“No, it was in an online biography I read the other day.”
“One of my first significant acquisitions was a well-known regional chain of department stores. There are many reasons why it was floundering, not limited to the mismanagement from the top. It had been around for generations and was existing on its name alone. This was over fifteen years ago. People considered me too young to accomplish what I had. I’d made money, but not—”
“Enough,” I interjected.
Van nodded. “I realized I needed to do more than acquire. With changes in tax law, I understood that liquidation would do more for me than make a business profitable. I set my sight on that chain.”
“Was there a reason?”
“Both of my parents had been employed by the chain for their entire lives. My mother started as a cashier and worked her way up to buyer. She would fly to New York and Europe for fashion shows and help decide what fashions the stores would sell. My father began in accounting at a regional store and moved up to corporate.”
“You targeted an entire chain of stores to hurt your parents?” My stomach twisted.
“I did, Julia. I won’t lie to you and pretend I’m a good man. I’m telling you the truth. I purposely worked to acquire the entire chain and purchase the name that was recognized throughout multiple states. Buying the name was crucial because if I hadn’t, theoretically, senior members of the founding family could restart a new chain with the old name. The average shopper wouldn’t recognize that it was different.”
“What happened?”
“I succeeded. In the process, I liquidated everything and walked away with a substantial profit. During the process, I was blamed for things that were not my doing. I didn’t care. Their mistakes added to my reputation.”
“Like what?” I asked, wondering what would be horrible enough for family members to turn their backs on one another.
“I told you that my people watch for vulnerability. It was a lesson I learned well with this first major acquisition. The chain was having financial problems, spending multiple years in arrears, drowning in debt. One of their last-ditch efforts was to access the employees’ retirement pensions.”
I gasped. “No.”
Van nodded. “The original owners were able to deplete the accounts through a loophole. Of course, their plan was to make money and repay the funds before the employees learned the truth. It didn’t happen that way. The employees learned that their retirement funds were gone when they also learned their jobs were terminated.”
“Could you have helped them?”
Van shrugged. “I didn’t want to, Julia. I wanted them to suffer.”
“Why?”
“My parents know why.”
“Do you regret it?” I asked.
“No. That deal propelled me higher than I thought was possible. Compared to where I am now, it was minimal. However, without that acquisition, I wouldn’t be Donovan Sherman.”
“And why is your name different?”
“Because in the early negotiations of that particular deal, I petitioned for a name change.”
I tried to think of department stores that had gone away during my lifetime. There were more than I could recall. “Why Sherman?”
“Because once that deal was complete, Sherman Brothers department stores ceased to exist.”
“And Donovan Sherman was born,” I said, with an odd, eerie feeling.
“Yes.”
“Why?”
“Because even though I don’t talk to my family, my name is a reminder of what I did to them.” He sighed. “It also reminds me of what I’ve done and what I’m capable of doing.”
“It wasn’t only them,” I said, thinking of the other employees.
Van shrugged.
“Did you just tell that story to the writer of your memoir?”
“It’s a matter of public record that Donovan Sherman first came on the scene roughly fifteen years ago. It’s also public record that I changed my name from Thomas to Sherman.” He looked from the fire to me. “You found that online.”
“I found your parents’ names. I didn’t search to find why theirs were different than yours. I guess maybe I wanted to learn it from you.”
“Who I was before that name change wouldn’t be Donovan Sherman’s story.”
There were so many questions I had, and yet, as I stared at Van in the firelight, I mostly wanted to comfort him. I leaned closer and offered a soft kiss on his prickly cheek. A quick glance at my watch told me that the clock had struck midnight. “Merry Christmas, Van.”
“What do you want, Julia? If I could give you anything, what would that be?”
I looked around the one-room cabin, feeling the warmth of the fire, inhaling the aroma of pine, and seeing the decorated tree. My attention went back to the man beside me. “I can’t think of anything I need.”
“Need and want are two different things.” He ran his finger down my cheek, stopping at the edge of the camisole, pushing it downward between my breasts. His smile grew as he looked back up at me. “A week and a day ago, if I’d been asked what I needed, I would have said nothing. My needs have been met since I completed that deal. I’ve spent the years since concentrating on what I want. More land, more money, and more power. I didn’t need a thing. That changed. It changed in this cabin.”
I sucked in a breath as his deep tenor reverberated through me.
“I want you,” he said. “I want you over and over, but it’s more than that. You changed everything. Now I need.”
“What do you need?”
“I need to know you’re happy, safe, and protected. I need to have you at my side. I need to fall asleep beside you and wake in the same place. Will you let me do that for you?”
The scene blurred with tears I didn’t expect. “That sounds like a proposal. I already said I’d marry you.”
“I didn’t propose before. You deserve that.”
I wrapped my arms around his neck and lay myself against his wide chest as his arms came around me. With my forehead on Van’s shoulder, I nodded. Just the two of us alone before the fire felt right, much righter than in front of a room full of people. I lifted my head and looked into his gaze. “I didn’t know I needed that, to hear you ask, but I did.”
Van gently lay me back on the rugs and followed me until he was over me, our noses touching. “Will you, Julia McGrath, be my wife?”
My eyes opened wide as the picture of him with a woman in wedding attire came to mind. “You said you’ve never proposed before?”
“Only to you. I think, unofficially, this is the third time.”
What does that mean about the picture he had in his office?
I didn’t want to ask, not now.
“My answer is yes. I promise it won’t change.”
Van
Even though I’d gotten up twice throughout the night to add wood to the fire, I woke to the chill of the air upon my face. Julia’s soft curves and flat planes brought more than warmth to my body beneath the blankets.
As I reached for her, I had a moment of concern, worried that Julia was sore and worn out from my insatiable desires. Perhaps they weren’t insatiable, but they’d been backed up by years of denial. Finding her was the final crack in the dam of restraint. Now the flood was out of control.