Neal Patchett tossed a report on the desk. “Read it.” He said.
Dash hid his mounting fury as he crossed the room and then lifted the report to read. He did not sit down, but flipped through the pages while still standing. Outraged pride grew with each successive page and coalesced into lava like fury when he read the final page.
It was a recommendation by Neal Patchett to merge with Black Shipping’s number one competitor. If that were not bad enough, it was clear that while the other company would maintain their business identity, Black Shipping would cease to exist.
He tossed the report onto the gleaming surface of the walnut desk. “You are not trying to buy your daughter a husband, you are trying to blackmail one.” He said angrily.
Neal shrugged broad shoulders, not even slightly stooped by his more than Sixty three years. “Call it what you like, but if you want to keep Black Shipping in the Black family and operating business under your family name, you will marry my daughter.”
“What is the matter with her that you have to resort to such tactics to get her a husband?” Dash asked.
For the first time since Dash had entered the other man’s office, Neal’s guard dropped enough to let his reaction show.
Dash’s question had surprised him. It was in the widening of his eyes, the beetling of his steel gray brows.
“There’s nothing wrong with her. She’s a little shy and a bleeding heart, I admit, but for all that she’ll make a fine wife.” He said finally.
“To a husband you have to blackmail into marriage?” Dash asked.
In many ways, he was a traditional male, but Neal Patchett made Dash look like a modern New Man. Tess’s father was more than old-fashioned in his views. He was prehistoric.
“Don’t tell me, you were waiting for love eternal to get married, man?” Neal asked.
Derision laced his voice. “You’re thirty two, not some young pup still dreaming of fairy tales and fantasies. And you’re plenty old enough to be thinking about a wife and family. Your own father is gone, so cannot advise you, but I’m here to tell you, you don’t want to leave it too late to enjoy the benefits of family life.”
Not only did Dash find the very idea of taking advice from a man trying to blackmail him offensive, but Neal Patchett was the last person to hand out platitudes about enjoying family life. He’d spent his Sixty plus years almost completely oblivious to his own family, even to his own daughter.
“I’m offering you a straight forward business deal. Take it or leave it.”
The tone of Neal’s voice left no doubt how seriously he felt about following through on his threats.
“And if I leave it my family company ceases to exist.” Dash said.
The other man looked unconcerned by the reminder. “No company lasts forever.” He said simply.
Gritting his teeth, Dash forced himself not to take the other man by the throat and shake him. He never lost control and he would not give his adversary the benefit of doing so now.
“I will have to think about it.” He said.
“You do that and think about this while you are at it. My daughter left two weeks ago for a tour in the company of four other girls, a tour guide and five young men. The last time she called, she mentioned one of them several times. David something or other, I don’t know. Apparently, they are developing quite the friendship. If you want Tess before she gets into something serious with someone else, you’d better do something about it soon.”
Dash frowned at him.
Savannah woke up early as a matter of habit. A quick check of her watch, however, told her she had overslept by fifteen minutes.
At least she was feeling better today. Yesterday she had to leave the diner early as she had a terrible headache. She didn’t know exactly what was causing her uneasiness lately, but she knew it had something to do with seeing Matt again. It had been two weeks since he showed up in her life again and he was totally messing with her head.
She would have to hurry to get to the diner by six. After a brief shower, she pulled on her loose-fitting jumper over a shirt and headed for the door.
She held her breath, almost expecting Matt to be outside. Somehow she knew he would show up again. She knew Matt, and she knew he didn’t give up when he put his mind to something.
She shook her head and walked down the stairs. He was messing with her head and making her paranoid. Any thought that she was over him and moving on had been shot to hell the moment he showed up in her diner. She didn’t understand why he would come to see her, like he hadn’t done enough harm.
A few minutes later, she hustled into the diner to see that Vicky was already at work serving their early-morning breakfast customers.
“Hey babe” Vicky greeted. “Feeling better today?”
“Yeah” Savannah replied. “Thanks for helping me out and taking care of my customers. You didn’t come home yesterday”
“Yeah I spent the night at Bruce’s place” Victoria replied. “But I gotta tell you. Lamar came around after you left yesterday and he was really pissed that you weren’t here”
Savannah sighed, knowing she was in trouble. “That’s okay. I will talk to him”
She donned her apron, picked up her order tablet and headed toward her section of tables.
For the first hour, she forced thoughts of Matt and the dread that he’d make another appearance to the back of her mind. Unfortunately, it was obvious that she failed miserably after she messed up three orders, spilled coffee on a customer and retreated to the kitchen to get herself together.
She’d just given herself a stern lecture, reminded herself that it had been two weeks and she needed to pull herself together. She calmed her shaking hands and was preparing to return out front when Lamar burst through the doors, a scowl on his face.
“What the hell are you doing here?” he asked.
Savannah frowned. “I work here, remember?” she replied.