Much More Than a Mistress

by Michelle Celmer

  And the more it would hurt when it was over.

  Fourteen

  Despite the doctor’s warning that she might never talk normally again, in the three weeks since her stroke, Jordan’s mom had been defying the odds. Though he and Nathan had both feared that the embarrassment of having an impediment would hamper her recovery, and maybe cause her to hide herself away, they couldn’t have been more wrong. She had welcomed visits from her friends and held her head high when her speech necessitated her repeating things to be understood. Only ten days after her discharge she returned to her bridge club and even attended a charity luncheon.

  Even more remarkable was the way the stroke had changed her. Jordan didn’t know if it was the damage to her brain, or simply the realization that she wasn’t invincible, and life was precious, but she suddenly seemed to realize how important her family was to her. She welcomed visits from her sons and Nathan had even begun bringing Ana and Max to see her. For someone who had no interest in her own children, she was turning out to be a doting grandmother.

  But the weirdest thing by far was her relationship with Jordan’s dad. He’d been spending an excessive amount of time at her place. So excessive that his fiancée packed her things and moved back to Seattle. Jordan had never heard his parents utter so much as a single kind word to each other, but now it seemed that they had finally connected. Jordan wasn’t sure if it would last, but for his father’s sake he hoped so.

  And then there was Jane. Despite nearing the three week mark, when normally he would begin to get bored with a woman—especially one he was spending nearly every waking moment with, he found her more intriguing and more desirable every day.

  He wished her part of the investigation would finally close so that they could have a normal relationship. He wanted to take her out in public, do the normal things that couples do. A nice dinner and a trip to the theater or even just burgers and a movie. She was fanatical about them not being seen together in anything other than a professional capacity. He was getting tired of the sneaking around.

  What he didn’t get was, what was taking so long? He knew for a fact that she’d had more than adequate opportunity to search both his office at work and at home. He made sure that she had access to his computer and all but a select few of his financial files. There wasn’t much about him that she didn’t know, or have access to, yet they were still playing this game and there seemed to be no end in sight.

  There was one thing he was going to miss when she was done though. Jane was an awesome secretary. In some ways even better than Tiffany. And God knows he’d kept her busy. With an equipment upgrade happening in just two days, followed by a vigorous safety inspection, Jordan had been spending more and more time at the refinery. It was during the last upgrade that the sabotage occurred, and tensions were high both at the refinery and the corporate office. As COO, the responsibility of keeping the men safe fell almost entirely on Jordan. This time before they brought the equipment back online, he planned to personally inspect every inch of the line.

  The Friday before the scheduled maintenance, he was going over a few last minute changes to the schedule when Jane buzzed him.

  “You have a call on line one from a Peter Burke.”

  Jordan tensed. Peter Burke was a manager at the refinery. However, Jordan suspected that his call had nothing to do with a work matter. They had discussed this and Peter knew better than to call Jordan at the office regarding personal matters.

  “I’ve got it,” he told Jane. “And could you please close my door?”

  “Of course.” She disconnected and appeared in his office doorway. She flashed him a smile, then closed the door.

  He took a deep breath, then picked up line one. “Peter, what the hell are you doing calling me here?”

  “I’ve tried you at home and on your cell. I’ve left you messages. I can’t talk to you at the refinery.”

  “I would have gotten back to you when I had the time.”

  “Jordan, I’m desperate.”

  “I told you that I would get you the money and I will.”

  “But if I don’t get it soon—”

  “Now just isn’t a good time. With the upgrade next week everyone is under scrutiny. Especially the refinery workers.”

  He cursed under his breath. “I’m sorry, Jordan. Maybe I should just come clean, tell everyone the truth.”

  “And risk losing your job, and your family?”

  “Considering what I’ve done, maybe they would be better off without me. If I don’t get the money soon, it might be out of my hands.”

  He closed his eyes and sighed. It was emotional blackmail. He never should have let himself get pulled into this mess. “Look, I have about half in cash in my safe at home. Will that be enough to hold you until I can get my hands on the rest?”

  “That would be great,” he said sounding relieved.

  “This time, I want you to get some help, Peter.”

  “I will. I promise. I won’t screw this up again.”

  “I’ll get the money together and call you with a meeting place.”

  “Thanks, Jordan. I owe you.”

  He certainly did. But this was the last time.

  He grabbed his coat and headed out of his office, wondering for a fleeting moment if Jane could have been listening in on his phone conversation, but she was at her desk, talking on her cell phone. She looked up at him and smiled. “Mary, I have to let you go. I’ll call you later.” She hung up and said, “Sorry about that.”

  “Your sister?”

  “Yeah, she was giving me another lecture on the virtues of coming back to work for my parents.”

  She had been weighing the pros and cons of going back to the family practice for a couple of weeks now. Personally, he thought it was an excellent idea. “Still haven’t made up your mind?”

  “I’ll probably do it, if for no other reason than I’m running out of money.” She grinned. “I guess I sort of like making her beg.”

  He laughed. She was starting to sound more and more like him all the time. But he was glad she was patching things up with her family. It seemed they were both doing a bit of that lately.

  “You’re leaving for the refinery already?” she asked.

  “Yeah, I have a stop to make on the way there. Do you have that equipment list I asked for?”

  “Right here,” she said, grabbing the folder from the corner of her desk and handing it to him. “Are we still on for tonight?”

  “Absolutely. Do you want to cook or pick something up?”

  “I doubt I’ll be done here before six, then I have to go home and change, and I would have to stop at the market—”

  “Takeout it is. Unless you want to go to a restaurant somewhere.” At her exasperated look he shrugged and said, “It was just an idea.”

  “I’ll see you tonight.” She smiled up at him. She looked like her normal self, but when he looked deeper there was something in her eyes…what if she had been listening? She could have taken what he said completely out of context. But she knew him, and she had to know by now that he was one of the good guys, that he wouldn’t deliberately do anything to hurt anyone. She had to care about him as much as he cared for her.

  He had this burning need, this sudden desire to hear her say the words.

  “Come here.” He took her hand and pulled her up out of her chair, leading her into his office and shutting the door.

  “Jordan, what are you—” She let out a soft gasp as he pulled her into his arms, and when he kissed her, she melted against him.

  He gazed down at her, cupping her face in his hands. “I love you, Jane. I’ve never said that to a woman. But I need you to know how much you mean to me.”

  She smiled up at him. “I love you too, Jordan.”

  He closed his eyes and pressed his forehead to hers. He never imagined that hearing those words would feel so good. So why, as he kissed her goodbye and walked out, did he have the sinking feeling that something just wasn’t right?<
br />
  Maybe his guilty conscience was finally getting the best of him.

  Jane sat at her desk, replaying Jordan’s conversation on the mini digital recorder, trying to come up with some logical explanation for what was said, feeling sick all the way down to her soul because she knew what she had to do.

  She had been so certain that he was innocent, that he would never do anything to hurt anyone. She still couldn’t wrap her head around it, couldn’t make herself believe it. Whether or not he was actually paying this Peter Burke person a bribe to tamper with equipment, she couldn’t sit back and do nothing. If she didn’t report this, and there was another explosion, if people were hurt because she had proof but did nothing, she would never be able to live with herself.

  Jordan’s sudden declaration of love wasn’t making this any easier. It was almost as if he knew who she was, knew she was listening, and suspected that she would turn him in. Maybe he thought that telling her he loved her would change her mind.

  But how could he know? Wouldn’t he have said something?

  Though she had strict instructions to take all new information directly to her boss at Edwin Associates, she just couldn’t do it. She palmed the mini recorder and walked down the hall to Mr. Blair’s office, hands trembling, heart beating so hard her chest ached.

  She must have looked as bad as she felt. When Bren saw her, she frowned and said, “Honey are you okay?”

  Come on Jane, pull it together, be a professional.

  “I need to see him,” she told Bren. “It’s urgent.”

  She picked up the phone and buzzed her boss, relaying the message, then she told Jane, “Go on in.”

  Swallowing back her distress, and squaring her shoulders, she walked into Adam Blaire’s office.

  He rose from his seat, “Miss Monroe.”

  “I have something I need you to listen to.” She pressed Play and handed him the digital recorder.

  He sat back down, stone-faced as he listened to the entire conversation. When it was over he hit Stop, then muttered a curse that she didn’t think men as polished as him uttered in mixed company. Then he looked up at her and said, “Sorry.”

  “It’s okay.”

  “Has anyone else heard this?”

  She shook her head. “I thought it would be best if I gave it to you first.”

  “You did the right thing. Where is he now?”

  “On his way to the refinery.”

  He picked up the phone and dialed his secretary. “Get Jordan back here immediately. Tell him to come straight to my office. It’s urgent.” He hung up and gestured to the chair across from his desk. “Have a seat, Miss Monroe.”

  He wanted her to stay? The information she’d gathered was quite possibly about to ruin Jordan’s career, his life, and Mr. Blair wanted her to watch? She knew there were people who relished this moment, took personal and professional pride in bringing down the bad guys, but she felt like garbage.

  Jordan had told her he loved her, and she had betrayed him.

  God, she hated this job, and the second she was out of here, she was going back to the office and submitting her resignation. After that she was going to see her parents, and she would beg for her old job back if she had to. She would rather work in a fast-food burger joint earning minimum wage than put herself through this again.

  “Miss Monroe?”

  She looked up and realized Mr. Blair was watching her. “Huh?”

  “Are you okay?”

  Other than the fact that she felt like she might be sick? “I’m fine. I just…”

  “You like him.”

  Was she that transparent? She bit her lip and nodded. “He’s just so…so…”

  “Charming? Personable?”

  Not to mention sweet and sexy and generous and kind. “I didn’t expect to find evidence against him.”

  “There’s still a chance that there’s a reasonable explanation.”

  He didn’t believe that, and neither did she.

  “You two have become…close?” he asked.

  She no longer had to worry about her career as an investigator. It was over. She didn’t see any point in lying to him. Besides, when Jordan walked in and saw her there, he was going to be furious. Adam would have to be a moron not to realize that something had happened. And he was no moron.

  She nodded. “I didn’t mean for it to happen.”

  He smiled, which he didn’t seem to do very often. “We never do, do we?”

  “I can’t do this again. I’m going back to the law.”

  His brows rose. “You’re a lawyer?”

  She nodded. “I left our family practice and started working at Edwin Associates six months ago. This was my first undercover assignment.”

  “For what it’s worth, I never would have guessed. You gave the impression of being a seasoned professional. And if you’re looking for a job, I’m sure we can find a place for you in our law department.”

  “I appreciate that,” she said, but once she left today, she would never set foot in the Western Oil corporate headquarters ever again. It would be too awkward.

  The door opened and Jordan walked in, still wearing his coat, and Jane’s heart sank to her toes.

  “You wanted to see me,” he said.

  Mr. Blair stood, and motioned Jane to come stand to the side of him. “That was awfully quick.”

  “I hadn’t left yet. I was grabbing a sandwich in the coffee shop to eat on the way.”

  Jane waited for him to ask what she was doing there, for surprise or confusion. For something. But he didn’t even look at her.

  Why didn’t he look at her?

  “Why don’t you have a seat.”

  He folded his arms. “I get the feeling I’m about to face the firing squad, so I think I’d rather stand.”

  Mr. Blair pressed Play on the recorder and set it on his desk. After about three seconds, Jordan said, “I recall the conversation, considering it took place, oh, about twenty minutes ago.”

  Adam stopped the recording. “If you haven’t already figured it out, Miss Monroe isn’t a temp. She’s an undercover investigator for Edwin Associates.”

  Jane waited for the anger, for the disdain, but still, nothing. Didn’t he care that she’d been lying to him? That he’d told her he loved her not twenty minutes ago and she had ratted him out?

  There was only one logical explanation, one that made her blood go cold. He already knew. He had known from the start, and all this time he had just been screwing with her. To what? Throw her off the scent, so she wouldn’t learn the truth?

  Some investigator she’d turned out to be. She’d been played and she hadn’t had a clue.

  “I know how the conversation sounds,” Jordan told Mr. Blair. “But it isn’t what you think.”

  “So tell me what it is.”

  Jordan nodded in her direction. “She has to go.”

  She. That’s all she was now? One minute he was telling her he loved her, now they weren’t even on a first name basis?

  Humiliation burned her cheeks, drove a spike through her heart. How could she have been so stupid? How could she have believed that someone like him would truly care about someone like her? It was all a game to him.

  “She brought this recording directly to me instead of reporting to her boss,” Mr. Blair said. “And there’s nothing stopping her from doing it now, so I think you owe her an explanation too.”

  “What I’m going to tell you can’t leave this room.”

  “I’ll make that determination after I hear what you have to say.”

  He stepped forward, putting his hands on Adam’s desk and leaning in. “No, you have to swear. Or I turn and walk, the consequences be damned.”

  That surprised her, and Mr. Blair too. He nodded and said, “Okay, it doesn’t leave this room.”

  Jordan backed away from Adam’s desk. “Peter Burke is a manager at the refinery.”

  “I know. He’s the one who lost his wife last year.”

  J
ordan nodded. “Ovarian cancer. He’s raising their four kids alone. Even with health insurance the medical bills wiped him out. He was on the brink of bankruptcy, about to lose his home. He’s a good guy, a loyal employee. I felt sorry for him and I offered to help. And for obvious reasons I wanted it kept confidential.”

  “Or every employee with a down-on-his-luck story would be hounding you,” Adam said.

  “Exactly. I figured I would give him the money, he would get back on his feet and everything would be cool. But it wasn’t. His wife’s death hit him harder than anyone realized. He started drinking, and gambling, then he started missing work, screwing up on the job. We tried to cut him slack, tried to get him help. Then he came to me a few months ago, just before the explosion. He got himself in deep with a loan shark and they were threatening him, threatening to hurt his kids. He was desperate.”

  “Let me guess, he owed them thirty thousand dollars,” Adam said.

  Jordan narrowed his eyes at him. “You knew?”

  “Only that you received a wire from an offshore account for two hundred thousand, and wired thirty back out.”

  “From my offshore account,” Jordan said. “Most of my money is tied up in investments. When I need cash I dip into my other accounts.”

  “So I assume he’s asking for money again?” Mr. Blair said.

  “He’s in bad shape. He was supposed to join Alcoholics Anonymous. I even found him a sponsor, but he stopped going after a couple of meetings. He’s back in deep with the loan sharks and now his sister-in-law is trying to take his children. Those kids are all he has left. I don’t know what he’ll do if he loses them.”

  “So why the secrecy?”

  “The fewer people who know about this, the better. His sister-in-law has already filed to get custody.”

  “And her lawyer will be talking to all his coworkers,” Jane said. If the sister-in-law had a good lawyer, and she probably did, his work would be the first place they would look for dirt.

  “People are already being subpoenaed,” Jordan told her, then he turned back to Adam. “And there’s another reason I wanted to keep this from you. A selfish reason.”