Stand-In Bride

“And what did he say?” Faith pressed eagerly.

“He said no.” Julia sighed. “Sorry. I tried.”

“Doesn’t he know that by being elusive, he is increasing his appeal?” Faith was frustrated. “Think Jacqueline Onassis. Everybody wanted to interview her because she was the one interview nobody could ever get. Well, Mike Fortune is playing by those rules.”

“I don’t think he’s playing by any rules. He just wants to be left alone.”

“It’s not going to happen, Julia. Say, how is the voice-mail system over there? Any problems with it lately?”

“No, thank heavens.” Julia remembered Jake Fortune’s fiery visit the last time the system had crashed. She shivered. “The number of calls have dropped off. I think interest in Michael Fortune is finally starting to fade.”

“Don’t be too sure of that, honey,” Faith said, hanging up.

Julia thought nothing more of the conversation until later that day. Not until the voice-mail system abruptly and unexpectedly became so overloaded with messages for Michael Fortune that it short-circuited. Again! Worse, the company’s entire computer system shut down along with it, like a sympathetic unionist supporting a fellow laborer’s strike.

Michael paced his office, infuriated and distraught. Julia leaned against the wall, her arms folded, staring anxiously at the pearl gray carpet.

“Faith Carlisle is responsible, I’m sure of it,” she murmured. “She made a threat, but I didn’t recognize it as a threat at the time. I’m positive she orchestrated this call-in campaign, just to show she could do it. And she’ll keep on doing it until you give her an interview, Michael.”

“Never!” Michael pounded his fist with his hand. “I will never knuckle under to blackmailing media sabotage. We’ll sue, we’ll—”

“Dammit, Michael, I’ve had all I’m going to take!” Jake Fortune’s roar could be heard through closed doors along the entire length of the corridor.

Julia froze. She could hear the CEO’s footsteps thundering along the carpeted hall from the elevator banks to his nephew’s office. The enraged giant from “Jack and the Beanstalk” instantly leapt to mind; she wouldn’t have been surprised to hear Jake Fortune promising to “grind their bones to make his bread.” Michael’s bones and hers, his idiotic sycophant.

She raised wide, apprehensive eyes to Michael. “We could lock ourselves in your closet,” she whispered. “Maybe he’ll think we aren’t here.” She wasn’t sure if she was kidding or not. A safe haven away from Jake Fortune’s threatening onslaught held great appeal.

“Feel free.” Michael gestured toward the closet door. “But I’m certainly not going to hide from my uncle. I’m not afraid of him.”

They heard Jake enter Julia’s office. She eyed the closet longingly. Maybe Michael wasn’t afraid of his raging uncle, but she was. Out of sight, out of mind seemed a sound policy in this situation.

But it was too late. The door to Michael’s office was flung open and Jake Fortune stormed inside.

“Are you aware of the disruption your imbecilic groupies have caused this company?” Jake launched immediately into his tirade. Which went on and on and on.

Michael was respectful at first, but Jake continued to rage, and the scope of his anger seemed unlimited. Soon Michael gave up all attempts at apology or civility and launched a counteroffensive of his own. Blame was cast, aspersions hurled. They were family, and they had ammunition that extended back for years.

Julia stood plastered against the wall, too unnerved to move, watching and listening to the two men verbally annihilate each other. Each seemed to hold the other accountable for everything that was wrong in the company and in the family. She wouldn’t have been surprised if they started in on global culpability, blaming the other for famines and floods and for destabilizing foreign governments.

Her temples began to throb. She’d never had a migraine headache before, but if she was going to have her first one, this would be the time and place for it.

And just when she thought things couldn’t possibly get worse, Nate Fortune arrived, his expression dark as a thundercloud.

“Word has it that you’re threatening my son, Jake.” Nate leapt into the fray without waiting for an invitation.

Julia guessed what had happened. One of the alarmed employees in product development, overhearing Jake Fortune threaten their boss with extinction, had taken the self-protective step of getting word to Nate, Michael’s dad.

Her stomach gave a sickening lurch. Now a turf war was about to break out, and she was stuck right here as an unwilling witness.

“Thanks to your son’s obsessive fan club the entire company has been disrupted, not to mention the costs of getting the damn computer system up again.” Jake glowered at his brother. “And this isn’t the first time it’s happened. I was understanding, I was patient, that first time. The second time, too. Even the third time, I was the model of restraint. But it’s happened five times! Five times! As CEO, I have a responsibility to our employees and our shareholders, and that means ending this sort of insanity!”

“It’s not my son’s fault that women find him irresistible,” Nate said.

Michael winced. “Dad, please. Uncle Jake and I can work this out on our own.”

“What kind of a father would I be if I stood by and let my brother bully you?” Nate demanded. “I saw the way he treated his own son. Poor Adam, the kid was literally driven away by the pressure Jake put on him. Well, I won’t allow my boy to be subjected to that sort of treatment.”

Jake paled at the mention of his only son. His estranged son.

“Dad, this has nothing to do with Adam. And just for the record, Adam is no longer a kid and I’m not a boy,” Michael said firmly. “Indirectly at least, I am responsible for the overload on the computer system. Since that stupid article came out, I’ve been a liability to the company, and as CEO Uncle Jake has every right to be furious over what’s been happening.”