Read Online Destiny Unleashed by Sherryl Woods - Free Book Online

“I assume you have a reason for including Harcourt.”
    “I do.”
    “Mind sharing?”
    “As a matter of fact, I do,” Destiny said. “I’ll letyou know how it turns out, though. I’ll give you a call first thing tomorrow.”
    “Damn straight you will,” Richard groused. “You do still answer to me, you know.” It was something that bore repeating with his headstrong aunt.
    Destiny merely laughed. “Don’t get all huffy with me, Richard. I know exactly what I’m doing.”
    “I just wish I did.”
    “It’s nothing illegal or immoral, nothing that will reflect negatively on Carlton Industries. That’s all you need to concern yourself with. You know the old adage about keeping your enemies close, don’t you?”
    “I do.”
    “Well, then, think of it that way. I intend to keep William Harcourt very close. He won’t make a move from now on without me catching wind of it.”
    All of which struck Richard as a somewhat risky but reasonably fine idea until later that evening when his wife reminded him over an early dinner with his brothers and their wives that they were all but certain William Harcourt was not just some casual acquaintance from years ago, but the important man in Destiny’s life when she’d lived in France.
    “Whoever that man was, she was deeply in love with him,” Melanie said. “In fact, she once called him the love of her life. Sounds to me as if she has a very different agenda in mind.”
    “She never admitted that that man was Harcourt,” he grumbled, knowing that he was splitting hairs. Destiny had conceded that she’d known William back then and she’d also acknowledged that there had been an important man in her life. The likelihood that they were one and the same man was fairly high, especiallygiven her eagerness to take on this assignment. Richard might not like it, but the coincidences were too obvious to ignore. Wasn’t that the very thing that had him so worried about all of this?
    “But I picked up on it,” Melanie said.
    “So did I,” Kathleen added.
    Richard looked at his brothers. “Did you guys get all of that from whatever Destiny said?”
    “Pretty much,” Ben said.
    Mack merely shrugged.
    “You really should pay more attention to what people tell you,” his wife scolded. “She laid all the clues out there.”
    He stared at his brothers in complete bewilderment. “Okay, let’s say she was in love with Harcourt at one time. They haven’t had any contact in a couple of decades now. She did say that, right?”
    “Yes,” they all agreed.
    “Then what on earth is Destiny up to over there?”
    “Sounds to me like she’s out for blood,” Mack said.
    “I don’t think so,” Ben said, his expression thoughtful.
    Though Ben refused to accept it, he was Destiny’s favorite and he was closest to her in temperament. Richard knew if anyone could see into her heart, it was Ben.
    “She might think that’s what she’s after,” Ben continued. “But I think it’s something else.”
    Richard’s heart drummed slowly. “What?”
    All three women and his youngest brother stared at him as if he were totally dense. “The man who got away,” they chorused.
    “She took this job because she wants William Harcourt back in her life?” he asked, astonished and suddenly more worried than ever. Destiny’s remark about keeping the enemy close echoed dully in his head. “Then what was all that garbage she fed me about finding herself, about taking on new challenges and reinventing herself?”
    “A smoke screen,” Mack suggested.
    Beth regarded him with pity. “Don’t be absurd. Destiny wants to do all of those things. I’m sure she wants to become a powerful business executive and William’s lover. The two things are not mutually exclusive.”
    “What’s more, I’d say he’s after the same thing,” Kathleen added.
    “Dear God in heaven,” Richard muttered. “I’ve got to get her back here.”
    Mack laughed at that. “How do you propose to do