Читать книгу True Love - Brenda Jackson - Страница 9

Nicholas was roused by a knock on his office door. He looked up as Paul Dunlap opened the door and stuck his head in. "Can I talk to you for a second, Nick?"

Nicholas pushed the papers he was working on aside. "Sure."

Paul had been head of security at Chenault Electronics for nearly thirty years. Now, at fifty-two, Paul claimed he would hold the position for just one year before retiring. Nicholas didn't know what he would do when that day came. Paul was much more than just head of security at Chenault. He had been Nicholas's father's good friend and trusted confidant. And now Paul was those same things to Nicholas. Paul was also a father figure, and as much a part of Chenault Electronics as Nicholas was. Paul was a highly intelligent man who took his job seriously. He always had. And now, with the high security measures surrounding the MC Project, Nicholas depended on Paul's skill and expertise even more. The world of technology was a very competitive one, and the ability to emerge as a leader within the industry could mean the difference between success and failure. Some people, those without scruples, would stop at nothing to get that success.

Nicholas watched as Paul walked in carrying an envelope in his hand. He placed the envelope before him on his desk. "Would you like to explain this, Nick?"

Nicholas glanced down at the envelope, which was addressed to Shayla Kirkland. He shrugged. "What's there to explain, Paul? She didn't get the job." Nicholas raised an eyebrow. "Is she someone you know?"

Paul shook his head. "No, but she's someone I wouldn't want to take a job with one of your competitors, especially TJ Electronics. They would just love to get their hands on a person of her caliber."

Nicholas leaned back in his chair and looked up at Paul curiously. "And just what do you know about her caliber? You weren't in on the interview."

Paul sighed. "I didn't have to be. I saw a copy of her résumé for security clearance. After reading it, I figured you'd grab her up. I was totally surprised when I saw Leanne typing up this letter."

Nicholas nodded. Leanne was his secretary. "What if I told you she wasn't a good fit?"

Paul sat down on the edge of Nicholas's desk and gazed at him pointedly. "After reading her résumé, I'd ask you this question-she wasn't a good fit for what, this company, or your bed?" A smile touched the older man's lips when he saw the deep coloring flush Nicholas's features. "In fact, I'd bet she was a very good fit for both this company and your bed, and that's what has you worried."

"I'm not worried about anything," Nicholas grumbled, pushing the envelope aside.

"Then maybe you're just a tad bit horny, son."

Nicholas couldn't keep from grinning. For as long as he had known Paul, and that had been forever, the man had been blunt, and straight to the point. It had been Paul who had taken on the chore of explaining the birds and the bees to the fourteen-year-old Nicholas when Alan Chenault had become flustered with embarrassment while attempting to do so.

"I'm glad you're finding humor in all this," Paul said, frowning. "The statement was not meant to be funny. It was said in all seriousness. I'd hate to think we're losing a prime candidate for employment because you don't think you'll be able to keep your pants zipped whenever you're around her."

Nicholas stopped grinning and sat up straight. "That's not it."

"Then what is it, exactly? Shayla Kirkland is looking for a job. Her credentials are excellent. Just imagine how her expertise could be used here. If we won't give her an opportunity to come work for us, who's to say that JT Electronics won't be her next stop? I told you I thought we'd be making a mistake by opening another company in the same city where Thomas Jordache is also doing business. We can barely tolerate the likes of him in Jacksonville."

As Nicholas studied Paul he heard the venom in his tone. It was there every time he mentioned Thomas Jordache's name. Although Jordache was their major competitor and had proved to be a pain in the butt more than a few times, Nicholas knew why there was more to Paul's immense dislike of him. It had a lot to do with Paul's sister, who had been married to Jordache for a short while. Paul had been against the marriage. But that wasn't the only reason. Over the years Nicholas had heard other rumors about why Paul disliked Jordache. He'd heard that over twenty-seven years ago Jordache, in an attempt to obtain classified information from Chenault Electronics, was said to have bought off one of Chenault's female employees, who'd been willing to give him what he wanted. It was a case of underhanded industry theft, or at least that's what they'd thought initially. It had been Paul, as head of security, who had uncovered the plot. Months later, after the woman had been fired, Paul had also discovered that the woman had been falsely accused. She had been an innocent pawn in one of Jordache's ruthless games.

Nicholas sighed, knowing Paul was right regarding Shayla Kirkland. He had been thinking with the lower part of his body rather than with his brain. Somehow and someway he would have to maintain an iron-fisted amount of sexual control around her even if it killed him…and it just might. There was only so much a man could take, especially a man who hadn't slept with a woman in over a year. He picked up the envelope and ripped it in two, knowing Paul was watching him with keen interest.

"Is she that much of a temptation, Nick?" Paul asked, cocking a curious eyebrow at him.

Shayla Kirkland's beautiful face and shapely body flashed through Nicholas's mind. "Yes, but I'll deal with it for the sake of the company. My relationship with Ms. Kirkland will be strictly professional, and nothing more."

Shayla watched her aunt take a sip of coffee, then put her cup back down on the table. As usual, she thought Callie Foster, her mother's younger sister by four years, was a beautiful woman who wore her age of forty-seven well. She could pass easily for a woman in her thirties. Shayla knew her aunt credited her good eating habits and her policy of staying in shape as the reasons for her young appearance.

"So, sweetheart," her aunt said cheerfully, interrupting Shayla' s thoughts. "What did you do today?"

Shayla sighed inwardly. Now was as good a time as any to tell her aunt about the phone call she had received an hour ago. "I had an interview earlier today, and got a call before you arrived making me a job offer."

Shayla saw the happiness that lit up her aunt's entire face. She knew Aunt Callie had been hoping that she would move back to Chicago permanently. Callie reached across the table and captured Shayla's hand in hers. "Oh, honey, that's wonderful. Now that your mother is gone, you're all the family I have." Her aunt's smile widened as she released her hand. "Did you take that job as manager of the business department at the hospital?"

Shayla sighed and deliberately watched her aunt's reaction when she answered. "No. I've taken a job as manager of international affairs with Chenault Electronics."

Callie Foster nearly choked on the piece of pie she'd just put in her mouth.

"Aunt Callie, are you all right?" Shayla asked, genuinely concerned. Her aunt' s reaction was a dead giveaway that she knew something.

"Yes, I'm fine," Callie said, trying to regain her composure. "Wh-what made you want to go to work for Chenault?"

Shayla put her coffee cup down as she decided just what she would tell her aunt. There had always been complete honesty between them in the past, and Shayla knew she would tell her the truth-all of it. "I came across Mom's diary, Aunt Callie, while packing up her things. It was in the attic." Determined to bring everything out in the open, she added, "And I know."

Shayla could tell from the way her aunt was nibbling on her lower lip that what she had read in that diary was something she was never, ever supposed to have known.

Aunt Callie cleared her throat "You know what, Shayla?"

"I know that Glenn Kirkland was not my biological father."

Her aunt said nothing for the longest time. When she did speak her voice was soft, almost weak. "You weren't supposed to find that out."

"Evidently."

Shayla watched as light tears formed in her aunt's eyes. Pushing her chair back, she stood quickly and walked over to the woman she loved so much. Reaching out, she took her aunt's hand in hers. "Come on, Aunt Callie, let's go into the living room. It's time for us to have a girls' chat, don't you think?"

Callie nodded and stood. The two of them left the kitchen and walked into the living room and sat down on the sofa.

"First of all," Shayla started off, "I want you to know that as far as I'm concerned Glenn Kirkland is, and forever will be, my dad. He was a wonderful person, and a fantastic father. I loved him so very much. If anything, finding out the truth makes me love him that much more, for giving me his love unconditionally."

Shayla felt a lump form in her throat and paused to steady her voice before continuing. "He was always there for me. He was the perfect dad, and I know he was a wonderful husband to Mom. Both Mom and I were devastated when we lost him two years ago."

Shayla took a deep cleansing breath as she remembered that time. She knew that during their entire marriage her mother and father had a close relationship. Evangeline Foster Kirkland, known to her family and friends as Eva, had taken her husband's death of lung cancer extremely hard. Shayla knew in her heart that no matter what had happened twenty-seven years ago between her mother and the man who was her biological father, in the end Eva had found true happiness with Glenn Kirkland. "Dad made Mom very happy," she said achingly, and she knew without a doubt that was true.

"Yes," Callie agreed softly as she reached over and captured Shayla's hand. "And she made him very happy, too." She understood Shayla's need to know everything, but she couldn't help but remember all the promises she, Glenn, and Eva had made to conceal the truth.

She looked into Shayla's eyes, wondering just how much of the truth she could handle. After a few emotional moments, Callie tightened her hold on Shayla's hand. "When we were kids in South Carolina, Glenn and his parents lived across the street from us. I think he'd been in love with your mom forever, and I know that she'd always loved him, too. Age was always a major factor, since he was five years older than Eva. Glenn said he was just biding his time and waiting for her to grow up. Everyone knew how he felt about her, and figured he would pop the question when Eva finished high school. That would have been around the time Glenn was to come home on leave from the military."

Callie shook her head, remembering that time, before she continued. "But he never got leave. The army shipped him off to Vietnam immediately after basic training. In the meantime, Eva graduated from high school and left to attend college in Florida."

"Why didn't they get together when he finally came back from the war, or when she had finished college?" Shayla asked quietly.

Callie stared off in the distance as if trying to regroup her thoughts. "Things weren't the same for Glenn after the war. During his stint in Vietnam he had gotten an injury that robbed him of the ability to father children. He thought it wouldn't be fair to ask Eva to marry him, so he did what he thought was the honorable thing and broke things off between them. Eva was devastated by that."

"Did Mom know the reason he broke things off?"

"No, but I did, and he made me promise not to tell her. Eva believed he no longer loved her. A part of me will always regret keeping that promise. Things might have turned out differently if I hadn't. Anyway, Eva remained in Florida after finishing college, and went to work at Chenault Electronics. Glenn was discharged from the army and decided to go to medical school in Washington, D.C."

Aunt Callie released Shayla's hand and leaned back on the sofa. "While working at Chenault, your mother met Thomas Jordache. She was trying to get over Glenn. I don't know the specifics of their short affair. All I know is that she believed he was someone she could care about, and move on with her life with. Then one day she showed up unexpectedly at my apartment in Atlanta with her suitcases, saying she had been fired from her job. Glenn was in town attending a medical convention at Emory University, and was at my place when she arrived. Hurt and torn, Eva told us everything that had happened. She also told us that she'd found out a couple days earlier that she was pregnant. Glenn told her the truth about why he had broken things off between them, and convinced her to marry him. He promised to love Eva's child as his own. And as far as anyone knows, you're a child Glenn and Eva made together. The only ones who knew the truth were me, your mother, and Glenn."

Shayla nodded, knowing it would have been easy for everyone to assume that, since Glenn had married Eva during the very early stages of her pregnancy. "What happened after that? The last entry in Mama's diary was made the day she married my father."

There was a brief pause as Callie tried to gather her thoughts and her emotions. Everything she was telling Shayla had happened long ago, yet recalling those times made it seem just like yesterday. She looked up into Shayla's eyes and smiled. "What happened after that is that you were born, a beautiful little girl. Your arrival in the world made Glenn and Eva very happy."

Shayla nodded. Her parents had taken enough baby pictures of her to prove that. "Do you know if Thomas Jordache ever tried contacting Mom?"

Callie's eyes were somber when she said, "No, but he knew about her pregnancy. Eva said when she told him about it, he told her to get an abortion. As far as he knows, she did."

Shayla shuddered at the thought of all her mother had gone through.

"Knowing all of this, Shayla-especially how Chenault treated Eva when they thought she was passing classified information to Jordache, which she wasn't-how can you even think about going to work for them?"

"I'm doing it for revenge."

Aunt Callie looked at her for a moment, obviously trying to make sense of Shayla's statement. "What do you mean, revenge? That incident happened nearly twenty-seven years ago. Anyone who was working there at the time has retired by now. From what I understand, Alan Chenault, who was president at the time, is dead."

Shayla nodded. "Yes, he died three years ago. His son is running the company now."

"And you plan to make his son pay for something he probably knows nothing about, Shayla? Think about what you're doing."

"He still represents Chenault Electronics, and they humiliated Mama. She didn't deserve that. She'd been a loyal and dedicated employee, and in the end they chose to believe the worst about her. They didn't even listen to what she had to say in her own defense."

Callie Foster shook her head. "And I guess you plan to make Thomas Jordache pay, too?"

"Yes, that's part of my plan."

Callie took a deep breath, knowing Shayla wasn't thinking straight. No doubt she was still in shock as a result of her mother's unexpected death two weeks ago in a car accident. She also knew that when Shayla made up her mind about something there was no changing it. Unfortunately, she had inherited a stubborn streak that could be a force to reckon with at times.

"Shayla, promise me you'll think about this, and not do anything foolish or vindictive that could get you into serious trouble. Please let what happened in the past stay in the past. Let it go, sweetheart."

"I can't do that. All the while I was reading Mom's diary I could feel her pain, her humiliation, and her frustration. I could feel her loss of pride and dignity at the hands of Chenault Electronics and Thomas Jordache. She didn't deserve what they did to her."

Callie captured her niece's hand in hers. "Be careful, Shayla. Sometimes revenge can be like a double-edged sword. You can taste a little of it yourself while you're trying to dish it out to someone else. I don't want you to be the one who gets hurt in the end."

Shayla met her aunt's worried stare. "I won't, Aunt Callie. I know what I'm doing."

Callie heard Shayla's words, but she was fearful that she really didn't.

"After reading Mom's diary I think she let Chenault Electronics off too easy."

Callie raised a brow. "What do you mean?"

Shayla released a long sigh. "I kept rereading the entry she made on the day she got fired. If I knew I was innocent of something I was accused of, I would stand my ground. There's no way I would have let them get rid of me without a fight on their hands."

Callie couldn't keep from smiling. Knowing Shayla and her stubbornness, she could see that happening. "Eva did speak up for herself, although I doubt she took it to the extremes that you would. She was a soft-spoken, easygoing person, Shayla. You know that. She never liked conflict of any kind. She was just that way. She was a peacemaker, and everyone loved her."

Shayla's smile was thoughtful, reflective, and filled with loving memories. "Yes, everyone did love her, didn't they?"

Callie shared Shayla's smile. "Yes, they did."