0861804001391451315 tender triumph by Judith Mcnaught

Author:Judith Mcnaught
Language: eng
Format: epub

CHAPTER TWELVE

KATIE ROLLED OVER onto her back and opened her eyes, emerging from her deep,

exhausted sleep with a queer sensation of unreality. The room in which she had

slept was sunny and immaculately clean, spartanly furnished with an old maple

dresser and nightstand that had been polished to a mirror shine.

"Good morning," Gabriella's soft voice spoke from the doorway. Katie's memory

snapped into focus as Gabriella crossed the room and placed a steaming cup of

coffee on the nightstand beside the bed. At twenty-four, Gabriella was strikingly

lovely. Her high cheekbones and luminous brown eyes were a magazine

photographer's dream. Last night, she had confided to Katie that she had been

asked to pose by a famous photographer who had seen her one day in the village,

but her husband, Eduardo, had refused to permit it. That, Katie thought irritably,

was exactly what she would have expected from that taciturn, handsome man she had

met last night. Katie thanked her for the coffee and Gabriella smiled. "Ramon came

to see you this morning before he left, but when he learned you were sleeping, he

said not to" disturb you," Gabriella explained. "He asked me to tell you that he

will see you this evening when he returns."

"From Mayaguez," Katie put in, merely to keep the conversation going.

"No, from San Juan," Gabriella corrected. A look of almost comic horror

crossed her face. "Or perhaps it was Mayaguez. I am sorry I do not recall."

"It doesn't matter," Katie assured her, puzzled over her obvious distress.

Gabriella brightened with relief. "Ramon left much money for you. He said we

should begin our shopping today if you feel ready for it."

Katie nodded and glanced at the plastic alarm clock beside her bed, surprised to

see that it was already ten o'clock. Tomorrow she would be sure to be up when

Ramon came to see her before he left for work at the failing farm in Mayaguez.

SILENCE HUNG LIKE A PALL over the seven men seated at the conference table in the

boardroom at Galverra International's San Juan headquarters—a silence that was

shattered as the baroque grandfather clock began ominously tolling the hour of ten—

marking the final, gasping breaths of a dying corporation that had once been a

thriving world conglomerate.

From his position at the head of the long table, Ramon's glance raked over the five

men on his left who were Galverra International's board of directors. Each man had

been carefully selected by his father, and each possessed the three qualities that

Simon Galverra required of his board members: intelligence, greed and spinelessness.

For twenty years, Simon had drawn on their intelligence, exploited their greed, and

ruthlessly taken advantage of their inability to contradict his opinions or challenge

his decisions.

"I asked," Ramon repeated in a cold clipped voice, "if any of you can suggest a

viable alternative to filing corporate bankruptcy." Two directors nervously cleared

their throats, another reached for the Waterford pitcher of ice water in the center of

the table.

Their averted gazes and continued meek silence ignited the rage he was keeping

under such tenuous control. "No suggestions?" he asked with silky menace. "Then

perhaps one of you who is not incapable of speech

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