Forces of Nature (14 page)

Douglas handed her the blouse they'd discarded earlier. “Maybe you ought to cover up and calm down.”

“Calm down?” she hurled as she snatched her shirt from his hand. “My life could be really . . . Oh my God, how would I explain this to my parents?”

“Aren't you a grown woman?”

“Yes, and I certainly didn't act like one being all irresponsible with you. I . . .”

Douglas stood up and closed the space between them. “What's the problem? If you were pregnant with my child do you think it would ruin your life?”

“Yes. And I wouldn't put it past you to use my womb as a bargaining tool in this land grab of yours!” she spat.

“That's not fair.”

“This was another mistake. No wonder my parents think they have to come here and fight this battle. You have to go, Douglas.”

“Wait a minute.”

Crystal snatched her skirt on and stomped back to the main house.

Douglas should've known when to say when. He should've just gotten dressed, headed back to the cottage, packed his clothes, and left. Crystal made it clear that the connection they had was a shallow physical one, and with what Waylon told him, he knew trying to be with her wasn't the best idea ever. But as soon as he zipped his pants, Douglas dashed toward the house, not giving a damn about the logical things he should've done. He banged on the back door as if he was trying to warn Crystal about a fire. In a way he was—the fire of longing and desire that was building like an inferno deep inside him. He wanted her more than he wanted the land, the CEO title at Welco, or his next breath. She had to understand that, even if that meant he had to lock her in that house until she realized that he genuinely loved her.

Crystal snatched the door open, her eyes red from crying, and asked, “Why are you here?”

“Because you don't understand what I'm feeling right now,” he said.

“And just what are you feeling and why should I give a damn?” she snapped.

Douglas moved closer to her until they stood inch to inch. “You should give a damn because I know that I'm falling for you and I'll do whatever it takes to make you see that.”

She tilted her head to the side, thinking about the words Dena said to her hours ago. Was this all a part of the grand plan? Under different circumstances, she would've fallen into his arms, told him that her heart was beating the same song. But she couldn't trust what he said nor what she felt. Lust. That's all it was. Plain and simple, it was a lustful yearning that she felt for him and that would never be enough to make her give him the main thing he wanted.

“You're a liar,” she whispered. “You're falling for this land and falling for the future business park you have planned. You're falling for the idea of me being silly enough to say I love you and sign those papers. That's not going to happen and you should leave before I call the sheriff to escort you off my property.”

“Oh, yeah, call Ron and see how that works out for you,” Douglas spat. “You invited me here, remember?”

“My mistake,” she said. He took her face into his hands and forced her to look at him. “This was a huge mistake,” she insisted.

“Why? Because you're feeling something more for me, just like I am for you?” he asked as he stroked her cheek.

“Stop,” she said as she turned her face away from him. Douglas didn't stop. Instead, he sought out her full lips, kissing her tenderly and slowly. He wished his kiss told her the truth about what he was feeling, told her that he wasn't trying to use her, wasn't trying to play with her emotions. He wished he could take her away from this farm, this town, and go someplace where they could simply be Crystal and Douglas. A place where her parents and his parents never met and never had their battle. When he released her lips, he read something in her eyes that gave him hope.

“Douglas,” she whispered.

“Yes?”

“I just can't . . .” Crystal stopped when she heard a commotion on the front porch.

“Just what in the hell are you doing here?” Crystal heard Dena exclaim as she and Douglas rushed to the front door.

“It's wonderful to see you as well,” Waylon said as he gave Dena a slow once-over. He smiled at her, and Crystal could see that her attorney was fuming underneath his gaze.

“Up to your same old tricks?” Dena snapped as she looked from Douglas to Waylon.

“I'd like to talk to you,” Waylon said, stepping closer to Dena.

She threw her hand up in his face. “Don't come a step closer to me,” she snapped.

“What's going on?” Crystal asked. “And who are you?”

Waylon glanced up at Crystal and Douglas. “You must be Crystal Hughes,” Waylon said. “Waylon Terrell.” He never took his eyes off Dena, who was dressed in a simple pair of black slacks and a sleeveless ivory shirt. Waylon remembered days when she showed off those lovely legs in cut-off denims. This serious Dena was still beautiful, but how could he convince her that he wasn't playing the cruel games that his best friend was known for? How could he explain to her that he too was a victim of Douglas Wellington Jr.?

“You should take your godson and leave,” Dena said. “Crystal may not know the truth about you two, but I do.” She jabbed her finger in his face and Waylon grasped her wrist. Crystal heard Dena gasp and saw a flicker of something—desire—cross her face. Really? Crystal wondered as she looked from Dena to Waylon. As if she remembered that the others were around, Dena snatched away and stalked over to Crystal. “Have you lost all that's left of your mind?”

“What do you mean?” Crystal asked.

“I mean that these two are trying to play you and you're just being a welcome mat for them.”

“I'm doing no such thing,” Crystal cried incredulously.

“Why do you think Waylon is here? He's giving his godson pointers and I'm willing to bet my practice on the fact that he's using the same dirty tricks his father used all of those years ago,” she said, hurling her thumb in Waylon's direction. “They don't fight fair and you're a lightweight. Do you want to lose your family's land?”

“Of course not, but—”

“Then get them off this property and let me handle this through the courts,” she snapped.

Waylon walked over to Crystal and Dena. “Does this have to be ugly?” he asked, focusing on Dena.

Crystal saw a change in her attorney's body language as she whirled around and faced the tall ebony man. There was more than a legal battle going on between those two—that much was clear.

“I have nothing to say to you,” Dena said.

Like Billy Dee Williams in a classic movie, Waylon stroked her cheek and smiled. “I have something to say to you. I'm sorry.”

“Tell me something I don't know,” she snapped. “Why don't you take your tired-ass apology and leave?”

“I'm not going to do that because you need to hear the truth, finally,” he said forcefully. Douglas and Crystal watched in rapt attention.

“Your friend told me the truth when you disappeared and left your check.”

“My check?”

Dena glanced over her shoulder at Crystal. “I'm not doing this here.”

“I never walked out on you—you left me first,” Waylon said. “And why would I leave you a check?”

She glared at him, and as if something clicked in her head, she sighed. “You never knew, did you?” Dena asked quietly.

“Never knew what?”

As if she'd forgotten they had an audience, the unflappable Dena started to cry. “I was pregnant and
he
said you wanted nothing to do with my bastard child and that was why you left.”

Waylon looked shell-shocked as well as he drew Dena into his arms. “I never knew and I would've never abandoned you.”

“But you did,” she said in a hushed tone, then slammed her fist against his chest. “I needed you and you weren't here for me.”

“I didn't know, Dena.”

“Would it have made a difference? I lost our child and suffered alone,” she snapped.

“Don't you think I would've been there?” he exclaimed. “Dena, I loved you then and if you'd give me a chance, I'd prove to you that I love you now.”

“Love me?” she asked. “You don't know the meaning of the word, and if you think your confession is going to change what's going to happen in court on Monday, you're wrong.”

“I never gave a damn about this land or anything that Doug wanted to do out here. I tried to stop him because you're all I ever cared about. I don't know why you don't believe that.”

She glared at him, dried the tears from her eyes as she spat, “You're a liar and that's all I need to believe.”

Waylon, in a quick move that caught everyone off guard, lifted Dena over his shoulder and bounded toward his car—ignoring her demands to put her down.

“Wow,” Douglas said as he walked over to Crystal. “That was intense.”

“There seems to be a lot of history that we don't know about. Is Dena right? Was this a part of the Welco legal plan?”

“Seriously?”

Crystal raised her right eyebrow at him. “You should go,” she said.

“You want to end up like them? Hating each other for years and not knowing where this could go? I can't live like that and I won't.”

“Douglas, this isn't about us. This is about this land. At least that's what it looks like on the surface, but it seems as if this whole thing is bigger than either of us know.”

“I don't give a damn about this land.”

“But you've said many times that you can't call it off.”

“And I can't turn off what I feel for you, either,” he said.

“What are we supposed to do, then?” she said as he took a step toward her. “I can't let my girls down. You can't come in here and pretend that building on this land is going to benefit them or that you've had some change of heart.”

“Give me a chance to make this right,” he said as he reached out for her. Crystal didn't want to, but she fell into his embrace and she even believed that he would make things right between them. Still, she wondered if Dena and Waylon were a glimpse into the not-so-distant future with her and Douglas. There was no way she'd just allow him to win because she had feelings for him. Too many people depended on Hughes Farm, and just like he had family pride, she did too. “My parents are coming tomorrow and I don't think they need to find you here. So, for the last time, I'm asking you to leave.”

“I don't think so,” Douglas replied. “If you want me to walk away from us, I can tell you now that isn't going to happen.”

“Why? Don't want to end up like your godfather? Really, Douglas, we have nothing else to . . .”

He pulled her into his arms and kissed her words away, replacing her bitter sentences with the sweetness of his tongue and the tenderness of his lips.

She moaned softly as he gently stroked her back and kissed her. Crystal pulled back from him, shaken and confused by what she was feeling. “Douglas,” she said.

“Don't give up on us and don't let their past cloud our future.”

“It's not that simple and you know that,” she said, turning her back to him, willing her heart to stop beating so damned hard.

Douglas placed his hands on her shoulders and the heat from his touch made her shiver. “We're going to figure this out,” he said, then brushed his lips against the back of her neck. She sighed, wishing that tomorrow morning wouldn't make them enemies again. But had there ever been more than sex between them? Was she being a fool like Dena said?

“I guess I'd better go,” he said as he dropped his hands.

Crystal turned around and faced him. “Don't go yet,” she said quietly. “Let's just pretend we're two normal people enjoying the land.”

“Are you sure?”

Staring into his sparkling eyes, Crystal replied, “I'm not sure about anything anymore.”

He drew her into his arms and gently kissed her forehead. Douglas knew two things for sure: he had to find his father's file and he had to convince the board to scrap the project.

As he glanced down at Crystal's radiant face, he knew the battle that he was about to confront would be well worth the risk. Maybe he could right the sins of his father and find the happiness that had eluded Douglas Wellington Jr. all of those years.

Hours after Dena and Waylon left the farm, Douglas and Crystal sat on the back porch watching the sunset and sipping wine. He reached for her hand and held it as they sat in a comfortable silence.

“I see why you're so attached to this place,” he said.

“No. We're not going there,” she said, squeezing his hand. “Not until the morning.”

“I've made a decision about tomorrow,” he said. “I'm CEO of Welco and though scrapping this project is going to be a loss for our company, until I know what was behind my father's pursuit of this land, we're going to have to put a halt to the project.”

Crystal's eyes widened in surprise and admiration. “Are you serious? How will you find that out?”

With his free hand, Douglas picked up his wineglass and took a sip, then nodded. “My father, I'm learning, had some deep-seated issues with the town because of his past. Once I find out the truth, I have some changes to make.”

“Why . . . ? What . . . ? I can't believe you're going to do this,” she said. “How are you going to find out your father's true intentions?”

Douglas shrugged, pretending that he wasn't going to have to climb what amounted to Mount Everest to pull this off. “First, I have to find the leak in my office and get to the bottom of what was in Dad's diary.”

“What do you mean a ‘leak in your office'?” she asked.

Douglas set his wineglass aside and pulled Crystal onto his lap. He told her what happened the night he left the farm and went back to his office, revealing that his father's diary was missing. Then he told her about the conversation that he and his godfather had at the café. “Listen, if this was about business and business only, I wouldn't change my mind. Despite what you and others think about Welco, we have ethics. I'm not going to carry out my father's vendetta.”

“I wish my parents wouldn't be so cryptic about the history between them, your father, and the farm.”

“I'm thinking there are some answers in that diary and if someone makes the contents public, the fallout could be devastating for my company and my father's legacy,” Douglas said as he reached out for her. “You know what—take a ride with me.”

“Where to?”

“The one place where my father left a copy of everything,” he said. “Our old house out in Waverly.”

“Waverly?” she asked.

“I'll tell you the story on the way,” he said as he held his hand out to Crystal.

“I would've never expected your family to even know Waverly existed,” she said about the poorest part of the county.

“My grandparents weren't rich,” he said as they walked to his truck. “When my father made his first million, he wanted to move them into a big house in Reeseville, but my grandfather was just as stubborn as my father and he refused to leave the house that he'd bought and paid for no matter where it was located. My grandfather and my father often argued about the fact that my dad seemed to forget where he came from.”

“Wow,” Crystal said, thinking about how much her family cherished their own history. That's why losing the farm was not an option.

Douglas shook his head and opened the door for Crystal. As he watched her climb into the vehicle, he hoped that whatever can of worms they were about to find wasn't going to ruin what they were trying to build.

“Do you think we should check on Dena and Waylon after we're done?” she asked as he slid behind the steering wheel.

“That might be a good idea. I'm a little worried about his safety. Dena's a tough woman.”

“Please,” Crystal said, stifling her laugh. “Waylon lifted her and pretty much kidnapped her.”

“That wasn't a kidnapping,” he said as he started the truck. “That was a man obviously trying to make something right.”

“I wonder how many layers are in this situation. My parents are rushing back to town, my lawyer hates you because of your dad, and now your godfather has kidnapped or taken her to his love shack to make something right. This is crazy.”

Douglas nodded in agreement as they headed down the street. “I hope we find something that will give me the answers I need.”

“What happens if we don't find anything?” she asked as she tugged at the seat belt.

Douglas didn't have an answer. He simply hoped things would fall into place and he could get the board to agree to his plan to squash the deal.

Thirty minutes later, they arrived in the blighted town of Waverly. Crystal had been there many times with the Starlight girls delivering vegetables from the farm to the residents and the food bank. Waverly was one area of the county that Crystal knew depended heavily on Hughes Farm. It was the last place she expected the Wellington family to have roots. She figured, with all of the things that Welco had branded, that they were old money.

“After we search this place, can I show you why my farm is so important to this community?” she asked when they pulled into the driveway of a nondescript brick house.

“All right,” he said after bringing the truck to a complete stop. They exited the truck and walked up the steps quietly. Douglas unlocked the door and Crystal was surprised to see that the place was decorated as if someone still lived there. When Douglas snapped on the lights, Crystal found herself drawn to the fireplace, where old family pictures were displayed. She zeroed in on a photograph of Douglas as a toddler. He had a big smile on his face as he dragged a puppy behind him. “Wow,” she said with a giggle. “You've always tried to force folks to follow you.”

Douglas crossed over to her and took the picture frame from her hands. “Ha,” he said. “Bubbles never listened to me.”

“Bubbles?”

“Like Michael Jackson's monkey. I really wanted one of those,” he quipped.

“You were a cute little boy,” she said.

“If you ask what happened, we're going to fall out.”

Crystal tilted her head to the side. “You grew up into a devastatingly handsome and cocky man. Still trying to make the world see things your way.”

He wrapped his arms around her waist and pulled her against his chest. “It works a lot better now,” he whispered. “I got you, don't I?”

“See what I mean—cocky.”

“And how would you describe yourself? You handcuffed yourself in my lobby until I met with you. That's pretty brash.”

She placed her hand on his chest and smirked at him. “How else would I get your attention?”

“Well,” he said with a seductive tint to his voice, “you could've walked in without clothes.”

“And what would that have accomplished?” she asked, then smacked him on the shoulder.

“Nothing much, but I would've been paying attention immediately.”

Crystal sucked her teeth and shook her head. “Not the right kind of attention.”

“But attention, nonetheless. Come on, let's see if we can find this information,” he said as he started down the hall. Crystal followed him closely, observing bits and pieces of Wellington family history on the walls as she walked. There were photos of who she assumed were Douglas's parents on their wedding day. She didn't miss the fact that Douglas's mother bore an eerie resemblance to her mother. A picture of Douglas on his graduation from high school and college. And was that a picture of him looking like P. Diddy?

“Mmm, Douglas?” she asked when she stopped and pointed to the photograph. “Care to explain?”

He stopped and glanced at the picture. Chuckling, he shook his head and said, “I need to take these pictures and hide them.”

“That doesn't answer the question,” she said, stifling a giggle.

“My first love was music,” he said. “I wasn't always going to be the CEO of this company. I majored in business and my business was going to be music. I had groups lined up that I was going to sign to my label and I was about to meet with Jermaine Dupri in Atlanta before Waylon called me and said my father was dying.”

“Wow,” Crystal said. “So, you gave up your dreams for your father?”

Douglas nodded. “I was shamed into it. I had no intention of returning to this town or working for my father. But Waylon said my father needed me.”

“That sounds like what family does,” she said.

He shook his head and walked into a room that looked as if it had been converted to a storage space. “We weren't exactly your typical family. I blamed my father for my mother leaving and never looking back. Maybe it was the child inside me that thought someone else made my mother do what she did. I'm slowly learning that grown people do what they want to do and no one should stay in a loveless marriage.”

“Is that what it was like with your parents?”

Douglas nodded solemnly. “From what I understand, she was simply a pawn in his game with your mother.”

“What does my mother have to do with this?” she asked.

“That's a good question. If your parents are being cryptic, my godfather is doing the same thing. He did tell me that my dad was in love with your mother, but when she chose another man, he became bitter and wanted to make Reeseville pay.”

Crystal hid her shock. She never wanted to think about her mother being with another man. And Douglas's father? No wonder her dad had been so angry about Douglas being on the farm. She was curious about the history of it all more than ever.

Douglas turned to her and then snapped the overhead light on. “All right,” he said, pointing to a file cabinet. “Let's get busy.”

Crystal and Douglas attacked the drawers, going through every file and every scrap of paper in the room.

“This looks interesting,” Douglas said as he flipped through a thick file. Inside, there were pages and pages of things Douglas Jr. wanted to buy. Businesses where he'd been shunned as a child and details about how he'd make them pay.

Crystal moved closer to him and glanced over his shoulder as he flipped the pages. Douglas's eyes grew wider and wider as he read about Hughes Farm. Unlike the file he'd read before, here the pages spelled out his father's detailed plan to destroy the Hughes family and their friends—particularly Dena. Welco had other options for the business park, including a stretch of land in Waverly. As a matter of fact, Douglas realized, his grandparents' home and the surrounding acreage would be—

“That son of a bitch,” Douglas muttered.

“What is it?” Crystal asked.

“Obviously, my father had two files on this business park idea,” he said. “One for the board and one that's just his personal manifesto. This was a personal attack on everyone he thought had wronged him, especially your father.”

“My father?”

Douglas nodded. “Everybody was a pawn to him—my mother, my godfather, hell, me! I wanted to believe that there was an ounce of decency in him and this proves just how wrong I was. I can only imagine what he wrote in his diary.”

“Are you going to show this to the board?”

Douglas sighed. “I have no choice. I just hope this changes their minds.”

Crystal crossed over to him and wrapped her arms around his slumping shoulders. “I really thought I was doing the right thing. Thought I was creating a real opportunity for the county.”

“I know,” she cooed in his ear. His pain and hurt bothered her and made Crystal think about what she could do to take it away. Stroking the back of his neck, she nudged him to face her. Angry tears shone in his eyes as she covered his mouth with hers, gently sucking his bottom lip, kissing him with a slow passion that made his spine straighten.

Wrapping his arms around her waist, Douglas pulled back from Crystal's hot kiss. Staring into her sparkling eyes, he asked, “Was that a pity kiss? If it was, I'm feeling real pitiful right now.”

“Mmm,” she said, running her hand across his cheek. “What else can I do to make you feel better?”

Pulling her closer, he brushed his lips against hers and whispered, “All I need is you.”

“You got me,” she whispered before he captured her lips in a full-on kiss that conveyed his pain, his passion, and his need.

“Wait,” he said, breaking their kiss again. “We can't do this here. Crazy as it sounds, I keep expecting my grandmother to come in and catch us.”

Crystal couldn't help but laugh. Douglas Wellington III was afraid of something. It was a treat to see this side of him. Made it seem as if she'd be able to love him for real.

Stop it,
she thought as they headed for the door.
Everything is too complicated to think about loving him and being with him.
Crystal glanced at him as he turned the light off and slipped the file underneath his arm.

“What was your grandmother like?” she asked as they crossed into the living room.

“Oh, she was tough. The only woman who could keep my father in check,” he said. “I wish she was still here. You know, she was the one who wanted me to follow my dreams and not do what my father wanted.”

She nodded. “When did she pass away?”

“Two years before my father. God, that was the most painful time in my life. My father said that I should've come back here and taken family more seriously.” Douglas shook his head and sighed. “But that's neither here nor there. I just wish she knew more about what her son was planning. I can respect my father's wanting to outgrow and overcome his Waverly roots. But to use his money and power to hurt others, that's just evil.”

“Maybe your grandmother is guiding you to make things right,” she said, easing closer to him.

“Yeah, I don't believe in that haunting mumbo-jumbo,” he said, then glanced over his shoulder. “But in case you're right: Thanks, Granny.”