Last Dance (Rock With You #3) Rock Star Romance (4 page)

Melody
gazed out the window, idly wondering what life on the road with Logan would be
like. Would she like being in a new city every few days? Would they get on each
other’s nerves, constantly moving from place to place? She’d never really
traveled, never been much further than upstate New York, not counting her mad
dash across the Atlantic to Scotland.

With
a shake of her head and a rueful smile she brought herself back to reality.
There were too many things in front of them right now. There would be time to
sort out the future once they had the present under control.
Or I hope
that’s the way it works.

Promptly
at one-thirty, her office phone rang. Logan was in the lobby and she walked
past Victoria and took the elevator down to retrieve him. When they came back
to Melody’s floor, Victoria had her head down, reading papers. At the sound of Logan’s
voice, her head jerked up.

“Oh,
Mr. MacKenzie, hello. Melody, I’d have gone down…you didn’t need to…reception
didn’t call.” Victoria turned to her phone, frowning at it.

Melody
waved her hand dismissively. “No problem. I wasn’t busy.” Logan walked into her
office and Melody turned back to Victoria.

“There
will be a Claire Blackwood joining us in about half an hour. Can you bring her
up?”

Victoria
nodded and Melody closed the door. Logan was standing by the window, looking
down on the street below, worry and anxiety casting shadows across his face. He
was dressed in a conservative black suit and white dress shirt, the same suit
he’d worn to the first meeting she’d had with him here at the firm.

It
seemed so long ago that she’d sat across from him, so angry and hurt, believing
he’d taken advantage of her, used her for a one-night stand. But they’d come so
far in such a short time. Melody’s heart ached to reach out and comfort him,
touch him…hug him, but she didn’t. Instead she took a seat at the work table,
opening the case file.

“Logan.
Come sit down.”

He
turned from the window and pulled out the chair across from Melody. “I suppose
there’s a no touching rule in force today?” He shook his head. “I should have
taken ye this morning, when I had the chance.”

Melody
smiled. “And I should have let you. But…” She held up her page of notes. “I
wouldn’t have had a chance to follow up on this.”

“Oh,
the mysterious scribbles, the page torn from my notebook, I notice. What was
the big secret?”

“Actually,
it turns out it’s something quite simple, something that I think Ryan Marshall,
in his haste to undermine me and my career, overlooked.”

“And
that thing is?”

“He’s
still a partner at Avery Marshall and Shaw.”

Logan
shook his head. “I’m not the lawyer here. But I get the sense you’re telling me
he can’t represent Ashton if he’s still a partner here?”

“Exactly.
If he’s still practicing with our firm, it’s not possible. Especially since he
was involved in your case, and had, at one point, appointed himself lead
attorney.”

“So,
does this mean my case goes away? What about Ashton’s counter suit?” Logan had
his elbows on the table, anxiously leaning forward, tension rolling off of him
in palpable waves.

“We
can ask to settle out of court, if Ashton agrees. I suspect he won’t though.” Melody
shrugged.

“But
it means Ryan cannot represent Ashton. It would keep Ryan from having your case
thrown out of court because of our…because of us.” A wave of guilt washed over Melody.
And that saves my professional skin, but doesn’t do much for your case, Logan.

“We’ll
need to sit down tonight and make some decisions. Your case is still viable,
still important. But if Ryan represented Ashton, there’d be no hope in winning.
He knows too much…about too many things.”

There
was a knock on the door and Logan stood the same time Melody did. The door
opened and Melody drew in a sharp breath.

Victoria
ushered in a beautiful girl, tall, with flaming red hair that fell past her
shoulders in soft waves. Dressed in jeans and simple blouse, she looked
fresh-faced, the girl-next-door, only from Scotland. Melody tried to recover
her composure and pasted what she hoped was a professional smile on her face
and extended her hand.

“Hello.
I’m Melody Lawson. I represent Mr. MacKenzie in…I’m Mr. MacKenzie’s attorney.”

The
girl wasn’t even looking at Melody. Her eyes were fixed on Logan. She took
another step into the room, walking past Melody’s outstretched hand.

“Logan.
You’re here. I didn’t think…I mean, I know you said…but…” Claire’s voice broke
and she reached for the back of the chair in front of her, steadying herself.

Melody
glanced at Logan, whose face was unreadable. He hesitated a moment before
pulling a chair out for Claire.

“Claire.
I canna say I’m glad to see ye, but you’re here. So let’s do what we said we’d
do. Sit and let Melody…let Ms. Lawson ask her questions.”

Claire
was staring open-mouthed at Logan, but she sat in the chair he indicated,
perched on the edge as if she were going to bolt from the room. Logan looked
across the table at Melody, waiting for her to take her seat before sitting
back down in his chair, back straight, shoulders tensed.

Melody
tried very hard not to be intimidated by Claire’s beauty. She had never
imagined what Claire would look like, and Logan had never talked about her,
other than explaining who she was in the briefest of terms.
The girl he had
wanted to marry.

But
her clear skin, green eyes and delicate features made Melody suddenly feel
insecure and vulnerable. More so since she couldn’t decipher anything from Logan’s
face. His expression was closed, shuttered. He’d looked that way in Scotland,
when she’d finally found him, before she’d had the chance to explain about
Ryan.

She
took a deep breath, trying to regain her professional demeanor. Clearing her
throat, she picked up her pen and pulled her notebook closer.

“Shall
we begin?”

Claire
finally turned to her, as if realizing for the first time Melody was in the
room with them. Her eyes traveled over Melody’s clothes, lingering on her
necklace and watch. When her gaze finally met Melody’s, there was fear and
something else, something akin to jealousy. Melody wasn’t quite sure what she
was seeing in the girl’s eyes, but she didn’t trust her.

“I’d
like to begin by saying while this is an informal meeting, you are under oath,
and I would caution that you should tell the truth…”

“I
have no reason to lie.” Claire’s voice was brittle, high-pitched.

“I’m
not implying that you are, or that you will. I’m simply stating that the truth
is the best path.”

Claire
turned large eyes to Logan. “You believe me, don’t you, Logan? About it…about
your baby? It is yours…”

“Claire,
I don’t ken what to believe.” Logan leaned forward, his face an emotionless
mask. “Ye did sleep with my best friend, ye ken. And I dinna ken, or care, if
it was the first time, or the last.”

Melody
watched as Claire’s face slowly dissolved into tears. She glanced at Logan,
caught his bewildered look and looked back to Claire.

“Claire,
I know this is hard for you…” Melody began, but realized Claire wasn’t
listening to her.

Claire
was shaking her head, her eyes still fixed on Logan. “But Logan, ye wanted
this. You’ve wanted children, said so, since I’ve known you. And ye have one
now, a son…what ye wanted.” She leaned forward, her eyes searching Logan’s
face.

Logan
closed his eyes, drawing in a sharp breath. “Claire. Not like this.” He shook
his head. When he opened his eyes, they were cold. “This is not how I wanted to
start my family, not with betrayal and deceit.”

“But…this
is what you want.” A stubborn tone had crept into Claire’s voice and she
repeated her plea. “Ye want this. How could ye not?”

“I
want children, more than anything. But how can I trust you, Claire. Ye slept
with another man, in our bed. What am I to think?”

“Ye
can think that I was scared, that ye ran out on me, left me there. Because I
was. I dinna ken what to do.”

“And
ye don’t care how I felt in this? How ye tore out my heart, broke any trust I
had with ye? How am I to make that right here?” He thumped his closed fist
against his chest.

“No…I
mean, yes, I care. Of course I care. I loved you…” Her voice had taken on a
petulant tone and her bottom lip slid out in the beginning of a pout.

Logan
held up his hand, cutting her off. “Do not say that. I don’t want to hear it.”

“Excuse
me.” Melody rapped her knuckle on the table, her eyes a blazing swirl of
emotion. “I think we’re straying off topic here. It’s very easy to determine if
Logan is the father or not. And that’s all we really need to do…you produce the
child for a blood test and…”

Claire’s
face blanched white, the pout replaced by a look of wide-eyed shock.

“No!
It’s not…that’s not how this goes…he said…all I had to do was say it’s yours.”
Claire began crying, her cheeks turning pink, her nose beginning to run. She
sniffled and Melody reached behind her, grabbing a box of tissues from the
bookcase, sliding it across the table toward Claire. The girl took one, blowing
her nose loudly.

“What
do you mean, this isn’t how it goes?” Melody kept her voice neutral, watching
intently for any reaction from Claire.

“And
who is ‘he’?”

Claire’s
eyes darted between Logan and Melody, looking for all the world like a scared
rabbit.
Albeit a rabbit that was lying.

As
much as she wanted to dislike her, Melody could see the girl was terrified of
something…or someone. And Melody didn’t think it was either her or Logan.

“If
I tell you, you can’t say I told.”

Melody
nodded.

Claire
took a deep breath, the fight for control of her emotions clearly evident on
her face.

“It
was Mr. Ashton.”

* * *

Claire’s
words seemed to hang in the air. In the silence that followed her statement, Melody
looked at Logan. His face was no longer emotionless; his eyes had darkened with
anger, his mouth a tight straight line. She could see a muscle twitch in his
jaw.

“What
did Ashton tell you to say?” Logan’s voice was cold, his words clipped.

Claire’s
words came in a rush, between lessening sobs. “He called me, said I should tell
you I have your baby. That you’d do anything to avoid the publicity…because of
the lawsuit.”

Melody
frowned. “You do have a baby?”

Claire
nodded, turning to Melody. “Aye. I do.” She glanced at Logan before lowering
her head. “It’s not yours, Logan…Mr. Ashton told me to say that. But it’s not
true.”

“Whose
baby is it, Claire?” Logan’s voice had lost its hard edge, but he was still
visibly angry, his words coming slowly, deliberately.

The
reply was almost inaudible. “It’s Danny’s.” Claire twisted a tissue into a
knotted rope, shredded bits falling on the table.

Logan
rose abruptly, shoving his chair away from the table. He strode to the window,
looking down onto the street. Melody could hear his fingers tapping on the
windowsill.

“Who
is Danny?” Melody asked. She thought she knew the answer, and as much as she
knew it would hurt Logan to hear, she needed Claire to tell her. But it wasn’t
Claire that answered. From across the room Logan’s voice reached her, the pain
so evident Melody felt tears well up in her eyes.

“Danny
was my best friend. Danny…” Claire’s face had gone even paler, the copper
freckles on her nose standing out in sharp contrast, as Logan went on. “Danny
was the man I found her in bed with.”

He
was still facing the window, his back to Claire and Melody.

“Is
that true, Claire?” Melody asked.

Claire
nodded. There was a beat of silence and then Logan turned sharply.

“Say
it…admit it, Claire. Tell her…tell me…whose baby it really is.” Logan’s voice
was rough with emotion and the anguish on his face made Melody’s heart
clench. 

“Logan…”
Melody shook her head slightly.

“No.
She needs to say it. I need to hear her say it. I think she owes me that bit of
truth.”

“It’s
not yours.” Claire’s voice was dull, her head down, the words mumbled.

He
walked back to the table, dropping heavily into his chair, leaning toward
Claire.

“And
the truth of our relationship? Did ye ever intend to marry me, Claire?”

Claire’s
head came up. “How could you doubt that? I love you, Logan. I always have…”

“Ye
loved me enough to sleep with my best friend? How does that show ye loved me?”
The pain in Logan’s face had settled in his eyes. Melody longed to reach out to
him, but clasped her hands in her lap to keep from doing just that.