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“Well, why not now?” Joanna furrowed her brow. “Obviously, it wouldn’t have been prudent to have offered you a job when we didn’t know if your and Grant’s relationship would survive your move, but since you two seem committed to each other, I—”
“Mom.” Grant curled his hands into fists. “If you’re trying to hook Rory into the company because you think she can get me to move back to the Bay Area, then she and I are walking out of here and not coming back. I will not stand for you manipulating her the way you did me.”
“Don’t you dare accuse your mother of being manipulative,” Edward snapped. “All she has ever wanted is for you to be loyal to this family the way your brother is.”
“Right, and to do that, she has to constantly—” Grant stopped and shook his head, forcing down old latent anger. “This is about Rory. What’s going on, Mom?”
“Do you know what happened at Digicore?” Rory leaned forward, her eyes dark. “How?”
Joanna pressed her lips together. She picked up her glass and walked to the sidebar. “I would like you both to know that I had no manipulative or nefarious intentions whatsoever. I was simply concerned. As it turned out, I had good reason to be.”
His expression darkening, Edward poured her a fresh drink.
“What did you do?” Rory rubbed her hands on her thighs. “How did you find out?”
“That day I came to pick you up for lunch.” Joanna took the glass from her husband and turned to face Rory. “You looked as if you were about to be sick. You looked as if youweresick.”
Grant’s heart started beating too fast. That must have been the day Rory found the fucking scoresheet. It made him crazy to think of how horrified and shocked she must have been…and that he hadn’t been there for her. She’d been alone.
“You had this crumpled piece of paper in your hands, and you kept twisting it around and wadding it up…it was very strange to see you like that, Rory.” Joanna shook her head as Edward put his hand on her shoulder. “It wasn’t like you at all, and the only thing I could think of was that something had happened with Grant. But, of course, I didn’t want topry, so off we went to lunch. You’d put the crumpled paper in the side pocket of your handbag.”
She shifted her gaze to the opposite wall and took a sip of her drink. “I noticed it when you went to use the ladies’ room.”
“Mom.” Grant grated the word out past the anger collecting in his throat. “You didnottake that paper out of Rory’s bag.”
“Grant, I was terribly worried!” Joanna lifted her hand as if that explained everything. “I just wanted to take a quick peek. I thought maybe it had something to do with you, and when I saw what it was… Well, it was quite clear that someone was being very cruel at Rory’s expense, and that was the reason she was so upset.”
Rory lowered her head, her breath escaping in a hard rush. Every muscle in Grant’s body locked in defense of her. He forced himself not to cross the room, or he’d grab her hand and walk out the door without looking back. Maybe he still would.
“That was a complete violation of her privacy and her trust in you.” He turned to his mother, his anger boiling over. “You had no right to do that. None! I don’t care what you were worried about or why you think you can justify it. This is the kind of shit I can’t fucking stand, when you—”
“Stop.” Edward held up a hand. His voice boomed, but he sounded loud rather than angry. “I will agree that your mother overstepped her bounds, but I won’t have you shouting at her.”
“Overstepped her bounds?” Grant stared at his father. “She took Rory’s property because she has to be in the fucking center of everything and interfere every chance she gets.”
“Grant, please.” Rory stood swiftly and crossed to him, putting her hand on his lower back. Though her expression was calm, he could feel her shaking. “I don’t want to be the reason you’re fighting again.”
“Rory, I am so sorry.” Joanna dabbed at her eyes with a cocktail napkin. “I really didn’t mean to snoop. Well, Idid, obviously, so I suppose in some way I did mean to, but it wasn’t premeditated. I just saw a corner of the paper sticking out of your bag and impulsively wanted to see what it was.”
“Why didn’t you ask me?”
“I did ask you when I was picking you up. You said it was nothing when it was clearlysomething.” Joanna crumpled the napkin in her hand. “Then I couldn’t upset you further by telling you I’d seen that horrible drawing. So, later that day, I made some calls and did a bit of investigating.”
“Christ.” Grant sank into a chair, wishing he could disbelieve what he was hearing. Unfortunately, mucking around in other people’s lives was one of the things his mother did best.
“Your mother knows several women whose husbands work at Digicore.” Edward swirled the liquor around in his glass. “They were all too eager to gossip about what was going on inThe Hive, as they call it. Though we didn’t know the details, it wasn’t difficult to piece together the situation. Rory had become the target of inter-office bullying and harassment, and neither HR nor management appeared to be interested in doing anything about it.”
“You may think I’m just an extravagant housewife who hosts dinner parties and spends time at my women’s club.” Joanna lifted her chin, eyeing Grant with a sudden hard glint in her expression. “But since the day your father founded Intellix, I’ve made it my mission to be educated about technology. I wanted to be able to talk to anyone, from programmers to vice-presidents, about software development, research, virtual reality, even game design. You’d better believe I know the business profiles of all the top players in the industryandall the rumors surrounding them.”
She spread her hands out. “When I discovered that Rory was in a bad situation, I also guessed that she would have a difficult time extracting herself from it without ruining her other job prospects and possibly even her career. I’ve heard plenty of revolting stories about the way some companies treat women, and I couldn’t stand the idea of Rory being one of them. So, I approached your father.”
And, of course, Edward Taylor would do whatever his wife asked. Grant shook his head, his insides knotted.
“The situation instigated the job offer.” Edward studied Rory, a deep crease between his eyebrows. “But I wouldn’t have made the offer if I didn’t know you’d be a valuable asset to the company.”
“I appreciate that,” Rory said. “But surely you can see how it looks, given my relationship with Grant and with both of you. Even with Nathan. This is not a normal hiring practice.”
“Why should it be?” Joanna shrugged. “People do favors for others all the time. It was easy enough for Edward and Nathan to create a role that would suit you.”
