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Chapter 34

"DO YOU REALIZE," FONTANA SAID. TOSSING ASIDE THE wine cork he had just removed from the bottle, "that this is the first time in our married life that we've sat down to dinner together?"

"Given that the length of our marriage can be measured in days and hours, not months or years," Sierra said, "that's not terribly amazing."

She set the platter of roasted asparagus on the table next to the grilled Crystal River salmon. The highly prized salmon, available only a few weeks each year, had taken a serious bite out of her credit card, but she refused to even contemplate the expense. This was, as Fontana had just pointed out, their first dinner alone. The real question was how many more dinners they would enjoy together. But she had promised herself that, for tonight at least, she was not going to think about the future.

"Still, it's an occasion." He dropped an intimate little kiss on the back of her neck as she went past him into the kitchen. "Should I pour Elvis a glass of wine?"

"He prefers Curtain Cola. It's the caffeine."

"I saw some in the refrigerator. I'll get it."

"What's going to happen to Troy Patterson?" she asked.

Fontana's face hardened. "The doctors say that if or when he wakes up, he'll probably spend the rest of his life in a parapsych ward. But if he does recover, he'll go down for the drug operation."

"So the ghost juice was just flowing and bubbling out of some fountains inside that ruin?"

"Right. The alien drug of choice."

She thought about that. "The waters might have some therapeutic value as a painkiller or a parapsych drug."

"Maybe." Fontana set the glass of Curtain Cola on the windowsill and watched Elvis drift happily toward it. "The feds are taking charge of all research connected to the ruin."

She was amused by the cool satisfaction in his words. "More business for the Crystal Guild, hmm?"

He sat down at the table and poured the wine. "Government contracts are always lucrative. Your tax dollars at work."

She sat across from him. "I wonder how the aliens used the waters from the fountain."

"Who knows? Like everything else about them, it's a mystery."

"I'd really like to see that ruin," she said a little wistfully.

He smiled. "After all this, do you think I'd give this scoop to any paper but the Curtain?"

"What?"

"Ray and I are making arrangements to take you and the rest of the staff down to the fountains soon. Runtley will have his exclusive."

"He'll be thrilled. So will everyone else. Thanks, Fontana. This is wonderful."

He raised his wineglass. "To us."

The intimate heat in his eyes sent a thrill of hope, anticipation, and longing through her. She picked up her glass.

"To us," she said.

Elvis chortled from the windowsill. Fontana laughed and raised his glass a second time.

"To all three of us," he said.

Sierra used a fork to convey a piece of the grilled salmon onto Fontana's plate. "Speaking of family, I met your brother this morning."

The warm intimacy that had pervaded the atmosphere evaporated in a heartbeat. Fontana's eyes went as hard and cold as gemstones.

"Which brother?" he asked.

Okay, this was going to be a little dicey.

"Nick," she said, trying to maintain a casual, conversational tone. Just two people chatting about family matters over dinner. "He came to see me at my office today."

"What did he want from you?"

She concentrated on serving the salad. "Under the circumstances, it's perfectly natural that he would want to meet your wife, isn't it?"

"No."

"Well, I realize that this is only a Marriage of Convenience, but that doesn't mean the family isn't interested. Look at my family, for example. My grandmother will expect me to bring you to her anniversary celebration next month. If we're still married, that is."

"No."

She chilled. "Yes, I know, we probably won't be married that long. But my point is that families are curious about wives and husbands, even if the arrangements are short-term." She drew a breath. "Like ours."

"I wasn't referring to your grandparents' anniversary. I was talking about my Burns relatives. Trust me, none of us wants to get any closer. What did Nick say? And don't try to convince me that he was just curious about you."

She put down the salad tongs with great care. "Let's get something straight here, Fontana. I am your wife, not one of your hunters. You engage in conversations and discussions with me; you do not give me orders."

His brows rose. "Sounds like you're the one giving orders."

She thought about that. "I think of it as setting boundaries. Now, to return to the subject at hand, Nick told me that lately you have refused to take any calls from anyone in your family."

He stabbed a bite of salmon with his fork. "They've only been trying to call me for about a month or so. Now, if they'd been trying for a year or longer…"

"I get it. You would have refused to take the calls that long. Okay, you've made your position clear."

"Good. That means this conversation is over."

"Not quite," she said evenly.

"I was afraid of that." He drank some more wine and set down the glass. "Nick told you that Bums is on the verge of bankruptcy, didn't he?"

"Yes, he did. He says your other brother, Josh, can save it, but he needs an infusion of capital."

"In other words, Nick asked you to talk me into pumping money into the business."

"He sounded desperate."

Fontana shrugged. "Margaret probably sent him. She's the most desperate one in the family."

"Who's Margaret?"

"Nick's mother, my father's widow. She always believed the company was the rightful inheritance of her husband's legitimate children. Her worst nightmare for years was that I would somehow get my hands on Bums & Co. When that nightmare came true, I thought she'd have a stroke."

"Nick said that your father left control of the company to you, but you declined the inheritance."

"That's right. The day the will was read in the lawyer's office, I signed papers transferring my shares in Bums & Co. back to my father's legitimate heirs."

"Did you know the business was in trouble when you walked away from it?"

"No, neither did Margaret." His smile was cold. "Talk about life's little ironies. She was so relieved, she actually sent me a stiff little thank-you note afterward. Those well-bred, upper-class manners come through every time."

She thought about calling him on that jab and then decided she needed to stay focused.

"Okay," she said, "so when did everyone find out that Burns was in serious financial jeopardy?"

He ate some of the fish for a moment, thinking. "Josh must have realized that he had problems soon after he took over the company. Probably spent months trying to come up with some way to salvage things on his own before he approached me."

"You did take that call?"

"Yes. We talked just long enough for me to make it clear that I don't want anything to do with the business."

"Why did your father change his will at the last minute and leave Burns to you?" she asked.

"Burns was my father's passion," Fontana said. "He committed his life to the company. When he realized that his dream had become a nightmare, he couldn't face it."

She lowered her fork. "That was why he killed himself? Because he was facing financial ruin?"

"Yes."

"But that's such a dumb reason. I mean, I can see contemplating suicide because you found out that you had a fatal illness or because you'd done something dreadful and couldn't live with yourself. But to put a gun to your head just because your business was in trouble seems—"

"Weak?"

She flushed. "Forgive me. I'm very sorry. I should not have said that. Suicide is a great tragedy. Your father was undoubtedly suffering from a severe depression. It is an illness, like any other, and should be treated as such."

"Forget the politically correct spin. The truth is my father was willing to sacrifice everything for Burns & Co. Hell, he even entered a Covenant Marriage for the sake of the business. He wanted the financial connections Margaret's family could give him. The drive and ambition it took to build Burns was Dad's greatest strength." Fontana shrugged. "You know what they say about your greatest strength."

"It's also your greatest weakness," she said quietly.

"Right. The only defense anyone has is to be aware of both." He used his fork to spear another bite of salmon. "Play to one and guard against the other."

She smiled. "Words to live by."

"Thanks. Once in a while we Guild bosses actually think about stuff like that."

"Don't start," she warned.

"Sorry. Can't resist occasionally pointing out that your stereotyped image of the Guild has a few flaws." He picked up the wine bottle. "It's one of my weaknesses."

She raised her brows. "Wow. A Guild boss who actually admits to having a weakness?"

"Sure. But not in public. I'm counting on your wifely loyalty to keep that news flash out of the press."

"Hot dang, another Guild secret." She watched him refill their glasses. "All right, so your father lived his life for his business, and when it failed, he couldn't go on. I still don't understand why he left the company to you."

"That's obvious. Burns was more than just a financial empire. My father intended it to be his legacy, a monument that would live on for generations after his death. When he realized that the firm was headed straight for the catacombs, he did the only thing he could think of to preserve his reputation. He dumped the business on me."

"What was the point?"

"Don't you get it?" His mouth twisted in a humorless smile. "My father figured that when Burns & Co. eventually folded, it would look like I was the one who had destroyed it, not him. He wanted me to take the fall for his failure so that his own reputation would remain untarnished."

"Hmm."

"What?"

"Your relationship with your father was obviously pretty complicated."

"There was nothing complicated about it. I was his bastard son, a source of humiliation and embarrassment to his wife and her elite family. He met his financial obligations to me until the day I turned eighteen. Otherwise he pretended that my mother and I didn't exist."

"I've got news for you, Fontana. That description of your relationship with him meets the definition of complicated."

"So?"

"So, here's what I think," she said. "Your father was very aware of your success within the Guild. He also knew that you had built your own financial empire."

"It's no empire. I've made some good investments, but I'm not worth anywhere near as much as he was before Burns & Co. started to crumble."

"Only because you had other priorities," she said. She was impatient with his uncharacteristic obtuseness. "You were more interested in becoming the head of the Crystal Guild than building an empire, so that's where you concentrated your energy and talent."

He gave her an odd look. "What makes you think I could have built the same kind of business enterprise that my father put together?"

"Anyone who can run a Guild can run a corporation. Same skill set."

"Is that right? I thought you were convinced that Guild bosses were only half a step away from being mob bosses."

She smiled. "Like I said, same skill set."

He looked amused. "An interesting view of the corporate world. Does your father know about this?"

"Who do you think pointed it out to me?"

That stopped him for a few seconds, although you had to know the man to notice the sudden stillness that indicated she'd caught him off guard.

"Your father told you that there wasn't much difference between a CEO and a Guild chief?" he asked, not bothering to conceal his skepticism.

"Yes. Of course, a Guild boss does have some unique options when it comes to getting rid of the competition or dealing with personnel problems. All those convenient tunnels. But aside from that…" She moved one hand, waving the issue aside.

Fontana slowly lowered his fork. "You're serious, aren't you? You really believe that I could have built the business empire my father built."

"Sure, if that's what you had set out to do. What's more, your father knew it, too. He would have been a fool not to realize that your rise to power within the Guild and your own personal wealth were clear evidence that you had inherited his talents." She smiled. "And that, Fontana, is why he left Burns & Co. to you."

"He left me a dying business, Sierra."

"Don't you get it? You said, yourself, Burns was more important to him than anything else. Your father knew that you were the only one who had a chance of saving it. In the end he put his reputation and the fortunes of the entire family in your hands."