A Sweet Deal (Crimson Romance) (15 page)

• • •

When Richard addressed the crowd, you could have heard a pin drop. Yvette found herself transfixed as he talked about pediatric cancer, the toll on the families, the strain on businesses when employee productivity suffered. She wouldn’t be surprised if the foundation reached their yearly donation goals in one evening after his impassioned speech. Yvette watched the faces in the crowd and everyone was riveted, hanging on Richard’s every word.

She watched as he made his way through the crowded room, stopping to talk with donors, greeting acquaintances. He commanded respect but his charming, easy manner made him accessible. She watched him, mesmerized, as he interacted with the beautiful crowd. He was clearly in his element.

With a frisson of anticipation, she locked eyes with him as he made his way back to the table. Dozens of women lined his path back to her, but his eyes never left hers. The rest of the room fell away, faces blurred and voices faded away to a faint background buzz. He was fascinating, riveting. A force of nature. They walked back to the table arm in arm, and Michael rose to greet them, but wobbled a bit on his feet.

“Beautiful speech, son. Well done.” He pushed the last word out, a bit breathless, and Yvette noticed how pale he looked. A faint shiver of fear shot through her and she took Michael’s hand, finding it clammy. “Are you okay?”

Michael looked pale, and beads of sweat popped up along his forehead, but he nodded. “I think so. I’m fine. Just a little queasy.”

Robert leaned over. “Dad? What’s wrong?”

“Let’s get you some water. I’m sure he’s fine.” Richard guided his father to his seat and put a hand on his shoulder as he sat down. Lowering his voice, he asked, “sure you’re okay?”

Michael gulped down water until his glass was empty and nodded. Richard sat beside her and watched his father, concern etched on his features. Her hand found his under the table. Their fingers interlaced and she squeezed. She leaned over and whispered, her lips brushing his ear. “Should I find a doctor?”

Richard turned his head so that his cheek brushed her lips, his voice low. “Let’s get him another glass of water and see.” He raised his hand to signal for the waiter.

Suddenly, Michael slumped over in his chair, and his date caught him before he fell to the floor. When he clutched his chest, his date stood, wild-eyed, and searched the room for help. Richard was halfway to the microphone on stage before Yvette could pull her phone out of her clutch. She was dialing 911 when he called out for a doctor in attendance. His rich baritone was laced with panic, but he scanned the crowd with authority until a physician was located.

The doctor rushed to Michael’s side and began assessing him. He checked Michael’s pulse and turned to the guests at the table. “Does anybody have aspirin?”

The guests around the table shook their heads, and Penelope rummaged through her evening bag until she produced a small foil packet and passed it to him. The physician checked Michael’s breathing, and helped him swallow the aspirin. He turned to Yvette. “Are you on the line with 911?”

She nodded and held up her index finger. She spoke into the phone, careful to keep her voice calm as she told the operator what had happened. “He is conscious and breathing. We have a doctor with him.” She listened, and responded. “Thank you.” She held the phone to her chest and addressed the physician. “Paramedics are en route.” She handed the phone to Richard. “Here. Can you answer some questions about your dad?”

He took her phone and stepped away from the crowd around his father so he could speak with the dispatcher. With his head bent, he ran his fingers through his hair and puffed out a strong breath. Michael’s date fled in panic, and Penelope and Brent worked to keep onlookers away from Michael while Robert knelt by his side, eyes wide with panic. The physician continued to monitor Michael and tried to keep him comfortable while Robert answered whatever questions he could. Eventually, a group of paramedics arrived, and the crowd parted as they made their way towards Michael.

Richard’s father was loaded into an ambulance, and Richard and Yvette followed them to the hospital in a chauffeured town car. Tense silence stretched between them, the car’s air conditioner and the hum of the road the only sounds. She watched him in profile, his strong jaw clenched and his eyes narrowed intensely as though he could will the traffic to move faster. The town car sped along behind the ambulance in the wake of the siren and flashing lights, and she struggled with whether to leave Richard to his thoughts or break the silence. Maybe he was the kind of person who remained calm in an emergency and allowed the emotions to come later. Surely he wasn’t as unaffected and in control as he appeared.

“It’s going to be okay. He’ll pull through this.” She laid a hand on his thigh and squeezed softly.

He covered her hand in his and turned to face her. “God, I hope so.” His vulnerability finally cracked the surface of his confident calm, and her heart broke for him. Losing his mother likely made him fear the worst. “I tried to keep it together in there, to not panic when I wanted to, but it was so hard. You’d think by now I would recognize that Robert’s not a little kid anymore. He doesn’t need me to protect him from anything.”

“I’m sure he’s glad you’ve got his back.” She leaned over and kissed his cheek.

He took her hands in his and looked her in the eye. “Thank you. I couldn’t go through this without you.”

She looked down at their intertwined hands. Her heart swelled with emotion, but the backseat of the car heading towards the emergency room wasn’t the place to take the leap and admit to him that her feelings had grown. Now Richard needed her to be strong and supportive, a shoulder to lean on during the uncertainty of the next couple of hours. Her feelings would have to wait.

• • •

Richard shifted in the waiting room’s hard plastic chair and checked his watch. His father had been alive and conscious when they arrived in the emergency room, so he knew that things could be much worse. Still, the waiting seemed interminable. A pundit gesticulated wildly and shouted on the television mounted on the wall. He shook his head. So many things were meaningless in the face of such a potential loss. Michael Morgan was healthy, a hale and hearty man, and Richard wasn’t ready to lose his only remaining parent. They had grown closer than ever in the years since his mother’s untimely death. Between working so closely together and their shared loss, they had developed a fierce bond. Losing him would be like losing part of himself. Thank God he had Yvette by his side. Without her calming presence, he would be a nervous wreck.

He couldn’t pinpoint the moment when he started seeing her in a different way, but his feelings for Yvette had turned around completely since the day they met. She had managed to change his mind without really trying. Just being around her lit him on fire, igniting all his senses, but it had grown into more than that. When he looked into her eyes, he saw his future, and it felt right. He saw his home, his family, where he belonged. It was all there, reflected in her eyes.

When Chelsea left, he was certain that he’d never fall in love again, that he wouldn’t want to trust another woman, to let anyone into his heart. He promised himself that he would be fine living his life without love, that he didn’t need it. But he didn’t realize that he had no idea what love was. What he’d had with Chelsea was nothing, no more than a farce. Yvette was his everything, and it had happened right under his nose.

He looked up to see her return from getting coffee for them and watched her walk across the waiting room. As always, she stood out like a jewel in a bed of sand. Tonight she wore his jacket over her sophisticated couture gown but it didn’t hide her incomparable beauty. Seeing her in such a drab, mundane setting highlighted everything that was right about her. She handed him a cup of coffee and their fingers touched. Then he knew. He was falling in love with Yvette Cruz—if he hadn’t already.

She sat beside him and blew on her coffee. “Mine is decaf, of course,” she said with a smile. “Yours is regular. It could be a late night.”

“Thank you.” He watched her sit back and realized that she must be exhausted. The pregnancy made everything harder for her, and tonight had been an emotional juggernaut. Yet she still took care of him and saw to his needs while he focused on his father. He angled his body so that he was facing her. “You must be exhausted.”

“I’m glad to be here. I wouldn’t leave you here to go through this alone.” She shrugged, clearly not picking up on the depth of his emotions.

“I mean it. Being with you has made this bearable.” He wanted to say more, to somehow express his growing feelings, but an emergency room waiting area wasn’t the place.

Robert rushed in, out of breath, and dropped into the chair beside him. “I thought I was never going to find a parking space. Have you heard anything yet?”

“No, not yet. Dad’s being treated right now.”

“Robert, can I run and get you a coffee?” Yvette leaned over Richard, letting her hand rest on his thigh.

“Mr. Morgan?” A man wearing blue scrubs approached them before Robert could respond.

Richard stood, his heart in his throat, and Robert rose beside him. The moments it took the doctor to reach them from across the room were the longest of his life. Time stretched out interminably as he held his breath, desperate for news of his father’s condition but terrified of what he may hear. With his younger brother at his side, the enormity of the situation hit him. They could lose another parent tonight, and he was so unprepared. He swallowed and took a deep breath. “I’m Richard Morgan. This is my brother, Robert.”

The doctor stood in front of them and scraped his hand over his chin, addressing both of them. “I’m Dr. Summers. Your father is stable. It appears that he had a minor heart attack, and now he’s resting. We’ll want to run more tests to determine the extent of damage, and he’ll need to be admitted, but for now it looks like he’s out of the woods. You can see him if you like.” He looked at Yvette, still seated. “One at a time, please.”

“Of course. Go ahead, and take your time. I’ll be fine waiting out here.” She touched his hand and sat back in her chair, settling in so he could visit his father.

Robert touched his arm. “You go ahead. I’ll sit with Yvette.”

• • •

He followed the doctor through the waiting room to his father’s curtained-off bed. Michael Morgan lay amongst the tubes and wires, under the buzzing fluorescent lights, looking weak and old. His father had always been so healthy and vibrant, often mistaken for a much younger man. Seeing him made vulnerable, looking like a sick person in the oversized generic hospital robe, took Richard’s breath away. Hot tears prickled behind his eyes, threatening to fall, when his father spoke.

“Don’t count me out just yet.” His raspy voice was soft but held a hint of his normal cheer. He smiled, tired and weak, up at him. “The doctor said it was a mild heart attack. Felt pretty major to me.” He laughed at his own joke and pressed a hand to his chest. “It knocked me right on my ass.”

Richard walked to his side and took his hand. “You gave everyone a scare, old man.”

“Couldn’t let you hog the spotlight.” He said with a weak laugh before closing his eyes.

Richard filled a cup of water for his father and pulled a chair close to the bed. He laid a hand over his father’s and watched his face.

His eyes fluttered open again, and he fixed his gaze on Richard. “Listen, I’m going to make some changes. I can’t keep up this pace if I’m going to recover. I’d rather be around to play with my grandchild than risk another heart attack. If you’re ready, I’ll turn everything over to you.”

“You don’t think that’s a bit hasty?” He wanted Morgan Enterprises, but he always thought it would come later. He was prepared to wait, to help his father during his recovery and then step aside when he was back up to speed. Taking over the company would mean that Richard acknowledged his father’s new fragility, something with which he was not at all comfortable.

“I’ve got to focus on my recovery right now. When I’m well again, I can come back and advise you. If you think about it, this way the transition will be much easier. Won’t it be nice for you to have me available to help out while you’re settling into the position? If you wait until I’m gone, you’ll be all on your own.”

“I suppose so. I just don’t want you making any rash decisions. There’s no reason to think that you won’t be back, better than ever, in no time.”

“Sure, son. You can count on it. I have every intention of making a full and record-breaking recovery. Little scares like this can really make a man think, though. I don’t want to run myself into the ground heading up Morgan Enterprises when I have a young buck like you just chomping at the bit to take over.” His eyelids looked heavy, but he smiled at Richard.

“It’s never been like that.” Richard’s voice was soft, and he swallowed past the lump that formed in his throat.

“I know. I’m only teasing you. We can work out the details later, but I am sure about this. I’ll stay involved, but I want you to step up and take the wheel. Think about it. This way you don’t even have to wait until you’re married.”

“Would you still consider this if I hadn’t gotten engaged to Yvette?”

“Yes. This has nothing to do with our agreement and everything to do with my health going forward. You can consider the deal called off if you like. If you don’t want to marry her, don’t. Though I’ve seen the way you look at each other, and I think you’d be making a big mistake if you let her get away.”

“Dad, no, that’s not what I meant.” He realized that his father likely thought he was cutthroat enough to propose to Yvette to gain control of the company. In light of how dramatically his feelings for her had developed, Richard felt sick over the thought of using her, for ever having considered it for a moment. It was a blessing that he’d never considered sharing the offer details with her and asking her to make a deal.

“It’s fine. I shouldn’t have pushed you into marriage like that. I wanted it so badly for you that I used the company to get my way.”