by Tina Susedik
Cassie felt a weight the size of the Titanic lift from her shoulders. Even though the pain of losing her father would always be with her, she was glad to know the true story. “Would he have given Tony a hard time?”
Her mother smiled back. “You know, I don’t think he would have liked Tony very much, so probably not except to give him hell for treating his daughter poorly.” Her eyes twinkled. “But from what I hear about Hogan, I’m sure he would have tickled your father’s fancy.”
“So what do you think I should do now?”
“First of all, you wish me the best of luck with my new husband.”
“You got it, Annie. You deserve the best.”
Annie stood and reached for her coat. “I think you need to talk with Hogan, listen to his side.”
“Well, from what Jill says, he’s suffering as badly as I am.” Cassie followed her mother to the door. “I don’t know if I am ready to forgive him for lying.”
Cassie’s mother raised an eyebrow at her.
“All right, all right. He didn’t lie,” Cassie admitted, throwing her arms in the air. “He just didn’t tell me the whole story.”
Annie placed a gloved hand on Cassie’s cheek. “Be happy, baby.”
“You, too,” she replied, giving her mother’s hand a squeeze.
“Oh, I am. I am.”
After she left, Cassie thought about their conversation. Maybe her hang-ups about people not telling the truth stemmed from how she felt about her father’s dying and Tony’s betrayal. But then, Tony was an ass, so he probably didn’t count.
Maybe she was being a little over-the-top when it came to honesty. Maybe she needed to talk with Hogan, because more than anything in the world, she wanted him back—in her arms, in her bed, and in her life. She’d ask Jill tonight how to approach Hogan. But maybe she should do what her mother suggested and call him. Swallowing pride was difficult, especially when there was a permanent lump in one’s throat.
Chapter 21
Cassie stood outside Jill’s apartment door, a bottle of her favorite white wine in each hand. Deciding to be on the safe side, she’d left her overnight bag in the car. If things got too boring, she could bail out and head for home. But what could be more boring than her life of late? Hearing the door handle rattle, she pasted a smile on her face, hoping it would brighten her feelings for the evening.
A blast of warm air flowed out the door when Jill opened it. “Two bottles of wine? What do you plan on doing, drown your sorrows? Won’t work, you know.”
Cassie stepped into Jill’s cozy living room, wondering at her friend’s shaking hands as she took the wine. “I know. I just figured if we drank one bottle and wanted more, we wouldn’t have to go back out.” She un-wrapped her scarf from around her neck, removed her gloves, took off her furry hat, shook snow from her coat, and dropped everything on a chair.
After toeing off her boots, Cassie walked past her friend. “Man, it’s cold out. I hope the wine didn’t freeze on the way over.”
Jill glanced toward the kitchen, then at the bottles of wine she set on the dining room table. “They didn’t.” I can’t believe how cold it is. But this is Wisconsin in December. Why, just the other day I heard on the weather we’re in for a big cold snap. Then it’ll warm up and we’ll have snow for Christmas.” She twisted the rings on her hand. “Won’t a white Christmas be nice?”
“Jill, you’re babbling. What’s wrong?” A bad feeling crept into Cassie. “Why do you keep looking at the kitchen?” Then she heard voices, including one that was familiar and dear to her. “Dammit, Jill, what have you done?”
“You just remember, I didn’t do anything, Cassie Jordan, so don’t get all mad at me.”
“Is she here, Jill?” a male voice from another room called.
It was him. Shit. Cassie turned on Jill. “Dammit. What’s he doing here? You said you wouldn’t interfere. I could throttle you.” Even though she was going to call Hogan, she wanted it to be on her terms, not someone else’s.
Jill took a few cautious steps away from Cassie and grabbed her friend’s outdoor clothing. “I didn’t do anything. If you must know, this was Hogan’s idea.”
Over her shoulder, she saw Hogan come into the room. Cassie moved toward the front door. “I’m leaving.”
Jill clutched Cassie’s coat against her chest and held her boots in her hands. “Not without these you aren’t. Like you said, it’s cold out there.” She faced the couple, her chin set. “Now here’s the plan for the evening. Brad and I are going into the kitchen, and you two are going to talk to each other. Hogan, you’re going to tell Cassie why you lied to her and why you had her arrested.”
Hogan raked his fingers through his hair. “For the umpteenth time, I didn’t have her arrested,” he complained. “I want to take Cassie to my place where we could talk in private.”
Jill raised her hand. “Tough. We’re doing things my way now. If I let you two go now, Cassie will leave in her car and, Hogan, you’ll tuck tail, go back to your place, and sulk. I have never seen two people more suited to each other, nor more bull-headed. It’s as plain as the day is long you love each other. You’re both miserable. Brad and I are tired of playing nannies to the lovelorn.”
Jill took Hogan’s coat from the hall closet and clutched it to her chest along with Cassie’s. “We want our lives back. We want our friends back. You’re not leaving until you resolve your differences. Have I made myself clear?” With her arms overloaded with coats, scarves, gloves, and shoes, Jill went to the kitchen and closed the door behind her.
Cassie stared at her hands while Hogan found something interesting on the floor. Once glance at him and her knees went weak. Before she fell down, she moved to the couch. Hogan sat on a chair across from her. He looked terrible.
“You look terrible,” he commented.
With the dark circles under his eyes, disheveled hair grown a little long, he seemed as miserable as she felt. Probably no sleep, little food. If she hadn’t been so concerned about his tiredness, she would have taken satisfaction in his obvious misery. After all, he was the cause of the state they were in.
“Gee, thanks. So do you.” She worried her bottom lip. “Why did you want me here?”
Hogan ran his fingers through his hair and pushed up his glasses. He sat forward in the chair and leaned his elbows on his knees. “I couldn’t think of any other way to get you to see me. I’m sorry I hurt you, Cassie. I didn’t mean to. Hell, I didn’t know how you felt about money. And even if I did, it wouldn’t have changed my keeping being rich from you or my feelings for you.”
Cassie twisted a ring on her finger, rolling it around and around. “Why did you hide your financial status from me?”
“I’ve learned that people change when they find out I’m rich. They become fast friends or want to become lovers. They don’t want me, but what they think I can give them, or what my money represents.” He played with his watchband, twisting it nervously.
“A few years ago I inherited some money from an uncle. I invested in my dad’s plastics company. With the influx of money and changes I made, the company has grown.
“About the time the business started taking off, I met a woman. She was smart, sophisticated, pretty. I’d never met anyone like her—until now.”
Her heart lurched at his small smile. Damn thing. She frowned. Did he really think his money was the only reason she was mad at him? Her stomach slipped like grasshoppers were bouncing around inside.
“Anyway, I fell for her hard. I thought she was the one. I was free with comments about the company and my finances. After all, I figured we’d be spending the rest of our lives together. Little did I know she was dating someone a little richer than me. The night I’d planned to propose, she told me she’d found someone else, someone who didn’t work eighty hours a week and could tak
e her places. I was devastated.”
Cassie didn’t want it to, but her heart melted, if only a little bit.
“I threw all my energy into work and tried to win her back. When she found out how well I was doing, she had second thoughts and came back to me.” Hogan huffed a breath and ran a hand down the back of his neck. “It wasn’t long before she met an older, more established man and left again.”
“So you swore off women?”
“Not quite. I went on dates, blind and otherwise, but they couldn’t see beyond my money to me, the man.”
“Then they were truly ‘blind dates.’”
Hogan’s grin didn’t reach his eyes. “Thank you. I think. Anyway, I came to the conclusion that if the next woman I met didn’t know I was rich and fell in love with me, then I would know for sure it was me she loved and not my money.”
“So that covers the lies about your money.” She leaned back and crossed her arms over her chest. “Now tell me about your being an FBI agent.”
Hogan took a deep breath and explained about his job in the military and the offer to continue with investigations as a civilian, then as an undercover agent for the FBI.
“With my business and overseas connections, the FBI wanted me to work on a case involving the theft and smuggling of antiques to the United States. We all know how the Nazis plundered and hid art during WWII. There are still a lot of items unaccounted for. They’ve been showing up here in the States. One of the people we knew was involved was your ex. We needed more evidence to arrest him.”
Cassie tightened her lips and narrowed her eyes. Jackass.
“So when you came to my house to get your shoes, it was an excuse to get close to me and find out what I knew about Tony smuggling WWII artifacts?”
“Hell, no. I didn’t make the connection until the first night at your house. You wouldn’t believe my shock when I realized the woman Bess always called Susie was actually Angelino’s ex-wife and a suspect.”
“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“I couldn’t, Cassie. I didn’t know you. Once I found out Angelino was your ex, I didn’t know if you were part of the ring or not. My boss pushed me to investigate you.”
“So that’s what the trip to Green Bay was all about.”
“No. Yes, the FBI wanted me to question you, but I was falling for you, and truly believed you couldn’t be involved. I caught all kinds of hell when I returned to the office and didn’t have the answers they wanted.”
Cassie stood and moved behind the couch, placing her hands on the top. “Yet you searched my house, removed my belongings, and had me arrested.”
“I didn’t have you arrested, my boss did. You have to understand, this was my job. Please believe me when I say I knew you were innocent, but Kent insisted we make sure. We needed to cross our t’s and dot our i’s.”
“Why didn’t you explain this to me at the time?”
“Dammit. I couldn’t. We were still investigating. I would have been fired.”
“Is the investigation over?”
“Mostly. But you wouldn’t answer my calls or see me, so I couldn’t let you know what happened.”
“Can you tell me now?”
Hogan let out a pent-up breath. “Tony and his family used their overseas family connections to steal and move confiscated goods here. We finally caught them red-handed.”
“How did you do that?” Cassie asked, digging her fingers into the couch’s fabric.
“Your co-worker Richard.”
“Richard? Was he working with the FBI?”
“Not hardly.” Hogan shook his head. “Richard and Angelino met during one of his overseas trips. They hatched a plan for him to get a job at your office to get close to you. He and Tony had the idea you would be so desperate for a man, you would fall for him and eventually share the location of the papers and statues. At the office, he also had access to computers he thought couldn’t be tied to him to send messages to contacts in Germany and here.”
Cassie shuddered. “If he wanted me to fall for him, he sure had a bad way of showing it.”
“Once we found the connection between the two, we were able to follow his e-mails.”
“I knew the jerk wasn’t as smart as he acted.” Cassie rolled her eyes. “Where are they now?”
“In jail. Their lawyers tried to get them bail, but there’s an issue of a few bodies found on one of the ships owned by Angelino’s family and one in a storage unit they used. The DA doesn’t want them cut loose and fleeing the country. Besides him and Richard, Tony’s parents and grandparents, and some of their overseas family are incarcerated.”
“Why were they in my house?”
“Like Angelino told you, they were looking for those papers. Evidently his old grandfather hid them, and now that he has Alzheimers, getting him to say where they were was impossible. It contained all his contacts. He needed the list so he could destroy it. After searching his office, his and his parents’ homes, he thought maybe it had been packed with your things when you left. The statues are on a list of confiscated art.”
“So they’re not my grandmother’s?”
He shook his head. “Sorry.”
“When did you find the list? The day you had me arrested?”
Hogan tipped his head back and groaned. “For the thousandth time, I didn’t have you arrested. We found the list that day.”
Cassie frowned when Hogan stared at his stocking feet. A thought struck her. “Did you search for them any other time you were in my house?”
He nodded.
“When?”
“The night we first made love.”
Cassie heart dropped. “Before or after?” she whispered, afraid to hear his answer.
“Before. While you were in the shower.”
“I see. So your being with me was all a sham.”
Hogan jumped up and held out his hands. “No, Cassie. You have to believe me. I didn’t know we were going to make love that night. Besides, I never thought you were involved. Call it instincts or blind infatuation, but I knew you couldn’t be part of a smuggling ring. You’re too open, too honest. Once we became more involved, I didn’t search your house for more evidence.”
Was he really telling the truth? “What about when we were in Door County and you asked all those questions about Tony and antiques?”
“I was following orders. Agent Kent wanted to give the case to someone else several times because I kept saying you were innocent.” Hogan paced in front of the couch then stopped and sat on its edge. “I’m sorry you had to go through this. But the blame should be put squarely on Angelino and Richard’s shoulders, not mine. Please believe me.”
Cassie didn’t know what to think. Could she trust a man who’d lied to her not once, but twice? Her instincts told her he was a good man. He was only doing his job, and she did understand about not coming forth about his being rich.
“So, are we good?” he asked.
The hopeful tone in his voice made her heart break. So did his unhappy posture. Elbows leaning on his knees, hands clasped together, head hanging like the world was sitting on his shoulders. He looked back at her, his red, damp eyes beseeching her to comprehend.
She loved him. Enough to understand and forgive him? His lips turned in a small smile. She came around the couch and sat next to him.
Hogan took her hand. “I love you, Cassie Jordan. I never wanted to hurt you. I died a little each time I heard Kent’s plans for you, knowing there was nothing I could do to stop him.”
Cassie squeezed his fingers. “Because of things from my past, I have issues with people lying. It’s something I need to work on.” She gave him a sideways glance. “If you’re willing to work on them with me.”
Placing his hands on each side of her face, he k
issed her.
Cassie threw her arms around his neck. Her heart tripped and her body sighed.
“Can we leave now?” Hogan asked, leaning back before planting another kiss on her lips.
“If we can get our coats from Jill’s clutches.”
Hogan chuckled. “I’ll get them if I have to pry them from her cold, dead body.”
Standing, Cassie yelled, “We’re leaving, Jill.”
Jill opened the door and peered around the corner. “Is it safe to come in?”
Cassie laughed. “As long as you have our stuff.”
“So, are you guys all right?” Jill came into the room, her arms full of coats, hats, and scarves. Brad followed with their boots.
Hogan took Cassie’s coat and held it for her. Call her old-fashioned, but Cassie loved it when a man helped put her coat on.
“Keep the wine as a thank-you gift, Jill,” Cassie said, when she and Hogan were bundled up.
“Thanks, pal,” she whispered, hugging her friend tight enough to make Jill grunt.
Jill hugged her back. “Anytime, kiddo, anytime. You just be good to him.”
Later that evening, as rain and ice plinked against her bedroom window, Cassie snuggled deeper under the blankets, tucking her feet between Hogan’s, her head nestled into his arm. He sighed into her hair and wrapped his arms tighter.
“I missed you.” He rubbed his thumb across her cheek.
Cassie grabbed his thumb and nipped at it. “I know. I missed you so much, I thought I would die.”
They’d driven both cars back to her house, Hogan following hers so close, Cassie thought he’d drive over her roof. Obviously he wanted to make sure she didn’t ditch him.
The instant they’d made into her house and slammed the door shut, Cassie tore at his jacket and shirt as he did the same to her garments. In a matter of minutes they were heading up the stairs, never feeling the house’s cool air. She figured there should be some kind of award for being able to kiss, undress, and walk upstairs all at the same time. Her memory of actually climbing into bed before he rammed himself into her was hazy.