Authors: Jayne Castle
"You? In Adam's bed?" Some of the red seeped out of Benson's heavy face.
"She's lying!" Christy found her voice at last. "She came down here to trap Adam into marriage..."
"On the contrary," Janna said with a serene calm she was far from feeling as she forced out the next words. "Adam has made it very clear he doesn't intend to marry me.
"Janna, for God's sake...!" Adam growled for the first time since she had entered the room. "Shut up, woman!"
"Yes, Adam. As soon as Mr. Benson has had the explanation he deserves," Janna responded politely, fetching down cups and saucers from the cupboard.
"Dad! Don't listen to her!" Christy yelped, knowing she had somehow lost the attention of the two men in the room and uncertain how to regain it. "I'm telling you, she..."
"Hush, Christy. There will be plenty of time to explain the details to your poor father," Janna instructed offhandedly. "At the moment, however, Mr. Benson, I think you will be able to sort this matter out to your complete satisfaction if you will consider three factors." "What are they, Miss Courtney?" Frank Benson demanded, ignoring his daughter, whose delicate, pale little, face was twisting into that of an angry, upset child. He was ignoring equally Adam's glowering, very grownup fury which was barely kept in check.
"First, Mr. Benson," Janna began lightly, preparing to pour out the coffee, "ask yourself one thing: Have you ever had cause to doubt Adam's word in the past?"
"Well, no! That's one of the disturbing aspects of the situation, Miss Courtney," Frank Benson muttered disgustedly.
"I have a feeling you are an intelligent and worldly-wise man," Janna observed matter-of-factly. You have obviously come far based on your ability to make your own decisions. You can't have been wrong very often when it came to knowing whom you could trust and whom you couldn't trust in the world of business or you wouldn't be where you are today. Your instinct and your logic have told you that Adam can be trusted when he gives his word, isn't that so?" She looked directly at the older man, refusing to see the expression on Adam's face. At least he had the sense to keep still now, she thought.
Frank Benson nodded slowly. "I have generally been fortunate in that regard," he agreed stiffly.
"Then why don't you ask Adam in a calm, reasonable fashion if he seduced Christy last night?" Janna suggested. "I'm not asking you to make up your mind as to the truth of the situation yet. Merely to ask him; get an answer and file it and your instinctive response to it. We will then go on to the other two facts." She smiled encouragingly as a strained silence settled on the room full of emotional people.
"Dad..." Christy attempted, only to be shushed by a casual flick of her father's hand as he revolved slowly to face Adam.
"I appear to have spent most of the time since my arrival accusing you. Now I'm asking." Benson drew a steadying breath and said very quietly, "Adam, did you seduce my daughter last night or any other night?"
Adam met his business associate's eye in a straight, man-to-man regard. "No."
"I see," Benson sighed, turning again to look at Janna. "Dad, he's lying!" Christy pleaded anxiously. "Quiet, Christy. I want to hear what else Miss Courtney has to say." Frank Benson spoke in a soft voice, but Janna heard buried in it the hint of authority which was undoubtedly a natural part of the man. It was too bad he hadn't displayed it more frequently to his wild daughter. Upon hearing it, however, Christy obeyed, subsiding mutteringly and still clinging to Adam's arm.
"Item number two for your consideration, Mr. Benson, will be more difficult, I'm afraid," Janna said gently. "Please continue."
"Ask yourself if you have ever had cause to suspect that perhaps Christy's youthful and no doubt, vivid imagination has ever led her into giving you less than the total picture."
"In other words, has my daughter ever lied to me?" Benson eyed Janna squarely, letting her know she didn't have to soften the point.
"She is a young person, Mr. Benson. Sometimes it takes a while for our characters to catch up with our physical development," Janna explained kindly. And sometimes character development can be hastened with a properly applied hand to the rear, she added silently, watching father glance over his shoulder at confused and angry daughter. "All I'm suggesting is that you ask her about the truth of last night and then listen to the answer with your business logic and intuition rather than with a father's emotion. I know that will be hard."
All three of them waited for Benson's reaction. He started at Christy a long time and then appeared to make up his mind.
"Tell me the truth about last night, Christy," he finally invited quietly.
"I...I've already told you, Dad..." Christy began tremulously, apparently not wanting the attention she had been trying to regain earlier. Her voice trailed off helplessly as her father stared at her for an instant.
"You're calling Adam a liar?" Frank Benson pressed and Janna could only admire his determination to have the truth when it threatened to be painful. But, she reminded herself, either a yes or a no would be painful. There were no easy ways out of the mess for Frank Benson.
"He's...he's trying to make you feel better by telling you he didn't make love to me," Christy attempted, glancing up at Adam and then quickly away as she spoke. Adam stood solidly, his eyes on Janna as she poured coffee. He appeared to be ignoring the tense scene between father and daughter.
"One more time, Christy," Frank Benson pursued coldly. "Did you sleep with Adam last night?"
"Dad..."
"Christy!" This time Benson's tones carried a hard aggression which Janna suspected Christy had seldom, if ever, heard. It brought an immediate response.
"Not...not exactly..." she breathed, staring at her father with wide blue eyes.
"I see." Without waiting for a further elaboration, Benson looked once more at Janna who smiled reassuringly at him. "I believe my daughter may be approaching the truth more closely," he announced drily. "You said there was a third factor to be considered, however?"
Janna came forward carrying a tray with two cups of coffee, cream and sugar.
"There is one more thing," she agreed, setting down the tray on a low table and beginning to stir sugar into one of the cups. "I would ask you to consider which woman looks more at home here." She picked up the cup and saucer and handed it to Frank Benson, meeting his eyes directly. "Your daughter, sir, doesn't even know where the coffee is stored. I, on the other hand, have already cooked more than one meal in that kitchen. I assure you, Mr. Benson, that as much as I love Adam, I would not share his kitchen with another woman!"
Without waiting for Benson's response, she poured cream into the second cup, stirred it gently and then straightened to hand it to Adam who accepted it, shaking off Christy's arm in the process as if he had never been aware of the clinging hand. For an instant their gazes locked and Janna saw the beginning of humor deep in the grey eyes although the hard mouth stayed very straight and firm. Some other emotion flickered there, too. A warm, strong emotion which made her lower her eyes as Adam lifted the cup and took a sip of coffee.
"Perhaps you would assist Christy in getting dressed," Adam suggested coolly, "while Frank and I finish this discussion?"
"Yes, Adam," Janna said demurely, more than happy to be able to turn the initiative over to him. She placed a firm hand on Christy's upper arm and pulled the now-tearful girl across the floor toward the hall.
"Come, Christy, dear. Take a bit of advice from an older woman. Never, ever allow yourself to be the only one found undressed in mixed company at this hour of the morning. It can only work to your disadvantage! And another thing you should learn from this little episode. As stubborn, bullheaded and annoying as men can be at times, they are not altogether stupid!"
"I have an idea poor Christy is going to be in for a rough time of it," Janna remarked as she stood beside Adam and watched the Benson car pull out of the narrow drive.
"She will if Benson takes even a portion of my advice!" Adam agreed, his arm around Janna's shoulders tightening as he turned to guide her back inside the house.
"I suppose you told him he ought to beat her," Janna sighed, shaking her head over what she was sure had been Adam's approach to handling wayward females. "She's a bit old for being spanked, you know!"
"No woman is too old to be turned over a man's knee when the occasion calls for it!" Adam observed with great depth of feeling as he held the door for her. "Not Christy; not you!"
"Me!"
"Yes, you, Janna Courtney! What the hell was the idea of giving one of my closest business associates the idea that you're my mistress?" Adam demanded.
"Thanks for the gratitude!" she flung at him, confronting his massiveness in the tiled foyer. "If it hadn't been for me you'd still be trying to talk your way out of that disaster!" Hands on her hips, Janna glared up at him, eyes narrowed under lowered brows. "As I recall, your comment last night when I tried to warn you was that the girl considered you a father figure. How long has it been since you were that wrong about someone, Adam Halleck? Probably as long as it's been since Frank Benson was so off-base in his judgments! The two of you were completely at that 'child's' mercy and as far as I could see drastic action was called for!"
"Not quite as drastic as you puttering around making coffee and acting the sophisticated, woman of the world!" Adam tossed back, obviously stung by her accusations of bad judgment.
"Well?" she challenged forcefully, "what would you have had me do? Rush into the room and cry while I clung to your other arm? Besides, you've made it plain it's only a matter of time before I will be your...your mistress...!" Why was the word so hard to say? She loved Adam, didn't she? And it wasn't as if she would have to share him with the Christys of the world. Whatever his faults, she knew he wouldn't be unfaithful as long as she lived with him as his woman. With so much basic trust between them, surely they would be able to build something more solid, janna blinked back a tear, refusing to admit how much she wanted to be married to this man. How much she wanted to create a real home...
Instead of responding to her heated statement about becoming his mistress, Adam hesitated, glowering as he appeared to search her frowning features.
"Can I take it by your actions this morning and your comment just now that you still feel the same way you did last night when I packed you off to bed the first time?" he suddenly asked very quietly.
"Isn't it obvious?" she grumbled, the breath catching slightly in her throat but she met his eyes bravely, knowing her love for him must be painfully clear.
"Tell me that you love me, Janna, my little queen," he ordered still in the quiet tones. He put one large finger under her chin to better view her eyes while she made her confession.
"I love you, Adam" she whispered honestly, her voice steady in spite of the trembling she felt in her limbs. "I think I have from the beginning, but I refused to admit it. You were so domineering and arrogant I told myself it didn't matter how much I misled you. Somebody needed to take you down a peg!" Janna gulped and went on determinedly. "But I think I knew, even then, you'd come out the victor." She tried a shaky little smile. "The first thing I said to Nat when I saw you in that restaurant where we met was that the famous plan was never going to work!"
"But you went ahead and tried it anyway," he reminded her grimly, not releasing her imprisoned chin or freeing the lock he had on her eyes.
"I was committed at that point," she explained gently. "I couldn't back out and besides, I still felt it was a good cause! I thought you really would tear poor Lucy apart."
"We'll never know how I would have treated 'poor Lucy', will we?" The corner of Adam's mouth twisted in a hint of humor. "By the time I finally met her my focus of attention had shifted completely. I was so damn grateful she was the one marrying Nat that nothing else mattered. I wanted you and I was furious beyond reason when I thought you were the bride Saturday morning. I couldn't believe you didn't realize that you were meant for me. When I saw you standing in front of the church holding those flowers and looking as if you were about to become a bride I think I went a little mad."
"Didn't you even notice that there were several of us dressed in yellow and another woman standing on the steps who was dressed in a white gown and veil?" Janna asked with a touch of tartness as she remembered those painful few minutes in front of the church.
"No," he retorted. "You were the one for whom I was searching when I arrived and you were the first one I saw. It occurred to me that when you realized I had come for you, you'd run off, but, typically, you charged straight at me like the royal little thing you are! You came very close to catastrophe then, Janna. Did you know just how close?" he asked on an almost whimsical note.
"Wh...what would you have done if Lucy hadn't stepped in and rescued me?" she inquired earnestly, remembering the fear she had experienced.
"Tossed you in the car and driven off to some reasonably quiet location where I could have demonstrated the depths of my feelings on the subject of you marrying another man!" he responded drily, dropping his hand from her chin but maintaining his hold on her eyes. "The whole scene," he added warningly, "would have been extremely painful for you!"