Uniform Desires (Make Mine Military Romance) (70 page)

Her father called as she was getting ready to go in.

“Hey Dad. You’re up early.”

He sighed over the line and she could picture him in her mind as he swung around in his big leather office chair at home. “Well, I’ve been getting up and heading into the office for forty years. Don’t know if I’ll be able to turn off my clock when you do take over the reins.”

She laughed lightly, but she could hear something in his voice that worried her. “What’s wrong?”

“Not sure exactly, but I wanted to give you a heads up.
 
Hunter has been making a few waves, recently, saying you were knocked up and that you had to marry your security man.”

Kendall sucked in a breath. She hadn’t told her father about the pregnancy yet, but this was the perfect opening. “I didn’t have to marry anyone, but what if I was pregnant?”

The subtle squeak from her father’s chair stopped abruptly and the silence lengthened. “Kendall Victoria Herrington, are you pregnant?”

“I am, Dad. About twelve weeks.”

There was an explosion of sound on the other end of the line that sounded like her father had dropped the phone. There was jostling and banging, then her father came back on. “Are you lying to me because you know how much I want a grandbaby?”

She laughed. “No, Dad. I wouldn’t do that. It’s completely true. It didn’t happen exactly the way I wanted it to, but we’re working it out. Grif is a good guy. Marrying him was not a hardship. At all.”

She realized then that her handsome husband stood across the room in his standard white T-shirt. He held his prosthetic in his good hand, as if she’d interrupted him putting it on.
 
His eyes were shadowed from her and she wondered if she’d said something wrong. He turned away and disappeared into the bathroom.

She wanted to go to him, to ask what was wrong, but she could only deal with one fire at a time.

“I had planned to wait to tell the board, but perhaps I should beat him to the punch.”

Dad hm’ed on the other end of the line, but she could tell he wasn’t thinking strategy when he asked her, “Are you going to name it after me if it’s a boy?”

Kendall laughed, loving that her once driven father had mellowed enough to want to enjoy grandkids. “Well, we’ll see. We’ve got a long ways to go yet.”

She heard whispering through the line, then a woman’s voice in the background.
 

“Emily says she’s overjoyed. And that she knew all along.”

 
Kendall laughed again, happy that she had let the two of them in on the secret.

“Well, tell her she’s at least going to be official Godmother.”

Frank repeated what she said and then huffed into the line. “She just burst into tears and disappeared. I think that means she would love that.”

“Well, it was an easy choice.”

“Why not Deedra?”

Kendall straightened, aware her father had just thrown her into a minefield. She loved her father, but his choices were sometimes bizarre. Why he’d thought Deedra would be good for him, she had no idea. But it wasn’t her place to tear the woman down. Her father would have to see it himself before he accepted anybody else’s word.

“Well, I’m sure Deedra is a nice lady, Dad, but...,”

“Bullshit. She’s not and we both know it. A little birdie helped me see a few things recently and Deedra’s time may be coming to a close. Hell, she didn’t even come home last night.”

Kendall was torn at the news. The woman had venom running through her veins and her father did not need to be around her. But she held some appeal for her father. “I’m sorry it’s not working out, Dad.”

“Ah, well, anyway. Back to the baby. I think you should let the board know. But also convey to them how healthy you are and how excited you are to be welcoming another Herrington into the world, to continue the line in our successful business. Most of these men have known you for several years now Kendall. They know what kind of businesswoman you are.”

Tears blurred her sight at her father’s praise. He didn’t give it lightly, she knew. And his support meant the world to her.
 
“Ok. If you think that’s what I should do I will.”

“I’m not telling you to do it, but I think you’ll have more support than you need. Take your husband with you. He’ll back you up if the shit hits the fan.”

“I will,” she promised.

“In all seriousness honey, he’s a good man to have in your corner.”

“Oh, I know, believe me.”

A knot of tension she hadn’t even been aware of carrying for the past couple of months eased. There wasn’t a lot she didn’t tell her father. Keeping the pregnancy from him and Emily had been difficult.
 

Walking back into the bedroom, she peered into the bathroom for Grif. He’d just finished shaving and had grabbed a towel to dry his face. She wanted to snug up to him and nuzzle his smooth jaw.
 

The man seriously turned her on. Yes, she’d always been attracted to him, even when he’d first hired on, but the more time she spent with him the more she loved.
 

Loved. Yeah, she was getting there.

Grif raised a dark eyebrow and she realized he’d asked a question. “Sorry, what?”

“What did your father say?”

She leaned her butt against the bathroom counter and folded her arms over her chest. “That I need to have faith in the men he’s done business with for years. And that Deedra may be out of our lives soon.”

He reached for his toothbrush and set it on the counter. The prosthetic moved in to hold it down while his other hand maneuvered the twist cap off the end of the tube. Kendall didn’t know if she could do it that way, untwist the little lid with the same hand holding it. He layered the paste on, remounted the lid and started to brush his teeth. “What did Deedra do, did he say?”

She laughed at the froth foaming his mouth. “No, he didn’t. Don’t care really as long as she’s gone from his life.”

Grif’s eyes met hers in the mirror as he spat in the sink. “Well, he’s a smart man. He’ll figure it out.”

“My dad is a very smart man. He told me to keep you close when the shit hits the fan.”

Grif laughed and shook his head. “I like your dad just as much. My father was not a model citizen. Lifetime crook.”

“Really?”

“Died several years ago. Before I joined the Marines and lost my hand.”

“When did your mom die?”

He gave her a funny look. “She didn’t yet, as far as I know. Probably still sitting in the same chair smoking cigarettes and drinking vodka as she was years ago.”

Kendall cringed. “Sounds like the military was an escape for you.”

“Oh, definitely. I’d have been career if I hadn’t made that one rookie mistake. EOD doesn’t have a great record for longevity. We all eventually get blown up.”

She cringed at the matter-of-fact way he said it, wondering how many of his buddies he’d lost.
 

“Now I’m ‘combat modified’.”

Kendall’s heart ached at the term. Though she’d never heard it before, it seemed appropriate.

Chapter 9

The board meeting started off like every other meeting. The men greeted each other and talked about their golf games. Hunter held court at the end of the table, regaling an audience with his most recent exploit. Kendall’s father sat at the opposite end of the table, where he’d sat for decades. Although he was a little pale, he seemed to be in good spirits.
 

Kendall, on the other hand, had butterflies the size of bombers in her stomach. The board would be voting on the CEO replacement today.

As she walked across the room to greet the current CEO, his eyes dropped to her stomach, hidden by the flared jacket of her black suit. She frowned at him as she leaned in for her kiss. “You better stop that,” she growled.

The chuckle he gave her sounded a little evil, like he looked forward to fireworks. Kendall hoped nothing was said that would make her have to defend herself.

The meeting started out like it did every other quarter. Her father laid out the big info, earnings and acquisitions. She went over the contracts that had been signed and the leases they were currently going after. They’d had a fire at one of the timber sites and lost some equipment, so she went over the insurance settlement for that. Then her father went into the next year’s schedule, which he did at every meeting.
 

“But as of April tenth, I will no longer be here.” He waited till the grumbles from around the room quieted. “My doctor has told me I need to relax. This is not a relaxing business. So, let’s move on to the main event. We have two prospects for the position of CEO of Herrington Limited and they each have a little something to say before we vote.”

Frank motioned to Hunter, who stood up with a grin and launched into a long-winded, circuitous petition for the job. Kendall had to admit, he had his sales pitch down, but the real estate branch was only a small part of the whole.
 

When she spoke, it flowed from her heart. The love for her father and the company he had built, as well as her vision for the future of how great the company could be. She ended by resting a hand on her tiny tummy. “I will run this company to its full potential, so that my son or daughter will have something to look forward to when they come of age.”

The men around the table exchanged looks, then stood up and started to clap. Her father stood up from the table as well, taking the well-wishes from the men he’d been in business with for so long.
 

The only person not happy appeared to be Hunter Groves, sitting at the end of the table with a glower on his face. He pushed away from the table in anger, then circled to the crowd gathering around Frank.

“But she got knocked up by her damn security guard. How white trash is that? It’s the only reason they got married.”

Frank gave him a warning look, brow raised. The other men shifted uncomfortably.

Hunter plowed through Frank’s rebuke. “Well, that and because Frank paid him to marry her.”

Kendall stilled, not because she believed what he said, but because of the guilty look that flashed across her father’s face. Grif stood at her back, where she’d always trusted him to be. She refused to turn around and give Hunter’s claim teeth, but uncertainty washed through her.

She forced a calm smile to her mouth and shook her head. “I didn’t marry anyone because I had to. I had feelings for Grif before we slept together and the baby is a happy accident. Yes, I was pregnant when I got married, but I’m not the type of woman to need a man’s support like that. If I hadn’t wanted to marry him, I wouldn’t have.”

“I’d be careful about throwing stones, Hunter.”

The younger man looked at her father and smirked.

“Why, Herrington? You know it’s the truth. I’ve got the audio tape to prove it.”

The senior Herrington shook his head. “When you play dirty, you have to expect retaliation in kind.”

Hunter crossed his arms over his chest. “I haven’t done anything to be ashamed of. I would lead this company the way it was meant to be led.”

“Nothing to be ashamed of, hm?”
 

Frank reached a hand out beyond Kendall and she was a little confused when Grif stepped forward with a folder in his hand. He handed it over then turned to her. Pressing a lingering kiss to her lips, in spite of everybody watching them, he stepped back to the edge of the room.

Her father held the folder up. “Are you sure you want to get into morality issues, Hunter? This is your chance to walk away with your reputation intact.”

Anger simmered in Hunter’s eyes and he shook his head.
 

Rather than open the folder for all to see, he handed it to Roger, Hunter’s father. The older man flicked it open and glowered.

“This is the way you repay the man that put you through school, who’s been my friend for forty years?”

Inside the folder, there for all to see, were pictures of Hunter in a wild embrace with Deedra. Neither wore clothes and they appeared to be on Hunter’s desk in his office downstairs.

Kendall gasped, her eyes swinging to her father’s. He winked at her and grinned. If the pictures had been of her significant other, she’d have been pissed and upset. But there was devilment in her father’s eyes. This was why he’d said she wouldn’t be an issue much longer.
 

Turning slightly, she glanced at Grif. A slight smile curled his lips.

The little bird.

Hunter tried to worm his way out of the situation. “She approached me months ago. Said I would win out over Kendall. She came onto me.”

Frank nodded. “I’m sure she did. I’m retiring so she’s looking for fresh meat. It sounds like one of her hare-brained schemes. And I admire your fortitude in trying not to clear your name. Unfortunately, I do not believe Herrington Limited will be needing your services any longer.”

Hunter looked to his father, but Roger would no longer meet his son’s eyes. Nobody else would even acknowledge him.

With a huff, Hunter left the boardroom.
 

Roger reached out to Frank. “I am sorry, Herrington. Not sure what to do with the boy.”