He closed his eyes and swore at himself, at Katie … at the female sex in general. Relationships were so damn complicated. And Katie was just about the easiest woman in the world to spook. She was keeping secrets, but whatever might be haunting her, she wasn't telling.
He wondered why she wouldn't confide in him. What could be so terrible that she didn't dare share the truth with him? Just considering the possibilities tore him up inside. Dammit. He had the power to help her—money and influence to protect her if she was in trouble.
The metallic sound of file-cabinet drawers opening and closing in the outer office snapped him out of his gray funk.
Ian launched himself at his door, swung it open.
Katie jumped back from an open drawer, "Jeez, don't do that! You scared me to death, popping out like a big jack-in-the-box."
He scowled at her and all his carefully prepared tactfulness flew out the window. "Where the hell did you go yesterday?"
"Home," she replied, flipping through files with great purpose.
"Why?"
"Wasn't that obvious?" She slanted him a withering look. "You and your brother were having a good male chuckle over our tussle on your couch. As the object of your humor, I chose not to hang around."
"We weren't laughing at you," he groaned. "In fact, I was being discreet in trying to get him to leave. But he was all jazzed up about a joke he'd heard from one of the sales reps. I couldn't get him to leave until he'd told it."
"Right," she said.
"It's the truth! If you'd stayed another five minutes, we'd have been alone and…" He moved in closer, touched her gently at the waist. "We could have finished what we started."
She stiffened, although her eyes took on a smoky haze. He was reassured; she wasn't immune to him. "I had second thoughts," she murmured. "It's just not possible, Ian."
"Why the hell not? You acted as if anything was possible before Reid showed up."
She started to turn away but he stepped around her, forcing her to face him. "You know I wouldn't hurt you, Katie. What are you so afraid of?"
"Nothing." She refused to meet his eyes.
"No," he insisted, "it's something important. You go out of your way to avoid connecting with me on any level but professionally, except that every once in a while you slip. Your heart steps in, overrides your head, and your body begins to talk to me."
"That's ridiculous."
"Is it? What about yesterday on the couch? Are you going to claim I seduced you, or forced you?"
"Of course not."
"Then how did that happen if you aren't interested in being with me? And what was that crack about falling in love, if you don't want to get serious about a relationship?"
"Don't shout," she said, sounding frustrated and close to tears.
"I'm not shouting!" he shouted, then winced at the harshness of his own voice. "I'm trying to make a point," he said, making the words softer. "You send me mixed signals, Katie, one minute to the next. You want to be with me, but you seem terrified of being seen with me in public. I know next to nothing about you. Who are you and what is this all about?"
"I'm nobody," she sobbed. "I just want to figure out who I'm supposed to be, find out what I'm good at and be on my own for a while. Is that too much to ask?"
He frowned at her. "I respect your goals. They're all worthy." He thought for a moment. "Do you realize, when I first met you, you seemed the most self-assured young woman I'd ever met. You blew in here, a veritable tornado of energy, and took over everything—me, the office decor, the business of the day."
"I did, didn't I?" She smiled weakly.
"Yes. You also took my breath away with those saucy green eyes and that tumble of red curls and—" he let his eyes drop the length of her body "—the rest of the package. You made me want to try again. You made me want to take risks."
She blushed and blinked up at him but said nothing. "Listen," he went on, "I respect your right to experiment, to discover yourself, if that's what you think you need to do. But I don't understand why you can't let me into your life while you're doing it. And I wish, just once, you'd give me a straight answer to one simple question. Who has frightened you so badly?"
She sniffled and swiped at tears drying on her cheeks. "I honestly can't tell you."
"Do you think I'd give you away? Don't you trust me?"
"I do, Ian." Her eyes were the deepest, loveliest emerald, all the brighter for her tears. And they broke his heart. "It's just that … that you might not see things my way. If you sided with them, you'd feel compelled to do something. I'm not ready to face that moment yet." She laid a hand on his. "Please. Give me time to work things out my way."
He stared at her, then shook his head and walked back into his office. He shut the door behind him, putting up a physical barrier in addition to the emotional barricade she'd erected between them.
To hell with work, he thought. It just wasn't going to happen.
* * *
Katie walked into D&D's on the first floor, craving her morning cappuccino break. She drew up short at the sight of Ian seated at a table near the counter with Imogene Danforth. She hadn't realized, when the two had left the office half an hour earlier, that they'd be meeting here, on what she'd come to think of as her turf. She often came to D&D's on breaks to relax in the cozy coffee shop with other employees.
She tried to pass by them unnoticed, but Ian spotted her and waved her over.
Imogene handed Ian an annotated prospectus they'd obviously been reviewing together and snapped shut her valise. "Well, that's about it. I recommend that portfolio of bonds as a hedge against the current volatile stock market. It's a sound investment for Danforth's."
"Looks good to me. Thanks, Imogene," Ian said.
"Great, so we'll go ahead with the agreed-upon purchase?"
Ian nodded.
Imogene glanced vaguely in Katie's direction, standing behind Ian's chair. "Can you run upstairs and photocopy these documents for us, dear?" She didn't even meet Katie's eyes as she shoved papers into her hands. "Fax me copies this afternoon."
Imogene checked her gold designer watch then turned back to Ian. "I have another appointment in fifteen minutes, Gotta run, cuz." She pecked him on the cheek. "Wish Abraham good luck for me. I understand he's off again campaigning."
Ian nodded. "The man has more energy than I do."
Imogene let out an appreciative laugh but was already halfway out the door.
"I'll go do this right away," Katie murmured.
She didn't appreciate being treated like the hired help. Her Fortune pride rebelled. But, she rationalized, this was her job and she had no real grounds for complaint. Except, if she were in Imogene's executive shoes she would at least say please when asking employees for a favor, and give them a smile of thanks.
Still, in a way, she admired Imogene. She was an independent woman with a great career as an investment broker, an air of self-possession and super clothes. She mentally calculated how many paychecks it would take a lowly clerk like her to afford such a smashing silk suit.
"Wait!" Ian barked.
Katie swiveled round to see him still seated at the table. She felt nauseous at the thought of deceiving him any longer. Very soon she would have to straighten out her identity.
The real Katie O'Brien would eventually move back to Savannah. Holly had her real Social Security number; Katherine knew enough about the law to realize she could get into real trouble by falsifying income and tax records. It was only a matter of time before Holly, overwhelmed with work lately, caught the mismatch between the social security number on her application and her adopted name.
Slowly Katie walked back to the table and Ian.
"Listen," he said, pulling out the chair beside him for her. "I need to apologize."
"No, you don't. With what your family and company has been dealing with you have to be careful. I've been behaving in ways you can't possibly understand, and it worries you." She shrugged then looked directly up into h
is dark eyes. "Please believe me, Ian, my problems have nothing to do with the Danforths. I'm not a danger to your company or your father's campaign, if that's what you're thinking."
"I'm mostly thinking about you. If you're in trouble—"
She held up a hand to stop him from going on, but he ignored her.
"I want to help," he said firmly. "Let me."
She shook her head. "It's my problem. I have to deal with it."
He reached over and took her hand. Despite her resolve to keep an emotional distance from him, his touch was comforting. "Don't run away from the truth. If it scares you, facing it down is the only way. No matter how bad it might seem."
She laughed. "You sound as if you think I'm some kind of criminal on the lam."
He quirked a dark brow at her. "Are you?"
"Not even close." She sighed, aching to tell him but knowing he'd disapprove. After all, he was close to his own family. He thrived within the Danforth clan's circle of business and social contacts. He'd never understand someone who saw her own family as the enemy. "Listen, I need to get back to the office, I have a ton of work." She smiled mischievously. "And a tyrant for a boss."
He grinned at her. "Is that what the hired help thinks of me?"
She tossed her head, sending vibrant curls flying. "Actually, if you heard the gossip around the water-cooler, you'd blush." She eyed him speculatively. "Maybe not. Maybe you'd just get a swelled head." She leaned toward him as she stood up from the table, and whispered, "You're on the single woman's most-wanted list."
He blinked in surprise, then laughed out loud and stood up to follow her from the shop. She walked quickly across the lobby with Ian striding to keep up with her.
"All right," he said as they waited for the elevator, "just promise me if you're ever desperate and change your mind about wanting help, you'll come to me."
"I will," she agreed, and stepped into the elevator car.
Just then, a movement across the crowded lobby caught her eye. A set of wide shoulders. A flicker of a familiar profile. She stared at the man in western-style suit, just as he turned and focused on her face through the narrowing space between the slowly closing elevator doors.
For a breathless moment, her heart raced. Her knees went numb, wobbly.
Katie gave an involuntary gasp. "No!"
"What?" Ian demanded, staring at her with concern.
She couldn't answer, couldn't breathe. Her chest ached and she looked around wildly, feeling trapped.
The man in the lobby pushed between people, rushing toward the elevator, shouting for it to stop. Just before the doors sighed shut, he lunged for them, his face screwed up in a mask of urgency.
Katie fell back against other passengers. Horrified, she heard what she imagined were the man's fists pounding on the outer doors as the car started to climb, Passengers behind her whispered nervously.
"Talk about being in a hurry," one man mumbled, and got a laugh.
Katie didn't dare look at Ian, but she felt him watching her and knew a storm was brewing. Doesn't matter, she told herself, she had more to worry about than a confused boss at the moment.
As soon as the doors opened wide enough to let her through to the fifth floor, she shot between them, her mind whirring.
Ian ran behind her. "Who was that man?"
She couldn't speak, couldn't even fathom what to do next. They'd found her! Her brother Dennis had somehow traced her to Savannah. Oh God, what now?
"Katie, talk to me, Please!" Ian grabbed her arm, but she slipped from his fingers. "Is that man harassing you? We'll call the police!"
"Don't. Please don't. I'm all right. Really, I am." Ian would only make things worse if she involved him now. He couldn't possibly understand. She was running down the hall, tossing words over her shoulder at him. "I can't stay. I have to… I'll be back. Just let me sort things out."
She might still get out of the building and back to her apartment without Dennis catching up with her. She could think things through in peace there.
"Katie!" Ian's plea crested over her like a warm wave, beckoning to her.
She didn't slow down.
* * *
It tore Ian apart.
Katie was running from a man, and Ian didn't want another man in her life. He didn't care if that was selfish.
If she was still this emotionally tied to the handsome young fellow in the Stetson he'd glimpsed in the lobby, maybe she still loved him. Maybe she would go back to him. Then Ian would never know what it was to love her. Really love her.
For the first time he was able to acknowledge why they bickered over even the most insignificant things in the office. He was like the kindergarten kid who picks on one little girl in his class because he likes her. He had been tugging Katie's pigtails, figuratively speaking, since her first day at Danforth's. He had annoyed her and fought with her, and he'd even tried to get her removed from his office. When none of that worked, he did what he'd really wanted to do all along. Make love to her.
The male mind is truly perverse, he thought to himself.
That afternoon Ian called her apartment three times. Either she wasn't there or wasn't answering.
Maybe she was so terrified of that man she'd been afraid to go home. Before he left the office for the day, he scanned the lobby and the coffee shop, just to see if he could spot the man again. If he did, he'd sure as hell confront him and demand to know his reason for stalking Katie. But the man in the Stetson was nowhere to be seen.
That night, Ian nearly went mad with worry. He telephoned her place three more times, leaving messages for her to call him. A dozen times, he nearly rang up the police. Each time, he reminded himself that she'd begged him to trust her. If he broke that trust to follow his own instincts, she might hate him for it.
An infinitesimally fine thread bound them now. He dared not strain it.
Hadn't she said more than once that she needed to learn to be on her own, discover her strengths? Maybe she viewed this as a personal test. If he failed to respect her wishes, his interference might turn her totally against him.
So he waited through the long night, drank way too much bourbon and hoped he was doing the right thing.
* * *
Ian picked up two cups of D&D's best on his way up to the office the next morning. Just habit, he realized after he had the coffee in hand. There was no guarantee Katie would appear, given what had happened the day before.
But when he walked into the CEO's suite, juggling steaming cups to manage the doorknob, she sat at her desk, looking pale and exhausted but composed.
She looked up at him, then saw the coffee. "Oh, yes, yes, yes! Thank you so much," she said softly. "Wonderful caffeine. We were out of our office supply." She snatched the cup from him and took a grateful, long drink.
He hesitated, unsure what to say without prying or treading on ground she protected so tenaciously. "Is everything all right?" he asked cautiously.
"It will be." She smiled tentatively at him and pried the plastic lid off her cup to savor an even longer creamy guzzle. "We'll talk soon. About everything, I promise. I just have to make sense of some things in my own head before I try to explain them to anyone else."
He nodded. "I'm here when you're ready, Katie."
She gave him a slightly brighter smile. "Thanks."
He walked into his office, quietly shut the door behind him and let out a string of curses. The act of relinquishing control to someone else was nearly the toughest thing he'd ever done. It was his nature to never stand by and let someone close to him suffer. And although Katie was putting up a good front, he was sure she was suffering.
That was what had been so difficult about losing his unborn child. He had been helpless to stop it from happening. He felt no less helpless now.
* * *
All that day and the next, Katie felt as if she were holding her breath. Her brother might open the door to Ian's office and walk in at any moment, but she couldn't just hide in the apartment, waiting
for him to leave Savannah.
Katie decided that, come what may, she had to live her life. Furthermore, as she began to think more clearly about the incident, she realized that it was possible Dennis had simply wandered into the building as he searched the city. It might have been pure luck that they'd ended up in the same place at the same time.
And what if he did check with Personnel? He'd ask for Katherine Fortune, a name that wouldn't come up on their records. He had no way of connecting her with the real or fictional Katie O'Brien. Katie had been one of many friends from college; she'd never come home with her to meet the family. Just to be safe, though, she took the precaution of using the back stairway as she came and went. After a couple more days passed, she'd feel confident she'd shaken Dennis.
All she asked for was a little more time. Once she was assured of a permanent position with Danforth's she'd have bargaining power. Then she could say to her parents, "See, I've made a life for myself. I'm gainfully employed, supporting myself, and I'm happy here." Her father would have to acknowledge her right to independence then, wouldn't he?
Two more days passed, and her worry over her brother lessened. However the tension she felt emanating from Ian increased. He kept his distance, maybe just to give her space … maybe rethinking his interest in her. She vowed that the very next day she would explain everything to him. She would do it carefully, to lessen the impact of her lying to him. She would say the right things to help him understand her point of view. It wasn't that she hated her family or felt they didn't have a right to know she was safe. She simply needed to be her own person, and that was hard to do if you were a Fortune woman.
Meanwhile she missed having his arms around her. She hoped that after he knew the truth, he would still want her.
* * *
Ian slapped shut the updated portfolio Imogene had left with him. None of the figures made sense; they buzzed in his head like angry bees.
Something had to give.
He reached for the call button on his phone to summon Katie, then changed his mind. When he walked out into the reception area, she was seated at her desk, staring at the screen saver on her PC.
The Boss Man's Fortune Page 9