“You’ve been dating for a year.”
“Exactly.” He gave a sharp nod. “After a year, why were you so shocked we got engaged?”
She gaped at him, unbelieving. “Maybe because you never said you were in love with her.”
His mouth opened and then closed, as if he was debating what to say. “No. I didn’t tell you.”
They both jumped when the library door clattered open. A man wearing a tuxedo and a cowboy hat stepped inside, flipping on the light. “There they are.” A broad smile creased his face as he pointed toward them, the ice clinking in the glass grasped in his fingers. A blond-haired man pushed his way past the first, while another, with swarthy features, followed behind, moving with a slight limp.
Bran groaned, scrunching up his face. “Come,” he ordered, grabbing Stephanie’s hand and dragging her behind him as he strode toward the door like a madman trying to escape an asylum.
“Oh no, you don’t.” The blond stepped in front of him, barring the way, while the first man shut the door.
Stephanie couldn’t help the grin that slipped onto her lips. She knew exactly who the men were. She’d been dying to meet them since she’d learned of their existence, but Bran had always given her time off when this group got together. For some unknown reason, he didn’t want her to mingle with his three close friends and business partners.
“You must be the mysterious Stephanie.” The blond man spoke with a slight English accent. He stepped forward, lifting her free hand to gallantly brush his lips across the back of her fingers, like something out of a movie. On her other hand, Bran’s grip tightened like a vise.
She felt her cheeks heat. “I’m hardly mysterious.”
“Yes, you are.” His brows bobbed up and down. “Bran’s been hiding you for two years, and that makes you a mystery.”
“We need to get back to the guests,” Bran spoke between gritted teeth.
“Go back to your party,” said the cowboy, swooping around Bran to wrap his arm across Stephanie’s shoulder and wrench her away from her boss. “We’ll stay in here and get acquainted with Stephanie.” He took off his hat. “I hope that’s all right with you, ma’am. My name is Cole.”
“Not happening.” Bran’s voice sounded like grinding gears.
Stephanie ignored his growl, addressing Cole with a wry smile. “Yes, I know who you are, Mr. Miller. In fact, I recognize all three of you from your pictures. I know all about you.”
“You know all about us? Even how we met?” The dark-haired man tilted his head, glancing at Bran from the corner of his eye.
“Yes, I know you’re Jarrett Alvarez from Denver.” Then she addressed the other two. “Cole Miller from Texas. And Finn Anderson, from New York. I know how you met and what you all have in common, besides the corporation.”
“And what do we all have in common?”
She flinched at the sharp edge in Cole’s voice.
“Unless I’m mistaken, you all have a love for kids with disabilities, and that’s why you started Limitless, to help those kids.” She lifted her chin, refusing to be intimidated by Cole’s towering stature or the wealth and power he represented as one of the four kingpins in Phantom Enterprises. After all, she dealt with his equal on a daily basis.
“And how we met?” Finn Anderson asked in his charming accent, though his brows drew together with suspicion.
“You met at the computer camp you all went to every year from age thirteen on,” she announced, triumphant in her knowledge.
“Computer camp?” Finn glanced over his shoulder where Bran’s shoulders drooped as if he were resigned to the death chamber.
“It was computer camp,” Branson defended.
“For kids with disabilities,” Finn clarified.
With great difficulty, she stopped her jaw from dropping open, but her eyes must have gone wide. Unbidden, her gaze darted to the three, surreptitiously searching for their hidden flaws. Each one was drop-dead handsome in his own way, though none of the others held a candle to Bran. She’d noticed Jarrett limping earlier, but she forced her eyes away from his feet.
“I can’t believe you never told her the truth.” Cole aimed an ineffectual glare at her sullen boss.
“It’s not like she doesn’t know I’m blind. I had no reason to give her details about the three of you—especially you, Cole.” She saw a tell-tale twitch on Bran’s lips, and suspected he was holding back a grin. “I always said we shouldn’t have let you in the group. You’re only missing your left hand. And you have a prosthetic replacement that works better than the original. Hardly counts.”
Her furtive glance at his hand didn’t expose any clue that it was anything but natural. She almost wrote off Bran’s comment as a jest.
“It counts.” The impatience in Cole’s voice told her they’d repeated this argument a thousand times. He turned and gave Stephanie a knowing look, extending his hand for examination. “This one is fairly useless… just for looks. I prefer my other one. It looks like a colorful robot arm, but the function is impressive.”
She marveled at the realistic prosthesis, though close inspection revealed its artificial nature. “Why not wear the other all the time, if you like it better?”
“Social settings. It makes people uncomfortable.” Cole used his elbow to push her boss back when he tried to edge around him. “Bran, I see you’ve been trying to keep her sympathy all to yourself. Too bad, buddy.”
“Sympathy?” She let her disbelief show. “He gets no sympathy from me.”
“Good. He doesn’t need it.” Jarrett lifted his pant leg to show a metal prosthesis with a dress shoe. “I’m the one with the fake leg. Osteosarcoma. I lost it when I was thirteen.”
“I see.” She plastered a smile on her face and nodded, all the while, thinking of the trauma that must have been involved in fighting childhood cancer, and secretly wondering what his longevity might be.
“It’s cystic fibrosis for me,” Finn said. “I guess I’m the least disabled. I don’t struggle with anything but breathing. But I’m thirty-two and living on borrowed time.”
Steph felt a sting in the back of her eyes and blinked fast to keep tears from spilling out. She understood cystic fibrosis all too well.
“Shut up, Finn.” Jarrett gave his shoulder a friendly shove. “You’ll probably outlive all of us.”
“It makes sense, now.” Steph tucked her head down, to hide her trembling chin. “I mean, I get why you’re all so determined to do something for those kids out there. Limitless is an awesome organization.”
“Yeah, but that’s not why we want to talk to you.” Finn herded her toward the couch and settled her onto the buttery soft leather, where she found herself flanked by him and Jarrett. “Tell us all Carina Parker’s dirty secrets, so we can stop this disastrous marriage.”
