Power Play (Crimson Romance)

by Nan Comargue

  “I’m not threatened by Victoria, just annoyed.” Cahal’s eyes touched her but didn’t remain. “This is not the first time I’ve been in this kind of situation. Every athlete goes through the same kind of thing. This time it’s different.”

  He would know; he’d had every kind of stalker over the years, since he was just a young man coming up in the junior leagues. They ranged from crazed super-fans, usually male and middle-aged, to obsessed teenaged girls who treated him like a rock star and who were willing to offer anything for a moment of his time. Alone on the road, some athletes succumbed to the lure of relentless adoration and their spouses were forced to be understanding or seek divorces. Lila had sought revenge.

  “How is Victoria different? She seemed quite ordinary to me.” Beautiful and far from mentally unsound. The other woman wasn’t a teenager to fall for a celebrity who also happened to be close at hand nor did she seem to be a rabid fan of the sport.

  Cahal ran his hands through his fair hair, a sign of distress in a man who always followed the team’s rules about public appearances and was well-dressed and well-groomed at all times.

  “For one thing, Victoria has a background in public relations. She used to plan parties and host charity events for a living. She volunteered for a young senator’s campaign last year and was cited as a major influence in his election.”

  “So she’s multi-talented. You should be flattered.”

  Cahal narrowed his gray eyes. “I am flattered. And if Victoria had left things as they were, perhaps we would be dating by now. She didn’t.”

  Drumming her fingers over the tabletop, Lila asked, “What was it she did, exactly? Boil your bunny? Write you love letters in her own blood?”

  His swift frown told her he didn’t find the questions funny.

  “I told you, she’s not dangerous, just determined.” He looked past her. “What she did was launch a publicity campaign. Using pictures of our few public appearances together, she put out a story that we were involved and spread it throughout the Chicago tabloids. Within a month, I was being asked when the wedding was everywhere I went. I tried talking to her. She wouldn’t listen. I tried avoiding her. It didn’t work. Her father got the owners to give me a lecture about my attitude. They told me that I was starting to act like a superstar instead of playing like one.”

  “Oh, Cahal.”

  Lila knew how much that must have hurt when Cahal prided himself on his leadership role on whatever team he played for. His teammates respected and admired him and he never acted like a prima donna. The accusation must have stung and, coming from the owners of his team, there would have been little he could say in return.

  She asked, “Is that why you came to Toronto?”

  His large frame stiffened. “I didn’t ask to be traded, if that’s what you’re insinuating.”

  Lila spread her hands out wide. “I wasn’t insinuating anything. I know how disruptive disputes between management and players can be and they often end in staffing changes.”

  “I didn’t ask to be traded,” he repeated in a voice that was only slightly less disgruntled. “The opportunity presented itself and according to my agent, I would have been a fool to pass up the chance to play in a city more attuned to the hockey culture.”

  “As well as a city that pays their hockey players quite a bit more money,” Lila couldn’t resist putting in.

  His glance was humorous. “I thought you weren’t interested in a financial settlement.”

  “Ha ha.” With a thought to the limited time, she asked, “Where do I come in?”

  It was an unnecessary question. Anyone could see where he was leading.

  “I need to launch my own publicity campaign,” Cahal told her, “with the major story being my sudden reconciliation with my childhood sweetheart.”

  Lila stared. “It sounds like a fairy tale.”

  “It will have to,” he replied, “to counter some of the stories Victoria’s been weaving. This latest incursion on the Wives and Girlfriends here in Toronto is troubling. She tried the same trick in Chicago with terrible results. I didn’t think she would attempt the same thing here when she must have known there was a chance of running into you.”

  The other woman’s surprise at their meeting a few days ago appeared genuine but now Lila had doubts.

  Cahal went on. “To pull it off, you will have to live with me again and we’ll have to spend nearly all of our time together.”

  “This plan of yours is sounding better and better,” she muttered.

  “Can you suggest a better one?”

  It took her a minute to find the right answer. “It’s not my problem.”

  An ugly smile twisted his handsome face. “It can easily become your problem.”

  The words were mildly threatening but she was skeptical. “How?”

  Bracing his hands against the tabletop, he diminished his height while bringing his face close to hers.

  “You gave me the impression that you were anxious to finalize our divorce so you can get engaged to your third-rate defenseman.” The unprovoked insult surprised her more than the menacing tone. “Should you fail to help me out, let us say that this divorce could take a much longer time.”

  Lila looked up. “What have you got up your sleeve?”

  His mouth quirked. “Try me.”

  The price of calling his bluff was more than she could afford to pay.

  Lila slumped over the table cradling her face in icy cold hands. “Find someone else, Cahal. A look-alike. An actress. After all this time I can’t imagine anyone remembers my face.”

  “You underestimate yourself.”

  The comment sounded snide and she shifted a hand to cover one ear. They could clash words all day, they were both very good at it, but at this point simple honesty was her best weapon.

  “I can’t live under that microscope again.”

  He leaned across. “Not even on a temporary basis?”

  The concealing fingers fell, leaving her uncomfortably bare. “I wouldn’t go through that kind of publicity whirlwind for anyone, not even Jack. You’re not the man I loved.” She paused to let the past tense sink in. “We’re not even friends. It’s unfair to expect me to do you favors.”

  “I never stopped being the man you loved.”

  The intensity of his expression made her wary. They’d gone over this a hundred times and they couldn’t agree to save their marriage, what made him think he could convince her now?

  She stood. “Time’s up. I’m leaving.”

  The restraining hand he locked around her arm turned into a steadying grip as the door flew open. Her lawyer apologized, his eyes on her husband.

  “All ready?” he asked after Cahal glared down the rest of his apologies.

  “Yes,” said Lila.

  “Not quite,” said her husband.

  Adam Billings looked at his watch. “I’m afraid that’s all the time we have, Mr. Wallace. Perhaps another meeting can be — ”

  Cahal cut in. “I can’t waste another day on this. I want it resolved today. Right now.”

  Lila’s lawyer regarded him with a patient stare she knew well. “What exactly is it that we can resolve today? Discussions with your legal counsel have made it clear that we’ve reached an impasse on the financial issues. At this point the divorce itself is simply a matter of a rubber stamp.”

  The blonde man smiled; it was the grimace he made behind his mask during particularly grueling matches.

  “What about adultery?”

  “What of it?” The lawyer knew Lila’s accusations and he had counseled her to abandon that ground of divorce, opting instead for the simple basis of having lived separate and apart for the requisite year.

  Cahal resumed his leaning pose, completely at ease. “My lawyer tells me that it might delay the divorce if we went down that path, citing adultery as the reason for the separation rather than an unspecified breakdown of the relationship.”

  Lila held her breath. He wouldn’t dare
.

  Her lawyer made a dismissive motion. “That wouldn’t work. Not in this case.”

  “Why not?”

  “Well, first of all you can’t rely on your own malfeasance to ground a claim.”

  Cahal was still smiling. “Meaning?”

  The lawyer drew himself up so stiffly that Lila had to hide a grin. “Meaning that your cheating on your wife doesn’t allow you to turn around and divorce her.”

  The smile disappeared although Lila could see that he was expecting that answer. His tall frame was too relaxed for her comfort.

  “I don’t want to divorce my wife.” He shifted his silver eyes to her face. “And I was never unfaithful to her, in body or mind.”

  Lila rolled her own eyes. She knew just how much faith to put in a pair of gray eyes.

  The lawyer shook his head. “Then why bring up the subject?”

  “I just thought I’d warn you that I intend to introduce the issue of adultery, which I understand will delay the divorce proceedings significantly.” Cahal laughed at the confusion on the other man’s face. “Didn’t your client tell you? She was unfaithful to me. I have her lover’s statement to prove it.”

  • • •

  Back in the boardroom Cahal’s lawyer was as glum as ever. He came prepared with the papers ready for signing, deposited on the tabletop before the two lawyers by another anonymous assistant.

  Lila tried to break the silence as the lawyers read from their respective sheets. “Are there really a set of rules for reconciliation?”

  Her lawyer frowned at her over the top of the draft contract and she could hear echoes of the lecture he meant to dole out once they were alone.

  “There are rules for everything, Mrs. Wallace,” the other lawyer intoned.

  “Including marriage,” her husband added.

  “Oh, shut up.”

  Cahal shook his fair head in mock remonstrance. Unlike his counsel, his smile was very much in evidence. Its sheer intensity was giving her a headache.

  His examination complete, her lawyer pronounced the contract equitable and he proceeded to read out highlights to which Lila paid no attention. She was caught and she knew it. Now her only concern was what she would tell Jack. Already her cell phone had twice alerted her to messages he had left while was sitting through the interminable meeting.

  “Where do I sign?”

  Shaking fingers made her typically neat signature nearly illegible. Cahal’s scrawl accompanied her name on a half dozen copies, followed by the lawyers’ tidier script.

  Tossing the pen onto the table, Lila asked, “Can I go now?”

  Her husband interjected as her lawyer nodded. “Not so fast, darling. We have some things to get straight.”

  “I can’t. Not right now. Jack — ”

  “Jarrett’s not a party to this contract. You are.” He flashed false front teeth in another grin. “I’m sure that if you had let him, your counsel would have been happy to explain the consequences of breaking any of the terms.”

  She ignored her lawyer’s grimace. “Jack’s as much a part of this as either of us. I’m doing this because of him.”

  “I’m sure your boyfriend will understand why you have to start living with your husband again. He strikes me as a very understanding guy.”

  Cahal’s exaggerated soothing tones grated as they were obviously meant to do.

  “It’s none of your business what Jack understands or fails to understand,” Lila retorted.

  “You’re right,” her husband told her, his voice suddenly brisk. “If you want your divorce in a few months rather than in a few years, then it makes sense for you to read what you just signed and get used to what’s required of you.”

  Her lawyer repeated the admonishment in more drawn-out terms but the bottom line was the same. In exchange for attempting a reconciliation with her current husband, he would allow her to continue with the divorce proceedings she had launched without challenging the basis for the divorce on the grounds that she was an adulteress. The reconciliation he was proposing was to be for two months, an entire month less than the time set out by the law to nullify the entire separation. According to the country’s divorce laws, if they reconciled for more than ninety days, they would have to start the whole process all over again — and wait another year for the divorce to finalize.

  “I get it,” Lila said. “For the next two months I have to live under Cahal’s roof and pretend to be his wife. It doesn’t sound so hard. I’ve had seven years of practice at pretending.”

  Cahal flashed a grin. “I’d love to help you out with anything you haven’t been practicing for the past year.”

  Lila met his glinting silver-gray eyes. “How do you know I haven’t been keeping up with everything we used to do? As we both know, practice makes perfect.”

  The grin faded to a mere shadow. “And you’ve proven that you’re willing to take extramarital lessons,” her husband pointed out.

  Adam Billings cleared his throat. “Speaking of which,” he said, “I would like to verify the existence of this statement Mr. Wallace alluded to earlier. Is there anywhere I can view it before I leave?”

  It hadn’t occurred to Lila that Cahal might be lying but that was why she employed a lawyer. His suspicious mind was a match for even Cahal’s.

  Cahal’s lawyer looked at his client and after receiving a slight nod, he produced a legal-sized document from a thin folder. Lila didn’t even glance at the copy her lawyer placed before her. She remembered the photographic evidence Chris had shown her — how could she ever forget?

  She waited and after a minute a low whistle escaped Adam Billings’ lips.

  Her lawyer swiveled toward her. “Chris Wallace? That’s the other man? Chris Wallace, the number one defenseman in the league, not to mention your husband’s cousin?”

  “There are other Christopher Wallaces in the world,” Lila said.

  “But that is the one you slept with,” Cahal pointed out without any discernible emotion.

  At her lawyer’s questioning glance, she lowered her head, acknowledging the identity of the other man. From his viewpoint, as from many others, it would appear as if she had purposely tried to harm her husband by turning to his closest relative in order to wreak revenge for his years of infidelity. The truth was that Chris had been a convenient target, always at hand and immediately sympathetic to her plight.

  Lila turned to her lawyer. “Do I have to listen to this? It can’t be in the contract.”

  Billings swept his papers together. “You’re right, it isn’t. Lawyers are no longer required for what you and your husband have planned for the next two months. Once the time is over, you can contact me and we will begin completing the final steps for the divorce.”

  The words were more final than she expected and with a startled look at the other men, she followed Billings out of the door and down the hallway. Even knowing that she would be billed for any further conversation, she was not willing to part with him yet.

  “What do I do now?”

  As they reached the lobby of the massive building, he slanted her a glance that encompassed some of his former good humor.

  “That depends on you, Mrs. Wallace. As I told you upstairs, the lawyers’ roles are over for the time being. What you need now may be a therapist or marriage counselor.”

  Lila brushed this suggestion aside. “I don’t need a marriage counselor for a pretend reconciliation.”

  Her lawyer glanced around at the surging flow of people before drawing her into a less trafficked corner of the lobby. “I would advise you not to speak of the real nature of your marriage reconciliation in public. One of the terms of the contract you just signed restricts you to secrecy.”

  “What about Jack? I assume that he’s an exception.”

  Adam Billings shook his head. “There are no exceptions save for your respective legal counsel and we are bound by solicitor-client privilege. I couldn’t breathe a word about this case even if I wanted to, or else I woul
d lose my license to practice law.”

  She caught his suited arm. “We have to go back upstairs. You have to negotiate an exception for my boyfriend. I have to be able to tell him about this contract or he’ll believe … ”

  Her words trailed off as the full effect of what she had agreed to infiltrated.

  “Or he will believe what everyone else will believe,” her lawyer concluded. “That you and your husband have reconciled in order to give your marriage another shot.”

  He was staring at her and she remembered that even he didn’t know the true motive behind the fiction of the reconciliation. No one knew that save for she and Cahal.

  Chapter Five

  With enough money, any chore could be made easy, even a pretend reconciliation. Lila’s possessions moved without the need for her to lift a hand in aid. Her clothes, her books, even her knickknacks and cosmetics flew across the city, shuttled by hired professionals, and all she had to do was follow in their path. As disconcerting as it was to find her clothes arranged on hangers and in drawers, her perfume bottles ranged along a glass-topped dressing table, almost as if she had done it all in her sleep, it was also a relief. Her possessions fit in well, now it was her turn.

  “It’s a nice place,” she commented, the words inadequate to describe the lake-facing penthouse suite with its floor-to-ceiling windows along one long wall and stark contemporary furniture. It was far from the comfortable traditional house in Chicago and she guessed that that was the point of the stringent modernity.

  “It’s your home now,” Cahal replied, his tone one she didn’t like to analyze.

  Lila couldn’t resist adding, “Only for the next two months.”

  “We’ll see.”

  Clenching her fists, she said nothing.

  It had all happened so quickly. One day she was looking forward to a new life and the next she was back in time, back in a marriage with a man who had always made her feel jealous and insecure. No, not always. When they were teenagers and Cahal’s star was just rising, she’d been proud of him and never suspicious. His successes felt like hers and she knew he felt the same about her education and career. What happened? Was it just the fame seeping between them, eventually forcing them apart, or was it more?