Tossing the Caber (The Toss Trilogy)

by Susan Craig

  Logan smiled politely. “I see.” He tilted his head toward hers. “So, what’s your pleasure, Ms. Lennox, business first or business later?”

  “All business, Dr. Carmichael.” She leaned back in her chair. “To start with, I’d like to know why you think your idea is so revolutionary that you’d try to buy a company, just to be sure you held onto it.”

  So, we cut straight to the chase. Good. He smiled. Once the action started, his nervousness would disappear. Bring it on, lady. He loosened his tie and leaned forward. “My changes to the standard processes used in the pultrusion of carbon rods should increase efficiency by at least ten percent, and produce rods I estimate will be more than fifty percent stronger in tension and eighty percent stronger in compression than the best product on the market today.” Her expression didn’t change, but he had seen her eyes lift from his shoulders to his face as he threw the numbers at her.

  She was interested. He straightened in his seat. “Carbon Unlimited will bury it—they’re too invested in the old technology. Lennox Incorporated”—his head tilted toward Diana—“is small enough to make the changeover feasible. Once these rods hit the market, everyone else will be playing catch-up for years.”

  “Go on.”

  Those lips were a major distraction. He had to keep his focus. Watching closely for any response from her, he shifted in his seat and continued.

  “The theory and planning on this are complete. Now I need conventional equipment I can convert to the new process. And materials and testing facilities. I want to make an offer for your firm.” Her gaze was roaming over his chest again. He usually welcomed the effect his body had on women, but he needed her to listen to his proposal. He waited until she met his eyes. “I’m coming to you, Ms. Lennox, because I need what you have.”

  She froze for a moment. Then he saw her graceful fingers curl into a fist, and the slight shift in posture.

  In response to her body language, his own sexual awareness ratcheted up a notch. Damn, he should have phrased that differently.

  She jolted into speech, her well-schooled face automatically denying what he’d seen her body say. “Do you have a patent on the process?”

  Logan’s brows drew together. What a dumb question. When did she think he’d had a chance to get a patent? Wasn’t he telling her he needed testing facilities? “Obviously, the data to support a patent application haven’t been produced yet. That’s why I need access to a factory.”

  A flush crept over the back of her jaw.

  Apparently, he hadn’t succeeded in keeping the sarcasm out of his voice. Her posture grew stiff and her eyes narrowed. “Dr. Carmichael, perhaps you need to look elsewhere for your company.”

  Oh, shit.

  Her voice was cold and those beautiful brown eyes had turned to ice. “Your idea appears to have potential, but Carbon Unlimited’s offer for Lennox is good for my employees and good for me. I came here as a courtesy to you, but frankly, I don’t need the aggravation.”

  Damn, she’s touchy.

  She rose to leave, but Logan moved quickly to block her way. “Wait.”

  He was too close, only inches away from soft lips at the perfect height for kissing, with her scent swirling around his head.

  Focus. He tossed his pride aside. “Ms. Lennox, please. Once again I have to apologize. I didn’t mean to offend you.”

  “Really?” Standing squarely in his space, she glared up at him. “Is condescension your normal mode for relating to women? You may have a Penn State Ph. D., Dr. Carmichael, but I know my company and my field. If you can’t accept that, we have nothing to discuss.”

  “You’re right.” He shoved his fingers through his hair. “You are right. Message received loud and clear.” He looked her straight in the eye. “I give you my word, it won’t happen again. Please sit down and let me run my ideas past you. I promise you, I will welcome any input you have.”

  She looked up at him, and he could see she wasn’t buying it. His plans were going down the drain. But then, inexplicably, she hesitated and stepped back looking embarrassed, as if she’d been admonished. “Very well, Dr. Carmichael. Let’s talk about the changes you envision.”

  Why the sudden switch?

  No matter. Adrenalin surged, and he moved to take advantage of the opening. “The key to the entire process is the new resin formulation I’ve developed. It makes the other changes possible.” He put his hands on the back of her chair and pulled it further out.

  She stepped over and sat. “How have you altered it? Have you changed the polymer or the additives?”

  “Both.” He pushed in the chair. “Actually, I’ve come at the problem from a whole new direction.” He seated himself. “Instead of a thermoplastic, I’ve gone with an organic resin that can be chemically modified to cure at fifteen degrees Celsius. That will produce the increase in strength.”

  Her brows snapped together. “How can that be? The resin we use now cures at ten. Lower temperature gives greater strength.”

  Taken aback, he tried to frame his answer in terms she would understand. “That is the conventional wisdom, but in the case of this chemically-modified organic, it doesn’t apply.”

  She gave him a skeptical look. “Why not?”

  He pulled his thoughts together and began to explain, carefully avoiding too much technical detail. It didn’t satisfy her. He wound up inking chemical structures all over a cloth napkin before finally convincing her that he was right.

  That had been only the beginning. Her dark chocolate eyes alive with intelligence, she’d questioned his choice of materials, insisted he go over the calculations for his efficiency estimates, and more. What rankled most was that she’d found a few weak spots in his plans and told him how she thought they should be fixed—and she’d been right.

  Get over it, Carmichael—the woman knows her stuff. Clearly, she had expertise in more than just administration.

  When Diana—they’d switched to first names while wrangling over the best way to insure the carbon fibers ran parallel—ran out of questions at last, he couldn’t tell if he’d made his case or not. He tried to engage her in conversation, but it fell flat and dessert arrived in near silence. Instead of talking to him, she put her head down and picked at her crème brûlée. It was damn annoying. She was younger than him by at least a couple of years, and he found her physically distracting, but she never let him forget it was her company they were discussing. Though to be fair, if she’d been unappealing it might not have bothered him so much.

  Pushing aside the dessert, she looked up. “Logan?”

  He saw her forehead clear as she spoke his name. Involuntarily, his heart rate increased and he found himself staring hopefully into her eyes. Clearing his throat provided an excuse to turn his head away. What was the matter with him anyhow? He turned back to her, putting on his practiced poker face. “Yes?”

  “How do you propose to fund your purchase of a company?”

  This time he didn’t mind that his heart rate went up, even though she’d said “a company” instead of “my company.” He squared his shoulders. “I don’t have the collateral to finance the purchase myself. I’ll arrange for a backer to secure initial funding, and pay that loan off out of the increased profits from the new process.”

  “How long do you estimate the period of the loan will be?” Her head tilted and a long sweep of glossy hair rested on her jacket. It looked like a drift of black night shot with stars. She straightened her head, and the shining strands lifted.

  He swallowed hard and took a drink of water, partly to clear his head and partly to buy time. “I’ll get an eighteen month period on the loan, at minimum.”

  “You’d be wiser to go for two years. Do you have a backer lined up?”

  He hadn’t felt this pressured since he’d taken the oral exam for his Master’s degree. She seemed to be implying he was unprepared to buy her company, and he answered abruptly. “No, I haven’t had an opportunity to contact possible backers. I hadn’t intend
ed to make an offer for a company this soon.”

  She didn’t seem to notice, or mind, his annoyance. “I understand. I’m impressed with the potential of your ideas. Let’s meet Monday afternoon to discuss this further. I’ll put some numbers together for you. My office, one o’clock.” She stood.

  “One o’clock.” All right! He’d done better than he thought. He began to rise to walk her to the cloakroom.

  “Please don’t get up, Dr. Carmichael. She gave him a smile that was no more than polite. “I will see you Monday.”

  Logan sat back and jerked his head in a stiff nod. So my ideas are good enough to do business, but you’re out of my league otherwise. Is that it?

  She turned and walked from the room, just a suggestion of sway in her hips. The cut of the dress and jacket left what was beneath largely to his imagination. Classy and cold.

  So why couldn’t he just ignore her? Why this constant undercurrent urging him to grab her, kiss her, make her his? It must be left over from the way she challenged him this morning. Just your ego wanting to assert itself, Carmichael. Best to let it go. He signaled to a hovering waiter and ordered that drink, cursing his overactive libido. Dangerous, nothing! She’s poison, and I’d damn well better remember it.

  As she left the building, Diana tried to quiet the excitement running like wildfire through her veins. Logan’s ideas were nothing short of brilliant. Arguing with him had been exhilarating, waking up areas of her brain that had lain dormant since college. She had to admit her physical reaction to him had been exhilarating too. Unfortunately, she didn’t want to be exhilarated. She wanted to be free.

  For six years she’d been working to get out from under the responsibilities she’d taken on after her parents died. It wasn’t that she hadn’t been prepared to be CEO of Lennox Incorporated. Her education, her activities, even the children she’d been allowed to associate with had always been chosen by her parents with a view toward her eventual role. She knew the right people, wore the right clothes, had her condo done by the right decorator.

  It had been a big job to mold her into the woman who ran Lennox so well. Her love of color and texture had not been an asset and her shyness—mainly the result of constantly being told what was wrong with her—had been a definite negative. So she had learned to wear the masks that allowed her to hide her unacceptable self. Soon that would change. She would quit living a lie and build a life based on who she really was.

  Going with Carbon Unlimited would give her immediate freedom. Agreeing to sell to Carmichael might delay her release a bit, but the potential advantages were great.

  Sliding into her silver Lexus, Diana let her businesswoman persona drop off like the mask it was. Logan Carmichael had left her frustrated. She found herself wanting to give him a chance, wanting to turn down Carbon Unlimited and sell him the company. He had unsettled her plans. And he had unsettled her in other ways as well. She started the car and punched up the CD scan in her stereo. The scratchy voice of Bob Dylan came on, singing the opening lines of “Lay Lady Lay.” Diana listened to the refrain once, smiling, then switched the CD off. She didn’t need to listen to Dylan’s whiskey-rough voice inviting her to lay across his big brass bed. Not tonight. She was already too susceptible to the earthy sexuality of Logan Carmichael.

  Why was that? She knew plenty of handsome, well-built men. What was it about Logan that caused him to affect her so strongly?

  Maybe that his body didn’t look like it came from a gym. It seemed more elemental. She could picture him shirtless—rolling boulders, hefting tree trunks, preparing for battle. Thinking of it made her insides feel like they were melting and shifting. And his unusual coloring made it hard to look away when he captured her eye. Caramel-colored hair brushed straight back above eyes the same shade of brown. You’d think it would make him seem softer, but it hadn’t. Even a simple glance from below those arrow straight brows felt like a demand. Meeting his eyes as they discussed business arrangements had caused her to feel an irrational desire to capitulate to whatever he asked.

  That could be dangerous. She’d never before had to work so hard to keep her wits about her. In fact, thinking about him now was getting her hot all over again. She deliberately redirected her thoughts toward business.

  He seemed to be honest. She pulled onto the street. And he was good at what he did. Diana recalled taking him on a tour of Lennox Incorporated, just before hiring him. When they had entered the heat of the plant his white shirt had clung to the hard muscles of his body, his loosened tie had exposed his throat, and the yellow hard hat perched on his head had made him look taller than his already impressive height. Watching him, it had been nearly impossible to keep her mind on work. But he asked pertinent questions about their resins, spoke knowledgably to the man monitoring the surfacing veil feed, and demonstrated the familiarity with chemical process industries that she was looking for. A good hire.

  Just a few days ago when she’d gone into the plant to speak to Joe, her line boss, Logan had been there looking very much at home with his clipboard, hard hat, and steel-toed boots. Definitely not a hands-off stick-to-the-office type. Still, there was something about him that made her uneasy—and not just sexually.

  He seemed to be hiding something. As she left the historic buildings of downtown York behind, she wondered what it could be. Anger? What reason would he have for that? Distrust? There was no reason for that either. All her transactions in business, and indeed in her personal life as well, had always been above board. Perhaps he was just slow to get to know people.

  Anyway, it didn’t matter. She wasn’t his type. Men with Logan’s looks and ambition didn’t fall for women like her. He would want the real deal, not a woman whose self-assurance depended on having a prescribed role to play. At day’s end, Diana admitted, she left her confidence in the office…unless there was an evening business meeting, of course.

  Oh, who cares? She grinned. It didn’t matter so much, really. She could enjoy the view, even if she knew she’d never get past the window. And what a view it was… Smiling, she let her thoughts roll back to Logan as she drove home alone.

  CHAPTER THREE

  Diana sang enthusiastically, and just a smidgen off-key, as water cascaded over her body. She felt full of energy. It was Saturday morning. Time to play with puppies.

  She stepped into her bedroom where a happy jumble of pillows buried the squishy armchair, and sunbeams streamed through the open window to dance over an unmade bed.

  Pulling on worn jeans and an old blue T-shirt, she stuffed her license and a credit card in the pocket and grabbed her cell phone and keys. In the living room, the sunlight was subdued by elegant drapes. A few stray rays highlighted sleek modern furniture and reflected from a dramatic angular sculpture on the gleaming coffee table. Diana turned her back on the room’s sterile perfection and headed out the door.

  With her window open and an elbow on the frame, she drove one-handed down the country road, singing along with classic rock from the radio. The breeze that tossed and tangled her hair carried the scent of tall grass plumed with seed and flowers welcoming the sun. Opening Man’s Best Friend four years ago had given her so much. Besides being a humanitarian effort, it was her recreation—an escape from the corporate world. It had provided a way to help her friend Sally, whom she’d hired to manage the place. Best of all, at the animal shelter Diana had no need for masks.

  The Lexus kicked up gravel as she pulled off the road and drove past the pens and small runs connected to the west side of the sprawling frame building. At the far end of the lot, near the wing housing the main offices, she parked the car and jumped out. A clamor of barks and howls heralded her arrival as she trotted into the building.

  “Hi, Sally! How are my babies today?”

  The tall blonde behind the reception desk looked up, smiling. “They’re all ready and eager to play, Boss.” Stepping away from her computer, she walked toward the back door. Two inches taller than Diana’s five foot ten, Sally Johnston had the
taut body of an athlete and the energy of a twelve-year-old boy. It took both to keep things running smoothly at Man’s Best Friend. She looked over at Diana. “How goes the business grind?”

  “You know, I must be nuts. I have an offer from Carbon Unlimited that would break me free from the company, and I’ve almost decided to turn it down.”

  Sally’s eyebrows shot skyward. “Turn it down?”

  Diana wasn’t surprised by the incredulous tone of Sally’s voice. They’d been friends since college, and had become even closer in the four years since the death of Sally’s husband. Sally knew, more than anyone, how Diana longed to escape the obligations that came with running Lennox Incorporated. So Diana smiled as she closed the back door of the shelter, waiting for the question she knew was coming.

  “Why on earth would you turn it down?”

  “Yesterday one of my people came in—a chemical engineer, actually—with an idea for a new process he claims will revolutionize the industry. He wants to rent the company to test the process and then buy the place and put his idea into production. I’m thinking about working with him instead of Carbon Unlimited.” Diana moved toward a large grassy paddock at the far end of the concrete runs.

  Sally kept pace. “Why on earth would you do that? Carbon Unlimited is a sure thing. A new process? Sounds like a gamble to me.”

  “Not so much as you might think. He walked me through it at dinner last night, and I think it has real potential. I’m tempted to invest in it myself.”

  “Still, Carbon Unlimited agreed to keep your people on. I thought that was a big deal for you.”

  “It was—it is, but the deal with Carbon Unlimited only protects them until our current contracts run out—that’s six months at the outside. Carmichael’s offered to keep our workers long term, so his may be the better deal.”

  “Why?”

  “Because I believe this process he’s developed could put Lennox in a strong position—make it a leader in the field. It would give the folks at the plant security, not just more time to find a new job, but real, long-term job security. I keep thinking about Mildred—I’ve known her since I was a child—and the others who’ve been with Lennox for so long. I was willing to go with Carbon Unlimited because it was the best I thought I could do for them, short of running the plant forever myself. But this is better.”