“Of course,” she said, hitting a few more keys before shutting her laptop. “It’s where I can get my message out about climate change to people around the world. Life is all about making a difference, making things better for others.”
“And what about for yourself?” he asked, watching her over the top of Ashley’s head.
Tara stared at him a moment, then got up and headed for the hall, saying over her shoulder. “That is for me—that’s what makes me feel like I’m accomplishing something with my life.”
Ashley scooted off his lap to head back into the living room to play, leaving Clint alone at the kitchen table to stare after Tara. From the hint of hurt in her response, he’d touched a nerve there with his question, and it troubled him more than he cared to admit.
What troubled him even more, though, was how normal and nice all this together time was starting to feel. Though not nearly as nice as Tara’s kisses and caresses. It was like he’d walked into a totally different world when he’d moved into this house. Even Ashley seemed to be flourishing.
But Clint had to keep reminding himself that all this was just pretend. That soon enough, he’d catch whoever was after Tara, and his house would be fixed, and then life would go back to the way it had been and everything would be fine.
No matter how un-fine that thought made him feel inside.
9
Tara wasn’t stupid. Clint obviously wasn’t happy about her choices regarding the upcoming event, but she had bigger things to worry about. She’d gotten an email this morning from the chairman of the board that things were “moving along briskly” in their search for the permanent director, which meant that if she was going to have any chance of proving she was the woman for the job permanently, she needed to get on it.
To that end, she scheduled a Zoom meeting for later that afternoon with the board of directors to discuss where things were with the legislation. She got dressed up and everything for it, wanting to project the most professional and poised image she could.
Promptly at three, she logged in and found everyone already there, making idle chitchat. After saying her hellos, Tara called the meeting to order.
“Thank you all for attending today and welcome to my temporary office at home. I wanted to give everyone an update on my progress with the climate change legislation.” Tara went over the work she’d done since the last meeting, including the attempted shooting at the rally the weekend before and the fact that she’d hired a bodyguard for herself until the police arrested the culprit. She did her best to downplay the seriousness of it all and certainly didn’t mention what had happened that morning with her power and the note. “Anyway, I think we’re obviously making progress here and getting close to having this passed. The opposition is spooked. That’s why they’re trying to shut us down, but I refuse to let them win. I’ll see this through, no matter what. In fact, I plan to attend the upcoming rally this Saturday, as planned, to get the word out even more about our new bill.”
“Interesting,” said Jacob Bartlet, one of the board members, his tone sounding exactly the opposite of interested. No wonder, since his family owned a large manufacturing company. They would have to spend big bucks to get their company in line with the new legislation if it passed. When she’d first stepped in as interim director, she’d wondered why Bartlet and some of the other board members were even there, since their businesses seemed in direct conflict with the foundation’s goal of a cleaner, healthier environment. But she’d quickly learned that when it came to mega-corporations, appearances were everything. Most of the companies put someone on the board to make it look like they cared about the environment and give them a face to blast across the media in their ads, while behind the scenes they did little to change their actual practices. Well, once she got her bill passed, they’d be legally bound to put their money where their mouths were—or at least where their board members said they stood.
Bartlet gave a weary sigh and continued. “But I have to say that I’m very concerned about your safety, Ms. Crumb. You say you’ve hired a bodyguard. What does he have to say about you continuing to attend these events? Especially considering your life has already been threatened once?”
“Good point, Jacob,” Nathan Harrison, the chairman, said. He narrowed his gaze on Tara through the computer screen. “Is your bodyguard there now, Tara? If so, get him on this call. I’d like to discuss all this with him.”
Damn. Her stomach fell and her chest constricted. She wanted to tell them no, but that certainly wouldn’t fit with her plan to impress them all with how on top of it she was. Fine. They wanted to talk to Clint? Fine, they could talk to him. She just hoped he would be circumspect. She knew he didn’t approve of her plans, but he wouldn’t embarrass her by saying that in front of the board…would he? “Hang on, let me see if he’s available.”
She took off her headphones and got up, her mind racing as she headed down the hall toward the guest bedroom where he was playing with his daughter. Tara swallowed hard and knocked softly on the open door to get his attention. “Clint, can I talk to you for second, please?”
“Uh, sure.” He got up off the floor where he and Ashley were playing with her dolls and moved to the doorway where Tara stood, the corners of his full lips tilted downward into a frown. She found herself staring at his mouth, remembering how soft and warm it had felt against hers the night before, until she forced herself to look away, arms crossed. Clint guided her out into the hall, his voice lowered. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing’s wrong.” She gave herself a mental shake. “I’m on a Zoom call right now with the board of directors for the environmental agency and they’d like to ask you a few questions.”
“Me?” He wrinkled his nose. “About what?”
Tara gave a dismissive wave, hoping to downplay the whole thing. “About the precautions you’re taking to keep me safe, I’d imagine. And security measures for the upcoming event on Saturday.” She hid her wince at that, barely. He didn’t like the idea, she already knew that, but she needed him to back her up now. “Look, I know we have our differences of opinion about it, but—”
“Uh, yeah. I more than don’t like it. I don’t think you should go at all,” he said, the words hissing out like steam.
“Daddy?” Ashley called from the room. “What are you doing?”
“I’ll be right back, sweetpea. I just need to handle something real quick.” Clint took Tara’s arm and guided her down the hall to the kitchen, out of range of the Zoom meeting’s cameras. “I’m not going to lie about that, Tara.”
“I’m not asking you to lie,” she said, her voice cracking. Dammit. She didn’t want to cry about this, but she was feeling more than cornered here and she hated it. This was the most important cause in her life. She’d never forgive herself if she failed to give it her all. “Please, I’m just asking you to give me the benefit of the doubt. You said earlier we’d talk about it and I’m just asking you for that chance. That’s all. Please, Clint. Just give me a chance.”
Maybe her inner desperation showed in her face or maybe she’d pled her case well enough to sway him. Whatever it was, the rigid tension in his broad shoulder
s eased and he gave a defeated sigh. “Fine. Let’s get this over with.”
She led him over to the desk and they took a seat side by side in front of the camera. Tara’s heart was racing and the blood pumped so loudly in her ears that she could barely hear what was being said. All she could do was trust that Clint had her back here. Tara forced a smile she didn’t feel and introduced him. “This is Clint Buckman, the bodyguard I hired. Clint, this is the board of directors for Go Green Energy.”
Clint gave a curt nod at the screen as the board members greeted him. “Tara tells me that you all have concerns about the upcoming rally this Saturday. And I’m here to tell you that I do too.”
Her heart stumbled, then skipped a beat as her chest hollowed out. No. No, no, no. He could not be doing this to her. The bastard! She’d thought they’d agreed to keep his concerns to themselves until they could discuss this situation later. But then, he’d never really agreed to that, did he? Nope. He’d just told her enough to make her think they were on the same page. She wanted to hang her head in her hands and groan, storm off and rail against him, but she stayed frozen to her seat as Clint continued.