Soft Focus (18 page)

“Uh, no. No, I gotta talk to him myself. I'll try his cell phone.”

“I think I hear his car in the drive,” Elizabeth said smoothly. “Do you want to hold on, Mr. Ledger?”

“Yeah, sure,” he said automatically. “I'll hold on.”

She smiled as he confirmed his identity. Who said she couldn't play the role of the private eye. “Sorry, Mr. Ledger. It wasn't his car, after all.”

“Damn. Okay, I'll try his cell phone.”

There was a sharp click in her ear as Leonard hung up. She replaced the receiver and studied the teapot for a long moment. After she thought she had given Leonard enough time to make his call, she poured a cup of tea and started to reach for the phone again. It rang just before she touched it.

She answered quickly, expecting to hear Jack's voice.

“Hello?”

“I'm sorry about that scene in the restaurant,” Hayden Shaw said quietly. “Just wanted you to know there was nothing personal in it.”

“Nothing personal?” She heard her voice rise in renewed fury. “It was one hundred percent personal. What is it with you and Jack, anyway? You're not a stupid man. I can't believe you're going to let this ridiculous vendetta ruin your life.”

“You don't understand, Elizabeth.”

“Damn right.” She hung up the phone.

“SHAW TOLD ME
about what you did to Lizzie.” Merrick stood at the edge of the river and gazed out over the tumbling water. “How you lied to her to get her to renew the funding for Excalibur. You seduced her to get what you wanted. You used her. Humiliated her. I oughta beat the crap out of you.”

“I didn't lie to her,” Jack said. “And what happened between us six months ago wasn't a seduction. It was the start of a serious relationship.”

Merrick shot him a look of angry disbelief. “A serious relationship?”

“I admit things have been a little rocky from time to time, but we're still together.” He thought about the monthly board meetings. “We've been seeing each other on a regular basis.”

“Bullshit. You're using her. She hasn't had a serious relationship since she broke up with Garth Galloway.”

An ominous cloud of gloom settled around Jack like a fog. “Garth Galloway? As in Camille Galloway's son? The chief financial officer at Galloway?”

“Yeah.” Merrick shoved his hands into his coat pockets. “Elizabeth was engaged to him.”

“Engaged. To Camille Galloway's son.” He was caught in some sort of doom loop, Jack thought. Every time he made some progress, he was faced with another disaster. “Figures.”

Merrick scowled. “What do you mean?”

“Forget it. Why did she break up with Galloway?”

Merrick sighed. “She told everyone that the stress of the hostile takeover put too much strain on their relationship. And it was true, as far as it went. After you demolished her company, Camille blamed Garth for leaving the firm financially vulnerable. Garth blamed everyone in sight for his failure. He got angry, and then he got depressed, and then he started sleeping with someone else.”

“I see.” Jack looked at the fast-moving water. “I didn't know that Galloway was engaged to Elizabeth.”

Merrick gave him a derisive look. “Would it have made a difference?”

He hesitated, thought about Larry, and then shook his head. “No.”

“I didn't think so. In the end, she confronted Garth with his infidelity and broke off the engagement.” Merrick paused
a grim beat. “Garth then told her that the only reason he had gotten engaged to her in the first place was because his mother had wanted the match. Camille liked the idea of having the Aurora Fund in the family, you see. She thought that it would make a nice, ongoing financial cushion for her company.”

Jack felt his insides turn cold. “In other words, Galloway wanted to marry her for her money.”

“He wanted to use her,” Merrick said evenly. “The same way you did. But I'll give Garth Galloway credit for one thing. He didn't humiliate her in a public scene in front of her friends and colleagues.”

“Do you think she loved him?”

“Well, sure.” Merrick frowned. “I mean, she was engaged to him, right?”

“If you say so.”

“Of course she was in love with him.” Merrick hunkered deeper into his coat. “She got over him eventually, but it was hard on her for a while. And then you come along a second time and screw up her life all over again.”

“Believe it or not, I didn't mean to screw it up this time.”

Merrick gave him a dark look. “So what's the deal between you two?”

“I've been trying to figure that one out for six months.”

“Come up with any answers?”

“No.”

“Well, let me help you get some context here,” Merrick said. “It's real simple. You need the backing of the Aurora Fund to keep Excalibur going, so you're sleeping with the lady who writes the checks. What's going to happen when you no longer need her money?”

“Beats me,” Jack admitted. What would he do when he no longer had that tenuous link with her?

“I don't get it. This whole thing just doesn't make sense.” Merrick eyed him for a few tense seconds. “There's something else going on here. What is it?”

“Nothing that concerns you.”

“Like hell. She's family. I've got a right to know—”

The cell phone rang, silencing Merrick. Grateful for the interruption, Jack quickly removed the small instrument from his jacket pocket.

“Fairfax here.”

“This is Leonard Ledger. You know that guy you were looking for? Tyler Page?”

Jack stilled. “I'm listening.”

“I think I've got a lead on him.”

“Where is he?”

“I can't talk now. Come to my hotel room tonight, okay? Make it around eleven-thirty. I gotta go to some screenings, and then I gotta have drinks with some people who are interested in investing in my film.”

“Ledger, if you expect me to shell out hard cash for your next project, you'd better come across now—”

“You never told me this guy was trouble.” A whining note infused Leonard's words. “I can't afford to piss off certain people, y'know? I gotta be real careful here.”

“Listen, Ledger—”

“Room three-oh-five. The Mirror Springs Resort. Eleven-thirty. Don't bother coming around earlier. I won't be here.”

The phone went dead.

“I DON'T LIKE
this, Lizzie.” Merrick shoved his fingers through his hair and slanted a suspicious look at Jack. “I don't like leaving you here alone with him.”

Jack, occupied with making coffee in the kitchen, did not look up from his task.

Elizabeth summoned up a reassuring smile for Merrick. “Don't worry about me. I can take care of myself.”

Jack did pause briefly at that comment. He glanced at Merrick. “My advice is to listen to her. She's an adult. She's smart. She knows what she's doing. She's also real stubborn. Take it from me.”

Merrick stabbed his fingers through his hair again. “There's something about this whole damn situation that doesn't ring true.”

“If I tell you the truth, will you give me your word that you'll keep your mouth shut?” Elizabeth asked him.

Jack shot her a quick, warning glare. “Elizabeth—”

“It's okay, Jack,” she said quietly. “I trusted you earlier when you said you wanted to talk privately to Merrick. Now you'll just have to trust me.”

Jack subsided, but he did not look thrilled.

“I knew it,” Merrick turned eagerly back to Elizabeth. “Something is going on. What is it?”

“What do you think it is?” Elizabeth smiled blandly. “It's business, of course.”

Relief flashed across Merrick's face. “That makes more sense. I knew that you were way too smart to fall for another jerk.”

Elizabeth was very careful not to look at Jack. “I appreciate your faith in my intelligence, Merrick.”

“But what the hell kind of business are you doing here in Mirror Springs? Don't tell me it's got something to do with the film festival.”

“Indirectly,” Elizabeth said smoothly. “We're trying to put together a deal with someone who is attending the festival. He wanted to spend the week here. We wanted to get together with him, so we're here, too.”

“Huh.” Merrick's brow puckered slightly. “If it's business,
why did Shaw give me that song and dance about the two of you being involved in an affair?”

“Hayden Shaw is pursuing the same prospect we are,” Elizabeth said. “He's got his own reasons for wanting to put a spanner in the works.”

Merrick slanted another suspicious glance at Jack. “So how come you and Fairfax are both staying here together?”

“There's a severe shortage of accommodations in town.” It occurred to Elizabeth that she'd had to make this excuse a lot lately, first to Louise and now to Merrick. “When Jack arrived he was told his reservation had been lost. He didn't have a place to stay. I let him share this place. There's plenty of room.”

Merrick eyed the twin sleeping lofts. “Not a lot of privacy.”

“We're careful,” Jack said from the kitchen.

Merrick frowned at him and then turned back to Elizabeth. “What kind of deal are you two putting together that involves both Excalibur and the Aurora Fund? Licensing agreement?”

“Something like that,” Elizabeth said. “I really can't tell you any more than that. Lot of money involved. If we close the deal, the Aurora Fund stands to make a huge return on its investment.”

“I see.” Merrick was definitely wavering now.

Elizabeth decided to take advantage of his growing uncertainty. She looked pointedly at her watch. “It's getting late, Merrick. You've got a long drive ahead of you if you're going to make your plane. Rowena will be waiting.”

A pang of anxiety lit Merrick's eyes. “I know.”

“I'll walk you out to the car,” she said gently.

She crossed the room and opened the front door. Cold, crisp air wafted into the room. Merrick looked at the open door and then at Jack.

“Business, huh?” he said, obviously wanting to be convinced.

“You heard Elizabeth.” Jack flicked the switch on the coffee machine and lounged back against the edge of the counter. “Business.”

“No other reason she'd be here with you,” Merrick muttered.

“Right,” Jack said without any inflection. “There's no other reason why she'd be here with me.”

Merrick turned slowly and walked through the door past Elizabeth.

She followed him out onto the deck, closed the door, and went down the steps beside him to where his car was parked in the drive. She could feel the uneasy tension in him and was touched.

“It's all right, Merrick. Everything's under control.” Mentally she crossed her fingers.

“If you say so.” He stopped beside the car and looked at her. “You'll call me if you need me?”

She held her blowing hair out of her eyes. “I'll call you if I need you.”

“Rowena and I are here for you, Lizzie. Always. You know that.”

“I know.” She put her arms around him and hugged him tightly. He was solid as a rock and, as long as you didn't look at the financial aspect, just as dependable. He would always be a dreamer, filled with plans and ideas that would probably never quite work out the way he had envisioned, but she knew that if she ever needed him, he would be there. Just as she knew that her sister would always be there.

He hugged her back, a big, brotherly, bearlike embrace. Then he patted her on the shoulder with one broad hand and
opened the car door. He wedged himself in behind the wheel and looked up at her.

“I'll send a revised copy of my business plan to your office.”

She sighed. “Thanks. I'll get to it as soon as I get home.”

Optimism glowed in his eyes. “Thanks. I'll tell Rowena everything's all set.”

Elizabeth reminded herself that some things were more important than making money. Family was one of those things.

“I'll call you next week,” Merrick promised.

He closed the car door, put the vehicle in gear, and drove down the drive to the tree-lined road.

Elizabeth watched until the car disappeared. After a while she turned to find Jack standing in the open doorway behind her.

“You're going to give him the money, aren't you?” he asked neutrally.

“Probably.” She started up the steps. “Don't worry about it, Jack. It's not your problem. The Fund has a special account for family loans. Aunt Sybil was very farsighted.”