by Neesa Hart
And her love sent him to his knees.
Not in a thousand years would he have imagined himself worthy of that kind of gift. His fingers traced an absent pattern on her bare shoulder as he struggled with a strange sense of panic.
What the hell would he do if he ever lost her? She had, he realized, become essential. Like oxygen. Long ago, he’d sworn not to let anyone get that close. He needed his wits about him—sometimes, taking care of people meant making unpopular decisions. He hadn’t even had time to resent the mantle life had thrust upon him. There had been too much to do, too much riding on each and every choice.
In the days after his parents had died, the lives of his siblings had rested squarely on his shoulders. He’d been unable to save his father from self-destruction, but through sheer force of will, he had, so far, managed to keep his brother and sisters from walking down the same path. They hadn’t always liked him for it. He knew that, but he had never allowed it to matter.
Until now.
Beside him, Sidney slept quietly, her breath fanning across his chest. His fingers threaded through her hair as he sent up a silent prayer for guidance. He couldn’t lose her. He’d die if he did.
“Max?” Sidney’s sleepy voice pierced his lassitude.
“I thought you were sleeping.”
“Almost.” She brushed her hand over his chest. “What about Edward Fitzwater?”
Max frowned. “What about him?”
“What Carter said—”
“It’s not true.”
“I know that.” She tweaked his skin. “But Edward seemed angry. What’s going to happen?”
“Nothing’s going to happen. Edward’s a hothead. It’s no wonder he got his company in trouble.”
“I hope this doesn’t cause problems for Lauren and Greg.”
He yawned. “It won’t.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.” He gathered her closer. “Now, go to sleep.”
Sidney exhaled a long breath. “I hope you’re right.”
“I am. Once Edward has a chance to calm down, it’ll blow over. I promise.”
She snuggled her head against his chest. “If you say so.”
“I do.”
Long seconds passed. “Max?”
He managed to open one eye. “Sweetheart, I’m exhausted. You wore me out.”
“I just wanted you to know that I, uh, liked it.”
He was suddenly wide awake. And smiling. “You liked it? I thought you were mad that I started the fight with Silas.”
“Not the fight,” she said, exasperation clear in her voice, “the other thing.”
“What other thing?” he teased.
She thumped him with her index finger. “I liked having you on top,” she said.
Max nudged her chin up so he could grin at her. “I liked it, too.”
She gave him a beatific smile that made his heartbeat double. He had no idea what he’d done to deserve her, but he’d go to his grave believing that the happiness she brought him was the rarest of gifts. He was considering how to tell her that when Sidney began toying with the hair at his nape, distracting him from loftier thoughts. “Do you, um, think maybe you might like to try it again?”
His eyebrows lifted. He’d tumbled into Nirvana, he decided. “Right now?”
“If you’re not too tired.”
With a joyful laugh, Max pulled her on top of him so he could kiss her. When he lifted his head, he said, “I don’t know. What’s in this for me?”
Her lips twitched. “Paradise and a tray of handmade chocolates?”
In a seamless move, he rolled her beneath him. “Deal.”
Chapter Fourteen
The persistent pounding awakened him. Max cracked his eyelids and squinted at the bedside clock. Six-fifteen. This better be good. He carefully disengaged himself from Sidney’s sleeping form and eased out of the king-size bed. Who the hell, he wondered, would beat on his door at this ungodly hour of the morning?
He pulled on a gray silk robe and headed down the hall. For that matter, where was Philip? He hadn’t been here when they’d returned last night—for which Max had been eminently thankful, but the place still looked deserted. Odd, that. Philip and Gertie were generally moving around by now.
Max wiped a hand through his hair and jerked open the door. Greg, looking belligerent and disheveled, glared at him. He wore jeans and a T-shirt, and the stubble on his face suggested he’d just rolled out of bed. Lauren, who stood just behind him, and looked only slightly more composed, gave Max an apologetic look. Greg shouldered his way past Max and grumbled. “It’s about time.”
“What the hell are you doing here?” He glanced at Lauren, who still stood in the hall. “You might as well come in too, Lauren.”
With a slight nod, she eased past him. “I’m sorry, Max. He was determined.”
Max pushed the door shut before he turned to face his brother. “What’s the matter with you?”
Greg thrust a newspaper in his direction. “This. Have you seen the papers yet?”
“I haven’t been up yet.” He strolled across the living room to take the newspaper. “What’s going on?”
“You went too far this time, that’s what’s going on.”
Lifting his eyebrows, Max flipped open the paper. The front page of the City section featured a picture of him slugging Carter Silas. It felt just as good this morning, he realized. Max didn’t recall anyone taking pictures, but there were always society reporters present at events like that. It didn’t particularly surprise him that the episode had made the paper. “They didn’t catch my best side, did they,” he quipped.
“You bastard,” Greg said, his face a mask of rage. “You think this is funny, don’t you?”
“Greg—” Lauren held out an imploring hand. “Please calm down.”
“Calm down?” Greg began to pace. “How can you say that? For God’s sake, don’t you see what he’s done?”
Without comment, Max scanned the article. It gave a fairly accurate description of the fight. He scowled at the mention of Sidney as his butler’s niece. It also gave Carter more credit than he deserved for holding his own during the brawl. The twist the reporter had put on the piece suggested that Max’s anger was rooted in Carter’s accusations about his takeover of Fitzwater Electronics, rather than in the weasel’s comments about Sidney. Still, it certainly wasn’t the most damaging piece he’d ever seen, and definitely not the worst thing that had ever been said about him in a newspaper. He glanced at Greg. “You want to tell me why this has you so angry?”
“Why?” Greg’s eyes blazed. “Because this time you went too damned far.” He waved a hand at Lauren. “Just who the hell do you think you are, Max? God? I don’t give a damn what you’ve done for this family, it doesn’t give you the right to arbitrarily dictate the course of our lives.”
Max glanced at Lauren. “You want to enlighten me here?”
She sat down. “Daddy thinks there’s some truth to what Carter Silas said last night.”
His eyes narrowed. “Do you?”
Lauren opened her mouth to respond, but another knock sounded at the door. With a low curse, Max strode to open it. Natalie and Paul rushed in. Unlike Greg, they looked like they’d taken the time to shower and dress before disturbing him at this ungodly hour of the morning. “We just saw the paper,” Natalie said as she gave Max a quick hug. “It was on the news this morning, too.”
“Great.” Greg dropped into a chair.
Paul gave Max a shrewd look. “Edward is on the warpath.”
For Lauren’s sake, Max didn’t voice his opinion about Edward Fitzwater. Instead, he motioned for Natalie and Paul to sit down. Natalie sat next to Lauren and took her hand, while Paul dropped into a wing chair. “All right,” Max said. “Everyone take a deep breath.” He dropped the newspaper onto the coffee table and began pacing. He wished he knew where the hell Philip was. Philip always knew how to defuse these things.
Greg continued to watch hi
m with a surly expression. “I came here for an explanation, Max. I want it now.”
“An explanation for what?” Max snapped. “You want to know why I beat the hell out of Carter Silas last night? Do you?”
Natalie glanced at Greg. “It had nothing to do with what he said about the Fitzwater merger, Greg. You know that.”
“Do I? From what Edward told me this morning, he’s had Silas and a couple of others working nonstop on this for the past few months.”
Max gritted his teeth. “For your information, not that I feel like I owe you an explanation, I don’t give a rat’s ass what Edward thinks. Carter Silas is a sleazy, self-impressed drunk who doesn’t deserve to breathe the same air as the rest of us. He insulted Sidney one too many times last night, and I finally did what I’ve wanted to do since the day she married the little bastard.” He gave Greg a hard look. “And if Edward Fitzwater believes that the word of Silas Carter is worth more than a passing thought, then he’s seriously deluded.”
“You can’t deny—” Greg’s angry retort was interrupted by another demanding knock.
“Oh, hell,” Max muttered. He crossed the room in three angry strides and jerked open the door. Colleen and Warren stood outside. Absently he noted that they looked tanned, rested and together. Which was more than he could say for the rest of his family. “Glad you could make it,” he drawled.
Colleen looked at him for several seconds, then entered the room. “We just heard,” she announced to no one in particular. “We got back late yesterday. Sorry we missed the party, Lauren.”
Lauren nodded. “That’s all right.”
“Sit down,” Max ordered. Colleen hurried to obey. She joined Natalie and Lauren on the couch. Warren sat across from Greg. Max waited until they watched him expectantly. “I was just explaining,” he said for Colleen and Warren’s benefit, “that no matter what Greg may think, last night’s spectacle didn’t have anything to do with Edward Fitzwater, his company or the merger.”
Greg leapt to his feet. “Cut the crap,” he charged. “I knew months ago there had to be a reason you were pushing so hard for my engagement to Lauren.”
“I never made any secret about the merger with Fitzwater.”
Greg glared at him. “You led us to believe—you led Edward to believe—that you were merging with his company because he was in financial trouble. It was a way for him to save face.”
“Oh, good God,” Max said, beginning to pace. “Don’t be naive. I don’t toss millions of dollars around on a whim.” He glanced at Lauren. She was stoically staring at the Monet hanging above his mantel. “Not to mention,” he continued, “that I pushed for your engagement to Lauren because I think she’s good for you.”
Lauren flashed him a wan smile. “Thanks, Max.”
He nodded. “I wanted Fitzwater Electronics. I’m not going to deny it.”
Greg clenched his fists. “And you were willing to do just about anything to get it, weren’t you? Sorry. I’ve known you too long to believe you did this for any reason other than to expand Loden Enterprises. That damned company always mattered more than us.”
Natalie gasped. “Greg!”
“It’s true, Natalie. Ask him.”
Max shook his head. “I’m not going to answer that.”
Colleen brushed her hair back from her face. “Sit down, Greg. Listen to what Max has to say.”
“Since when are you on his side all of a sudden?”
“Since I was older than you when Mother and Father died, and I know a little more about what Max had to go through.”
Greg glared at her. “Oh, I’m sure it was just hell on earth taking over control of everyone’s life like he did.”
“Sit down,” Colleen said firmly. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
He visibly wavered for several long seconds, then dropped into a leather armchair. “Where the hell have you been, anyway? Off finding some other poor slob’s business for Max to pirate?”
Warren shifted on the sofa and frowned at him. “Don’t talk to her like that.”
Greg lapsed into a sulking silence. Max drew a calming breath as he searched for his patience. Lord, he hoped Sidney continued to sleep through this. The thought of her seeing one of these squabbles made him feel queasy. “Paul,” he said firmly, “since Greg’s clearly not in the mood to listen to me, why don’t you explain to him what’s been happening with Fitzwater.”
Paul nodded. “It’s like Max said, Greg. We started looking at Fitzwater before you even started seeing Lauren. Edward is sitting on a couple of patents we need to make some of our new technology work. He wouldn’t sell them, so we went after the company.” He glanced at Lauren. “Your father still thinks he can do business like he did twenty years ago. His company’s financial standing was vulnerable.”
“And like a vulture,” Greg accused, “Max swooped in and took it.”
Max struggled to hold his temper. “If it hadn’t been Loden, it would have been someone else.”
“But you wanted to make sure,” Greg went on. “You wanted to make absolutely sure, so you manipulated me and Lauren, and maneuvered Edward under your thumb.”
Lauren looked stricken. “Greg, really.”
“Don’t be an ass,” Max snapped. “I’m not going to lie to you and tell you that your relationship with Lauren didn’t make things easier. It did. Edward was more—amenable. Because you and Lauren were engaged, he felt like he was making an alliance.” He shrugged. “If that saved his pride, then it did. I don’t see the harm in that.”
Greg was on his feet again. He stalked toward Max. “The harm, you bastard, is that Edward now knows you deliberately spread rumors on Wall Street to devalue his stock. According to Silas, you pulled strings to make sure everyone believed his patents weren’t worth a plug nickel. His stock value kept falling, and you kept buying it. You manipulated me and Lauren into getting engaged so that Edward would feel comfortable with you. And now you’re about to execute the rest of this little scheme by taking Fitzwater’s patents and padding your own pockets. Do I have it about right, or did I miss anything?”
Max faced him squarely. “That doesn’t even warrant an answer,” he said.
Greg’s face contorted with rage. “Well, by God, you’re going to give me one.”
Paul Wells rose to his feet. “Greg, if you or Edward would take Silas’s word over Max’s and mine, then you’re fools. Carter Silas couldn’t even get a job in this town until Edward hired him.”
Lauren looked at Paul. “Why not?”
“Because,” Paul explained, “during his divorce from Sidney, Max gathered evidence that Silas had embezzled a significant amount of money from his last brokerage firm.”
Natalie gasped. “I didn’t know that.”
Max shook his head. “No one did. I had investigators digging up whatever they could on Silas. That came out in the wash.”
“Then why,” Lauren said softly, “did my father hire him?”
Max opened his mouth to respond, but the pounding began on his door again. “What now?” he growled.
Paul headed for the door. “I’ll get it.”
Edward Fitzwater, red-faced and visibly enraged charged into the room. He still wore his tuxedo from the night before. Bloodshot eyes and a day-old beard bore testimony to a sleepless night. “You son of a bitch, Loden.” He waved a sheaf of papers at him. “Do you know what this is? Do you?”
“I assume it’s Carter Silas’s supposedly damaging report.”
“You’re damned right it is. I’m going to skin you alive for this. I knew you were up to something. There was no way our stock dropped thirty points in two years without your interference.”
“Your stock dropped,” Max said through clenched teeth, “because of mismanagement and bad investments.”
Edward’s face turned redder. “Like hell. You knew what those patents were worth. We were weeks from selling them when the rumors began to spread that they weren’t worth anything.”
“The ones you’re talking about aren’t worth anything, Edward. I had them independently tested.”
Edward visibly sputtered. “You what?”
Paul nodded. “It’s true. We were initially interested in your matrix display. Max hired an independent lab to run a few tests. It’s worthless.”
“That’s not true!”
“It is,” Max snapped. “And your own people knew it. If you want to know who leaked the information to the public, then look no further than your personnel roster.”
“I don’t believe it,” Edward growled. “You wanted my company, and you were willing to do whatever it took to get it. But don’t think you’re going to get away with this. My lawyers have already contacted the Federal Trade Commission. You can expect a full inquiry by the beginning of the week.”
Colleen groaned and covered her face. Lauren had started to cry softly. “Daddy, please, stop this.”
“Shut up, Lauren,” he snarled.
Greg took an angry step toward him. “Don’t talk to her like that.”
Edward turned his angry gaze on Greg. “You’re probably in on this, aren’t you?”
“Fitzwater,” Paul said carefully, “you don’t know what you’re saying.”
Edward faced Max again. “I do. And if I can, I’ll see you in jail for this, Loden.”
Max gave him a hard look. “You’re out of control.”
“I’m out of control?” he demanded incredulously. He dropped the sheaf of papers on the table. “Who are you trying to fool? You’re the one who’s convinced yourself that you’re invincible. Well, you crossed the line this time, and I’m going to take you down.”
Paul tried again. “Edward, sit down so we can discuss this. Max and I can document everything we’ve been telling you.”
“Oh, I’m sure you can.” His laugh was ugly. “I’m not fool enough to believe you wouldn’t have properly covered your ass. But there’s one thing you didn’t count on. I had Silas.”
