Page 2 of Vicious Kingdom

Their voices faded away, and I drew a deep breath. How that partnership played out wasn’t my concern. My father was driven and ruthless. Two qualities he passed down, thank heavens, to me.

I tapped into them now, brushing off the conversation, and peered out between the tangle of stubby branches. My heart jumped in my chest. The force of nature wasn’t cowed by the presence of others. He glided down the stone steps, hands casually tucked in his pockets.

But I frowned.

He wasn’t alone.

The polished woman was probably in her sixties. She could be older. It was hard to tell with all the work done to her façade. She eyed the CEO like he was a piece of sweet, chewy candy.

Back off, he’s mine.

I pursed my lips.

“The shares will go on the market when it opens Monday,” she was saying.

The CEO hummed. It was impossible to tell if the news pleased him.

I studied his profile, turned away from the twinkling lights. A few more steps and they would be under the first lamp on the path. The air held in my lungs. This was the closest I’d been to him since coming back a week ago.

Lord, he hadn’t aged a day!

He looked just as good, as timeless, as he always had. Regret, longing, and determination constricted my chest as a trickle of doubt fluttered through my mind. There was no forgetting that face. Distance and time couldn’t erase the feelings, those nasty reminders of what I gambled and lost the first time.

I tried to forget!

Oh, how I’d tried to move on and rewrite the course of action.

But the last five years had only been filled with meaningless events to fill the chapters until the conclusion became glaringly obvious. Our stars might have been crossed, but I defied the heavens and forced them to move into the same trajectory.

“Thank you for all your help, Mrs. Lawson,” the CEO intoned.

They stopped in the shadows, just before the first golden pool of lamp light.

I leaned forward, trying to see into the shadows. The leaves rustled. I froze. They weren’t supposed to know I was here. The run-in had to seem accidental. Put the predator off his guard.

“Francis says you play a mean game of gulf,” the woman said with a sickly-sweet smile that had me instantly seeing red.

“I do, but I’m afraid my schedule has been packed this summer, and my clubs haven’t been out of my closet once,” the CEO deflected.

My own lips twitched in a smug smile.That’s right, move along, bunny.

“Call your secretary. Make some time to tee off with me,” the woman insisted. “Sunday will be the coolest day this week, and the greens are lovely around nine.”

“That’s when Father Sullivan delivers the sermon.” His answer was clipped. Firm. A refusal.

“Such a good little Catholic. I know,” she pushed, “just this once, go to Mass Saturday night, and come worship the Lord in nature. There’s really no better way to appreciate His Creation than on the fairway.”

I fisted my clutch and forced my body to sit still. Springing forward and clawing her eyes out might feel better, but I couldn’t allow myself the disaster that fleeting pleasure would bring. I made a mental note to discover who this cougar was. There were more strategic ways to take her down a peg or two. A carefully placed rumor amongst the society ladies would go a lot further than my nail marks on her plastic face.

“I’ll have Kenneth see what he can do, Mrs. Lawson,” the CEO assured her.

“Please, it’s Peg.” She leaned forward and squeezed his forearm. I swallowed a groan. “Thank you for the walk, Leonard.”

“Anytime…Peg.”

Mercifully, the woman turned down the path to the right, toward the valet stand where a golfcart took her to the parking lot. I was so busy making sure she left, I didn’t notice the shadows had shifted.

The pool of light remained untouched, the predator keeping a wide berth. But he stopped, right in front of the neatly clipped bush.