It Happened in Manhattan: Affair with the Rebel Heiress / The Billionaire's Bidding / Tall, Dark & Cranky

“I wasn’t before?”

“No. You’ve been picking at your nails for an hour now. You haven’t heard a word I’ve said.”

“Not true,” Ford protested. “You’ve been babbling about how you think it’s time we diversify again. You’ve rambled on and on about half a dozen companies that are about to be delisted by the NYSE, but that you think could be retooled to be profitable again. You and Matt voted while I was in China visiting the new plant and you’ve already started to put together the offer. Have I left anything out?”

“And …” Jonathon prodded.

“And what?” Ford asked. When Jonathon gave an exasperated sigh and plopped back in his chair, Ford shot a questioning look at Matt, who was still typing away. “And what?”

Matt, who’d always had the uncanny ability to hold a conversation while solving some engineering problem, gave a few more clicks before shutting his laptop. “He’s waiting for you to voice an opinion. You’re the CEO. You get final vote.”

FMJ specialized in taking over flailing businesses and turning them around, much like the snack shack they’d whipped into prosperity all those years ago. Jonathon used his wizardry to streamline the company’s finances. Matt, with his engineering background, inevitably developed innovations that helped turn the company around. Ford’s own role in their magic act was a little more vague.

Ford had a way with people. Inevitably, when FMJ took over a company, there was resentment from the ownership and employees. People resisted, even feared, change. And that’s where Ford came in. He talked to them. Smoothed the way. Convinced them that FMJ was a company they could trust.

He flashed a smile at Matt. “I can do my part no matter what the company is. Why do I need to vote?”

While he spoke, he absently opened his desk drawer and tossed the pocketknife in. As if of their own accord, his fingers drifted to the delicate gold earring he kept stored in the right-hand corner.

The earring was shaped like a bird, some kind of sea bird, if he wasn’t mistaken. Its wings were outstretched as if it were diving for a fish, its motion and yearning captured in perfect miniscule detail.

Ford’s fingertip barely grazed the length of its wingspan before he jerked his hand out and slammed the drawer shut.

It was her earring. Kitty Biedermann’s. The woman from the bar in Texas.

He’d discovered it in the front of his rented pickup when he’d gone to turn the truck in. Now he wished he’d left it there. It wasn’t like he was going to actually return the earring to its owner.

Yes, when he’d first found the earring, he’d had Wendy, FMJ’s executive assistant, look Kitty up, just to see how hard it would be to hunt her down. But then Kitty Biedermann turned out to be a jewelry store heiress.

What was he going to do, fly to New York to return the earring? He was guessing she didn’t want to see him again any more than he wanted to see her. But now he was stuck with this stupid bird earring.

As much to distract himself as anything, he rocked back in his chair and said, “Okay, let’s buy a company. What do they do again?”

“What do you mean, what do they do?” Jonathon grumbled. “This is the company you researched.”

Ford nudged his foot against the edge of the desk and set his chair to bobbing. “What are you taking about? I didn’t research a company.”

“Sure you did.” Jonathon held out the portfolio. When Ford didn’t take it, Jonathon settled for tossing in on Ford’s desk. “The same day I sent out that first list of companies to consider, you e-mailed Wendy and told her to dig up anything she could find on Biedermann Jewelry. Since you seemed interested in them, Matt and I voted and …”

Listening to his partner talk, Ford let his chair rock forward and his feet drop to the floor. With a growing sense of dread, he flipped open the portfolio. And there was the proposal. To buy Biedermann Jewelry.

His stomach clenched like he’d been sucker punched.

Had Wendy misunderstood his casual, Hey, see what you can find out about Kitty Biedermann? But of course Wendy had. She was obsessively thorough and eager to please.

With forced nonchalance he asked, “Have you put a lot of work into this deal yet?”

“A couple hundred man hours,” Jonathon hedged. “Biedermann’s is circling the drain. We need to move fast.”

Matt normally wasn’t the most intuitive guy. But he must have heard something in Ford’s voice, because he asked, “What’s up, Ford? You having doubts?”

“It’s a pretty risky deal,” he said simply. Maybe he could gently redirect their attention.

But Jonathon shook his head. “It isn’t really. Biedermann’s has always been a strong company. They’ve been undervalued ever since Isaac Biedermann died last year. But I can turn them around.” Jonathon’s lips quirked in one of his rare grins. “Kind of looking forward to the challenge, actually.”

Ford had seen that look in Jonathon’s eyes before. Jonathon was ready to gobble up Biedermann’s. Any minute now he’d be picking his teeth with the bones of Biedermann’s carcass.

Unless Ford stopped him.

Which he could do. All he’d have to do is explain about Kitty. And the earring.

But what was he really supposed to say? Don’t buy the company because I slept with her? He usually preferred relationships to last a little longer than one night, but he wasn’t above the occasional fling when the chance presented itself. He’d never had a problem walking away the next day. He just wasn’t a long-term kind of guy. He wouldn’t even remember her name if it hadn’t been for that lost earring.

“So what do you say?” Jonathon asked. “We all in?”

“Sure.” And he sounded convincingly casual about it, too. He pushed his chair back and stood. “Hey, I’m going to the gym. That damn chair makes my back hurt.”

“Don’t be gone long. We’ve got work to do.”

“When do you leave for New York?” he asked.

“Not me, we,” Jonathon corrected. “As soon as I can get the board to agree to a meeting.”

“Great.” It looked like he was going to be able to return that earring after all.

Kitty sat at the head of the conference table, concentrating all of her considerable acting skill on looking relaxed. Today was the first of what would probably be many meetings to negotiate the deal with FMJ. She would never feel good about this, but what choice did she have? Everything she’d tried on her own had blown up in her face. Marty, Biedermann’s CFO, had assured her this was her only option. Her last, best hope to salvage anything from Biedermann’s.

Still, the thought of selling the company twisted her gut into achy knots. Beidermann’s had been in her family since her great-great-grandfather had moved to New York from Germany and opened the first store in 1868. For her, Biedermann’s wasn’t just a company, it was her history, her heritage. Her family.

But it was also her responsibility. And if she couldn’t save it herself, then she’d hand it over to someone who could, even if doing so made her stomach feel like it was about to flip itself inside out.

She should be more comfortable sitting at this table than most people were in their own bedrooms. And yet she found herself strumming her fingers against the gleaming wood as she fought nausea.

Beside her, Marty rested his hand over hers. He seemed to be aiming for reassuring, but his touch sent a shiver of disgust through her.

He stroked the backs of her fingers. “Everything will be all right.”

She stiffened, jerking her hand out from under his. “I beg your pardon?”

“You seemed nervous.”

“Nonsense.” Still, she buried her hand in her lap. She didn’t handle sympathy well under normal circumstances. Now it made her feel like she was going to shatter. He looked pointedly at the spot on the table she’d been drumming on, to which she replied, “I’m impatient. They’re seven minutes late and I have a reservation for lunch at Bruno’s.”

Marty’s lips twitched. “You don’t have to pretend with me.”

Something like panic clutched her heart. So, he thought he saw right through her. Well, others had thought that before. “Don’t be ridiculous, Marty. I’ve been pretending to be interested in your conversations for years. I’m certainly not going to stop now.”

For an instant, a stricken expression crossed his face and regret bit through her nerves. Dang it. Why did she say things like that? Why was it that whenever she was backed into a corner, she came out fighting?

She was still contemplating apologizing when the door opened and Casey stuck her head through. “Mr. Ford Langley and Mr. Jonathon Bagdon are here.”

Awash in confusion, she nearly leaped to her feet. “Ford Langley? Is here?”

Then she felt Marty’s steady hand on hers again. “Mr. Langley’s the CEO of FMJ. He’s come in person for the negotiations.”

She stared blankly at Marty, her mind running circles around one thought. Ford Langley.

He was here? He was the CEO of FMJ? Impossible. Ford Langley was an ignorant cowboy. She’d left him in Texas and would never see him again.

She must have misheard. Or misunderstood her assistant just now. Or misremembered the name of the stranger she’d slept with. Or perhaps through some cruel trick of fate, the CEO of FMJ and the stranger shared the same odd name.

Each of these possibilities thundered through her mind as she struggled to regain her composure. Mistaking her confusion, Marty must have spoken for her and told Casey to show in the people from FMJ.

She barely had time to school her panic into a semblance of calm before the door to the conference room swung open and there he was. Fate had pulled a much crueler trick on her than merely giving two men the same name. No, fate had tricked her into selling her beloved company to the same man to whom she’d already given her body.

What had he expected?

Okay, he hadn’t thought she’d jump up, run across the room and throw her arms around him. But he sure as hell hadn’t expected the complete lack of response. The coolly dismissive blank stare. As if she didn’t recognize him at all. As if he were beneath her notice.

Her gaze barely flickered over him as she looked from him to Jonathon. Then she glanced away, looking bored. Someone from Biedermann’s had stood and was making introductions. Ford shook hands at the right moment, filing away the name and face of Kitty’s CFO.

She looked good. Lovely, in fact. As smoothly polished as the one-dimensional woman in the Nagel painting poster he’d had on his wall as a teenager. Beautiful. Pale. Flat.

Gone was the vibrant woman he’d danced with in The Well two months ago. By the time the introductions were done, one thing had become clear. She was going to pretend they’d never met before. She was going to sit through this meeting all the while ignoring the fact that they’d once slept together. That he’d touched her bare skin, caressed her thighs, felt her body tremble with release.

Which was exactly what he should do, too. Hell, wasn’t that what he had planned on doing?

Just as Jonathon was pulling out his chair, Ford said, “Before we get started, I wonder if I could have a word alone with Ms. Biedermann.”

Jonathon sent him a raised-eyebrowed, do-you-know-what-you’re-doing? kind of look. Kitty’s CFO hovered by her side, like an overly protective Chihuahua.

Ford gave the man his most reassuring smile while nodding slightly at Jonathon. He knew Jonathon would back him up and get the other guy out of there. Jonathon wouldn’t question his actions, even if Ford was doubting them himself.

Something was up with Kitty and he intended to find out what it was.

Kitty watched Marty leave the conference room, fighting the urge to scream. An image flashed through her mind of herself wild-eyed and disheveled, pulling at her hair and shouting “Deserter! Traitor!” like some mad Confederate general about to charge into battle and to his death, all alone after his men have seen reason and fled the field.

Clearly, she’d been watching too many old movies.

Obviously her time would have been better spent practicing her mental telepathy. Then she could have ordered Marty to stay. As it was, she couldn’t protest without Ford realizing how much the prospect of being alone with him terrified her.

The moment the door shut, leaving them alone in the room, he crossed to her side. “Hello, Kitty.”

She stood, nodding. Praying some response would spring to her lips. Something smart. Clever. Something that would cut him to the bone without seeming defensive.

Sadly nothing came to mind. So she left it at the nod.

“You look …” Then he hesitated, apparently unsure which adjective best described her.

“I believe ‘well’ is usually how one finishes that sentence.” Oh, God. Why couldn’t she just keep her mouth shut?

“That’s not what I was going to say.”

“Well, you seem to be having trouble finishing the sentence,” she supplied. “Since I’m sure I look just fine and since I’d much rather get this over with than stand around exchanging pleasantries, I thought I’d move things along.”

He raised his eyebrows as if taken aback by her tone. “You aren’t curious why I’m here?”

That teasing tone stirred memories best left buried in the recesses of her mind. Unfortunately, those pesky memories rose up to swallow her whole, like a tsunami.

As if it were yesterday instead of two months or more, she remembered what it had felt like to be held in his arms. Cradled close to his body as they swayed gently back and forth on the dance floor. The way he’d smelled, musky yet clean against the sensory backdrop of stale smoke and spilled beer. The way her body had thrummed to life beneath his touch. The way she’d quivered. The way she’d come.

She thrust aside the memories, praying he wouldn’t notice that her breath had quickened. Thankful he couldn’t hear the pounding of her heart or see the hardening of her nipples.

Hiding her discomfort behind a display of boredom, she toyed with the papers on the table where she’d been sitting. She couldn’t stand to look at him, so she pretended to read through them as she said, “I know why you’re here. You came here to take control of Biedermann’s.” Thank God her voice didn’t crack as she spoke. It felt as if her heart did, but that at least she could hide. For the first time since he walked into the room, she met his gaze. “You can’t honestly expect me to welcome you. You’re stealing the company I was born to raise.”

His expression hardened. “I’m not stealing anything. FMJ is providing your failing company with some much-needed cash. We’re here to keep you in business.”

“Oh, really. How generous of you.” She buried all her trepidation beneath a veneer of sarcasm. As she always did. It was so much easier that way. “Since that’s the case, why don’t you just write out a nice hefty check and leave it on the table on your way out. I’ll call you in a decade or so to let you know if it helped.”

“A big, fat check might help if all you needed was an infusion of cash. But the truth is, Biedermann’s needs a firm hand at the helm and you can’t have one without the other. You know that’s not how this works.”

His words might have been easier to swallow if he’d sounded apologetic instead of annoyed. No, wait … there wasn’t really any way that anything he said could be easier to swallow.

“No. Of course that’s not how it works. You’ll go over the company with a fine-toothed comb. You’ll tear it apart, throw out the parts you don’t like and hand the rest back in pieces. In the end, everything my family’s worked for for five generations will be gone. All so you can turn a quick profit.”

“Tell me something. Is that really what’s bothering you?”

Of course it wasn’t what was really bothering her. What was really bothering her was that he was here at all. Her safe, what-the-hell-I’m-stuck-in-Texas fling hadn’t stayed where it was supposed to. In Texas. What was the point of having a fling with a stranger if the man ended up not being a stranger at all?

But she couldn’t say that aloud. Especially given the way he was looking at her. With his expression so intense, so sexual, so completely unprofessional, it sent a wave of pure shock through her system.

“W-what do you mean?”

“Come on, Kitty. This anger you’re clinging to isn’t about Biedermann’s at all. This is about what happened in Texas.”

She quickly buried her shock beneath a veneer of disdain. “Texas. I’m surprised you’d have the guts to bring that up.”

“You are?”

“Of course.” She strolled to the other side of the conference table. “I’d think you would be the last person to want to hash that over. But since you brought it up, maybe you can answer a question for me. Was anything you told me true or was it all pretense?”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“You know. That whole charade you put on to pick me up back in Texas. That aw-shucks, I’m just a simple cowboy trying to make a living act.”

“I never said I was a cowboy.”

“No. But you had to know that’s what I thought.”

“How exactly was I supposed to know that?” His facade of easy charm slipped for a moment and he plowed a hand through his hair in frustration. He sucked in a breath and pointed out in a slightly calmer tone, “You weren’t exactly forthcoming about who you were, either.”

“I did nothing wrong.” True, she hadn’t exactly presented him with her pedigree when they’d first met, but surely it didn’t take a genius to see she didn’t fit in at that bar. If there had been an obvious clue he didn’t, either, she’d missed it entirely. She refused to let him paint himself the victim. “I don’t have anything to apologize for. I’m not the one who pretended to be some down on his luck cowboy.”

“No, you’re just the one who gave me a fake phone number instead of admitting you didn’t want to see me again.”

“If you knew I didn’t want to see you again,” she asked, “then why did you go to the trouble of hunting me down?”

“I didn’t hunt you down. What happened in Texas has nothing to do with FMJ’s offer.”

“Then how exactly did the offer come about anyway?” she asked. “If you didn’t go back to work and say, ‘Wow, that Kitty Biedermann must be really dumb to have fallen for my tired old lines. I bet we could just swoop in and buy that company right from under her.’”

His gaze narrowed to a glare. “You know that’s not how it happened.”

“Really? How would I know that? What do I really know about you other than the fact that you’re willing to misrepresent yourself to get a woman into bed with you?”

“I never lied to you. Not once. And despite the fact that you’re acting like a brat, I won’t start now.”

“Maybe you didn’t lie outright, but you certainly misled me. Of course, maybe that’s the only way you can get a woman into bed.”

Ford just smiled. “You don’t believe that. The sex was great.” He closed in on her, getting right in her face as if daring her to disagree.

God, she wanted to. That would serve him right.

But when she opened her mouth, she found the denial trapped inside her. Between the intensity of his eyes and the memories suddenly flooding her, she just couldn’t muster up the lie.

Instead she said the only thing that popped into her mind. “You can’t convince me that FMJ is prepared to buy Biedermann’s solely so you can get laid.”

He grinned wolfishly. “Boy, you think highly of yourself.”

“You were the one who brought up sex,” she pointed out.

“You didn’t let me finish. I was going to close with the suggestion that we both try to forget it happened.”

“Oh, I won’t have any trouble with that,” she lied easily, barely even cringing as she waited for the bolt of lightning to strike her down.

“Excellent.” He bit off the word. “Then you agree from here on out, it’s all business?”

“Absolutely.” Her smiled felt so tight across her face she was surprised she could still breathe. But she kept it in place as she crossed back to the door.

Jonathon and Marty were waiting in the office outside the conference room. If they’d picked up on the tension, neither commented. Thank goodness. She simply wouldn’t have had the strength to come up with any more lies today. Between the lies she’d told Ford and the lies she was telling herself, she was completely out.

“Everything okay?” Jonathon asked, more to Ford than to her.

However, she didn’t give the treacherous bastard a chance to answer. Instead, she dug deep and pulled out one more lie. “Mr. Langley was just assuring me Biedermann’s is going to be in great hands with you.” She held out her hand to gesture him back into the conference room. “Why don’t you come in and we’ll talk money.”

Kitty’s head was pounding by the time she finally made it back to her office alone. The simple truth was nothing could have prepared her for this.

She thought she’d been ready, but she hadn’t, really. Not to sit in a conference room and listen politely while strangers discussed her beloved Biedermann’s—while they calmly talked about compensation packages. While they talked about key positions in the company they’d need to replace.

Oh, they’d started by reassuring her that she would stay on as president of the subsidiary, but she knew she wouldn’t have control. Not really. She’d be a figurehead, at best. A pretty adornment to make things look good. It’d be pathetic if it wasn’t so sad. But the really pathetic thing was she would let herself be used that way.

She loved Biedermann’s. She’d do whatever it took to save it. Even if she had to sell her soul to the devil. Or in this case, Ford Langley.

Three

If she thought her day couldn’t get any worse, she was wrong. She ran into Ford in the elevator bay.

“Fantastic,” she muttered as she punched the elevator button. “Thousands of people work in this building and I get to ride down with you.”

“I waited for you.”

“How kind.” She didn’t bother to meet his gaze or to inject any real graciousness in her voice. She certainly hoped he wasn’t so dense that he couldn’t hear her sarcasm.

“I wanted to apologize.” He seemed to be speaking through gritted teeth.

Well, she certainly wasn’t going to make this any easier for him. “For your behavior earlier?” she asked as the elevator doors began to open. She prayed there’d be someone else in the car with them, but her prayers went unanswered. Which was the norm of late. “Don’t worry. I didn’t expect better behavior from you. After all, I know what Californians are like.”

It was a twist of something he’d said to her at that bar in Texas, when he’d teased her about being a Yankee. His gaze flickered to hers and for a second they seemed to both be remembering that night.

Damn it, why had she brought that up? She didn’t want to remind him about that. She certainly didn’t want him to think she remembered that night with anything approaching word for word accuracy.

“What I meant,” he said, following her into the elevator, “was that the meeting seemed hard for you. I can’t imagine it’s easy to sell a company that’s been in your family for generations.”

She shot him a scathing look. “Please don’t tax your mental capacity trying to imagine it.”

The doors closed, sealing them inside. For a moment he thought she’d say nothing more, just ride with him in silence. Maybe this was it. Maybe she really was as cool a number as she’d seemed in the boardroom. Maybe selling her family company meant nothing more to her than—

Then abruptly she let loose a bitter laugh.

Okay, maybe not.

“You want to know the really funny thing?” she asked as she punched the 1 button. “This is exactly what I was raised to do.”

“Run Biedermann’s?” he asked.

“Oh, God, no. Don’t get me wrong. My father adored me. Treated me like an absolute princess. But he never thought I was capable of running Bieder-mann’s. I was supposed to transform myself into the perfect wife. I was supposed to catch myself a rich husband to run Biedermann’s for me.”