A Sense of Duty: A Former Navy SEAL Falls in Love and Begins a New Journey with his Private Consulting Company: Dark Horse Guardians (29 page)

Ben was charming as usual. "Can that friend in a high place get your divorce finalized?" Just as Lara said it, she wished she hadn't. Ben surprised her, however. "I have an update on that front. Sienna has agreed to sign the divorce agreement. The kicker is: I will not have custody of William. In fact, I will waive all parental rights."
Lara walked in stunned silence for a moment. "You mean if you get the divorce you'll have no visitation rights with your son?" Ben looked somber, "I will have a strictly limited visitation schedule. I will only be able to see William in Canada, on her turf, until he turns eighteen. That's ten years away." Lara searched his face for any sign of Ben's feelings about this arrangement. He seemed to have accepted it. She had to ask the obvious question, "Ben, are you all right with that? It's an awful price to pay for your freedom."

He looked at her and squeezed her hand as they walked, "I will do whatever it takes to wrap this up so I can be with you. I will admit, I'm not thrilled about that part of the divorce agreement, but I have given this a lot of thought, Lara. It is what I need to do to get Sienna's cooperation." She looked at Ben, hardly able to believe he was really walking next to her saying this. They were now in front of the purple Victorian that Lara loved, and they stopped. Ben's blue eyes met Lara's with an intensity that almost made her turn away. He embraced her and whispered in her ear, "Soon, we will be living in that house. I want to give you everything you want." Lara whispered back, "I only want you."

~Ben~

A sixth sense, that's what they called it. And Ben had it. He felt certain something was bothering Lara, but couldn't put his finger on it. He hoped it wasn't that jerk Eric Henderson bothering her or Eliot Stone, and she did not dare to tell him about it. But whatever it was, he would find out. He knew Lara was getting close to graduation and the firm was probably going to make a job offer. He also knew Eric was texting her constantly trying to get a date with her. Those things could be weighing on her mind, but usually she would talk openly about situations like that with him. He knew Lara was planning her mother's and Rusty's small wedding ceremony, but she had spoken about that frequently. He knew there was something.

Ben wanted Lara's life to be bright and happy. She deserved a husband who gave in to her every whim. He wanted to be that guy. He wanted to pamper her. He constantly thought about the upcoming trip to St. John, swimming together, relaxing on the beach. He was preoccupied with kissing her, making love to her. He went through the scene over and over in his mind. He knew she was new to the world of physical intimacy and it was important for her experience with him to be romantic and meaningful. These were things other guys laughed about, but Ben had tremendous admiration for Lara's serious attitude toward intimacy. There were very few women who had the guts, determination, strength and self-respect to hold out for marriage. He was grateful that she was his. He didn't just love Lara, he adored her. Ben felt he was so close to marrying her. If Sienna would sign the divorce agreement, he would be well on his way to being the happiest man on earth.

~Lara~

A phone message from Eliot Stone asking Lara to attend an important meeting piqued her curiosity. The subject matter of the meeting was not made known to her, and she did not like walking into a room without knowing what the purpose of the meeting was. She made a phone call to Eliot's secretary, Nancy, to fish for information. Nancy told her the meeting would be in Eliot's conference room and might have the personnel director there, so she thought it may have something to do with a job offer. Then she said not to assume that or let anyone know she said it. Lara hung up the phone with a feeling of anticipation mixed with dread. She dressed carefully in a gray suit with a white shirt and her dangling diamond earrings. She was five minutes early for the nine o'clock meeting. She did not fidget but spent time breathing and getting centered. She made a checklist on her phone of the items she would ask about if this was a job proposal.

Lara stepped into the conference room at the appointed time but no one was there. She made herself comfortable as she tried to imagine exactly why Eliot wanted to talk with her. Just as Lara started flipping through the most recent Architectural Digest magazine, Eliot walked into the room and closed the door. Slightly tanned from being outside, his brown eyes met hers with unbridled delight as he sat across the table from her. Lara set the magazine aside and smiled. It could just be a meeting about a potential client, "Good morning, Eliot, what's up?" Eliot got comfortable in his seat unbuttoning his brown tweed jacket. He slipped a pen out of his pocket and had an envelope in his hand and he placed both on the table in front of her. "Lara, I want you to accept a position here at the firm. I am impressed with how you have handled your projects during the internship. I don't want to let you graduate and get away, I mean, get another job offer from a competitor. So, I am making this offer to you now, before you graduate."

Lara was a bit surprised she was getting an offer without the personnel director in the room. She responded, "Thank you, Eliot. I am flattered and interested to hear what you have in mind." Relaxing, Eliot smiled and waited as she opened the envelope. Her beautiful green eyes scanned the offer before her in writing. It was a generous salary, full benefits including a health insurance policy completely paid in full by the firm. Also, there were six weeks of paid vacation in the offer. Lara read the fine print and hesitated. Eliot sensed he had not completely persuaded her yet. "Do you have any questions about the offer? Is there anything that I've left out?" Lara took a deep breath, "I would like a couple of days to sleep on it…would that be all right?" Eliot seemed a bit surprised by her reaction. Any of the graduates at the university would have jumped at this chance. Offers like this did not come along often. But, the truth was, Lara had thought about starting her own design firm upon graduation. She knew the level of dedication it would take, but felt that she had the connections to get her one-woman firm off the ground. She did not want to tell Eliot that just now. After some small talk, Lara took the envelope with the job offer and departed the building. Driving home she thought about talking it over with Ben. Having his input would be helpful.

~Eliot~

Eliot Stone watched Lara through the window as she walked to her car. She was particularly beautiful today in that tailored gray suit and diamond earrings. She was more than beautiful, she was
elegant
. He was shocked that she did not jump at the chance to take the position with his firm on the spot. He definitely wanted her on his team as a designer. The clients loved her. Each one she worked for came to him afterwards and told him he should hire her. They gave her rave reviews. And, his well-heeled clients were not easy to please. She went above and beyond to satisfy them. Eliot was also fascinated with Lara's personal life, or lack of one. He viewed her as a lonely workaholic. He knew she spent time at the dojo and hung around with the new professor, Ben Keegan. But Eliot knew Ben was married, and he didn't picture Lara dating a married man. And, the long-distance relationship she had with Eric Henderson seemed to be barely a friendship. As far as he knew, Lara O'Connell was a single twenty-four year old woman living alone, and he was interested in pursuing her, whether she took his job offer or not.

~Lara~

Sinking into her sofa, Lara put up her feet on the ottoman and read the job offer carefully. The fine print stated that she would give up any possibility of leaving and starting up her own firm for a three year period. She could, of course, leave and work for another firm, but she could not start her own firm and if she left, she could not take any former clients with her. Her immediate concern was: what if she took the job at the firm and decided a year or so into it that it was the wrong decision. If she was going to strike out on her own, she would have to do it now. Or, she could choose what seemed to be the safe option and accept Eliot's job offer with its great salary and benefit package.

She stopped at the campus café for a quick bite and headed to one of her classes. It was getting down to the finish line with only a few weeks to go. She did not want to stand on the stage at the university in front of a crowd to receive her master's degree. Instead, she made arrangements to pick up the documents at the dean's office. The pomp and circumstance involved with graduation ceremonies bored her. She wanted to get on with her life. School, in a formal setting, would finally be over. She would celebrate in her own quiet way. The afternoon at the architectural firm went by quickly as she finished the last details of the renovation projects and ran through her checklist for the day. Ben sent her a text, "Can you dog-sit Einstein? No walk today. I'll be at your place in an hour." She messaged back, "Sure." thinking that he was heading out to Langley again for more meetings.

As she walked up the creaky staircase
to her condo, Lara decided a relaxing warm bath was what she needed at the moment. When she stepped out of the long hot soak she heard Einstein snorting at the bottom of her apartment door. Lara had just emerged from the tub and met Ben in her robe as she opened the door. His handsome smile and blue eyes radiated hope and Lara was pleased he stopped to say goodbye. He was running late. "Lara, I've got to hop on a plane to Vancouver right away to finish the business with Sienna. I will contact you as soon as I have further news. I'll miss you." Lara looked into his blue eyes and wondered what she had ever done to deserve such a wonderful man. As she embraced him, her robe parted slightly and she felt Ben's glance drift downward. She sighed as his strong hands slipped inside the robe briefly caressing her warm body. For a split second, Lara felt pure pleasure. Ben kissed her and whispered, "You are impossibly beautiful." As he turned to leave, he gazed at her and lightly touched her hair as if creating an image to keep in his memory. Then he was gone. Lara rubbed Einstein's ears. "It's just you and me again, buddy."  Lara felt optimistic as she listened to Ben's footsteps going down the staircase.

~Ben~

Ben boarded the plane for Vancouver with the hope that he would be able to finally get the divorce agreement signed by Sienna. Negotiating with terrorists had been easier than negotiating this divorce. He needed to marry Lara before Eliot or Eric made a move. He felt hopeful Sienna would finally sign the paperwork. The sneak peek as Lara's robe parted lingered in his mind as a pleasant memory for his plane ride. He never anticipated he would feel so strongly about Lara. When he was away from her, he thought about her constantly. He never stopped plotting about how to get his divorce finalized so he could marry her. If he left Lara alone for a while, even a day, he feared some other guy would swoop in and take her. Time was of the essence.

Although he was hopeful the divorce agreement would be signed, he also had the sick feeling in his stomach that Sienna might make more demands or change her mind about some detail. She was so unpredictable. Confronting her was a chore that Ben detested. Sienna had become a skeletal shell of her former self. She no longer was able to model and was ill most of the time. The bulimia and anorexia had taken a toll on her young body. She was having symptoms of heart failure, yet she continued withholding food from her fragile body. He never could understand how anyone could cease eating or willingly regurgitate food. It was so repugnant to him. Sienna's teeth were now eroded from the constant reflux of stomach acid. Her bones were breaking down from osteoporosis. The worst part of their relationship was the fact that she took out all of her frustrations on Ben and William but in different ways.

Sienna was desperately trying to hold onto her marriage to Ben, even though they never had a normal marriage relationship. Ben never made love to her after William was born. He was overseas most of the time. When on leave they would argue and he avoided her. That was when he found the Prince Edward Island retreat. Sienna took out her bitterness on William in a different way. She coddled her son to the point of making him embarrassed and uncomfortable. William was ashamed of his mother's angry outbursts when she appeared at his boarding school. He did not want his friends to know she was his mother. William lived a life walking on eggshells around Sienna, as he never knew what might set her off.

The one thing Ben regretted most in his life was not taking William with him when he left. But he physically couldn't. When he left Sienna, he was in the SEALs deployed to the Middle East. When he returned, he concentrated on setting up his consulting business, suffering with his own problems. There was never time for William in his life. He wanted a chance to start over with Lara. If he was fortunate enough to have children with her, he vowed that he would be an excellent father. As the plane was about to land in Vancouver, the flight attendant smiled at Ben as she asked him to place his seat in the upright position.

Vancouver was in a frozen state when the plane landed and Ben wasted no time getting to Sienna's attorney's office. Robert Townsend was one of the best known divorce attorneys in Vancouver and his office was a show of wealth. Expensive original artwork hung on the walls and the furnishings were rare antiques. He was greeted by the receptionist and then shuttled into a luxurious conference room and given sparkling spring water. Townsend had told him that Sienna would be at this meeting. Ben's body tensed. He listened to the clock ticking in the conference room as he sat there alone. He practiced deep breathing and meditation. He knew his blood pressure would rise just with the vision of Sienna coming through the door.