It might have been her imagination, but there seemed to be a level of respect in their eyes. She gazed levelly back. Her heart was pounding and her palms were sweating, but she wasn’t about to let anyone know that Roth had rattled her.
“Ms. Welsley is exercising her right to appoint herself as a board member,” said Max. “As current majority shareholder, she will sit as chair. As chair, she will break any tie over the appointment of an interim president.”
“So not Roth,” said Clint.
“Then who are we talking about?” Nelson asked.
“Are we taking nominations?”
“I’ve given it a lot of thought,” said Amber. “I’d like to discuss Max Cutter as the interim president.”
Max drew back in his seat. “I can’t—”
“Turns out you can,” said Amber. “I spoke to a lawyer this morning.”
“You’ll have to leave the room for the discussion,” Nelson said to Max.
Max fixed his shrewd gaze on Amber. She didn’t flinch. If she could sit as chair of the board, then he could sit as president. There was no one else she’d trust.
“Very well,” said Max. He rose and gathered his briefcase.
As he passed, he paused behind her and leaned down. “I guess we’ll go down together.”
She turned her head to whisper. “Then I guess you’d better help me win.”
“I was always going to help you win.” He gave her a friendly pat on the shoulder as he walked away.
The door closed behind him and another board member spoke up. He was Milos Mandell, a former commercial pilot and internet entrepreneur.
“Can we speak freely?” asked Milos.
“I would think we’d better,” said Amber.
“You seem like you understand what you just did.”
She couldn’t help flexing a small, resigned smile. “I believe I know what I just did.”
“He’s going to come after you,” said Nelson, clearly referring to Roth.
“He’s right to go after her,” said Clint, glancing around at his fellow board members. “This is a coup.”
Milos sat forward. “The coup would have been Roth taking over as president without the support of the major shareholder.”
Clint stared hard at Amber. “You’re jumping the gun, and it’s going to cost you.”
“While Roth will know you sided with him, so I guess you’re safe.” She let her words sink in for a moment.
Clint was smart enough to realize the opposite was also true. Amber now knew he was in opposition to her.
His jaw dropped a fraction of an inch. “I don’t mean... That is, I’m not...”
“Any discussion on Max?” Amber asked the group.
She didn’t have time to worry about Clint. She needed to get Max settled in as president, then she needed to focus on the court case, do justice to her day-to-day work and make sure Zachary stayed clean, fed and as happy as possible. The alliances, machinations and power plays at Coast Eagle were going to have to take a backseat.