Free In Total Surrender by Anne Mallory

the eternally closed drapes.
    Soft slippers and the cracking of the door didn’t surprise him in the least. Not today. “Good morning, Mr. Merrick. I am sorry to bother you, but I’m looking for Mr. Fox. Do you know where I might find him?”
    The soft voice curled around him. He motioned to the boy who was waiting for the note he had been penning. The boy snatched the paper, relieved.
    “Mr. Merrick?” she questioned again from the door, slipping fully inside as the boy quickly exited.
    He looked back down at the page and continued writing. “No, I do not know where you might find him.”
    “Will he be here later?”
    “No.”
    “Oh. I was supposed to meet with him at ten.” He could hear her chewing her lip.
    “That is unfortunate.”
    “Yes. I had an . . . issue . . . I needed to discuss with him. Well, I suppose I will need to deal with it on my own. And I don’t regret finding myself here—a visit with you is always welcome.”
    He stiffened as she walked toward him. “You have a report for me?” he asked, his voice even.
    “Oh, yes. Plenty of items to report.”
    “I have little time.”
    “I’ll make my words quick then. I have been working to edge Lord Garrett out of the Pace shares he has been requesting for months. I have constructed careful legal maneuvers in order to do so.” She set a sheaf of papers in front of him. He scanned the first few. He had to admit, the woman knew what she was doing. It would not do to forget that she was intelligent and clever. It should be further impetus to get rid of her.
    “We had no cause to deny Lord Garrett the purchase before, as the company was hanging by a thread. But you came in and saved us.” Large smile. “Gave us back our debts and options.”
    He tried never to think on those actions too hard. Nor to reflect on the fact that he was still operating under the same conflicted absurdity whenever dealing with her.
    “Lord Garrett will not be pleased,” he said. Normally, that would make Andreas very, very pleased. But . . . these maneuvers would make Garrett desperate. It would make him operate out of the construct Andreas had initially placed him in—one of overconfidence.
    The original plan had been to have Garrett fully invest his remaining groats with the Paces, then Andreas would crush their company all around him.
    “No. I expect him to attempt negotiations.”
    Garrett, and the man pulling Garrett’s strings now, would negotiate her death if they grew desperate enough and realized that she was the one making the decisions. At the very least, they would try to eliminate James Pace and buy the shares in the resulting chaos. Garrett would be able to do so if he had bribed the right people.
    Andreas made a notation on the edge of his page.
    “And the viscount’s sons?”
    “They will keep their shares. I cannot in good conscience hurt friends just because their father is an . . . unkind person.”
    “You will fail at business with that philosophy, Miss Pace.”
    “Then I will fail with my head held high, Mr. Merrick.”
    “Even if it dissolves your father’s company?”
    “I would like to think that I could do both, Mr. Merrick. And there is no need for such a scowl. I know I dream in purple.”
    There was something very calm and even about her that he appreciated in an associate. Even though she was greener than green about the way the business world truly worked—which was dark and vicious to the bitter end. Still, she projected a quiet fortitude that would always be respected. Her brother had possessed that trait as well.
    Right up until he had been betrayed.
    Andreas could picture Christian Pace’s expression overlaid on Phoebe’s face. It made him edgy.
    “I set a few plans in motion this morning. Small things. And I have a few resulting issues already that I need to work through, of course.” She waved a hand and stood. “I will be by tomorrow.”
    She gave him a sunny smile and slipped from the room before he could