Page 66 of My Forbidden Boss

“You didn’t see the way she looked.” Tristan didn’t see the way Bourke looked either. “He’s a predator and he’s targeted Adeline.”

Tristan curses under his breath. “Why her in particular? She hasn’t been in the industry long enough to know anything,” Tristan says.

She hasn’t lived long enough to have a college degree, let alone be useful for anything Bourke might want of her, but something is going on. I’m sure of it.

“She almost said something to me after I got him to leave, and then a message came in on her cell and she clammed up,” I say.

“Did you ask her what it was?” Tristan asks.

“Of course I did. She won’t tell me,” I say.

“Or can’t?” Tristan says.

I drop my head, letting the concept roll through me. “It’s a high probability. It’s the only thing that makes sense.”

I know this woman. There’s experience in her eyes, but it’s the wounded kind. Life’s mark left on someone too young to know of such things. I know how to read calculation and cunning. I’ve seen it in too many faces to misinterpret what’s missing in her.

It’s also the way she accepts the bad. She accepts it will happen and is surprised when it doesn’t come. No one has it back-to-front like that without good reason.

“She’s gone to tell me something a couple of times, but hasn’t gone through with it.” I’ve been around too long not to sense something is holding her back.

“What do you want me to do?” Tristan says.

“Have you spoken with Brandt yet?” I ask. I couldn’t wait to hear what Bourke’s fired CFO had to say.

“He’s gone to ground, but I’m making inroads as to his whereabouts…You have it bad for this woman, but you might want to prepare yourself, David,” Tristan says.

I stifle the flash of anger. Tristan is only looking out for me. It’s not something I wouldn’t say to him if our places were reversed. Instead, I say, “I’m not wrong. Not about this. Not about her.”

“I as soon as comething comes up, I call you,” Tristan says and ends the call.

I don’t sleep because I don’t like not knowing connections and Adeline is important. She’s reserved in the morning. Polite. Walls in place that I swear to tear down. Walls that Bourke put there.

If I see the asshole, I’ll tear him down.

I search everywhere for him in the hallways. The theater. The dining hall. He’s not there. Two days of looking for him, waiting for a glimpse and the guy’s a ghost.

The coward, thinks he can intimidate people who can’t fight back and dodge the people who can. I don’t let assholes define me like that anymore, and I won’t let them define Adeline either.

It’s lunch on the third and final day of the conference that I catch Jamie Taylor. I steer Adeline into a chair at the table and I take the seat opposite.

“Afternoon, David,” Jamie says.

“I see you remember me,” I say.

“Everyone knows Blue Sky. You have an excellent reputation. I’m glad I have a chance to chat with you over your Moss Creek tender, to be honest,” Taylor says.

Adeline tenses, fork halfway to her mouth before she eats. It was only a moment, but I see everything she does. I turn to her. “Jamie Taylor is the land manager in charge of the Moss Creek development. We sent our tender to him last week.” Then to Taylor. “My PA originally comes from Moss Creek. She helped put the tender together.”

His brows flick up, and he takes a renewed interest in Adeline. “Oh? What do you think of the proposed development?”

“Oh, I…”

Her mouth thins in that way I know she’s not happy and I want to know what’s made her pause. Something’s not sitting right and I wonder if it’s because her friend lived there. “Say what’s on your mind, Adeline.”

Her gaze flits from Taylor to me. There’s weight in her gaze. A story I need to grasp. I don’t think she’s going to say anything, but then her chin notches and I wait in anticipation. “It’s not about the development. It’s about the people living there,” she says.

Taylor tilts his head. He gives her his full attention. “What about the people living there? We have made provision for them.”

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