Beck And Call (25 page)

and salad before him. “Don’t give me that look. Eat.”

She put a pint of milk next to the sandwich. “Is Serena

okay?”

“I’ve no idea,” he grumbled, peeling the cellophane

off the turkey sandwich. “No one will tell me anything.”

“Have you called her friends?”

Giving her a quick smile, he pulled out the piece of

paper with the women’s information. Stabbing at the

numbers on his phone, he closed his eyes as he waited

for someone to answer.

“Claire? Keith MacLauren. The hospital won’t tell

me…” He nodded, relief on his face. “Thank you. No, no,

she shouldn’t worry about coming in. Monday is fine, or

whenever she feels up to it.” He listened, nodding. “Of

course. Please tell her. Thank you.”

“Well?” Penny prompted.

“She’ll be released tomorrow. Claire said Serena

was talking about coming in to work as soon as she left

the hospital.”

“She has a concussion,” Penny shook her head.

“Plus everything else that beast did to her.” She

shivered. “Keith, promise me that you won’t hide

anything about any man I date from me again.”

“Hey!” he protested around a bite of sandwich.

“That was as much a surprise to me as anyone else!

And you’re the one who didn’t want to believe that he’d

hit Serena.”

She slumped in the chair, nodding.

“God, I know how to pick’em, don’t I? Maybe I

should take a vow of celibacy or something. Join a

convent.”

“I don’t think you’d make a very good nun,” Keith

told her wryly. “I think they have to take a vow of

poverty as well.”

“Okay, that might be a problem,” she acknowledged

with a laugh. “Feel better now that you’ve eaten?”

“Yes, mother dear,” he smiled. “Get back to work

before your boss reprimands you for slacking off.”

Laughing, Penny stood and leaned over the desk.

“Between you and me,” she whispered, “My boss

needs a vacation. Like, now. Somewhere warm. Away

from the bullshit he’s had to deal with. Find someone to

take his mind off of everything.”

“Enough, Pen,” he frowned, not liking her talk of

companionship. He’d blown that and didn’t want to

think about it.

Hours later Penny stormed back into Keith’s office

and she started in on him about Ben’s constant

presence,

“Enough already with the mother hen, all right?”

she told him in exasperation. “I can’t even go to the

ladies’ room without Mr. Brooding standing outside.”

“Penny, I won’t take a chance on someone else I

care about being hurt,” he said quietly. “When Serena

leaves the hospital, are you volunteering to replace her

there?

Leaning back in his chair, he watched his cousin

and regretted his words and actions. It was obvious

Penny saw the exhaustion in his every move. And more

than he realized he’d revealed. But this was his cousin,

he told himself. He could relax his guard around her,

right?

“You love her, don’t you?” she whispered, sitting

down.

“I’m not loving anyone,” he retorted. Okay, Penny

was more observant than he thought.

“You’re not Uncle Ken. You’re not my father,” she

offered. “And you would never treat a woman the way

they have. Or the way Mark did.” Approaching him, she

stood next to his chair. “Keith, why don’t you talk to

her?”

“Talk to who?”

“Serena, for Pete’s sake! She’s supposed to be

released from the hospital tomorrow. Go get her. Take a

huge bouquet of roses. Tell her you love her!”

“I can’t.”

“Why not?”

“Penny, why the hell would she want to be with

me?”

“Well,” Penny frowned, tapping her finger against

her chin. “You dress decently. You’re literate. Your

hygiene’s pretty good. And you have decent table

manners. Oh, and the most important thing...you can

spit a watermelon seed farther than anyone I’ve ever

seen.”

Keith snorted, remembering the summer on the

Cape so many years ago.

“How can you remember that?” he murmured. “You

were barely four.”

“I’ve always thought you were the best,” she told

him.

“Except when I’m jealous of Mark?”

She winced.

“Sorry about that,” she sighed. “I wasn’t thinking

clearly.” She leaned forward and kissed his cheek.

“Keith, go tell—”

“Penny, I didn’t protect her from Mark,” he ground

out, shoving his chair away from the desk. He paced

over to the window. “Why the hell would she want to be

with me?”

“How could you have known Mark would go after

her?” Penny demanded. “You’re not God, Keith. You’re

a man.”

“I didn’t protect her,” he whispered, shaking his

head. “She won’t want to be with me.” His head whipped

around to pin her with a look. “And don’t say anything

to her, understand me? This is my personal life and I

want you to stay out of it.”

“You are a stubborn, bull-headed man who is so

caught up in your own ego that you’d rather let her go

than be human like the rest of us,” Penny glared at

him. “Why would she want to be with someone so

stupid, blind, and narrow-minded?”

Stalking out, she slammed the door.

Clenching his jaw, Keith turned back to stare at his

city.

That evening, he went to the brownstone. The super

recognized him and let him into Serena’s apartment. It

was still a mess from the previous night. Not wanting

her to return to that, he began straightening things as

much as he could. A lamp clicked on. Startled, he

turned around and stared at the painting highlighted

by the spotlight. Serena had said that her buying the

piece, instead of taking Todd on a cruise, had led to

their break-up argument. Keith moved closer to

examine it. A deceptively simple scene at first glance—

a peaceful meadow with a creek and mountains in the

background. If one looked closer, the eye could see the

details of the flowers and butterflies in the meadow,

animals just inside the trees and hawks soaring about

the mountains. Fairly impressive, he thought, realizing

she knew art. Just as she had recognized the quality of

the vase.

Suddenly wondering where it was, he glanced into

the kitchen before going to her bedroom. The bed was

rumpled and a pillow was on the floor. Keith fought

down the fury as he realized just how close she’d come

to being raped. Grimacing, he turned to leave and

paused. On the nightstand, resting on a lace doily, was

the vase and wilting rose. Following his instincts, he

opened the double drawer and smiled at the sight of the

things he’d sent her. Reaching in, his finger brushed

the cuffs. How he would have loved to have seen her in

them!

Suddenly the pain of never having Serena again, of

being nothing more to her than her boss, made him fall

to his knees and lean against the bed. He turned his

face to the mattress to smother his shout. All the fury

and helplessness he’d felt since Claire described the

attack broke free. Resting his head on the mattress, he

beat his fists against the bed. His Serena had been

threatened, attacked, and saved by others. He hadn’t

done anything.

Emotionally drained, he replaced the pillow and

straightened the comforter. Turning the light off, he

closed the bedroom door and went to the painting.

Penny was right, he admitted. He loved Serena. And

would never be able to tell her. Fighting back tears, he

left the apartment.

Finally able to see visitors, Serena knew she should

be more grateful to see Claire and Debbie. And she was.

They’d saved her from being raped and possibly killed.

But they weren’t who she desperately wanted to see.

Their chatter about all the changes at work didn’t get a

reaction from her. Debbie had been promoted and given

a major project to work on. Claire already loved

working for Jason, compared to what she called her

‘indenture’ under Mark. Serena just stared at the

skyline. The floor was high enough for her to see the

Statue of Liberty. And that brought back erotic

memories she couldn’t think about with her friends

present. She didn’t even react when Claire passed on a

message from Keith that she was to take the week off to

recover and not return until the following Monday.

When she was finally alone, she pressed the speed dial

on her phone and after two rings got voice mail. The

distorted voice she knew as Master didn’t say anything

more than “leave a message.” Finally, after the nurse

checked her vitals at two in the morning, she called

again.

“Master?” she whispered. “I need to talk to you.

Please, call me.”

Closing the phone, she stared out the window of her

hospital room.

For two days, she lay there, forbidden to get up

beyond going to the bathroom. One of the three guards

was always in the room. She asked who had told them to

watch her. When they mentioned Keith, she fought the

disappointment that washed over her.

She knew she should be grateful for Keith’s concern.

He’d come to the hospital right after the attack,

arranged for her and Debbie’s protection—as it was

clear Paul and David were not leaving Claire’s side—

and understood that she would not want to go to work

until the bruises started to fade. Even though he knew

he would need her in the office, he had insisted she not

come in until she was ready.

Relieved and able to focus on recovering, she was

also left to her own thoughts. Thoughts that

increasingly

reviewed

the

weekend.

Had

she

unknowingly done something that upset or angered

Master? She couldn’t figure it out. She was fairly

certain she hadn’t done anything before Mark had

burst into her apartment. If she had, he wouldn’t have

sent the box with the note saying he would be coming

over. So why wasn’t he answering the phone? Why

hadn’t he come to see her? The attack, along with all

the corporate turmoil, had been on the front page of

every NYC paper—“CEO’s Assistant Attacked After

Mass Firings” and “PR VP’s Revenge on CEO’s

Assistant” and “MacLauren Cleans House and

Assistant Pays Price.” She hated that one and knew

Keith was grinding his teeth about all the publicity.

And still no word from Master. Each hour without

hearing his voice hurt more.

Finally allowed to leave the hospital Wednesday

evening, Serena spent most of the next few days

resting. Her parents called daily, trying to convince her

to leave the “big, bad, dangerous city” and come home.

It was what they’d been saying ever since she had left

college, but now she was seriously considering it. She’d

gone as far as she could professionally unless she went

into management. With Master ignoring her daily

messages asking him to call her, she knew there was

nothing here for her personally. She promised her

mother she would think about it and let her know at

Christmas.

Serena called him daily, but couldn’t bring herself

to say anything besides a few words. She was afraid

she’d break down and beg. Trying to feel closer to him,

she poured through the books, especially the second one

he’d given her. It only increased her conviction she had

been a born submissive. Her dreams had been made

real and then snatched away. She desperately wanted

Master to call her, to claim her, to control her. She even

tried to repeat the previous Friday night and nearly

screamed in frustration when she couldn’t reach

orgasm. The book explained why, but that only upset

her more. Evidently once a submissive surrendered to a

dominant, especially if an emotional bond was

established, it might be nearly impossible for the

submissive to orgasm without the dominant present in

some way.

After working nearly twenty-hour days, exhaustion

demanded Keith rest—whether he liked it or not—on

Saturday. Unable to sleep in his bedroom, he’d

transferred a few clothes to the guest room and slept on

top of that bed’s covers.

Waking Sunday, he focused bleary eyes on the

clock, shocked to see it was nearly noon. He’d actually