Inescapable Eye of the Storm
Prologue
Leaning against the steel wall behind him, Colin Storm felt the demons of his past taunting him in the confined space.
Why the hell had he insisted that his beautiful Chief Operating Officer join him on this so-called business trip? He could have handled the merger with Hastings & Company alone. After all, he’d done all the legwork on this venture, purposefully keeping his motives from all but a chosen few.
Obtaining Hastings & Company had been the sole mission in his life for the past six months. Destroying the company of the man that had singlehandedly torpedoed his marriage had been a goal that had nearly consumed his every waking moment, but watching Taggert Hastings’ face today when recognition had flashed behind his hooded grey eyes had made the effort worth the cost paid.
Colin had to admit that Hadley McGovern Storm had painted him in an exceedingly unsavory light during their ugly, public divorce. Accusations of desertion and abandonment had been bandied about with startling frequency. She’d attacked his reputation with a ferocity he’d never thought her capable, making him appear to be a cold, unfeeling monster that had used her for sex on demand and as a brood mare.
And yet, in spite of the shocking disgust that now filled him, he still loved her. Almost twenty years of marriage and a beautiful son had made it impossible for him to turn off the emotion. God knew, he’d tried to stop himself. Hadley had done everything short of writing him a message in the sky to convey to him that whatever feelings she might have once possessed were gone now.
Colin might not have been able to punish the woman that had ravaged his heart, but he’d taken down the guy that had instigated the affair that had mangled his marriage. That would have to be enough.
He could only hope.
The fact that he’d brought the self-contained Abigail Donavan to witness the feat wasn’t something Colin was particularly proud of doing. For some reason, he’d just felt the need to illustrate to her just how far he’d go if he was pushed. Perhaps he was trying to warn her. Or maybe he just needed her to see him as a dominant male willing to go to any lengths to prove his superiority.
“Colin?” Abigail murmured softly, lifting one dark brow as she eyed the man standing beside her. “Are you alright?”
Hearing the husky cultured voice of his companion, Colin turned his head toward the sound. Feeling his body automatically tighten in response to her words, he ruefully admitted that while his ex-wife might still have a claim on his heart, this woman beside him definitely affected his libido.
Thank God Hadley hadn’t eviscerated everything inside him.
“Fine,” Colin replied evenly, his eyes lifting to the lighted numbers above the sliding steel doors when the elevator seemed to falter beneath their feet. “The storm must be affecting the electricity,” he noted when the numbers seemed to dim for a moment and the fluorescent lights briefly flashed on and off inside the car.
“Great,” Abigail muttered under her breath. Inwardly cursing the soaring temperatures and the muggy heat, Abigail blew a strand of dark hair that was plastered to her forehead out of her eyes. The humid weather had assured her that her hair was a categorical mess that no amount of mousse or hair spray could help.
Abigail wouldn’t have categorized herself as one of those women that was always concerned about her appearance. She simply recognized the power of a first impression….how could she not, considering the field she had chosen? Advertising was based on appearances and creating the perfect illusion. And since the world was powered by the visions of so-called beauty, she’d been forced to conform. She had promptly taken advantage of the wisdom of an image consultant early in her career who had given her valuable advice regarding the tools of the trade, so to speak. Any woman worth her salt knew how vital it was to use her femininity to her best possible advantage…mostly, to lull unsuspecting men into doing her bidding without even realizing they were under her spell.
And speaking of spells, she was fairly certain that she had been the victim of just such a machination herself. From the moment she had first laid eyes on the tall, dark headed man standing beside her, she had known that she was out of her league. He had been everything he had been rumored to be….demanding, exacting, ruthless, and cutthroat in business. She honestly hadn’t expected anything less, considering he had made the sneakiest backdoor deal in advertising history to steal her away from his largest competitor two years ago.
Perhaps steal was too harsh of a term. She hadn’t exactly been playing hard to get. She had wanted out of Chicago as much as Colin Storm had wanted her to move to New York. Why stay after a failed engagement to a fiancé who was more concerned about how he was going to explain to his trust-fund family that he had been caught in flagrante more times than either of them could count? Circumstances had ensured that she’d be amenable to a change in zip code. After all, even a strong woman like herself had to draw her line in the sand somewhere.
Leaning against the steel wall behind him, Colin Storm felt the demons of his past taunting him in the confined space.
Why the hell had he insisted that his beautiful Chief Operating Officer join him on this so-called business trip? He could have handled the merger with Hastings & Company alone. After all, he’d done all the legwork on this venture, purposefully keeping his motives from all but a chosen few.
Obtaining Hastings & Company had been the sole mission in his life for the past six months. Destroying the company of the man that had singlehandedly torpedoed his marriage had been a goal that had nearly consumed his every waking moment, but watching Taggert Hastings’ face today when recognition had flashed behind his hooded grey eyes had made the effort worth the cost paid.
Colin had to admit that Hadley McGovern Storm had painted him in an exceedingly unsavory light during their ugly, public divorce. Accusations of desertion and abandonment had been bandied about with startling frequency. She’d attacked his reputation with a ferocity he’d never thought her capable, making him appear to be a cold, unfeeling monster that had used her for sex on demand and as a brood mare.
And yet, in spite of the shocking disgust that now filled him, he still loved her. Almost twenty years of marriage and a beautiful son had made it impossible for him to turn off the emotion. God knew, he’d tried to stop himself. Hadley had done everything short of writing him a message in the sky to convey to him that whatever feelings she might have once possessed were gone now.
Colin might not have been able to punish the woman that had ravaged his heart, but he’d taken down the guy that had instigated the affair that had mangled his marriage. That would have to be enough.
He could only hope.
The fact that he’d brought the self-contained Abigail Donavan to witness the feat wasn’t something Colin was particularly proud of doing. For some reason, he’d just felt the need to illustrate to her just how far he’d go if he was pushed. Perhaps he was trying to warn her. Or maybe he just needed her to see him as a dominant male willing to go to any lengths to prove his superiority.
“Colin?” Abigail murmured softly, lifting one dark brow as she eyed the man standing beside her. “Are you alright?”
Hearing the husky cultured voice of his companion, Colin turned his head toward the sound. Feeling his body automatically tighten in response to her words, he ruefully admitted that while his ex-wife might still have a claim on his heart, this woman beside him definitely affected his libido.
Thank God Hadley hadn’t eviscerated everything inside him.
“Fine,” Colin replied evenly, his eyes lifting to the lighted numbers above the sliding steel doors when the elevator seemed to falter beneath their feet. “The storm must be affecting the electricity,” he noted when the numbers seemed to dim for a moment and the fluorescent lights briefly flashed on and off inside the car.
“Great,” Abigail muttered under her breath. Inwardly cursing the soaring temperatures and the muggy heat, Abigail blew a strand of dark hair that was plastered to her forehead out of her eyes. The humid weather had assured her that her hair was a categorical mess that no amount of mousse or hair spray could help.
Abigail wouldn’t have categorized herself as one of those women that was always concerned about her appearance. She simply recognized the power of a first impression….how could she not, considering the field she had chosen? Advertising was based on appearances and creating the perfect illusion. And since the world was powered by the visions of so-called beauty, she’d been forced to conform. She had promptly taken advantage of the wisdom of an image consultant early in her career who had given her valuable advice regarding the tools of the trade, so to speak. Any woman worth her salt knew how vital it was to use her femininity to her best possible advantage…mostly, to lull unsuspecting men into doing her bidding without even realizing they were under her spell.
And speaking of spells, she was fairly certain that she had been the victim of just such a machination herself. From the moment she had first laid eyes on the tall, dark headed man standing beside her, she had known that she was out of her league. He had been everything he had been rumored to be….demanding, exacting, ruthless, and cutthroat in business. She honestly hadn’t expected anything less, considering he had made the sneakiest backdoor deal in advertising history to steal her away from his largest competitor two years ago.
Perhaps steal was too harsh of a term. She hadn’t exactly been playing hard to get. She had wanted out of Chicago as much as Colin Storm had wanted her to move to New York. Why stay after a failed engagement to a fiancé who was more concerned about how he was going to explain to his trust-fund family that he had been caught in flagrante more times than either of them could count? Circumstances had ensured that she’d be amenable to a change in zip code. After all, even a strong woman like herself had to draw her line in the sand somewhere.