Jayne Krentz: Corporate Affair

„Revenge,“ she said simply.

„Revenge!“

He sat up, reaching out to catch her chin and force her around to face him. „My God! You really mean it, don’t you?“ he breathed, searching her intent, determined features. „Who is this man you’re going to have your revenge on, Kalinda Brady?“

„My ex-fiance.“ The words sounded stark, even to her own ears. „He dropped me two years ago when my father was killed and it was discovered the firm was in bad shape. David Hutton, it turned out, was marrying me because he wanted my father’s company.“

„And now he wants you back?“

Kalinda smiled grimly. „I’ve let him think I’m interested. I’ve agreed to meet him up here for the sake of what we once had, as they say.“

„Why did you agree to rendezvous here? Why not Denver?“

„Oh, we couldn’t do that,“ she explained acidly. „David’s married now, you see.“

„You little fool,“ he breathed. „You crazy little fool. Exactly what are you going to do tomorrow night when he shows up expecting you to throw yourself into his arms?“

„I’m going to throw his offer in his face, naturally. I’m going to let David Hutton beg me for another chance, listen to him offer to divorce his wife, and then I’m going to laugh and tell him exactly what I think of him! The one thing David can’t stand is to be laughed at.“

Rand stared at her for a long, taut moment, his expression hard and unreadable.

„You can’t go through with it,“ he finally said flatly. „It’s too damn dangerous.“

„Dangerous!“ Kalinda almost smiled at that „David’s not the physical type. He wouldn’t…“

„Rape you? Don’t be a fool. Any man could be dangerous in a situation such as you’re planning! And you’ve already misjudged him once, haven’t you?“

She winced at his pointed comment „That was two years ago. I’ve learned a lot since then. I know him for what he is.“

He shook his head. „What makes you think that?“

„I learned everything I needed to know about the man when he came to me after my father’s funeral and said he was breaking off the engagement!“

„All you learned at that point was that he’d wanted to marry you in order to gain control of what he’d assumed was a successful company. You discovered he was no longer interested in you or the company when its financial status had been revealed. But you didn’t learn anything about what he’d be likely to do in a confrontation such as the one you’re planning!“ Rand’s voice was chilling. „Face it, he might very well turn vicious. But that’s not the only risk you’re running!“

She frowned, wishing on the one hand she’d never let him discover her real reasons for being in town and knowing on the other that some part of her had wanted to talk to another human being about the reckless plan. Why had that convenient human being turned out to be this unsympathetic male?

„What other risk could there be?“ she snapped, goaded by his glowering disapproval.

„Are you sure revenge is the real reason you’re planning this?“ he growled. „Two years ago you were in love with the man. Maybe you’re really here to see if you can pick up the pieces…“

„No!“ The idea was ludicrous! „After what he did to me?“

„He hurt you. People hurt other people all the time but that doesn’t always kill the love they have for each other.“

„I assure you a healthy dose of reality killed any-feeling I might have had for David Hutton two years ago,“ she blazed.

„You still feel strongly enough about the man to want revenge,“ he reminded her coolly. „They say hate is akin to love.“

„That’s absurd and you know it,“ she scoffed with great certainty. Whatever else she felt for David Hutton after two years, Kalinda knew love had nothing to do with her emotions.

„Exactly what did happen two years ago after David took back his ring?“ Rand regarded her probingly, sounding as if he were trying to get to the bottom of a serious mystery.

Kalinda lifted one shoulder casually. „I had my hands full trying to salvage the business. I didn’t spend a lot of time brooding over my tragic romance, if that’s what you’re thinking.“

„Brady Data Processing, I take it, is no longer on the skids?“ he murmured dryly.

„No, it’s not“ That remark brought an unconscious smile of pride and satisfaction to Kalinda’s lips. „We’re on the way back. We’ve shown profits for the last three quarters, in fact.“

One chestnut eyebrow lifted in acknowledgment of the accomplishment „You must have worked hard during the past two years.“

„1 did,“ she admitted simply. It was the truth. She had literally buried herself in her work. And now, finally, it had all begun to pay off. She could afford to relax and enjoy her well-earned success.

„Why?“ he asked evenly.

She hesitated. „I had to.“

„In order to forget Hutton?“ he demanded, sounding thoroughly irritated at that possibility.

She shook her head, her mouth quirking upward. „It had nothing to do with David. I had to try to salvage the company because so many people were depending on me. You don’t know what it was like.“

„An old, established family firm with employees and members of the board who’d started out with your father while still in their teens?“ he hazarded dryly. „People who’d spent their whole working lives there?“

She looked at him in astonishment „How did you know?“

„I told you, we aren’t totally isolated up here,“ he retorted cryptically. „I’ve heard of companies like your father’s. So bound by traditional ways of doing things that they gently begin to sink beneath the waves of progress. Is that what was happening at the time your father was killed?“

„I’m afraid so. After I got my degree in business administration I went to work for another company. I knew I wouldn't fit in at my father’s firm. Then he was killed and the board of directors asked me to consider taking over the day-to-day management After all, I’d inherited it and them along with all those long-time employees. It was almost feudal!“

„And you didn’t have the heart to liquidate or sell out?“

„How could I do that to all those people? But after a few months I realized there was more to it than just a sense of responsibility…“

„It became a challenge?“ he murmured.

„As I’ve said before, you’re very perceptive,“ Kalinda smiled.

„So now, two years later, you’ve got the company back on its feet and David Hutton is trying to slip back into your life. Doesn’t that strike you as something of a coincidence?“

Kalinda stared at him, shocked at that line of reasoning and then shook her head firmly. „David is thoroughly involved with his own firm; the manufacturing business where he was vice-president at the time of my father’s death has moved him up to president Why should he be interested in Brady Data Processing now?“

There was a lengthy silence from Rand’s side of the picnic blanket.

„Simple greed?“ he finally suggested caustically.

She thought about that, wryly admitting that finding out David’s renewed interest in her was once again based on Brady Data Processing would be a blow to her ego.

„He married well. Very well. He’s running a successful business.“

„All of which might make him more greedy than ever.“

„Where did you gain all this vast insight into the motivations of other people?“ she grumbled. „You must meet quite a wide variety of tourists up here!“

„I do.“

„Well, what you’ve just suggested only makes me more determined than ever to go through with my plan. If I’m right I’ll have the satisfaction of denying him me. If you’re right, I’ll have the satisfaction of denying him the firm!“