Found

FOUR

FOUR

As she dragged Turner away from Grammie and Aitken, Poppy spotted the household staff bringing lunch. To keep them away from listening ears, she led him in the direction of the sea.

After a few yards, she stopped and whirled around so fast that he almost fell over her. “You can’t sign a lease.”

“Baby—”

“You can’t commit yourself to six months or a year of rent. It’s insane! You own a building, First. You have a home.” He just looked at her. “Don’t do grumpy and brooding with me. Promise me, First. No signing anything.”

Stepping closer, her chin rose higher. It had to, he was so tall… So hot and so tall. The quake of awareness in her obliques shook all the way to her heart. Poppy didn’t know how he could tell what her insides were doing, but the slight stretch at the corner of his mouth betrayed that he did. His predatory glint joined the narrowing of his eyes. She didn’t even see his hand move, but the brush of his fingertips on her temple as he tucked her hair away reminded her of just how innate it was for him to care for the women in his life.

“You will never doubt how I feel again,” he said, still stroking her hair. “You’re all I’m interested in. No games.”

Just like he’d said a guy would be if he wanted to be with a woman.

Staying mad at him was impossible. Poppy hadn’t been mad exactly just… exasperated. She couldn’t understand how he didn’t see that she was imploring him to do what was best for him and his family.

Since he was there—and because if she didn’t say something, she’d probably lose her mind and jump him—Poppy asked, “Is Charley really mad at me?”

As Turner inhaled, he shrugged. “She’ll get over it.”

“Does Faye want my head?”

“She’s used to sisters causing trouble.”

“I’m not her sister.”

“Yet,” he said, his smile growing. “Wherever you are is where I’m supposed to be. I won’t give up.”

“You like determined women,” she murmured, recalling what Charley had first told her about him. “How about Zo? How was prom?”

His lower lip shifted as he pondered. “Didn’t hear anything much about it. Guess it went fine.”

“Damnit,” she said, her head dropping to his chest.

“What’s wrong? Something I should know?”

‘Yes’ was the answer to that question, but it wasn’t her business to say.

Toying with the fabric of his shirt above his belt, Poppy knew she should put distance between them but couldn’t. “I don’t suppose there’s any chance that you…”

“I finish here in an hour. I know where your bedroom is.”

Shocked, she smacked a hand to his chest, pushing herself away from him. “I’m a nice girl, Mr. Maddox. I don’t know who you think you’re talking to.”

Bowing forward, he wasn’t shy about bringing his smile to within an inch of hers. “Perfect elegance.”

“Turner Maddox,” she said, forced to squeeze his shoulders to pressure him back. If she hadn’t leaned back, away from the path of his mouth, he’d have reached his goal. “I was going to ask if you brought anything of mine with you.” Like her cellphone so she could call Charley.

It didn’t seem he was in a listening mood. “You’re doing it to me,” he murmured. “Stop fighting it, baby… Stop fighting me.”

“We’ve always been good at this part,” she said. His head rested on hers. The physical part, the chemistry, they excelled at that. The rest was more complicated. “I want what’s best for you, First.”

“We’ll work that out together… when you’re ready.”

Was she ready? She wanted so much, but could give so little.

“Oh my!”

Grammie’s exclamation separated them. When Poppy followed the older woman’s line of sight to the sky above the waves, she couldn’t believe her eyes.

A sky banner with her name on it. A plane, in the glorious blue sky, pulling a banner… Dumbfounded, she stumbled a few steps forward unable to tear her eyes from the letters in the sky proclaiming, “I love you, Poppy Granger.”

Someone touching her shoulder startled her from her stupor. Almost immediately, rage hit her.

“I’m going to kill him,” she hissed, whirling around to storm back to the house.

It was too much. Beyond that it was ridiculous. Her business was not the world’s business. Her association with Holden was through her sister. As far as Poppy was concerned they were acquaintances. She was closer to the Maddox sisters, who she’d known for a fraction of the time she’d known Holden, than she was to him. What a slime.

Marching up the terrace, she threw open the door beneath the stairs and strode inside. It was Tiller she needed, and his office was her aim, but the sound of voices in the dining room stopped her in her tracks.

“It’s a risky move,” a male voice, Newell, from the office. “The position is unenviable.”

“The family are being held prisoner,” Tiller said. “The girls can’t go out. Their relationships are being pulled through the wringer.”

“I don’t know what game he’s playing,” her father said. “Is it war with my family or my company?”

“Could be both,” Sunfield said; he was from the office too.

“Poppy is a beautiful woman,” Newell said. “If his affections are genuine—”

“I’m supposed to let a man court one daughter and then another?” her father asked. “He didn’t just see Violet, they got all the way to the altar.”

“And Poppy?” Sunfield asked. “If she has pull with him—”

“The only way she has pull is if she wants to be with him,” Tiller said. “Holden Abernathy is a man used to getting what he wants. I think if his intentions are honorable, he’d do whatever it took to make her happy.”

Plotting for business or plotting her life? Poppy didn’t need the reminder of what she hadn’t enjoyed about reality on the Adler Estate.

Knocking, as though she hadn’t just been eavesdropping, Poppy pushed open the door with a smile on her face and went inside. The four men were on their feet near the window. Although they called it the dining room, it was also the ballroom. The massive space had a towering ceiling and beautiful parquet flooring.

“Holden just sent a plane across the estate trailing a banner,” she said, figuring they’d been huddling and would’ve missed it.

“What did it say?” Tiller asked.

As much as she didn’t want to repeat it, Poppy had no choice. “I love you, Poppy Granger.”

“How do you know it was him and not your admirer from last night?” her father asked.

“Turner doesn’t need to write it in the sky,” she asserted, then realized the suggestion had offended her.

Not for one second had she considered that Turner would advertise their private business.

Being strong while he was so close was difficult. Venting to him, wrapping herself up in him, hiding them in her bedroom behind a locked door… without clothes, all tempting options.

Love didn’t hide. Turner meant it. He loved her, she didn’t doubt it. Not anymore.

“He’s increased the bounty,” Tiller said. “He’s eager to speak to you.”

“He can’t keep doing it,” she said, crossing to them. “He’s taking over our lives. Not just our lives, but innocent lives. As long as he keeps offering rewards and doing public things like hiring planes to pull banners, it will stay in the news. As long as people are talking about it, there will be news vans parked outside and photographers hounding everyone I know.”

Like the Maddox family who were probably on edge wondering when someone would jump out on them again. With Turner there, they had even less protection than before.

“Holden is powerful, sweetheart,” her father said. “We have to be careful. We were just discussing how to progress.”

“I don’t want to be careful,” Poppy said. “I say we take it to him. Get our lawyers on it, tell him to keep the Granger name out of his mouth.”

Her father glanced around at the other men in his secret meeting.

“I suppose that tells us how she feels about pursuing a relationship with him,” Sunfield said.

Poppy got closer, focusing on Tiller. “I want the lawyers here today. I want words on paper that make it clear we will pursue further action if he persists.”

“The law is tricky,” Newell said. “Our lawyers have been—”

“I want my lawyer here,” she said, the words just spilling out on their own. “A lawyer who cares about ending Holden’s harassment.”

And not what disruption of the relationship could do to her father’s business interests. Someone who would care about what she cared about: the Maddox family.

“Preston Whitlock,” she said. “He issued the statement for Charlotte Maddox the day I came back here.”

“I know who he is,” Tiller said with a nod.

Her father was frowning. “I thought you weren’t interested in last night’s intruder.”

“This isn’t about that,” she said and set her sights on Tiller. “Can you get him here?”

“Of course.”

“He can sit with your people, Dad,” she said to reassure him. “I just need his eyes and ears in every room, on every piece of paper.”

She didn’t even know exactly what kind of law Preston practiced, it could be that he was more of a business sort or maybe it was real estate, she had no idea. But he was smart enough to know what was going on and to know when he needed to check something out.

“I will call him now,” Tiller said, getting the nod from her father. “I’ll send the jet. We’ll get him here tonight.”

“And compensate him for his time,” Poppy said. “Don’t drag him out on a Saturday night to stand in my corner for nothing. If I have to break into my trust and pay him myself…”

“Don’t be dramatic, sweetheart,” her father said. “Of course we will compensate him.” He stepped away from the others. “I have to say I’m impressed. It may make things more difficult for me and the business, but I’m proud you’re smart enough to protect yourself. You trust this Whitlock?”

“He’s a good man. Fair and honest,” she said. “I’d like him to stay here at the house.”

Rather than going in and out, possibly meeting the photographers who liked to show up every once in a while. Their security guys chased them off and wouldn’t let them linger, but inevitably they’d come around again.

“Yes, of course,” her father said.

He’d been so understanding that although it wasn’t exactly customary for them to be tactile, she went over and pulled him down to kiss his cheek.

“Thank you, Daddy,” she said, noticing his surprise before she turned to Tiller. “You’ll let me know when he’s here? I’d like to talk to him in private as soon as he arrives.” Tiller nodded once, a whisper of a smile on his lips. “I’ll be in the music room.”