Harlequin Superromance February 2014 - Bundle 1 of 2: His Forever Girl\Moonlight in Paris\Wife by Design (19 page)

“It is. How are you?” Tess asked.

“Good. I'm a buyer for Saks now. I'm in for Leo's wedding. Mom and Dad are over the moon to have me here for two weeks.” Riley eyed Graham, who stood just over Tess's shoulder.

Tess moved back and made introductions...which seemed to make Riley's night. Her eyes ate Graham up and she cooed, flirted and basically did everything short of handing him a room key. Jealousy, like a cur catching scent of meat, raised its head inside Tess. She'd never felt that before, and she didn't like it. Had no reason to own that emotion when it came to Graham. If he wanted to take Riley up on her offer, it was none of her business.

Of course, Tess might have to rip her friend's throat out if he did. Dear Lord, she not only was jealous, she was feral.

“It's been nice meeting you, Riley,” Graham said, smiling congenially, “but I need to talk to Miles before I slip out.”

“Oh, I'll walk with you. I haven't seen him in forever,” Riley said, shooting Tess and Nick a smile and linking her arm with Graham's. “Who knew I'd find such a handsome escort when I showed up tonight. I didn't even want to come but Daddy begged me.”

Riley gave a little ta-ta wave and dragged Graham off.

Graham glanced back and in the depths of his eyes she saw resignation. He was stuck. And she wasn't going to rescue him the way she had that night at Two-Legged Pete's. Nick gave a heavy sigh as he saw his only chance for a random hookup striding away on Graham's arm.

“That dude is ballin' with the chicks, huh?” he said, his expression hangdog.

“Really?” Tess said, shooting him an incredulous look. “An hour ago you were telling me you've changed. Don't think I didn't see you putting the moves on Riley.”

Nick blinked. “I was not.”

“Oh, don't give me that, Nick. I know you. That last statement was you bemoaning the fact you're not getting underneath Riley's too tight dress.”

“Well, I'm not getting underneath yours, that's for sure.”

Tess snapped her fingers. “You got that right, buster.”

And then she stalked away, heading for the exit. Monique could kiss her ass. She cared about her job, but she had to get out of the May Madcap Mixer. Like, pronto. Like, yesterday. Like, at that second.

Before she punched Nick, ripped Riley away from Graham and had a nervous breakdown in the middle of a primo Mardi Gras krewes shindig.

Tess Ullo was finally cracking up.

And there was nothing funny about it.

* * *

G
RAHAM
PRIED
T
ESS
'
S
friend's hands off his ass for the second time that evening. Seemed the woman was a veritable octopus.

“I'm feeling a little drunk,” Riley trilled, grinning at him as they danced on the small dance floor set in front of a New Orleans funk band. “And you know what that means....”

“You're going to bed early?” he cracked.

“Oh, yeah. With you.” She wiggled her eyebrows and grabbed his hands, moving them down to her ass.

Graham had to admit that any other time in his life, Riley would have gotten that early night. She was extremely pretty and obviously very available. But this wasn't the old Graham.

Coming to New Orleans had been about starting over, and he wasn't going back to the man who'd walked on the edge, wondering if any day he might drop down into the same pit his own father fell into. No. Conviction had grown inside him—the conviction to be a respectable businessman, an available father and a good person. No letting his goal slip through his fingers, which meant no more sleeping around with pretty, half-drunk girls.

Except when it came to a stubborn dishwater blonde with a perfect mouth, spectacular breasts and a laugh that made angels jealous. That's how you started, dude. Picking up a half-drunk girl in a bar...and falling in love with her.

Tess was the one.

Even though a gulf stretched between them, he knew deep down inside in places he pretended didn't exist that he'd fallen for Tess.

“Riley, you're a beautiful woman, but I'm not available in that way,” he said as she slightly ground her pelvis into his.

A furrow gathered between her pretty eyes. She studied him for a moment before raising her eyebrows. “Ohhhh. Yeah, that's unfortunate. Uh, for me.”

What did that mean?

“The good ones are always gay,” she muttered, jerking his hand back up to her waist.

Graham almost laughed but controlled himself. “Yeah, we are. Sorry about that.”

“That's okay. You can salvage this evening by telling me what you think about Armani's new collection. I'm a buyer for Saks and all my other gay friends are so conflicted about the new cut on the jacket. What do you think?”

“You think all gay men know fashion?” Graham asked.

“Most the ones I hang with do, but then again, I'm in the fashion industry. So give it to me from a layman's point of view,” she said, looping an arm around his neck and studying him intently. “What do you think about Armani's newest line? Or Tom Ford's?”

Graham opened his mouth but couldn't figure out how to get out of this one. “Riley, I have no clue.”

She studied him, this time a little longer. “You're not really gay, are you?”

“No.”

“So you're unavailable because you're with someone?”

“Sort of.”

She sank against him. “Well, then, do me a favor. For the next few minutes pretend like she's watching and show her what she's missing not dancing with you.”

But she wasn't watching. Graham had seen Tess leave, looking as if a pack of wildebeest chased her. And he knew some of it had to do with Riley, some of it had to do with Nick but most of it had to do with what had passed between the two of them—the passion neither of them could control.

Thing was, Graham no longer wanted to control it.

He just couldn't figure out how to get from Point A to Point B. Usually that was his greatest talent. That was his freaking job. But this whole situation he and Tess had blundered into was like tiptoeing through a minefield. One wrong step and...

“Just hold me a little closer, please,” Riley said, her eyes not so much drunk as...sad?

“Sure,” he said, gathering her up tight against him.

“Thank you.” She sighed against his lapel. “I recently split with my boyfriend of two years. It's been pretty hellacious. I shouldn't have drank so much and propositioned you that way. Thought it might help stop the freaking bleeding inside, you know?”

“It's fine, Riley,” he murmured against her hair. And then he did what she suggested. He danced with the broken-hearted Riley like he meant it, holding her tight, treating her like she was the center of his world, sliding his hands against her back, even giving her a little twirl.

When the music died, he gently brushed a kiss against her cheek. “Be happy, Riley.”

She looked up and smiled, still a little shaky on her feet. “Yeah, I wish I could. Things would be a whole lot easier if he wasn't already married.”

“Sometimes the things that stand between two people in love are insurmountable. And sometimes we can knock down those walls...or bridge those waters.”

“Yeah, but not in my case. His wife is pregnant.” Riley lifted herself on her tiptoes and kissed his cheek. “Good luck with Tess, Graham.”

He stood alone on the dance floor as Riley faded into the other dancers.

The woman had known him for all of half an hour and had known he was in love with Tess. That's how obvious his feelings were. But what could he do about it? How could he break down the enormous wall between them?

It would already have been there if he'd come back and she wasn't an Ullo. He'd have had to grovel, admit to her his weakness, his greatest fear of being a failure like his father. But add in the fact he'd taken the job she'd expected to get, her father's terminal illness, and the fact they were rivals scrabbling for the same accounts and that wall felt never ending. His own personal Great Wall of China.

But walls could be torn down. And he would have to figure out a way to reach the woman he wanted on the other side.

Like a knight of old, he needed a plan to breach the castle. If he wanted Tess Ullo, he'd have to do more than mope and complain.

He had to be a man of action.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

S
UNDAY
DAWNED
HOT
for early May. Tess had struggled from bed, forced herself to go for a run, showered and journeyed to her parents early as requested by her mother.

She had thought about faking a migraine because the idea of bed and a never-ending series of Lifetime movies seemed to suit how she felt today. But duty called and she found herself entering her parents' house via the backdoor.

“Hello there, my Tess,” her mother said, from her position behind the mammoth stove. “You look pretty this morning, hon. I like the way you're wearing your hair.”

She'd braided it down the side. “Thanks.”

“And you've lost a little weight.”

Not sure if that was good or bad. Her mother was always trying to fatten her up with Italian pastries and calorie-laden pastas. “Stress takes it off me. You know that.”

Her mother lifted the spoon from the red sauce, tasted it, tossed in some salt and turned to her. “Time to talk turkey, missy.”

“You wanted me to come early to talk about poultry?” Of course, Tess knew this wasn't about anything as inane as food. This was about her father. Neither she nor Frank had figured out how to traverse the gulf between them, so Maggie had built the raft. Tess had dreaded this moment as much as she had craved it. She needed to be moved and her mother was the woman to kick her ass in gear.

“Turkey is fowl,” her mother intoned, tossing the spoon into the sink and untying her apron. “Let's go out back.”

“It's hot, Ma.”

“So is the kitchen,” Maggie said, grabbing a sweating glass of lemonade and shoving another one that had obviously been waiting on Tess. “Here. Follow me.”

Tess had no recourse but to do as directed. Her mother wasn't a woman to be questioned—people just did whatever the diminutive drill sergeant said. Yep, Maggie had missed her calling in life. Tess sighed. “Fine.”

They walked to the flagstone patio sitting near the waterfall her mother had insisted they build to cover the noise of the nearby highway. The oaks gracefully bowed, magnanimously sharing the cover of their leaves, casting pure shadow on the outdoor living room her mother had created. With the tumbling verbena and vibrant canna lilies clustered with the blooming irises, the patio looked like the cover of a gardening magazine.

“Sit down,” her mother said with a gracious wave of her hand, reminding Tess of the spider opening her parlor to the fly. Suddenly Tess felt twitchy. She so should have faked a migraine.

“What's up? I'm looking for the coals you're about to rake me over but I don't see any.” Tess set her glass down, plopped onto an overstuffed chair and crossed her arms. Realizing she probably looked like a sullen teenager, she uncrossed them, hooking one on the back of her chair.

“Oh, honey, you know I don't have to tell you what is up. You know what's up,” Maggie said, taking a careful sip of her lemonade before setting it beside Tess's on the stone coffee table.

Tess sucked in a deep breath and tried one last-ditch effort to prevent the talk they were about to have. “Dad told everyone this is between him and me.”

“Oh, no, honey. It's not.” Maggie leveled her with the “mom look” she'd used on Tess her whole life. Tess refrained from doing the requisite squirm.

“I can't—”

“Oh, yes, you can. I understand your disappointment with his decision regarding the company, but he
is
your father.”

Silence fell hard and the tinkling of the waterfall fountain thing might as well have been fingernails on a chalkboard. Tess already knew that. What she didn't know was how to forgive him so she could deal with his illness.

“Let me say that again, Tess. He is your
father.
”

“But he didn't remember he was my father when it came time to choose his replacement. I'm his
daughter.
”

“So you are,” Maggie said with a sigh. “But have you ever paused to wonder if you were the one who was wrong?”

She jerked her gaze up to Maggie's. “What?”

“Have you ever examined the notion you truly aren't ready to run the company?”

Her mother's question might as well have been a bucket of cold water in the face.
Not ready?
“How can you even suggest that?”

“How can I not?”

Tess looked away, grappling with the thought her own mother didn't think she was able to run Ullo. Tess
was
capable of running the company. Sure, there would be a learning curve, just like at Upstart. But Tess knew she could do it, and that her own mother doubted her felt like a razor blade swiped across her heart.

Maggie waited.

Tess raised her gaze to the woman who'd always believed her daughter could do anything she set her mind to. “You don't think I can.”

Maggie hesitated for a few minutes, seemingly looking for the right words. “I'm not sure. You know the answer to that, but you've clung to the belief it was your birthright for so long, you never stopped to consider whether it was the right place for you. I don't work for Ullo. My job is to love the man who built the company...and my job is to love you.”

Tess sank back on the cushion. “I can run Ullo.”

“Maybe the question is not whether you can run Ullo, but if you are ready to run it at this moment.”

“Yes,” Tess said, even though a flicker of doubt grew stronger within her. She'd never stopped to really think about her father's motivation for hiring Graham. Maybe it wasn't that he hadn't thought Tess capable of being the head honcho, but rather that she wasn't prepared for the task at present. Or maybe she would have never been ready to step into her father's shoes. Maybe she'd already found the shoes that fit her...and she hadn't wanted to let go of her intention. “This is what I'd been working toward. I followed in Dad's footsteps because my brothers didn't. I did this for him. For Ullo.”

“Is that the right answer?” her mother asked, her expression thoughtful. Annoyingly thoughtful.

Tess wanted to slap her mother for making her think—no, doubt—all she had believed. “I've always thought it was the right answer.”

“Maybe it is, but your father never made any of you feel as if you had to work for Ullo. He made sure each of his children knew they were free to find their own path and follow it. He's always been proud you chose to work in the world he loves, but he never said he'd give you the key to the company one day, did he?”

“No,” Tess said, feeling a lump in her throat. Those words hurt. God, they hurt almost as much as the day her father had said them from the chair in which Graham now sat. “I always thought that's what he intended. That he had faith in me. He's never questioned my abilities.”

“He does have faith in you, and he's been amazingly patient while you've figured things out,” Maggie said, clasping her hands and leaning forward. “Don't you get it, sweetheart?”

Tess stared at her mother, the woman she'd expected to be on her side, the woman that she expected to cajole her to reconcile with her father...not make her doubt herself. Not make her examine herself. Tess shook her head and blinked the tears away.

Maggie gave her a small smile. “Your father wasn't slighting you or saying he didn't trust you—”

“Then why didn't he tell me about Graham to begin with?” Gone was the hurt of her mother siding with Frank, and in its stead reared aggravation. “Dad never had the conversation he should have had with me. He allowed me to think this, Mom.”

“Frank never wants to hurt you,” Maggie said.

“Really? 'Cause he did, Mom. He should have respected me enough to tell me I wasn't good enough.”

“I'm not saying he handled this well.”

“Finally, something we agree on.” Tess folded her arms, feeling justified...petulant. No matter what her father believed, he should have been honest. Tess deserved as much.

“There is no black and white in this situation, Tess.”

“No shit,” Tess muttered.

Maggie briefly narrowed her eyes before sucking in a deep breath. “I can admit Frank made mistakes, but his frame of mind was to protect you. He's a man who has spent his entire life working hard to take care of us all, and he found out he has pancreatic cancer. Can you imagine what he felt?”

“Of course I can't imagine, but you can't use his cancer as justification for tricking me.”

“Shut up,” Maggie said, her eyes crackling. “Just put your outrage on hold and listen to me for a minute.”

“Fine.” Tess pressed her lips together.

“All our dreams of retirement are—poof—up in smoke. And it's not just about the family he leaves behind. It's about the company with its fifty-plus employees. All of that places an enormous burden on your father. Have you thought about that?”

“You said ‘leave behind,'” Tess said, her heart trembling at the thought of what might happen. No. What would likely happen. Up until this point her mother had been super positive, refusing to even think Frank could leave anyone or anything behind. The possibility of Frank not beating this cancer had never been uttered.

Maggie's eyes sheened and she looked away, blinking rapidly. “Look, I'm
not
giving up on your father, but you and I both know the percentage of people who have beaten this kind of cancer is not good. My point is, your father has a lot he's worrying about and all of this has been very tough on him. Maybe he couldn't face telling you one-on-one that he didn't think you capable of running Ullo yet. You aren't the easiest of people, Tess.”

“What do you mean by that? You make me sound like I'm some kind of unreasonable diva. I'm not.”

“No.” Maggie paused for several seconds before turning her gaze back to Tess. “You've never taken no for an answer. It's a great quality...sometimes.”

Not easy? Never take no for an answer? Her mother made her sound...spoiled. So maybe she was a little manipulative when it came to getting her way, but she wasn't a total pill. “I take no for an answer.”

“But only after you've exhausted every angle. You don't make it easy.”

Tess stared at her mother, disbelief gathering inside.

Maggie spread her hands. “Remember when you wanted your ears pierced? Or how about when you wanted your soccer team to wear bright green cleats? Or when you wanted the VW Bug? Or when it came to picking colleges? Or the paint color in your condo? From sleepovers to cereal choices, you wheedled and wore us down until you got what you wanted. You're not a diva, but you are a master manipulator.”

“No, I'm discriminating. That doesn't mean I'm irrational or illogical...or can't accept not getting my way.”

Her mother's blank stare said it all.

And Tess didn't want to admit she was right, but... “Okay, I'm slightly difficult.”

“Well, your father is overloaded with difficult things at present. Maybe he was cowardly and dishonest, but he's not perfect, and neither are you.”

“So you're saying it's okay to lie to me and sneak behind my back to hire a new CEO,” Tess intoned, still aggravated by her mother's calling a spade a spade.

“I'm telling you your father loves you, didn't want to hurt you and has never been good at telling you no. If he'd have told you what he planned, you would have talked him out of it. You would have made him make you CEO, which in his emotional state of mind might not have been a wise decision. So he went around you.”

Her mother's words found their mark, and again, pierced her. But she knew those words were true.

From early on, Tess had always been able to talk her father into anything she wanted. Case in point, he'd bought her diamond earrings when she was seven, donated lime green cleats to her eighth grade soccer team and a bright red convertible VW Bug had tooled her around the campus of the college she insisted on. Tess was accustomed to getting what she wanted...mostly because Frank Ullo had seen she got it. “You make me sound like a bad person.”

Anger flashed in her mother's eyes. “Don't put words in my mouth, Tess. You know that's not what I'm doing. You are a very good person, but your father spoiled you. Quite frankly, I think he realized it when the doctor gave him the diagnosis and he had to think hard about what direction to go with his company.”

Tess stood and walked to the edge of the patio. She'd held on to her anger at her father for weeks, and then when she'd found out he was gravely sick, the guilt and confusion over what she felt had blanketed her, smothering the rage she'd felt over the slight she'd perceived her father to give her. She'd never looked at it from his point of view, never wanted to even entertain the idea she couldn't slip right into the old man's shoes and run the company without a hitch.

Turning away from the beauty of the emerging cannas along the fence line, she looked at her mother. Maggie had always seemed eternally youthful, but in that moment, Tess noted how tired she looked. Her roots showed gray, and her face seemed more lined than ever. Worrying about her husband had taken its toll on her. “My emotions are so mixed up, Mom. I don't know what to do.”

Maggie came to Tess and wound an arm about her waist. “You'll find a way. You always do.”

“I'm still hurt, and there's no way to fix what I've done. I work for Upstart. It's like I'm not even an Ullo anymore.” Emotion welled in her, choking her at the thought of what she'd done for pride's sake. What she'd given up because she couldn't accept the fact her father might have been right.

“Ah, Tess, that will never be true. You're an Ullo to your core. Your father is proud of you no matter who you work for.” Maggie smiled at her. “And I am, too.”

Tess had tried so hard not to cry, but tears came anyway. “This has all been so terrible, Mama. Everything in my life feels so off-kilter. How can I change that?”