Tears of the Renegade Read online

  “That’s good.” It wasn’t personal news, but it was better than nothing. She refrained from asking if he’d looked tired.

  Emily had just left when Imogene phoned. “Susan, can you come over?” she asked, urgency filling her voice. “Preston’s back, and he’s found out something about Cord!”

  “I’ll be right there.” Susan dropped the phone and ran to get her purse. Something about Cord? Her heart clenched. Had he done something illegal? Whatever it was, if there were any way, she’d protect him. No, it couldn’t be anything illegal; he was far too visible, and he made no attempt to disguise his identity. It was far more likely that he’d crossed some powerful people. Preston might plan on using his knowledge against Cord, but she’d make certain that Cord knew all about his plans.

  As she drove over to Blackstone House she was hardly aware of the turns she took, or the speed at which she traveled. Her heart was slamming wildly in her chest, hurting her ribs. She’d been longing for Preston to come back, but now that he had she could only fear that he’d try to hurt Cord in some way.

  Preston looked surprisingly normal when he opened the door to her as she ran up the steps. He was casually attired; his tan was deeper, and he looked relaxed. He was startled when he saw her. “Good Lord, Susan, you’ve lost a good ten pounds. What’ve you been doing?”

  She brushed his comment aside. “It doesn’t matter. What have you found out about Cord?”

  He ushered her into the den, where Imogene was waiting, and waited until she was seated before speaking. “I’ve been doing some detective work while I was gone,” he explained. “I wanted Cord to think that I’d chickened out so he wouldn’t make any attempt to cover his tracks. It worked, thank God. He must’ve thought he’d won without a real battle.”

  “I doubt that,” Susan interrupted. “He didn’t know until the day before yesterday that you’d gone.”

  He frowned. “But why? Didn’t you tell him?”

  Susan’s eyes widened, and she sat up straight. “That’s what you wanted me to do, wasn’t it? You dumped all of that on me, thinking I’d run straight to him and beg for mercy. He said that was what you were doing, but I didn’t believe him.” She stared at him, her eyes clear and accusing, and he shifted uncomfortably.

  “What else could I think?” he tried to explain gently. “Are you saying that I completely misread the situation?”

  “I don’t know; I haven’t any idea how you read it.”

  He turned away from her distinctly chilly gaze. “Anyway, I went to New York. I’d noticed that the prices of our stock had remained high despite the rumors that had to be going around, so it followed that someone was buying. I suspected then, but I wanted to be certain. Cord has been buying up all the stock that came on the market. He’s not pushing the company into bankruptcy; he’s been pushing us into selling stock, which he’s been buying. He’s mounting a takeover!”

  A takeover! For a moment Susan was dazed; then a spurt of admiration for Cord’s nerve made her laugh. “A takeover!” she giggled, clapping her hands. “All of this for a takeover!”

  “I don’t see that it’s so funny.”

  “Of course you don’t! After all, I’m the one who’s been selling stock in an effort to raise money to pay off that loan!”

  Imogene went white. “Susan! Your own assets!”

  Preston stared at her; then he swore quietly, and rubbed his eyes in a disbelieving manner. “Susan, we talked about that. I told you not to liquidate anything of yours.”

  “You also walked off and left me in a sink-or-swim situation,” she pointed out. “I thought I had a company going under; I didn’t know it was just corporate games! The stock isn’t all that I’ve liquidated!”

  He looked ill. “My God, you’ve done all that…and he had no intention of calling in that loan. He just wanted us to panic and sell enough to give him a majority. Susan, how much did you sell?”

  “Nine percent.”

  “That still leaves you six percent. I have eleven percent, and Mother has eleven. Twenty-eight percent total. Cord has, I think, twenty-six percent. We still have a majority.”

  “If his takeover doesn’t succeed, he may still collect on that loan,” Imogene pointed out, but Preston shook his head decisively.

  “No, that would be killing his own source of income. It didn’t make sense from the beginning that he’d hurt himself financially just to get back at me, but I thought that maybe he did hate me that much. Then when the stock sold immediately whenever any shares went on the market, I began to think that it was something else entirely he was after.”

  “Why didn’t you tell me?” Susan inquired. “Never mind; I know the answer to that. You didn’t trust me because I was seeing Cord, and Cord didn’t trust me because I was helping you.”

  “I’m sorry,” he said softly. “I had no idea it would be this hard on you. I swear, I’ll replace everything you sold.”

  She dismissed that with a wave of her hand. “It doesn’t matter.” She just wanted it over with.

  Preston decided not to pursue the issue, because she was looking tired and dazed. “I drove out to see Cord as soon as I got in this afternoon,” he continued. “I called a board meeting for ten in the morning, and this will be put to a vote. He’ll have to take his chances on snapping up any more stock before we get to it, so he knows his game is up.”

  It had all been just a game. That was all she could think of that night. Just a game.

  She didn’t know how all of the shares had been originally divided; when she’d married Vance, she’d known only that the family had owned fifty-one percent of the stock, and the rest of it was in others’ hands. Others owned chunks of shares, but with the majority in family hands it hadn’t mattered. Imogene had owned fifteen percent, Preston fifteen percent, and Vance fifteen percent. Susan had inherited Vance’s shares. That had left six percent of the family majority, which she had always assumed was scattered around to distant cousins. She hadn’t known of Cord’s existence until the day he’d come back; he’d been gone for so long that no one talked about him. But now it was evident that he’d owned the remaining shares.

  Preston and Imogene had both sold four percent of their stock in order to cover what they’d used of Cord’s money; that gave Cord fourteen percent, assuming that he’d bought it, which he must have done. She’d sold nine percent, giving him twenty-three percent. If he had twenty-six percent, he’d bought some common stock as well, and possibly had acquired voting proxies from other stockholders. Preston also had voting proxies. It was all just a game of numbers, nothing else. If anything, the corporation was stronger, since Cord had essentially paid off an outstanding debt. The family now owned fifty-four percent of the stock. Everything was just fine.

  Now Cord’s reassurances made sense. He’d known that the company was in no danger of bankruptcy, but he hadn’t trusted her enough to tell her what was going on, just as Preston hadn’t trusted her enough to tell her his suspicions. She’d tried to be a mediator, and instead had become the sacrificial goat.

  She was glad that the morning would bring the end of it. She was tired of games. They seemed to be fine for everyone except the goat.

  Chapter Twelve

  Of the five people in the boardroom the next morning, Cord looked the most relaxed. He was dressed impeccably in a summer-weight pin-striped suit, the cut of which had a definite European flair. His growing beard gave him a raffish look that kept the suit from being too impeccable, but then his rampant masculinity allowed him to wear anything with elan…or wear nothing at all, her imagination whispered, conjuring up a vision of how magnificent he was in the nude.

  Imogene was calm, almost remote. Preston was all business. Beryl looked as calm as ever. On the other hand, Susan felt disoriented and none of the familiar boardroom rituals or words made any sense. She darted another glance at Cord, only to find him watching her, and he gave her a slow wink. Was he that unconcerned about the outcome? Was that elaborate scheme nothing more