“Damn straight. He was taking the company down the toilet.”
She cringed at his harsh terms. “So, you’re going to save the company with Amberfield Industries and their fat contract?”
“Was.” He closed his eyes and massaged his forehead then lowered his hands. When he met her gaze, no sparkle lit his eyes. “Now I may have lost everything, all because of this damn stupid, stinking, blizzard.”
“But, you can salvage the deal. You’re a good businessman.” She hoped.
“If not, everything’s lost.”
“There must be something you can do, Trent. You’re a good enough manager to accrue enough to buy Dad’s shares.”
“Holly, I don’t live in Highland Park. I live in a crummy one-bedroom furnished apartment. I have no more money to invest. Hell, I can’t even afford a decent car. Why do you think I didn’t drive to your grandfather’s place?”
Shock riveted her to her chair. “Do you mean that you gambled every cent you have on the outcome of this meeting?”
Anger sparked his eyes and he thrust his jaw forward. “Yeah, just like your precious Dad, I gambled.”
“How could you risk your life’s savings on securing this one contract. There have to be others out there just as lucrative.”
“Of course there are, and I’ve set up talks with a couple, but I may not have time to romance them. If we don’t get a firm contract by May 1st, we won’t have enough work to keep production staff busy. If we don’t have one by July 1st, we won’t be able to make our payroll.”
“No! Our employees, their families.” Nausea hit her at the thought of the people she cared about without a job. “Some have never worked anywhere else, some are too old to be marketable at starting over.”
“Yeah, and your family, too, Princess. Remember, you count on your salary to help your family as well as the profit from your shares.
“Trent, you should have let someone with more capital buy the shares, someone who could pump money in if it were needed.”
“That kind of investor would have fired most of the people and brought in cheaper help. Maybe even moved everything to Mexico or Asia. Is that what you want?”
“You know it isn’t.” She heard her voice rise, but couldn’t control herself. “But you should never have gambled every cent you had if it wasn’t enough to carry through on the deal. You’ve risked your welfare, which is your right, but you’ve also risked the lives of a lot of other people. You had no right to do that.”
“I had as much right as your father did to drain every last cent of reserves from the company. That’s why there’s a problem, and I’m the one who has to fix it.”
She shook. “You’re just like Dad. You think you’re not, but you are. You’d risk everything for the rush of a win. But not every roll of the dice is a win, Trent. You’ve done a terrible thing.”
The whir of the refrigerator and the overhead light signaled a return of electricity.
Trent didn’t appear to notice. “Life is a gamble, Holly. You could fall in the shower, but you don’t skip taking them. A drunk driver might crash into you, but you don’t stay out of your car. Everything carries risk.”
She shook her head. “You could end up penniless. You could lose everything.”
“But here’s the difference. I don’t have a wife and three kids. Marvel Wire and Cable wasn’t founded by my father and father-in-law. I started with nothing and could start over the same way.” He came around to her his hand outstretched.
She saw her father, once again heard his excuses and promises. She rose and stepped back. “Don’t, Trent. You’re a gambler. I can see it’s in your blood. I lived with one gambler, I won’t go through that again.”
He dropped his hand but stood watching her, as if looking for any sign of weakening. At last he turned. “Aw hell, I’m going to the barn and check on the animals. Come on, Blue.”
She wasn’t surprised when he didn’t come in for lunch, but she worried when he stayed away at supper. But not enough to go get him. If he wanted to stay out there and sulk, then let him. She left a plate of food warming in the oven.
He still hadn’t come in at ten when she watched the news. Maybe he’d been injured. No, she heard him call to Blue. She went to bed but left the light on for him. A few minutes later he came in and she heard him talk to Blue and the scrape of the kitchen chair as Trent sat down. Maybe he’d eaten his dinner.
She heard him bump into the coffee table and curse before he the sound of his boots scraped on the floor furnace grate. He stood there until she smelled the warmed leather of his boot soles heating as he stood on the furnace.
A few minutes later he slipped in and undressed then slid into bed. She pretended sleep, but he spooned himself to her and pulled her against him. “Holly, I’m not like your dad. Please try to see that.”
“Why take such a gamble, Trent? Why risk everything. That’s exactly like my father.”
“It’s my one chance. Can’t you see that? Haven’t you ever wanted anything so much you’d do anything to get it?”
She thought of how much she had wanted her mother to get well, how she prayed and hoped, but her mom had still died. She thought of how much she had wanted her father’s love and approval, how sometimes she thought she’d almost captured it and then he’d withdraw. She thought of how much she wanted her grandfather to recognize that she was an intelligent woman with valuable skills and abilities, and instead he treated her career as something to do until she married and repeatedly called her “little Holly.” She thought of how much she wanted the intimacy and perfection of last night to last forever, but it had already disappeared.
“Yes, I have.”
He pulled her around to face him and slid her legs over his. His hand caressed her face. “All my life I wanted to belong, to be a part of something big, to fit in somewhere. This was—is—my chance. If I can make this work, I’ll have achieved my dream.”
“But you had your boat or ship, whichever it was. Surely you belonged there?”
“Sort of. But it wasn’t what I wanted so much as where I drifted.”
She moved to her back and slid her legs away from his. “Then what do you want?”
“I want to choose my life. I want roots, to stay in one place for the rest of my life. Princess, I want a home and a family, to be a part of the community. Years from now, I want my children’s children to be active in the same community. I want what your father had and threw away.”
Me, she thought. My father threw me away and now you’ve done the same. “Please, I can’t stand anymore of this. I just want to sleep so it’ll be tomorrow and I can go home.”
“Exactly. You have a home you can go to. That’s what I want, what I intend to have.”
But not with me, she thought. Someday it might be his house on the auction block, his kid’s education fund that disappeared. No, thank you very much. Been there, done that, didn’t even get a tee shirt.
No matter that she thought herself halfway in love with him. He could call it what he wanted, but he’d risked everything with nothing in reserve. She’d never live with another gambler.
***
“Thanks.” Trent leaned in the open car door. “I’ll see you tomorrow.”
“Sure, tomorrow.”
He closed the door and trotted to his ramshackle apartment. Holly drove away, forcing herself not to look in the rear view mirror.
So, that was that. Her first—and only—affair was officially over. She wondered if he’d act differently at work tomorrow, if he’d call her at home or invite her alone to his office. Whatever happened, she’d survive. Other women went through this sort of thing and lived over it.
The drive back had been torturous. Not just the roads, but the stilted silence that shrouded the car’s interior. Trent drove, and the treacherous conditions of the first part of the trip required his concentration. They’d stopped for gas in Childress and for food in Wichita Falls. A few miles later all signs of snow ended. Dalla
s had been dry and clear while she and Trent had been freezing in a blizzard.
Holly pulled into her garage and killed the engine. She sat in a trance, mulling over the past few days until a knock on the car window startled her.
Marnie peered at her. “Holly, open up.”
With a sigh, Holly did and climbed out. “What are you doing out here?”
“I’ve been watching for you.” Marnie looked around covertly. “I erased your phone message before anyone else heard it.”
Holly shrugged. “As long as someone knew where I was, it didn’t matter who heard the message.”
“You see, that’s why I’ve been watching for you. Your grandfather had also left a message telling us that you were staying with him and Mrs. Ila Mae until you could safely drive. So, I erased your message and left his.”
“But...oh, I see.” Leave it to Grandpa to protect her reputation. “Thank you, Marnie, that’s probably best. I wonder if Trent, um, Mr. Macleod knows?” Holly opened the trunk and hauled out her luggage.
“Yes, the message said he’d leave one for Mr. Macleod also.”
“How was your time with your daughter?”
Marnie picked up the makeup bag. “Wonderful.” She paused mid-stride. “What are you wearing on your feet?”
“My new suede boots weren’t compatible with snow and a barnyard. I’d better get inside and hide these before anyone sees them.”
Marnie humphed. “And you’d better let me brush the hay and feathers off that coat right away.”
Holly hurried to her room and kicked off her boots as she slid out of her coat. She buried the boots in a box at the back of her closet and folded her coat inside out over a chair. Just in time.
Angie burst into the room like a dervish. “Hey, Holly, you’re home. How are you after being snowed in at the center of nowhere?”
“I’m tired, that’s all. How did your weekend with Geneva’s mom go?”
Angie rolled her eyes. “Boring. But I guess yours was too, stuck with Joe Bob and Ila Mae and their endless gin rummy and nothing but wide open spaces. How can people live like that?” She looked at Holly’s feet. “Ohmygod. Why are you wearing those horrid socks? They look like something you picked up at a thrift store.”
Holly wondered what her half-sister knew about thrift stores. “My feet were cold.”
“How could you wear your boots over them? Hey, where are your new boots?”
“The snow didn’t agree with them. I’m sorry, but they sort of disintegrated.”
Angie plopped on Holly’s bed. “I’ll bet you were plenty pissed at being caught in a storm out there.”
“Yeah, it was kind of surreal.” It seemed a dream now, but in retrospect the experience took on the rosy glow which pulled to the foreground the closeness that united her with Trent.
Angie watched as she unpacked, catching her up on all the latest gossip. Holly left her trash bag of dirty clothes inside her suitcase and closed the lid. No way to explain that smell if she opened the bag. She’d have to remember later.
As Angie rattled on, Holly smiled and nodded at the appropriate times, but her mind raced ahead to tomorrow and work—and the Thursday morning staff meeting when she’d have to face Trent in a room full of people.
Would her expression give her away? Would everyone in the conference room know she’d been sleeping with the boss? And she admitted that even knowing Trent was a gambler, she still wanted him. Needed him!
She’d juggled her family’s finances. Ignored gossip. Tolerated her stepmother’s excesses. Fought to prove herself capable at Marvel. This was one situation where she had no experience to fall back on. The intensity of her attraction to Trent caught her off guard. Left her wondering she was going to do?
Without a hesitation, she knew. Enjoy it. She would take what he had to offer for however long it lasted. When it ended, she’d have memories of great sex to carry her until she found the man who would share her life.
If only her vision of that man didn’t wear Trent’s face.
CHAPTER NINE
“Angie, telephone.” Jenny’s voice called down the hall.
Angie rushed to take the call and Holly retreated to her bathroom. Impossible not to make a comparison, she noted it was larger than the tiny farmhouse’s bedroom. She’d never appreciated her bathroom’s sunken marble tub and large glass enclosed shower more than today.
Revived by a long soak in lavender scented bath water, Holly emerged from the bathroom as Geneva entered her room. Holly couldn’t deny her stepmother was still a beauty—if you overlooked her hardened looks.
Geneva’s dark blond hair was highlighted to perfection. Botox injections insured no tell tale wrinkles marred her beauty. Though Holly knew Geneva was forty-five, she could pass for ten years younger.
Perfect figure, perfect clothes, perfect bitch!
“Holly dear, I hope Joe Bob and Ila Mae are well.”
As if she cared. Holly suspected her stepmother was fishing, but she played along. “Yes, and your parents?”
“Oh, fine. Busy as always.” Geneva sat on the window seat cushion and crossed her legs. “I hear that man was at the ranch also.”
“If you mean Trent Macleod, yes, Grandpa had invited him for the weekend.” Hmm, Holly wondered how Geneva acquired that tidbit? Perhaps Grandpa had relayed that information in his phone message.
Geneva ran a ruby-tipped finger along the corded seam of the flowered chintz seat cushion. “Why would he do that? I mean, that man took his son-in-law’s shares of the company he helped found.”
Holly had wondered the same thing when Trent arrived at her grandparents, but she soon learned that her grandfather and Trent had business to discuss. “I haven’t a clue. Probably company business. And that man has a name, Trent Macleod.”
Hoping to redirect her stepmother, Holly changed the subject. “Geneva, you seem coiled tight as a spring. Why don’t you use some of my lavender bath salts and have a relaxing soak.”
Geneva narrowed her eyes and snapped, “I’m fine.” She took a deep breath and put on her phony make-nice face again. “I do worry what that ma—Macleod is up to, though. How did he learn about Marvel anyway?”
“You’ll have to ask him. Is that a new dress?” More important, would Holly have to pay for it?
Geneva smiled and brushed her hands down the black wool crepe. “Isn’t it divine? Mama bought it for me. You missed some wonderful sales the day after Thanksgiving.” As if recalling her mission, she zeroed back on target. “And speaking of wool, has Macleod pulled it over Joe Bob’s eyes? You know, Joe Bob never approved of Walter.”
“Grandpa never said anything to me to indicate he disapproved of Dad. What makes you think that?”
“For one thing, Walter told me. And you could see it in Joe Bob’s eyes when he looked at Walter and me.” She stood. “Of course, that chauvinistic old coot wouldn’t confide in you—you’re the apple of his eye, but you’re a woman. He thinks a woman’s only good for the kitchen and the bedroom.”
Holly laughed. “You’re right about Grandpa being behind the curve on sensitivity training, but he’s a wonderful man. He’s tried to change with the times, but he grew up with different values.”
Her stepmother turned up her nose. “Hmph. A common oil field roustabout. Until he and Walter Sr. came up with the idea for Marvel neither one was worth notice.”
“But he’s been good to us. Can’t you admit that? He gave us this house to live in so we could continue our lifestyle after Daddy lost our home.” Holly loved the large Italian revival style house with a view of Turtle Creek, even though the taxes and upkeep kept her strapped for cash.
“Wrong, he gave you this house.” A cold, steely expression swept across Geneva’s face, replaced in an instant by her trophy wife smile. “Of course, Joe Bob’s provided tuition for Jenny and promised to do the same for Angie next year. I suppose he has some loyalty to this family.”
Holly didn’t share the fact that her grandfather call
ed Geneva the wicked stepmother and other less complimentary labels. “Of course, he does. And in addition to the financial benefit of seeing Marvel do well, he has the desire to see the company he co-founded continue successfully.”
“Before his death Walter explained that profit was down due to the economy, but we need our shares to pay well.” Geneva’s eyes widened and she sought to cover her mistake. “I mean, of course, my daughter’s shares. And yours.”
“Of course.” Holly suspected Geneva plotted to help Jenny and Angie spend money held in trust until they were twenty-one. Already, Geneva had sought to break the trust and gain access to the funds, but she’d been unsuccessful.
Holly wondered how much of her father’s small insurance policy payoff was left. He’d let the big policy lapse and kept only an older small policy for fifty thousand. Almost a third of that had gone for the funeral expenses.
“Well, I’m having dinner with some friends and must run. Oh, Laura’s been trying to reach you. Toodles.”
***
Holly had come in early this morning hoping to catch up on work that piled up in her absence. She thought she saw a light in Trent’s office, but she didn’t knock. After their silent drive yesterday, she didn’t quite know what to say.
Now Sara Phillips stood across the desk. She’d only come two months ago after Holly’s assistant retired, but already Sara had proven herself to be a gem both as a friend and as an efficient assistant. Her neat black business suit accentuated her trim figure and made a good foil for her auburn hair.
Sara smiled. “Anything else, Holly, before you leave for the staff meeting?"
Holly glanced at her watch. Almost nine. The time she dreaded had arrived and she’d have to go to the conference room. “No, that’s it for now. Thanks again for handling things so well while I was stranded.”
With another smile, Sara left. Holly forced herself to rise. She told herself to be practical. Thousands of women had brief affairs and survived. For heaven sakes, she knew a woman who worked daily with her ex-husband. Surely Holly could face Trent. She hoped she could appear calm then.
SNOWFIRES Page 9
