by Addison Fox
“I don’t know about that. I had lunch with Camryn McBride yesterday.”
Now that was interesting. He wondered if Keira knew her sister had been spending time with his brother. “I wasn’t aware you even knew Camryn.”
“I make it my business to know the people who matter in my industry. An industry that you’ve had no interest in taking part in up until now.”
“Maybe I haven’t seen anything worth my time and attention until now.”
Booth was quiet for a moment before he spoke. “Dad was more than willing to make this industry worth your time and attention.”
“Dad wanted me in the exact same place he had you.”
“And where would that be?”
“Under his thumb.”
Nathan knew it was a low blow, but the words were out before he thought to check himself. He might not be able to control the fact that Booth was the chosen one, but he could damn well ensure he didn’t take second place in whatever family drama West Harrison decided to play out. He’d deliberately sidestepped the family business and he had never looked back.
“I can see my call was misinformed.”
“No, just unnecessary.”
“Then I’ll leave you with one final thought. The McBride women are a force to be reckoned with.”
“So am I.”
The phone went dead without another word between them.
…
The dulcet tones of early morning conversation punctuated the conference room as the various board members assembled around the table. Pleasantries abounded, and Keira focused on keeping a wide smile on her face as she offered a cordial hello to each and every person who walked in. She’d always hated board meetings, the forced joviality a bitter pill to swallow as she pitched her ideas for making her company stronger. In the last eight years, she, Camryn, and Mayson had taken their legacy and created their futures. They had done it with a massive amount of effort and hard work. And in one fell swoop, Nathan could take it all away. What her father had done through lack of interest, Nathan could do with one flick of his wrist.
Despite his protests to the contrary, if Nathan owned the company, he’d control it and it wouldn’t matter if she continued in her role or not. Her father had proven that when he ran the company. When things went according to his plans he was fine, but when she countered him, he squashed the initiative and killed her ideas.
The anger she’d not been able to get a handle on rose up to swamp her once more, along with every bit of self-reproach that had kept her up through the night. She’d spent her adult life running away from her father’s poor choices and instead had run straight into the arms of the enemy.
“You okay?” Sally sidled up to her, a cup of coffee in her hand, her broad smile for the crowd firmly painted on.
“I’ve had better days.”
“You’ll do just fine, and we’re here to watch your back.”
“It’s just infuriating.”
“And more than a little insulting.” With a discreet nod, Sally indicated the individuals assembled around the room. “They’re not here day-to-day and they have no idea of the blood, sweat, and tears that have gone into this. All they see are the potential dollar signs Maverick Capital can wave in their faces.”
“I was actually thinking about Daddy.”
Sally’s eyebrows rose. “What about your father?”
“The real fault in all this lies with him. He’s the reason we’re sitting in this position.” At the realization that her free hand was clenched into a fist, Keira relaxed it and took a sip of her coffee. “He never appreciated what he had, what he was the heir of.”
“No, he didn’t.”
“For all I want to fault Nathan”—she offered up a rueful grin—“and believe me, I do, he’s taking advantage of a legacy that was even stronger than my father’s hedonistic ways.”
“A legacy you’re the rightful heir to.”
Keira pasted another smile on her face, her cheeks beginning to ache with the effort. “We’ll see if the board agrees with you.”
A quiet knock on the boardroom door pulled her attention from Sally. Nathan stood next to her admin, the fine cut of his black suit broadcasting an aura of power to all assembled. She watched as he moved into the room, working it from one end to the other as he greeted each board member by name. She was so involved with watching him work his way down the long boardroom table that Keira nearly fumbled her coffee when he reached her side.
Is he really going to attempt to play nice?
“Good morning, Ms. McBride.”
Looks like it.
“Are we really going to stand on formality, Nathan?”
“Business is business.”
“A lesson you’ve been all too quick to mete out this week.”
“You look lovely this morning.”
The gallon of coffee she’d consumed roiled in her stomach. “And I find it hard to believe you compliment the wardrobe of all your takeover targets. I would assume men find that uncomfortable.”
Clouds darkened his gaze and she didn’t miss the subtle hardening of his jaw. “Are we back to that?”
“Have you given me any reason to think otherwise? You’ve treated this like a game from the start, and I believe it’s because your adversaries in this battle are a group of women.”
“I’m not playing a game. And as I’ve mentioned on more than one occasion, your gender has nothing to do with it.”
“A distinction you seem to ignore when we’re in the same room.”
He leaned in and his voice dropped an octave. If Keira could have found any subtle way to step back, she’d have taken it, but he’d neatly boxed her in against one of the oversize boardroom chairs. “There are lots of things that appear to be related but, in fact, aren’t. A point you were more than comfortable with this weekend.”
Keira could only assume it was the outrage lining her face that made Camryn appear at her side. “I think it’s time we get started, don’t you?”
“An excellent suggestion.”
Without another glance at Nathan, Keira moved to the head of the boardroom table and quickly called the meeting to order. She couldn’t miss the slight layer of tension that rode the room or the nervous glances the various board members kept tossing Nathan’s way. She also didn’t miss the fact that Nathan had positioned himself at the opposite end of the table.
At the head.
With a quick nod from Mayson where she stood by the door, Keira opened the meeting as the lights dimmed. The presentation they’d practiced that morning came to life on the screen behind her and she maneuvered through the first few slides.
“Thank you for joining us today. I know Mr. Cooper has some remarks prepared about his wishes for the future of McBride Media, but before he begins, my sisters and I wanted to give you a brief sense of what we’ve been working on.”
The slide show began and she walked them through the balance sheets and their profits for the last five years. The slides then transitioned into a view of the future, set to the impressive list of celebrities Mayson had lined up for the next year. She closed on the three-, five-, and ten-year visions for the company and their overall growth goals as they sought to reposition some properties, launch new ones, and ultimately retire those that weren’t performing.
As the lights came back up, Keira knew she and her sisters had crafted the right presentation. They had deliberately kept it to no more than fifteen minutes. The success of the company and the evidence of their continued hard work were stamped on each and every page.
While she expected the positive reactions from the assembled board members, especially as they’d been a part of many of the decisions made up until now, Keira wasn’t prepared for Nathan’s reaction. Approval was in his broad smile, and his gaze indicated how proud he was of her presentation. Like the lunch they’d had the previous week or his comments as she entertained clients, she couldn’t see anything underneath that clear offer of support that seemed false o
r misleading. Nor was she able to stop herself from basking in it.
After a brief round of questions, Nathan moved to the front of the room. “I haven’t prepared anything, but rather would like to share my thoughts. You all know of my intentions and I’m happy to answer any questions you have. But first I’d like to share why I believe Maverick Capital’s acquisition of McBride Media is good for all of us.”
…
Keira’s “talk to the board” smile was back in full force, and Nathan fought the urge to wipe it off her face. For a woman as bright, confident, and opinionated as she was, the fake smile signaled all the things she wasn’t.
They both ran the gauntlet, saying good-bye to the departing board members. It was only after the room had emptied that she whirled on him, the smile gone as if it had never been.
“Nice sales job, Nathan. Nothing like telling people what they want to hear.”
“I’d have thought you, of all people, would have appreciated the family focus of my comments and my full endorsement of the McBride sisters’ abilities to run the company.”
“A company you’re bound and determined to buy up and parcel off. What’s really going to be left for us to manage?”
“Plenty. It’s not like you don’t have enough to do running one or two of the really large properties. You said yourself there was a plan to close the poor performers.”
“On our own timeline. There are a lot of avenues we can pursue, and we’ve carefully put together a plan to try to make them profitable again before simply shutting them down.”
“Save the sales pitch, Keira. The first rule of business is you get rid of what’s not working and move on. I watched you practically run yourself into the ground this weekend keeping up with everything.”
“Is that what you saw? Really? Because I thought all you could see this weekend was a woman you wanted to seduce into your bed.”
A harsh bark of laughter welled in his throat and he again reveled in moving into her personal space, satisfied when she made no move to back away. “If the definition of seduction has suddenly become two very willing and consenting adults, then you’re damn straight I seduced you this weekend.”
“We made a misguided choice this weekend. That’s all.”
“Is that what you call earth-shattering sex? Misguided?”
“I certainly don’t think it was the brightest idea I’ve ever had.”
“That’s the real problem here, isn’t it? You’re scared to death people are going to put together the personal version of us and the professional version. That’s what all this bullshit about how I’m treating you and how I’d never treat a man the same way is about. Isn’t it?”
“One has nothing to do with the other. Isn’t that what you’ve said from the start?”
“Don’t hide from me now. It’s more than that and you know it.”
A series of emotions flitted across her face, from anger to sadness to a deep hopelessness he’d never have equated with her. Before he could remark on it, she said, “Everything we’ve worked for. All of it. I’ve gone and thrown it away.”
Her words were like acid on his skin, burning him with their intensity. While the urge, honed since childhood, was to jab back, he fought it in order to find out what was underneath the words. “You’ve thrown nothing away.”
The lines of her face resigned, she looked up at him. “What do you know about my family?”
Whatever he’d expected her to say, this wasn’t it. “I’ve got a pretty good idea. There have been more than a few articles done over the years about your family.”
“Then you know my father had no time for the family business.”
“But he was a part of it his entire life.”
“Grudgingly so. And McBride Media was a bank account for all his poor choices and bad behaviors.”
“He wouldn’t be the first spoiled son to make some bad business decisions.”
She choked out a rueful laugh as she moved to the sideboard and picked up a bottle of water. “My father rarely makes a good decision. Business or otherwise.”
He was no stranger to the poor decisions of a parent, so he held back the myriad of questions that filled his mind. “Go on.”
“Growing up, I remember sitting with my grandfather and how he talked about what he did for a living. He talked about it with such pride in his voice. Like he knew the hour or two of entertainment he gave someone with one of his magazines meant something.”
Her words tickled a memory he’d long buried. “It does mean something. I saw it with my mother. She looked forward to and faithfully read her Women’s Monthly Journal the day it came in the mail. I remember how she used to shush me and put me in front of the TV while she read it. It was the only time I could watch whatever I wanted and she paid no attention.”
“My grandfather started that magazine at my grandmother’s urging. She complained to him she didn’t like the magazines on the shelf and wanted articles about real women doing extraordinary things.”
The memory grew and expanded, and Nathan couldn’t hold back the smile. “That’s the thing my mother loved about that magazine. I still remember her making me read the article about the woman in Chicago who ran a school for blind children and how many of them had graduated college and gone on to very successful careers.”
For the first time, the anger that had stiffened Keira’s shoulders faded a bit as she took a sip of her water. “Why did she want you to read it?”
“Told me that anyone could achieve anything they wanted to. And that all it took was a lot of determination and effort.”
“Traits my grandfather had in spades.”
“He was a special man and everyone who knew him thought so. But despite his fine attributes, I don’t think you’re really interested in talking about your grandfather.”
“No. No, I’m not.” She took another sip of the water before resting her forearms on the back of the large leather chair that sat at the head of the table. “My father had a twin brother, and from all accounts, the two of them were inseparable.”
Nathan paused at that, trying to remember if he’d ever read anything about a second McBride brother. “You say ‘had’ as if he’s gone.”
“He is. He died when he and my father were in their mid-twenties. And the fun-loving, driven person my father was up until that point faded and died away.”
“Some people can’t get past their grief at a situation.”
“My father was one of them. From what I’ve been told, he literally changed overnight. He went from being a very happy, devoted husband, family man, and head of the company to…something else.”
“Was that the person you knew?”
“It’s the person I grew to know and have spent my life dealing with. I was small when it happened. Camryn was a toddler and Mayson was on the way.”
“How did he change?”
“It was like he just stopped caring. About anything.”
“How did your mother handle it?”
Keira gripped the bottle of water, the wash of memories filling her eyes as her gaze had settled somewhere in the distant past. “She tried her best. I take it the first few years she excused his behavior, said he needed to work through his grief.”
“And after that?”
“There came a point where she simply began to resent it, especially when he stopped caring about staying faithful to his marriage.”
“I see.”
And he did see, Nathan realized with surprising clarity. His own father had never been the poster boy for good, upstanding behavior, but at least he hadn’t lied to Nathan’s mother in the process. She knew what she was getting into with a man like West Harrison, and in all the years of her life, he’d never once heard her complain in bitterness about the man she’d loved.
Despite all that, he’d also seen the absence of a spark in her eyes, like she’d used up all the love she was ever going to find.
“My own family isn’t exactly a bright, shiny beacon of to
getherness through thick and thin. People can be horribly careless with those they care about.”
She nodded. “I spent my entire childhood watching my father live an empty life as my mother got dragged along in the process. Or chose to get dragged along.”
“She never thought to leave him?”
“Oh, she thought it, but her role as a woman of New York society always held her back. So she focused on her charities and her own life, raised my sisters and me, and ignored the fact that she lived with a man she hated. Another cliché of social convention, no matter how hard she fought it.”
Nathan heard a slight hitch in her words and moved around to place a hand over hers. “Is that really all?”
“It’s just a sense I’ve always had. I have nothing to go on to think that I’m right.”
“But?”
“No matter what he did and no matter how much she hated him at times, I think she spent her whole life hoping she’d get him back. That the man she married and loved with all her heart was still in there somewhere.”
“So tell me what all that has to do with right now. With us?”
“Don’t you see? Bringing McBride Media back to life, restoring it, isn’t just what I do. It’s part of who I am. Part of the good pieces of my history. My grandfather and my father. Before.”
“But their life isn’t yours.”
“Maybe it wasn’t at the beginning. Maybe I was just searching for something. But now I’ve made it mine. Camryn, Mayson, and I have made it ours. I won’t give that up.”
“You’re entitled to your own life.”
“Exactly. And I’ve made my choices. I know what I want my life to be.”
“Business is a part of your life, not the definition of you.”
His words startled a laugh out of her, the deep, hard sound rolling over him with the force of a battering ram. “Oh, that’s rich, Nathan. This coming from a man who has not only defined himself by his work but who uses it to delude himself of the differences between right and wrong.”
“Where have I crossed any line? And just where in the hell have I deluded myself?”
“You talk about desire and attraction and you use them as an excuse to separate yourself from your business practices.”
