Every time she sidestepped one of my brothers’ subtle probes with an answer that gave away nothing and revealed even less,something coiled low in my chest.Intrigue. Admiration. A little bit of fear and a whole lot of interest.
Perhaps the simplest thing to admit to myself was that I was amazed by her—and totally, completely sure she was about to ruin everything before it’d even begun.
She was too sharp, too fast, and too damn aware. The way she kept glancing around the table, taking in every shift in tone and every angle of attack?
Yeah. She’s going to blow this whole thing up before we even get through dessert if I don’t get her out of here.So I stood, pulling my napkin off my lap and dropping it on the table.
“Jane,” I said, trying to keep my voice casual, like we were old friends and not two people mentally circling each other with knives. “I just realized I never showed you that thing I mentioned the first time we met.”
A lie. Obviously. I hadn’t mentioned anything other than the weather getting worse and a wine bar down the street, but she caught on instantly and rose, not asking what thing I was talking about, or pretending to know for the sake of politeness.
She followed me out of the dining room and into the recesses of the house, her heels clicking behind me like bullets being loaded into a gun. I closed us into a small study on the first floor and she didn’t waste a second, immediately stepping into me, close enough that I could feel her breath ghosting across my skin.
“Over my dead body will Westwood and Sons acquire a single share of Thayer.” Those slate gray eyes glinted with steel. I couldn’t even be impressed she’d caught on so quickly, even though I was, but this was a first for me. Normally, it took a few dinners, a few rounds of drinks, and a few deals disguised as harmless banter and dominating handshakes for owners to finally realize they were being warmed into a sale.
But Jane had walked in, taken one look around, and assembled the entire blueprint of our intentions like she’d been briefed.She’s astonishing.
I backed up to the desk at the center of the room, bracing a hand on the polished edge. “Do you want a drink, or just to spit at me and stomp your high-heeled boots all over my family name?”
She scowled at me, and it was a truly impressive scowl, but that wasn’t enough to change the course of her company’s future. It was on a collision course and the iceberg was coming up fast.
“The business is failing,” I said. She opened her mouth, but I lifted a hand, cutting her off. If we weren’t bullshitting each other, then we weren’t going to bullshit each other. Simple as that. “Correction. Your CEO and board are allowing the business to fail.”
The statement landed hard. Her expression didn’t change. She was far too controlled for that, but her shoulders tightened and I noticed. I was noticing all sorts of things about her.
“Your uncle didn’t show up tonight,” I continued, my voice completely even and my gaze latched on hers. Those gray eyes had popped up in a few of my dreams over the last week. It was a real pity I couldn’t enjoy looking into them now that I was seeing her again. “Even though Colin said Andrew would be here.”
“He’s a busy man,” she said, her tone utterly neutral.
My head cocked slowly, my eyes never leaving hers. “Is he?”
A flicker, just a twitch, appeared on her brow, gone as soon as it’d arrived, but she still didn’t give in. She was good. I had to give her that.
But a CEO avoiding a dinner with the one family who had the financial heft to save him? That wasn’t busy. That was terrified.
“For some reason,” I said slowly, because she might be good but I was better, “your board is voting against expanding,modernizing, and digging itself out of the hole your father created. Now, with your mom’s shares, plus a few more, I could step in. Be the deciding vote that keeps Thayer running or?—”
“Pick it apart and sell off the pieces?” She crossed her arms under her breasts, her chin lifting.God, she really is a striking woman.
That dark blonde hair was pulled into a braid on one side of her head, but not the whimsical, romantic kind. This looked more like something that belonged on a warrior princess. A killer.
Unfortunately, now wasn’t the time for these observations. “It’s worth a lot more than its parts. I’d keep it as is and put a new CEO in place. Someone of my choosing.”
Something flashed behind her eyes, those crazy, rare, utterly otherworldly gray eyes, but it vanished before I could read it.Rage? Fear? The intense desire to strangle me? It’s hard to say.
“No.” She spun on her heel toward the door, her hair whipping across her shoulder. “Absolutely not.”
The next moment, she was gone, just a graceful, lethal glide out of the study, leaving the faintest trace of perfume and fury behind. There had been no theatrics about it. She hadn’t tried for a dramatic exit. She’d simply said her piece and left. I respected that.
For a longer moment than I usually needed to collect my thoughts, I remained perched against the edge of the desk. Finally, I let out a long breath and scrubbed my palm along my jaw before following her back out into the hall.
By the time I reached the foyer, Zach was already walking the family out. Colin and Nora were smiling and relaxed. Jane didn’t look back.
Figures.
Once they were gone, Nate appeared beside me like a ghost out of thin air, his eyebrows raised. His gaze met mine, silentlyasking the question we’d gotten together tonight to answer.Are we moving forward with this?
I rolled my jaw, finding it tenser than I’d realized. Like I’d been gritting my teeth the entire time and was only now becoming aware of it.
