“Because what they want to do is wrong. I tried to talk Daniel out of starting a family war, but he wouldn't listen.”
“He doesn't care about anything but the bottom line.”
Far from being offended by that indictment against her boss, she nodded her head sadly. “You're right. He even wanted me to try to convince you to change your mind using sex as my weapon.”
“Is that where you got the idea I might be worried about it?”
“Yes.” Her voice was small, almost like a child's.
“He's a bastard, honey.”
“But a smart one. He and Lance are going to do their best to overrule you at the shareholder meeting.”
“They won't be there. The only people allowed in the room are shareholders and their legal representative.”
“Then be prepared for Lance suddenly taking on one of your cousins as a client.”
She was right. He smiled grimly. “I'll be ready for him.” He laid his hand across her belly. “Are you happy about the baby?”
“I don't know. It's all such a shock.” She put her hand on top of his. “I'd rather not talk about any of that until this thing with the merger has been decided.”
He almost asked her if she was going to withhold the baby from him if he succeeded in scuttling the merger, but stopped himself in time. He did not need another “dumb man” moment for her to file away in her memory banks and use as reference material when they did get around to talking about the baby and the future.
“Okay. Eric's going to be here soon. I'd better get downstairs.”
She nodded, her expression hiding her emotions and her thoughts. “I think I'll go for a walk.”
In other words, she was giving him time alone with his cousin.
Simon leaned down and kissed her, putting feelings he could not yet put into words into the pressure of his lips. Her response was everything it had always been and he shuddered inwardly with relief.
“I really am sorry for being such an idiot,” he said when he pulled away.
“Thank you, Simon. That means a lot to me.”
He left her with a soft smile curving her lips.
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Eric lounged back on the sofa, looking a hell of a lot more relaxed than Simon felt. “So you're saying Amanda told you that her boss plans to sue you for your designs if the merger goes through and you make good on your threat to put them up for the highest bidder?”
“It's not a threat, Eric.”
“Yeah. I know that, you know that. But, according to Amanda, Extant management thinks you're bluffing.”
“Right. The legal recourse is a contingency plan.”
Eric nodded. “It's not a very good plan.”
“They're counting on you being as numb to ethics as they are.”
“Bastards.”
That was pretty much what Simon thought too.
“That Lance Rogers is a smooth operator, but under the surface he's slime.”
“Glad to hear you figured that out.”
“I didn't like the way he treated Amanda at dinner the other night, and you know how I feel about being lied to. He was so sure I wouldn't care that he'd told me she knew he was in Port Mulqueen when she didn't, that he didn't even bother to apologize for it.”
Simon told Eric the bare bones about Amanda's marriage to Lance. He didn't expose her private pain and humiliation, but he wanted his cousin to know what kind of man Lance was. “And he's the guy Extant Corporation chose to replace Amanda as negotiator for the deal.”
Arctic lights glinted in Eric's blue gaze. “A big part of my approval of this deal was wrapped up in Amanda. She's a straight player. That spoke well for Extant.”
“You said
was
. You're no longer one-hundred percent behind the deal?”
“Are you kidding? They went behind our backs and approached the other shareholders, they sent a second negotiator who is pure slime, but their plans to try to force you to sell your designs to the merged company is the clincher for me. If this is the way Extant Corporation's management operates, there's no way I'm merging my company with theirs.”
Simon smiled. Extant's attempt to force his hand had backfired magnificently. “Amanda also thinks they've got some inside knowledge into what I'm working on.”
Eric looked shocked. “How could they have that?”
“I'm not sure, but my guess is they've had someone monitoring my supply purchases. Some of the equipment and components I'm using right now have very limited application.”
“But you don't make your purchases through the company. Even if they had an inside man, and I'm not convinced they do, your activities couldn't be tracked through Brant Computers.”
“But if they learned the names of my suppliers, hacked into my credit card records or even monitored deliveries via the ferry, they could get some idea.”
“What are you working on right now that has Extant Corp so interested in acquiring you and Brant Computers?”
“I'm close to proof of concept on a fiber-optic processor.”
Eric whistled. “The first company out with that baby is going to take over lead position in the industry.”
“Yes.”
“No wonder you've been so against the merger.”
“I'm against it because I think it's wrong.”
Eric sighed. “You've made me do a lot of thinking the past month and last week when Rogers was making such an effort to sell me on the merger, I realized how many of his arguments completely dismissed employee welfare.”
“Amanda didn't. She believed that merging the companies would be best for the employees in the long run.”
“Does she still believe it?”
Simon looked out the window where he could see Amanda's small figure in the distance. “I don't know, but whatever she believes, she told me what they were planning to do.”
“She's in love with you.”
Warmth coursed through Simon. “Yeah, I think she is.”
“How do you feel about her?”
“I want her to stay. She belongs to me.”
“Does she realize that?”
“I don't know. She may decide to dump me when I cost her her job success.”
Eric shook his head. “Are you blind? She told you what you needed to know to convince me to side with you on the merger.”
“She couldn't know it would have that affect on you.”
“Sure she did. Simon, Amanda and I have been talking the proposed merger for weeks. She knew me pretty well by the time she flew up from California. She knew that I would go ballistic at the idea of them trying to trump up that implied contract crap.”
“You think she knew she was scuttling the last chance at the merger going through?”
Eric looked at him like he was brain-dead, which was not an expression Simon was used to receiving. “Yes.”
For the first time in days, real hope took root in Simon that he and Amanda had a future. “So what do you think my chances are of convincing her to stay in Washington permanently?”
“If the question is accompanied by a marriage proposal, I'd say pretty darn good. Amanda is a traditional little thing despite the fact that she looked like sex personified the other night.”
Remembering her in the dress he'd ripped from her luscious body had a predictable effect on Simon. “I think you're right.”
She was not a woman who would look at single motherhood with equanimity, but his stupid accusation had made her back off from discussing the baby until after the merger issue was settled. He'd thought maybe that was because she wasn't sure how she felt about a man who would damage her career, but now he realized she didn't want him thinking their relationship had anything to do with the merger.
She really loved him and he'd screwed up. Badly.
He had to do something to make it right, something to show her how important she was to him and how much he trusted her.
“Eric, there's something I need to do.”
When he had finished outlining his plan to Eric and explaining the reason it was necessary, his cousin's expression was grim. “I think you're right. Women in love are vulnerable. Thinking you don't trust her is sure to be tearing her apart.”
Simon hated believing that, but he knew Eric was right. “You're not worried I might be making a mistake?” Simon was sure of her, but Eric wasn't the one in love.
“No. I trust you and you trust her. That's all I need to know.”
“Okay. Let's work out the details.”
Eric sat up and pulled out his PDA. “I'll take notes and then get the legal documents drawn up this afternoon.”
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Amanda curled into the warmth of Simon's body. The last couple of days had been strange. She hadn't told him she had resigned from her job, but instead of treating her like the enemy, he'd been gentle with her. He made no mention of the merger or the baby, but he treated her like spun glass, making love to her so tenderly she felt loved even though he never said the words.
Jill was convinced he did love her, or so she had said repeatedly during their daily phone chats. Amanda wasn't so sure. Simon would never dismiss the mother of his child. He had too much integrity. If nothing else, he would make sure they remained friends.
He hadn't felt like a mere friend last night though. He'd felt like a man who could never get enough of her. He'd woken her several times to make love throughout the night, doing little for her sleep but a great deal for her sense of value to him as a woman.
“What are you thinking about, sweetheart?” Simon's hand brushed over her stomach and came to rest just over her womb.
“You,” she said honestly.
“Good thoughts?”
She wiggled her bottom against him. “Yes.”
His hand moved to her hips to still her movement. “Stop that. We've got to get up. The shareholder meeting is at eleven and the crossing takes an hour.”
“I remember.” She rubbed her cheek against the arm under her head. “I think I'll just stay here this time. There's no reason for me to go.”
“I want you with me.”
Did he mean he wanted her support before and after the meeting? If so, he was showing her a certain level of trust, believing she would be there for him. Her heart desperately needed that small boost after his accusations the other day. He'd apologized, but later she'd wondered if he'd only done so because he felt guilty about upsetting her when she was pregnant with his baby.
“All right, I'll come. I can stay on the yacht while you're in the meeting.”
“I've made arrangements for you to be there.”
“I thought only family could be there.”
“Family or shareholders.”
“Well, since all the shareholders are family, that's pretty much the same thing, isn't it?”
“In a way.”
“So, how did you arrange for me to be there?”
“I worked it out with Eric. Don't worry about it. It's all set and I'm not claiming you as my legal representative, if that's what's worrying you.”
“No. You don't lie. You wouldn't do that.”
“But Lance Rogers would.”
“I'm sure he has.”
“You're right. He's the named legal counsel for Alana St. John, one of my second cousins.”
Darn Lance anyway. He was such a slimy toad. “I'm sorry, Simon.”
“Don't be, baby.” He hugged her. “It's going to be fine.”
“You mean Eric is going to stand with you?”
He kissed the sensitive hollow behind her ear. “Did you expect anything else after telling me Extant's plans for the merged companies?”
She hadn't, but since Simon had been so silent on the merger, she had wondered if Eric had decided to back the merger regardless of the deviousness of its management. “Not really.”
“That's what Eric said. He said you'd gotten to know him pretty well.”
“I did. In the things that are important, you two are a lot alike.”
“That's what I was counting on when I first started arguing with him about the merger. I figured given enough time, he'd come around to my point of view. It turns out your boss's belief that my cousin is as unethical as he is made my further argument unnecessary.”
It was probably time to tell Simon the truth about that. “He's not my boss anymore.”