“She doesn’t love money.” Sebastian shook his head. “But she does love puzzles. We need to frame this as an impossible situation, the creation of a predictability model to help guarantee the drive of sales. So, instead of trying to predict a crowd, we’ll frame the request as we want to build a model to help us predict one person. Her needs, her desires, and how to cater to them. If it works, we’ll create the scenario in which she cannot say no because the outcome is what she wants as well.” An outcome involving his presence in her life. He’d take her any way he could…
“Oh, I think it’s the most romantic application of math I’ve ever heard.” Anna’s sigh pulled Sebastian from his thoughts. “Armand, wehaveto help him.”
His brother chuckled and lifted Anna’s hand to his lips, kissing her knuckles gently. “As you wish, my love.”
“Daniel, can you write up the specifics of the different theories that might attract a professor of Dr. Blake’s caliber?” Richard and Kate rose together, the two were so damn in sync. “Armand, we’ll use one of the shell companies to host the offer. Kate, darling, do you mind flying to Boston? We’ll arrange for a second, unmarked private plane to handle her transport.”
With a few sentences, his family mobilized. Within minutes, they’d all gone off to tackle various tasks and Sebastian was left with his eldest brother.
“This may not work,” Armand told him. “Are you prepared for the possibility?”
“As prepared as you were to lose Anna,” Sebastian stated. She’d thrown him with her ending their relationship with no warning and her refusals to take his calls. “But once we are face to face, we can work out our differences.”
“If she still doesn’t want you despite such remarkable effort?”
He knew Armand wasn’t deliberately provoking him, but the thought of losing Meredith for good was untenable. “Then I try again.”
Whether it took five years or fifty, he wasn’t giving up.
MEREDITH
Meredith stared out the window as the limousine pulled into a spot next to a private dock. The past several days elapsedin a heady blur and, after nearly a day of travel covering six thousand miles, she’d almost reached her destination. Of course, the presence of the speedboat suggested maybe she wasn’t.
As soon as the car stopped, Terry exited then helped her out. Accepting his hand, she tried not to grimace as her muscles protested. “Still managing?” he asked.
“Just tired. “ She didn’t sleep on planes, not even luxuriously appointed private planes such as the one provided by Eridani Corp. After releasing his hand, she took a couple of steps and stretched. The warm breeze blowing in over the crystal blue waters was a far cry from the snowy temps of Boston. She’d stripped off the sweater she’d worn for the flight and stowed her coat with the luggage. Pushing up her sleeves, she glanced at their escort.
The enigmatic Kate Braddock served as her main point of contact since the request for her assistance on a proprietary study came in. Normally, so late in a semester, she would have turned it down flat. But when her department head approached her with the challenging proposition, it proved exactly what her beleaguered heart needed.
After contacting each of her doctoral candidates personally and making arrangements for her TA to handle her last three classes, Meredith believed she was more than ready to get away from her life, but nervous regrets plagued her on every step of the journey. She’d left behind the cell phone Bastian used to contact her and left the country without sending him any type of message.
How many times has he done the same to me over the years? I never knew where he was half the time.Only scant days since she’d broken things off, so part of her understood it was too ridiculously short a time to beoverhim, even if she was the one to end it, yet...
Terry touched her arm and drew her attention back to the pier. Their escort headed down to talk to the crew while a driver offloaded their meager belongings. She’d been rather proud of herself for packing only one suitcase for the trip, but it looked rather lonely with Terry’s duffle bag. At least he’d packed even lighter than her. Ms. Braddock brought an even smaller bag.
“Are you sure you’re okay?” It wasn’t the first time he’d asked since they’d set out on the journey. His choice to accompany her on the trip surprised the hell out of her. It wasn’t like before, when she’d flown off to meet Sebastian at some secluded location. Still, Terry merely shrugged. He still had a job—to protect her, and she wasn’t going halfway around the world with a woman she’d just met whether it was for a special project or not.
“I’m fine,” she assured him and summoned up a smile to hide the wilting sensation in her soul. Everything in her wanted to get back in the car, go back to the airport, fly back to Boston and get her cell phone. Stupid emotions. She’d never imagined herself as someone who would be a victim to her need for a man.
But Sebastian wasn’t just any man—she loved him. Wasin lovewith him. She wanted more than a few sporadic days and quick phone calls at random times of the day. God help her, she wanted a fairy tale, while the analytical side of her brain shook its head. What she needed was therapy.
“You don’t seem fine.” Terry waved off the driver and retrieved their bags. “If you want to change your mind, I can arrange transport for us back to the States. For the record? I think going home is exactly what you should be doing.”
The offer surprised her, and she studied the stern line of his profile. Retired or not, Terry was a soldier through and through. Never completely still, his attention floated, always scanning the area around them. When he’d first come to work for Sebastian—and her, ultimately—his behavior used to unnerve her. So farfrom home, however, she found herself oddly comforted and irritated by it in the same moment.
In fact, Terry never left her side after the incident with Sebastian’s phone call. His attitude, always protective in the past, seemed to be even more aggressive since she’d told him about the trip. Almost possessive. “Leaving aside the fact I signed a contract and a non-disclosure to do the work and I find their premise intriguing—what’s bothering you?”
Kate returned before he could answer. “We’re all set. It’s about a two hour ride to the first island. We’ll pick up a helicopter there…”
“A helicopter?” His voice deepened, and he took a step forward. The move was one he used to intimidate others, and she’d seen it work to great effect. Hell, it usually worked on her when she’d been in a bad mood over having someone ‘escort’ her.
Amazingly enough, Kate met Terry’s gaze with aplomb Meredith envied. “You don’t need to take the helicopter, Mr. O’Connor.” Even the warm breeze seemed to chill under the blanket of ice in her voice. “You’re only along because Miss Blake indicated she would be more comfortable with your presence. You don’t have to go any further.”
Tension ballooned in the air and Kate met Terry’s fierce stare without flinching. When a thread of violence seemed to ratchet up into the intervening silence, Meredith touched Terry’s arm. “Really, it’s quite all right, Miss Braddock. I’m tired, and Terry’s just worried about me.” Walking between the two on purpose, she tried to send Terry the message to cool it with her eyes. Hopefully he understood because Kate fell into step with her.
“We can take a break here, if you’re exhausted,” the woman offered, her tone considerably warmer than when she spoke to Terry.
Meredith smiled—whether because of Kate’s kindness or the gentle sway of the pier, she couldn’t quite be sure. “Truthfully, I’d rather just get to our destination and hopefully have ten to twelve hours to pass out. I’m not a very good traveler.”
