LITMIR.BIZ

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reached across the table and pushed a curl out of her eyes with the tip of his finger. “You can fight this, kick and claw and scratch, but you and me, and that kid, we’re going to come to an understanding, Sage. I’m not crazy about this arrangement, neither are you, but we’re going to have to deal. I’m not going anywhere. Start getting used to the idea.”

      Because he so badly wanted to frame her face with his hands, to lower his mouth to cover hers—God, it had been so long since he’d held her, tasted her, feasted on her—Tyce stood up and jammed his hands into the pockets of his jeans. Feeling wiped, he blew out a breath before locking eyes with Linc again. It was time to get this done.

      “I’ve purchased enough shares to earn a seat on the Ballantyne board. I’m going to take that seat, I will oppose every decision and I will vote against every motion you make unless you actively try to establish whether Lachlyn is Connor’s child or not. Do not underestimate how much trouble I can cause. I’ll undermine your position and I’ll actively campaign to have you removed as CEO.”

      Linc’s face paled at the threat. But because he was a deal maker and a strategist, Linc then asked the question he was expecting. “So if Lachlyn is Connor’s daughter, how much do you want?”

      These rich people, they always thought it came down to money. “I don’t want any of your money,” Tyce replied, enjoying the surprised shock on their faces. “If the DNA results come back saying that Lachlyn is not Connor’s daughter, then I will sell the shares.”

      “What’s the catch?” Beck demanded.

      “If Lachlyn is Connor’s daughter, then I’d like you to give her a chance...to get to know you, to become part of your family. She missed out on that, having a family.”

      So had he but that didn’t matter. Lachlyn was the one who’d spent her childhood and teenage years in a dismal house permeated with the sadness of a perpetually depressed mother and a too tense, uncommunicative brother. She deserved the chance of being part of a close, happy family. And nobody, apparently, did family better than the Ballantynes.

      Tyce held the back of a chair, his hands white against the black leather. He didn’t drop his eyes from Linc’s face, didn’t break the contact. Linc, confusion all over his face, frowned. “I don’t understand any of this. You spent tens of millions buying those shares but all you want is for us to give your sister a chance to get to know us?”

      Tyce nodded. “You’ll be happy to hear that she’s a lot nicer than I am.”

      Linc’s mouth twitched in what Tyce suspected might hint at amusement. He leaned back in his chair and folded his big arms across his chest. “This is batcrap insane, Latimore.”

      “Probably,” Tyce admitted, darting a look at the still-fuming Sage. Oh, that reminded him. Hardening his expression, he looked from Linc’s face to Jaeger’s and then to Beckett’s. “I have one more demand...”

      Beck groaned and Jaeger swore. Linc just waited, his eyes narrowed.

      “My last demand is that you leave us, Sage and me, alone. Having a baby, becoming new parents, is something new to both of us and we don’t need her three angry, protective brothers muddying the waters.”

      God, he was tired of this conversation, so tired of it all. All he wanted to do was to climb into bed with Sage and wrap himself around her. He would even forego sex just to hold her and sleep.

      Sage held up a hand and stopped what he was sure was going to be a hot response from Jaeger. Hot seemed to be Jaeger’s default setting.

      “You three don’t need to fight my personal battles,” Sage said, her voice clear and determined. “Tyce and I will deal with our personal situation, ourselves. Not—” Sage sent him a look that was designed to shrivel his balls “—that we have much to discuss.”

      “Are you sure, shrimp?” Jaeger asked her, doubt in his voice.

      “Very.” Sage nodded. “I can handle him.”

      “If he lays a finger on you, we will rip him from limb to limb and bury him so deep that no one will ever find his body,” Beck added, his voice so flat and so bland that Tyce had no choice but to believe him.

      “Tyce is an ass but he’s not violent,” Sage told them.

      So nice to know how she really felt about him.

      “Still...” Beck’s eyes connected with his and Tyce nodded, acknowledging Beck’s threat. Hurt her and he’d die. Got it.

      “One tear, Latimore, and all bets are off,” Linc said, rising to his feet. “We’ll need a week or two, and your sister’s DNA, to ascertain whether she is Connor’s daughter and, if she is, we’ll meet again, with your sister, to determine a path forward.”

      It was, Tyce realized, as much of a deal as he was going to get today and it was, honestly, better than he hoped. Lachlyn would finally have, if the Ballantynes cooperated, a shot at having the large, crazy, loving family she’d always said she wanted.

      “Two weeks and then we’ll reevaluate?” Tyce held out his hand and wondered if Linc would shake it. “Deal?”

      Linc’s warm hand gripped his and their gazes clashed and held. “Deal.”

      Linc dropped his hand, sidestepped him and opened the door to the conference room. “I’ll contact you to set up the time and place for the DNA swabs.” Linc walked out of the conference room and punched a code into the pad next to the elevator opposite the conference room. The doors slid open. Right, it was official; Linc was kicking him out.

      Tyce ignored Linc’s impatient expression and walked past Jaeger to drop to his haunches in front of Sage, resting his forearm across his knee. He waited until Sage lifted defiant eyes to meet his. “After you’ve spoken to your brothers, go home and sleep. I’m going to drop in this evening and—we’ll talk then.”

      “I won’t be there.”

      Tyce resisted the impulse to roll his eyes. “We need to talk, Sage. We can do it this afternoon or tomorrow morning but we are going to talk.”

      Sage muttered a curse under her breath and Tyce swallowed his smile at her hissed profanity. “Okay, this evening. Around five.”

      Tyce nodded, stood up and bent down again to drop a kiss on her head. Not wanting to see her reaction, her disgust, he spun around and headed out the door and into the lift. After punching the button for the ground floor, he looked at Sage and electricity, as it always did, hummed between them. He wanted to run back into the room, scoop her up and run away with her, to hell with Lachlyn and Sage’s brothers. To hell with his art and her status as one of the wealthiest women in the world.

      To hell with it all.

      Unfortunately, Tyce thought as the elevator’s doors closed, running away solved nothing.

      * * *

      The meeting had run longer than they thought and Beck and Jaeger left a few minutes after Tyce, both of them assuring her that they were in her corner, that they would help in any way they could.

      “Up to and including beating the crap out of Latimore,” Jaeger told her as a parting shot.

      When she and Linc were alone Sage walked to the small window, laying her hand on the cool glass. Droplets of icy rain ran down the pane and the low, gray clouds outside threatened snow. Late winter in New York City, she thought; she felt cold inside and out.

      “You okay, shrimp?” Linc asked her. Sage turned, put her back to the wall and looked at her brother, his chair pushed back and his long legs stretched out.

      “Mentally or physically?” Sage asked.

      “Either. Both,” Linc answered her.

      Sage lifted one shoulder and shrugged, biting her bottom lip. Linc’s eyes were on her face and she knew that her brother was hoping for an answer. Unlike Jaeger and Beck, Linc

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