Page 40 of Betrayal of a Billionaire

“About?”

“What did Julia say to you last night when you checked on her after the dinner debacle?”

Grant sipped his coffee as he stared out the panoramic windows at the cotton candy sky, his jaw clenching at the question. “Why?”

“Because,Dad, I think we need to be taking this situation a little more seriously than we are.”

Grant heaved a sigh, trying to stop himself from being reactionary. He’d been through enough in business to know that when emotions ran high, decisions should be carefully calculated. “I don’t know what you’re talking about Kyle.”

“Don’t you?” Kyle asked, joining him at the window. “Are you saying you’re not perceptive enough to have noticed the way Julia looks at Captain Luke Sparrow?”

Grant clicked his tongue. “Of course not. They have a past.”

“A past? The way she’s looking at him, they have a future, too.

The words made his stomach clench.

“Tell me you didn’t see this,” Kyle said. “Or do you just not care at all?”

“You know that’s not true. Well, maybe you don’t. You’re constantly accusing me of treating Julia like property.”

“And I’m not the only one. Alicia seems pretty insistent on painting you in a similar light. That’s Julia’s own sister. Do you think she’s going to dismiss her opinion easily?”

“Maybe the lunch with her today will help.”

“Fat chance,” Kyle said. “The woman is obviously in desperation mode to keep her sister here. So, that’s two strikes against us.”

Grant shook his head. “I don’t know what you want from me.”

Kyle shrugged. “Look, either way, you’ve got a stake in this. Whether you care or you don’t, I don’t think you’re ready tolet her walk away. That may be contractually motivated, or it may be motivated by something else, I don’t really care at this moment. What I do care about is losing Julia.”

He hated that his son was right. He wouldn’t ever be ready to let her walk away. Not the woman who had unexpectedly grown to mean so much to him. He’d meant the words when he’d told Lydia this was the best relationship he’d ever had. But he wasn’t ready to confess his feelings to Kyle. “What’s your point?”

“My point is we are in very real danger of that exact thing happening. She’s not over him. She told me as much last night. I cannot believe the great Grant Harrington can’t see that.”

Grant shifted his weight, uncomfortable with the conversation. He’d worried about the same thing for most of the night. And that fact that Kyle picked up on it, too, made his uneasiness grow. “She told you she’s not over him?”

“She said a part of her would always love him, and that he’s the reason she left Harbor Cove.”

The words gutted him.

“And with her sister pushing her to see us, well, you, in particular, in the worst light, I’m afraid we may be taking the jet back to New Orleans minus one passenger.”

“What do you suggest I do about that? Drag her back to the plane kicking and screaming, then lock her in Harrington House when we get home?”

Kyle turned the corners of his lips down as he shook his head. “Maybe something a little more…creative.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh, come on, Dad, if this was a business deal, what would you do?”

As Kyle pressed the issue, Grant couldn’t help but wonder if there was more to Kyle’s urgency than familial concern. Was this a strategic move? “Kyle, for the umpteenth time, Julia isnota business deal. She is a person–”

Kyle waved a hand in the air. “Fine, fine, she’s not a business deal. But if she was, would you stand by and let a rival company steal her right out from under you?”

“No,” Grant answered, still not understanding what he suggested.

“No. You would destroy the rival in a full-court press.”