When he’d hung up, he turned to Destiny. “What did you come here to tell Richard?”
“That he’s not going to bully me into giving up either you or my job,” she said at once. “That I want him to accept my decision and make peace with it.”
“Think he’ll go for it?”
“Not at first,” she admitted. “But I think I can make him see that I know my own mind and that I’m entitled to do things my own way.” She gave him a curious look. “Why are you here?”
“For much the same reason. I wanted to get my cards on the table, ask for your hand, that sort of thing.”
Destiny’s jaw dropped for the second time in less than ten minutes. “Ask for my hand?”
“I know it’s a bit old-fashioned,” he admitted. “But I thought it would be a nice touch. Thought it might show that I respect his role in your life. Bit tricky to pull off with you sitting right here, though.”
“You want me to leave?” she asked incredulously.
“Might be best.”
“Not till I’ve said my piece,” she insisted, her hands folded in her lap.
Silence fell for several minutes, then she glanced at him. “Do you happen to have a ring?”
William’s heart took an unexpected leap, probably a dangerous thing at his age. “An engagement ring?”
She nodded.
“Of course,” he admitted.
“Could I see it?”
“Want to see if it’s big enough to impress him?”
“No, I thought if I waved it under his nose as you suggested earlier, it might get his attention and make him take us both seriously.”
William shook his head. “I’ve revised the plan. I think we’ll go about this in a more traditional way. Richard strikes me as a traditional kind of man.”
“Stuffy, you mean.”
He grinned. “Your word, not mine.”
“Yes, I suppose you’re right about that. Okay, we’ll do that much your way.”
“Lovely of you to agree. Every successful businessperson understands the art of compromise.”
She smiled. “Only one of the skills I’ve mastered since coming here.”
Richard walked into the room just then and stared at the two of them. “Ganging up on me?” he inquired tightly.
“Actually, no,” William said emphatically with a pointed glance in Destiny’s direction.
“William’s right. I’ll only be here a moment. I just came by to tell you that I love you, that I respect you and want your approval when it comes to William, but I’m prepared to live without it if that’s the way it needs to be.” She stood up and headed for the door, then glanced back over her shoulder. “Oh, and one more thing. I am not giving up my job, no matter how annoyed you get with me over all of this. One thing has absolutely nothing to do with the other, and I won’t allow you to get them all twisted up.”
Richard stared at her. “You amaze me.”
She beamed at him. “I’m not surprised. Lately, I seem to be amazing myself. Now, listen to what William has to say, darling. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.”
“I doubt that,” Richard muttered. “Where’s that blasted coffee?”
“On its way,” William assured him. “Should be here any minute. I think we’ll wait for it. No sense in getting into things and ruining our appetites.”
Richard gave him a sour look but didn’t disagree. He did look relieved, though, when there was an almost immediate knock on the door.
“I’ll let him in on my way out,” Destiny said.
The waiter wheeled in their food and coffee, then left as well, leaving William and Richard in awkward silence. Richard poured two cups of coffee and picked up a section of the sandwich only to set it down again.
“Just get on with it, Harcourt. Say whatever you have to say and get out.”
William heard the impatience in his voice and concluded the atmosphere wasn’t likely to get any friendlier than this.
“I told you earlier today that I love your aunt,” he began.
Richard’s frown deepened. “Not what I want to hear.”
“No, I’m sure of that. You’ll be even less likely to be happy with the rest. I intend to marry her.”
“Over my dead body!” Richard retorted.
William regarded him with a level look. “If need be.”
Richard faltered a bit at that. “You’re serious?”
“As a train wreck,” William confirmed. “Now, before you get all riled up and defensive, hear me out. I’ve loved your aunt from the moment we met more than twenty years ago. Had it not been for your parents’ deaths, we would have been married long before now.”
“Oh, really?” Richard said skeptically. “I don’t recall you ever coming to Virginia, standing by her side while we were all grieving. You abandoned her then, didn’t you?”
“Yes,” William said honestly. “But not exactly in the way you mean. You see, I’d had a rift with my family over her. She concluded on her own that that rift could only be mended if she broke things off with me. I didn’t realize that at the time, but she used your family’s tragedy to make the break. I should never have allowed that to succeed, but I had too much pride and not enough sense. I picked up on all the signals and stayed away. In hindsight, I see what a huge mistake that was, but at the time I thought I was doing what she wanted.”
“You expect me to believe that she broke up with you and broke your heart and not the other way around?”
“That’s exactly what I’m telling you, though I can’t deny that I bore some of the blame,” William said. “You can ask her yourself. I won’t make the same mistake again, though. This time I will fight to keep her. You, your brothers and your wives can stand in our way, if you feel you must, but I intend to marry her. I’d like your blessing because I know how important it is to Destiny that you not be unhappy about this, but I don’t need to have it.”
Richard stared at him mutely.
“Well?” William prompted. “Are you going to fight me on this? You know it’s what Destiny wants, too.”
“I need to think about what you’ve said,” Richard said finally. “It’s a lot to absorb.”
“In other words, you want time to call for backup,” William guessed. “Go ahead. I’d probably do the same in your shoes, but I will tell your brothers exactly what I told you. Your wives already believe in me. So does Destiny. They can’t all be wrong, can they?”
He nodded when Richard said nothing. “I didn’t think you’d risk calling them fools. That’s the most promising thing that’s happened since I arrived.”
Richard gave him a wry look. “Saying things like that has already cost me,” he admitted. “I may be stubborn, but I’m not stupid.”
William grinned at him. “Never thought you were. A smart man always sees the handwriting on the wall.”
He left to give Richard time enough to read it for himself.
The minute Harcourt left his suite, Richard did in fact call for reinforcements. He figured if he was going to have even half a chance of keeping Destiny and Harcourt apart, he was going to need Mack and Ben by his side, united in their opposition to this liaison. Nothing William had said had swayed him in the slightest, but he could see that it was going to be trickier than ever to convince Destiny that she was wrong about the man. If he was smooth enough to almost win over Richard with all that talk of missed opportunities, then Destiny had never stood a chance.
Unfortunately, Richard hadn’t counted on Mack and Ben’s wives coming along, as well. The next day, he opened the door to his suite to find the entire Carlton clan on his doorstep, babies and all. Even Melanie had turned up, looking decidedly displeased with his plan to disrupt Destiny’s romance. The presence of the women was going to make it a lot more difficult to reach consensus on what needed to be done to save their aunt from William’s untrustworthy clutches.
“Why exactly are we here?” Ben asked.
“To save Destiny,” Richard said, his
expression grim.
“From a man who’s loved her forever and wants to marry her?” Melanie scoffed. “Why am I sure that she won’t thank us?”
“She’s not thinking clearly at the moment,” Richard said. “Harcourt has her believing they’re some kind of star-crossed lovers. Hell, he almost had me believing it.”
“Really?” Ben said. “What did he say?”
Richard repeated the conversation he’d had with William.
“Oh, my,” Beth and Kathleen whispered in unison. “How sad.”
Richard scowled at them.
“I think we need to give it up and start listening to Destiny,” Mack said, casting a pointed look at Richard. “If she was able to look into our hearts and see exactly who and what we needed in our lives, then why should we think she’s incapable of seeing what she wants for herself?”
“Amen,” Melanie said, glowering at Richard.
“You want to just give up and accept this?” Richard asked, feeling the first stirring of defeat.
“If we don’t want to lose Destiny, then yes, that’s exactly what we need to do,” Ben said. “We’ve fought this for months now and nothing’s changed, except that she and Harcourt are closer than ever. If it turns out our doubts are right and he hurts her, then we can be there to pick up the pieces, but preventing her from marrying him doesn’t seem to be in the cards.”
Richard stared from him to Mack and back again. “Traitors,” he said, but it was only a mildly muttered accusation.
“Pragmatists,” Ben insisted. “We’ve lost, bro. Let’s cut our losses before it’s too late.”
Richard sank down on the sofa beside his wife. She took his hand and brought it to her lips.
“It’s going to be okay, Richard,” Melanie soothed. “Look at how right Destiny was about us.”
“And us,” Mack said, winking at Beth.
“And us,” Ben added, his hand on Kathleen’s gently rounded belly. “I want Destiny to be a part of my baby’s life.”
Richard knew it was over then. There was a whole new generation of Carltons that deserved to have Destiny’s magnificent influence. If accepting Harcourt was necessary to accomplish that, he supposed he could swallow his pride and keep his doubts to himself.
“But I’m going to keep my eye on him,” he vowed.
Mack and Ben laughed. “Never thought otherwise.”
The entire Carlton clan was holed up in a London hotel plotting and scheming against her. Destiny knew they thought otherwise. She knew they’d come because they loved her, but their lack of faith in her judgment was beyond annoying.
What had she done since coming to London, after all? She’d shored up the European division so that it was healthier than it had been in decades. She’d fought off one assault after another from William’s company and others. She’d discovered that she not only had the Carlton genes for business, but the social and diplomatic skills necessary to turn deals into a win-win situation for all parties. Her employees—even Chester—were happy and highly motivated. Her tenure at the helm had been a raging success by all standards.
“I think it’s clear what they’ve decided. They’re not going to be happy until I’ve been replaced and come back home,” she told William glumly when they hadn’t heard from them two days after William’s visit to Richard and a full day after the others had arrived en masse. “I hate making them so unhappy.”
“They’re unhappy because they think I’m going to take advantage of you sooner or later,” William said.
“Oh, fiddle, you’re not going to do that,” she said with certainty. “Not that you could, anyway. I’m not young and naive.”
He regarded her with amusement. “You never were. You had the upper hand from the moment we met, and you knew it. I believe I mentioned that to Richard, but he might not have passed it on. Shall I tell the rest of them that?”
“I doubt they’d listen. I’m not sure even I believe that.”
“Perhaps this will help.” He held out a small jeweler’s box. “I was going to wait until things were more settled with your family, but maybe this is the time.”
Destiny stared at it warily. “What’s that?”
“Wouldn’t you rather open it and see for yourself than listen to my inadequate description?”
“I’m not sure,” she said honestly, her heart pounding.
“You’re not a coward, Destiny. Just look at how you faced the overwhelming responsibility of raising those three boys without batting an eye.”
She sighed. “If only that were true. I was terrified.”
“But you didn’t run away like I half expected you to do. You didn’t beg me or anyone else to step in and share the burden. You’re a strong woman, Destiny. I loved you then. I still do. But I also admire you more than I can say.”
She was genuinely surprised and touched by his admission. She was humbled by it. She’d never felt she had done anything extraordinary. She’d simply done what she’d had to do.
She studied his dear face. “You do?”
“Surely you know that there’s nothing ordinary about you,” he chided. “I was counting on that when I started going after bits and pieces of Carlton Industries. I knew you’d come to fight me to protect what was yours.”
She sat back, stunned. “I knew all along that you’d planned this, but I’m still surprised that you went to such lengths. Are you still plotting and scheming?”
He nodded. “Of course. I had to say a few provocative things to Richard to assure he would call those protective nephews of yours to congregate over here to save you,” he said.
“You don’t feel as if they’re here to gang up on us?”
“No. I prefer to view it as a smart way to save time when we plan the wedding. I think Melanie, Beth and Kathleen intend to finish the job I’d begun.”
She wanted to be angry about the scheming, but how could she be? Wasn’t this exactly what she had hoped for when she’d come barreling over to London to save the day? She could have left the whole business crisis for Richard to handle, if some part of her hadn’t wanted to see William again to see if he was the man she’d remembered or merely a foolish fantasy that had lingered in her heart for far too long.
“Will you open this now?” he asked, again holding out the small velvet box. “I’ve had it for a long time.”
She opened the box and stared at the square-cut emerald.
“Diamonds are too tame for you,” he told her. “I wanted something that captured your light, your fire.”
She noted the name of a famous French jeweler inside the box. “When did you buy this?”
“The day after you left France. I’d planned to give it to you the moment you came back.” He touched her cheek. “I’ll have to work at forgiving you for making me wait so long.”
Her eyes shimmered with tears. “But it’s been worth the wait, hasn’t it, to be here now, older and wiser and more certain of what we have?”
“And with half a dozen Carltons nipping at my heels to make sure I do the right thing,” he said with a grin. “Yes, it’s been worth it. So, Destiny, will you marry me?”
“I should make you ask Richard for my hand,” she teased, envisioning the scene with some enjoyment.
“I’ve already done that,” he reminded her. “He’s been withholding his approval.”
She laughed. “In that case I think a quick elopement might be our wisest course of action. Let them sit around at the hotel and stew, wondering where we’ve gone. A Paris wedding would be lovely this time of year. Violetta could be there,” she added, warming to the idea.
“Never,” he said. “I kept a safe distance between myself and your family once. I’ll never do it again. We’ll tell them together, my darling, and damn the consequences. They can’t stop us. They can only slow us down a bit. And if you want a Paris wedding, we’ll take them all along with us.”
Destiny thought of the formidable group waiting across town. They would accept this—eventually, anyway—b
ecause they loved her and because William made her happy.
And if they didn’t? Well, it wouldn’t be the first time she’d run away from family and followed her heart.
But she would do everything in her power to see that it didn’t come to that. She’d postponed her own happiness for a lot of years. Now she intended to grab it and hang on with everything in her, and that meant keeping her nephews—her beloved children—in her life, along with this man who meant the world to her.
She regarded William with shining eyes. “I think two excellent negotiators like us should be able to convince them that this merger is in our best interests, don’t you?”
He grinned. “You bet, but if you don’t mind, I think I’ll let you do most of the talking. You seem to have developed a fine knack for getting your way.”
“Not really. I wanted a fascinating liaison with you. You were the one dead-set on marriage from the beginning.”
He laughed. “You have to let me win one once in a while. Otherwise, where’s the sport in arguing?”
“Do you think we’ll bring this much passion to our relationship when we’re eighty?” she asked wistfully.
“And longer,” he said confidently. “In fact, I’m counting on it.”
Epilogue
Feeling rather smug, all things considered, Richard left the fancy dining room where they’d all had dinner with William and Destiny. Ben and Mack stepped into place beside him as they strolled back toward their hotel.
“Why the devil didn’t you just tell them that you approved of this wedding?” Mack asked.
Richard grinned. “I wanted to make the old man sweat a bit longer, just to see what he’s made of.”
“And?” Ben prodded. “What was your conclusion?”
“No question that he loves Destiny,” Richard conceded. “Not that I’m convinced he’s not some sort of business shark, but the prenup he agreed to sign even over Destiny’s objections pretty much settled that worry.”
“I still say you gave him a rough time for no reason,” Ben scolded mildly. “It wouldn’t surprise me a bit if they decided to elope and leave us out of it.”
Destiny Unleashed Page 31
