Chapter Thirty-Six
University of Kentucky Medical Center – December 27 (Early Evening)
NOT LONG AFTER Meredith left the hospital, Harrison stopped by, sneezing as he entered the room. Kevin followed him in, glaring at his back. Elliott gave his aide a nod and tapped his watch. He wasn’t in the mood to listen to Harrison’s Chicken-Little-Doomsday rant.
“Take your cold and go home, Harrison,” Elliott said. “There’re enough germs in this place.”
The CFO folded his arms, held his hands under his armpits, and said in a short, clipped voice, “You have to deal with the insurance adjuster.”
Elliott raised his eyebrows, framing an answer. “As far as I know, the insurance company hasn’t responded. And Manning’s working on an answer if the claim’s denied.”
“What’s he going to say?”
“As soon as he has a report, I’ll pass it along.”
Harrison sat in the chair next to the bed, shivering. Sweat coated his forehead. Either he had a fever or more trouble had invaded his structured life.
“Where’s the money from Hazy Mountain Stud for their interest in Galahad?” Elliott asked.
Momentary panic flashed in Harrison’s eyes. “Their managing director called this afternoon demanding we return the funds.”
“Let Manning deal with that.”
“I gave them his phone number.”
“His name’s Doughty, right? What’d he say?” Elliott asked.
“‘Fuck you.’ I couldn’t believe he’d talk to me like that. I had a mind to hang up on him, but he calmed down.”
Elliott shifted slightly in the bed to get a better look at Harrison. He’d never seen his CFO in such a disheveled state. “Go home, Harrison. You don’t feel well. There’s nothing you can do right now.”
Harrison straightened, and his eyes darkened. “What do you mean? I have to do something.”
Kevin stepped over to the bed. “You’ve had a long day, Boss. You need to rest.” He turned to Harrison. “Mr. Roberts, come back tomorrow? Dr. Fraser might have news from Manning to pass along.”
Harrison stomped toward the door. “If you don’t hear from him in the morning, I’ll call him myself.”
“You do that, and be sure to let us know what he says,” Kevin said.
Harrison’s heavy step made his boots squeak against the tile floor, leaving black marks in his wake. He yanked open the door, and the handle hit the back wall. “Sorry.” He closed the door behind him.
“What the hell is wrong with him?” Kevin asked.
“He has a personality shortage,” Elliott said.
“Shortage would imply he had some.”
“I don’t need him to entertain us. I need him to balance the books. He does that well enough.”
Kevin pinched his lips together, staring at the door, and then finally said, “Or used to.”
David entered on the heels of Harrison’s departure. “I passed yer money man in the hall. His eyes were bouncing like a ball on a racquetball court.”
“Put him on your list,” Elliott said. “I’ve never seen him like this. His son was arrested last month on a DUI charge. Maybe the kid got in trouble again, or maybe it’s something else.”
Kevin sat in the chair Harrison had vacated. “He wrecked his car, too.”
“The kid or Harrison?” David asked.
Kevin rolled his eyes. “Harrison, Jr. Happened the week before the DUI. He was driving his mother’s Lexus.”
Elliott scrolled through the emails on his cell phone. Nothing from Meredith. Not a text. Not a smiley face. Not even a kiss my ass. He reread the one she’d sent early that morning, so he knew she had his email address. She’d probably sent a dozen messages to her staff since leaving the hospital. Obviously, she didn’t have anything to say to him. God, he hoped he hadn’t screwed things up with her. If he didn’t hear from her tonight, he’d call her in the morning.
Elliott returned his attention to the discussion of Harrison and his son. “A conviction will cost him a summer job on the farm.”
“Harrison will fight you on that,” Kevin said.
“Can’t help it.” Elliott set the phone on the tray table floating above his bed. “The zero tolerance policy applies to everyone, employees and new hires. It’s Harrison’s job to support board initiatives.”
David pulled a notebook from his jacket pocket, made notes, and then flipped back through a few pages.
“What’d you learn from Chuck?” Elliott asked.
David closed the door. “Chuck tracked down two of Gates’s brothers. One’s in prison in Texas convicted on drug and assault charges. A rape conviction got the other one locked up. There’s a younger brother, too. He’s stayed under the police radar. His last known address was in Louisville but that’s been six months. We’ll find him.”
“That’s it?” Elliott asked.
“We’ll get yer man. But ye’ve got to give us more than a day.”
“Ask Allie to give you Sean’s personnel files. See if he made any notes about employees that might be useful.”
“How far back ye’ want me to go?”
“All the way, or ask Allie to do it.”
“I’ll do it myself,” David said. “Anything else?” He glanced around the room. “Did Ms. Montgomery leave?”
Kevin glared at Elliott.
“She left an hour ago,” Elliott said.
“And, ah, crying,” Kevin added.
“Kevin.” David gave the aide a cold, hard stare for a few awkward seconds.
Guilt sifted through Elliott’s conscience like a pitchfork mucking a stall, making him squirm in pain and disgust.
“Go home. Be back here at oh-seven-hundred,” David said.
Kevin double-thumbed on his cell phone. “Do you think Dr. Lyles will let you go home tomorrow?”
“I don’t know. Bring me pants and a shirt on hangers. Not in a suitcase. I’ll be dressed and out of here as soon as he springs the jail doors.”
Kevin turned to leave, but Elliott grabbed his arm. “Wait. How do you know she was crying?”
“I passed her in the stairwell. She didn’t see me. She was wiping her eyes.”
Elliott punched the button on the remote and dimmed the lights. He could hide from his circle of friends in the dark, but not from himself. He was nothing more than a feedbag full of stupid.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
MacKlenna Mansion – December 27 (Late Evening)
AFTER DINNER, Meredith left Louise in the den watching a British sitcom and went to her room to pack. Cate had sent her an email after the marketing meeting, and reading between the lines implied the tense two-hour meeting ended in disaster. Meredith called Cate after reading a limited transcript of the conference. “How did Gregory lose control? He assured me—”
“He had a difference of opinion with the web designer who was following your instructions.” Cate’s normally exuberant voice lowered to a mumble. “He quit.”
“Who quit?”
“Gregory.”
“What? And no one called me.” Meredith paced the room. A slow burn of impatience crept up her spine.
“It just happened an hour ago.”
She picked a boot up off the floor and threw it into her suitcase. “I’m on my way home. I’ll deal with the situation when I get there.”
“Don’t cut your trip short.”
“We’re six weeks from the launch, which appears to be going to hell in a hand basket.” Meredith threw the other boot in on top of her clothes and it bounced back out of the bag. “I’ll be home by nine o’clock.”
“Where are you?”
“Close enough to get there in time.”
“But—”
“Leave everything you have on my desk, and I’ll see you in the morning.” Meredith hung up before Cate asked more questions Meredith didn’t intend to answer.
Her next call was to her pilot to confirm their departure. Then another to Jake, who immediately arranged t
o have someone pick her up and take her to the airport. She lugged her bags to the front door and went in search of Louise, finding her asleep in the chintz chair just where Meredith had left her. She gingerly shook the woman’s shoulder. “Louise.”
She jerked awake. “What’s the matter? Is Elliott all right?”
“I’m sure he’s fine. I just wanted to say goodbye,” Meredith said.
Louise rubbed her eyes and gave her head a little doggie shake. “If ye’ leave, his mood will go from sour to downright rancid.”
“I think it already has.”
She stood and folded the blanket that had covered her legs. “Before ye’ run off, I need to tell ye’ something. I was thinking about this when I fell asleep.”
“I’m not sure—”
“Just hear me out.” Louise held up her hand and tugged on her thumb. “One, Elliott has never chased after a woman. Two,” she tweaked her index finger, “if ye’re out of his sight, ye’re typically out of his mind. Three,” she moved on to the next finger, “he’s never given a woman a second chance. Four, he’s demanding and has little tolerance for anyone who doesn’t meet his expectations. Five,” she squeezed her pinkie, “I’ve never seen him so crazy over a woman before. Stallions, yes, but never a woman.”
Meredith heard the grin in Louise’s voice, although her face remained stony.
Louise continued. “I think ye’ should go home.”
Meredith swayed on her feet. “I’m—”
“Don’t get me wrong,” Louise interrupted. “I don’t want ye’ to leave, and Elliott needs ye’, but his attitude needs an adjustment. Kevin phoned earlier and told me you were upset. Kevin doesn’t gossip, but sometimes he gets so worried, he has to talk. So he calls me. Kevin wanted me to encourage ye’ not to give up. We both think Elliott might decide it’s worth healing if he has to go after ye’.”
Louise’s honesty both surprised and bewildered Meredith.
A wan smile softened Louise’s face. “I’m sorry about the way I treated ye’ in Edinburgh. When Elliott invited ye’ to Fraser House, I knew he was interested in more than sex, and I thought ye’ were married.”
Meredith glanced down at her wedding ring and twisted it around her finger. Maybe it was time to rethink her decision to wear the band. While she didn’t trust Louise to keep whatever she was told confidential, she did appreciate her openness.
“I’ve never known a man with such a giving heart,” Louise said. “He’s tender and loving and affectionate, but he doesn’t believe he’s worthy of the kind of love he craves. I think he might accept it from ye’. But that Scottish temper of his might send ye’ away before he figures that out. Have patience and let him get through this recovery. Ye’ll see the man ye’ had a glimpse of in Edinburgh. That’s who he really is. If he wasn’t, his inner circle would have disintegrated a long time ago.” Louise squeezed Meredith’s arm, and she felt the warmth of Louise’s reassurance. “This may sound like a selfish offer because our number one concern is Elliott, but if ye’ll give him a chance, the rest of us will stand in the gap for ye’.”
“And do what I can’t do?” Meredith asked.
“We’ll give him some tough love, which we haven’t done before,” Louise said.
No one had ever made that kind of offer to Meredith. Not her father. Not even her husband. Her heart tightened a bit in her chest.
A security guard had his arms loaded with Meredith’s bags by the time the two women reached the front door. Meredith handed Louise a business card like the one she had given her in Edinburgh. “Here’s my contact information. If anything happens, please let me know.”
“Of course, dearie. Now, run along. Do what ye’ have to do and hurry back.”
If Louise had asked Meredith when she would return, she couldn’t have answered. If Elliott couldn’t hug Louise after her surgery, what made Meredith think he’d want to hug her once he knew about her mastectomy? She couldn’t deal with that right now, so she shoved the thought into the deepest recesses of her mind. Her solo dance with denial.
The wind blew across the portico, and the oak door slammed shut behind her. She jumped, startled. After a moment, she shook off the shivers, dodged patches of ice, and climbed into the backseat of the Mercedes.
Her mind seemed muddled, covered with a black cloud threatening to storm. Confused? Yes. Fearful? Yes. Angry? At her staff, yes. And very, very tired.
She glanced back at the house. Louise’s profile remained visible through the door’s sidelights. It would take a while to digest all that she had said about Elliott.
The waxing moon bathed the snow-covered yard in silver-colored light. Each individual snowflake glistened like a Swarovski crystal, giving the mansion an otherworldly beauty. She sniffed, fighting back tears and got a whiff of Elliott hidden beneath the leather interior of the luxury sedan. The scent was a full-bodied Cabernet Sauvignon with black currant and dark chocolate notes with a long sweet finish. Their lovemaking had been exactly that. She held her arms tightly against her belly as if a squeeze would hold onto him, onto the memory.
The driver stopped at Stormy’s paddock, giving the right-of-way to the groom leading the horse through the well-lit gate on his way to the barn. The stallion’s big brown eyes, gleaming in the beam of the car’s headlights, were full of pathos and determination. You miss her, don’t you? He shook his head as if he’d heard the question, and then something moved in Meredith’s peripheral vision. She glanced back, gasped, and jerked around in her seat for a better view.
“Good God,” Meredith said.
“Is there a problem?” the driver asked.
“Do you see that?” she asked, pointing.
“What?”
“It’s . . . it’s behind the gate.”
The driver glanced back. “Don’t see anything.”
“Shapes in the shadows,” she said, giving a forced laugh to her voice. But she wasn’t staring at a random shape, a trick of the light. She was staring at a ghost—a handsome man with black hair tied in a queue and large, expressive eyes. Then he faded into the night.
Meredith had a photographic memory when it came to names and faces. She had seen the ghost’s face before, albeit an older version. But it was the same face.
The face of her ancestor, Cullen Montgomery.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Montgomery Winery – December 27 (Late that Evening)
MEREDITH LANDED IN Napa at nine o’clock, bone-weary. Normally, she adjusted to the difference in time zones while traveling, but this trip tossed her headfirst into a tailspin. Maybe it was her health. Maybe it was Elliott. No matter how many times she pushed away thoughts of his lips, his hands, they came back uninvited, along with his condescending attitude.
The moonlight flooded the interior of her car while she drove to the winery. At a stop light, she scrolled through emails. Nothing from Elliott. But she was the one who had said she would call, and she hadn’t. Maybe tomorrow. Maybe the next day. One day soon, she would go back to the farm. Invited or not. After all, her ancestor was haunting the place, and she had to discover why.
If she thought she left trouble behind in Kentucky, that was nothing compared to what faced her at home. She’d have to make concessions to Gregory to get him to come back. Concessions she wouldn’t make unless under duress. Well, guess what? He wasn’t holding a gun to her head, but she needed him at least through the launch, and he knew it. She suspected, although Cate hadn’t said anything, that Gregory wanted autonomy. That meant she had to let go of the marketing department. A department she had grown and nurtured over twenty years. It wasn’t easy to step aside.
Meredith pulled into the driveway. Cate’s car was parked in the drive. Meredith wasn’t surprised. Her assistant was the equivalent of a bomb-sniffing dog when it came to uncovering information. Cate would want to know where Meredith had been and what she intended to do about Gregory. She was probably sitting on the heated terrace, waiting. For Meredith, that meant a chilled bottle of w
ine and company.
A security guard drove up behind her. “Welcome home, Ms. Montgomery. Would you like me to carry your bags?”
“Thanks. Just let yourself in. I’m going to meet Cate in the back.” Meredith punched the trunk release button, grabbed the laptop, and then tossed the car keys to the guard. “Will you put it in the garage for me?”
“Sure.”
As she climbed the steps to the terrace, she heard Cate say, “I’ll talk to her as soon as she gets here. I know what you want, Gregory. I’ll talk to her. I promise. Love you, too. Goodbye.”
Love you? What the hell is that all about? Meredith backed down the steps, waited a moment or two, and then called out to her assistant. “Cate, where are you?”
“On the terrace, and the wine’s chilled.”
The landscape lighting design gave the property the dramatic appearance of the moon shining through a canopy of trees, casting soft light onto the walking paths, gardens, and stone terrace with a pergola and fireplace. No matter the season, the temperature on the stone oasis remained comfortable year round.
Meredith sat in a wrought-iron chair across from her assistant, thinking through several scenarios. What was the best approach? She surprised herself wondering what Elliott would do in a similar situation, and she heard him say clearly, “The conversation is between you and Gregory. Not you and Cate.”
Meredith poured a glass of wine without looking at the label and sipped. The blended taste of fresh pineapple, bright green apples, and juicy pear burst like a sparkler in her mouth. She picked up the bottle and held it tenderly, befitting a new parent. “Cailean.”
Cate smiled. “I had to sneak it out.”
A chill tripped down Meredith’s spine. “The wine is supposed to be under lock and key.”
“But I have the key.”
Meredith’s mouth twisted into an uneven frown. “If a bottle gets out, the leak could put a damper on the launch, and this could be the most successful one in the winery’s history.”
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