Sex, Lies and the CEO

by Barbara Dunlop

  “Justin!” shouted Shane.

  “We’d prove she was lying.”

  “Like we proved Bianca was lying?”

  “That’s an entirely different—”

  “It’s exactly the same,” said Shane. Then he turned on Darci, his eyes cold. “You’d do that?”

  “In a heartbeat.” She doubted she’d be able to go through with it. But she loved her dad. There wasn’t anything she wouldn’t do for him or his memory.

  “So, what do you propose?” asked Shane.

  It was a good question. “We look together. You don’t trust me. I don’t trust you.”

  “24-7?”

  It was a valid question. The second she went home, Shane and Justin would have unfettered access to the files. They could burn the whole lot of them if they wanted.

  “It’s the only arrangement that works,” she allowed.

  “Which means you’re staying?”

  She really hadn’t thought this through. “I’m not sleeping with you.”

  He gave a cool smirk. “I’m offering a guest room.”

  She glanced around at the boxes, wondering how long it would take her to get through them all. One day? Two days?

  “How committed are you?” Shane’s tone was soft and taunting.

  “Completely committed.” She glared at him in defiance. “I’ll stay as long as it takes. It’s not like I have a job to go back to.”

  “I fired her,” Shane told Justin.

  “I quit,” Darci corrected.

  “Why are you indulging her?” asked Justin.

  “She thinks she’s right.”

  Darci bristled. “I am right.”

  “Then why the elaborate ruse?” Justin asked her. “Why not just knock on the front door?”

  She counted off on her fingers. “Because I’m not stupid. Because it would have tipped you off. Because Dalton swindled my father. Because Colborns can’t be trusted.”

  “Reverse the roles,” Shane said to Justin. “If you were her, what would you do?”

  “Your judgment is clouded. You’re taking an unnecessary risk.”

  “Maybe. But at this point, it doesn’t matter. Another tell-all book would completely destroy us.”

  “You should never have—” Justin didn’t finish the sentence. He didn’t need to.

  Mortification swept over Darci.

  In Justin’s mind, she was no better than Bianca. And Shane had to feel the same. She realized that if she didn’t find her father’s drawings, it was always going to look that way to him.

  She swallowed against a lump of regret. She couldn’t let herself care about Shane’s opinion. She had to focus on finding the designs for her father’s sake. If she failed, she failed. But she had to give it her all.

  “We need a break,” said Shane. “Let’s go upstairs and figure out how this is going to work.”

  Darci glanced at her watch. It was nearly ten o’clock at night.

  She came to her feet. “I have to call Jennifer.”

  Justin left first while Shane waited for Darci to move toward the door.

  “Maybe she can bring you some underwear,” he muttered as she passed.

  She twisted to shoot him a glare. But when she met his eyes, a surge of sexual awareness shuddered through her body. She was completely naked beneath her dress, and they both knew it.

  “Don’t,” she hissed.

  “Don’t what?”

  “No sexual innuendo.”

  “Not talking won’t make us stop thinking.”

  “This isn’t going to work if you taunt me.”

  “This isn’t going to work anyway.”

  Darci wished she could tell him he was wrong. But he wasn’t. Being cooped up with Shane for however long it took to go through fifty boxes of records was going to be excruciating.

  * * *

  Darci dropped box twenty-six onto the floor of the wine cellar with a clunk. So far, she’d found absolutely nothing to indicate her father’s invention had been stolen.

  Shane had long since stopped looking through the historical records, instead turning the wine cellar into a makeshift office. It was Wednesday, and a steady parade of staff had been marching in and out, providing information and advice while he dealt with dozens of issues, from aviation regulations and flight tests to robotic equipment glitches and staff training.

  He spent the majority of his time with Justin, working on either the Beaumont contract or the planned changeover to produce private jets. The two men had spirited discussions, either forgetting Darci was at the other end of the table or deciding she wouldn’t be able to do anything with the corporate information anyway.

  Every time Justin suggested they scale down the Colborn operations, Shane stood his ground. She couldn’t help but be proud of his convictions. He didn’t seem willing to lay off a single employee.

  “Riley Ellis again,” said Justin as he entered the cellar, pulling out a chair to park himself across the table from Shane.

  “What now?” asked Shane. “What is with that guy?”

  “He’s headhunting your employees.”

  “Which ones?”

  “Technicians, mostly, but also engineers. He’s offering salary bumps, more holidays and better benefits.”

  “How can he afford it? And, really, what the hell? Last time I looked, he was a hundred-man operation. And now he’s bidding competitively on international contracts?”

  “He’s gone into partnership with Zavier Tac.”

  “Why?”

  “To compete on international contracts,” said Justin.

  “I mean why would Zavier Tac work with Ellis? What’s in it for them?”

  “I don’t know. I’ll try to find out.”

  “Okay,” said Shane. “And find out what it’s going to take to keep our guys?”

  “You can’t keep them.”

  “What do you mean, I can’t keep them? I have to keep them. It’s not like we can replace them.”

  “If you bump their pay, you have to bump the pay of the entire employment class. The cost is way too high.”

  Shane spat out a pithy swearword. Then he glanced at Darci. “Sorry.”

  “Offer lunch,” she suggested.

  “Excuse me?”

  “I know it’s not a problem at your head office, so you probably haven’t paid attention. But at the assembly and manufacturing plants, there’s nowhere for employees to go out for lunch.”

  “We have cafeterias,” said Justin.

  “And they’re subsidized,” said Shane.

  “Exactly. So it wouldn’t cost much to make lunch completely free. Revamp the menu to offer restaurant-quality food, more variety. Throw in some recreation equipment. I don’t know—Ping-Pong tables, maybe a basketball court and video games.”

  “Have you lost your—?”

  “Let her talk,” said Shane.

  “Make your employees feel valued beyond their paychecks. Lunch was the number-one issue around the water cooler. Form an employee committee to design the new menus and make the recreational plans. You could do that as early as tomorrow morning.”

  “Why are you suggesting this?” asked Shane.

  “I don’t know.” She honestly didn’t know what had given her this urge to help out. “You two seem so pathetic over there, trying to run such a big company all on your own.”

  Justin rolled his eyes, but Shane clearly fought a grin.

  “It’s not the worst idea in the world,” said Shane.

  “There’s gotta be a catch,” said Justin, watching her with suspicion.

  “I’m planning on stopping by for the free lunch,” she said.

  “You’re not on our side,” said Justin
.

  “I’m on the side of Colborn Aerospace.” She refused to admit she was losing hope of finding anything to substantiate her father’s claim. “And somewhere in these last twenty-four boxes is the proof I need to get my piece of the pie.”

  “At least that makes sense,” said Justin.

  “Do it,” said Shane. “Talk to the plant managers, and announce it tomorrow.”

  “Uh-oh,” came a voice from the corner of the room.

  They all looked at David, one of Shane’s assistants who’d been in and out over the past few days.

  David glanced up from where he’d been talking on his phone. “It’s Bianca. She went on with Berkley Nash again.”

  “Somebody kill me,” said Shane, dropping his chin to his chest. “Just get a gun and end it now.”

  “What did she say?” asked Justin.

  “Don’t tell me.” Shane held up his hands to forestall David. “I’m not wasting any more time on that woman. Go over the video tonight, jot down only what I absolutely need to know and bring it to me in the morning.”

  “Yes, sir.” David came to his feet.

  Justin stood, as well. “I’ll ride back to the city with you,” he said to David.

  “Call me with the free-lunch details,” said Shane as they left the room.

  Darci knew she had to toughen up, but her heart went out to Shane. She’d been watching him work like a madman for three days now. He seemed to be trying valiantly to do the right thing, and he was getting whacked with problems from all sides.

  “You okay?” she asked in the now silent room.

  He twisted around to look down the length of the table at her. “Not really.”

  “I don’t much like Bianca Covington.”

  “Neither do I.” His gaze seemed to soften. “And I don’t much like fighting with you.”

  “It’s hard not to fight when we’re on opposite sides.”

  He gave a sad smile. “I wish you were on my side.”

  “And I wish you were on mine.” It would be so much nicer if Shane was trying to find the real truth instead of trying to protect his family.

  They gazed at each other.

  She wished she could go to him. She wished she could stand up, walk the length of this table and hold him close. She’d tell him it was going to be all right. And he’d tell her the same thing. And then they’d find a way to make it all right together.

  Shane’s phone rang.

  He frowned as he reached for it. “Yeah?”

  He broke the gaze. “What? Are you sure?” He raked a hand through his hair. “She’s lying. She’s flat-out lying.”

  He came to his feet, pacing toward the wall. He stopped and smacked his fist on the stone. “That’ll be the ballgame then.” He paused. “Yeah.” Another pause. “Tomorrow.”

  He punched the off button with this thumb. Then he swore and drew his arm back. She thought he was going to hurl his phone across the room.

  “Shane?” she ventured, standing.

  He didn’t answer, but he did turn to face her.

  “Beaumont?” she dared ask.

  “They saw the Bianca interview.”

  “Have they canceled?”

  “We expect it in the morning.”

  “What could she have said? Never mind.” Darci knew it was none of her business. “It doesn’t matter. Whatever it was, it obviously destroyed your professional reputation. And it’s hard to get that back.”

  “Are you mocking me?” he asked.

  “What?” She was confused.

  “Are you pointing out the irony that you think my father destroyed your father, and karma’s a bitch?”

  “I never said that.” She hadn’t thought it, either.

  She might have once, but right now, she simply felt sympathy for Shane. He didn’t deserve what Bianca was doing. There was nothing karmic about it.

  It was plain mean-spirited and grossly unfair. She was seized by another urge to help out.

  And then she had an idea.

  It was radical, and it was probably stupid. But she was in a unique position to comment publicly on Shane Colborn. She had a salacious angle, and she had little left to lose.

  Ten

  Halfway through the morning on Thursday, Darci disappeared from the wine cellar. Shane was surprised, since she’d been so adamant about making sure he didn’t mess with the records without her knowledge. He’d have pondered it more if he hadn’t been on the edge of his seat about Beaumont.

  Since 5 a.m., every time his phone rang, he expected it to be the bad news that would destroy Colborn Aerospace forever. It was coming up on four as he paced his way through the great room toward the staircase, two thoughts on his mind. One, it was well past the end of business in France. And two, perhaps Darci was feeling ill.

  He was about to check the guest room, when Justin burst in.

  “Where’s a television?” Justin barked.

  “What? Why?”

  “Closest television. Where is it?”

  “Over there.” Shane pointed to an alcove.

  “Channel thirty-seven, Berkley Nash.”

  Shane could hardly believe it. “Not Bianca again.”

  “No, no. Not Bianca. Darci.”

  Shane was stunned. He could barely force out the words. “Darci’s on Berkley Nash?”

  She’d do that to him? She was doing that to him?

  Justin scrambled for the remote control, tuning to the correct channel.

  Shane would never forgive her for this. Absolutely never.

  The picture came up on the screen. The flash title across the bottom read “Shane Colborn—Another Corporate Scandal?”

  “I can’t believe this.” Shane dropped into an armchair, bracing himself.

  There was Darci, looking poised and beautiful in a tailored black-and-white dress. Everything inside him knotted in anger.

  “You were saying,” said Berkley Nash, “that Dalton Colborn stole your father’s invention.”

  “I was saying there is some disagreement between the two families about who was responsible for the original intellectual property.”

  Berkley frowned. “But you believe your father’s turbine plans were stolen.”

  “My father indicated one of his inventions had been exploited by his former partner, Dalton Colborn.”

  “And Shane Colborn is stonewalling you.”

  Darci smiled and took a breath.

  “Here it comes,” said Justin.

  “While Shane Colborn disagrees with my assessment of that particular situation,” she said, “as I’ve gotten to know him, I’ve learned he’s upstanding and professional.”

  “He disagrees with you?” Berkley prompted, obviously trying to zero in on the conflict.

  “He does,” said Darci. “And that makes it a testament to his honesty and principles that he’s given me unfettered access to the company’s records.”

  “What’s she doing?” Shane said out loud.

  “Would you say you’ve gotten to know him well?” asked Berkley.

  “I think she’s helping you,” said Justin, clearly puzzled.

  “Very well,” said Darci.

  “So, you have a personal relationship with Shane Colborn?” Berkley put a wealth of meaning into his tone and expression. “I expect that impacted his decision to give you unfettered access.”

  “Danger,” said Justin.

  Shane stilled.

  “I’m not in a romantic relationship with Shane Colborn, if that’s what you’re asking.”

  “Come on, Ms. Rivers. Be honest with the viewers. From what we hear, Shane Colborn only has one kind of a relationship with beautiful women.”

  “Is this live?”
asked Shane. Not that he could stop it. The whole thing would be over before he got anywhere near downtown Chicago.

  “I’ll be honest, Mr. Nash. I was spying on Shane for several weeks, undercover at Colborn Aerospace. When he discovered my dishonesty, instead of throwing me out on my ear, he offered to help me.”

  Shane looked to Justin. “What on earth?”

  “So, you’re not sleeping with Shane Colborn?”

  “No, I am not.”

  “Not technically,” Shane muttered under his breath. Not at the moment. Berkley hadn’t asked her if she’d ever slept with Shane.

  “Forgive me, Ms. Rivers,” said Berkley, clearly frustrated with the direction of the interview. “But after all we’ve heard from people like Bianca Covington, it’s hard to buy this white-knight story you’re feeding us.”

  “I wouldn’t describe Shane Colborn as a white knight.”

  “How would you—?”

  “I would describe him as an ethical and professional businessman.”

  “And would—”

  “Bianca Covington and any other jilted lovers can sling all the mud they want, but as a former Colborn Aerospace employee, and as a person in an adversarial relationship with Mr. Colborn, I have to be honest and say that I respect him as both a man and a CEO.”

  “You believe Bianca Covington was slinging mud?”

  “I believe Bianca Covington was a woman scorned.”

  Berkley grinned, clearly delighted at the new swing in the conversation. “Bianca Covington may have something to say about that.”

  “I’m guessing she would. But I doubt she’ll come after me.”

  “Why not?”

  “Because my name on the cover of a scandalous book won’t sell nearly as many copies.”

  “Here we go,” Berkley sing-songed, practically rubbing his hands together with glee.

  “We should be paying her,” said Justin.

  “Are you accusing Bianca Covington of libel?” Berkley asked.

  “I’m saying Shane Colborn is too much of a gentleman to accuse her of lying.”

  “But you’re saying she is.”

  “I’m saying the Shane Colborn I’ve come to know wouldn’t have done any of the things in the book.”