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“The draw could be something more damaging than a love affair.”
Noah pulled the olive off the skewer with his teeth and chewed around his lazy grin. “If you’re suggesting that Maris is up to some corporate subterfuge, you truly don’t know her. She doesn’t think as we do, Morris. She’s a bookworm. A romantic, a dreamer. Head in the clouds. Trust me, she won’t be springing any nasty surprises on us.”
“I assume she’ll be surprised when Matherly Press becomes part of WorldView.”
“We’ll know soon.”
“I like the confident ring of that.”
Still smiling slyly, Noah set his glass on the coffee table and reached for his briefcase. With a flourish, he clicked open the latches. “Delivered on time, as promised.”
He passed Blume the document prepared by Howard Bancroft. After finding Nadia naked in bed and reeking of another man’s sweat, following closely Maris’s inconvenient and unexpected disappearance, he had determined that his next action must be bold and definitive.
He was tired of playing cautiously, tired of other people—women, for God’s sake!—dictating what he did and when he did it. He must move quickly and aggressively. It was time to take care of Noah, and only Noah, and let the rest of them go fuck themselves. Or their meatheaded personal trainers. Jesus.
Blume scanned the document, rapidly flipping through the pages. He was familiar enough with legal jargon to catch the gist of it. Noah waited to be congratulated.
But when Blume finished glancing over the last page, he returned the document to the coffee table. “Very nice. Now all that’s needed is their signatures.”
Noah’s inflated chest emptied like a punctured balloon. “Not necessary, Morris. Didn’t you read—”
“That it’s valid with your signature alone?” He chuckled as he stood up and buttoned the top button of his perfectly tailored gray suit jacket. “A problematic clause, Noah. Very. I’m already dodging antitrust laws and myriad other trade regulations.” He waved his pale hand in a dismissive gesture. “They’re nothing more than time-consuming nuisances. But only if everything else is in perfect order, and I mean all the i’s dotted and t’s crossed.
“I couldn’t swing a deal of this magnitude with a legal trapdoor like this waiting to open up beneath me. I wouldn’t even want to try. This document, as it is now, would flag the feds. Even if it didn’t, the Matherlys could raise a hue and cry, and then we’d all be screwed. I don’t know about you, but when I get screwed, I like it to feel good.”
He winked and Noah wanted to kill him.
“Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a dinner date.”
He turned and headed for the door. Noah blinked the pulsing red lights out of his vision and followed. “Not to worry, Morris. I’ll get the signatures.”
Blume said, “I never worry.”
He opened the door, then paused and turned back to Noah. “One of their signatures would probably be sufficient. Either your father-in-law’s or your wife’s.” He mulled it over for several seconds, then nodded. “Yes. I’d feel protected with only one in addition to yours.”
“You keep the antitrust thugs off our backs,” Noah said stiffly. “Leave the Matherlys to me.”
“Gladly. Between the two, I’d rather take on the federal government.” His grin made him look like a leering skull recently exhumed. “Call me when you have that signature. Only when you have it, all right? My time is extremely valuable, and this has taken far too long already.”
Then he was gone.
* * *
An hour later, Noah entered Daniel’s home study. Seared by Blume’s parting shot, he had deliberated for only a few minutes before deciding which Matherly to approach.
He hadn’t spoken to Maris in more than a week. She was still pissed over Nadia. The power-of-attorney document was hardly an olive branch to hold out to her. Besides, she had recently revealed a stubborn streak he hadn’t known she had.
Daniel was the weaker of them. He had earned his spurs years ago, but age had dulled them. He was no longer the formidable force he’d been. Tired and in declining health, he wasn’t as obstinate as he once was. If he put up any resistance at all, Noah was confident of his ability to wear him down.
Maxine answered the door and told him that Daniel was in his study. “He went in there immediately after dinner. Said he was going to read for a while before bedtime.”
Sure enough, when Noah went in, an open book was resting on Daniel’s lap. But his head was bowed low over his chest, and for a second Noah feared the old bastard had died. That’s the way his luck had been running lately. “Daniel?”
He raised his head. “Hello, Noah. I was just reading.”
“Do you always snore when you read?”
“Tell me I wasn’t drooling, too.”
