“I hope you’re enjoying yourself.”
“I am.” As were the rest of his family. Liam’s gaze drifted from his host to the crowd scattered across the yard of the Silver Moon Ranch. His grandmother, Cade and Jessie had gathered with several other guests near one of the bonfires scattered about the yard to ward off the October chill. While it was comfortable outside now, Liam had been warned that once the sun set the temperature would drop dramatically.
Aunt Fin stood with a group of locals on the opposite side of the clearing. Fin kept sneaking glances at Travis through eyes the exact shade of green as Jessie’s. Now that Liam knew to look for it, the resemblance between Jessie and Fin was remarkable. How Jessie had hidden in plain sight as Charisma’s intern and not been recognized as Fin’s long-lost daughter remained a mystery. Cade had suspected Jessie of having secrets. No one had expected the secret to be that she’d joined EPH to meet the woman who’d given her up for adoption twenty-three years ago. The reunion between mother and daughter had been a happy one.
Liam spotted Shane chatting up a buxom blonde and smiled. Typical Shane. Liam’s gaze moved on to John Harlan emptying his pockets onto a nearby table as he prepared to join the short line of guests waiting to mount the “bull,” a barrel suspended between two trees. Liam’s cousin Scarlet stood nearby, calling encouragement to her fiancé.
“Ready for a turn on the bull?” Travis asked.
“Why not? Giving you a good laugh is the least I owe you for your hospitality.”
“I promise not to laugh too hard when you eat dirt.” And then Travis turned to look in Fin’s direction. Did his aunt and Jessie’s dad have the hots for each other? Liam wished Travis luck. Fin was as dedicated to her job as Liam was to his, maybe more so.
Liam shook his head. Only a guy drowning in insatiable lust would recognize the symptoms in another man. The old adage “misery loves company” seemed apt. But in twenty-four hours his misery would be over. He’d be back home with Aubrey.
He headed across the yard toward the barrel and joined the short line of other men foolish enough to risk injuring themselves with the cowboy-style entertainment provided by their host. Liam set his beer on the table, emptied his pockets and laid his cell phone beside Travis’s other guests’ belongings. Leaving his wallet out in the open was definitely not a risk Liam would have taken in the city, but here it seemed as acceptable as leaving the bunkhouse door unlocked last night.
Liam’s family members gathered to watch him, as if the possibility of him sustaining bodily harm interested them. He rested an arm across his grandmother’s shoulders. “If I break my neck will you scatter my ashes on the beach at The Tides?”
“Ooh, hush with your teasing. And be careful, will ya, love?” she scolded him in the soft Irish brogue she hadn’t lost in more than fifty years of living in the States. She turned to Fin, who’d sidled up between Cade and Jessie. “Why is it boys have to prove their manhood long after they’ve started shaving?”
“Good question, Mother,” Fin replied.
Liam intercepted another one of those heated glances between his host and his aunt. Interesting.
John stayed on the “bull” a respectable amount of time before falling into the deep pile of wood shavings below. The guy in line in front of Liam, one of Travis’s ranch hands, climbed on board. The cowboy made riding the pitching barrel look easy. Everyone stopped to watch until he jumped off.
Travis clapped Liam on the back. “Climb on, Elliott. Let’s see what you’re made of.”
Liam hoped he didn’t embarrass himself. “How long did John last?”
“Seven seconds,” the guy with the stopwatch called out.
Seven seconds. Liam psyched himself up. He could handle seven seconds. The ranch hands held the barrel steady as Liam swung his leg over the top. The cowhide blanketing the metal slipped and he nearly went over the side. Finally, he found his balance, tucked his heels under as instructed, grabbed the rope handle with his right hand and raised his left arm in the air. “Let’s go.”
The cowboys working the ropes to give the “bull” its motion yanked. Liam fought for balance. Riding the barrel reminded him of piloting the small Sunfish sailboat they kept at The Tides in rough seas. The barrel pitched and bucked, rose and dropped.
“Who has Aubrey Holt as number one on speed dial? I picked up your cell phone by mistake,” John called out.
Oh, hell. Liam tried and failed to regain his balance. He hit the ground with a thud. The impact winded him. He shoved to his feet, brushing sawdust from his jeans and sweater. “Mine,” he wheezed. “It’s my phone.”
“Aubrey Holt is your mystery lover?” Cade asked, his tone one of disbelief.
A quick scan of his family’s faces revealed the same shocked expressions on each one. Denial sprang to Liam’s lips, but he didn’t voice it. Affirmation would set loose an unpleasant chain of events, but he couldn’t cheapen the peace, pleasure and happiness Aubrey had brought him by lying. “Yes.”
John stepped forward, offering Liam his phone. “I’m sorry. Yours is the same model as mine and it was next to my wallet on the table. I picked it up by mistake. When I tried to make a call using speed dial I reached the wrong number. I checked the name on the screen and saw Aubrey’s. You might want to call her and explain.”
As a partner in an advertising agency, John would be aware of the rivalry between Holt Enterprises and EPH. He’d understand the repercussions of the hornet’s nest he’d just disturbed. But Liam couldn’t blame him. “An honest mistake, John. No problem.”
The compassion in John’s eyes said he knew Liam lied.
In a matter of minutes someone would call Patrick Elliott and tell him that his grandson was consorting with the enemy’s daughter, and Liam’s problems would begin in earnest. He needed to call Aubrey and warn her that this could be the beginning of the end of their relationship.
His fingers tightened around the phone. He wasn’t ready to let go of her yet, but without a doubt he’d have to say goodbye to Aubrey all too soon.
Over. The most exciting romance of her life would soon be over.
Aubrey paced Liam’s apartment Sunday evening feeling slightly sick to her stomach. Liam would be home soon. She’d known from the moment he called last night to tell her their affair had become public knowledge that she’d broken her promise to herself to keep her heart and hormones separate. Liam had become too important to her. Their meetings had become the highlight of her days—not just for the sex, which was amazing, but for his friendship, the shared dinners, the conversation and the understanding she saw in his eyes when she talked about her frustration with her job.
She didn’t want to lose the man who’d given her something besides work to look forward to for the first time in seven years. But what choice did she have? Liam would never choose their temporary fling—no matter how satisfying or incendiary—over his family.
Thursday night he’d given her keys to his apartment so that she could be waiting for him when he returned. He’d want them back. He’d tell her goodbye. And according to the rules they’d established that would be it. No begging for more time. No clinging. She wasn’t sure she could say goodbye gracefully, with dignity.
Even if Liam was willing to risk Patrick Elliott’s wrath to keep her in his life, she’d have to face the same dilemma. Maintaining her relationship with Liam meant displeasing her father. Again. It was only a matter of time before her father had enough of her disappointments and wrote her off as an employee, as a daughter. And did she really want to burn her bridges over something as temporary as an affair?
The feelings in her heart didn’t feel temporary. But they were. She knew it just as well as she knew her mother would fall in love and marry again once she got over the most recent heartbreak with husband number five.
The sound of a key grating in the lock sent her heart plunging to her stomach. The door opened and Liam stood on the threshold with his suitcase in hand. Somber blue eyes met hers. Aubrey could
n’t have spoken if her life depended on it. Emotion welled in her throat, blocking all sound. What was he thinking? How to say goodbye? How to tell her to get out?
“You’re here.” His voice was low and flat, as devoid of emotion as his face.
“Yes. I—” She dampened her lips and swallowed. “I said I would be.”
Liam stepped inside and closed the door. He dropped his bag and his coat in the foyer. Without a word he crossed the room, captured her face in his palms and kissed her.
She didn’t know what she’d expected, but this deep, soul-robbing kiss wasn’t it. Liam devoured her mouth like a starving man would his first meal after breaking his fast, ravishing her with teeth and tongue and lips. His kiss was a little wild, a little rough and a whole lot sexy. His fingers raked through her hair, over her shoulders, down her back, and then back again. He systematically removed her clothing. Blouse. Bra. Shoes. Slacks. Panties. She stood in front of him naked, quivering and confused.
Liam kicked off his shoes and within a minute his garments lay piled on top of hers on the floor. He barely gave her time to admire the ripple of muscles beneath his skin before tumbling her onto the sofa. His hands moved swiftly, painting a trail of goose bumps over her skin, stealing her breath and her sanity and stirring a vortex of need deep inside her. He sipped and nipped from her neck to her navel and then lower. She fisted her hands in his short hair, bowing her back, lifting her hips toward his mouth and the magic he created. She crested swiftly—too swiftly—giving her no time to question his silent desperation.
He grabbed his pants, retrieved his wallet and protection, which he quickly donned. And then he knelt between her legs, cupped her bottom and filled her. He pumped deep, fast, relentlessly pounding her toward the edge of reason. He didn’t try to hold back or sustain her pleasure the way he usually did. This time he raced for fulfillment as if he were afraid it would escape him, and Aubrey greedily accepted everything he gave. If anything, she urged him on, stoking his broad shoulders, kneading his tight butt, lifting her hips for each plunge.
Tension coiled tighter inside her and her lungs labored as if she raced with him, and then waves of ecstasy crashed over her. She dug her nails into his biceps and studied his face, trying to memorize the moment as Liam groaned and arched in climax. For seconds they stayed frozen, bodies locked together, gazes connected.
His eyes said it all. The end. Tonight would be their last night. And then he collapsed to his elbows, resting his forehead beside hers on the sofa cushion. That this would be their final coupling brought tears to Aubrey’s eyes. They seeped into her hair. Not wanting Liam to see her emotional reaction, she hid her face in his shoulder.
Pain squeezed her chest and she could barely choke back her sobs. She’d repeated her mother’s mistake of falling in love at first sight. Aubrey looked back on her mother’s roller-coaster life with a flash of clarity. Suddenly, she understood the rush and exuberance of the highs and the crushing agony of knowing rock bottom waited just around the corner.
She’d broken the rules and fallen in love with Liam Elliot—the one man she could never have.
“Good morning, Liam,” Ann, Liam’s administrative assistant, said as he approached her desk. “Your grandfather would like to see you immediately.”
Liam’s Monday had started out lousy from the moment he’d awakened to the empty pillow beside him—empty except for the keys he’d given Aubrey resting where her head should have been. Apparently, his day was about to get worse.
“Good morning, Ann. Tell Patrick I’ll be there in fifteen minutes.”
Ann hesitated, her eyebrows arching in surprise. In the past when Patrick cracked the whip Liam had always jumped to do his bidding. Instantly. Without question. Without even going into his own office first.
Not today. Not when Liam hadn’t come to terms with Aubrey sneaking out of his apartment in the middle of the night. Not when he didn’t know if he could abide by their agreement and make no further contact with her. They’d made love on his couch, in his shower and in his bed last night, and then she’d left while he slept, without saying goodbye.
He wanted an explanation, damn it. How could she walk away from what they had?
“Your messages are on your desk,” Ann said, breaking into his thoughts.
“Thank you.” He entered his office, closed the door and then took a seat behind his desk. He robotically sifted through the pink message slips without focusing on them and finally shoved them aside and reached for the phone.
No calls at work. The relationship rule stilled his hand.
What if he wasn’t ready to let Aubrey go?
What if he still needed her?
Needed her?
Yes, needed her.
He parked his elbows on his desk and rested his head in his hands. What now? Seeing Aubrey openly would cause problems for both of them. But she didn’t like her job. Maybe he could convince her to quit. Patrick would never give her a job here, but there were other publishers in Manhattan—publishers Patrick didn’t despise.
Liam’s office door flew open. Patrick stormed in without bothering to knock. “How dare you consort with the enemy’s daughter.”
And the battle began. Resigned, Liam sat back in his chair. “Holt Enterprises isn’t the enemy. It’s the competition. One of many publishers in the magazine market.”
“Holt isn’t like our other competitors. He uses underhanded tactics to get what he wants. What makes you so sure that Aubrey Holt isn’t pumping you for information?”
“Because we don’t discuss business.” Other than in the most general sense of work frustrations. He hadn’t told her about Patrick’s insane method of choosing a successor. But he’d come close a few times. He needed to discuss the chaos with someone. Someone not caught up in the rivalry tearing EPH apart.
“Not good enough. End it,” his grandfather ordered.
Maybe he should, but he couldn’t. Not yet. Not when he still ached for her and she occupied his thoughts 24/7.
During the weekend in Colorado the story of how his grandfather had bullied Aunt Fin into giving up her baby twenty-three years ago had been repeated numerous times for Travis’s guests. Fin had spoken openly of the pain, regret and anger that had followed—anger that even now strained her relationship with her parents, Maeve and Patrick.
Patrick wasn’t always right. He wasn’t right now.
“Whether or not I continue to see Aubrey is none of your business.”
“I’m making it mine. You work for me and what you do reflects on EPH. End it with Holt’s daughter or else—”
Liam rose sharply and leaned forward, bracing his arms on his desk. “Patrick, do you really want to issue that ultimatum? Because at this moment, after the year of hell you’ve put us—the company and the family—through, you have no guarantee that I won’t walk.”
The blue eyes so similar to the ones Liam saw in the mirror each morning hardened and then filled with something else. Resignation? Liam wasn’t sure. “Then I suggest you take some time off until you know where your loyalties lie.”
Liam’s stomach clenched. “Are you ordering me out of the office?”
“Until you’re ready to end your association with Aubrey Holt I don’t want you in this building.”
So this was it. Time to choose between family duty and his own happiness. It should have been an easy decision. But it wasn’t. In fact, last night he’d intended to tell Aubrey goodbye, but he hadn’t been able to say the words or let her go. For the first time Liam wanted to be selfish and put his needs above the family’s, above EPH’s. And for the first time, he just might.
“You don’t trust me to keep my business and personal life separate?”
Patrick’s mouth flattened. “It’s not a risk I’m willing to take.”
“Fine. I’m out of here.” But he wasn’t leaving without saying what had been eating at him since January. “You might want to keep in mind that you are the one who betrayed me, Patrick. You used what
I told you in confidence about members of this family to pit them against each other with your idiotic challenge. You are solely responsible for the self-destruction of EPH.”
“I’m busy, Aubrey. What is it that can’t wait?” Matthew Holt asked without looking up from papers in front of him.
Aubrey stood in front of his desk, knotting her fingers, battling nerves and bracing herself for the worst. She’d decided confronting her father immediately would be better than the torture of worrying he’d uncover her secret and attack her unexpectedly.
“I’ve been seeing Liam Elliott.”
His expression darkened and he abandoned his work. She had his full attention now. “You’ve what?”
“I’ve been dating Liam Elliott. I wanted to tell you before you heard it from someone else.”
“Stop seeing him.”
Very likely a moot point, but not her father’s decision to make. “I’m twenty-nine, too old for you to choose my boyfriends, Dad. I’ll decide when and if to end a relationship.”
His steely-eyed stare had caused her capitulation too many times to count, but not this time. Aubrey held his gaze, refusing to concede.
“Are you sleeping with him?”
She recoiled from the invasive question. Her father had never been one to offer personal advice. That had fallen to Jane, his personal assistant. But the fire in her cheeks had probably already given him his answer. “Yes.”
“I asked you to get information out of him, not screw him. Is that what you’re doing? Using pillow talk to get what you need?”
It would be so easy to lie, to tell him what he wanted to hear and maybe, just maybe, see respect in his eyes for once. But she didn’t condone her father’s methods and she wouldn’t pretend she did. “Liam and I don’t discuss work, and I would never use or deceive him that way.”
He rocked back in his chair and studied her through narrowed eyes. “You’re in love with him.”
The comment—more of an accusation, really—startled her because once again, it wasn’t a territory father and daughter had ever covered.
Dynasties:The Elliots, Books 7-12 Page 55
