Surprised by Family: a Contemporary Romance Duet (21 page)

Two weeks later, Baron was working late on another Friday evening.

He’d done nothing but work for the last fourteen days.

He was so tired he could barely keep his head up, but he didn’t dare try to sleep. When he closed his eyes, he would think about Leila and the girls, and that was simply an exercise in self-torture.

“Mr. James? Baron? Are you all right?”

Baron shook himself back into focus and met Howard’s eyes. The older man must have said something that Baron hadn’t processed, and he was now watching him in concern. “I’m sorry. What did you say?”

They’d been going over the situation with the will, since this was the first time he’d had time to talk to the lawyer at any length all week. There were a lot of details and various legal scenarios to play out, but the gist was that things were probably going to be dragged out for months or even years.

“You should go home and get some sleep,” Howard said, closing the file on his lap. “We can talk about this tomorrow.”

“No. I’m fine.” Baron wasn’t fine. Every part of his body ached, and his future lay before him as nothing but an endless series of bleak days. “Let’s finish this now.”

Howard didn’t open his file again. He just gazed at Baron with an almost paternal expression. “You know,” he said at last, “if you want, we can just give Steven what he wants.”

“What?” Baron stiffened in surprise.

“We can give him what he wants. He doesn’t want a share in the company, so he can do no damage to James Coffee. Your father’s assets will all belong to you eventually, and you can more than spare what he’s asking for. If you want to just be done with this, you can give him what he wants.”

Baron didn’t care that much about the money or property. This had never been about that. “You think we should just let him win? Let him get away with this gesture of…of pettiness and spite.”

“No. I don’t want him to win. But I’m worried about you. This seems to be eating away at you, in a way that isn’t healthy. And there comes a time when a defense simply isn’t worth it. Your father’s original will left the company with you but split his other assets evenly between you and Steven. I’m sure we can reach some sort of an agreement to—”

“But that’s not what Dad wanted.”

“No. It’s not. He was quite settled on changing his will. But if coming to some sort of settlement is better for
you
, then that’s what we should do. I’m sure your father wouldn’t want you to have a breakdown or a heart attack or—”

“I’m not going to have a breakdown or a heart attack. I am tired. It’s been a busy month. But I’ve got things under control.”

“Okay.” Howard still didn’t look convinced. “If you don’t mind my asking, what happened to your girlfriend?”

Baron swallowed and looked away. “It didn’t work out.”

“I’m sorry to hear that. It seemed like she was good for you.”

***

Howard left shortly afterwards, and Baron sent MaryAnn home too.

He didn’t go home, though. He sat at his desk, trying to clear out more email.

Sometimes he felt like, if he could just for once have an empty inbox, he would be back in control of his life again.

But there was never an end to the email. It always kept coming.

When his phone rang, he reached over to pick it up, ready to silence it, since he wasn’t in a fit mood to talk to anyone.

Then he saw who was calling.

“Molly,” he said, after connecting the call. “Hi.”

“Hi, Baron. I hadn’t heard from you in a while, so I thought I’d call and bug you a little. How are you doing?”

“I’m fine.”

“You don’t sound fine. You sound like you’re sick or something.”

“I’m not sick.”

“Did I interrupt a night of debauchery or a series of wild, crazy stunts?”

He gave an ironic huff. It had only been a few months since his father died, changing his whole world, but he felt eons away from all of that now. “Not even close.”

“So what are you doing?”

“Working.”

“It’s Friday night. It’s after eleven there, isn’t it?”

“Yeah. There’s just too much to do.”

“Well, you sound like crap.”

“Thanks a lot.”

“Seriously, I can call tomorrow if you need to get home and go to sleep.”

“I don’t need to sleep.” Baron tried, and failed, to hide his impatience. “I’m fine. Why does everyone keep acting like I’m going to fall apart?”

“If everyone keeps acting that way, then maybe there’s a reason for it. I know your dad dumped a lot on you, and it might take some time to get used to—”

“I’ve been doing this for months now. I’m used to it. I’m fine.”

“Okay, okay. Don’t be so grumpy about it.”

“Sorry. How are you? How’s Lyons?”

“We’re both fine. We just got back from vacation in Tahiti, actually.”

“That sounds great.” At the moment, Baron couldn’t even imagine what vacation would feel like. “How long were you there?”

“Two weeks.”

“Lyons can take that much time off?”

“Yeah. He did a little work while he was there, but he managed to relax pretty well.” She seemed to be smiling. “And we have some news.”

“If you’re about to tell me you’re going to have a baby—”

“Yes! We’re going to have a baby! In five months.”

Baron smiled at the joy in her voice, although it made his own emptiness all the more gaping. “Congratulations. I’m really happy for you.”

“You don’t sound happy.” She sounded concerned again. “Baron, I know you thought…I mean, you wanted…”

“Oh, Molly, please. That was stupid on my part. You know I think you’re great, but our getting together would have been a huge mistake. I’d just wanted…”

“You just wanted what?”

“I just wanted what I saw in you and Lyons. I wanted to be…to be close to someone.”

Molly was silent for a long time. Then, “I know I’m up in the wilds of Canada, but I heard some rumors about your dating someone seriously. Were they just stories?”

Baron opened the top drawer of his desk and pulled out the colored drawing of the pink and red elephants Jane and Charlotte had made for him two weeks ago. “I was,” he said at last.

“And it was serious?”

“Yeah.”

“What happened?”

“It just didn’t work out.”

She must have heard something in his voice, although he thought he sounded fairly composed. “So that’s what’s wrong with you.”

“What are you talking about?”
             

“Did she break your poor heart?”

“No.”

“So why didn’t it work out?”

He didn’t want to answer. He wasn’t going to answer. But, for some reason, he answered anyway. “A man’s life is…is only so big. There’s only room for so much. It was too much.”

“Baron, that’s absolutely ridiculous.”

“It is not ridiculous. I barely have enough time in the day to do my father’s job. Much less deal with Steven contesting the will and all the complications that’s causing. She has two kids. They need someone who can really be there for them. I can’t be. I can’t do everything. I can’t have everything.”

She hesitated a long time before she replied, “I’m not going to pretend to know all that’s going on there, but I’ll just say that Luke’s company is just as big as yours is. He does the same job you’re doing now. He works a lot.
A lot
. No one would deny that. But he has room in his life for me. For our baby who’s coming. I think there would be room in your life too, if you wanted to make the room.”

Baron did want it. Desperately. “It just wasn’t going to work out.”

He could almost hear her hold back an argument. “Okay. I’m sure there’s a lot I don’t know. But something has to give, Baron. Something is wrong with you. You don’t sound like yourself at all.”

“And what exactly sounds like me?” He was exhausted rather than resentful, although the words made him feel very defensive—since he hadn’t felt like himself since he’d walked out on Leila.

“I don’t know. You know I didn’t think all those dangerous stunts were good for you—and I definitely didn’t approve of all the women you were with. But you were always…I don’t know… You were always larger than life. Full of energy and charisma and just plain old sex appeal. You were funny, and you were fun. When was the last time you had fun?”

Baron knew the answer to that.

The last time he’d had fun was going to an animated movie about elephants with Leila, Jane, and Charlotte.

He wasn’t likely to ever have that kind of fun again.

***

The following morning, he went in to the office early, after just a few hours of sleep.

He’d told MaryAnn and the rest of the staff, in no uncertain terms, that they were not to come in today. They’d worked through the last four weekends, but burning them out wasn’t in anyone’s best interests.

Plus, Baron didn’t want to talk to anyone.

It was unusually quiet in the executive suite as Baron sat behind the desk that had been his father’s and made his way through emails, voice mail messages, stacks of documents to sign, and miscellaneous correspondence.

It would be hours before he could clear off his desk, assuming nothing else came in during the day today.

It would be months before the legal battle with Steven could be sorted out.

It would be days, weeks, months, years before he recovered from losing Leila and the girls.

Baron forced the thought out of his mind.

Not so long ago, he’d desperately wanted his brother back in his life, he’d wanted some sort of connection with the only family he had left. Now, he just wanted out of this endless game completely. He just wanted the duel to end.

He wanted to walk unwounded away from the battle.

And he wanted Leila back.

He leaned back in his desk chair and stared out of the wide expanse of windows looking out on Boston. He could go over to Leila’s house right now and tell her he was sorry, he was wrong, he never wanted to let her go.

Maybe she would forgive him. Maybe she would want him back.

She hadn’t seemed very upset that night two weeks ago. Not nearly as upset as he was. Maybe she didn’t want him as much as he wanted her.

“You don’t appear to be getting much done today.” The smooth, familiar voice sounded from the doorway of his office, and it startled Baron so much he felt the blood drain from his face. “It’s a shame to waste your Saturday in the office if you aren’t actually going to do any work.”

Baron stood up. “No matter how much I appreciate your sage advice,” he replied, in the cool voice he always used with Steven, “I have to wonder what you’re doing here at all.” He walked over so his back was to the window and he was facing the door, taking the position of power in the room.

Steven gave a half-shrug, and Baron suddenly recognized the motion as his own characteristic gesture. He'd never realized before that it might be a family trait. “Why shouldn’t I pay you a visit?”

“Can we dispense with the niceties?” Baron didn’t want the verbal duel. He didn’t want to talk to him at all. “Is there something you want?”

“There’s always something we want.” Steven stepped closer.

“But we don’t always get it.”

He was still angry, still defensive, but the fury wasn’t hot, violent, ready to snap. It was just endlessly tired.

He’d given up everything for this. For
this
.

“I paid a visit to your, ah, girlfriend a couple of weeks ago. Did she happen to mention it?” The way Steven said ‘girlfriend’ made it sound like he were tiptoeing around something unpleasant.

But this was nothing Baron hadn’t expected. His brother would have been wondering why Baron hadn't yet reacted if Leila had told him about the confrontation in her office. “She did.”

Steven arched his eyebrows. “Did she? Is it serious between you? Are you really interested in becoming a stepfather?”

Baron didn’t answer. No answer would do what he needed it to do. He just stared at his brother in stoic silence.

Perhaps because he wasn’t getting the reactions he’d expected, Steven changed tactics. He strolled over to stare out the window, standing only a foot away. “I’m a little concerned that she failed to tell you about our little…moment.”

Baron’s expression didn’t alter—not in the slightest degree. He stared at his brother’s face, and suddenly everything became clear to him.

He understood. Everything.

Steven was probably genuinely attracted to Leila. She was beautiful, vibrant, intelligent, warm, generous.
Shining
. Of course, Steven might be attracted to that—for all the reasons that Baron was himself.

But that wasn’t why Steven had made a move on her.

He also hadn’t done it just to hurt Baron.