Corporate Daddy (19 page)

Grinning lecherously, he began pulling her intimate garments from his pockets as he stalked her across the room. Laughing, she kicked her shoes off as she backed away.

“I want you now, right this minute, as naked as the day you were born.”

Bumping up against the elegant rosewood table situated in front of the picture window that opened to overlook the Riverwalk twenty stories below, she dropped her purse,
whipped off her coat and tossed it at the richly upholstered armchair in the corner. “You are incorrigible.”

Logan tossed her slip on the dresser and then his jacket on top of that. “True.”

Emily shrugged her dress off her shoulders and let it pool at her waist. “Insatiable.”

Tossing her panties on the bedside table and her stockings over the lamp shade, he stepped out of his shoes and stripped off his socks. “True again.”

Emily swept the straps off her shoulders and tossed the bra away. “Insane.”

“Every time you get near me,” he confirmed, and his shirt followed his jacket.

“Did I mention irresistible?” Emily whispered, letting the dress fall to the floor.

“That’s you,” he said roughly, looking his fill before shucking his slacks and briefs in one swift movement.

They both stepped forward at the same time. One long drugging kiss and she was ready for the big bed standing opposite the luxurious bath. But Logan had other ideas.

“I promised you wicked,” he said, lifting her onto the table. “Let me show you how heavenly wicked can be.”

A long time later Emily found the presence of mind to sigh and admit, “I had no idea.”

Two weeks later Emily blushed to be back in the hotel where she’d so recently spent an afternoon indulging in wildly creative, hotly romantic sex. Even if she was only on her way to the rooftop restaurant, she couldn’t help wondering if someone might recognize her as the woman with whom Logan Fortune had registered little more than a week earlier. Worse, what if Cathy had seen her and was just waiting until today to tease her face-to-face, in front of Eden, no less? Emily had completely forgotten that day that Cathy was staying here. She’d forgotten her name that day and everything else but the intensely satisfying, hopelessly addictive, unbelievably inventive ways in which Logan had
made love to her. Even now a suddenly remembered sensation whispered over her nerve endings, shutting down her thought processes and transporting her there to that room again. She closed her eyes, reliving the moment.

Eden poked her in the ribs with an elbow. “Emily! You haven’t heard a word I’ve said.”

Emily started, the haze of remembered lovemaking subsiding. “I’m sorry. I just… This is my very favorite hotel, you know.”

“So you keep telling me, and it is very nice, but—”

Thankfully, the elevator slid to a stop just then and the doors opened smoothly. “Oh, there’s Cathy—I mean, Ciara,” Emily said, waving at the elegant blonde seated next to a glass wall that overlooked a tropical garden complete with waterfall.

Obviously the maître d’ had been told to expect them, for he stepped forward with menus in hand. “Ladies, Miss Wilde is expecting you.”

“Thank you,” Eden said, following him through the airy chrome, glass and marble room. Very Art Deco with a definite Southwest bent—all the cacti and longhorn skulls were polished steel and brushed aluminum—it was 1930s opulence meets the coyote. Cathy, in her Veronica Lake guise, was very much part of the element, even while wearing skinny jeans and a cashmere sweater with a faux fur collar. She rose as Emily and Eden approached, towering over them in three-inch heels to throw her arms around her dear friend and shake hands with Eden while Emily made the introductions.

“Cathy, this is my friend, Eden Fortune. Eden, I’d like you to meet…well—”

“Ciara Wilde. No one calls me Cathy anymore, except Em.”

Emily laughed. “And no one calls me Em except you and…ah, a few other people.” She cleared her throat, wondering if either Cathy or Eden would put together “other people” and Logan.

“Let’s sit down,” the tall, voluptuous blonde said. “I’ve ordered a bottle of wine, if that’s all right with you two.” Up close, Emily noted, faint bluish smudges were visible beneath Cathy’s astonishingly vibrant eyes.

“Fine with me,” Eden said, “but only one glass. I’m driving.”

“What about you, Em?” Cathy asked as the steward approached.

“Yes, thank you.”

Their glasses were filled, and Eden offered a toast. “To new friends and smart single women.”

“Here, here.”

They clinked glasses and sipped. Afterward, Eden added, “Although, I doubt we’ll be able to make that toast for much longer. I understand that the two of you are on the downward slope to matrimony.”

Emily was shocked. “Where on earth did you get that idea? I’m not marrying anyone.”

“But I thought—” Eden shut her mouth again with an audible click.

Cathy looked at the dime-sized diamond on her left hand. “I’m not so sure I will be, either.”

Eden sat back in her chair with a plop. “Well, I really put my foot in that one, didn’t I?”

Cathy looked at Emily. “You didn’t tell her?”

“Of course not. You spoke to me in confidence.”

Cathy reached across the table and squeezed Emily’s hand. “I’m sorry, Em. I should’ve known I could count on you. In this business, though, you learn not to trust anyone.”

“Must be tough,” Eden said, “living in the fishbowl.”

Cathy leaned forward, speaking softly. “Honestly? It’s pure hell. The fishbowl has sharks. Don’t get me wrong, I’m grateful, but I’m also burned-out, worn to a frazzle. I’m just too tired and confused to trust my own judgment at the moment. It’s all I can do to stay in the swim, and I’m not sure I even want to anymore.”

Eden sighed sympathetically. “I’d never have guessed.
You make this Hollywood thing look so fun and glamorous. When I see you on the news or in a magazine, you don’t seem to have a care in the world.”

Cathy grinned. “That’s why they call it acting, sweety.”

“Well, darn,” Eden teased, “there goes my very last illusion.”

They all laughed, and the waiter appeared to urge them to study their menus. They did so for some time, finally chose and ordered. By the time the food came they were chatting about their respective lives with the ease of old friends. Cathy talked primarily about the movie she was working on. Eden made mention of her family, beginning with her son and touching on the current developments, including the kidnapping, her uncle’s ugly divorce and a number of recent marriages. Emily talked about Amanda Sue and Carol, careful to keep mentions of Logan to a minimum.

The food was excellent, but the company was better and the conversation particularly engaging, more so as time wore on. Assured of confidentiality, Cathy told some truly hilarious stories about her experiences in Hollywood and dropped some juicy bits of gossip about well-known personalities. Emily and Eden traded stories about Amanda Sue and Sawyer. Emily was able to tell a few tales on Cathy from their childhood and vice versa. Eden ratted on her siblings, focusing on Logan more than Holden, and confessed some pretty unpalatable information about her late father, giving Emily a better understanding of Logan’s attitude and behavior. By meal’s end, they were laughing uproariously at something Eden’s housekeeper had done and said.

“Oh, gosh!” Cathy gasped. “I wish we could do this every day. My sanity might hold then.”

“What you need is a good, long rest,” Emily said flatly.

Cathy nodded and pushed a thick blond wave out of her eye. “I know. I want to vegetate until I regain my energy, then I need to give some deep thought to my future. I just can’t keep going the way I am. The problem is that I have
to find someplace away from the press, someplace where I can be alone, and that’s not easy. Believe me, I’ve tried.”

“Sounds like you need a deserted island,” Emily said.

“Or a secluded cabin in the mountains,” Cathy added.

Eden gasped and sat up straight. “Oh, my goodness, that’s it!”

Emily and Cathy looked at one another in puzzlement before turning their gazes on Eden again. “What are you talking about?” Emily asked. “Don’t tell me the Fortunes own a tropical island somewhere.”

“No, but we do own a cabin in the mountains.”

Cathy’s eyes grew round. “Oh, please don’t say it’s a house in Vail or Steam Boat or—”

“No, no, it’s nothing like that. It’s just a cabin in the mountains northeast of El Paso. My grandparents bought it years and years ago. It hardly ever gets used anymore because it’s
not
in one of the trendy spots. We used to go up a lot when we were all kids at home, but some years it doesn’t get used at all now. I have a key, if you’re interested.”

“You’re sure it’s secluded?” Cathy asked hopefully.

“Maybe too much so,” Eden said. “Nearest neighbors are miles away. No TV, no microwave, but the plumbing works, and it has a wonderful fireplace and a hot tub.”

“It sounds heavenly,” Cathy said with a sigh. “Whatever the rent is, I’ll gladly—”

“No way!” Eden exclaimed. “Why should you pay rent when it’s sitting there empty? You can use the cabin anytime you want.”

Cathy chewed her lip. “What about your brothers?”

“Oh, they won’t care,” Eden said dismissively. “They’ll probably get a kick out of it.”

“That’s the thing, though,” Cathy said with a slow wince. “I’d have to ask you to keep this strictly between us.”

Eden shrugged. “Okay. I don’t have a problem with that.”

“But would your brothers and uncle have a problem with it?” Cathy pressed.

“I can’t imagine that any of them would mind,” Eden said, “and what they don’t know won’t hurt them, right? Besides, I’m reasonably sure that none of the family will be using the place this season, not with all that’s going on.”

Cathy seemed to be holding her breath. Suddenly, tears welled up in her eyes. She grabbed her napkin and dabbed at them, laughing nervously. “You can’t understand what this means to me, to have someplace safe and private to go to. Maybe I can get through the rest of this picture now. Maybe I can think about the future without feeling hysteria well up inside of me.”

Emily reached across the table to take her hand. Eden, likewise, reached for the other. “I didn’t realize it was that bad,” Emily said gently. “I knew you were struggling, but you were always the fighter, Cath.”

Cathy gripped her hand hard. “I know, and I haven’t given up. I’m not beaten, kiddo, not by a long shot, but I was beginning to think I’d have to make the hard decisions in public, and I just don’t know if I could cope with that right now. This way, I can at least see a safe haven on the horizon.” Cathy put her head back and sighed, visibly relaxing. “I can’t begin to thank you, either of you.”

Eden let go of her hand and gave it a little pat, saying, “Don’t mention it.”

“We won’t if you don’t,” Emily quipped, and they all laughed.

Cathy wiped her eyes again, her smile a little brighter, her beauty a little more radiant. “You’ve helped me more than you know. I’m pretty sure what I’m going to do now, at least for the immediate future.”

Eden snatched up her water glass this time and held it aloft. “To good friends and smart single women!”

“Long may we live!” Cathy added, raising her own glass.

Emily lifted her own glass. If anyone noticed the sadness behind the smile this time, it wasn’t mentioned. Maybe they
were smart, but if that was the case, then why did single feel so lonely?

She already knew that she wasn’t as smart as she’d once believed. A really smart woman wouldn’t have behaved as she had, sleeping with a man she couldn’t have, a man destined to break her heart. Like Cathy, it was time for Emily to think of the future. She only wished that her own future looked a little less bleak.

I
t was time. She’d waited too long as it was, and her only excuse was that she didn’t want Amanda Sue to feel abandoned again. But she couldn’t go on as she was. Every day with Logan and Amanda Sue, every night with him, she gave a little more of herself, loved a little deeper, wanted a little more from him. The real danger was in the wanting, she knew. She’d already realized that she couldn’t do anything about the loving. She loved Logan Fortune and his amazingly intelligent daughter as she would never again love anyone else in the same way. They were part of her, and it was killing her to think of going, but how much worse would it be if she waited until they left her? Maybe the miracle would happen, and she wouldn’t have to go. Eden, after all, had intimated that she expected Logan to marry Emily.

She took a deep breath and sent a glance sideways at Logan, who was taking a rare moment to actually read a newspaper.

“You haven’t really asked me about my lunch with Eden and Cathy.”

“Hmm?”

“My lunch with Eden and Cathy.”

He collapsed the newspaper into his lap. “Oh, right. How did that go?”

She shrugged. “It was fun, lots of talk and joking around. I think Eden and Cathy really like each other.”

“That’s good,” he said lightly. “What’d you think of the restaurant?” He waggled his eyebrows suggestively. “Did
the, um, service measure up to what you got the last time you were there?”

Torn between embarrassment and laughter, she chose the latter, bursting out with it. “Really, Logan, you have to do something about that low self-esteem of yours.”

He just grinned at her, and she knew he was remembering much of what washed over her in that moment. She cleared her throat. “We were talking about my lunch with Cathy and Eden.”

“Mmm-hmm, and you were saying?”

She was appalled at how easily her tone adjusted to nonchalance. She hated anything that smacked of manipulation, and yet here she was, fishing for—what? A marriage proposal? The words slid out almost unaided. “Cathy is thinking about breaking her engagement with Brendan Swift.”

Logan sat back in some surprise. “Whoa. Brendan Swift is one of the top box-office draws in the country. Has he been cheating on her?”

“Not that I know of.”

“What’s the problem, then?”

“I’m not sure really.”

He shook his head derisively. “She must feel something for him if she accepted his proposal. Is she anti-marriage? What?”

“I think it’s more a life-style thing. I mean, he’s the ultimate Hollywood insider, you know, and Cathy’s tired of the whole Hollywood scene. She’s really thinking of giving it all up.”

Logan shrugged meaningfully. “Couldn’t she give up acting and still support him in his work? I mean, if she really loved him…”

Emily sighed, wondering why he was so concerned about this. “You’re right, of course. If she really loved him, it wouldn’t matter, would it? So I guess she just doesn’t love him like she should.”

“Poor guy.” Logan shook his head contemplatively.

Emily had to laugh. “Logan, he’s a billionaire! He’s a
movie star! I’m betting the line of women willing to comfort him is already forming.”

“What difference does that make, if the guy’s in love with
her?
” Logan argued.

Emily bit her lip. Dare she hope that he felt the same way about her? “You’re right again. It doesn’t make any difference. When you love someone, really love them, nothing else matters, does it?”

“That’s the way I see it,” he muttered, lifting his paper again. “Poor sap probably just assumed she was crazy about him, and look what it got him.”

“I’m sure she didn’t mean to hurt him.”

“Well, that’s likely cold comfort to him, don’t you think?” he said sharply, turning down one corner of the paper to glare at her.

“I guess.”

“And women wonder why men aren’t chasing them down to propose marriage,” he muttered.

Emily closed her eyes. She had her answer. Logan Fortune had no intention of proposing marriage to her, none. Whatever Eden had meant, it obviously had nothing to do with the facts of hers and Logan’s situation. Yes, it was time to make the break. She just had to keep reminding herself that as difficult as it was to do now, it would be much more devastating later. She got up off the couch and went into the bedroom. If the end was upon them, she meant to make the most of what time was left.

Logan looked up from his desk and smiled with sheer pleasure. It had been a long time since the professional Emily had walked through his office door. He took one look at the conservative suit, the prim white blouse and the reading glasses and congratulated himself on knowing so well the delicious woman who lay beneath it all. Her hair was twisted up into a sophisticated roll, and he thought how it shimmered and shined when spread out against his pillow, how it flowed around him when she leaned over to put her mouth
to his. His body hardened in response, the result so instantaneous that he deemed it unwise to rise just then. Instead, he leaned back in his chair and let his smile be his welcome.

“Well, well. And to what do I owe this pleasure?”

She surprised him further by carefully closing the door before approaching his desk. He waited with bated breath for her to skirt the desk and approach him, perhaps sinking down onto his lap. When it became apparent that she wasn’t going to do that, he cleared his throat and disciplined his thoughts.

“I assume that you don’t have Amanda Sue with you.”

Finally she spoke. “No, Amanda Sue is with Carol. She hardly seemed to notice when I kissed her goodbye. Carol made her homemade play dough.”

Logan chuckled. “That Carol’s a gem, isn’t she?”

Emily nodded. “Yes, she is. You’re very lucky to have found her. Amanda Sue seems to feel very secure with her, and that’s why I’m doing this now.” She opened the purse hanging at her side from the shoulder strap and extracted a white envelope, which she dropped in the center of his desk mat.

He couldn’t imagine what was going on, but he was willing to play along with anything Emily might have in mind. Smiling coyly, he leaned forward and picked up the envelope, saying, “This is all very mysterious.” She bowed her head, standing almost at attention while he opened the envelope and extracted the single sheet inside.

Forcing his attention away from her and onto the sheet of paper, he unfolded it and started to read. He couldn’t believe it. He spread the letter flat on his desk and read it again. Resigning? She was resigning? His mind rebelled at the thought. Looking up at her, he said simply, “I don’t understand.”

She took a deep breath. “It’s very simple really. I can’t come back to this office. It wouldn’t be fair to Hal.”

“I’ve already told you—”

She shook her head, saying, “I can’t take a promotion, either, Logan.”

“Why not?”

“You know what people would say,” she told him. “And they’d be right. I’ve been sleeping with the boss. Any promotion, any job here, would be suspect.”

He sat back with a gusty sigh of resignation. “Okay. I don’t agree, but if this is how you want it, I’ll go along. So what exactly are your plans? I take it you’ll be going to work for someone we know, and I can live with that, I just wish you’d talked it over with me first.” He was envisioning a two-income family, him and her both hurrying off to work of a morning, juggling schedules, trusting Carol to care for Amanda Sue when they couldn’t be there.

She licked her lips. “I don’t think you’ve quite gotten the message,” she said, her voice trembling. “I tried to make you see how it would be from the beginning. I tried to make you understand. Now, I have no choice but to…t-take myself out of the picture.”

That cozy, if confused, little scene he’d been conjuring evaporated like so much mist. “Out of the picture,” he echoed, knowing but unable to accept what she really meant. Out of his life.

“I’ve moved all my things out of the town house,” she said evenly, “and I’ve taken a job with—”

He didn’t know he was going to stand up until he did, his hands planted flat on the surface of his desk. “You’re leaving me. Us?”

She gulped and backed up a step. “I—I can’t just abandon Amanda Sue. I don’t believe you want that, either. So, I thought, if it was all right with you, I could see her on my lunch hour two or three or times a week.”

He could only stare at her for a long, agonizing moment. Him. She was leaving him. He should have known. Why hadn’t he known? She’d fought him every step of the way. Not once had she ever said that she loved him. He wondered if he was going to be sick. Dimly he became aware that his
eyes were closed and that she was speaking somewhere in the distance. He tried to focus on her voice.

“Please understand. I don’t have any choice. I have to do this.”

Sure that her next words would be that she didn’t love him, he waved her away with a sweep of his arm. “Go,” he gasped. “Just go.”

Sometime later he realized that his legs were trembling, and that if he didn’t sit he was going to fall. He sat with a plop, as lifeless and powerless as tissue paper. He took breath, and pain rushed in instead of air.

Left him. Gone. She didn’t love him, had never loved him. He remembered times when the shoe had been on the other foot, times when women had vowed undying devotion, how they had cried when he’d explained that physical attraction did not necessarily lead to love. He’d always been honest about that. He’d always let them know from the very beginning that love wasn’t part of it for him, and yet so often they’d seemed to expect it to find him between the sheets of their beds. Eventually he’d learned to steer clear of those whose control of their emotions he could not trust.

Perhaps it served him right. If anyone could understand that physical attraction didn’t necessarily equal love, he could. And yet he’d been caught in his own trap. He loved Emily. He had always loved Emily, far longer than he’d even known. But she didn’t love him. She’d given him the most amazingly satisfying sex of his life—but not her love. Poetic justice? No doubt.

The question now was, how did he survive it? How did he survive losing Emily?

It was a genuine coup, proof that she could do anything she set her mind to. This gambit had made her career. Emily sat back in the big leather chair and looked around her plush new office. She had reached high, and she had grasped the brass ring. Head of real estate management for one of the largest banks in the area. It boggled the mind. So why wasn’t
she jubilant? Where was the joy? She glanced at her watch. Two more hours until she could see Amanda Sue. Would Carol have a message for her from Logan?

Shaking her head, Emily reached for a file folder and pulled it toward her. She had a lot of reading to do before she could even begin to take on her duties. Half an hour later she reached for another folder, but even as she opened it, tears filled her eyes. It was so hard to stay away, to be apart. Why hadn’t she stuck to her guns? Why had she allowed herself to fall into his bed, to share his life? Worse, how was she going to survive without him now? No job, no career, no lap full of file folders could make up for the barren emotional desert her life had become. She didn’t even have her blasted cat anymore.

Logan folded his hands behind his head and smiled at his precocious daughter, who sat astride his chest, attempting to balance a wooden block on his nose. It didn’t take her long to realize that the nose was not an ideal building site. Heaving a sound of pure disgust, she switched to the spot between his eyes, succeeded in placing one wooden cube and added another. When the tower grew to three blocks, she swept out her hand and jubilantly knocked it down, laughing as he squeezed his eyes shut and turned his head to avoid the falling blocks. Laughing with her now, he sat up, using his hands to catch her as she tumbled backward. Executing a neat flip, Amanda Sue came up on one knee, jubilant about this new trick.

He allowed her to push him down again and throw herself across his chest. Tickling and tussling, he wrestled with her until, exhausted, she sat down on the floor, leaned back against his side and crossed one ankle over the opposite knee. Judging it safe now, Goody ambled over and plopped down next to her, purring loudly, while his striped tail flicked rhythmically in Logan’s face.

Couldn’t she have taken her damned cat with her? he grumbled mentally, but then he sighed, seeing Amanda Sue
dig her fingers into the cat’s fur. Why couldn’t she have loved him? It had seemed so perfect, the two of them and Amanda Sue. He should have known it was an illusion, a mirage. At least he hadn’t humiliated himself by asking her to marry him. Cold comfort when he missed her so.

As if reading his thoughts, Amanda Sue put her head back against his chest and said, “Oan Mimly ome.”

Logan swallowed a sudden lump in his throat. “I know, angel. I want Emily to come home, too, but Emily has to work.” He sat up again and pulled Amanda Sue into his lap, searching for words to explain. “You know how Daddy goes to work every day and comes home at night to be with Amanda Sue. Emily used to stay here to take care of you while I’m gone, but now Carol does that.”

Amanda Sue pointed to the top of the stairs with a finger damp from her mouth and said, “Carl woom.”

“Yes, Carol’s in her room now, writing letters, but when Daddy isn’t here, Carol takes care of you. So Emily has decided to go back to work.” He knew he was making a hash of it, but he didn’t know how else to explain. He licked his lips and stumbled on. “The thing is, see, Emily doesn’t work at the place that I do anymore, and she…she can’t be here so much anymore, but you see her sometimes during the day, don’t you?” He knew that Emily had been there that very day during her lunch hour. Carol, apparently, had made her a sandwich.

Amanda Sue turned over and stood in his lap so that she was eye level with him. Placing a hand on his cheek, she said pleadingly, “Oan Mimly.”

He hugged her close, feeling as if he were drowning in his own misery. “I know, sweetie. I want Emily, too.”

Shoving away from him, she went to the chairside table where the cordless phone rested. Pointing at it, she insisted, “Caw Mimly.”