Devlin Read online

  "You had to deal with your grief in your own way," his father agreed. "But it wasn't easy to watch."

  He didn't know what to say. He hadn't had this personal of a conversation with his father in years, maybe since before Amy had died. They'd talked mostly business the past few years or occasionally sports, but it hadn't gotten deeper than that.

  "Getting back to today…" he said. "I'd like you to race with me. You must be a little tempted. You and Uncle Mark were unbeatable for years in this race. And this boat is top of the line. We can win."

  Graham gave him a doubtful look. "I'm not so sure of that, and I don't want to lose to Frank. That would make him way too happy. If you want to show off the Wind Warrior and cross the finish line in first, then you need a skilled racer by your side."

  It wasn't that his father was wrong, but there weren't many options. All the skilled racers were on other boats. "Well, you have one other choice, Dad. We can rehire Frank and put him back on this boat." He paused. "I meant what I told you a week ago, Dad. I won't run the company with my hands tied behind my back. If I'm in charge, I'm in charge. You've been stalling me for days, but this situation needs to be resolved one way or the other."

  "You'd really walk away from the Boatworks, from the business you've built—for Frank?"

  "Yes." He met his father's aggressive gaze. "Some things—some people—are worth fighting for. Frank is one of them. You know that. It's his designs that bring our biggest customers to us. His craftsmanship and eye to detail is beyond compare. He has been incredibly loyal to the company, and we're going to lose him if we don't get him back now. He already interviewed with Victory Sailing."

  "That company is nothing compared to ours."

  "That's not the point. I know you're upset that Mom confided in Frank, but I have to know if there's more than that going on. If not, I think we can get past that."

  "Frank had the nerve to tell me how to handle my marriage. It's not like he managed his own with any great expertise. I've been married for thirty-seven years. He made it less than twenty."

  "I don't think it's a competition. Maybe he didn't want you to make the same mistakes he made. Hannah told me that her father chose work over her mother."

  "I have never done that."

  "Come on, Dad. You were doing a deal at her birthday party."

  "I had other things planned; she left before they happened. And I honestly did not think it would bother her. It never has before."

  "Or maybe it has, and you just haven't noticed."

  "I told you that you and I are not discussing my relationship with your mother. You're not married or even in a relationship, so I'm not interested in your opinion."

  "Fine. Then let's get back to Frank. I need an answer now." He thought he saw a glimmer of grudging respect in his father's eyes.

  "All right. You can hire him back. He can race with you, and we'll go back to the way things were."

  "Not exactly the way things were," he corrected. "The day-to-day operation of the Boatworks is my responsibility. You need to stay out of it, especially when it comes to personnel matters. Can you do that?"

  "I can do that, as long as you keep the company operating in the black."

  "Then we have an agreement."

  His father nodded. "Yes. And you better win that damn race after all this."

  "I'm going to do my best." As the words came out of his mouth, he felt a twinge of guilt. If Frank agreed to come back on the Wind Warrior, then Hannah's dreams of racing with her dad would be shattered.

  But wouldn't she be happy that her dad had his job back?

  It was a trade-off, but he hoped she'd be willing to make that trade.

  "What do you think, Dad?" Hannah asked as they put the Daisy Mae back into her slip.

  "It went better than I thought. I need to make some adjustments in the sails. And we could work better together."

  "We'll keep practicing. I know I'm not as skilled as Devlin, but I learn fast."

  He gave her a small smile. "I know you do. And I have a feeling Devlin will have his hands full with Graham."

  She nodded, having given him that piece of information before they'd gone out on the ocean.

  They'd only seen the Wind Warrior for a minute. Apparently, Devlin had not wanted to sail anywhere within sight of them, which had been fine with her. She hadn't wanted him or his father to see them stumble in their training run. They already had enough of an advantage.

  But she and her dad were used to being underdogs. They were up to the challenge.

  At least, she hoped they were.

  Because it had been really fun to sail with her dad again.

  "We'll need to go out every day until the race," her father said. "We have to get more in sync as a team."

  "We will. We have a shot at winning. It might be a long shot, but it's a shot."

  "You were always competitive, even as a child."

  "I take after you."

  "And your mother. We all like to win."

  "Guilty. I do have to say, though, that the Wind Warrior is an awesome boat. You did a great job on her, Dad."

  "One of the best boats I've ever designed and built."

  She inwardly winced at the hint of pain in his voice, and she wondered if Devlin had finally had a chance to have his conversation with his father. He was determined to get a final answer. She just hoped they were all ready for that answer, because based on what his father had said to her, she thought there was no chance of Graham Blackthorne backing down.

  As they got off the boat, she saw Devlin walking in their direction. His expression seemed unusually serious, and his father was nowhere in sight, neither of which seemed to be a good thing.

  "Frank, Hannah," he said. "How was your sail?"

  "Great," she answered. "The Daisy Mae is a good boat."

  "I'm sure she's better now that Frank has worked on her." He turned to her father. "I have good news, Frank. I want to hire you back. I realize that you may need added incentives after what happened, and we can talk about all that. But your job is yours. I hope you still want it."

  She was surprised, but perhaps Graham had realized that Devlin was serious about leaving if her dad didn't come back.

  "I'll have to think about it," her father said slowly.

  "You need to think about it, Dad? Why?"

  "Because I do," he said shortly.

  "I want to assure you, Frank, that my dad will never ever have anything to do with personnel decisions again. He's agreed to give me complete autonomy over the Boatworks. I'm sorry it took this long to resolve matters, but it's been a crazy few weeks. I hope you know how much I want you back. And…" He shot her a quick look, then continued. "I'd like to have you race the Wind Warrior with me."

  Her stomach turned over and now she understood the odd expression in his eyes. He felt guilty about killing her dreams. But that guilt hadn't stopped him from doing it. "My dad and I are racing together," she reminded him.

  "Well, it's up to Frank, of course. But since he built the Wind Warrior, I wanted to give him the chance to race it."

  "Your father knows he can't beat me," her dad said, a knowing gleam in his eyes. "He's out of practice. He doesn’t want to lose. That's why he suddenly changed his mind about me."

  "Is that true?" she asked.

  "That my dad's skills are a little rusty, yes," Devlin replied. "But that didn't have anything to do with his decision regarding your job."

  "Oh, I think it did," Frank said. "As I said, I need to consider my options."

  Devlin didn't look happy with her father's answer. "All right. I just want to reiterate that the race is separate from the job. You can come back to work and still race with Hannah."

  "Understood."

  "Dad—" she started, thinking she needed to let him off the hook for the race. The Wind Warrior was his baby as much as it was Devlin's.

  Her father put up a hand. "Please, no more words. I have some thinking to do, and you two need to let me do it. C
an you get yourself home, Hannah?"

  "Sure. But where are you going?"

  "I'd like to be on my own for a while. We'll talk later."

  As her father left, Devlin said, "I'm sorry, Hannah. I felt I had to offer Frank the opportunity to race the Wind Warrior."

  "I know."

  "And I hoped you'd be happy that I'm rehiring him."

  "I'm thrilled he can have his job back, but I'm a little sad for myself. I know my father will feel compelled to race with you. Actually, compelled isn't even the right word, because he'll want to race with you. You are a much better sailor than I am. And the Daisy Mae doesn't hold a candle to the Wind Warrior."

  "I told him the race is a separate deal."

  "We'll see. The thing is, even if he agrees to sail with me, I should let him go. The two of you will be unbeatable, and the Wind Warrior will get all the glory. As you said, my dad built that boat. It's the way it should be." She paused. "Why did your father change his mind? When I spoke to him, I got the feeling he would never back down. Was it your ultimatum?"

  "Maybe. I'd like to think he respects the job I'm doing."

  "I'm sure he does."

  "I have to say that, for the first time, I feel like the Boatworks might really be mine."

  She could see the pleasure in his eyes and knew that meant a lot to him. "It's a win for you and for my dad."

  "I don't want those wins to be at your expense," he said quietly. "I don't want to hurt you, Hannah."

  "You're not hurting me. It's all good. This is the way it should be. This racing world belongs to you and my dad. I shouldn't have let myself get so caught up in it. What's important is that my father gets his life back and that his work is valued, not only by you and your family, but also by the sailing public. I know that the upcoming race is as much about business as it is about sailing."

  "You're being very understanding."

  "I'm trying to be."

  "Do you think there's a chance your father will not come back to the Boatworks?"

  "I honestly don't know, Devlin. I would have thought he'd say yes immediately."

  "Do you know anything about an offer from Victory Sailing?"

  "I know they made him one, but he hasn't shared the details. My father is a proud man, Devlin. I hope he doesn't let pride get in the way of making the best decision."

  "Pride has been the problem throughout this whole situation—first from my father, now from yours. Good thing we are nothing like either one of them."

  His small smile warmed her heart, and she felt a wave of yearning desire sweep through her. Memories of their night together ran through her head. There hadn't just been incredible pleasure but also laughter and honesty. With Devlin, she felt like she could be herself, and she hadn't felt that way in a long time.

  "Let's get a drink or dinner," Devlin said.

  His offer was incredibly tempting, but she was already having a difficult time letting go of Devlin. Spending more time with him wouldn't make it easier. "I can't."

  Disappointment filled his gaze. "You're angry with me for breaking up the father-daughter duo."

  "That's not it. I have to go."

  He caught her by the arm, gazing into her eyes. "I don't want you to leave, Hannah."

  "I don't see how I can stay," she whispered. "This isn't my home."

  "You're happy here."

  "I'm happy in Austin, too," she argued, trying not to let herself get caught up in the emotion of the moment, because she'd missed Devlin so much the past two days.

  "Come home with me tonight. Let's talk this out. Let's be together."

  "We said it would just be one night, and it was a great night. We both have a beautiful memory. Let's leave it at that," she said, barely getting the words out as emotion choked her throat. She pushed past him, praying he wouldn't come after her, because she didn't know if she could get herself to walk away again.

  She held her breath all the way up the ramp, but when she finally turned her head, she realized he was gone. He'd let her go.

  She should be happy about that.

  Chapter Fifteen

  Wanting to not only give her dad time to think about his options, but also to give herself a chance to burn off the painful emotions of the last few minutes, Hannah walked through the downtown area, stopping for a coffee before eventually heading home. She knew she'd made the right decision turning down Devlin's invitation, but being right didn't feel all that great. Still, she'd managed to pull herself together, and she had her game face on.

  Her dad needed to say yes to taking his job back and yes to racing with Devlin. Both choices would bring him happiness, and that's what she wanted for him. Even if they didn't race together, they'd had fun today, and since she'd come back to King Harbor they had connected on a much deeper level. Their relationship was as strong as it had ever been, and she was grateful for that.

  When she entered the house, her father was sitting at the dining room table, his laptop computer open in front of him, his reading glasses sliding halfway down his nose. At the closing of the door, he looked up and removed his glasses, his expression unreadable.

  "I'm back," she said with a smile. "I hope it's not too soon. But I can go to my room if you want more alone time."

  "No, it's fine. I'm sorry I made you walk home."

  "I love to walk; you know that. No apology needed. It felt good." She pulled out a chair and sat down across from him. "Dare I ask if you've thought about Devlin's offer?"

  "I've done nothing but think. I don't know, Hannah; I just don’t know."

  "What don't you know?" she asked curiously, surprised again by his hesitation.

  "Whether I can trust Devlin when he says this will never happen again. Whether I should go back to a company that let me go. Whether I want to let Graham off the hook for what he did. And whether it might be time to make a break, do something new, start over."

  She noticed he hadn't mentioned the race at all, but that was understandable. It was the last thing on his mind.

  "That's a lot to consider," she murmured. "I think you can trust Devlin. This only took as long as it did because Claire walked out and shook everything up. Devlin didn't want to press his father when he was in a fragile place. But he did ultimately do it, and he put his own job on the line for you. He values you a great deal, and Devlin is the company, not Graham."

  "That's true."

  "As for the starting over part…do you still feel like you have enough challenge at the Boatworks? Do you need more money? I'm sure you could negotiate a raise and pretty much anything else you want now."

  "I would definitely negotiate a salary increase. There are plenty of challenges in my job. Devlin gives me a great deal of autonomy."

  "Because he respects you, Dad. There's no doubt about that."

  Her father met her gaze. "What about the race?"

  She drew in a breath at their moment of truth. "I think you should do it with Devlin. The Wind Warrior is your boat. And you two racing it together would be unbeatable."

  "But you wanted to race with me."

  "I did, but it's not like we can't sail again sometime. This is your life, Dad. It's the life you've built. The Boatworks, the race—they're part of it. I don't want to hold you back in any way. I want you to be happy."

  "I want you to be happy, too. Okay. I know what I want to do." He picked up his phone.

  "Do you want some privacy?"

  "Not necessary. I'm going to tell Devlin that I'll take my job back with a significant pay increase and an extra two weeks of vacation time, so I can get out to Austin more often."

  She was amazed by that statement. Her dad had only visited her a handful of times since she'd left. "That would be wonderful."

  "I haven't always been the greatest father, Hannah. I'd like to say I did my best, but I don't think that's true, and I'm sure you don't think it's true, either."

  "I wish we'd spent more time together after the divorce, but I know that our distance over the last five ye
ars has been as much my fault as yours. We can do better."

  "Starting this weekend. I want to race with you, Hannah. Let's take on Devlin and Graham."

  "Seriously? We're probably going to lose to them, maybe to a bunch of other boats as well."

  "I have confidence we can hold our own."

  She smiled at the sparkle in his eyes. "I'm game, but I don't want you to feel like you'd be letting me down if you chose to race with Devlin. I completely understand the situation, and I'm good with it."

  "Well, I'm not. The only thing I'm good with is you and me racing to the finish line together, with Devlin and Graham in our wake. But we'll need to practice every day until then."

  "I'm ready. I wish we could go now."

  He laughed. "Tomorrow will do."

  "I'll make dinner, while you talk to Devlin," she said, getting to her feet. She felt ridiculously happy that her father had finally chosen her over everything else. She was also glad she wouldn't have to leave King Harbor just yet.

  Devlin walked into his father's study Tuesday night. His dad was studying some reports, a whisky by his hand.

  "I have some news." He took a seat in the chair in front of his father's massive mahogany desk.

  "Good news, I hope."

  "Frank has agreed to come back to the Boatworks at a 20 percent increase in salary."

  Graham rolled his eyes. "Frank always acts like he's so much better than me, but he's not. He saw an advantage, and he went for it."

  "As you would," he pointed out. "Since I think he deserves compensation for the past two weeks of stress, I agreed."

  "It's your company."

  "Yes, it is. Frank also told me that he's not going to race with me."

  Surprise flashed across his father's face. "Are you serious? Why the hell not? He built that boat. He has told me a number of times that it's his baby."

  "His real baby is Hannah, and he's going to race with her on the Daisy Mae. He said he'd made her a promise, and he was not going to let her down again." He actually felt good about Frank's decision. Hannah deserved her day on the ocean with her father. Plus, that meant she couldn't leave King Harbor until at least Monday, which was also excellent news.