in tandem.
He was talking as if they weren’t even present.
What was going on?
Then it dawned on her. The answer must lie in the documents neatly stacked in front of Jay. He’d still barely spared her a glance.
Georgia had had enough.
Rising in her seat, she pushed aside the clutter of pad, pen, phone and empty take-out coffee cup, and reached across the width of the table. Her feet left the plush carpet and her skirt tickled the back of her thighs as it rode up against her pantyhose. No matter. Modesty was not a priority.
“Georgia!” her father thundered.
So he’d finally noticed her...
She blocked out the familiar angry voice and, with a final heave forward, snatched the block of papers in front of Jay and then slithered back into her seat clutching her prize, her heart pounding in her ears.
Commotion had broken out. But Georgia didn’t allow herself to be distracted; she was too busy skimming the pages.
“What the hell is this?” Her eyes lifted to lock with Jay’s in silent challenge. He flinched. So he should! “The shares are to be transferred to me and my husband on the day of my marriage...?”
“Marriage?” Roberta was beside her. “Let me see that! I didn’t even know you were dating, you secret sister.”
Not for the first time, Georgia wished she shared her sister’s irreverent sense of humor. “I’m not dating anyone—and I have no intention of getting married.” Ever. Georgia’s knuckles clenched white around the pages. Not after Ridley. As always, she expertly blocked what she remembered of that disaster out of her consciousness while she did a rapid scan of the thunderstruck faces around the table. Jay’s expression was flat, closed off in a way she’d never seen.
Then she appealed for a return to normality. “Jay, what on earth is going on?”
Before Jay could respond, Kingston said loudly, “Georgia, I have chosen a man for you who will do a fine job running the company when I retire.”
Panic filled her. “But—”
He held up a hand. “I’m familiar with your dream, and the man I have chosen will match you perfectly.”
As Georgia shook her head to clear the confusion, Roberta spoke softly into her ear. “He’s about to graft his own vision onto your dream, and then he’ll sell it back to you.”
“What do you mean?” Georgia whispered.
“Just watch and listen, sister. The master is at work.” Roberta sounded more cynical than usual. “Let me see those documents.”
Georgia eased her death grip on the papers.
“He will mentor you,” her father was saying. “Teach you what it takes.”
“You think I need a mentor?” Georgia said faintly. “After all these years? I know the business backward. I know the products, and more importantly, I know the people. I’ll head up Kingdom when you step down one day—it’s my birthright. And that journey starts today—with the announcement of my appointment to the board.”
But her father was shaking his head. “You may be my daughter, but you’re not getting a free ride.”
A free ride? How could he even think that? But she’d already read the answer in his eyes. He was going to make her jump through hoops—because he didn’t believe she could do it. It wasn’t just that she was a woman, that she wasn’t the first-born son he’d wanted. He would never believe she wouldn’t let him down again...
She’d hoped he’d forgotten. Shame suffused her. She should’ve known... Unlike her, he never forgot a thing!
Nor did he ever forgive.
He blamed her for both the humiliating breakup with Ridley, of which she remembered enough patchy detail to make her swear off dating for life...and the horrific car crash that had followed, of which she remembered nothing at all.
“Oh, my God! It even says who you’re going to be marrying...” Roberta’s voice broke into Georgia’s desperate thoughts.
“What?” Her head whipped around.
“Look!” Roberta shoved the papers back at Georgia. “You’re going to marry Adam Fordyce.”
“Adam Fordyce?” Charis echoed from across the room. “You can’t marry Adam Fordyce!”
“That’s what it says here, in black-and-white.” Roberta’s perfectly manicured red nails jabbed at the paper. “That’s who Kingston has picked out as your marriage mentor—or perhaps I should say merger mentor? Because that’s what this is starting to sound like. I didn’t even know you knew him.”
This was crazy...
The splintering light from the giant chandelier overhead was suddenly too bright. Georgia touched her fingertips to her temples. Had she gone crazy, too?
A swift glance around the boardroom table revealed that only Jay hadn’t reacted. He sat silent and watchful, the familiar gleam of laughter absent from his eyes.
It struck Georgia with the force of a lightning bolt.
He’d known of her father’s plan all along...
The betrayal stung. She and Jay clashed often. He infuriated her. He taunted her. The close working relationship he shared with her father concerned her. But despite the rivalry and never-ending mockery, he’d always been honest with her—sometimes brutally so.
Jay had known...and he hadn’t mentioned a word about it.
Georgia sucked in a deep breath. She’d deal with Jay—and the unexpected ache of his treachery—later. For now, she had to derail her father’s plan. “Of course, I can’t marry Adam Fordyce. I don’t know him from Santa Claus.”
“Unfortunately, he doesn’t reside at the North Pole. He lives in Manhattan and he heads up Prometheus,” murmured Roberta. “Forbes named him one of the top ten—”
“Oh, I know all that! But I’ve never met the man.”
“And trust me—” Roberta was shaking her head “—Adam Fordyce is nothing like Santa Claus. He’s the coldest-hearted bastard you’ll never want to know.”
Charis banged her sketchbook on the table. “That’s not true.”
Georgia suppressed the urge to scream. “I’m not marrying anyone, and when I do get married, you won’t learn about it from a bunch of documents I had no part in drawing up.” She shot a killing glare across the table at Jay. “Now, Kingston, why don’t you take a few minutes to tell us all what you’ve been cooking up?”
Her father didn’t hesitate. “Adam and I agree it’s—”
“‘Adam and I agree’?” Georgia repeated, staring at him in horrified dismay.
