A Clandestine Corporate Affair

by Michelle Celmer

  “Finished!” Nathan said, holding up the assembled toy triumphantly.

  “And it only took you an hour,” she teased.

  He got up from the floor and sat beside her on the couch. “I have to admit, I have a new appreciation for all the toy assembly my father did over the years. Although I could have done without the shouting and cussing.”

  “In our house the butler assembled the toys.”

  He slipped an arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. “Things will be different for Max.”

  She leaned her head against his shoulder and smiled. “I know.”

  For a long time they sat there together, listening to Christmas music, watching Max play. Eventually Ana had to get up and put the turkey in the oven, then she got all the side dishes prepared, and the potatoes peeled and ready to boil. When Max went down for his afternoon nap, Ana and Nathan crawled into bed and made love. Afterward, Nathan fell asleep, so Ana showered, dressed and checked the turkey’s progress. It still had another hour to cook, but it was already a deep golden brown and smelled delicious. So far so good.

  She’d left her phone on the kitchen counter with the ringer off, and when she checked the display she saw that there was a missed call from her father at 3:05 p.m. Maybe he thought she’d been bluffing, and was probably calling to find out why she wasn’t there. She hoped he learned a lesson from this, but knowing him, he would only accuse her of being selfish.

  Well, that didn’t matter anymore. She couldn’t make him see something that he didn’t want to see.

  Ana straightened up the living room, stacking all of Max’s new toys back under the tree until she could decide on a permanent home for them. At four she heard Max begin to stir and was about to go in and get him when the doorbell rang. She wasn’t expecting anyone, and most people didn’t just stop by on Christmas Day.

  She walked to the door and pulled it open, her jaw dropping in surprise when she saw who was standing on her porch. “Dad, what are you doing here?”

  “Since you insist on being stubborn, I had no choice but to bring Max’s gifts to him.”

  She was stubborn? Was he kidding? “Now isn’t a good time.”

  “Who is it, Ana?” Nathan asked from behind her, holding Max, both still wearing their pajamas, hair mussed from sleep. Her father shouldered his way past her through the door. When he saw Nathan he blinked in surprise.

  “Who the hell is this?” he asked, looking from Ana to Nathan, then his eyes narrowed, and she could tell the instant recognition set in. He turned to her, jaw tense, teeth gritted. “Why am I not the least bit surprised?”

  “It isn’t what you think,” she said.

  “Is this how you punish me? By consorting with the competition?”

  That stung, but she tried not to let it show. Besides, hadn’t it started out that way?

  He turned to Nathan. “If you’d kindly hand over my grandson, then you can get dressed and get the hell out of my daughter’s house.”

  Nathan didn’t even flinch. He met her father’s eye, wrapped an arm protectively around Max and said, “There’s no way in hell I’m handing my son over to you.”

  “Max is this man’s son?” Ana’s father growled, and Nathan had the feeling he’d just opened one big fat can of worms, but he hadn’t been able to keep his mouth shut. He’d be damned if he was going to let that arrogant bastard boss him around. Nathan’s role as Max’s father trumped the position of grandfather any day of the week.

  “Yes, Nathan is Max’s father,” she said, with no apology, no regret.

  “Ana what in God’s name were you thinking?”

  “This is none of your business, Dad.”

  “The hell it isn’t. Where was he when you were pregnant? For the first nine months of Maxwell’s life? Or have you been seeing him all this time? Lying to me.”

  “Nathan didn’t even know about Max until a few weeks ago. But he’s here now.”

  “Not if I have anything to do with it.” He turned to Nathan. “I understand you’re in line for the CEO position at Western Oil. I can only imagine how your connection to my family will go over with the board.”

  Nathan tensed. He should have seen this one coming. “I suppose I’m about to find out.”

  “No you won’t,” Ana said. “Because my father isn’t going to tell anyone. Because if he does, he’ll never see his grandson again.”

  Her father scoffed. “Maxwell adores his grandfather. You would never keep him from me.”

  “If you ruin the career of the man I love, you’re damned right I would.”

  He blinked. “You’re not serious.”

  “You don’t think so? Try me.”

  “In that case, I want a paternity test. I want proof that he’s Maxwell’s biological father.”

  Nathan opened his mouth to tell him to go to hell, but Ana spoke first. “You want? Because I don’t see that’s it’s any of your business. That’s between me and Nathan. Who, for the record, never even asked for one. He trusts me, unlike my own father, who apparently thinks I was slutty enough to be sleeping with multiple partners.”

  He leveled his eyes on her. “Well, it wouldn’t be the first time, would it?”

  Ana sucked in a breath, and Nathan’s temper shot from simmer to boil in a heartbeat. If it wasn’t for the fact that he was holding Max, he might have actually taken a swing. But for his son’s sake, he clamped a vise down on his anger. He stepped in front of Ana, saying in a very calm and even tone, “You’re talking about the woman that I love. And that is the last time you will ever speak to her that way. Understand?”

  Maybe her father realized he’d gone too far, because he actually backed down. “You’re absolutely right, that was uncalled for. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it.”

  “I’m going to get Max dressed,” Ana said softly, taking him from Nathan, leaving Nathan alone to deal with her father.

  That wasn’t the sort of thing Ana was just going to forget, and he had the feeling her father realized that. Though Nathan thought he was getting exactly what he deserved, a part of him was sympathetic. He knew what it was like to lose his temper and say or do things he later regretted. The difference was, he’d been man enough to learn how to control it. Maybe this would be the wake-up call her father needed. Maybe he and Ana could begin to repair their fractured relationship.

  After an awkward silence, her father said, “I have gifts for Max. Should I bring them in?”

  He was actually asking Nathan’s permission? Maybe he figured he had better odds with Nathan than with Ana. And unless her father was doing something to hurt Max, Nathan didn’t feel it was his place to stand between him and his grandfather.

  “Sure, bring them in.”

  He opened the door and gestured to the man standing on the front walk. He’d been stuck in the cold waiting, his arms filled with packages. His driver, Nathan was assuming, when he saw the Rolls Royce parked at the curb.

  It took the man three trips back and forth to bring it all in, while Nathan and Ana’s father stood not speaking. This was definitely not the way Nathan had expected to spend his Christmas. Families had a funny way of screwing up plans.

  “So,” Ana’s father said, when his driver had brought in the last of the gifts and gone back to the car. “Do you have plans to marry my daughter?”

  He should have expected this. Still, the question caught him a bit off guard. “The thought had occurred to me.”

  “I supposed it’s too much to expect you to ask my permission.”

  Was he kidding? At this point he would be lucky to get an invitation to the wedding. “I can’t see that happening.”

  “I suppose you’ll be expecting a job with my company, and a corner office.”

  Could the guy be more arrogant? Did he think the entire world revolved around him? “I already have a job,” Nathan said.

  His brow furrowed. “I’m not sure I like the idea of my son-in-law working for a competing company.”

  Nathan didn’t giv
e a damn what he liked or didn’t like. And he would have a serious problem working for someone like Ana’s father, especially if he turned out to be the one responsible for the sabotage. Besides, he hadn’t even proposed yet. Nor did he have any plans to in the immediate future.

  Ana appeared in the foyer, holding Max. She’d dressed him in his Christmas outfit. “Have you eaten yet?” she asked her father.

  “No.”

  “Would you like to stay for dinner?”

  He glanced over at Nathan. “If it’s not an imposition.”

  Did he suddenly see Nathan as the man of the house, or was he just afraid of making the wrong move?

  “Why don’t you take Max while I finish dinner and Nathan showers,” Ana said. He removed his coat and took Max from her, carrying him into the living room. Ana gestured Nathan down the hall, and he followed her into her bedroom. She closed the door and leaned into him, wrapping her arms around his waist, burying her face against his chest.

  “You okay?” he asked, rubbing her back.

  “After what he said to me, am I crazy for inviting him to stay?”

  “If he meant it, maybe, but I don’t think he did. I think he probably felt threatened and was lashing out without thinking. Men like him are used to being in control. Take that control away and they say and do stupid things.”

  “I guess that makes sense.” She lifted her head and gazed up at him. “Thanks for defending me.”

  “You defended me first. Did you really mean what you said?”

  “What part?”

  He touched her cheek. “When you said that I’m the man you love.”

  “I did mean it.” She rose up on her toes to kiss him, whispered against his lips, “I love you, Nathan.”

  Those four words made his whole holiday. The ultimate Christmas gift. Women had said it before, but it hadn’t meant half as much coming from anyone else. No one knew him, or understood him, the way Ana did. “I love you, Ana.”

  Her lips curved into a smile. “I better get back into the kitchen before I burn dinner.”

  “I’ll be in to help you in a minute.”

  She gave him another quick kiss, then left him alone. While he was in the shower he could swear he heard the doorbell, but he couldn’t imagine who else could possibly stop by. Maybe it was the driver, or he could have been hearing one of Max’s new toys.

  He shaved, and dressed in a polo and slacks, then headed out to help Ana. The second he stepped into the living room he saw that there was in fact someone else there and was incredulous when he realized the man sitting on the floor playing with Max was his brother, Jordan.

  In that instant this went from one of the best Christmases of his life, to the holiday from hell.

  Jordan saw Nathan standing there and rose to his feet. “Hey, big brother. Merry Christmas.”

  “What the hell are you doing here?” Nathan asked.

  “He came by when you were in the shower,” Ana said, walking into the living room, wiping her hands on her apron. That part was pretty obvious. Unless Ana had been hiding him in a closet all morning.

  Ana’s father was sitting on the couch, looking amused by the entire situation.

  “Is there something wrong with wanting to spend Christmas with my brother? And my nephew?” Jordan asked.

  Nathan shot a look Ana’s way.

  “I didn’t say a word,” she said. “He already knew.”

  Nathan looked at Jordan questioningly.

  “You’ve been acting weird for weeks,” Jordan said. “Then you give me that lame excuse about the cruise. You insult my intelligence, Nathan.”

  They needed to have a word. Several, in fact. But he wasn’t going to do this in front of Ana and her father. And especially not Max.

  “Why don’t we step outside,” Nathan said.

  Jordan scoffed. “It’s cold and raining.”

  “Don’t be a sissy,” Nathan shot back, realizing, when the false cheer slipped from Jordan’s face, that he sounded just like their father. Somehow his family always managed to bring out the worst in him.

  Jordan walked to the door and grabbed his coat. Nathan pulled his own coat on and followed him out onto the porch. It was cold and damp and the sky was spitting down icy rain.

  “Isn’t this cozy,” Jordan said, dropping all pretense of holiday cheer. “You spending the holiday with Ana Birch and her daddy. I guess now we know who to blame for the sabotage.”

  “Jordan, do you really think I could do that?”

  “You can’t deny this looks pretty damned suspicious.”

  “Not that it’s any of your business, or I feel I need to justify my actions in any way, but her father wasn’t supposed to be here. He just showed up, which I’m sure you can understand. Besides, I wasn’t even seeing Ana when it happened. I didn’t even know I had a son until a few weeks ago. I broke up with her before she knew she was pregnant.”

  “Did she think it was someone else’s?”

  He gritted his teeth and glared at Jordan.

  Jordan shrugged. “Just a thought.”

  “She planned to raise the baby alone.”

  “What if she’s responsible for the sabotage?”

  “Ana?” That was the most ridiculous thing Nathan had ever heard. “Not a chance.”

  “Why not? What if she was bitter and wanted to get back at you for dumping her? Or maybe she did it for her father.”

  “She wasn’t exactly lusting for revenge. If anyone had the right to be pissed, it was me. And as for her father, they aren’t exactly on the best of terms.”

  “He’s her meal ticket.”

  “She lives off a trust left by her mother. She doesn’t get a penny from Birch Energy. And even if she did, she doesn’t have a malicious bone in her body.” Nathan had to wonder, if Jordan really was responsible for the sabotage, would he so vehemently try to blame someone else? Or was that just his way of deflecting suspicion off himself? Had he caught on that he was being investigated?

  Nathan had been quick to defend Jordan, but he honestly didn’t know anymore.

  “How did you find out that it was Ana I was seeing?” Nathan asked.

  “I followed you, genius. You’re not exactly 007, you know.”

  Apparently he wasn’t, not that he’d expected someone to be tailing him. “How did you know Max is my son?”

  “I didn’t. Not until I saw him up close. He looks just like you, and the birthmark was a dead giveaway.” He blew hot air into his hands, then stuck them into his coat pockets. “Are you going to marry her?”

  That was the second time he’d been asked that question today. “I’d say there’s a good possibility.”

  “You know that’s going to mean a job offer from old man Birch.”

  That’s the second time that had come up, too. “Why would I want to work for him when I’m CEO of Western?”

  Jordan grinned. “You’ve got to get through me first.”

  “I plan on it.”

  Jordan shivered and stamped his feet. “It’s cold as hell out here. Can we maybe go back inside now?”

  Nathan folded his arms. “Who said you’re invited?”

  “You would make your baby brother spend Christmas alone?”

  “My baby brother who just accused me of sabotage.”

  Jordan shrugged. “Okay, so maybe I overreacted.”

  “And how do I know you’re not going to run to Adam and the board with this?”

  “I’m ambitious, but that would just be too easy. I prefer a fair fight. Besides, I guess I owe you one.”

  It was the first time Jordan had ever acknowledged what Nathan had done for him. Who knows, Nathan thought, maybe there is hope for us yet.

  The front door opened and Ana stuck her head out. “Sorry to bother you, but everything is ready. I just need someone to carve the turkey.”

  Jordan shot him a questioning look.

  “Do you mind if my brother stays for dinner?” Nathan asked her.

  “We’ve got ple
nty of food,” she said, then added sternly, “But I do not want my son’s first Christmas to turn into World War Three. As long as everyone plays nice, it’s fine with me.”

  Jordan flashed her a charming, borderline flirtatious smile. “I always play nice.”

  He did, Nathan thought wryly, right up until the second I turned my back and the knife came out. But it was Christmas, the season for forgiveness, and for his son’s sake, Nathan would put aside the bitterness and be a family.

  Thirteen

  As they sat down to dinner, Ana warned everyone that she wasn’t much of a cook, and to eat at their own risk. And maybe it was beginner’s luck, or she had hidden talents, because the meal was hands down the best Christmas dinner Nathan had ever had. Even her father, who Nathan had the feeling was not typically liberal with the compliments, raved about the food. Nathan hoped that now he would see how talented and resourceful Ana really was. In many ways she was still the woman he’d met a year and a half ago, only so much more, and he was proud of the person she had become.

  Jordan, who in contrast was very liberal with the compliments, whether he meant them or not, seemed genuinely impressed. Nathan was surprised that despite the mixed company, the evening wasn’t nearly as awkward as he would have expected. It probably helped that everyone deliberately avoided the subject of the oil business. Even her father seemed to realize that he was on shaky ground. He seemed humbled. Maybe his making that comment, hurtful as it was, was a blessing in disguise.

  Ana’s father left at seven-thirty, and Jordan hung around playing with Max until it was time for him to go to bed. If nothing else, it looked as though he would be a good uncle.

  “He’s a great kid,” he said, after Ana took Max into his room to get him ready for bed, and Nathan walked Jordan to the door. “What is it with all the kids lately? It must be something in the air. First you, then Adam, now Emilio.”

  “What about Emilio?”

  He pulled on his coat. “That’s right—you left the party yesterday before he made his announcement. His fiancée is pregnant. They just found out. I didn’t think anything could shake that guy. He’s like granite, but I think he may have actually been a little misty-eyed. He looks really happy.”