“I’ve rented a house outside of town for a month. You have that much time to get this figured out, but you have to promise me that no more of Ruth’s money will go missing in the meantime.”
She gave a small nod. “Don’t you usually stay in Aspen when you visit?”
So she had kept track of him, at least a tiny bit. The knowledge gave him a rush. He’d always stayed in the nearby town using the excuse that it was more to his taste than homey, quaint Crimson. The real reason was standing in front of him. He had never trusted himself to be so close to Natalie, hadn’t wanted to chance running into her around town. Now he realized how foolish that had been. Even if she wasn’t standing in front of him, she had never been far from his mind, no matter what he’d told himself.
“I wanted to be closer on this trip. If she weren’t so stubborn, I’d have her living with me now. Or in the room at Evergreen I get billed for every month.”
“I thought you knew about her arrangement there. Really I did. But she loves this place. It’s her home.”
He shook his head. “I’ve never understood the concept of home.”
“What do your parents think of you looking at Crimson as a headquarters for the new company?” She bit down on her lower lip as she waited for his answer, a gesture of concern he recognized from long ago.
It took him a minute to follow her words, as her teeth tugging against that full mouth distracted him. “I haven’t mentioned it to them.”
“They won’t like it.”
“This company is mine,” he told her. “It’s none of my parents’ business where I locate it.”
“You’ve had a lot of success, Liam. You’ve accomplished so much in the past ten years.”
“Have you kept track of my career, Nat?” The thought gave him another jolt of adrenaline.
“We do get news in Crimson. Donovan Enterprises is kind of a big deal. A Fortune 500 software company.”
It was also the company his father had founded, and Liam was reminded every day that he was lucky to be riding the family coattails. Even when the innovations and products he’d spearheaded had led to much of the company’s recent success. That’s why this new venture was so important to him and why his father didn’t know anything about it.
“Plus Ruth brags about you to anyone who will listen.”
“She does?”
“Ruth is very proud of you. Being your nanny, helping to raise you, was special to her. I’m sure she’s going to take full credit for convincing you to bring more jobs to Crimson.”
That got his attention and not in a good way. “I said I’m considering Crimson,” he clarified. “Nothing is decided yet.”
“I know.” She smiled. “She’ll take credit anyway.”
“You really care about her?”
She nodded. “Of course. She’s a wonderful person.” Her smile faded. “My relationship with my mother has never been great. It means a lot to me, and to Austin, to have someone like Ruth in our lives.”
She was right, of course. His nanny had been a huge bright spot in his life when he was a kid, even if he hadn’t appreciated it at the time. She’d helped raise his father then come back to work for his parents when Liam was six. Even as a young kid, his mom and dad hadn’t had time for him. Ruth always had. A little voice inside him said Natalie might fall into the same category, but he silenced it before he had no choice but to listen.
He took a step back and forced himself to focus on why he’d come to Crimson in the first place. “I’m here for Ruth, Natalie. I’ll give you time because she seems to trust you. But she’s my priority. I won’t let anyone take advantage of her and I’ll do whatever is necessary to make sure she’s okay. Remember that.”
Her gaze shuttered and Liam cursed himself for pushing her away so quickly, even when he knew it was the right thing to do.
“Got it.” She gave him a mock salute. “I’m expendable if it comes to that. Nothing much has changed on that front, so I won’t get confused.” She turned back to her worktable. “I work an afternoon shift at Evergreen tomorrow. If you want to be here while I’m gone, Ruth would appreciate the company. Otherwise, I can take her with me.”
All superficial business. That’s what he wanted from his relationship with Natalie, so why did it irritate him to have her speak so curtly? “I’ll be here,” he answered, unwilling to give away his feelings. If she could shut him out so easily, he could do the same.
“Good night, Liam.” Her hand reached out for the pliers once again. Liam wondered if he imagined the slight tremble in her fingers.
She was dismissing him, much like she’d done back in high school. Fine. He couldn’t care less. He turned, forcing himself not to look back at her, and walked out into the night.
Liam was up for an early run Monday morning despite the layer of frost and temperature that made his lungs burn. The way he was huffing air as he got back to the house he’d rented reminded him that Crimson sat at an almost nine-thousand-foot altitude, tucked high into the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.
He’d acclimate within a few days, he told himself as he came into the large, modern kitchen overlooking the valley below. Sun bounced off the snow that blanketed the trees and mountainside, almost blinding in its brightness. It looked like a picture postcard for a winter wonderland. He wiped his forehead on the back of his jacket sleeve and reached for a bottle of water from the refrigerator.
“I made coffee,” a voice said from behind him.
“You still on central time, too?” He turned to his assistant, Tanner Black, who was frowning at the screen of a laptop he carried into the room.
Tanner was a few years older than Liam and had been his right-hand man for almost four years. Liam’s father had a habit of taking his bad moods out on the people who worked for him. The first time Liam had seen Tanner, the other man had intervened when Michael Donovan was in the midst of a tirade that had brought a young secretary to tears. Who knew what the woman had done—not gotten Michael’s coffee order exactly right, answered the phone on the third ring instead of the second. When Michael went off, nothing rational seemed to matter.
Liam had been about to step in when Tanner, a junior project manager at the company, had come forward and given Liam’s father a stern lecture in his no-nonsense way. Tanner had been fired on the spot, but Liam had rehired him just as quickly. He knew how valuable it would prove to have someone in his corner who wasn’t afraid of Michael Donovan.
Tanner had quickly become indispensable to Liam. He was a great project manager, a forward thinker and one of the few people in the company Liam trusted implicitly. He’d helped every step of the way with the new company and understood why Liam needed to break off from the “father ship,” as he referred to Donovan Enterprises.
“Sleep is overrated.” Tanner placed the computer on the counter and filled a mug with coffee. He wore a charcoal-gray suit with a tailored shirt and red tie. Even in the mountains, Tanner insisted on dressing for business. “All things are possible with enough coffee as fuel. Don’t forget the Skype meeting today with the investors. You need to lock these guys up so we can move forward with a development plan for the new app.”
Liam nodded. “No problem. They