Janice Maynard - A Contract Seduction

Now, the immensity and timelessness of the sea mocked him. Humans were little more than specks in the cosmos. Grains of sand on the immense sandy beach of the infinite universe.

All the old clichés were true. Facing one’s mortality turned everything upside down. Time , that nebulous resource that once seemed a cheap commodity, was suddenly more precious than anything he had ever stored in a bank vault.

How long did he have? The doctor said six months. Maybe more. Maybe less. How was Jonathan going to tell his sister? His father? What would happen to the company, his family’s legacy? Mazie had her own interests, her own life.

She would be the sole owner of the family business once Jonathan and Gerald were gone. Since she had never shown any signs that she was interested in being a hands-on partner in Tarleton Shipping, maybe she would sell. Perhaps that would be for the best. The end to an era.

The thought pained him more than he could say. Until today he hadn’t realized exactly how much he was emotionally invested in the company. It wasn’t merely a job to him. It was his birthright and a symbol of his family’s place in Charleston’s history.

Moments later, he found Gerald Tarleton dozing in a chair in the den. Jonathan didn’t wake his father. He felt raw and out of control. And his head hurt like hell.

The debilitating headaches had started almost a year ago. At first they were infrequent. Then the episodes increased. One doctor said it was stress. Another wrote it off as migraines.

A dozen medications had been tried and discarded. Today his doctor had given him a handful of sample pills, along with a prescription for more. Right now Jonathan could take one, climb into bed and hopefully sleep off the throbbing pain.

But that wouldn’t solve the bigger problems.

The prospect of drugged oblivion was almost irresistible. He didn’t want to face another minute of this wretched day. But when he reached the kitchen, he grabbed a tumbler, filled it with tap water and downed a couple of over-the-counter acetaminophen tablets.

He had responsibilities. Responsibilities that weren’t going anywhere. The only thing that had changed was the time line.

Jonathan always thrived under pressure. Give him a project, a deadline, and he would leap into motion. The adrenaline rush of achieving the impossible drove him to labor, to excel, to work harder than he had to.

Those traits would stand him in good stead for the next few months.

Grimly he leaned his hip against the marble countertop. In that instant, he made his first postdiagnosis decision. He would keep this news under wraps for now. There was no reason for his family and friends to be upset. To grieve. There would be plenty of time for that when he was gone. Right now, all he wanted was to preserve the status quo.

The first order of business was to make a plan. He would figure this out. Vague, desperate ideas flitted through his brain, each one more flawed or untenable than the last. There had to be an answer. He couldn’t simply walk off into that final great sunset and let everything sink into ruin.

He needed time to process, to come to terms with the sword of Damocles hanging over his head. His money and power and influence were worthless currency now. He couldn’t buy his way out of this...

* * *

Lisette Stanhope punched in the alarm code, waited for the large gates to slide back and then drove slowly onto the Tarleton property. Even after working with Jonathan Tarleton for six years, she never failed to appreciate the magnificence of his family home.

Tarletons had lived for decades on the tip of a small barrier island just north of the city. Their fifteen acres were more than enough for the compound that included the main house and several smaller buildings scattered around.

An imposing gated iron fence protected the enclave on land. Water access was impossible due to a high brick wall at the top of the sand. The beach itself was public property, but no one could wander onto Tarleton property, either out of curiosity or with dangerous motives. Hurricanes and erosion made the wall outrageously expensive to maintain, but the current Tarleton patriarch was by nature paranoid and suspicious, so security was a constant concern.

When she saw Jonathan’s car parked beneath the house, her heart sank. He was usually not home this time of day. She’d been hoping to slip in, say hello to Gerald and put the envelope in her purse on Jonathan’s desk.

She could have carried out her errand at the main office where she worked most of the time, but this particular scenario demanded privacy. The decision to turn in her resignation had her stomach in knots. Jonathan would be either furious or perplexed—or both.

After reading her brief note, he would demand an explanation. Naturally. She had been practicing her speech. In a rut. New challenges. More time to travel. When she said the words in front of her bathroom mirror, they almost seemed believable. The part that made her wince was acknowledging how good Jonathan and his family had been to her.

Lisette’s mother had suffered a debilitating stroke when Lisette was in grad school. For almost seven years, Lisette had worked two jobs and barely managed to keep food on the table and pay the stable of women who helped care for her mother’s considerable needs.

Being hired by Tarleton Shipping six years ago had literally changed her life. The generous salary and benefits package had relieved her financial worries to a great extent and had enabled her to spend quality time with her mother.

When her mom had a second stroke and passed away last fall, Jonathan had insisted that Lisette take ample time to mourn and to handle her mother’s affairs. Not many other bosses in a corporate setting would have been so generous.

And now Lisette was about to repay Jonathan’s immense consideration by abandoning the company...by abandoning her boss.

He wouldn’t see this coming, but it was her only choice.

She wanted marriage—a husband and a baby and a normal, ordinary life. Mooning over her boss for another year or two or five was never going to bring those dreams to fruition. She’d had a silly crush on Jonathan, but he’d never once given any indication that he felt the same. She needed a fresh start, a new setting, a chance to meet another man and get Jonathan out of her system once and for all. Her personal life had been on hold for so long she barely knew how to begin, but she knew instinctively that she had to move on.

Her heart slugged in her chest. She didn’t want to face him. Guilt and other messier emotions might derail her plan.

When she opened the door at the top of the stairs, again with a code punched in, she stepped into a house that echoed with quiet. Maybe Jonathan wasn’t here after all. Maybe a friend had picked him up. Or maybe he was with Mazie and J.B. The newlyweds loved entertaining.

Finding Gerald Tarleton dozing in his favorite recliner was no surprise. Lisette tiptoed past, careful not to wake him. Perhaps if Jonathan was gone or at least upstairs, she could slip in and out without a confrontation.

The upper levels were the family’s living quarters. At the back of the main floor, overlooking the driveway, were two rooms that had been outfitted with every conceivable feature to make the offices here as good as or better than the ones downtown.

The smaller of the two was Lisette’s domain. She had started out with Tarleton Shipping in accounting but quickly moved up the food chain until she became Jonathan’s executive assistant, a title she had held for the past three years. Her job was to do anything and everything to make his life run more smoothly.

And she was good at it. Very good.

A quick visual exploration confirmed that no one was in either office. Now that she was here, her misgivings increased tenfold. She reached into her purse for the crumpled envelope and extracted it. The door between the two offices stood open.