Double-Cross My Heart (4 page)

The thought scared the hell out of her.

“What are you going to do when Wendi and Carl—or Michele, finds out that she’s been harboring her enemy’s niece?” Alex asked. “Things could get much worse, even, than they are now. You might not just be kept as low man on the totem pole, you might be kicked out completely with no severance or reference. That kind of thing leaves a bad stain on a person’s work history. You’ve got to think about that and protect yourself. Especially now.”

Eden said nothing, her brain sprinting in ten directions simultaneously. She’d been dating Alex for the past four weeks and had thought they were growing close. Close enough for her to start worrying about whether she had clean sheets on her bed and clean towels in the bathroom. Hell, she’d been half-expecting to sleep with him tonight.

He was an attractive man who kissed with a wickedly wonderful sizzle. Damn right, she’d wanted to go to bed with him ten minutes ago. Heaven help her, on a purely physical level, she still did, but now she sat across from him wondering whether he was a really amazing snake in the grass or the answer to her prayers. The matter seemed undecided at the moment.

Did he have any reason to rat her out to Michele?

“So, you’re actually considering a takeover bid for Michele Cosmetics?” Her voice sounded surprisingly level, normal, as if she weren’t panicked enough to throw up. He knew about her uncle and he might actually want to tear apart her company!

He shrugged. “Doesn’t it make sense? Serves my purpose—I told you I’d been wanting to branch out—serves your purpose…. We could make a great team.”

His words accompanied the warm glow in his eyes.

“You’re wanting to branch out. You said that was why you were at the AIDS benefit where I was mugged,” she said, her brain feeling sluggish.

“Yes,” he agreed, the corner of his mouth curling attractively.

“You were there picking out your next victim,” Eden said, in a daze and determined not to show it. Her finger continued casually circling the top of her wine glass.

“That’s not usually how we phrase it,” Alex said, his voice pained, that killer smile on his sexy mouth.

“But basically, that’s why you were there,” she said, forcing a smile to soothe the sting out of her words.

“Partly.” He leaned forward, capturing her hand in his light, strong clasp. “Then I met you.”

Eden said nothing, her head a jumble of questions, suspicions and…threaded through it all, longing. She had really liked this guy. Was he playing straight with her? And even if he was, wasn’t he a potential danger to both her personally and to her company?

She
was
her job. It wasn’t just a matter of shaking off the last twelve years of her life and moving on. Her world was centered on Michele Cosmetics. She’d never been one to sit by and watch as trouble went down. Directing her own fate had always seemed preferable, but she was so blown away by the last fifteen minutes, she wasn’t sure what she should do.

Chocolate milk and Paydays couldn’t touch the stress she was feeling at this moment. She needed the hard stuff, dark chocolate Godiva, at least.

What the hell was she going to do?

“We’ve spent a lot of time together in the last month. We don’t know everything about one another, but I know you’re smart and sweet,” Alex said, his voice low. “You have an addiction to chocolate milk that most people outgrow by their teens. You feel wonderful in my arms when we dance. I know how you taste.”

He leaned closer, the palm of his hand was warm and strong as it smoothed over her arm.

A sudden sensation of breathlessness held Eden captive. She’d done her fair share of dating. She knew the risks of forgetting that even the apparently “perfect” man had his flaws. But, damn, this guy was good. Really, really good.

Sitting here across from him, she had to acknowledge the possibility that she’d been facing the world alone for too damned long because…she wanted to believe in him. Even now when he might be trying to snatch the rug out from under her.

Then again, she’d often wondered if there was insanity in her family. Her mother had lived her whole life believing charming, devious men.

Alex continued, saying, “The situation at Michele Cosmetics is draining the life out of you. You have to take action and I think my way is the best.”

Eden could only look at him, her hard-headed instincts keeping her from committing herself either way. She had to face the possibility that he would enlighten Michele about her family connection to George if she didn’t go along with his plans for the company.

She couldn’t rule out the possibility, no matter how much she wanted to.

Play the game
, she told herself. It had never come naturally to her, but she’d certainly been doing the corporate tango long enough now. Right now, she couldn’t be sure of her best option. She needed to buy some time.

“I don’t know,” she said slowly.

“Will you think about it? Think about letting me help you?” he pressed, now smoothing her hand with his thumb.

“Yes.” Hell, she’d think about little else.

The warning system in her gut told her Alex might not be telling her everything. Was anyone in business ever completely honest? In the last month, she’d learned how damned intelligent he was. How quick and clear in his decisions. No matter how good he kissed or how much she wanted to sleep with him, she needed to answer the question, was he really a deceitful bastard?

Either way, she had to make a decision about his offer. And soon.

***

“I don’t know,” Jessica said, folding up her yoga mat as the other class participants filtered out of the room. “He actually said he’ll tear Michele Cosmetics down for you? Wow, for a romantic gesture, it beats offering to let you be on top.”

Still sitting on her mat, her muscles aching from the early morning yoga class her best friend had talked her into taking, Eden couldn’t help smiling at Jess’ words.

Eden responded, “Wow is right. Alex was very clear. He’s willing to help me out by acquiring and dismantling the company.”

“That’s good of him, I guess,” Jess commented, tucking her mat into her bag. “And besides the good feelings he’d get from ‘helping’ you, he’d also earn a massive profit. Damn, this guy does like a win-win situation.”

“Definitely.”

“And he seemed so great,” Jessica complained. “When we all met for dinner last week, he was so charming and confident. Greg and I both really liked him. The two of you seemed terrific together. Of course, he does have that ‘aura of power’ thing going for him and that should have put me on my guard. Guys like that can be ruthless when they’re going after something they want. Money can bring out the bastard in the best men.”

“Yes,” Eden agreed, squelching the desire to reiterate her impression of Alex’s genuine good-guy potential. She didn’t need to defend him to Jess. If he was a louse, he was a louse. Even shitty guys could have hot bodies and terrific smiles…and kiss really great.

“On the other hand,” Jessica said thoughtfully. “Michele does deserved to be raped-over business-wise for basically doing the same thing to you. I have to agree with Alex on that point.”

Not responding, Eden got up and began rolling her mat to leave. She’d slept very little last night, trying to decide what she should do.

“Bottom line,” Jessica declared. “You don’t know whether or not this guy wants you or the company.”

“No.”

Hoisting her bag over her shoulder, Jess said briskly, “There is one way to find out the truth, dig for dirt. And if I do say so, my husband would be a terrific ally in dirt-finding.”

Eden turned a long glance on her friend. “You think I should have Alex checked out?”

Shrugging, Jessica said, “Absolutely. Greg is in a position to find out who’s buying what. You need to know if you’re under siege and, as much as you hate it, you’re going to have to play the corporate game if you don’t want to get screwed. Listen to the voice of experience. Know your enemies…and your options.”

***

Sitting at her desk later that day, her brooding gaze fixed unseeing on the open doorway, Eden couldn’t help but feeling really annoyed with her uncle.

She repositioned the phone cradled to her ear. “No, mother, I did not have a fight with Uncle George. You know I wouldn’t do that. We just had lunch.”

“Well,” her mother said in a soft, complaining voice, “he seemed a little out of temper when I called him a few minutes ago. He mentioned that he’d seen you and he seemed irritable.”

“George is always irritable.”

“Well, we don’t want to upset him. He’s my only brother and he’s got a lot on his mind,” Sharon insisted.

Eden said nothing, not choosing to enter into a discussion of George’s mind. He’d built a respectable company through hard work, but when it came to people the man was a bastard.

It all really went back to George’s opinion of his sister and Eden’s mother. Thirty years ago, Sharon had gotten pregnant and had married her shiftless, out-of-work lover, sinking her in George’s eyes to her husband’s level. Once George checked someone off his list, they stayed off the list.

“I know you and George haven’t always seen eye-to-eye,” Sharon said.

Shuffling through a product development report on her desk, Eden murmured absently, “We don’t see each other enough for that to be a problem, Mother.”

It wasn’t necessary to point the truth out to Sharon. On some level, she knew her brother had contempt for her. George had long dismissed his sister and her children as worthless, but relationship reality had never particularly been important to Sharon.

“You’ve never tried to be nice to your uncle,” her mother complained. “I know we didn’t see him much when you were growing up, but down deep in his heart George is a good man. He was the sweetest big brother when we were children.”

“Mmmm,” Eden said noncommittally. Sharon’s view of men in general tended toward the over-optimistic. And her opinion of George fell far left of the truth.

While he flourished financially, building Beauty By Georgette into a million-dollar entity, Sharon’s family had struggled to get off welfare. Eden knew her father, who’d deserted their family, was a loser. Her mother showed a positive flair for making incredibly foolish, highly emotional decisions, but that didn’t give George the right to condemn any of them.

“George will always be my big brother,” Sharon said, her voice losing some of it’s softness. “He might not be the most generous man, but he’s doing the best he can.”

“Of course, he is,” Eden said, mendaciously, her gaze scanning the paper in her hand. Tucking the phone against her shoulder, she drew her briefcase from under her desk and inserted the report. She’d finish reading it tonight at home.

“George sounds tough on the outside,” her mother said, “but inside he’s really a softie.”

Eden didn’t challenge the statement. There was no point in discussing her uncle. George was just George. Stubborn and pig-headed. He never came right out and declared that his refusal to employ her had anything to do with her “bad blood.” He said he didn’t believe in nepotism. That was all he’d say. Nepotism robbed people of the drive to earn success on their own.

Ignoring the urge to give vent to a bitter, ironic laugh, she slid her case back under her desk. Despite George’s refusal to consider hiring her, she couldn’t be said to lack drive. If George hadn’t been such a pompous, judgmental asshole, by now she’d probably have been a threat to his position at Beauty By Georgette. Instead, she’d struck out on her own and made herself a career at Michele Cosmetics.

Which left her right where she was now—up a creek with few paddle-options.

“Well,” Eden said, changing the subject, “I’m glad you’re feeling better. That cold sounded nasty last month.”

She found it was best to stick with the superficial topics with her mother. It made life simpler and caused less distress all the way around.

“Yes,” her mother agreed, giving vent to a soft, muffled cough.

A few minutes later after their goodbyes had been said, Eden lowered the report and stared into the space over her desk.

Dammit, Michele had been the woman Eden wished her own mother could have been. Hard-working and fair, Michele had never been particularly demonstrative, but Eden thought she had known how important she was to the older woman. For years they’d worked together tirelessly building Michele Cosmetics. It was Michele’s mentoring that had given Eden the push to begin aiming for the highest echelons of the corporate world.

A few years ago, Michele had begun referring to Eden as her successor. She’d outright promised her the CEO position time and time again. Then the intelligent woman Eden had respected and cared for met Carl. It was as if “love” had erased every positive aspect of the years Michele and she had worked together.

Now Eden was on the brink of losing everything. But, as she’d told Jessica, she wasn’t sure she could help Alex tear the company apart. Before being promoted, she’d been in charge of Human Resources at Michele. She knew most of the employees by name. Was she now considering putting them all out of work?

Even if she wasn’t, Alex was.

What was he really up to? Had his interest in his own business ventures superseded his interest in Eden?