Returning to her seat, Emily pocketed the key and took a deep breath. “This could work, Celeste. I don’t want to get too optimistic, but Sophie and Dale were very supportive. They even said they’d talk to their son.”
Celeste’s eyes rounded. “I wonder how Asher Barrington will feel about that.”
Emily raised her chin defiantly. “It doesn’t matter as long as this works.”
Celeste shook her head slowly. “He’s not going to be happy you involved his family.”
Emily thought about the ease in which he’d dismissed how important her project was to her. “I wouldn’t have had to do it if he’d given me any other option. He didn’t care at all, Celeste. Maybe he’ll care now.” Emily’s cell phone rang and some of her confidence wavered when she saw the area code. “It’s a local number. Do you think it’s him?”
Celeste leaned forward. “Answer it.”
Emily braced herself mentally. “Hello?”
“You’ve been very busy, Ms. Harris. I’m impressed, but you’re playing a dangerous game.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Mr. Barrington.”
“Call my mother and tell her you’re sorry but you won’t be able to go to Nantucket this weekend.”
Emily took a deep breath. An unintentional, additional opportunity might have just presented itself. “If I do that, will you agree to stop trying to buy my land?”
His bark of laughter was insulting. “Do you honestly think you can blackmail me? Do you have any idea who you’re dealing with?”
Emily closed her eyes briefly while she chose the perfect words to express the anger growing within her. “Your sense of entitlement is overshadowed only by your ego, Mr. Barrington. You don’t impress me. Nor do you scare me. Your parents are perfectly lovely people. They asked me to go away with them this weekend, and that is exactly what I plan to do.”
Asher uttered an expletive, then said, “I admire your tenacity, Ms. Harris. If you involved my family to get my attention, you have it, now stay the hell away from them. A car will pick you up tonight at six. Get in it.”
Emily mouthed to her friend. “He’s sending a car for me tonight. Is that good or bad?”
Celeste waved a hand in the air frantically. “Not good. You’re taking this too far, Em. Go back to New Hampshire, now. Forget about Plan B.”
Emily thought about what Celeste had said the day before. Nice wouldn’t win against Asher Barrington. I can make a stand now, or spend the rest of my life wishing I had. You are not getting my lunch money, Mr. Barrington. In a forceful voice, she said, “Until you change your mind, we have nothing to discuss and therefore no reason to see each other. Goodbye.” Emily put the phone on the table beside her salad and looked across at her friend.
“Holy shit,” Celeste said. “I don’t imagine many people speak to him that way.”
Emily picked up her fork and stabbed a tomato. “Maybe more people should. What an arrogant ass.”
Celeste reached across the table and took Emily’s hand in hers. “As proud as I am of you, Em, I’m worried. You have no idea who you’re dealing with. B&H has a reputation for crushing their competition. Asher’s not only rich, but he’s ruthless in business. I can only imagine what he’d be capable of if someone took him on personally. You may be putting yourself in real danger. Is it worth it?”
Emily put her fork down and straightened her shoulders. “My mother didn’t let anyone or anything stop her from doing what people told her was impossible. She could have given up, but she didn’t. I couldn’t look myself in the mirror if I didn’t fight for this.”
“Just be careful. Okay, Em?”
“Not this time.”
This time I intend to win.
During a videoconference, Asher was too distracted to listen to the updates from his team in California. Try as he might, he couldn’t stop thinking about Emily Harris.
He’d read over her background check repeatedly that morning. There was nothing in it that implied she was anything but a small-town girl who wanted to build a museum so far off the beaten track that not many were likely to visit it. Forcing her to relocate would be doing her a favor. He would have explained that to her over dinner if she’d agreed to meet with him.
Completely ignoring the staff around him, he shook his head in bemusement. Ms. Harris was as brash as she was stubborn. He didn’t know another woman, or many men for that matter, who would have spoken to him the way she had. He’d been irritated when he’d discovered Emily was trying to use his parents as leverage against him, but he had to admit watching her try to outmaneuver him was fascinating.
And invigorating.
He excused himself from the meeting and called her hotel. Just as he suspected, she was no longer staying there. He returned to his office and flipped her file open, scanning it until he found what he was looking for. Emily’s best friend lived in Boston. He made a quick call and said, “I want a full report on a Celeste Smithfield. Yes, it’s urgent. You have fifteen minutes.”
He paced his office in anticipation and admitted to himself that this was quickly becoming about more than a parcel of land. He didn’t want her around his parents, but it was about more than that, too. He wanted to see her again.
He wanted to know how a seemingly ordinary childhood had created a woman who was so passionate about a project she was willing to risk anything—even his wrath.
Did that kind of passion spill into other areas of her life? Would she be sexually shy and inexperienced or bold and skilled?
How many lovers would she have had?
Asher’s hands curled into fists at the idea of Emily with another man. He frowned. He would see her again. Thankfully his phone beeped with the information he needed to make that happen.
Chapter Four
‡
Waking early the next day, Emily knew she needed to do something to take her mind off the looming fate of her museum. With Celeste at work, she could either play tourist or slowly chew the last remaining fake nails off her fingers in boredom. In casual slacks and a T-shirt, Emily flopped on the couch with her phone to plan her day. She hadn’t visited Bost
on since Celeste had first moved there, but she remembered loving the variety of museums and restaurants. She’d stayed a week and had left feeling as if she’d only skimmed the surface of what the city had to offer. This time she only had one day and wanted to make the most of it. She made a list of art exhibits she wanted to see and planned her route to get to each.
The buzzer on the wall went off. Emily didn’t move at first. If it was Celeste, she had her own key or she’d use her cell phone to call up if she’d somehow forgotten it. Celeste hadn’t said she was expecting anyone. It could be a delivery. With that in mind, Emily went to the intercom beside the door and pressed it. “Hello? May I help you?”
“It’s Asher Barrington. Open the door,” Asher ordered.
Emily whipped her hand away from the intercom. She brought a hand to her mouth. How did he know I’d be here? She leaned her back against the door. Okay, stay calm. How doesn’t matter. He’s here. Maybe he wants to say he’s had a change of heart. She pressed the speaker on the intercom again. She hoped she sounded more confident than she felt. “I told you we have nothing to talk about unless you’ve changed your mind.”
His tone remained infuriatingly authoritative. “I won’t discuss this while standing out here.”
Let me in. Let me in. Not by the hair on my chinny-chin-chin. She covered her mouth to stifle the nervous laughter her thought had inspired. He wasn’t a big bad wolf preying on her. He probably wanted to huff and puff and tell her again how important he was. She pressed the button to open the outer door then rushed to the hall mirror. She hadn’t put on makeup, and her hair was tied back in a ponytail. She looked away and told herself it didn’t matter. He wasn’t attracted to her nor did she want him to be.
She opened the door before he could knock and hoped that was a power move. Celeste’s apartment was on the third floor of a building without an elevator. Would seeing him reveal a slight weakness, like being slightly winded, be too much to ask? He wasn’t. Asher was a man in his prime. She hadn’t thought it was possible for him to look better than he had the first time she’d seen him, but khaki pants and a crisp white collared shirt accentuated the golden flecks in his hazel eyes.
