Nobody's Baby but Mine (36 page)

“You can’t have liked those awful roses.”

“It doesn’t matter whether I liked them or not. You should have talked to me before you took it on yourself to start redecorating my house.”

The tender lover she’d spent the weekend daydreaming about had disappeared, and uneasiness crept through her. She’d begun to think of this awful place as her house, too, but obviously he didn’t regard it the same way. She drew a deep breath and repressed her hurt as she struggled to speak reasonably. “I didn’t think you’d mind.”

“Well, I do.”

“All right. We can pick out some new paper. I’ll be happy to put it up for you.”

A look of abject horror crossed his face. “I don’t pick out wallpaper, Professor! Not ever! And neither do you, so just leave it alone.” He snatched up his car keys from the counter.

“You want to leave the wall like that?”

“You bet I do.”

She debated whether she was going to tell him to go to hell or cut him some slack. Despite her hurt, she decided on the later. She could always tell him to go to hell later. “I made some homemade chicken noodle soup. Will you be back in time for dinner?”

“I don’t know. You’ll see me when you see me. Don’t try to tie me down, Professor. I won’t have it.” With that, he disappeared into the garage.

She sat down on one of the kitchen chairs and told herself not to overdramatize what had just happened. He was jet-lagged, upset about performing badly in the golf tournament in front of his friends, and that had made him surly. There was no reason to believe his withdrawal had anything to do with what had happened between them the day he’d left. Despite this morning’s churlish display, Cal was a decent man. He wasn’t going to turn against her just because she’d taken off her clothes in broad daylight and told him she loved him.

She made herself eat half a piece of toast while memories of all the reasons she’d been reluctant to let him see her naked came back to her. What if her fears had proved correct? What if she’d stopped being a challenge to him, and he was no longer interested in having her in his life? Two days ago, she’d been so certain he loved her, but now she wasn’t sure. About anything.

She realized she was brooding and got up, but instead of going to work, she found herself wandering through the house. The telephone rang, two quick tones that indicated a call was coming in on Cal’s business line, which she never answered.

As she passed the door of his study, the machine clicked on, and she heard a voice she remembered all too well. “Cal, it’s Brian. Look, I have to talk to you right away. While I was on vacation, I figured out how we can do this. Nothing like a white sand beach to unlock the brain cells; I’m just sorry it took so long. Anyway, I met with someone over the weekend to make sure it was possible, and it looks like we have a winner. But if we’re going to act on it, we should do it now.” He paused and his voice dropped. “I didn’t want to use your fax for obvious reasons, so I sent a report to you express mail on Saturday that explains everything. You should get it this morning. Call me as soon as you read it.” He chuckled. “Happy anniversary.”

She remembered Cal’s attorney, Brian Delgado, all too well: greedy eyes, arrogant carriage, disdainful manner. Something about the call disturbed her, probably that gloating note she’d heard in his voice. What an unpleasant man.

She glanced at her watch and saw that it was nine o’clock. She’d already wasted too much time this morning brooding, and she wasn’t going to add Brian Delgado’s call to her worry list. Returning to the kitchen, she poured herself a mug of coffee and carried it to her room, where she turned on her computer and logged in.

The date flashed, and the hair on the back of her neck prickled. For a moment she didn’t understand why, but then she finally took in what she was seeing, and it came to her.
May 5
. She and Cal had been married two months ago today.
Happy anniversary
.

She pressed her fingertips to her lips. Was it a coincidence? She remembered Delgado’s gloating.
I didn’t want to use your fax for obvious reasons . . .
What obvious reason? The fact that she might read this mysterious report before Cal saw it? She jumped up from her chair and went down to the study, where she sat behind the desk replaying the message and thinking.

Shortly before ten, the FedEx carrier arrived. She signed for the package, then carried it into Cal’s study. Without a moment’s hesitation, she ripped it open.

The report was several pages long and contained numerous typos, indicating that Delgado had probably prepared it himself. No wonder. Heartsick, she read every damning detail of Delgado’s proposal and tried to absorb the fact that all the time Cal had been making love to her, he’d also been plotting revenge.

Over an hour passed before she could bring herself to go upstairs and pack. She called Kevin and asked him to come over. When he saw her packed suitcases, he immediately began to protest, but she refused to listen. Only after she threatened to carry the computer downstairs herself did he finally do as she wanted and load it into her car. Afterward, she made him leave, then she settled down to wait for Cal to come home. The old Jane would have slipped away, but the new one needed to face him down for the last time.

Cal spotted her through the sliding doors in the family room as she stood in the backyard looking up at Heartache Mountain. Muscles he hadn’t even realized were tense began to ease. She was still here.

He’d been working out at the Y when Kevin had burst into the weight room with the news that his wife had packed up her computer and was getting ready to head back to Chicago. It had taken Kevin a couple of hours to track him down, and as Cal had sped home, still dressed in his sweat-soaked T-shirt and gray athletic shorts, he’d been terrified she might already have gone.

He still didn’t understand why she wanted to do something so drastic. Granted, he’d been surly and rude this morning. He’d regretted it ever since, and he’d already made up his mind to get back in plenty of time to eat her homemade chicken noodle soup. But Jane wasn’t one to run from a fight. He could easily imagine her taking a cast-iron skillet to his head, but he couldn’t imagine her just packing up and leaving.

Now she stood below him, all buttoned up and battened down, and it occurred to him that the only person he knew whose clothes were as neat as hers were his younger brother’s. She’d chosen one of those high-waisted cotton dresses to travel in, a creamy buttery color, with big tan buttons going all the way up the front. It fit her so loosely no one could tell she was pregnant, but she somehow still managed to look tidy and trim. The dress’s full skirt covered most of her legs, but not those slender little ankles or the narrow feet tucked in a pair of simple leather sandals.

A tortoiseshell headband held her hair neatly back from her face. He watched the sunlight play in the golden strands and thought how pretty she looked. She was a classic, his wife, and as he watched her, he felt a jumble of emotions: tenderness and lust, confusion and resentment, anger and longing. Why did she have to go and get all temperamental on him now? One bad disposition was more than enough for any family, and that bad disposition belonged to him.

But his disposition wasn’t the real problem. A couple of hours in the bedroom, and he could make her forget all about what a prick he’d been this morning, let alone any asinine ideas she had about going back to Chicago. No, the real problem lay deeper. Why did she have to tell him she loved him? Didn’t she understand that once those three words were spoken, nothing could ever be the same?

If only she’d come into his life ten years earlier, before he’d had to deal with getting older and the fact that he couldn’t see anything but a blank space waiting for him after he stopped playing ball. It was easy for the Professor to think about settling down. She had worthwhile work to do that would keep her busy for the rest of her life. He didn’t, and now he couldn’t get past the feeling that his life was careening in a direction he wasn’t ready for it to take, a direction that might suit Bobby Tom Denton, but sure as hell wasn’t right for him.

As he reached for the handle on the sliding glass door, he felt certain of only one thing. Jane had worked herself into a serious snit, and the best place to coax her out of it was under the sheets. But before he could get her there, he had some serious making up to do.

“Hey, Professor.”

Jane turned toward Cal’s voice and shaded her eyes with her hand. He was rumpled, sweat-stained, and gorgeous as he walked out on the deck. Something caught in her throat, something large and painful that made her feel as if she were choking.

He leaned on the rail and gave her a wolfish grin. “I’ve been working out, and I haven’t had time to shower, so unless you’re in the mood for some really raunchy sex, you’d better run upstairs right now and turn that water on for me.”

She pushed her hands in the pockets of her dress and slowly mounted the wooden stairs. How could he behave like this when he had done something so unforgivable?

“Brian Delgado called this morning.” She stepped onto the deck.

“Uh-huh. What say you get right in the shower with me so you can scrub my back?”

“Delgado sent you a report. I read it.”

That finally got his attention, although he didn’t look particularly alarmed. “Since when did you get interested in reading about my contracts?”

“The report’s about me.”

His grin vanished. “Where is it?”

“On your desk.” She looked him square in the eye and tried to swallow the bubble of pain that choked her voice. “You need to make a decision about me right away because you only have two days before the Preeze board of directors meets. Luckily, your attorney’s already done the initial work. He’s met with Jerry Miles, and the two of them have most of the sordid details sketched out. All you need to do is sign a check with lots of zeros.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Don’t you dare lie to me!” She balled her hands into fists. “You told Delgado to ruin me!”

“I’m going to call him right now and straighten this out. It’s a misunderstanding.” He turned toward the sliding doors, but she moved forward before he could open them.

“A misunderstanding?” She couldn’t hide her bitterness. “You give your attorney orders to destroy my career, and you call that a misunderstanding?”

“I never told him that. Just give me an hour, and then I’ll explain everything.”

“Explain it now.”

He seemed to realize she deserved something more, and he moved away from the door toward the deck railing. “Tell me what was in that report.”

“Delgado set it up with Jerry Miles, the director of Preeze, that you’ll give the labs a grant on the condition that they get rid of me.” She took a deep, unsteady breath. “Jerry’s waiting to hear from you before he fires me, then he’s planning to announce your generosity to the board of directors when they meet on Wednesday.”

Cal cursed softly under his breath. “Wait till I get hold of that son of a bitch. This isn’t the first time Delgado’s gone off half-cocked.”

“You’re saying this whole thing is his idea?”

“Damn right it is.”

Emotion stuck in her throat. “Don’t do this, Cal. Don’t play games with me.”

Outrage flashed in his eyes. “You know I wouldn’t do something like this!”

“Then you didn’t have him investigate me? You didn’t tell him to find out where I was most vulnerable and use it against me?”

He rubbed his chin with the back of his knuckles, looking more ill at ease than she’d ever seen him. “That was a long time ago. It’s complicated.”

“I’m very bright. Explain it.”

He wandered back toward the sliding doors, and her heart sank as she noticed he couldn’t meet her eyes. “You have to remember how things were between us when all this started. I’ve never been a man to let anyone get the best of me, and I wanted you punished.” He tucked one thumb in the waistband of his shorts, then pulled it back out again. “I did tell Brian I intended to get even, and I ordered him to have you investigated so I could strike back at you.”

“And what did your investigation turn up?”

“That you don’t have any dark secrets.” He finally looked at her. “That you’re brilliant and dedicated. And that your work means everything to you.”

“You hardly needed a team of detectives to figure that out.”

“I didn’t know that at the time.”

“So you decided to take my work away from me,” she said quietly.

No!” He gripped the door handle. “After the first few weeks, I cooled off and dropped the whole thing. I let it go!”

“I don’t believe you. No lawyer would put something like this into motion without authorization.”

“He had my authorization. Not for this, but . . .” He pushed the door open and moved into the house. “I just never got around to telling him to back off, that’s all!”

“Why is that?” she asked as she followed him.

“We just didn’t talk about it.” He stopped next to the fireplace. “There were a bunch of other things going on. One of my endorsements got screwed up. The whole thing was a mess, and it took a while to get straightened out. Then he went on vacation, and I ducked a couple of his calls.”