Against All Odds. Gwynne Forster

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      Chapter 4

      Adam closed and locked his office door, spoke at length with Olivia, took the elevator down to the garage, got into his newly leased Jaguar, and headed for Beaver Ridge. He hadn’t told Melissa where he would spend the next two months or so, because he wanted to find out whether a complete break would have any effect on their feelings for each other. He couldn’t imagine that they’d lose interest though, because a mutual attraction as strong as theirs had to run its course. He loved to drive and had missed having a car, which he considered more of a nuisance than a convenience in New York, but he’d forgotten the frustration of driving bumper to bumper. After more than four hours in heavy traffic, he turned at last into Frederick Douglas Drive, the long roadway that marked the beginning of his family’s property.

      Wayne met him at the door of the imposing white Georgian house that Jacob Hayes had built for himself and his heirs sixty-five years earlier. Remodeled and modernized inside, it was home to Adam as no other place ever would be. He could close his eyes and see every stone in the huge, marble-capped living room fireplace. As a youth he’d slipped numerous times out of the room’s large back window that oversaw his mother’s rose garden and, as many times, the thorns had ripped his pants. He had loved the solitude that its many rooms assured him, and cherished the stolen fun he’d had with his brother when they secluded themselves in upstairs closets or the attic away from parental eyes. Coming home was a feeling like no other.

      * * *

      He and Wayne exchanged hugs in the foyer that separated the living and dining rooms and slapped each other affectionately on the back, appraising each other with approval, before Wayne took one of Adam’s bags, and they climbed the wide staircase to Adam’s room.

      “What do you know about the new manager you hired for Leather and Hides? I’m sure you investigated his references. From what I’ve seen of him, he’s competent...but, well, can we trust him?”

      Adam rubbed the back of his neck. “He came with excellent references, but if you’re suspicious...” He let the thought hang. Wayne’s question raised a possibility that he hadn’t considered. He went to find his mother, to let her know he’d come home.

      * * *

      With several hours remaining before dinner, Adam decided to visit Bill Henry, his mother’s youngest brother. He figured he’d be seeing a lot of his uncle. If any man had come to terms with life, B-H was that man. And with a stressful two months ahead of him, he was going to need the relief that B-H’s company always provided. He entered the modestly constructed, white clapboard house without knocking. When B-H was at home, the door was always unlocked, and in summer the house was open except for the screen doors. It amused him that his wealthy uncle chose to eschew the manifestations of wealth, while his neglected investments made him richer by the minute.

      “Why’re you home in midsummer, Adam? You usually manage to avoid this heat.” Not only did Bill Henry take his time speaking, Adam noted—his uncle, though still a relatively young man, did everything at a slow pace.

      “Wayne asked me to come home. I expect you’ve heard about the near fiasco at Leather and Hides. I hope it was a simple error, but I’m beginning to suspect that someone wants to sink Hayes/Roundtree Enterprises. We don’t know who’s masterminding it, or even if that’s the case, but one of our employees had a hand in it. It couldn’t have happened otherwise.”

      Bill Henry rocked himself in the contour rocker that he’d had designed to fit his six-foot four-inch frame. “What kind of mix-up was it?”

      Adam related the details. “That’s burned-up money, B-H.” He wiped the perspiration from his brow. If Bill Henry chose to live close to nature, he could at least have something handy with which his guests could fan. The man must have sensed Adam’s discomfort, for he passed an old almanac to his nephew, and Adam made good use of it.

      “Any new men on the job?” When Adam shook his head and then looked hard at him, as though less certain than he had been, B-H probed.

      “Anybody mad at you?”

      Adam shrugged. “I’ve thought of both possibilities, and I’ve got some ideas. But I can’t act until I’m positive. In the meantime I’ll install a variety of security measures. If you have any thoughts on it, give me a call.”

      Adam took his time walking the half mile back home in the ninety-six-degree heat. A new man was on the job, but what did that prove? He had no reason to suspect Calvin Nelson. The man was too experienced to have permitted such a blunder, so he couldn’t have known about it. If it was deliberate... But why would he want to do such a thing? Unless... Adam didn’t want to believe that Melissa would engineer the destruction of his family’s company, that she would participate in industrial sabotage, producing the perfect candidate for the job. One who could destroy his family’s livelihood. No, he didn’t believe it. But she was a Grant, and there had never been such a mishap at Leather and Hides in the plant’s sixty-five years. Not until Calvin Nelson became its manager. It was a complication that he’d prefer not to have and an idea that he couldn’t accept.

      * * *

      He didn’t want to think about Melissa, but he couldn’t get her out of his head, because something in him had latched on to her and refused to let go. He’d taken a chance in letting her think their relationship was over. If she knew him better, she’d know that he finished what he started, and that she was unfinished business. He meant to have her, and leaving her for two months only made it more difficult. Melissa was special, and she appealed to him on many levels. He liked her wit, the way her mind worked, her composure, the laid-back sexy way she glided about. And he liked her company. He was tired of games, sick of hollow seductions, disgusted with chasing women he’d already caught just because good taste demanded it. It was always the same. A woman allowed him to chase her until she decided enough time had elapsed or he’d spent enough money, and then she let herself be caught. He never promised anything, but she’d go to bed and then she chased him. He was sick of it. Done with it. Melissa didn’t engage in such shenanigans, at least not with him, and that was part of her attraction. He wondered if she’d miss him.

      * * *

      A phone call from her father was reason for apprehension, though Melissa had learned not to display her real feelings when his treatment of her lacked the compassion that a daughter had a right to expect of her father. But when her father called her office and began his conversation with a СКАЧАТЬ