“Is that right?” Pallister was looking very interested now. Then Gwen practically climbed his arm and whispered in his ear. “That’s right. While I would love to hear more about that, I think I need to speak with Diana on a very different matter. It involves accusations of an attack in the parking garage last evening. My granddaughter was very seriously injured and required medical attention. I believe the police are going to be questioning Diana regarding this matter and I really need to find out what happened.” Pallister cast a look at Gwen as though he was just hoping this mollified the woman enough to placate her and get her to stop nagging him.
“She attacked me.” Gwen made a dramatic gesture and pointed toward Diana as though she were being asked to identify a perpetrator in a line-up. “She knocked me down, kicked me about, and then sprayed mace in my eyes as though I were some common criminal.”
Edward almost spoke, but Diana beat him to it. “Because that just sounds like me, right? I often commit unprovoked attacks on my coworkers.”
“You’re mad because that deal fell through,” Gwen said triumphantly. She turned to her grandfather. “I was going to fix it, but she told me to back off and that she had it. But the deal is completely over. There’s no way for it go forward, and now the entire relationship with the broker is gone.”
Edward frowned. He wasn’t going to sit here and listen to this nonsense. Getting to his feet, he folded his arms over his chest and glared at Gwen. “That was what we were just trying to tell your grandfather before you hijacked the entire conversation in service to your ego and your desire to whine about something that didn’t happen.”
Gwen’s mouth popped open and Mr. Pallister looked as though he were having a tough time not bursting into laughter. Diana covered up her own amusement by clearing her throat and opening her hands to Mr. Pallister. “That was what Edward and I were just taking care of before the two of you arrived. The deal is done. We close on the palazzo in two weeks. Mr. Amatuzzio is appeased. The broker has been contacted. I will set up details via email and then Mr. Lucietto will be able to make his travel arrangements.”
“Wait. That’s impossible!” Gwen said flatly. “I talked to that guy yesterday.”
“Yes.” Edward shot her an ugly look. “And he would thank you to stop harassing him. You’ve been calling nonstop and threatening him in order to get him to say yes to the sale. I had to promise him that you would never call his number again. Your Italian is apparently atrocious, and he told me to suggest to your grandfather that he keep you locked at home until you marry a husband strong enough to keep you under control.”
Diana’s expression was almost too much. Her full lips were pressed together and her pretty blue eyes were wide with suppressed humor as she tried to stay calm and composed. It was all rather funny. But when Mr. Pallister started laughing out loud, Edward knew that Diana was out of the woods when it came to her job. The whole police questioning thing was going to be another story if Gwen Pallister wasn’t going to tell the truth.
“Well done, Diana.” Mr. Pallister nodded to Gwen and then held his hand out to Edward. The poor man had to shake off his granddaughter in order to do so. “And thank you, sir. We are very lucky to have had your help with this.”
“What we need to do is hire him,” Diana told her boss. “He speaks four-plus languages fluently and picks them up like lint. He’s incredibly good with people and almost everyone who meets Edward loves him. I’m certain that Mr. Amatuzzio would concur.”
“It’s certainly something to consider.” Pallister offered Edward a warm smile. “If you’re honestly considering moving to a new company or a new job, please let me know. I would like to make you an offer.”
“What?” Gwen’s head spun around as though she needed an exorcist. “You must be joking! He’s not... He doesn’t—You can’t!”
“Right now you had better not be trying to tell me how to run my business, Gwen,” Pallister growled. Then he untangled himself from Gwen’s arms and left the office.
Gwen glared at Diana. She at least had the intelligence to wait until her grandfather was out of earshot before she pointed at Diana and curled her lip in disdain. “You just wait. The police aren’t going to be as easy to convince as my grandfather. They’re going to lock you in jail and throw away the key. Just you watch!”
“Bring it on,” Diana retorted. “You’re nothing but a big fat liar!”
“I’m not fat!”
Diana waited until Gwen had stormed out of the office before looking at Edward and bursting into peals of laughter. He swept her up into his arms and reveled in the feeling of having her so very close to him. He was pretty sure that he was head over heels in love with this woman. He just needed to find a way to keep her in his life for good.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Diana didn’t want Edward to leave. He had been sitting in a chair in her office nearly the entire day. It was now three o’clock in the afternoon and the two of them had shared an amicable sort of working day where she was putting together a closing package for Mr. Lucietto and Edward was checking her Italian and teasing her about needing to take a brush-up course. The day was rather wonderful. At some point Diana was going to have to admit how much she really wanted this to be her everyday reality.
“Hello, Ms. Appleton.”
No knock. No notice from the receptionist out front. Nothing. Just Officer Paulsen sticking his head into her office from the hallway and pushing his way inside with two detectives in plain clothes following along behind him.
“This is Detective Morris and Detective Canzona.” Paulsen smirked at her and rocked back and forth on his heels as though he were pretty sure he had something on Diana that she wasn’t going to like. “I’m sure you won’t mind if the three of us ask you some questions about your, er... your animal attack in the parking garage last night.”
“I’m so glad to hear that you’re taking that seriously.” It was Edward who broke in before Diana could even respond. “After we had the same experience last night at my mother’s home in University Park I feel like there needs to be some kind of warning issued to the general public to make certain they are aware that there is some kind of dog or wolf running lose out there.”
“I’m sorry?” The snarky smile slid right off of Officer Paulsen’s face. “And who are you?”
Diana wondered if Paulsen was just new or maybe never paid much attention to social circles and those kinds of happenings in the Dallas area. Of course, it was readily apparent that the detectives were thinking the same thing. Detective Morris jabbed his counterpart in the side.
Detective Canzona coughed and made a point of kicking Paulsen’s boot. “Paulsen, this is Edward King.” No response. Good gracious, where had Paulsen come from? Detective Canzona sighed. “Edward King of King Security Solutions, Inc.”
“Now there is a notorious family,” Paulsen observed rudely.
Edward raised his eyebrows in surprise, and Diana wondered if Paulsen realized what he had just done. He was obviously so eager to pin Diana to the wall that he did not care who else he offended on the way.
“So, Ms. Appleton,” Paulsen pressed. “Tell us again how a big dog attacked your coworker? And please remember that we are well aware of the failed deal and your eagerness to blame your ineptitude on Ms. Pallister. She’s told us the entire story.”
“Did she tell you the part about the deal not being failed?” Diana had never been so glad about something in her life. If that deal had truly gone south there was no doubt in Diana’s mind that these policemen would have suddenly had motive for this fictitious attack against Gwen. “I don’t know if she told you because see, she didn’t know at the time. She’s been pretty eager for the whole thing to just fall apart, but it hasn’t. In fact, the whole thing closes in two weeks. I’ll be traveling to Italy in order to take care of the last-minute details. So you’ll need to make a note of that.”
“Oh, you’re not leaving!” Paulsen crowed. “You must be joking. An assault case
like this? The accusation makes you a travel risk.”
“Um, Officer…” Detective Canzona was glancing with obvious alarm at Detective Morris.
“Tell me,” Edward cut in. “Officer Paulsen, did you go to the hospital with Ms. Pallister yesterday evening? I understand that there was an ambulance. Correct?”
“Yes, that’s right.” Paulsen was using his index finger to slide through several different screens on his tablet. “They have a report. I have it right here. It was emailed.”
“I see. And did it say that there were any actual injuries?”
“Of course!” Paulsen’s lips were moving as he read quickly through something silently. Then he flipped through a few more pages. And then more. And then finally he seemed to lower it in confusion. “She told me that she was covered in scratches and bruises.”
“Right. But the report says what?” Edward prompted.
Paulsen glowered at them. It was an ugly expression. “It suggests that she either got her dress caught on something or had it ripped by some kind of animal, but not with any kind of real aggressiveness. She has abrasions on her backside from falling on the pavement. No signs of assault.”
“Yes. And yet if you look at her today here at work she’s acting as though she were nearly killed last night,” Edward snapped. He pointed at the three policemen. “This is what happens when you don’t listen at the time of an incident. Do you understand me?”
“Yes, sir.” Detective Morris pursed his lips. “Unfortunately Ms. Pallister is filing charges. So we have to do a full investigation.”
Diana thought she might be sick. They were going to investigate her? That was not going to end well. She felt like that was almost certainly true only because Gwen was just going to lie and lie and lie some more.
“And what if she just lies through her teeth?’ Diana asked helplessly. “How do we combat that? How am I supposed to tell the truth and get anywhere when she just lies and charges her story to say whatever she wants?”
“I suppose you’ll need to find some way to back up your story.” Officer Paulsen only shrugged. “But you can’t leave Dallas until this is tied up, so if you think you’re leaving the country you need to think again.”
Edward looked skeptical. “You’re trying to tell me that you think Diana Appleton is a flight risk even though she has a long term job, and apartment, and a very firmly rooted life here in Dallas? The woman travels all the time for work. This can’t make her a flight risk.”
Officer Paulsen just shrugged. “Unless we get some kind of proof about the wolf or something similar, then we have to take Gwen’s version of events and investigate it. I would advise you that this will probably take some time since the details seem so sketchy to you both.”
“They aren’t sketchy to me at all!” Diana protested. She could not believe that she was hearing this bullshit. It was just that. Bull. Shit!
Detective Canzona was at least a bit more understanding about the problems associated with this situation. “I understand that this is tough to handle. But perhaps this is an opportunity to get this situation with your coworker straightened out for good.”
“You mean because her grandfather is the boss and she thinks that makes her boss too?” The bitter words slipped out of Diana’s mouth before she could rethink them.
Paulsen, of course, jumped on the idea. “It’s obvious you have a lot of bitterness against Ms. Pallister. Are you sure you don’t just want to confess and take the consequences?”
“No!” Diana was getting tired of people telling her just to admit to something she hadn’t done. It was insulting.
“That’s fine,” Edward said smoothly. He took in all three investigators with one sweeping look. “We will be contacting an attorney to handle this matter then. There are absolutely no grounds to ruin Ms. Appleton’s business and career interests by making her unable to travel due to this bogus claim of assault. So you can be sure that will be the first thing on our list.”
“We look forward to hearing from your lawyer then,” Detective Morris touched Paulsen’s arm. “We can’t be here anymore. She just lawyered up.”
That wasn’t strictly true, but Diana was grateful for the detective’s willingness to give her some leeway. Obviously they didn’t put much credence into these bogus allegations either.
Once it was just Edward and Diana in the office once more, she turned to him and felt as though she wanted to grab the front of his shirt and shake him silly. “What am I supposed to do? How can I possibly make this go away?”
“You can’t.” He sounded so very sure of himself. How could he be that way? How could he just pretend that it was all going to be all right?
“I can’t.” She whispered the words. “Oh God! The deal in Italy! I cannot tell them we have to postpone because of some bogus trip to jail!”
“No. We won’t tell them that.” Edward stood up and suddenly Diana found herself wrapped in the warmth of his hug.
The wonderful feeling of his arms was more than Diana had ever expected to experience from anyone. She hadn’t even been someone who particularly enjoyed physical contact. It wasn’t her thing. Yet right now it was almost like the only person in the entire world who could hold and comfort her was Edward.
The sensation was perfect. No. It was better than that because it was natural. There was nothing forced about the way he touched her. She did not feel any expectation behind it. So she buried her face against his chest and exhaled a sigh.
“Are you all right?” he whispered. “This has been a hell of a few days.”
Diana moaned and then laughed. “I hate Halloween.”
“I don’t think we can actually blame the holiday, but I see what you mean.” He kissed her forehead. “It’s going to be all right. Somehow.”
“You know I’ve never been this comfortable with anyone before. I’ve never felt like I could just hug a man and not give him something in return.” Then Diana thought about that statement and realized that it was actually more complicated. “Or rather, I’ve never felt like I could accept affection from anyone without a price.”
“The world is like that sometimes.” He began slowly rocking back and forth on his feet as though they were dancing.
It was strangely mesmerizing to let him carry her along. He pivoted and she followed even though she had never danced a step in her life. He took her left hand and held it against his chest as he put her right hand on his shoulder and his on her waist. Within moments the two of them were sashaying around her office. It was very strange. There was no music and yet she could hear the song in her head. And if she closed her eyes it was louder. It was more insistent and she wanted nothing more than to just give in.
“I love you,” Edward murmured softly. “I love you, Diana Appleton. I think I always have. Even when we were kids. You were so different from the rest of the girls. A breath of fresh air. Always thinking. Always trying to learn something or figure something out.”
He loved her? She could not give him the words back. Not yet. It was... It was just too much. And yet she could not stop him from carrying her around the room either. She wanted so badly to be loved. And this right here was the closest she had ever experienced. The sensation of being led around with no sense of owing anything for the contact and the comfort. It was rather beautiful.
His lips tickled the sensitive shell of her ear. “I don’t need to hear the words back, you know. Not yet. Not right now.”
Edward lightly touched her hand where it lay against his chest. She could feel his heart beating there. It was priceless. She did not have to be told what he meant. He could hear her heart too. And Diana would have been lying if she hadn’t admitted that her heart was chugging out one thought over and over again. Edward. Edward. Edward King. That was what her heart was saying. She just had to be brave enough to listen.
“Soon,” Edward whispered. Then he lightly kissed her ear. They kept dancing and for just a moment Diana could forget that the world even existed. It just did
not matter.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
The night air was heavy with the scent of rain. Trees bent double as their branches were whipped by the wind. Leaves were ripped from their perches and sent tumbling with the rest of the fall crop of yellow and red foliage. In the darkness it was impossible to see anything anyway. Only Edward’s sense of smell kept him on the path of his intended quarry.
His wolf coat kept him warm and dry. As the rain began to fall, it never penetrated the thick ruff around his neck or even the thick coat on his back. His claws dug into the mud as he neared the stream bed and heard the water rushing over the rocks. An afternoon and evening of rain had done its job. The thirsty land sucked up the moisture and what could not be absorbed spilled into the stream.
Edward stopped running and lifted his nose to the wind. It buffeted his body, and for a moment he wondered if he was wise to be out here on the ranch land that had once belonged to their father without any of the King Wolf Pack. It was just Edward running out here tonight. He had a goal in mind and he knew that running alone was the only way to accomplish what he needed.
A yip somewhere in the distance alerted Edward to the presence of another wolf. He inhaled deeply and identified dozens of scents all at once. The rainwater streaming from the sky was joined by the heavy scent of wet mesquite and juniper. Cottonwood bark vied with the putrid scent of dead and rotting leaves to overpower the smell of mud and earth that was ripped up by the heavy rains before being flung down a nearby embankment. But underneath all of that was the scent of wet animal. Of wolf. And it was not a familiar scent to Edward King.
Edward did not gallop headlong after the scent. He trotted along with his head fairly low to the ground to keep the rain from filling his eyes and nose with water. At a certain point he felt as though he knew that scent only barely. Last night—or rather early this morning—the King brothers had released Gemini King from their mother’s home in University Park. They’d sent him out the back door with an offer to go back to the ranch where he had lived prior to all of the upheaval after Mac King’s death. This was where Edward had come to find him once again.
Billion Dollar Wolves: Boxset Bks 1-5 Page 45
