“Yes,” he said. “I thought you might,” she said and seemed to be proud of him. “The Maxwell in you always ke eps a cool head.” Travis wasn’ t sure he was pleased by her words. “I want you to set up a meeting between Borman and me for today . I need for it to be held somewhere impressive. Maybe a library . Big desk. Rich surroundings. All the grandeur you can find. T alk to him, tell him I want to buy his catering business, that I’m in awe of what he’ s done with it. Flatter him.” “I’m not sure I’m that good of a liar .” “If you worked for my father , you can lie.” “More than you know ,” she said, sounding amused. “I’ll need a contract saying he turns everything over to me, equipment, employees, all of it. Leave the price blank. I’m planning to give him a ridiculous amount of money to buy that dying business of his. Then I want you to tell him—in confidence—that you happen to know that I’m afraid of the competition from him so he has to leave the state. T oday. Before nightfall. He can’ t even take time to move out of his apartment.” “What name do you want to use on the contract?” Travis frowned. “If Maxwell is on there, he’ll come back to get more.” “How about if it’ s signed by Russell Pender gast? I can run the money through his account.” “Perfect,” T ravis said. “Want Borman to call Kim to say good-bye?” “No! But I’ll take care of that. Let me know when it’ s all set up. Think you can do all this in just a few hours?” Penny didn’ t bother to answer his question. “How about four P. M .? That’ll get you home in time to have dinner with Kim.” “Penny, I love you!” he said. She took a while to respond and he thought maybe he’d overst epped himself. “I’m going to have a Realtor send me some information about living in Edilean. I think it must be a magic place.” “Dad will be glad to buy you a house.” For some reason, Penny found that statement downright funny . She was laughing as she hung up. At a quarter to four , Travis drove onto the palatial estate of a man who’d benefitted greatly from his association with Randall Maxwell. It was an hour outside of W illiamsbur g and T ravis had had three calls with Penny on
the drive down. The idea was for him to be familiar with everything in the room where he was to meet Borman so it looked like the place belonged to Travis. “The contract will be on the desk,” Penny said, “and both Russell and I have already talked to Borman. He’ s primed to sell, and he thinks you’re so afraid of the competition of his company that you’ll pay anything to get him out of your way .” “Which I will,” T ravis said. “Just not for the reason he thinks. What’ s it worth?” “Russ said no more than a hundred grand, if that. He has too much equipment and not enough commissions. Last week he used a cheap fish in place of crab for a job. He told an employee that no one would be able to tell the dif ference, but the bride’ s mother did. The father refused to pay him.” “Good to know ,” Travis said. “W ish me luck on this.” “I do, and you may not believe this, but so does Russ. Whatever you did this morning has softened his edges more than I’ve been able to do in his lifetime.” Travis smiled. “For all that a couple of times he looked at me as though he wanted to burn me at a stake, I liked him. He reminds me of you.” “Does he?” Penny asked, sounding pleased. “I’ll see you tomorrow in Janes Creek.” “I’m looking forward to it,” T ravis said and hung up. If this came of f all right, tomorrow night he’d be in a cozy little B&B in a room with a connecting door that led to Kim. A few minutes later he pulled into the huge circular drive of the Westwood estate and turned his key over to the young man who was waiting for it. If this place was like his father ’s, when T ravis left, his car would have been vacuumed, washed, and waxed. A uniformed butler opened the door before T ravis got up the stairs. “Mr . Pendergast is waiting for you in the south parlor ,” he said as he led T ravis to a large, pretty room with walnut paneling and a blue and cream rug. The furniture was meant to look as though it had been there for years. Old money. But Travis’s discerning eye saw that it was all new . “This is more your style,” Russell said as he walked toward T ravis. “Cut it out or I’ll tell your mother on you.”
Russell caught himself before he smiled. “I was told to tell you that Borman will take two hundred grand, two fifty tops. But that’ s way too much. Those vans of his aren’ t worth much, and he owes some back wages.” Travis nodded. “Where is he?” “In the library . Got here twenty minutes early .” “Eager to get rid of everything, isn’ t he? Has he been told the terms?” “To get out of town fast. T o help him along, I used Mom’ s Am Ex to buy him a plane ticket to Costa Rica. Y ou’ll get the bill.” “I bet you enjoyed doing that,” T ravis said. “Very much.” Shaking his head, T ravis looked at his watch. He had on his best suit and a black tie with a gold stripe. He still had three minutes before four . “Your mom wants to retire to Edilean.” “So she told me.” “What about you? Where do you live?” Russell didn’ t answer the question. “I think it’ s time you went in. Should I carry the papers for you?” “I believe I can manage.” As T ravis went to the doors leading into the library he remembered that Penny had told him the contract would be on the desk. But Russell had been here to hand it to him—which meant that he’d shown up without his mother ’s knowledge. Interesting. “Y ou ever do any climbing? Skiing? Sailing?” “Yes,” Russell said, then nodded toward the door . It looked like he wasn’ t going to reveal any more about himself. “Y ou might like to know ,” Russell said, “that I got Borman down to one seventy-five.” Travis blinked a few times. He wasn’ t used to anyone else doing his negotiating for him, but in this case, he was grateful. “Thank you,” he said. “I appreciate—” Russell cut him of f. “It’s four.” Travis took a breath and opened the door . David Borman was sitting in a leather chair so big that it made him look small and insignificant—and Travis was sure that Russell had put that chair there on purpose. It was difficult not to smile. In spite of Russell’ s hostility and his refusal to answer questions, T ravis was beginning to like the guy . As Travis looked at the man sitting in the big chair , his first thought was: Kim could do better . Borman wasn’ t tall, was slightly built, and was so
blond he was almost invisible. It wasn’ t easy for T ravis to reconcile what he knew of this man to what he saw . He certainly didn’ t look treacherous. “You’re W estwood, the owner of this place?” the man asked. His wide eyes showed how in awe of it he was—which was what T ravis had wanted. Travis didn’ t answer , just looked at him with what he’d heard people call “the Maxwell glare.” Borman sat back against the chair , his nervousness obvious. Travis sat down and took his time looking over the contract. It was very simple. He was buying Borman Catering et al. He would get the name, the equipment, and even ke ep the employees. The document had been signed by Russell Pender gast. Travis took more time looking at the signature than he did at the contract. It was bold, sure of itself—and it reminded him of something but he couldn’ t think what. When he looked up, Borman was chewing on his thumbnail and there was sweat on his upper lip. “Mr. Borman,” T ravis said as he folded his hands on top of the contract. “I have just been informed of a situation that may cause insurmountable problems.” Borman drew in his breath and muttered, “What is it?” “It has come to my attention that there’ s something about a missing ring. I don’t want any problems with law enforcement.” Borman gave a sigh of relief and lifted to one side to remove his wallet from his hip pocket. “That has nothing to do with my business. It’ s personal.” He withdrew a small square of paper from his wallet and leaned forward to put it on the desk. “I must say that you have been doing your homework. So where do I sign?” “This is a pawn ticket,” T ravis said and knew what it meant. The employee that Kim trusted had given this man a ring, and Borman had pawned it. But T ravis had long ago learned that he couldn’ t jump to conclusions, that he shouldn’ t base his assessments of a situation on hearsay . When it came down to it, he only had Russell’ s word about what this man had been up to. As much as T ravis wanted to get rid of the man, get him out of his sight, at the same time he wanted evidence directly from the source. He leaned back in his chair and pointedly looked at the ticket on the big desk. “Mr . Borman, I run a legitimate business. I don’t sign contracts if pawnshops and the police are in volved.”
“Police? I don’ t know what you’re talking about. I owe a little money , for supplies and that sort of thing, but I’ve done nothing illegal.” “From what I heard, this ring is worth several thousand dollars. I don’ t want to retrieve it from the pawnshop then find out that it’ s been stolen.” Borman leaned back in the leather chair , glanced at the unsigned contract on the desk, then back at T ravis. He looked thoroughly annoyed. “It’ s nothing,” he said. “It’ s about a woman, that’ s all. Get the ring out of hock and return it to her . No one will press char ges.” Travis’s face was stern, the one he wore when he was working for his father. “Perhaps you should tell me exactly what this is about. Or maybe I should cancel this.” He picked up the contract and acted as though he was about to tear it in half. “No!” Borman shouted, then calmed. “It’ s just women stuf f, that’s all.” When T ravis didn’ t relent, he said, “There was a woman, a cute little redhead. She has a jewelry store near here. It’ s little, nothing special. The problem was that she’ s a woman. Y ou know what I mean?” “I’m not sure I understand.” T ravis put the contract down and gave Borman his full attention. “The problem was that she worked on a small scale when she should have been thinking big. I tried to talk to her about it, for her own good. But she wouldn’ t listen to me. I wanted to take her store national, make it into a chain. I was going to call it The Family Jewels. Get it?” “I get it,” T ravis said. Under the desk his hands were in fists. “But she just laughed at me. Not that I told her I was serious about the name, as she can be a real prude. She’ s the kind of girl that goes to church every Sunday . Anyway , she wouldn’ t even consider going national, so I decided that the best thing would be to marry her , then I’d be able to help her out. I was really thinking of her . Know what I mean?” “Yes, I do.” T ravis took a breath. “Did she know why you wanted to marry her?” “Hell no! She’ s a clever little thing, so I had to be careful. I was very nice to her, sweetest person imaginable. T reated her with the respect of a choirboy . Even in the sack I was good. Nothing creative, if you know what I mean.” Travis had to work to ke ep from diving across the desk and going for the man’s throat. “What about the ring? Where did it fit into all this?”
Dave shrugged, and his expression said that he was pleased by T ravis’s interest. “If I was going to ask her to marry me I had to give her a ring, didn’t I? But why should I go buy one when she has a store full of them? They were just sitting there in her shop, about fifty of them, and they were free—or would be once we got married.” He leaned forward, as though he was about to reveal a confidence to T ravis. “She has a safe inside her garage that’s full of . . . I can’ t imagine what’ s in there. She lives in a world of gold and jewels. An Aladdin’ s cave of diamonds and pearls. She likes pearls. One time she even tried to lecture me on the dif ferent kinds of them. Like I care, right?” “Did you see inside the safe?” “Naw,” Dave said with a grimace. “I tried to get her to show me but she wouldn’ t. I even tried to get her to give me the combination, but she refused.” In his entire life, T ravis had never felt such anger , such hatred for anyone before. “Y ou understand the terms of the contract, don’ t you?” “Of course I do.” He looked at T ravis as though they were men who shared a secret. “Y ou don’ t want any competition. Y ou’re like me. W e’re both businessmen and we understand each other . Too bad the women don’ t get that.” Travis didn’ t dare respond as he didn’ t trust himself not to say what he was actually feeling. He gave Borman a fake smile, as though he thought the man was a genius, then filled in the outrageous price Russell had negotiated for him. T ravis would have paid more. He pretended to sign it in the place where Russell’ s name already was. Eagerly , Dave leaped up, signed the bottom without reading it, and T ravis handed him his copy . “Planning to call her to say good-bye?” T ravis asked even while his hands were itching to hit the man. “Don’t have time,” Dave said as he turned toward the door . “I have important things to do, including getting my old girlfriend back. Now there’s a girl who knows what to do to make a man happy in bed. If you get my meaning.” “Yes I do,” T ravis said, then stood there and watched David Borman leave the room. He felt like he needed a shower with a disinfectant. Travis didn’ t know how long he stood there before Russell came in through the side door .
“Did he take it?” Travis hesitated. “The money? Of course.” “What’s this?” When T ravis didn’ t immediately turn around, Russell stood quietly and waited. Finally, Travis looked at what Russell was holding. “That’ s a pawn ticket.” “I can see that. What’ s it for? Oh! The ring.” Russell looked at the address on the ticket. “W onder what his plan was going to be for this weekend when he asked Miss Aldredge to marry him but didn’ t have a ring to give her?” “My guess is that he’d say he knew nothing about a missing ring.” “His word against Carla’ s, and she was the one who stole it from the shop.” “That’s what I think,” T ravis said as he reached out to take the ticket. “I’ll go by there and get it.” “Do you have any cash on you?” Russell asked. “A few hundred, but I have cards.” “A pawnshop that takes credit cards? Besides, you can’ t use yours.” Russell raised an eyebrow . Travis knew nothing about pawnshops and what kind of payment they took. “I’ll get the ring out of hock and you can go with me. Besides, your car has two flat tires.” “My car—?” T ravis began but stopped. He had a feeling that Russell was lying about T ravis’s car being in capacitated, but he didn’ t mind. Right now he felt like he needed some company , needed something to take the stench of Dave Borman from him. “Fine,” T ravis said, “but I drive.” Russell gave a noise like a snort. Two hours later they had the ring and were almost back to Edilean. Russell was driving. For the most part it had been a quiet ride, and T ravis wasn’t feeling that hostility from Russell that he’d first seen. “What does Miss Aldredge think your last name is?” Russell asked. “She hasn’ t asked and I haven’ t told her .” “Good, solid foundation between you two,” Russell mumbled. “Your life is better?” T ravis snapped. “Certainly not as complicated,” Russell said calmly . Travis looked out the window . “Yes, I think it’ s time to tell her .”
“Are you going to tell her why Borman won’ t show up in Janes Creek? About the little play you put on in the library? How about that you’re now the owner of Borman Catering?” “What are you? A federal court judge? Y ou want all the facts?” “Just curious how the great Maxwell son conducts his life.” Travis started to r eply to that, but they’d reached Kim’ s house and there was a strange car in the drive. “Y ou don’ t think that’ s Borman’ s, do you?” “I wouldn’ t think so,” Russell said, “but I wouldn’ t put it past him.” “Park around the corner and I’m going to go in through the back door .” Minutes later , Travis was heading toward Kim’ s house, Russell close behind him. “Where are you going?” “Mom said to help you in any way I can. If it’ s Borman, you might need backup.” Travis knew that if it came to a confrontation, he wouldn’ t need help with Borman. On the other hand, T ravis didn’ t know how Kim was going to react to what he had to tell her . And how much should he tell her? If he was going to tell her the truth about himself, maybe he should tell her about Borman and the ring as well. Or maybe he’d postpone the part about setting Borman up and buying his company and— “I can see the yellow stripe down your back through your clothes,” Russell said. “I wish Penny had spent more time with you and taught you some manners.” “She tried, but she was too busy working for your family to do much for me.” “If you ever want to compare childhoods, I’m ready ,” Travis said. “At least you had—” Russell began but they both stopped talking when they heard a man’ s voice raised in anger . Travis hurried to the back door . As usual, it was unlocked. He slipped inside, Russell right behind him. As soon as T ravis heard his name, he knew he should leave, but he couldn’ t make himself move. He could feel Russell beside him, and he was as transfixed, and as immobile, as T ravis was. “Kim! Are you crazy?” Dr . Reede Aldredge was shouting at his sister . “You don’ t even know who that man is.” “That’s a stupid thing to say . I’ve known him since I was eight years old. He’s Travis . . .” She wasn’ t sure if his last name was Cooper or Merritt or
something else. “He is John T ravis Maxwell and his father is Randall Maxwell.” “So? I’ve heard the name but . . .” “You ought to read something besides jewelry magazines. Look on the Forbes Web site. Randall Maxwell is one of the richest men in the world. And his son T ravis is his right-hand man. Maxwell specializes in taking over other people’ s companies. When some guy is down and out, Maxwell st eps in and buys the place for a song, then he sends in his crew to clean it up. He fires people by the thousands, puts them out of work. And you know who makes all this possible? His brilliant son, T ravis the lawyer—the guy living in your guesthouse.” Kim set her jaw . “There are extenuating circumstances that you know nothing about.” “So tell me.” “I can’t. I promised T ravis—” “Are you insinuating that I wouldn’ t ke ep a confidence? Do you have any idea how many lies and secrets and intrigues I know about in this town? I want to know why T ravis Maxwell is here in Edilean. If he’ s planning to buy some business for his father , I think we should tell people.” “It’s not like that,” Kim said. “T ravis only works for his father so he can protect his mother .” “That makes no sense. Is that the crap he’ s been feeding you?” Kim’s hands made into fists. “His mother is Lucy Cooper , the woman who’s been hiding from me for four years. She was afraid I’d recognize her from when I was a kid.” Reede took a breath to calm himself. He could see that he was making his sister angry , and an angry Kim didn’ t listen to anyone. “Maybe that’ s so,” Reede said. “Maybe this guy Maxwell came here because of his mother . But what does that have to do with \ou ?” “Nothing, I guess,” Kim said. “Exc ept that I’m helping him. W e’re making plans about what to do. W e’re—” “You think you’re helping him to make plans?” There was contempt in Reede’s voice. “Kim, I don’ t want to burst your bubble, but T ravis Maxwell is a notorious playboy . And now he’ s using you.” “For what?” “For what all men want!” he said in exasperation. “He’ s already manipulated you into giving him the guesthouse you promised to me .”
Kim looked at her brother in surprise for a moment, then couldn’ t help laughing. “Y ou’re talking about sex, aren’ t you? Y ou think T ravis conned me into lending him the little guesthouse that you don’ t want just so he can have sex with me.” Reede glared at her in silence. “You know what, Reede, I have never been so flattered in my life. That a man would go to so much trouble to get me into bed is the best thing I’ve heard this century . Men today don’ t make any ef fort to get a woman. If they ask you on a date, they tell you when and where to meet them. That’ s so if you don’ t pass their every test for beauty and for making less money than they do, they can walk out and leave you. They don’ t even have to drive you home because you have your own car .” “Not all men are like that,” Reede said. “And they’re not the point. This man you’re playing around with isn’ t like Paul the Caterer . Maxwell is—” “Dave!” Kim said. “His name is Dave and I’ve been going out with him for six whole months and I’ve withstood the most boring sex imaginable. Someone should tell David Borman that there is more than one position.” “I’d prefer not to hear—” “Not to hear that your baby sister isn’ t a virgin?” “I never thought—” Reede began, then threw up his hands. “I knew you wouldn’ t listen to me. Y ou never do. Kim, you’re my sister and I don’ t want to see you hurt. Whatever reason Maxwell is here for , when he’ s done, he’ll leave you.” He looked away for a moment. “Kim, I know what it’ s like to have your heart ripped out. I don’ t want to see that happen to you.” Kim saw the pain in his eyes. When Reede was in high school and through most of college, he’d been in love with a hometown girl. He never looked at anyone else. Then suddenly , she dumped him, said she was marrying someone else. It had taken Reede years to get over the pain. “I know,” she said softly . “I understand why you’re so upset, but Reede, I know what I’m doing. I know that T ravis is a long way from being someone from Edilean. He’ s not here to get married, move into some three/two house, and have kids.” “But that’ s what \ou want,” Reede said. “I know it is. When Jecca and Tris got married you cried through the whole ceremony .” “Yes,” Kim said gently . “It is what I want. W ith all my soul. Do you think I bought this big house because of the damned garage? I . . .” She had to hold back tears as she said what she knew to be true; it was going to hurt
to say it out loud. “Sometimes I think I bought it as bait, to lure some nice guy here, to make it easy for him to move in, to—” Reede put his arms around her , held her head to his chest, and stroked her hair. “Don’ t say such things. Any man would be honored to have you. You’re smart and funny and caring and—” “So where is he?” Kim said as she hugged her brother . “Where is this man who is going to see my good qualities and overlook my bad ones? I’ve spent six whole months with Dave the Caterer and I’ve never complained about how boring he is.” She pulled away from him and wiped her eyes. “At least T ravis made an ef fort.” “Yeah, but for what?” Reede asked as he handed Kim a tissue. She blew her nose loudly . “I hope it’ s because he wants wild, all-night sex with me.” “Kim!” Reede said, sounding like a V ictorian father . “Look, I know T ravis is going to leave. Once he fully believes that Joe Layton is a great guy who is mad about Lucy , Travis will leave as abruptly as he arrived. It’ll be like when we were kids and one day he just wasn’ t there. No note, nothing. And he came back just as abruptly , with no warning. I know that he appears and disappears according to his own whims, without regard to other people.” “I agree,” Reede said. “He’ll go back to his dad’ s empire and . . . Someday , Kim, T ravis Maxwell will be just like his father . You don’ t want to be part of that, do you?” “No,” Kim said, then looked at her brother over the tissue. “But right now while he’ s here, I’ll take all the passionate sex I can get. Days of it. Weeks if I can get it. Months would be divine.” “That’s—” Reede said sternly , then shook his head. “It’ s difficult for me to think of my little sister doing—” He couldn’ t seem to find words to express his feelings. Instead, he looked at his watch. “I have to go. I’m already late. I want you to promise me that you’ll do an Internet search on Travis Maxwell and see what you’re up against. He’ s been dating some model named Leslie who is a truly beautiful woman.” “Not like me, huh?” Reede groaned as he knew he’d said that wrong. “That’ s not what I meant and you know it. I just don’ t want you to be hurt. Is that bad of me?” “Of course not. Y ou better go now . Your patients need you.” “I’ll talk to you later ,” he said, then kissed her on the cheek.
“I’ll walk you out,” she said and followed him outside. Even after the door closed, T ravis stood where he was, unable to move, just stood there, staring at the doorway into the living room. He hadn’ t liked what he’d heard about himself. “We’d better leave,” Russell said softly . “It wouldn’ t be good for her to know that you heard that.” Travis’s mind seemed to race forward and to stand still at the same time. He couldn’ t figure out what to do. Go to her? Run away? Stay and defend himself? Reassure her that he wasn’ t what she’d been told? Russell put his hand on T ravis’s arm and turned him toward the back door. “Ironic, isn’ t it?” Travis said. “I want love and she wants sex.” Russell gave a bit of a laugh then pushed T ravis to take a st ep toward the door. But they were too late. “Stop right there,” Kim said from behind them. Oceanof PDF . com
Russell dr opped his hand from T ravis’s arm and st epped away . “When were you going to tell me?” Kim asked, her eyes on T ravis. If she thought about what she’d just said to her brother and that T ravis had heard every word of it, she knew she’d die of embarrassment. Travis took his time turning around, and when he did, he wished he’d made it outside without seeing her . He’d never seen any woman with such anger in her eyes. That’ s the second person who has hated me, he thought. Russell this morning and now Kim looking at him like he was the devil’ s spawn. “I came in here to tell you about me.” “How convenient,” Kim said. “But why didn’ t you tell me before? Y ou told me about your mother hiding from your father , about her wanting to marry Joe Layton, but you didn’ t happen to mention that you’re a lawyer and your name is Maxwell. Did you think I’d turn greedy and go after your family’s wealth?” “Of course not,” T ravis said. He didn’ t know where to begin. “I just thought . . . I mean . . .” “Excuse me, but I’m a bit peckish,” Russell said. “Do you mind if I . . . ?” He gestured toward the refrigerator . “Help yourself,” Kim said, still looking at T ravis. “Kim, honey ,” Travis said. When Kim’ s eyes looked like they were about to emit fire, he backtracked. “I didn’ t mean—” “He was afraid you’d hate him because of the Maxwell r eputation,” Russell said from behind the refrigerator door . “Yes,” Travis said. “The Maxwell name brings out the bad in a lot of people.” “Does in me,” Russell said. “Is there any mustard? Ah, here it is.”