Edward obeyed and merged into the heavy traffic. Not sure where to go, he headed for the airport, but then changed his mind halfway through. "Want dinner?" The offer seemed the least he could do after the bad news.
She stared out the window for a few seconds, then sighed. "Yeah, why not? Your brother gave a recommendation. I'll set up the directions." She focused on her phone.
Edward wasn't surprised his brother knew a restaurant in Boston. The man lived to eat good food and had a favorite spot in practically every city on most of the continents. But Edward hadn't been aware it was Robert who had known about the secretary. "My brother is where you got all this information?"
"No, he just butted in with the restaurant info. I think he likes to talk as much as I do."
Edward would agree with that statement.
The car's speakers began dictating driving orders which he followed, and silence filled the car as Jess continued to stare out the window. She was out of it enough that when he pulled into the valet parking area, he had time to get to her side and open her door. She blinked up at him as if stunned to find him outside of the car.
"We're already here?"
"Yeah, just this way."
She latched onto his arm as if needing his strength—she kind of reminded him of when he'd lost his father, so he gladly supported her toward the restaurant doors. However, a crowd of people milled around just inside the doors.
"I bet we were supposed to make reservations," Jess muttered.
"Don't worry. If my brother recommended this place, they'll know his name."
Sure enough, one mention of Robert Ferrars and they were whisked inside to an empty table.
"Do you do this a lot?" she asked once their orders were taken. "Use your brother's name to get a table?"
"This would actually be the first time. I'm usually with my brother when he does it. It's one of his ways to impress a client."
"And what is one of your ways to impress?"
Edward held up his briefcase, which he'd brought out of habit. "Numbers."
"So, let me guess. Your brother does the talking and you follow up with the presentation."
"My presentations are very good."
"Yes, I know. My parents really liked the one you emailed them."
"They did?" He couldn't help smiling.
"Yes, I actually had to work hard to dissuade them from investing in those businesses of yours. Which is why you need to take them over yourself."
He shook his head. "You need them more to help that boyfriend of yours."
Jess groaned and covered her eyes. "He's not mine. Never was. I was...hoping I could spark something. But with this lawsuit of his," she let her hand drop from her face, "he won't have any interest in romance right now."
"Lawsuits tend to damper that aspect of life," was the only thing he could think of saying. He hesitated for a moment. "Mind if I ask how you two met?"
A self-defeating laugh issued out. "College. I fell for him in an instant, and I really thought there was something there to build on, but he transferred before anything happened."
"And you've been stalking him ever since."
She covered her face again. "It's so childish, I know! Please don't tell my parents. They would never understand."
"It's okay. I know where you're coming from."
She spread out her fingers to reveal her eyes. "You do?" A second later, she dropped her hands and leaned forward, a light in her eyes. "You're in love with someone, too, aren't you? And she doesn't know, does she?"
Thankfully the waiter showed up at that moment with the food, saving Edward from having to respond to the very-true-accusation. Unfortunately, Jess didn't drop the topic.
"What's her name?"
"I never asked for yours."
She giggled. "Ha! So she does exist!"
Edward cringed, realizing he'd fallen into her trap.
"Okay." She rapped the table as if she held an imaginary gavel. "I am buying those businesses and freeing you from your mother right now. One of us should get a happy ending and I'm going to ensure you get it."
A relieved grin began to grow on his face. "You can't say a word—" His grin died as his eyes caught sight of long blonde hair surrounding a sickeningly sweet face.
It couldn't be.
Chapter 9
As if time slowed down, Lucy advanced toward Edward, her eyes leveled on him like an auditor discovering a major discrepancy. He wanted to back up, to scurry out of the room, but his body remained rooted to his seat as she reached his table. But then Lucy turned her head and bestowed that hated smile on Jess.
"Miss King?"
Jess looked at her in confusion. "Yes?"
"Oh, I can't believe!" Lucy gushed. "I wasn't sure it was you, but I can't believe I'm actually meeting you! My kids are such huge fans of your books!"
Edward knew for a fact Lucy had no children, but Jess wouldn't know that.
"Thank you!" Jess beamed. "I'm so glad to hear it. You've totally made my day!"
"Oh, no, you've made my day!" She shot a calculated glance at Edward as if the phrase really was for him. But the triumphant look in her eyes switched to adoration when she focused on Jess. "Please, won't you sign something for me? I wish I had your books, but all I have is this." She held up a print out, the blank side to Jess, while Edward had a full view of the printed side.
The blood in Edward's face drained as he saw Elinor's logo of Norland sprawled over the page. Small text littered the rest of the page, formatted as if Lucy had printed a screenshot of Norland's website.
The printed side disappeared when Jess placed it on top of the table and Edward watched as Lucy continued to gush like a besotted teenager while Jess signed her author's name with a flourish.
"Thank you again, so much," Lucy said as she reverently took the signed paper, conspicuously making sure Jess never saw the printed side. "I'm still in so much awe that I was able to spot you today so randomly! Isn't fate amazing?" She beamed at Jess, then shot a conceited grin at Edward. If hatred could ignite, he'd probably have set the entire table alight by now.
"Oh, and who is this?" Lucy said as if finally realizing Edward existed.
"He's—"
"A friend," Edward cut in. "Thank you for being a fan." The words came out forced and fake, but it was better than the myriad of angry shouts he wanted to make.
"I'm so sorry, I interrupted your dinner, please forgive me."
"Please," Jess began, "it was no trouble. Thank you so much for having the courage to approach me."
"No, no, thank you for writing such fabulous books."
Edward wished both of them would quit trying to beat each other at being grateful.
"And please, enjoy the rest of your evening," Lucy said, though he knew he had no chance of that. Or ever having a good evening again. He knew exactly why she had shown up at that moment. He didn't know how, but she always seemed to know when he was about to make an escape, and then she would arrive, proving that he was never going to get away.
When Lucy finally retreated to whatever nightmare she had escaped from, the cold air she had brought now engulfed Edward. He wanted to leave, but Jess was in no mood for that.
"I love meeting fans. It's the best part of my job," Jess was saying. "And why didn't you brag about being my boyfriend? She might have insisted you to sign her paper as well!"
Lucy already had things signed by him. Papers she had disguised as contracts for a romantic elopement had ended up being blackmail, giving Lucy both the information to engage in insider trading as well as pointing all fingers to him if he exposed what she had done.
In retrospect, he should have turned her in then, but he had been in too much shock over her betrayal. And he was still grieving over the loss of his father and the ever-growing coldness of his family. Going to jail with Lucy didn't seem worth it. However, when he finally realized Lucy was worse than all of his problems combined, she had already amassed a whole arsenal of blackmail that would take d
own his family and the company as well. No matter what he tried now, she would make sure everyone he cared about would go down with him.
He picked at his food, no longer hungry.
"Hey, you all right?" Jess asked.
"I already promised Frank he'd get the businesses." It wasn't true, but whatever Lucy had in mind, he didn't want Jess involved in it. Jess's parents wouldn't be able to survive the horror Lucy could contrive, but Frank's aunt was just as ruthless as Edward's mother, giving Frank some protection.
"What are you talking about?"
"You use your money to save your boyfriend instead."
"But—"
"Jess, don't bother trying to change my mind. Go for your happy ending and leave me to my nightmare."
* * *
The ride to New York was silent. Jess ignored his plea and tried to get him to change his mind anyway, or at least explain his sudden moodiness, but he refused to say anything. All he wanted was to get her somewhere safe, which involved being far away from him.
"You're leaving tomorrow, right?" he asked as the limo stopped outside of Jess' hotel.
She glared at him. "Is that what this is all about? That I was only going to be here for a week?"
Edward stared out the window and Jess got out with an angry huff. He watched her storm into the hotel's lobby, then sigh. It was for the best. If she hated him enough, then if—no, when—Lucy caught up with Jess and tricked her into talking about himself, Lucy would only glean that Edward was a terrible person and Jess wanted nothing to do with him.
He sighed and leaned back against the seat cushion. Now the real problem was Elinor.
There was a small glimmer of hope in the fact that Lucy hadn't dropped any hint that she knew of Elinor. Lucy could have easily screen-printed Elinor's bio from the webpage but she had gone for a generic page instead. It was possible that Lucy had only discovered the fake relationship and knew that Jess was supposedly interested in the businesses. And so Lucy's arrival may have been only to keep him from solidifying a relationship with Jess. If so, then Elinor was safe. But the more he spent time with her, the more he risked Lucy figuring out where his heart really resided.
By the following morning, he'd exchanged several texts and emails with Frank. He wanted to announce the deal to Elinor and then beeline from her, but unfortunately, Frank was not cooperating. He wanted a better deal than Edward was willing to give.
Edward paced his hotel room, then looked over the books again. There was only one answer to get the perfect deal for Elinor and still make Frank happy: make Norland more profitable.
He scribbled out a list off the top of his head that could be improved, then made several calls as he drove to the humble office building where his beloved—no, just Elinor waited.
Despite his busy morning, he discovered he had arrived before anyone, except for the secretary, Tom.
The old man grinned as Edward strode inside. "Ah, Mr. Ferrars. Early as always." The two may have gotten off on the wrong foot but once Elinor had explained Edward wasn't from the IRS or any other federal agency, the old man had warmed up to him very quickly.
"Ms. Dashwood should be in shortly. And the meeting will start in a half an hour."
Edward paused. "Meeting?"
"There's always a group meeting on Monday morning. I already have the snacks!" He pulled out several boxes of assorted food, ranging from healthy to the non-healthy.
"You offer snacks at meetings?" Edward's father had always done that, but his stern mother had abandoned the practice the second she became in charge.
"Yes, Ms. Dashwood ensures it. Says it's good for morale. Want one?"
"Uh, I think I'll wait for the meeting." Though, truth be told, he was hoping he'd get out of the meeting entirely.
"You're here early," Elinor's sweet voice drifted from behind him and he had to fight not to break into the biggest grin. He didn't want the old secretary starting a rumor that Edward was in love with their boss, after all.
"Early bird gets the worm," Tom piped up as Edward turned around.
"I think I'd rather have one of these snacks," Elinor said with a smile as she grabbed some of the boxes.
"Here," Edward sprang into action and grabbed the other boxes, "I'll help."
"Thank you." She threw him a smile and he fell into step beside her as they made their way to the main room. They were both silent at first and Edward wondered why she didn't talk until he remembered she wasn't as chatty as Jess. Elinor liked silence as much as Edward did, but at this moment, he'd rather hear her chat.
"You have a meeting every Monday?" he began.
"Yes. Helps to keep everyone on the same page."
"But it's not in any of your schedules."
"Oh, it's because it's informal. You can come if you want or skip it and keep working."
He raised his eyebrows. "You don't force people to come?" His mother would have had a heart attack at the notion.
"No," she held up her snacks with a sneaky grin. "I bribe them."
He laughed. It bubbled out of him without any effort. He had spent most of the weekend with Jess without a laugh and Elinor got it out of him within five minutes. The girl was amazing.
Normally, he'd avoid a meeting like a plague, but he stayed just to see how Elinor ran hers. And then found himself sad when the meeting ended. He hadn't had so much fun in the name of work since he was a kid and his father would take him on the rounds around the office.
"You had one hundred percent attendance," he remarked as they sat down in the sanctuary of her office. "That's impressive."
"I'm just following what my father did when he ran this place." Though she said it with a smile, he could see the sadness settle in her eyes. It always showed up when she spoke of her father. He wanted to ask how he was doing but feared it would only make her sadder. Besides, there wasn't anything he could offer to help. A gift with numbers didn't exactly translate well into the world of medicine.
Speaking of numbers, he had other tasks to finish and pulled out his sheet of suggestions. "I was thinking over the weekend and if you agree to my proposals, I think these changes would improve Norland's productivity and profit." He slid the paper over to her side of the desk. Since she only had one desk, she had generously split it in half, the computer in the middle to designate the line. In another world, he might have resented such a small space, but in here, he felt the line was too big.
She picked up the paper and eyed it. He held his breath, wondering how she would react. Jess probably would roll her eyes and insist he do it on his own and leave her alone while his siblings would scoff at some of the minor tweaks and refuse he knew what he was doing. His mother, on the other hand, would nit-pick every single proposal and then assign the tasks to someone else. Elinor, however, blew out her breath as if resigned to a big battle, then handed him the paper.
"They look good to me. Which one should we start with first?"
He could have hugged her. Instead, he asked her to fire up the computer and then spent the next hour explaining how to implement the changes he suggested.
"And that," he tapped the computer screen where his diagram showed the changed percentage pie, "should increase production by thirty percent."
She stared at the screen, mouth pulled into a thoughtful frown. They had both pulled their chairs closer to the computer and thus closer together. He hoped that fact wasn't as big of a distraction to her as it had been for him.
She abruptly leaned away toward her cellphone on her side of the desk. "All right, then I'll call—"
"I already did." It was one of the many calls he'd made that morning to set up the changes he wanted to implement. He'd learned from his mother that if he didn't get started right away, she wouldn't take him seriously.
Elinor, however, looked taken aback, as if rather hurt by his declaration. "Shouldn't it have been me to make the call—"
He had offended her. "If you had called," he cut in to hopefully fix the situation, "it would have been a
cold call and they probably wouldn't have given you as good of a deal. But they knew me and were happy to make the deal."
She cocked her head. "You've worked with this manufacturer before?"
He hoped that meant she was no longer offended he had presumed to do her job. "My mother bought them out a few years back and I managed to get them back on their feet." He suddenly realized that could imply they weren't that great. "They're very reliable now," he added.
A hint of a smile tugged at her lips. "Sounds like you save a lot of businesses."
He wasn't sure how to respond to that. She had a playful air about her, but her tone seemed genuine. He couldn't decide if she was simply teasing him or being sincere. Not wanting to look like a fool, he decided to err on the caution side. "I, uh, I don't think so. I'm just good with numbers."
She leaned forward, her grin increasing. "No, you're amazing with numbers, remember?"
She was complimenting him. He couldn't help returning her grin. "Only in comparison with a few people, I guess."
She rolled her eyes. Jess did it all the time, but it caught his breath whenever Elinor did it.
"If you mean few as in planets, then fine," she said, "I'll agree with that."
He laughed. The idea of him being better than people-filled planets was ludicrous. "I highly doubt I'm better than the aliens."
"It's probably why we've never met them. They're too afraid of your mad math skills."
The image of green little men shaking in their boots as he gave a presentation made him laugh harder. And then Elinor joined him, and he couldn't think of a better moment, laughing with her. If only life could be this perfect.
Except it couldn't. Not with Lucy on the hunt.
His laughter died instantly. Elinor was too close, the joy on her face too real. She might actually be enjoying his company too much. Which meant Lucy would find out and ruin her.
He scooted his chair over to the pile of books on his side of the desk and pretended to be engrossed in them. It was probably the worst way to handle the situation, but he didn't know what else to do. If he tried to talk about it, he was sure he'd confess everything, his feelings as well as Lucy, and Elinor was too sweet and kind. She'd want to help him. Which would only make things worse.
Smitten With Sense: A Modern Sense And Sensibility Retelling (Pemberley Estates Book 4) Page 7
