Patrick’s voice shook with anger. “I protected this family.”
Daniel pivoted to glare at him. “You were wrong.”
Patrick stared back for a long moment, then he walked out of the office.
Daniel hadn’t had it in him to work the rest of the day. Going home held no appeal, and he was too upset to call Amanda.
He ended up at the family table at Une Nuit, Bryan’s restaurant. Bryan wasn’t there—just as well. Daniel was content to hunch in a dim corner and sip on his second single malt. He had a lot of thinking to do.
“Hey, bro.” Michael slid into the chair in front of him.
“Hey,” Daniel answered, checking to see if anyone was with Michael. He really didn’t feel like company at the moment.
“Heard you reamed out the boss.” Michael signaled to the manager for his usual drink.
Daniel nodded. He wondered how accurately the gossip had spread.
“Business matter?” asked Michael.
“Personal,” said Daniel.
Michael accepted a martini from a waiter. “Amanda?”
Daniel squinted. “What did you hear?”
“That you ordered Mrs. Bitton to reschedule Dad’s meeting—nice one, by the way—and that you went up one side of him and down the other.” Michael took a swig of his drink. “And you’re still standing.”
“Still employed, too.” Daniel was pretty amazed about that. Not that he’d cared at the time.
Michael snagged the olive from his martini and popped it into his mouth. “Only person I can think of that would make you go off like that is Amanda.”
Daniel banged his heavy scotch glass on the table. “He threatened to take Bryan away from her if she didn’t marry me.”
Michael was silent for a moment. “I know.”
“You know?”
Michael nodded. “He was afraid it would kill Mom to lose her grandchild.”
“Why didn’t you say something?”
“I was keeping my head low at the time. Remember, I was the guy who got you the suite.”
“But later?”
“Later you two seemed happy. Then, when things fell apart, it hardly seemed like the kind of information that would help.”
Daniel rocked back in his chair. “It was unconscionable.”
Their brother Shane appeared and slid into the seat next to Daniel. “What was unconscionable?”
“Dad blackmailed Amanda into marrying Daniel,” said Michael.
“When?” asked Shane.
Daniel turned to give his younger brother an amazed look. “In high school.”
“Oh, that time.”
“Was there another time?” Daniel asked.
“How’d he blackmail her?” asked Shane, ignoring his brother’s comment.
Daniel chugged the last of his scotch, still seeing red at the thought of his father’s actions. “He threatened to take Bryan away. He forced her to marry me in order to keep her baby.”
Again, on cue, their sister Finola appeared and sat down next to Michael.
“Could’ve been worse,” she said.
Her three brothers’ gazes swung her way.
Then they all went silent, remembering that Patrick had forced Finola to give up her own baby at fifteen.
Shane reached across the table and took his twin sister’s hand. “Yeah, it could’ve.”
“Aw, Fin,” said Daniel, feeling like a jerk. At least he’d had the chance to raise Bryan.
Michael signaled for a round of drinks. “You ever wonder if this family needs therapy?”
Finola turned to look at her oldest brother, twin tears refusing to spill over her lashes. “What do you mean wonder? We’re scrapping it out like a pack of dogs for our father’s job.”
Daniel dumped a sliver of ice into his mouth. “After this afternoon, it might be a three-way race.”
Shane scoffed out a laugh. “What in the hell did you do?”
“I yelled at him,” said Daniel.
“You yelled at Dad?” asked Finola, amazement clear in her voice.
“I ordered him to apologize to Amanda. I may have stopped him from leaving his office there for a minute, too.”
“Bodily?” asked Michael.
“No blows were exchanged,” said Daniel with a dark laugh.
Shane chuckled along with him.
“It may be a two-way race,” said Michael.
Everyone turned their attention to him.
“With Karen’s health I just don’t have the energy for this. She needs me, and I am going to be there for her.”
“Maybe I’ll back out, too,” said Shane.
“What are you talking about?” Michael asked Shane. “You have no reason to back out.”
The waiter arrived and set drinks out all around.
“Don’t be ridiculous,” Finola said to Shane. “You love your job.”
“I may love the job, but I hate being manipulated. He’s hurt us all. At one time or another, he’s screwed up everyone’s life.”
The other three nodded.
Daniel felt as though blinders had been peeled away from his eyes, and they could never be put back.
“When he made me take the job,” said Daniel, “when Bryan was sick, and he told me it was the only way to clear the bills, it was the worst mistake I ever made.” He pushed aside the memory of Bryan’s heart defect, not wanting to relive the tense time before the surgery made his son whole.
Finola cocked her head. “But if you hadn’t come back—”
“Amanda and I might still be married.”
“Impoverished,” said Michael.
“But married,” said Shane, lifting his highball. “Chuck it, Daniel. Chuck it all and marry Amanda.”
“Whoa,” said Michael. “How’d we get there?”
Daniel laughed, but a small corner of his brain told him to take Shane seriously.
“You’re bitter,” Finola said to Shane.
Shane leaned forward and stage-whispered to his twin, “I’m cutting back the field. I’d rather have you in charge than Daniel.”
Daniel elbowed Shane. “Hey. Why?”
“She likes me better than you do,” Shane said to his brother.
“That’s true enough,” said Daniel.
Michael chomped down on his second olive. He waggled his eyebrows in Daniel’s direction. “I don’t think we can just let Finola walk away with it.”
“Hell no,” Daniel chuckled. “She’s a girl.”
Finola bristled. “Here we go again.”
Amanda blinked, just to make sure it really was Sharon Elliott standing in her office doorway.
“Surprise,” said Sharon, sauntering into the office in impossibly high heels, a black denim skirt and a black-and-white cropped sweater. Her hair was pulled back in a slick knot and her makeup was as bold as the outfit.
Julie made a face behind the woman’s back and pulled the door shut.
Amanda closed her case file and came to her feet. “Can I help you with something?”
“Actually, it’s me who’s here to help you.” Sharon pulled her deep red lips into a smile and sat down in one of the guest chairs, tucking her purse in the space beside her.
“Uh, thank you,” said Amanda, dropping into her seat.
Sharon sat forward, jiggling her diamond teardrop earrings. The jeweled rings on her fingers flashed as she folded her hands. “I know what you’re doing.”
“You do?” Amanda was preparing closing arguments for the Spodek case, but she doubted that was what Sharon was talking about.
Sharon nodded. “And I can respect it.”
“Thank you.”
“But I think you might be fishing in the wrong pond.”
“Oh?”
“Daniel is, let’s say, challenging.”
“Let’s say.” Amanda hoped being agreeable would get Sharon out of her office sooner.
Sharon reached for her purse, snapping open the clasp and retrieving a folded piece of paper. “I’ve taken the liberty of coming up with a list of potential men.”
“For what?” asked Amanda.
“To date,” said Sharon. She unfolded the paper, pasting on a just-between-us-girls smile. “They’re all good-looking, intelligent, available and, most importantly, rich.”
She held out the paper to Amanda.
Amanda gingerly took it. “You’re showing me a list of your dates?”
Sharon’s head tipped sideways, and her laughter tinkled though the office. “Not my dates,” she said. “Yours.”
Amanda dropped the paper. “What?”
Sharon shook her head. “Honey, Daniel is never going to fall for you again.
Consider this a gift from one jilted wife to another.”
Ah. It all made sense now. “I take it you want him back?”
“Me?” Sharon laughed again. It really was a lovely laugh. Probably lured men to their deaths all the time. “I’m not trying to get him back.”
Sure, she wasn’t. Sharon had decided to become dating.com out of the goodness of her heart.
Oh, wait. Sharon didn’t have a heart. Which meant she was lying. She wanted Daniel back.
“Once you’re on the outs with Patrick, you’re on the outs,” said Sharon.
Amanda supposed that was true enough.
“Though there was a time,” Sharon continued, “that Patrick just couldn’t get enough of me.”
Amanda gave her head a little shake. “You slept with Patrick?”
“Of course not.” Sharon dramatically fluttered her fingers against her chest.