by Lucy Monroe
"I'm a good PA."
"You're more than that; you are a woman who understands what it means to be part of a family and somehow you made sure I stayed part of mine. My kids and I both owe the relationship we have today to you."
"You would have gotten back on track on your own."
"Don't count on it. I'm a damn stubborn man when I want to be."
She looked down, acknowledging that there she sat on his lap when she hadn't even wanted to let him in her apartment. "I already knew that about you."
"Then you know I'm not letting you go."
"You can't hold onto me if I don't want to be held."
"I'm praying I haven't destroyed everything between us."
"What us? Your kids have been to visit you several times since I came to work for you, a few since I became your lover, but you never introduced them to me."
"I was selfish. I wanted you all to myself. I needed you to belong tome , but if I'd realized how much I was hurting you… how devalued you felt, I would have fixed it immediately."
"You wanted to keep me compartmentalized," she said, in a thick voice, her eyes glistening with moisture. "I didn't belong in that part of your life… the permanent, important part."
"Bull puckey. You belong there all right. Youare that part of my life… you and the kids."
She shook her head, two tears spilling over, and he swore.
"Please don't cry, darlin'."
"I can't h-help it. You can say anything now, b-but I l-lived it with y-you."
Total honesty was all that was going to cut it here. "Okay. You are right. I did compartmentalize you. I was trying to protect my heart,but it didn't work . I love you, Allison, and if you leave me, it's going to hurt as much or more than it did when Ellie died."
"You don't mean that."
"I do. I will do anything to keep you. Just tell me what you want and it's yours."
"All I ever wanted was to be part of your life… your whole life, not just the hours at the office and a few stolen moments in bed."
"I want that too, darlin'. I do. Will you give me another chance? Will you meet my children, share my secrets? I swear I'll never hide anything like the corporate investigation from you again. I never suspected you. I need you to believe me about that."
She nodded, tears streaking her beautiful cheeks.
"And you'll let me try to make it up to you?"
Again her head bobbed and a tiny little sob escaped as she buried her face against his neck.
His hand slid down over her collarbone, then lower, and cupped her breast. "We aren't going to be able to maintain our distance at work anymore. I can't do it. It was getting damn impossible before I admitted how I felt about you; now there's no chance. Besides, it hurts you. I see that now."
"It doesn't matter. I gave my notice." The words were muffled into his neck.
"I don't want you to leave."Just the thought of facing a day in the office without her made him break out in a cold sweat.
She went stiff and he knew he would do whatever he had to in order to make her trust him again, to make her happy.
"But if you feel like you have to quit, then you do. Just don't leaveme . Please, Allison."
"I don't want to leave you, or Kline Technologies, but I won't tolerate you treating me like a stick of furniture or a simple PA ever again."
"There's no chance of that."
She lifted her head and met his gaze, her mouth creased in the prettiest smile he'd ever seen. "Oh, George, I love you too."
Then she kissed him and the tight rein he'd had on his libido slipped.
He cuddled her to his body much later that night, listening to her sleep, and thanked God for her gentle, forgiving nature. His kids were going to love her. He already did.
Chapter Nineteen
Veronica tried to concentrate on the report she was generating for Jack, but her mind kept sliding into the murky waters of her personal life. She just couldn't get Marcus's words to stay where they belonged, in her subconscious.
I only want youplayed like the most persuasive and enticing of litanies in her head.
Mr. No-ties-no-cornrnitments wanted her and only her. And according to him, he wanted her for a lifetime.
Marriage.
They simply were not the sentiments of a man who had lured her into bed as part of an investigation. He'd accused her of not trusting him, of never trusting him, and she had to acknowledge that he was right.
She hadn't trusted him to want something more than sex from her during Jenny's illness.
To be fair to her, he had to take at least partial responsibility for her misguided thoughts. After all, that's what hesaid , that all he'd wanted was sex. Yet, according to him, he'd been thinking in terms of commitment even then. Long before he knew about Aaron.
Could she believe him?
Other than his guise as an investment consultant, he had never lied to her. Why was she so sure he was lying now?
What if everything he said had been true? What if he really wanted her for herself, even before he knew about Aaron? What if hehadn't confused their personal relationship with his investigation? What if hehad wanted her to be innocent?
She weighed the knowledge she had of his actions against his words and her heart lifted. If he'd truly believed she was guilty, he wouldn't have opened an investigation into anyone else, but he had. He would have told Mr. Kline about her past and gotten her promptly fired, but he hadn't.
So, if he hadn't slept with her in order to further his investigation, then he must have done it because he needed her, like he had said. Need wasn't loving, but it was a lot more than just physical desire. If that were all he felt for her, he could have slaked it elsewhere in the last eighteen months, or more recently with Sandy, but he hadn't.
Everywhere she looked, she saw actions on his part that indicated a deeper commitment and care for her than anything she ever could have imagined him feeling. And wasn't that partly her own fault? Marcus never called her a little brown wren. She did that.
He acted like she was the sexiest woman alive and she'd always discounted that reaction, but why?
He could have any woman he wanted, but he wanted her.
I only want you.
But he didn't love her… did he?
Was it possible that with Marcus's pain-filled childhood, he had as hard a time recognizing love for a woman as she did recognizing dedicated desire in a man? Could he love her and not realize it?
The idea seemed fantastic, but considering the things his mother and father had done in the name of love, she could see Marcus hesitating to label the emotions he felt toward her with the word.
He needed to learn that loving meant a lot more than pain and sacrifice. It meant joy and caring, wonder and commitment.
And who better to teach him than the woman who loved him like crazy?
She certainly didn't want one of his former beautiful bimbo girlfriends taking on the task.
Marriage meant a lifetime in which to teach Marcus these important concepts. A lifetime she had every intention of sharing with him.
She didn't know why it had taken her so long to come to terms with the idea. After all, the prospect of a future without him held no appeal whatsoever.
Setting the report aside, she stood up. She'd tell him now and then maybe she could keep her focus on her work.
The phone rang just as she was going to step out of her cubicle.
Impatient to be with Marcus, she picked up the headset. "Veronica Richards here."
"Miss Richards, this is Allison. Mr. Kline would like to see you in his office immediately."
Her discussion with Marcus would have to wait.
Veronica was shown into Mr. Kline's office as soon as she arrived on the top floor and she couldn't help comparing today's visit with her last one. Clearly being in the loop on a corporate espionage investigation gave her a certain amount of clout.
Mr. Kline didn't smile when she approached his desk. Nor did he stand,
or indicate that she should sit down.
With his mouth set in steely lines and his green eyes emotionless pools in the mask of his face, he said, "Miss Richards, I've come into possession of some very disturbing information regarding your past."
Miss Richards? What had happened to Veronica? And then his other words sank in. "My past?" she asked, faltering.
"Yes. It has come to my attention that you left CIS under a cloud, that cloud being the speculation that you had sold company secrets to a firm by the name of Hypertron."
Feeling all the blood drain from her face, she concentrated on remaining standing on legs that felt like the pins had just been knocked out of them. "I…"
What was she supposed to say? She couldn't deny it. That would be lying and she'd promised herself she would never compromise her personal integrity again.
The price was too high.
"How did you find out?" she asked instead.
If anything, Mr. Kline's countenance turned grimmer. "Are you saying it's true?"
"Yes," she practically whispered.
She wished she could have said it with brazen confidence, but she just didn't have it in her to be brazen about admitting to acting as a spy.
"You'll understand, I'm sure, that I have no choice but to terminate your employment with Kline Tech. If you leave without making a fuss, we will provide the usual severance package."
And if she made a fuss? Would he terminate her without severance pay? Looking at his emotionless features, she didn't doubt it for a second.
"I'd really like to know who told you."
"I'm not at liberty to say."
And that was that. But then who else could it have been? Marcus and Alex were about the only two people on the face of the earth who knew about what she'd done. And she couldn't see Alex calling Mr. Kline with the news.
She turned to go but stopped and faced him again. "I'm not your spy, Mr. Kline. If you make the mistake of believing I am, you'll be putting your company at further risk."
"I will, of course, share your denial of any involvement in the current situation with our corporate investigator."
* * *
"You fired Ronnie?" Marcus's voice rose in disbelief as he took in what George Kline had just told him. "Why the hell did you do that?"
Kline expelled a deep breath. "I know it's rough, but once she admitted she'd sold company secrets at CIS, I couldn't keep her on."
Marcus jumped from his chair and leaned over Kline's desk, his knuckles resting on the glass-covered polished wood. "Cut the crap. You wanted to set our perp's mind at rest and make him believe you trusted him."
Kline did not lean back in his chair but met Marcus's glare head on. "Hell, yes, I wanted to leave him with the impression that he's safe. I don't want him taking a runner before we get a rock solid case against him. I want that bastard nailed to the wall."
"So you sacrificed an innocent employee."
"She's not innocent. I told you she confirmed she'd sold company secrets."
Marcus spun away from the desk. "It was a onetime deal, damn it. She needed money to save her sister's life."
"Are you saying she couldn't have gotten the money any other way?"
"She didn't think so." And that was all that mattered.
"I don't employ corporate spies, former or otherwise."
Marcus turned around to face Kline again, his every protective instinct urging him to exact retribution for Ronnie's loss. "It's my investigation, damn it. You should have talked to me first."
Kline laughed, surprising Marcus with the genuine humor he read in the other man's expres-sion. "You know, you're like a hired gun from the Old West. You don't acknowledge anyone else's authority, even the man who hired you."
"I'm not trying to discount your authority."
Kline smiled. "I know. It's instinctive. I realized that from practically the moment I met you. You probably felt perfectly justified in not telling me about Veronica's past with your company as well."
"I would have told you if it had become an important factor in my investigation."
"In other words, if you thought I needed to know. And here I was under the mistaken impression that only the FBI operated on a need-to-know basis."
Marcus felt a reluctant smile tug at the corners of his mouth and sat down. Kline was right. He ran things his own way and trusted his own judgment. Those qualities made him a damn good investigator. On occasion, they also made him every bit as arrogant as Ronnie had once accused him of being.
"I was trying to protect her job. She's had a rough time of it the past few years."
Kline sighed, regret apparent in the uncharacteristic sag of his shoulders. "I know. Her parents died, leaving her custody of her sister, and then she had a baby."
"How the hell do you know this stuff?" Kline had once told him he didn't have time to read all of his employee's files.
"I read her file after Jack Branson came to me with hisconcerns ."
The bastard. Marcus agreed with Kline on one issue at least: he wanted to see Jack's hide nailed to the wall, after he got a chance to muss it up a little.
"I also talked to Allison about her." Kline leveled a piercing look at Marcus. "She keeps up on company gossip with astonishing efficiency."
"Is that right?" What else had the personal assistant told Kline about Ronnie?
"Yes. You can imagine my shock when she told me that she'd heard from one of her coworkers that Veronica's baby just happened to belong to my hot shot consultant and said consultant had asked her to marry him."
Sandy hadn't wasted a second spreading the news. What had she done? Sent out a broadcast e-mail?
"Ronnie hasn't decided."
"Well, I've done you a favor, then, haven't I? Not having a job to hold her in Seattle should make it that much easier for her to come up with a favorable answer."
Kline was right, but that didn't make Marcus feel good. He didn't want Ronnie coming to him because she didn't have any choice. What kind of marriage would they have if she felt pressured by circumstances into agreeing to it?
He wanted her to want to marry him.
"Don't try to justify your indefensible treatment of a loyal and dedicated employee with that kind of garbage."
Kline laughed again. "You've got the whole code thing down, don't you?"
What was the man talking about?
"Code?" he asked, with barely concealed impatience.
"That Old West thing. Not only are you a law unto yourself, but you've got the whole honor and integrity thing going too. You probably think it would be taking unfair advantage of a woman to use financial pressure to get her to marry you."
"And you don't?" Marcus demanded.
Kline shrugged. "Hell, I don't know, but if it's the best thing for her, then maybe I wouldn't worry too much about my methods in getting her there."
Marcus didn't feel like arguing the merits of that kind of cold-blooded pursuit, because maybe if it had been any woman but Ronnie, he would have agreed. It wouldn't have mattered how he got the mother of his child to marry him if he didn't care about her personally, but loving her meant he wanted a hell of a lot more than grudging acceptance.
Loving her?
Hell, yes. Loving her. Just what did he think he'd been feeling for the last almost two years?
He needed Ronnie more than he needed his job, his lifestyle or any of his friends, including Alex.
Only love could explain his unshakable desire to make a life with a woman who had once abandoned him and caused him more pain than anyone had been allowed to since his parents.
Well, one thing was certain: he wasn't going to use this situation to force her into the marriage.
"When did Jack bring his concerns to you?"
"He came in first thing this morning."
"How did he find out?" Marcus knew Jack hadn't gotten the information from anyone at CIS.
That left the company Ronnie had sold the secrets to, Hypertron. But, frankly, he couldn't see the
guy talking. It would damage his own reputation in the industry.
"He said an old friend from Portland told him. He worked down there at one of the high-tech companies before coming to Kline Technology."
Marcus didn't buy it, but he'd have to wait until they brought their accusations against Jack before getting the truth about who had ratted Ronnie out from him.