Anna Marie Sorenson's Secret Affair (31 page)

“It wouldn’t be a commute if you moved there,” Dallas pointed out reasonably.

Richard blinked. “But my job’s here. My salary is the bigger of the two. And it’s usually the man’s job that determines where a couple should live.”

“In this day and age, it’s not unheard of a family moving locations when the woman gets a decent promotion. If Anna Marie lands a position at the Library of Congress, her beginning salary wouldn’t be comparable to yours, but her job at the Library would be much more important than yours. Many people would think it madness to turn down such a position because of the honor and prestige that goes with the job.”

For the first time that evening, Richard was beginning to look uncertain. “But, what about my job?”

“In this day and age of computers and telecommunication, it seems a broker can set up shop anywhere. Surely, when your wife lands a job with the Library of Congress, you wouldn’t deny her an opportunity of a lifetime, would you, just because you were unwilling to move across the country?”

Richard opened his mouth then shut it in confusion. He said defensively, “I am the

husband, you know. I should have some say in the matter.”

Dallas said silkily, “Of course you are, but if you’re not prepared to be supportive of your wife’s goals and what is important to her, then is it really fair that you should be marrying her?” Richard, losing all of his earlier bonhomie, was starting to look desperate. “Now, just wait one minute…”

Secret Affair 197

Anna Marie quickly rose from her chair and put her hand on her fiancé’s arm. “Richard, why don’t we go over to my parents? I think my mother said she had a question she wanted to ask about one of the funds you had suggested.”

Only too eager to expound on any willing ears about his precious funds, Richard allowed her to lead him to another table.

Anna Marie did her best to avoid Dallas for rest of the evening. They really had nothing to discuss, and whatever reason he had for suddenly showing up tonight could have nothing to do with her, she decided. She had a wedding to think of, keeping track in her head all the things that needed to be done by the time she had to walk down the aisle tomorrow afternoon. And then she had a future to plan, a new life in a new home to deal with. The last thing she needed tonight was to be distracted.

However, Dallas had no such inclination to play stranger to her, and he came upon her unawares while she was in conversation with one of Richard’s ushers. When the usher walked away, Anna Marie turned and bumped into Dallas’s chest that was impeccably dressed in the white Navy jacket.

“Uh, hi,” she mumbled, stepping back, not quite meeting his eyes.

“Hi, yourself,” he said coldly. “I want to talk to you.”

Anna Marie jerked, guilt pitting deep in her stomach. “Alright, but I’m afraid it can’t be right now. Can it wait? I have to go over and talk to Richard’s mother. I’m afraid I’ve not been able to talk to her all night.”

She was about to go around him when he took her arm. “No, this can’t wait.”

He pulled her through a back door and outside to the back of the building. The night air was cool with a lazy end of the summer breeze, the ski a clear inky black studded with stars.

“Dallas, I…” She had no idea what it was she was going to say.

“Shut up!” he shot out, his words coming out so violently that its impact made her flinch.

“Shut up! Just shut the hell up for a second.” Whatever he had been holding throughout the evening suddenly burst at the seams of his control, and it was apparent that he was having difficulty reining it in again.

They remained like that for a long moment, just the two of them in the dark abandoned courtyard of the building, Anna Marie pressing her back against the wall, and Dallas pacing in Secret Affair 198

front of her, seething with fury and confusion, like a jungle cat trying to decide what to do with a prey that he had caught, and was in a raging quandary because he realized the prey was inedible.

Then he stopped and faced her, turning all his fury full front at Anna Marie, making her cringe against the wall. “What the fucking hell happened, Anna Marie?”

“Wha…with what happened?”

“With you. With us. The last time I saw you, I go off to do my mission, and when I come back a few months later to an army base in Kuwait, I get a letter from you. A Dear John letter, telling me that you’re dumping me, and not telling me why.”

“I wasn’t really dumping you…”

“Then what do the words, I must put an end to our affair, mean? They certainly don’t sound like let’s have drinks together when next you come back to the states.”

Anna Marie took a deep breath in order to control her need to make a bolt for her escape.

She had never experienced any such violent emotions from Dallas. In actuality, because he had always been so coolly and ruthlessly controlled, except when he was inside her, she didn’t think he was capable of strong emotions.

She licked her lips nervously. “I had my reasons for writing that letter. I can’t get into it right now. This isn’t really the time and place.”

He stepped in front of her and pushed his face until it was inches from hers. “Then get this, Anna Marie, I’ll make sure that very soon, you’ll make the time to explain to me what the hell was going on in your head when you wrote that letter. But you’re going to answer this one question that’s burning in my head right now. You’re not really serious about marrying this guy, are you?”

She blinked up at him, startled at the question. “Why wouldn’t I be? Everything’s all arranged for the wedding tomorrow, including my wedding dress.”

“You can’t marry him, Anna Marie.”

“Why not?”

“Because he’s a damned asinine idiot. He’s the last person to make you happy. In fact, I can bet pretty well sure that he’ll make you miserable.”

“How can you be so sure? You don’t even know Richard.”

“Guys like him aren’t too hard to figure out. There’re only two things he cares about in this world, and that’s himself and money.”

Secret Affair 199

“Richard’s not like that.”

“Then how come he’s making you give up getting your Ph.D. and working for the

Library of Congress?”

“In a marriage it’s called a compromise.”

“Giving up on your lifelong dream is not a compromise. It’s giving up. And that’s what you’re doing by settling for a guy like him.”

“Well, what’s wrong with settling?” she shot back at him. “It’s not so bad, once you get used it. It’s just a matter of adjusting to life as it comes. It was time I started to think about getting married and raising a family.”

“In less than a year as his wife he’s going to bore you to tears, if he hasn’t already. All he’s able to talk about are treasury yields and quarter point rise, in and out of bed.” Dallas took a few steps away and then came back. “Why now? And why so soon? Last time I saw you, the last thing on your mind was marriage.”

She looked away. “A lot changes in several months.”

“But why this guy? Why him? Why not wait for a man who can make you happy?”

Anna Marie gave a bitter laugh. “For how long? Look how long it took me to meet

Richard? Men who are interested in me have not exactly been lining up at my door.”

“Stop it,” Dallas said sharply. “Stop selling yourself short. Just because your sister and your parents have always sold you short doesn’t mean you have to.”

He took a step towards her, his hands reaching for her. Anna Marie pushed away from the building wall and took a few steps away from him. “Don’t! Don’t touch me!” She wrapped her arms tightly around her waist to ward off the evening chill and the lurking sense of panic that was starting to grow deep inside her.

Dallas remained where he stood, watching her. “You can’t marry him, Anna Marie,” he

said quietly, all traces of anger gone from his voice.

She shook her head vigorously, her arms tightening around her waist. “Don’t say that, Dallas, because I am going to marry him. Just because you’ve suddenly rolled into town again doesn’t meant I’m going to stop everything for you.” She was now practically shouting at him.

“Tomorrow at three o’clock in the afternoon at St. Johns Church, I’ll be standing beside Richard, exchanging vows and rings. By this time tomorrow evening, I’ll be Mrs. Richard Kragen. And there’s nothing you can do about it. Nothing.” She turned and ran into the building.

Secret Affair 200

Chapter 16

After the pre-wedding dinner was over, Anna Marie let herself into her small

condominium close to midnight. When she closed the door and turned the lock, she leaned against it and let out a long, heavy sigh, as if she had been holding it for several hours. She felt as if she had made it to her haven at last after a long struggle, one place where she could escape the demands of her family, work, and, now, Richard. The last thought caused a sharp twinge of guilt and foreboding, because she knew a man who was about to become her husband should not induce such feelings, especially on their wedding night.

She had managed to dissuade Richard from coming home with her. And he had done his

best to press her, wanting to let out some of the energy that had been building up through the dinner in bed with her. He had been caught up in the general excitement of the wedding, looking forward to the honeymoon cruise down Mexico, and then anticipating all the work that still needed to be done to set up their new married lives in his home, which meant selling Anna Marie’s condo and her belongings, buying whole new furniture for both of them, and starting to plan for children.

Secret Affair 201

When she tried to plead off from his request to spend their pre-wedding night together with claims of headache and exhaustion and needing this time alone, he had brushed aside her excuses, his eyes twinkling as he told her that he knew she was only teasing him because it was their wedding night. Then Anna Marie pointed out that it was considered bad luck for a bride and groom to sleep together on the night before the wedding,

“That’s old wives tale,” Richard said dismissively. He tried to reach for her but because he had drank a good deal of the champagne, his movements were more than a little clumsy and she was able to stay out of his reach.

Desperate to be alone for the night, she came up with a story. “Actually, I heard that a very wealthy financier right before the crash had been warned not to sleep with his fiancée on the night of their wedding, and when he did, the next day, on their wedding, the stock market crashed and he lost close to fifty millions dollars. The next day, when his office telegraphed him on his honeymoon in Paris, he jumped out the tenth floor of their hotel.”

That made Richard consider and he decided that, since he was going to be granted a

lifetime of sex after tomorrow, perhaps he could afford to be a bit judicious for tonight when it came to his investments.

Anna Marie also had to fend off her sister’s insistence that Pepper, as the sister of the bride, should be staying with her at her home that evening, so that she was there in the morning when Anna Marie began preparations for the wedding day.

Anna Marie knew that what she needed more than anything was to be alone tonight to

gather her strength and resolve for tomorrow and for her future with Richard. That was even more important now that she had seen Dallas at the dinner.

She dropped purse and keys on the kitchen table and went through the door to her living room. It was only when she walked past the living room and was already heading down the hallway to her bedroom that she realized she was not alone in her house. She back stepped and saw the towering figure of Dallas still dressed in his Navy whites standing in the middle of her living room, his hands in his pants pockets.

She stared at him dumbly. “How did you get in?”

“It’s part of my training,” Dallas said dryly.

She went to a lamp and turned it on. “What are you doing here?”

Secret Affair 202

“I want to talk to you, Anna Marie. We didn’t finish our conversation at the restaurant,” he said grimly.

“What more is there to say? I’m getting married tomorrow.”

“No, I’m not letting you throw your life away to that idiot. You’re worth much more than that.”

“Why are you doing this to me, Dallas?” Exhaustion and the shock of seeing him a

second time tonight had her on the verge of breaking point. She could feel tears stinging her eyes.

Dallas moved towards her and she instantly backed away, scuttling as far away from him as possible, poised to make a run for it. “Don’t come near me.”

He remained where he stood, staring at her for a moment, his face inscrutable. “Why did you write that letter, Anna Marie?”

The question took her by surprise and for a second she was at a lost as to the answer. “I thought it best for both of us if I stopped…things with us.”

“I didn’t realize you were so unhappy with our affair. Why did you never tell me

before?”

She smiled, some of the tears falling down her cheeks. “But, you see, I wasn’t unhappy.

It was the last thing I was. When I was with you, I was the happiest I’ve ever been in my life.” He shook his head, a baffled look on his striking face. “Then, why, if you were so happy, did you end things between us? And then turn around and be with an ass like Kragen? Don’t tell me it’s because you love him, because I know that’s the last thing you are.”

Anna Marie gave him a helpless look, conflicting thoughts and feelings warring on her face. She closed her eyes tight for a moment and when she opened them, they carefully watched him. “I guess I should have told you this at the time when it happened.”

“Told me what?”

“I was pregnant with your baby.”

There was a shocked silence.

“When?” Dallas asked softly.

“A few months before I wrote you that letter.”

“What happened to it?” Then his face tightened almost painfully, paling. “You didn’t…”

“No, no. I miscarried. About two months into the pregnancy.”

Secret Affair 203

A spasm of pain flashed across his face, darkening his green eyes. “And you were never going to tell me about it?”