Some Like It Ruthless (A Temporary Engagement) (24 page)

“You’ll make Caldwell profitable again. I know it. He knows it.”

Maggie’s heart contracted and for a second she thought she just might be having a heart attack. She whispered, “You gave Cole half of Caldwell?”

“No. I sold it to him. And it wasn’t half, it was thirty percent. I still have proxy voting for half of Daddy’s shares, like you.”

“And are you going to sell Daddy’s shares when you get your mitts on them, too?”

“If I need to.”

Maggie thumped her chest, tried to get it started again. Tried not to feel betrayed.

She said, “You can’t sell your shares without my approval.”

Ginny nodded. “I know. I thought Cole was a reasonable solution. But if you don’t want him owning Caldwell, I can find someone else.”

“I’ll buy the shares.”

“How? With what? You know you can’t divert any cash right now. And Tanner needs it now.”

“Ginny. . . Tanner. . .”

“There’s nothing you can say that I don’t know already.”

Maggie closed her mouth.

Ginny said, “I know who he is. And I know he needs someone who can see the quicksand because all he can see is the pot of gold. Between the two of us, I think we can do this. And if we can’t, then we’ll fail together.”

Maggie closed her eyes and just sat there. Sat there, clutching her stomach.

Maggie said, “When? When did this happen?”

“Monday.”

Maggie opened her eyes to glare at her sister. “And you don’t think I have to watch my back. Because you sold him half my company on
Monday
and I’m just finding out about it now.”

“It’s thirty percent. And maybe he was waiting for me to tell you.”

“He was waiting for me to never find out. I want to see it. The contract.”

“It was verbal.”

Maggie shook her head, a hysterical laugh pushing past her lips.

Ginny said, “He gave me a check.”

Maggie stopped laughing. She held her hand out and Ginny sighed. “I deposited it. I have a copy, I’ll get it.”

She left to get it and Maggie bent over. The horror of Cole owning any part of her company,
thirty percent of her company
, threatening to force her lunch up.

She’d happily worked with him but own with him? He had a say in what Caldwell did now?

No.

Never.

No.

Ginny came back in, dropping to her knees beside Maggie. “Maggie, I love you. You’re my sister. But I’m not a Caldwell anymore. I need to stand by my husband. He needs me more than you do.”

“I don’t understand you.”

“I know you don’t.”

Ginny showed her the copy and Maggie looked at it, at how much Cole had paid, and knew she couldn’t undo this. She couldn’t make her sister give that money back. It was more than the shares were worth.

If Ginny and Tanner were careful, if they were lucky, it was a good chance at a new beginning.

Especially if they had no debt hanging over their necks.

She let out a long sigh. She’d always known Ginny didn’t care for Caldwell like Maggie did. To Ginny, it was just a company.

To Maggie, it was her birthright. It wasn’t just a duty, a job, it was the physical embodiment of everything her family had ever worked for.

Her grandfather had risked everything to come out west and he’d been rewarded for his sacrifice. He’d been lucky and had used that luck to build a dynasty for those who came after him. He’d passed it on to his son, who’d passed it on to his daughters.

And half of his daughters didn’t know what that meant. Half of his daughters didn’t realize it was her duty to pass it on to
her
children.

Maggie sat up, looking into Ginny’s eyes, knowing there wasn’t going to be any children for her to pass it on to.

Maybe that was the difference.

Maggie had sat and cried with her sister, but she knew she still couldn’t really understand what no children meant.

Maggie wasn’t sure about children herself but she knew she had the option. An option that Ginny didn’t have.

Maggie said softly, “That’s more than I was expecting.”

Ginny licked her lips. “I knew he’d want it. If he thought it was available.”

Maggie looked down at the copy again, saying, “Don’t let Tanner have all the fun.”

Ginny wrapped her arms around Maggie. “Thank you, Maggie. If I really thought Cole was a threat I wouldn’t have ever offered them to him.”

Maggie patted her back and stared at the opposite wall. “I’ll handle Cole. It’s only thirty percent.”

She pushed Ginny away, gripping her shoulders. “Do not sell any of Daddy’s shares. If you need more money, come to me. I can’t have minority share of my own company.”

Ginny nodded. “You know I’ll always vote with you.”

“No. You’re supposed to vote for what’s best for Caldwell.”

Ginny smiled. “And you always do what’s best for Caldwell.”

Maggie tried, at least. Failed miserably sometimes. But she tried.

She nodded to the paper. “What’s your plan for it?”

“We’re going in with Harwood. It actually looks like a good deal. Good return, acceptable risk.”

Maggie nodded, rising and heading for the shower, and Ginny said, “Maggie–”

Maggie turned to find her sister looking torn.

“Is everything else alright?”

“I just wanted you to know. . .” Ginny looked behind her, out the door. She finally looked back at Maggie. “I just wanted you to know that Tanner got really sick. He tried to stop drinking. He’s going to see a doctor next week,
we’re
going to see a doctor.”

Maggie nodded, saying simply, “Good. I’ll do anything to help.”

“He has to do it himself. But maybe no alcohol in the house?”

“Of course. Sounds like a good idea anyway.”

What really sounded like a good idea was to go find a bottle and then go find the bottom of it.

But she couldn’t do it. She didn’t trust her stomach with alcohol still. It hadn’t hurt in quite some time but right now it was roiling and cramping.

Instead, she was going to go to work. And then she was going to find the new owner of Caldwell Holdings.

And try not to kill him.

Tanner laid on his bed and tried not to think. Tried not to think about Maggie finding out about them buying Harwood’s loans before it went through. They’d worked out the terms, Tanner getting better than Cole required. Better enough that there would be a nice chunk of change coming to Tanner. And Ginny.

Tanner wasn’t sure he’d ever seen her negotiate before. Hadn’t ever seen her eyes glow like that, like she knew she had the upper hand. Like she knew Harwood would rather pay than have to worry about another visit from Cole.

She’d sat at Harwood’s desk and told him Cole wouldn’t ever work with him, that Harwood wouldn’t
want
to work with Cole. That he was better off cutting all ties to Maggie and Cole.

And in the end, Harwood would have paid to get rid of Maggie’s loans if that’s what Ginny had wanted.

In the end,
Tanner
was half afraid Cole was standing outside the room waiting for his vengeance.

He knew the Caldwells got what they wanted, he’d just never seen it before. Is that what she’d done to marry him? To her daddy?

But now, with the income from Harwood’s deal and the difference from Cole for the loans, there was money coming in at last.

Money. Real money.

Almost as importantly, success.

And he hated feeling this way but it was true nonetheless, it was success for Tanner Beaumont, not Caldwell Holdings.

Tanner and Ginny Beaumont.

He still couldn’t believe she’d sold her shares

For him. For them.

Ginny opened the door, walking back in, and Tanner said to the ceiling, “Did you tell her?”

“No. He’s helping her, not hurting her. She’s not going to like it but. . .” She took a deep breath. “And I said I’d choose you.”

Tanner closed his eyes, trying to make himself believe that being noble was better than being successful. “You can tell her. You don’t need to feel like you’re betraying her. I’m not even sure she could stop it now.”

Ginny crawled into the bed, fitting her head into the crook of his shoulder, shaking it against him. “She’s mad enough about the shares.”

He opened his eyes. “Is she going to stop that?”

“I already told you no. She wouldn’t.”

“
I
don’t own any shares. Your mother didn’t even own any shares. I was expecting your sister’s head to spin all the way around when she found out.”

“Maybe I know my sister better than you.”

He raised his eyebrows at her. “You’re telling me she didn’t start screaming?”

She said quietly, “She just stared at me like she couldn’t believe it.”

He saw the tears shimmering in her eyes and he hugged her close.

She said through a voice choked with tears, “I’m glad Daddy doesn’t know. It was bad telling Maggie, it would be worse having to tell him.”

“We’ll find some other way. Go tell her you change your mind.”

She shook her head, hid her face into his chest. “It hurts but it has to be done. I’d do it even if Daddy was awake to yell at me. It might be easier, actually. Anger might be easier to deal with than shocked disbelief.”

“Should I go tell Maggie that she needs to yell at you?”

She coughed a laugh out, gripping his shirt. “No. She looked like she was saving that up for Cole.”

“Good. She owes him a punch or two.”

She raised up to look at him. “It matters, doesn’t it? That what we’re doing is for us and not for Caldwell.”

Tanner took a deep breath, told the truth. “It always seemed like no matter how I did, I never saw the reward. It always got sucked into Caldwell and Caldwell was never mine.”

She rubbed her hand on his chest. “Now it’s ours. We’ll see the reward, we’ll feel the pain.”

He said softly, “Thank you.”

She smiled at him, the sun coming out to shine on him. Somehow she knew him, better than he’d ever feared. Knew him and stuck by him and loved him.

He kissed her and said, “If Maggie finds out we were involved in Harwood’s loans, I’ll stand in front of you.”

She chuckled, kissing him back. “If she ever finds out we were involved, that won’t save me.”

Maggie climbed Cole’s steps, trying not to stomp. He opened the door to let her in and said, “I’d forgotten what you looked like all gussied up. Like you’re going to kick my tail and enjoy doing it.”

“I am. And I will.”

He cocked his head. “Mad at me. You spend all week not getting mad at me and the second I let you out of my sight, this happens?”

She slammed the copy of his check into his chest. He uncrumpled it and said, “Oh.”

“Oh? Oh?!”

“Magg–”

“Thanks for telling me, Cole. Thanks for telling me that you own thirty percent of my company as of
Monday
!”

“Would you believe me if I said I forgot about it?”

She growled at him and he said, “No, guess not. I really thought Ginny would tell you. Before this. And then, okay, I didn’t want to get you mad at me when we were living in a very small space together. Not when we were having so much fun.”

She turned away, this time not caring about stomping down the stairs and he said, “I know you can stop it. Ginny said she needed your approval.”

She turned around, flinging her arms around in the air and shouting, “I’m the one who has to tell my sister no? I’m the one who has to say go find yourself some other schmuck to take your share of the company because I veto the one who already paid you way too much for it? Thanks, Cole. Thanks for making me the bad guy.”

Cole nodded, looking down at the copy. “Your sister is not a bad negotiator. I was a little surprised at how much she got out of me.”

“She’s a Caldwell. Even if she wants to be a Beaumont.”

Cole looked up at her, his brows knitted together. “Oh, Maggie. She’s not abandoning you.”

Maggie sucked in a deep breath, her body freezing into a tight knot.

Her sister
was
abandoning her.

Her mother her died. Her father had slid slowly away.

But she’d always had Ginny. Had always known there was one person on this earth who would stand behind her. Always.