by Leigh Duncan
Not that he could tell Jess about their scheme. As Bryce had made perfectly clear, the medical community frowned on one of its own turning traitor, even when it had nothing to do with medicine. And until things were locked down tight with Estelle Phelps, he didn’t dare breathe a word of the meeting he’d arranged with the heiress. So, for the sake of his practice and to preserve Phelps Cove, he had secrets to keep. Even from the woman he loved.
“I have no idea,” he lied.
Chapter Thirteen
Jess bit her lower lip as she searched Dan’s face. She sensed he wasn’t telling her everything he knew, but she resisted the urge to interrogate him. True to his word, Dan had always been honest with her. She wouldn’t let fears from the past damage their relationship, or the future she hoped they would share.
Dan cleared his throat. “You want to check the news?”
But Jess had already decided. “You know what,” she said before she could change her mind. “I don’t want anything to ruin our night. Whatever happens with Phelps Cove, we’ll deal with it tomorrow.”
With that, she moved into his arms. Her hands twined around his neck and her fingers wove through the lustrous satin of his hair. Her eyes wide-open, she pulled him down until his lips claimed hers exactly the way she’d known they would. This was what she wanted, what she’d been waiting for. They kissed until an incredibly sweet pressure grew low in her belly. A soft moan escaped her lips when his fingers slipped beneath the hem of her shirt.
“Want to go inside?” he murmured, his voice a caress against her ear.
Over the flames of desire, she managed a breathless “Yes.” She was all about making a beeline for his bedroom. She would have, too, if his pager hadn’t beeped at the single most inopportune moment in the history of the world.
His hand automatically reached for the device.
“Don’t look. Don’t look. Don’t look,” she mouthed against his neck while reminding herself that she’d chosen to fall in love with a man who couldn’t always control his own time.
“My answering service. They wouldn’t call unless…”
“Unless it was an emergency.” She retreated, her emotions swinging down from the top arc of the pendulum. “You should call them back.”
“I’m not on duty, so this won’t take long. Pour us another glass and make yourself at home,” he suggested with a kiss full of promise.
Once Dan had disappeared down the hall, Jess returned their glasses to the wine butler. Her quick survey of the living space produced an appreciative whistle. From the magazines stacked at precise angles on an overstuffed ottoman to a jumbo-size television in a designer hutch, everything was neat and tidy. And so unlike her jumbled office at On The Fly, or the kid-friendly home she’d made above the shop, that she battled momentary doubt.
The couch she settled onto wouldn’t look so shiny after Adam’s first sticky-fingered assault. So how would she and her son and all their mess fit into Dan’s life? She leaned back against the soft leather and massaged her forehead.
“One step at a time,” she told herself.
She and Dan hadn’t even spent a night together, and here she was trying to plan their future. What was she thinking? She was just edgy, keyed up from all Dan’s kisses, and worried about Phelps Cove. She needed a distraction. Realizing she’d missed the weather report earlier, she lifted the remote from a hand-carved bowl on the side table.
“State senators and representatives are heading home tomorrow after failing to address any funding issues. The governor expects to call a special session to handle budgetary matters this summer.”
Her stomach sank.
Nothing. That’s all the legislature had to do in order to ruin Phelps Cove…and it sounded as though they’d done exactly that. How had things gone so wrong? She’d thrown everything she had into the fight for the protected habitat, and she’d still lost. Lost the chance to honor Henry, to preserve the land for future generations.
Defeated, she glanced down the hall where the man she loved had headed. Much as she’d looked forward to the night with Dan, the news had robbed her of feeling. She wanted nothing more than to go home, curl up in her bed and sleep until the world became a better place. Or at least until tomorrow. Tears stung her eyes. She wiped them with the backs of her hands.
“In related news, prominent local doctor, Bryce Jones the third, was among a group of people arrested in Tallahassee this afternoon.”
Jess fixed a chilly gaze on the screen where police officers led a familiar figure to a cruiser. Her blood turned to ice when the announcer continued.
“Charges are pending, but unnamed sources tell us Dr. Jones is involved in a scheme to bribe members of the state’s finance committee. More arrests are expected as investigation into The Aegean development group…”
It didn’t take a genius to connect the dots between a bribery scheme and the legislature’s funding problems. Faster than she could set a hook, Jess went from cold defeat to white-hot anger. The shove she gave the remote sent it skidding across the leather ottoman where it toppled the stack of magazines. The commotion was loud enough to draw Dan’s attention. He caught up with her on the way to the door.
“Something break?” He sent a troubled frown over her shoulder to the living room.
“Just my heart,” Jess shot back. She jabbed a finger toward the television where Bryce, along with several others, were being loaded into police cars. The way Dan’s face fell when he saw the screen only confirmed her fears. She let her voice rise on an angry tide. “Bribery, Dan?”
“Now, Jess, it’s not what it looks like,” he protested.
“It looks pretty clear to me. Or are you trying to tell me that’s not one of your pals they’re hauling off to jail? Did you know about this?”
“Not about the arrests. No.”
But he knew something. Guilt was all over his face. Swinging her head to one side, she held up a hand. “But you knew about the bribes. And you didn’t tell me?”
He looked so vulnerable standing there that if she hadn’t seen the images herself, heard the reporter herself, she might have given him a second chance. As much as it hurt, though, she couldn’t ignore the truth.
It was just her luck that the one time she’d opened her heart since Tom died, the man she’d trusted it with had shattered her dreams.
“I thought I could trust you. That you’d be honest with me. But this?” Her voice had developed a wounded quality that made her even angrier. “You were just using me to get what you wanted.” Her thoughts were coming so fast and furious she paused to let her mouth catch up.
“Well,” she huffed. “You can forget about George’s help once he hears about this. Or was Connections House another one of your scams?”
And if it was, what would people say about her involvement? Would they recognize her as the victim? Or would they accuse her of being part of the conspiracy?
The thought made her chest hurt.
“Jess, slow down. You’ll see it’s not what you’re thinking.”
She’d always supposed Dan’s ability to remain calm in an emergency made him a better doctor. It did not serve him well in a fight.
She overrode his even tone. “You know, this is the same kind of stuff Tom used to pull. He never told me about all the risks he was taking, the same way you neglected to mention that your pals were spreading money all over Tallahassee. There isn’t any difference, Dan. Tom lied, and so did you.”
“You’re wrong, Jess,” Dan began in the same soothing voice. “I didn’t tell you everything, but I didn’t lie to you.”
“Oh, really? You can’t deny that you left out a few important facts.” He’d hurt her. She needed to wipe that smug look off his face and make him feel the same pain. “I’m thinking that bribery is a pretty underhanded way to get what you want. I’m thinking that a man who would resort to it would do just about anything. And I’m thinking the police might be knocking on his door next.”
And how would that
look, if she were there when they showed up? The one spearheading the Phelps Cove campaign caught in bed—despite herself, she groaned—with the opposition. How would she explain to Adam that his mommy had had the bad sense to get involved with a man who couldn’t be trusted? And who would take care of her boy until she proved her innocence?
Acid rose in the back of her throat as somewhere within her a dam burst and her worst fears for her child’s future poured out.
“Jess, please listen—”
“What kind of man are you to use me like this?” She had to get out of there. She had to do it right now. She pushed aside the hand Dan reached to her. “Don’t even try to defend yourself. You lied. About this and who knows what else. I should have known better than to let myself fall for someone like you, someone with no ties to anything.”
She meant nothing to tie him to the land, but the way Dan’s color deepened told her he’d taken the cut much more personally. For the first time, she heard anger in his voice.
“So, after all your talk, pedigree matters to you?”
“Of course not,” she protested. An ache started in her heels and worked its way up into her head. “I can’t… I can’t… I don’t know what to believe anymore.”
“Well, you’re wrong about me, Jess, but that makes two of us because I was wrong about you, too. I thought you were the kind of woman who’d love me for who I am. Not someone who’d hold where I came from against me.”
Pain and anger warred, sending her voice higher. “All I know is, I can’t deal with this, with you, right now. I’m out of here.”
While Dan remained a silent presence, she snatched her purse from the entryway table and marched to the parking lot. Once behind the wheel of her car, she pressed her hand against her chest to keep her heart from shattering into a million pieces. Somehow, she managed to hold it together long enough to make it home.
By midnight, she’d exhausted all her tears and climbed into bed. But a broken heart made a poor bedfellow, so she turned the television to a channel that advertised all local news, all the time. In between repeated broadcasts, she passed the long, sleepless night reliving the breakup. By two, she’d watched the same footage so often it looked as tired as she felt. She brewed a pot of coffee at three and sat at the kitchen table until the sky along the eastern horizon lightened from black to gray.
By then, she’d been over the scene with Dan enough times to suspect she’d let her mouth get ahead of her heart and ruined everything.
Sure, Dan was to blame for getting involved with The Aegean group, but she’d been wrong, too. Wrong to fire accusations without giving him a chance to explain. Wrong not to realize there had to be more to the story. Not only that, but she’d thrown the absolute worst insult imaginable his way. She’d damaged their relationship beyond repair.
A lifetime might pass before she let someone get that close again, but Dan had loved her. Now that she was thinking clearly, she knew he had. Hadn’t he proven it in a thousand small ways? She thought of stolen kisses, how his hand always seemed to find hers, the late-night phone calls after exhausting surgeries, the attention he showered on her son.
But the man who had loved her had also betrayed her. And the worst part was that they’d never get back what they’d tossed away. She clamped her hand over her mouth as another piece of her heart broke and fresh tears began to fall.
Dan grabbed his pillow and pulled it tight around his head. No good. The incessant beeping would not be ignored.
He was five stories up. How could the garbage trucks sound so loud?
A quick check of his bedside clock revealed only a blur. He pried open his eyes and blinked until the numbers swam into focus. A groan escaped his lips. He hadn’t slept till nine in over a decade. Of course, he hadn’t polished off a bottle of wine on his lonesome or been dumped by the love of his life in the past ten years, either.
How had things gotten to this point?
A week ago, the dream of a home for foster kids had been within his grasp. And last night, with the woman he loved in his arms, he’d seen a quaint four-bedroom in his own future. A place with a fenced yard out back and a boat dock in the front. A family kind of house. The kind Adam, and maybe a sister or a brother—or two—would call home.
Now, he’d lost both Jess and Adam. And maybe even more than that.
Propping an arm behind his head, he told himself that he was an old hand at the pain of rejection. It was his destiny and, by now, he should have been used to it.
Jess had never even heard his side of the story, but it didn’t matter. One thing he knew about her, once she made up her mind, she didn’t change it. As wrong as she was about him, though, she’d been dead right about one thing. Connections House would never survive if he remained a part of it. Even if his association with The Aegean group had ended well before Bryce’s trip to Tallahassee, the scent of scandal still clung to him. One whiff and George and his pals would pull their support. He had no choice; he had to step away and hope they’d follow through on their commitments.
Another round of beeping began. Fully awake this time, he recognized the difference between a truck backing up and the sound of the pager on his bedside table. With another groan, he threw back the covers and stumbled into his jeans.
In the kitchen, he grabbed a bottle of aspirin and downed three pills with a large glass of water. As his brain caught up with the rest of him, he braced his hands on the granite counter. A quick call to his answering service alerted him that the hospital board had scheduled an emergency meeting, and his presence was required. Evidently, the powers-that-be had been less than pleased to wake up to the news that several of their own were now facing felony charges. Careers were on the line, and Dan didn’t need to hear the words to know his was one of them.
After promising to be there in an hour, he poured an extra scoop of grounds into the coffeepot and started the brew cycle. A shower and a shave were in order, as well. But before that, he needed to gather the faxes and paperwork to prove he’d broken his association with The Aegean group long before the Tallahassee debacle. Otherwise, he might be out of a job. And the way his life was going, it was the only thing he had left.
That, and one last fishing lesson with Jess.
Hope bloomed at the thought. Could he get her back? He filled a mug and took a swig of coffee that was far too bitter.
Not a chance.
He’d seen the hurt and despair in her eyes when she left. Her love for him had died. And with it, he’d lost all hope of having a family to call his own.
Jess might have stayed in bed for a month if she hadn’t had a business to run and a son to raise. Customers came and went despite her broken heart. Supply lists had to be filled whether her tears dripped on them or not. Employees noted her sad mood and treated her with kid gloves, but still wanted their paychecks. And little boys required food and comfort and care. Especially one whose newest, bestest friend had disappeared and who sensed that, somehow, Mom was to blame.
It took a week before she drew a full breath without cringing. Even then, it was too soon to see Dan again. One look at the broad chest where she’d never again be welcome to lay her head, a peek into the brown eyes that would no longer light up whenever they saw her, and her fragile heart would shatter all over again. Knowing she might never patch herself back together if that happened, she motioned Sam into her office on Tuesday, shortly before On The Fly closed.
“You know Dan and I aren’t seeing each other anymore.” Her chest burned when she said his name. She cleared her throat. “We’re not actually on speaking terms.”
“The way you’ve been mopin’ around the last few days, I sort of figured that out.” Sam leaned forward. “Adam okay?”
“He’s finally stopped asking about Dan every ten minutes. He’ll be all right.” If she’d learned anything from the experience, it was that next time she’d keep her love life away from her son.
Not that there would likely be a next time.
“No c
hance you’ll get back together? I thought you two were good for each other, Jess.”
“No.” Wishing the truth didn’t hurt quite so much, she pressed one hand to her chest. “I accused him of using me to get Phelps Cove.”
“He did what?” To his credit, Sam was instantly on her side. He sprang to his feet. “Let me at him, Jess. I’ll teach the…”
She waved her hand, cutting him off. “I should have known from the beginning we’d never work things out. I had too much riding on Phelps Cove. When the legislature didn’t approve the money for it, I… Well, neither of us likes to lose. I said some awful things. Unforgiveable things.”
“Seems to me, the doc ain’t no saint. Haven’t his partners been accused of bribery?”
“Yeah.” But none of the reporters had mentioned Dan’s name. She’d followed all the coverage during a week of sleepless nights that seemed to stretch out forever.
“The bottom line is, no matter what he’s done or hasn’t done, he’s still a valued client and we need to treat him like one.”
Disbelief showed on the manager’s weathered face.
“Whoa, that’s a switch.”
“It is, isn’t it?” She shook her head at the irony.
Thanks to Dan’s advice, her attitude toward their customers had improved and along with it, the shop’s bottom line.
“All right.” Sam gave a resigned sigh and returned to his chair. “What can I do?”
“I need you to handle his last fly fishing lesson.”
“Sure you wouldn’t rather I toss him overboard?” Sam asked. “Somewhere near the middle of the river?”
“I’m sure,” she said, working up a small smile. “Word might get around.”