Family Man

by Jayne Ann Krentz

“Not come to me with the problem.”

  Katy gave him a tentative grin. “I get it. It was a sort of damned if I do, damned if I don’t situation for me, is that it? That’s okay. I get into situations like that a lot when I deal with Gilchrists.”

  “Katy, take some advice. Don’t start with the Gilchrist generalizations. I am not in the mood for them.”

  Luke spent half an hour talking to the martial arts instructor at the Dragon Bay Athletic Club. When he was finished he was satisfied that Matt was in good hands.

  The instructor taught self-defense from a philosophical perspective that emphasized self-control and the kind of discipline a man needed to survive successfully in the world.

  Luke stood at the back of the room and watched for a few minutes as Matt settled into his first class. As the sensei walked to the front of the crowd of restless, energetic, unruly young men they froze into positions of respect. The quiet inner power their instructor radiated clearly fascinated them. They all wanted to imitate it. Matt was just as eager as the rest.

  Matt was in the right place.

  Luke left the club and walked out to where he had parked the Jag. When he had kids of his own he was definitely going to sign them up for instruction in the martial arts.

  He realized as he turned the key in the ignition that this was the second time in the past twenty-four hours that he had contemplated having children of his own.

  Katy was doing this to him, Luke thought as he drove out of Dragon Bay and headed toward Seattle. She was forcing him to become aware of his own future once more.

  * * *

  Luke leaned on Eden’s doorbell until she answered it. Her expression was one of irritation when she opened the door, but it turned to one of defiance when she saw who stood in the hall.

  “Luke.”

  “Right. You going to let me in so that we can discuss your little problem like civilized people, or shall I just turn the whole thing over to the cops?”

  Eden’s mouth tightened. “I told Katy this would never work.”

  “Yeah? Well, I told her I’d take care of things, so one way or another I’m going to do it. Would you mind if we had this conversation someplace other than the hall?”

  “You might as well come in.” Eden stood aside.

  Luke stepped into the sleek red, black, and gold apartment. The decor gave him a sense of déjà vu. Ariel had used the same style and colors in the interior design of their home.

  Luke examined a tall black and gold vase on a black lacquer table as he sank down into a black leather chair near the windows. He thought of how much Ariel would have liked it.

  He stilled at the thought, waiting tensely for a reaction from deep inside himself.

  Nothing happened.

  Luke realized with a sense of relief that his surroundings were not sending a jolt of old pain through him.

  Somewhere along the line during the past three years he had recovered from the loss of his wife. He wondered when that had happened and why he had not noticed the change in himself. Probably because he had been trapped in limbo.

  “I suppose Katy told you the whole sordid story.” Eden dropped gracefully down onto the black leather sofa.

  “You’re being blackmailed by your ex?”

  Eden leaned her head back against the cushion and watched him from beneath lowered lashes. “That about sums it up.”

  Luke shook his head in disgust. “Stupid, Eden. Real stupid.”

  “What was I supposed to do?” she flared. “Go to Justine?”

  Luke considered that. “A possibility.”

  “Not a possibility at all. She would have turned on Mother. You know that. I couldn’t let her do it. Mom has spent her whole life trying to protect the rest of us from Justine. I had to do what I could to protect Mom when this happened.”

  “You must have known it was all going to fall apart eventually. You couldn’t keep skimming that kind of cash without being found out,” Luke said.

  “I kept hoping after each payment that Nate would be satisfied.”

  “You know what they say about blackmailers. They’re never satisfied. You have to pay them off forever.”

  “Nate is not exactly a typical blackmailer,” Eden muttered “He’s angry because of the divorce, and he wants revenge. I thought that after a while he’d be satisfied and go away.”

  Luke stuck his legs out in front of him and studied the toes of his black running shoes. “Does Hayden know about any of this?”

  “Of course not,” Eden snapped. “Dad spends most of his time in his own private world. You know how it is with artists. Mom protects him as much as she can from unpleasant realities. Besides, what could he have done?”

  Luke ignored that. “What about Darren? Did you tell him about the blackmail?”

  “No. There was nothing he could have done either. It was my problem, not his.”

  “Until you told Katy what was going on. And then it became her problem, didn’t it?”

  Eden’s eyes slid away. She stared at the view of Elliott Bay out her window. “She came to see me because Mother told her I was getting involved with Nate again. Katy couldn’t believe it. Once I started talking it all came out. I’ve been a nervous wreck. I had to talk to someone.”

  “So you just naturally spilled your guts to the Gilchrist guardian angel. You knew she’d help you, didn’t you?”

  “I sure as hell didn’t know she was planning to run straight to you,” Eden said coldly.

  “Ah, but she didn’t run straight to me,” Luke reminded her softly. “She went to Atwood first to see if she could frighten him off. That’s what really annoys me in this whole idiotic mess.”

  Eden’s gaze slid back to his. “Why?”

  “Because Atwood is slime. I don’t want her having to deal with slime.”

  “Is that right? Well, in case you didn’t know it, she used to date Nate Atwood. She thought she was falling in love with the man. Who knows what would have happened if I hadn’t come along? She might have wound up married to him herself.”

  Luke smiled slowly. “I’m aware of that. And that, my dear cousin, is the only reason I agreed to help you get out of this mess.”

  Eden scowled. “What do you mean?”

  “The way I look at it, you’re probably the main reason Atwood didn’t try to con Katy into marriage. He wanted a Gilchrist, not an angel. I owe you for that. So I’m going to repay you by getting rid of Atwood.”

  Eden looked baffled. “I don’t understand. Are you telling me you’re interested in Katy?”

  “Yes.”

  “But Katy? Luke, she’s not your type at all.”

  “I know. She told me that right at the start. Don’t worry about it. It’s not your problem. Let’s get down to the main business here.”

  “What business?” Eden asked cautiously.

  “I want to know everything you know about Atwood. The way he runs his operations, where he goes for his financing, the kinds of deals he favors. Everything. When you’ve told me what you know I’ll use a computer to get the rest.”

  “What are you going to do?”

  Luke shrugged. “First I’m going to gather information. It’s what I do best. When I’ve got enough, I’ll crush him.”

  Eden stared at him. “You’re serious, aren’t you?”

  “Uh-huh.”

  Eden sat forward. There was a spark of hope in her eyes. “Can you really do it?”

  “One way or another.”

  Eden hesitated, watching him closely. “Why?”

  “I told you why.”

  “You’re going to save my neck because of Katy?”

  “She’s the main reason,” Luke admitted. “But there’s another reason.”

  “What?”

  “As much as I hate to admit it, I understand how you got yo
urself into this situation. You’re a Gilchrist. As Katy keeps telling me, we Gilchrists tend to do things with a certain melodramatic flair.”

  In the end it was not particularly difficult. A little digging, a little probing, a little intuition, and it all came together.

  Monday afternoon Luke sat in his Seattle office and studied the screenful of data he had compiled. He had all he needed to control Atwood.

  The next step was informing Atwood of that fact.

  Luke picked up the phone and dialed the office of Atwood Investments. A throaty voice on the other end of the line assured him that Mr. Atwood was in.

  “Would you care to speak to him?”

  “Not right now,” Luke said. He hung up without giving the secretary his name. Then he got to his feet and went down to the garage to retrieve the Jag.

  Half an hour later he was in Bellevue. He took the elevator to the twelfth floor, got out, and walked down the hall to a door that had Atwood Investments inscribed on it.

  Luke eyed the sign with acute distaste. The thought of Katy coming here to confront Atwood angered him all over again. The Gilchrist guardian angel needed her wings clipped. She took far too many chances.

  Luke opened the door of the office. A young blonde in a low-cut dress looked up and smiled brightly.

  “May I help you?”

  “Atwood in?”

  “Yes, sir. If you’ll give me your name, I’ll let him know you’re here.”

  “Never mind. He’ll figure out who I am soon enough.” Luke crossed the office and opened the inner door.

  “Sir, wait! You can’t just barge in there like that.”

  “Watch me.” Luke went into the office and closed the door behind him.

  The man who had to be Nate Atwood sat hunched over the phone, talking into it in a smooth, mellow, utterly convincing voice. Atwood was obviously a born salesman.

  “To be real honest, Mel, the deal’s been locked up tight since last week. The rest of the investors don’t want to share this kind of potential with anyone else. You can understand their position. But I managed to save a couple of slots for my best customers. If you’re interested, I’ll...Hang on a second, Mel.” Atwood looked up at Luke, scowling. He put his hand over the receiver. “Be with you in a few minutes. Check in with my secretary out front.”

  “I already did that,” Luke said. He walked over to the nearest chair and sat down. “It wasn’t a very edifying conversation.”

  Atwood glared at him. “Look, if you don’t mind, I’m trying to conduct business here.”

  “But I do mind. I don’t like the way you do business.” Luke opened his briefcase and took out a file. He tossed it onto Atwood’s desk. “The name’s Gilchrist. Luke Gilchrist. I believe Katy Wade told you I’d be around if you didn’t cut out the blackmail. You didn’t agree to stop, so here I am.”

  “Gilchrist? Shit, are you crazy? You can’t come in here like this and start making threats.” Anger boiled to life in Atwood’s eyes.

  “I’m not making a threat. I never make threats. Anything I say you can take as a solemn promise. And I promise you I’ve pulled the plug on the financing you’ve arranged for the Crystal Harbor deal you’re putting together right now. Tell Mel it’s dead.”

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  The lines around Atwood’s mouth went white with tension. He never took his eyes off Luke as he spoke quickly into the phone. “Mel, something’s come up. I’ll get back to you. Sure. This afternoon. Don’t worry. You’ll get a piece of the action.”

  Atwood slammed down the phone. “All right, Gilchrist. What the hell is this all about? Talk fast, or I’ll call the cops and have you tossed out of here.”

  “I told you what it’s all about. The financing package for the Crystal Harbor development project just died an early death. I killed it with a couple of phone calls to your backers.”

  Atwood’s hand clenched around the arms of his chair. “You can’t do that.”

  “It’s done. Take a look at what’s in that file if you don’t believe me. Your financial backers have been told that your little empire is built on bad paper, Atwood. Phony financial statements, false earnings reports, questionable credit references.”

  “That’s not true.”

  Luke smiled. “Unfortunately for you, whether it’s true or not is beside the point. The data in that file make you look bad. I know because I put it together myself. I estimate it will take you months to clean up the misunderstandings and mistakes. And in the meantime, the Crystal Harbor project is dead.”

  Atwood snapped the file open and scanned the contents. When he was through he looked dazed. “You can’t do this. This is a pack of lies.”

  “Not quite.” Luke got to his feet and went to stand at the window. “That’s the sweet part, Atwood. There are no lies in that report on your financial situation. I merely pointed out to your backers that you’ve been skating on thin ice for the past three or four years. The bad times started right after the High Ridge Springs project went sour, didn’t they?”

  “What do you know about High Ridge Springs?”

  “Enough. Your backers there were in danger of taking heavy losses. You were desperate. So you phonied up some credit reports in order to get more loans. It worked. You salvaged High Ridge Springs. After that it got easier to use fake paper, didn’t it?”

  “Goddammit, that’s not true. I only did it the one time, and it saved a lot of people a great deal of money.”

  “Are you a betting man, Atwood? I am. And I’m willing to gamble that the report I put together is going to cause your backers to check out your true financial situation. Even if you’re white as snow, it will take months to prove it.”

  “You can’t do this to me, Gilchrist.”

  “It’s done.” Luke turned away from the window and looked at him. “Consider yourself lucky. You know what the sentence is for blackmail?”

  “You can’t prove I ever tried to blackmail anyone, you son of a bitch.”

  “We’re even. You can’t prove I put together that report on your financial picture. But your backers won’t care where the information came from. They’ll just be grateful they got it in time to cut their losses.” Luke started for the door. “In the future, stay away from my family.”

  Atwood leapt to his feet behind the desk. “I don’t believe this. What the hell do you care about the other Gilchrists? Everyone knows you’re only back for revenge.”

  Luke paused at the door and looked back. “Everyone?”

  “Don’t forget I was married to your bitch of a cousin. I know a little family history.” Atwood’s eyes slitted. “There’s something else going on here.”

  “Don’t waste any time trying to figure it out,” Luke advised. “You’ve got enough trouble as it is.” He opened the door.

  “Christ, it’s Katy, isn’t it? Hell, it all fits now. You don’t give a damn about Eden or her family. You’re doing this on account of Katy.”

  Luke started through the door.

  “What do you want with her?” Atwood snarled. “Katy’s hardly your type.”

  “Yeah? Well, she wasn’t your type either, was she? You used her to get to Eden.”

  “At least I didn’t sleep with Katy before I moved on,” Atwood said softly. “Something tells me you’re not being quite so noble. I’ll bet you’re screwing her. What does that make you? You know damn well you’re not going to marry her. Gilchrists go for the more dramatic type.”

  Luke turned around, closed the door, and walked back toward Atwood. “You know something, Atwood? You’re getting to be a real pain in the ass. By the way, I almost forgot. I want a check on my desk by the end of the week for the total amount you squeezed out of Eden. If it’s not there, I’ll do a lot more than kill one deal. I’ll rip your entire house of cards to shreds.”

  Atwood lost what was left of his self-cont
rol at that point and launched himself at Luke. Luke stepped aside. He reached out, caught hold of Atwood’s shoulder, and added momentum and spin to Nate’s lunge. Then he stuck out his left foot.

  Atwood yelled as he tripped over Luke’s foot and fetched up against the office wall. The framed picture of a successful Atwood development that was hanging there shuddered, fell off its hook, and landed on Atwood’s head. The glass shattered and dropped out of the frame, forming a sparkling ring around the stunned Atwood.

  Luke looked down at his victim. “Katy keeps telling me I have to find nonviolent problem-solving techniques. I guess I’m a slow learner.”

  He walked out of the office past the nervous-looking secretary and went down the hall to the elevator.

  His mission had been accomplished, he told himself. So why did he have an uneasy feeling that something was very wrong?

  Even as he asked the question Luke knew the answer. Katy was right. Atwood did not need money. The amount he had pried out of Eden during the past few months was no more than what he could have made in a couple of successful real estate deals. Furthermore, Atwood had only been married to Eden for three short months, and he had never really loved her. He had only married her to get his hands on Gilchrist, Inc.

  Any normal businessman would have seen the unsuccessful attempt to get a controlling interest in the company as just another deal that had not worked out.

  But Atwood was enraged. His reaction to the loss was out of proportion to the situation.

  Atwood’s actions did not make sense. The only other logical explanation was that he had a screw loose. But nothing in the research Luke had done indicated the man was crazy.

  There had to be more to this than was apparent. The infuriated look in Atwood’s eyes had indicated there was something very personal about the assault on Gilchrist. Something that went far beyond the annoyance of a man who had lost a cold-blooded business gamble.

  Luke got into the Jag and sat quietly behind the wheel for a moment. He decided he would do a little more probing on the subject of Nate Atwood.