“She’s doing fine.” Erin’s voice was crisp. “What can do I do for you, Dax? If it’s the advertising reports, I haven’t gotten to them yet.”
“It is, actually. Sarah said she’d find them for me and leave them on her desk.”
That didn’t sound like Sarah’s version of the conversation. “I’ll get to them today, but I don’t know when Mr. Livingstone will have time to look at them. It’s been a little busy around here this morning.”
“That was my copy,” Dax said. “And I could really use it, so if she could make another, I’ll pick it up this afternoon.”
“I’ll tell her to have it delivered.” Erin waited beside the desk till he was gone.
Only a couple of minutes later, Sarah reappeared, slightly breathless and carrying a stack of copy paper more than two feet high.
“That’s just fifteen sets?” Erin asked.
“Big project.” Sarah set the stack on the corner of her desk. “It’ll take me the rest of the morning just to get them sorted out and distributed.”
Suspicion trickled through Erin’s veins. Was this what Cecile had been hoping to find? Surely not. This set of plans had nothing to do with the Universal Conveyer deal. And yet, if she had been paying attention at that party, and figured out how important the Brannagan plans would be...
“Sarah, has the worthy Cecile been hanging around here lately?”
“Haven’t seen a single scarlet fingernail since last week. Before the party for the Brannagans, I think. Do you want to take your set right now?”
Erin lifted the top bundle and stood idly flipping the pages. Before she’d moved from the public relations department into Slater’s office, these drawings would have been absolute Greek. Even now, she knew just enough to interpret the basics. Without any experience, someone like Cecile wouldn’t have a clue what these specifications meant – or even how to tell which papers were important and which were not. It wasn’t as if they were labeled Important – Steal Me First.
The door of Slater’s office opened. “Sarah, would you...”
Erin turned toward him. She was startled at the strength of her reaction, for how many times had she seen him like this – coat off, sleeves rolled up, apparently preoccupied?
But those other times, she’d been looking at her boss. Not her husband. Not her lover. Not the man she loved.
Today, she saw the strength in his body and felt once more the security and comfort she’d experienced last night as he’d held her. She saw the way he moved, and relived – just a little – the ecstasy of making love with him. She saw his preoccupation and hit reality with a thud, remembering that business would always come first with him. He had, after all, married her because of his business.
“Erin,” he said. “Come in, please.”
“Let me grab my notebook.”
“No need.” He ushered her into his office and waved her to a chair. “Sarah’s told you about Universal Conveyer.” It wasn’t a question.
“Yes. I can hardly believe it, but... There’s no doubt?”
“Do you mean am I sure we’ve lost the bid? Yes. And I know exactly how much the difference was, too. It wouldn’t buy a bag of peanuts at the circus.”
She nodded. “I suppose the first thing you’ll want to do is run down the leak.”
Slater shook his head. “I’ll deal with that when I get back.”
“Back?” Erin’s voice felt raspy. “Where are you going?”
“I’m catching the next commuter flight to Chicago, to talk to the Universal Conveyer people.”
“Then you don’t think the deal’s dead?”
“Let’s just say I want to be sure they know the kind of people they’re doing business with. But in the meantime, we’ll have to assume that Universal Conveyer is out of the picture, so the Brannagan project just got even more important. While I’m gone…”
Erin didn’t quite understand. How could Slater know that the Brannagan project was safe until he found out why Universal Conveyer hadn’t been? If it was painfully clear even to her that the information had been deliberately leaked, Slater had to realize that the underbidding couldn’t be an accident. And that meant it could happen again.
Why was he willing to take any chance at all of a repetition?
But it wasn’t up to her to second-guess his decisions. Erin pulled her attention back to his crisp list of instructions, committing them to memory and wishing she’d insisted on getting her notebook after all. “Of course, sir.”
Slater frowned. “I thought we were past that.”
Too late, Erin heard the title echoing through the almost-silent office. “Sorry,” she said. “It just slipped out – but you were being particularly bossish, you know.”
He leaned back in his chair and smiled, the first hint of relaxation she’d seen since she’d walked in. “I was, wasn’t I? How’s your mother doing?”
“I’m not sure. I understand my father took her home this morning.”
Slater’s eyebrows climbed. “I wonder what his new wife will think of that.”
“The question occurred to me. Then I realized what was bothering me last night...” She paused. “I mean, when I thought I’d lost Mother’s ring. I guess I’ve been wearing it so long I’d stopped seeing it. If that makes sense.”
Slater sounded a little doubtful. “So you looked at it last night, and you saw – what?”
“It wasn’t till this morning that I realized what I’d seen. The wedding ring Dad was wearing yesterday wasn’t shiny because it was new. It gleamed so much because it’s been polished recently. It matches the one I’ve got, you see.”
“He’s still wearing his wedding ring.” Slater gave a low, long whistle. “I wonder how long it’ll be before she asks for hers back.”
“If you’re starting a betting pool, put me down for within a week.” She said, tentatively, “That reminds me, though. I never even asked if you wanted a wedding ring.”
“You had a few other things on your mind. And it doesn’t matter, Erin. Really.”
Of course it doesn’t, she thought with a trace of cynicism. Now if he’d married her to hold off other women, instead of just to be his hostess, he might have wanted to wear her ring.
Pretend it isn’t important to you that love has nothing to do with it – and maybe eventually it won’t matter at all.
Maybe, Erin thought, she was actually starting to get the hang of this corporate wife business.
Slater glanced at his wristwatch. “I have to leave.” He started to unroll his shirt sleeves. “Where did my damned cuff links go?”
“You’ll be back for the Senator’s visit, won’t you?” Erin stood up.
“With time to spare, I hope.” He found the cuff links in a tray on his desk, settled his tie into place, and put on his suit jacket. Hands on hips, he paused to give Erin a speculative look. “What will you do if I don’t give you a goodbye kiss?”
Kick you, she thought. Scream. Break my heart... But the proper answer to a playful question was a playful answer. “Sure you want to find out?”
Slater smiled. “Nope.” Casually, he pulled her close. But there was nothing nonchalant about the way he kissed her, and by the time he let her go Erin felt as if her insides had turned to lava. “I’m sorry I won’t be home tonight,” he whispered, and was gone before she could answer.
Which, she thought, was probably just as well. If her brain really had melted, which was certainly how it felt, the would-be perfect corporate wife might have blown her cover sky-high by telling him she loved him, or something stupid like that.
She didn’t feel like facing Sarah, at least until her heart stopped skipping beats, so Erin settled down at Slater’s desk to list all the instructions he’d given about the Brannagan deal.
She was deep in thought, trying to remember the last of them, when she heard voices from the outer office and realized Slater had left the door partway open. That’s going to get annoying real fast, she thought, and considered walking
over to shut it.
But the next thing she heard stopped her in her tracks.
“I can’t show you something like that,” Sarah said. “Go through channels.”
A man’s voice, lower and tightly controlled, answered. “They’ll say advertising doesn’t have a need.”
Advertising, Erin thought. No wonder the voice sounded familiar; Dax Porter had returned. Now she was really glad she was in Slater’s office and not her own; he wouldn’t think to look for her there. She turned her attention back to her list.
“And they’re right, of course.” The secretary sounded thoughtful. “So why are you interested, anyway? It’s not like we have to sell the idea to the public.”
“Would you at least stop playing dumb? You know what’s been going on as well as I do. Look, Sarah, you’ve had as much fun romancing me as I have flirting with you, but I don’t have time for the runaround right now.”
Erin’s eyes widened in shock.
“I can’t afford to spend weeks prying bits and pieces out of you so I can put them together like a jigsaw puzzle,” Dax said irritably. “I want the drawings for the switches that are going to control Bob Brannagan’s new satellites, and I want them now.”
“So you can sell them to Fritz MacDonald.” Sarah’s voice was taut.
“Or whoever will pay the most. So far, it appears to be Fritz. And you’re going to get them for me, or I’ll tell your boss precisely what happened to the Universal Conveyer job.”
Erin closed her eyes in pain.
The shocking thing, she thought, was the fact that she was not surprised to learn Dax Porter was the source of Control Dynamics’ leaking information. She must have had doubts at some level ever since Tonio had told her about the stolen flower – because a man who would steal a simple rose rather than pay for it would probably do things which were a great deal more unethical as well.
What was wrenching her to bits was the fact that his source was Sarah.
It wasn’t Cecile who had unwittingly provided information to some corporate spy. It was Sarah.
Sarah, who had been Slater’s confidential secretary for years, long before Erin had come into the office. Sarah, who looked after him, fixed his coffee just so, teased him with her dinosaur code... and betrayed him by giving out confidential information. It sounded as if she wasn’t even selling it, but giving it away for the fun of flirting with Dax – and that hurt Erin even more.
“Look,” Sarah said crisply, “there’s nothing I can do to get you the drawings.”
“You’ve had your hands on them already.”
“And I’ve passed them on.”
“Well, you’d better figure out a way to get a set back.”
“Or you’ll tell Mr. Livingstone? If you tried to throw me to the wolves, you’d be admitting your own theft.” There was a thread of relief in Sarah’s voice.
“You can bet I’d be careful not to say it in front of witnesses. Or hasn’t it occurred to you that the accusation doesn’t need to stand up in court in order to ruin you? Just raising the question would be enough.”
That was perfectly true, Erin knew. Once suspected, a confidential secretary was doomed. Of course, from the sound of things, Sarah deserved it, but...
“Besides, I’ve got other plans for my life than advertising.” Dax gave the word a twist as if it was obscene. “My resignation letter’s already written. Maybe I’ll take it straight to Livingstone – and tell him I’m quitting because I can’t square it with my conscience any more to be the conduit for you to sell information. Or maybe,” he went on thoughtfully, “we’ll leave me out of it entirely. If Fritz MacDonald were to let it slip that you were the source of his information... He and Livingstone play racquetball together now and then, you know.”
Erin had never understood, considering the rivalry between the firms, why the two men at the top would find sharing a sport an engaging pastime – but that was one of the masculine mysteries she would probably never comprehend. The point was that Dax was right. If Fritz MacDonald was to point a finger at Sarah, seemingly by accident...
Not that it would come to that, of course, because Slater would know long before Fritz MacDonald had a chance to play his role. Erin was going to have to tell him.
“So what’s it going to be, Sarah?” Dax was obviously losing patience. “Stop stalling. I need the details of that switch – especially the drawings. Do you get them for me, or do I talk to Livingstone?”
Erin held her breath.
“I’ll get them.” She heard Sarah’s voice as if it was coming from a great distance. “But it’ll take a while.”
There was a long pause, as if Dax was weighing his options. “I’ll give you forty-eight hours, but that’s all. And don’t think just because I’m not hanging around that I’ve changed my mind. You know where to find me when you’ve got the plans.”
Erin heard the rapid tap of his heels as he left. The silence which fell over the office suite weighed so heavily on her that she thought she would never be able to move again. But eventually she pushed herself to her feet and crossed the thick carpet to the half-open door.
Sarah was sitting at her desk, elbows on the blotter, her face buried in her hands.
Erin pushed the door wider. The hinges creaked, and Sarah jerked upright. Her face went gray with shock.
“I think,” Erin said, “that you’d better come in, Sarah. We have some things to talk about.”
CHAPTER NINE
Slowly, Sarah stood up. She moved like a mechanical doll, Erin thought, or a rusty tin soldier. She followed Erin into Slater’s office and stood in front of the desk, not even responding to the offer of a chair. She licked her lips and blinked her eyes very slowly, like someone who had just roused from a bad dream and wasn’t yet sure if she was awake – or whether she even wanted to be.
Erin sat down behind Slater’s desk and waited.
Finally Sarah’s gaze focused once more. “I didn’t know you were here.”
“That was fairly obvious.”
“I had to run down to the copy center again for just a minute, and when I came back your office was empty, and Mr. Livingstone was just leaving. I thought you’d gone to lunch.” Her voice trailed off. “But none of that matters, does it? Oh, Erin, what am I going to do?”
The desperation in her voice startled Erin. She’d never before thought of Sarah as a world-class actress, completely wasted in a secretarial position. But how could the woman possibly be sincere?
Erin’s voice was dry. “I’d say that depends on what you’ve already done. You’ve been pretty busy, haven’t you?”
Sarah’s eyes widened. “You don’t think I did this on purpose!”
“What else am I supposed to think? You admitted giving Dax the Universal Conveyer information, and you promised to get the Brannagan drawings for him.”
“I had to buy some time. A chance to think.” Horror dawned in her eyes, and Sarah sank down onto the edge of the chair. “You don’t believe me, do you? Erin, I need this job. I have a child to support. You don’t think I’m stupid enough to risk it — do you?”
Erin didn’t answer, but doubt bubbled up in her mind. She’d noticed, even in the midst of her shock, that it didn’t sound as if Sarah had profited financially from the information Dax was selling. So why would she have done it? Merely for the dubious pleasure of having Dax Porter hanging around? Balanced against the risk she was taking, that made no sense at all. And she couldn’t possibly be carrying such a grudge against Slater that she’d put herself at such risk in order to get even.
“Well, I am stupid.” Sarah’s voice was full of self-loathing. “I was too dumb even to see what was happening. Remember how many times Dax dropped into the office while we were working on that bid? And you know yourself the kind of careless, naive questions he asks. I can hardly even remember what I said to him – but it wasn’t any more than crumbs, I’d have sworn it wasn’t. And maybe he got a glimpse of the paperwork – heaven knows there was plen
ty of it, all over the office. I never gave it a thought, Erin. He’s supposed to be on our side!”
I can’t afford to spend weeks prying bits and pieces out of you so I can put them together like a jigsaw puzzle, Dax had said. Erin had assumed that meant Sarah had tantalized him with information, feeding it to him slowly to maximize his attentions. But it could equally well be that Sarah was telling the truth – that Dax had picked her brain without her even being aware of what he was up to.
In this case, of course, innocence was no defense. A personal secretary was supposed to be as confidential as an attorney – or maybe even a confessor. They were never to speak without thinking, no matter what. They were never to tell secrets.
So if Sarah had talked – even if she was acting gullibly and foolishly rather than with malicious intent – she was still responsible. She had, however ingenuously, treated her boss with disrespect and his business with abandon.
And she would have to face the consequences.
Erin took a deep breath. “I’ll have to tell Slater, of course.”
“Tell him what? I didn’t steal information, Erin. I didn’t leak it. I swear I didn’t.” Her voice faded. “Not on purpose. It could have happened to anyone. I mean, are you absolutely certain you didn’t let anything slip? Dax spent as much time talking to you as to me. He must have thought it was worth his while. And now that it’s painfully obvious he’s more than just a skirt-chaser–”
Erin felt the accusation explode in her head. Was it possible she, too, had been caught in Dax’s trap? Sarah was right that he was a master of the casual question. Only now did Erin remember that over lunch in the lobby cafeteria he’d asked her about Bob Brannagan, his dealings with Slater, and the conversation at the dinner party the night before. Of course, he hadn’t phrased things quite that directly; she hadn’t even noticed at the time that he was doing anything more than carrying on a casual conversation.
But what about Erin’s answers? Had she let information slip? In her annoyance with Dax and her haste to get away from all those unwelcome encounters, had she said the wrong thing?
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