Destiny Unleashed

by Sherryl Woods

  Destiny beamed at him. “I knew you would understand.”

  He gave her an apologetic look. “Perhaps I misjudged you,” he said.

  “It happens,” she said blithely. “Usually never more than once.”

  For the first time since they’d met, Chester actually laughed. “Something tells me that working with you is going to be a revelation.”

  She patted his hand. “For both of us, Chester. It can be a good partnership, you know. You have much-valued expertise in business and in the European market. I am rather clever with people. Together, I think we’ll be quite formidable, if you’ll give it a proper chance.”

  “I most certainly will,” he said at once.

  “And no more calls to my nephew. Understood?”

  He blanched at that. “Richard told you?”

  She laughed. “After promising he wouldn’t? Never. He didn’t have to. As I said, I understand people.”

  “It won’t happen again, I assure you.”

  Destiny nodded. “Then go and mingle. This is as good a time as any to prove to everyone that you and I intend to run this company as a team, rather than being at odds.”

  When the obviously relieved Chester had gone off to talk with her other guests, Destiny turned her attention back to William. He was alone now, standing off to one side, almost in the shadows, his hooded gaze watching her. It reminded her all too vividly of the night they’d met, when he’d sought a hiding place where he could observe rather than participate in the gathering.

  She made her way across the room in his direction. It took some time, because with the champagne flowing, her guests were suddenly eager for a moment of her time, anxious to share ideas in a way they hadn’t been during the first tense meetings in her office.

  When she eventually reached William, he grabbed her hand and pulled her into the kitchen, which was a beehive of activity as the caterer and his staff readied more hors d’oeuvres to keep the tables overflowing with food. William clearly saw his mistake at once and grimaced.

  “There doesn’t seem to be anyplace where I can have a moment alone with you,” he grumbled.

  Destiny laughed. “The bedroom’s probably free, but I imagine that would be a serious mistake. It might be misconstrued by my other guests.” Worse, she could just imagine how Richard would interpret it, if he heard about it, and there was little question that he would, despite Chester’s reassurances.

  William’s gaze clashed with hers. “Would it really? It seems forever since I’ve held you in my arms.”

  “Then you should be over the desire,” she said tartly, refusing to be swayed by the hunger in his eyes. “I am.”

  “Are you really, Destiny?”

  “I was over it in months,” she lied. “After more than twenty years, those days we shared in Provence are merely a small blip in my memory. A regret.”

  His eyes turned dark and dangerous. “You can’t mean that.”

  “I can and do,” she insisted.

  “Perhaps I can remind you,” he said, touching a finger to her cheek, tracing the delicate line of her jaw.

  Her pulse jumped and skittered wildly, but she kept her gaze steady and, hopefully, disinterested. She thought she was making a success of it, until he lowered his head, his intention to kiss her clear. She couldn’t mask her reaction to that and she knew it. She made a timely move, jerking her attention away from William and toward the caterer, who looked at her with surprise when she nearly bolted in his direction.

  “Is there a problem?” Harold inquired, his eyes filled with alarm.

  “No, actually everything is perfect,” Destiny reassured him smoothly. “I was just hoping that there are more of those delicious crab puffs. People are raving about them.”

  “There are more in the oven. They’ll be out in a few minutes,” he promised.

  “Wonderful,” she said. “I’ll tell the others.”

  She brushed past William, anxious to make her escape from his disconcerting presence, but he caught her hand.

  “I’d like to see you again, Destiny. Perhaps we can have dinner.”

  “I’ve just arrived and my schedule is packed until Christmas,” she told him. Her plan to keep him close now struck her as far too dangerous. Arm’s length was better, after all.

  “Will your family be joining you then, or will you fly home?” he asked.

  “Neither. I intend to put my feet up and catch my breath over the holidays, so that I can hit the ground running after the first of the year. I’ve barely settled in and there are a million things to do to make this place my own.”

  “Then we’ll see each other during the holidays,” he said. “I’ll be in touch to arrange it.”

  She regarded him curiously. “Why, William? Why, after all this time, would you want to see me again?”

  “We’re old friends,” he said. “At least I like to think we are.”

  “We were much more than friends, William. That’s the problem. What we had is not something that can be recaptured. Nor is it something I really want to reminisce about. In case you’ve forgotten, it ended rather badly.”

  “Whose fault was that?” he asked, a surprising edge in his voice.

  “I can’t believe you need to ask,” Destiny said tightly.

  He searched her face, then sighed. “Then we’ll have a fresh start,” he said.

  She shook her head. “That’s not possible, either. Some things are impossible to forget.”

  His expression brightened a bit then. “Then you do remember,” he said quietly.

  Destiny steeled herself and looked directly into his eyes. “That you abandoned me when I needed you most, that you’ve systematically gone after my family? Yes, William, I remember. I remember all too clearly.”

  She left the kitchen then, leaving him staring after her, the waiters dodging him with their trays of food. It was unfortunate that the servers were very agile. At that moment, she wouldn’t have minded seeing William covered with seafood dip and crackers. In fact, if she hadn’t been trying very hard to make a dignified impression tonight, she might have tossed them at him herself.

  It was beyond annoying that the man thought he could waltz into her party, say a few sweet words and charm her right back into his bed. There was little question in her mind that that had been his intention. Either he had a very high opinion of himself or a very low opinion of her. Maybe a combination of the two.

  Okay, maybe it was a tiny bit flattering. Despite her age, there were still many men who regarded her with evident fascination, but she’d grown increasingly cynical about their interest. Many were far more intrigued by the Carlton name and wealth than by her. But there had been real heat in William’s eyes, the kind with which she had once been intimately familiar. To her discredit, for a moment, she’d let herself revel in it, allowed herself to feel like a desirable woman.

  But if those men back home had ulterior motives, how could she doubt that William’s motives were equally impure? No, she simply could not permit herself to be distracted for a second from her suspicions about him and the harm he meant to do to her family.

  Besides, she hadn’t come to London to have herself a midlife fling, as attractive and exciting as the possibility might be. She’d come here to prove to herself that she had the talent and ingenuity it took to be a powerful businesswoman in her own right. That was her mission, and she couldn’t lose sight of it, certainly not with the real game just beginning.

  6

  Destiny had changed. William had recognized it the moment he’d looked into her eyes and seen not the shyness and vulnerability of the girl he’d first met, but the steely resolve of a woman who’d matured, a woman who was icily furious with him.

  He’d fallen in love with the girl all those years ago, but the woman excited him in a whole new way. He’d anticipated winning her back with a first glance, perhaps a touch. Instead, she was going to be a challenge, perhaps an impossible one, but he’d never avoided something merely because of the uncer
tainty of the outcome. Seemingly insurmountable odds were his favorite kind.

  No question, this was going to take some cunning on his part. He refused to consider that it might also take time. They’d wasted enough of that, thanks to his own foolishness. He didn’t intend to lose a moment more than necessary. It was a good thing he had an excellent head for strategic planning. He’d gotten Destiny over here, hadn’t he?

  Of course, that, too, had taken time and patience and an ever-escalating campaign against Carlton Industries. Now, with the Fortnum Travel acquisition on the horizon, the fight continued. He could give up as a gesture of good will, but more than any of the other companies he’d sought to steal out from under Carlton, Fortnum was a perfect match for Harcourt & Sons. Destiny wouldn’t be pleased when she discovered he was dead serious about this one.

  “How was your first meeting with Ms. Carlton?” Malcolm asked when he joined William in his office the next morning. “Did things go as you’d expected?”

  Had they? William gave the question some real thought. In some ways they’d gone better. There had been a lively spark in Destiny’s eyes that had given lie to all of her claims to have forgotten what they’d once meant to each other. But there had also been a hard, unforgiving edge he hadn’t entirely anticipated.

  Not only had Destiny revised history and blamed him solely for their separation all those years ago, but she’d apparently taken his attacks on Carlton Industry to heart, even though he’d been deliberately unsuccessful in most cases. He’d succeeded from time to time, only to keep the threat legitimate and to raise the stakes in the hope of getting her to London to retaliate. He should have guessed that the mother-hen protectiveness that had taken her back to the States all those years ago would be more powerful than ever by now. Perhaps he should reconsider the Fortnum acquisition, but that would be a risky business, as well. How much respect would Destiny have for him if he gave up suddenly or too easily?

  Returning to Malcolm’s question, he said finally, “It was an interesting evening.” It was the best he could do.

  “Any idea why you were included in a Carlton event?”

  William laughed. “Oh, I think that was clear enough. Destiny wants me to know she’s keeping an eye on me. In fact, she had Sandhurst watching me all evening long in case I gave away my inside contact.”

  Malcolm permitted himself a rare smile. “Then it’s a very good thing that you don’t have one, isn’t it?”

  “Indeed. And just as well you haven’t told me yours,” William replied. “There was no way either of us was likely to give ourselves away.”

  “What’s your next step, sir?”

  “I’m thinking about that right now.”

  Malcolm studied him soberly. “Sir, if you don’t mind my asking, what exactly is your goal? I’ve never been entirely clear on that.”

  “To be honest, there have been a few moments when I’ve lost track of it myself,” William admitted.

  “And now?”

  William smiled. “Now that I’ve seen her again, it’s all perfectly clear. I want Destiny Carlton back in my life. And this time, I don’t intend to let anything stand in my way until she’s my wife.” Not even Fortnum Travel, if it came down to that.

  Malcolm nodded slowly. “I thought it was something like that. If there’s anything I can do to help, it will be my pleasure.”

  “You’ve done more than enough,” William told him. “I think the rest is up to me.”

  “Will you be needing more inside information, sir?”

  “Quite likely,” William said. “I can’t have Destiny thinking that she’s scared me out of the game merely by showing up. We need to keep the pressure on. Line up another meeting for me with the Fortnum executives so I can press our case.”

  Malcolm nodded. “Things will be quiet during the holidays, but I’ll schedule it for the first of the year. And I’ll get back to my source at Carlton then, as well, and see if there’s any indication what Ms. Carlton’s strategy will be now that she’s in charge.”

  “And meantime, why don’t we get together with Langley as soon as possible? Perhaps he’ll have some ideas about how H&S Books can make Ms. Carlton rue the day she decided to buy Jameson’s Booksellers.”

  “There are only a few days left before Christmas, sir. I doubt we can have much impact on their holiday sales,” Malcolm said.

  “We can if we increase advertising and undercut their prices,” William suggested, his expression thoughtful. “And I believe it’s time to announce our own mail-order catalog, don’t you? Should have done it years ago.”

  “Isn’t slashing prices a rather shortsighted strategy, sir?” Malcolm asked, clearly scandalized by the thought of taking losses. “We can’t go on in such a way, not without destroying our own business. And won’t a catalog cost a pretty penny?”

  “Not if we do it on the Internet, rather than printing and mailing it. As for the holiday sale, I’ll discuss it with Langley, of course, but it seems to me we only have to slash the prices on certain books to get people through our doors and away from Jameson’s. And it will send a clear message to Ms. Carlton that we intend not only to stay in the fight, but to up the ante.”

  Malcolm’s aristocratic brow rose slightly. “Poker, sir?”

  William hadn’t thought of the connection himself, but it was accurate. “Yes, it is a bit like poker,” he said. “But in this case, we’re not bluffing, Malcolm. We have the hand it takes to win.”

  Malcolm still looked distressed and unsettled. “If you say so.”

  William laughed at his sour expression. “Buck up, man. I have no intention of driving us into bankruptcy simply to win Ms. Carlton’s heart.”

  “Good to know, sir,” Malcolm responded, though he didn’t look entirely convinced.

  “Will you get Langley in here? We have to put this plan into motion at once. Even a few days of eating into their sales at this time of year can have a huge impact.”

  “Yes, sir. Right away.”

  As William waited for the head of his book division, he leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes. He felt more energized than he had in years. He’d always thought attending to business was a rather mundane necessity, but he was discovering it could be intellectually stimulating with Destiny now a factor.

  A gentlemanly attempt to win Destiny back would probably allow her her little victory with Jameson’s, but he knew her too well to play it that way. She would relish the challenge and, in the end, would respect him for it. At least, he hoped he wasn’t misreading the situation as he’d misread things so badly years ago.

  Time would tell.

  Two days after her party, Destiny opened her paper as she drank her morning tea and very nearly choked. Running a full-page ad this close to Christmas had to have cost H&S Books a fortune. It featured the latest bestsellers at prices with which Jameson’s couldn’t possibly compete, something William had obviously known when he’d devised the sneaky strategy.

  He’d taken his own sweet time coming up with a response to her purchase of Jameson’s, but she was forced to concede it had been a good one. The clever little line on the bottom of the ad about watching for their new online ordering service was brilliant, as well. He’d gotten a jump on her plan to open a catalog business. Now H&S Books would look as if they’d thought up an entirely fresh idea for expanding sales and taken it a step further by utilizing the Internet and saving on printing and mailing costs. Her own plans would seem old-fashioned at best and a weak counterstrategy at worst.

  After allowing herself a moment to admire William’s audacity, she picked up the phone and buzzed for Chester.

  “I need to see you in my office at once,” she said tersely.

  “Is there a problem?”

  “I’ll explain when you get here.”

  Chester arrived within minutes. He saw the paper on her desk and paled. “What is it?”

  She shoved the advertisement toward him. “What do you think?”

  Chester s
canned the paper, then sank onto a chair. “He’s one step ahead of us, isn’t he?”

  “The question is, how did he know about the catalog plans? We’ve discussed them with no one.”

  “Perhaps it’s coincidence,” Chester suggested.

  Destiny scowled at him. “Don’t be ridiculous. William knows. It’s obvious. We have to find the leak. It’s more critical than ever.”

  “But as you just said, we’ve discussed those plans with no one inside the company. Only you and I were aware that it was part of the strategy when we acquired Jameson’s. I certainly haven’t spoken to Harcourt or anyone else about it. Have you?”

  Destiny watched him closely and sighed. If he had given away the secret, he was covering it well. He sounded totally sincere.

  “No, I’ve spoken to no one since we concluded the negotiations,” she said. “It certainly did not come up when I spoke with William at my party.”

  Chester’s expression turned thoughtful. “One of the solicitors, perhaps?”

  “In violation of their ethics?”

  “No, no, of course not. Can’t imagine what I was thinking.”

  “Who else is there?” Destiny asked.

  Chester’s expression turned thoughtful. “It could be Jameson himself, I suppose. I never thought to speak to him about confidentiality, and he was awfully excited at the prospect of our expanding his business. It’s entirely possible he’s told all of his customers by now, including someone close to Harcourt.”

  Destiny nodded slowly. “That has to be it. Well, it’s spilt milk now. What do we do about the price cuts?”

  “Nothing,” Chester advised. “If they want to incur huge losses in these last days before Christmas, let them.”

  “I suppose, but it doesn’t feel right to sit by and do nothing.” She considered the problem from several angles, while Chester regarded her with obvious dismay. It seemed to her that it was essential to act quickly and decisively. She didn’t want William to have the upper hand, even for a minute. He needed to know she was as skillful as he at adjusting to changing circumstances.

  Suddenly inspiration struck.