Dane's Storm(23)

Whether because of my body language or for his own reasons, he stood. I let out a tiny relieved breath as he walked to his desk where he turned and leaned against the edge. “No. I’m going to talk to her in person.” He crossed his arms over his chest, his shirt pulling tight at his biceps. “I have a conference call with the developers on Monday. I’ll go and meet with them face to face instead. And, I’ll see Luella first and get this straightened out.”

“Do you really think it will be that easy? The way she acted when I went to see her . . .”

“I’ll get it straightened out,” he repeated, not remarking on whether it would be easy or not. Would she fight him on it? What if she refused to budge? Would our verbal agreement stand? I took a deep breath. Dane likely couldn’t answer those questions much better than I could right now. Yet, I felt markedly better, and though being in such close proximity to Dane after all these years had me edgy and unsure, relief provided the much-needed cool stream of calm.

I nodded. “Thank you.” I gave a slight shake of my head. “Before I came here, I wasn’t sure if you knew about this or not.”

That same muscle jumped in his jaw, but his eyes remained steady, focused on me. “You couldn’t have thought I’d look away as Luella took that building from you and tried to ruin your business.”

“It’s been a long time, Dane. We didn’t exactly . . . end on good terms. I wasn’t sure.”

“Jesus, Audra,” he said, and the hurt in his voice took me off guard. “You know me better than that.”

“I knew you, Dane. It’s been seven years. Neither of us know each other anymore.”

He was silent as he regarded me. “Are you so sure?”

“No, I . . . I’m not sure of anything. I don’t need to be sure of anything. I appreciate you helping me, and I’m sorry if my questioning of your role in this upsets you, but I’m sure you can understand after all the unanswered—”

“Have dinner with me tonight.”

“I . . .what?”

“Dinner, Audra. You have to eat, right? Let me buy you dinner and we can catch up a little. You can tell me about your business and what you’ve done with it so I have all the information I might need when I speak with Luella. And in turn, I can tell you about the plans for the industrial park that I’m sure will bring positive growth to your business.”

Dinner? With Dane? No, I didn’t want to go to dinner with Dane. That sounded dangerous in ways I didn’t even want to contemplate. And yet, he was making a special trip to Colorado to confront Luella on my behalf. He was being kind, and seemed honestly perplexed at his grandmother’s actions. What big deal would dinner be? He’d fly to Colorado, hopefully get his grandmother to back off my business and me forever, then return to California. I wouldn’t see him after that. There would literally be no reason for me to ever see Dane Townsend again.

“Just dinner,” he said softly.

“Okay, uh, that sounds good.”

His shoulders seemed to fall incrementally and he turned, grabbing the receiver off of his phone. “By the way, I got my pilot’s license three years back. We’ll take my plane to Colorado.”

Before I could answer, he brought the phone to his ear and punched in some numbers. He started giving orders to whomever was on the other line, presumably the people responsible for readying his plane for travel, from what my surprised mind grasped.

When he hung up and turned to me, I shook my head. “I already have a return ticket. That’s not necessary.”

“You can get a refund.”

I opened my mouth to speak but then shut it again. Getting a refund—even half—would be a relief. I bit at my lip for a second. A couple of hours at dinner, at the most, and a couple of hours on a plane with Dane where I could pretend to sleep, or read? I could handle that. Couldn’t I? I met his eyes. “Okay.”

“Good,” he murmured, those green eyes studying me in a way that suddenly made me regret the consent I’d given only seconds before. My instincts told me I’d put some vital part of myself in terrible danger.





CHAPTER ELEVEN


Then . . .



Audra had never been in a house as grand as the Townsend estate. Not even close. She barely noticed Dane slipping her coat from her shoulders as she gazed in awe at the grand curved stairway sweeping upward from the marble foyer they were standing in. She craned her neck, looking up at a gorgeous mural painted on the ceiling. It was the sky, dotted with fluffy white clouds, ringed in pale pink. There were birds and angels and if she could have, she would have stood gaping at it for hours, trying to take in all the details from where she stood, too far below. But she was nervous too. On the one occasion she’d been in the same place as Dane’s family—at his sister Dalila’s seventeenth birthday party at their country club—Dane’s grandmother had been cold toward her, shooting her disdainful glares. It had made her feel small and ugly, painfully aware of her simple dress and cheap Payless shoes. She hadn’t mentioned it to Dane, and desperately hoped the older woman would warm to her once she had a chance to get to know her better.

“I thought you’d like that,” Dane whispered in her ear, his warm breath tickling her skin and causing her to shiver. Audra smiled, turning her head slightly so she could see him. “My little artist.”