HANNAH left. Jolie stayed, looking blindly in the mirror. A simple work dinner, Cole had said. Just the next step in our relationship. Not a test. Don’t think of it as a test.
I’m not ready, she’d said, and she hadn’t been. Not for this. The stakes were too high. The relationship was too new. And Jolie was too scared of the things Cole was willing to do for the right to simply be with her and see where this relationship would go.
Jolie touched up her make-up and reapplied her lipstick with an unsteady hand. She walked back down to the bar, only the bar was now empty and a waiter stood waiting to direct her to the function room.
Jolie looked at the door to the outside world and the urge to flee was overwhelming. Retreat, just retreat back into a world of fantasy and pictures. A world where reality simply didn’t exist.
‘The gentleman said to direct you this way,’ murmured the polite waiter, and gestured with his hands and offered up an encouraging smile, and Jolie made the mistake of looking in the direction he pointed and there stood Cole. A strong and beautiful man with forest-green eyes, hair the colour of charcoal and wings for those who could see them.
How could she simply walk away and leave him standing there? He deserved better than that from her. He deserved better from everyone.
Jolie began walking towards Cole. She smiled when she reached him, and let her eyes reveal how much she liked what she saw, and he returned the favour and for a moment it was just the two of them.
How she wished it were just the two of them.
He offered his arm and she took it and walked into the room beside him with her head held high, and, yes, it was a mask but it stuck and it hid her terror and it was the best she could do. Cole seated her at the end of the long banquet table and took the chair opposite her. Hannah was nowhere in sight.
‘Where’s Hannah?’ she asked quietly.
‘Hannah wasn’t feeling well,’ said the granite-eyed man who’d arrived with Hannah earlier in the evening. He took the seat next to Cole. ‘She sends her apologies.’
‘Jolie, this is Derek Haynes, my Deputy Executive Director. Derek, Jolie,’ said Cole, making it swift and giving her no clue as to the other man’s allegiance. And then the pregnant woman waddled up and sank into the seat next to Jolie. ‘And this is Susan Price, executive PA to both Derek and me.’
Susan smiled at Jolie, seemingly without malice. ‘I won money on you,’ said Susan. ‘And before it gets awkward, the baby’s father is no longer in the picture and nor am I married. I prefer to think of this as proof that I do have a brain, even if I did temporarily misplace it.’
‘Susan’s a big fan of getting straight to the point and making herself brutally clear,’ said Cole dryly. ‘It’s very useful at times.’ And to Susan, ‘Who did you speak to?’
‘Max Cato is yours. Simon Pell’s yours. Rufus is Christina’s, and Jasper’s hedging. Best call him Christina’s.’
Warhammer guy, who was sitting on the other side of Susan, asked Susan if she’d like some water, and when she said yes he filled her glass from the carafe, and then those of the other people around him. Susan fell into conversation with them, giving Jolie the opportunity to conduct a semi-private conversation with Cole, give or take granite-eyed Derek listening in.
‘Are these votes you’re counting?’ she asked Cole quietly.
‘Not necessarily.’
‘Because Hannah told me about your mother’s plan to strip you of Rees Holdings,’ said Jolie next.
‘Hannah exaggerates,’ said Cole.
‘She didn’t sound like she was exaggerating to me,’ said Jolie, trying to smile. ‘Three months ago I had a perfectly decent and useful existence. Manageable self-doubt. No big business or ugly social politics anywhere on my horizon. And then came you.’
‘You can thank me later.’
‘Right now I don’t feel like thanking you at all.’
‘It takes two, Red,’ he said quietly.
‘I know.’
The dinner went on for ever; at least that was how it felt to Jolie. Reality had it ending at a little after ten. Derek was still an unknown quantity although his allegiance was clearly to Cole. Susan was a treasure. Warhammer guy’s name was Mark. And Jasper wanted Cole to send him the quarterly report—which apparently wasn’t due for another two weeks. Cole could send it through tonight or tomorrow morning, he could send it through incomplete, but one way or another Jasper wanted it before the board meeting on Monday. Jasper also suggested Cole send the report out to all the other board members too.
It seemed to Jolie that Jasper didn’t give a toss who Jolie was or why Christina objected to her.
The elderly Jasper—who Cole said had been on the board since Cole’s grandfather had first founded it—cared only for the well-being of the company.
‘All-nighter at your place?’ asked Derek once Jasper had made his request and walked away.
Cole nodded. ‘Jolie … it’s not quite the way I’d planned to end the evening, but would you mind?’
‘I don’t mind.’
‘We’re going to need Hannah there too,’ said Derek, with a quick glance in Jolie’s direction. ‘I’ll go get her.’
‘Tell her—’ Jolie wished there were some other way to do this. Less public. Less choking. ‘Tell her I won’t be there.’
‘Stay,’ said Cole later that evening, pulling things out of Jolie’s overnight bag just as fast as she could stuff them in. ‘We can work through this.’
‘No, we can’t. I know you think you can wear your family down and get them to accept me, but it’s not going to happen, Cole. And I won’t have you losing everything because of me. It’s time to finish this.’
More items went into her bag.
And came straight back out.
‘I need you here,’ he said gruffly.
‘No, you need Derek here and Hannah here, and you need to get that report done.’
‘Why are you being such a martyr? Because my mother’s hurt that I’m seeing you? She made her bed, Jolie. And everyone around her had to lie in it. She should have let my father go. At least then she might have had a chance at happiness.’
‘I agree with you,’ said Jolie evenly. ‘One hundred per cent I agree with you. Your mother didn’t know when to let go. I do.’
‘I will not be blackmailed into giving you up,’ he roared.
‘Then do it for me,’ she shouted back. ‘Because I can’t live in that world you took me to tonight, Cole. With all its petty games and snide remarks, and Shakespeare quotes and clammy hands. I won’t live my life like that!’
‘Then don’t! Doesn’t mean you have to walk out on me. I have heard of compromise, Jolie. I do it every goddamn day! I’m asking you to believe in me. You have to believe that I can steer us through this.’
‘Compromise? Cole, please!’ Jolie laced her words with disbelief. ‘You don’t know the meaning of the word. You want what you want and you take it. Right or wrong you wanted me at that dinner tonight so you forced it. I’m standing here trying to pack my bag and you’re standing there unpacking it. You’re not listening to what the people around you are saying. How is that compromise? How is that any different from your father taking a mistress and to hell with the feelings of the people around him?’
‘I am not my father,’ he said, hot temper riding him hard.
‘Then stop acting like him!’ Temper lit her too, and fed her resolve. ‘When are you going to learn that you can’t always have what you want? That sometimes the cost is too high. That you don’t get to call all the shots when it comes to continuing a relationship? I’m not strong enough for this battle, Cole. I’m telling you I can’t walk in your world without losing every scrap of confidence I’ve ever had. I’m telling you I’ve been fighting your family’s disapproval my entire life and I’m tired of it, Cole. I’m so tired of that fight.’ Tears tracking down her face now, hot and stinging.
‘I’ll walk away,’ he said huskily. ‘From Rees Holdings. From my family. If that’s what it takes to make you happy, I’ll do it.’
‘But it wouldn’t make me happy, don’t you see? I’m not worth that kind of sacrifice.’
‘You are to me.’
‘I’ve loved spending time with you,’ she said huskily. ‘I’ve enjoyed getting to know you, but there are things about you that scare me. Your strength of will. Your ruthlessness.’
‘You’re a match for them, Red. You’re not so different yourself.’
‘I don’t love you.’ It was a lie, the cruellest lie she’d ever told. Her next words were even crueller but she said them because without them he wouldn’t let her go. ‘I looked at you tonight and I didn’t love what I saw. I saw James.’
And this time Cole shook his head and turned away and Jolie closed her eyes and wished herself in hell because surely hell was better than here.
‘Go,’ he said raggedly. ‘Just go.’
He left the room and she finished packing. She called a taxi. She shouldered her bag and put her head down and headed for the door to Cole’s house where Cole stood waiting, his lips tight and his eyes bleak.
‘Was any of it real?’ he said as she drew level with him, and put her hand to the doorknob. ‘Or were you always aiming to make me fall in love with you so that you could finally take your revenge on the son for the sins of the father? Tell me, Red. I’d really like to know.’ Jolie glanced his way and wished she hadn’t, for his eyes flayed her more than words ever could. ‘Were you always planning to walk away from me at the worst possible moment?’