“Not at all.” General manager Darby Hogue stood and offered his hand across the table. His brown eyes were as warm as his palm. “How are you doing?”
“Better.” Which wasn’t necessarily true. She missed Virgil every day, and there was a large hole in her heart. “Thank you for asking.”
Darby reintroduced everyone in the room, starting with executive management, continuing around the table to include the hockey operations staff and concluding with the big captain of the Chinooks sitting at the far end of the table. Roughly eight men and her. Some of them more rough than others. Or rather,
one more rough than the others.
The last time she’d seen Ty Savage, he’d appeared more civilized, in his designer suit. Today his volatile blue-on-blue eyes looked across at her from beneath his black brows, and he didn’t look civilized at all. His arms were folded across his muscular chest covered in a white T-shirt. The words “Chinooks Hockey” were printed in black up one of the long sleeves. It was just after noon and he already sported a five-o’clock shadow. “Hello, Mr. Savage.” Why the captain of the team needed to be in on the meeting, she didn’t know. Although she supposed it didn’t matter.
One corner of his mouth lifted, like she’d amused him. “Mrs. Duffy.”
She set her clutch on the table and took off her coat. One of the coaches rose and helped her. “Thank you,” she said as he hung it on the back of her chair. She pulled down the long sleeves of her cream angora sweater to cover her wrists and directed her attention to the faces around her. “My late husband loved this organization. He loved hockey and used to talk about trades and averages against and front-end deals. I’d listen to him for hours, but I never had any idea what he was talking about.”
She smoothed the back of her skirt and sat. “That’s why I’ve decided to sell the team to someone who has the same passion for the game as Virgil.” A lump formed in her throat and she wondered yet again if she was doing the right thing. She wished she were certain. “A half hour ago, Landon Duffy signed a letter of intent to buy the franchise.” She expected applause. Something. She looked across at the table for some sign of relief, but oddly, she didn’t see any. “When the sale is final, we’ll hold a press conference.”
“When will that be?” Coach Nystrom asked.
“A few weeks.” She folded her hands on the table in front of her. “Landon assures us that nothing will change.”
Someone farther down the table said, “We heard he’s thinking of moving the team.”
Faith had not heard that. If it happened, Virgil would roll over in his grave. “When did you hear this?”
“I got a call this morning from Sports Center asking to confirm it.”
“He didn’t mention it, so I assume he plans to leave the team here in Seattle.” She shook her head. “Why would he move the team?”
“Money,” Darby explained. “We’re still recovering from the lockout, and another city might offer him a new stadium with better concession deals and lower labor costs. A new city might give him more lucrative television contracts and better tax incentives.”
A frown creased Faith’s forehead and she sat back in her chair. She knew about the 2004–2005 NHL lockout. She and Virgil had been married a short time, and she remembered him flying off to meet with the players union, and the impasse that had resulted in the cancellation of the entire hockey season. She remembered a lot of swearing. Much worse than she’d ever heard in any strip club.
The door to the conference room opened and Landon entered, followed by two lawyers. She wasn’t all that surprised to see him. “Have you finished telling them the good news?” he asked, all smiles, as if he were an avenging angel sent to save the Chinooks from her clutches.
She stood. “We’re still discussing the details.”
“I’ll take over from here,” he said, sounding like the CEO that he was in his four-thousand-dollar suit.
“You don’t own the team yet, Landon. I don’t believe you can legally discuss anything.”
He waved his hand, dismissing her. “Run along.”
She felt her cheeks flush. From anger or embarrassment, she didn’t know. Maybe both. She stood a little straighter and squared her shoulders. “If you want to talk to the coaches and staff, you’ll have to wait outside until we’re finished.”
His smile fell. “Like hell, Layla.”
No maybes about it now. She was both mad and embarrassed. To call her Layla in the lawyers’ offices had been bad enough, but here in a room filled with these men was far worse. He meant it to be degrading. To remind all the men in the room of her former profession. If Virgil were alive, Landon wouldn’t have been so openly disrespectful. Not in public, anyway. Now he felt free to publicly insult her. “I said wait outside.” Then she smiled and used the nickname he hated, “Sprout.” She didn’t know why he
hated his nickname so much. “Sprout” was kind of cute, and lots of kids had gone through adolescence called far worse.
Apparently Landon didn’t think so, and his icy gaze got all frosty again and he took a step toward her. “For five years I’ve been forced to tolerate you,” he said as a vein on his forehead popped out. “Not anymore. If you don’t leave, I’ll have security take you out with the rest of the trash.”
Anger clutched her stomach and burned her cheek, and before she gave it a thought, she opened her mouth and said, “I’ve changed my mind. I’m not selling the team. I’m keeping it.”
Landon stopped dead in his tracks. “You can’t do that.”
Momentarily satisfied at her power to slap him down, she smiled. “I can do whatever I want. And what I want is to keep the team your father gave me.” God, she wanted to hurt him. To call him names and spit in his face. To give him a good hard knee between the legs. In another life she would not have hesitated, but Mrs. Duffy did not knee men in the nuts. Virgil had taught her that. “Stay away from my hockey team.”
He took a few more steps and reached for her. Before she could react, a big body stepped in front of her and she was suddenly staring at a wide back and white cotton T-shirt.