Inescapable Eye of the Storm by Sarah O'Rourke

Prologue
    Leaning against the steel wall behind
him, Colin Storm felt the demons of his past taunting him in the confined
space.
    Why the hell had he insisted that his
beautiful Chief Operating Officer join him on this so-called business
trip?  He could have handled the merger with Hastings & Company
alone.  After all, he’d done all the legwork on this venture, purposefully
keeping his motives from all but a chosen few.
     Obtaining Hastings & Company
had been the sole mission in his life for the past six months.  Destroying
the company of the man that had singlehandedly torpedoed his marriage had been
a goal that had nearly consumed his every waking moment, but watching Taggert
Hastings’ face today when recognition had flashed behind his hooded grey eyes
had made the effort worth the cost paid.
    Colin had to admit that Hadley McGovern Storm
had painted him in an exceedingly unsavory light during their ugly, public
divorce.  Accusations of desertion and abandonment had been bandied about
with startling frequency.  She’d attacked his reputation with a ferocity he’d
never thought her capable, making him appear to be a cold, unfeeling monster
that had used her for sex on demand and as a brood mare.
     And yet, in spite of the shocking
disgust that now filled him, he still loved her.  Almost twenty years of
marriage and a beautiful son had made it impossible for him to turn off the
emotion.  God knew, he’d tried to stop himself.  Hadley had done
everything short of writing him a message in the sky to convey to him that
whatever feelings she might have once possessed were gone now.   
     Colin might not have been able to
punish the woman that had ravaged his heart, but he’d taken down the guy that
had instigated the affair that had mangled his marriage.  That would have
to be enough.
    He could only hope.
     The fact that he’d brought the
self-contained Abigail Donavan to witness the feat wasn’t something Colin was
particularly proud of doing.  For some reason, he’d just felt the need to
illustrate to her just how far he’d go if he was pushed.  Perhaps he was
trying to warn her.  Or maybe he just needed her to see him as a dominant
male willing to go to any lengths to prove his superiority.
      “Colin?” Abigail murmured softly,
lifting one dark brow as she eyed the man standing beside her.  “Are you
alright?”
     Hearing the husky cultured voice
of his companion, Colin turned his head toward the sound.  Feeling his
body automatically tighten in response to her words, he ruefully admitted that
while his ex-wife might still have a claim on his heart, this woman beside him
definitely affected his libido.
     Thank God Hadley hadn’t
eviscerated everything inside him.
     “Fine,” Colin replied evenly, his
eyes lifting to the lighted numbers above the sliding steel doors when the
elevator seemed to falter beneath their feet.  “The storm must be
affecting the electricity,” he noted when the numbers seemed to dim for a moment
and the fluorescent lights briefly flashed on and off inside the car.
     “Great,” Abigail muttered under
her breath.  Inwardly cursing the soaring temperatures and the muggy heat,
Abigail blew a strand of dark hair that was plastered to her forehead out of her
eyes.  The humid weather had assured her that her hair was a categorical
mess that no amount of mousse or hair spray could help.   
    Abigail wouldn’t have categorized
herself as one of those women that was always concerned about her
appearance.   She simply recognized the power of a first
impression….how could she not, considering the field she had chosen? 
Advertising was based on appearances and creating the perfect illusion. 
And since the world was powered by the visions of so-called beauty, she’d been
forced to conform.   She had promptly taken advantage of the wisdom
of an image consultant early in her career who had given her valuable advice
regarding the tools of the trade, so to