A Clandestine Corporate Affair(45)

“Not if I have anything to do with it.” He turned to Nathan. “I understand you’re in line for the CEO position at Western Oil. I can only imagine how your connection to my family will go over with the board.”

Nathan tensed. He should have seen this one coming. “I suppose I’m about to find out.”

“No you won’t,” Ana said. “Because my father isn’t going to tell anyone. Because if he does, he’ll never see his grandson again.”

Her father scoffed. “Maxwell adores his grandfather. You would never keep him from me.”

“If you ruin the career of the man I love, you’re damned right I would.”

He blinked. “You’re not serious.”

“You don’t think so? Try me.”

“In that case, I want a paternity test. I want proof that he’s Maxwell’s biological father.”

Nathan opened his mouth to tell him to go to hell, but Ana spoke first. “You want? Because I don’t see that’s it’s any of your business. That’s between me and Nathan. Who, for the record, never even asked for one. He trusts me, unlike my own father, who apparently thinks I was slutty enough to be sleeping with multiple partners.”

He leveled his eyes on her. “Well, it wouldn’t be the first time, would it?”

Ana sucked in a breath, and Nathan’s temper shot from simmer to boil in a heartbeat. If it wasn’t for the fact that he was holding Max, he might have actually taken a swing. But for his son’s sake, he clamped a vise down on his anger. He stepped in front of Ana, saying in a very calm and even tone, “You’re talking about the woman that I love. And that is the last time you will ever speak to her that way. Understand?”

Maybe her father realized he’d gone too far, because he actually backed down. “You’re absolutely right, that was uncalled for. I’m sorry, I didn’t mean it.”

“I’m going to get Max dressed,” Ana said softly, taking him from Nathan, leaving Nathan alone to deal with her father.

That wasn’t the sort of thing Ana was just going to forget, and he had the feeling her father realized that. Though Nathan thought he was getting exactly what he deserved, a part of him was sympathetic. He knew what it was like to lose his temper and say or do things he later regretted. The difference was, he’d been man enough to learn how to control it. Maybe this would be the wake-up call her father needed. Maybe he and Ana could begin to repair their fractured relationship.

After an awkward silence, her father said, “I have gifts for Max. Should I bring them in?”

He was actually asking Nathan’s permission? Maybe he figured he had better odds with Nathan than with Ana. And unless her father was doing something to hurt Max, Nathan didn’t feel it was his place to stand between him and his grandfather.

“Sure, bring them in.”

He opened the door and gestured to the man standing on the front walk. He’d been stuck in the cold waiting, his arms filled with packages. His driver, Nathan was assuming, when he saw the Rolls Royce parked at the curb.

It took the man three trips back and forth to bring it all in, while Nathan and Ana’s father stood not speaking. This was definitely not the way Nathan had expected to spend his Christmas. Families had a funny way of screwing up plans.

“So,” Ana’s father said, when his driver had brought in the last of the gifts and gone back to the car. “Do you have plans to marry my daughter?”

He should have expected this. Still, the question caught him a bit off guard. “The thought had occurred to me.”

“I supposed it’s too much to expect you to ask my permission.”

Was he kidding? At this point he would be lucky to get an invitation to the wedding. “I can’t see that happening.”

“I suppose you’ll be expecting a job with my company, and a corner office.”

Could the guy be more arrogant? Did he think the entire world revolved around him? “I already have a job,” Nathan said.

His brow furrowed. “I’m not sure I like the idea of my son-in-law working for a competing company.”

Nathan didn’t give a damn what he liked or didn’t like. And he would have a serious problem working for someone like Ana’s father, especially if he turned out to be the one responsible for the sabotage. Besides, he hadn’t even proposed yet. Nor did he have any plans to in the immediate future.

Ana appeared in the foyer, holding Max. She’d dressed him in his Christmas outfit. “Have you eaten yet?” she asked her father.