by Lucy Monroe
“We have a restraining order?” Maddie asked Vik.
“Yes.”
“Didn’t I have to sign something for it?”
“No. His malicious intent was in the papers for the world to see. We filed for it on behalf of AIH and its primaries, of which you are one.”
“Oh.”
He looked down at her untouched coffee. “You’re not drinking that.”
She shook her head. “How did you find me?”
“Are you sure you want to know?”
“Yes.”
“The ‘find me’ function on your phone.”
“I turned it off.”
“As long as the battery is in it and holds any charge, the GPS function works.”
“So, if I want privacy, I have to take out the battery. Good to know.”
He had to have looked up her GPS signal right away to have gotten to the coffee shop so quickly. More evidence that she mattered to him in the ways that were truly important.
Her father never would have just dumped his schedule to go running after her mother, or Maddie, certainly.
Vik inhaled, opened his mouth to speak, closed it again and then said, “I would prefer you not do that.”
“Okay.” It was a matter of safety as well, as much as she might prefer to forget that fact. “You came after me.”
“Of course. You were upset. What Jeremy did to you...”
She coughed out a laugh at the rare vulgarity that came out of her husband’s mouth.
Vik put his hand out to her. “Will you come with me now?”
Maddie didn’t hesitate. “Yes.”
“Don’t you want to know where?” Vik asked as she took his hand and let him lead her from the coffee shop.
“I guess I assumed we’d go someplace private.”
Vik’s expression turned hard. “Actually, we’re going back to AIH to confront your father.”
“Together.”
“Yes.”
Implying Vik and Maddie were on one side and Jeremy Archer the other. Nice. If she’d needed proof that she came first with Vik, her father couldn’t have provided a better opportunity.
Which, okay, maybe having the proof was nice, but she wasn’t about to thank Jeremy.
* * *
Her father was in his office when they arrived, Dr. Wilson gone. The PA tried to tell them that Jeremy was in a meeting, but Vik just walked through.
He reached across Jeremy’s desk and ended the call, sending Maddie’s father surging to his feet as he spluttered with annoyance.
Vik waited until her father had gone silent to speak. “Have you ever known me to lie to you?”
Jeremy shook his head, his expression instantly wary.
“Do I bluff?” Vik asked.
“No,” Jeremy said shortly.
“Then you will know I mean every word I say when I tell you that if you attempt to prove Madison incompetent to forestall her giving half her shares to Romi Grayson, I will destroy Archer International Holdings until the very building we are standing in is leveled to the ground.”
“You don’t mean that,” Jeremy said, his voice warbling with emotion for the first time in Maddie’s memory.
She hadn’t even seen him appear this distraught at her mother’s funeral.
There was no give in Vik. Not in his expression. Not in the way he stood, towering over Jeremy’s desk. “We have just established that I do.”
Definitely not in his tone.
Her dad said something else, but Maddie wasn’t listening. Everything inside her had gone still as she had her second major revelation for the day.
“You do love me,” she said to Vik, ignoring her father completely.
That oh-so-serious espresso gaze fixed on her. “You are mine to protect.”
“And to love.” Giddy with joy that could not be tempered even by her father’s machinations, she could hardly help the delight surfing every syllable.
She didn’t even want to try.
Maddie beamed up at the man she’d crushed on since she was fourteen and loved since she was sixteen. “I love you, too, but you know that.”
“Do you?” Vik asked. “Even now?”
“Especially now.” He wasn’t even remotely responsible for her father’s actions.
“I meant what I said to your father.” He said it like it was a warning.
“I know.”
“I am utterly ruthless and without remorse.”
She might argue that point, but understood that Vik believed it. And that was okay with her.
He used his powers for good, even if he didn’t see it.
She smiled at him, letting her love show in her eyes. “Your sense of honor is the shiniest and clearest facet of your nature. Everything else about you is filtered through the light it casts.”
“I am not a nice guy.”
“You just threatened to destroy my company,” her dad said with feeling. “You sure as hell are not a nice guy.”
Maddie’s smile morphed into a full grin. “It’s all a matter of perspective. I love that you would pull out every stop to slay my dragons.”
“I’m not a dragon. I’m your father, damn it.”
She flicked him a disgusted glance. “Who threatened to have me declared mentally incompetent.”
“You can’t believe I wanted things to go down that way, but you’re giving away my company.” Vik might claim to be remorseless, but Jeremy’s expression and tone were soaked with regret.
“Don’t exaggerate,” she said, dismissing her father’s words. “Twelve and a half percent with the voting proxy assigned to Vik and any successor he should formally appoint.”
Vik jolted beside her. “I didn’t know that.”
“I trust you.”
His gaze turned soft like she’d never expected to see. “You do.”
“You knew that.”
“I told myself you did.”
“And me.” He’d told her when she’d still been denying it to herself.
“Apparently it is different coming from you.”
Her dad sighed. “You know, your mother and I never felt the need to talk our emotions to death.”
Finally, Maddie gave Jeremy her attention. “Maybe if you had, things would have been different.”
“I cannot change the past,” he said with a pained expression.
“You spend enough time screwing up with your daughter in the present, the past is hardly what you need to be worried about,” Vik told her father.
“I am sorry for ambushing you with Dr. Wilson, Madison.” Jeremy looked at her with appeal. “It probably makes no difference to you, but I told Dr. Wilson I wouldn’t be needing his services immediately after you left my office.”
“That’s hard to believe.” Her father didn’t back down once he’d set a course of action in motion.
He just didn’t. And he did lie.
Jeremy said, “Call him. He’ll tell you.”
Bluffing or truth?
“He’s telling the truth,” Vik told her.
Maddie looked up at her husband. “How can you tell?”
“His eyes shift to the left when he’s lying about something important.”
“And this is important to him?” she asked with suspicion.
“It involves you and his company. There is nothing more important to him.”
That she believed. At least the part about the company.
“Why did you tell Dr. Wilson to back off?” she asked.
Jeremy shifted uncomfortably in his chair. “I knew that if I followed through with my plan, you would never forgive me.”
“Are you sure it wasn’t because you realized that my marriage to Vik would be invalidated if I was deemed unfit to make legal decisions?”
Her father’s eyes widened, his skin going pale. A reaction he could not fake. He hadn’t thought of that. “No wonder Vik pulled out the rocket launchers.”
“He wants to be married to me more than he wants to be president
of AIH.” Just saying the words gave her emotional satisfaction to the very depths of her being.
Jeremy nodded, his expression more vulnerable than she’d ever seen it. “I hope you’ve worked out that I want to be your dad more than I want control of those shares.”
It was her turn to nod, but maybe with not as much conviction.
“It might benefit you both if your father attended some sessions with you and Dr. MacKenzie,” Vik said.
Maddie waited to see her father’s reaction to that piece of advice before offering her own.
Jeremy Archer shocked her to the very marrow of his bones when he said, “I would like that very much. Are you willing, Madison?”
“I don’t know.” What if he used the time they had together with the therapist to compile ammunition against her?
“Do you believe Vik will destroy Archer International Holdings if I attempt to have you declared mentally incompetent?”
“Yes.” There was not a single atom in her body that did not trust Vik to do just that.
“Then you have nothing to fear,” her father said, showing he’d guessed correctly what had her hesitating.
“I’ll talk to Dr. MacKenzie. If she thinks it’s a good idea, we’ll arrange the sessions.”
Her dad startled her again, getting up from his desk and coming around to kiss her on the cheek and shake Vik’s hand. “Thank you for watching out for her better than I ever have.”
“I always will.” It was another Viktor Beck promise.
And the places still cold inside from Maddie’s unexpected meetings with her father, the psychiatrist and then Perry, warmed. “And I will watch out for Vik.”
Starting with taking him home and teaching him how to say three all-important words.
“I believe you. You have your mother’s loyalty and my stubbornness. He couldn’t be in better hands.”
Maddie surprised herself, accepting the compliment with the warmth it was intended. “Thank you.”
Vik slid his arm around her waist. “It’s time for us to go home, I think.”
“What about your afternoon meetings?” she asked, not really wanting him to go back to work.
But now that she knew he loved her, Maddie could wait for the evening to hear him say it. Maybe.
“I canceled everything after your phone call.”
“Because nothing is more important to you than I am,” she said with satisfaction.
Vik could have shrugged. He could have tried to deny it. He could have grimaced in unhappy acknowledgment.
He did none of those things.
What he did was turn his big body to face her, blocking out her view of her dad and his office.
Vik cupped Maddie’s cheeks, his hands trembling against her skin. “Exactly.”
Oh, man. She was going to melt right there.
“Take me home, please,” she said, her voice low with fervency.
Vik made a sound like something had broken inside him and then leaned down and kissed her. His mouth claimed hers with undeniable need. She gave in to it without hesitation.
Maddie didn’t know how long the kiss lasted, but when her father’s voice finally penetrated, she was pressed against Vik, his arms tight bands around her.
“Sheesh, you two need to go home.”
“Kicking us out?” Vik asked with no evidence of embarrassment at what they were doing.
Her dad, on the other hand, had a definite ruddy cast to his cheeks. “What’s coming next is not going to happen in my office.”
Maddie’s own cheeks heated at the implication of his words. He was absolutely right. It was time to leave.
The trip home happened in a haze for her and Maddie was glad Vik drove.
He surprised her by pulling her into the morning room, the shabby chic so like her former apartment and cheery lemon-yellow accents barely registering as he pulled her to sit with him on the deep sofa.
“I thought we were going upstairs.” To make love.
That’s certainly where their kiss in her father’s office had been leading.
“We’re going to talk.” Vik winced as if the words pained him. “About the emotional stuff.”
“Can’t we do that later?” Knowing he loved her was making her desire for the physical proof overwhelming.
“No.”
“Why not?” She wasn’t whining.
She wasn’t, but so far, her day had sort of sucked. Making love with her husband? Now, after learning he was in love with her, that would take this one into the “best days ever” category.
“Because maybe things would have been different for Helene and Jeremy if they had,” Vik said, quoting her own words back at her.
“That was them. We aren’t my parents.”
“No, we aren’t.” Vik took a deep breath and let it out, his complexion just a little green. “I love you, Madison.”
She didn’t tease him for nearly being sick with stress over the admission, though the temptation was great. But she appreciated how hard this had to be for her usually single-minded, alpha business tycoon.
“Maddie.”
“What?” he asked, like she’d strayed from the script.
“You love me. I love you. You call me Maddie, like Romi does.”
“Perry, too.” And Vik didn’t appear happy about that.
“Not anymore. Perry doesn’t get to call me anything. You saw to that.”
“The restraining order lasts two years, but we’ll renew it.”
She shook her head. “I don’t need the restraining order. Trust me, you’re enough, Vik.”
“He approached you.”
“So, I’ll stop going to that coffee shop.”
“That won’t be necessary. I’ll buy it and have him banned.”
“Can you say overkill here, Vik?”
“Nothing is too much to protect you.”
“Oh, man.” She saw a lifetime ahead of her of reining in Vik’s impulses to keep even the hint of harm from her and the children they would have.
Honestly? The image had a pretty rosy glow.
“Do you want me to leave AIH?” he asked.
“What? No!” It was her turn to reach out and cup his face, meeting his eyes with an expression as sincere as she could make it. “I do not need you to give up your dreams to believe you love me.”
Though knowing he was willing to heal wounds in her heart from twenty-four years as Jeremy Archer’s daughter.
“I do. I did six years ago, but...”
“You didn’t recognize what the feeling was,” she guessed.
“No. I’d never been in love.”
“I’m glad.” The thought she could have lost him before she ever had the chance to catch his eye sent cold tremors through her.
“I didn’t think I needed love.”
“We all need love.”
Vik frowned. “I’m not sure that is true.”
He sounded so uncertain, so very unlike the man she was used to. But this was not his area of expertise.
Emotions were almost as foreign to Vik as they were to her dad.
“It’s okay, Vik. We love each other and we are going to be very happy.”
“Aren’t we happy right now?”
Giving in to the urge, she threw herself into his arms with a laugh. “Yes, my darling, wonderful husband. We are very happy.”
He caught her to him, responding to her kiss and holding her tight.
Oh, yes, very happy.
They made love, right there on the sofa, and practiced saying those three little words to each other.
EPILOGUE
VIK AGREED WITH Maddie and Romi on the property they picked out for the charter school. Declaring it the perfect location, he insisted on putting an offer in on it immediately.
Afterward, he took her and Romi out for champagne to celebrate.
“Isn’t this a bit premature?” Romi asked as they clinked glasses. “The offer hasn’t been accepted yet.”
Maddie just laughed.
“The sellers could be a business consortium of questionable pedigree and they wouldn’t have a chance against Vik.”
“We’ll get the property,” Vik said as if there simply wasn’t another option.
Maddie was pretty sure with her tycoon on the case, there wasn’t.
Romi grinned, lifting her glass toward Vik. “To business shark negotiators and dreams coming true.”
They didn’t go straight home after, but Vik took Maddie back up to the overlook at Marin Headlands. She didn’t ask what they were doing there.
Maddie just held his hand as they traversed the path to what many considered the best place for viewing San Francisco’s skyline.
He stopped in the same spot he’d proposed. “We forgot some promises when we were here before.”
“Did we?”
He nodded. “You forgot to promise not to leave your security detail behind anymore.”
That wasn’t what she was expecting him to say, but it was so in line with Vik and his priorities that she grinned. “Duly noted.”
“Promise.”
She put her hand over her heart. “I promise to keep my security detail with me.”
“Your days of volunteering anonymously are over.” He leaned down and kissed her. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay. You’ll just have to find me a detail that likes children.”
“I think that can be arranged.”
Suddenly she realized why they were dealing with this now. “If my detail had been with me when I went to the coffee shop, Perry wouldn’t have gotten within ten feet of me.”
“If that.”
“Right.”
Vik shrugged. “Do you think Romi would allow me to assign a detail to her as well?”
“What? Why?”
“She is your sister-by-choice.”
“I didn’t know you were aware of that.”
“Your mother considered her another daughter.”
“She did.” Maddie smiled in memory. “But I’m not sure Romi needs security because I consider her my sister.”
“In a few weeks, she will own twelve and a half percent of a multibillion-dollar company.”
“No one but us will know that.”
“You know better than that.”
She did. “I don’t know if we can convince her.”
“Tell her security comes with the shares.”
