Daisy's Choice (A Tale of Three Hearts) (15 page)

“
Yes, Aiden, there’s a possibility that she will tell you to go to hell.”

Aiden gave a deep chuckle. His eyes narrowed on the desert sands. “One can only imagine what Daisy Johnson has to say to me.”

****

Daisy closed her magazine and looked over at Clara. Her partner was staring straight ahead at the video playing on the monitor. “You’re quiet.”

“
Am I?” Clara blinked as if waking. She flashed a sweet smile. “I don’t mean to be. What are you reading?” she asked, taking the magazine.

Daisy handed it over. She looked over at her attorney. “Jeffrey? What do you have on this company?”

She waited patiently, but as soon as they lifted to the clouds, he was on his phone. It irked her to no end. Time wasted. She hadn’t been briefed by either of them. He looked up at her from his square rimmed glasses and frowned, ended his call, and tilted his head curiously. “Nothing yet.”

“
Ah…” Clara's gaze bounced between them both. “That’s why I wanted you to come. To um, to meet them and hear the proposal in person.”

“
I thought you said Jeffery and his firm was looking into things. That I’d have a complete report before we walked in the door.”

Jeffrey removed his glasses. “Don’t worry, Danielle. McBride Associates is a very distinguished firm. I’ve done plenty of business with Donovan myself in the past. I’ve tried to put in a call with him this morning, but he isn’t accepting any at the moment. When I join you at the negotiator’s table, we’ll have plenty of room to handle this business to your favor.”

“
Donovan?” Daisy frowned. The name is ringing a little familiar. Why, she wasn’t sure. “He’s the one we will be meeting with?”

“
Yes,” Clara interjected. “And it’s a preliminary meeting. He’s going to do his dog and pony show for you, Danielle, and then you just decide if it’s worth the time or money. Jeffrey will be with us so nothing to worry about.”

“
Wait… I don’t want to go into any meeting unprepared. I told you this. What is the big rush?” Daisy snapped.

Clara gave a tense smile and her eyes betrayed her. Daisy noticed how flushed her skin became in the air-conditioned cabin with tiny beads of perspiration dotting her brow. She studied her even more closely and her instincts didn’t jive well with the evident change.

“
Okay, confession.” Clara threw her arms up and rolled her eyes. She looked over to Daisy. “I screwed up the first meeting. All on me, Danielle. You were right. I came off a little too eager.”

“
Well—”

“
Let me finish.”

Daisy frowned, but silenced. Clara closed the magazine, shifted in her seat and finally made direct eye contact with her. She looked at Jeffery and then back to Daisy as if she didn’t know where to begin.

Daisy sensed her unease, and touched her hand. “It’s okay. Slow down. Tell me what’s going on.”

Clara cleared her throat. Her mouth opened and closed, but nothing came out.

“
Clara? What is it?”

Jeffery narrowed his eyes on her as well. “What is it? Something happened we should know?”

“
Thank you,” Clara said.

Daisy chuckled softly, “For what?”

“
You took a chance on me, believed in me and gave me a start. I learned a lot from you. I just want to thank you, Danielle, from the bottom of my… Um my heart.”

Daisy rolled her eyes. “Oh come on. It can’t be that bad. What is this about?”

Clara smiled, but a tear dropped, and she quickly wiped all evidence away. “Nothing happened; I mean I just couldn’t seal the deal on my own. So I… well they want to entertain more offers than ours. If we don’t get in and come in strong, we’ll lose it, Danielle. This opportunity. You’re always calm and poised. I’m always too anxious, you know. And with Jeffery, we got this good cop, bad cop thing in the bag.”

The pilot announced their descent. Daisy reached and hugged her partner. A woman she considered a friend. “We’ll kick their asses. They won’t know what hit them!”

Clara hugged Daisy tight then let her go, looking away. Daisy buckled her seatbelt. Donovan McBride? She couldn’t see any harm in meeting him. Even though secretly she was seriously reconsidering this expansion deal. Maybe she should get her house in order before trying to grow her business. Amy’s talk of a father that she couldn’t name had her rattled.

“
Jeffery, I want you to take the lead. We won’t negotiate until you’ve had an opportunity to ensure that this deal is worth it.”

“
Agreed.”

Clara let go a deep sigh. “Thank you, Danielle.”

“
Don’t thank me yet. We’ll just see what McBride wants,” she said. The plane touched down and they jostled in their seats as it bounced on the pavement, leveled and coasted along the runway to a stop.

“
Well, this is it. The show is on the road.”

****

A rush of cool crisp air washed up her nostrils and over her feverish skin once they entered through the automatic doors of the hotel. The blistering walls of heat were now left behind. She felt relaxed once more. Wow, she’d forgotten how hot Arizona was. The humidity was hell on her curls, reducing her stylish hair to a limp wavy set framing her face. With her partner on one side of her and her attorney on the other, they walked through the lobby.

The place was polished in a rustic kind of way. Earth tones, dark deep green paneling and gold furnishings, with the inclusion of Irish Celtic symbols were scattered about. Her memory flashed back to the last visit she made to Arizona. It included a trip to the Grand Canyon and a stop-over in a barely renovated hotel for a private seduction of dress-up for Aiden. Daisy stiffened. She glanced about the lobby, then at the elevator. A chill went through her.
Was this the same hotel?

“
Danielle?” Jeffery said. “Are you okay?”

“
Um, I don’t know… I...” she started, and then an ambush of two blondes knocked the doubts away. These ladies were identical in their Kelly green business attire and stature. They smiled, solely focused on Daisy.

“
Welcome to The Tavern. Mrs. Locke, if you and your people would please follow us.”

She eyed Clara and found it strange that her partner would keep her shades on even in the lobby.

“
This way,” the other woman repeated.

Daisy nodded. They proceeded through the lobby. Her fears were unfounded. About her was nothing more than arriving guests and staffers. She calmed. It worked. Over the years, she’d fled places after phantom sightings or paranoia when she was pregnant. Her hormones had her crazed––that and her depression. The only way she could function was to finally step up and out of her forced isolation. With a brand new baby, broken heart, and a bag full of money, she made herself over as Danielle Locke and stuck with it.

These past weeks had rubbed salt in many old wounds. The death of her father had her revisiting the well of regret daily. And now, Amy had ‘questions’. Daisy vowed to pull herself together. Aiden Keane didn’t own
every
hotel. Pete was probably back in the Hollow, married with a kid of his own. Life went on and so would she.

The numbers climbed:
11…12…14…15…16…17
.

None of them spoke. Daisy caught Clara's reflection in the mirrored surface of the elevator doors, and she could swear she looked pale. Something felt off. What was it?

22…
23…24…25…26.

The elevator stopped.

“
Clara?”

Clara looked over and Daisy tapped her eye for her to remove the sunglasses. Clara gave her a weak smile then walked out placing the designer pair in her purse. Daisy hesitated and followed.

“
This way,” one blonde instructed Clara and Jeffery. When Daisy tried to follow, the other blonde stepped in her way. “Mrs. Locke, you’re requested to follow me.”

“
For what?”

“
Please, if you don’t mind.”

Clara froze. Jeffery stepped up. “I’m her attorney. She doesn’t meet with your boss unless—”

“
Mr. Wallace, isn't it? Nice to meet you. You two will be brought in after you meet with the associates. I’m sure you will like a little time to review everything first. No?”

Jeffery looked from the ladies placid smile to Daisy’s questioning eyes.

He nodded that it made sense. “Danielle, don’t agree to anything. Let me see what’s going on around here.”

The blonde's smile spread over her lips. “She’ll be waiting for you. Now, please… this way.”

Jeffrey and Clara were ushered off.

“
Mrs. Locke, if you don’t mind,” said the other.

Daisy followed her escort down the hall. Her gaze lifted to the black dome security bubbles. The chill returned to her bones. Looking away, she considered her exposure. Flying away from her baby, to fix a deal she barely believed in, was an unnecessary risk. The woman stopped before her, gave her a coy almost mocking look, and opened the doors. Beyond them was a private conference room. Daisy entered and found it empty.

“
He’ll join you in a moment,” the blonde said and stepped back out.

“
He? Donovan McBride?”

The door gently shut. Daisy tossed her clutch bag on the conference table and crossed her arms. After an impatient minute, she walked the length, running her hand over the top of the leather chairs all pushed in neatly and aligned. The place was very masculine. She could still smell a trace of tobacco from a man's cigar. That was odd. It was politically incorrect to smoke in a building, she thought. She rubbed her arm and tried to stop her head trips. It didn’t work. She went all the way back to Vegas, to Aiden’s game, Pete’s rage, and her duplicity. The hint of cigar, smell of money, polished furnishings all brought him through her thoughts. She’d seen Aiden over the years in financial newspapers or on the front of a business magazine. At times the Shamrock was featured on the Travel Channel. Some nights when her pain and longing to go back home and undo it all got to her, she thought of him, what she kept from him, and what he’d do if he ever met Amy.

She was such a fool then. He must still get a kick out of how he duped her with that blonde whore of a girlfriend of his.

***

Aiden watched her from the security room.
She doesn’t remember the hotel? How could she not? Does she remember anything about what we shared?
There were times he saw her frown and look around her surroundings with awareness in her eyes. But those times were fleeting. She didn't seem at all agitated or alarmed. Truthfully, their time here was so brief. The place was barely standing, and the floor where she modeled for him was six stories above. Still, he had hoped that he left as much a mark on her as she did him.

When she walked through the lobby, confident and beautiful, he sensed the change in her. He saw it in her poise. She was missing that girlish giggle she had about her from before.

Aiden's patient stare was finally rewarded. Daisy looked directly into the camera, stared him in the eye, and for a moment she burned him where he stood. Again, her power over him was unnerving. The coward in him considered calling it off. He feared her rejection, and fear wasn't something he was used to.

"Sir, we have Mathew Sterling here to meet with you."

Aiden would delay the meeting. He had to see her. Now.

****

From behind her the latch turned and released. Slowly the door opened. Tired and missing her baby, she had made her choice. These ventures would push her too far into the living. She wanted her life to remain the way it was, anonymity and all. To hell with this deal. Clara would just have to learn to live in the bubble that is Jahi. She was calling the deal off.

“
Mr. McBride, I think I’ve wasted your time.” Daisy turned. Her gaze lifted then snagged on Aiden's coy smirk. He stepped in and the air escaped her lungs. A vision right out of her dreams, her nightmares, and the place she visited secretly. Dressed impeccably in his tailored threads, his suit jacket parted on the left with his hand in his trouser pocket. He approached silently. His pacing remained as confident, and controlled as the blaze of triumph in his emerald eyes. Daisy didn’t speak. For that matter, she didn’t breathe. She just stared at the man. Stared and wondered again.
What would he do if he knew about Amy?