“I’m sure in the long run Carter would tell you anyway, but I admire you. I don’t know what slant someone else would put on the story, but I wanted you to hear the truth. From me.”
“Thank you for that.”
Renee felt numb. She hadn’t expected the day to go this way. She’d lost a friend and a lover. How could she have been so wrong? He’d told her he’d never do anything to encroach on her business. Yet she hadn’t even given him the benefit of the doubt. She’d immediately assumed he was there to steal. That he’d been using her all this time, just to get her designs.
But it wasn’t just the designs. She hadn’t trusted him. Or even given him the opportunity to explain. She couldn’t blame him if he never spoke to her again.
Renee flopped against the back of her chair. She took in a long breath, feeling as if she hadn’t had air since Blair had walked into her office.
Closing her eyes, Carter came to mind. She’d accused him of theft. He was innocent...but he must have recognized the plans. Why hadn’t he told her? Maybe he thought she stole them from Blair, and not the other way around? But how had he found out the truth?
And what was she going to do now that she’d destroyed his trust?
* * *
The 38th floor felt very far away. Renee’s elevator trip up to the offices of Hampshire Publications was like ascending to a high office to be called on the carpet. Carter may well throw her out, and he’d have every right to do so. She’d broken his trust. She didn’t know if that could be mended. She hoped so.
The elevator doors opened onto a highly polished hallway.
“Ms. Hart,” the receptionist stood up and came around her desk. “It’s so good to see you.” She hugged Renee.
“I’m here to see Carter,” she explained. “If you don’t mind, I know the way.”
For a moment the receptionist looked confused, then she smiled and pressed a button to let her through security. Renee held her head high as she walked through the door and passed several offices. Some of the people she knew gawked at her. Renee nodded to them, but didn’t slow her pace. She was on a mission. Silence followed her movements. People thought she was there for a fight and that an explosion was imminent.
She saw Carter’s secretary. “Is he in?” she asked, passing the woman without altering her stride.
The secretary stood up, but had no time to say anything before Renee opened the door and went inside. She closed it, hearing a click of finality. Carter turned around in his chair. The expression on his face told her she was the last person he expected to see. Her heart thundered. He could order her out. She expected him to do so.
“We need to talk,” she said. “No, I need to talk.”
Carter stood, but said nothing. Moving across the room Renee stood in front of his desk. She didn’t sit. What she had to say needed to be said standing up.
“I apologize,” she began. “Blair came to see me.”
He frowned. “She did?”
“She told me the truth about the designs. That she’d stolen them. You didn’t. It was all her.”
Renee waited for Carter to give her an indication that she should go on, that there was some kind of forgiveness. She found none.
“I’m sure you don’t want to see me again, but I wanted to tell you how sorry I am for mistrusting you.”
“Apology accepted,” Carter said.
Renee waited a moment. Neither of them seemed to have anything more to say. Renee glanced at him, expecting it would be the last time she saw him alone. She turned to leave.
“Renee.” She stopped at the sound of his voice.
“You said we needed to talk. I have something to say.”
She turned around.
“Please sit down.”
Renee took a seat. If he wanted to level accusations at her, she deserved them.
“I’m sorry Blair did what she did,” he said. “But it forced me to make a decision. I’m going to need your help to accomplish it.”
Renee frowned, then blinked several times. She had no idea what Carter was getting at. “It’s about the magazines, both yours and mine.”
Renee nodded, but was still confused.
“I think they should merge or—”
She jumped up as if propelled. A business deal. He was offering her a business deal? “You’re suggesting I merge Designed for Brides with Hampshire Bridal?”
Carter raised his hands, palms out. “That’s not what I mean.”
She put her hands on her hips and stared at him. “Then what do you mean?”
“I lied to you about the bridal division at Hampshire,” he said.
“How?”
“It’s not doing as well as I told you it was. But that magazine is your baby. You love it and the love you feel for it is evident in the product you produce yourself. Since you left three years ago, things haven’t been the same.”
“And your solution is...?”
“I sell Hampshire’s bridal division—to you.”
The silence was deafening. “Are you kidding?”
“Not in the least.” Carter’s face was serious.
“I sell the bridal division to you. You can either merge it with Designed for Brides or add it as a second magazine. The choice is yours.”
“I don’t understand. You’re giving up the business?”
“There is one condition. Well, two conditions.”
She knew there had to be a catch.
“You keep the staff. Their benefits remain intact. They’re good people, and they’ll put out an excellent magazine.”
“I don’t understand.” Renee’s head was spinning. They hadn’t had a competitive fight, and they must still be profitable enough to make the business valuable to the larger company.
“I’ll be honest with you. The magazine hasn’t been pulling its weight for several years. It’s reached its cycle with us. You can bring it back to life, give it another name, another look, make it successful.”
“Carter, you have more experience than I do with magazines. You know how to reinvent a magazine.”
“That takes a lot of work, and we don’t have the manpower or creativity to do it. I have confidence that you can turn it around in a short period of time. It’s why I wanted you to return to Hampshire. Since that is not possible, the decision was to close the division or sell.”
He walked around the desk and came to stand in front of her. “Do we have a deal?”
“I can’t make a deal like this without first discussing it with my partners.”
“I understand. Then do we have a tentative understanding of a deal at least?”
“You said there were two conditions. What’s the second?”
“My mother gets one of her designs featured at least once a year for the next three years.”
Renee smiled, then laughed. “I think that can be arranged if we go through with this. But I’ll have to see the books, and I’ll need everything disclosed.”
“Absolutely, I’m sure your accountants and mine will be able to work together.”
“In that case, we have an understanding.”
Carter thrust out his hand. Renee stared at it. She couldn’t remember them ever shaking hands. And at this moment, she was afraid to put her palm against his. Slowly, she raised her hand and he took it, encasing it in his. Then he released it and returned to his desk.
“I’ll have our lawyers draw up some proposals to get the ball rolling.”
Renee nodded and turned to leave. She stiffened her back and walked to the door. He’d brushed her apology away as if it had meant nothing. The business deal had been more important than her telling him she was sorry.
The weight of the world got heavier and heavier as she stepped into the elevator and held on as
it descended thirty-eight floors. The sun was bright as Renee walked out into the warm afternoon. She took a deep breath and dropped her shoulders.
She’d survived losing Carter once before. She could do it again. But this time she wouldn’t be leaving New York or changing her profession—there was no running away. She was in love with him, but she’d killed that love with her mistrust.
Renee walked away from the building. She’d walk a while, then head for home. A long plaza led to the street. As she reached the three steps that led down to the public sidewalk, she stopped.
This was not the way it was going to end, Renee thought. Not this time. Quickly she whipped around and crashed into Carter.
“You don’t think I’m letting you get away a second time, do you?” Carter asked.
“Are you...what are you saying?”
“I’m in love with you. I’ve been in love with you since you first came to work here. I couldn’t risk telling you three years ago, but I love you, and I’m not letting business get in the way of our happiness.”
“Carter...” Renee said, but had no idea what she wanted to say. “What just happened in your office?”
“I offered you a business deal and you accepted it—tentatively.”
“And now you’re telling me you love me,” she stated.
He nodded. “I first had to clear away any obstacle between us. And the magazine was one of them. I want your love more than I want that business. Is that okay?”
“I’m sure I can handle that.”
He smiled. “Is that all you can handle?” He raised his eyebrows. “Can you handle me being in love with you?”
“How do I know you won’t decide to leave me again the way you did three years ago?”
“I explained where I went—”
Renee put her hand up to his mouth, silencing him. “I know,” she said. “I know you can’t promise that.”
“But I will,” he stated. “If you’ll forgive me, I’ll never leave you again.”
“I forgave you long ago, Carter.”
“But you never said anything.”
“I did, just not in words. I know your decision was to protect me in case something happened to you. It was a noble gesture.”
“But I understand now how unfair it was,” Carter said. “I should have told you the whole truth. But I knew there was no guarantee that I’d return. If anything happened to me, I wanted you to be free.”
“I would have chosen you. Even though we’d only been together for a short time, I was certain of my love. And, yes,” she said, “knowing you love me means I can handle anything. Can you handle it, too? The fact that I’m in love with you?” The words came easily to her lips. “I love you,” she repeated.
Carter pulled her into his arms and standing on Madison Avenue, oblivious to the crowds passing by, he kissed her. Kissed her hard and long. Kissed her with all the passion of a man in love.
Renee returned it. She had nothing to hold back. Her arms climbed around his neck and she let her heart open up. Love poured out in torrents. And she was happier than she’d ever been.
Epilogue
June—Twelve Months Later
The gown was a Theresa Granville. And it was real. Not a hologram. Not a projection. Not controlled by a bejeweled arm band. Renee stared at herself in the triple mirror. Dana stood behind her, a hand to her heart, her mouth open in a silent “O”. Her eyes were misty, quickly filling with tears.
“Don’t start crying,” Renee admonished her voice full of emotion. She knew if Dana cried, her own tears wouldn’t be far behind.
Dana grabbed a tissue from the box on a table in the church basement and dabbed at her eyes, careful not to damage her makeup.
“I’m not crying,” she said, her voice breaking. “It’s just that you look...you look...” Her hands flailed.
“You’ve seen me in a wedding gown before,” Renee told her, remembering their dress up session.
“It wasn’t real then. This time you’re getting married.” Again her voice broke on the last word.
Renee turned to her cousin and hugged her. After a moment, Dana pushed back, sobering.
“It’s about time we started this show,” Dana said, sniffing and covering her feelings.
Dana’s words brought a storm of activity. The door opened and a parade of people came through it. Her mother led the group with Carter’s mother right behind. Both stopped. Their hands then came up to their breasts and their mouths opened in awe. A fresh wave of emotions raced through Renee.
“You’re beautiful,” her mother said, her voice no louder than a prayer.
Renee swallowed, unable to reply.
Moments later the room was in utter chaos. Renee knew this was normal for the bridal party just before the ceremony would begin. The bridesmaids were all making last-minute preparations for their walk down the aisle. The chatter raised the noise level to a volume so high she wanted to cover her ears.
She’d witnessed and participated in a score of weddings. But some how everything seemed different, more pronounced, yet surreal. She couldn’t explain the sensations that flooded through her, one after the other, as she stared in the mirror at herself.
She reached out at nothing in particular, but her mother grasped her hand and held it. She understood, Renee thought. Without words, her mother had come to her rescue.
Turning she hugged her mom.
“He loves you,” she whispered.
“I love him, too,” Renee said through the lump in her throat and the love that swelled in her heart.
“I know.” Tears glistened in her mother’s eyes. She blinked them away. “I could tell the first time I saw you two look at each other.”
Teddy came in then. She had insisted on being the wedding consultant for one of their own as she’d put it.
“Time to begin,” she called over the crowd. The room immediately went dead silent. With quiet authority, Teddy lined the bridesmaids up and sent them to their assigned places.
While Renee and Weddings by Diana’s bridal consultants had been called upon to create some very elaborate weddings, Renee’s was going to be small and simple—well, almost simple. The entire nuptials had been planned around the number two.
Both mothers stood at the sanctuary entrance. Her mom gave her a final smile and turned to the doors. The music began and the promenade started with the two women being escorted to their seats. Renee swallowed as she waited out of sight of the guests. Her two sisters were her bridesmaids. Dana and Diana served as maids of honor.
When they were all inside and the doors had been closed, Renee imagined the groomsmen rolling out the carpet. She knew her two flower girls were excitedly peppering it with rose petals before joining the group that included two ring bearers, at the front of the church.
Teddy called Renee forward. Both her father and brother were giving her away. With an arm through each man’s elbow, and her bouquet held with both hands, the wedding march began. She could hear the assembly stand. The doors opened and Renee heard an audible gasp from the congregation.
However, the only man she saw was Carter. He waited for her, appearing unnerved with a smile. It was an only you smile and as Renee took the first step toward her new life, she knew she’d remember that smile into her old age.
* * * * *
Keep reading for an excerpt from FULL COURT SEDUCTION by Synithia Williams.
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Full Court Seduction
by Synithia Williams
Chapter 1
Event planning would be the death of her.
Which was why Danielle had taken a break from planning the next few events for the St. Johns River Watchers to get a cup of coffee. She was pretty sure that if she hadn’t taken the break, her heart was going to wave the white flag and go on permanent strike against the stress she put herself through.
The sound of footsteps running toward the kitchen of the small beachfront cottage that served as the River Watchers office preceded the appearance of Danielle’s education-and-outreach coordinator, who was rushing toward the door.
“Danielle, have you heard?” Debra said between huffs. Her cheeks were red from the sprint. She pushed her thin jet-black hair behind her ears, making her gothic-inspired cross earrings swing against her pale neck. Her black pants, boots and Nightmare Before Christmas T-shirt were splattered with glitter, a leftover from a presentation at a kindergarten class earlier today.
All He Needs Page 17
