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Jonathan’s eyes turned dark. “Good. I could do with a target for venting my anger.”
Couldn’t they all?
The board room was bursting with family members. Every single one who had shares in the company had turned up—which wasn’t usually the case. Even Rachel’s grandmother and her Uncle Harold were there.
“I’ve come to see what trouble you cause,” her grandmother had told Rachel after she sailed into the room, looking like Katharine Hepburn at a press junket for one of her movies, and took the chair beside her.
“Why on earth would you assume I’d cause trouble?”
“It’s in your genes, darling.” Her grandmother patted her hand. “Don’t worry, you came by it honestly. I caused quite the stir in my day too. Be a dear and fetch me a cup of tea. I need to take my medicine.” With a wicked gleam in her eyes, she held up an elaborately enameled flask.
“Really? You’re going to spike your tea?”
“If you’d been to as many of these board meetings as I have, you wouldn’t need to ask that.” Her eyebrows shot up. “What on earth? Does Theo think he’s playing tennis?”
Rachel followed her gran’s gaze, and sure enough, Uncle Theo had arrived, decked out in white tennis garb, complete with shorts and a jaunty ribbed jersey draped around his shoulders.
“Sorry about the getup,” he said. “Got a match straight after this and no time to change.”
“That explains the clothes, but what about the aftershave?” her grandmother muttered to her. “Please open a window while you fetch me my tea.”
With a resigned sigh, Rachel went to do her grandmother’s bidding.
They’d set up the refreshments table on the wall nearest the door, which meant Rachel was easy access for anyone arriving who wanted to chat. Yay for her.
“Rach!” Her cousin Rupert pulled her into an unwanted hug. “Did you know it’s possible to 3D print small batches of drugs? If we were to make our own specialized 3D printers and rent them out to hospitals, they’d have a steady supply, and we’d cut the cost and risks associated with large-scale manufacture. Not to mention, if we cut down the need for hospitals to buy and stockpile our drugs, we could look into building our own smaller, more efficient manufacturing plant in the UK, instead of outsourcing to larger, established plants that will only commit to a minimum order.”
Rachel was impressed. “I’m sorry, who are you? And what have you done with my cousin?”
He gave her an enthusiastic smile. “I never knew how interesting the family business was. The more I research, the more ideas I have. I didn’t know it was possible to be this engaged and excited about something that wasn’t a hand of poker. Look”—he pointed at himself—“I even bought a new suit so I’d look more professional and people might take my ideas seriously.” He sobered. “I have a lot of ideas, Rach. I really think there are ways we could streamline production. Not only to save us money but also to make distribution more user friendly.”
“Well, come talk to me about it later in the week. I am head of special projects and seeing as I have no idea what that means, I guess it can be anything I like. Revamping distribution seems as good a thing to look at as anything else.”
“Thanks, Rach, you’re the best.” He pulled her into a bear-hug before bouncing off to find a seat.
“What was that about?” her grandmother asked when Rachel returned with her tea.
“Turns out Rupert likes working, who knew?”
“That boy.” Her grandmother tutted as she added a liberal dose of liquor to her cup. “All he needs is a bit of encouragement, and he’ll turn into a fine man. With Charles for a father, a mother who’s high as a kite most days, and a sister who only cares about herself, he could use someone believing in him. Be nice to him, darling. I get the feeling he could be a good man one day.”
“Is that the sound of you softening?” Rachel said. “Because years ago, you told me that at the first sign of you softening, I was to put you in a home and forget about you. I’ve been on the lookout ever since.”
“Wicked child. I’m sure I said no such thing. Oh look, it’s the wives Theo should have kept. His taste went straight downhill after those two.”
Rachel turned to see Anne and Stephanie heading straight for them, smiling widely, their eyes warm with genuine affection.
“Rachel.” Anne pulled her out of her seat and wrapped her in a hug. Which was exactly why she got on great with Rachel’s mother. They were both huggers. “I’m so glad you’re back. We need you here. And goodness, you look well, doesn’t she, Steph?”
“Gorgeous as usual.” Stephanie hugged her too.
Although roughly twenty years apart in age, the two women had formed a strange but strong friendship after Theo divorced them both. Anne’s marriage had lasted eighteen years, Stephanie’s only eight, but both of them had gained half of Theo’s shares when they split. Which meant they both owned a hefty chunk of TayFor.
“Where’s that hunky man of yours?” Stephanie looked around the room. In her early forties, with shoulder-length brown hair and a chic sense of style, she was the last time Theo had shown any taste in women.
Rachel waved a hand. “Off securing something.”
“I see Theo’s on the prowl again,” Anne said, her eyes on their ex-husband. Having ju
