The Golden Chance (34 page)

Phila mentally fought the onslaught of Hilary's fury. “Nick told me all about Traynor and your plans to ruin the company. But I can't let you do that to the families. They don't deserve it.”

The lounge door opened again, and Nick strolled into the room with as much aplomb as if he were walking into a boardroom. He stood there, raw and masculine-looking, amid the luxurious, ultrafeminine surroundings. He looked at Phila.

“I saw you head for the ladies' room and I saw Hilary follow. Something told me I'd like to be included in a high-level meeting like this. What don't we deserve, Phila?” he asked.

“She wants to punish all of you for what happened three years ago,” Phila said softly, her eyes on Hilary's rigid features. “But it isn't fair. You're all innocent. Except Burke, of course.”

“You're right, you know.” Hilary folded her arms under her breasts and watched Phila. “I intend to take C&L apart bit by bit and make a fortune for myself in the process.” Hilary turned her eyes on Nick. “I'm going to destroy everything any of you care about.”

“It's taken you nearly three years to set it up but you're about ready to pull it off, aren't you?” Nick asked mildly.

“Yes,” Hilary said proudly, “and I will pull it off. When I'm finished I'll have everything I want, everything I need, and the Castletons and Lightfoots will just have to watch their precious family firm go into the hands of strangers.”

“There was no rape, was there, Hilary?” Phila asked. “It was a seduction. You seduced Burke out of desperation when you realized Nick was going to leave the firm and go through with the divorce if you refused to follow him. You knew you had no chance of seducing Reed. He would never have touched you. Neither would Darren. But Burke was a different breed of cat.”

“You're wrong. There was a rape. It was a rape in almost every sense of the word except the physical as far as I was concerned. Everything I had been promised was taken from me. I had made a bargain with the Lightfoots. I had married one of them, and in return I was supposed to get what I wanted.”

Phila nodded slowly as the rest of the puzzle fell into place at last. “But when you realized you were going to lose all of it, you turned to Burke, didn't you? It had to have been Burke. He was the weak one. You knew he was the only one left you could use.”

“He wanted me so badly he could taste it. He had wanted me ever since I'd walked in the front door as Nick's wife.”

“Probably because you fell into the category of forbidden fruit,” Phila said. “You played on that, didn't you? You thought if you controlled Burke he would support you after you lost your status as a Lightfoot wife. You were terrified of losing that status. It was all you cared about. It was the reason you had married Nick in the first place.”

“True.” Hilary smiled. “You think you know me so well, don't you? Because of Crissie, I suppose?”

“That's part of it. You were right, Hilary. You did have a lot in common with Crissie. You need an enormous amount of financial security the same way Crissie needed it. You're pathological about it. It's the single most important thing in the world to you.”

“A woman has to take care of herself in this world.”

“With your marriage falling apart and with no possibility of getting your hooks into Reed or Darren, Burke was your only chance of hanging on to some security. How far did your fantasies take you, Hilary? Did you actually think he might divorce Eleanor and marry you?”

“It was always a possibility,” Hilary agreed. “But there was no need to go that route after I accidentally got pregnant. I hadn't even thought of that approach. But when I realized I was going to have the baby, I suddenly saw how much simpler everything would be if I said the baby was Nick's. As the mother of a Lightfoot baby, my status would be inviolate for the rest of my life.”

“But why set out to take apart the company, Hilary?” Nick asked softly. “Why not just be satisfied with taking control of it?”

Hilary slid a cold glance in his direction. “Because after I lost Burke's baby, I realized I was in constant jeopardy. I knew that, sooner or later, you would probably come back like a king returning to claim the throne. You always considered C&L your birthright.”

“But you were Reed's wife. You were safe,” Phila pointed out.

“Just how long do you think I would have remained Reed's wife if everyone discovered the truth? I couldn't take the chance. I saw my opportunity to take over when Reed began losing interest in the company. I realized that if I handled things right, I could gradually acquire enough power to sell off the company and make myself safe and secure for the rest of my life. I wouldn't need Lightfoots or Castletons at all. I would be free.
And that's exactly what's going to happen
.”

“It isn't going to go down that way, Hilary,” Nick said. “I'm back.”

Hilary smiled. “You came back too late, Nick. Or perhaps too soon. Either way you don't have the power to take over now. Even with Crissie's shares, you can't get enough family backing by August to pull it off. I'll still be CEO after the annual meeting.”

“Don't count on it.”

“You think the families will believe any of this? You can shout yourself hoarse trying to tell them what's going on. They won't buy it. I've had three years to work on all of them. By now they all have reasons for wanting me to stay in charge. You're the renegade as far as they're concerned, not me.”

“I know.”

Hilary's beautiful face became tight with sudden fury. “None of it had to happen this way. It's all your fault, damn you. We had a business deal, you and I. You violated our agreement.”

“It was supposed to be a marriage, not a business arrangement. I wanted a wife, not a business partner.”

“A wife? You wanted a fool of a woman who would follow you barefoot through the burning sand anywhere you chose to lead.” Hilary's lovely mouth twisted with sarcasm. “What kind of an idiot did you think I was? I married you because you were the heir apparent to C&L. Not for any other reason. What other reason could there have been?”

“Good question. Certainly not because you loved me?”

“You bastard. Love had nothing to do with it. It was business on both sides. You wanted me for what I could bring to the family: beauty, background and breeding.”

“You wanted me because your family fortunes were on the skids. You wanted to marry money.”

“It's the way it's done in our world, Nick. Remember? I was brought up to understand these things, just as Eleanor understood them forty years ago.”

“You don't have a glimmer of understanding, Hilary.” Nick propped one shoulder against the wall.

“That's not true. I was prepared to hold up my end of the deal. I would have made you a good wife as long as you were head of C&L. But within eighteen months of our wedding you were getting ready to walk away from the firm just because Reed and Burke wouldn't let you do what you wanted with the company.
And you expected me to go with you
.”

“Yeah. Real dumb on my part. Somewhere along the line I got the idea that a wife is supposed to stick with her husband regardless of what kind of job he holds.”

“That's an outdated, chauvinistic, stupid thing to say.”

“Depends on the wife,” Nick said. “My mother would have followed my father into a swamp.”

Hilary gave a sharp exclamation of disgust and turned back to Phila. “Crissie understood. She knew what I wanted, what I needed. She would have helped me.”

“She understood, but she didn't turn the shares over to you and she never bothered to change her will, did she?” Phila shook her head. “Some part of her could never have let you destroy C&L, Hilary.”

“You're wrong. She would have backed me all the way.”

“No, I don't think so. The thing is, Hilary, no matter what happened, no matter how much she sympathized with you, she could never have allowed you to hurt the Castletons that badly. You see, in the end, when the chips were down, Crissie considered herself family.”

“I need a drink.” Phila walked through the door of Nick's condominium and headed straight for the kitchen.

“You've already had enough champagne to float a tanker. It's a wonder you can still stand up. What is it with you tonight? I've never seen you like this.” Nick shot the bolt on the door and followed her.

Along the way, he managed to leave behind his bow tie, black jacket and gold cuff links. By the time he reached the kitchen he looked thoroughly disreputable and dangerously sexy as far as Phila was concerned. She decided it wasn't fair.

“I'm celebrating.” Phila jerked open the cupboard and removed the half-empty bottle of scotch. She had a little trouble getting a glass off the next shelf. It almost slipped out of her grasp.

“What are you celebrating?” Nick reached out casually and took the bottle from her hand. Then he reached for the glass.

Phila ignored the question and sighed softly. “It was very sad, wasn't it, Nick?” She looked at him as he splashed a minuscule amount of scotch into her glass and handed it to her.

“What was sad? That little scene with Hilary in the women's room? It wasn't sad. It was inevitable. She's beginning to feel the pressure. Tonight she realized she's losing.”

“How did you happen to walk in when you did?”

“I've learned that it's best to keep an eye on you. You do have a way of getting into trouble.”

“Totally untrue. I resent that.” She tasted the scotch and realized she really didn't want any more to drink after all. She put the glass down on the counter.

“When did you realize the baby was Burke's?” Nick asked quietly.

“It all came together tonight when Hilary started talking about how she had been cheated. It's obvious when you stop and think about it, though. Everyone should have realized it a long time ago. After all, there's no way you could have done it and then walked out. You're just not the type. And Darren is a little too wary of Hilary to be comfortable going to bed with her. Besides, he loves Vicky. But the real clue was the way Eleanor acted.”

“Eleanor? How did she act?”

Phila shrugged. “She was always so protective, so adamant about supporting and defending Hilary. After a while it became obvious she suspected the truth or at least part of it. She still believed there had been a rape. But deep down I think she believed it was Burke who had raped Hilary, not you. Hilary probably planted that fear herself, and played on it to her own advantage.”

“Christ.”

“Whatever the reason, Eleanor felt she had a responsibility toward Hilary. After all, she was the one who had brought Hilary into the families. Then, too, she feels a kind of kinship with her because they both married into the families for similar reasons.”

“Kinship or not, the last thing she would want is for the truth to come out. That would tarnish old Burke's image as well as the image of family unity beyond repair.”

“Right. In this case, poor Eleanor was forced to choose which family to protect. She stuck with the Castletons, naturally, although she could never really turn completely on your family, either. She's very fond of you and Reed. So she tried to ignore everything, as usual, and did her best to keep the image intact. She's an expert on living the image.”

“For the past three years she was the one who kept me posted on what was happening in the families. Why did she bother?”

“She felt guilty about the way you had been forced to take the rap. But there had to be a bad guy, and you were the logical choice for the job. She could not admit it was Burke.”

“And there was my father, conveniently offering marriage to atone for my behavior.”

“And as a means of keeping his grandchild. Don't forget that part. He really did believe the baby was yours.”

Nick frowned. “Why was Hilary so certain Crissie would have backed her with the shares? How did those two get to be so close?”

“Crissie and Hilary were lovers.”

“They were
what
?” Nick stared at her, dumbfounded.

“You heard me.”

“Hilary prefers women?”

“Yes. So did Crissie. Don't look so shocked, Nick. Fact of life, you know. Some women do.”

He looked a little dazed. “I know. I realize that. But I never thought Hilary might be like that. It just never occurred to me. Damn. It explains a lot. Maybe that's why we…she and I…Maybe that's why I could never get her to…”

“Could be,” Phila agreed.

“And Crissie?”

“Uh huh. She hated men because she had been badly abused by a couple of her mother's live-in boyfriends. Knowing her father had deserted her before she was even born didn't help matters, either.”

Nick's expression was stark. “What about you and Crissie?”

Phila shook her head, a small smile playing around the corners of her mouth. “No. We were friends, Crissie and I, but not lovers. Frankly, I wasn't sure I was cut out for sex of any persuasion until I met you.”

Nick grinned slowly, his eyes revealing his satisfaction. “Aw shucks, ma'am, t'weren't nothin'. Just glad to be able to help out.”

“Sometimes the redneck in your soul is not far below the surface.”

“I told you in the beginning I come from a long line of shitkickers.”

“So you did.”

Nick paused and then said gently, “You didn't tell me what you were celebrating.”

She looked at him. “I just found out today I'm not pregnant.”

“I see.” He watched her with one of his inscrutable expressions.

Phila was annoyed by his lack of reaction. “Well? Aren't you relieved?”

“Not particularly. What about you? Are you relieved?”

“Of course I'm relieved. Why shouldn't I be relieved?” She began to pace the kitchen, “This makes everything much simpler all the way around.”

“You think so?”

“Don't be dense. It certainly does.”

“I guess I don't have to worry about you coming after me with a gun,” Nick observed thoughtfully. “But I can't help thinking that a miniature Philadelphia would have been sort of cute.”

“It's not a joking matter, Nick.”

“No, ma'am.”

“This way we both have all our options open.”

“Right. Nothing like having options.”

“Are you going to take this seriously or not?” she raged, swinging to a halt in front of him.

“That depends.”

“On what?”

“On the answer to my next question.” Nick braced his hands on the counter and leaned back. He studied Phila carefully. “Do you think,” he said, “that it's just barely possible you might be a little in love with me?”

The room spun around Phila. She reached out and grasped two fistfuls of Nick's pleated white shirt and scowled fiercely up at him. “Are you making fun of me?”

“Absolutely not.”

“You're laughing.”

“No. It's just a nervous reaction, I think.”

“You are never nervous. You're always cool as a glacier. Besides, what have you got to be nervous about?” She tightened her hold on his shirtfront.

“Well, I'm in love with you, and it stands to reason I'm a tad anxious in case you might not be in love with me.”

“
Nick
.” She released his shirt to clamp her hands behind his head. Then she stood on tiptoe and pulled his face down to hers. Her mouth crushed his until she felt his teeth grind against hers.

“Does this mean yes?” Nick lifted his head and grinned down at her.

She clung to him, burying her nose against his pristine white shirt. “I love you. I've been falling in love with you for ages. I was so disappointed at first today when I discovered I wasn't pregnant. Then I told myself it was for the best. It
is
for the best. Only it would have given me a good excuse to hang around you and I did want to hang around. Oh, Nick, I was so scared you wouldn't be able to love me back.”

He propped up her chin with his finger, his eyes gleaming behind the lenses of his glasses. “To tell you the truth, I was sort of hoping you'd gotten knocked up that first time. I realized it the next morning when you threatened to come after me with the gun. I found myself thinking that wouldn't be such a bad fate.”

“Knocked up? Is that any way to talk? Show some respect, Lightfoot.”

He looked down at her with eyes full of laughter. “I'll try. But I think I could do a much better job of it in bed.”

A rush of excitement went through her, and then she remembered exactly why she was celebrating. Phila sighed and leaned her head back against his chest. “Soon,” she promised.

“Yeah, like two minutes from now. Let's go, honey. I can't wait for you to start ripping off my clothes.”

“Nick, for heaven's sake, weren't you listening? I said I was celebrating the fact that I wasn't pregnant, remember?”

“How could I forget?”

Phila grew exasperated. “Well, how do you think I first realized I wasn't knocked up, as you so delicately put it, you big idiot?”

“Uh, the usual way, I guess?”

“Yes, the usual way. Now do you get the point?”

“About not going to bed? I fail to see the problem.”

“Nick, for pete's sake, can't you demonstrate a modicum of sensitivity here?”

“I get it. You're embarrassed at the idea of throwing yourself at me during this particular time of the month. How's that for sensitivity?”

Phila collapsed against his chest. “Good lord, what brain power. Must be all of two watts. Hard to believe they let you run a zillion-dollar-a-year corporation.”

He nuzzled the place behind her ear and wrapped his hands around her waist. “I've got news for you, sweetheart, a good executive never lets petty details get in the way.”

“But, Nick…”

“I don't mind, if you don't.”

“Well, I certainly do mind. It doesn't sound like a respectable idea at all.”

“Are you uncomfortable? Got cramps?”

“No.” Her voice was muffled against his shirt. “This is getting embarrassing.”

“Are you flowing very heavily?”

“
No
. Just spotting. I told you, I barely started today, but…”

“Then let's go fool around, huh?”

“Nick, I can't. I'm too embarrassed by the whole idea, and that's that.” She pushed herself away from him and started to stalk out of the kitchen. Nick caught up with her at the door.

“Take it easy, love,” he said with a smile and scooped her up into his arms. He started down the hall to the bedroom.

“Where are we going? What are you doing?”

“You are obviously too embarrassed to make your usual assertive moves on me tonight, so maybe the time has come to try it another way.”

“What other way?”

“Trust me.”

“Hah. Why are you carrying me?”

“Because I feel like it. Do you mind?”

She thought about it carefully. “No, I guess not.”

“Good, because it's too late to argue.”

He strode into the bedroom and stood her carefully on her feet while he turned back the covers on the bed. Then he smiled at her as he removed his glasses and set them on the bedside table. There was love and laughter and a rapidly kindling desire in his normally cool eyes.

“Okay,” he said. “Sit down.”

Phila sat down abruptly on the edge of the bed. She watched with more curiosity than anything else as Nick went down on one knee in front of her and began removing her high-heeled evening shoes. “What are you doing now?”

“What does it look like I'm doing? I'm undressing you.”

“You're doing a good job of it.”

“I've been learning from you,” he said. He eased her out of the black gown and then went to work on her pantyhose and bra. She closed her eyes, savoring the feel of his hands.

“Go take care of things in the bathroom, honey. When you come out, I'll be ready.”

Phila nodded agreeably and opened her eyes just far enough to find the bathroom door. When she emerged a few minutes later she saw Nick waiting for her. He was naked and fully aroused. She stood staring at him, thinking about how magnificent he looked.

“Hi,” she said.

“Hi, yourself.”

“I used to think you were too big, you know,” she said.

“Did you?”

“I don't like big men.”

“Maybe I'll shrink with time.”

“I doubt it.” Then she giggled as her eyes went lower to his heavy, thrusting manhood. “On second thought, maybe parts of you will shrink from time to time.”

“But probably not for long. Not with you around.” He came forward and took her hand to draw her over to the bed.

Phila sank down onto the sheets with a vast sense of relief. “Do you really love me, Nick?” She gazed up at him with dreamy eyes.

“I really love you.”

“I've never been in love before. Not really. It's nice, isn't it?” she asked.

“Very nice. And for the record, I haven't ever really been in love before, either. Not like this. Nothing has ever felt the way it does with you.”