The Exhibition (An Executive Decision Trilogy) Read online

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  ‘You’re early,’ Dee said, giving Harris a bear hug that threatened to crunch his ribs. ‘It’s just as well; we’re running a little late. Ellis is just now home and in the shower. The cooking’s done. It’s Galina’s evening off with her sister – a girls’ night out to celebrate her niece’s engagement – so I told her I’d take care of the salad. Even I can’t mess up a salad. You can wash the lettuce.’ She returned to chopping cucumbers.

  The boardroom was Dee’s forte, not the kitchen, but of the Three Musketeers, Dee, Kendra and Harris, she was best at cooking real food in a pinch. Now that she spent as much of her time at Ellis’ house as at her own, she had the benefit of a real cook at least some of the time, and Galina was amazing. Still, Dee could have served up stale cheese sandwiches and Harris wouldn’t have minded. As well as the chance to spend time with his friends, it was the view from Ellis’ balcony and the lovely woodlands beyond that he loved, and that’s what he’d come early for.

  Dee didn’t miss his quick glances out the kitchen window, and she offered a knowing smile. ‘Put the lettuce there to drain and go for a walk. I know you want to. You probably have 30 minutes before Ellis is ready and we can get dinner on the table. I’ll give you a shout on your BlackBerry when it’s time to eat.’

  He shoved the lettuce into the draining rack and wiped his wet hands on his jeans, already heading for the door. ‘Thanks Dee, I won’t be long.’

  ‘Oh one more thing,’ she called over her shoulder as he headed out of the kitchen, ‘Stacie …’

  That’s all he heard as he closed the door behind him and hurried toward the woodland. He turned his BlackBerry on as he went so Dee could call him. He’d had it off since his morning run-in with the owls, just in case Stacie tried him again and, in all honesty, he’d forgotten about it. He didn’t turn back to catch what Dee said. He figured a part of tonight’s dinner plan was to try and convince him to talk to Stacie. To be fair, he had all but invited himself when he heard the menu, so he supposed he could endure the two of them regaling him with what a nice person Stacie was and how he ought to consider working with her. He could endure that if it got him a walk in Ellis’ wilderness and the chance to sink his teeth into some of Galina’s famous chicken parmigiana. Plus he had it on good authority that her even more famous red velvet cake was on the dessert menu, so if they had to talk about Stacie, well, he’d endure it and be rewarded with some nice woodland shots and a delicious meal for his sufferings.

  In spite of the warm, welcoming feeling Ellis’ home always gave Harris, he couldn’t fight back a little shiver as he remembered the stalker who had sneaked onto the property a few weeks ago to watch Kendra and Garrett while they lay stargazing in Ellis’ meadow. He felt a little queasy every time he thought about how close he came to losing his friend. The stalker had used night vision goggles, the police said. Frederick Parks was his real name, though he’d called himself Edge. He had been watching them from just inside the woods, and before the dust finally cleared, before the whole horrifying event was over, Kendra had been kidnaped and Garrett shot. Jesus, their lives had all been so banal until the past few months. He lifted his camera and got a shot of a robin on the edge of the lawn wrestling with a very large worm.

  Garrett was well on the road to recovery now and love was in the air. Again. And though Harris never felt left out, there were times when, no matter how much Ellis, his brother, and Stacie shoved into their lives and no matter how happy he was for both Dee and Kendra, nothing else would do but a few hours spent with his friends. Still, as much as he respected and liked Ellis and, all right, Garrett was definitely growing on him, it felt strange to have the dynamic of their friendship in flux in a way he never would have imagined. There were times too when he sort of suspected that he was getting the push toward Stacie just so he wouldn’t be the odd man out. But then, he told himself, neither Dee nor Kendra would ever do that deliberately. Sure, they would both love to see him happily matched, but they also knew how he felt about Stacie. And whether he liked her or not, Stacie was still friends with everyone else, and he could be polite and tolerate her if he had to. But that didn’t include doing an exhibition for her, even though he knew it would be good publicity for him, even though he knew she had a reputation for being the best in her field. It was the principle of the thing, he told himself

  Harris shot a couple more photos of the wrestling match between the robin and the worm then slipped into the cool of the woods. As always was the case, he quickly became fascinated by the living snapshot that was nature. He took several photos of a brightly colored slime mold growing near the remains of a decayed stump and a few shots of the soft-needled branches of a larch tree just beginning to turn golden with the approach of autumn. He’d just gotten a nice close-up of the thick blanket of moss on a rotting tree trunk and the microcosm living there when his phone rang. He answered, still studying the moss that, up close, looked like a miniature jungle.

  ‘Did you see Stacie?’ Dee spoke. ‘If you do, drag her on back with you. Dinner’s about to be served.’

  ‘See Stacie?’ His attention was still focused on the moss. ‘Why should I have seen Stacie?’

  Her exasperated sigh from the BlackBerry sounded like a gust of wind. ‘Harris, I told you she was out walking too, but you were so anxious to get into the woods, I didn’t figure you’d heard me. Besides, I emailed you that she’d be here. Don’t you ever read your emails?’

  ‘I had the BlackBerry turned off, ever since her call this morning nearly resulted in death by owls,’ he replied, trying not to grind his teeth. ‘I just now turned it back on.’

  ‘Oh? Then you’ve talked to her. Death by owl? Didn’t you have your device turned off? Harris, you know how dangerous great horned owls can be. What were you thinking?’

  ‘I forgot.’

  ‘What do you mean, you forgot? You never forget. That’s not the kind of thing you would dare forget.’

  ‘Fortunately I’d left it in my backpack on the ground, so it was all right, no damage done. At least, none to me, though the pack’s a goner, and if Stacie hadn’t called –’

  ‘Hold it, Harris. If the pack was on the ground, where the hell were you? Weren’t you in the hide?’

  He found himself wishing he’d kept his mouth shut. ‘It doesn’t matter where I was; the point is who the hell calls someone at seven in the morning?’

  ‘Oh for fuck sake, Harris, you’re always up before God, everybody knows that, and you still haven’t answered my question.’

  ‘I was up a tree, all right? I was up a tree, and I got some fantastic photos for it. And never mind that, you know how I feel about Stacie. I’d say it’s pretty damn manipulative of her to arrange for you to invite the two of us together and –’

  There was a soft chuckle behind him. ‘I’m very glad to hear you got fantastic photos, Mr. Walker, but you could have gotten yourself killed.’

  He nearly dropped his device as he spun around to find Stacie Emerson standing right behind him. And no one, especially someone he didn’t like, should look that good wearing faded jeans and a T-shirt. But the jeans hugged her curves just right, and made it difficult for him to remember what the hell he and Dee were talking about. Her arms were folded across her very nice front, which even the modest-fitting T-shirt couldn’t disguise as anything other than lush, and the black of the shirt made her hair look almost white in the sharp-angled light filtering through the trees. The sight of her made him breathless, and damn if a good deal of the blood supply that he really needed in his brain right now wasn’t being hijacked to regions farther south.

  Wishing desperately the forest floor would open and swallow him up, he forced his voice to sound normal. ‘Dee,’ he spoke into the device, struggling to act as though he hadn’t made a total ass of himself, struggling to keep his eyes locked on Stacie’s, which sparkled like she’d just heard the best joke ever. ‘She’s here. We’re on our way.’ He shoved the BlackBerry back into his pocket without taking his eyes off Stac
ie. ‘How long have you been listening?’

  ‘I wasn’t listening, but you weren’t exactly being quiet, so I heard enough to know that I’m not your favorite person at the moment. No surprise there, really. I already knew that.’ She gestured toward the house. ‘Shall we? Don’t want that delicious chicken getting cold, do we? I must get the recipe. The red velvet cake recipe is actually mine. I gave it to Galina way back when Ellis first moved into this house.’ She shot him another amused glance. ‘And no, I’m not trying to win my way to your heart through your stomach. I figure you’re way too sophisticated for that. Though it is a damn good recipe.’

  It was frustrating as hell that she could make what was for dinner sound like polite, witty conversation and he couldn’t think of two words to rub together now that she was here next to him, now that he’d already made a fool of himself in front of her. The last of the evening sunlight filtered through the trees like thick golden syrup as the two slipped out into the open of the meadow. ‘I didn’t hear you,’ Harris said, feeling embarrassed that he’d been caught in the truth and pissed off that it embarrassed him.

  ‘Obviously, though I am surprised, I’m a bit like a moose in a crystal shop when I get out in the woods. Honestly, I stumble about like an accident waiting to happen. But then you were pretty distracted.’

  ‘I’m sorry,’ he said.

  ‘What? Sorry that you said it or sorry that I heard it? Nothing to be sorry about, but really, even I know you shouldn’t have been up in the tree near a nest of great horned owls.’

  ‘It would have been a lot less dangerous if you hadn’t chosen that time to call me,’ he said.

  She deliberately shuffled her feet in the high grass, making a swish, swish sound as she walked. ‘I never imagined you’d have left your phone on while you were communing with the great outdoors.’

  ‘Usually, I don’t.’ He tried to think of an excuse, but the truth was he’d simply gotten careless. He couldn’t blame Stacie for that, no matter how badly he’d like to.

  ‘Glad it’s not a habit then,’ she said. ‘I figured that it probably wasn’t or, judging by some of the amazing shots you’ve got on your website, you wouldn’t have survived this long.’

  Jesus, the woman wasn’t even going to give him the chance to be indignant and tell her it was none of her business. Did she have to go and compliment him like that?

  ‘I especially loved the mountain lion shots, up on the Crooked River, weren’t they? I can’t even begin to imagine how you managed those safely.’

  ‘By making sure my BlackBerry was turned off,’ he replied, feeling a little more at ease. The mountain lion shots were some of his favorites, and it had been one of the most adrenalin-laced shoots he’d ever done. He hadn’t dared tell Dee or Kendra just what had been involved in getting those shots. They would definitely not have approved, and it was almost a sacred experience for him. He didn’t want anyone’s disapproval tainting it.

  ‘I think I read somewhere that the best way to keep a mountain lion from attacking you is to make sure your cell phone is turned off,’ Stacie said.

  She understood, then! The thought flashed through his head before he could stop it, before he could remind himself she was trying to get him to exhibit his work in her gallery, that she had manipulated his friends into arranging this meeting; of course she’d say flattering things.

  Ellis met them at the door and folded Stacie into a quick hug, lifting her off her feet. Then he gave Harris a friendly slap on the back. ‘Come on in, both of you. Dinner’s on the table, and it’s warm enough to eat on the patio so you won’t have to completely give up the great outdoors just yet.’

  ‘I see you two found each other,’ Dee called over her shoulder as she brought the chicken from the kitchen and nodded everyone to follow.

  ‘You could say that,’ Stacie said with a smile that might have passed for naughty if Harris hadn’t known she was really having a laugh at his expense. To her credit, she only commented about the autumn colors beginning to work their way into the woodland’s always stunning décor. Harris was surprised at her eye for detail, but then he shouldn’t have been. She was a successful gallery owner, after all. He’d get back to Dee later about allowing the woman to manipulate her into getting the two of them together, but for the moment, he’d be polite and not ruin anyone’s dinner. He knew how hard Dee and Ellis worked and how little free time the CEO of Pneuma Inc. and his second in command got these days.

  ‘So then, are you an artist? Is that what got you into the gallery business?’ Harris asked as the chicken was served up with a seasonal veg mix that he figured came from Galina’s garden.

  ‘No. I just enjoy looking at beautiful things,’ she replied around a mouthful of green beans.

  ‘Plus she has a head for business,’ Ellis added. ‘The gallery was a money pit, in debt to the hilt when Stacie took over. She made it work when anyone else would have ran away screaming.’

  Harris understood humility at such a compliment coming from a business wizard like Ellison Thorne, and he would have expected a modest blush. Instead, the look on Stacie’s face was more like he’d just told her that her best friend had died. She caught herself quickly enough and offered a demurring smile, but not before Harris knew it wasn’t a topic she wanted to discuss. That certainly surprised him, since he figured she’d want him to know just how good she was at her job.

  ‘I ended up there by default,’ she said, matter-of-factly. ‘And it was probably more dumb luck than any gift I had in that direction.’

  ‘But you are tenacious.’ The words were out before Harris could stop them.

  She offered him a half-smile that, he hated to admit, got his cock’s attention. Then she lifted her wine glass in salute. ‘I am that.’

  He was certain that this was the opening she was looking for, and he figured he’d offer it, then cut her off at the pass so they could all relax and enjoy the rest of their dinner. But she surprised him again by ignoring him completely and turning her attention to Dee. ‘I had a call from Al Marston this morning. He certainly can’t say enough nice things about you now he knows what a badass business woman you are. He said you’d been yo-yoing to New York and back almost as much as I have recently. Sounds like the deal with Scribal is coming together.’

  ‘It’s been exciting,’ Dee replied. ‘I’m off to Paris on Monday to meet with Trouvères one last time before we start production. I hope to be in Atlanta when the new plant opens.’

  Strangely, Harris felt disappointed, and that made him angry. He didn’t want Stacie’s attention on him, he reminded himself.

  ‘Is Al coming for the opening of the gallery?’ Ellis asked.

  OK, Harris thought, it was a team effort, then. This was where they’d bring it all back around to the exhibition, casual like, and then he’d be cornered by the three of them.

  ‘Says he wouldn’t miss it,’ Stacie said. ‘Al and I’ve been friends for a long time. It would mean a lot to me if he could be there. Speaking of big events, have you two set a date yet?’

  Wrong-footed again, Harris thought.

  ‘Next May,’ Ellis said. ‘We can take some time off then, and I want us to have a real honeymoon.’

  ‘You’re such a romantic,’ Stacie said.

  The rest of the main course passed with talk that had nothing to do with the exhibition, nor were any propositions aimed at Harris other than to ask if he’d like red velvet cake, a question for which there was really no need. By then, he just figured Stacie was saving the propositions for dessert and coffee. But she properly surprised him by refusing the offer of cake.

  ‘As much as I’d love to, I’ve got a plane to catch, and if I miss this one it’ll make it tight for me to be sure everything’s ready for the art auction tomorrow night. My new East Coast manager’s still a little overwhelmed by it all, but she’s getting there.’

  ‘Art auction?’ Harris repeated.

  ‘In New York, yes,’ she replied. ‘I do one every year. The cou
ntry’s most promising artists auction off their work to some of the world’s richest art lovers, and the money all goes to Americans for the Arts and several other charities aimed at funding art education in public schools. It’s one of the big events of the gallery year for us, as well as for new artists. Several have had their careers launched from the event. This is my last year to orchestrate the East Coast event. I’m hoping next year I’ll have one in New World Gallery West as well.’

  And still she didn’t proposition him. Harris would have thought such an event would be the perfect set-up. It was very impressive.

  ‘I’ve sent Lynn with express instructions to buy something nice and earthy and pay lots of money for it,’ Ellis said, then he addressed Harris. ‘Lynn’s quite a talented artist in her own right, you know?’ Harris had only met Ellis’ executive secretary once, but he would have never guessed the woman to possess any artistic talent.

  Then Ellis turned his attention back to Stacie. ‘I’ll have Jeffries meet you around front with the limo.’ He pulled out his phone and called the chauffeur.

  The whole entourage headed down to the front door. Harris went along because it was polite and he certainly hadn’t been very polite earlier.

  At the door, Ellis’ butler, Harold, appeared with Stacie’s bag just as Ellis’ phone buzzed. He glanced at it, then back at Stacie. ‘It’s Blankenship. I’ve got to take this. I’m sorry. Have a safe trip and good luck with the auction.’ He gave Stacie a quick hug and headed back into the house.

  ‘Wait a minute, why don’t you at least let me send a piece of cake with you?’ Dee said. ‘You can eat it in the limo. Believe me, Jeffries has had to clean up worse than cake crumbs.’

  ‘I’d like that,’ Stacie said. ‘Though I’ll probably hold out for a midnight snack in the gallery flat when I get there. I doubt there’ll be anything else to eat. I forgot to ask Maggie to stock the fridge.’

  ‘I’ll get it. Won’t be a minute, Jeffries,’ Dee called over her shoulder to the driver as she disappeared back into the house.