by Poppy Flynn
Luanna felt a flutter of apprehension when she walked into work, the following day. She'd neither seen nor heard anything from Logan, and now that she'd had a chance to calm down and listen to the voice message her boss had left on her answer machine explaining how Jake had overreacted to Charlotte's article because of a previous horrific experience with the paparazzi and how she had simply gotten caught in the cross-fire, she knew that she needed to be mature enough to let Logan explain himself, now that the initial eruption of tempers had diminished.
All that apart, she had walked out of her job without good reason, and moreover, due to a personal matter that had no place being aired in the workplace, in the first instance, and then she'd compounded the issue by bad mouthing the company's south coast directors to the HR department, to boot. Yeah, not her best day.
Plus, she'd spent a shitty night, tossing and turning and replaying the scene with Logan over and over in her mind. Then she'd get mad all over again when she thought of the things he'd said to her. Then she'd feel hurt all over again, and then she'd cry.
Her eyes were puffy this morning and had dark shadows riding underneath. Any other day and she might just have taken another day's leave, but she valued her job and she couldn't afford to lose it. Neither was it fair on Desi to come back to this shit storm and have to weather it on her own.
So here she was, a little weary and worn around the edges and riding on nerves that she'd get a reprimand added to her personal record after less than a year on the job, a job she'd been lucky to get. Desi had taken a chance on her, Luanna knew as much, so damned if she was going to repay that belief by letting her boss down any further.
Things were unnaturally quiet on the finance floor when the lift doors slid closed behind her. There was no bubble of voices, and most of the office doors were closed tight. In fact, the place was like a morgue.
The receptionist was absent, but it was early yet, Luanna supposed, since she had wanted to get an early start, in order to prepare herself for any summons she might find on her desk.
Desi's office suite door was open, as usual, but obviously, Laurel's desk was empty. There was no sign of either Connor or Jake.
Despite her overwhelming desire to grab herself a strong cup of coffee from the break room before she started, Luanna gritted her teeth and went straight to her office. She'd get this out of the way, first, she told herself sternly. She checked her desk and her memos, then she checked her internal messages. There was nothing there from HR or from any of her other bosses. Luanna wasn't sure whether to sigh in relief or worry that the hammer had yet to fall.
Hanging her coat on the peg behind her door, she went to the staff room to fetch that cup of coffee, after all.
The eerie silence continued until mid-morning. Luanna could hear the receptionist's muted voice at her console down the hall, every so often, and the odd ping from the elevator, but there was little movement, and there was still no summons. She got on with her work just as quietly as everyone else seemed to be doing and tried not to let impending dread knock her concentration.
It did, of course, and she found herself having to double check every set of numbers that she was imputing until she was so highly strung that when Desi finally turned up in her doorway, Luanna almost jumped out of her skin and let out what she felt was a disrespectful little yip at the sight of her boss.
"Sorry," she muttered then rolled her eyes. This woman was supposed to be her friend. "I'm a little on edge."
"Can hardly blame you for that after what's been going on in this mad house lately," Desi remarked cheerfully as she eased into the room carrying two steaming drinks and a small plate containing a couple of sweet pastries. She set them all down on Luanna's desk then closed the door before seating herself in the opposite chair. Luanna wondered if she should be dismayed or not.
She decided to take the bull by the horns. "I'm sorry you had to come back to such bedlam, yesterday. I really hope you had a wonderful time on your honeymoon." She gave a small smile. "I'm sure you did, but before you tell me all about it, I'd like to apologise for cutting and running yesterday; it was unprofessional and unwarranted."
"Pfft!" Desi snorted inelegantly. "I'd say you were perfectly justified, given the provocation. If we're going to talk unprofessional, then Jake, Connor and Logan should all know better than to bring that kind of mess into the office, and if one of them does, then the others should be putting a lid on it, not stirring it up some more." Desi sipped at her tea and settled back in the chair. "I'm sorry, myself, that I didn't get to seek you out sooner. I wanted to check that you got the message I left, but I've been bogged down in bureaucracy since I got in." She sighed. "Still, I wanted you to know that there was more going on under the surface than you were privy to. I know it's not much of a consolation, and I'm not making excuses for them, but I wanted you to understand there were mitigating circumstances that made them act like a bunch of juvenile idiots, rather than anything you or Charlotte did."
Luanna swallowed convulsively. It looked like she was off the hook, and relief made her lightheaded.
"Is Charlotte okay?" she asked, taking a sip of her own drink to steady herself. "I haven't been able to get hold of her for ages."
Desi set her cup carefully back on the desk, but Luanna noted and frowned at the tremor that vibrated her hand.
"Charlotte is gone," she said quietly.
"Gone!" Luanna squeaked. "What do you mean, gone?"
"I mean she's upped sticks and taken off. Her house had been closed up, her utilities switched off, including her mobile phone, and her e-mail account deleted. I don't know what Jake said to her…" Desi's voice cracked with emotion, and she cleared her throat, "…but she's in the wind, completely disappeared."
Luanna was lost for words. "I-I don't know what to say!" she whispered in shock.
Desi shook her head and levelled her palm towards Luanna. "That's not for now," she almost sobbed, visibly forcing herself to pull it back together. "I can't think of it at the moment. I need to observe my own edicts and keep it out of the office."
Luanna swallowed back her own tears and nodded silently.
"Anyway." Desi jumped up off the seat, suddenly brisk, and said, "I just wanted to assure you that there won't be any more disturbances. Jake, Connor and Logan have all gone back to the head office, and they are not expected back here for the foreseeable future, and I'm working on getting Laurel to come back to work so that we can return to some normalcy around this place."
With that, Desi swung on her heel and trotted away. There might have been some tell-tale tracks of moisture on her cheeks as she hurried off, but Luanna was too stunned to notice.
Logan was gone. A thousand miles away, and he wasn't coming back. They had parted on bad terms, sure, but he hadn't bothered telling her or even made any effort to say goodbye.
A desolate sensation of emptiness shivered through Luanna's heart, and she wondered bleakly if things would ever be normal again.
Chapter 14
It had been three months. Luanna Morgan sat at her desk frowning at the plain, white envelope at the top of her mail pile that was addressed to her but didn't look quite official. It was printed and stamped, but there was no return address and no franking. She put it to one side while she dealt with the remainder of her post.
Coming back to it, thirty minutes later, she wondered if the long-absent father of her son had decided to make yet another attempt to worm back into his life. Luanna pressed her full lips tightly together at the thought. The boy had run scared as soon as she had revealed her pregnancy. In some ways, she didn't blame him. They had been stupid, immature teenagers who had dabbled without thought of consequence.
Of course, she'd been scared, herself, but running hadn't been an option for her. So, for fifteen years, she had scrimped and slogged and suffered against circumstance, against prejudice and against coercion, in order to make a life for herself and her son.
In truth, she had been one of the lucky ones; she'd
had the unwavering support of her family, but that didn't mean it had been easy to be an unmarried, pregnant sixteen-year-old with an interrupted education.
And in fifteen years, the man had never come forward to offer any assistance, despite the fact that his family was rich, and he could have saved his son from hardship and ridicule. He had never concerned himself with the complication of paternal responsibility, until now.
Luanna had ignored his last letter, pretended it didn't exist, just as he had done with her and her son.
This one didn't look the same; the first had been hand-written and sent to her parents' address. And it had displayed a return address, so maybe it wasn't even him. She concluded that the only way to deal with this one was to open it.
Ten minutes later, she dropped the envelope onto Logan Thornton's desk, hoping her fingers weren't betraying the fine trembling that she felt vibrating through her body.
Another man, another mistake. After fifteen years, she had thought herself responsible enough not to make any more. Turned out that age was no safeguard against foolishness.
She looked surreptitiously at the stunning amber eyes that were partially concealed by glasses and long, gold streaked, caramel hair, which was bound with leather in a queue at the back of his neck. When he shed his corporate skin, he still reminded her of a lion.
Absently, her fingers went to the carved amber lion pendant she wore round her neck, a gift bought but never given. Realising her actions, she snatched her hand down and looked away, unaware of the golden eyes that now gazed back at her with soul deep yearning.
They had barely spoken over the past fourteen weeks, and when they did, it was all business. Not that he spent much time at the east coast office for her to talk to, even if she had wanted to. And she'd considered it a time or two, but by the time she'd calmed herself enough to be gracious after their one and only very civilised disagreement, he'd hightailed it out of town without so much as a backward glance. That reaction had told her all she needed to know.
Only once had she ever begged a man for anything, and that was one time too many. She had too much self-respect to do it again. If she had learned one thing since Danny was born, it was her own worth.
It was unusual that Logan was here now but perhaps fortuitous. She could give him the letter which had quickened her pulse and caught her breath and had her dreaming of the comfort of security, of college options for her son and maybe even a down-payment on her own little cottage—until she remembered that the photos weren't hers. She was merely the model, her face, her body, her image, but apparently, that didn't mean much when it came to copyright. She didn't even know if she could refuse their publication if she wanted to maintain her privacy.
Logan fingered the envelope; it was opened and addressed to Luanna. "What's this?" he asked cautiously.
"It's for you," she replied, keeping her voice carefully neutral. "It was mistakenly directed my way."
Logan frowned. "What's it about?"
"It's regarding your photographs," she said woodenly, battling to keep any inflection out of her voice.
Logan's frowned deepened. "Where did it come from?" he persisted.
"From Charlotte."
Well, that, at least, got a response from him.
Logan's head shot up, and he looked at her for the first time since she'd entered the room.
"What does it say?" he demanded, but any reply was redundant. He had already snatched up the envelope and was checking its contents, while he rang across to Jake's office.
"I think we have a lead," was all he said into the phone.
He looked at the compliments slip, then skimmed the letter. Realising it wasn't from Charlotte, he set it aside and snatched up the compliments slip again, checking the back, then grabbing the envelope. He was scrutinising it when Jake came barrelling into the room at a dead run.
Luanna blinked her eyes several times and tried not to be upset that the letter that had meant so much to her meant less to Logan than helping Jake find Charlotte. She didn't know why she was surprised. He was rich; that amount of money was probably small-change, but she had thought the pictures meant something to him. He had spent enough time talking her into tying her up for them. She sighed quietly; models were obviously two a penny. There would always be another body he could use to practise his knots and photography. Probably one who would agree to pose naked, where she had refused…except for those times when he had put down his camera and made her feel cherished for the first time in her life.
Seeing the two men deep in a discussion that clearly didn't involve her, Luanna backed towards the door.
"If you don't need me…"
Logan waved absently without so much as a glance. "No…" he didn't finish before Jake demanded his attention once more.
"Yeah, I figured that much," Luanna murmured as she made her way out of the room.
"Luanna, maybe we could…"
"She's gone," Jake interrupted.
Logan looked around at the empty space where she had just been standing then closed his eyes and heaved a heavy breath. Another opportunity wasted.
"Logan, come on!" Jake urged, even as he struggled with the guilt that his own rash actions had ruined Logan's relationship, as well as his own. He was lucky Logan was still speaking to him; Desi sure as hell wasn't. Something else Jake needed to fix, but he couldn't do that without finding Charlotte.
"You can sort out your shit with Luanna, later. At least you know where she is! I've got to find Charlotte before I can even think of speaking with her," he argued as hope made him impatient.
"Yeah, except you aren't bound by the HR department and didn't have to agree not to talk to her unless she approached you!" Logan muttered before turning back to his pc and trying, miserably, to stem the pain he felt whenever they rubbed metaphorical shoulders.
Danny turned the envelope that Coach had given him over and over in his hands. The letter was from a man who called himself Danny's father. Sperm donor, more like, Danny thought cynically, fisting the heavy, fancy paper in his hand.
The contents said that James Fulford had been trying to trace him. It told of how he had found Danny's name on his team roster for the county playoffs and investigated to confirm his identity. Danny wasn't sure he liked that idea. It seemed a bit stalkerish.
It also implied that his mother was attempting to deny James access to his son. He didn't say it outright, but Danny could read between the lines. The letter said that he'd tried contacting Luanna, but she'd ignored his letters. Danny wasn't sure that was true. His mother had always been honest about his father. She'd never kept his identity a secret—something else the letter implied—and she'd never bad-mouthed James Fulford, even though Danny was perfectly capable of joining the dots himself and working out that the man had never made any attempt to be a part of his life. As far as Danny was concerned, she'd probably given James more credit than he was due. When he'd been curious and asked, when he was younger, Luanna had told him that James was just a young, scared kid, and they were both too young to be parents. That wasn't true though. She'd been a parent. She'd never tried to wriggle out of it, and she had always worked hard to make sure he had everything he needed, and she'd been exactly the same age. Yeah, so this lad had been young. Not much older than he was now, in fact. But if he was in the same situation, he'd make sure he stepped up to his responsibilities. Not that he was irresponsible enough to get a girl pregnant, in the first place! It might be hard, and it might be inconvenient, but he would make sure he was part of the life of any child who carried his genes.
Still, he didn't know what to do about the letter. It said that James Fulford wanted to meet him. Danny didn't know what to think about that. Yeah, there was a little bit of curiosity. There was this whole other part of his family that he didn't know—grandparents, a step-mum, and even some half-sisters. That bit felt weird. He had sisters; three of them. And he didn't even know who they were. Whatever this man said, Danny didn't think his mother knew about any o
f this, and he didn't really want to ask her about it just now. She'd been so down, lately. She tried to hide it, but he knew she was missing Logan. Heck, so was he. In the brief time that he'd been around, Logan had been more of a father to him than this guy who was claiming paternal rights. Danny didn't know what had happened. His mum had explained that Logan had to go back to the head office. That his home was on the south coast, and he'd only ever been here temporarily, but he sensed it was more than that. It made him sad that Logan wasn't around anymore, and he knew his mum was sad, too.
That was when it hit him. Slapped him upside the head, more like. Jeepers, he was stupid! Logan was a lawyer. He could take the letter to Logan, and he'd know what to do about it.
For the first time since opening the stupid envelope, Danny felt a sliver of relief slide through his system. Grabbing his mobile phone, he googled Blackwood Universal's south coast telephone number, made a call to the legal department and asked to speak to one Logan Thornton. The relief turned to satisfaction when the voice on the end of the phone informed him that Mr. Thornton was currently in the east coast office, and they would re-direct his call.
Logan thought he must have misheard, when his head office PA asked if he was prepared to take an unsolicited call from a Danny Morgan. He accepted the call and hurried to close his office door.
"Danny? Are you okay, is your mother okay?" he demanded when the boy came on the line.
"Yeah, sure. We're both fine, I guess," he replied, though he sounded a little bit shaky to Logan's mind.
"I need to see you," Danny rushed on, "to talk to you."
Logan hesitated momentarily. "Does your mother know about this?" he asked warily, wondering where this was going.
"I didn't want to bother her with this, at least not yet…" he trailed off.