Hannah Bernard - The Marriage Adventure

Just what he needed.

He fell into a chair and decided to stop talking for a while. It wasn’t getting him anywhere.

He needed to think. This wasn’t good. This wasn’t good at all. He rubbed his temples, wondering if it was too late to flee the state and start his adventuring business somewhere far away from here.

No. He couldn’t do that. There were Jenny and Samuel to consider. He couldn’t leave. He was stuck.

He took a deep breath, firmly pushing back the sudden claustrophobia that thought brought on. It had been his choice to come back. His choice to be there for Jenny and Samuel.

But for the first time in his life, he wasn’t free to do whatever he wanted, go wherever he wanted. He needed to be right here, right now.

He needed Intrepid Adventurers. He needed the deal to stick.

He needed Maria to get out of his way.

“Don’t you see, Eddie?” Kara said. “This is the easiest way. She’ll realize what she’d be getting into.” She smiled. It seemed the pair of them were quite happy with their little scheme. “This way, she’ll be begging you to take over the company, instead of resenting all of us.”

They did have a point, convoluted though it was. Why would Maria want to run an adventuring business when she’d turned her back on all such activities a long time ago?

He had a feeling he knew why.

The sudden fury in her gaze as she’d realized he’d be taking over had been an ever so subtle clue.

She didn’t want him to take over.

Periodically he’d had the feeling she resented the attention her parents gave him—envied him—although in between she hadn’t seemed to mind, and even welcomed it as it took the pressure off her.

But this was her heritage—and they were selling it to him without even mentioning it to their daughter first.

He had a feeling Maria would not have objected so strongly if he’d been a stranger. In fact, she might not have objected at all.

Eddie crossed his arms on his chest and scowled at the pair of them. “There’s no guarantee she’ll back out. What if she doesn’t? What do we do then?”

Harlan shrugged. “I’m not going to waste my time worrying about that. It won’t happen.”

Eddie drove back to his makeshift office feeling disgruntled. His irritation had shifted from Harlan to Maria. What was she thinking, anyway? Quite apart from the inconvenience her little tantrum was causing him, she couldn’t possibly think she was cut out to run Intrepid Adventurers.

Nothing was ever easy.

He’d come home with clear intentions: to do the best he could for his sister and her son—the godson he’d seen far too little of. It hadn’t been an easy decision, but after Samuel’s diagnosis, and the untold stories he could hear in Jenny’s lost voice after her husband left them, he’d made up his mind. He’d go home. He’d be there for them while they needed him.

And as a compromise he’d start his own adventuring company at last. He’d keep his connections to the industry—he’d still be involved.

But preliminary market research had been depressing. Intrepid Adventurers was established, successful. There simply wasn’t room for another adventuring business in the area. Not unless he was willing to actually wage war on Intrepid Adventurers.

Although he thought he might have an edge with the newer technology and a younger generation, he did not want to directly compete with his old friends—if he was successful, he might drive them out of business.

It had been an agonizing dilemma. The offer to buy the company had been a godsend he’d been quick to accept. It would solve his problems—and theirs. They’d get the company taken off their hands by someone they knew and trusted—he’d be running his own company, and be in proximity to Jenny and Samuel.

He scowled and slapped the steering wheel with his palm as he twisted in his seat to back into his usual parking space. Now what? He’d never imagined Maria of all people would object to his takeover.

The tiny office he and his partner had rented temporarily while they prepared for business was cluttered as always. Adam was still there, at the computer—as usual—two screens, two keyboards, and a whole lot of hardware scattered haphazardly over all surfaces. They were working on creating an interactive interface for their future customers, enabling them to put together their dream excursions. The plan was to bring Intrepid Adventurers into the twenty-first century.

Adventure at the click of a mouse.

The torn old sofa the previous tenant had left behind had scattered computer parts all over it. Eddie had never understood why programming had to involve ripping out the computer’s innards—but apparently that was Adam’s way.

“Problem,” he announced, pushing the junk away and flinging himself onto the tiny sofa. He winced, and dragged something from under his thigh. He waved a motherboard at his partner. “Is it on purpose that all this junk has sharp edges?”

“Sorry,” Adam said absently, reaching for the part and examining it for damage. “What’s the problem?”

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