Pages rustled. Seconds later Rand pinned him with an incredulous stare. “Are you out of your mind?”
“Your father would have sold his entire estate to Mardi Gras—to me—for one dollar. It’s only fair I match his price.”
He’d lose billions. But he’d recover. Because as two long weeks without Nadia had taught him, some things were worth more than money.
Mitch’s eyes narrowed to slits. “What’s the catch?”
Lucas smiled, because of course there was a catch. There was always a catch when a deal sounded too good to be true.
“Call off the goon. I want to talk to Nadia.”
Mitch bristled. “She doesn’t want to talk to you.”
“That’s the deal. I talk to her tonight at the library fund-raiser or the offer is off the table. Take it or leave it.”
Mitch still looked ready to punch him, but Rand eyed him with a new respect. “You have one night. After that if she wants nothing to do with you, then you’d better back off.”
“Deal.” He extended his hand across the table.
Eleven
“Y ou’re cutting it close, Cinderella.”
Nadia jumped and spun around, nearly falling off her Dolce & Gabbana heels and onto her last year’s Badgley Mischka-gowned butt. “Lucas, go away. I don’t have time for you now.”
She’d been avoiding him for two weeks. Her crazy schedule planning the fund-raiser had helped.
When she’d spotted him in the crowd tonight she’d wanted to run and hide. It hurt to look at him in his black tux and know she’d loved and trusted him twice and each time he’d chosen money over her. But instead of running, she’d simply done her job as MC. Staying onstage had made avoiding him easy.
She scanned the street. Where was the car and driver she’d hired for the night? If she didn’t find them soon, she’d have to take a cab…or not. The event had ended fifteen minutes ago and apparently all the taxis had been taken.
“I sent your henchman and your car away,” he said as if reading her mind.
“What? You had no right. I need that car. Or is this another ploy to steal my father’s estate?”
“Your brothers haven’t told you.” A statement not a question.
“Told me what?”
“That we talked today.”
“You talked to Mitch and Rand? About what?”
He shook his head, an ironic smile twisting his lips. “I’ll get you back to your place before midnight. But you’ll have to trust me, Nadia.”
“Like that’s worked so well for me thus far.”
“Trust me,” he repeated and held her gaze.
She looked into his blue, sincere-looking eyes and called herself an idiot for not telling him to go to hell. She obviously had no judgment where he was concerned. But she didn’t run from her problems anymore. She might as well get this confrontation over with.
“Fine. Where’s your car?”
He reached for her elbow. She dodged him. He shrugged. “Follow me.”
He strolled back toward the building with no apparent haste. After a second she hustled after him. “Lucas, I have to go. I don’t have time to hang around here.”
“Our ride is on the roof.”
“The roof.” She stopped.
“The helipad, to be more precise.” He opened the glass door and waited for her.
“You flew here in a helicopter?”
“I was out of town today and my flight was delayed. I came here directly from the concourse. There’s a helipad on my—our—building.”
Car? Helicopter? What did it matter as long as she made it home by midnight? And no matter the mode of transportation, his company would make it an uncomfortable ride. “Let’s go.”
He led her to the elevator and up to the top floor where they had to depart the cubicle and climb a short flight of stairs. “How did you get permission for this?”
“I made a donation.” He shoved open the door to the roof and, sure enough, a small blue-and-white helicopter waited.
“Just like you made a donation to get me the chairperson job.”
He looked at her in surprise.
“Did you think I wouldn’t find out when I started tallying our take? Money’s all that matters to you, isn’t it? You’re just like my father. The end justifies the means and the bottom line is all that counts.”
That stopped him in his tracks. He looked at her. “In my quest for revenge against your father I became so obsessed with humiliating him the way he had me that I became just like him. But I’m not anymore.”
She rolled her eyes. “Right. It’s so humiliating to take two million dollars.”
“He made me beg, dammit,” he snapped, then looked away, wiping a hand across his jaw as if he regretted his words. His gaze met hers again. “Everett made sure I knew I was a liability. To you. To my family. He even mentioned getting the police to charge me with involuntary manslaughter in the death of our child. That meant legal fees and possibly jail time. Before he was done with me I was pleading with him to help me.”
That sounded like her manipulative father. And okay, yes, she could see how that might sting a man’s pride. But to deliberately set out to destroy her family’s business…? “Just take me home, Lucas.”
He helped her climb aboard—not an easy feat in her long form-fitted gown and heels. His knuckles brushed her belly as he assisted her with her seat belt and her heart jolted with each contact.
Within minutes they were soaring above the Dallas skyline. She’d flown in everything from ultralight planes to jumbo jets, but this helicopter was one of the plushest aircraft she’d ever ridden in. The well-insulated passenger compartment was relatively quiet. The seats were deep and supple leather, the paneling real wood grain.
The jingle of keys pulled her attention back to Lucas. He dangled a pair of keys bearing the Mercedes emblem from his fingers.
“What’s that?”
“A gift for you. Congratulations on passing your driving test and getting your license.”
She pulled in a shaky breath but ignored the keys. “How did you know?”
“Because I care enough to check. I’m proud of you, Nadia. That took guts.”
Her heart hitched and her eyes burned. “Don’t. Don’t feed me any more lines or lies.”
“I’m not.”
The cadence of the rotors changed. Nadia used the excuse to break his gaze and look out the window. She hated that she wanted to believe him. She spotted their building and checked her watch. Twenty minutes to spare. Lucas hadn’t lied about getting her home on time.
Her stomach lurched as the craft descended then gently bounced on the pad. The motor whined down. Lucas opened the door and handed her out. His palm burned against hers and he refused to release her despite her tug. Her pulse ricocheted wildly as his fingers laced through hers. He said something she couldn’t hear to the pilot then guided her toward a door set into the wall.
Moments later she stood in front of her door.
“Invite me in.”
She ought to say no. She was exhausted and emotionally wobbly. The past two weeks had been hell. But since he’d given her a ride…“It’s been a long day. You can come in for a few minutes.”
He followed her into the living room, his eyes scanning the place as if he expected someone to be waiting.
“Do you want a glass of wine or something?” Some hostess you are. Talk about a rude and abrupt tone…
He shoved his hands into his jacket pockets. “No. I want to apologize for underestimating you eleven years ago. The truth is, it wasn’t you who I thought would fail. It was me. I felt like less than a man. I expected you to reject me so I rejected you first. I was trying to salvage what little pride I had left.”
His honesty took her breath. “You were afraid.”
His lips compressed then seconds later he nodded. “Terrified. But not half as scared as I was when you told me you’d contemplated suicide. Nadia—”
His voice cracked. He swallowed and blinked. His jaw muscles bunched as if he were gritting his teeth. “I couldn’t have lived with that on my conscience.”
“I had help. Professional help. And my family.”
“You should have had me.”
“That would have been nice. We could have helped each other through the tough times.”
“You don’t ever think about—” He stopped as if he couldn’t bear to say the words. She understood his reaction. Most people had the same aversion to the dark side of depression.
“No. Those dark days are over. The doctors believe my issue was a combination of grief and postpartum depression. But I’m okay now. Really okay.”
He lifted a hand and stroked her cheek. She felt his touch deep in her belly, but couldn’t find the strength to pull away.
“Nadia, I can’t go back and undo what I’ve done wrong. But I will swear to you that I will never underestimate you again. And I will never deliberately make a choice that will hurt you. Give us a second chance. I need you in my life.”
The words dredged deeply. A part of her heart yearned to try. But another part held back. Unable to speak past the lump in her throat, she shook her head and moved out of reach.
“My need for revenge is over. I let KCL become symbolic of the pride I surrendered when I took your father’s money. I was ashamed. I knew what I’d done was wrong and that I was a coward for not facing you and taking your rejection like a man. I somehow convinced myself while I was battling to get back on my feet that conquering KCL and your father, by humiliating him the way he had me, I could somehow restore the faith I’d lost in myself.”
She bit her lip to hold back a hiccup of sympathy. “My father hurt a lot of people.”
“He hurt you. I can’t forgive him for that.”
“But why is he threatening to give you everything if we don’t jump through his hoops?”
“I have no idea. The only thing I can guess is that he’s been tracking me, monitoring my progress. Maybe he’s rewarding me for becoming exactly like the man I despised.” He captured her shoulders in his hands. “But I’m not that man anymore. I love you, Nadia. I’m not sure I ever stopped.”
She gasped at the swell of emotion his words evoked.
“I love your determination, your persistence, your try-anything-once attitude. But I’m hoping you’ll try me. Twice. Give me a second chance to make this right. To make us right.”
Her thoughts tumbled like river rocks, rolling over and over noisily. Did she dare trust him again? She wasn’t the girl she’d been and could never have the life they’d planned.
Her cell phone rang. She ignored it. But it rang again and again and again.
“Answer it.”
She glanced at the caller ID. “It’s Rand. I’ll call him back.”
“Answer it,” he repeated more insistently.
“What?” she practically barked into the phone.
“Are you with Stone?”
She blinked. “Yes. Why?”