All He Really Needs (9 page)

He heard her steps behind him, felt the air shift as she
propped her hip against the limestone. The rock was cool beneath his palms.
Solid and strong. Everything about the country club, everything about this
entire neighborhood was designed to convey strength and power. It was designed
to intimidate and exclude.

He waited for her to speak, but when she didn’t say anything,
he finally looked up at her.

Though her body was facing him, she’d turned her head to stare
out over the lawn, too. “So you think…what? That she would intimidate me?”

There was confusion in her voice, but also something else.
Something he couldn’t quite identify. Like she was hurt maybe.

“It’s not just you. My mother intimidates everyone. Except for
the people she manipulates. One day she’ll treat you like she’s your best
friend, the next she cuts you out entirely. Friendship, affection, love…for
her, those aren’t emotions, they’re currency. It’s not that I didn’t think you
could handle her, but…” He straightened and turned to face her. “You’re not
used to this world. You grew up in a world where people cared about each other.
Took care of each other.”

She gave a snort and he instantly regretted his words. Because
he now knew that wasn’t entirely true. Her own mother was worse even than his.
But horrible in a different way. It was only after Sydney had been removed to
foster care that she’d had anyone to take care of her. Only then had she lived
in a world where people loved one another.

If he’d thought it through first, he would have phrased it
differently, but he couldn’t very well apologize now. Not when she didn’t even
know he knew about her birth mother.

Still, he said, “I’m sorry. I never meant for this to be a big
deal.”

She cocked her head to the side again. “Then why is it such a
big deal?”

He shrugged, suddenly feeling self-conscious. He wasn’t used to
talking about his family with anyone. He didn’t like to play the poor little
rich boy card.

“Next time,” she said, “if you have a logical reason for doing
something, just tell me. You don’t have to be so damn secretive about
everything.”

“Neither do you,” he pointed out, thinking about all the things
she hadn’t told him. Things he knew only because of that damn background
check.

She nodded, slowly. “Okay. It’s a deal. From now on, we talk
more. We’re in this together, right?”

“Right.” And suddenly, he found himself smiling at her.

Right up until she added, “If we don’t get better at sharing
information, we’re never going to find this girl.”

“Right,” he said again. Of course that was what she talking
about. “Come on, let’s get back in there and finish up with my mother.”

He walked a few steps before he realized she hadn’t followed.
When he turned back, he saw her watching him, her mouth twisted into a wry
smile.

“What?” he asked.

She gave a self-conscious shrug and crossed to his side. “I’ve
never had anyone try to protect me from anything, even if it was misguided,” she
admitted in a soft voice. “Thank you.”

All he could do was nod because if she knew the truth, she sure
as hell wouldn’t be thanking him. If she ever found out how much he knew about
her past, she’d be furious.

But, as she pointed out, they were only in this together until
they found the heiress. After that, all this talking, and sharing and
intermingling of their lives would end. So that was something to look forward
to. After that, he could go back to having sex with Sydney instead of sharing
all this emotional crap.

Nine

S
ydney tried to keep a silly smile off her
face as she walked back into the dining room to rejoin Griffin’s mother.
Everything she knew about the woman, everything Griffin had said and her own
instincts told her that Caro Cain would not be pleased if she knew her son was
involved with anyone’s assistant. She was the kind of woman who would want her
sons to date and marry debutantes.

Plus, they’d been out on the patio talking long enough that she
was probably already suspicious. Despite all that, Sydney was unexpectedly
pleased by Griffin’s words. They filled her with a warm fuzziness that had
nothing to do with the afternoon’s high temperatures. By the time she reached
Caro’s table, Sydney made sure her expression was carefully professional. Polite
but distant.

She wished inside she felt the same, instead of the
disconcerting torrent of emotions that were rushing through her.

Caro Cain raised her eyebrows coolly as Griffin held out the
chair for Sydney. “Well, you were certainly gone a long time. That must have
been quite the discussion you had.”

“Just some business we had to clear up from the office,”
Griffin answered smoothly.

“Anything I can help with?” Caro asked.

Griffin offered his mother a tight smile. “Certainly not,
Mother. You know how you hate talking business at the table.”

Caro sniffed. “As if that ever stopped your father.” Then she
blotted at her eyes again. She made a sound like a strangled sob. “What I
wouldn’t give just to share a meal with him now.”

“He’s not dead yet,” Griffin said wryly as he sat down.

Caro’s gaze sharpened. “Do not disrespect your father to
me.”

Griffin shrugged, but Sydney could tell he was about to launch
another volley, so she leaned forward and interrupted the familial sparring.
“Mrs. Cain, let’s get back to those questions I wanted to ask you.”

“Yes, of course. But I will say I was surprised that you’re
working for Griffin now.”

Sydney wondered just how much Caro had deduced of her
relationship with Griffin.

“Of course I am,” she said quickly. “The CEO needs an
assistant. And when Dalton left—”

“Yes, of course.” Caro smiled benevolently at Griffin. “I’m
sure this won’t shock you, but I can’t say that I’m sorry Dalton has stopped
looking for the girl.” Caro leaned close and dropped her voice. “If only one of
you can inherit everything, then I’d much prefer it be you.”

Sydney watched the revulsion flicker across Griffin’s face as
his mother patted his hand conspiratorially, but Caro didn’t seem to notice
it.

However, she did turn her assessing gaze to Sydney. “What I
meant earlier was that I was surprised you’re still involved. If Dalton has
indeed left the company, then why are you still around?”

Caro’s questions made one thing clear: she was on to them. She
may not know for sure that they were sleeping together, but their long
discussion out on the balcony—or perhaps her earlier fumble—had tipped their
hand. Caro knew something was up.

Before Sydney could answer, Griffin peeled his mother’s hand
off his arm and said, “Sydney is working for me now. I needed someone to help me
transition to interim CEO.”

“And you didn’t want to bring your own assistant with you?”
Caro asked.

“No.” With each question, Griffin’s tone cooled. “I needed
someone who was familiar with every project on Dalton’s plate.”

Caro’s lips turned down in disapproval. “And besides, you’ve
never really trusted Marion, have you? After all, she worked under your father
too long for that, didn’t she?” Instead of waiting for him to answer, Caro
turned her cool gaze on Sydney. “You, however, haven’t worked at Cain
Enterprises long enough to have any alliance.”

Sydney blinked in surprise at the icy chill in Caro’s voice. “I
don’t… I’m not sure what you mean.”

Griffin replied instead of Caro. “She’s implying that you’re
not qualified for the position.”

Caro’s lips twisted in an unpleasant smile. “Nonsense. I’m sure
that the only qualification that Dalton cared about was that she had never once
worked for his father. Naturally that one quality prepared you for a position of
tremendous power within the company. Unless there are other qualifications I’m
unaware of.”

“Enough, Mother,” Griffin said sharply. “That’s a line you
don’t want to cross.”

Caro looked from Griffin to Sydney and back again with her
eyebrows raised in feigned innocence. “Oh, I’m sorry.” She patted the back of
Sydney’s hand. “Have I offended you, dear?”

Sydney forced a smile past the bitter taste in her mouth. “Not
at all.”

But she was starting to see what Griffin had meant about his
mother.

“Excellent. I knew you were made of sterner stuff. Now, tell me
what you need to know that you haven’t been able to find out from the files I
sent over.”

Well, that was tricky because she’d learned precisely nothing
from the files at all. In fact, after Caro’s comments about Dalton, Sydney was
beginning to wonder whether Caro hadn’t been deliberately unhelpful before now.
After all, she’d just admitted that she wanted Griffin to find the heiress
instead of Dalton. Dalton had been the one who had originally requested the
household documents be sent over. Perhaps Caro had simply sent over forty-two
boxes of useless papers just to waste Dalton’s time.

Of course, demanding answers about that would gain her nothing,
so instead Sydney said, “I don’t know if Dalton explained why he wanted the
household records from that time period, but—”

“He did,” Caro interrupted with a sweeping gesture. The wine in
her glass sloshed precariously. “Something about a nanny.”

“Yes.” Sydney paused, wondering if Griffin was going to take
over, but he remained silent. “Dalton and Laney had a theory about one of
Dalton’s nannies. Apparently, she worked for you when you were pregnant with
Griffin. Her name was Vivian. She was pregnant when she worked with you. And
they know for sure the child was a girl.”

Caro took another sip of wine and Sydney couldn’t tell if she
was stalling for time or if she was merely disinterested.

Griffin lost patience with Caro before Sydney did. He leaned
forward. “Do you remember the woman or not?”

“Not off the top of my head.”

“I have pictures of her, if that would help.” Sydney pulled the
file from her bag and pushed the pictures across the table to Caro.

Caro glanced at them without a flicker of surprise or
recognition.

“Do you know this woman?” Griffin asked.

“Perhaps. I don’t know.” Caro waved dismissively. “If there was
a pregnant girl who worked for us, she certainly didn’t stand out. That is the
point, isn’t it? That they were the help. Good help isn’t seen or heard.”

Her tone fairly dripped with derision, making it perfectly
clear she thought Sydney was well outside her bounds.

Yeah, Sydney got the point. But she hadn’t clawed her way out
of poverty by feeling the sting of every subtle insult. Caro would have to work
a lot harder to scare her off.

Sydney took a long sip of her iced tea. As she set down the
glass she said, “You’re a smart woman, Mrs. Cain. I can’t believe there could be
anyone in your home, help or otherwise, who could make a play for your husband
without you knowing about it.”

Caro’s expression froze into an icy mask, and for one long
moment she neither moved nor spoke. Then, abruptly, she smiled with smooth ease.
“Well, there’s your mistake. You seem to be under the impression that there was
only one nanny making a play for my husband.”

“There was more than one?”

“Of course. They
all
made a play
for him. Hollister has always been quite charming. Add in his personal wealth
and his power, and he was virtually irresistible. Every secretary at Cain
Enterprises, every female geologist in R&D, every young nanny who cared for
the boys—every last one of them was susceptible to his charms.”

“
Every
single one of them? That’s
hard to believe.”

“Really?” Caro tilted her head to the side, her expression all
innocence. “Can you honestly not imagine that a smart and beautiful young woman
might try to use sex to align herself with a wealthy and powerful man?”

Aha. And there it was. The cutting jab she’d been expecting
ever since they’d returned to the table. Sydney opened her mouth, readying her
own defense, but before she could speak Griffin leaned forward. “That’s enough,
Mother.”

Caro blinked innocently. “Excuse me?”

“Enough with the thinly veiled barbs. Do you remember the name
of the nanny or not?”

For a long moment, Caro studied her son, her gaze cunning in
her assessment. Then she cut her gaze to Sydney for an instant before her lips
turned up in a coy smile, leaving Sydney with the impression that Griffin’s
defense of her had revealed precisely the information Caro had been digging
for.

“In the months she worked for us, I barely spoke to her.” Now
that Griffin had called her on her attitude, Caro’s tone was clipped and
irritated. She was obviously a woman who liked to play with her food but didn’t
like it when her food swatted back. “How am I supposed to remember her
name?”

Sydney found herself frowning. “You barely spoke to her? How
long did she work for you?”

“Maybe five, six months.”

“You had no interaction with her in six months? When she had
sole responsibility of caring for your children?”

“She was competent and kept the children out of my hair. Why on
earth would I speak to her?”

“Because they were your
children.
”

Caro just waved her hand dismissively, clearly as disinterested
in her progeny now as she had been then.

Sydney glanced at Griffin, expecting to see pain flash across
his face at his mother’s matter-of-fact dismissal. Instead, his expression was
shuttered, his eyes unreadable. If his mother’s carelessness hurt him, he didn’t
show it.

Somehow, his carefully hidden reaction made her ache even more
deeply. She didn’t want to see him openly in pain, but she would have understood
that. She could have pitied that. But this? This emotional distance? This
careful detachment with which he held his emotions in check? This was much
harder for her to see. Because it was achingly obvious that he had expected his
mother’s reaction. Not because that was how she really felt, but because she’d
obviously crafted the barb to punish him for standing up for Sydney.

And suddenly, she got what he’d been trying to tell her earlier
about his family. About how ill-equipped she was to deal with their mind
games.

She understood something else, too. He hadn’t been protecting
only her. By keeping her away from his mother, he’d also been protecting
himself. However clever they were at hiding their relationship while they were
at work, his mother had seen right through the ruse. She now had information
about Griffin that she could use against him. He was now vulnerable to his
mother’s manipulations. Because of her.

Just like that, all the warm, fuzzy goodness that had been
coursing through her veins seemed to seep into her belly and congeal into a mass
of nerves.

Despite that sick feeling in her gut, Sydney wasn’t going to
back down, either. Caro knew more than she was saying. Sydney had no doubt about
that.

“Okay,” Sydney said, keeping her tone diplomatic. “If you don’t
remember the girl’s name, surely you can think of someone who might. There’s got
to be someone else who can help us find her. How did you hire the nannies?”
Sydney asked. “Did you use an agency of some kind?”

Suddenly, Caro’s eyes lit up. “Yes. There was an agency. They
sent nanny applications over.”

Griffin sat back in his seat and gave Sydney an appreciative
grin. “Great. Then all we need is the name of the agency.”

“I don’t have it.”

“You what?”

“I don’t have it. But Sharlene Sheppard should. Hollister asked
Sharlene to help find the nanny. She contacted the agency herself.”

“Okay then,” Griffin said, pushing back his chair. “We go talk
to Sharlene.”

Sydney pushed back her chair and stood. She waited until they’d
said their goodbyes to Caro and were out of hearing range before asking,
“We?”

“Yes,” he said grimly. “In for a penny, in for pound, right?
Now that you’ve met my mother, you might as well meet the rest of the cast in
this Greek tragedy.”

The whole situation made Sydney sad. She’d always felt like
she’d gotten the short end of the stick when it came to family. No father in the
picture. A mother more interested in scoring her next hit than in parenting. No
extended relatives to take over.

But the tangled mess that was the Cain family made her realize
just how lucky she’d actually been. She’d landed with a great foster mom. She
had foster siblings she cared about. And at the end of the day, she knew she had
people who cared about her. Did Griffin have that? Had he
ever
had that?

She thought not. And it simply made her want to cry.