Goodness Had Nothing to Do With It (10 page)
Read Goodness Had Nothing to Do With It Online
Authors: Lucy Monroe
Tags: #Fiction, #General, #Man-Woman Relationships, #Businesspeople, #Romance, #Contemporary
However, he knew for a fact that if he'd made such a suggestive comment in front of Alex two years ago, the last place she would have shown up for dinner tonight would be a restaurant he had practically ordered her to meet him at.
The thought that she'd only come because of his threat to tell Kline about her past gnawed at his conscience.
The hostess led Ronnie to the seat across from him at the small table, giving her spiel about the night's specials as she did so. Ronnie listened with grave politeness, saying nothing even after the hostess took her leave.
"I didn't think you would show."
If he moved his legs just an inch or two forward, his knees would be touching hers. She had worn a skirt tonight and it was a tempting thought.
Those too-serious gray eyes fixed on him. "I didn't think I had a choice."
His jaw clenched. "We all have choices in life, Ronnie."
She'd made hers eighteen months ago when she sold out CIS and abandoned her lover.
"You're right," she surprised him by saying. "But sometimes our choices are all bad for us and we have no alternative but to pick the lesser of two evils."
Was she just talking about tonight, or was she trying to explain her actions down inPortland ?
"Is having dinner with me really such an evil?" he couldn't help asking.
She looked at him, her eyes unfathomable pools of gray. "I don't know. I'm not sure of anything right now."
Her honesty surprised him, but then it always had. She'd never played emotional games with him. That was one of the reasons her actions with CIS and Hypertron had gutted him so completely.
'Tell me about your choices, honey. Make me understand."
The words surprised him, but they seemed to shock her even more. She picked up her napkin-rolled cutlery and carefully undid the bundle, laying each utensil in its proper place on the table before placing the burgundy cloth in her lap.
"I didn't realize you would want to. I guess I just somehow assumed you'd decided you hated me and that would be the end of it."
Didn't she care if he hated her? "And it didn't matter to you how I felt?"
She looked at him as if trying to read his mind. Finally, she spoke. "It mattered a great deal."
"But not enough." It hadn't stopped her from betraying him.
Her eyes filled with a wealth of sadness. "No, not enough."
His heart twisted and the pain he felt at her words was physical.It haan't mattered enough ,. Whatever they had had together hadn't been important enough for her to give up her plans to make a fast buck.
"You said you gambled with the money."
The thought sickened him, only increasing his inner turmoil. He'd been closer to Ronnie than any other woman in his life and she'd given him up to make a gambling stake.
"I did. I gambled for my sister's life."
He didn't know what he would have said and was glad for the interruption right then by the waiter. The pimply-faced kid identified himself as Jason and proceeded to go through the entire list of specials again.
Marcus caught Ronnie's eye and winked. Her lips tilted and he knew she was biting back a rare giggle. Man, he wished she wouldn't. He'd love to hear her laugh again.
He and Ronnie gave their orders and the waiter disappeared, only to reappear moments later with their drinks. Marcus realized that any further private conversation would be impossible.
"I want to finish our discussion, but not here," he told her.
She bit her lip and then nodded. "Okay."
Looking for a less volatile subject, he said, "Alex told me you called him once."
"Yes."
"You didn't call again." So much for less volatile. His voice sounded accusing and he couldn't do anything about that.
"I didn't see the point. He said he'd forgiven me and wasn't pressing charges. I told him I was sorry and thanked him. I didn't know what else there was to say."
"You didn't ask about me." Damn. He might as well write his feelings in neon and let her know just how much her desertion had hurt.
She rearranged the condiments in the middle of the table. "I didn't want to hear how much you hated me. If I didn't ask, I could go on pretending you believed in me enough to know I'd had a good reason to do what I did."
"Did you?"
She sat up straighter in her chair, looking around the dimly lit restaurant and then back to him. "You said we'd talk about this later."
He bit down on his frustration as the waiter approached their table, two plates of salad in his hands. "Right. So, what do you want to talk about?"
She surprised him by contemplating his question much longer than he would have expected.
She tucked the soft brown strands of her hair behind her ear. "I don't know… Why don't you tell me about CIS and how things are going there, or Alex and Isabel, or last year's Rose Festival."
He stared at her, struck by how much she must miss it all. She'd once told him she considered CIS like a family. The sentiment had really surprised him considering how unemotional she was in the office. He was beginning to see it would take a powerful motivator to send her away from the familiar. She'd said she gambled on her sister's life. That would definitely have been a strong enough motivation to leave.
"I'm a partner at CIS now."
"You are?" She smiled, clearly pleased for him. "I'm not surprised. You and Alex were always more like brothers than coworker*."
"That's what he said when he made me godfather to his daughter."
Her eyes filled with shock. "He and Isabel had a baby?"
"Yes."
"How old is she?"
Marcus had to think for a second. "About ten months, now. Hope's a doll. She just started walking. She's early. I told Isabel she'll probably be early at everything else too. She's a smart baby. I had to childproof my whole apartment after she started crawling."
"You baby-sit?" She sounded appalled by the possibüity.
"Yeah. I'll never forget the first time Isabel dropped Hope off at my place. She said she wanted to surprise Alex with a couple of hours alone." He didn't know why, but it felt right talking to Ronnie like this, telling her stuff he hadn't told anyone else.
"Hope was about two months old and still breast-feeding. When I brought that little matter up, Isabel produced a bottle, a diaper bag and her assurances that everything would be fine. I was terri-fied, but by the time Isabel and Alex came later that evening to pick up Hope, I was in love. I get second dibs right after Priscilla."
Ronnie's eyes had opened wide as he spoke and now she stared at him as if she didn't know him at all.
"Second dibs?" she asked faintly.
"Yeah. As grandmother, Priscilla gets first dibs on baby-sitting privileges, but as Hope's pseudo-uncle and godfather, I get second."
Ronnie made an obvious effort to pull herself together. "That's Alex's mom, right?"
"Yes. She's also CIS's new secretary."
He waited to see her reaction to that piece of news and wasn't disappointed as two flags of color slashed across her lovely cheeks and her pretty gray eyes narrowed.
"Alex's mom is the new secretary?"
He smiled, feeling smug about the way he'd played her that morning.
She hadn't liked hearing about the new secretary at CIS and he was glad. He sure as hell didn't like knowing Jack was on the make and Ronnie was his prime target. He really didn't like feeling possessive about a woman who had betrayed and left him. It made him feel a little better to know that she might have left, but she still cared on some level at least. Cared enough to be jealous.
"Like I said, she's not quite as organized as you are, but her loyalty is unquestionable."
He bit back a curse at the look of hurt on Ronnie's face. He hadn't meant to say that last part, or for it to sound the way it had, like he was rubbing her nose in her own lack of loyalty.
"I didn't mean it the way it sounded."
She picked up her fork, obviously hurt, her gaze averted from him. "Maybe we should just eat our dinner."
He felt like a heel. "Sure."
They ate in silence for several minutes before he reminded himself that as interesting as his personal relationship with Ronnie was to him, he had a job to do. He was supposed to find Kline Technology's corporate spy.
"You said this afternoon that you liked your job," he said, by way of opening up a neutral topic.
She nodded, finishing her salad and pushing the plate away. "It's challenging and I like Kline Tech."
"Does Jack come on to you a lot?"
Where the hell had that question come from? Certainly not from his neutral list, but then maybe nothing could be neutral between the two of them.
She shrugged. "He's asked me out a few times. I never feel pressured to say yes and I haven't."
"Would you if you felt pressured?"
She took a sip of her water before answering, he set the water glass down and fixed him with a penetrating stare, like she was looking into his very soul.
"Are you trying to figure out if your attempt at blackmail is going to be successful?"
When you didn't know what to say to an oppo-nent's question, you asked one of your own. 'Why don't you tell me? Am I?"
"It doesn't matter. I'm not going to answer you, regardless of what your motivation was for asking."
She spoke quietly, in a tone he'd learned long ago meant she was digging her stubborn little heels into the dirt and wouldn't be moved.
"Let's go back to Kline Tech. It's a good company. What do you think of Kline's idea to expand?"
She shifted in her chair. "I'm not sure expansion is the smart road to take in the current economic climate. Mr. Kline has a product that consumers want; his long-term marketing forecasts are good. If he tries expansion and it fails, his currently solid company would be put at risk."
"It's a solid company all right, but there have been a few setbacks these past few months. Competitors coming to market with similar products just before Kline Technology, the press getting wind of problems in design before they can be fixed—"
The sound of her glass hitting the salad plate cut him off. Water poured over the plate and onto the table.
She whipped her napkin from her lap and blotted at the rapidly spreading liquid. "That was so clumsy of me."
He signaled for their waiter and when the kid came asked for a towel to clean up the mess.
His stomach tightened as she darted a glance at him, her eyes wary, her face set. "You were saying?"
"It's just that with everything that's happened over the last six months, I can see where Kline might want to expand into something different to prove to stockholders that they still have the edge."
She nodded. "Yes. I see your point."
The stiltedness of her words undermined her attempt to put on a natural front.
Damn it. He hadn't wanted her to be guilty. The sick feeling in his gut made him acknowledge that fact, but did he need anything more than her reaction to his pretty innocuous question to convince him she was in up to her eyeballs again in corporate espionage?
George Kline reclined on Allison's sofa and let his worries about a corporate spy at Kline Technologies take a back seat to what he was feeling, which was contentment. Allison was a very restful person.
She'd invited him over for dinner after work and he hadn't even considered turning her down. Hell, if he had a choice, they'd spend every evening together and every night. But they both had grown children and commitments they had to keep outside of their relationship. But time with her gave him peace he didn't get anywhere else.
He didn't know what he would do if he didn't have Allison to decompress with.
The stress of running a multi-million-dollar company didn't control him when he was with her.
She made him feel good.
