She’d almost forgotten about the other jewelry box in her mounting excitement. Most women wouldn’t have overlooked that famous red leather box. She opened the lid and gasping, staring wide-eyed at the most stunning Tahitian black pearls she’d ever seen. Her fingers ran over the smooth, iridescent jewels of the necklace rope and matching earrings in wonder. Between every third pearl on the necklace was a row of sparkling diamonds. It was a striking combination.
A note was at the top of the box from Kam. It read simply: They were beautiful, so they must be yours.
• • •
That evening, Kam halted Ian and spoke to him quietly. “May I have a word with you in private before we go up to the deck?”
Mrs. Hanson had just served Ian, Francesca, Lucien, Elise, and Kam in the dining room. It was a mild night, so Francesca had suggested they take coffee up on the deck.
“Of course. Francesca,” he called to his wife. “Kam and I will be up in a moment. He needs a word in the library.”
Francesca nodded brightly. Ian led Kam down the wide, gallery-like hallway to his library-office.
“Is everything all right?” Ian asked after he’d shut the walnut-paneled door.
“Probably not. For one of us, anyway,” Kam replied.
Ian blinked, clearly not having expected that answer.
“Maybe you’d better sit down,” Kam said.
“I’m not sure I like the sound of this,” Ian said, studying Kam with a sharp gaze.
“Nobody is sick or dying,” Kam said wryly.
Ian shrugged slightly. “Then I suppose we’ll survive it.” He went to sit on one of the two couches that faced each other. He gave Kam a cool, expectant glance. Kam sat across from his brother and wondered for the thousandth time that night where to begin. Never having been much of a wordsmith, he finally just cut to the meat of things.
“I’m going to ask Lin to work for me.”
A stunned silence followed.
“Excuse me?” Ian asked, leaning forward, his gaze narrowing dangerously.
“I’m aware that almost every chief executive officer on the planet has tried to poach her from you, so I thought it was only fair to warn you beforehand. I respect you too much to ever consider going behind your back. I didn’t come here with the clear intention to offer her a position. I didn’t come to Chicago with any intention of undermining you, Ian.”
“Have I done something since then to make you want to?” Ian demanded, nostrils flaring.
“Of course not,” Kam declared. “You’ve gone out of your way to try to help me. You and Francesca and Lucien and Elise . . . all of you have been . . . great.”
“And this is how you thank me? By trying to steal my top executive?” Ian bellowed in disbelief.
“I’m not ‘stealing’ her,” Kam tried to reason, although he couldn’t resist glaring at Ian’s accusation. “I’m telling you aboveboard that I’m going to ask her to work for me. With me. It’s her decision. She may very well say no.”
“Will she?” Ian snapped, blue eyes flashing with anger. He stood, his long body suddenly tense as a coiled spring.
“I have no idea what she’ll say,” Kam said honestly. “Probably no, just like she says to every other person who tries to hire her.”
Ian came to an abrupt halt, swinging around to stare at Kam. “Hire her. Hire her? For what? You plan to start your own company in the near future instead of waiting to build capital?”
Kam just nodded, holding his brother’s stare.
“Using your mechanism as the linchpin product instead of a means of capital for future ones?”
“Yes. But I have a lot of ideas for expanding the uses of the technology.”
“Do you think you might have told me this before?”
“I’m telling you now,” Kam said, standing. “I wanted to gather some information before I announced it. Figure out whether I could pull it off or not.”
“Scope out my prize employee,” Ian hissed and cursed under his breath. He started pacing again. “I can’t believe this.”
“I need her more than you do,” Kam said brazenly.
Ian swung around, his eyes wild with disbelief. “You have more balls than anyone I know, and I don’t mean that as a compliment.”
“I’m just telling you the truth,” Kam bit out, walking toward Ian aggressively. It was a risk. Ian was furious at that moment, and Kam was irritated himself. No one seemed to rile him more than Ian when he got all arrogant and holier-than-thou. He held Ian’s stare. “You sent Lin to work with me because you knew she’d make me look good. She makes everyone and everything look a hundred times better than it is because she’s a thousand times the worth of any of us. I suspected she was good before I even met her, but she surpassed by expectations by far. I . . . need her more . . . than you do,” Kam repeated succinctly.
Ian’s incredulous, furious expression seemed to melt slowly.
“You’re in love with her,” Ian breathed out, stepping toward him.
Kam’s heartbeat throbbed in his ears.
“I know I’m a start-up company,” he continued levelly, wanting Ian to understand, needing him to. He cared about his brother. He and Lucien were all the family he had. “But I have capital, I have the skill to create future technology and I have a fucking fantastic, game-changing product. I’m not averse to exploring possible partnerships with companies like Gersbach or Stunde, but I want the control of my technology. If they want it in their watches, they’re going to have to pay to use it. I want my product to be available to most consumers, not just the rich and privileged. I didn’t know if I could make this work until I met Lin and saw how well we could potentially work together. She’s the last piece of the puzzle.”