Another Notch in the Beltway (14 page)

Nik cut her off, a bit exasperated. “While I'm not doubting what you say at all, I don't see it. The story was tabloid trash at its best.”

“Okay, and I might even buy it if it didn't mention the bit about LaSandra Lacy and MP Finnegan writing a book. Who knows about that?” she asked, then continued hotly, “You, me, MP, your partner, maybe your staff, and Addy. Who else?”

“I still don't see it, Lenore. I'm sorry.”

“Then do me a favor, question your staff and I'll ask Addison,” Lenore said aggressively. “I don't want it to be MP, but I have to know it's not.”

“Why not ask him, Lenore?” her friend said softly.

“I almost did. Instead I about threw him out of my house.”

“Nice move.”

“Yeah,” she replied in a breath. “I hate myself for not trusting him.”

“It's not him, honey. It's you and your relationship with him; if you can't trust him…” Nik let the rest trail off.

“I know. The thing is I'm think I'm falling for him.”

“Giirrrlfriend, you'd fallen before you fell into bed with him. It's mutual. It's written on both of your faces. I saw it when we had lunch the other day. Can't you let yourself be happy? We've never talked about what made you so independent and self-contained, but I bet it's a story that rivals MP's.”

Lenore said nothing. It was too close to the truth.

“I'm right, aren't I?”

“Yes.”

“Call MP. Tell him you love him.”

“I can't until I know.”

“All right, I'll ask my staff Monday. Since it's Friday, everyone bolted for the door.”

“Even Hubble?”

“No, he's still here.”

“Is he keeping you company?” Lenore asked, lightening her tone.

“As a matter of fact…”

“I knew it. He's the one you're warming the sheets with.”

Nikko laughed.

“Don't say a word. I think I have my answer.”

“Try and relax, Lenore.”

Like that's gonna happen, she thought.

****

Nolan Hubble leaned casually on Nikko's doorframe until he got her attention. “You look way too serious for a Friday afternoon, babe.” He continued into her office, sitting on the corner of her desk to face her.

She gave him a half-smile and took him in. He was so unlike Howard, who had been short and wiry. Nolan was tall with the build of a runner. His hair and eyes dark as night except for a few gray stands at his temples.

“I was thinking about who could have leaked the article on MP. Lenore Held is a friend and a client and she's very upset over it.” Nik said as she absently removed a piece of lint from his perfectly tailored charcoal-gray suit.

“Why, the retraction was brilliant. Sales for both of their books should increase, and their collaboration will be a best seller before it hits the stands.”

The way he said it had Nikko Martenstein cocking her head and pushing away from her desk.

“What do you know about this, Nolan?”

“Nothing,” he replied, smirking, taking her hand, and kissing it.

“Nothing my ass. You leaked it.” She took her hand from his.

His dark eyes bore into her.

“Do you deny it?” She wanted him to. Now she knew how Lenore felt.

“I neither confirm nor deny,” Nolan responded. “But the results will be magnificent regardless of where it came from.”

“You arrogant son of a bitch. They are both my clients, Hubble; you had no right.”

“Hubble, is it now?” He asked eyebrow arched.

“Would you prefer ‘fucking prick'?” She was going for caustic now. “Who in the hell do you think you are? You don't even know LaSandra Lacy or MP Finnegan, and except for our partner meetings, you would know nothing of them working together or why. That's privileged information, Hubble.”

“I never said I leaked it.”

“You never said you didn't, did you? Look me in the eye and tell me you didn't do it.”

He couldn't.

“Why? And why so ugly? My God, MP Finnegan is a GD selfless man.”

“Calm down, babe. The tabloid probably got a hint of the story and ran with it. They got hold of the ex-brother-in-law, he wanted his fifteen minutes of fame and told a whopper of a tale.” Nolan went to her and attempted to take her hands.

She pulled them out of reach. “Don't babe me. I'm not your babe, or are you simply too ignorant to remember my name? It's Mrs. Martenstein.”

He shut up.

“Did you think to discuss it with me?”

“I would think you'd be happy regardless how the article got there.”

“Happy to cause two important clients, two dear friends, pain? They're working on a book together, have begun to embark on a personal relationship that has a whole more promise than the one we're in, and you say I should be happy?” she raged, her right hand moving in a sweeping motion. “You're a jackass. Is this how you conducted business at your other firm? No wonder you're no longer there.”

“I would have thought the outcome was a good surprise.”

“What?”

“MP needs money, his books sell, he gets money. LaSandra's linked and inked to him, her sales increase, their yet-to-be-finished book gets press and forces the publisher's hand to make a commitment.”

“You should get a black eye and a broken jaw.” She needed to call Lenore. Nikko would not tell Hubble that Lenore thought it was MP who leaked the story for financial gain. Poor Lenore. Poor MP.

“Are you done?” he asked.

“With you? Yes.”

“You should be thanking the person who leaked this.”

“And you have the morals of Bernie Madoff. Get out before I call security and have them come and take you out.”

“You can't be serious.”

“As serious as the massive coronary I'm wishing on you this moment. Get out.” Her deadly calm voice was punctuated by the stapler she casually lifted and lobbed at his head.

“Ha. Direct hit,” she trilled as she picked up the tape dispenser.

“Crazy bitch!” Nolan Hubble bellowed as he fled her office holding his bleeding head.

Nikko got up and closed her door, locking it for good measure.

“Howard, what in the fuck did you leave me with?” she asked the air with tears in her eyes.

She needed to call Lenore, and then she needed to track down her attorney and see under what provisions she could break the partnership agreement with Hubble. Since he didn't and wouldn't admit to any wrongdoing, she had a feeling she was screwed.

****

MP was not going to let this rest. He was not prone to the stereotypical bouts of legendary Irish temper, but he was there at the moment. He sat on the edge of the hotel bed and called her cell.

Thirty miles away, Lenore looked at her caller ID.

“Answer it or let it go to voice mail? Suck it up, answer,” she asked and answered herself. “Hello, Michael Patrick.”

“Ask.”

She hesitated.

“Ask. You need to know the answer.”

“Did you have anything to do with the article?”

“No, Lenore, I didn't. But the bigger question for me is why did you think I did, or why did you not trust me enough to ask me to give you an honest answer?”

“I don't know. I'm sorry.”

“Yes, you do, Lenore,” he said with an edge.

“I knew either way I'd lose. You'd be offended or hurt that I asked, or I'd be devastated if you leaked it.”

“So pushing me away was a better outcome?” he asked, voice rising.

“No,” she replied, tears stinging the back of her eyes.

“You'll trust your body to me but not your heart and mind. I need your trust more than I need your body. Without trust, the other is simply sex, and I'm not willing to make it just sex between the two of us.” God, he wished he could see her.

She was silent.

“I know,” she finally said.

“Think about whether or not you believe me and whether or not you can trust me. If you can't give me affirmative answers to both, we need to go back to being business associates.”

“I can't do this right now,” she said in a strangled voice.

“I agree. You have enough on your plate at the moment. I'll see you on Monday. If you need me, call my cell.”

“Michael Patrick,” she began, but he'd ended the call. “Damn it.” Her phone rang again—Nikko this time.

“Lenore, it wasn't MP,” her agent said without preamble.

“I know.”

“You asked him?”

“Not exactly.”

“He figured out what was bothering you on his own?”

“Yes.”

“Was he angry?”

“Yes.”

“I'm sorry, Lenore. It was Nolan Hubble.”

“My God,” she breathed, shocked. “I'm sorry. I would have nev—”

Her agent cut her off, speaking fast and agitated now. “No, I wouldn't have imagined it either, but he did. Oh, he didn't admit it; he was too smart to do that. But rest assured, he did it. Thought I should be happy with the outcome, too. More money for everyone. Great PR for the new book. Fucking jackass.”

“Yes he is. I'm sorry, Nikko.”

“Me, too. I was starting to enjoy his company. But I have a business to run and Howard's legacy of integrity and hard work to maintain. I'll be talking to my lawyer to see what steps I can take to get rid of him. I own two-thirds of the company since Howard died; that should count for something.

“I'm sorry he did this to you and Michael Patrick. Do you want to call and tell MP or should I? I'll need to have a formal meeting with the two of you about this once I piece it together. Since Hubble won't admit anything directly, and I'm sure he was smart enough to make sure no tracks are left to trace, it will be tough to do anything legally, and
The Sentinel
will never give him up.”

“But why? We weren't his clients; we don't even know him well.”

“I don't know. Maybe because he could. While I found him amusing and good in bed, he's also very arrogant.”

“I think he was trying to impress you.”

“With what a fucking asshole he was? Well, he succeeded.”

“I'll call Michael Patrick. He deserves an apology,” Lenore said, moving back to topic. She knew how upset Nikko had to be right now. “Call me if you need to talk or need anything at all.”

“Thanks, you're a good friend, and tell MP I'll be talking to him soon.”

“Will do. Go have a double.”

“I might.”

****

Nikko sat in her office and let the tears flow. She was not easily given to tears, but she let them swamp her. She had been starting to have feelings for Nolan Hubble. Despite his irascible arrogance, he'd made her laugh and made her hot. Now he'd made her cry and that was unforgivable. The only time Howard had made her cry was when he died.

There was a knock on her door. She ignored it.

“Nikko, let me in; we need to talk.”

She ignored him and walked to her small refrigerator to get bottled water. She had been thinking champagne and strawberries, but such is life.

“Nik, honey, let me in.”

Nolan, asshole, go away, she thought but said nothing.

This time he pounded on the door. “Nik, you're scaring me.”

“Yeah?” Wham! Wham! “You should be really fucking frightened now.” She'd flung her black suede Ferragamo Fioretta pumps with four-inch heels at the door.

A while later, she called her attorney and left a message, returned some e-mail, and finally left her office to face a long weekend alone. Nikko knew she'd get over it. If she could begin to move on after Howard, she'd get over Nolan Hubble.

****

“Pick up, pick up, pick up,” Lenore chanted to herself, willing MP to answer the phone.

“Hello,” he panted.

He was breathing hard and it was noisy.

“Where are you?”

“The fitness center up the street from the hotel. I decided to work off some energy.”

She couldn't help but smile at the thought that she'd made him so angry he went to blow off steam.

“Stop flattering yourself, Lenore.”

She laughed at his mind reading. “You've gotten to know me pretty well in a fairly short time.”

“I don't think I know you at all,” he said soberly.

“I'm sorry. I already believed you. You ended the call before I could tell you. Then Nikko called and told me Hubble set up the whole mess. She said she'd call you, but I wanted to.”

MP was quiet for a minute. He'd moved to an empty stairwell. “I had to get somewhere I could talk. The patrons here get downright hostile when you talk on the phone.”

She gave a small laugh. “I know; I have a membership there.”

“Why?” he asked, getting back to the topic at hand.

“I don't know. I think he was trying impress her, if you want my opinion, and it backfired.”

“That's who she's been sheet-surfing with then?”

“Yes. I feel terrible for her. She was starting to get over Howard and put herself out there again. She's calling her attorney to see what, if anything, she can do about the partnership. But while it was definitely Nolan, he didn't directly admit to doing anything.”

“Jackass,” MP muttered.

“I agree.”

They were silent for a minute.

“I should have asked you if I had questions,” Lenore said. “I should have trusted you, and while I didn't think you had anything to do with the newspaper story, there was lingering doubt in the back of my mind. You were so calm about the whole thing, so prepared with the answers to all the ugly accusations, and then the retraction article was so well done in such a short period of time, it seemed like it was written beforehand. You know, like a celebrity obit.”

“If I'd been involved, it would have been the death knell for our relationship, but I wasn't involved. I was, in fact, very pissed about the piece, but you had enough to be dealing with. Thinking Maxwell's group planted it, getting the meeting set up with Nate. I didn't want to add anymore to your stress level by losing it.”