Todd raised one eyebrow and glared at him. “With your wife, maybe?”

Cole just shook his head, giving up on the effort of convincing Todd about the facts of their marriage. When Cole stepped across the room to pull down several coffee mugs, he noticed the faint blush on Darci’s cheeks. He couldn’t resist reaching out to trace the pink tinge, and his touch raised her color another notch.

He smiled, satisfied that at least she was as frustrated as he was. It was a small consolation, but he knew he wasn’t trapped alone in this tangle of unfulfilled desire.

“After the meeting, there’s someone special I want you to meet.” Darci tossed a questioning glance at him, but didn’t pursue her curiosity.

“You mean you’re finally going—”

For once Todd was silenced with a glare. He snorted his disgust, grabbed a cup of coffee with a mumbled thanks and headed for the shower.

Cole poured himself a cup of coffee and turned away from the woman he wanted more than the air he needed to breathe. “I’ll be ready to go in a few minutes. Or as soon as I can pry Todd from the shower.”

“Cole.”

The hesitant quality of her voice made him pause, almost dread to turn around.

“I’m going to leave for the office now. Do you think Todd could drop you by when you’re ready to come in?”

He struggled against the feeling of being shut out, knowing that wasn’t Darci’s intention. “I guess so, yeah.”

“I…need to be in my office alone for a while. Hopefully it will help me collect my thoughts before the board meets.”

His gut wrenched, and he wished he could make everything work out for her, wave his magic wand or something. “Are you sure?”

She looked at him, her green eyes stormy, troubled. “I need to prepare myself for any possibility.”

He could see it in her eyes. She needed time to say goodbye, to let go of her legacy. “Darci, don’t.”

“I have to, Cole. You know as well as I do that the odds are against us. The board wanted to remove me as president at their last quarterly meeting, but I convinced them to give me a little more time.”

“How can they expect you to work miracles if they don’t allow you to change anything?” He clutched the mug so tightly he was afraid it would shatter. Maybe that would be good, maybe it would release something in him, something that wanted to knock some sense into someone.

Her smile was tired, drawn. “I’ll see you at the office.” She moved to step past him.

He halted her, searching her face for something, anything. With his thumb, he gently smoothed the dark circles under her eyes. “You haven’t gotten much sleep since I’ve barged into your life, have you.”