by Donna Hill
“What’s wrong, Reese?” Maxwell asked as they pulled up in front of her hotel. “You haven’t been yourself since we left the island.”
“The past twenty-four hours have been like a fairy tale, Max. I’m just reluctant to let it go.” She looked down at her hands instead of at him. “I guess, what I’m saying is that I’m afraid we’ll drift back to the tension-filled relationship we had…before…yesterday.”
“Listen, baby, believe me, I’ve had the same feelings. But the reality is, life goes on. You have a job to do and so do I. We can’t let what happens between us on a personal level interfere with that.”
She breathed deeply. “The rational, workaholic side of me understands that.” She turned to him, her eyes filled with uncertainty. “It’s the rest of me that won’t cooperate.” She gave him a lopsided grin.
Max leaned over and kissed her gently on the lips. “This can’t be the same woman who told me to ‘deal with it,’” he teased. “We’re just gonna take this thing one day at a time. Okay?”
She nodded in assent.
“Now let’s get you upstairs so you can relay your adventures to your friend,” he said giving her a sly grin. “Just make sure you tell her I was kidnapped and seduced under duress.”
Reese’s eyes widened in shock. Her mouth opened to deny his statement, but all she could do was laugh with joy.
Maxwell took Reese to her door, saw that she was safely inside, and turned to leave. “I’ll be at the office for the rest of the day,” he said when he approached the door. “You can reach me there if you need me for anything.”
“I’m going to try to work on the article today. I seem to have fallen behind,” she said coyly.
“I can’t imagine how that could have happened,” he returned, chucking her under the chin. “I’d better check on Carmen, too. She’s probably worried out of her mind. Or more likely she’s probably rubbing her hands together in glee. I’m sure she’s put two and two together by now and got us as the end result,” he chuckled.
Reese covered her mouth in horror. She’d forgotten all about Carmen. “How will I ever face her?”
“You’re a resourceful woman. You’ll think of something. See you later.”
“Promise?”
“We’ll see. Get to work.” He turned and strode out of the door.
Reese closed the door behind him and emitted a heavenly sigh. Then without further ado, she dashed for the phone and dialed Lynnette’s room.
“Sounds like you’re in deep, girl,” Lynnette said over a greasy cheeseburger. “What are you going to do?”
“There’s not much I can do. I’m falling for the guy, Lynn.”
“But you’ve interviewed hundreds of eligible men over the years. You’ve never resorted to jumping into bed with them just to get a story and then falling for them on top of it—or on the bottom—depending on your preference.”
Reese’s amber eyes snapped with outrage. “And it’s not what I’m doing now,” she hissed. “Don’t you get it, Lynn? This isn’t about a way to get a story.”
“You’re really serious, aren’t you?” she asked in wonder.
“Yes, I am. I thought you knew that.”
Lynnette swallowed. “Hey, girl, I’m sorry. I just thought it was one of those ‘things’ when we talked on the phone. But what about ethics? I mean you are out here to do a job. What if this got out? What would it do to your credibility?”
“I know. So that’s why it can’t. Our relationship—such as it is—is not fodder for a story angle. I can’t let how I feel about him cloud my objectivity on this story.”
Lynnette waited a beat. “You said your relationship ‘such as it is.’ What aren’t you telling me?”
Reese took a breath and looked away. “Max has been hurt before. I mean really hurt and he’s leery about any sort of commitment. He wants us to just take it one day at a time with no strings or promises.”
“And you…?”
Reese looked into her friend’s eyes. “I want more,” she confessed. “I want it all.”
“And what if he’s never ready? Can you handle it?”
Reese pursed her lips. “I don’t have any other choice, now do I?”
“Know you, girlfriend, you’ll think of something.”
Maxwell tried to concentrate on the designs that rested in front of him, but his thoughts kept drifting back to his day and night with Reese. She was under his skin. There was no denying it. Sure, he could let the relationship ride until it was time for her to return to Chicago. But then what? If he did decide to pursue a full-fledged relationship with her, what about the distance that separated them? Would she be willing to pull up stakes to be with him? Would he be willing to relocate? Or would he find himself in another long-distance relationship—one that ultimately spelled trouble?
He shook his head in frustration. He was getting way ahead of himself. So, he’d slept with her, so she’d made him feel whole, so he’d realized there was an emptiness that she filled. Where was it all going? He’d felt this way before and it had brought nothing but heartache. Reese isn’t Victoria, his conscience warned. She deserved a chance and so did he.
The ringing of his intercom intruded on his swirling thoughts.
“Yes, Carmen,” he answered, depressing the flashing button.
“Ms. Davenport is on line one,” she said with a distinct note of disdain in her voice.
“Thanks.” He paused, debating whether he should take the call. “I’ll take it,” he said finally. He pressed the steady red light on the dial. “What can I do for you, Victoria?”
“Hello, Max,” she said hesitantly. “I’m going back to D.C. this afternoon. I was hoping we could meet, before I left.”
“For what? It’s a little too late for you to get any inside information. The chip is already in production.”
“I deserved that.”
“To say the least.”
“Listen, Max, I can’t undo what I did to you. I don’t expect you to ever forgive me, but at least give me an opportunity to tell my side. If we ever meant anything to each other at least give me this one chance.”
For three long years he’d wanted to know what had made this woman that he thought he loved turn on him. More times than he cared to count, he’d picked up the phone to dial her number and then didn’t. He’d spent sleepless nights trying to figure out how he could have been such a fool. He’d avoided the answers for years. Maybe it was time that he finally put this part of his life to rest.
“What do you have to say?”
Victoria let out an audible sigh of relief. “Can we meet somewhere? My plane leaves at five.”
“…things were really crazy for me back then, Max. I know I was never truly candid about my life but it was spinning out of control.” Victoria looked deep into his penetrating gaze. “You were my anchor.”
“That doesn’t explain or excuse anything, Vicky.”
“I know that. Please, just listen. I was up for promotion. A big one and my mother was dying. Her treatments and care were costing me a small fortune. She’d exhausted her medical coverage.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”
“Somehow, Air Force intelligence got wind of our relationship and the work that you were doing. They convinced me that if I could get them inside information on your new design it would be well worth it for me.” She looked away. “My back was against the wall.” Her voice broke. “I know what I did was wrong, Max. But I couldn’t see any other way out.”
“I suppose sleeping with the enemy was also part of the deal,” he bit out.
She lowered her eyes and nodded her head in shame.
“You could have told me. You could have trusted me. I would have given you anything, Victoria—anything.” His heart constricted in his chest with the memories.
She swallowed. “I know that—now. All I could think of at the time was my mother and what she needed. Other than you, she was all I had.” It was on the tip of her tongue to tell hi
m about Reese, her half sister, about the life she was excluded from.
Maxwell shook his head. “So now I understand. You had a reason.” He looked into her pleading green eyes. “But it doesn’t change anything, Vicky. It never will. It’s too late.”
“I don’t expect you to take me back, or blindly accept what I’ve said. I know I made a shambles of your life and I would do anything to make that up to you.” She paused. “I was only hoping that the truth would be a start.”
“A start of what?” he asked, his eyes narrowing dangerously.
“A start of the healing, Max,” she said, sincerity ringing in the crystal clarity of her voice. “I know you. Remember? I took your trust and your love and crushed it. And by knowing you, I know what that would have done to you. Please, don’t let what happened between us tarnish any happiness that you might find.”
“Since when did you become the concerned citizen?”
“When I ran into you the other night with that woman, I envied her. I envied the very idea that anyone would experience with you the joy I’ve known. But what bothered me most of all was the notion that you may never be willing to give that part of you again. And that would be the greatest loss. I don’t want to be the reason.” She let out a breath and shook her head in wonder. “I can’t believe I’m even saying this to you. I spent nights praying that you’d never find anyone else. That one day we’d find our way back to each other. That you’d forgive me. But…I did what I did. And if the same circumstances were to arise, I’d do it again…and again. That’s who I am, Max.” She smiled a sad, lonely smile. “And you know it as well as I do.”
Maxwell looked at her, really looked at her and he knew she was right. Victoria Davenport was finally a part of his life that he could close the book on.
He reached across the table and covered her hand with his. Victoria felt the tears of regret burn her eyes. “We can’t go back, Vicky. We both know that. But we can go forward—from here. I don’t know if I can ever truly forgive you, but at least I can begin to understand.”
“I just don’t want you to hate me, Max. I couldn’t bear that.”
“I don’t hate you. I stopped hating you a long time ago. Maybe now, I can start liking you and finally accept you for who you are and not what I imagine you to be.”
She sniffed back her tears and smiled. “So…tell me about this lucky lady that you have goo-goo eyes over.”
“He’s in the restaurant with Davenport,” the agent said into the microphone.
“We know she’s headed back here. I’ll have one of the team pick her up at Dulles.”
“Yes, sir.”
“I’m going to head over to Max’s office. I need to interview a few more of the employees before they quit for the day. I plan to really dig into this article tonight,” Reese said as she and Lynnette walked down the palm-lined street together.
“Do you have time for a blitz shopping spree before you head off to the drudgery of work? I was able to get in contact with Quincy’s publicist and I have an appointment for tomorrow afternoon. I’ve got to look fly!”
“You go, girl. You didn’t tell me you got the assignment.”
“How could I? Between the stars in your eyes and love notes in your voice I couldn’t get a word in edgewise.”
Reese playfully pushed her aside. “Very funny.”
“Well do you?”
Reese checked her watch. “All right. You have one hour and then I’ve got to get across town or this whole day will have been a bust.”
“Charge!” Lynnette giggled.
An hour and a half later, totally worn out, Reese pulled up in a cab in front of Maxwell’s offices. Just as she stepped out of the cab, movement caught her attention in the corner of her eye.
There was Max, with one arm around Victoria Davenport’s waist, the other carrying a designer garment bag, squiring her into his Corvette.
Reese stood still as stone as she watched them drive away.
Chapter 12
A multitude of explanations poured through her mind as she rode the elevator to the executive floor. But none of them eased the hurt that carved out a corner of her heart.
She’d listened to him tell of his betrayal by that woman. She’d empathized with his anguish. Yet there he was, live and in living color, smiling at her, holding her as if she were the dearest being in the world. Was it all lies?
“Reese,” Carmen greeted, nearly bumping into her in the corridor. “Max is gone for the day. I wasn’t expecting you,” she said with a knowing smile.
“There’s a lot of that going around,” she replied in a monotone.
Carmen gave her a curious look. “Are you all right? You seem—distracted.”
Reese gathered her wits about her. “I’m just fine, Carmen. And you’re just the person I wanted to see. Do you have a few minutes? I need to get some additional background information on Mr. Knight.”
After dropping Victoria off at the airport, Maxwell took the two-hour drive out to his home in San Diego. He needed some quiet time to gather his thoughts and absorb what Vicky had told him.
Mixing himself a light drink, he stepped out onto the deck, watching the rays of the setting sun span across the bay as he leaned across the railing. Victoria was a complex woman. There was no denying that. Yet even with all that she revealed, he still felt in his gut that there was something she wasn’t telling. But he couldn’t put his finger on it. He took a sip of his drink.
He could believe the part about her mother. He could even believe the part that she felt she had no other choice. What he had a hard time swallowing was her concern for his happiness. Victoria had never been one to be interested in another person’s happiness for as long as he’d known her. Had she changed that much in the three years? He sighed. Perhaps their breakup had affected her as well. At least in some small way. He wanted to believe that she wished him well and wanted the best for him without reservation.
He might be able to forgive her. But he wouldn’t forget, nor would he find it in his heart to trust her no matter how sincere she portrayed herself to be. Her interest in Reese, in her background, and the standing of their relationship piqued his suspicions.
Victoria never asked a question or opened the door to a conversation without a reason. Then again, maybe it was time for him to put the past behind him once and for all. Whatever Victoria’s motives were for doing anything was none of his concern. What he had to deal with now was his spiraling feelings for Reese and where it would lead him.
Now that many of his unanswered questions had finally been answered, perhaps he could begin to really live again and open his heart to the gifts that Reese wanted to give.
Reese sat across from Carmen taking notes as Carmen spoke.
“Did you know Max before he opened his offices?”
“No. I met him at a conference in Washington, shortly after my husband died. My husband, Carlos, was also a computer engineer. I’d worked with him on several projects and was familiar with Max’s name in the industry. I attended the conference to hear him speak. When I had an opportunity to talk with him in private to tell him how much Carlos had admired his work, he told me about his goal to open his own offices. He offered me a job right on the spot,” she smiled, reminiscing the moment.
“Everything that I’ve heard about Max always points back to his work, his brilliance in the electronic field. But what about Maxwell Knight the man? And please—be candid. I want to make him as rounded as possible for the article and you seem to know him best,” she coaxed.
“Maxwell is a very private person. It’s rare that he discusses his private life,” she said, looking away.
“But I get a sense that if anyone knows that side of him it’s you,” she smiled encouragingly. “As a matter of fact, while we were out to dinner the other night, we ran into an old friend of his.” She pretended to look at her notes. “A Victoria Davenport. Max seemed a bit reluctant to speak about her. Perhaps you could shed some light on their relation
ship.”
Carmen looked at her for a long moment, debating on how much she should say. In her heart she strongly felt that Reese was the perfect woman for her Max. The very idea that Victoria Davenport had been in contact with him again made her skin itch. If Reese was to have the slightest chance in winning Max’s heart she needed to know what she was up against.
“She nearly destroyed him,” she said finally. “Both personally and professionally. They met about five years ago at the same conference I spoke of earlier. I knew she was trouble from the moment I set eyes on her…”
Reese listened with her heart in her hand, hoping that Carmen’s story would match what Max had revealed to her.
“…Maxwell is the type of man who puts his heart and soul into everything he touches. That included Victoria. And when she turned on him, he was never the same. The light seemed to die in his eyes. He turned inside of himself and devoted his every waking moment to his work to the exclusion of everything and everyone.” She looked across at Reese. “It wasn’t until recently that I’ve seen the old sparkle back in his eyes,” she stated, giving Reese a pointed look. “Give him time,” she added sagely. “He’ll come around.”
Reese hid her obvious attempt at gleaning information about Maxwell and Victoria behind a wall of questions of which she already had the answers. “What is the general feeling around the office about the company’s status in the industry?” she parried.
Carmen smiled in understanding. “Everyone is thrilled that Maxwell has been able to direct the company to this level in such a short space of time. It’s a testament to his brilliance as a businessman as well as an engineer.”
“Can you tell me a little bit about his family? What was his life like before he became ‘boy wonder’?”
It was after eleven o’clock when Victoria’s plane finally touched down in D.C. All she wanted to do was go home and regroup. Her meeting with Max had been more stressful than she’d anticipated. She thought that, for the most part, she was over him. But she wasn’t. The time that she’d spent with him only rekindled the smoldering embers of their relationship. She’d messed up big time. And she knew there was no chance in getting him back. When she’d said that she envied Reese, it was true, more so than she’d ever be able to admit. But what was also true was that she did want him to find happiness. If it happened to be with her half sister, there wasn’t much she could do about that. Revealing their kinship would change nothing. She loved him enough to finally let him go—whether he ever believed it or not.