I love you.

A voice inside his head was saying it over and over, but he didn’t dare utter a word. Not now. Not with Heather staring at him expectantly. There were a million reasons he couldn’t just blurt out his feelings to her, the least of which being that Linda was right here with them. Telling Heather he loved her was a delicate matter. A personal one. Blurting it out at work, in front of Linda, was the least romantic thing he could think of.

The moment was growing more awkward by the second as he shifted his weight from one foot to the other. He had to find a way out of this. He shot Linda a warning glance and then turned back to Heather. “Linda and I need to clear something up. Excuse us for a moment, Heather. Please.”

He motioned for Linda to follow him. Without a word, Linda trailed him out of her office and into the hall, leaving Heather behind, looking bewildered.

Simon fought to keep his temper in check, focusing on slowly closing the office door before he confronted Linda. As the door shut he inhaled deeply, forcing himself to calm down. “What was that about?”

Linda’s face burned redder. “I assumed you told her how you felt.”

“How I felt?” He nudged Linda further away from the office to make sure that they were well out of Heather’s earshot. “Have you lost your mind?”

“No. But you certainly have if you still haven’t told her the truth.”

He narrowed his eyes. “Watch yourself, Linda.”

She paused and took a deep breath. “I shouldn’t have blurted all that stuff out, but I assure you I was only trying to help.”

“My private life is none of your business,” he said icily.

“You’d like to think that, wouldn’t you?” She crossed her arms and glared at him. “But your life is my business whether you like it or not.”

“I don’t like it one bit,” he said.

“Tough.” She tossed a lock of her graying hair over her shoulder and took a step towards him. “You think I like wondering if company stock is going to tumble because you’ve been caught having an affair with your assistant? You think I like wondering if I’m going to get fired because Dover has to start laying off staff to keep up with a loss in revenue?”

His jaw tightened. “I’m sorry things at Dover have been chaotic recently, but that doesn’t mean my private life is any of your business. It has nothing to do with the company.”

“It has everything to do with the company!” she hissed, throwing her hands up. “If it’s none of my business, why did you tell the entire board that you’re in love with Heather?” she demanded in a low voice. “You haven’t exactly kept your feelings a secret around here. Though, from the looks of it, the one person who doesn’t know how you feel is Heather herself.”

“How is that any of your business?”

After a long pause she sighed. “Maybe that part isn’t my business. But when you told the board you love her...” A tiny smile tugged at the corners of her lips. “I’ve never known you could be happy. I didn’t know you were capable of such deep feelings.”

“Neither did I,” he admitted in spite of his anger. “I’m just as surprised as you are.”

“So, when you told the board and stormed out, this urge came over me.” Her shoulders sagged. “I wanted you to be happy. And I knew that the only person who makes you that happy is Heather. I figured if I plotted to get you two alone together at the hotel in California you’d have the privacy and the opportunity to tell her how you really feel about her. It was easy to get the receptionist and the manager to switch room numbers and give you the wrong keys. After all the business I’ve sent their way, they owed me big time.”

“You had no right to do that.” When they had ended up in the same room, for a moment he had really thought that fate had brought them together. Then the manager had explained that it had all been a mix-up and he chalked it up to a routine accident. A happy accident. Now it looked like Linda had orchestrated the whole thing. He hated being manipulated and used, especially by someone he respected as much as Linda. Maybe he didn’t trust her the same way he trusted Heather, but Linda had been at Dover even before he had become CEO. He valued her as an employee. And, to be honest, as a friend—or at least an acquaintance.

“I didn’t. I was wrong to go behind your back.” Her eyes locked with his, and suddenly the steely-eyed gaze of the formidable media relations officer was replaced by a look of concern. She looked almost motherly. “I only wanted you to be happy. For years I’ve seen you shut people out. You’ve lived a solitary life for as long as I’ve known you. But ever since Heather first started working here, you seem so much more engaged with the world. More alive. Like you realize that you’re more than just a CEO who cranks out brilliant ideas. You’re not some cold, unfeeling machine, Simon. You’re a human being. With feelings, like everyone else.”

“Why do you care?”

“I guess somewhere along the way I started to see you as the son I never had. I don’t have children. Never wanted any. I’ve got my hands too full with so many nieces and nephews,” she replied. “And I have loved being a mentor to people. Especially to you Simon.”

He was stunned. Speechless. Linda had worked at Dover even before he had first invested in the company, so he supposed he would have grudgingly admitted that he and Linda were on friendly terms. Maybe they were even friends under the right circumstances. But he had never allowed himself to feel anything more than that. Never allowed himself to accept that, no matter how hard he had tried to keep people locked out, they still had a way of getting in. It wasn’t just Heather who had knocked down his defenses. Linda had as well. Even before Heather had come back into his life.

If he was being honest with himself, Linda really had been a mother figure to him all these years, especially since his relationship with his own mother was practically non-existent.

“Linda...” He paused, trying to grapple with the emotions swirling inside him. “I really don’t deserve you, do I?”

“No. You don’t.” She smiled ruefully.

“I suppose you have been like a mother to be all these years,” he said. “But that doesn’t give you the right to meddle in my life the way you did.”

Her smile faded. “It doesn’t. I’m sorry.”

“Good. Glad that’s cleared up.”

“So, did you and Heather at least reconcile?”

“I thought we established that my private life is none of your business,” he said sharply.

“It’s not, but that isn’t going to stop me from asking.”

“Things are complicated between us right now,” he muttered.

Linda’s eyes lit up, unable to hide her excitement. “So, you are back together!”

“No.” He shook his head and held up his hands. “We haven’t had time to talk. I’d rather not be forced into having a serious discussion with Heather in the workplace.”

“Workplace. Right.” Her eyes darted around, like she was trying to avoid his gaze all of a sudden.

Suspicion made him arch an eyebrow. “What is it?”

“The board had an emergency meeting yesterday,” she replied.

“What? When were you going to tell me?” he demanded.

“I’m telling you now, aren’t I?” She blew out an annoyed breath. “The board met because they’re worried about your relationship with Heather. Before you came back earlier today, I thought if you were back with Heather you’d be able to stand up to the board pretty easily. But if things are still rough between you two, I’m not sure how you’re going to weather this.”

“What was the meeting about?” he pressed, unable to ignore the sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

“They don’t like how you left things at the last board meeting,” she said. “Telling them you’re in love with Heather unsettled them. They think having her around is dangerous because they believe she’ll have influence over you. I thought if you got together with her you’d be able to face them, but if not they’re much more likely to try to drive a wedge between you two.”

“Linda, what are you saying?”

“There was talk about coming between you. Breaking you up before things got serious.”

“You mean by firing her?” he asked.

She shook her head. “No, more than that. If they fired her, you’d still have feelings for her. They didn’t come up with anything concrete, but the gist of the meeting was that they’re worried. Concerned that Heather will control you, and therefore control how Dover operates. They think her influence over you is a threat to the company.”

He frowned. “So, they want to get rid of me?”

“No, getting rid of you is the last thing they want right now,” she said. “The product roll-out wasn’t as strong as they wanted, but things are picking up because the public still trusts you. For some reason, your commitment to staying out of the spotlight has made them more likely to trust you.”

“Nobody likes a corporate hack.” Hiding the satisfaction from his voice was impossible, so he didn’t bother. He hadn’t shunned the media to score points with the public, but the one thing he knew about corporate politics was that at the end of the day people liked authenticity. That was probably why the public was still on his side.

“Yes, well, the corporate hacks control Dover’s board,” she reminded him. “You might not like them, but you need them to keep the company going. Just like they need you. Which is why the board doesn’t want to get rid of you. On the contrary, they think you’re too valuable to lose. Your ideas are too good and the public trusts you too much. A temporary suspension is one thing, but they don’t want to lose you permanently. They want to keep you on while they find a way to stop you from caring about Heather.”

“That’s never going to happen.”

“Which is what they’re afraid of,” she said.

“Why are you telling me this?” he asked. “If anyone on the board finds out that you spilled the beans to me, they’re liable to try to make work a nightmare for you. I’d step in to prevent that, of course, but they’d do some damage in the meantime.”

“I’m telling you because you’re my friend,” she said earnestly. “And because the board deciding to run your love life after years of leeching off your hard work without so much as a thank-you pissed me off royally.”

He gave her a grim stare. Telling the board about his feelings for Heather had felt damn good in the moment, but the revelation might have put her in danger. There was no way of knowing exactly what the board was planning without more information. Information he was unlikely to get on his own. “I know it’s a lot to ask, but if they call another secret meeting could you tell me what they say?”

She nodded. “Of course. I’m loyal to you, Simon.”

“I know.” He reached over and patted her shoulder awkwardly. “I couldn’t have survived all these years without you. Thank you, Linda.”

She flashed him a smile. “Does this thank-you extend to me trying to get you and Heather back together?”

“Hell no.” He turned from her and started walking back to her office.

“So, what are you going to tell her?” Linda asked.

Not the truth. At least not all of it, and not yet. If the board was plotting against him to hurt Heather in some way, there was no way she could protect herself. She might have insisted that he stop helping with the investigation into clearing her name, but Heather didn’t have the same kind of power that he did. It was his job to protect her, even from her own stubbornness.

He’d let her work on clearing her name with Linda’s help. The rest he’d do in the shadows and pass it off as Linda’s work. But he’d deal with the board his way. Without telling Heather about it. Because, if he told her, she’d beg him to back off, and that was absolutely not an option. His love for her was already putting her in danger. That was why protecting her was his responsibility no matter what.

Simon sauntered over to Linda’s office door, squaring his shoulders as he prepared himself to talk to Heather. Whatever he was going to tell her now was going to leave out a hell of a lot. He couldn’t tell her he loved her, and because of that he couldn’t tell her that the board was plotting against her. One led to the other, and until he came clean about his feelings he’d have to keep secrets from her. It hurt his heart to have to keep so much hidden from the woman that he loved but focusing on his feelings rather than her safety was selfish.

“Well?” Linda prompted.

He placed his hand on the doorknob, ready to open the door and tell Heather what she needed to hear. “I’ll think of something.”