Eleven
Shane was oddly disheartened at having to admit defeat, or victory, he supposed, depending on how you looked at it.
In the wine cellar late Saturday afternoon, Darci closed the last of the file boxes, rubbing her palms across the smooth, cardboard top.
“Nothing,” she said out loud.
Jennifer, who had spent the day helping, reached out to squeeze her shoulder. “I’m so sorry.”
“I’m sorry, too,” said Shane, fighting the urge to draw Darci into his arms.
She shot him an impatient look. “No, you’re not.”
“I am.” He couldn’t honestly say he was surprised. And he’d admit it was the best outcome for both him and Colborn Aerospace. But he was sorry she was disappointed after all her hard work.
“You’re allowed to gloat now,” she told him.
“I don’t want to gloat.”
“It was a long shot,” Jennifer said to Darci, giving her another squeeze.
Justin appeared in the doorway, a tablet computer in his hand. “Signed, sealed and delivered.”
He glanced up and took in everyone’s expressions. “What happened?”
“That was the last box,” said Shane, nodding to where Darci was sitting at the big table.
“So, no surprises?” asked Justin.
“No surprises,” remarked Darci.
“Makes my life easier,” said Justin.
“Don’t be a jerk,” said Shane.
“What?” Justin looked genuinely perplexed. “Did any of you really think it was going to go the other way?”
“I did,” said Jennifer.
“You obviously never met Ian Rivers.”
“Don’t insult my father,” said Darci.
“Justin,” Shane cautioned.
“What? Are you running a business or an emotional-support group?”
“You don’t have to behave like a classless jerk.”
“At least he’s honest,” said Darci.
“I’m being honest,” said Shane.
“So, are we relocating back to the office?” asked Justin, sounding eager.
“Not yet,” said Shane. He didn’t know what he wanted to do next, but leaving Darci wasn’t it.
“We don’t know anything for sure,” said Darci.
She came to her feet, lifting the box.
Shane quickly moved to take it from her and put it on the trolley.
“Just because there’s no proof,” she continued. “Doesn’t mean it never happened.”
“You’re grasping at straws,” said Justin. “But you’re right. I can’t prove a negative.”
“We’re all tired,” said Shane. “And we’re all hungry.”
“I’m not tired,” said Justin. He glanced at his watch.
Shane ignored him. “Let’s go get some fresh air. I’ll fire up the barbecue. Jennifer, grab us some wine.”
Jennifer’s eyes rounded, and she glanced around the cellar. “You want me to pick something out?”
“Go for it,” he said.
“I don’t have a clue what I’m doing.” But she was grinning from ear to ear as she looked around.
“It’s hard to go wrong in here.”
“You think you can appease us with good wine?” asked Darci.
“I think I can get you drunk on good wine.”
“Take something from the top shelf,” Darci said to Jennifer.
Shane chuckled. “In that case, I’ll see if the cook has any filets.”
“You’ve got something against burgers and Bordeaux?” asked Darci.
“You became an expert fast.”
“I’m...” Her expression sobered. “I’m really not in the mood to joke around.”
This time, he did move to her, drawing her into his arms. “I know you’re disappointed.”
Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Justin and Jennifer exchange a look. He didn’t know how much they’d guessed. And he didn’t know how much Darci had shared. But she’d spent the past two nights in his bed, and he wasn’t about to pretend there was nothing between them.
“I’m not giving up,” she said against his chest.
“Okay.” He wasn’t exactly sure what more she could do.
What were the options? What would he do if it was him?
He would see it through. And so would she. She tipped her chin up. “You won’t get in my way?”
“I said I’d help, didn’t I?” He was positive there was nothing to find. But he was going to support her for as long as it took for her to accept reality.
He gave her a squeeze, thinking how much he’d like to kiss her.
“You guys want us to leave you alone?” asked Jennifer.
“Yes,” said Shane.
Just as Darci said, “No.”
Darci playfully smacked her palm into the center of his chest and moved away. “Top shelf, Jen. It’s the very least he owes us.”
Shane gave in and headed for the door. “I’ll go see about some steaks.”
Justin fell into step beside him as they headed down the hall.
“What was that?” asked Justin.
“What?”
“You, Darci. Hey, I know she’s hot—”
“She’s more than hot.”
“What exactly is going on between you two?”
“None of your business.”
“I’m your lawyer. Everything’s my business.”
“Not my sex life.”
“Your sex life is what causes me most of my headaches.”
“Darci’s not going to cause you any headaches.”
“Are you hearing yourself?”
They reached the staircase and turned to go up.
“She won’t,” Shane tossed over his shoulder.
“She threatened to write another tell-all book.”
“It was an idle threat.”
“You can’t know that.”
At the top of the stairs, Shane turned toward the kitchen. “She truly believes she’s right.”
“No kidding. That’s what makes her dangerous.”
Shane slowed his steps, realizing he had to come at this from a different angle. Up to now, he’d been reactive, letting Darci take the lead. The question wasn’t what he’d do if he was her. The question was what he could do to find the answer.
“Could you find something to prove she’s wrong?” he asked Justin.
“You mean prove that Dalton created the schematics?”
“Yes. It’s not enough that she can’t verify she’s right.”
“Legally speaking, yes it is.”
“I’m not speaking legally. I need to be able to prove she’s wrong.”
They neared the kitchen door.
“So you can keep sleeping with her?”
Shane stopped. “Watch it, Justin.”
“I need all the facts, Shane. I can’t give you proper legal advice without them.”
“It’s not just sex,” said Shane.
“Then I need to know that, too. If your judgment is clouded, if you’re not operating in the best interest of Colborn Aerospace—”
“I own Colborn Aerospace.”
“And I have a responsibility to you.”
“My judgment isn’t clouded.”
Justin frowned. “Can we at least be honest?”
Shane drew a breath and opened his mouth to defend his position. Then he thought better of it. What was the truth? Could he honestly say Darci wasn’t clouding his judgment?
If he didn’t like her, if he wasn’t sleeping with her, if instead she’d been some graying old man coming forward with the same claim, what would he do?
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“You’re right,” he said.
“I’m always right,” said Justin.
“My judgment is ridiculously clouded. I can’t even see straight where it comes to Darci.”
“That’s why you need me.”
“Okay.” Shane gave a decisive nod. “I’ll take your advice. So, tell me honestly, is there any downside to finding concrete proof of my father’s innocence? Is that a completely irrational thing to do?”
“It only uses up my time.”
“Staff it out. Put someone else on it.”
Justin paused for a beat. “That I can do.”
“Good.”
Proof positive was what Shane needed. Once Darci understood that his father hadn’t swindled hers, they could focus on themselves. They could see where this relationship was going. His judgment might be clouded, but he knew she was special. And he wasn’t about to mess this up.
* * *
“This is off the charts,” said Jennifer, twirling in a circle on the mansion’s lawn.
They’d set the wine bottles on a table at the pool deck and were admiring the view across the rose garden.
“Everything about Shane Colborn is off the charts,” said Darci.
She wished she could dislike him. But whenever she let her guard down, she seemed to default to liking him.
“So, what are you going to do now?” Jennifer asked in a softer voice.
“I’m going to keep looking.”
Her father had been too distraught for too many years for there to be nothing to the story. Maybe the truth wasn’t exactly what she’d guessed, but there had to be some kind of foundation to his claim.
“Is there anywhere left to look?”
“I don’t know,” Darci confessed.
There hadn’t been any promising leads at the corporate headquarters, and Shane had told her none of the D&I Holdings records had been copied or scanned into the computer system. He also said Dalton hadn’t kept any private files at the office. Shane had been using Dalton’s former office at Colborn Aerospace for years now. If there’d been anything stashed away there, he’d have long since come across it.
Strangely, she believed him. Which meant she must trust him on some level.
“And Shane?” asked Jennifer. “What are you going to do about him?”
“I don’t know about that, either.”
“He likes you,” said Jennifer.
“He likes sleeping with me.”
“And you like sleeping with him.”
Darci caught sight of Shane and Justin following the concrete path from the mansion. They were a hundred yards away and still out of earshot. Shane’s stride was long and easy, his shoulders powerful over an extraordinarily fit body. He looked at home here, like a man at one with and in charge of his surroundings.
“What’s not to like?” she asked.
Jennifer followed the line of her sight. “Have you got it bad?”
“I don’t know what I’ve got. He’s not what I expected.”
“Do you think he’s being straight with you about the drawings?”
The two men grew closer.
“Are you asking if I think he destroyed the original drawings?”
“Or he knows that his father destroyed them.”
Darci had thought about that. “It’s impossible to know for sure. I might never know for sure.”
Shane reached the edge of the pool deck and stopped to examine the two bottles of wine.
“Now, this is disappointing,” he called out. His gaze zeroed in on Jennifer. “These aren’t from the top shelf.”
“You can’t have that place memorized,” Jennifer responded.
Shane handed the bottles to Justin. “Take her back inside and let her have another go.”
“They were near the top,” said Darci, moving toward the pool deck.
“The labels are pretty,” said Jennifer.
Shane rolled his eyes.
“Let’s go,” said Justin, cocking his head at the house.
“It was Darci who stopped me,” said Jennifer, coming to a halt in front of Justin.
“Oh, sure. Blame me.”
Justin’s eyes twinkled. “I’ll steer you in the right direction.”
“Better hurry,” said Shane. “A steward’s coming down with cocktails.”
Justin motioned for Jennifer to go first, and they started up the path.
Shane grasped Darci’s hand, tugging her with him.
She nearly stumbled. “What?”
“We’ve got about ten minutes.”
“Ten minutes to what?”
He pulled her behind the screen of the pool house, spinning her around so that her back was to the sun-warmed wall.
“This.” He leaned down and kissed her. “I’ve been dying to do that all day.”
“You’re nuts.”
“I’m nuts about you.” He kissed her again, lingering this time, delving deeper, easing his body full-length against hers.
It felt wonderful, and she gave into the sensation.
He drew back, but only inches, resting his forehead against hers. “Stay,” he said. “Stay tonight. I know the search is over, but I don’t want you to leave.”
It was tempting. It was incredibly tempting to set reality aside and simply stay here in his arms.
“What are we doing, Shane?”
“Enjoying each other’s company.”
“This isn’t what I wanted. This isn’t what I planned.”
“I know.” He gave her another soft, brief kiss. “It’s blindsided me, too.”
“As a friend once told me, this isn’t going to end well,” she persevered.
“We’ll handle it.”
“Will you? Will you really?”
He kissed her again. “Yes, I will.”
“And when I’m right?”
“So far, you’re not.”
“But if I am?”
“And I have to give you half a billion dollars?”
The statement startled her. “Is that what you think I’m after?”
He smiled, his hands settling around her rib cage. “What else would you be after?”
She could barely believe it. “Are you joking? You think I want half of Colborn Aerospace?”
“Darci, you’ve just spent weeks—”
“I want fair-market value for my Dad’s intellectual property. At the time he left the company. Plus interest, sure, because that would be reasonable. But mostly, I want you and everyone else to acknowledge his contribution to the industry. He created a revolutionary, award-winning jet-engine innovation, and nobody knows about it.”
“You’re not out to get control of Colborn?”
“You thought I wanted control of Colborn?”
He searched her expression. “Yes. Sure. Of course.”
“Because that’s what you would do?” she asked.
“That’s what anyone would do.”
“I’m not anyone.”
His expression smoothed out. “No, you’re not.” He kissed her again.
“Stop,” she sputtered.
“No.”
“We’re fighting.”
“We’ve stopped. Now we’re kissing.”
“Shane.”
But his next kiss muffled her protest. Her body responded to him. Her lips softened, and her eyes fluttered closed.
“You’re cheating,” she sighed.
“You’re spying,” he responded.
“Not anymore.”
“Only because I caught you.” He kissed her again, bringing a telling moan from the depths of her chest.
“Stay,” he repeated, his voice low and co
mmanding.
It was what she wanted. She couldn’t deny it.
She gave in. “Just one more night.”
“One more night,” he echoed, his hands tightening beneath her breasts, his expression turning possessive.
* * *
Shane watched Darci pad barefoot across his bedroom. First, studying the photos on his shelves, then peering out the bay window into the darkness before running her fingertips across the top of his dresser. She’d slipped his discarded shirt over her shoulders, and it fell to midthigh of her shapely legs. Lying in his messy bed, he could still feel the imprint where those thighs had been wrapped around his waist. He decided there was no better view than a tousled-haired, half-dressed Darci wandering around his bedroom.
“Was this your parents’ room?” she asked, moving toward the walk-in closet.
“No,” he answered. “Theirs was at the front of the house.”
“You didn’t move in to the master bedroom after they died?”
Shane shrugged. “I like this room.”
“You didn’t want to be lord of the manor?”
He gave a low chuckle. “I’d hardly call this a manor.”
“I would.”
“There are plenty of houses bigger than this.”
She tested the knob and opened the closet door a couple of inches. “How many bedrooms?”
“Seven.”
“Staff quarters?”
“Above the garage and beside the pool house.”
She sent him a questioning look and gestured to the closet door. “Do you mind?”
“Knock yourself out.”
As far as he could remember, there weren’t any embarrassing secrets in his closet. And, if there were, the housekeeping staff would have discovered them years ago.
She pulled open the door.
“Light switch on the right,” he told her.
“You’re very cooperative.”
“I do try.”
She flipped on the switch. “What’s in here?”
“Suits mostly, shoes, ties. There might be an old briefcase and a couple of watches lying around. Oh, and if you open the secret panel behind the third shelf, you’ll find the original turbine plans that prove your father’s story.”
“Ha, ha.” She disappeared inside.
“Is that what you’re looking for?” he called.
“I don’t know what I’m looking for.” There was a silence. “Hang on.”
He waited for her to elaborate.
Sex, Lies and the CEO Page 17
