High Stakes

SETTLE THEIR DIFFERENCES? Candice darted a glance at Derek’s rock-hard jaw and narrowed eyes. “What does he mean Monday?”

Derek’s lips thinned, but he didn’t answer.

She quickly turned her attention to the dead bolt. It was keyed from both sides, and she didn’t have a key.

Tyler had locked them in the restaurant.

“Tyler?” she asked hopefully, moving up against the oak, testing the knob. “Uh, Tyler?”

No reply.

Derek let out an exasperated curse. “I don’t think he’s out there.”

“He’ll be back,” she said, nodding confidently, stepping back and gazing up at the oversized doors. “This has to be a joke.”

“I didn’t hear Tyler laughing.”

“Jenna won’t let him leave us here.”

“What makes you think he’ll tell Jenna?”

“Well…Because…” Candice hated to admit it, but that was a good question.

Brushing past her, Derek tested the knob, then he rattled the doors. “I sincerely doubt he’ll tell her.”

“She’s his wife. Isn’t there something in the wedding vows about honesty?”

Derek stepped back beside her to survey the doors. He let out a hard sigh, shaking his head in pity, voice dropping to that intimate timbre. “Candy, Candy, Candy—”

“I asked you not to call me that.”

“Tyler thinks he’s saving Jenna.”

“Well, that would be your fault.”

Derek held up his hands in a gesture of surrender. “How is it my fault?”

“Jenna’s frustrated, because you keep picking fights, undermining my instructions—”

“I do have veto power.”

“Over the stain color? The wainscoting? The positioning of the wine rack?” If Derek would just let her do her job, they wouldn’t be in this fix. She was really quite easy to get along with.

“Over any little thing I want,” he said.

“You have taken things way beyond the spirit of the contract.”

“Your threatening to bankrupt me takes things beyond the spirit of the contract.”

“I did not threaten bankrupting you.” Candice folded her arms across her chest. “I am a professional.”

He gave a dry chuckle. “You said, and I quote, ‘I have a contract for three-point-five million of your dollars, and I intend to spend every cent.’”

Candice shifted uncomfortably. “I was upset.” It hadn’t been the most professional moment of her career. But, Derek did that to her.

He ran his fingers around the seams of the doors. “The true measure of a professional isn’t what she does when things are going well.”

“You don’t think you and Tyler lying to us, conspiring against us, hiding your identities amounts to extraordinary circumstances.”

“Tyler was working undercover.”

“Tyler was also sleeping with Jenna.”

“She seems to have forgiven him.”

“He deserved to be forgiven.”

Derek stared at her in silence for a moment. “Unlike me.”

“You’re still a problem, Derek.”

“We’re still locked in a restaurant, Candy.”

“It’s Candice.”

He grinned.

“Okay, fine. You’re right. Let’s table it for now.”

He nodded in agreement. “We can always pick up the fight after we’re free.”

She nodded in return. “Deal. So, did you bring your master key?”

“Won’t fit this lock.”

“It’s a master key.”

“The door and the lock are old. And unique. We haven’t locked it in years.”

Candice eyed the carved oak slabs. “You think you could break it down?”

“It’s solid oak. Besides, isn’t it pivotal to the flow of the room or something?”

“True.” It was a feature she’d planned to use. They’d refinish it, replace the brass. Maybe change the lock in case this kind of thing ever happened again.

It would be a shame to break it. But she was starting to feel claustrophobic. Not that the room was small. In fact, it was huge. It was just that Derek took up so darn much of it.

Suddenly, inspiration hit. The kitchen. She headed across the dining room. “There’s a door through the kitchen.”