Tempting Aquisitions (14 page)

“What are Mayson and Sally doing there, too?”

“We’ve got you on speaker.”

Camryn’s terse orders, coupled with their frantic voices, had her hand shaking as she reached for the remote on her bedside table. “Clearly you’re not calling with good news. What’s going on?”

“The news of last night’s event has broken.”

“Okay, well, we knew it would happen. Charlie’s abrupt and unhappy departure this morning was a clear sign he wasn’t going to let this lie quietly. We talked about it then.”

“It’s a little more personal than that, Keira.” Mayson’s normally cheery voice flicked through the end of the phone like a whip.

Images flashed up on the screen. “Okay, I’ve got it on.”

“They’re coming back from commercial with the story.”

Before the words were out of Camryn’s mouth, an image of Nathan and her, captured the night before, flashed on the screen. Although nothing overt was happening in the footage, they were looking at each other with a level of adoration not normally found in business adversaries. The reporter’s comments suggested as much, and a complaint was forming on Keira’s lips when a new image filled the screen, one taken that afternoon of them kissing at the sea-lion pool.

“What? How?”

Nathan’s broad frame filled her bedroom doorway. “Food’s out there. What are you waiting—” He broke off when he saw her face.

“What’s wrong?”

And then West Harrison’s face filled the screen and Nathan was as mesmerized by the images as she was.

“My son’s recent behavior is in no way a reflection on his business sense. He needs to stop thinking with his—” A loud beep overlaid the news footage, but she had no problem figuring out West’s crass language.

“He’s using our relationship as an excuse to incite a firestorm of interest about your takeover attempt of McBride.” Keira pointed toward the image of West Harrison. “You know this is tomorrow’s headline on the
Financial Journal
.”

“It’s already on the website.” Camryn’s voice echoed from the phone, and Keira abstractly realized she still held it up to her ear. “And based on your comment, I take it Nathan is there with you?”

“Yes.”

Camryn’s voice was quiet when she spoke. “Are you sure that’s a good idea?”

“The reporter has no right to insinuate one has anything to do with the other.”

“Maybe not, but the connection’s been made.”

“I’ll talk to you later.”

“Keira—” Camryn hesitated for a moment. “I’m sorry.”

“So am I.”

She tossed her cell phone onto the bed as the image of West faded from the screen and the anchors moved onto the next story.

“What is he trying to prove?”

“That he has the right to interfere in my life.” Nathan’s voice had a hard edge to it as he crossed the room and took the remote from her, snapping off the TV. “I need to go talk to him.”

“For what? Why would you give him the satisfaction of knowing his comments hit their mark?”

“He can’t get away with this.”

“He already has, Nathan.” She flung a hand toward the now-dark TV. “What do you think you can do about it?”

“He’s been meddling for far too long and it has to stop.”

“You’ve done a pretty good job of ignoring him and doing your own thing up until now. Why change?”

“Because it isn’t enough. It’s never enough. It’s like no matter how hard I try, I can’t get away from him. Even this week, with his damned visit in Vegas, it was all part of some elaborate machinations.”

Nathan’s words caught her up short as she hunted in her dresser for a pair of shorts. “What visit in Vegas?”

“It was nothing.”

“It doesn’t sound like nothing. Your father was in Vegas?”

“On Monday.”

A sick feeling swirled in her stomach and Keira sat on the bed, her legs suddenly giving out. “This week? After we were together?”

“He claimed he was in the neighborhood and stopped into my new offices for a father-son chat.”

That day’s events whirled through her mind, culminating in Camryn’s frantic texts and their conversation about the emergency board meeting set for the following day.

“You initiated the board meeting after you saw him, didn’t you?”

Nathan’s jaw fixed into a hard line as his shoulders stiffened at her words. “One wasn’t related to the other.”

“Are you sure?”

“Of course I’m sure. I’ve made my intentions toward your company no secret.”

“Yes, but the timing. It has bothered me, needled at me all week. Why you did it so fast. Especially after the weekend we spent together.”

“What’s between us isn’t related to the business.”

“Oh, come off it, Nathan. Of course they’re related. It’s all related!” She flung out a hand as the words exploded from her in a rush. “And I’m through pretending we can keep them separate.”

“We can.”

“No.” She shook her head. “No, we can’t. Neither of us can separate who we are when we go to work.”

“Our jobs don’t define us.”

“They contribute to who we are, to how we see the world and what we want out of our lives. And I can’t believe I let my love for you make me forget that.”

“You love me?”

She rubbed her hands over her arms, suddenly cold in the room that had felt so very warm only minutes before. “Isn’t it obvious?”

He crossed the room, his strides long and sure before standing before her and pulling her up from the bed. His arms came around her and he crushed his lips to hers, the moment so full of passion and promise it nearly destroyed her. Because no matter how much she loved him, he’d never be hers until he dealt with the demons that had haunted him since childhood.

…

Nathan poured every ounce of emotion into the kiss. Passion and need, longing and fulfillment—they flowed from his mouth to hers as he sought desperately to brand her.

“Stop.”

The light pressure of her hands on his chest pulled him from the moment.

“What?”

“We can’t do this.”

“We can, Keira.”

“No.” She pushed again and moved from the circle of his arms. “I want to know what happened on Monday.”

“It was my father making a nuisance of himself.”

“Dismissing it only gives it more credence.”

“But it was nothing.”

“It was more than that, whether you want to admit it or not.”

“Admit it?” The slow burn of frustration at being pushed away steamrolled into something deeper. Hotter. And considerably more lethal.

“What am I supposed to admit?”

“That your father had an impact on your actions on Monday.”

“He did no such thing.”

“Oh no? I got less than twenty-four hours’ notice about Tuesday morning’s board meeting. And so did my board. Funny how that all came together after your father visited you.”

“He thought he could bluster his way through my office, tell me what he thought of my new projects.”

Anger that matched his flared in her eyes, even as she kept her tone even and cool. “Like McBride?”

“Like the new Vegas property.”

“And like McBride Media.”

He’d be damned if he’d lie to her, even if none of it happened the way she seemed to think it did. “Yes.”

“What did he say, Nathan?”

“Nothing of importance.”

“Then why’d you push the meeting through like a bull barreling into a proverbial china shop?”

“I’d already set a course of action for the takeover and I saw it through. The meeting and the paperwork that generated it were in the works for more than a week. I even canceled a business dinner with Holt that night because of it.”

“But why did you choose that moment to execute it? That day? Our bed was barely cold and suddenly you decide to amp up your efforts to go after my company? My birthright?”

Like a dog with a bone, she wouldn’t let it go. In that moment, he knew he’d not only underestimated his ability to manage his feelings for her, but he’d sorely missed the mark on how hard an adversary she could be.

“It wasn’t like that.”

“Then tell me what it was like. Explain it to me.”

Shades of that horrible conversation so long ago--and his mother’s tearful questions he couldn’t answer--roared through his memory.

Why are you doing this?

Why can’t you see reason?

Why are you so insistent on this stubborn, unrealistic path?

The same questions flashed in the dark depths of Keira’s eyes.

“I don’t have to explain anything.”

“After all we’ve shared, that’s all I get?”

“I make my own decisions and I stand by them. In the end, that’s all that matters.”

“Even when it hurts the ones you love?”

“Why does it always come down to that?” The words ripped from his throat and he’d be damned if he’d feel bad for them. “Why am I judged for my actions and not for who I am? I never made any bones about who I was or what I wanted. I want your company as a business investment. I want you as a man wants a woman. Now I’m the villain in this set piece and it’s more than a little hypocritical to start getting upset about it.”

“You’re right,” she said simply before moving toward her closet, dragging his shirt off as she went. When she reemerged a few moments later, she had on a smaller T-shirt that fit to her frame. She extended her hand and as he grasped the shirt, the material was still warm from her body. “Here. You’ll need this to leave.”

Chapter Twelve

“Do you have a minute?”

Keira glanced up from her computer screen to see Sally standing in her doorway. “Of course. Come on in. You’re early this morning.”

“I could say the same for you.”

Although she had spent another sleepless night and desperately craved rest, Keira had gotten to work at the crack of dawn once again. “It’s amazing how motivating the chance to avoid small talk can be. The halls were blessedly empty when I walked in.”

Sally took the chair opposite her desk. “The phone will be ringing soon enough.”

“Too true.”

A glance at Sally’s face, and the clear evidence she was struggling with something, had Keira up and out of her chair. “Sally. What’s wrong?”

“I think I owe you an apology.”

“What can you possibly owe me an apology for?” Keira leaned down and wrapped an arm around the woman who had been as much a substitute mother as a professional sounding board.

“Camryn confided in me about your conversation last night at the event.”

If it were anyone else, she might have been tempted to get upset, but Sally was a part of them, and she was as much a mother figure to Cam and Mayson as she was for Keira. “About Mom and Dad?”

“Yes.” Sally nodded. “I’m afraid I’ve painted your mother as some sort of paragon and that’s not fair. Not right. I loved her like a sister, but I never understood her choices when it came to your father.”

Keira took the seat next to Sally and patted her arm. “The truth is, I never did, either. I loved her. Love her still. But I can’t respect how she stayed in her marriage to Dad. And I certainly don’t respect the choices he’s made with his life.”

Sally brushed at a lone tear before she pressed a hand to Keira’s. “Don’t make her mistakes. Fight for the love you believe in and understand when it’s okay to walk away.”

Keira couldn’t hold back the slight tease. “So is that stay with Nathan or walk away?”

Sally’s husky laugh confirmed the worst of the storm had passed. “I’m not going to make it that easy on you. What do you want?”

“I want him and I want to make a life with him. More than anything, I want that.” She fought to hold back the sigh because the older woman’s gaze conveyed such love and warmth and support. “But I can’t be with someone who can’t accept his own ability to love. And the responsibilities that come with that love.”

…

The dull roar of the lunch crowd ebbed and flowed around him like a wave, but Nathan heard none of it. He was so wrapped up in his misery, a tank could have driven clear through the center of Le Cirque and he’d likely not have noticed.

“Nathan?” Holt called his name. “You with me, buddy?”

“Of course.” He took a bite of salmon, the normally exquisite dish dry and bland on his tongue.

“I closed two more tenants this week on the Vegas property despite you flaking out on our dinner with one of them. You’ve nearly sold out the first level of the promenade.”

“Excellent work.”

“Thanks. And just so you know, your enthusiasm is contagious.”

“You wanted to have a briefing. I’m briefed. Next topic.”

“How are things going with McBride?”

Nathan laid his fork over his plate, indicating his completion of the meal. “That one’s off the table for discussion.”

“I’m putting it back on. You knew the press was going to have a field day with this the moment word got out you and Keira were an item.”

“And with my father’s voice added to the mix, the story is too juicy to resist.”

“So make a statement and cut him off at the knees. It wouldn’t be the first time the two of you were adversaries in the press.”

Nathan folded his napkin and rested it next to his plate. “I’m waiting until after the board votes on the takeover.”

“Make a statement now. You care for her, don’t you?”

“That has nothing to do with it.”

Holt’s harsh bark caught the attention of a few nearby diners. “That’s seriously the angle you’re taking on this one?”

“There’s no angle, Holt. It’s the truth.” He stood and dropped several large bills on the table. “I need to leave.”

Whatever else Holt Turner might be, good friend sat at the top of the list. “There are ways around this if you want to change course.”

“And why would I want to do that?”

…

Nathan stomped to his car, his lunch with Holt only adding to his irritation with the day instead of assuaging it. He’d only agreed to meet in the hopes the news of the Vegas property’s development would make him feel better.

It hadn’t.

“Sir.” His driver nodded as Nathan approached the car. The man looked distinctly uncomfortable, a pained expression filling his normally bland face. “You have a guest.”

“Where?”

“In the car, sir.”

“Why’d you let anyone get in?”

The door flew open and Booth stared up at him, a cocky grin riding his features. “Nice lunch?”

The urge to drag Booth out of the car and wage a pitched battle right on the sidewalk played out in a hard, satisfying series of images in his imagination.

“Quit being an ass and get in, will you?” When Booth’s smile fell and what looked to be real, honest compassion filled his brother’s eyes, Nathan reconsidered and got in the car.

“What do you want?”

“I want to understand why you’ve ruined the best thing that ever happened to you.”

“Keira and I are on opposite sides of a problem that can’t be solved.”

“Nope. Not buying it.”

“You don’t have to buy it. It’s the truth.”

“Then answer a different question. Why are you letting Dad have a field day shitting all over your relationship with Keira?”

Nathan turned toward his brother, the urge to pummel him rising to the fore once more. “You know, you’re doing it again.”

“What’s that?”

“Talking like you know anything.”

“I know far more than you think I do. I live with West Harrison’s influence each and every day.”

“As his legitimate son, Booth, not as his bastard!”

The explosion caught him so off guard, Nathan sat back and leaned his head against the dark leather of the plush seat. He’d never meant to say that, hadn’t even known the thought was inside before it came out in a haze of anger and disappointment.

“You’ll never win his approval, Nathan. No one can.”

He shot Booth a sideways glance without lifting his head from the seat. “Come on. You’re the chosen one.”

“No, I’m just the unlucky SOB who got stuck with him. Which is why—” Booth sat forward. “I can’t allow you to let him win.”

“He’s not winning.”

“Can you really and truly tell me you want to take over McBride Media?”

And with that one simple question, his brother had shot to the heart of his dilemma.

…

Keira walked back to her office with a steaming mug of coffee in her hand. The day had dragged on interminably, despite two meetings with legal on the Jupiter Auto issue and a budget planning meeting that had taken more than two hours.

Heavy footsteps thudded on the plush carpet and she heard her name echo down the hall. “Keira!”

She turned to find her assistant, tottering on a pair of sky-high heels and out of breath from running.

“Stacy. What’s the matter? And why are you running?”

“There’s a massive TV crew in the lobby and they’re here for you.”

“Well, I’m not going down there.”

“Nathan Cooper is there, too.”

Mayson ran down the hall to join them. “Nathan’s downstairs.”

“So I heard.”

Barely winded, her sister put her hands on her hips in an expectant gesture Keira had seen throughout her life. “Well, get down there.”

“I’m not giving him the satisfaction.”

“He
brought
the crew, Keira.” Stacy’s words punctuated the sisterly standoff.

“What?”

“Nathan brought the film crew. He says he has an announcement.”

“The takeover didn’t go through.” Mayson’s face fell. “It couldn’t have.”

“No, it couldn’t have,” Keira quickly reassured her, even as she wasn’t sure she was correct. Was her here to gloat? To rub in her face that he’d moved forward with the takeover, despite what was between them?

Or had been between them.

Besides, someone would have told her and Camryn and Mayson. Right?

The flash of fear vanished as she realized what would happen if the worst did come to pass and they lost McBride Media.

They’d start a new company and build it from scratch. What she couldn’t build was a new relationship with Nathan. She used to think McBride Media was everything. Now she finally understood just how wrong she had been.

“I guess I’d better get down there.”

…

Nathan had never fully appreciated his status as a mover and shaker in the New York business community until he managed to assemble every major news crew in less than an hour.

Of course, Booth had helped, but Nathan wasn’t planning on telling him that.

“Are you sure she’s coming?”

“Yep.”

“With her sisters?”

“No, Nathan, I’ve been lying for the last hour about securing Camryn McBride’s help.”

The urge to strangle Booth had hit him a few times in the last few hours as they’d pulled together a plan. Despite the annoyances, Nathan had to give his brother credit. The man did have a sense of the dramatic. And it was Booth’s idea to use the lobby of the McBride Media building for what he was about to do.

“You look like hell, you know that.” Booth slapped him on the back before gesturing toward a podium the building manager had procured from somewhere in the bowels of the building. There was still a layer of dust on the top. “I am definitely the better-looking brother.”

“Screw off.”

“And I’m the nicer one, too.”

Nathan shot him a dark look before moving to the microphone. Shouts rose up from the crowd and Nathan didn’t miss the gaping stares of curious onlookers as they shuffled around the perimeter of the lobby.

“Mr. Cooper! Are you here to make it official?”

He lifted his hands in a quieting gesture, pleased when the assembled reporters stopped shouting immediately. “It’s only fair that I make my announcement with the McBride sisters present.”

Whispered murmurs floated through the lobby once again as heads immediately turned to look for the women.

And then the press quieted as the three women stepped off the elevator. Camryn and Mayson came out first and he could see Keira following behind. The wall of reporters parted for the trio and as he stared at Keira, Nathan knew he’d never seen anyone more beautiful.

Why had he been so stupid? And would his actions be enough to fix what he’d ruined through stubborn arrogance and injured pride?

“Now that Keira, Camryn, and Mayson McBride are here, I’d like to begin.”

Keira’s dark gaze never moved from his as he began speaking, and Nathan took a small measure of hope that it meant she still cared.

“There have been some very recent allegations from my father. In addition to meddling in my business affairs, my father felt it was his right to make some rather crass suggestions about my relationship with Ms. McBride. A relationship that I thought, rather erroneously until recently, was something I could keep separate from my business decisions.”

A light rumble of voices murmured through the crowd at the evidence he was going to hit the issue head-on.

“The McBride sisters have brought their family business back from the brink of failure. A once-thriving media conglomerate, it was nearly demolished by poor decision making over a period of two decades. But in half that time, Keira, Camryn, and Mayson McBride have restored the company to its former glory.”

He paused for a moment, allowing the praise to hover in the minds of the assembled reporters.

“I thought I could sweep in and take the company, parceling it off as I’ve done for most of my career. And up until earlier today, I was planning on doing just that.”

The crowd erupted again in loud whispers at the evidence of his change of heart, but it was the questions in Keira’s eyes that kept him pushing forward.

“I am no longer interested in buying McBride Media, but I’m not interested in allowing someone with the same business plan as me to step in and attempt the same. Therefore, it is my great pleasure to announce Maverick Capital’s revised investment strategy with respect to McBride Media. No longer an acquisition target, McBride Media is an investment target. The McBride sisters, with an equal distribution of shares, will be loaned enough money to purchase a majority of holding stock in their company.”

Keira’s eyes widened as a smile spread across her face.

Nathan shot Booth a quick glance. “In closing, I can only be grateful for some recent financial advice that suggested I’d be far smarter to invest in McBride than to buy it outright.”

With a nod to the crowd, he asked, “Are there any questions?”

…

Keira raised her hand at Nathan’s invitation to questions.

He pointed at her, his tone serious even as a smile played around the corners of his mouth. “Yes?”

“What if my sisters and I don’t want to take you up on your offer of an investment?”

The poor man sputtered for a moment, her question such a surprise he clearly had no answer. She reveled in the ability to catch him off guard and hoped she’d be doing it for the rest of her life.

“Why wouldn’t you want it?”

“McBride has always been a family operation. You’d be an outsider.”

“Maybe there’s something I can do about that, too.”

Nathan moved from behind the podium and came to stand before her, his warm gaze never leaving hers, and just as the unreality of the moment registered, she watched him drop to one knee. His big hands enfolded hers and she took comfort in the warmth of his touch.

A touch that up until ten minutes ago, she’d never thought she’d feel again.

“Would you do me the honor of making an investment in
our
future and becoming my wife?”

“Yes, Nathan. Yes, I will marry you.”

He stood and pulled her close, and she heard the happy shouts of her sisters, overlaid with the heavy roar of the rapidly filling lobby.