Tempting Aquisitions (6 page)

So what was wrong with her?

Shaking it off, she focused on their conversation. She was here, wasn’t she? It was about time she put the interaction to good use and tried to figure out what he was planning with his takeover attempt.

“What’s been your favorite part of the show?”

“I’ve only seen about a third of it.”

Nathan took a gulp of his beer. An entirely inappropriate shot of heat ran the length of her spine as she took him in, her gaze lingering on his lips, moist from the beer. Although he wore designer suits with a casual ease, she found the sight of him in less formal clothing only served to heighten the inconvenient attraction brewing between them.

She couldn’t see his nicely tanned forearms underneath rolled-up cuffs when he wore a suit, nor could she see the imprint of his shoulders through his shirt when he was covered in pressed wool. And there was no way she could see the light smattering of chest hair at the
V
of his shirt with the hindrance of a tie. The fact she could see those things now had tentacles of need wrapping around her midsection, sensitizing her skin and making her very aware of her own body.

“The wine section moved as smoothly as you said it would. You can see people find their groove around station three and then they’re off to the races.”

“Gotta love those California Cabs.” Keira focused on his words in a vain attempt to ignore the increasing discomfort of her traitorous body.

“But I think my favorite area’s been the appliances.”

She wasn’t sure if it was the word
appliance
or the oddly wistful note she detected underneath his words, but his comment took her mind off her discomfort. “How so?”

“The floor plan’s incredibly well done, how one dream kitchen flows into the next. You can see how enticing it is to the family looking to remodel or build new.”

“We were worried for the last few years as the housing market suffered, but that area’s stayed incredibly profitable, even growing a bit in participation year after year. I almost think a down market has raised interest in that part of the show.”

“Everyone loves to dream.” Nathan’s voice was quiet as he said it, but it was the words themselves that caught her.

“And what are your dreams, Mr. Cooper?”

What looked like embarrassment flashed across his gaze for the briefest of moments before the cocky grin she was coming to associate with him flashed with full force. “Oh, we corporate pirates dream of lots and lots of cold, hard cash.”

The slightly wistful tone she’d heard had disappeared, but Keira couldn’t help being struck by his words. She knew enough of his background to believe he’d had a challenging childhood at best. How did those experiences shape a man? Did they crush out his dreams? Or make him all that much more determined to achieve them?

“Is that all?”

“Oh, yes. I’m a veritable Scrooge, counting my stash late into the night.” He hunched over as he spoke the words, mimicking the famous miser, and she couldn’t stop the bubble of laughter at his actions.

“Are you laughing at me?”

She nodded as another wave of giggles shook her. “Only because you can laugh at yourself. A rather admirable trait, and one my mother insisted on for my sisters and me.”

“Funny, it’s one my mother insisted on as well. ‘Nate, my boy,’ she always said. ‘The man who can’t laugh at himself is a sorry ass, indeed.’”

“A smart woman.”

“As is your mother.” He took another sip of his beer. “You haven’t said much about her.”

“There’s not much to say.” Even after more than a decade, Keira still couldn’t stop her vision from growing misty when she thought about her mother. “We lost her to breast cancer about ten years ago.”

“I’m sorry.”

“What? That wasn’t in your file?”

His tender gaze evaporated at her words and it was immediately obvious what she’d intended as a joke fell flat. “I meant the sympathy, Keira. It’s horrible to lose a parent.”

“I know.” On a deep breath, she reached forward and laid a hand on his forearm. “I know. I only meant to lighten the moment, not insult you.”

He laid a hand over hers and she couldn’t tear her gaze away from the way his long fingers blended with hers. The temptation to turn her hand over and rest her palm to his, linking their fingers, was strong, but she held back.

Even more than the kiss they’d shared the night of the banquet, linking hands in that way suggested intimacy. Connection. And no matter how she was drawn to him, she simply couldn’t act on it.

“I’m sure the loss you feel is great, but I’ve no doubt your mother is incredibly proud of you and your sisters.”

“I’d like to think so.”

“I believe so.”

They sat there for long moments, neither saying anything as the quiet conversation of the bar swirled around them. Keira knew it made no sense. That she could take a moment of comfort out of her busy day with the one man dead set on ruining what she’d built. But as she sat there quietly sipping her club soda, her hand resting under his, she also knew it was true. He’d given her a lovely compliment about her mother as well as comfort over a loss that never fully went away.

Maybe it was the quiet of the moment or the acknowledgment that her mother would have been proud of her, but Keira couldn’t erase the need to make her case, to see if there was any way to penetrate the professional veneer Nathan wore like armor.

“Why is this so important to you?”

She was grateful he didn’t sidestep the question or pretend he didn’t understand what she was really asking. “It’s who I am.”

“No, it’s who you choose to be. Your business has been quite successful up until now. Why us? Why now?”

“You call it choice; I call it good business.” He took a sip of his drink before that deep blue gaze bore into hers. “Call it whatever you want—I follow through on my choices and I don’t turn away from a course of action once it’s been set.”

With startling clarity, Keira sensed his words went far deeper than his business.

And in that moment she recognized just how hopeless it was to think the attraction between them could ever produce anything other than heartbreak.

Chapter Five

Keira dropped onto the plush couch in her suite, determined to take five minutes for herself before going back into the crush of the show. What she really needed was about a million miles of distance from Nathan Cooper, but that wasn’t likely to happen any time soon.

Moments from the last hour washed through her mind’s eye, but one stuck particularly hard. The bleak look in the depths of those blazing blue eyes when he talked about dreams. She’d been so focused on the man trying to take over her company, she hadn’t spent much time thinking about the real person underneath. And no matter how hard he tried to hide it, there
was
someone underneath, someone who had far more kindness and compassion than he was likely ever credited with.

How had it all gotten so complicated so quickly?

The slamming of the suite’s main door echoed through the lofty area, followed by the unmistakable bellow of her sister. Mayson came tearing through the suite in a colorful wrap dress, her voice practically at a pitch only dogs could hear. “Keira McBride! I want details!”

“I don’t have any details.”

“False.” Mayson dropped down onto the couch next to her, an eager smile on her face. “You were spotted having a drink in the bar with Mr. Nathan Cooper an hour ago. What is going on?”

“How did anyone have time to spot me doing anything? It feels like there are a billion people downstairs. Anyone who knows me should be working to keep them well-fed and happily liquored up.”

Mayson patted her leg. “Yes, well, we do give our trade show slaves a break every now and again. We’re not Dad, remember?”

Keira couldn’t hold back the giggle at her sister’s words. “Which is likely the reason our employees come back every year.”

“Exactly.” Mayson kicked off her heels and curled her feet up underneath her. “Enough stalling. Tell me what’s going on with you two.”

“I don’t know, Mayse. Honest, I don’t.”

“Okay. What do you
want
to be going on with you two?”

“That’s an even harder question. And one you have every right to be angry about, since the more time I spend with him, the more I want to be going on.”

Mayson’s eager smile faded, replaced with deep concern. “Why wouldn’t I be happy for you? And how can you say that?”

“How can’t you? The man wants to ruin us.”

“No, he wants to take the best of us and make a profit off us. There’s a very big difference.”

Mayson’s words hit with laser precision, and Keira turned them over in her mind. “What do you mean?”

“Think about it. He sees what we’ve built and sees how we’ve brought the company back. It’s what he does for a living, and if his business is any indication, he’s been quite good at it. I’m not saying I want him to be right, but he’s got every reason to think well of the work we’ve done.”

Before she could say anything, Mayson pressed on. “Look, sweetie. I see you around guys. You’re nice, cordial, pleasant, and you smile at all the right times. But you never let them matter.”

“That’s not true.”

At her sister’s raised eyebrows, Keira pushed once more. “Come on. There was Bradley last year. He’s handsome, well educated, and already a partner at one of the city’s top firms. He and I dated for three months.”

“And you tolerated him for each and every minute of those three months.”

She wanted to protest, but Keira knew the truth. She hadn’t wanted Bradley. Or Tom before him. Or Jason before him. None of them fired her up or made her feel even the slightest bit uncomfortable. Or interested. Or wanting.

Like Nathan made her feel.

Keira tried once more to press the point, to make her sister understand the strange mix of guilt that lay underneath the desire that grew every moment she spent in Nathan Cooper’s company. “Nathan’s not making up the takeover attempt. He’s serious about it.”

“So we’ll fight him.”

Words she didn’t want to even think, let alone say, spilled out. “What if he wins?”

Whatever Mayson had been about to say faded on her lips. Her brown eyes clouded as her voice grew husky. “He can’t win. The company is ours. Our name is on the door.”

Keira knew Mayson’s role as head of creative design for all their properties had her somewhat shielded from the day-to-day business realities of McBride Media, but she also knew her sister didn’t sit by with her head in the clouds. “He has a shot, Mayse. He’s already made overtures to our major stockholders to woo them over to his side and it won’t take much to convince the board to vote his way if they go along. And we don’t have enough shares between the three of us to ensure we can hold him off.”

Keira dropped her head against the couch, touched when Mayson reached for her hand and squeezed. “It still doesn’t have anything to do with how you feel about him.”

“How can it not have everything to do with how I feel about him?”

“Because love isn’t rational or convenient or practical.”

Keira leaped off the couch as Mayson’s words singed her from head to toe. “I’m not in love with Nathan. I barely know Nathan.”

“I’d wager you are in love with him or well on your way to being in love with him. That’s why I’m not pissed.”

“Absolutely not. It’s impossible.”

“Then why are you worried about mixing business with pleasure? Go have some fun.”

Keira shot her sister a dirty look as she paced the room.

She was a rational woman. Rational women did not fall in love with men who were trying to ruin all they’d spent their adult lives working for.

Her earnest thoughts were shattered once more by the image of compelling blue eyes, broad shoulders, and a voice that layered heat and chills in perfect intervals against her nerve endings.

She wasn’t in love with Nathan Cooper.

She couldn’t be.

…

Nathan took up residence in a darkened corner of the private ballroom, his gaze firmly on Keira. He wondered how he’d managed to stand in nearly the same position twice in less than a week, watching her from afar, as she held court with an adoring audience.

Tearing his eyes from her simply on principle, he took in the others scattered around the room. Happy, laughing people made up various-sized conversation circles around the room, drinks in hand and broad smiles on their faces. The party wasn’t in the main conference hall but was reserved for advertisers and special guests of the event.

“Look what the cat dragged in.”

The voice penetrated his thoughts like a shard of glass. Nathan turned to see Taylor Jackson, the reporter who’d covered the story on his takeover attempt for the
Financial Journal
.

“I thought you needed a press pass to get in here,” Nathan quipped in return, knowing full well the barb wasn’t going to win him any prizes. He and Taylor Jackson shared a thinly veiled hatred for each other, but it was one that paid mutual dividends.

He provided the story.

Taylor provided the ink.

“She’s quite the beauty.”

Nathan knew without asking whom Taylor spoke of and shifted so his back was to her. “She’s got the brains to match.”

“Why, Nathan, if I didn’t know you so well, I’d say you just gave the woman a compliment. I guess you can afford to be magnanimous as you try to take over her company.”

Nathan shrugged, unwilling to show anything but casual indifference to one of his father’s lead reporters. “Every word is true. She’s a gifted professional.”

“Speaking of truth, the word on the street is that your interest in her goes way beyond her company. Mixing a bit of business with pleasure?”

“And there you go, Jackson.” Nathan leaned forward and patted him on the back. “Just when I think you’ve got a legitimate reason to hold that press pass of yours, you walk through the gutter.”

The cocky grin faltered as the barb hit Taylor Jackson square in the chest. “You know as well as I do my sources are sound.”

Nathan bit back a retort because he knew damn well the truth of the man’s statement. His father enjoyed slinging mud on the pages of his newspaper and was known for encouraging it in his staff, but the retribution for slinging it inappropriately was complete annihilation in the business. A reporter who screwed up a story for West Harrison didn’t just lose his job. He lost a chance of ever getting another one.

So who’d been talking about Keira and him?

Jackson shook the ice in his empty lowball glass, his gaze still firmly lasered on Keira where she stood in a small circle of her clients. “She’s the entire package. Beauty, brains, and a body that could drive a man to distraction.”

Nathan fought once more to slow the fuse on his temper, especially when he wanted to pummel Jackson to the ground. The other man laughed as he raised his glass. “Looks like I’m due for a refill. Enjoy the view.”

Nathan took an over-large sip of his Scotch. What the hell was wrong with him?

He’d spent his adult life, and a good portion of his youth, polishing a cold exterior that not only kept people at a distance but ensured they steered clear of him. Yet here he was, mere days after meeting Keira McBride, showing cracks.

A friendly voice broke into his reverie. “Those look like awfully serious thoughts for a party.” Before he could reply, Sally Hughes lifted a full champagne flute to her lips as her gaze roamed the room. “Thankfully, everyone else appears to be having a good time, so I can congratulate my girls on another job well done.”

“They’ve created something pretty spectacular.” The compliment sprang to his lips and Nathan had no interest in holding it back.

“That they have.”

Nathan turned toward the older woman, realizing here was a prime chance to learn a bit more. He’d delude himself and call it intelligence gathering, but he knew damn well what it was.

He wanted to know more about Keira.

“She can’t have slept much, getting prepared for this, but she looks like she’s ready to run a marathon.”

Sally nodded as a small sigh escaped her lips. “She accomplishes more in a day than most people do in an entire week.”

“All the while making it look surprisingly easy and doing it on a pair of stilts.” Nathan didn’t miss the sly smile or Sally’s sideways glance.

“Don’t let her fool you. That woman and her sisters work harder than anyone I know. And don’t tell me you’re faulting the woman for being fond of her heels?”

“You can’t put on an event like this sitting back on your laurels.” He shot her a grin. “And I’d never fault a woman for wearing heels, even as I thank God I will never have to wear a pair.”

“No, you can’t fault her, and yes, you’d better say your prayers.”

Sally turned fully to face him. “Since I hear the note of genuine respect in your voice, I’m going to go out on a limb. Why are you interested in the company? There have to be far easier targets than a trio of fiercely protective businesswomen and their equally fierce chief counsel. They’re not going to make this easy on you.”

“I don’t expect them to.”

“You could take a different approach. Accept a board position. Help guide the company.”

“And what fun would that be?”

“Oh, I don’t know.” Sally’s gaze grew assessing, and Nathan couldn’t help but feel he was being dressed down somehow. “I think if the two of you became allies, you’d be unstoppable.”

“I told Keira this and I have no problem telling you as well. I have no interest in removing her and her sisters from the company. I can appreciate good business sense when I see it. I wouldn’t want the McBride sisters going anywhere.”

“They won’t work for you.”

“Now that’s just stubborn.”

“An emotion you’re familiar with.”

Nathan knew he’d get no further so he opted for a diplomatic retreat. “Keira gave me a tour earlier,” he said, and he was pleased when the fight in Sally’s shoulders relaxed. “She explained how this event was the key to her and her sisters’ takeover of the company.”

“Shrewd move on their part. Turn a profit on the biggest loser in the company and who can deny you?”

“And I don’t suppose you had anything to do with that?”

A smile with distinct overtones of the cat swallowing the canary spread across her face. “Let’s just say I know how to offer sage advice. And since I do, I’ll offer you a small piece.”

“What’s that?”

“Sometimes all the hard work in the world can leave you with nothing but more work.” Sally gestured to the room with her champagne flute. “It means other areas of life suffer.”

“Some sacrifice is necessary to reach a goal.”

“True.” Sally nodded, her gaze firmly pinned on Keira. “But once a goal is met, some of those things that were ignored should take center stage.”

Despite a maniacal unwillingness to discuss his love life with anyone, he couldn’t miss the very clear undertone of the conversation. Or tamp down the curiosity to hear Sally out. “So you’re saying she works too hard.”

“I am.” Sally snagged another flute of champagne off a passing tray and handed it to him. “I suspect it’s a state you’re rather familiar with.”

Before he could correct her assumptions, McBride Media’s chief counsel floated into the crowd.

…

Sally’s words continued to rattle around his head like a bag of marbles, but Nathan worked deftly to ignore them as he circulated through the room. He’d already set up three meetings for the following week with possible suppliers for his new hotel, the party atmosphere going a long way toward making people generous with their time.

Satisfied with a successful evening, the urge to shift toward more pleasurable pursuits moved to the forefront of his thoughts. His gaze alighted on Keira just as the man she spoke with called his name.

“Nathan!” The chef he’d lined up to discuss a restaurant in his new property beckoned him over. “Come meet the brains behind this incredible event.” Daniel Howard’s gaze was overly bright from a few extra glasses of champagne and his arm was wrapped comfortably around Keira’s shoulders.

“I’ve already met Ms. McBride, Dan. She puts on quite a party.”

“The best.” Daniel gave her shoulders another squeeze, and Nathan didn’t miss the wry grin that spread across Keira’s face before she shot him a saucy wink.