He hated his life. It was lonely, dull and he’d never been more miserable. He’d failed to impress his brothers with his business savvy. In fact, he’d further aggravated his relationship with them by being surly and distant for the last two weeks. And he’d turned his back on the most amazing woman he’d ever met. He deserved to be miserable.
He found Cody pacing the lobby. “What are you doing in Houston?”
“I met with a couple of our board members this morning, but we got done early and I wondered if you had time for lunch before I head back.”
Nathan glanced at his watch. “The restaurant downstairs doesn’t open for another twenty minutes. Are you sure you have time to hang out in Houston? Isn’t your wife due any day now?”
“We’ve got a couple days to go.” Cody grimaced. “Although she’d probably be happy if it happened sooner.” He glanced around and noticed the paintings on the wall. “Hey, those look like the ones Dad has in his office.”
“Onderdonk.” Nathan nodded, wondering what was up with the Montgomery family and his art collection.
“I thought so. I think Emma got him to buy them. And speaking of my sister, what’s going on with you two?”
Cody’s blunt transition from paintings to Emma warned Nathan that this wasn’t a casual visit. “Let’s go talk in my office.” He gestured down the hall. “Nothing is going on between us.”
The look Cody shot him reminded Nathan of Emma. Pain lanced through him. He didn’t want to hurt. When his mother died, he’d sworn never to let himself yield to loving anyone again. Yet Emma had wriggled her way beneath his guard and he’d begun to open his heart to her.
“Any reason you can’t pick up the phone and see if she’s all right?” Cody’s aggressive tone caught Nathan by surprise.
Had something bad happened to Emma? No, if it had, Cody would have led with that.
“The last time we spoke, she made it pretty clear she doesn’t want to hear from me.”
“You might be wrong about that.”
Nathan’s spirits perked up. “Did she say that?”
“I haven’t spoken with her.”
“Then how do you know she wants to hear from me?”
“She and Jaime talk. Jaime talks to me.” Cody shot him a dark look. “You need to talk to Emma.”
Nathan didn’t know what to make of his friend’s sharp tone. “What you’re saying makes no sense.”
They passed Sebastian’s office, and Nathan caught his brothers watching them with keen interest.
He gestured Cody into his office. “What’s going on?”
Cody glanced pointedly at the open door until Nathan shut it. “Dad’s not giving Emma back her trust fund.”
Nathan’s gut tightened as he pictured her living in her half-renovated condo. She deserved better than that.
“Why?”
“Because she didn’t marry you.”
Remorse twisted in Nathan’s gut like a meal of bad shell-fish. “I don’t understand. She told me she had the hundred thousand she needed.”
“But apparently she needed to have it back in her account by the fourteenth and it wasn’t there until the next day.”
“Ridiculous.” Nathan shook his head. “She had the money. So what if it wasn’t in some account?”
“That’s the old man.” Cody shrugged. “And speaking of the old man, he said that the deal’s still good if you marry Emma.”
All at once Nathan realized that he wasn’t interested in the venture with Montgomery Oil because he no longer wanted to take the business away from his brothers. He wanted to be in business with his brothers. He wanted to be accepted as part of the family.
“She already said no.”