Thermal Dynamics (Nerds of Paradise Book 5)

by Merry Farmer

  “How about—”

  Before Jogi could say more, her phone rang. Her cell phone, not her office phone. And it rang with the special tone she’d assigned for her dad. Her heart plummeted to her stomach as she snatched the phone off her desk and tapped to answer.

  “Dad?”

  Before he could say anything, she heard shouting in the background. Furious, argumentative shouting. The loudest of several of the voices was Richard Bonneville’s.

  “Sandy,” her dad said, a definite note of excitement in his voice. “You need to get over here right now.”

  “Why?” she asked. “Dad, what’s going on? Who’s shouting?”

  “Get down here and you’ll see.” He ended the call.

  Sandy shot to her feet. Jogi had lowered the camera and watched her with deep concern.

  “What’s going on?” he asked.

  “Dad wants me to get down to the bank right away.” She started for the door.

  “I’ll come with you.”

  He left his camera on the chair, and the two of them left her office together. They took the stairs down two flights to street level, and by the time they exited her office building, both of them were walking fast. A few people glanced their way as they hurried down the sidewalk and across the street to the bank.

  The second she opened the door, her dad’s assistant was waiting for them.

  “Go straight to the board room,” she said.

  Sandy nodded to the woman but didn’t break stride. With Jogi right behind her, she rushed down the bank’s short hall and turned the corner into the board room.

  “—do you think you’re doing?” Richard was in the middle of shouting. “We had a deal. Of all the low-down, cowardly, despicable tricks—” He was shouting at Guy.

  As red as Richard’s face was and as aggressive as his body language was as he leaned across the table to roar, Guy didn’t move a muscle. Guy just sat there, arms crossed, staring straight forward, expressionless.

  Sandy and Jogi pulled up short as soon as they entered the room. Wainright was near the door—as if he were expecting them—and slipped quickly to Sandy’s side.

  “Guy sold his bank shares yesterday,” he whispered, eyes glittering with excitement. “Before they could vote, he announced that he’s stepping down from the board, effective immediately.”

  “You!” Richard’s vicious shout was almost enough to make Sandy gasp and jump. Richard half rose out of his chair, glaring at Sandy. “You had something to do with this, I know it.”

  “I don’t even know what this is.” Sandy returned his venom with the stalwart calm she’d learned to show in the courtroom.

  If anything, Richard grew even more furious. “You convinced him to step down from the board. Your little trick at the dance competition didn’t work, so you found some other way to get to him.”

  “The only tricks in the dance competition were your son’s.” Jogi stepped up to Sandy’s side, both ready to defend her and to support her. “With a hefty amount of collusion from a certain judge.”

  Guy didn’t acknowledge the comment. He continued to sit stock still, as if he weren’t in the room.

  “Who purchased this louse’s stock?” Richard demanded. “Who owns those shares now? I demand to know.”

  Sandy’s brow went up in genuine surprise. She turned to her dad. “You don’t know?”

  Wainright shrugged and shook his head. “Not a clue. The sale was anonymous, and Guy refuses to let us in on the secret.”

  Sandy glanced between Guy and her father. Her dad looked like he was having a little too much fun with the situation. But he also had more color and looked stronger and healthier than he had in a long time.

  “So what about the vote?” Sandy asked.

  “We can’t have it,” one of the other board members, Peter Chance, said. He seemed as baffled over the fact as anyone else. “Or rather, we could, but Richard here refuses to let it happen.”

  That was as much a surprise as anything else. And yet, it made perfect sense. Richard only had the votes he needed to oust Wainright if Guy were on his side. Without Guy’s share of the vote, he would lose. Either way, Wainright would remain as CEO.

  “What about the new stockholder?” Jogi asked. “How do things work at this bank? Wouldn’t whoever bought Guy’s shares be entitled to a vote too, whether they’re anonymous or not?”

  “Yes,” Wainright said “Whoever they are, they most certainly get a vote.” He held up a notarized letter. “Here it is.”

  Sandy took the paper and read its simple message. “I hereby vote that Wainright Templesmith remain as CEO of the First Bank of Haskell.” She glanced up to Richard’s glowering face with a victorious smile. “So you could hold a vote, but there’s no point anymore because you know you’d lose. After all that effort. After all the shit you put us through.”

  “I refuse to stay here and be insulted by a…by the likes of you,” Richard barked. He pushed himself to stand fully and marched toward the door. On the way out, he deliberately bumped shoulders with Jogi, sending him off-balance.

  Jogi recovered. More than that, he wore a paradoxical grin for the wild direction the situation had spun off in. He met Sandy’s eyes, and she couldn’t help but grin right back at him.

  “That seems to be the end of that,” Wainright addressed the rest of the board. “I suggest we adjourn this meeting, recalibrate, and reconvene at a time that is more convenient. Guy, thank you for your years of service.”

  The meeting was over, and in a rush, the remaining board members stood. Guy launched himself to his feet, rippling with tension, and marched for the door. He paused by Sandy and Jogi before he left to say, “I don’t know what hold you have over my wife, but if I ever catch either of you speaking to her again outside of professional business….” He didn’t have anything to back his statement up with. All he could do was glare at the two of them then storm out of the room.

  The rest of the board followed in a more orderly fashion, some stopping to shake Wainright’s hand, others simply shaking their heads. Within a minute, the room had emptied of everyone but Wainright, Sandy, and Jogi.

  “This is not how I imagined today going,” Wainright told them, a triumphant gleam in his eyes, “but I’ll take it.”

  “You’re still CEO,” Sandy said, the realization hitting her. She let out a joyous breath and hugged her father as tightly as she could. “You won.”

  “Looks like the whole Templesmith family are winners this week.” Wainright hugged her back.

  “But who did Guy sell his shares to?” Jogi asked, running a hand through his hair. “And was Abigail the one who convinced him to do it?”

  “I’m certain Abigail talked him into it,” Wainright said, letting Sandy go. “She’s one tough broad, though almost no one gives her credit for it. And besides, it’s her money to begin with.”

  “Really?” Jogi blinked.

  A dozen things that Sandy had forgotten rushed back to her. “That’s right. Abigail was the one with the money. Guy was a ranch hand on her father’s spread when they met. I didn’t realize just how much she controlled the purse strings, though.”

  “Never mess with a determined woman,” Jogi said, half laughing. He smiled proudly at Sandy. “I could have told Guy that.”

  Sandy flushed, her heart feeling too big for her chest. She teasingly punched Jogi’s arm anyhow. “You better remember that yourself, buster.”

  “I’m sure you’ll never let me forget,” Jogi said. He slipped his arms around Sandy and stole a kiss. “And that’s just the way I like it.”

  Epilogue

  After what felt like an interminable, hot summer, September finally arrived. And while the first few weeks were just as steamy as August, by the time Haskell’s baseball league started their post-season playoffs, cooler breezes prevailed, the sun turned down its intensity, and Sandy felt comfortable again.

  Of course, that had just as much to do with how fabulously things were moving along with J
ogi.

  “Can you really get good pictures when all the players are way out there in the outfield?” Calliope asked as Jogi fired off a series of shots.

  He waited until the play he’d been capturing was completed before answering, “I’m using a Nikon AF-S Nikkor 300mm 4D IF-ED lens.”

  “Who with the what now?” Calliope blinked.

  Sandy laughed. “It’s a really powerful, really expensive lens. He bought it with the dance competition winnings.”

  “So how are you going to combine those images?” Quintus asked from where he hovered just behind Jogi.

  “I was thinking of layering them with still footage to give the image a time-lapse feel,” Jogi answered.

  The two of them launched into the kind of technical discussion that made Sandy’s brain go fuzzy. She turned to Calliope instead of trying to follow it. “That’s my man,” she said. “Sexy dancer by night, dorky camera nerd by day.”

  “And I’ve never seen you happier,” Calliope teased her, nudging her arm. “Between you and Melody, I almost want to snag myself a nerdy guy of my own.”

  “Almost?” Sandy leaned back and gave her friend a dubious look. “And who was it I saw nearly trip over themselves when Jonathan Cross stepped out of The Silver Dollar while she was walking up the street the other day?”

  Calliope’s cheeks went red. “That was only because I didn’t expect someone to throw open the bar door as I was walking past.”

  “Mmm hmm,” Sandy hummed.

  “What?” Calliope defended herself. “He’s just getting ready for Howie’s next project. His plan is to get people to help with renovations of some of the older buildings in town for Founder’s Day this fall.”

  “Founder’s Day.” Sandy rolled her eyes. For as long as she could remember, the annual Founder’s Day celebrations in October were more about giving people an excuse to dress up in historical costume. They were an excuse for the Bonnevilles and the Haskells to stare each other down in public in the name of a generations-old feud too. And frankly, the last thing Sandy wanted was to deal with any more Bonnevilles for the rest of her life.

  At least the bank was safe.

  “So did you hear about Natalie Warner?” Calliope went on.

  Sandy was sure she was only changing the subject to steer it away from her and Jonathan, but she was willing to let it slide. “No, I haven’t heard anything or seen her much since the dance competition ended.”

  “That’s because she had to make an emergency trip home to Texas the day after the finals,” Calliope said.

  Sandy frowned. “Really? Is everything okay?”

  Calliope shrugged. “I guess so. I’m not close friends with her. Will mentioned something to Melody, but that’s about as much as anyone knows.”

  “Jogi,” Sandy called, interrupting Jogi and Quintus’s discussion. “Do you know anything about Natalie having a family emergency right after the dance competition?”

  Jogi paused, eyes unfocused for a second, before answering, “I know she had to rush home. She was really quiet when she got back.”

  “I hope everything’s okay,” Sandy said as the two guys went back to talking about cameras.

  “I think she must be,” Calliope went on, “because just last week I saw her out with her friends, having lunch at the old station platform. She seemed perfectly happy then.” Calliope burst into a sudden, snorting giggle. “She was doing an impression of Ronny, actually.”

  Sandy grinned. “I would have loved to see that.”

  “Yeah.” Calliope shook her head. “Apparently, according to Melody, who was telling me some stuff that Will said, Ronny made her life miserable during the competition.”

  “Really? I thought they paired people up because they thought they would get along.” She arched an eyebrow at Quintus as she spoke, but Quintus wasn’t paying attention.

  “In the case of Natalie and Ronny, they got it wrong,” Calliope said. “He insulted her, forced her to practice all the time, and generally tried to bully her within an inch of her life.”

  “Ugh.” Sandy made a face.

  “By the end, she couldn’t stand him. Especially because he kept trying to hit on her too.”

  “Of course he would. Ronny is such an ass.”

  “Well, apparently, after they lost to you guys on Friday night, he really flew off the handle and blamed her for losing.”

  Sandy could only shake her head, completely unsurprised.

  “Will told Melody that he heard from Angelica Jones, who was right there when Ronny was yelling at her, that Natalie threatened him.”

  “Good for her.” Sandy made a mental note to try to hang out with Natalie more often.

  “Apparently she said that she had Ronny by the balls, and all she needed to do was twist and he was toast.”

  “Yep, I definitely need to take that woman out for drinks.” Sandy paused. “I’d give anything to know what she has on him.”

  “Who has what on what?” Quintus asked. Apparently, he was paying attention after all.

  “Natalie Warner has something on Ronny Bonneville,” Calliope said.

  The photography lesson seemed to be over. Jogi walked back to the bleachers and slid onto the bench by Sandy’s side. He kissed her quickly, smiling like he was having the best day ever.

  “I don’t know what she has on Ronny,” Quintus said, sitting on the bench in front of Sandy and Jogi and Calliope, “but did you see the sick Ferrari she has?”

  Sandy blinked. “The what?”

  “Natalie Warner,” Quintus said as if Sandy hadn’t heard. “She drives a Ferrari.”

  “Does she?” Jogi looked impressed. “I’ve never seen it in the PSF parking lot.”

  “She walks to work,” Quintus said. “And she keeps the wheels in my dad’s garage on Prairie Ave.”

  “That explains that,” Jogi said.

  Sandy blinked, her breath catching in her throat. A grin spread across her face. “That might explain a lot of things.”

  Natalie drove a Ferrari. She hated Ronny’s guts. She’d probably gotten an earful of everything Ronny was up to throughout the competition. She disappeared the next day, suddenly called home. Hadn’t Sandy heard something about her parents being involved in oil?

  “What’s that look for?” Jogi asked and that giggle.

  “Um….” The more she thought about it, the more the pieces fell into place. And the harder it was for Sandy to stop giggling. “I think I definitely need to take Natalie out for lunch sometime.”

  Then again, maybe it would be better if the whole thing remained a mystery. The bank was safe, after all. The new shareholder still hadn’t come forward, but according to the bank’s bylaws, they didn’t have to. Still, Sandy would make a point to be extra nice to Natalie whenever she saw her.

  She leaned closer to Jogi, hugging him from the side. “I think I just realized how lucky I am,” she said,

  “What, just now?” Jogi teased her.

  She turned to smile at him, darting in to kiss his cheek. “Maybe I’ve always been lucky, but I was too caught up in myself to realize it.”

  “And do you realize it now?” he asked, looking at her as though she were the only person who existed in the world.

  “You better believe I do.”

  I hope you have enjoyed Sandy and Jogi’s love story! Man, I wish I could make a movie of all of those dance scenes for you. And there’s more to come in Haskell, later this summer. What kind of mayhem will Calliope Clutterbuck get up to when she finally gets to join forces with the hunky Jonathan Cross? And what will they find when they open a certain time capsule discovered at The Silver Dollar bar? (Hint: You can find out about that in His Innocent Bride, Book 11 of The Brides of Paradise Ranch historical western series) Stay tuned later this summer for Book 6 in the Nerds of Paradise series, Chemical Reaction.

  And in case you were wondering, yes, Ward Templesmith will be back. And he might just find out about a certain reluctant dance partner who bought Guy Sedgewick’
s shares in the bank. But will he be happy about it? Find out this winter in Merging Forces.

  Click here for a complete list of other works by Merry Farmer.

  About the Author

  I hope you have enjoyed Thermal Dynamics. If you’d like to be the first to learn about when new books in the series come out and more, please sign up for my newsletter here: http://eepurl.com/RQ-KX And remember, Read it, Review it, Share it! For a complete list of works by Merry Farmer with links, please visit http://wp.me/P5ttjb-14F.

  Merry Farmer is an award-winning novelist who lives in suburban Philadelphia with her two cats, Torpedo (her grumpy old man) and Justine (the new baby girl). She has been writing since she was ten years old and realized one day that she didn't have to wait for the teacher to assign a creative writing project to write something. It was the best day of her life. She then went on to earn not one but two degrees in History so that she would always have something to write about. Her books have topped the Amazon and iBooks charts and have been named finalists in the prestigious RONE and Rom Com Reader’s Crown awards.

  merryfarmer.net

  merry@merryfarmer.net

  Acknowledgments

  I’d like to thank all the people who have been cheering me on to write this series—something I’ve been dying to do for over a year now! Huge thanks to my editors, Cissie Patterson, J.R. Tague, and Carly Cole. And a world of gratitude to my excellent and opinionated beta readers, Caroline Lee and Joline Stewart, and to my entire review team. And a special thanks to my “nerd on call,” Lael Odhner, who not only has his own robot-making company, but inspired me with a billion ideas for this entire series through his shenanigans when we were in college.

  Click here for a complete list of other works by Merry Farmer.