The Tycoon's Proposition

A shudder racked her body.

There was only one thing to do. She would have to present her case in the most professional way possible. The last thing she would ever want to do is embarrass him.

But when she walked out of here, she would pack the few things she needed and arrange a flight to take her from the ship to the nearest airport on the mainland. From there she’d make arrangements to get home to Lead.

Ben was in too deep to divorce her, so she would do him the favor of leaving. No one had to know what was going on. At least not for a while. He could tell people she was seasick, or that her mother was ill.

Unfortunately the situation with Juanita was something he would have to take care of. The poor thing couldn’t be moved yet, and Terri couldn’t stay. If there was one thing to be thankful for, she hadn’t unpacked anything in the condo. Ben could send it all back where it came from.

“Good morning, gentlemen. I didn’t realize my husband would ask me to talk to you about something we discussed in private. That’s what comes from a whirlwind marriage.”

Everyone laughed.

“I can only liken this occasion to that moment when the president of the United States first takes possession of the White House. There’s a thirty-day honeymoon period where certain sins are forgiven. I hope you will extend me that same grace.”

To her relief they were still smiling. The only person whose face wasn’t visible was her husband’s. Because of that, she could go on.

“As you can imagine, we had so many other things on our minds, I never saw the brochure of Ben’s dream ship, as I like to call it, until a few days ago. Because I’m a new wife, my thoughts have been centered on raising a family, maybe having a dog to love.

“But I soon learned about the covenants that have been drawn up concerning the sale of the condos, for instance the no pets policy, and the restriction on children below high school age.

“When I realized this was a floating city that wasn’t interested in having babies and animals aboard, I guess I felt depressed. It was an emotional reaction on my part. But to me a true community is a cross section of life.

“What I told my husband was that if he and I were a couple in the market for a condo on anything as fabulous as the Atlantis, I’m afraid I wouldn’t have considered it after finding out about the restrictions.

“I understand the reasons for them. It’s obvious you didn’t have couples like us in mind. But it’s my opinion that you’d have every condo sold in a few days if you lifted those restrictions.

“Having said that, I beg you to remember one thing—if I’d known what Ben had in mind before he brought me in here, I would have told him I revered all of you too much to risk offending you.”

Without looking at Ben she put her hand on his shoulder and squeezed it. “See you later, dear.”

Total silence followed her exit from the conference room.

The board meeting broke up at five o’clock. Ben shot out of his chair and headed for the elevator.

“Terri?” he called to her the second the door opened to the condo foyer. He made a quick tour dodging packing boxes to find her. When it became clear she wasn’t there, he phoned her.

She’d left the voice message on her cell phone.

Frustrated, he made a beeline for the hospital. If he knew his wife, she’d been there most of the day holding Juanita’s baby. To his surprise, when he questioned the nurses, none of them had seen her.

Maybe she was in her office getting settled in.

It wasn’t until he discovered it empty that a sense of foreboding assailed him. He charged down the hall to John Reagan’s office.

The other man’s blond head lifted when Ben walked inside. “Mr. Herrick?”

“I’m looking for my wife. You haven’t seen her by any chance, have you?”

“No. In fact I went over there a couple of times to ask if she needed any more help, but she wasn’t there. Have you tried the hospital? She was pretty worried about that woman who had the baby.”

Hell. Ben didn’t need the other man to tell him what he already knew about his wife!

“Thanks for the suggestion,” he bit out.

“Sure.”

Terri could be in a hundred different places. There was no help for it but to have an all call put out over the PA system from the chief purser’s office. Ben rang Jose and told him what he wanted him to do.