A Year With the Millionaire Next Door Page 16

  “You don’t know that.”

  “Yes, I do!” Knew it in his gut and she did, too. Problem was, she blamed herself rather than the man truly at fault.

  Washing a hand over his features, he paused and looked her in the eye. “It’s not your job to fulfill your father’s dreams.”

  Stella shook her head. “You don’t understand.”

  “Yes, I do. I watched my sister, Susan, beat herself up for years because she didn’t think she measured up. I watched Victoria—”

  “I’m not Victoria,” she snapped.

  “I know,” he snapped back. Their stories weren’t remotely the same—he realized that now. The dissimilarities didn’t stop him from fearing she would fall into a dark abyss, though.

  Their argument was going off the rails. He could argue with Stella until he lost his voice, but she had already made up her mind.

  The most maddening part? He would give up everything and go to New York with her if he thought that was what would make her happy.

  “Do you even want to work in finance? At Mitchum, Baker?” he asked.

  As he expected, she scowled in response. “Of course I do. I worked my ass off to get that job.” The ends of her hair moved back and forth as she shook her head. “I don’t understand why you’re doing this. You know how badly I need to go back and prove myself.”

  “There you go again. You need to go back. You can’t stay in London. What do you want, Stella? Do you really want a lifetime of seventy-hour weeks and working Christmas? Or do you want to be happy?”

  “What makes you think I won’t be happy?”

  “Because you bloody froze in the street going to work, that’s why. Happy people don’t freak out on the way to work.”

  He’d gone too far. Anger flashed in her eyes. “I think you should leave,” she said. “Check that. I want you to leave. Who do you think you are telling me what I want and don’t want? What I do with my life is my business. I choose my path. Not you. Not my father. Me.”

  And the choice she made didn’t include Linus. “Fine.” He wasn’t about to beg any further. “Go ahead and choose. But ask yourself this. Why did you freeze in the street that day? Was it really burnout or were you trying to get off the path?”

  For the second time in forty-eight hours, he walked away.

  Luck was on Stella’s side—in terms of work, that was. The outside expert was able to prove her computer was not the computer used to create the auction account. Linus’s lawyers delivered the news a few days after Teddy’s visit. Apparently that was how they were going to communicate from now on—through third parties. The lawyer also told her that the expert traced the account back to a bartender who worked at a pub near Teddy’s house. He also revealed that Teddy paid him to set up the account, citing technical ineptitude. Poor guy had no idea Teddy was scheming to get custody of Toffee.

  When confronted with the evidence, Teddy naturally proclaimed his innocence and blamed Stella. At least he did until they found the crystal cat figurine wrapped in a swath of gray linen in his flat. Then he proclaimed righteous indignation over being cheated out of what he considered his rightful inheritance. In the end, to avoid scandal, he agreed to withdraw his challenge. Whether he would succeed Toffee as the heir, Stella didn’t know. Since the cat would survive for years after Stella left town, it didn’t really matter.

  She hadn’t seen Linus since he walked out of her apartment the month before. Nor had she cried. At least the lump in her throat felt smaller, and she wasn’t chanting “this will pass” as often. Probably because she was furious. As badly as she missed him, she wanted to spit in his face. How dared he presume what she wanted or judge her rationale? If he cared at all, he’d support her decisions, not tell her to chuck everything so she could stay in London and work on Agnes’s biography.

  “You understand, don’t you, Agnes?”

  From her spot over the mantel, the actress gave her an imperious stare. Stella had discovered an old journal of Agnes’s at the bottom of a box of books. Reading it gave deeper resonance to all the artifacts she’d collected. Dame Agnes had been as ambitious as she’d been beautiful, and as such, she’d ruthlessly pursued her career. The men she knew were divided into two groups: Casual Lovers and Men Who Could Aid Her Career. Stella added a third category, which she called Unfulfilled Suitors. They were men who showered Dame Agnes with gifts but got nowhere. Dame Agnes didn’t have room for foolish romantics.

  Dame Agnes spent the last years of her life with a cat for a best friend.

  Stella didn’t want to think about that.

  Instead, she decided to go for a run. The weather outside was rainy and cold, but she didn’t care. The fresh air would clear her head so she could work.

  She got as far as the elevator when Linus’s door opened. Holding her breath, she turned expecting to see his blue-gray eyes.

  “Sorry.” Susan Collier gave a wave. “Just me. Linus is in Scotland for a few weeks. He asked me to water his plants.”

  “Oh,” Stella replied. “I didn’t realize.”

  “I figured.”

  The two of them shuffled from foot to foot while waiting for the elevator to arrive.

  “Started wedding planning yet?” Stella asked after a moment. She thought about mentioning her breakup—was it a breakup if you weren’t dating?—but if Susan was watering the plants, she probably already knew.

  “A little,” Susan replied. “We’re thinking of a Christmas wedding. The holidays are a bit of a thing in our family.”

  “So Linus said. That sounds nice. You can do a lot with a holiday theme.”

  “I think so. Lewis doesn’t really care. He said he’d be happy eloping, but I want the wedding. Call me vain, but I like showing off my handsome fiancé.”

  “At least he’s willing to indulge you. Means he respects your choices.”

  “More like he knows how good he looks in a tuxedo,” Susan said. “I’m not the only one who likes showing Lewis off. Lewis likes showing off Lewis, too.”

  The elevator bell dinged, and the doors parted. As they boarded, Stella suppressed a smile. Susan and Lewis were forever teasing one another. Reminded her of how she and Linus would banter back and forth.

  Her stomach grew heavy. Seemed to grow heavy a lot lately. Such as whenever she thought of Linus. The night before she’d been watching a movie when the actor playing the lead turned his profile to the camera. The man’s nose and cheekbones looked so much like Linus’s she had to turn off the television.

  Susan was staring at her. Linus’s sister had a way of looking at a person and reading their thoughts. She had to be getting a hell of a reading right now.

  “You must hate me,” Stella said.

  Susan shook her head. “Don’t be ridiculous. I understand where you’re coming from. I think you’re wrong, but I understand.”

  There were days when Stella wasn’t sure she understood herself. “May I ask you a question?” she asked.

  “Sure,” the youngest Collier replied. “Can’t guarantee I’ll have an answer, though. What do you want to know?”

  “Well...” She hoped the question wasn’t too prying. “Linus mentioned that when you were growing up, you struggled with being different from Thomas and him.”

  “Not exactly. More like I struggled with not being as perfect. I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but Linus looks like an underwear model. Thomas is worse.”

  Stella blushed. She had noticed. “Must have been hard growing up in their shadows.”

  “Try impossible,” Susan told her. “I spent the better part of my teens and twenties feeling like the dumpy, ugly stepsister.”

  “I’m sorry.” Stella took a long look at the woman. Linus’s sister was on the thick side, but she carried herself with such confidence and pride, it was impossible to see her as anything but beautiful. What had changed?


  “Simple,” Susan replied, when Stella asked. “I met Lewis.” The doors opened to the lobby. “He made me realize that I was special in my own unique way, and that it was okay if I wasn’t tall, dark and handsome like the other two. Why do you ask?”

  “No reason.” The awkwardness of the lie was made worse by Susan’s knowing look. “I was curious is all.”

  “It also helped that my mother moved to Australia to be part of a reality show. She was the chief reason I felt inferior. But you know all about that.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “Your dad,” Susan said. “Linus told me how you’re under pressure to be successful. Relax,” she added when Stella’s shoulders went back. “He only mentioned it because he thought I might have insights. I didn’t, by the way.”

  Having reached the first floor, they stepped out into the lobby. “I told Linus everyone needs to work out their issues at their own pace. You can’t force someone to change their behavior just because you want them to.”

  “Thank you. I appreciate the vote of confidence,” Stella said. A little too late to bring her and Linus back together, but it was nice to know she had an ally.

  “No problem,” Susan replied. “According to my brothers, sharing my opinion is one of my strong suits.” Flashing a grin, she headed toward the front door. Stella followed and was heading down the building steps when Susan turned around.

  “One more thing,” she said, “because that’s who I am. Something I learned from Lewis this past year. When you feel like you can’t compete, you can either stay in the race and struggle, or you can find a race you like better.”

  A taxi pulled up and she slid inside, leaving Stella alone to ponder her comment.

  CHAPTER THIRTEEN

  Spring

  “WHAT IS GOING on with you?” Thomas asked. Seated at the head of the conference room table, his brother stared at him over the frames of his new reading glasses. “Florence tells me you forgot the Paris teleconference?”

  “I didn’t forget,” Linus said. “I wrote down the wrong date. There’s a difference.”

  “Barely. I had to spend twenty minutes explaining to Philippe d’Usay that we weren’t purposely wasting his time.”

  “I’m sorry. I’ll send him an email and apologize.”

  As he typed a reminder note in his phone, Linus could feel his brother’s eyes on him. “I don’t understand,” Thomas said. “You’ve always been slightly on your own planet, but you’ve been more distracted than ever these past few months. Half the time, I don’t know where your head is at.”

  “People confuse dates all the time. It’s hardly a major crime,” Linus replied.

  “I know what’s bothering him.” The comment came from Susan, who sat at the table across from him. Thomas’s version of a family intervention. “Stella’s leaving in a few weeks. I take it the two of you still aren’t talking?”

  “Stella broke up with me, remember?” Not that it stopped him from staring at her door every day debating whether he should knock.

  “I’m sorry. I really hoped after she and I talked in the elevator that Stella would come around.”

  “I know you did,” Linus said, “but I’m learning some baggage is simply too heavy to throw off.” She loved her father; she was afraid to admit she loved Linus. It was too big a hill to surmount. He simply had to accept that she was leaving.

  “Just so we’re clear, this is Stella your neighbor we’re talking about. The one we helped out this winter.” Thomas looked between the two of them. “Is she the woman you were talking about at Christmas? The one who wanted to keep things casual?”

  “One and the same,” Linus replied.

  “Only Linus didn’t want to keep things casual,” Susan said, “so they broke up.”

  “I’ll be. Where the hell was I during all this?”

  “Running a company and raising a family,” Linus said. “I figured you had enough on your plate.”

  The comment earned him a serious glare. “You should know better than that. We’re family. I always have time for you.”

  “Maybe I wasn’t in the mood to share. The only reason Susan knows is because she’s nosy.”

  It was a testament to how miserable he must look that Susan didn’t protest.

  The seriousness of Thomas’s expression softened into one of brotherly affection. “I’m sorry. I wondered when we talked at Christmastime, but I hadn’t realized how serious your feelings were.”

  “Surprise!” Linus faked a smile. “They crept up on me as well. Doesn’t matter, though. The lady has commitment issues.” Along with daddy issues and self-worth issues.

  And now she was leaving in a few weeks, and he was wondering if he hadn’t made a mistake by insisting that Stella declare her feelings.

  “For what it’s worth, I think she feels the same way you do,” Susan said. “The expression on her face when I ran into the other day? She was crushed I wasn’t you.”

  “She does feel the same way,” Linus told her. He may be new at love, but he could see the emotion in Stella’s eyes.

  Her Christmas present, the real one, was in his nightstand, the package unopened, a new reminder of his past mistakes. Wasn’t that always the way? He finally made peace with his guilt and remorse over Victoria, only to have new guilt and remorse.

  “You know, she’s not leaving just yet,” Susan was saying. “There’s still time to fix things. At the very least you can steal a few more weeks.”

  “I don’t want just a few more weeks,” Linus said. “I want forever. What?” Thomas and Susan were looking at him like he’d sprung a second head.

  “Sorry,” his brother said. “I’m still getting used to the idea of you wanting to settle down.”

  “You’ve got plenty of time. In case you weren’t listening, the lady’s moving back to New York.”

  “So?”

  “So,” Linus told him, “she’ll be on the other side of the Atlantic.”

  “Last time I checked, we’re a global economy. There’s this thing called an airplane that will take you across the ocean. Our company owns one, as a matter of fact. There’s no reason you can’t continue long-distance or relocate yourself.”

  “If only it were that simple.” Briefly, he explained what happened to Stella in New York and her need to win her father’s approval. “I tried to convince her that it was a waste of time, but she wouldn’t listen.”

  Again with the staring. “What now?” he asked them.

  “Let me see if I understand,” Thomas said. “You tried to undo a lifetime of insecurities with one conversation, and when she didn’t listen, you walked away?”

  “What was I supposed to do?”

  “Stick it out, you idiot,” his brother said. “If you love her, it shouldn’t matter if she’s off chasing her father’s dream or not. What matters is being there to support her and being there if she stumbles again.”

  Linus stared at his phone. Thomas was right. He’d been focused on making Stella love him on his terms and hadn’t stopped to think how it would be for Stella to untangle her complicated family relationships. If he loved her, he needed to be willing to fight for her heart. “If I went to Manhattan, I would be leaving Colliers,” he said.

  “Most likely,” Thomas said, “but I think we’ll survive. What matters to Susan and me is that you’re happy.”

  Stella made him happy. All he wanted in return was for her to find happiness, too, like she wished for in Avebury. If her happiness lay in New York City working seventy hours a week for Mitchum, Baker, then that’s where he’d go, too.

  Only question now was, would she let him?

  “Did you talk to Mitchum, Baker and give them a return date?” Kevin Russo boomed over the phone in an effort to talk louder than the static. “You’ve only got a month.”

  “Yes,” Stella replied, “and
I know.” To be precise, she had twenty-nine days.

  She also had a headache. Nothing severe, but enough to leave her distracted and fuzzy headed. Talking to her father was the last thing she needed.

  At least the weather was turning. Today was the first day of sun in weeks. Opening the terrace door, she stepped outside to see if reception would improve. After months of being trapped inside, it felt good to feel the sun on her skin. Below her, Belgravia waved hello. She was going to miss this view when she went home. She was going to miss a lot of things.

  Stop thinking about him. Nearly four months and thoughts of Linus still plagued her.

  Maybe if you told him you loved him, he’d still be around.

  What good would it have done, though? Admitting her feelings would have only made saying goodbye harder.

  Stella had long given up trying to figure out when she went from burying her feelings to admitting she loved the man. The words bubbled up one day and refused to be denied. Too bad she hadn’t been able to say the words when they counted.

  “Stella? Can you hear me?”

  “Sorry, Dad. I went outside for a better signal. I was saying that they’re installing the exhibit on Dame Agnes’s life at the end of the month as well. I think I might stay an extra day to make sure everything goes all right.”

  “It’s a museum exhibit. What could go wrong? You hang a picture in the wrong place?”

  “It’s a lot more complicated. You want the exhibit to—”

  “Stella, honey, you finish the job on the thirty-first. You don’t need to work for free, especially for a bunch of stuff from some actress’s career.”

  “Dame Agnes wasn’t just some actress, Dad.”

  “Regardless. You’ve had your leave of absence. Now it’s time to come home and build something you can be proud of.”

  “I’m proud of this exhibit,” she said. In fact, she was proud of everything she’d accomplished over the past eleven months. Maybe it wasn’t a job at the top consulting firm in the world, but she’d tackled some pretty interesting projects and done a good job.