Page 15 of Kane
“Four. And I’ll send a bodyguard with you everywhere you go.”
She considered his offer. The money was essential for her expansion plan at Cooper, and though she’d probably qualify for a bank loan, the debt would make the company look weak. The man she wanted to do business with will have done his homework, and she had to approach him from a position of strength.
“I know your stepbrother really needs that business of yours to stay afloat. Even with insurance, his medical bills must be quite draining.”
Bastard. Mike, his family, and their business were the only things left she cared about. “Fine. Four weeks. And I’ll take you up on the bodyguard.”
Her father’s smile was the same practiced one he’d given Nathan. “It may actually work out for you better in the end. Even if he is a bad egg underneath it all, Nathan Shaw can only help your social standing in this town. You never know, maybe some time on his arm will help you land a man worthy of the Griffin name.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Amanda
Walking through her brother’s small foyer, the weight from Amanda’s stressful day finally lifted from her shoulders. The Cooper house represented everything she wanted her own home to be one day. Never mind the fact it would fit four times over into her father’s place. She’d take warm and inviting over cold and pretentious any day of the week. She loved sinking into the plush suede sofa, and she always wanted to kick off her shoes the second she walked in, just to squish her toes inside the fluffy throw-rugs.
It’s what her niece, Aliyah, did now, standing barefoot on the thick fabric. Her pudgy, eighteen-month-old fingers held on to the coffee table for balance.
“Mana!”
She swept the little girl into her arms for a gentle hug and was rewarded with a wet kiss to the side of her face. Her heart ached. She’d held out for years, unwilling to raise a child if she couldn’t do it with a man she loved. At this point, though, she was ready to be a mom, even if she had to do it all on her own. Lots of women did it.
She could have done it with Joshua, but when he was born, it seemed easier to let him go with her brother and his wife.
A new baby wouldn’t happen while Nathan was in the picture, though. She would rather cut out her own tongue than to tie herself to a prick like him for the rest of her life.
She breathed in the lingering baby-smell on Aliyah’s light-brown skin. Soon, all of her toddler traits would vanish, leaving a rough and tumble preschooler in their wake. She’d seen it happen before with Joshua, even if it had been from a distance, more than a decade earlier.
“Is your Auntie-Manda covering you with kisses?”
The little girl squirmed at her father’s voice, and Amanda released her to toddle toward her daddy’s wheelchair. Mike looked frailer than he had the last time she’d seen him. It seemed counter-intuitive since he was supposed to be healing, but it’s not like he could hold on to his muscle mass with two broken legs, a shattered pelvis, and a punctured lung.
Her heart eased a little when he flashed her a smile. He was still here. Still Mike. Even if he couldn’t lean over to pick up his daughter.
His wife stepped from behind the chair to lift their daughter in her arms. Cindy and Mike had been together for so long, she was more of a sister than an in-law.
“We saved you a piece of pecan pie. I figured your dad wouldn’t have any at his house.”
Leave it to Cindy to remember it was her favorite. “Thanks. I wish I could have been here for dinner.” She rubbed at her forehead as Cindy sat beside her on the couch. “You know my dad. Couldn’t miss the chance to turn a holiday into a political opportunity.”
Aliyah twisted her little body in her mother’s arms, determined to get back to her daddy. When Cindy refused to let her down, she started to cry.
“It’s almost her bedtime,” Cindy murmured. “I’m going to go give her a bath.”
Mike’s smile fell as his girls left the room, and Aliyah’s cries echoed down the hall. “I’m not strong enough to hold her. She doesn’t understand.”
“How could she? She’s only a baby. But it’s not forever. You’ll get stronger, and you’ll hold her again. She won’t even remember all this.”
She wished she could forget too. The memory of Mike so quiet and motionless in his hospital bed after his accident still took her breath away. Her brother had always been larger than life, her rock after their parents died more than ten years ago.
“Let’s talk about something else,” she said brightly. No sense in dwelling on the past. “What’s with the beard? You look like Sasquatch.”
Mike ran his hand over his scruffy cheek. “You don’t like it? Cindy says it makes me look kind of like Chris Pratt inGuardians of the Galaxy.”
A bark of laughter escaped her mouth before she could stop it. “They say love is blind. All I can say is your wife must really love you.” Mike may have had the same coloring and dirty blond hair, but no one would mistake him for a blockbuster actor. His features were far too broad and blunt. He wasn’t a bad-looking guy, but pushing forty, he looked like, well, what he was, a hard-working, blue-collar husband and father.
He joined in her laughter, then rubbed at his chest. “Are you trying to kill me? Don’t make me laugh.” When he caught his breath, he rolled closer. “What happened at the meeting with the board?”
Reliving the failed coup killed any urge to laugh. “They tried to force me out.” She held up her hand when he started to sputter. “They tried and failed. I had proof I was your proxy. Guess all our planning paid off.”