by Lucy Monroe
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."
He knew he sounded like the arrogant toad she had claimed him to be, but right now he didn't care. He would say anything, do anything to get her tempting body out of his cubicle, including making her mad enough to leave.
Her glare was hot enough to scorch his socks. "Fine. Let me know when youdo have the time."
Her voice dripped with sarcasm that she wouldn't have been capable of eighteen months ago.
"Will do. Now, if you don't mind." He indicated the doorway with a tilt of his head.
She released his arm with quick precision and turned to go. "Don't forget your lunch date with jack. He hates to be left waiting."
The reminder that she knew the other man so well did nothing to improve Marcus's mood. "Could you get me a map to the restaurant, Ronnie? I still don't know the area all that well."
He was lying. He knew exactly where he was going and he had no doubt she was aware of it, but he wanted to needle her, to make her suffer just a little of what he was going through.
She nodded jerkily but didn't say anything as she left.
* * *
Veronica pulled up the map and directions on the Internet and sent the file to Marcus's interoffice e-mail account. Calling him a toad had been an insult to all amphibians everywhere. He was worse than a toad. He had the emotional understanding of a rock. She clenched her hands on the edge of her keyboard.
Strike that. Even a rock would be more sensitive than Marcus Danvers. She'd finally worked herself up to telling him about Aaron and he wouldn't listen.
So why did't you make him listen, a voice taunted in her head and she ground her teeth. Whyhadn't she forced the issue? Why had she let him send her out of his office like a wayward student being dismissed by the principal?
Because no matter how she'd convinced herself that he deserved to know, that she could not in all honor remain silent, she was relieved at the reprieve. She literally shook with fright at the thought of telling him about Aaron before she knew whether or not Marcus planned to make good his blackmail threat.
Would he try to take her son from her? Somehow, she could no longer convince herself that he wouldn't care that he had a son, not after the way he'd waxed poetic over Alex and Isabel's baby at dinner on Monday night. He'd been almost indecently enthusiastic over his role as an adopted uncle. How would he react to learning he was a father?
For some men, being an uncle was about the level of commitment they could deal with, but she had the surprising conviction that for Marcus the thought of being a father would be a joyous one.
Turning to glare in the direction of his cubicle, she reminded herself none of that in any way diminished the man's total lack of sensitivity or courtesy. He was still a toad… a cement toad, she amended in deference to the amphibians.
"That's a pretty serious expression. Are you trying to cut through the wall with your supersonic sight?"
Startled, Veronica turned her head to seeSandy standing in her doorway. "What?"
The blonde stepped into the cubicle. "I've got to admit, it's a pretty creative way to put a window in, but I don't think it works for anybody but Superman."
"Superman has X-ray vision, not laser vision. That's one of the X-Men, I think." Not that she knew for sure. Aaron was too little for Saturday morning cartoons and Jenny hadn't watched them in years. "And I'm not trying to glare a hole in the wall."
"You could have fooled me,"Sandy replied, with a small laugh. "Somebody's got you really miffed. I don't think I've ever seen you with quite that expression. You're usually so cool."
The perfect little robot, Veronica thought, with disgust. Did robots go berserk and hit their ex-lovers over the head with office supplies like she was tempted to do? A heavy stapler should do the trick, or maybe even one of the department's laptop computers. Something solid.
Sandy's laughter turned to wry consideration. "Now you look like you're contemplating your next Godiva chocolate fix. What is going on behind that normally emotionless facade?"
Veronica spun around in her chair and clicked on her e-mail for something to do. IfSandy thought she wasn't busy, the blonde could easily stand around shooting the breeze for thirty minutes or more.
"I'm far from emotionless," she felt driven to say.
"I can see that. My mother used to say still waters run deep. She was talking about my dad. He was a silent man, but now I see the same applies to quiet, efficient women."
Veronica stifled a groan. She really did not want to be psychoanalyzed bySandy .
"I'm sure your mother's wisdom is more aptly applied to her husband than me. Was there something you wanted?"
Darn. She was sounding as rude as Marcus.
She frowned and turned to faceSandy . "Not that you aren't welcome to stop by to chat. It's just that I'm kind of busy this morning."
It wasn't a lie. She was always busy. Her department didn't really have enough admins to keep up with the workload, but she usually thrived on the pressure that created.
Sandy's smile made her usually beautiful face positively glow. "Don't worry about it, hon. I can tell you're a little stressed right now. Do you want
to share?"
"Not really," she replied, with complete honesty.
Sandy's smile morphed into a husky laugh. "Well, I guess you can't get more straightforward than that." Her expression became cunningly thoughtful. "It doesn't have anything to do with the new guy on the block does it?"
Veronica could feel her flesh heat and she averted her head, swinging back to face her computer screen. Her e-mail inbox held no inspiration.
"Why would you say that?"
Sandydid her usual perusal of Veronica's cubicle, stopping to read the calendar on one wall. "You've obviously known him before. Do you know something the rest of us don't? Like maybe he's looking at more than expansion…"
Sandyhad let her voice trail off meaningfully.
Veronica scanned an urgent e-mail, saw it was something she could easily deal with and refocused on her visitor. "Like what?"
For the life of her, she couldn't think of what the other woman was hinting at.
"Like encouraging Mr. Kline to consider a reorganization."
"Why would Marcus do that?"
"Several high-tech companies have done that lately and they've used the opportunity to let go of dead wood."
"But what would Marcus have to do with it? He's not a reorganization specialist. His expertise lies in growing and diversifying companies."
And making spinster-virgins pant for him. He'd certainly had her panting eighteen months ago and then again on Monday night, though she was no longer a virgin and wasn't sure a single mother could be considered a spinster. If he hadn't asked to come up to the apartment, she would have given him her body without another thought, because he was particularly good at that—making her head empty of its every thought.
Sandyshrugged, pulling Veronica's attention from her increasingly lascivious thoughts back to her friend. "I was just making an educated guess as to why you looked ready to murder somebody when I came in."
"It was nothing."
Nothing that she would willingly discuss with the gorgeous blonde.Sandy was her friend, but the habit of keeping her emotions and thoughts to herself was too well ingrained to make confidences of the sortSandy was encouraging possible.
"Ronnie, did you get that map for me?" Marcus asked from the doorway.
Shooting to her feet because she felt at a distinct disadvantage with him towering over her, she frowned. "I sent it via interoffice mail a while ago." And had hoped not to see him again today, she implied with a cool look.
"Hi, Marcus. I haven't seen you around for a couple of days."Sandy batted her lusciously made-up lashes at him and Veronica had a sudden, overwhelming urge to be sick.
"I had a family emergency."
So, that's where he'd been.
Finding out that he hadn't been avoiding Veronica for the sole purpose of tormenting her put a slightly more benevolent light on his actions, but only slightly.
Sandy's face took on an expression of deep sympathy. "Oh, I hope everything's okay."
"It's fine." But he didn't look fine.
He looked like the last thing he wanted to discuss was his visit with his family.
Veronica frowned in thought. It had been the same when they were dating. She now realized that a part of why she had been so sure Marcus hadn't wanted to know the intimate details of her life was that he'd been so reticent to share his own.
He turned to her. 'The map?"
"As I said—" she started to say, but he interrupted with what could pass for an apologetic smile.
"Could you just print it off for me? There's something wrong with my printer drivers and I don't have time to play with them now."
"Sure."
She turned to do just that asSandy stepped closer to Marcus, eating up his personal space.
"I could look at your printer drivers for you. I'm a wiz with that kind of thing. It's hard not to be, working for a computer manufacturer."
Veronica's muscles tensed as she waited for Marcus's answer toSandy 's clearly flirtatious offer.
"No thanks. It's not a big deal and I'll have plenty of time to look into it when I get back from lunch." He gave Veronica a killer smile. "And until I get it fixed, I can always borrow Ronnie's machine to print off of."
She gritted her teeth at his casual assumption that he could just use her machine and that he had all the time in the world to fiddle with his stupid computer, but no time to talk with her about a matter of grave importance.
"You can always borrow mine too. My office isn't as close as Veronica's, but it's available if she's busy,"Sandy purred.
She might as well have saidshe was available. That's clearly what she meant.
Veronica fairly ripped the map from her printer's output tray. She really likedSandy , but right now
Veronica could cheerfully have strangled her friend. She handed the map to Marcus without a word. He took it and smiled again, this time his eyes telling her he knew she was jealous and he thought it was amusing.
Somehow, she managed to repress the impulse to kick him in the shin and wipe that smug smirk right off his too handsome features. She turned away instead.
"What's the map for?"Sandy asked, all innocence.
"I'm having lunch with Jack today at a restaurant I've never been to. I thought it was best to have directions. I don't like being late."
Veronica heard the sound of paper rustling and thenSandy 's voice. "Oh, I know where that's at. I could show you if you like. I've got some errands to run at lunchtime and I can pick up lunch and take care of them at the shopping mall nearby and then you can bring me back when you're done with Jack."
A sudden tension headache seized Veronica along with an absolutely insane impulse. She wanted to jump up and shout thatshe would show Marcus the stupid restaurant.
She didn't. She forced herself to remain silent as she waited once again for Marcus's reaction to the other woman's flirtatious sally.
She couldn't continue to stare at her computer, though. She turned her head slightly, to read Marcus's expression. He looked thoughtful. He couldn't possibly be interested in the blonde. Not after trying to seduceher so thoroughly on Monday night.
Marcus smiled atSandy . "Thanks. I'd appreciate it. The drive will give you and me a chance to get to know each other better and I can pick your brain about Kline Tech's future as you see it."
Sandy's eyes sparkled. "Let me just get my purse. I'll meet you in the front lobby in ten minutes."
Marcus agreed and walked out of the cubicle without another word or a backward glance.
Chapter Nine
Veronica stared at the empty doorway to her cubicle for several minutes before abstractedly placing her hand over her heart.
Yes, it was still beating. Funny, it felt like it had been ripped out.
Should it still be beating?
He'd taken the bait.
Marcus had gone to lunch with Sandy. Okay, so technically he was eating with Jack, but she didn't put it past her gorgeous friend to somehow finagle an invitation to horn in on that as well. Marcus, who had kissedher senseless and remindedher body of its insatiable craving for his, had taken the blonde with him, had said he wanted to get to know her better.
Did he mean that in the most Biblical sense? Was he tired of pursuing his former lover already and looking for an easier conquest?
Sandywas certainly more his normal type. In fact, she could have been a stand-in for several of the women he had dated when Veronica worked with him at CIS before he'd fixed his interest on her. Had he grown bored with the idea of sleeping with a little brown wren, when he could have a beautiful cockatoo?
Feeling the hot rush of tears pricking at the back of her eyes, she took a deep breath and counted to ten.
She'd survived losing her parents. She'd survived Jenny's illness and giving birth to a son on her own. She'd survived losing Marcus. She would not give in to tears now at the prospect that her ex-lover was as fickle as a stallion at a stud farm.
Taking a deep breath, she turned back to her computer. For
cing her tumultuous thoughts on work, she downloaded the department's e-mail for the current project.
It wasn't uncommon for an admin to have clearance to check all e-mail for a project team. She was careful not to erase the messages off the server so the original recipients could still download their e-mail, but by reading the messages, she stayed on top of the project and was able to make sure all relevant schedules were in alignment.
Jack had balked at giving her clearance, as he usually did, but had ended up giving his approval— again, as he usually did. He had a thing about security.