A Sweet Deal (Crimson Romance) (16 page)

“That’s not why I proposed to Yvette,” he hedged. If he were honest with himself, he had to admit that he had thought about the company when proposing to her. Thankfully he had fallen in love with the woman who was to be his wife before marrying her under false pretenses. Faced with the reminder of life’s fragility and the now-firm knowledge that he loved Yvette, Richard desperately wanted to make the relationship work. She would never have considered their engagement without the one-month trial period he proposed, but now he wished they had never made such an agreement. He was ready to move forward with the marriage and begin their future together. As husband and wife, as a family.

“I know that the pregnancy forced your hand, but would you have done it if I hadn’t made the offer? I mean, you didn’t even give her your mother’s ring, so I didn’t think it was genuine. I figured this was about the offer—your honor maybe—but not for love.”

The question sliced through him with its honesty.

He raked a hand through his hair. Richard hated to admit to himself that he had proposed marriage in order to further his career goals, but it was at least partly true. Saying it out loud would likely sound as despicable as he felt. “I don’t know. It’s more complicated than that, but there’s a chance I wouldn’t have. Things are different now, but of course I have to admit that your offer influenced me.” He answered softly and hung his head.

“Don’t be too hard on yourself. It was selfish of me to manipulate you like that. If your feelings for Yvette are real, I don’t see any reason you can’t put this business behind you and move ahead. She doesn’t ever have to know.”

“I guess you’re right. At this point, since the offer’s no longer an issue, it doesn’t hurt to keep it from her. I think telling her would do more harm than good.”

“Absolutely. I’ll leave it up to you to decide how to handle this mess with Saffron Sweets from now on. You’re going to have to figure out a way to tell Yvette that the decision is yours, though. I think I’m done dodging her calls and refusing to meet with her. I’m going to get to know her as my future daughter-in-law now and leave the tough stuff up to you.” He laughed and smoothed the blankets around him.

“Fair enough,” said Richard. “I’ll let Robert come in while I check on Yvette and see how long it’ll be before they move you upstairs to your room.”

• • •

He returned to the waiting room, where Robert sat alone on the plastic chairs, checking messages on his phone.

He looked up as Richard approached, worry etched on his face. “How’s Dad?”

“Stable. He’ll be admitted and they’re going to keep him at least overnight, but I think he’s going to be okay. He was tired, but he felt well enough to crack jokes, so that’s got to be a good sign. Where’s Yvette?” He looked around the sparsely populated waiting room.

“She left. Something about work or something. I thought she told you when she went back there. Maybe a nurse stopped her?”

“Hmm. Maybe. They said one visitor at a time, but I’m surprised she didn’t at least touch base with me before taking off. Oh well, I’m sure we’ll catch up soon. You can go back and see Dad if you want. I’ll wait here in case they need someone to fill out his paperwork or anything.”

Richard dropped onto the seat and turned his phone on, only to find that while several dozen texts and voicemails had come in since their arrival, none were from Yvette explaining why she left in such a hurry. Perhaps he didn’t know her as well as he thought he did, or perhaps she didn’t care for him as much as he hoped. Was it possible that the growing feelings were one-sided?

Nothing at work should be more important than her future father-in-law and fiancé at a time like this—nothing. He’d let his developing feelings cloud his judgment, clearly. Leaving him alone in the hospital was something Chelsea would have done, then acted surprised when he called her out on her selfishness. Who would’ve thought Yvette would do the same? He’d let himself believe that they could be a family, that he could finally have everything he wanted. They apparently had different ideas about what was important. At the first sign that Michael Morgan wouldn’t be available for her to negotiate with any longer, she’d disappeared, maybe to reassess her strategy.

He dialed her number and slumped as her voicemail engaged on the first ring. “Yvette, it’s me. Give me a call when you get this and let me know what’s going on. I’m worried about you since you left in such a hurry without saying goodbye. Call me.”

With a heavy sigh, he tucked the phone back in his pocket and looked around at the dismal waiting room, taking in the worried people in the chairs around him, the old magazines, the bored workers sitting at the front desk. He’d give Yvette the benefit of the doubt, give her a chance to explain, but for the life of him he couldn’t think of anything that should pull her away from the emergency room without a backwards glance.

Yvette hadn’t returned his calls or texts, hadn’t come home, and was apparently screening her calls at work. After four days without contact, it was time to admit that she was gone. But why? Had things become too real for her? Had he somehow scared her off? If it weren’t for the burning, persistent pain in his heart and the hollow emptiness that plagued his waking hours, he could convince himself that nothing had ever happened between them. She had swiftly and completely removed herself from his life; something he never would have guessed would be so painful.

Between visiting his father in the hospital and keeping in touch with Robert, he distracted himself with work, as he did when confronted with any other difficulty. He went in to the office early, stayed late, avoiding home until the latest hours of the evening, often returning with time for nothing more than falling into bed. Alone.

With Yvette apparently out of the picture and no further obstacles to the future of the company, he threw himself into projects that would push Morgan Enterprises to its highest level of achievements. After wanting control of the company so badly he could taste it, actually having it in his hands was a bitter victory. He took meetings, reviewed proposals, brainstormed with department heads, all to further the brand. When he was finished, every division of Morgan Enterprises would be the most profitable, most innovative leader each of their industries.

At home, alone, he sat in the dim light of the living room. Silence surrounded him as he focused on the rivulets of amber liquid trailing down the inside of his glass. Yvette’s discarded engagement ring sat on the table beside him, the facets catching light from the lamp. Everything else of hers was gone, completely erased from his home. She’d left the ring behind to send a message, but without knowing what happened, the meaning was lost on him. He wracked his brain trying to remember the last conversation they’d had, anything that could have caused her to turn tail and run. Misery settled into his bones, heavy, holding him down and keeping him from sitting up enough to even reach the glass to take another drink.

The front door opened and softly clicked closed and footsteps echoed down the hall coming closer, but Richard didn’t turn around at his brother’s greeting. Instead, he let his head fall against the back of the couch and let out a long, slow breath.

“Come on in.” With colossal effort, he waved a hand towards the stocked bar. “Grab yourself a drink.”

Robert smirked and shook his head as he poured himself a drink. “Don’t you think you’re being a little melodramatic?”

Richard groaned, sitting up enough to reach his drink. “You were there, man. The love of my life walked out on me, and she’s not coming back. She won’t even take my calls.”

“The love of your life? You’ve known her for what? A couple months?”

“A lot can happen in a few months.” Richard finished his drink, perversely enjoying the burning sensation the scotch trailed down his throat. He deserved it, and the burn was better than the nothingness he’d been living with since Yvette walked out. “I don’t know what I’m going to do.”

Robert crossed the room and dropped onto a wingback chair, took a sip of his drink, and fixed Richard with a more sympathetic look. “Did you really want to get married again?”

“Yes. I wasn’t sure at first, I mean, you know I thought I was done with marriage, but things changed. Once I found out about the baby, something clicked, and after she moved in, everything fell into place.”

“I just think you might be romanticizing things a bit. I mean, you were dead set against marriage, and then you changed your mind just like that?” Robert snapped his fingers. “When you told me you were engaged, I couldn’t believe it. Once I heard about the deal Dad offered you, it made much more sense though.”

“I wasn’t going to take him up on the offer. I mean, seriously. I wanted the company, still do, but I wasn’t going to do it that way. It seemed crazy. This thing with Yvette just happened, with the baby, and her super conservative parents, and the next thing I knew, we were engaged.”

“You weren’t thinking of the deal when you proposed?” Robert raised an eyebrow.

Richard stared into his glass for a moment, disappointed that the first assumption was that he used a personal situation to strengthen his professional position. He couldn’t blame him, though, since it was the sad truth. “Of course I’d be lying if I said I never thought about the deal, but honestly that wasn’t my main motivator. Well—at first, I guess I
was
thinking about the deal, and maybe my reputation, you know? But once I spoke with her parents, I felt like it would be good for both of us if we at least got engaged.”

“What do her parents have to do with it?” Robert took a sip of his drink.

“She comes from a strict, conservative Catholic family, and her parents still have a lot of influence over her. Apparently in her family, as long as she’s a single woman, her father considers her under his protection. I really expected her to stand up to him, but they have a lot of influence over her.”

“Man, I wouldn’t have guessed she was that conservative. I mean, just from the little time I spent with her, she didn’t seem like the type.”

“Her dad sacrificed a lot for her when she was growing up, and she hated the idea of letting him down. She probably would’ve said no to me if it wasn’t for her parents.” He sipped his drink. “I thought she was completely focused on her career, actually kind of ruthless and always looking out for herself, but she was going to keep the baby regardless of what I did. Never even considered any alternatives. Turns out she really wants to be a mother and have a family of her own.”

“Rich, that sounds a lot like someone I know.” Robert offered the observation gently, his meaning clear.

Richard paused for a beat. “You’re right. I didn’t realize it before, but I think that’s why we’ve clashed so much, and why I’m so drawn to her.” He gulped. “I’m in love with her.”

He didn’t qualify it this time with a “maybe” or an “I think.” He knew it was true and it felt good to say it out loud.

“So now you want to make this a real engagement? A real marriage?” Robert joked, laughing.

His brother’s attempt to lighten the mood fell flat. “Hey, I think I could be a good husband. I certainly tried. ”

“Except for the part where you got engaged under false pretenses and kept a huge secret from your intended.” Robert’s sarcasm was obvious. “Other than that, I’m sure you were a really good partner.”

Richard set his glass on a table and stood, getting angry. “Yeah, sure, Dad offered that deal, but the thing with Yvette just happened! It was completely separate from Dad’s offer. It all went down so fast, and everything fell into place. I wasn’t trying to trick her or use her to keep the company. It just … happened like that.” It sounded incriminating—or at least awfully convenient—even to himself.

Robert waved a hand dismissively. “I’m just giving you a hard time. And hey, Dad told me he offered you the company—no strings attached. I think he was trying to give me one more chance to claim my birthright and join you two.” He shook his head. “Couldn’t pay me enough. Oh, and don’t worry about Yvette. She never has to know.”

He fell back onto the couch. “It doesn’t matter. She’s not talking to me anyway, and I don’t even know why. I really thought things were progressing with us, that my past, Chelsea, none of that mattered. I thought she would be different.”

“She’s not different?” He sounded skeptical.

“Maybe I wanted things to be different with her, wanted them to work out. I don’t know, but we met because she wanted to negotiate a buyout. I don’t know that she ever stopped wanting that. I’m afraid that once she figured it would be impossible, you know, with Dad out of the picture, she didn’t have use for me.”

The amusement disappeared from Robert’s face, and he leaned forward on his knees. “Seriously? That’d be pretty cold, but you know her best. So you think
she
was using
you
to get the deal?”

Richard scraped a hand across his face and looked towards the ceiling. “I don’t know. I guess she’s trying to make a clean break or something, but we can’t go on like this forever. We have to talk some time, you know, for the baby’s sake.”

“True. If nothing else, you’ll get your chance to see her when the baby is born. I hope you get this settled before then, though, or you’re in for a long wait.”

“There’s no way I’m waiting that long. If she wants to end things with me, that’s her choice, but I won’t let her play me for a fool. This ends tomorrow. One way or another, we’re going to talk.” Even if she did leave to reassess her business strategy, he was in love with Yvette and wanted her back. They’d find a way to make it work. There was simply no other option.

• • •

Yvette refused to take his calls, so Richard took a page out of her playbook, and hopped in his car to confront the situation head on. Surely she would give him a moment to plead his case when he showed up at her office door. She’d done the same thing to him. With any luck, she’d appreciate the irony and his willingness to take a chance. He left his car in the parking garage at Saffron Sweets, and jingled his car keys in his pocket as he rushed to the elevator. His footsteps echoed in the concrete structure, reminding him how alone he was.