by Lucy Monroe
Goodness Had Nothing To Do With It
By
Lucy Monroe
Marcus pushed away from the balcony wall and came toward her, stopping less than a foot away.
Reaching out, he tugged her face toward him with a blunt finger angled against her chin. "You're frightened of water. You're nervous about heights. You're terrified of me. Is there anything you aren't afraid of?"
She opened her mouth to speak, but one look into his mesmerizing blue eyes and she couldn't remember the question. "Wh-what?"
He smiled, his eyes going the color of theCaribbean Sea just before sunset. "Never mind. It's not important."
He started lowering his head. His lips were centimeters from her own when his earlier words came back to her.
In a desperate attempt to head off his kiss, she blurted, "I'm not afraid of water and I'm not terrified of you."
She was terrified of what he made her feel.
ZEBRA BOOKS are published by
Kensington Publishing Corp.
Third Avenue
New York,NY10022
Copyright © 2005 by Lucy Monroe
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any means without the prior written consent of the Publisher, excepting brief quotes used in reviews.
If you purchased this book without a cover you should be aware that this book is stolen property. It was reported as "unsold and destroyed" to the Publisher and neither the Author nor the Publisher has received any payment for this "stripped book."
All Kensington titles, imprints, and distributed lines are available at special quantity discounts for bulk purchases for sales promotion, premiums, fund-raising, educational, or institutional use.
Special book excerpts or customized printings can also be created to fit specific needs. For details, write or phone the office of the Kensington Special Sales Manager: Attn. Special Sales Department, Kensington Publishing Corp.,850 Third Avenue,New York,NY10022. Phone: 1-800-221-2647.
Zebra and the Z logo Reg. U.S. Pat. & TM Off.
ISBN 0-8217-7771-8
First Printing: December 2005
10 987654321
Printed in theUnited States of America
For my dear friend and generous mentor
Theresa Scott,
a writer of talent and peaceful nature who blesses all those she knows.
Chapter One
Marcus Danvers hadn't had sex in eighteen months, two weeks and three days.
And a mere fifteen feet away stood the reason. Primal recognition roared through him as his nostrils widened, as if to catch her scent, while his body went taut and hard in places that had plagued him since her disappearance a year and a half ago.
Her slight body bent toward the marketing director of Kline Technology, and she leaned against the front of the man's desk, talking to him in a low voice. A voice that had haunted Marcus's dreams. The voice of the only woman he had ever considered making a permanent commitment to.
Veronica Richards.
She bent forward to pick up a stack of papers and silky brown strands swayed against her averted cheek. The blunt cut that ended just below her chin surprised him. A year and a half ago her hair had hit the middle of her back when it was down, although he hadn't discovered that fact until the first time they'd kissed.
She had kept a scrupulously buttoned-up appearance in CIS's office, which included wearing her hair in a severe twist on the back of her head. Her black-framed glasses, which somehow enhanced her soft gray eyes, had added to the picture.
She hadn't been buttoned-up when he touched her, though. She'd been full of shy passion and innocent ardor.
He'd worked with her for three years, assuming the ruthlessly efficient secretary had coolant rather than blood running through her veins. It had shocked him to discover otherwise… almost as much as learning that she had sold out his company's corporate secrets before skipping town.
His hand curled into a fist at his side. He wanted to stride across the distance separating them, grab her by the shoulders and spin her around to face him before demanding an explanation for the inexplicable.
She hadn't just betrayed her company; she'd betrayed her lover and he wanted to know why.
The one-word question had played in the back of his mind for the past eighteen months: why? Why after three years of being the perfect secretary, loyal in every way, had she sold information that soured a deal for CIS? Why after being his lover for two months had she left without so much as a goodbye?
Instead of acting on his almost overwhelming impulse to demand some answers, Marcus forced himself to turn to his client. George Kline, the president and owner of Kline Technology, had hired
Marcus to find an in-house mole. "You wanted to introduce me to the marketing director?"
"Yes." Kline nodded his gray head, the movement decisive. "His team and the project lead teams are the only ones with the kind of advance knowledge the person we're looking for has been leaking."
Ronnie turned slightly and Marcus saw that she still wore the black-framed glasses. Typically, her white shirt was buttoned up to her neck and tucked into a neat gray skirt. She looked prim and cool, not at all like the sort of woman who would sell out her boss and lover.
With a churning in his gut, he realized his investigation had probably just been made very simple.
"You said there are five people on the marketing team with access to the information that has been leaking."
"Yes," Kline replied, his green eyes lit with keen intelligence. "The department is a little over twice that size, but only my top people have open access to all our product information, including design team stats."
Marcus fixed his gaze on Ronnie's profile and asked, "Did you include admins in that number?"
Kline frowned and swore. "No. I didn't even think about our departmental administrative assistants. They've got access to everything."
"How many are there?"
Kline was briefly silent. "Marketing has three, the project design team has one and the sustaining team has two, but only one would be working with he engineers assigned to each product's launch."
"Is she one of them?" Marcus pointed to Ronnie, who had turned toward them, giving him his first full view of her face.
Kline gave him a speculative look. "That's Veronica Richards, one of the marketing admins. Came to work for us about six months ago. She has unhindered access to pretty much everything."
Kline's voice faded in Marcus's mind as his gaze clashed with Ronnie's.
He tried to maintain a detached air as he watched her react to his presence. He waited for first the recognition and then the shock to register. His company, CIS, had its headquarters inPortland and she'd left before he and his partner, Alex, branched out into corporate investigations. She probably thought she was safe in the anonymity of the larger city ofSeattle , a good four hours north ofPortland and across a state border.
As her gaze settled on him, recognition widened her eyes instantly. Soft lips that he had once kissed with incredible hunger parted as all color drained from the patrician features of her face. She swayed slightly, her mouth forming one word. He thought it was his name. She looked ready to faint. He cursed silently even as his feet pulled him forward against his will to come to her aid.
Kline reached her first. "Good afternoon, Veronica. I'd like you to meet Marcus Danvers. I've hired his firm to do some consulting for Kline Tech."
As Marcus listened to Kline give the cover story they had agreed upon to explain his presence, he couldn't help wondering how the older man could be oblivious to Ronnie's distress. Didn't he see the way her body had tensed? Didn't he notice the short
little breaths that indicated her anxiety? Was he so blind that he saw only her face, schooled into an emotionless mask?
"We're looking at expansion?" Ronnie asked, her usually well-modulated tones tight with stress.
"Maybe," Marcus's client responded noncommittally.
Marcus turned his attention from her to Kline. "I think there's something you should know."
"Marcus…" His name came out like a plea.
He ignored it. No doubt she was afraid he would tell Kline about her betrayal at CIS, She didn't need to worry. Not yet. He wasn't ready to do that. If she was not guilty of the espionage he'd been hired to investigate, he didn't want Kline jumping to the conclusion she was and dropping the investigation, leaving himself vulnerable to the real culprit.
Besides, Marcus didn't think it would take him very long to find out if Ronnie was up to her old tricks.
"Veronica and I already know each other. She worked for CIS for a few years. She's very familiar with our information services to investment clients." He hoped Kline would pick up on his hint hat Ronnie didn't know about CIS's corporate investigation activities.
Intelligent enough to build a garage business into a multi-million-dollar company, Kline got the message and the slightly panicked expression in his eyes faded. "I see. Then she'll be the ideal conflict for you here at Kline Tech."
Turning with a swift movement, Marcus caught
Ronnie's reaction to Kline's suggestion. If she'd looked pale before, she looked green now.
She shook her head frantically, her almost abnormal control nowhere in evidence. "No."
Kline's gray brows drew together and his green eyes narrowed dangerously. "No?"
Ronnie's mouth opened and then closed without anything coming out. Her gaze skittered to Marcus and then away again.
"Do you have a problem working with Marcus?" Kline asked, his expression still grim.
Marcus could almost pity Ronnie, having to stand under that intimidating scrutiny. Almost. If a corporate spy deserved pity.
She made a visible effort to pull herself together. "It's just that I'm so busy right now with the new product marketing research for Cougar, I'm sure there's someone more appropriate to work with Mr. Danvers regarding investment strategies."
"On the contrary, I prefer having someone I know answer questions and point me to the right people. Besides, you already know how I work. That makes you a valuable resource." Marcus waited to see if she could wriggle out of that.
Her gaze flew to his and for a second he read hope in her eyes before it faded to wariness. "If that is what you wish."
He smiled, knowing that it did not reach his eyes. "It is. It definitely is."
"It's settled then. Veronica, you can begin by introducing Marcus around the marketing department. I've got some urgent things needing attention on my desk." Kline once again sounded like someone's jovial grandfather, all steely determina-tion gone from his expression now that he had gotten his employee's compliance.
Kline walked away and Ronnie stood staring after him in complete silence for a full minute before Marcus spoke.
"It's been a long time, Ronnie."
Her head whipped up. "Don't.. ." She took a deep breath and expelled it slowly. "Don't call me that. Please."
"Why not?" he asked, with mockery, wondering at the pleading in her voice. If he didn't know better, he would think she was vulnerable to him. But she'd proved she wasn't when she disappeared without a backward glance. "It's your name."
Or at least the name he'd given her when their relationship had turned intimate.
"My name is Veronica. No one but you has ever called me Ronnie. I don't… I don't like it."
He wondered at her hesitation but chose to ignore it. "Ido like it. It suits you, or at least it suits the woman I know you to be." Actually Benedict, as in Benedict Arnold, suited the woman he really knew.
She turned pale again and he almost felt guilty for baiting her.
Then her eyes narrowed and she said, 'You don't know me, not the real me, and you never did."
He couldn't argue with her. Obviously he hadn't known her, or he would have realized what kind of betrayal she was capable of. 'You're supposed to be introducing me around. We can save rehashing old times for later."
Her hand fluttered to her throat and she couldn't hide the panic his words caused her. Every second he spent in her company convinced him more firmly of her guilt. She acted like a woman terrified of being caught doing something wrong. Then again, maybe she was just afraid her past had caught up with her. Maybe.
And maybe she had found a pretty lucrative deal here at Kline Technology selling secrets to Kline's competitors. Was she afraid the gravy train was about to end?
Marcus didn't know, but that's what he'd been hired to find out and he was damn good at his job.
A bizarre dream. This had to be some kind of really bad, really weird dream. Marcus could not possibly be here at Kline Technology, his eyes cold and hard, every speck of affection she'd once tried to imagine in his gaze wiped clear.
What horrible act ofProvidence had led George Kline to hire CIS as consultants on expansion?Yeah, right , Veronica's mind taunted her,like you don't want to see him again. Like you haven't ached for his touch every single day since you left Portland .
How many times since returning fromFrance had she gotten in the car and considered driving the almost four hours south on I-5 just so she could see him? How often had she daydreamed of hiding behind a bush outside his condo complex to catch one teeny-tiny glimpse of the golden-haired man she'd loved, the man she'd left?
She never fantasized about talking to him. Her imagination didn't stretch that far.
She'd betrayed him and he would never understand or forgive that. Maybe if he had loved her, she could have explained. But then if he had loved her, she would have gone to him and begged for his help with her problems. But their relationship had been based strictly on lust, at least on his part. He had made that very clear the first time they made love. No ties. No commitments.
Her reasons for doing what she'd done had centered on some very heavy commitments, responsibilities she couldn't walk away from… even if it meant losing the man she loved. And it had.
She tamped down the feeling of giddy joy bubbling up inside at his presence. It wasn't difficult, not when an almost overwhelming terror that he would learn her secret or expose her past had welled up to take its place.
She couldn't afford to lose this job. She needed the money and benefits to take care of her family. A family Marcus knew nothing about. He hadn't wanted to know the real Veronica Richards when they were lovers and she doubted that had changed in the past eighteen months.
In fact, he undoubtedly had even less desire to do so now. Because now he believed her to be a woman without honor, someone who would sell her loyalty to the highest bidder.
She gripped the report she held more tightly, hugging it to her like a shield. "Come this way and I'll introduce you to Jack. He's the director of marketing. He can give you a tour of the department and introduce you to the others."
Mockery burned in Marcus's blue eyes as he shook his head. "Oh, no, Ronnie. I don't think so. Kline assigned you the job of being my liaison and I intend to keep you to it."
Less than two years ago she had found the way his six-foot, two-inch frame towered over her own five feet, four inches exciting. She'd be lying to herself if she pretended it didn't have the same effect now, but the dread-filled panic skating along her nerve endings overshadowed even her body's usually overwhelming reaction to Marcus.What was she going to do ?
She stepped back two paces and shrugged with what she hoped was cool indifference, "I'm aware that my boss insisted I accompany you around, but I assumed with our past history you would prefer a different escort. If that is not the case, then I will of course follow through on Mr. Kline's instructions."
Marcus's white teeth gleamed in his tanned face. She knew the tan was real and not from a tanning bed. He
loved the outdoors and the well-defined muscles under his brightly colored shirt testified to an active lifestyle. The tacky Hawaiian shirt was his idea of self-expression.
He gave her a wolfs grin when he noticed the direction her gaze had taken. "Then, let's go meet Jack."
She nodded once, forcing herself to look at something besides his overly tantalizing body. She had a lot of practice doing that. She'd spent nearly three years as the invisible woman while he paraded through the office with a bevy of beautiful bimbos hanging on his arm.