Corporate Affair

10

Two days later a somewhat tired-looking Rand appeared in Kalinda’s office doorway. She had seen him only at work since the night he had seduced her into marrying him. He’d made compelling love to her on the plush carpet, whispering words of aching need. And when it was over he’d carried her tenderly to the bedroom, kissed her good-night, dressed, and left.

The next day at work he had been all business, never mentioning the traumatic events of the evening. He had devoted himself to his task at Brady with single-minded determination. She knew he’d talked to people high up in David Hutton’s firm, spelling out exactly how Brady Data Processing was prepared to match the hostile merger offer to shareholders or to find a friendly corporate marriage partner. That night he’d taken Kalinda home late after work and left her politely on her doorstep.

She had just put down the receiver, a small smile on her face as she considered David Hutton’s call when Rand appeared, leaning in the doorway with deceptive casualness. But she saw the flicker of excitement and satisfaction in his eyes.

„It’s all over but the shouting, honey,“ he advised laconically. „You should be hearing something soon. I just talked to my contact at Hutton’s firm. They’re throwing in the towel. We’re… I mean, you’re going to get out of this relatively unscathed.“

„Thanks to you.“ Her smile broadened as she absorbed the manner in which he was hiding his personal satisfaction. „I just got word from David, himself.“ She gestured at the telephone.

Rand lifted one chestnut brow inquiringly. „So soon?“

„He’s withdrawing the offer.“ She decided there was no point mentioning what David had said prior to calling off the hostile merger attempt. „He wasn’t particularly pleased, but you managed to leave him with very little option. He can’t afford us. Not with the kind of credit we can command at the banks.“

„He was counting on Brady’s traditional dislike of using credit,“ Rand nodded as if to himself. „And sheer panic.“

„Which didn’t develop because we knew we had the best player on our team,“ Kalinda inserted warmly. There was something more than satisfaction in Rand’s expression. A hint of anxiety? Perhaps even wariness? She didn’t understand it, but if it was simply a matter of his ego needing a little stroking she had no objections. He deserved it.

„It’s over, Rand, and you’re the reason Brady is still an independent concern.“ Kalinda depressed the intercom button and leaned forward slightly. „George, would you please round everyone up in the main conference room as soon as possible?“

„Everyone, Miss Brady, or just management?“ George asked carefully. He knew she’d just taken a call from David Hutton.

„Everyone, George. Including you.“

There was a fractional hesitation and then George’s curiosity got the better of him. „Good news, Miss Brady? Or bad?“

„The best, George. And as soon as you notify everyone about the meeting would you mind taking a minute to find us a place that can accommodate a celebration this afternoon?“

„A place that will accommodate everyone?“ he stressed cautiously.

„The entire staff, George.“

„Yes, Miss Brady.“

She released the intercom button and stood up, meeting Rand’s dryly amused gaze.

„What’s the matter?“ she grinned. „Not used to being on the side of the underdog?“

He winced, as if she’d stung him. „Frankly, I’ve never seen it from this side,“ he admitted.

„Well, I’ll have to confess this is the first time we at Brady have had this particular excuse for celebrating. But we’ve had practice at the annual Christmas party!“ She spoke lightly, trying to erase whatever it was she’d just said that had made him look so rueful.

„You’ll be picking up the tab personally?“ Rand asked.

„We don’t run to office slush funds here at Brady,“ she affirmed with a grimace. „I’ll be paying the bill. But it will be worth it“

Two hours later the jubilant Brady staff adjourned from work early to take an extended lunch hour which, Kalinda guessed with amusement, would last all afternoon.

George had succeeded in finding a colorful beer and pizza tavern that was willing to welcome so many people on such short notice. Foaming mugs of beer and pizzas with „everything“ were being ordered unstintingly. Kalinda decided not to concern herself with the inevitable price tag. It was far cheaper than a merger would have been!

She glanced around the room as the staff began to break up into familiar groups. George sat at a corner table surrounded by the other secretaries, all female. The word processing group had claimed another table nearby. First-line supervisors were drifting cheerfully into their own territory and Brady’s upper management occupied a long table with Kalinda and Rand in the center.

Kalinda smothered a grin as a toast went up, beer mugs on high. It was one of several and the subject this time was Rand. She could have sworn he was turning a dull red. Amused, she leaned close and under cover of the cheers, whispered, „One thing about being on the side of the good guys: We’re big on heroes!“

In the dim light, Kalinda was positive Rand turned an even darker shade of red as he slanted her a wry glance.

„It’s not a role I’m accustomed to playing.“

„Hero? But you’re a natural for the part!“

He looked at her with sudden sharpness. „You think so?“

„Definitely,“ she laughed.

He continued looking at her levelly for a long moment. „Kalinda, I have to talk to you.“

„Now?“

„As soon as possible.“

She chilled, remembering the wariness in him earlier. What was wrong? Had he changed his mind about the marriage already? Realized he was now back in his natural milieu and no longer needed her? Beneath the rustically carved table, Kalinda’s palms went strangely damp.

„All right, Rand. I don’t think we’ll be missed“ She didn’t look at him as she spoke.

There were several good-natured calls protesting their departure, but no one seemed unduly upset In fact, Kalinda thought sardonically, everyone looked a little too understanding; a little too smugly pleased It didn’t take much insight to realize her slightly feudal staff had decided Rand would make an excellent consort for their president!

Rand drove back to his apartment without speaking, the white-knuckled grip of his hands on the wheel the chief evidence of the intensity of his thoughts, k made Kalinda even more nervous.

Perhaps… perhaps he would go back to the idea of continuing the affair. She could live without marriage, but she didn’t even want to consider living without him altogether. Rand had bound them together on too many levels, made her too much a part of him. She would never be free again.

Kalinda’s tension drove her to precipitate the confrontation. She must know what was happening. As soon as he opened the door of the apartment she stepped inside and turned proudly to face him.

„What is it, Rand? What’s wrong?“

He shut the door and leaned back against it, his hands on the knob as if he needed to brace himself. There was hard determination in every line of his body.

„Kalinda, I’ve done a lot of thinking since the night you agreed to marry me.“

„Have you?“ What could she say? How could she stop him?

„I had to finish what I started at Brady. I had to stop Hutton’s takeover…“

She waited, not understanding.

His mouth hardened. „I realize that in so doing, in showing you I could operate effectively in your world, I’ve complicated matters between us.“

„How?“ It was almost a plea.

„It’s obvious,“ he said grimly. „I’ve made you afraid of me.“

He stepped away from the door, lifting a hand to stop the impulsive denial which leaped to her lips. „No, it’s true. I wanted you to be proud of me, to admire me. And instead, I’ve given you every reason to fear me. That's why you tried to call off the affair, isn’t it? Why I had to trick and seduce you into agreeing to marry me. My brilliant plan has backfired.

I realized that after I left you the other night And I’ve seen the wariness in you for the past couple of days.“

„But, Rand…!“

He shook his head, walking restlessly to stare out the window. „I honestly don’t know how to reassure you, except with time. I thought about putting off the marriage, but I can’t bring myself to make the sacrifice. Selfish, I know, but ask anyone: Selfishness is one of my prime character traits.“

„Rand,“ Kalinda broke in a little breathlessly, hope and despair shredding her nerves. „What is it you think I’m afraid of?“

„That I’ll take Brady away from you. Use it as the foundation of a new conglomerate controlled by me. In short, that I’ll do to you what Hutton tried to do two years ago and again this week,“ he told her flatly, keeping his back to her.

She stared at the sleek, proud head, her heart almost too full for words.

„You idiot,“ she managed lovingly. „That thought never entered my mind.“

The broad shoulders were held tautly. „You thought I was using you…“

„Not in that sense. I was only afraid mat you were using me in your own mind as an excuse for coming back to Denver and your old life. I didn’t want you confusing your emotions for me with those for your work. I certainly never thought you’d try to take Brady from me! Ask David Hutton,“ she concluded bluntly as he swung around almost violently.

„Hutton!“

„Oh, yes,“ she smiled, remembering the phone call that morning. „It was his last-ditch effort. He tried to tell me what you would do to me and the firm once you had salvaged it from his grasp. Tried to convince me I was much better off turning everything over to him.“

„What did you tell him?“ The question was low-voiced and vulnerable.

„The same thing I’m going to tell you. I trust you completely, Rand.“ She didn’t move, but she knew her eyes would be reflecting her love and trust.

He watched her with a hunger that had nothing to do with physical desire.

„Do you realize,“ he said, each word deliberate and carved with dazed wonder, „you’re probably the only human being in the Rocky Mountain Empire who has ever said that to me?“ He came forward, pulling her into his arms as if he were afraid she might break.

„Oh, my darling Kalinda, that’s one of the reasons I need you so much. I need someone who believes in me. I know you haven’t had time to fall in love with me but you want me, you can’t hide that, and you trust me. Surely that’s a start. Someday I’ll make you love me as much as I love you. I swear it!“

Kalinda felt him tremble as she pressed her face into his shoulder. „And to think,“ she whispered shakily, „that I once credited you with an unusual degree of perception!“

„What’s that supposed to mean?“ he demanded.

„I love you, Rand. From the beginning, I think. I knew when I left you that morning in the mountains I’d never be completely free of you. I knew I’d never fully recover from my ‘vacation fling.’ When you showed up at my door the night of the party I was never so relieved to see anyone in my We. I realized that night I was in love with you.“

„Kalinda, my love…“ he breathed as if a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders. She felt the relief in him.

„Do you really love me?“ She pulled back, lifting her hands to frame his face. He smiled at her, a heart-stopping look of love that told her everything.

„You do, don’t you?“ she said wonderingly.

„With all my heart.“ It was a solemn vow. „Didn’t you realize that when 1 rigged that engagement? I did it more for my own sake than to ward off Hutton’s bribery tactics. I figured once I’d gotten you past the shock of the idea I could talk you into it on reasonable grounds. Instead, I wound up seducing you into it,“ he ended with a groan of self-recrimination. „I should never have done that It wasn’t right But I wanted you so much…“

„The sneaky seduction tactics were so successful because I wanted nothing more in the world than to marry you!“ she assured him, eyes filled with fond laughter.

„I wonder if you have any idea how important you are to me? You told me you were afraid I’d only followed you back to Denver because you’d made me realize I wanted to come back to this world. And I couldn’t argue with your conclusion because it was true in a very real sense. But you didn’t understand the whole truth, Kalinda. I wouldn’t have wanted to come back without you. I would have found the business life just as empty, just as destructive for me as it had been before.“

„Oh, Rand…“

„It’s true, sweetheart I do have the business instincts of a shark. I learned a lot about myself up there in the mountains, faced some important facts. I need that easy, contemplative side of life and I need the high-powered entrepreneurial side. But it wasn’t until I met you that I realized I had a chance of having both.“

„I don’t understand.“ She looked up at him wistfully.

„Don’t you see? You’re more important to me than either of those two lifestyles. You’re the most important thing in my life And that puts things into perspective, making it possible to have it all. If 1 can have you.“

„Every time I look at that beautiful piece of pottery you made I realize I love the man who made it just as much as the man who saved Brady Data Processing. And you’re not the only greedy one, Rand,“ Kalinda smiled. „I want it all, too. I want you. I love you.“

His hands moved yearningly along her back as he stared down at her. He looked as if he didn’t fully trust his luck, Kalinda decided. But she was the lucky one. How could she have ever run away that morning in the mountains?

„I’ll take care of you, Kalinda,“ he promised. „I love you so much. I need you so much. I need you to keep me from drinking too much coffee, to keep me from falling into the trap of becoming a business shark, to keep me from an empty, Incomplete life.“

„And I need you. A man I can trust, a man I can rely on for sound, rational advice, a man who wants me more than trout fishing or empire building.“ Her lips quirked invitingly, gently. „Love me, Rand. Please love me.“

He folded her to him, a reverence and a deep desire forming opposite ends of the spectrum which constituted his love for her. Kalinda felt it and reveled in it, giving herself up eagerly to the urgent need to share the love they had.

„I think,“ he rasped close to her ear as he tugged at the comb that held her hair, „the president of Brady Data Processing should take a little time off now that the immediate crisis is past, don’t you?“

She shivered as her hair tumbled down her shoulders, aware of his hands moving through the golden-brown stuff with masculine delight „A vacation?“

„I was thinking more in terms of a honeymoon,“ he replied, slipping off the jacket of her suit „It so happens I know of a delightful mountain retreat situated picturesquely on the bank of a scenic lake--“

„Indoor facilities, I trust?“

„Only the finest,“ he assured her simply, removing her small-collared blouse as she began fumbling with the buttons of his shirt „Fresh trout in the morning, arts and crafts in the afternoon, daily picnics.“

„It sounds charming.“

As her lacy bra slid to the carpet, Rand groaned and crushed her to his naked chest „It is charming. But to tell you the truth, the place has always lacked something.“

„A woman’s touch?“ She nibbled suggestively at the curve of his throat.

„Not just any woman’s touch,“ he murmured.

„Your touch. Will you come back to the mountains for a honeymoon with me, Kalinda?“ he begged, as they stepped out of the last of their clothes. „I promise you won’t be bored.“

„I wasn’t bored last time, not after I met you,“ she confessed as he molded her body to his own. She trailed her nails sensuously down his back, feeling the instant response of his body. „But don’t you think that tempting the president of the company with visions of a weekend in the mountains may constitute some sort of corporate bribery?“

„Haven’t you learned anything at all about me?“ he whispered thickly, lifting her and carrying her over to the sun-dappled couch. „Ask anyone in town, they’ll all tell you Fm a man who will stop at nothing to get what 1 want!“

„As long as Fm what you want.“ She smiled up at him through her lashes, pulling his mouth down to hers.

„You’re the only thing 1 really want The only thing that counts.“

And men he was demonstrating the wonder and depths of his love to the woman who had developed a passionate love for a shark.