Millionaires' Destinies(73)

“I have an idea, it just might work.”

“Even if it doesn’t, at least you’ll know that you did everything you could. That’s a hell of a lot better than giving up without a fight.”

Mack was right, Richard concluded, feeling marginally better. He knew all about the importance of seizing the initiative in a negotiation. Why the hell had the tactic slipped his mind until now, when this was the most important deal he was ever likely to close?





Melanie was impatiently swiping at tears when Destiny found her in the ladies’ room moments before she was supposed to break her engagement. Until now the party had been a rousing success. She should have been smiling. In fact, she had been smiling till her jaw ached. She’d come in here when she couldn’t bear it a moment longer.

“Darling, is anything wrong?” Destiny asked, her expression oddly smug rather than worried or sympathetic.

Melanie studied Destiny’s expression, then sighed. Mack had been right. Destiny knew exactly what she and Richard had been up to. “You’ve known all along, haven’t you? You’ve known that it was a charade?”

“Of course I have,” Destiny said cheerfully, as if she hadn’t just blown a fortune to celebrate something that had never been. She patted Melanie’s hand. “But I also know you’re in love with my nephew and he’s in love with you. I don’t have a doubt in my mind about that.”

Melanie didn’t ask her how she knew that. She needed advice and she needed it in a hurry. “Then how do I fix this?”

“You don’t,” Destiny advised gently. “You let Richard fix it. There are some things men have to figure out for themselves. Otherwise the balance of power is always off.”

“Do you think he will?” Melanie asked plaintively.

“If he’s even half the man I think he is, you’ll be walking down the aisle in a month,” Destiny declared confidently. “And no one knows my nephew better than I do.”

“Then I break up with him as planned?”

Destiny nodded. “He’ll be expecting it. Don’t disappoint him. Or if he’s been counting on a last-minute change of heart, this will really shake him up.”

An hour later Melanie took a deep breath and tossed a glass of champagne in Richard’s face. It wasn’t what she’d mentally scripted for the opening gambit in the scene, but it felt good. Sometimes the man was so dense, she could barely stand it. Maybe the champagne would snap him to his senses.

“What the hell was that for?” he demanded, looking genuinely shocked.

“I was hoping it would wash some of that fog away from your eyes so you’d start seeing things more clearly.”

Suddenly, to her surprise, he chuckled. “Is that so?”

“Yes, it’s so. For a supposedly smart man, you’re dumber than dirt about some things.” Okay, this wasn’t the way Destiny had advised her to go, but Melanie was tired of leaving her fate in other people’s hands. She’d left it to Destiny, Richard, the gods, for too long already. She’d forgotten that she was in charge of her own future, that no one cared more about the outcome of this relationship more than she did…unless it was Richard.

“Are you breaking up with me?” he inquired, clearly amused despite the large sea of stunned faces surrounding them.

“Yes,” she said very firmly.

“Do I get the ring back?”

She held out her hand and considered the huge rock that she’d hated from the beginning. It sparkled brilliantly in the lights from the ballroom’s fancy chandeliers. The stupid thing must be six carats, with perfect clarity and color. It was worth a fortune. “I don’t think so. I think I’ll pawn it to help me expand my company.”

Behind her, she heard his brothers chuckle.

Richard shrugged, not nearly as outraged by that as she’d expected.

“Okay, then,” he said mildly, “but I think you’re going to want to take it off now.”

Melanie faced him stubbornly. “Why would I do that?”

He pulled a velvet jeweler’s box from his pocket. “I’ve got another one I think maybe you’ll like better.”

Melanie felt her mouth gape. “You’re proposing to me? Here? Now? For real?”

She heard a delighted gasp behind her and whirled on Destiny. “Oh, put a sock in it. This is exactly what you were counting on from the beginning. You said you knew him better than anyone.”

Destiny’s eyes were filled with laughter. “Trust me, darling, I didn’t know about this.”

Richard grinned. “You should have guessed. You did put it all into motion, didn’t you?”