Goodness Had Nothing to Do With It (14 page)

She pulled back and ran her fingers through blond hair that looked as natural as his own, a habit they both shared when they were agitated. "He's already making noises about getting dis-charged. I want him to stay the night, but he says that as soon as they're done running tests, he wants to leave."

Typical.

She sighed and sat down, patting the seat beside her, which Marcus took without saying anything.

"I was hoping you'd talk to him." She bit her lip. "I need to know he's in the clear. I'll be a nervous wreck if he goes home without even a single day of observation."

Of course she would, She cared about Mark Danvers more than her own pride.

"He's not likely to listen to me."

His mother's still beautiful face settled into a frown. "You are determined not to try with him aren't you? It's been almost twenty years; can't you forgive him?"

He didn't want to have this discussion with her, not right now. She was upset already and he didn't want to make it worse, but he couldn't give her what she wanted. He could not heal the bond his father had broken between the two of them. He didn't even begin to know how.

When he looked at the other man, he saw someone who had maintained two lives, hurting everyone involved for the sake of his own need. He saw a man whose convictions had dismissed the possibility of divorce, but had allowed him to maintain an adulterous relationship for over a decade. Some convictions.

Marcus loved his mother and he tolerated Mark, but he could never truly respect him.

"I'll talk to him," he said, in an effort to avoid the confrontation.

His mother smiled, her relief palpable. "Thankyou. Your brother and sister are on their way, but they have to fly in and who knows when they'll arrive."

He found it interesting that his siblings had experienced much less difficulty adjusting to his mother's role in their lives than he'd had dealing with the marriage between his parents. Probably because they were grown and had moved away from home by the time their mother died and his had taken her place.

Besides, his mother was a loving, generous-hearted woman whom it would be very difficult to dislike. She did not fit anyone's perception of the wordmistress .

He found his father sitting up in the hospital bed when he entered the room. The older man looked as if nothing had happened at all, his dynamic presence apparent even though he was wearing the ridiculous standard hospital gown that usually washed out others.

"So, your mother called you. I'd hoped she would."

"She needed someone to be with her."

"Yes." Mark's eyes were the same color as Marcus's, but that was the only physical characteristic they had in common. "I worried her."

"You need to take better care of yourself." The words just came out.

He'd meant them to imply his mother would be lost without Mark, but his father seemed pleased by his apparent concern for his health.

"I will. More exercise, less fatty foods and less stress appears to be my dictum.."

"Mom wants you to stay the night for observation."

Mark's face set in familiar stubborn lines. "She's a woman. She worries too much, but I'm going home. I'm fine now."

"She won't be if you insist on going."

Mark opened his mouth to speak and Marcus put up his hand.

"I know you care about her. I'm just asking you to show it this once."

Mark's mouth snapped shut.

"You're not the only person affected by your decision, and I think you should take that into account when you make it."

"You don't think I do that much, do you?" Mark asked, his voice surprisingly subdued.

"No, but there's a first time for everything." He wasn't accusing his dad, just stating a fact.

"If you think it's that important to her, I'll stay."

"Good."

His mother entered the room and was thrilled to find out Marcus had convinced his father to stay the night under observation. She wanted to stay with him and Marcus offered to go to the house to be there when his siblings arrived.

He ended up staying all the next day and returning toSeattle after his father had been discharged from the hospital. His half sister had offered to stay a few days and Marcus had felt no guilt leaving his parents in her capable hands.

Veronica put down the phone in frustration.

Marcus wasn't in his cubicle, he hadn't answered the phone at his temporary apartment and Mr. Kline's PA refused to give out any information on his whereabouts.

She needed to get the blackmail stuff out of the way once and for all so she could tell Marcus about Aaron, but he seemed intent on thwarting her. If worried thoughts were deadly, Veronica would be in the county morgue by now. She needed to know what Marcus was going to do about her past.

When she went home that night, she was short-tempered and snapped at Jenny, broke one of Aaron's toys trying to fix it and went to bed in one of the worst moods she'd been in since coming home fromFrance .

Marcus settled into his chair, taking a sip of the bitter coffee he'd just poured from the employee pot located in the small alcove at the end of his and Ronnie's row of cubicles. He grimaced.

She hadn't made the coffee; that was for sure. Ronnie made coffee like she did everything else— extremely well.

He used to tease her and say that the coffee beans were afraid of malfunctioning when such a terrifyingly efficient person had hold of them. She laughed at the time, but now he wondered if that comment, like many others, had hurt her and contributed to her reason for not trusting him even though he'd been her lover.

He'd often joked about her robot-like efficiency. He'd been completely blind and insensitive to the fact that a woman, particularly a woman as passionate as Ronnie, might not like being referred to that way.Was it his fault that she believed he hadn't been interested in knowing anything more about her than how she responded in bed?

He wasn't sure it mattered. Facts were facts. She hadn't trusted him and he couldn't change that. But he wouldn't settle for the same misinterpretation of his motives now. And just as soon as he figured out what they were himself, he'd let her know.

He could no longer pretend he was only interested in solving the case, or even working Ronnie out of his system. His body and his heart wanted her back in his life. He had to decide whether he'd let his mind listen to them, whether he could take a risk on a woman who had already betrayed him once.

Even if her reasons for doing so had been pretty damn potent.

Pushing the thoughts away, he focused on the task at hand and morosely considered the stack of employee personnel files on his desk. He had requested copies of the files on all employees with access to the information that had been leaked over the past six months and he had a list of fifteen suspects, eight in design, six in marketing and one in corporate administration.

Veronica Richards was one of them.

The sound of her gentle voice answering a phone call broke into his thoughts.

With her cubicle only a few feet away from his own, the sensation was not a new one. He couldn't understand the words, but the soft tones of her voice were unmistakable and acted as a reminder of what she'd refused to give him after their date on Monday night. Herself.

Although he was more sexually frustrated than any other time in his life, he was glad she had said no. He couldn't afford to forget his responsibility to his client again and being around her made him do that.

She'd tried to talk to him after he returned from his trip, but he had put her off. He needed time. Time for his investigation and time to digest everything he had learned on Monday night.

No matter how he stacked it, he wasn't willing to accuse Ronnie of the espionage without solid proof, thus the pile of files for him to go through. He couldn't rip her life apart without just cause. He could only hope if he found it, he would have the moral strength to do right by his client.

He wasn't sure anymore and that scared him.

He had to face the fact that he still wanted her to be innocent.

He wanted to believe that she wouldn't betray her loyalty again in order to deal with her current financial problems. The feelings rocketing through him didn't make sense and they filled him with self-disgust, but he would do everything in his power to protect her until he had no choice to do otherwise.

That level of weakness toward a woman who had not only betrayed him, but had trusted her cohort in crime with more truth than her lover frustrated him more than his unrelieved sexual desire.

Cursing under his breath, he pulled the top file toward him and opened it; Ronnie's was on the bottom. He'd told himself that was because he already knew the pertinent facts of her life and work history. He knew she had a past that included corporate spying and selling secrets for money, but she'd also had a sister on the verge of dying.

Taking notes on the possible avenues for investi-gation in the file on another marketing admin, he was interrupted by the gentle tenor of Ronnie's voice.

"Jack wanted me to tell you that he'll meet you at the restaurant for lunch at twelve-thirty. He's running a little behind."

His head snapped up and he met cool gray eyes. She looked like a woman in complete control, like she'd never come anywhere near letting him ravish her unresisting body in the front seat of his Jag.

He casually shut the unmarked file. 'Thanks."

She nodded but didn't turn to leave.

"Was there something else you wanted?"

Her eyes narrowed at his impatient tone.

He couldn't help it. Even knowing that it was impossible, he wanted to yank her down onto the desk and do wicked things to her body. The fantasy had been tormenting him all week and the last thing he needed was to have her actually standing inside his cubicle. Not that she'd come all the way in. She was very careful to maintain her distance in the doorway.

She took a deep breath, pressing her small, firm breasts against the black silk of her severe blouse. "Yes, there is something else."

He unstuck his gaze from the gentle swell revealed by the thin fabric and lifted it to her face. "What?"

She warily stepped into the cubicle. "There's something extremely important I need to tell you, but I don't feel comfortable doing it here." Her voice was barely above a whisper, but firm.

Was she going to admit to the espionage? Had she decided to trust him now, after everything, with her secrets? The thought was as crazy as jumping out of a plane without a parachute. No way.

Then what? Was she going to agree to sleep with him in order to ensure his silence? The thought made him distinctly nauseous. Not only would it be further evidence of her guilt, but the idea that she would come to his bed as the result of blackmail infuriated him.

"Whatever it is, it will have to wait. I'm busy for the rest of the week and over the weekend."

"But—"

"Look, I know you think you need to talk to me, but I can't make the time right now. Maybe next week." He turned as if to dismiss her and was completely unprepared for her next action.

She grabbed his arm with a grip of steel and yanked him back to face her. The maneuver probably wouldn't have worked if he hadn't been sitting in an office chair that swiveled, but he was and it did. His body came around with the chair and he found his gaze level with the chest he'd been eyeing earlier. It heaved in and out with her agitation.

"You listen to me, you arrogant toad. I need to talk to you and I'm not waiting until it's convenient. I didn't sleep at all last night working up the courage and the least you can do is listen."

Somehow being called a toad in such a refined, sweetly sensual voice just didn't carry the sting he was sure she meant it to. She was one sexy woman when she was angry.

He bit back the smile that wanted to let loose at the thought. She might be small, but she looked ready to throttle him, and he didn't want to push her over the edge because it was taking all the self-control he possessed not to just pull the spitting kitten into his lap and silence her in the most fundamental way possible.

"Listen, baby, I know what you're going to say and I just don't want to hear it right now. I've got more important things on my plate at this point in time and a client to satisfy. Your little confidences are going to have to wait."