No Turning Back (33 page)

"This was what he wouldn't tell me," I breathed, looking back down at the pictures.

"What?" Kade asked.

"Last night," I explained. "Blane wouldn't tell me why you two were there at that party. He must've known they were going to blackmail him." Then something else about what Kade had said struck me as odd.

"Wait," I said, "Blane said you're brothers. But you said 'Blane's grandfather.' Wasn't he your grandfather, too?" Something flickered briefly in Kade's eyes before they turned hard again.

"Let's just say I was born on the wrong side of the blanket," he said coolly. My eyes widened. As if answering my question, he continued, "Our father wasn't exactly the most faithful of men. I don't claim any of them."

"Except Blane," I said.

"Except Blane," he echoed evenly.

"Why?" I asked, fascinated at the story in spite of myself. His eyes narrowed and he moved a step closer until we were nearly touching. My breathing hitched.

"Just know that I won't let anything happen to Blane," he hissed. "And the last thing I'm going to do is let some random woman come between us." I swallowed heavily, shaking my head.

"I'm not trying to come between anyone," I protested. The very idea was absurd.

Kade just looked at me intently, as if trying to verify the truth of my words. The tension notched up another level between us as his blue eyes bored into mine. I jumped in surprise when his hands moved under my shirt to settle on the bare skin of my hips. A shiver danced across my skin. He leaned forward, putting his lips at my ear.

"You didn't tell him about us," he whispered, and my face paled. I abruptly remembered Kade kissing me in the bar on Halloween night.

"There is no 'us.'"

"You sure about that, princess?" I couldn't answer him, my stomach twisting itself into knots. Abruptly, he stepped back, releasing me.

"I put my number in your cell," Kade said. "Call me if you hear from Blane." Then he was gone. My knees gave and I slid down the wall until I sat on the floor. Worry for Blane crowded out thoughts of Kade and I chewed my lip, trying to think where he could be. A quick glance at the clock and I realized I had to get going, Blane missing or not.

An hour later, I was pulling up to the TecSol building and parking in the lot. It was a big building downtown in the business district and the parking lot was nearly full. I got out of the car, nervously smoothing my blouse and skirt. I'd opted for as professional an appearance as I could manage, even putting my hair up in a French twist. Realizing it was now or never, I steeled my nerves and headed inside.

The girl at the reception desk couldn't have been older than twenty. I smiled as I told her I was the new temp, Lucy Tanner (fake name courtesy of CJ). She told me to have a seat and she'd call the HR manager. I did as she suggested, taking in the lobby as I did so. It was large and open, with a few scattered sofas and chairs. The whole area was surrounded with windows that showed the street, though they were tinted so those outside couldn't see inside. I watched people walking by in the early morning sunshine on their way to work.

"Good morning! You must be Lucy." I turned around and saw a woman in her mid-forties walking toward me. She stopped and held her hand out which I took. Her smile was infectious and I smiled back.

"Yes, the temp agency sent me," I answered.

"Excellent! I'm so glad they had someone with the right qualifications available on such short notice." A frisson of alarm went through me. Qualifications? CJ hadn't mentioned anything about special qualifications. My smile was forced now.

"I'm Dana Arnold," she said, "if you'll follow me, I'll show you where you'll be working today." She turned toward the elevators and I fell in step behind her, frantically wondering what skills I was going to need to fake today.

"You'll be working for our Vice-President of System Design," Dana said, punching the button for the tenth floor on the elevator panel. "His secretary is out for the next six weeks on maternity leave."

"Here, you'll need this," she said, handing me a small plastic card. "A security badge," she explained. "Just hook it onto your belt and it'll get you around the building." Obeying, I clipped it to my waist as the elevator doors slid silently open. We stepped out into a hallway where you could turn right or left. She turned left and used her own badge to open the set of double-doors ahead of us. Glancing behind me, I saw an identical set of doors down the other side.

"What's over there?" I asked.

"That's the software engineering department," Dana answered. I filed that information away for later.

We walked into a large open office area with huge, curved windows. It was very quiet and the carpet was plush, muffling the sound of my heels. Dana walked me toward a nice desk with a large, flat-screen monitor and a small, Tiffany-style lamp. It was turned toward the windows and sat catty-corner to an enclosed office.

"Here's where you'll be working," she said, motioning to the desk. I felt a pang of regret that this wasn't a real job for me. It would be nice to work in such a luxurious space.

"Mr. Avery will be in shortly," she said, gesturing to the office. "He'll be traveling to Chicago tonight to prepare for the election tomorrow. All you need to do is make sure he has everything he needs. His secretary, Molly, had everything pretty caught up before she left. I think there are some translations that need to be done, but that's all for now." She moved to the computer and missed the widening of my eyes. Translations?

"Here's the login for the computer," she said, handing me a post-it note with a password scrawled on it. "Do you need anything else right now?" she asked, and I shook my head.

"I'll get to work," I said with more confidence than I felt. Dana left and I settled myself into the leather chair behind the desk. I smiled at my luck. No one was around and the vice-president guy wouldn't be in for a while yet.

A stack of papers sat on the desk and I picked up the top one curiously. It was all in Spanish. I guess these were what Dana was talking about when she said I was supposed to translate. I groaned in dismay, vowing to kill CJ when I got out of here. A little warning that I was supposed to be bilingual would have been nice.

The phone at my elbow rang and I jumped. Hesitantly, I picked it up.

"Mr. Avery's office," I answered. No one said anything so I repeated myself.

"Who is this?" a man's voice demanded.

"My name is Lucy. I'm Mr. Avery's secretary. May I help you?"

"Oh. You must be the new temp," he said. "This is Mr. Avery. I need something off my computer. Put me on hold and go into my office. Pick the line up there."

"Yes, sir," I said, quickly obeying. His office door was unlocked and I let myself inside, hurrying to the far side of a large desk and credenza before picking up the phone.

"What would you like me to do, sir?" I asked.

"Log on my computer and email me a document." He gave me his password which I jotted down on a piece of paper before typing it into the computer. He guided me to the right location and I emailed him the file.

"Is that all?" I asked.

"Yes, thank you," he answered. "I should be in within the hour." He disconnected. My hands were shaking now and I quickly dialed CJ.

"I'm in," I said when she answered. "The Vice-President of System Design just gave me his computer password and he's not in yet."

"Awesome," CJ said. "That's incredibly good luck. This may actually work."

"By the way," I said sarcastically, "you could have told me I was supposed to know Spanish."

"I thought you might be more nervous if I told you that," she said matter-of-factly. I couldn't really disagree with that. I wasn't the world's greatest actress.

"Have you plugged the WAP in yet?" she asked.

"No," I said, "I'm the only one here and it would be a dead giveaway if I plugged it in where I'm at now. I'm going to have to go to another floor or something."

"Okay. But watch out for the security cameras."

"What?! What security cameras?!" But she'd already hung up. I cursed under my breath. The list of things she hadn't told me was growing.

Leaving the office, I grabbed my purse and headed across the hall to what Dana had said was the software engineering department. I took a deep breath and opened the door.

The space was the same size as the other side of the hallway, but this area had been segmented into cubicles. I hesitantly walked down the path between cubes, trying unobtrusively to look in them as I passed. Most had men in them working on their computers. I didn't spot a single woman.

Rounding the corner, I nearly barreled into someone.

"I'm so sorry," I said, backpedaling a couple steps. A squat, bald man with a sour-looking expression on his face looked up at me.

"Who are you?" he asked gruffly, still frowning. I smiled in what I hoped was a winsome way.

"I'm Lucy, the new secretary for Mr. Avery," I answered.

"What are you doing over here?"

I scrambled for a reason. "Uh, I was, um, just looking for a cup of coffee," I improvised. "Is there a kitchen around here somewhere?" I glanced around, as if a kitchen would suddenly materialize in front of us.

He grumbled something under his breath before jerking his finger over his shoulder. "That way," he said.

"Thanks!" I said brightly, easing past him. I kept walking until I reached the kitchen where I poured a cup of coffee. Retracing my steps, I saw an empty cube in what looked to be a mostly deserted area. Looking around quickly, I ducked into it.

My hands were shaking again as I tore open my purse, pulling out the device CJ had given me. I crawled under the desk and plugged it in to a power outlet, then yanked the network cable from the computer and pushed it into the access point instead.

I didn't stick around but jumped up, brushed myself off, and grabbed my purse and the mug of coffee. Walking quickly, I went back to my desk, thankfully not running into anyone along the way this time. Letting myself back in Avery's office, I released a pent-up breath and called CJ.

"It's in," I said.

"I know," she responded and I bit back a retort. My nerves were on edge. "What's his password?" she asked and I told her. "Okay, give me a minute." I watched the screen, and in a few moments, the mouse started moving on its own.

"Are you doing that?" I asked, and CJ grunted an affirmative. I watched for a few minutes as she opened windows and typed what I assumed was code. My heart was pounding madly and I knew I was not cut out for this cloak and dagger stuff.

"How much longer are you going to be?" I asked nervously.

"I need a few more minutes," she said. I glanced at my watch.

"He's going to be here any minute. I need to get back to my desk. If he catches me in his office..."

"That's fine," CJ cut in, "just buy me as much time as you can before he gets there."

Relieved, I hurried back to my desk, sinking into the leather chair. I decided to try and look busy while I waited so I logged on to my computer and propped some of the pages of incomprehensible Spanish up on the document holder next to the screen. The lock clicking on the door startled me and I dropped my cell phone which clattered to the desk. Grabbing it, I hissed, "He's here," and flipped it shut.

The door opened and a man stepped inside. He was tall, wore a dark suit, and was carrying a leather briefcase. Spying me, his long strides ate up the space quickly before stopping in front of my desk. Jumping to my feet, I started to panic, wondering if CJ had had enough time yet. I couldn't let him go in there and see the stuff she had open on the screen.

"Good morning," he said, holding out his hand. "I'm Stephen Avery." I shook his hand and forced a smile.

"Good morning," I answered. "I'm Lucy Tanner. Dana said I'd be working for you for a while." Avery looked to be somewhere in his late forties to early fifties, his hair dark but with touches of silver at the temples. He was handsome in an austere sort of way. His demeanor, though friendly, gave the impression of someone you wouldn't want to cross.

"It's nice to meet you, Lucy," he said, his hand still holding mine. "Do you prefer Lucy or Ms. Tanner?" His eyes took in my appearance in a frank way and he seemed to like what he saw.

"Lucy is fine, please," I said.

"My secretary had to leave a week early," he said. "She wasn't expected to deliver her baby until next week. But I expect you know those things can't always be scheduled." He smiled engagingly.

"Of course," I responded automatically. "Um, I mean, not, you know, personally," I stammered like an idiot. I felt myself blush furiously and Avery's smile grew. Deciding I should just quit while I was ahead, I pressed my lips together and smiled back, pulling my hand out of his.

"I know this is a bit last minute," he said, "but I need an assistant to come with me to Chicago. We leave tonight. Would you be available to do that?" My eyes widened. This could either be a really good thing or a really bad thing, depending on what CJ had been able to do.

"Um, sure," I said. "I should be able to do that."

"You don't need to...let someone know? A husband or boyfriend perhaps?" I shook my head, then belatedly realized I probably should have lied when a glint appeared in his eyes. "We'll be back Wednesday," he continued. "So you only need to pack for a couple of days."

"Okay," I said, nodding, "I can do that." Avery made to move past me and I panicked, thinking I needed to stall him and give CJ more time. "Wait!" I said and Avery turned questioningly. I thought frantically. "What sort of things should I pack?"

"Business attire is fine," he said. His eyes brushed down my body and back up again. "And perhaps something a bit more...informal," he added. "Chances are good we'll be celebrating tomorrow night." His eyes had a look in them that made me feel slightly sick but I covered it up with what I hoped was a flirtatious smile. At the moment, I had no compunction against using any means at my disposal to stall him.