Chapter 9
The board meeting started off like every other meeting. The men greeted each other and talked about their golf games. Hunter held court at the end of the table, regaling an audience with his most recent exploit. Kendall’s father sat at the opposite end of the table, where he’d sat for decades. Although he was a little pale, he seemed to be in good spirits.
Kendall, on the other hand, had butterflies the size of bombers in her stomach. The board would be voting on the CEO replacement today.
As she walked across the room to greet the current CEO, his eyes dropped to her stomach, hidden by the flared jacket of her black suit. She frowned at him as she leaned in for her kiss. “You better stop that,” she growled.
The chuckle he gave her sounded a little evil, like he looked forward to fireworks. Kendall hoped nothing was said that would make her have to defend herself.
The meeting started out like it did every other quarter. Her father laid out the big info, earnings and acquisitions. She went over the contracts that had been signed and the leases they were currently going after. They’d had a fire at one of the timber sites and lost some equipment, so she went over the insurance settlement for that. Then her father went into the next year’s schedule, which he did at every meeting.
“But as of April tenth, I will no longer be here.” He waited till the grumbles from around the room quieted. “My doctor has told me I need to relax. This is not a relaxing business. So, let’s move on to the main event. We have two prospects for the position of CEO of Herrington Limited and they each have a little something to say before we vote.”
Frank motioned to Hunter, who stood up with a grin and launched into a long-winded, circuitous petition for the job. Kendall had to admit, he had his sales pitch down, but the real estate branch was only a small part of the whole.
When she spoke, it flowed from her heart. The love for her father and the company he had built, as well as her vision for the future of how great the company could be. She ended by resting a hand on her tiny tummy. “I will run this company to its full potential, so that my son or daughter will have something to look forward to when they come of age.”
The men around the table exchanged looks, then stood up and started to clap. Her father stood up from the table as well, taking the well-wishes from the men he’d been in business with for so long.
The only person not happy appeared to be Hunter Groves, sitting at the end of the table with a glower on his face. He pushed away from the table in anger, then circled to the crowd gathering around Frank.
“But she got knocked up by her damn security guard. How white trash is that? It’s the only reason they got married.”
Frank gave him a warning look, brow raised. The other men shifted uncomfortably.
Hunter plowed through Frank’s rebuke. “Well, that and because Frank paid him to marry her.”
Kendall stilled, not because she believed what he said, but because of the guilty look that flashed across her father’s face. Grif stood at her back, where she’d always trusted him to be. She refused to turn around and give Hunter’s claim teeth, but uncertainty washed through her.
She forced a calm smile to her mouth and shook her head. “I didn’t marry anyone because I had to. I had feelings for Grif before we slept together and the baby is a happy accident. Yes, I was pregnant when I got married, but I’m not the type of woman to need a man’s support like that. If I hadn’t wanted to marry him, I wouldn’t have.”
“I’d be careful about throwing stones, Hunter.”
The younger man looked at her father and smirked.
“Why, Herrington? You know it’s the truth. I’ve got the audio tape to prove it.”
The senior Herrington shook his head. “When you play dirty, you have to expect retaliation in kind.”
Hunter crossed his arms over his chest. “I haven’t done anything to be ashamed of. I would lead this company the way it was meant to be led.”
“Nothing to be ashamed of, hm?”
Frank reached a hand out beyond Kendall and she was a little confused when Grif stepped forward with a folder in his hand. He handed it over then turned to her. Pressing a lingering kiss to her lips, in spite of everybody watching them, he stepped back to the edge of the room.
Her father held the folder up. “Are you sure you want to get into morality issues, Hunter? This is your chance to walk away with your reputation intact.”
Anger simmered in Hunter’s eyes and he shook his head.
Rather than open the folder for all to see, he handed it to Roger, Hunter’s father. The older man flicked it open and glowered.
“This is the way you repay the man that put you through school, who’s been my friend for forty years?”
Inside the folder, there for all to see, were pictures of Hunter in a wild embrace with Deedra. Neither wore clothes and they appeared to be on Hunter’s desk in his office downstairs.
Kendall gasped, her eyes swinging to her father’s. He winked at her and grinned. If the pictures had been of her significant other, she’d have been pissed and upset. But there was devilment in her father’s eyes. This was why he’d said she wouldn’t be an issue much longer.
Turning slightly, she glanced at Grif. A slight smile curled his lips.
The little bird.
Hunter tried to worm his way out of the situation. “She approached me months ago. Said I would win out over Kendall. She came onto me.”
Frank nodded. “I’m sure she did. I’m retiring so she’s looking for fresh meat. It sounds like one of her hare-brained schemes. And I admire your fortitude in trying not to clear your name. Unfortunately, I do not believe Herrington Limited will be needing your services any longer.”
Hunter looked to his father, but Roger would no longer meet his son’s eyes. Nobody else would even acknowledge him.
With a huff, Hunter left the boardroom.
Roger reached out to Frank. “I am sorry, Herrington. Not sure what to do with the boy.”
Frank shrugged and clasped Roger’s hand. “I think the two of them suit each other.”
They laughed together as only old friends can, and Kendall knew that their relationship would be fine.
“I move that Kendall Herrington-Parks assume the role of Chief Executive Officer of Herrington Limited, effective immediately.”
‘Ayes’ circled the room.
Once the furor had died down over the meeting, she and Grif returned to her office. Grif stood off to the side while Kendall took the guest chair in front of her desk.
“So, was there any truth that you two talked about our marriage beforehand?”
Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Grif shift on his feet. Her question was answered.
“You did.” She turned to look at him. “Before you talked to me?”
He blinked, watching her carefully. “We did. We talked about what would be best for your career.”
Hurt rolled through her and she rested her hand on her belly. Furious tears filled her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. “And just when were you going to tell me about this little confab?”
Grif stepped forward, head cocked to the side in confusion. “I don’t understand your anger. Your father and I talked about you and I getting married. But it was in relation to the job. He didn’t know about the baby.”
“And how much did he offer you? To marry me? To make me more stable and appealing to the board.”
He shook his dark head. “He didn’t offer me any dollar amount. When he suggested it, I didn’t say anything. The idea had already been floating in my mind as well, but for a completely different reason.”
He looked pointedly at her belly.
Kendall didn’t know what to believe. Grif seemed to be telling the truth. Why would he tell her about the meeting if he were trying to hide something?
Maybe her nerves were just frazzled. It had been a hectic day and she had several hours yet to go.
She would definitely say something to her father. Those kinds of actions would only undermine her position in the company.
Moving behind her desk, she clicked the touchpad on her Mac.
“You’re not going to say anything else?”
She looked up at Grif. “What do you mean?”
He shifted toward her, looking a little aggravated. “Is that the end of the conversation?”
Giving him a tight nod, she turned back to her computer. “For now it is, until I can think about it rationally. I’ve got too much in my head right now.”
Grif turned back to the window, fuming. Kendall never backed down from a fight. He had expected her to lay into him, had prepared for it actually, but now she wasn’t going to give him the satisfaction of getting it all out in the open. She would sit at her desk, tight-lipped and cool-eyed, and play it off like everything was fine.
While he was left hanging, prepared to defend himself.
It was only because he felt like shit. No, he technically didn’t do anything wrong, but he took part in the situation. Maybe he should have told her what had happened that day, but he didn’t want to cause issues between her and her father.
“I didn’t do anything behind your back. Frank is my boss. When he called me to the house, what was I supposed to do?” He crossed the room and circled the desk to kneel beside her chair. “But when he offered to make it worth my while to stay in Vail, I knew I didn’t need anything to stay, just you. I told him that if I married you it would be because I knew it would make us stronger together.”
Kendall lifted her eyes. His gut clenched to see the hurt in her expression. Reaching out, he turned her chair toward him. “I promise you, I would never hurt you intentionally. You’ve become very important to me, and our life has become very important to me. I’ve never had this kind of stability in anything. I love waking up in the morning and being boring with you.”
She choked out a laugh, even as a tear slipped down her cheek.
Grif reached out and pulled her into his arms. They ended up sitting on the floor with Kendall draped over his lap. As ridiculous as it seemed, it was exactly what they both needed.
“You hurt my feelings,” she murmured into his neck, “but I know how my father is. So I can understand the awkward situation he put you in. Hopefully when he retires we’ll be able to live our lives without his interference.”
Grif pulled back enough to look her in the eyes, brows raised. “Are you talking about the same Frank Herrington I know? The man will be meddling until he’s in his grave. Probably even worse now that he won’t have the business to run.”
Kendall laughed, wrapping her arms around his neck. “You’re right. It was a nice dream though.”
Rubbing her back with his hand, Grif let himself enjoy her weight, and the tension easing in his chest. As ridiculous as it sounded, he didn’t like feeling like he was in trouble with her. He liked Kendall, a lot. He didn’t want anything to rock the boat between them.
They stayed that way until his ass was numb and she had almost fallen asleep. The phone on her desk broke the silence. With a heavy sigh, Kendall pushed herself up and away from him to answer it.
Grif resumed his place at the window, easier with himself now that the air had been cleared. When he’d been in Afghanistan, he’d been responsible for many, many lives over the course of his tours and he’d been known for his coolness under fire. The two-fold responsibility sitting across the room had him sweating bullets, though.
The woman sneezed and he thought it was cute. Puking her guts out because of the baby, his baby, inside her body, seemed noble. And when she soaped his back and down his arms, paying careful attention to his amputation, his heart swelled with emotion. The fact that she could take every part of him, without flinching, freaked him out.
A couple weeks after Kendall was voted in as CEO, Frank Herrington officially turned over the reins to his daughter.
It made the news. Not just the local stations, but every national station as well. Former-model-turned-CEO was apparently something to talk about. Grif flipped open the paper one morning to find his own face plastered across the front.
Well, hell.
Kendall snickered at the title, The New Mr. Herrington, then sobered when he growled at her.
All of the scrutiny made Grif chafe, but his respect for his wife went up exponentially as she handled them all with grace.
“You just have to smile and pretend like you’re telling them secrets. They eat it up. As soon as the novelty of it wears off, they’ll move on to something juicier.”
And they did, for the most part.
It was about a week later when his world shuddered again.
Verna Parks had an interview with one of the national stations. Though it had been years since he’d seen his mother, she hadn’t changed much. Wiry gray hair fuzzed around her head and her blue eyes blurred by alcohol, tears tracked down her lined faced when asked about her son. A bottle of liquor, his namesake of course, sat on a shelf beyond her shoulder.
“I haven’t seen him for ages, since he lost his arm in the war, but I’m sure he’ll come visit now, with his new wife. I’m not doing so good anymore. I’d like to see him before I die.”
The f*ck she would.
Kendall sat beside him on the couch and he was sure she felt him vibrate with fury. As if she knew what he needed, she turned and wrapped her arms around his waist. He hadn’t told her anything about his childhood. Damn humiliating now for one of the worst parts of it to be splashed all over the country. Not to mention his amputation. He didn’t know how his mother knew about it, but he didn’t care. She’d just broadcast it to the world.
Which brought back the hounds. ‘Disabled Veteran Deserts Mother’ was one of his favorite articles the next day. The reporter took down every bit of her sob story and printed it, along with his refusal to comment. Grif looked like a damn jackass. He crumpled the paper and threw it against the wall.
“If you want to fight this, we will, but we run the chance of making it a bigger story.”
He looked down at his wife and the shared fury in her eyes, and felt what he’d wanted for them to begin with: to be part of a team. Unable to do anything else, he pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her. The knot of tension in his gut began to unravel. “No. I think we’ll just let it go. We have other things to do and plan for.”
Kendall’s once flat tummy was a little more prominent, now. He loved to cup the child in his palm.
She placed her hand over his and leaned in until she caught his eye. “Hey, we’ll get through all this. None of it matters, but this right here does.” She tightened her hand on his, pressing a kiss to his mouth.
Emotion tightened his throat and he returned her kiss with everything he had in him. “I know, Kendall, and I appreciate it more than I can ever tell you. Thank you.”
It was hard not to tell her he loved her right then, but pride made him snap his jaw shut.