HellKat (14 page)

“Now they could run the James legacy into the ground. Ruin what had been a well-respected company. Destroy everything my father and grandfather worked for all their lives, not to mention the hurt my brothers have apparently caused other people now too.” Her thoughts drifted, refocused on one person. “I know it’s Parker. I feel it in my gut. I’ve never trusted him. And Charlie is weak, always has been. He may be the president and CEO, but I guarantee you, Parker is the one calling the shots.” She shook her head in aggravation. “I’m going to get to bottom of this one way or another.”

“I’ll help you any way I can, Kat. Charlie’s right about me, you know. I do hug trees. I think I may even have a bumper sticker like that on my truck.” He winked and the stress on Kat’s face shed away with a chuckle. “Now, c’mon, it’s late. We need to get to bed. And I think I’m just tired enough that even your snorin’ won’t keep me awake tonight.”

“What! I do
not
snore!” Indignation mixed with the doubt on her face.

“Oh, really? So no one’s ever told you that before?” Tucker rubbed at the back of his neck. “Hmm. Guess that explains why you’re still single.” He braced for the incoming slug to his shoulder.

“I’m single because I choose to be, damn it!”

“Sure you are, darlin’.” He tentatively herded her toward the bedroom. “It’s okay. I wouldn’t say you’re at the sawin’ logs point—yet. But we may wanna plan for separate bedrooms in our later years.”

“Oh hell, you’ll be deaf by then anyway; it won’t even matter.”

Tucker chuckled and pulled his hellcat back into his arms as they happily reconvened under the covers.

A full belly and a smile on her face, Kat’s morning started out perfect with a steamy quickie in the shower, followed by ham and eggs prepared by her favorite Montana horse rancher. Kat could definitely get used to being spoiled.

While she worked, Tucker planned to reserve two one-way seats to Helena. They wanted to leave early next week for Big Sky Country. And after last night’s fiasco with her traitorous mother and brothers, Kat needed the change of scenery. Her heart warmed, recalling Tucker’s excitement about taking her home with him. His usually calm exterior hummed with raw energy. The man knew how to deliver a great sales pitch, and he’d swept her up in his contagious enthusiasm over the upcoming trip.

She’d have plenty of time over the next few days to make all the arrangements necessary to ensure her remote access worked reliably, and to leave Cassie feeling confident in her absence. How long would she be gone? The answer depended on the continued progress with Tucker, and her level of homesickness too. Her calendar hadn’t been marked off with a real vacation in years, so leaving New York made her a little nervous.

Helena versus New York City. Talk about a monumental change. Yet, Tucker had made the transition admirably and without complaint. And she refused to disappoint him by perpetuating the stereotype of the whiny city girl unable to hack country life. She’d learn to bite her tongue and smile—
for him
.

She blinked back the shock. What the hell? Where had that come from? Kat James never pandered to anyone.

What kind of kowtowing spell had Tucker Williams put on her? How had he managed to get her to think in a way no one else had? Without even asking, or
insisting ... Then her face lit up in fresh understanding. He never tried to control her—his secret weapon. He acted as if he liked her exactly as she was—snoring and all. She snickered.

Her heart tickled inside with a fuzzy warmth, but her head stayed the course. She’d have to be careful with him. Men had always disappointed her, tried to change her, mold her into wife material, hoping to push her into the mommy-mode shadows, all while they presumably enjoyed the glory and accolades of
their
achievements.

Tucker’s approach, though certainly novel, probably amounted to a short-term strategy on his part. At some point, he would make the same mistake the others before him had by focusing on the things
she
would need to change in order for the relationship to work.

She shook her head resolutely. “Not going to happen.”

The elevator pinged its arrival, returning Kat’s focus to the matter at hand: Charlie. She stepped out and headed down the hotel hallway until she found his secret love nest. The sordid details of her brother’s arrangement had come to light years ago when she’d overheard a private conversation. Sarah had set up an account at the Four Seasons, had had the bill charged to her each month, no paper trail back to Charlie. The charade had been masterminded in an effort to appease Charlie, who’d become increasingly unhappy in his arranged marriage to Cecily. And the deception also served to mollify Sarah, who would hear no talk of divorce.

Kat wondered if her mother also paid for a room at a competing hotel for Cecily.

When Charlie’s staff couldn’t locate him at company headquarters earlier in the day, Kat had made an educated guess he’d be indulging at his luxury suite. A do-not-disturb sign hanging askew and two half-eaten trays of food on the hallway floor rewarded her instincts.

She knocked, loudly. “Open up, Charlie!” She stood back and waited.

Silence.

This whole situation pissed her off. Talking to Parker would be pointless and Kyle hadn’t, or wouldn’t, return her calls today. And after several unanswered calls to her father, a man notoriously difficult to reach, she’d decided to confront Charlie. She scanned the narrow passageway, impatiently tapping her toe, and then pounded the living shit out of the door, her rant echoing down the hall. The door flew open and she was yanked inside.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing? Charlie asked, angry and hovering over her, his graying hair mussed, a complimentary robe wrapped haphazardly around his middle-age spread.

“Looking out for a company I don’t even work at, which is a hell of a lot more than I can say for you.” Kat replied, eyeing him up and down, with disgust.

Charlie stepped back, tightened his robe. “You’re a real piece of work, Kat. You made your decision a long time ago. You have no standing. Now leave.” He raised his hand toward the door.

“No standing? I’m a JAMESCO heir, Charlie. Whether I work in the business or not, the legacy is still mine. And I don’t want our Father’s name trashed, because you’ve let Parker steamroll you and turn it into some kind of polluting sweat shop!”

Irritation colored his face red. “You’d really trust the word of some hick with an agenda more than you’d trust your own family? That is utterly disgraceful.”

Kat scoffed. “My family?” She gestured between them. “You call this family? Hell, I know my drycleaner better than you.”

“Ah, yes, let’s warm up the string section, shall we? Another stirring performance by the deprived and misunderstood Kat James, with the family who had the gall to give her everything she could ever want or need.” He smirked. “It’s inconceivable that you were able to manage under the weight of such an unbearable burden.”

The expression on Kat’s face caused Charlie to back up.

“Nice try. I’m sure you’d like to change the subject. And a part of me would love to accommodate you, rip you apart for your role with Grant—just for starters. But I don’t have time. I want to know what’s going on at JAMESCO, and your part in it. Is Parker the one pulling the strings? Are you his little puppet?” Charlie stood mute, a sheen of perspiration above his lip. “You’re the president, the CEO. You’re supposed to be calling the shots, but I bet you’re not,” she paused, “because you’re a pussy. You always have been.”

His finger jutted out, inches from Kat’s face. “How dare you! You had your chance to be a part of this family, and to join the business. But you’d rather judge us with your loud, filthy mouth, as if you’re better than us. Well, you’re not! You’re the same attention-seeking, snot-nosed brat you’ve always been.”

Kat grabbed his pointed finger and bent it back, hard. He howled in pain.

“The days of you sticking your fucking finger in my face are over, Charlie. You don’t like my loud, filthy mouth? Well, get ready, because I’m going to be your worst nightmare.”

She headed for the door, then looked back over her shoulder. “And you can tell Parker that goes double for him.”

****

“I’ll be checking email and voicemail regularly while I’m gone, but I have every confidence that Karen will do a great job in my absence.” Kat nodded to the astute, accounting department manager she’d hired a few years back, and then looked around the conference table, confident with the capable team she’d built over the years. “All right, let’s get back to work.”

Kat crossed the hall to her office and resumed the search she’d started earlier in the morning. She opened the bookmarked links on her browser and read the dirty details in news reports about the JAMESCO site in Nebraska. Tucker hadn’t exaggerated the mess, disgusting in its scope and damage. Her brothers had clearly used the fact that the plant belonged to a subsidiary as a means to deflect much of the coverage from JAMESCO itself. However, their spin hadn’t kept some of the more dogged journalists from shining a light on the parent company.

“Why the scowl, Kat?” Cassie plopped in a chair, hugging files and a binder to her chest.

“Just one of those days.” Kat gauged her business partner. “Have you heard anything about JAMESCO I should know about?”

“Like what?” Cassie placed the armload onto her lap.

“Anything, really. Just curious if I’m the only one who’s unaware of what’s going on around me.” She tapped a pen on her desktop.

“Well, I do my best to stay connected, you know that, but outside of our little world,” her eyes swept around the room, “I barely have time to give David the attention he wants.” She watched Kat. “What’s going on? You seemed so excited this morning about leaving with Tucker and now,” she paused, searched Kat’s tense face, “you seem distracted.”

Kat decided to fill her friend in on the appalling events of the last twenty-four hours. And to say Cassie appeared dumbstruck would’ve been a colossal understatement. Her gaping petal pink lips hung open, silent. Kat sat back and gave her time to digest the sordid news, already knowing exactly where her friend would jump in first.

“So let me get this straight,” Cassie said, her tone tinged with indignation. “You’re telling me Grant Collins was an elaborate setup orchestrated by your mother and brothers? He knew about you in advance. Your interests, your likes, and dislikes—because your family fed him the information. The great story about how you two
accidentally
met in the park was really just a hoax? Part of the plan?”

Kat nodded, numbly.

“They knew each other the entire time and yet pretended not
to the first time you introduced them—Charlie and Parker too.” Cassie grunted with disgust. “So we were all played. You worst of all, of course.” She fell back against her seat, the outrage giving way to bigger questions. “Why on earth would Grant have agreed to such a thing?”

Kat mulled over the answer, what to reveal, what to zip away.

Cassie studied Kat, her gears grinding, the growing suspicion evident in her posture. Then compassion softened her face; she’d solved the Rubik’s Cube.

“I bet it has to do with his trust fund or inheritance ...”

“Probably does, Cass.”

Great friends can say much with few words, and they also know when to change the subject.

“And your father actually complimented you? In front of everyone?” Cassie’s head swiveled in disbelief.

“Crazy, right? Worries me actually. Is he sick or something? I mean, what else don’t I know? Maybe he’s not well and felt like he needed to say those things to me.”

“I’m sure he’s fine, Kat. Don’t worry. Maybe he’s just mellowing with age or reached his limit with some of this nonsense in his life. It sounds like everything you’ve read backs up what Tucker said, and your father can’t be too thrilled with your brothers right now.” Cassie gave Kat a questioning look. “Tucker really called Charlie a bastard?”

“Yeah, pretty much. I’ve never seen him so fired up, never witnessed
anyone
talk to them the way he did. And they deserved every bit of it.” Kat slumped back in her chair with a sigh of admiration. “He was amazing.”

A perceptive smile brightened Cassie’s rosy cheeks. “Now you know how Kyle has always felt about you.” Kat’s gaze landed on the steady stare of her friend. “You may be the youngest, but Kyle has looked up to you for as long as I’ve known you two.”

Being a spectator last night had demonstrated the difference in the view from inside the ring compared to watching in the stands. Kat remembered Kyle’s awed expression and her own feelings of astonishment from last night as Tucker had single-handedly smacked down their brothers.

Is that really how Kyle saw her …?

“You’ve always said exactly what you think, rules and manners be damned. It’s one of my favorite things about you—it’s what drew me to you all the way back in third grade.” She pressed manicured fingers to her mouth and giggled. “Remember Andrew Weinstein from our cotillion days?”

“Mr. Feel-My-Weiner-Schnitzel?” Kat snorted. “Hated dancing with that kid. I always risked a wet spot on the front of his
bespoke
pants if he got the chance to rub against me.”

Cassie chuckled. “Well, you managed to get unpaired from him as I recall.”

“Yeah, and Mrs. Stick-Up-the-Ass deserved the humiliation too. She refused to listen when I told her to put me with someone else.”

“I’m pretty sure
telling
Mrs. Castagnola instead of
asking
had a bearing on her decision. Manners 101.”

“Whatever. It was her fault I had to yell in front of everyone that I was tired of him pinching my ass and rubbing his slimy junk all over me.”

The friends belly laughed at the memory until their sides hurt and then blotted away their happy tears. After last night and then the run-in with Charlie, Kat had needed a good gut buster.