by Lucy Monroe
She turned to lead the way to her supervisor's desk. When they reached Jack, he was on the phone. Though she had left several feet of space between her and Marcus, she found herself mere inches from his towering frame. The smell of his aftershave wrapped itself around her and she wanted to bolt, running from the memories it elicited.
Memories of the only passion she had ever known.
She tried to move away unobtrusively. It didn't do any good. He just followed her.
"What's the matter, Ronnie? Do I make you nervous?"
He'd used almost identical words to begin a flirtation with her at CIS. The flirtation had grown into something more and she had discovered a passionate streak in her nature she had never suspected. That he would be the one to bring out her woman's desires hadn't surprised her. After all, she had loved him since practically her first day at CIS.
What had surprised her, astounded her even, had been the fact that he had shared her physical reaction, if not her love. He'd wanted her and Heaven help her, she'd been unable to protect herself.
A twenty-three-year-old virgin, she'd fallen completely under his spell and given him more than her body. She'd given him her heart. He didn't know that, of course. He assumed she was as uninvolved emotionally as he was. She wished with all her tattered heart that had been true. Then leaving wouldn't have hurt so much.
His words did not seem flirtatious now. His tone was much too menacing for flirtation. Was he playing some kind of cat-and-mouse game? Heaven new Marcus would believe she deserved to be tortured a little after what she'd done to CIS. She didn't harbor any illusions that she'd hurt him personally. He'd lost nothing more than a convenient bed partner, but CIS's reputation had suffered and for that he would never forgive her.
She saw no reason to hide the truth. It was obvious to him anyway. "Yes. You make me nervous. You have the power to destroy my life and you know it. I can only wonder why you haven't already said something to Mr. Kline."
Marcus's eyes widened at her honesty and he opened his mouth to answer, but Jack hung up his phone and turned his attention to them. "Veronica, did you need something more on that report?"
"No, Jack. I want to introduce you to someone." She indicated Marcus with her hand. "This is Marcus Danvers. Mr. Kline has hired his firm to do some consulting on possible expansion for Kline Technology."
She tilted her head so that she could meet Marcus's eyes. 'This is Jack Branson, head of our marketing department."
Jack's freckled face creased with a charming smile and he extended his hand. "Marcus, it's a pleasure to meet you."
Marcus shook the other man's hand. "I bet you've got some ideas about the direction Kline should take in expansion."
Jack nodded his red head enthusiastically. "You bet I do. Maybe we can talk about them over lunch sometime this week."
Marcus made a noncommittal sound, but she didn't doubt he'd eat with Jack and listen to his ideas. Her supervisor could charm the tail off a rattlesnake. She ought to know. He'd turned that charm on her a time or two, looking for a date. It might have worked too, but her heart appeared to be stuck on one track… that of loving Marcus.
More the fool, her.
Besides, she had responsibilities at home, commitments that made a casual dating relationship almost impossible.
Marcus and Jack chatted for a few minutes before her supervisor got another call, and she led Marcus to the next cubicle in order to introduce him to one of the technical marketing people. It took her almost an hour to acquaint him with the entire marketing staff. With his easy humor, he made several conquests among the women in the department.
She worked hard at stifling any feelings of jealousy his flirtatious manner caused, but relief filled her when she saw that it was almostfive o'clock and he had met the last member of her department. "I've got some things to finish before I can head home. I'm sure Mr. Kline is expecting you back in his office now that you've met the staff."
Marcus nodded, his hair shining gold in the fluorescent lights. Relieved that he'd taken his dismissal so easily, she turned to go. He put his hand out to stop her. His touch electrified her and she froze in place although his fingers rested only lightly on her shoulder.
"Have dinner with me tonight."
Shock slammed through her. "Why?" she croaked.
"We have things to talk about."
She shook her head. He was right, but she didn't want to talk about those things now. She couldn't. "No."
"Yes."
She stared at him, mute with a combination of longing and fear that paralyzed her mind and vocal cords. Finally she was able to force one word from her dry mouth. "What?"
"There's the little matter of your history as a corporate spy that I didn't share with Kline."
The statement sounded like a threat and she reacted to it as such. Terror washed over her, unadulterated fear that her efforts to rebuild her life would end up a heap of crushed rubble around her.
"I can't."
His eyes narrowed as his hand dropped away from her. "Why? Do you have a date already?"
She shook her head. Not unless she counted her nightly commitment to care for her baby son.
"Whatever it is, cancel it."
"I can't do that," Motherhood wasn't something you cancelled when the mood suited you.
She'd learned that the year both her parents died in a boating accident, leaving her sole provider for and caregiver of her younger sister.
"Can you afford not to? Don't you want to know if I plan to tell Kline about your little act of betrayal at CIS?"
Her heart constricted in her chest. "Are you going to?"
"It depends."
"On what?"
"On what you say over dinner."
He had her over a barrel and he knew it.
"I'll meet you at seven." She named a little seafood restaurant that overlooked the sound in westSeattle . She'd have to ask Jenny to watch Aaron. She just hoped her sister didn't have plans.
Marcus's eyes gleamed azure with triumph and she had a strong urge to wipe that smug look right off his face. He was so confident of his power over her, just as he'd been eighteen months ago.
All she'd have to do to send his arrogant humor on a trip south would be to tell him about Aaron.
Mr. No-strings-no-commitments would fall down in a dead faint to discover he was a father.
Chapter Two
"So, what's the story with you and my marketing admin?"
Marcus leaned back on the black leather couch in Kline's plush corner office.
Huge windows revealedSeattle 's skyline against the backdrop of gray ocean waters. He let his gaze settle on the view for several seconds before answering. He found well-timed silences an effective technique for gaining the advantage in a conversation. Something he'd learned from his former boss and current partner, Alex Trahern.
"I told you she worked for us at CIS a couple of years ago."
Kline grinned, his expression both amused and pitying. "I see. Do you look at all your former employees with the possessiveness of a jealous lover?"
What the hell was Kline talking about?
If Marcus had worn any particular expression when looking at Ronnie, it would have been dis-gust, not possessiveness. He'd been pretty darn sure his face hadn't shown any telltale expression at all, though. Kline had to be guessing at a past relationship.
Marcus decided to brush off the older man's comment with a shrug. "Maybe."
"Why did she leave CIS?"
"I don't know."
It was the truth. He didn't know why she'd sold out her company toHarrison and he could only guess at why she'd left town without bothering to say good-bye.
He didn't feel guilty for not telling Kline the whole story. He was doing it for the man's own good. He'd learned early on when they opened the corporate investigations side of CIS not to share too much information with a client. It had a way of backfiring on him and his investigation, which he didn't like.
He'd develop
ed a policy of telling as little as possible until heknew the answer.
"I got the impression you wanted to keep tabs on her, that maybe there was some unfinished business between you two."
Kline was an astute businessman, too smart to have been completely unaware of the undercurrents between Marcus and Ronnie. "You're right."
"Is working with her going to be a problem for you?"
"No." In fact, staying close to Ronnie was important to his investigation.
'You don't want to talk about it, I take it."
"I don't make a practice of discussing my past, my personal life or my predictions for the World Series on the job."
Kline smiled at Marcus's subtle humor. "Okay. Point taken. Did you find anything out today?"
Other than the fact that Kline had a former corporate spy working for him, not a damn thing. "I met your marketing staff. Your director wants to have lunch with me and discuss expansion."
Kline smiled. 'Jack's a smart businessman. He's always got ideas for growing the company."
Marcus nodded. "That would make him a good marketing director."
"That and his charm. That man could sell a new operating system to Bill Gates." Kline's expression turned sly. "Veronica seems to think so, too."
Marcus restrained himself from demanding an explanation for the last comment. Barely.
"Are they dating?" he asked casually.
Kline shrugged. "I don't know. We don't encourage personal relationships among the employees at Kline Tech. Too much opportunity for sexual harassment lawsuits, but you can't police your employees in their off-hours."
Then why the hell had he said that about Ronnie finding her boss charming?
Kline went on, just as if Marcus's silence hadn't turned lethal. "I've seen them together in the employee cafeteria a time or two. Of course, that doesn't mean anything. She works for his department. Could have been a business lunch. It's what I told myself at the time anyway."
And just what was the man saying now? Marcus wouldn't give Kline the satisfaction of asking. He'd come to realize the older man shared his somewhat offbeat sense of humor.
He remembered the hard time he'd given Alex about his wife, Isabel, before they got married andalmost felt remorse.
Realizing the direction his thoughts had strayed, he put a firm mental clamp on them. His situation with Ronnie was nothing like that of Alex and Isabel. Ronnie had betrayed him and CIS, whereas Isabel loved Alex.
There had been a time when Marcus had wondered if Ronnie hadn't fallen in love with him too.
Instead of sending him packing like he expected, the idea had taken root and tempted him to think of a future. Until she had forcefully reminded him that love was an illusion and taught him his budding trust had been misplaced.
"Mr. Love 'em and Leave 'em is working for Kline Tech? I can't believe it!" Jenny's voice rose until she fairly vibrated with her agitation. "He wants to have dinner with you? Why? Did you tell him about Aaron?"
Veronica felt Jenny's disbelief and confusion beat at her already overburdened emotions.
"He isn't the one who left and he never said he loved me," she reminded her sister dryly.
Jenny snorted and her hazel eyes narrowed in skepticism. "He sureliked you enough. He gave you a baby."
Veronica's gaze skipped to the munchkin playing on the carpet. Oblivious to his mother's distress or his aunt's anger, her tow-headed son stuck the corner of a colorful plastic car into his mouth and drooled. She stifled the urge to grab it out of his hand and give him a teething ring. The pedia-trician had assured her it was perfectly normal for a ten-month-old to be so oral.
She turned her attention back to Jenny. "I knowhe gave me a baby, but he doesn't."
And right now, she didn't want that to change. After leaving Marcus that afternoon, she'd rushed to her cubicle and hidden her pictures of Jenny and Aaron in a drawer. She'd also cleaned all the baby paraphernalia out of the car so that when she met Marcus for dinner later, the car seat and baby toys wouldn't give her away.
Jenny ran her fingers through her spiky brown hair. "Then why don't you tell him?" she asked, with exasperation. "It isn't fair that you work so hard to support Aaron while his dad doesn't even pay minimal child support."
"It isn't Marcus's fault I got pregnant." She was the one who had forgotten to take her pill.
She still couldn't believe that missing just that one day in her routine could have impacted her life so hugely.
She stepped around the kitchen bar and walked into the living room. Dropping to her knees on the carpet, she reached out and pulled her son into her lap, cuddling him close. The unique scent of baby filled her senses and indescribable love filled her.
She didn't have the father, but she would always have a part of Marcus and she couldn't regret that. She could not be sorry she had a son.
Jenny made a rude noise from the kitchen. "Yeah, like you got that way all by yourself. There's only been one Miraculous Conception in history and Aaron wasn't it. He definitely had a sperm donor."
Her sister's tenaciousness on this particular subject increased Veronica's sense of guilt.
She couldn't admit to her sister the overriding reason she hadn't told Marcus about the baby— her fear he would try to take Aaron away from her. He could be so hard and cynical. Whywouldn't he believe a woman who had sold company secrets would make an unfit mother?
Jenny didn't know the price Veronica had paid to come up with the money necessary for her younger sister's medical treatment inFrance .
And Veronica would never tell her.
That burden was hers alone to carry. Jenny's sense of right and wrong was as strong as Veronica's own. Her little sister would feel a crushing guilt to realize Veronica had chosen to ignore her own honor to provide Jenny with a chance at life.
Veronica herself was tormented by the thought that there must have been another way, but she still didn't know what it would have been.
She'd had no one else but herself to rely on since she was twenty years old and that hadn't changed when she and Marcus became lovers.
No ties.
No commitments.
No sisters dying from a blood disease that did not have effective FDA-approved treatments in the States.
As she looked at her sister, over Aaron's silky blond head, satisfaction washed over her.
The treatment had worked.
Jenny's disease was in remission and she had regained most of her natural vitality. At sixteen she'd been weak and so pale her skin had looked like tracing paper. At seventeen and a half, Jenny was fast returning to the feisty sister Veronica had grown up with and ended up raising. Feisty enough to argue the merits of telling Marcus Danvers about his son.
"He told me he didn't want any commitments. He never lied to me." Veronica didn't believe for a minute the argument would halt her sister's tirade, but she had to try.
It didn't. Jenny's eves snapped with anger. "He's thirty years old. It's time he learned that life is full of responsibilities." She grew silent and her expression turned pensive. "Have you considered that he wants to know about his son? Just because he doesn't want a wife doesn't mean he'd turn his back on his child."
Only all the time.
The possibility that she was denying Marcus a relationship he might want with Aaron made her heart twist with pain.
'That's a pretty smart observation for a teenager to make," she couldn't help saying.
Jenny leaned on the kitchen counter and soberly regarded Veronica.
She returned Jenny's look with understanding. Her sister's wisdom beyond her years had come at a heavy price for both of them and the knowledge hung in the air between them.
Jenny had lost her parents at the age of thirteen and been diagnosed with a potentially fatal blood disease a year later. She'd spent her sixteenth birthday in a hospital bed, hooked up to machines, with the knowledge that she might never go home again hanging over her.
That had been the day Veronica had decided t
o approach Mr. Harrison with information about a hostile takeover that threatened his company. A takeover in which her own company, CIS, played a key role.
She'd tried to justify her actions by telling herself that Alex Trahern, the owner of CIS, had no right to destroy a company and the lives of hundreds of its employees to serve his own vengeance. He'd actually agreed with her when she called fromFrance to apologize for the unforgivable.