Marriage, Manhattan Style

by Barbara Dunlop

  He touched the small of the woman’s back and moved her off to one side, out of Elizabeth’s sight. The song ended, and Elizabeth quickly thanked Trent, crossing behind a marble pillar for a better look.

  Several friends stopped her to chat, and she was briefly distracted by a glimpse of Amanda Crawford. The normally vivacious and bubbly woman looked upset. She was cloistered in a corner with a very pregnant Julia Rolland, and the two looked to be having an intense discussion.

  But then Reed came back into view. He was still talking with the mystery woman. Elizabeth took a few more steps. Then, suddenly, the woman turned.

  Elizabeth’s stomach plummeted to the floor. For a second, her limbs were paralyzed and a roaring in her ears nearly drowned out the music.

  It was the coconut woman.

  Reed had stepped out of his own anniversary party to have an intimate conversation with the woman he’d lied about at work and brought into their home. What was going on?

  What had he done?

  “Elizabeth?”

  She blinked a man into focus in front of her. Gage.

  “Care to dance?” he asked, holding out a hand.

  No. Elizabeth did not want to dance. She wanted to rant and rail, and scream at fate, scream at Reed, demand an explanation for what looked absolutely damning.

  “Sure,” she said instead, and let Gage’s strong arms pull her into the rhythm of the music.

  She tried to ignore Reed, but that was impossible. The conversation was still going on. Reed looked angry. Coconut woman looked upset. Then Collin joined the two of them. Collin, the traitor. Had he been routinely covering for Reed’s trysts?

  How long had this been going on? Had Biarritz been some kind of a trick?

  “Uh, Gage, that woman in the foyer with Reed. Do you know her name?” Elizabeth was proud of how even she managed to keep her voice. “We met at Reed’s office a few weeks back, but I’m embarrassed that her name’s slipped my mind.”

  Gage hesitated long enough to make Elizabeth want to sock him. Was he in on it, too? Was there a conspiracy of silence among rich, powerful men? Did they all keep a mistress? Had she been hopelessly naive all these years?

  “I think it’s Selina.”

  Elizabeth waited, taking in the discomfort on Gage’s face.

  “She’s connected to law enforcement somehow,” he said.

  Right. First Selina was a job applicant, then a client, now in law enforcement? Elizabeth wasn’t stupid. This was a conspiracy, and she couldn’t trust anyone.

  “That sounds right,” she said with a bright smile. She blinked, searching the room for something else to concentrate on while the song finished.

  She spotted Amanda again. The woman still looked upset, but this time she was talking to Alex Harper. While Elizabeth watched, Alex touched Amanda on the shoulder. The woman’s lips compressed. She turned away, and Alex’s smile turned to a frown. It looked like he called her name, but she kept walking.

  Then finally the dance ended. Elizabeth gave her husband one last fleeting glance then slipped out a side door.

  “I didn’t expect you this early.” Hanna hopped up from the sofa as Elizabeth entered the penthouse.

  “I missed Lucas,” Elizabeth lied, hoping she’d successfully hid evidence of her crying jag while she was in the back of the limo. In case her eyes were still red, she busied herself hanging up her coat and putting her purse away.

  “He was a doll,” said Hanna. “And Joe really does change diapers.”

  “Pediatric protection detail,” Joe put in, levering up out of his chair.

  “But you were right,” said Hanna in a breezy voice. “He’s not allowed to make out while he’s on duty.”

  Elizabeth sputtered out a laugh. “You propositioned my bodyguard?”

  “I’m your driver,” Joe corrected.

  “He’s a stickler for the rules,” said Hanna with a saucy shimmy.

  “Would you mind driving Hanna home?” Elizabeth asked Joe. The faster they left her alone, the faster she could fall apart.

  “Not at all,” he drawled. “There’s a…little matter we need to finish.”

  “I…”

  Elizabeth smiled, amazed that she could be happy for her friend when her own life was crashing down around her.

  “Good night, Elizabeth,” Joe offered as he propelled Hanna toward the door.

  “I’ll call you.” Hanna waved.

  “Lock up,” he advised as he let the door swing shut.

  Elizabeth turned the dead bolt and took two steps back. Then, she stopped, bracing a hand on the entry table and closing her eyes as the world spun around her. She felt genuinely dizzy.

  What on earth did she do now?

  The spinning stopped, and she walked into her home. She took in the furniture they’d had custom-made, the paintings she’d so lovingly chosen, the wrapped package leaning against the wall. It was the painting they’d purchased in France, when everything seemed like it would work out.

  What was Reed thinking? How could he make such tender, passionate love to Elizabeth while coconut…Selina was waiting in New York?

  She made her way down the hall, listened by Lucas’s door, then turned into the office. There, she did something she’d never done before. She opened Reed’s laptop and booted it up.

  It took only three tries to guess his password and get into his e-mail. She scrolled through hundred of entries, until she came to the dates they’d been in France. Selina Marin, Selina Marin, Selina Marin. There were dozens of e-mails from her, and dozens of answers from Reed.

  Elizabeth didn’t have the heart to read any of the messages. The last faint hope that she’d somehow been mistaken was gone. Reed had a mistress, and Elizabeth’s life was a lie.

  Ten

  Reed couldn’t understand why Elizabeth had left the party. If she was worried about Lucas, she should have said something. As it was, he’d been left in the embarrassing predicament of having to make her excuses.

  Unlocking the penthouse door, he found himself struggling for patience. “Elizabeth?” He kept his voice low, not wanting to disturb Lucas if he was asleep.

  “Elizabeth?” he tried again, dropping his keys on the table. Her purse and coat were here, and Hanna and Joe had obviously left.

  He started down the hall, glancing into the office, Lucas’s room, then, finally, the master bedroom.

  “There you are.” He stopped short, seeing an open suitcase on the bed. “What’s wrong?” Had there been some news? Was she going to California?

  She didn’t answer, didn’t look at him. Her cheeks were streaked with tears, and there was a stiffness to her walk.

  “Elizabeth?” He moved toward her, arms out, fear rising in his throat.

  “Don’t touch me!” she snapped, jerking back.

  “What? What’s wrong?”

  “You know perfectly well what’s wrong.” She met his eyes for the first time, and he was floored by the anger he saw reflected in her depths.

  “What?”

  She yanked open a drawer. “Don’t play dumb with me.”

  “I’m not playing anything. Why are you packing? Where are you going?” His heartbeat thickened in his chest. Something was terribly wrong.

  “Selina Marin. Name mean anything to you?”

  Uh-oh. Had she heard about the blackmail? Was she afraid for Lucas? “I didn’t want to tell you,” he began, “because-”

  “You don’t think I can guess why you kept it a secret?”

  Well, yes, of course she could guess. “There were so many things going on. You had so much on your mind.”

  Elizabeth gave a hysterical little laugh, then pressed a shaking hand against her mouth. “You think I was too busy to hear about your mistress?”

  For a split second Reed was too stunned to react. “My what?” His harsh shout woke Lucas, and the baby cried out.

  Elizabeth immediately moved for the door.

  Reed grabbed her by the arm. “What the hell are you tal
king about?” he thundered.

  “Let me go.”

  He released her, and she darted to the nursery.

  Reed followed. “I have no mistress,” he hissed from behind.

  Elizabeth picked up the crying baby, rocking him against her shoulder.

  “Did you hear me?” Reed demanded.

  Elizabeth turned as Lucas’s sobs subsided. “You’re caught, Reed.”

  “Caught doing what?”

  “I know she’s not a client. I know she’s not a job applicant. I know your friends and your staff have been covering for you. You lie when you say you’re in meetings-”

  “I do not lie.”

  “Keep your voice down.”

  “I do not lie, Elizabeth. When I say I’m in meetings, I’m in meetings. I can’t always share the subjects with you, but that’s for your own good.”

  She harrumphed a sound of disbelief. “How long, Reed? How long have you been sleeping with Selina Marin?”

  “Selina Marin is a private investigator.”

  “There we have it,” said Elizabeth. “Career number four for the intrepid Ms. Marin.”

  “She is a private investigator. And I’m not sleeping with her.”

  “Prove it.”

  Reed almost laughed. Elizabeth was as bad as the SEC, asking him to prove something didn’t happen?

  “I saw the e-mails,” said Elizabeth.

  “What e-mails?”

  “The e-mails from France. You wrote to the woman every damn day. How could…” Tears welled up in Elizabeth’s eyes, and she turned away.

  Reed dragged a hand through his hair, wondering how everything in his life could get so far off-track. He could see that Lucas’s eyes were fluttering closed, so he backed out of the nursery, giving Elizabeth a chance to settle him again.

  He waited in the hall, his mind ticking through possible scenarios that had led her down this path. He had to come clean about the blackmail. He realized that. But how on earth had she interpreted Selina’s PI activities as an affair? Surely it took more than business e-mails to the woman for Reed to be tried and convicted.

  Elizabeth exited the nursery, pulling the door partway closed.

  Reed reached out to her. “Come and sit down.”

  She shook her head.

  “Please? Something’s gone so far wrong, and we’re not going to work it out unless we talk.”

  “I don’t want to be lied to.”

  “I’m not going to lie.”

  She gave a little laugh. “A liar telling me he’s not going to lie. How could I possibly doubt the sincerity of that?”

  “Elizabeth.” Now she was frustrating him.

  “I’m done, Reed. It’s over.”

  “How did you see the e-mails?”

  She looked momentarily stricken. “I hacked into your computer.”

  “The password wasn’t there to keep you out.”

  “You e-mailed her from Biarritz every single day. While you…While we…”

  Reed remembered full well what they’d done in Biarritz. “Did you read them?”

  Elizabeth shook her head.

  He reached for her hand, but she jerked away.

  “I’m being blackmailed, Elizabeth.”

  “Because you’re having an affair?”

  Reed clamped his jaw and counted to ten. “Let’s sit down.”

  She set her lips in a mulish line.

  “Do you want to know the truth?”

  She blinked rapidly. “I want to know the truth. I need to know the truth. Don’t lie to me anymore. Please, Reed. I couldn’t stand it.”

  His heart contracted, but this time when he reached for her hand, she let him take it. He led her to the living room, to the wingback chairs in the bay window where they’d be facing each other.

  “I’m being blackmailed,” he began. “Last month, I got a letter demanding ten million dollars or ‘the world will learn the dirty secret of how the Wellingtons make their money.’ I ignored it. Then the SEC investigation started, and we realized it was connected to the blackmail. We also realized that my blackmail could be connected with Trent and with Julia and-here’s the biggest problem-the police can’t rule out that Marie Endicott’s death wasn’t a murder and wasn’t connected to the blackmails.”

  “And you didn’t tell me?” Elizabeth’s voice was small.

  “I didn’t want to worry you. You were trying to conceive.”

  “How could you not tell me?”

  “There was nothing you could do.”

  “I could have given you moral support.”

  “Yeah. Right.”

  Her expression turned thunderous, and she started to stand.

  “I meant, I’m man enough not to burden my wife with my problems.”

  “So you burdened Selina instead.”

  “Yes. And Collin and Trent and the New York State Police Department.”

  “But not me.”

  “Elizabeth.”

  “I’m not made of spun glass, Reed.”

  “We were trying to get pregnant. The party was taking a lot of your time. Then the SEC thing hit, and there was Lucas. And I didn’t think you needed to know there could also be a murderer on the loose. Dr. Wendell specifically said no stress. A murderer is stress, no matter how you slice it.”

  “So you hired Joe.”

  “Selina hired Joe.”

  Elizabeth shook her head sadly. “Let me make sure I’ve got the picture. You’re not sleeping with Selina.”

  Thank goodness she finally got that part right. “I’m not sleeping with Selina.”

  “You’re sleeping with me.”

  “As often as humanly possible.”

  She didn’t smile, and he regretted making the weak joke.

  “With Selina, you’re sharing your troubles, your fears, your aspirations and your secrets.”

  Reed wasn’t sure how to respond to that.

  “And while we were in France, you were tying me to the bedposts-”

  “-I never really-”

  “-while discussing the weighty matters of our personal lives, our marriage and our future with her.” Elizabeth’s voice rose to a fever pitch. “You know what I think, Reed?”

  He was afraid to ask.

  “I think you’re married to Selina and having a fling with me.” She rocketed out of her chair.

  He jumped up. “That is completely unfair. Completely.”

  Elizabeth turned on him. “I bet you spend more hours in a day with her than with me. And is there anything about you she doesn’t know? She’s chasing down a murderer, so I bet you have to give her all the details.”

  “You’re bastardizing-”

  “Do you lie to her about where you are? Who you’re with?”

  “Will you please settle-”

  “I don’t just want to share your bed, Reed. I need more than the few minutes you can spare around your other obligations. I need more than the scraps of information you deem safe to share with me. I need you, Reed. I need to share your life.

  “You are sharing my-”

  “This isn’t a marriage. You and I have none of the fundamental pieces that couples need to build a life together. Yeah, we’re good in bed. You can completely push my buttons. I even liked the silk scarf thing. But I need more. I need all of you. I cannot, I will not play second fiddle to your ‘professionals.’

  “I’m going to finish packing, Reed. Then Lucas and I are leaving.”

  “No, you’re not.”

  “Yes, we are. And you can’t stop us.”

  “I’m leaving,” Reed said in a low, firm growl. “It’s nearly midnight. You are not going to drag a baby out of bed and cart him off to a hotel in the middle of the night. I’ll leave. You two stay here.”

  He didn’t wait for her answer, simply headed for the door and left the penthouse. He had no other option. If she’d made up her mind, she’d made up her mind. He’d been the best husband he knew how, and if that wasn’t good enough, the only thing left to
do was step aside.

  Elizabeth had just settled Lucas in his baby swing when Hanna arrived at noon the next day. “All I can say,” she purred as the door clicked shut behind her, “is that Joe Germain sure knows how to take care of a girl’s body.”

  “Good night?” Elizabeth asked, feeling exhausted from her own sleepless hours of tossing and turning. She knew in her soul that things couldn’t continue with Reed, but she missed him desperately, especially in their big bed.

  When she thought about the fact that he’d never be there again, that his strong arms would never wrap around her, that she’d never feel the satisfying, naked weight of him on top of her ever again, she wanted to collapse in a heap and cry her eyes out.

  Hanna, however, was smiling. “Joe is the sexiest, toughest, most inventive man on the planet.”

  Elizabeth tried for a smile. “I never would have put you two-” She swallowed. “I never would have-”

  “Lizzy?” Hanna peered into her eyes, concern growing on her face. “What the hell?”

  As Elizabeth felt a fresh rush of tears, Hanna helped her to the couch, sitting down next to her and curling up her jean-clad legs. “What happened? The Vances? Lucas?”

  Elizabeth shook her head. Her throat was raw and her chest felt like it was being squeezed by a giant rubber band. “Reed,” she managed.

  “The SEC thing?”

  “I don’t understand.”

  Elizabeth forced her emotions under control. She had to stop this. It was what it was, and no amount of crying would change that. “Reed and I split up last night.”

  “He was not having an affair. I know this.”

  “He might as well have been. He won’t share his life with me, Hanna. The man was being blackmailed for ten million dollars, and he never even mentioned it. But to her-” Elizabeth’s voice shook. “With her, it’s a dozen e-mails a day.”

  “Like online sex?”

  “Like online life. To me, he lies, he evades, he protects. She gets his hopes, his fears, his dreams. I want that,” she said, stabbing her thumb against her chest.

  Hanna cocked her head. “But he’s not sleeping with her.”

  “No.”

  “And he is sleeping with you?”

  “Was.”