by Lowe, Fiona
He’d rather swim with sharks than sit down again with Annika of the big blue eyes and the long, long legs. “I could do that but seeing as you bought the warehouses as a business investment, that makes them your baby. I know how much you like to run things your way so it’s best you talk to her.”
His father’s mouth twitched. “I would, except I’m on vacation.”
He dismissed that in a heartbeat. “You do deals from the lake every year.”
“Not this year. I’m spending the entire summer here, and I’ll return to my desk in September.” Sean tilted his head and gave one of his penetrating long looks. “You can finally have what you’ve been wanting for a year now, a shot at running the business. I’m giving you two months.”
For the second time in two days his father left him speechless. The earliest memory Finn had of him was in a suit and walking out the door to the office. Sean Callahan was synonymous with work, and even when the setting was recreational, Sean kept working. The fact he was handing over the reins for sixty days in the middle of a production mess was unheard of and totally unexpected. It was also immensely exciting.
An uncomfortable thought took hold despite the fact he and Sean weren’t close, and his question shot out abrupt and terse. “Are you sick?”
Sean shook his head and thumped his chest. “No, the doctor gave me a clean bill of health at my physical last week.”
Now it was official—Sean’s offer made no sense. “Then what the hell are you going to do all summer?”
His father gave him a bemused look and extended his arm out toward the lake. “What do you think I’m going to do? Sail, canoe, read. The choices are endless.”
“You’ll be bored in two days.” Finn plowed his hand through his hair trying to interpret what was going on. “You realize that if word gets out you’re doing this the share prices are going to plummet?”
The savvy businessman’s eyes took on a calculating glint. “It won’t get out. As you pointed out I usually run the company from here every summer so no business analyst or journalist is even going to question my absence from Chicago.”
Finn started to pace. “They will when they see my signature on the paperwork and me commuting between Mexico and Illinois.”
His father leaned casually against the trunk of a towering beech tree. “Ah, but you won’t be. You told me a month ago that the management team down south was working like a dream so that frees you up.”
“Except I’ll be tied up like an errand boy running documents up here.”
Sean shook his head. “That won’t be necessary. The solution is easy.”
“How? I’m not letting your midlife crisis, or whatever it is, affect the company.”
Sean’s brows rose. “I’m having a vacation, Finnegan, and the solution to all your concerns is right here at the lake.”
“You’ve lost me.”
His father gave him the look he gave junior associates in their first week when they knew nothing. “You do what I do every summer and run the company from here.”
The thought of spending the next two months up here with family and only occasional trips to Chicago had him ready to run. “No way in hell.”
Black brows rose inquiringly. “So you have another idea?”
Of course he did. He had to. He’d...perhaps if...or... While his mind scrabbled for a rock-solid solution, he aimed for another weak spot. “My P.A.’s sick and I’ll need help. Dana won’t want a stranger in the house and no way am I working remotely with someone new.”
His father didn’t skip a beat. “Dana will be fine with it as long as your P.A. confines herself to the office. Fly a temp up, rent her a car so she can drive in from Whitetail, or better yet, stick her in your cabin and you move into the house. Problem solved. Anything else?”
Move into the house?
The suggestion stunned him, blanking his brain completely at a time when he needed it to be firing with ideas on how to avoid this very situation.
He closed his eyes running through his options but nothing materialized. He couldn’t come up with even one alternative solution. The wily old bastard had him. If Finn wanted a shot at running the company without risking the fallout that happened to businesses whenever there was succession planning, he had to play it Sean’s way. He had to do it from the Kylemore.
His father took his silence as acceptance. “Good. That’s settled. You can start your stint as acting CEO by sitting down right now with the acting mayor of Whitetail and discussing the warehouses. Then organize yourself an assistant.”
There weren’t many times Finn hated business, but this was one of them.
* * *
“If you want to talk about warehouses, let’s talk.”
A shadow cast itself over Annika and the sandcastle she’d been making with Logan up until he’d gotten hungry and run back to the house. Now she looked up to see the jet-haired and extraordinarily handsome Finn Callahan standing above her, his stubbled cheeks taut, his Irish eyes dark, and even his curls, which should have softened his terse look, seemed lined with steel.
She guessed he’d just discovered that Sean had asked for the charges against her to be dropped and that the municipal court judge had obliged. Annika totally got how that, combined with her being here as a guest, would stick in his craw. Tough! He was the one who’d been unreasonably stubborn and had misconstrued everything. He’d been the one to kiss her and cop a feel before she’d come to her senses.
You didn’t. He pulled away first.
The realization rocked her as she remembered him so clearly stumbling away and pouring a drink with an unsteady hand. Now his dark eyes were fixed on hers and in an automatic protective reaction she superimposed fair hair on Finn’s perfect bone structure and golden hair on his head. Blond, he was beautiful and unthreatening just like an angel. Albeit a cross and grumpy angel. The gold vanished, and as she gazed at his charismatic darkness she imagined he must look a lot like Lucifer had immediately after his fall from grace.
Right now this devil had her in his sights and she stifled a shiver that wasn’t remotely generated by fear. That alone worried her. Almost a week had passed since she’d met him and given that he’d refused to listen to her and had her dumped in a jail cell, her brain should be overruling her body. Only it wasn’t. Instead she was fighting the desire to rise to her feet and lean into him. She pressed her hands against the sand to stop the tingling in her fingers that burned to feel again the solid muscles she knew lay beneath his blue Oxford shirt.
At least she recognized that touching him would be the fast track to insanity. Knowing that had to help, right? It must, because no one in their right mind would actively put themselves in the path of someone they disliked and who intensely disliked them back. That simple truth had to provide some protection, but she knew she needed a lot more.
She stayed seated and stared out at the lake. “Come to kiss me again and hope you get lucky or are you planning on locking me up?”
A slight crack appeared in his rigid stance and his voice held regret. “I apologize for the kiss. It was utterly out of line. It won’t happen again.”
The surprise apology should have made her feel better—less used—but instead she felt a traitorous sadness sneak through her. Furious with herself she blurted out, “But putting me in a jail cell for a night wasn’t?” She wrenched back some control and dropped her volume. “Your father’s a charming man and a surprisingly good listener. Obvious
ly not a trait you inherited.”
The crack sealed. “And you know me so well to judge.”
“Putting me in a jail cell set precedent.”
A muscle twitched close to his mouth and she imagined how, if he let himself relax, it would wind up as a wide and captivating smile. “Put yourself in my position, Annika. You broke the law and you lied about who you were.”
The calm rebuke told her what she needed to say. “I admit my thinking and actions were flawed and I’m sorry about that, but when Rory explained all and you had the opportunity to recant, you didn’t.”
His jaw jutted. “There are worse character flaws than expecting people to follow the rules.”
Granted, she normally played by the rules too but his words were heavily weighted with an unexpected intransigence. What was that about? “Admit it. You were ticked off and you wanted to take it out on someone.”
She heard a sharp intake of breath and glanced up at him, glimpsing a look that had a hint of Logan, a touch of Sean and a trace of guilt. Tiny beads of sweat formed on his top lip as his chinos and shirt were much more suited to “casual Friday” in the air-conditioned comfort of an office rather than being on a beach. She patted the space next to her, feeling a twinge of sympathy for him. “It’s cooler down here on the sand.”
For a moment she didn’t think he’d sit but then his hands pulled at the knees of his pants and he lowered his tight behind onto the sand, leaving a space between them. “I’m sorry, Annika. I didn’t know Sean had bought the warehouses and you’re right, I took it out on you.” He ran his hand through his hair—the action jarring and jerky. “I know you’d prefer to speak with Sean but he’s having some sort of midlife crisis so, sorry, but you’re stuck with me. Let’s do what you wanted to do on Saturday night. Let’s talk about these warehouses.”
The measured businessman was back and giving her the opportunity she’d been waiting weeks for. She took in a deep breath and aimed for concise. “You have two empty warehouses and Whitetail has forklift drivers, assembly line workers and people with logistics experience. It’s a good match.”
“It would be except for one thing.”
“What’s that?”
“All of our warehouses are strategically positioned on our major transport routes heading south of Chicago. Whitetail is too far north.”
Confused, she turned to face him and regretted it as her thoughts started to addle. No man should be allowed to be so broodingly beautiful. His long straight nose and taut jaw cut an imposing profile and she was reminded of the magnificent works by Michelangelo and Donatello that she’d studied at college. “Then why did AKP buy the business park?”
A band of tightness circled his mouth and ran down his neck and along his shoulders. “Sean bought them on a whim because they were cheap.”
No. His father had been genuinely apologetic and charming at the court, and again today as a host, so she couldn’t believe the warehouses were just a rich man’s whim. “And to use, surely?”
This time he faced her. “What business are you in, Annika?”
The question startled her and she scrambled to answer. Once she would have said “Art” but that dream had been trampled into the dust and she didn’t bother mentioning the Milwaukee Gallery’s request because she hadn’t told anyone about it. That and the fact she hadn’t even started the final painting of the triplet—the lake bathed in summer’s dusk. “I have a home business. I use calligraphy to create invitations, logos, that sort of thing. Mostly just for people in town.”
“You can live on that?”
Almost. The big fat zero on her bank account’s balance told another story but she wasn’t going to admit that to Finn. Not when his incredulous expression matched his tone, and sounded all too similar to her brother’s regular emails. You need a real job, Anni. Come work for me in Milwaukee.
She rolled her shoulders back and sat up straighter. “My main job is keeping Whitetail afloat so it survives the economic slowdown.” So I can stay here. “This involves finding a replacement for Reggies and AKP has to be that replacement. We have a lovely town on a beautiful lake and people choose to live here for the quality of life, the clean air, pristine water and being part of a community where people know your name and notice if you don’t bring in your paper every morning.” Her voice rose. “No one dies alone in this town like they do in Chicago. Whitetail is full of good people and they deserve to have work.”
“Everyone deserves to have work.”
His wide mouth softened and she was reminded of the man who’d pulled her through the window. The man whose mouth had creased into laugher lines before teasing her about her lack of coordination. And kissed you until you were a puddle of need.
She tried to forget that last bit and instead returned his smile, relaxing for the first time since she’d seen him arrive. “Wow, we actually agree on something. This has to be a sign of something good.”
His gaze grazed her mouth and she got that same quiver—the one that sent a coil of heat through her belly. Heat that had nothing to do with the summer sun.
He abruptly returned his gaze to the lake and tugged at a curl that had fallen across his ear. “I’m sorry, Annika, but it would cost AKP money to operate this far north so the warehouses are staying empty until we sell them for a profit.”
Relaxation vanished, taking hope with it. “You can’t do that to the town.”
He shrugged, the action resigned. “I’m not throwing money into a bottomless pit when we’ve had to make substantial cuts elsewhere.”
After the debacle of falling through the window at the feet of Finn Callahan and not knowing who he was, she’d done an internet search on him and researched the business. “But AKP posted a profit last quarter.”
“Just.” His hand pressed down on the sandcastle, flattening it. “The pressure’s on and my responsibility’s to the shareholders.”
A vortex of powerlessness spun in her chest, sucking her down. Ryan had put business ahead of her and Finn was putting it ahead of an entire community. “So you don’t care?” She heard her voice gaining volume. “You’re quite content to sit back and watch a town die? I should have known you were a heartless number cruncher when you dumped me in jail.”
Those bottomless eyes stared down at her, registering her outburst of feeling with emotions tightly leashed, but she glimpsed pity. She hated that.
“This isn’t personal, Annika. You’re confusing sentiment with business and AKP’s not a charity.”
Art’s a business, Annika. You’re naïve if you think it’s not. The smoking ashes of her past flared up and she wanted to scream but this wasn’t about her, this was about the town.
Think!
Somehow, she had to get Finn into town so he could see Whitetail and meet the people. That would take Whitetail from a name on the map to a real place with heart. A place people called home, a place where they watched their children grow and thrive, and when the time came, they buried their loved ones. “Have you seen the business park?”
“No.”
She remembered his expression at the police station when he’d first seen the deeds and she aimed for what she was pretty certain was his Achilles’ heel. “Isn’t a successful businessman one who keeps his finger on the pulse of all aspects of his business?”
His shoulders jerked. “They’re warehouses!” His mild tone
vanished on a rising inflection. “X amount of square footage with walls and a roof.”
Touchy. Good. “Sounds an odd way to do business though. Buying something you haven’t even seen.”
His lips barely moved. “I told you that I didn’t buy them.”
She tried to sound beyond casual. “I could give you a tour.”
He abruptly shot to his feet sending sand flying and then he extended his hand to her. “Let’s go.”
Startled, she shielded her eyes and looked up. “What, now?”
“Yes, now.” Impatience zipped around him as his hand hovered between them.
She glanced toward the house and then back to him, not wanting to be rude to Dana and Sean as well as being seriously hungry. Paying for the ruined dress had meant skimping on food. “Dana said lunch was at one and that’s in five minutes. We can go directly after that.”
He shook his head and his curls bounced. “You can stay here for lunch if you wish but this is a one-off, never-to-be-repeated offer. You show me the warehouses now or not at all.”
The detached businessman didn’t look quite so detached anymore.
“So what’s it to be?”
She read the challenge in his eyes. Ditching lunch put her in a tricky position but what choice did she have? None. For Whitetail, she threw her lot in with the devil and accepted his hand.
* * *
“So you didn’t think to leave a message for me?” Bridey sat cross-legged on the window seat of her room, her left thumb spinning her large, square-cut diamond engagement ring with the diamond-encrusted platinum band, while her right hand pressed her phone against her ear. All week she’d been counting the days until the weekend and now she felt like a little girl who’d been left out of a play date. The adult in her hated how whiney it made her sound.
“I knew Finn would tell you.” Hank sounded mystified by her chagrin. “And you know I’d have filled you in on everything when I called you tonight.”
