Baby By Accident(13)

Vico stared down the long table, watching her. Watching as her face paled, her eyes iced. Her mouth, the lush mouth she had withheld from him, tightened into a white line.

“You have got to be kidding.” Her quiet words bounced off the walls and then rained down on his head.

Her past supporters, the ones who'd never accepted him until he'd started his charm offensive, stared down at the papers in front of them. All of them knew, with one or two exceptions. All of them had been at the lunch meeting he'd held on Friday. Without notifying her of its timing and without notifying her of its agenda. All of them were traitors to their…

“Princesse.” The nickname came from his mouth, shooting across the table like a stiletto. “The time for kidding has long since passed.”

She managed to ignore his provocation, his pointed label. Her eyes flashed with frozen fire, and still, she kept her composure and pride. Pressing her hands on the table, she rose like an offended royal. She stared at the bowed heads before her, then challenged him using a commanding glare. “This company will not descend into the unsound practices you propose.”

“No?” He twirled the pen in his long fingers. “Except I believe your subjects no longer agree with you.”

A low murmur came from the surrounding group. But it didn't penetrate the wall of conflict burning between him and her. Neither of them broke the contact of their eyes, the combat of their pride. Neither of them backed down. Vico gave her his begrudging admiration. The woman was a worthy opponent. Had been for two months. Also, damn her, she'd been a worthy bedmate. More than worthy.

But she did not accord him, had not accorded him, the same respect.

“Time to take the vote, Mr. Smithton.” His words were soft, yet confident.

She sensed his confidence immediately. Her eyes widened in dawning horror. “What have you done?”

Vico smiled. A smile he'd never given her. This was the smile he'd used as a kid when confronted with a challenge from another gang member. The smile he'd given questioning cops. The smile he gave those he hated. “I have won.”

She stiffened. He knew she believed him, believed his claim to victory. Like a blade, the realization pierced her through. He wasn't sure what it pierced.

Her heart? No. More likely, her pride.

The comprehension of her loss did pierce her, though. He sensed this in his gut. In his soul. This strange connection between them told him this had cut her right to the bone. He might have felt sorry for her if it had cut her heart.

But a woman like Lise Helton didn't have a heart. Of that, he was sure.



* * *



Vico Mattare wouldn’t win. He couldn’t win.

Lise marched into her office and slammed the door.

Hannah, her PA, glanced away from her computer screen, giving her a sharp look. “The meeting didn’t go well?”

“Ha!” Frustration and fury stormed inside her.

“I’ll take that as a no.” Pushing back from her desk, the older woman stood and walked to her side. Her PA had been assigned to Lise by her father the moment she’d strode through the front doors of HSF seven years ago. Initially, she had objected. She’d wanted to pick out her own staff. But Hannah had proven to be a stalwart ally through many a fight.

“You have to help me.”

“You don’t need to ask. You know that.” Hannah gently patted her shoulder. Twenty years older and twenty years wiser, the woman had become Lise’s keenest eyes and smartest advisor.

“He went behind my back.” Taking in a deep breath, she tried to calm down so she could think. “He talked to all the other stockholders and sold them his smarmy plans.”

“He being Mr. Mattare, I take it.” The older woman strode to small refrigerator they kept in the corner and pulled out two bottles. “Here.” She handed over one and twisted the top off the other. “Drink first. Then talk.”

She gulped down the cool water. “I can’t believe he did it.”

“Really?” Her PA leaned on her desk, her face quizzical. “Why would you think he wouldn’t?”

Because he had sex with me.

“I’m an idiot.” She held the bottle to her hot forehead. “Of course he’d do this. I should have seen this coming.”

Hannah took a swig of her water. “So they voted with him.”

“Yes.” The bottle of water squeaked as her hand squeezed. “I have to reverse this somehow.”

The older woman gave her a look. A look she’d seen several times before. Most of the time, her PA agreed with her on just about everything. But she wasn’t shy when she didn’t and Lise had come to value these disbelieving, discouraging looks when she got them.