Discovery (32 page)

Ben looked down at Grace and squeezed her hand. “Let's go home.”

The brick mansion was massive even by today's standards and the plantation was one of the few in South Carolina that survived the Civil War intact. The huge, white-columned front porch spanned the width of the entire house and the ornately carved front door was bordered on both sides by floor-to-ceiling, triple-sash windows. Inside, the foyer revealed a grand staircase that even Scarlett O'Hara would have envied. The mansion was palatial and filled with antiques and scared the life out of Grace.

She sat there in the cavernous foyer staring at the large double doors at the end of the long hall. Behind those doors sat the Council, discussing her fate, her life. Her Ben.

As if reading her mind, Ben reached over and softly held her hand. “Don't look so uptight. Everything will be okay.”

“Can you promise me that?”

“No. But we can hope can't we?”

One of the doors cracked at the end of the hall and Dave poked his head out. “They're ready for you now.” He half-smiled before closing the door again.

Ben and Grace stood and slowly walked the long hall toward the Council boardroom. The hall wasn't carpeted so their footsteps echoed loudly through the mansion. Grace didn't know which was louder, her footsteps or the heavy thumping of her heart.

“What do you think they will do?” Grace whispered over their footsteps.

“I don't know. Based on the Council code, their choices are limited. Execute me or send me off on a mission. Either way, I doubt they'll let us stay together.”

“Do they always follow Council code?”

“Almost always. But we kind of have a special situation here with you being, well … you. So who knows what they'll do? We're kind of in uncharted territory here.”

Grace's hand tightened around Ben's and she stopped right in front of the boardroom double doors. “Then it's now or never isn't it?”

Ben turned to face her and his face softened. “Absolutely.”

Without hesitating, he wrapped Grace tenderly in his arms and their lips came together in a soft hungry kiss that had waited forever to be had. Sensual and desperate, their lips moved as if they were one. They explored each other as if touching for the first time. As if nothing else mattered but that gentle, wet kiss. The kiss that pressed their bodies together with a force only reserved for new lovers. The kiss that stirred their bodies to touch in unspeakable places, to move in breathless and uninhibited unison. It was a first kiss worth waiting for, worth devouring, worth savoring and in that kiss Grace finally felt safe. She felt like she belonged. She felt like she was home. In Ben's arms.

When Ben's lips finally released her, he still held her close, his fingers caressing her back in soft, firm waves. “Ready?” he whispered.

“No.” She clutched Ben tighter and kissed his chest through his open collar. She let her lips linger on his skin to memorize his taste. She needed to feel him with every sense she had. To taste him, to smell him, to touch him as only his lover would. She needed more time. More time to experience Ben's arms, Ben's lips. Ben's everything.

But there was no time.

“I'm not ready either,” he whispered, kissing her forehead delicately. “But that kiss was definitely worth the wait. Thank you for loving me.” He looked down into her eyes one last time before he released her and slowly opened the doors to the Council boardroom.

Grace entered behind Ben, still gripping his hand, and nothing was as she expected. The room was a sea of faces, some of them familiar, most of them not, but all of them looking at her and only her. She was the center of their attention. Grace stood straighter, keeping her hold on Ben, his kiss empowering her to take whatever the Council dished out.

Dave walked over and gently guided them to the long table in the center of the room. “I believe you both know our Council leader, and my much older and wiser sister, Lady Covington.”

Lady Covington sat at the head of the table and took her time looking them both over, but her eyes ultimately focused on Grace. “It is nice of you to join us … finally. We have been waiting longer than expected for you, Grace,” she said.

Dave then gestured to the men sitting to the right and left of their Council leader. “And, of course, you know Julian, Lady Covington's lieutenant, and also Council member Carleton Hillary.”

Grace smiled at the familiar faces but they did not smile back. She then glanced around the room and the only other person she recognized was Tom. He was standing across the room in the far corner staring at her, but when their eyes met, he awkwardly looked down and never looked back up.

“Well, Mr. Pickett,” Lady Covington broke the room's heavy silence. “I hope you are ready to plead your case, young man, because you have quite a lot of explaining to do. And considering the special circumstances of this situation, we are all very eager to hear what you have to say. We appreciated the debriefing you gave Councilman Hillary on Gregory and his family. Your history with them should help our troops find the Reichs very soon. And your knowledge of the Anti-Powers will also go a long way in the defense of your case.” Lady Covington paused and looked hard at Ben. “We are not your enemies, Mr. Pickett. You see, none of us want this to end badly, but we do still have our Council code to consider … as well as any supposed feelings you two may have for each other.” She glanced at Dave who winked at her. “And while your feelings may be a factor in our decision on how to proceed in this matter, please know that this decision belongs to the Council and
only
the Council.” She smiled and gestured to two empty chairs at the other end of the table. “So why don't you two have a seat and let's get started.”

Ben looked down and leaned into Grace. “Remember, whatever they decide, we still have us,” he whispered. “Just us.”

Grace looked up at Ben and her blue eyes melted into his. “Yes. Just us.”

Lisa White was born in Kingsport, Tennessee and raised in Bristol, Virginia. After graduating from the University of Virginia with a degree in Italian language and literature, she obtained her law degree from the University of Richmond School of Law. She currently lives in Southwest Virginia with her husband and two children.

Please visit Lisa at:

www.lisawhiteauthor.com

Other books by Lisa

The Laws of Love
(Crimson Romance 2012)

Her stomach knotted with the day's growing frustration.

“Where is that wire?” Livi yelled into her assistant's office. “The money was supposed to be here two hours ago!” The young attorney walked out of her office and plopped down in the small leather office chair across from her assistant's desk. “Are we sure the fax went through? Did they get our signatures?”

“Yes. Calm down,” her assistant Nadine said as she turned away from her computer to face her irritated boss. “They received our signatures, the contract is fully executed, and they have our correct wire instructions. Accounting simply hasn't received the money yet. Don't worry. It'll get here.”

“I know the money will get here eventually, but I told Robert the deal would close
today
,” Livi said, as if Nadine did not know that fact already.

Her assistant's calmness did nothing to improve Livi's mood. Last night's blind date fiasco had reminded Livi once again that her monogram's initials were not going to change anytime soon and thus she had started this morning off in a bad mood only to have the day plummet downhill from there. It had taken a year to negotiate this fifty million dollar deal and now it came down to a silly computer dictating when Hampton Steel's money would be received. Livi was not handling the delay well.

As Assistant General Counsel, Livi Miller had closed more deals for Hampton Steel Incorporated than she cared to remember and waiting for the other company to wire the money into her company's account had always been the most aggravating part of these transactions. In this age of technology, Livi did not understand why the wire could not be here with a simple press of a button. However, transferring money from one multi-million dollar corporation to another was not easy, and the layers of approvals between corporations and banks had gotten thicker in recent years thanks to Wall Street's ethical shortcomings.

In her head, David Bowie and Freddie Mercury were loudly and repeatedly singing “Under Pressure.” She needed this deal to close today. While her job did not depend on it, she wanted everything to run smoothly right now. With her boss, Robert, retiring soon, Livi was next in line to take his place as general counsel. It was not official but Robert had implied Livi's succession so many times that the entire company assumed she would get the job.

Despite her boss's implications, however, Livi still questioned the absolute certainty of her promotion. Robert's drinking had reached a point where his legal opinions bordered on malpractice thus intensifying Hampton Steel's need for his retirement to occur sooner rather than later. While Livi could usually cover for her boss and his alcohol-influenced legal opinions, her promotion was entirely in his hands. Having her deal close today would reinforce Livi's ability as the company's top lawyer and hopefully cement her succession in the sometimes cloudy mind of her boss.

Thinking of this deal's impact on her promotion prompted Livi to grab a hefty handful of M&Ms from the crystal bowl sitting on the corner of Nadine's desk.

“Are you that worried?” her assistant asked.

“No.” Livi smiled. “But I appreciate you keeping this stash for me.” Chocolate had always been her “go-to” vice whenever she was anxious.

Livi had known Nadine since high school. They had not been best friends at Millersville High — Nadine had been the social butterfly while Livi stuck with her boyfriend and the school library. But when Livi was hired by Hampton Steel a few years ago, she was pleasantly surprised to find Nadine's familiar face in the assistant's chair outside her new office, and they had worked together as a team ever since. Livi appreciated having an old high school acquaintance around and was always careful to call Nadine her “assistant” and not “secretary”. She knew how valuable Nadine was to her and did not want to point out the obvious working hierarchy between them.

“Would you please call accounting and check again?” Livi sighed as she walked back into her office while finishing off her M&Ms and gulping her third Diet Coke of the afternoon. She did not care that the caffeine could intensify her soon-to-be-here migraine. She just knew it made her feel better now. She would worry about the migraine once it got here tonight.

Livi sat down at her desk and stared out her office window, irritated with both her failed blind date and the delay in today's deal closing. She knew she loved her job, but stressful times like these caused Livi to question why she had not just married right out of high school and taken a simpler and more traditional path for her life as most of her friends had. However, Livi had been anything but traditional growing up and this nonconformity allowed her to discover her life's goal in the law as early as junior high school.

She had just completed seventh grade and was volunteering as a summer tour guide for Millersville's historic courthouse. While other kids her age were riding bikes along rural trails or swimming the cool waters of the local lake and river, Livi intently watched Millersville's petty legal dramas unfold from the back row of the courtroom. The law excited the geek in her and she absorbed it with the intensity of someone twice her age.

As she grew older, nothing could extinguish her excitement, so it was a natural progression for Livi to eventually leave her hometown of Millersville for college and law school. The University of Virginia had not been easy. Its reputation had been right on the mark. But while she questioned her chosen career path at times, she never regretted it, despite the constant reminders of what she was missing in her social life.

“Liv,” Nadine called from her outer office. “Your dad is on line one.”

Livi immediately realized she had forgotten tonight's birthday dinner for her sister. “Hey, Dad,” Livi tried to sound nonchalant over the phone. “What time is dinner?”

“You know darn well dinner's at six o'clock. That time hasn't changed since I left you all those messages on your cell, and at home, and at work,” her dad sweetly bristled. “Don't ask me what time dinner is and don't be late. Elizabeth is looking forward to spending time with you and I know you can stop working long enough to celebrate her birthday.”

Livi sighed. “Don't worry. I just have one more thing to close out and I'll be there with bells on.”

“Well, I don't care what you're wearing. Just make sure you bring your undivided attention. And Livi … ” Her dad paused.

“Yes, Dad,” she said, anxious to get off the phone.

“I love you.”

“I know, Dad. Love you too.” Livi hung up the phone. “Nadine!” Livi called into her assistant's office. “What did accounting say?”

Nadine was already standing in Livi's doorway, her arms crossed and eyebrows raised in an I-told-you-so fashion. “You forgot your sister's birthday dinner, didn't you?” she said, ignoring Livi's question.

“Yes,” Livi rolled her eyes.

“Well, today must be your lucky day,” Nadine smiled. “Accounting just received the wire so the deal has officially closed. You now have time to go downtown and get your sister something she actually wants — not whatever you can grab on the way like you usually do. So why don't you get out of here?”

With her multi-million dollar deal closed, Livi took a deep breath and finally relaxed. “Shopping is my thing.” She beamed with an immediate mood change as she began packing up her briefcase. “Call me on my cell if anything comes up,” she yelled to Nadine who had already retreated back to her office.