Corporate Affair (5 page)

“Any place is okay,” answered one of them. “Are you still serving lunch?”

“We serve anything all day long,” she responded tersely. “Follow me.” She led the two men to a small table just at the bend of the bow window. “Drinks?”

“I’ll have iced tea, no sugar,” Aiden heard one say.

“Heineken for me,” said the other.

Aiden heard the chairs scrape the floor and the rise and fall of their voices, but he was too engrossed in his own thoughts to pay any more attention. As he drank his beer, Aiden built up and knocked down scenario after scenario in his mind. He was putting together the third “contract” when the words “Chat dot com” caught his ear. He didn’t move a muscle, but he was instantly alert and listening.

He had overheard a bit of the conversation between the two men who sat at the table by the bow window. What could they have to do with Chat?

“I don’t think we’ll have a problem with her,” Aiden heard one man say. He wished he could turn around unobtrusively to see which one was speaking, but the room wasn’t large enough and there were too few people for him to make a move and not be noticed.

“She’s pretty quick, Chris,” said the other man. “She’ll scrutinize every word of any document before she signs it or even before she takes it to Palmer. I wish we could just deal with Palmer.”

Chris! Christopher Fenton!
Aiden’s pulse kicked up a notch. He strained his ears, not wanting to miss a word. “Ha! That’s all you know!” Aiden heard Chris Fenton laugh through his nose. “You were there this morning. She’s wet behind the ears. She may be bright, but she’s a neophyte. I Googled her. She doesn’t even come up, except under the personnel column of the ChatDotCom website. And at that only as ‘assistant to Eugene Palmer.’ I think Palmer’s made a mistake. He’s sick and he’s tired or he wouldn’t have left such an inexperienced girl at the helm.”

“We can’t underestimate Palmer. She’ll do whatever he wants her to do. The reason he put her in charge is just for that reason. She’s selfless. Probably has a massive hero-worship crush going on with him.”

Aiden heard Christopher Fenton snort again. “He’s probably banging her. I know I wouldn’t let something like that get by me, no matter what kind of salary I had to pay her. She could call herself whatever she wanted! Sick or not sick, Palmer’s a fortunate bastard if he got to screw that before he’s dead.”

Aiden surprised himself with his sudden flush of anger. He took a large swallow of the beer and drained the glass. The conversation was offensive to him. Christopher Fenton was offensive, but then, his father had warned him. He looked up from the bottom of his mug. Vanessa had materialized in front of him. She held the two drinks for the table in her right hand. “Another?” she asked.

“Please,” said Aiden. He wanted to leave, to get away from these men, but he felt he had to stay just to see if they gave up any pertinent information he could use when formulating his offer.

“Be right back,” Vanessa said.

Aiden strained his ears to hear more.

“What can I getcha?” Vanessa addressed the men.

“I’ll have the burger, medium, with a salad instead of fries.”

“House, ranch, French, blue cheese, pepper Parmesan?”

“Ranch.”

“And you?”

“Fish and chips.”

Before she disappeared into the kitchen, Vanessa set her pad and pencil down on the bar and pulled Aiden another beer. Aiden lifted the frosty mug to his lips and continued his eavesdropping.

Christopher Fenton, whom Aiden still had not positively identified, said, “This is a valuable little niche up here in New England. Right in the middle of ski country.”

“It’s an escape area for the cities, that’s for sure,” said his companion.

“It’s more than that. This is the new expansion territory. This part of the East is going to grow and be prosperous. The wealth will flow north into these areas. I have to get my hands on this company. It’ll be worth five times what I pay for it today. Just give it five years. That’s my prediction.”

“Think she’ll go for the proposal?”

The kitchen door crashed against the wall again as Vanessa bulled her way through, both hands held high with dishes of food. Aiden turned then and watched as she set the food down. The hamburger went in front of a large blond man, tall, with broad shoulders. He looked to be in his late thirties, and he wore rimless glasses. His hair was cut short and slightly spiked, and his neck was thick, as if he weight trained frequently. So this was Christopher Fenton. He turned back to the bar.

“She’ll go for it. I’ve got my ways. There’s never been a deal I couldn’t close.”

There’s always a first time
, thought Aiden.

Fenton continued, “I don’t think she’s as smart as she seems. I think she does exactly what Palmer tells her to. I say she’s in it for the money. All I’ve got to do is up the ante, and I’ll be the one putting it to her!”

“What about that clause about keeping her five years?”

“It’ll make checking on business up here in the sticks all the more pleasant. And five years is just about the timeline I’m counting on.”

“What makes you so sure she won’t choose Trade Winds? She said their proposal was more of a merger than a real take-over.”

“Ha! Trade Winds! Nothing to worry about. Old Stewart is just like Palmer. Stewart owns Trade Winds outright. Although it appears to be one of the biggest communications companies in New England, it just doesn’t have the capital to work with that we do. In the end, I can just flat out offer more cash. Money talks. It’s about the only thing that does. Besides, I plan to maneuver Miss Fitzgerald into a position of, how shall I say,
submission.
”

Aiden was lifting his glass to his lips and stopped. This was very nearly a threat. It sounded sinister. Was his imagination running away with him?

“And how do you propose to accomplish that?”

Aiden heard Christopher Fenton give a nasty little laugh. “That is something that’s just going to have to remain a corporate secret. Suffice it to say, I’ve used it before to fire people, to get information, to turn the situation for the benefit of Fenton Industries. Works every time.”

Aiden was boiling over with impotent rage. He had to finish his beer and get out of there. What was that his mother had said?
Eavesdroppers always hear unpleasant things.
Well, he had heard some unpleasant things. He took another gulp of the beer just as one of the men at the end of the bar motioned for Vanessa, who was writing up Aiden’s tab, to come close.

“What’d you want now, Larry?”

The man leaned in over the bar and spoke in a low voice. “Hey, are those guys here to talk to Jordan about Palmer and Chat?”

Aiden watched as Vanessa looked over to the two men. “Don’t know,” she said. “I never saw them before. Could be.”

“Sounds like they are. Hey, you call your cousin Ashley and tell her to tell Jordan to watch her step. Don’t trust these guys. They ain’t good people.”

“Huh,” said Vanessa. “You been eavesdropping?”

Now the other man spoke up, leaning close over the bar like his friend. “Not intentional,” he said, “but it seems these guys are too stupid to keep their voices down. They been running their mouths, and we don’t like what we hear. Just tell her don’t trust ’em.”

“I’ll do that,” said Vanessa, sliding Aiden’s check along the bar. He picked it up and reached into his back pocket for his wallet. So this was a small town in action. Palmer must be a big fish in a little pond, like his father had said. Everybody seemed to know his business. And perhaps that wasn’t such a bad thing. It could work in Aiden’s favor. He left cash on the bar and included a healthy tip for Vanessa.

“Thanks,” he said.

“Any time,” acknowledged Vanessa.

Aiden walked out into the late afternoon. The sun was in the sky a little later these days. It would be flooding his hotel room with light as it set over the hills to the west. He walked slowly back to the Inn, hardly seeing as he walked.

Aiden’s emotions were never a very active part of his life by day—or by night for that matter. Now they were in total chaos. He was struggling with something, some feeling he couldn’t quite identify, yet it was familiar at the same time. Jordan Fitzgerald had confused him somehow, and he caught himself thinking about her constantly. Was it pity? Was it sympathy? Was it just animal attraction? His natural reaction to a pretty girl? He thought about his meeting with Jordan Fitzgerald, his surprise to find she was female. But had he been surprised that she was female or surprised at her beauty and youth? He had thought that despite her self-control and professionalism, her obvious competence and intelligence, she had looked almost fragile in the huge office. Those big blue eyes—there was something behind them, something guarded, something vulnerable.

Aiden shook his head and ran his fingers through his hair. He climbed the front steps to the Inn, nodded to Bill Noyes, who stood behind the desk, and went up to his room. He kicked off his sneakers and sat cross-legged on the bed, like he used to do when he was a student, his laptop balanced on his knees. He typed furiously for a while, making lists, highlighting, crossing things out, adding a balance sheet. Finally he looked up and out the window.

The last of the evening sun was indeed pouring into the room, washing the floor in gold and making the brass bed gleam. It was a warm room. In spite of the reason for his finding himself in the little town, Aiden felt content and at home. His phone rang, snapping him out of his daydream.

“Aiden!”

Aiden’s stomach sank. He had totally forgotten. “Alexis,” he said dully.

“Where are you? You were supposed to pick me up early so we could miss the traffic out to Cape Elizabeth. We’ll be late, Aiden!”

Aiden listened to the edgy voice, tinged just a bit with hysteria and anger. Better get this over with fast, just like ripping off a Band-Aid. “I-I’ve had to stay in Vermont. I’ve got continuing business here, and it can’t wait.”

There was silence. Then, the woman’s voice again, “Are you telling me you’re not picking me up? Are you telling me we’re going to miss the party? The party on the yacht? Where the other guests include the governor of Maine and a United States senator? Aiden? Aiden, are you there?”

“You can still get there. I’m just not able to go.”

Now her voice became deadly quiet. “Aiden,” she finally continued, “I’m disappointed. I’m angry. I drove up here from Boston for this. This is absurd, and I’m not going to waste my time a second longer. Don’t ever call me again. Good-bye, Aiden!” She clicked off. Aiden sighed, looked at the blank screen of his phone, and ran his fingers through his hair. Oddly enough, he felt relieved. Alexis was just another diversion. He didn’t realize until now that he hadn’t actually cared that much for her personality anyway. All he had thought about was climbing into bed with her and having some fun sex. Suddenly he reflected. Fun sex. Then he thought about that, realizing it had been a while since he’d had any real fun. At any rate, the deed was done. He would not see her again. There were other fish in the sea, not that that seemed to matter at the moment. Aiden was once again aware that his emotions were in tumult. He was getting very involved in this merger deal. It seemed to mean more to him than his work usually did. Maybe he was getting like his father. He bent his head to the computer and began pounding the keyboard once again.

Chapter Four

S
TRUGGLING
W
ITH
C
ONFLICTING
F
EELINGS
, Jordan drove back to work that afternoon. She was elated that her daughter was walking, yet it had been Jordan’s mother and father who had seen those first steps, not her, Grace’s own mother, and certainly not Grace’s father. Jordan fought the burn of tears at the back of her eyes.

Jordan gripped the steering wheel and clenched her teeth.
Focus on what you do have
instead of what you don’t
, she told herself. Consciously, she willed herself to think positively. Certainly, she was lucky to have her parents. Grace was lucky to be cared for in a real home by her grandparents. And it wasn’t as though Jordan wasn’t doing her part. Her job at Chat was everything to the family now that Jordan’s father had been laid off from his construction job. Not only was she paying the mortgage, but she was contributing to her brother’s university tuition as well. Her father and mother chipped in with savings and unemployment checks, but Jordan was shouldering the bulk of the family’s expenses. She was glad she could do it. It made her happy to help her family, to be the one upon whom the rest could rely. That was what family was all about. Whoever was in the strongest position at the moment helped the rest weather the storm until they were back on their feet. If missing her daughter’s actual first steps was the price she had to pay, then she would pay it.

She wheeled into the parking lot at ChatDotCom, pulled into her parking place, and hurried into her office through the private back door. She wanted to go through both the proposals from Trade Winds and Fenton Industries once again before she met Christopher Fenton this evening for dinner. Ashley could help her. Together they could compare the offers and make a list of non-negotiable issues in selling Chat so as to reap the greatest benefits for the employees of the company and for the Palmer family.