The Real Deal

by Lucy Monroe

  “Yet he went back to his lab without you discussing one word on the merger with him.”

  Guilty as charged. “Yes.”

  “What’s he working on?”

  “A fuel cell alternate energy source.”

  “What? That’s got nothing to do with the next generation of computers.”

  “Simon is an inventor. He works on more than one project at a time. Evidently only some of them are for Brant Computers.”

  “So, what’s he working on for Brant right now?”

  “I have no idea.” Did Daniel really think Simon was going to share that kind of information with the competition? And until the merger went through, Brant Computers and Extant Corporation were direct competitors.

  “You don’t seem to know a whole lot about anything of value right now.” Daniel’s sarcasm hurt.

  She was good at her job. It wasn’t her fault that Simon was being so recalcitrant about discussing the merger. And the idea she should know what he was working on for Brant was ludicrous. “I didn’t get sent up here to be a corporate spy, Daniel. Frankly, if Simon did drop proprietary information, I wouldn’t pass it on. It wouldn’t be ethical.”

  “I suppose not.” But he didn’t sound convinced and that worried her. “You said Eric Brant is coming to dinner tonight.”

  “Yes. He and his wife.”

  “Well, let’s hope he can accomplish what you haven’t and get Simon to listen to the merger proposal.”

  She fumbled in her purse for an antacid, but couldn’t find one. She started digging through her briefcase, her cell phone pressed to her ear. “I’m trying my best.”

  She found a tablet and popped it in her mouth.

  “Your best isn’t cutting it.”

  The words sliced through her like a well-sharpened blade. She’d spent so much of her life being judged and found wanting that her reputation as a professional was incredibly important to her. The only place she had ever excelled had been first as a student and then as a career woman.

  She couldn’t screw that up.

  It was the one thing she had left that stopped her from shrinking away to nothing like she did in the nightmare that plagued her.

  “Have I ever let you down before, Daniel?”

  “No.” It was begrudging.

  “Then trust me now.”

  “Don’t make me sorry I did.”

  She was shaking as she hung up the phone. Two weeks ago she’d been on the fast track to success at Extant Corporation and now she felt like her job was hanging by a thread.

  Eric and Elaine arrived for dinner before Simon came out of his lab.

  “Are you having any success discussing the merger with him?” Eric asked her over drinks in the great room.

  Jacob had served them and then said something about fetching Simon.

  “I’ve gotten to tell him the marketing estimates for the merged companies and we discussed the combination of design engineering power.” She didn’t elaborate on that, as the discussion hadn’t been a rousing success.

  “Simon can be very stubborn.” The blond Elaine relaxed elegantly against the sofa’s cushions. She had delicate features and was boyishly slender, even with her obvious pregnancy. Her chic mint-green silk sheath made Amanda feel oversized and dowdy in her black pleated skirt and lightweight houndstooth sweater set. “And when he’s not being stubborn, he’s simply ignoring the rest of the world in favor of his experiments.”

  She smiled at Amanda. “I don’t envy you the task of trying to hold his attention long enough to convince him about the merger.”

  “I have to admit his antipathy toward the merger surprised me.” Eric took a sip of his scotch. “Half the time I think he doesn’t even realize Brant Computers exists.”

  “His biggest concern seems to stem from the jobs that will be lost.”

  “I can see that being the case. Simon has a tender heart,” Eric said musingly.

  “You should see him with our little boy,” Elaine added, “he’s a total pushover for Joey.”

  Amanda could picture Simon teaching a little boy basic Tae Kwon Do moves and she smiled. He’d be an interesting father, but a good one. “He should have children of his own.”

  She had no idea why she said it. She didn’t know the Brants well enough to make comments like that.

  Elaine’s eyes widened. “I can’t see him noticing a woman long enough to marry her, much less manage to father a child.”

  “I can’t complain about Simon’s absentminded approach to relationships. If he’d been more attentive, you might have married him instead of me.” Eric’s warm regard for his wife left Amanda in no doubt how he felt about the slim woman.

  “You silly thing. I loved you almost from the moment I met you. Even if Simon and I had been engaged, I would have ended up with you.” She smiled wryly. “That makes me sound awful, but love has its own rules.”

  “You and Simon dated?” Amanda asked.

  “Yes, but dating a genius inventor isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, let me tell you.”

  Amanda could not imagine dumping Simon for Eric Brant. It wasn’t that Eric wasn’t an attractive and powerful man, but Simon was ultra-attractive and ultra-powerful in his masculinity. He was simply ultra-everything.

  “So you rightly decided to cut your losses and let my cousin convince you to take a chance on him.” Simon’s voice sent Amanda’s heart skittering.

  She schooled her features and turned to him. “Hi, Simon.”

  He nodded at her.

  Elaine got up and went to Simon for a hug. “Hello, stranger. You need to come and see Joey. He’s wondering where his Uncle Simon has gone to.”

  Simon wrapped his arms around her and kissed her cheek. “Tell him I’ll be by to see him next week sometime.”

  Seeing Simon in an embrace with his former girlfriend caused a jealous reaction in Amanda that she had no reason and even less right to feel.

  Elaine stepped back. “All right, but a three-year-old’s concept of time isn’t that precise. He’s going to badger me until you come.” There was humor in her voice when she said it, so Amanda assumed Elaine didn’t really mind.

  Simon and Eric shook hands. “How are the experiments coming along?”

  Simon shrugged. “I’ll let you know when I have something concrete.”

  “So, what do you think of Amanda’s proposal?”

  Simon had been waiting for the question since coming downstairs to discover Elaine telling Amanda why he was a bad relationship risk.

  “She hasn’t finished presenting it.”

  Eric laughed. “Well, my money is on Amanda. Any woman who would brave moving in with an old curmudgeon like Jacob and a total eccentric like you has got the moxy necessary to get the job done.”

  The warm pleasure reflected in Amanda’s eyes at Eric’s compliment irritated Simon. “I said I’d listen to what she had to say, not that I would agree with her.”

  “But, Simon, it makes sense.” Elaine smiled appealingly. “Extant and Brant together can compete with the bigger companies for market share in a way Brant could never do on its own.”

  “Market share isn’t the only consideration worth looking at.” There was so much more to the company than how big a chunk of the market they commanded.

  “But it is a big consideration.” This was from Amanda.

  Simon turned his attention to her. The way the thin fabric of her sweater stretched across her breasts had been distracting him all evening. “That depends on how you look at it.”

  “Why don’t you tell us how you’re looking at it,” Eric said, throwing the ball firmly back into Simon’s court.

  “Extant Corporation is our competitor, not to mention a publicly held company. The only way we could merge would be to go public ourselves. That’s not a consideration I dismiss lightly.”

  “I haven’t dismissed it either, but times change, Simon. If we want to stay competitive, Brant Computers has to change with them.”

  Simon
shook his head. “You’re not talking about gaining a competitive edge. You’re talking about changing the face and direction of our company. No offense, Amanda, but it’s a lousy idea.”

  She looked at him and her expression revealed almost anguished disappointment, but she didn’t say anything.

  Eric wasn’t so reticent. “It’s a natural progression for Brant Computers. Your job won’t change. You can still do your research and development at home, in your preferred isolation.”

  “You’re assuming I will continue to work for Brant.”

  He watched as the shock from his words changed his cousin’s expression from exasperation to chagrin.

  Elaine gasped. “Of course you’ll still work for Brant. You’re family. You couldn’t even consider selling your designs to another company.”

  He turned to the woman he’d once considered marrying. “Why not?”

  “Because it would be betraying your family!”

  He leaned back in his chair and crossed his arms over his chest, taking in the others at the table with his gaze. “Not if Brant Computers is no longer a family held company.”

  Eric said something succinct and ugly. He ran his fingers through his sandy hair, leaving it disheveled. “I didn’t expect you to look at it that way.”

  “Obviously.”

  “Look, why don’t you let Amanda finish giving you her presentation and then we can talk more later?”

  “Listening to more statistics on sales and growth estimates isn’t going to change my mind.” He and his older cousin rarely argued, mostly because they usually agreed, but also because they were both stubborn. Eric being four years older had never mattered to Simon.

  “What will it hurt? I think you owe it to me to at least hear her out.”

  “How do you figure that?”

  “I’ve been managing the company with very little input from you for five years. If you ask me, you’ve chosen a darned inconvenient time to start showing an interest in the way Brant Computers is run.”

  “You were just as happy with the division of labor between us after the crash as I was.”

  Eric ran his hand over his face and then dropped it to the table. “I was. I am. I don’t think you and I could have worked together the way Dad and Uncle John did before they died. They made a great team because they saw things from the same angle. I’m not sure there’s a person on the face of the earth that looks at life quite like you do, Simon.”

  Simon didn’t take offense. He knew Eric didn’t mean anything derogatory by the remark, but it landed with dead center accuracy in that empty, cold place inside him. The place swirling with the chilling fog of loneliness that had opened when his mom died and never gone away.

  “I’m not going to kick Amanda out and send her back to Seattle with a flea in her ear.”

  “And you will listen to what she has to say?”

  “I’ll listen.”

  Eric nodded, looking satisfied.

  “Thank you.” Amanda’s voice pulled his attention back to her. The dark brown eyes were filled with a determination he could not help admiring, no matter how misplaced it was.

  Eric and Elaine left for the ferry and Amanda once again found herself alone with Simon.

  He poured two glasses of brandy and handed her one before sitting on the opposite end of the sofa from her. “Okay, fire away.”

  “You dated Elaine before she married Eric?” Oh, my gosh. What was she thinking? That was not what she’d meant to say.

  Simon looked as startled by her left-field question as she felt. What had prompted her to ask that? She knew he meant to talk about the merger with her. Maybe it had been the three glasses of wine she’d consumed over the course of the evening. They’d loosened her tongue to the point of revealing a personal interest that was better left completely under wraps. If so, she was never going to drink again.

  She set the balloon glass of brandy down on the coffee table with an audible thud.

  “I wanted to marry her.”

  If her question had surprised him, his answer shocked her speechless. She stared at him. He’d wanted to marry Elaine?

  Simon grimaced in acknowledgment of Amanda’s reaction. “Yeah. It was completely impractical. She’s much happier with Eric than she could have been with me.”

  “Did you love her?”

  He shrugged. “I wanted her warmth. When she was around the shadows receded.”

  That sounded like an eccentric inventor’s definition of love to her. “How did she meet Eric?”

  “I introduced them. He’s my closest friend, my family. It seemed like the thing to do.”

  “And they fell for each other.”

  “Yes.”

  “You all seem like friends now.”

  “We are. I didn’t hold her choosing him over me against either of them, if that’s what you’re thinking.”

  “It was,” she admitted.

  “What would be the use? Neither of them hurt me on purpose.”

  But he had been hurt. She could see it in the depths of his somber gray eyes.

  “I’m not that understanding, I guess.” Lance’s betrayal still rankled and she would never trust the man she’d found him with again.

  “You know that for a fact?” he asked probingly.

  “I do.” Maybe she would have understood better if she hadn’t been married to Lance, though, if her discovery had come before they’d gotten engaged.

  “What happened?”

  “My husband had an affair.”

  “You told me you aren’t married.”

  “I divorced him.” And her parents still hadn’t forgiven her. Neither had her older brother. According to them, she was the one who hadn’t lived up to her wedding vows.

  “And you haven’t forgiven him.”

  She thought about all the pain still roiling around inside her from marriage to a man who had rejected her femininity so completely. “It’s not that simple. If you mean I’m not in a place where I can be his friend like you are with Eric and Elaine, you’re right. But I don’t wish him ill. So, in that sense I’ve forgiven him.”

  “Does he want your friendship?”

  “Of course. It’s all about appearances in his and my family’s circle of acquaintances. He wants everything to look amicable even though it wasn’t.”

  “Did he marry the woman he had an affair with?”

  It was her turn to grimace. “No.” To this day, she didn’t know who the woman she’d seen with Lance and the other man, was.

  “Did he want the divorce?”

  “No.”

  “But you weren’t willing to forgive him his lapse and stay married.”

  She had grown steadily tenser as the conversation progressed. She felt like a pane of fragile glass on the verge of shattering. “No, I wasn’t.” Then she looked Simon straight in the eye. “Would you have?”

  “No.”

  Some of the tension drained out of her. At least he understood. That was more than her family had been able to do. “We’ve gotten very profound in our conversation.”

  His smile dispelled another layer of tension. “Yes.”

  Maybe asking about Elaine hadn’t been such a huge faux pas after all. She picked up her brandy and took a small sip.

  “Jacob told me he found us asleep together in my bed.”

  The strong spirits went down the wrong pipe and she coughed until tears streamed from her eyes. Simon had jumped up when she started coughing and now he handed her a glass of water. She took it gratefully, taking a big gulp immediately.

  He extended a box of tissues to her. She pulled one out and used it to wipe the wetness from her face.

  “Better?” Simon asked.

  She nodded.

  “Jacob said you told him I fell on you.”

  Had he also told Simon about the compromising position she’d woken up in? She could only hope not.

  “You fell asleep standing up and on the way to the bed, you somehow took me with you.”


  “You fell asleep too?”

  This was less easy to explain. She averted her head, not wanting to look at him when she tried to make him understand.

  “You wouldn’t let go. I couldn’t wake you up and I couldn’t move you. I decided the only thing to do was to wait until you’d gone into a deep enough sleep to relax your muscles.” That sounded much better than she had thought it would. “I fell asleep waiting. I’m sorry that I did so. I realize it was a completely unprofessional thing to do.”

  She peeked at Simon out of the corner of her eye to see how he was taking her explanation.

  His expression was unreadable. “I think we can agree it was an irregular situation.”

  She nodded. That had been easier than she could have imagined. She barely stifled a sigh of relief.

  “Why didn’t you call for help from Jacob?”

  No way was she going to tell him it was because she hadn’t wanted to be caught with Simon’s hand on her breast. Her reticence had been for nothing as that was exactly what had happened, but at the time she’d been trying to protect her professional reputation. “I didn’t know if he would hear me, or not. He spends most of his time at the other end of the house and on a different floor.”

  Even though the explanation made sense, Simon could tell she was holding something back. He wanted to know what. Had she done it on purpose?

  He would have sworn not, but the way she was avoiding looking at him was suspect. She could simply be embarrassed.

  On the other hand, if what she said was true, she had no reason to be. She hadn’t done anything to be embarrassed about.

  “Eric seems very impressed by your business acumen.”

  That brought her attention around. “I’m glad.”

  She looked it, her eyes glittering with happiness.

  For no reason he could think of, that annoyed the hell out of him. “Maybe he’ll offer you a job if your superiors are too disappointed when the merger doesn’t go through.”

  She blanched, her head snapping back and her skin going pale. “You said you’d listen to the proposal before making up your mind.”

  “I did not. I said I would listen to the presentation, period.”