The Missing Heir. Barbara Dunlop
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boss, Herbert Nywall’s, expression was stern as he rose from the table in her compact office on the seventh floor of the Coast Eagle building.
Max Cutter was the company’s chief lawyer, so Herbert had had no choice but to acquiesce to his request to speak privately with Amber. But it was obvious Herbert was becoming frustrated with the increasing interruptions of Amber’s day-to-day duties.
She didn’t blame him.
“Can this wait, Max?” she asked, earning a look of shock from Herbert.
“I’m afraid not. Sorry, Herbert.”
“Not at all,” Herbert responded with false cheer. “She’s all yours.”
“We’re pretty busy today,” Amber told Max as Herbert closed the door behind him.
“You can’t pretend this isn’t happening.” Max took the chair across from her at the two-person meeting table. It was wedged between her desk and a bookshelf in the windowless room.
“Believe me, I’m not pretending anything isn’t happening.” In the past three weeks, her life had been turned completely upside down.
Nothing was remotely normal, and now Cole Parker had appeared, somehow insinuating himself into the circumstances. She didn’t quite know what to make of him. He was opportunistic, that was for sure. And he had definite designs on Coast Eagle.
But Zachary’s reaction to him had been astonishing. And her own reaction was just as bizarre. Yesterday, she’d fought a ridiculous urge to throw herself into Cole’s arms and trust him completely.
Max got straight to the point. “Roth’s pressuring the board to appoint him president.”
The news surprised Amber. It also worried her. “I thought they were going to wait to choose a president.”
“That was the agreement. But he wants it bad, and half of the board members are convinced he’ll win the custody battle. If he does, he’ll be the guy deciding who stays on the board. They want to ingratiate themselves now while they have a chance.”
Amber understood their dilemma. She even sympathized. If Roth obtained custody of Zachary, he’d be ruthless in his revenge on board members who’d stood against him.
“Plus,” Max continued, “they see strength in him, decisiveness and intelligence. They think he’ll make a good president.”
“I don’t like him,” Amber blurted out. “And I don’t think he’d make a good president.”
Max sat back in his chair. “That was definitive.” He seemed to be considering her words. “Is it because of the situation with Zachary? Because that would certainly be understandable.”
“It’s because he recklessly spends company money. He wants to refurbish or replace the entire fleet with no regard whatsoever for the debt load. He’s a shopaholic on a massive scale.”
Max quirked a smile. “Interestingly put, but not inaccurate from what I’ve seen.”
“They can’t make him president.”
“The board’s deadlocked. We need to appoint another board member to break the tie.”
Amber shook her head. Max had broached the subject of board appointments with her two weeks ago.
“You know I don’t want to do that.”
“I know you don’t.”
“I don’t want to run Coast Eagle.” She knew she wasn’t qualified to take the helm of the company.
“Well, you’re the only one who doesn’t.”
Amber came to her feet, taking the three steps that brought her flush against the front of her desk. She turned back. This was a terrible office for pacing.
Max spoke again. “If you appoint the right person, a majority will agree on a different interim president and Roth will have to back down. If you don’t appoint anyone, MacSweeny will flip. It’s only a matter of time. And then Roth’s in.”
Amber spoke more to herself than to Max. “And the spending spree begins.”
For some reason, her thoughts turned back to Cole Parker. In the car Saturday night, he’d said it was her responsibility to take control of the company for Zachary. She’d disagreed with him at the time, but the advice stuck with her.
She let the memory take shape, and his image came clear in her mind. The streetlights had played across his handsome face. He was sexy in a suit, sexier still in his blue jeans the next morning at the penthouse. And the memory of him holding Zachary? The tenderness had touched a chord deep down inside her. It shouldn’t have turned her on, but it did. The truth was, everything about Cole turned her on.
All that probably meant she shouldn’t take his advice.
She looked at Max, bringing herself back to the present. She had to agree that letting Roth plunge the airline into debt wasn’t in Zachary’s best interest. Any thinking person could see that. And what Max said was true. At the moment, she was the only person who could legally appoint a new board member.
If she didn’t do it, no one could.
“Who?” she found herself venturing. “If I was to appoint someone, who would that be?”
It had to be someone they could trust. It also had to be someone who didn’t have to fear Roth if he won the custody battle. It had to be someone who understood the airline, who brought true value to the board and who could be strong in the face of divided loyalties, uncertain times and extraordinarily high stakes.
She couldn’t think of a single person who fit the bill.
“You,” Max told her softly.
“No.” She gripped the back of her chair and shook her head. “No.” It was unthinkable. “No.”
“You underestimate yourself, Amber.”
“Coco chose me because she knew I would love Zachary. She had no idea it would put me in this position with the company.”
“Coco had no idea about anything,” said Max.
Amber didn’t know how to respond to that. Her sister wasn’t the most analytical person in the world. It was fair to say that Coco had operated on emotion rather than logic. It was also fair to say that Coco had never really grown up. She’d wanted what she’d wanted, and she’d usually wanted it right away. She’d never spent much time worrying about the impact on others.
“There’s no one else,” said Max, spreading his palms.
“There has to be.”
“It’s one vote. You take the appointment. You go to one meeting. You vote. You leave. And the new president takes over the reins.” He glanced around her small office, all but wrinkling his nose. “You can come back here an hour later and take over your regular duties.”
“There’s nothing wrong with my job.”
“Nobody’s saying there is. Though not many new billionaires would keep working in this particular office.”
“I’m not a new—”
“Amber, please. I can see that your instinct is to be humble. But you’re Zachary’s guardian. Anytime you want to exercise it, you have control of a billion-dollar company.”
“Temporarily.”
“Maybe. But maybe not.”
She slid back into her chair, propping her elbows on the table. “It’s not that simple.”
“It’s very simple.”
She couldn’t, wouldn’t, didn’t dare let her head run away with any aspect of the situation. There was too much at stake for her to let her guard down.