid of the woman, and this business deal.”

“The woman, as you call her, is my fiancé.”

“Your fiancé?” J.R. laughed. “My God, you’re good. I wouldn’t have thought you’d try the fiancé angle. I thought you’d just haul her away.”

“Like a sack of discarded trash?” Raven winced at Nicholas’s biting comment, trying not to let it hurt.

“You’re really something, son.” J.R. smiled. “You keep your eyes straight ahead on the road. Nothing gets in your way, does it?” Raven strained to hear his response. It sounded like “something did” but she wasn’t sure.

“I admire that, Nicholas,” J.R. continued, “I truly do. Reminds me of me when I was your age.”

Nothing gets in your way.

Raven closed her eyes. The words echoed in her memories, reminding her of the boy he’d been, the man he’d become and the success he’d made of himself. Single-minded focus? Yes, J.R. was right. That was Nicholas. Why had she thought anything else? Why had she thought he’d changed, thought he loved her? Words were easy to say. Nicholas was, and could be, a consummate actor when it was necessary. To her everlasting cost, she’d forgotten that too. Their voices continued to wash over her.

“I’ve already signed this contract, but I want you to review this section,” J.R. continued, pointing at the paper he’d spread on his desk. “If you’re okay with it, initial and sign it.”

Raven opened her eyes. Nicholas had picked up the paper to read, before nodding and reaching for a pen. A satisfied J.R. bent to fold the papers into an envelope before handing them to Nicholas. “Signed, sealed and delivered. I’m looking forward to doing business with you and Darcy Kristof. It should be a hell of a partnership. We’re going to make a lot of money, son.”

“Yeah, mission accomplished,” Nicholas said as J.R. shook his hand. “Well, I’d better collect Raven and take off.”

She swallowed a bitter smile.
Collect Raven. As if I’m a parcel set on the front porch for FedEx?

Letting her temper lead, knowing the pain would come later; she stepped to the railing and looked down. Her voice rang out strong and fierce. “I don’t think so.”

Nicholas whirled and looked up, gasping, “Raven.”

Raven looked down into his stunned expression. “I guess that old saying, ‘eavesdroppers never hear good of themselves’ is true. Isn’t it, Nicholas?”

Nicholas stepped forward. “I can explain this.”

“No need.” She pretended to smile, plastering a devil-may-care veneer over her emotions. “I know I’ve been pretty slow on the uptake, but I’ve got the gist of the situation now. I don’t know why I didn’t see it before.”

J.R. left the room as Nicholas started for the spiral stairs that accessed the loft. “Raven, let me…”

“Oh, I did, darling. Don’t you remember?” She swallowed the sob that was trying to escape before steeling her voice again. “I have to admit, you really threw yourself into your work.”

Moving fast, he wound his way up the stairs. “Don’t talk like that.”

“Oh, but I’m so impressed at your commitment to getting the job done to your satisfaction.”

He’d gained the top of the platform and was stepping onto the floor of the loft. “I know I should have told you about this deal. I was trying to when we—”

“Were so overcome with passion that you couldn’t? Isn’t that the way this scene usually goes?” She stepped away from the railing as he moved toward her. “I mean, that’s the way I generally played it, darling, when I was trying to avoid telling the truth to one of my lovers.”

He gritted his teeth. “I don’t want to talk about your former lovers.”

“Neither do I, darling. The past is such a bore. I’d much rather think of the future ones.”

“There are no future ones. There’s only
one.
”

“You can stop pretending now, Nicholas. The play’s over. You were a hit. The action engaged the emotions, and the audience swallowed every bit of it.” She blinked hard and worked on a light smile. “But now, Elvis has left the building, and this little ole gullible gal is ready to take off too.”

“Good idea,” he said, grabbing her elbow to lead her across the loft to the door. “We can talk about this—”

She jerked away. “I don’t want to talk to you again. Ever.”

“Raven,” he said, trying to take her hand, “I love you.”

Raven stared at him for a moment then applauded. “Oh, well done.”

“I mean it. I really love you.”

She placed her hand over her heart. “I heard you and I’m touched. What a shame I don’t believe it.”

“You have to believe it. It’s true.”

She turned away from him and indicated the room below, referring to the scene that had just taken place. “The facts indicate otherwise.”

He grabbed her arms to force her to face him. “Look, Darcy was depending on me to close this deal. J.R. was going to pull out because of your relationship with his son. He dropped that bomb when I met with him a few days ago. There is no time to find another investor. We needed J.R., so I agreed to come up here and rescue—”

She twisted away from him. “
Rescue
?”

Nicholas flushed under her flashing glare, but recovered to send her a little smile, which infuriated her even more. “Let’s face facts, sweetheart, the thought of you in the Exeter family is rather like a peacock squatting in the middle of brown field mice. As J.R. pointed out, someone had to do something.”

“And you were elected. Sacrificed on the altar of commerce. How noble of you.”

Nicholas’s temper started to show “You were using me, too, so there’s no need to get all self-righteous.”

“You’re right, I was. But there’s a difference.”

“What difference?”

“You knew about it. I didn’t.”

“Christ, Raven. If I’d told you, you would have done the exact opposite.”

“I would not.”

“You would and you know it.”

“If you’d told me the truth, I wouldn’t have risked my heart. I wouldn’t have fallen in love with you.”

“Yes, you would.”

“Will you stop that? You aren’t Mr. Control. You can’t make everything happen your way just because you decide it should. I’m a person. I have feelings. They matter.” She pointed at her chest, the tears she was keeping inside rising to reveal themselves. “I matter.”

“I know that, sweetheart,” he said, his voice softening. “That’s what I’m trying to tell you. I’ve only just discovered how much. Believe me, you matter, Raven.”

“I thought I did.”

“You do. Trust me, sweetheart. Please trust me.”

“I did,” she whispered.

Tears trickling down her cheeks, she walked past him and out the door.

Raven walked to her room, her heels dragging as if she had walked the face of the earth since the beginning of time. How had it all gone so wrong? She struggled to make her brain work. Nicholas was right about one thing—she was using him. At least, it started out that way. She’d used him because he’d offered a way out of an uncomfortable situation. So why should she be so devastated that he’d done the same?
Do I have any right to take the high moral ground, when I’m wallowing in the muck with him?