“What’s going on at GEA, Vanessa?”
Withdrawing her hand, she stared at his legs encased in plaster. “Warren has authorized you to take a two-month medical leave. He’s asked me to fill in as Acting Chief Financial Officer until you return.”
Her supervisor’s eyelids fluttered wildly before they closed. All of the natural color drained from his face, leaving it as white as the pillowcase cradling his head. “I should’ve expected this. Warren wants me out.”
Rising from the chair, Vanessa sat on the side of the hospital bed and leaned over to drop a light kiss on his bruised cheek. “Preston, please. Warren doesn’t want you out any more than I want your title.” His eyes opened and he studied her face. “I like handling our contract companies.”
He smiled. “You’re very good at what you do.”
She returned the smile. “I know that.” There was a hint of modesty in her admission.
Inhaling and letting out his breath audibly, Preston shook his head slowly. “You’re going to be up to your eyeballs with closing out the fiscal year, Vanessa. All contracted budgets expire on June thirtieth, which means you’re going to have to close out fifty-seven direct manufacturers and your own subcontracts.”
She winced. “How many have you begun?”
“I’ve completed twelve. They were the ones who spent all of their monies before their year end. In between preparing new budgets for the upcoming contract year I’ve been working on the corporate projection for next year. With all of the talk about a merger, I promised Warren that I’d have it to him before the middle of July.”
She thought about Shane’s warning that she would be taking on a lot of work. “Is the projection a priority?”
“The highest,” he admitted. “The consultant will need it when he comes on board.”
“He’s on board.”
“When did this happen?”
“This morning.” She gave Preston a long, penetrating look. “Why didn’t you tell me that we were bringing in an outside consultant?”
“Warren wanted it kept confidential.”
“But why?”
“I don’t know, Vanessa. I suppose he had his reasons.”
They spent the next quarter of an hour outlining all that needed to be done before Preston was to return, he reassuring Vanessa that he would be available to her whenever she needed assistance.
It was nearly three o’clock when she finally glanced at her watch. The attorney who handled all of her legal affairs was expected to return her call at three-thirty.
Reassuring Preston that she would come to see him the following day, she kissed his cheek and rushed out of the hospital.
She made it back to GEA within fifteen minutes, and after parking her car in the underground garage she took the elevator to the seventh floor.
As she walked out of the elevator she came face-to-face with Joshua Kirkland. His cold gaze wouldn’t permit her to move.
Somewhere, somehow, she found her voice. “Yes, Mr. Kirkland?”
“I need to meet with you, Miss Blanchard.”
“When?”
“Now.”
“I can’t,” she shot back.
“I’m expecting an important call.”
“Let your voice-mail pick it up,” he countered.
“I need to speak to this person.”
“The only person you need to speak to right now is me.”
Vanessa saw Anne watching her, and knew that the receptionist had overheard every word of their exchange. She swallowed hard, trying valiantly not to reveal her anger. Joshua had deliberately humiliated her in front of one of her subordinates.
Raising her chin in a gesture of defiance, she said, “Let me put my handbag away.”
“Bring it with you,” he ordered. He walked in the direction of his office, not glancing over his shoulder. It was obvious he expected her to follow him.
Anne shook her head and raised her hands in a gesture that signaled hopelessness. Vanessa managed a tight smile as she walked down the hall to Joshua’s office.
He stood at the door and allowed her to proceed him before he followed her and closed the door. “Please have a seat, Miss Blanchard.”
Vanessa rounded on him. “I’d rather stand, thank you.”
He closed the distance between them until they were standing less than a foot apart. He stood close enough for her to feel the whisper of his warm breath on her face.
“Don’t ever challenge me like that again, Vanessa. I’m here to do a job, the same way you’re here to do your job.”
Her temper flared. “I won’t challenge you if you don’t order me about. A request is not only more professional, but I also find it just as effective.”
“I don’t have time to court, woo, placate, or mollify. I have less than two months to conclude who should be retained at GEA and who will be let go with a generous severance award. Let me know now if you’re ready for an early retirement.”
Her fingers tightened into fists. “You wouldn’t!” she gasped as a threat of hysteria rose in her throat.
“I would.” The two words were cold and exacting.
Vanessa floundered in a maelstrom of despair. Who was he, this man, this stranger, who seemed intent on disrupting her life? How had she thought she loved him? How had she lain with him, then married him?
“You’re a sick monster, Joshua Kirkland.”
He recoiled as if she’d slapped him. I’m a soldier, not a monster, he screamed silently at her. He was only following orders. But he wanted to disobey those orders and take her in his arms and love her until time stood still for both of them.
Successfully concealing his anguish, he smiled down at her angry expression. “There was a time when you said that you’d love me forever.”
Vanessa was stunned by the shift in his mood. First he’d threatened to have her fired, then he caught her off balance by acknowledging the unspoken bond between them.
A brittle smile parted her lips. “I lied, Joshua,” she whispered. “There’s a time for love, and a time for letting go. And the time for my letting go came the day you walked out on me.”
The fingers of his left hand locked around her upper arm. “Sit down.” Steering her over to the chair beside his desk, he eased her down on it.
Joshua removed his jacket and hung it up in the closet before returning to sit down behind the desk; his gaze captured hers and held. She looked thinner, fragile, while still appearing ardently fragrant and utterly sensual. She was the woman he’d fallen in love with and continued to love; she was his wife, his partner, and he was forced to interact with her as if they were strangers; she was the woman who had haunted his dreams and his days for more than a year, and she was the woman he would willingly forfeit his own life to keep safe.
“I need an overview of your people, including their job titles and functions.”
She noticed a file on his desk with Shane’s name typed on the tab. “Do you want to begin with Shane Sumners?”
The charcoal gray lashes bordering his luminous eyes concealed them from view when he glanced down at the file atop a stack of others from the Finance Unit.
His head snapped up. “No. I’d like to begin with you. I want to know everything you’ve done since your first day at GEA.”
Everything in her manner was detached as she related the information he had asked for. Not once did he pick up a pen to make a notation on a blank pad next to the folders, and she suspected that perhaps he was secretly recording their session.
Joshua interrupted her once when he excused himself and called Jenna to have an order of iced tea delivered to his office. She was grateful for the delay. She stood up and paced the length of the office while tugging at the earring in her right lobe as he waited for the tea.
He watched her pace, silently admiring her well-formed legs and remembering the first time he’d noticed their incredible length—when she strode across the lobby of La Mérida in Mexico City. He had sought to set a trap for her,
and instead of becoming the hunter he’d become the prey.
“Are you all right, Vanessa?”
The deep, rich resonant sound of his voice stopped her, and she glanced over at him. “I’m fine.”
“Why are you pacing?”
“I pace when I’m thinking.”
“I never noticed you doing that before.”
“That’s because I didn’t do much thinking. All I did was react.”
She watched him as he rose to his feet and moved toward her. The motion was so fluid, effortless, that one moment he was sitting and then he was standing close to her. The heat and the scent of his body washed over her, and she was lost, lost in the memory of the man who had seduced her with a passion that robbed her of her common sense.
“Don’t,” she breathed out even though he hadn’t touched her.
Leaning in to her, he whispered, “Why don’t you ask me, Angel?”
Closing her eyes, she let out her breath in a long shudder. “Ask you what?”
“Why I left you.” Her eyes opened and she stared at him. “Ask me,” he taunted in a hoarse whisper.
“Why—” The question was left unspoken when there was a soft knock on the door.
Joshua made his way to the door at the same time Vanessa sat down on a leather love seat. He opened it and Jenna strode in carrying a small, white plastic shopping bag.
“I had them put the sugar and lemon on the side,” she reported cheerfully.
He took the bag from her, glancing at the receipt stapled to its side. Withdrawing several bills from his trouser pocket, he handed them to her. “Thank you.”
Flashing a winning smile, she wiggled across the room. Just as she neared the door, she noticed Vanessa. Her smile vanished quickly and a hard line settled around her pouting mouth, marring her perfect features. Jenna closed the door, but not before Joshua registered her sudden shift in attitude.
He turned his attention to Vanessa as she stood up. “Would you like some tea?”
“No, thank you.”
“I have enough for two.”
“I don’t like iced tea.”
“Why didn’t you tell me that when I had Jenna order it?”
“Forget it, Joshua. I’d like us to finish up here so I can get back to my office.”
He noticed the strained tone in her voice and decided to relent. He had taken up more than an hour of her time with the pretense that he wanted to know what she did at GEA. That information he had gleaned from her evaluations.
“We’ll continue this tomorrow.”
“At what time?”
“At a time that is convenient for you, Vanessa.”
She gave him a slow smile and Joshua sucked in his breath. He had waited months to see her smile at him, and now that she had he feared losing control.
“I’ll call you as soon as I set up my schedule for tomorrow.”
“Call Jenna. She’ll be scheduling my meetings for me.”
They stood staring at each other, their chests rising and falling in unison until Vanessa broke the spell. “Good afternoon, Joshua.”
He inclined his head, escorted her to the door and watched her until she walked down the hall and disappeared from his line of vision.
An hour with her hadn’t been enough. What he wanted was a lifetime.
Vanessa stared at the neatly handwritten figures on Preston’s spreadsheets. She had spent the last two hours entering them into her computer. She’d had to correct several entries because she couldn’t rid her head of the sound of Joshua’s resonant voice taunting her when he urged her to ask him why he’d left her.
Whatever his reason, it no longer mattered, because she had returned her attorney’s call and had set up an appointment to meet with him at the end of the week to begin divorce proceedings.
The tiny numbers on the monitor began blurring before her eyes and she knew it was time to quit. She stored what she entered on a disk and reached for her handbag for the key to a file cabinet.
The drawer where she usually stored her handbag was empty. Anxiety spurted through her as she looked around the office. Where could she have left it?
Don’t panic, she told herself. She mentally retraced her steps. She had it when she left the hospital, because she could not have driven her car without her keys.
She had left it in Joshua’s office. “Dammit!” she ground out between clenched teeth. It was after six, and she prayed he hadn’t left and locked her bag in his office.
She left her office quickly, rushing toward his. Only recessed lights glowed in the reception area and the doors to many of the offices were closed, indicating that most of the GEA staff had left for the day.
Light spilled out onto the champagne-colored carpeting outside Joshua’s office, and she breathed a sigh of relief. He was still working.
He glanced up as she walked into the room. He appeared totally relaxed. His tie hung loosely around his unbuttoned collar. He had removed the cuff links from his shirt and rolled back the cuffs.
Leaning to his right behind the desk, he straightened and held up her black, patent leather shoulder bag. “Are you perhaps looking for this?”
Vanessa pressed her hands over her pounding heart. “Yes, thank you.”
He rose to his feet, her bag dangling from his forefinger. “Now what do I get for taking such good care of this for you?”
Her mind refused to register the significance of his words as she reached for her handbag, only to have him pull it out of her reach.
“I thanked you,” she spat out.
He grinned at her, shaking his head. “I don’t want your thanks.”
A wave of heat flooded her face. “What do you want?”
Wrapping the strap tightly around his fist, he moved over to the door and closed it, then let the bag slide down to the carpet. Pressing his back to the door to prevent her escaping him, he extended his arms.
“I’ll take a hug for starters.”
Crossing her arms over her chest, she shot him a cold look. “No.”
Joshua crossed his arms over his chest in a similar gesture. “Are you telling me that you’d rather spend the night here with me instead of going home?”
Her eyes narrowed. “Get away from that door.”
“Or what? You’ll scream?” He gave her a sly smile. “Don’t bother, Angel, because everyone’s gone home.”
Her arms fell to her sides. “I could dial nine one one.”
“And tell the police that your husband asked that you hug him?”
“How many times do I have to tell you that you are not my husband?”
All evidence of Joshua’s teasing evaporated. “Have you divorced me, Vanessa?”
“Not yet,” she threatened.
His eyes paled until they seemed devoid of color, and a shiver wracked her until she couldn’t stop her legs from shaking. He stepped away from the door at the same time she reached for her handbag. Moving with the speed of a bird in flight, he caught her arms and pulled her up close to his body.
“Let me remind you that until the divorce is final you’re still my wife.”
He didn’t give her the chance to refute him as his head came down and he claimed her mouth with the power of a volcano ripping the earth asunder. The cruel ravishment of his mouth mirrored his frustration, but it lessened as she moaned under the sensual assault.
Vanessa clung to Joshua like a drowning swimmer. The pain and distrust she’d carried for a year was propelled to the back of her mind while her heart sang with the renewal of passion racing out of control throughout her body.
His searching tongue challenged her mouth, thrusting forcibly until her lips parted. Her knees buckled and he tightened his grip, supporting her sagging body. Nothing had changed. His kisses still had the power to make her weak in her knees.
“No,” she pleaded, trying to escape his marauding mouth.
Pulling back, Joshua stared down at her eyes, which were filling with tears. “I didn’t want to leave you,” he co
nfessed. “I would never leave you.”
Vanessa blinked back the tears threatening to overflow and stain her face. “But why did you?”
“Someone mugged me.”
His grip on her loosened and she stepped out of his embrace. “Where? How?”
“In San Miguel. I was stabbed and left for dead.”
He’d said it so matter-of-factly that she couldn’t believe him. Her eyes widened as she watched him pull the hem of his shirt from his trousers and unbutton it so that his chest and torso were exposed. A thin pale line, running from belly to breastbone, marred the smooth, golden brown flesh.
Bile rose in her throat and she clapped her free hand over her mouth and swallowed painfully. Breathing heavily, she whispered, “Why didn’t you tell me? Why didn’t you come to me?”
“I couldn’t come to you until now,” he answered honestly. He had been ordered not to contact her until his cover had been established. He was forced to wait thirteen months to come to her, and after kissing her he knew the wait had been worth it.
“What happened to the man who attacked you?”
“The authorities caught him.”
What he couldn’t tell her was that the two men who had attacked him were apprehended by Mexican police during Operation MESA. The hired killers were contracted by a rogue senior U.S. DEA agent who knew Joshua Kirkland had planned the dates, sites and times of the drug sweep. Jorgé Martin resisted capture and died from his injuries before he was to return to the States for prosecution.
Her face clouded with uneasiness. “What’s going to happen now?”
“To us?”
She nodded. “Yes.”
“If you want a divorce I won’t contest it.”
Vanessa tried to force her flustered emotions into some semblance of order, like her column of numbers. But the events in her life hadn’t added up as easily as her financial statements. “And if I decide not to go through with it. What then?”
“You have two months to decide,” he replied cryptically.
“Why two months?”
“I’ll be finished with my assignment. After that we’ll be able to live openly as husband and wife.”
Her brow furrowed. “Why not now?”
“I uncovered an arcane clause in GEA’s personnel policy. Members of the same family cannot be employed simultaneously.”
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