He ran his thumb over her bottom lip. “I can barely keep my hands off you now.” He smiled and cupped her silky cheek. “I’ll be taking cold showers at work, regularly. Damn—wish we could leave now, but I have too much work to do, and I need to go to the Karger site in a few minutes.”
Using all the will he possessed, he dropped his hands and stepped back from her.
“I understand. We both have work. And I have an important issue to discuss with you. I want you to look at some purchase orders and tell me if anything seems wrong—”
The intercom buzzed. “Greg is here,” Mrs. Nash announced in her raspy voice.
“All right. Send him in. Sorry, Kate. I have a meeting with him now.”
Greg ambled into the room. His gaze flicked to Kate. He seemed startled to find her here and the door closed. Trent sighed. Later, he’d tell his friend about his weekend with her.
“Should I leave?” she asked.
“No. I really want you to stay. There’s something important I want you both to hear.”
Trent returned to his desk, while Kate sat in one of the chairs across from his desk.
Trent explained the details of Friday’s accident to Greg. “I’m fairly sure the cable was deliberately sabotaged and to make us seem like a sloppy operation in front of OSHA.”
Blowing out a deep breath, Greg dropped into a chair. “Who’d want to hurt Farrington Construction?”
Trent crossed his arms over his chest. “I don’t know, but we’re going to find out.”
Mrs. Nash buzzed the line again. “Sam’s on the phone. OSHA has already arrived at the Karger building site. Are they going to shut down the project for longer than this weekend?”
“No. We’re going to.” Trent clicked off the intercom.
“But that will put the work behind schedule,” Greg sputtered. “Won’t be good.”
“Greg, we have to find out what damage has been done. The elevator was rigged to fall. Safety on the site is my first concern.”
His friend nodded. “But shutting the site down? Stopping construction? Seems whoever is doing this is getting exactly what they want—the job stalled.”
“That’s right.” Trent rose from his desk. “Let's go see what OSHA has found.” His gaze moved to Kate who’d been silent through their conversation. “Kate, since the entire site might be booby-trapped, I want you to stay here. We’ll discuss what you wanted to talk about when I return.”
* * *
Several hours later, Trent returned to his desk, determined to call Kate. He was punching in her extension when there was an insistent knock on his door.
Without further ceremony, his mother thrust the door open. “Trent, dear, am I interrupting something?”
His stomach knotted as it always did whenever she used an endearment. Perhaps he did need therapy.
She strode into the room. “I heard OSHA was at the Karger site again. Did they find out anything? I also want you to tell me about your weekend.”
“If it’s about Farrington Construction, I’ll tell you. As to telling you anything about my personal life—you’re out of luck.”
Sighing, she seated herself in a chair across from him. “All right, if you’re not going to confide in me, tell me what’s going on with OSHA.”
“We’re waiting for the report. In the meantime, we’re tightening security at the site.”
“But wasn’t the elevator breakdown an accident?”
He considered whether to tell Eden his suspicions. For her safety, he decided she needed to know. “We need to make sure no one has sabotaged the Karger project. Can you keep this information from getting back to my grandfather? I don’t want him worried.”
“Oh, my, I should have known… I should have told you my suspicions earlier.” She put her hands to her cheeks. “I shouldn’t have held off.”
“What are you talking about?”
“I don’t know how to tell you this. I discovered some information about one of our employees—and I think this may clarify some things for you.”
He frowned. “Which employee?”
“There is no way I can spare you.”
Anger ratcheted inside him. “Just say it,” he ground out.
“It’s about…Dr. Meyers. You’ve never been able to pick out the right women—you’ve always had a blind eye.”
By the slight smirk curling at the edge of his mother’s mouth, he had the impression she was elated to dish out some dirt on Kate.
He clenched his jaw. His heart pounding, he picked up the top letter in his stack of mail. “I’m busy,” he snapped. “Get to the point.” What could be so terrible his mother had rushed in here like this?
“I didn’t trust her from the beginning, and rightly so—and to think she had you at her house.”
Trent stared at his mother as he became increasingly uneasy…
“So, darling, I took the liberty of hiring a private investigator. He easily found this information for me.” She thrust a folder in his direction. “My intuition was correct. She is not what she said, or what she seems—as if she is a nice girl. Perhaps she has something to do with what’s going on. You’ll see she has reasons for coming to our company…”
“Kate couldn’t be involved in what was going on in the company.”
Eden placed a picture of Kate before him. “This is her mug shot.”
A punch in his gut couldn’t have been more effective. He shoved his hand through his hair. He couldn’t, wouldn’t, believe anything this bad about her.
Still, nausea rolled in his stomach like a rogue wave. He shrugged, then stabbed his mother with his gaze. “She might have been arrested for anything…stopping a tree from being bulldozed in a parking lot. A war protest…jaywalking. This means nothing.”
Glancing at him coolly, his mother raised and eyebrow, then set various articles and more pictures on his desk. “Keep reading.”
He scanned the report. As he went through the photos and newspaper clippings of Kate being arrested for fraud, hurt and pain riddled him like bullets. He clenched his fists, his blood pressure rising. What a fool he’d been—an idiot. He’d let down his guard. He, a man who never trusted any woman, had trusted her. The truth about her pierced his heart as painfully as any sword.
His breathing labored, he remembered Kate at the benefit ball, in costume, toying with him and hiding her identity. He’d even caught her ensconced in his office after hours.
And to think he’d thought she’d been worried about him hurting her, when it was he who was about to take the tumble…
The blood roared to his head. He’d been blind, as his mother accused. In his mind’s eye, he went over his weekend with Kate. Had he been fooled by her smiling, beautiful face? By how happy he’d been—how happy he thought they’d both been to have found each other?
Why the lying, conniving witch was a scammer. It had all been acting on her part. She’d set him up. Could she have something to do with what was going on in the company?
His insides aching, he barely heard the rest of what his mother said, but Eden’s voice recalled him to the present. “Her stepfather was conman Bill Jackson, if you can believe it. The man was notorious.”
“I’ve heard of him.”
“And she was prosecuted for being involved in at least one of his crimes. For goodness sake, she’s not even a real psychologist. She used her late aunt’s credentials to worm her way into our company.”
“And her real name is?” Trent snapped.
“Nearly the same as her Aunt Kathryn. Accept her name is Kaitlyn. So being Kate Meyers made it easy for her to lie to us.” Eden thrust a photo at Trent. “Here’s her Aunt Kate’s picture.”
His shoulders hunched as he scrutinized the middle-aged, gray-haired woman, who slightly resembled Kate. “This woman died?”
“Yes. A few years ago. Now, here’s the bio on the fraudster, the young faux Dr. Kate Meyers, and the reason for her youthful appearance. She’s not thirty-four, but a mere twenty-six.
She has a bachelor’s degree in psychology, but she is far from being a doctor.”
Anger and pain raged through him. How had he been so stupid, so blinded by her? The reality was Kate’s sweet innocent face was a sinister mask.
“By trying to set you up with all these women, your grandfather overlooked what should have been obvious. She was here to con us.” Eden handed him another report of unending dirt on Kate. “She was engaged to Jeffrey Cooper, III, heir of the Cooper fortune. Shortly after the engagement announcement, the wedding was called off—by him. He must have found out about her checkered past.”
Kate’s betrayal slammed him as if he’d been hit with a cement truck. His mind reeling, Trent recalled how expertly she had hidden her identity from him at the benefit ball. He clenched his teeth. What a little actress.
And what about him?
He was a damned idiot. Although all the warning signs had been there waving like red flags, he’d only seen what he’d wanted to see. Fool! Her betrayal, and his own embarrassment to admit his mother might be right, crushed his insides like a wrecking ball.
“I’ll get more information to you as soon as I can. Trent, I’m so sorry I had to be the one to bring you this terrible news.”
He didn’t believe his mother’s sympathetic demeanor one bit. He wanted to tell her to go to hell, but he didn’t want to give her the satisfaction of knowing just how painful a blow she had dealt him. He knew hiring the detective had not been for him, but for her own gain. Her real motive had been to bring Kate down so he might want to marry her precious Cecilia. And maybe she was right… His judgment with women stunk.
Trent sagged back in his chair and thought back through events. It was obvious Kate had gone to a lot of effort to get into the company. She had hidden her beauty and played hard to get. But why? Was she involved in the sabotage? If she had come here to hurt the company or to steal, what had she wanted so badly from him that she’d slept with him? After she’d landed a job with the company, had she decided it was more lucrative for her to marry the heir than for whatever she’d wanted to steal…or do to the company?
Damn it. He had played into her hands. Over the weekend, he’d even told her he wasn’t playing around in their relationship, hinting their connection was something serious. Thank God, he hadn’t told her how much he cared for her.
Anger simmered inside him like a pot of boiling oil. He needed time to cool off because he was tempted to wrap his hands around Kate’s slender, beautiful neck. And he wouldn’t give his mother that satisfaction.
Crossing her arms over her chest, Eden pinned him with her blue eyes. “You can thank me, Trent. I couldn’t let this woman make a fool out of you any longer—as she did.”
“You’ve given me the information about her,” he said flatly. “You can go now.”
His mother rose from her chair. “Have you decided what you are going to do about this…this fraudulent person?”
All the warning bells had sounded and he’d ignored them. His mother was right—fool...fool...fool.
Shaking with anger inside, he controlled it and steepled his hands before him on the desk. “Don’t worry. I’ll take care of Dr. Meyers.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
A chill edged Kate’s spine as she paced across her office floor for the umpteenth time. Why had Trent not called her directly yesterday? Instead he had Mrs. Nash make the call and tell her, ‘Trent said to tell you that something came up and he has to cancel your plans.’
Here it was, one full day later, and he still hadn’t heard from him. That hurt. Had their weekend together meant nothing to him, not even enough to come and explain what was going on? In addition, she needed to go over the purchase orders with him. They lay on her desk, waiting.
Darcy strolled into Kate’s office, sipping a cup of coffee. “What’s up?”
Kate took a seat behind her desk. “Several things. Bobby left drywall samples on my porch yesterday. I sent them to a lab. And I also found more change orders signed by Trent.” Kate tapped the papers with her pen. “See here, he placed the original order for the correct supplies, then went back a few days later and changed the product to something I’m pretty sure is below code—just as Matt suggested. But I don’t believe Trent would do anything like this knowingly. I’d trust him with my life.”
“Maybe there’s an explanation.”
“I’m going to find out why he changed these. I can’t wait any longer.”
With nerves stretched to breaking, Kate headed for Trent’s office.
His secretary wasn’t at her desk. Kate tapped directly on his office door. “Trent, it’s me. It’s Kate.”
“Come in.”
Trent sat at his desk with shoulders hunched, pen on paper, writing. When he didn’t look up, worry squeezed her like a vice.
She approached his desk. “I know you cancelled our date yesterday,” she said nonchalantly, “but I wanted to invite you to dinner tonight…at my house, if you’re free.” Her voice wobbled. “I make a really great spaghetti sauce. And I have a few things I need to discuss with you about the company. It’s important.”
Finally, he looked up from his desk and pinned her with hard eyes that cut her to the core. He rose from his desk, strode to the door and locked it. He returned and stood so close to her she had to tilt her head up to see his face. Why was he reverting back to the suspicious man she’d met when she’d first arrived at the company?
Her throat ached. Had something else happened? “What’s wrong?” she whispered, afraid to hear what it was.
“No, Kate,” he said cryptically, in a voice cold as ice. “You first.”
Something had happened. Her knees knocked together.
Although the frosty look in his eyes frightened her to her toes, she lifted her chin and stood her ground. “I’ve been looking at some purchase orders. We need to go over them? I think someone has access to Purchasing and is switching products that you ordered.”
He crossed his arms over his chest. “Really now?” he scoffed. “Someone in my company is a crook? I find that hard to believe.”
Taken back by his sarcasm, obviously meant to hurt her, she reared back and frowned. “Y-yes. Cecilia works in the department, and she’s careless. She doesn’t lock the doors when she’s away. Anyone could walk in and change things. Your mother is often in Purchasing too… I just don’t understand why they haven’t noticed this switch-down issue before now.”
He let out a harsh chuckle. “So you want to beat them to the blame game. How did you hear?”
“Hear what?” she whispered, not liking the sound in his voice at all.
“Yesterday, my mother brought me some interesting news about you.”
“Me?” Kate retreated a step, but he only moved toward her, backing her against his desk.
The look on his face was one of displeasure. “Yeah, you,” he said in a flat voice.
Closing in on her, he traced his finger down her cheek. Then his hand slid into where her shirt opened at the buttons, and curled around her neck. “How can you be so innocent looking and yet so treacherous?”
Alarm shot through her. “I’m not…treacherous, Trent. Why don’t you tell me what you’re talking about? I’m sure I can explain everything.”
“Oh, you’re a good talker, I’m sure. You’ve known how much I wanted you from the start, didn’t you?”
“What?”
“Oh, sure you did.” He cradled her head in his hands and with his thumbs, traced lazy circles behind her ear. She couldn’t think clearly with him touching her. “Thought you could bring me to my knees if I got my hands on you. You are beautiful though. I’ll give you that.”
Was he angry, or what? He lowered his mouth to her ear. His warm breath sent a shiver through her.
“Trent, don’t. Let’s talk first.”
“You blindsided me. I admit to that.”
“No. Please, tell me what you’re talking about? What did your mother say about me?”
Not answe
ring, he seemed distracted by her hair. He dragged the pins from her bun, sending her hair cascading down her back. He ran his hands through the strands. “And it’s just that I wanted you so damned much.” His hand dipped along the edge of her throat.
“I planned to tell you everything…I tried to.”
“What took you so long?” When he dropped his lips to hers, she melted into his embrace. Pulling away, he gazed at her with a bitter look. “Damn my soul, but I want you even now.”
Frowning, she pushed at his shoulder. “What’s going on? Explain to me why you canceled our date?”
His hands tightened on her waist. As if she weighed nothing, he lifted her and sat her down on top of his desk. He didn’t answer her question but asked his own. “Was it your goal…to make me trust you?”
He knew. “Uh, well…I have been trying to tell you a few things.”
“Why did you wait so long?”
“The time never seemed right.”
He cupped his palm on the back of her head and pressed his lips to hers. While he gave her a soul-searing kiss, he unbuttoned several buttons on her shirt and slipped his hand inside her bra and kneaded her breasts. She whimpered, while her nipples hardened beneath his thumb and heat flooded to her lower region.
“Oh, Trent.” She couldn’t think and was lost to his touch.
“Hell, I still want you.” He bent to pull off her high heels. Then he ran his hands under her skirt and tugged her tights down her legs.
“Trent, you’ll put a run in my stockings, and I don’t think we should do this here. Plus, you’re angry with me—I can tell. I’d like you to tell me what it is that is bothering you first. Okay?”
He didn’t answer. He ran his fingers beneath the silk of her panties. She shivered. She gave no more resistance when he slipped them off her legs, or as he returned his hand to caress her, stroking her intimately as he stood between her spread thighs, sending heat through her.
Then fire combusted between them. He opened her mouth to his and kissed her with a burning passion. He trailed his lips down her cheek to her neck.
Disguised with the Millionaire (Dangerous Millionaires Series Book 2) Page 22