Masquerade (46 page)

"I know," Cole said, studying the brandy in his own glass as he stood beside her.

"I listened to all their arguments—their justifications. The company was going to go bankrupt anyway, they said. And the way they looked at it, they had to get money out of it any way they could. They were destroying the Crescent Line—and they didn't care." She stopped in time to choke back a sob. "I thought I knew them, Cole. They're my family. To see them—to hear them . . . oh, God, it hurt."

"I know."

She breathed out a shaky sigh, realizing that it would never go away, that feeling of a faith betrayed—a trust, a love. "I. . .1 knew I had to stop them. You and I had to take over the company. It was the only way to save it." She paused. "It still is."

"It won't be easy, Remy."

"Easy"
She laughed at the word. "It will be ugly. Very, very ugly. But it has to be done."

He watched her with a sidelong look, his gray eyes quiet and measuring. "Now you sound like a Donovan."

She smiled faintly. "Maybe I do."

"You know, you could work a deal with your family," he said. "In return for their signing over their proxies to you and resigning from the board, you could withdraw the charges you filed against them tonight."

"I thought about that," she admitted. "But once you start compromising, where do you stop, Cole? And what justification would I use? Would I say it was to avoid a fight for control? Or to avoid a messy scandal and protect the Jardin name? Charlie died helping a woman he knew as Remy Cooper—not Remy Jardin. It's time the Jardin name stopped meaning so much."

"Or maybe it's time for it to mean more."

She looked at him and smiled. "Maybe it is."

He touched his brandy glass to hers, then lightly curved his arm around her and drew her into the crook of his shoulder.