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“Silas is looking over the numbers. He’ll have an answer for me in six weeks.” Valentine’s Day. He hadn’t understood the significance of Silas’s choice of date until Emma explained her own deadline to him.
“That long? He’s probably no more comfortable with the risk than Sebastian and I are. Two hundred million is a big chunk of our assets. If you’re wrong, we stand to lose everything.”
After their father’s retirement, Sebastian and Max had changed Case Consolidated Holdings’ business strategy from high-risk to ultraconservative. Nathan would be the first to admit that their father’s obsession with huge profits had led him to make some dicey deals, but his brothers had overreacted.
And because they had, Nathan’s ideas for moving forward by joining with Montgomery Oil to create a new company instead of continuing to buy existing companies had been met with skepticism.
“I’m not wrong,” Nathan said.
He’d been a fool to let his father talk him into coming to work with his brothers. Brandon Case had been out of his mind to think Sebastian and Max needed him. They only needed each other. And their safe little strategies.
“You feed on taking risks,” Max said. “It’s like you get high from it.”
“Any risks I’ve taken in business have come after a lot of careful analysis.”
Max snorted. “Is that what you did at the poker table? Careful analysis?”
Nathan hated having his hard work reduced to little more than fortuitous circumstances, but he wasn’t going to brag about his accomplishments. He intended to demonstrate to Max and Sebastian how wrong they were to underestimate him.
“Face it, Nat,” Max continued. “You’re not going to get the deal with Montgomery done. Silas is just leading you on. Which brings me to the reason I called. We heard from Lucas Smythe. He’s willing to take a meeting.”
Max’s news infuriated Nathan. Sebastian had been eager to bring Smythe Industries into the fold for a couple years. Buying the family-run business would further diversify Case Consolidated Holdings’ portfolio. It was the perfect move for his risk-averse brothers.
“Why now? A year ago he turned us down flat.”
“He didn’t say and it doesn’t matter. Sebastian and I like Lucas’s company. There’s not as much risk involved.”
Or as much reward. “All I need is six weeks to get the details ironed out.” He left the specifics deliberately vague. “If you give me time, I can make this deal happen.”
“This isn’t about you.” Max’s voice hardened. “It’s about what’s best for Case Consolidated Holdings. Stop acting like a lone wolf and prove to us that you can put the company’s best interests before your ego.”
“That’s what I’m doing.”
The unfairness of the criticism hit Nathan hard. He’d always been the one on the outside. His mother’s long-term affair with Brandon had robbed Nathan of any chance for a normal family life. After her death, when he’d been twelve, he’d gone to live with the Case family. Neither the wife Brandon had cheated on, nor her overprotective sons had been happy to share a roof with the living proof of Brandon’s infidelity. Sebastian and Max were thirteen months apart, with Nathan a mere six months younger than Max. But while his brothers were as tight as twins, they shut out Nathan completely.
“It’s hard to act like part of the team when I’ve been treated like the opposition.”
Silence followed Nathan’s statement. When Max spoke again, he sounded colder than ever. “We’ll see you in the office tomorrow.”
“Sure.”
“I’ll set up a meeting with Sebastian in the afternoon. You can bring us up-to-date then.”
Without waiting for Nathan’s answer, Max disconnected the call. Nathan muttered a string of curses and inserted a CD. While Dierks Bentley reminded him that good things happen, Nathan contemplated his situation. The last six months had been hell. He probably wouldn’t have lasted this long if he didn’t love a challenge so much.
Nathan rested his elbow against the door and propped his head on his hand. Unbidden, the sexy image of Emma wearing the black thong and matching strapless bra rose in his mind as he thought back to the night of Grant’s party. Her skin had been like hot silk beneath his fingers as he’d stripped her underwear off. She was exactly the sort he went for, all sultry sophistication and flashing sable eyes.
Her brother, Cody, had been his best friend in college. The first time Nathan had laid eyes on her, she’d been sixteen. The four-year difference in their ages made her jailbait, but she’d stalked him, her curiosity fully engaged on her journey from girl to woman.
