The Merger Mogul (24 page)

“I like your
parents,” Daniel said as they walked.

“I’m sure they
like you as well.  You’re nothing if not charming when you want to be. So
I understand that you’re planning to give up the title of Bachelor?” she teased
not quite sure how she felt about that. “The single women will probably be
coming out of the woodwork now.”

“I’ve only got
eyes for one,” he said seriously looking at her.  KT smiled and continued
walking.  It felt so good being with Daniel again.

The day took on
new color for Daniel and KT.  KT introduced him to her baby sister,
Valerie.  She was several inches shorter than KT, had her dad’s coloring
and wore her hair in a natural curly style. She whispered rather loudly to KT
that Daniel was “hot” which made him laugh and give her a hug.  Then he
met Michaela’s parents and their friends. The buffet put on by the caterers was
wonderful but Daniel couldn’t remember what he ate, he was so busy devouring KT
with his eyes.  Eventually KT’s dad pulled him away for a “talk” he
said.  Daniel thought he’d wanted to talk about “oneness” and was
surprised when he said: “Young man, I can’t help but notice that you can’t take
your eyes off my daughter and I was just wondering what your intentions are or
if I’ll have to get out my shotgun.”

Daniel laughed
and said: “You won’t need a shotgun, Robert, unless it’s to convince KT to
marry me.  I love her and I’m trying to convince her to spend the rest of
her life with me, if we have your blessing.”

“And why would
she need convincing of that?”

“It’s a long
story and not very pretty. Suffice it to say I betrayed her trust but I’m happy
that she’s forgiven me and I won’t let her down again, with God’s help.”

“Well that’s
good enough for me.”

“Thank you,
sir.”

“What are you
two talking about?” asked KT walking up to them.

“Oh, men
stuff,” said her father putting his arm around her shoulder and giving her a
quick hug.  “I like this young man.  Don’t keep him in suspense for
too long,” he said heading back to the party.

“Now you’ve got
my whole family on your side,” complained KT.

“When I’m
preparing for a merger, I pull out all the stops. And this is the most
important merger of my life. I can’t afford to mess it up.”

“OK Mogul.”
Daniel laughed and gave KT a quick hug.

“I think it’s
time I was leaving.  Are you ready to go? I can drive behind you to make
sure you get home safely.”

“Thanks Daniel
but I’ll be fine.”

“When can I see
you again? Would you like to go to a show this week?”

“I’d love
to.  Mama Mia has just started and I would love to see that.”

“OK, Mama Mia
it is. I’ll get Margaret to book some tickets and I’ll call you and let you
know what day.”

“Great! 
See you then.”  Daniel said his goodbyes to everyone and made his way to
his car.  For the first time since KT walked out of his apartment he felt
fully alive.

“Thank you
Lord,” he said out loud.

The first thing
Daniel did when he got to his office on Monday morning was deal with the letter
from Patterson Morgan. Daniel had worked on the merger between Morgan’s
financial services firm and a similar firm which offered specialist
services.  The merger had gone well and everyone had been happy, Daniel included,
especially when he walked away with a big check.

Unfortunately
according to Morgan’s letter, cracks were not just beginning to show but they
seemed to be threatening the whole structure and he obviously wanted a
scapegoat.  Daniel supposed the most convenient one was Tennant
Consulting.

He thought that
this would be a perfect opportunity to test his oneness strategy and smooth
things over with Patterson Morgan at the same time.  He reached for the
phone on his desk.

“Margaret, get
me Patterson Morgan at Morgan Stanley please.”

“Sure Daniel.”
A minute later his phone rang.

“Hello
Patterson.  I got your letter last week but I’ve been out of town so I
wasn’t able to deal with it. I’m sorry to hear that things are bad over there
but I may be able to help.  I’ve got a new strategy that I’m offering to
help companies with their post merger issues. How would you like to get
together this week to discuss it?

After agreeing
a date and time, Daniel hung up satisfied with the call. Maybe that letter that
had seemed so threatening was really a blessing in disguise.

Daniel lavished
attention on KT as he had never done with any other woman.  He arrived to
pick her up for Mama Mia with a single rose the exact color of the dress she
wore on their first date.

“I’ll never forget
our first date and the color of the dress you wore,” he said handing her the
rose. KT was touched that he remembered her dress after all these months
however she preferred not to remember how the date ended.

One weekend he
picked her up and let her drive his Porsche down to Long Island where they had
a picnic.  “You know a man must really be in love when he lets a woman
drive his Porsche,” he joked.  KT laughed as she felt the power of the
engine respond to the slight increase in the pressure of her foot on the gas.

KT dragged
Daniel to the cinema, something he hadn’t done for years, to watch a romantic
comedy.

“Admit it, you
enjoyed it,” she teased afterwards.

“Well the guy
got the girl in the end so that gives me hope. But I still prefer Matrix.”

“Typical male!”

He never made
any attempt to do more than kiss her cheek or forehead and while it was almost
killing him he felt it was the best way to regain her trust.  KT enjoyed
being with Daniel but she was also frustrated with the restraint he was showing.
He would only hold her hand and kiss it or just brush his lips to her forehead
when he left her at her door while she longed for him to kiss her with the
passion that he had on their first date. In fact it seemed to her that he
avoided lingering when he dropped her off. She began to wonder what his hurry
was and if perhaps he was seeing someone else.  Maybe someone who was
giving him what she wouldn’t.

Daniel drove
off after seeing KT to her door.  He didn’t dare stay any longer because
it was becoming nearly impossible to keep his hands off her and give her those
chaste kisses when he really longed to hold her close and indulge himself in
the taste and feel of her as he did before.  But that was just too much
given his enforced celibacy.  He said a quick prayer for strength. He
needed to marry her soon.

It was KT’s
birthday, a warm night in August, when Daniel picked her up to take her to
dinner.

“Happy
Birthday,” he greeted her at her door with a bouquet of colorful flowers and a beautifully
wrapped gift.

“Thank you
Daniel, these are beautiful.  I’ll just get a vase for them. And thank you
for the gift; I’ll open it in the car.” KT was back in a couple of minutes. She
found Daniel looking uncharacteristically restless and asked if he was OK.

“Yes, I’m
fine.  I’ve got a special evening planned and I hope you’ll enjoy it.”

“I’m sure I
will. Where are we going? Tell me, don’t make me wait!”

“I see that
your patience hasn’t improved,” he laughed. “Well we’re going to The
Parisienne
for dinner and then I’ve arranged for a carriage
ride in Central Park.”

“Oh, how romantic!
  I heard that the
Parisienne
is one of the most romantic restaurants in
Manhattan and I’ve never been for a carriage ride in Central Park. And just to
prove that I’m patient I won’t open my gift until I get home.”

Their dinner
was wonderful. KT and Daniel reminisced about their first date which now seemed
so long ago. She reminded him about the photo in the tabloids the next day and
they laughed about it.

“I never did see
that,” Daniel said.

“Just as well.
Paul called me up furious and read it to
me.  It said something like ‘The Merger Mogul is back on the town and was
seen at The Black Pearl with a mysterious Vanessa Williams lookalike…’ That was
rather flattering, I must admit.”

“You’re just as
beautiful as Vanessa Williams and I’ll never forget how stunning you looked
that night.  I totally lost my head.”

“OK let’s
change the subject before I die of embarrassment.”

They had
dessert and then headed out to Central Park for their ride.

“Your carriage
awaits, my lady,” said Daniel helping her up into the carriage. The driver took
off with a shake of the reigns.

“This is so
beautiful,” exclaimed KT as she admired the beauty and serenity of the park in
the midst of all the high rises around it.

“
You
are
so beautiful,” murmured Daniel taking her hand.  “KT, when I met you, your
values seemed old-fashioned to me but, like this carriage ride, they are a
refreshing reminder of the way things used to be. Thank you for coming into my
life and introducing me to the real world.”

“It was totally
God, Daniel. But I’m glad he used me to reach you.”

He reached into
the pocket of his jacket which was next to him on the cushioned seat and took
out a small black box. Flipping open the lid he revealed a princess cut diamond
solitaire ring. KT put her hand over her mouth in awe. “You’re like this
diamond, rare and precious. Will you marry me and enter into a lifelong merger
with me?”

“Yes, Daniel!
I’ll marry you.” She threw her arms around him and he hugged her tightly,
feeling as if he’d come home at last.

“This is so
beautiful,” she said in awe as he slipped the ring on her finger.

“When do you
want to get married?  I can’t wait more than a couple of months.  I
feel as if I’ve been waiting for you forever.”

“Let’s get
married in November.  That will make a year that we first met. Can we get
married in Barbados?”

“Are you sure
you want to do that?”

“Absolutely!
  I love that island and I don’t want the
memory of it to be tainted by what happened there.  I want our marriage
and honeymoon to totally replace all the negative feelings with love and joy.”

“Then Barbados
it is. Let’s go celebrate our engagement.  I have a bottle of champagne at
home in the fridge.”

“Do you think that’s
a good idea?” asked KT. ‘Don’t go,’ said a voice. ‘You can trust him,’ said
another one. ‘He’s been the perfect gentleman.’

“You can trust
me,” Daniel said.  “I know the boundaries.”

“OK. In that
case I’d love to have a glass of champagne to celebrate.” She felt a tingle of
excitement go through her body.

A similar
excitement raced through Daniel and he wondered if he was tempting fate by
inviting KT to his apartment.  He knew the boundaries all right, but could
he stay within them?

“I didn’t really
get to see your apartment last time I was here,” KT reminded Daniel. He
preferred to forget the outcome of that visit. “It’s beautiful,” she continued
“but it’s not terribly homey.  It looks like a bachelor pad.”

“It is a
bachelor pad,” laughed Daniel, “but you can make it as homey as you like when
we get married.  That is if you want to live here.”

“I may have to
exorcise the ghosts of girlfriends past,” teased KT. Daniel wisely refrained
from commenting and instead went to get the champagne.

“Here’s to the
most important merger of my life,” he toasted and they touched their glasses
together.

“And here’s to
the best merger specialist in Manhattan,” she returned “who now not only brings
the companies together but is committed to keeping them together.” They drank
their champagne and KT laughed in sheer happiness as the bubbles tickled her
nose.

“I love you KT.
Do you know that the first time I met you, I said to myself ‘Kathryn Tennant
sounds even better than Kathryn Taylor and you wouldn’t even have to change
your initials.’?”

“You did not!”

“Yes I
did.  Maybe I had some kind of prophetic insight that we’d end up
together.”

“That’s
amazing.  I never would have guessed.  I thought you were pretty
disgusting though.”

“And I thought
that you were from the Victorian era. I figured that you were prudish and a bit
uptight but now I know that you just live by your principles and you’re
actually very warm and passionate.”

“How would you
know?  You haven’t really kissed me in ages. I was beginning to think that
you were seeing someone else.”

“Seeing someone
else?  Are you crazy?  I’ve been losing sleep trying to figure out
ways to keep my hands off you.”

“Oh. I’m so
glad! Not that you’ve lost sleep but…” KT didn’t finish her sentenced because
Daniel pulled her onto his lap and began to kiss her with all the passion and
love that he had stored up over the past months.  She felt that she was
being washed away by a torrent and all she could do was hold onto him for dear
life.

Daniel’s mouth
left hers and trailed down her neck, tasting the skin as he went.  KT
threw back her head to give him better access and buried her fingers in his
thick hair. He slid the zip of her dress down a few inches and bared her
shoulder, continuing to nibble on her soft skin until she shuddered with
pleasure. Daniel wanted nothing more than to lower the dress all the way and
sample what she was willingly offering. She really didn’t know what she was
doing to him. She trusted him that he could stop before things went too
far.  She didn’t know how wrong she was!

‘Help me Lord,
help me Lord,’ he sent up a silent prayer. ‘Give me the strength to stop. I
don’t want to fail you.’ It was as if heaven was just waiting for him to ask
for help because immediately he felt the power come over him to slide KT’s zip
up and pull away. He gathered her to him in a hug that was now free of passion
but full of love. He slid her off his lap and leaned his forehead against hers,
taking a ragged breath.