In Bed With The Devil (10 page)

“No, thanks,” Andrew told her. He started for the door.

She turned to Jack. “This is all your fault.”

“What did I do?”

She huffed out a breath, then hurried after Andrew.

“Don’t be like this,” she told him on the front porch.

“Like what? Interested in spending time with you alone? I haven’t seen you in weeks. The last time we talked on the phone, you said everything was fine. But now I find out it isn’t. Were we taking a break, Meredith, or were you trying to break up with me? If that’s what you want, just say so.”

She opened her mouth, then closed it. Andrew was perfect for her in so many ways. He was exactly the man she was looking for. Added to that was the fact that she’d had him investigated and there was nothing in his past to indicate he gave a damn about her inheritance. Men like that were hard to find.

Six months ago she’d been almost sure. So what was different now?

Stupid question, she thought. Jack was different. Being with Jack was supposed to make things more clear, and it hadn’t.

“I’m not trying to break up with you,” she told him. “I’m glad you’re here. I just need some time to get used to us being a couple.”

“Hard to do when we’re apart.”

“So stay.”

“Come back to my hotel with me, Meredith.”

“I can’t.”

“You won’t.”

She wouldn’t. He was right.

“Andrew…”

He walked to his car. “I’ll be back, Meredith. I think you’re worth fighting for. The question you need to answer is, do you want me to keep trying?”

She watched him drive away. The front door opened and Betina stepped out next to her.

“Man trouble?” her friend asked.

“When does my romantic life flow smoothly?”

“Practically never. You’re always interesting, I’ll grant you that. So what has his panties in a snit?”

Meri looked at her. “You never liked him. Why is that?”

“I don’t mind him. I think he’s too impressed with himself. But he’s good to you and he passed your rigorous inspection, so that’s all I need to know.”

“But you don’t like him.”

“Do I have to?” Betina asked.

Meri shrugged. “Do you like Jack?”

“Are you doing a comparison?”

“No. I’m just curious.”

Betina considered the question. “Yes, I like Jack.”

“Me, too.” Meri held up her hand. “Don’t you dare start in on me that you knew I would fall for him, blah, blah, blah. I haven’t fallen for him. It’s just different now.”

“What are you going to do about it?”

“Nothing. Jack and I are friends. The bigger question is, what do I want from Andrew?”

“How are you going to figure that out?”

“I haven’t got a clue.”

She followed Betina back inside, where everyone sat around on the oversize sofas. Two bowls filled with pieces of paper stood in the middle of the coffee table. They would be the “truth” and “dare” parts of the game.

Meri had learned not to mess with dare with this group. Not when they wanted things like mathematical proof that the universe existed. Answering personal, probably embarrassing questions was a whole lot easier.

As Jack was new to the game, they let him go first.

He pulled out a question and read it aloud. “Have you ever gone to a convention in any kind of costume?”

He frowned and turned to her. “This is as wild as you guys get?”

She laughed. “It’s not a big deal for you, but—trust me—there are people in this room with guilty Star Trek secrets.”

Jack put down the paper. “No.”

Colin groaned. “You weren’t supposed to get that question.”

“Which means there’s another one in the bowl about doing it with twins,” Meri told him with a grin.

She reached into the bowl and pulled out a paper. “Have you ever been stood up?”

The room seemed to tilt slightly. She remembered being eighteen, wearing her prettiest dress, although a size eighteen on her small frame was anything but elegant. She’d had her hair done, actually put on makeup and gone to the restaurant to meet a guy from her physics lab. She’d waited for two hours and he’d never shown up.

The next day he’d acted as if nothing had happened. She’d never had the courage to ask if he’d forgotten or done it on purpose or for sport.

Jack leaned over and grabbed the paper from her. “She’s not answering the question. This is a stupid game.”

“I don’t mind,” she told him.

“I do. I’ll tell them about the twins.”

All the guys leaned forward. “For real?” Robert asked. “Twins?”

She shook her head. “Jack, it’s okay.”

“It’s not. What happened is private.”

What happened? How could he know she’d been stood up? He’d been gone for months. Actually, the nondate had gotten her to think about changing. She’d joined a gym the next day.

She started to tell him that, then found she couldn’t speak. Her throat was all closed, as if she had a cold…or was going to cry. What was wrong with her?

“Excuse me,” she said and ducked out of the room. She hurried into the kitchen to get a glass of water.

It was stress, she told herself. There was too much going on.

She heard footsteps and turned to find Colin entering the room.

“You okay?” he asked. “I’m sorry about the question. It wasn’t for you. I was hoping Betina would get it.”

Something inside Meri snapped. “I’ve had it with you,” she said. “Look, you’re a grown single man interested in a woman who obviously thinks you’re hot. For heaven’s sake, do something about it.”

He opened his mouth, then closed it. “I can’t.”

“Then you don’t deserve her.”

She was supposed to have things together by now. She was supposed to know her heart as well as she knew her head. Or did being so damned smart mean she was destined to be stupid in other ways?

The coffee had barely begun to pour through the filter when someone rang the doorbell. She hadn’t seen anyone else up yet so she walked to the front door and opened it.

Andrew stood on the porch. He held a single red rose in one hand and a stuffed bright-green monkey in the other.

“It’s possible I behaved badly yesterday,” he said with a shrug. “More than possible. I want things to work between us.”

She didn’t know what to say. While she was relieved to not be fighting, she wasn’t exactly in the mood to throw herself into his arms. Which meant that there was a whole lot more for them to deal with.

“Andrew, this is really confusing for me,” she said. “You’re right. We were apart too long. Things have changed.”

“Is there someone else?”

“No,” she said without thinking, then had to wonder if that was true.

Not Jack, she told herself. Okay, yes, they’d gotten intimate, but just the one time and nothing since. He was her past. The problem was Andrew might not be her future.

He handed her the monkey. “I brought you this. I thought it would make you smile.”

She took the ridiculous stuffed toy. “He’s adorable. What about the rose?”

“That’s for me. I plan to wear it in my teeth.”

He bit down on the stem, which made her laugh. Andrew always made her laugh. Wasn’t that a good thing? Shouldn’t she want to be with him?

“You want some coffee?” she asked. “I have a pot going.”

“Sure.” He took a step inside, then grimaced as his cell phone rang. “Sorry. I’m dealing with some stuff at work. Give me ten minutes?”

She nodded and stepped inside. Still carrying the monkey, she returned to the kitchen. Only this time she wasn’t alone. Colin stood pouring coffee. He wore jeans, an unbuttoned shirt and nothing else. But it wasn’t his unusual outfit that got her attention. Instead there was something about the way he stood. Something in the tilt of his head or the set of his shoulders.

“Colin?”

He turned and smiled at her. “Morning.”

A single word but in a voice she’d never heard from him. It was low and confident. He was a man at peace with himself and the universe.

She felt her mouth drop open. “You had sex with Betina.”

Colin didn’t even blush. “It wasn’t sex, Meri. It was making love. And, yes, we did. She’s amazing. She’s the woman I’ve been waiting for all my life.”

With that, he collected two cups of coffee and carried them back to his room.

Meri laughed out loud. She set the monkey on the counter, then turned to find someone to share the good news with.

But she was alone in the kitchen, so she ran upstairs, taking them two at a time, then burst into Jack’s office. He was on the phone but hung up when he saw her.

“You look happy,” he said. “So it’s not bad news.”

“I know. It’s fabulous. I saw Colin. He’s someone completely different. He and Betina slept together and I think they’re seriously in love. Isn’t that fabulous? Are you jazzed?”

One corner of Jack’s mouth turned up. “Good for Colin. I didn’t think he had it in him.”

“Oh, there was a tiger lurking behind those silly plaid shirts. And we’re a part of it. We got them together.”

Jack held up his hands in the shape of a T. “There’s no ‘we’ in all this. They got themselves together.”

“Don’t be silly. We pushed. And I mean we. You were a part of it. You acted like a matchmaker. I’m so proud.”

He groaned. “Leave me out of it.”

She crossed to the window, then turned back to face him. “This is great. They may get married. We can go hang out at the wedding and take all the credit.”

“I don’t think so.”

She wrinkled her nose. “You’re not getting in the spirit of this. It’s happy news.”

She spun in a circle, holding her arms out and tilting back her head. Soon the room was turning and turning. She lost her balance and started to fall. Which should have worried her, except Jack was there to catch her.

She collapsed against him, then smiled up into his face. He had the most amazing eyes, she thought absently, then she dropped her gaze to his mouth. That part of him wasn’t so bad either.

“You need to slow down,” he told her.

“No way. Light speed isn’t fast enough.”

“You’ll get hurt.”

What were they talking about? She found she didn’t know and she sort of didn’t care. Not as long as he held her.

“Jack,” she breathed.

He released her and stepped back. “Meri, this isn’t a good idea.”

Then it hit her. She’d run to Jack instead of Andrew. That couldn’t be good. Had Betina been right all along? Had there been more on the line that getting revenge or closure or any of the other reasons she’d given herself for wanting to sleep with Jack? Dear God, what had she done?

“I have to go,” she whispered and hurried out of the room. She ran all the way to her bedroom, then closed the door behind her and leaned against it. Where did she go from here?

Jack poured coffee. As he raised his mug, Colin walked into the kitchen.

Meri was right—there was something different about the guy. An air of confidence. He wasn’t just a nerd anymore.

The love of a good woman, Jack thought humorously. Apparently the old saying about it being able to transform a man was true. Lucky for him, he’d escaped.

“How’s it going?” Colin asked.

“Good. With you?”

“Great.”

“No one seems to be talking trash in the dining room today,” Jack said.

“Meri gave us the day off.”

Probably to ensure that Betina and Colin spent more time together. It was just like her.

“Andrew was here before,” Colin said.

“What happened?”

“Something with his office. He had to leave.”

“You sound relieved.”

Colin shrugged. “He’s not my favorite.”

“Mine either.”

They were an interesting group, these scientists, Jack thought. Brilliant and humble, funny, determined and willing to make fools of themselves on Jet Skis. They looked out for Meri. Hunter would have liked them a lot.

“What?” Colin asked. “You have a strange look on your face.”

“I was thinking about Meri’s brother. He would have liked you. All of you.”

“Meri talks about him. He sounds like a great guy.”

“He was. A group of us became friends in college. We called ourselves the Seven Samurai. It was dumb but meaningful to us. Hunter was the connection we all had with each other. He brought us together. Held us together.”

Then he’d died and they’d drifted apart.

Jack thought about his friends—something he didn’t usually allow himself to do—and wondered how they’d enjoyed their months in Hunter’s house. Had their worlds been flipped around and changed or had the weeks passed quietly?

“It’s good to have friends like that,” Colin said. “Meri’s a lot like him. She draws people together. Gets them involved. She handpicked the team for this project. They let her do that because she’s so brilliant.”

Jack nodded. Meri’s brain was never in question. “She’s more outgoing than she used to be.”

“She’s grown up. It’s hard for us, the freaks.” Colin grinned. “That’s what she calls us and herself. We all had to deal with not fitting in and stuff. Meri wants us to put that aside and deal with life as it is. Look forward. That sort of thing.”

There was affection in his voice, but not the romantic kind, so Jack didn’t have to kill him. He realized that the reports might have told him the specifics but they hadn’t allowed him to get to know the woman she’d become.

“I was thinking about your business,” Colin said. “There’s some new military software that could help with your security issues.”

“Military software? Is it classified?”

Colin grinned. “Sure, but I know the guy who wrote it. There’s a couple of beta versions floating around. I might be able to get you a copy to test out—you know, as a service to your government.”

“Lucky me.” Jack eyed the other man. “You’re a lot more dangerous than you look.”

Colin grinned. “I know.

“Left foot green,” Betina called.

Meri looked down at the Twister sheet on the floor and groaned. “I’m not built to bend that way.”

“The very reason I don’t try to play the game. But so not the point.”

“You’re basically mean,” Meri muttered. “I don’t know why I didn’t see that before. Sorry, Robert. I’m going to have to slide under you.”

Robert arched his back as best he could. “Good luck with that. You do realize you’re in danger of hyperextending your shoulder.”

Colin looked up from his awkward position. “I’m not sure she would hyperextend it. Technically speaking—”

“Stop!” Meri yelled. “I don’t want any technical talk right now. Let’s pretend to be normal.”

Colin and Robert both frowned at her. “Why?”

She started laughing, which made bending and stretching impossible. But she still tried, because the big green dot was just out of—

She wobbled, leaned, then collapsed, bringing everyone down with her. She landed on Robert, and Colin sank down on top of her.

“I’m not sure I approve of this,” Betina said from the sidelines. “Colin, do we need to talk about fidelity?”

“Not really.” He grunted as he rolled off Meri, then scrambled to his feet. “Unless you want to spank me.”

Meri gagged. “I so did not want to know that about you two.”

“I’m surprised,” Robert said from his place on the floor. “Usually men who enjoy domination have powerful positions in their work life. It’s an attempt to obtain balance and let someone else take responsibility.”

Meri looked at him. “Is there anything you don’t know?”

“How to get the girl. Any girl.”

“We’ll talk later,” Meri said, offering her hand and helping him to his feet. “I’m on a roll. Are you interested in anyone in particular?”

Before he could answer, Jack walked into the room. There was something about his expression that warned Meri he didn’t have good news.

“What’s wrong?” she asked. “Is someone hurt?”

“No, but we need to talk.”

He took her arm and led her into the kitchen. She didn’t like anything about this.

After folding her arms over her chest she said, “So talk.”

His dark eyes were unreadable. “Andrew isn’t who you think.”

She’d thought maybe her father had been in an accident or had a heart attack. But Andrew?

“Not who I think? You mean like secretly a woman?”

“I’m serious, Meri. I have some information on him. His background. He’s not the man he’s pretending to be. He’s in it for the money.”

A thousand different thoughts flashed through her brain. At any other time she would have paused to marvel at the exquisite structure of the human mind—of how it could hold so many contradictory ideas at any single moment. But right now all she cared about was being strong enough to punch Jack in the stomach.

“What the hell are you going on about?” she asked, her voice low and cold. “Why would you know anything about Andrew?”

“I had him investigated.”

Anger burned hot and bright. “You have no right to get involved in my personal life. Who do you think you are?”

“I know you’re upset—”

“Upset? You have no idea. Dammit, Jack, this is wrong on so many levels.” She glanced toward the door to the living room and lowered her voice. “Just because we slept together doesn’t mean you get to tell me what to do. You gave up that right the day you walked out on me after Hunter died. You were supposed to be there for me and you weren’t. So I don’t care what you think about anything.”

She started to walk away. He grabbed her arm and held her in place.

“You have to listen to me,” he said.

“No, I don’t. Not that it matters, but I already had Andrew investigated. Thoroughly. He’s clean. He comes from a comfortable background. He doesn’t have my trust fund, but he’s not hurting for money. He’s a good man.”

“He’s married.”

Her entire body went cold. She knew intellectually that her core temperature was what it had been five seconds ago, but the sensation of being on the verge of turning to ice was incredibly real.

“You’re wrong,” she breathed. “My investigator—”

“Did exactly what I did the first time I learned about Andrew. A basic investigation. That’s usually good enough. But when you said you were thinking of marrying this guy, I had my people dig deeper. It was eight years ago. They hooked up and conned an old man out of about two million dollars. Three years ago, they took another heiress for the same amount. I’m guessing you were their next target.”