His Ex's Well-Kept Secret(29)

Piper darted a look at Jaeger's hard face and sighed. Dressed in solid  black-dress shirt, tie and suit pants-he looked as accessible as a black  hole. And as cuddly. Suddenly she saw the hard-eyed, edgy businessman  who confidently walked into dangerous situations to buy gemstones. No  matter his clothing, if she were selling him something and she was faced  with that granite face, she wouldn't mess with him either. Hard,  silent, dangerous. But, dammit, still so sexy.

Linc cleared his throat, and Piper looked up. Jaeger took a seat as far  away from her as possible. Piper sighed at his nonverbal slap.

Yeah, I get it, Ballantyne. You want nothing to do with me.

Linc tapped his pen on the table, and Piper told herself to concentrate.  What was about to be discussed would impact her future for a very long  time, and she needed to be on her game.

"Thank you for sending us copies of the relevant pages of the diary,  Piper," Linc said, his deep voice rumbling through the room. "I'm fully  satisfied you are the legitimate owner of the stones. We've matched the  description of the sapphires with some of the stones mentioned in the  book, but we seem to be missing five stones from the original fifteen."

"I know where they are." Piper pulled in a deep breath. "May I have your  assurance that whatever we discuss here will not leave the confines of  this room?"

"You have it," Linc replied.

Piper nodded her thanks. "Jaeger knows this already, but Michael Shuttle  was my father. My mother sold two stones thirty years ago to give him  the capital to start his business."

Linc exchanged a long look with Jaeger, and Piper turned her head to  look at Beckett and Sage. Beckett looked surprised and Sage sympathetic.

"Oh, honey. Nobody knows?" Sage asked.

Piper lifted one shoulder in a tiny shrug. "Mick never acknowledged me as his daughter."

Sage frowned. "In a way, I can sort of understand why he wouldn't want  that to be public. You would've grown up with a million cameras on you  and your life."

Ah, Sage, you are so far off base.

Piper didn't give any further explanations; she didn't need empty  platitudes and false sympathy. Beckett's measured voice pulled her  attention back to the business at hand. "Okay, so that's twelve stones.  Where are the missing three?"

"My cousin Maeve has them," Piper told him and instantly saw the  excitement flash in their eyes. Even the rock at the end of the table  reacted to her statement. The air crackled with anticipation as long  looks were exchanged between the siblings.

Piper made herself concentrate on Jaeger. This was his wheelhouse, after  all. "She offered to give them to me, but I refused." Mick would've  taken the stones in a flash, but Piper didn't feel she had any right to  them. Cousin or not, she'd only spent a morning with Maeve, and that  didn't entitle her to a couple of million in gems. "I told her about  you, Jaeger, and she'll probably sell you the stones. If I were you, I'd  ask to see what else she has. She was sporting a stunning  ten-carat-plus diamond when I met her. She doesn't have any heirs, and  she's going to leave her wealth to various foundations."

"She won't leave it to you?" Beckett asked when Jaeger didn't acknowledge her suggestion.

Piper shook her head. "I met her for the first time yesterday. I don't feel like I can take the money. I didn't earn it."

In this regard, she was not her father's daughter.

"Piper, that money could pay for Ty's education, could make your life a lot easier," Sage said, leaning forward.

"I just need enough to pay for my house. The rest I will earn," Piper  said, hearing the stubborn in her voice. "I will be fine. Speaking of  your offer..." Piper hinted. She couldn't sit here for much longer with  Jaeger tossing accusing looks her way.                       
       
           



       

Linc nodded. "We're prepared to offer you seven million."

Seven million? More than she needed and much more than she'd hoped for.  Piper felt tears prick her eyes, and she stared down at the table.  "Thank you."

"If our offer is acceptable, I'll arrange for payment to be made," Linc said.

"Very acceptable. Thank you very much," Piper replied, her voice low.  Seven million would secure her house, would pay for Ty's schooling and  would give her a lot of financial security.

It was done. All that remained between her and Jaeger was their son.

Sage walked around the table to Piper's chair. She turned Piper's chair,  bent down and brushed her lips across her cheek. "Let's get together  sometime soon, okay?"

Sadly that would never happen, not now. Linc stood up and held out his  hand for her to shake. "Nice doing business with you, Piper. I'll get  your money to you by the end of the day."

Linc squeezed her shoulder as he followed Beckett out of the room.  Jaeger just sat where he was, one ankle on his knee, his face a  thundercloud.

When they were alone, she stood up and pulled her bag over her shoulder.  She was suddenly exhausted, emotionally and physically wiped out.  Wishing Jaeger would say something and then hoping he wouldn't, she  pushed her chair under the table and turned to leave.

"My lawyers will contact you with regard to custody of Ty," he said.

Piper stiffened. That was too much. He was not going to take her son from her. He wanted custody? Oh, hell, no!

Piper felt white-hot anger flash over her as she went into full, rabid  momma-bear mode. She slapped both hands on the conference table, her  face burning.

"Know this, Jaeger Ballantyne. No matter how much I love you, how much I  want you in my life, if you ever so much as mention taking my son from  me again, I will take every cent of those millions and I will vanish! I  will go so deep and so dark you will never find him again. No one, not  even you, will come between me and my son!"

Jaeger sat up straighter, and a small frown appeared between his eyes. "Whoa, hold on-"

"My mother loved me, but she loved my father more. My father didn't love  me at all. Ty is my only family, my world. I love you, but God, I will  fight you with every breath I have if you try to take him from me."

Piper lifted a shaking finger in the general direction of his face.  Tears burned hot passages down her cheeks as she continued, "I should've  told you about him when I first saw you again. I know that now. I know  you hate me, but please, taking Ty from me would be a death sentence for  me. Please don't make me do something drastic to keep him. I'll share  him with you-he deserves to know you-but please don't try to take it  all. Don't make me do something irreversible."

"Piper, I-"

She couldn't withstand any more. Piper felt the last chunk of her heart  rip into shreds. She dashed her hands over her wet cheeks and whirled  around, seeing the blurred outline of the door. Needing to escape, to  run, she bolted from the room, ignoring Jaeger's command for her to  stay.

Earlier, when she'd walked into this room, she didn't think the situation between her and Jaeger could get worse, but it had.

Be strong, Piper. Be brave. Your love wasn't enough, not this time, not for this man.

There was no point in thinking about what-could-have-beens. No point in  mourning a future she'd wanted but he didn't. It was over. By  threatening to take her son from her, he'd killed the last fragment of  hope she'd been clinging to that they could work something out.

What they had, what they could've had, was impossible, a shattered dream.

Piper walked out of Ballantyne and Company for the final time and begged  her hopes, her dreams and her love for Jaeger not to follow her home.





Twelve

Jaeger pushed his hand under his suit jacket and felt the padded outline  of the stones he'd just purchased. There was another fortune in jewelry  in his briefcase, but he felt the need to keep the three cabochon-cut  sapphires, twenty-five carats of corundum, on his person. With the  addition of these stones purchased an hour ago from Piper's cousin  Maeve, the Kashmir Blues collection was as complete as they could hope  it to be.                       
       
           



       

Linc was excited, Beckett quietly thrilled, Sage loudly ecstatic.

Jaeger felt like his head was about to explode.

He pulled his SUV into the fast lane to pass a slow-moving sedan and,  through his expensive shades, glared at the asphalt of Route 27. A  headache pulsed behind his right eye and his chest felt tight. He  instructed the on-board computer to find a radio station playing hard  rock, hoping the strident music would distract him from his thoughts. He  made it through the first verse before shouting at the computer to turn  the music off.

He was losing his temper with technology, a new low.