Trust Me on This (15 page)

"That's not the truth," Dennie said, sinking deeper into the bed as she stretched and yawned. "You grabbed me."

Later, dammit
, Alec told his body and said, "Close enough." He watched her for a minute, planning later, and then he said, "You're not thinking about doing anything dumb like leaving that bed, are you?"

"Nope." Dennie yawned again. "If I'm asleep when you get back, wake me up." She rolled onto her side and curled up, and her body was outlined by the sheet as it stretched over her curves.

"Count on it," Alec said, and went down to finish off Bond.

Half an hour later, he was back. Dennie heard him undress and then he crawled into bed beside her and wrapped himself around her from behind.

"That was quick," Dennie murmured, spooning herself into him.

"He said, 'Tomorrow,' " Alec said in her ear, and his breath made her shiver a little. "He wants you to be there when he signs the contract. You overdid it, dummy. He thinks you're going to be so grateful, he's going to get laid."

Dennie rolled a little so she was half on her back, her shoulder pressed against Alec's chest. "He told you this?"

"No, he told me the contract was so important to you that you'd want to see it signed." Alec kissed her shoulder. "You really sold him, I'll give you that."

"Thanks." Dennie nestled closer, loving his body even more now that she knew what it could do. "Got anything else you'd like to give me?"

"It's going to be like this from now on, isn't it?" Alec said sadly, as his hand moved up her body. "You're always going to be wanting something from me. All I'm going to hear is, 'What's in it for me?' Life will be hell."

"That's not what I said." Dennie rolled into him and let her own hand roam. "I'm pretty sure what I said was, 'Why aren't you in me?' At least, I think—"

Then Alec stopped her mouth with his, and they both forgot about Bond for the rest of the night.

The next morning, they had to remember him.

Dennie had slipped out of Alec's room at eight, wearing the red dress Alec was never going to forget and carrying the purple underwear that he was really never going to forget. "We're meeting Bond at ten," he'd called after her, and she'd waved the purple lace at him and closed the door behind her.

The room was a lot colder once she'd gone. What had been his plan? To talk her out of a life of crime, to talk her into moving to Chicago, and to talk her into bed with him. Only one to go. Not bad. Alec got up and headed for the shower, feeling very cheerful.

Two and a half hours later, he wasn't nearly as upbeat.

"I know they'll be here any minute," he told Bond.

Bond looked uneasy, clutching the contracts as if Alec were going to rip them from his hands, which Lord knew, Alec wanted to do. Bond had showed him the new clauses while they were waiting, and it was all there. Once they both signed it, he could arrest Bond and go back to seducing Dennie into moving to Chicago.

But first Dennie had to show up, dammit. Donald and Victoria would also be nice, and he didn't know where the hell Harry was which was unusual to say the least, but Alec wasn't being greedy. All he really needed was Dennie. If Dennie were there, Bond would sign anything. "We were up late last night," he told Bond.

"You have no idea how much Dennie wanted that house. That little girl can be very grateful."

Bond looked interested enough to loosen his grip on the contracts a little. Alec remembered Dennie the night before. She hadn't been grateful but she had been amazing. The thought must have showed on his face because Bond leaned forward.

"She's probably still asleep," Alec said, getting up. "I'll just phone upstairs and check. Don't go away. She's bound to want to thank you personally."

"I'll be right here," Bond said. "You tell her I'm waiting for her," and Alec thought,
In your dreams, buddy
, and went to call Dennie and find out what the hell was going on.

Dennie had her own problems.

She'd hit the lobby a little past ten, knowing she was a few minutes behind and hurrying because of it. She'd showered and changed into a purple jersey dress that could be left unbuttoned at the top, a good idea since Bond was a sucker for cleavage and they wanted him as happy and as distracted as possible. After experimenting with three buttons undone which made her look like a tramp and two buttons which made her look only trampish, she'd decided on three and then realized she was late. Self-conscious about her cleavage and guilty about being tardy, she'd almost run Baxter down when he came to stand in her path.

"Uh, Miss Banks?" he said, recovering and trotting beside her.

"Not now, Baxter," Dennie said. "I'm late for a meeting. Not with Janice Meredith. Go away."

"This is about Miss Meredith," Baxter said, breaking into a trot. "She seems to have called the police."

Dennie stopped in her tracks, and he overshot her and came back "The police?" she said. "Why? I didn't go near her."

"Evidently you talked to a friend of hers and the friend called and there was an argument and she blames you." Baxter spit it all out in one breathless sentence, and Dennie thought,
Victoria, you were supposed to be tactful
.

"Okay," Dennie said. "We can handle this."

"I would really prefer you just left the hotel," Baxter said. "If you leave, I'm sure she won't pursue this."

"I can't leave." Dennie turned to go toward the bar. "I'm late for—"

She bumped into a guy in a dark suit, standing next to a really beautiful brunette.

"That's her," the brunette said. "She's in it with him."

"In what? With who?" Dennie looked from one to the other. "I have to meet somebody. Can this wait?"

"Who do you have to meet?" the guy in the suit asked, and Dennie said, "That is none of your business." She detoured around them and headed for the bar, but before she could get there, the man caught up with her and put his hand on her arm.

"I just need to ask you a few questions," he said. "I'm with the Riverbend police." He showed her his badge, and Dennie's heart clutched, but since the brunette wasn't Janice and the suit wasn't reading her the Miranda spiel, she told herself to calm down.

Dennie craned her neck to see inside the bar. Alec was sitting with Bond, checking his watch. "I tell you what," she said to the suit. "I have to go in there and talk to somebody, and you can stay out here and watch. Then I'll come back out here and answer any questions you want. I really do have to go. I'm late. It's only going to be about fifteen minutes." She smiled at him as winningly as she could, but he seemed unimpressed.

"What somebody?" the suit said.

"See the blond guy sitting in there at the table?" she said, and then realized that could be either Alec or Bond.

"I told you," the brunette said with a great deal of satisfaction.

"I think we'll go in there with you," the suit said.

Dennie could just imagine how Bond would feel if she showed up with two extra people, one of whom was a cop. She was pretty sure Bond would spot a cop. She was also pretty sure that Alec wouldn't be happy either.

"Look," she said. "I can explain—"

"Miss Banks?" someone said from behind her.

Dennie turned, and there was another suit. He bore a vague similarity to the other suit with her, and even more telling, he had Janice Meredith with him.

"This is going to be bad, isn't it?" Dennie said.

"That's her," Janice said, and Dennie said, "Wait a minute."

"Dennie Banks, you are under arrest for stalking," the second suit said, and the first suit said, "That too?"

"Tom?" The first suit squinted at the second one. "What are you doing here?"

"Arresting her for fraud," Tom said. "Stalking, too, huh?"

They seemed to be bonding, so Dennie tried to sidle away and signal Alec. If she'd ever needed to be rescued it was now. Unfortunately, the second suit took the sidle badly and handcuffed her.

"Hey!" Dennie said.

"You have the right to remain silent," the second suit said while Janice and the brunette smiled their satisfaction and Tom shook his head. "Stalking too. Ifou really take risks, lady."

Dennie closed her eyes and thought fast.

"Isn't that Dennie?" Donald asked Victoria as they walked through the lobby on their way to the bar and Bond.

"What?" Victoria was irritated. They were half an hour late because Donald had insisted on proposing in the elevator. In a rare moment of flair, he'd punched the emergency stop button and refused to punch it again until she'd said yes. Only after thirty minutes of tactful refusal followed by blunt refusal followed by invective had Donald given up and let the elevator descend. Even now he seemed hopeful. There was probably something to being that dumb, Victoria decided. Anything that let you ignore reality with that much persistence had to be helpful.

"Do we
know
those people?" Donald said, the first signs of his own irritation showing.

Victoria followed his eyes. Dennie was with two men in suits and two women, and she didn't look good. Then one of the women turned, and Victoria said, "Oh,
hell
." It was Janice. And the last time Victoria had spoken to her, Janice had not been a happy woman.

One of the suits put handcuffs on Dennie, and Victoria took Donald's arm and swung him around before he could see. Dennie in handcuffs would definitely be something he would discuss with Bond.

"Why don't we go talk to Bond about the land?" she said smoothly, steering him toward the bar. "Then I'll go see about Dennie."

"I don't know, Victoria," Donald said. "Why would I want to buy the land if you're not going to be with me?"

Victoria hated herself for what she had to say next. "You give up too easily, Donald." He brightened, and she picked up their pace. "Now get in there and buy that land."

"Okay, hold it," Dennie said before the second suit had finished his recitation of all of the things she had a right to. She turned to Tom and the brunette. "I don't know what your deal is, but I'll get to you in a minute." Then she turned back to Janice. "But your deal I know, and you should be ashamed."

"
I
should be ashamed." Janice's brows snapped together. "You have been
pursuing
me—"

"I have left you alone and done everything in my power to reassure you," Dennie snapped back. "But that's not the point. The point is, talk is cheap, lady. You make big speeches about risking, and then you turn tail and run the minute the most important risk of your life is in front of you." Dennie shook her head. "I really
admired
you. One of the reasons I wanted that interview was because I wanted everybody to know how smart you were, about life and relationships, and how the end of a marriage doesn't mean it was a failure, and about everything else you know that I don't and that nobody else does, either, and I wanted to be the one to help you tell them. And then you pull this."

Janice didn't look convinced. "I'm not the one in trouble here," she told Dennie. "You're not going to fast-talk your way out of this."

"I'm talking truth." Dennie leaned forward. "And you are the one in trouble here.
I'm
the one who could help you out if you weren't shoving your head so far into the sand."

"Just get her out of here," Janice said to the second suit tiredly. "I just want her away from me."

Dennie's temper spurted. "Oh, and for the record, you remember that crack you hit me with in the elevator about reputable journalists not eavesdropping?"

Janice tried to level her with a glare. "I remember nothing about you."

"Well, you're a hypocrite on top of everything else," Dennie said, her voice rising as the second suit tried to tug her away. "Because I read about your first scoop, and you got it by overhearing two diplomats on a commuter train. You must have been something back then."

Suit Two tugged on her arm, and then someone caught her other arm and she swung around to face the new problem.

"Handcuffs," Alec said. "This is a good look for you, but more about that later." He smiled at the two suits. "Gentlemen, I sympathize with your impulses, but you're going to have to uncuff her. She's working for me, and you're screwing up a very nice party here."

Dennie craned to look over his shoulder. Victoria and Donald were talking to Bond, Victoria all but bending over the table to distract him. With Alec between her and Bond, there was a fair hope he hadn't noticed the handcuffs and the cops. But only a fair one unless they moved fast.

Tom was handing Alec back his identification when she turned to tell him to hurry up. "Well, this is interesting," he said to Alec. He gestured to the brunette. "This little lady has some information too."

Alec looked at the little lady appraisingly. "Hold on to her, will you?" he said to Tom. "I think we may have some information of our own."

"I want a deal," Sheree said.

Dennie sat down at the table in a flurry of purple jersey, praying the fourth button would hold or she'd get arrested again. "Sorry," she said to Bond. "We were up late last night."

Bond smiled back into her cleavage. "I heard. I bet that doesn't happen often."

Dennie heard Alec stir beside her and kicked him on the ankle to make him behave. "Only when I get a house," she said. "I am getting one, right?"

"Right." Bond tore his eyes from her breasts with great difficulty and shoved the contract across to Alec.

"
Great
deal," Alec enthused, and signed with a flourish.

Dennie took the contract and handed it to Bond, leaning closer as she did so. "I want to watch you sign it," she whispered.

He straightened a little and shot a smile around the room. Then the smile faded. Dennie followed the direction of his eyes and saw Sheree, somehow detached from Tom, walking as fast as she could toward the lobby doors.

"Brian?" Dennie said, and leaned closer. "Honey?"

He turned and looked directly into her cleavage. "I thought I saw somebody I knew," he said, his eyes moving from Dennie's breasts to Sheree's retreat and back to Dennie's breasts again.

Oh, hell
, Dennie thought, and drew in as deep a breath as she could, filling her lungs all the way to her toes. The fourth button popped, and she said, "Whoops," and shoved the pen in Bond's hand. "Sign it, honey."

He signed.

"From now on, you wear turtlenecks," Alec said.

An hour later, Dennie's life was a little simpler. Bond had been taken downtown for further questioning—"Like the next fifteen years," Alec said—and Sheree had finished explaining her bolt—"I was so nervous, I just needed some fresh air"—and Donald was making his move on Victoria once more, which was vaguely amusing since this time it wasn't Dennie's trauma.

"How clever of you to trick this Bond fellow," Donald was saying to Victoria. "Although you really should have told me. I could have been a great help."

"You were a great help, Donald," Victoria said, looking around for someone. "I'm going to miss you."

"Nonsense," Donald said. "I realize now that the argument we had in the elevator was because you were distracted by all of this. You'll marry me yet, you'll see."

"Actually, she probably won't," Alec said, coming to stand beside Dennie. "Aunt Vic is married to her career. Nice try, though, Mr. Compton. Best of luck in the future."

Dennie leaned against him a little, and his arm went around her. He'd rescued her, he'd been there when she'd fallen, just as he'd promised.

For some reason, Dennie wasn't as grateful about that as she thought she'd be.

"Nonsense," Donald was saying. "A woman like Victoria should be married."

"That's what I thought," Harry growled from behind him. "That's why I asked her."

Dennie felt Alec's arm drop away from her.

"
Harry
?" he said.

"If you think I'm going to ask for her hand in marriage from you," Harry snarled at him, "you're nuts."

"Let me get this straight." Alec looked from Harry to Vic and back again. "You weren't around for the arrest this morning which is unheard of, and now you're marrying my aunt and moving to Columbus?"

"No," Harry said. "I'm marrying your aunt and going God knows where. Chicago is yours. I quit."

"You quit." Alec swallowed, and then he looked at Victoria. "You're going to take Harry onto a college campus with you."

"No, I quit too," Victoria said.

Dennie patted his shoulder. "Hang in there. Change is good for you."

"I thought that was trauma," Alec said.

"That too," Dennie said. "Say congratulations to your nice aunt and new uncle."

"Uncle
Harry?"
Alec said, and Harry said, "Oh,
hell
."

Another hour later and the lobby had emptied, Harry and Vic gone to catch a plane and Donald off to console himself with a drink and a sympathetic Sheree, who promised to tell him everything she'd done to save him when she'd turned state's evidence against Bond.

Alec was never happier to see people go in his life.

"I don't want another morning like this one," he said, putting his arm around Dennie and trying to steer her toward the elevators. "I think we should go upstairs to bed and start this day over."

"I can't." Dennie stood still, and Alec had to stop or lose her.

"Is this the Janice Meredith thing?" he asked. "Because I can fix that."

"I don't want you to fix it," Dennie said. "Remember that thing you said about catching me until I was ninety-six?"

"Yes," Alec said. "And I will."

"I don't want you to," Dennie said. "I want to catch myself. I need to know I can make it myself. Alone."

Alec felt cold. "I was with you until you got to the last word."

"Listen, all my life Patience was there for me." Dennie came closer to him until she was almost touching him, her eyes directly on his. "And then today you were there. But there was a tiny moment, only a couple of minutes, where I had to fight my own battle. And I liked it. I just never got a chance to finish it." She bit her lip. "I love you, Alec, but I have to do this first. I need to be on my own."

"How long?" Alec asked, and his voice cracked as he said it.

"I don't know," Dennie said. "Six months. A year. As long as it takes for me to know that I don't need you to save me. Then I can come back to you and just need you to love me."

He looked so unhappy that she almost relented, but just as she was about to give in, he stepped back. "Okay. How soon do you have to start?"

"Now," Dennie said, and he sighed and said, "I figured that. Janice Meredith?"

Dennie nodded. "She and the police are waiting for me in the manager's office. And you have to go downtown for the Bond thing anyway, and then you have a plane to catch. I heard Harry tell you so."

He said, "I can change the flight," and she shook her head.

"I need to get moving on this," she told him. "I'll call you when I get settled. I just need the time first."

"Right." Alec sighed and took a business card and a pen from his breast pocket. "This is my home phone," he said as he wrote, "and the business phone, fax, and e-mail are on the card. Call collect. And call often."

He sounded unhappy but resigned, and she took the card from him and said, "I'll call a lot." She stretched up and kissed him, and he caught her to him and changed the kiss from a good-bye into a promise, and she didn't ever want it to stop. "I have to go," she said when she finally pulled away, and he let her go, but then he called her name when she was halfway across the lobby.

"Button up," he said when she turned. "I don't think Janice Meredith is going to appreciate the effect of those three buttons the way I do."

Dennie laughed and buttoned up, and then she watched him walk toward the lobby doors and out of her life.
Just for a while
, she told herself, but there were no guarantees. Life was what you went after.

Armed with that thought, she walked into the manager's office and found Janice Meredith sitting there alone.

"I sent the police away," Janice said, still looking at Dennie as if she were roadkill. "But I'm still not giving you the interview."

Dennie put her hands on her hips. "I have a lot of excellent reasons why you should."
And I just put an excellent man an hold so I could tell you them
, she added silently. So
you're going to listen, lady
.

Janice relaxed a millimeter into her chair. "I thought you might. You have five minutes."