“It is settled,” Mori stated.
Helen was looking at his daughter. “And I am happy to have such a lovely girl join us for dinner.”
Kimiko put a self-conscious hand to her hair.
It seemed that it took a woman to make her question whether or not her choice of hair color was wise. What her own father thought was another matter entirely.
Fortunately, they soon arrived at the Anderson hotel, and Mori escorted his companions to the restaurant. The maître d’ greeted them all effusively and managed not to stare at Kimiko’s head as he showed them to a table near the windows that overlooked the city lights.
Despite the excessively late hour, the restaurant was more than half full. Helen declined wine with a polite excuse, which surprised Mori, as did the order she made for a medium steak. Most of the women he knew— American or not—seemed to subsist on salads and little else.
He ordered a fruit tray for his daughter, who had already eaten her own dinner earlier, then his own preference—which happened to be nearly identical to Helen’s.
The waiter disappeared as quietly as he’d appeared and Helen lightly touched Kimiko’s colorful T-shirt. “Do you like fish?”
Her shirt was patterned with dozens of tropical fish. “I have an aquarium in my room at school,” she said. Her English was only slightly accented. “Some day, my father may let me learn to scuba, so that I may see the fish without a cage.”
“Scuba diving is a wonderful experience, but I haven’t been in years. I’ve always loved watching fish in aquariums, though. There is something so peaceful about them.”
“What kind of fish do you have?”
Helen shook her head. “None, I’m afraid.”
“Papa, you must show Mrs. Hanson your fish.” Like a Ping-Pong ball, Kimiko’s attention bounced back and forth between the adults. “Bettas,” she told Helen. “Very beautiful ones. My father has bred many of them. But the males have to be kept separate. They would fight.”
“I’ve heard that.” Her eyes were amused, but she did not seem to be bothered by Kimiko’s rapid conversation. If anything, she appeared to be rapt.
The result of missing her own daughter’s company at that age?
He decided he was speculating far too much about Helen’s motives and her state of mind. “Kimi-chan,” he murmured softly, silently warning her to cease her chatter.
His daughter’s lashes swept down, hiding her expressive eyes. If it had not been for the yard-long skeins of pink hair streaming to the seat of her chair, she would have looked quite demure.
He knew better.
“Where have you been scuba diving?” he asked Helen.
Her fingers were slowly sliding up and down the stem of her water goblet. “Mostly the Caribbean. My husband used to enjoy it. When we first were married, we went often.”
“Family holidays?”
Her fingers hesitated for just a moment, hardly long enough to be noticed. “Unfortunately, George’s boys didn’t accompany us. Have you been diving?”
He nodded.
“Papa prefers mountain climbing.” Kimiko pressed her lips together, as if she had realized she may have been too free with information with their foreign guest.
“Kimiko is correct. I do prefer mountains to water. But, I have enjoyed many interludes beneath the surface.”
Helen’s smile widened. “What a lovely way of phrasing it.”
What was lovely was the way her jadelike eyes sparkled when she smiled.
If she were merely a woman he had happened to meet, he would have had no qualms in pursuing the attraction. But she was in his country for professional reasons. That alone put her in a class where some men would feel perfectly comfortable in pressing their attentions on her, wanted or not.
He was not some men, however.
She was, for now, an opponent. When the acquisition of Hanson Media Group was complete, she would be a business associate—albeit one far removed from his center of operations here in Tokyo.
Attractive she was. Too wise to fall prey to it, he was, as well.
A phalanx of waiters arrived, bearing their array of dishes, and for a while, silence reigned over the table as Mori and his companions ate.
Kimiko finished her fruit in short order and, unable to overlook the tiredness in her eyes, he sent her up to his suite. “Wash the tattoo,” he added, in case she had any ideas of leaving the colorful emblem in place.
He caught her rolling her eyes, but she went without debate.
Which left him alone with the puzzling and disturbing Mrs. Hanson.
“A few bottles of color from the drug store, and she’ll be brunette once again.”
“She does not stop to think about the consequences of her actions.”
“She is twelve.”
“More than old enough.”
“When was the last time she was able to spend time with you?”
Too long. The thought had him frowning. “Why?”
“Maybe the pink hair is more a tactic to be with you than to satisfy her fashion urges.”
He started to deny that, but stopped. They had already spoken too much of his family. “Kimiko is happy at school.”
“Yes, I believe you mentioned that.” Her voice was smooth. “It looked like a very old building. Beautifully maintained, but old. Did you, by any chance, attend there?”
“Yes.”
She smiled softly. “Did you ever try some mischief to get beyond the walls?”
He and Shiguro had been terrors. But she need not know that. “No.”
She merely chuckled, shaking her head. “And I never intentionally missed my ninth-grade English class, either.”
He could easily imagine her as a young teenager. She had probably been the epitome of blond and carefree. “Do you wish to have a coffee?”
“I’d love one. But—” she looked regretful “—I must decline. If I have coffee at this hour, I’d be awake until dawn.”
“You are tired.” Though it did not show in her face. “I have kept you too long. Please forgive me.”
“Not at all. It has been my pleasure.”
“Akira will, of course, drive you to your hotel.”
“It’s not far. I can walk.”
“That would be dangerous. A woman alone on the streets at this time of night. If you will not allow Akira to drive you, then I will accompany you.”
She stilled, her gaze measuring. “I am in the position of having to agree to your terms, aren’t I? To do otherwise would be ungracious of me. Even though I am perfectly capable of finding my own way there.”
“You have not been ungracious since we met.” The truthful admission felt raw. He much preferred it when she did not speak her thoughts so freely. “If I were to acknowledge your capabilities, would you acknowledge that it would be safer for you to be transported to your hotel by someone I trust?”
Her head tilted slightly to one side. “Always the negotiator, Mr. Taka?”
“Earlier, it was Mori.”
“So it was. Mori. I would be most happy to accept the offer of your driver,” she capitulated. “Your daughter needs your attention tonight more than anyone. Thank you very much for the dinner. The food was delicious and the company delightful. Please tell your daughter I very much enjoyed meeting her.”
Judging by Kimiko’s equally rapt attention to Helen, the feeling had been mutual.
A disturbing fact, given his daughter’s already inflated infatuation with Western ways.
“We will meet tomorrow.”
“Around the conference table,” she finished.
“Yes.”
“I look forward to it.” She bowed slightly, then walked out of the restaurant.
Watching her go, he knew he, also, was looking
Chapter Five
“What’s this I hear about you and Mori Taka having dinner together last night?”
Helen paused, lifting her scone halfway to her mouth. How quickly word spread. “Good morning to
you, too, Jack.”
His lips tightened as he entered the living area of her suite. “You can’t charm your way through the merger, Helen.”
She gave him a long look. “I’m so flattered that you think I might try.” Her tone was cooler than she intended. But, really, how long was she to be painted with the trophy-wife paint? “It was merely dinner, Jack.”
“Mori doesn’t have dinner with us, Helen.”
“Well, he didn’t with you,” she agreed drily, which was all she intended to say about the matter. “How is Samantha this morning?”
“Samantha is fine.” The woman in question sailed into the room. “Jack, I hope you haven’t been grilling Helen already. It’s far too early for barbecue.” Samantha leaned over and brushed her cheek against Helen’s. “He’s in a bad mood,” she whispered sotto voce, before straightening again and sending her husband an impish smile.
No matter how irritated Jack might be with Helen, he still reacted to his wife’s cheerfulness. The man was completely in love, and it pleased Helen in ways she could never adequately convey to her stepson. “Too much sake last night with Shiguro and the boys?”
Jack threw himself down on the couch opposite her. “We’ve got another week of meetings, at the very least, before we can sew this up. Then, what? Two or three months to make sure the transition goes smoothly?”
“Probably. Of course we’ll be having the gala to celebrate the final signing well before that.” She hoped that all of the boys would be in Tokyo for it. There would be plenty to celebrate, not least of which was the merger.
Samantha sat next to Jack, her hand smoothing over his thigh. “Jack found out this morning that one of his former law partners was appointed to the bench.”
Understanding swept through Helen. “Things will work out, Jack. I know this has been frustrating for you, but, trust me. They will work out.”
“Aren’t you little Mary Sunshine.”
“Jack,” Samantha hushed.
“It’s all right, Samantha.” Helen took a small bite of her scone, but her appetite had waned. She leaned over the glass-topped coffee table and dragged her portfolio close enough to flip open.
Some of the time with Jack—most of the time—it was best for her to focus on facts.
She pulled out her latest sheet of notes, which she handed over to him. “Items I’d like to get cleared away with TAKA today.”
He took the sheet, sitting forward.
Even with his dissatisfaction over being thrust into the management of his father’s company, he wasn’t going about it halfway. George had always been proud of Jack, though he’d been miserable at telling his eldest son that. Unfortunately, Helen was aware that expressing her pride in him wouldn’t make up for his father’s failings.
“You want to get back into the charitable giving again?”
“It has to be settled, Jack. If we don’t do it now, we’ll never get approval from the new board to continue a full match when the merger is complete. Not when TAKA will have a weighted presence.”
Jack folded her notes and tucked it in his lapel pocket and stood. “Fine. I’ve got a conference call set up shortly with Evan about spinning off the radio division. We need to time it before the merger to keep the FCC happy. I’ll see you before the meeting.” He brushed his hand over his wife’s hair and left just as abruptly as he’d arrived.
Helen looked over at Samantha. “It will be hard for him to stick out the transition period here.”
“It isn’t that he dislikes Tokyo,” Samantha assured. “Quite the opposite, in fact.”
“He misses his law practice.”
The young woman nodded. “But, on a good note, we’re considering finding a real place to live while we’re here. Living in a hotel all that while doesn’t appeal to either one of us. Having a place of our own, even temporarily, would be nice.”
“I’m sure it would be. You and Jack haven’t had a chance to really settle anywhere yet. There just hasn’t been time with all the company issues in the way.”
“Company issues that brought us back together in the first place.” Samantha looked like the cat who got the cream as she grinned. “So…dinner with Mori Taka? What was that all about?”
“It was about nothing. His daughter was there, too.”
“Introducing you to his family.” Samantha nodded, slyly humorous. “Getting serious, already, eh?”
Even though Samantha was only teasing, Helen still felt her cheeks warming. “I’m sure he would have much preferred to keep his daughter far, far away from me.”
“I don’t believe that for a minute.”
Helen just shook her head and waved her hand, trying to dismiss the matter. Too bad she couldn’t dismiss it from her mind, however. Morito Taka was taking up much too much of her thoughts of late.
“He’s a striking man.” Samantha splayed her hand, studying her fingernails. “Intelligent, obviously. Rich, clearly. A woman could do worse.”
Samantha had experienced much, much worse, at the hands of her first husband. “I’m not in the market for a man.” Helen’s voice was firm. “It hasn’t even been a year since George died.” But it had been far longer than that since she’d felt the interest of a man.
Perhaps that was why she couldn’t get Mori out of her head. She’d been alone in her bed for too many years.
“Maybe you should be in the market,” Samantha countered, obviously not at all cowed by Helen’s insistence. “There’s no time frame on falling in love.”
“Love?” Helen stood up so quickly she knocked her portfolio right onto the floor. “Believe me. The last person I would fall in love with is someone like Mori Taka. He’s—”
Samantha had sat up, and was watching Helen closely. “He’s…what? I know you’re not going to say Japanese, because I won’t believe for a second that the differences in your cultures would bother you in the least.”
If anything, Helen found the differences as appealing as they were frustrating. But that was not the point. She picked up her portfolio and dropped it on the coffee table. “He’s too much like George,” she finally admitted.
“Jack’s told me about his father,” Samantha said slowly. “I don’t see how the two are similar in the least, and I’m not talking about their ages.”
She wished she hadn’t said anything at all. Thinking about George was still painful, and not for the reasons Samantha would expect. Her friend believed that George had been the love of Helen’s life. Helen had believed it, too, until the truth of George’s feelings for her had capsized her life. “It doesn’t matter, anyway. Once we finalize the merger, I doubt I’ll have much interaction with Mori afterward. He’ll be running TAKA from here, and I’ll be back in the States.”
“You still plan to be involved with the company, though.”
Helen couldn’t bring herself to lie, outright. Not when, with each passing day, she was wanting more and more to escape.
Ironic, given how many years she’d been disappointed in George’s refusal to allow any involvement on her part in Hanson Media.
“Have you heard from Andrew or Delia? Do you know how she’s feeling after the long flight back to Chicago?”
“Like she’s ready to pop with the baby,” Samantha answered. “Which she feels like despite international air travel. And she still has a few months to go. What are you not telling me, Helen?”
“Don’t start imagining things.” Helen pushed the tray of scones toward her. “Have you eaten yet?”
Her young friend made a face, but she dutifully picked up a scone and let the matter drop.
Helen was too wise to believe the subject would remain dropped, however. But for now, she was glad for the reprieve. “So, tell me. What kind of place do you and Jack want to find? A house? An apartment?”
Samantha smiled and began debating the merits of each. Helen focused her attention as best she could.
But it was hard, when her thoughts kept slipping to the unwanted appeal of Morito Taka.
He wasn’t there.
Shiguro offered no explanation over Mori’s absence other than extending a profuse apology before taking Mori’s seat at the head of the table and proceeding to be more obstreperous than ever before.
She actually found herself wishing that Mori was there, even though, up to now, he’d been a much more difficult prospect than Shiguro.
By the time they’d debated issues for two hours with no concessions whatsoever made on Shiguro’s part, Helen had a raging headache.
Even Jack looked like he was on the verge of telling Shiguro to take a flying leap. When Shiguro actually retraced steps about the number of board positions that would be available to Hanson—a matter that had been firmly resolved already—Jack actually started to stand.
Helen saw the glint of satisfaction in Shiguro’s eyes and without thought, cried out, distressed.
Heads swiveled her way as she swayed slightly, pressing a shaking hand to her cheek.
“Helen?” Jack looked concerned as he leaned over her. “What’s wrong?”
“I’m so sorry.” Her voice was weak. “I just felt faint. I—I’ll be fine.” She sat up a little straighter. “Please. Let’s continue. Pay me no mind.”
“Of course we will cease, Mrs. Hanson, if you are unwell.” Evidently, Shiguro drew the line at taking advantage of a seemingly ill woman. He spoke sharply to the secretary taking the minutes, and the woman jumped up and scurried from the room. “I have sent for a physician.”
Oh, Lord. This is what she got for acting without thought. “Please, I do not wish to cause an inconvenience. If I could just have a few minutes of rest.”
Jack was eyeing her oddly. Naturally. The man was such a straight shooter.
Something she’d always tried to be, too. But desperate times called for desperate measures, and she’d been proving that for months now.
“She may rest in my office,” Shiguro said.
It wasn’t quite what Helen had hoped for, but beggars couldn’t be choosers. “Thank you very much for your kindness,” she said weakly. “Jack, you’ll help me, won’t you?” She held her hands toward him.
Mergers & Matrimony Page 6
