Page 96 of Ireland

He laughed with feigned nonchalance. “She and I wage war by day and truce by night. It may be less exciting without the war,” he lied. “If so, I think the business might suit Jules and help settle him, although his distaste for New York surpasses mine.”

“Jules Robicheaux is not my concern,” she said icily.

“Mais non, he’s mine,” he countered, smoothly hiding his irritation. “We must also consider Gideon Cross. Taking the business over rather than under should help defuse a protracted battle we can’t afford.Forbesrecently published an article on how costly the competition between Cross Industries and LanCorp has been for both companies. It’s worth a read.”

A knock came to the study door.

“Vas t'en!” Harper yelled curtly.

The door opened anyway, and Scarlett peeked her pretty face around the door. “Désolée. Ronan, Jules called. He’s trying to reach you. It’s an emergency, or I wouldn’t have bothered you.”

Realizing he left his phone in the chopper, Ronan shot his father and grand-mère an apologetic glance. “Pardon.”

“Can’t it wait?” Harper asked.

“Clearly not,” he answered, heading toward the door.

“We’re in the middle of a discussion!” she called after him.

“I’ve caught you both up.” He paused while still in view of the webcam. “How are things going with the attorneys?”

Lucas shrugged. “Slow as molasses, but they tell me things are progressing. Our lawyers are staying on top of the Project’s lawyers. But like I said, you learn not to get your hopes up.”

“It’s good to see you, Dad,” he said. “I pray it’s not long before I get to do so in person instead.”

“Merci, son. Watch your back with the Vidals. None of them can be trusted.”

Nodding, he exited the room and found Scarlett in the hallway. He closed the door softly, and she launched herself at him, pressing her lips to his before he knew what she intended. Once, twice. Swift pecks. Just as quickly, she pulled away with a mischievous smile.

“Give a kiss to Jules and Claudette for me,cher. I’d give you one, but you’reinvolved.”

“Stay out of trouble,” he told her over his shoulder, discreetly wiping his mouth.

“Never.”

He smiled ruefully as he opened the pilot side door and removed his phone from its hands-free station. The number of missed calls sobered him, and he dialed back.

“Pour l’amour de dieu!” Jules shouted without preamble. “You can’t just fall off the face of the earth and leave us with this mess!”

“Calm down. What mess?”

“She had the fire department evacuate our entire floor! They stood in their gear and watched Claudy andmepack up everything.”

Frowning, he circled the exterior of the helicopter, inspecting it. “You’re not making sense. There was a fire at Vidal Records?”

“Non, gros bête! We’ve been evicted from the hotel! And she was waiting in the lobby to tell us we’re not welcome in any Cross Industriesproperty. We’re trying to book a flight home or find a rental instead because we don’t know which hotels are Cross’s and I won’t be humiliated further!”

“I assume you’re talking about Ireland.”

“Who else, couillion? We’re driving around in a taxi with nowhere to go!”

He climbed into thepilotseat, snapped his phone back into the holder, and secured his seatbelt. “What did you do to get kicked out?” he asked patiently.

“Why amIat fault?” Jules yelled.

Ronan heard Claudette admonish their brother to lower his voice. “Because Ireland wasn’t on the warpath when I left her this morning.”

“Oui, well, whatever sedative your dick dispensed wore off!”

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