“You’ve said something like that before, and I still say you’re crazy,” Ben said. “Destiny doesn’t have favorites. Sure, we have a bond because of art, but that’s it. She loves all of us.”
“I know she loves us. That’s not the point,” Richard said impatiently. “Look, can we talk about this or not?”
Ben sat back. “Fine. Talk, but I have to tell you that Destiny does not sit around sharing confidences with me, either. She’s meddling in my life these days. She’s not letting me poke around in hers.”
“That doesn’t mean she hasn’t let something slip from time to time,” Richard insisted. “Here’s the deal. I’ve got a huge problem with the European division. We’ve nearly lost out on a couple of big deals over there because of some minor player who jumps into the mix and drives up the price. So far we’ve only lost one acquisition, but that’s one too many. And I don’t like the fact that it’s always this same guy whose name keeps popping up. It’s like he’s carrying out his own personal vendetta against Carlton Industries. This company of his is not a major player, but he’s smart enough to know precisely what to do to make a muddle of our negotiations.”
Despite his total lack of interest in the family business, Ben hadn’t been able to avoid absorbing some information over the years. Richard introduced the topic at almost every family gathering. Because of that, so far he was following Richard, but he didn’t see the connection to their aunt.
“What does any of that have to do with Destiny?” he asked.
“I’m not a hundred percent certain, but I think this was a man she was involved with years ago. It’s the only explanation I can come up with,” Richard told him.
“Have you asked her?”
“Of course. When I brought up his name, she turned pale and flatly refused to tell me anything. She said I was in charge of Carlton Industries and I should deal with it.”
The whole scenario seemed a little too far-fetched to Ben. Destiny with some long-lost secret love who’d been pining for years and was now making a move on Carlton Industries in retaliation for some slight? He’d always thought the business world was a whole lot more logical and, well, businesslike than that.
“What makes you think she knows him, much less was involved with him?” he asked Richard. “Maybe she simply doesn’t want to get drawn into company politics.”
“I had someone in the division over there do some quiet checking. I wanted to see if this man and Destiny could have crossed paths. The guy is British, but he lived in France for several years. In fact, he lived in the very town where Destiny lived at the same time she was there. That can’t be pure coincidence. I even sent my guy over to France to poke around, but people wouldn’t tell him a blessed thing. He said those who remembered her got very protective when he mentioned Destiny’s name.”
Ben had always known that Destiny had hidden things from them. Because of the vibrant, extraordinary woman she was, he’d also supposed that there had been a man in her life back then. Only recently had she alluded to such a thing, though. Even so, she hadn’t acknowledged a broken heart and she certainly had never mentioned a name.
“I don’t know, Richard,” Ben said skeptically. “I suppose you could be right. It makes sense that there was someone in her life back then, but why would he be driven to make a play at this late date for companies Carlton Industries wants to acquire?”
“Beats me,” Richard said candidly. “But I have this gut feeling there’s a connection.”
“Is he a real threat to the company?”
“More an annoyance,” Richard admitted. “But I don’t like anything I can’t explain.”
“Then you need to ask Destiny again.”
“I thought maybe you could,” Richard suggested, then grinned. “Since you’re bound to be seeing more of her these days than I am, what with the whole Kathleen thing going on.”
“Ha-ha,” Ben retorted, unamused.
Richard’s expression sobered at once. “Will you talk to her?”
“You really are worried, aren’t you?” Ben asked.
“It’s gnawing at me, yes. And there’s a deal coming up soon that could be really important to our future growth in Europe. I don’t want to have this particular gnat in the mix.”
Ben nodded slowly. “Okay then, I’ll do what I can, but you know how prickly Destiny is about the past. She’s never wanted us to get the idea that she gave up anything important to come and take care of us. If she blew off your questions, she’s just as likely to blow off mine.”
“I think we’re past the time when she needs to worry about us feeling insecure about her intentions toward us,” Richard said. “We all know she loves us and that she has no regrets about the choice she made. I just need to know if she walked out on a love affair that could be coming back to haunt us.”
“I’ll see what I can find out. What’s this man’s name?”
“William Harcourt.”
Ben pulled an ever-present pen out of his pocket and jotted the name down on his hand, since he didn’t have paper handy and didn’t trust his memory to even recall the conversation once he’d spent a few hours in his studio. Richard watched him, looking amused.
“Try not to wash up before you call Destiny,” he advised.
Ben grinned. “Waterproof ink,” he noted, waving the pen. “I learned that lesson a long time ago. I figure even with a few long, cold showers, I’ve got till the end of the week to remember to chase down Destiny and ask her about this.”
“Don’t wait that long, okay?”
Something in his brother’s tone alerted him that this mess was even more serious than Richard had admitted. Ben nodded.
“I’ll get back to you tonight. Will that do?”
“Morning’s soon enough,” Richard assured him. “Tonight I have to wallpaper the nursery to keep Melanie from trying to
