Elizabeth couldn’t blame them. The presentation to Grady Veltran and his people had begun three hours ago. Thus far no one had emerged from the lab to give a report. With every passing moment, disaster seemed more imminent.
“Something’s gone wrong.” Angela came to a halt in front of the window. “If Soft Focus had worked as Page promised it would, we’d have heard something by now. We might as well face the facts. We’re ruined.”
“Everything Patricia worked for all those years,” Milo’s uncle, Ivo, muttered. “Down the drain.”
Angela looked grim. “I knew we shouldn’t have let Jack concentrate all of our resources on a single project. I told you it was a mistake. I told all of you. Remember?”
Milo’s aunt glared. “It’s not as if we had any choice,” Dolores retorted. “This company was going under. Jack was our only hope.”
Elizabeth turned away from the window. “Calm down, everyone. If there had been a problem in the lab, I’m sure the Veltran people would have left by now. They’re still here. I can see the limos in the parking lot. That means there’s still hope.”
“It’s over,” Ivo moaned. “Nothing left but liquidation. We should have done it months ago.”
The door opened before Elizabeth could respond. Everyone turned to watch Milo walk somberly into the room. Jack was a pace behind him. Both men were stone-faced.
Milo came to a halt and faced his relatives. For a second he showed no emotion whatsoever.
Then he broke into a huge, boyish grin. He let out a whoop that rattled the windows and punched the air with his fist. “Yes. The sucker worked. Just like Tyler Page said it would. The demonstration went perfectly. Tell ’em, Jack.”
Jack met Elizabeth’s eyes across the room. His smile was slow and satisfied. Not unlike the way he smiled when he made love to her, she thought.
“Well?” she prompted.
“We were delayed getting back here because Grady Veltran insisted on signing a preliminary licensing agreement before we even got out of the lab,” Jack said. “We had to wait until the lawyers could get everyone’s signature.”
“Hot damn.” Ivo shot to his feet. “Hot damn. You did it.”
“Jack did it.” Milo grinned and pounded Jack on the back. “He pulled it off.”
“We did it.” Jack clapped his shoulder. “You were cool during the demo, Milo. Nerves of steel.”
Milo could not seem to stop grinning.
“I don’t believe it,” Angela whispered, hope and relief lighting her eyes. “It worked?”
“Perfectly.” After a quick glance at Jack, who was leaning very casually, arms folded, against the edge of his desk, Milo cleared his throat.
Elizabeth watched the younger man assume a cloak of composure that bore a startling resemblance to Jack’s own enigmatic air of executive cool. She hid a smile. Milo was learning fast. Then again, he was taking lessons from a master.
“Aunt Patricia’s theories concerning the fundamental nature of colloidal crystals were right,” Milo said. “Tyler Page was right when he said he could make them work. Hell, we’re all right.” He nodded toward Jack. “Thanks to you and the Aurora Fund, Excalibur is set to be a major player in the next generation of light-based computer technology.”
Elizabeth went to a cupboard, opened it, and removed the two silver buckets she had placed there nearly three hours earlier. Each held a bottle of champagne. The ice in each bucket had long since melted.
“I think this calls for a celebration,” she said. She looked at Jack and Milo. “Will you two gentlemen do the honors?”
“Oh, wow,” Milo said, cool slipping away as quickly as it had come. “Champagne.”
“Great idea.” Jack straightened from the desk and walked across the room to pick up one of the bottles. He looked at Elizabeth as he went to work on the cork. “I take it you never had any doubts?”
She smiled. “None at all.”
“What a coincidence,” he said softly. “Neither did I.”
She looked into his eyes and saw the intense happiness there. She knew that he saw the same expression mirrored in hers. Both of them knew that it had nothing to do with Soft Focus.
The cork came out of the bottle with a very satisfactory pop. It hit the ceiling. Everyone laughed with delight.
Milo held up a brimming glass. “Here’s to Soft Focus. And while we’re doing toasts, I’d like to be the first to propose another. ‘To Jack and Elizabeth. May they live happily ever after.’ ”
* * *
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
* * *
SHE WAS LATE.
She saw him waiting for her the moment she walked into the Pacific Rim Club restaurant. He was seated in the exact same booth in which he had waited for her on the day after their ill-fated first night together. Not a coincidence, she thought. She smiled to herself.
Hugo, the maître d’, hurried over to greet her. “Ah, you’re here, Miss Cabot. Mr. Fairfax has already arrived.”
“So I see.”
Hugo escorted her to the booth. Elizabeth sensed several heads turn en route. She caught glimpses of smiles and knew that she was not the only one who was experiencing a mild case of déjà vu. This was the first time that she had met Jack for lunch here since their spectacular scene.
She saw the gleam of amusement in his eyes and knew that he was enjoying watching her walk the elegant gauntlet. When she reached the table, he got to his feet and brushed her mouth in an unmistakably possessive kiss.
“You’re late,” he said.
She ignored him to smile at Hugo. “Thank you.”
“Of course, Miss Cabot.” Hugo beamed. “Please allow me to offer my sincerest congratulations on your engagement. We look forward to holding the reception here on Friday.”
“We’re both looking forward to the party, too,” Elizabeth said.
Hugo smiled again and retreated.
Elizabeth refused to acknowledge any of the sidelong looks from the other diners. She set her purse down on the cushion and slipped into the booth. Jack sat down across from her.
“You’re probably wondering why I called this meeting,” he said.
She glanced meaningfully around the room. “I assumed it was to make a point.”
He grinned. “Okay, I admit I couldn’t resist replaying this particular scene in front of this particular audience. I wanted to get it right.”
“You’re doing very well so far. At least I haven’t poured ice water over you.”
“Things are definitely looking up,” he agreed.
She helped herself to a bread stick. “By the way, we got an engagement present from Vicky.”
“No kidding? What did she send?”
“An autographed poster of Fast Company. I’m going to get it framed for my office.”
“I saw Page this morning. He was excited. Seems that the film has been picked up for foreign distribution and is going to be available on video. It’ll never make any money, of course, but at least it’s out there.” Jack leaned back in the booth and fixed her with a steady gaze. “Want to order first, or shall we get right down to business?”
“You’re starting to scare me, Jack.” She reached for the menu. “What’s this all about?”
“While we were in Mirror Springs you offered me a business proposition.”
“You never got back to me on the offer, as I recall.”
“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking.”
She slowly lowered the menu. “Are you serious? You want to go to work for the Aurora Fund?”
“Not exactly. But something you said at the time you made your offer stuck with me.”
“What was that?”
“You pointed out that the goals of the Fund and the goals of Fairfax Consulting are very similar. You search out small companies that need venture capital. I specialize in turning around small companies that are in serious trouble. Why not join forces and offer a package deal?”
She smiled. “Sounds like a winning combinati
on to me. But I’ve got to say, I’m a little surprised. I thought that the idea of taking orders from me was more than you could handle.”
“It is.” He sat forward and clasped his hands on the table. He looked directly into her eyes. “I love you more than I have ever loved anyone else in my life, but I don’t intend to work for you. Nothing personal. It’s just that I don’t take orders well. However, I have another arrangement in mind.”
“I knew it. There’s a catch.”
“Not a catch, an alternative. I’m proposing a joint venture. Fairfax Consulting and the Aurora Fund will maintain their individual business identities, but they will form a partnership to handle certain selected projects.”
“Hmm.” The muted buzzing of her cell phone interrupted her contemplation of his suggestion. She opened her purse, reached inside, and withdrew the small instrument. “This is Elizabeth.”
“Lizzie?” Merrick’s ever-cheerful voice boomed in her ear. “I’ve been trying to get hold of you all week. Did you get a chance to take a look at my business plan?”
She stifled a small groan. “I did glance at it, but I’ve been a little busy lately, Merrick. What with the arrangements for the engagement party and all, I haven’t—”
“I know, I know. Congratulations, by the way. But getting back to my plan. This is the big one, Lizzie. I can feel it in my bones.”
“As I said, I haven’t gone through the plan in detail, Merrick.” She saw a glint appear in Jack’s eyes. She had not discussed Merrick’s business plan with him, and she was pretty sure that he could guess why she had not done so. His obvious disapproval irritated her, so she spoke rashly. “But I trust your instincts. I’ll have the funds transferred into your account immediately.”
“Hey, Lizzie, that’s terrific.” Merrick’s enthusiasm was, as usual, contagious. “Fantastic. You won’t regret it. Things are going to work this time. You’ll see.”
“Give me that phone.” Jack reached across the table and deftly removed it from her fingers.
She glared at him. “What do you think you’re doing?”
He paid no attention to her fuming. “Merrick? Jack Fairfax here. Yeah, yeah, I know how lucky I am. Now, about your business plan. The Aurora Fund and Fairfax Consulting are setting up a joint venture. If you take the funding, you also take the consulting.”
Elizabeth felt her jaw drop. She tried to grab the phone out of his hand. “Jack, wait, we haven’t really discussed this yet.”
He held the phone out of reach and continued to speak to Merrick. “I’ll be working with Elizabeth, not for her. No, we haven’t signed the papers yet.”
“We haven’t even talked about the details.” Elizabeth stood up and tried again to swipe the phone away from him. “For all you know, I’ve changed my mind.”
Jack angled his head to indicate the three business executives seated in the booth across the aisle. She glanced at them and saw that they were watching her with keen expectation.
“I agree,” Jack said. “A good matchup of skills and market niches. Thanks, I thought it was a pretty good idea myself.”
Blushing furiously, Elizabeth subsided back into her seat with ill grace. She tapped one red nail pointedly on the table as Jack concluded the call.
“It’s a deal,” he said finally. “I’ll be in touch.”
He handed the phone back to Elizabeth. “There you go, our first joint-venture client.”
She glowered at him. “That was a little premature, don’t you think? Something tells me that if that’s an example of the way you do business, this joint venture of ours is not going to be as easy and smooth as you seem to believe.”
“Are you reneging on your offer?”
“My original offer,” she reminded him very evenly, “involved you working for the Aurora Fund. Not a joint venture.”
“You’re just ticked because I won’t agree to an organizational chart that has me taking orders from you.”
She started to argue, hesitated, and then reluctantly succumbed to the laughter that was fizzing inside. “Dang. It was such a lovely fantasy.”
He grinned. “You want a good fantasy? Wait until tonight. I bought a book on massage. And if that doesn’t work, I think I can come up with something else that will entertain you. What’s more, it won’t be a fantasy, either. Guaranteed.”
She felt herself grow warm in the glow of love that she saw in his eyes. This was the real thing, she thought. This was the love that would last a lifetime. She knew that as surely as she knew that the sun would rise.
“What are you thinking?” he asked.
“Just that we lucked out.”
“We sure did.” He smiled. “We got the happy ending.”
This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are either the product of the author’s Imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events or locales is entirely coincidental.
The Penguin Putnam Inc. World Wide Web site address is
http://www.penguinputnam.com
Jayne Ann Krentz, Soft Focus
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