ONE EARLY MORNING while Amandine slept, Gavin tapped a few keys on his laptop and studied the spreadsheet that came up. Unbelievably enough, not only was his firm still functioning, it was making a great deal of profit. He had to give credit to Pete. The kid was doing a bang-up job. Maybe Gavin had underestimated his brother-in-law’s initiative and hunger. It was clear that Pete should be given more responsibilities.
Gavin leaned back, experiencing a vague sense of discontent mingled with relief. Not that he was unhappy that the firm could run without him, but he felt vaguely…superfluous.
His phone rang. Ethan .
“Where are you?” Ethan asked.
“Our place in Thailand. Why?”
“Because you aren’t at the firm. Hilary emailed me you were out of the office indefinitely when she got my package. I thought you got hit by a truck or something.”
Gavin snorted.
“Don’t ever worry me like that again.”
“I do occasionally take a vacation here and there, you know.”
“For weeks at a time? And without a definite end date? It’s never happened before.” Ethan paused. “You’re okay, right?”
“What else could I be?” My wife wants to leave with my baby , and I have less than three months left to convince her to stay .
When she clung to him in passion every night, he could almost believe he would be able to change her mind, that she knew how much he treasured her. Women like Amandine didn’t quiver in desire at just any man’s touch. She had to feel something for him. The question was: was sex, however good, enough to sustain their marriage?
He didn’t dump it on his older brother. Ethan had more than enough on his plate already.
“What was in the package?” Gavin asked. “It must be important.”
“It is, which is why I sent it to your office. That’s the only way I can be sure you’ll get it.”
“Hey, I’m not that bad at checking the home mail.”
“Yeah, if you’re ever at home. I’m calling a meeting with The Lloyds Development’s board of directors,” Ethan said. “There are some things we have to discuss. Publicly. About The Lloyds Development’s financials.”
Gavin scowled. If his older brother felt the need to call a board meeting, then the situation must be pretty serious. “Let me guess. Jacob fucked up.”
“Basically.”
“How bad?”
“Well…‘Uncle Tony may have to give up his new yacht’ bad.”
“You gotta be kidding.”
The Betsy Doll was Tony’s latest love. Ever since his doctor put him on a horrific deprivation diet and forbade him from eating the bacon, sausages and other rich food that had nearly destroyed his heart, Tony had decided he’d make up for the loss by spending as much money as possible on all sorts of frivolous crap. It was fine when Tony was flush from the quarterly payments from The Lloyds Development. But if the cash dried up, he was screwed. He didn’t have any other source of income and was too old to rejoin the workforce, not that there were jobs around that would pay him enough to maintain his current level of consumption. Gavin didn’t have to be his uncle’s accountant to know he was heavily leveraged and most likely overextended.
Then there were the others in the family. Some had separate income streams, but many did not. They weren’t as leveraged as Tony, but it’d hurt to lose the money coming in from The Lloyds Development.
A first-world problem, but a problem nonetheless.
“Anyway, the meeting’s going to be in Houston,” Ethan said. “We can talk more later, but check your email for the deets.”
“Will do. By the way, has Pattington managed to locate Jacob?” Pattington headed the PI firm the Lloyds had on retainer. He was the only one discreet enough to handle the matter with the delicacy that the family expected.
“Nope. Nothing yet.”
“Have you ever thought about hiring other firms?”
“What would be the point? If Pattington can’t find him, nobody can.”
Gavin sighed. That was probably true enough.
“Gotta go. I have a meeting. See you in Houston.”
Gavin rubbed his temples. God damn it. A private family disgrace apparently wasn’t enough. He couldn’t tell which was going to be worse, the scandal involving the bigamy or the fallout from the poorly run family business. Either was humiliating enough, but both together? Exponentially so.
He should get ready to go back to the States, look into the funds he was setting up for the family. It had been on his agenda, though not at the very top of his priorities given the situation with Amandine.
But he should move things along faster. Why should Uncle Tony have to give up his lifestyle? Gavin considered his own bulging bank account. Nobody from the family would suffer any more than they had to because of Jacob’s mistakes.
* * *
Amandine drew back from the canvas, studying her work with satisfaction. Flecks of gold, orange and red and every other shade in between mixed with multiple shades of blue. The latter was inspired specifically by the gorgeous Andaman Sea. She’d never realized how ever-changing the color of an ocean could be until she and Gavin had come to the family vacation home.
Yawning, she stretched. Fatigue weighed on her body, and her head seemed as sluggish as a cold engine. How crazy was that? She’d slept over nine hours the night before. Painting always energized her, but apparently pregnancy hormones trumped everything now. Maybe after a light snack and a short nap she’d be able to get back to the canvas with more enthusiasm.
“New?”
She started and looked over her shoulder to find Gavin studying her painting. “Yeah. I started it after we got here.”
Gavin looked ruggedly yummy in an un-tucked khaki safari shirt and old denim pants. She’d always thought it was his suits that made him look unapproachably elegant and sophisticated, but the casual clothes he’d been wearing for the past few weeks didn’t lessen his impact. Instead, they seemed to accentuate a different facet of the man—something that reminded her of a blunt instrument that would destroy everything in its path to get the outcome it wanted.
“You’re dusty,” she said.
“I chopped down a tree near the kitchen. Looked like there might be some rot.”
“Don’t you have men for that?”
“Wanted to do it myself.” He gave her a quick grin. “All done.”
That poor tree probably never stood a chance against Gavin’s will. How foolish she’d been to think she could oppose him and come out unscathed. He would never hurt her—she knew that—but he would smash through anything, or anyone, in the way of his reconciliation attempt.
The sea breeze had ruffled his dark hair. As he studied her work, his eyes intent and bright, a curl fell over his forehead. She gripped a brush, waiting for his verdict. She’d never shown her work to anyone except Brooke. If it had been up to her, Gavin wouldn’t have seen it either, but now that he had, she wanted him to like it. Or at least find it acceptable.
“It’s good,” he said finally.
She smiled. “Really?”
“Yeah. It’s oddly soothing, considering all the colors.”
“I think it may need something more.”
“Like what?”
“Mmm…” She chewed her lower lip. “Hard to say. I just feel like it could be better.”
“Don’t overdo it. It could suck the life out of the work.”
“What do you mean?”
“It’s already so vibrant and …just right. I don’t know what you plan to do, but I think it’s done.”
“Oh.”
She turned to the painting. Was it really that great? She never looked at her work with anything other than the most critical eye. It was about finding something she could improve on, not patting herself on the back.
“You’re really talented. I can’t believe you’ve never let me see your stuff,” Gavin said. “I want it.”
“You do?”
“Yes. In my office.”
“What? Oh no, you can’t!”
He frowned. “Why not?”
“Gavin! There’s an original Van Gogh in your office!”
“So?”
“So? So? ” Her palms slickened with sweat at the idea of all his staff members and visitors viewing her painting and the Van Gogh side-by-side. “It’s going to look…ridiculous next to the Van Gogh.”
“Because you aren’t some world famous artist or something? Honey, Van Gogh wasn’t Van Gogh until after he died. Don’t worry about it.”
Still anxious, she looked back at her work.
“Why does it matter anyway? Don’t you want your work seen?” he asked.
“Well… Maybe someday when I have something worthy.”
“Nonsense.”
“But—”
“Don’t you trust my taste?” He kissed her paint-splattered hands. “I’d never hang something I don’t like in my office, even if it was by my own mother. Be proud. You’re an amazing artist.”
Her heart raced, this time for another reason. She gave him a shy smile. “Thank you.”
“Anyway, we need to talk.” He took a seat on a couch and pulled her next to him.
It was as though somebody had flipped a switch. All the good humor evaporated from his face, and her stomach flipped. He looked so serious. Almost grim. “What?”
“I hate to do this, but I need to return to the States.”
“Oh. I thought we could stay here longer.”
“I thought so too, but something’s come up with The Lloyds Development.”
“Is Jacob back?”
Gavin’s mouth twisted into a crooked smile. “No. And even if he were, it wouldn’t make any difference.”
“What happened?” When he hesitated, she quickly added, “If you don’t mind telling me.” Gavin rarely discussed the nitty-gritty details of TLD matters.
“You should hear it from me. You’re family.” He raked his hair with a heavy sigh. “The company apparently isn’t doing well.”
“Really? How bad?”
“I don’t know yet. But it can’t be good if Ethan’s calling a meeting. He seems to have finished going over the numbers.”
“Okay. So now what?”
“Now I have to go back to get ready for a meeting at TLD headquarters. But you can stay here if you want. I’ll send Brooke over to keep you company. She’ll probably love it. And I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
Amandine shook her head. “Like you said, I’m family. I don’t feel right having a nice vacation here when the family business is in trouble.”
Some of the tension seemed to ease from his shoulders. “Thank you for being so understanding.”
She put a hand over his. It seemed right…no, perfect, to offer him what comfort she could. “So, when do we leave? I’ll start packing.”
