Sweet Fortune

nonnegotiable on the subject. Seems to think it might tear the company apart.”
    “I told him to trust me to hold things together. Obviously he didn't.”
    Jessie propped her elbow on the counter and balanced her chin on the heel of her palm. “What made you decide to push him so hard if you knew you might lose everything in the process?”
    Hatch met her eyes. “I told you, I was just trying to get some of the family pressure off you.”
    She started to smile. “There's more to it than that, isn't there? You wanted to prove to yourself I'd marry you even if I didn't have to. Hatch, that's so sweet.”
    “ Sweet ? Christ, lady, it is anything but sweet. It's a full-scale financial disaster. Talk about shooting myself in the foot.”
    She bit her lip. “Are you really upset about losing Benedict Fasteners?”
    “No, dammit. I can live without Benedict. But I don't think it's sunk in yet that you've lost it too, if you marry me.”
    “Big deal.”
    “Cutting you off from your inheritance,” he continued evenly, “also effectively cuts you off from your primary role in the family.”
    “I'm no longer the intermediary, as you called it,” Jessie said slowly, nodding in comprehension. “It's going to feel a little strange at first.”
    “Better be prepared to feel more than just a little strange,” he growled. “You don't seem to understand that everyone is going to be madder than hell. They're all going to feel threatened now. Marry me, and everyone's share of the big pie they were all counting on is at risk.”
    “Why? What do you think Dad will do now?”
    “Who knows? Vincent will either sell the company outright or he'll continue to run it as he has been running it. Either way, the family can kiss off the idea of taking Benedict Fasteners into the fast lane.”
    “Dad loves that company. I can't see him selling out.”
    “I can. He doesn't like being pushed around any more than I do. He's fully capable of selling it just to prove he can't be manipulated. He's into revenge, in case you haven't noticed. Look what I've gone through to beat out Yorland and Young for him, just because the company once undercut him on a contract.”
    “True. And you, of all people, understand vengeance, don't you?”
    Hatch sighed. “Yes. I do. And even if he doesn't sell, he won't be able to turn Benedict Fasteners into what everyone wants it to become. The firm is thirty years out-of-date and so is Vincent's management style. He won't be able to revitalize the company unless he gets someone like me on board. He knows that. I doubt he'll bring himself to trust anyone like me again.”
    “Which means that Benedict Fasteners will stay a small-time regional business. I don't think that's such a bad fate.”
    “Everyone else sure as hell will, including your father. They've had the carrot dangled in front of them now and they won't forget what was once within reach. They're going to blame you for depriving them of it. I'm sorry, Jessie.”
    “I'm not.” She was quiet for a minute. “Tell me, just out of curiosity, did Dad leave you a way back?”
    Hatch smiled wryly. “Sure. All I have to do is come to my senses, crawl back, and tell him we'll do things his way.”
    Jessie looked surprised. “He said that? He ought to know you'd never go back on those terms.”
    Hatch lifted one shoulder in dismissal. “It was probably all he could think of on the spur of the moment. When he recovers from the shock, he'll turn the pressure on you. So will everyone else.”
    “Let'em. I've already made my decision.”
    He still did not completely understand what was happening here. “Why?” he asked bluntly.
    “Because I love you, of course. I told you that.”
    “Yeah, I know you said that, but—”
    She silenced him by putting her fingertips over his mouth. “Do you love me?”
    He allowed himself to think about it for the first time. “Hell, I guess so. I wouldn't have gone through all this otherwise.”
    She wrinkled her nose. “Be still, my beating heart. Let's try this from another angle. Would you have given up your chunk of Benedict Fasteners and the future you've got planned for it and for yourself for the sake of any other woman of your acquaintance?”
    “Of course not.” He swallowed champagne and hid a slow grin.
    “Then say it, damn you.”
    He smiled into her eyes, finally beginning to relax for the first time that day. “Jessie, I love you.”
    Her own smile widened happily. “Was it worth it?