ShatteredTrust_w5401 Page 2

  Nate’s back stiffened. He shoved up from the table and stalked toward the trailer. Damn him. He’d been like this lately. Since Dad died. Well, she missed him, too. Didn’t see her acting like an irresponsible ass, though, did he?

  Marley closed the door firmly behind her and faced her younger brother. “Don’t disrespect me in front of the guys like that. You know how much harder I have to work than Dad did.”

  He crossed his arms over his chest with an impatient look. “This is what you wanted to talk about?”

  She huffed in exasperation. He didn’t understand; probably never would. Might as well get to the part she could spell out in black and white. “You’re late again.”

  “I had a few errands to run before I came in.”

  “If you’re going to be late, you need to clear it with me or Chuck like everyone else so we can keep the schedule covered. Every time you’re late it puts us further behind.”

  “Quit blaming me for your problems.”

  Deep breath. Don’t lose your cool. “Nate, are you deliberately trying to ruin things, or are you really that stupid?”

  His eyes narrowed. “You know, Mar, ever since Dad died you’ve been a bitch.”

  Moisture sprang to her eyes, but she furiously blinked it away. She would not let him twist this around. “I don’t run things any differently than Dad did.”

  “Yeah, you’re more like dear ol’ Dad every day.”

  “Actually,” she bit out, “I cut you a helluva lot more slack than Dad ever would have. You’ve changed so much since his accident…” One tear slipped out, and she softened her tone as she swiped it away. “What’s going on, Nate? This isn’t like you.”

  His expression hardened even more. He ran a hand through his blond hair but didn’t say a word. Wouldn’t even look at her.

  “You can’t keep going on like this. I’d have fired anyone else by now and you know it.” She pointed out the window toward the men. “They know it.”

  He reached for the door handle. “You wouldn’t fire your own brother.”

  He shouldn’t put her in the position of having to. “Nate.”

  He paused halfway through the door and looked back. The defiant jut of his chin pierced her heart from across the room.

  “They know it, and so do you,” she said softly.

  His expression turned obstinate. “Fine, fire me. I’m not going to need this job much longer anyway.”

  He slammed out the door, and Marley stared after him with a frown. What the heck did that mean? He still had a year and a half before he earned his architectural master’s degree like she had this past spring and college wasn’t free.

  All along they’d planned for her to get an internship—hopefully with Hunter—while he finished school. Then they’d open their own firm with him interning under her until he took his registration examination.

  At least that’d been the plan until a few months ago; until Dad died and Nate had become a different person. She’d tried to talk to him countless times, knowing he grieved just like her, but each time he clammed up and gave her the cold shoulder. The distance between them seemed to widen every day.

  She couldn’t continue to jeopardize her job—her entire life—because he refused to deal with whatever issues he needed to resolve. She couldn’t afford to give him any more chances. In this man’s world, she had to work twice as hard every day to prove she could keep control of the site.

  What did it say for that control when her own brother walked in late no less than three times this week? Dad had taught them both to be tough, to do what was needed to get the job done. Now, with him gone, his guidance was the only thing she could fall back on. Brother or not, she’d do what needed to be done. She had no choice.

  Chapter 2

  Justin heard the apartment door open just as he twisted the cap off his beer. Noting the time on the clock on the opposite wall, he reached back into his brother’s fridge and grabbed another long neck bottle.

  He made his way into the living room, smiling at Jordan as he offered the unopened bottle.

  Jordan took the beer as he strode past. “Good man.”

  “How’d your day go?”

  With a flick of his thumb, Jordan flipped the top across the counter into the kitchen sink, then turned and eyed Justin up and down as he took a long drink. “Better than yours.”

  Justin glanced down at his dusty work boots, old jeans, and the black tee shirt he’d torn the sleeves off at some point. “Ah, but I like working outdoors in the dirt.”

  Jordan rolled his eyes and laid his charcoal gray suit jacket across the back of his black leather couch before sitting down.

  “You used to like it, too,” Justin reminded him.

  “I grew up.”

  Justin gave a short laugh. He moved to sit across from Jordan, but caught his brother’s frown and decided he’d better shower first. “Are you missing the ad agency already?”

  “I didn’t get into all the construction stuff as much as you did when we were kids. After you left, I can count on one hand the number of times I stopped at Granddad and Dad’s offices, and it wasn’t in the past five years. It’ll take a little time before I’m used to all you boys and your toys,” Jordan said with a grimace.

  “Granddad did pretty well with his toys.”

  “So it seemed.”

  His brother’s tone made Justin pause with his bottle halfway to his mouth. “Yeah?”

  Jordan shifted. “The further I dig, the more it looks like Mom and Cassie got the better end of the deal.”

  “How so? The company is worth a lot more than the half-mil each of them got. Why else would Dad be so pissed off about us inheriting instead of him and Mom?”

  “The company is in the red, and if this year continues like it has, it’ll be bankrupt before July. Everything is mortgaged to the hilt.”

  Without invitation, a picture of Marley Wade striding across the way-over-budget Forrester job site flashed in Justin’s mind. He willed her away. She had no business intruding. The job site, well, that was another matter.

  “A month? That’s all you give it?” Justin asked. “Except for the site I’m on, I thought things were going well. With all the jobs in progress and the others lined up—”

  Jordan shook his head. “Won’t make a difference unless we do some major restructuring or lock in a high profile project so our loans can be extended. Maybe even both if we want to keep the doors open.”

  “So Granddad was just as good at keeping up appearances as the rest of the family.” Justin took a pull of his beer and acknowledged a disturbing stab of disappointment. His grandfather had done good for this city, and the state of Colorado. He’d been involved in charity projects for as long as Justin could remember, so what was there to be disappointed in? There was a difference between doing the right thing for the right reasons, and doing only what would make you look good in the public eye. Right?

  “I hate to say it, but looks like Mom and Dad learned from an expert.”

  Jordan’s comment added weight to Justin’s unrest.

  “Speaking of family, Cassie called today. From Europe.”

  Justin’s brows shot up, though he knew he shouldn’t be surprised she’d already jet-setted to the other side of the world. Every so often, he wished he and his sister were as close as he and Jordan. Unfortunately, they’d never quite seen eye to eye. “She’s not mad anymore?”

  “Never was—or so she says.”

  “I suppose not. If she’d inherited a third of Hunter, she would’ve had to work.”

  Jordan laughed. “Picture her on a construction site.”

  Justin pictured Marley Wade. He shook his head to clear the image. “That’s almost as funny as Mom on the job site—or in an office even.”

  “Like mother, like daughter was written for them.”

  Unfortunately, Justin wholeheartedly agreed. “You tell Cassie about the company’s troubles?”

  “Hell no. She would’ve started gloating
.”

  Justin tipped his bottle at his brother from where he’d leaned a hip against the chair he couldn’t sit on. “True, and that’s never been pretty.”

  After a moment, Jordan asked, “You find anything out about Marley Wade?”

  “Not much besides the fact that she runs a tight ship—and did you know her brother Nate works there, too?”

  “Yeah, but I focused on the names that started with M.A.R. Does he have anything to do with this?”

  “I didn’t have a chance to talk to him yet.” Though from what Justin had seen, he wasn’t impressed.

  Jordan rested his elbows on his knees and fingered the label on his beer bottle. “Someone in that family’s gotta be connected somewhere, otherwise why would Granddad scribble one of their names on a piece of paper as he’s dying?”

  “I’ll see what I can dig up over the next few days…try to get close to one or both of them.”

  “How long can you stay?” Jordan asked.

  “My boss pulled someone from Vancouver to cover long enough to give me a month leave-of-absence.”

  “Just a month? You own half the company now, why don’t you quit?”

  Justin went on the defensive even though Jordan sounded more disappointed than angry. “I like Toronto. I didn’t ask you to quit your job—that was your decision. I’m not ready to do more than a leave just yet.”

  Jordan held up a hand. “Fair enough.” Then he grinned. “So how do you like having a woman for a boss?”

  “It’s no big deal.”

  “What’s she look like?”

  Too damn attractive. He kept that thought to himself and deflected Jordan’s question. “She’s a woman in construction—what do you think she looks like?”

  “One can only hope, like Pamela Anderson.”

  Justin snorted, then considered. Marley’s natural appeal far surpassed Pamela Anderson in his opinion, even though she had a smaller chest. Not too small, though, just big enough—

  “I’d work under Pamela Anderson any day,” Jordan added.

  Annoyed, Justin straightened and headed for the kitchen. “You’d work under anyone in a skirt.”

  Jordan chuckled and sing-songed, “Someone likes their boss.”

  “I thought you said you grew up,” Justin groused. He threw his empty bottle into the recycle and heard the glass shatter when it impacted the other bottles at the bottom.

  “I was joking,” Jordan said from behind him.

  Justin bit back a sigh of frustration and took Jordan’s bottle to drop it in the bin. “I know, sorry. It’s just that I’ve had a few too many surprises today—and that bomb you dropped about the finances certainly doesn’t help.”

  Jordan clapped him on the shoulder. “You do your job, I’ll do mine.”

  “Yeah, yeah.” Over his shoulder on his way to the bathroom for a shower, he asked, “Same time tomorrow?”

  “You know it.” After two more steps, Jordan called after him, “You need to live a little, bro. You’re growing old way too fast.”

  Easy for Jordan to say, he thought as he stepped under the needle-like spray a minute later. Jordan had followed the Blake family motto and done what Mom and Dad expected. He’d gotten his degree and moved directly into a high-paying executive position at an advertising agency.

  Jordan was damn good at his job, but it didn’t change the fact that his employer was an old-money family friend. Justin knew in the same situation, he wouldn’t be able to shake the feeling that he’d gotten the job because of that connection. And now they were co-CEO’s by inheritance.

  Someday Justin planned to start his own business, build it from the ground up into a solid, respectable company like Granddad. But he planned to do it himself, without anyone else’s help.

  ****

  Steaming coffee warmed Justin’s hand through the thermos cup as he watched the sun climb toward the treetops. He’d arrived early enough to do a walk through inspection of the job site without prying eyes, but by six-thirty he’d returned to the Jeep. No sense raising anyone’s suspicion if they discovered him nosing around.

  Everything looked fine. In fact, yesterday the men had worked like a well-oiled machine and Marley Wade had been impressive in her command. His respect for her in that aspect had grown.

  He grimaced. Except for the incident with her brother.

  The moment the trailer door closed, Tom complained about Nate Wade being late. Apparently, it’d become a regular occurrence and none of them liked picking up the kid’s slack. Even after Warren expressed concern for how hard Mark Wade’s death had been on Nate, Chuck quickly pointed out that Marley hadn’t let it affect her job performance.

  Justin wasn’t so sure. Letting her brother slide would only stir up trouble. Back in Canada, he’d have had to give the guy the boot after a couple warnings. A person could still grieve without being late for work all the time.

  An old pickup drew his attention as it barreled into sight. Same as yesterday, Ms. Wade didn’t waste time as she parked and sprinted for the trailer, this time wearing an odd color combination skirt and blouse. The colors were forgotten when he noticed her bare feet again. After what he’d observed yesterday, she didn’t strike him as the type to commit safety violations.

  He waited a full five minutes before approaching the trailer. The same muffled response answered his brisk knock. Out of curiosity, he tried the door.

  Locked.

  He realized with a foreign sense of protectiveness he would’ve been angry if it hadn’t been. Annoyance that he even cared had him tapping his fingers impatiently against his leg.

  A couple of the men he’d met yesterday walked by, and he nodded in greeting. Leaning against the step handrail, he stuffed his hands in his pockets and took in the sunrise. Golden yellow outlined the few clouds, promising a good day. One could only hope it extended past the weather and offered a few answers.

  Speaking of which… He frowned at the door, then his watch. Like a flash of lightning, her game registered and a corner of his mouth quirked. He’d employed the “make him wait” tactic a time or two when he wanted to stress who was boss to an arrogant or obnoxious employee.

  Since he considered himself neither, her power play revealed she wasn’t as secure in her position as she wanted everyone to believe. Interesting.

  Finally the lock clicked and the door opened. Marley stood tall in front of him, at least five-nine, dressed in jeans and another modest tee shirt, work boots and tool belt. He squashed his smile at her I’m-the-boss-here face as she stepped aside so he could enter.

  “Sorry about the wait.”

  She was not, but he knew it was all part of the process. “No problem.”

  He watched her close the door and then head over to the desk to stand behind it. Again, stressing she held a superior position. If only she knew. He sat down when she gestured to a chair, then held another smile when she remained standing.

  “How did things go yesterday?”

  “You tell me,” he suggested with full confidence.

  Her gaze narrowed. “Do you want full time?”

  He bit back “That’s what I was hired for,” and instead said, “Whatever you’ve got.”

  “Forty plus overtime if you want it. I assume you filled out all the paperwork at your interview, so here’s a time card. Turn it in Monday and you’ll get your check on Friday.”

  He glanced briefly at the card she’d handed him. “Sounds good. Thank you.”

  He looked up in time to see her wipe her palm across her thigh before extending it over the desk.

  “Welcome to the team, Justin.”

  This time he was ready for her firm grip. What got him was the sound of his name in her voice. Her husky tone grew sexier every time he heard her speak. Shaking off the unwelcome thought, he hightailed it to work.

  ****

  Thankful to exit the trailer after the past few hours, Marley paused on the step and surveyed the site bathed in late morning light. How she loved watching a
building go up. Having been raised on a construction site, she knew she’d retire on one—as an architect, though, not the general contractor.

  She noted with relief that Nate had arrived on time. With everything else she had to worry about today, she really hadn’t wanted to fire him. Especially after her last call to corporate had confirmed her worst suspicions.

  Her father had seriously under-budgeted this project and they were currently operating in a wide margin of red. Just what she needed when she was set to meet with the new owners of Hunter Construction next week.

  That’s what the fax had read earlier. Owners. Plural, just like Warren’s wife Bonnie had heard. She would finally find out who’d inherited the company, and she had five days to figure out a way to convince them she wasn’t incompetent. That meant keeping everything running smoothly and efficiently.

  And that reminded her of Justin Blackman. She hadn’t wanted to keep him. Wouldn’t have if she hadn’t seen how proficiently he worked and hoped it would balance the cost of his wages. He didn’t wait to be told what to do; he took charge and got the job done. She’d even noticed him directing a couple of the guys on different occasions. With the aura of authority he exuded, no one even thought to question his instructions.

  Maybe that’s why she’d been so nervous this morning. Not because that jittery feeling returned to her stomach when she’d heard his knock, but because she didn’t like someone else giving orders on her turf.

  Yeah, that’s exactly the problem.

  She looked around again. Nate and Warren were off to the side, joking about something. Tom stood near the blueprint table with Chuck Hager, the job supervisor, and Andy Hyer, their electrician. Chuck was reviewing the building plans, but the other two just stood there.

  The only real work being done was by none other than Matt Pearce, Justin, and Felipe Hernandez. Granted, they were all new to her team in the past couple weeks, and maybe trying to prove something, but the morning break had ended ten minutes ago.

  She paused next to the bulldozer. It became apparent Matt and Felipe deferred to Justin and looked to him for direction. Justin frowned toward where the others stood idle before looking at his watch.