Page 26 of Boss With Benefits

‘That’s right.’

‘So, what changed?’

‘My mother died. She took a fatal overdose fourteen years ago when I was eighteen and my sister was eight.’

When that information sank in, it immediately demolished her indifference. How terribly, terribly sad, she thought, her chest aching and her eyes pricking. How devastating that must have been. For all his material privilege, his environment had been just as traumatic as hers, although for very different reasons. ‘I’m so sorry.’

‘She was thoroughly miserable and by that point very fragile,’ he said bleakly. ‘But even so, it was my fault. She rang me that night. I didn’t answer the call. If I had, I might have been able to save her.’

At the guilt in his voice and the torment on his face, the ache in her chest intensified. ‘It wasn’t your fault. It couldn’t have been.’

‘It was. I was out having too much fun. I was in a nightclub at the time, with a girl, and I just didn’t want to be bothered.’

‘That must have been so difficult to bear,’ she said, because who was she to try and convince him otherwise?

‘It still is,’ he said. ‘But I’m trying to do something about it. You once asked me what was so important about Montague’s.’

‘You claimed it was all about the bottom line.’

‘It’s not about that. I want it back for her. While she was in Northumberland, she had an affair of her own. Just the one—with a neighbour. But my father found out. Ever the hypocrite, he took objection and retaliated. He knew Montague’s meant a lot to her. Not because it was where they’d met—she as a trainee jewellery designer, he on tour of the company’s North American assets—but because she’d been there since leaving school and had dreams of one day running the place. He sold it to Helberg out of spite, for a dollar.’

For a moment Ella didn’t know what to say. Just when she thought Edward Courtney couldn’t sink any lower in her estimation, he plumbed new depths. ‘No wonder you want justice.’

Adam gave a nod and blew out a breath. ‘Anyway, her death and my role in it was the wake-up call I needed. It made me reassess the way I was living. I gave up the hedonism and knuckled down. I finished university and then started working at the company back home. It was at that point that I realised how bad things were there. My father was CEO for nearly thirty years. In that time, he almost destroyed the business. When he died and I took over, I was determined to do things differently. I refuse to let his genes dominate me.’

‘They don’t and you have. You stopped the company from nosediving into oblivion, according to one press report I found. You turned it around in a year. That must have taken some doing.’

‘It’s taken sixteen-hour days, more often than not, seven days a week and a number of challenging personnel situations. But I wasn’t having a company that was started by my great-great-great-grandfather vanish off the face of the earth while I was around to do something about it.’

Ella recognised his determination and ambition, and it occurred to her yet again that maybe they weren’t thatdissimilar after all. But that wasn’t a particularly constructive thought, so she redirected her focus to his sister. ‘How did Charley handle things?’

He frowned. Studied the sea beyond her right shoulder for a moment, then returned his gaze to hers. ‘I don’t know,’ he admitted. ‘I never asked. But she went through a wild patch as a teenager, so that could have been how.’

‘I read up on Trouble Maker,’ she said in case it helped. ‘It seems to be doing well. Judging by the recent press it’s had, it’s heading straight for success.’

‘So I’ve been told.’

‘You sound as if you disapprove.’

‘I don’t. It’s just...complicated.’

‘In what way?’

‘I don’t really have a relationship with her, but I’ve found it hard to trust her nevertheless,’ he said. ‘She’s made some bad decisions in the past. She quit school early and took up modelling. She got caught up in that world and went off the rails, and I’m pretty sure I don’t know the half of what she got up to. That’s why I made the trip to London that you questioned me about. She’d bought a flat. I was concerned it might be another bad decision. I didn’t consider the implications of using the company jet at the time. I just wanted to get there as soon as possible. But when I did, she made it very clear that my concern was misplaced. And it was. The flat was fine. She had every right to be annoyed.’

In response to the flicker of discomfort that sped across his face, Ella felt her eyes narrow and her feathers ruffle. ‘And was she?’

‘Oh, yes.’

‘Well, that’s not fair,’ she said, feeling quite outraged on his behalf. ‘Presumably you have her best interests at heart.’

‘I haven’t always. I’ve let her down repeatedly. She once rang me, begging to come back home from the school our father had sent her to. I brushed her off. I wasn’t there when she dropped out or when she got into trouble. I haven’t taken the time to get to know her.’

‘You weren’t around. You were busy trying to sort out your father’s mess.’

‘It’s no excuse.’

‘Well, I think it is,’ she said, bristling madly before thinking that she had to calm down. She really did.

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