Mr. Strictly Business Read online

  People fled in all directions. Natalie’s daughter tripped over a peg anchoring one of the tents and knocked a billowing section into the hot dishes. The flame from the fuel canisters leapt onto the material and raced hungrily across the silk and tulle. If it hadn’t been for the sprinklers, the entire area would have turned into an inferno.

  Catherine ran to the tent, yanking at the burning section in an attempt to pull it to the grass and extinguish what flames the sprinklers weren’t reaching. She felt the scorching heat lick at her hands. She’d barely managed to knock the awning to the ground, where the flames subsided with a smoky hiss, when an arm locked around her waist and swept her clear of the area. The next thing she knew she was tumbled to the grass and rolled repeatedly. She struggled against her attacker, even managing to connect with a fist to an iron-hard jaw before his hold loosened. Shoving her sopping hair from her face, she found herself pinned to the ground, nose-to-nose with Gabe.

  Catherine fought for air while tears of outrage welled up in her eyes. “What the hell are you doing? Why did you tackle me?” She couldn’t seem to make sense of what was happening. “I was trying to put out the flames.”

  “So was I. You were on fire, Catherine.” He snagged the sleeve of her dress and showed her the scorch marks. Then he ripped the seam of her sleeve from wrist to shoulder and checked her skin for burns. He didn’t find any, and an expression of undisguised relief flashed across his face. “Looks like I caught it in time. Another minute and you’d have been on your way to the hospital.”

  “I…I thought I was being attacked.”

  “So I gathered.” He waggled his jaw from side to side. “That’s one hell of a right hook you have, by the way.”

  She buried her head against his shoulder and fought for control. Everything had happened so fast, she couldn’t make sense of it all. “I don’t understand any of this, Gabe. The fire…Dear God, the tent went up so fast. If anyone had been nearby—”

  He wrapped her in a tight embrace. “Easy, honey. Everyone’s safe. And everyone made it out of the water without injury. Best of all, the marine unit has the boaters corralled.”

  She could feel her emotions slipping and struggled to hang on. Hysterics wouldn’t help. Not here. Not now. She needed to keep a level head until she could get home and crawl into some dark hole. “Who were they?” She forced herself to pull free of Gabe’s protective hold even though it would have been so much easier to cling. She fought her way to her knees. “And how did the sprinklers turn on? I checked them myself. They’re not scheduled to start up until morning.”

  “I don’t know.” He soothed with both voice and touch. “Let’s take everything one step at a time, sweetheart. I know it looks bad, but we’ll figure out what happened and why.”

  She knelt there, soaked and shivering, as she scanned the area. Tables were overturned, chairs upended. Shards of shattered crystal and china glittered under the outdoor lights. The other tents had also been knocked askew by fleeing guests, though miracle of miracles, they hadn’t caught fire as this one had. But the buffet tables had all tipped. Food littered the grass in soggy heaps. Along the outskirts of the property, people were milling, looking shell-shocked.

  Dear heaven. Catherine bowed her head, defeat weighing heavy. “I guess I won’t need your help saving my business, considering that my career is now officially over.”

  “Not necessarily.” Compassion rippled through his voice. “I’ve turned around companies in worse predicaments.”

  For a split second she felt a resurgence of hope. She lifted her head to look at him. “Do you really think Elegant Events can recover from this?”

  “We’ll never know until we try.”

  Catherine took a deep breath. “In that case…” It would seem she only had one remaining option. “I don’t suppose your offer from this morning is still on the table?”

  Not a scrap of triumph showed in his voice or expression. “It was never off.”

  Early morning sunshine flooded Dina’s kitchen and turned the glass insets of her cabinets into polished mirrors. “You don’t have to do this, Catherine,” Dina protested. “You don’t have to acquiesce to whatever terms Gabriel foisted on you during a critical moment. Considering the circumstances—”

  “Considering the circumstances, yes, I do,” Catherine insisted. “I’ve always been a woman of my word, and that’s not going to change just because I was under pressure last night. If anyone can salvage something from the Marconi disaster, it’s Gabe. Trust me, we need someone of his caliber if we’re going to keep Elegant Events from becoming known as Deadly Disasters.”

  Catherine leaned a hip against the countertop and tried not to think about the previous evening. It was bad enough that she’d spent the entire night with various highlights rampaging through her head. It was time to focus on solutions for the future, instead of dwelling on unalterable past events. But she couldn’t seem to help herself. In the wee hours of the morning she’d reached a few unpleasant conclusions. Though she refused to accept blame for the boaters—that she could lay firmly at Roxanne’s doorstep—the other incidents were the ones that troubled her the most.

  It had been her initials on the checklist beside the detail that read “change the time on the automated sprinklers.” She distinctly remembered doing so. In fact, she’d checked the digital read-out a second time before the party started, just to be certain. She tapped her fingers on the countertop. Maybe she’d made a mistake. Maybe she’d pushed p.m. instead of a.m., even though at the time she’d been very careful to avoid just such a mistake.

  And then there’d been the tent peg. She couldn’t blame that one on Roxanne, either. She’d seen Natalie’s daughter trip over the anchor rope and uproot the peg. Granted, the wet ground might have loosened it. But it was her responsibility to make certain such incidents didn’t happen. Period. That was the entire premise behind her business.

  “I know what you’re doing, and you have to stop it, Catherine.” Dina crossed to her side and gave her a swift hug. “You’re going to drive yourself into exhaustion over something that wasn’t your fault, and that’s not going to help. Let’s deal with one issue at a time, starting with…” She pulled back. “What, exactly, did you promise Gabriel, if you don’t mind my asking?”

  “That I’d move in with him.” Just saying the words was hard enough. She had no idea how she’d be able to handle the reality of living with him again. “I promised I’d stay with him until he figured a way to turn Elegant Events around. Though after last night—”

  “As you said yourself, if anyone can do it, it’s Gabriel.”

  “I don’t doubt he’ll be able to figure out why the business is losing money.”

  “It is his specialty,” his mother admitted. “When he took over Piretti’s he nailed the financial end of our problems and plugged the leaks within a month. He’s only gotten better since. He can take apart a company and put it together again better than anyone I’ve ever seen. He’s even better at it than his father.”

  “That’s what I’m counting on. It’s our other problems that he’s going to find a bit more difficult. If we can’t figure out why we’re unable to nail certain key contracts, how can he? And now, after the Marconi incident, that may not even matter. Somehow we’re going to have to come up with a dynamite scheme to rebuild our reputation.” She eyed Dina grimly. “I’m expecting a slew of cancelations the minute word gets out. And I doubt our contract is sufficiently bulletproof to keep them from walking.”

  “Gabriel might be able to talk them around.”

  “Someone better be able to.”

  “So what’s the next step?” Dina asked. “Where do we go from here.”

  Catherine rubbed at the headache pounding against her temples. “I have a meeting with Gabe in just under an hour. We’re supposed to discuss strategy. I’d like you to continue to man the office, if you don’t mind. You’ve always been incredible at sweet-talking the customers when they call.”

&nb
sp; Dina’s smile flashed. “I give great phone.”

  For the first time in what seemed like forever, Catherine laughed. It felt wonderful, almost a purging. “Yes, you do,” she agreed. “If you would do your best to give unbelievable phone today, I’d be grateful.”

  “Anything I can do to help. You know that.”

  “Yes, I do.” She caught Dina’s hand in hers. “How can I thank you for all you’ve done? Not just for today, but for every day over these past two years.”

  The older woman shook her head. “There’s nothing to thank me for.”

  “Please. Let me say this.” Tears filled Catherine’s eyes, as unexpected as they were unwanted, no doubt the result of exhaustion. “You took me in at a time I desperately needed someone. And you took me in despite the fact that I was leaving your son. You let me live here and took care of me during those first couple of months until I felt well enough to find my own place. Not only have you been a friend, but you’ve been the mother I never had.”

  “Oh, sweetheart, now you’re going to make me cry. No one should lose their mother, especially not at such a young, impressionable age. If I’ve been able to fill in for her, even in the smallest capacity, I’m more than happy to do it. I just wish…” She caught her lip between her teeth, her expression one of intense guilt. “I have a confession to make.”

  “Let me guess. You weren’t being altruistic when you took me in all those months ago? You did it because you were hoping Gabe and I would eventually patch things up?”

  “You knew?”

  “Let’s say I suspected.”

  “I hope you’re not offended.”

  Catherine shook her head. “Not at all.” With a small exclamation, she wrapped her arms around the woman she’d once thought would be her mother-in-law and gave her a fierce hug. “Thank you for everything. Just don’t get your hopes up about me and Gabe. It’s only temporary. After a few months he’ll realize that my leaving two years ago was inevitable. We simply aren’t right for each other.”

  “I’m sure that’s precisely what you’ll discover. And I’m so sorry you’ve been forced into this predicament.”

  “Dina?”

  “Yes, dear?”

  “You do realize that your kitchen cabinets have glass insets, don’t you?”

  “Yes. I chose them myself.”

  “And you also realize that in this light, the glass acts like a mirror?”

  “Does it?”

  “I’m afraid it does. I’d have an easier time believing you felt badly about my moving back in with Gabriel if I couldn’t see you pumping your fist in the air.”

  “I’m not pumping my fist,” Dina instantly denied. “I’m giving you a totally sympathetic, albeit enthusiastic, air pat.”

  “I can still see you. Now you’re grinning like a maniac.”

  “I’m just trying to put a happy face on your moving back in with Gabriel. Inside, I’m crying for you.”

  Catherine pulled back. “It’s temporary, Dina. We’re not back together again.”

  Dina’s smile grew wicked. “Try and tell Gabriel that and see how far it gets you.”

  Forty-five minutes later, Catherine swept off the elevator at Piretti’s and headed for Gabe’s office. She’d dressed carefully in a forest-green silk suit jacket and matching A-line skirt, completing the ensemble with a pair of mile-high heels. It was one of her favorite outfits, mainly because it served as a complementary foil to her hair and eyes. The formfitting style also made the most of her subtle curves.

  She’d spent the drive into the city planning how best to handle the upcoming encounter with Roxanne in the hopes it would take her mind off a far more serious issue—her upcoming encounter with Gabe. Though she’d agreed to move in with him, she hadn’t agreed to anything beyond that. Before she packed a single bag, she intended to set a few ground rules, which put her at a disadvantage right off the bat. Gabe, she reluctantly conceded, was one of the best negotiators she’d ever met and if she had any hope at all in gaining the upper hand, she’d need some leverage.

  To her surprise, Roxanne was nowhere in sight. Considering how hard Gabe’s assistant had worked at turning the Marconi party into a grade-A disaster, perhaps she’d taken the day off to get some much-needed rest and restock on what must be a dwindling supply of venom and spite. Well, they’d have their little chat soon enough, Catherine decided. She’d make certain of that. It wouldn’t matter all that much if it waited a day or two.

  The door to Gabe’s office was open, and Catherine paused on the threshold. He stood in profile to her in front of a bank of windows overlooking Puget Sound and she drank in the sight while heat exploded low in her belly and fanned outward to the most inconvenient places. For a split second her vision tilted and she saw, not a captain of high finance and industry, but the captain of a pirate ship.

  At some point, he’d shed his suit jacket and rolled up the sleeves of his snowy shirt, exposing the bronzed skin of his forearms. His tie had long ago been ripped from its anchor around his neck and discarded, and he’d unbuttoned his shirt, revealing the broad, powerful chest she’d so often rested her head against. With his feet planted wide and his hands fisted on his hips, all he needed was a cutlass strapped to his side to complete the image. As it was, he barked out orders with all the arrogance of a pirate. But instead of it being to a crew of scallywags, he had a wireless headset hooked over his ear.

  “Tell Felder the offer is good for precisely twenty-four hours.” Gabe checked his watch, which told her that those hours would be timed to the minute. “After that, I won’t be interested in restructuring, let alone a buyout, regardless of how he sweetens the pot.” He disconnected the call and turned to face her, not appearing the least surprised to find her standing there. “Right on time. I’ve always appreciated that about you, Catherine.”

  She waded deeper into his office. “I have a lot to do today, so I didn’t see any point in wasting either of our time.”

  “We have a lot to do,” he corrected. “I’ve rescheduled my appointments today so we can formulate a tentative game plan for Elegant Events.”

  She made a swift recalibration, mentally rearranging a few appointments of her own. “Thank you. I appreciate your taking the time.”

  “It’s what we agreed to, isn’t it?”

  He tilted his head to one side and the sunlight made his eyes burn a blue so brilliant and iridescent, it scattered every thought but one. She was moving back in with this man. Soon she’d share his life in the most private and personal ways possible. Share his home. Share space he’d marked as his. And though he’d never come right out and said it, she didn’t have a single doubt that he also expected her to share his bed.

  It had seemed so natural before. Hasty breakfasts that combined food and coffee and brief, passionate kisses that would—barely—get them through the day before they were able to fall on each other again in the waning hours of the evening. Long, romantic dinners, though those became more and more rare as work intruded with increasing frequency. The heady, desperate, mind-blowing lovemaking. The simple intimacy of living with someone day in and day out. She’d experienced all that with him. Wanted it. Wanted, even more, to take their relationship to the next level. Instead, they’d been unable to sustain even that much of a connection.

  How could she go back to what hadn’t worked before? How could she pretend that their relationship had a snowball’s chance in hell of succeeding when she knew that it didn’t. What had happened in the past colored too much of the present for them to ever go back. She bit down on her lip. They couldn’t even forge a new, different sort of bond. It simply had no future, only a very brief, very finite now.

  “Catherine?” He stepped closer. “It is what we agreed, isn’t it? My help in return for your moving back in with me?”

  “Gabe—” she began.

  His expression hardened. “Reneging already?”

  “No. I made a promise, and I’ll keep it.” She met his gaze, silently willing
him to change his mind, to see the impossibility of his plan ever succeeding. “But you need to understand something before we take this any further. Whatever you have planned, whatever you hope to accomplish by forcing us together again, isn’t going to work. You can’t force a relationship.”

  He smiled his angel’s smile while the devil gleamed in his eyes. “And you need to understand something as well. It won’t take any force. All I have to do is touch you, just as all you have to do is touch me. That’s all it will take, Cate. One touch and neither of us will be able to help ourselves.”

  She shuddered. “Then I’ll have to make certain that one touch doesn’t happen.”

  “It’s already happened. It happened the minute you set foot in my office yesterday. It happened again last night during the party. You’re just not willing to admit it.” He reached out and tucked a loosened lock of hair behind her ear before trailing his thumb along the curve of cheek. He’d done that last night. And just as it had last night, a shaft of fire followed in the wake of his caress, forcing her to lock her knees in place in order to remain standing. “At least, you’re not willing to admit it…yet.”

  His touch numbed her brain, making logical thought an impossibility. It had always been that way. Even so, she fought to remember what she’d planned to say to him. “We haven’t set up ground rules,” she managed to protest. “We need to negotiate terms.”

  “The terms are already set. We live together, fully and completely, with all that suggests and implies,” he stated. “Now stop delaying the inevitable and let’s get to work.”

  She lifted an eyebrow and stepped clear of his reach. It was like stepping from the deck of a ship riding turbulent seas to the calm and safety of dry land. It only took a moment to regain her balance. “Strictly business?”

  He regarded her in open amusement. “Here and now, yes.” He leaned in. “But what happens tonight will have nothing to do with business.”