Page 70 of Hate On

“Sir?”

The mood in the room had taken a decidedly downward turn, but she faced the elder Castle with a determined smile on her pretty face.

She was a Templeton, through and through, Roman thought. They didn’t know the meaning of the wordquit.

“Perhaps you can go into more detail about this possible joint venture. Whether Michael wants in or not, I do.” Charles squeezed his daughter’s hand, then met Roman’s gaze. “It’s possible I could arrange a loan of sorts, for the two of you, as Moira discussed with her family. Ready cash now in exchange for a percentage of the profits in the future. Assuming, of course, I’m part of the deal. I can’t speak for Michael, but I won’t let old history interfere with the here and now.”

Julianna leaned over and hugged her father.

Moira grinned. “Sir, I’d be absolutely delighted to give you more detail.”

* * *

“I guesswe need to start crunching numbers,” Julianna said, wilting in her seat.

She had a look on her face that clearly said she couldn’t believe everything had happened so fast.

Her father was in.

Moira had all but danced her way out of the door a few short minutes ago.

She was going to call her father, she’d told them. One or both of them would be in touch—dinner, maybe?

Roman and Julianna had nodded their agreement and Charles had waved a hand. “Whatever these two want,” he’d said.

Now, his agreeable air was gone and he leaned back in his chair, watching Roman with insightful eyes.

That look made Roman want to squirm in his seat, but he didn’t let himself. He wasn’t some teenaged boy who’d been caught climbing up the side of the house. He wasn’t going to act like one. It was harder than he would have liked to admit.

“Tell me something, Roman,” Charles said, reaching for the coffee sitting in front of him. “Just how long has this thing with my daughter been going on?”

Julianna tensed and shot him a look. “You know?”

He snorted out a laugh. “Of course I know. Think I’ve gone blind? The two of you could hardly keep your eyes off each other during the meeting.”

Julianna practically deflated in her seat and Roman suspected she’d been wondering if her mother had said anything.

“Well?” Charles asked, his voice testy.

“Too long,” Roman admitted, thinking of the months they’d spent keeping it quiet.

“Are we talking weeks? Months?” Charles’ eyes narrowed. “Years?”

“Months.” With a laugh, Roman shook his head. “It was hard enough keeping it quiet for that long, sir. I’ll offer an apology, but I can’t pretend to be remorseful. I don’t have a lick of regret.”

“As long as it wasn’t back when the two of you met in boarding school,” Charles said, waving a hand.

“Boarding school?” Julianna asked.

Roman glanced at her, but she had her eyes on her father.

“Yes. Don’t you remember?” Charles cocked his head, studying his daughter with a smile on his face. “It was one of those times your asthma flared up and it was so bad, you had to be hospitalized. Thank God you grew out of that. Anyway, while you were in the hospital, there was a bad strep infection going throughout the children’s ward and they didn’t want to risk you getting sick. You ended up getting isolated with this boy here. But Michael found out and…well. That was the end of it. You talked about him for weeks after his dad had him moved to a different room. This was the boy who taught you how to play solitaire and he tried to teach you how to play poker.”

Julianna’s lips parted and she slid her eyes toward Roman, the look in her gaze softening.

“Thatwasyou,” she whispered.

He just shrugged. Looking back at her father, he asked, “So you have no problems with us being together?”