Kate Takes Care Of Business (8 page)

In a flash, Kate opened the other door. “Jump!”

Because of how they were jammed together, Kate had to push herself out first followed almost immediately by Jeff who fell on top of her. Bridget jumped out of the other door and toppled over on the road.

Sterling just stood there transfixed, staring at his prized car as it tipped down inch by inch it until it slid off the guard rail post. It tumbled over the edge of the cliff and rolled, side over side, smashing into a pile of boulders about one-hundred feet below.

Feeling bruised and betrayed, Kate picked herself up off the road and marched up to him. “How could you have been so selfish and stupid? You could have gotten us all killed!”

“Hey, relax everything worked out the way you said didn’t it?”

Bridget limped over to Jeff. “Kate’s right. You were supposed to open both doors at the same time, you asshole.” She grimaced. “Oww . . . I think I twisted my ankle.”

“A sprained ankle and a cut on the forehead. That’s the worst of it?” Sterling spat over the cliff and stepped back from the edge. “Then stop whining like a bunch of babies and let’s agree on the best story for the police . . .” He looked directly at Kate. “And our lawyers.”

Kate grabbed his arm. “We were speeding . . . and drinking. They’ll give us each a Breathalyzer and we won’t be able to deny it.”

Sterling twisted his mouth into a sly grin. “Right again, Kate, as usual. None of us will have an excuse . . . except you.”

Kate stared at him and gasped.
Are you really going to try and make me do this just to protect yourself?

“Why do you look so angry? It’s perfect.” Sterling stroked her face. “We pulled off in a secluded spot and partied too much, except you, good ol’ trustworthy, Kate, our designated driver who didn’t touch a drop.” He leaned in to kiss her. “Unfortunately, you were driving too fast and lost control but thanks to
my
quick thinking nobody got hurt. Our lawyers will love it.”

Kate pulled away from him. “Sterling, please, don’t do this.”

He pulled her close. “Kate, don’t you understand? With my record if I get a drunk driving conviction it will ruin my plans . . .
our plans
, my nomination to the board and eventually . . . taking over as president and CEO.”

Kate took another step back.
Oh my God.
Dad didn’t know half the story about you. This is what you wanted all along?

Bridget cried louder but no one paid any attention because they heard the police siren wailing now.

Sterling rushed his words. “Why do you think we had the summer house renovated? That’s where we’re going to live once we’re married . . . but none of that is going to happen unless we agree to—”

Kate cut him off. “What? Lie to the police? The lawyers? Our families?” She wanted to say
myself too
but she could sense the barely concealed fury beneath Sterling’s smile about to explode.

“Do what I say, Kate, and everything will work out for all of us. I promise I’ll more than make it up to you and your father later.” Sterling walked over to Bridget and Jeff. “But if you try to deny it . . .” He swept back his hair. “It will be three against one.”

Jeff groaned. “C’mon, Sterling, that’s harsh.”

Bridget pushed him. “Shut up. The cops are almost here.”

Kate was speechless with revulsion at Sterling’s ruthlessness. Still in a daze, she watched the police car pull up beside them.

Two state patrolmen stepped out. “Stay exactly where you are and don’t move,” instructed the taller one, his hand was on his holster and a flashlight on their faces. The shorter, broad-shouldered officer walked cautiously to the edge of the smashed railing and peered over. “Who owns that wreck?”

Sterling produced his wallet and handed it to the shorter officer. “It’s mine . . . I mean, it was. Pretty much a write-off now.”

The tall one lowered his flashlight. “If your vehicle is down there, sir, then how did you make it up here?”

Sterling lifted is arrogant head and smiled as though addressing the hired help. “Some quick thinking. I convinced everyone to jump before it went over.”

“That a fact?” the short one said. “It’s a miracle none of you were seriously injured or killed.” He stepped close to Sterling and leaned forward. “Have you been drinking, sir?”

“I can’t lie, officer, my friends and I have had a few . . . except her.” Sterling pointed to Kate.

The tall one examined Sterling’s driving license. “Then who was driving your vehicle, Mr. Hallman?”

Again Sterling pointed at Kate. “My fiancée, Kate Winslow, was our designated driver. I’d just proposed and we were in a rush to get our summer home to celebrate with our friends and that’s why she was speeding. Unfortunately, she lost control on the turn.”

Sterling stepped beside her. He slid his arm around her shoulder, pulling her cruelly close. “How about you take the Breathalyzer right now, honey, and show the officers we’re telling the truth.”

Honey?
Sterling had never called her that before. The terrifying implications of everything he had just said came back, assaulting Kate’s senses and rousing her from the numbness that had weighed her down since first getting into his car.

The tall one stepped toward her. “Is that true, Miss?”

Kate opened her mouth but the right words still wouldn’t come.

“She’s still in shock from the accident,” Sterling insisted. “She doesn’t know what to say.”

“Maybe, maybe not.” The tall thin policeman spoke thoughtfully. “But the way that car was being driven at high speeds and with the lights off . . . that required some real skill. Hard to imagine a young lady who’d just got engaged wanting to risk everything by racing like that.” He turned back to Sterling. “You’re Richard Hallman’s son, aren’t you?”

“Sure, but I wasn’t driving.” He squeezed his arm tighter around Kate’s shoulder. “Tell them,
honey.
”

That was it. In a breathless instant of release, Kate freed herself from Sterling and the whole, strange dreamlike lunacy of it all. “No, I wasn’t driving.”

Sterling’s eyes seemed to freeze open. He gasped and stared at her in stunned silence.

“Then who was?” the short officer asked.

“Oww, I think my ankle
is
broken. Thanks, Sterling.”

Everyone turned to look at Bridget. She was pointing at Sterling. “Bastard almost got all of us killed. He jumped out of car first and didn’t help even help the girls, right Jeff?”

Jeff just nodded and groaned.

“Shut up, you stupid bitch,” Sterling yelled. “She’s lying.”

“All right, folks, we can figure this out at the station,” the tall officer said. “I can put the cuffs on or you can agree to ride in the back and behave. Which one is—”

Everyone turned around in unison as another vehicle pulled up to the scene. The beige Jeep Sahara screeched to a stop. In all the confusion, Kate didn’t recognize it at first.

The driver door opened and Reid stepped out. Kate cried out his name, “Reid! Oh my God, Reid!”

In the next instant, he had bound from the Jeep and was beside her, holding her in his strong arms. He lifted her off the pavement and swung her around in his embrace. “Oh Kate, are you all right?”

“Yeah, I think so. Considering we almost died, I’m doing all right.”

His voice was hoarse. “Thank God.” He hugged her tighter.

“But how—”

Startled by the loud slam of two more doors slamming shut, Kate looked back at the Jeep.

Richard Hallman was talking to Sterling and the police as Kate’s father rushed up to her.

“Dad? What are you—”

He didn’t give her time to answer. “Kate . . . I’m sorry . . .” He hugged her. “I’m sorry I ever doubted you. It was my fault.”

“Don’t worry, Dad. I’m okay. How did you get here?”

“The same helicopter Richard chartered to New York. We were landing at the Hallman’s summer house, when the pilot heard the police report. He told us and my heart stopped. We landed and when you weren’t there we called the police.” He glanced at the shattered guard rail. “Thank God the house is only ten minutes away.”

“But why?

Dad looked bewildered by the question. “Why? Because I’m your father and I love you and I had to make sure you were safe.”

“No, I mean why did you take the helicopter here in the first place?” She glanced over at Sterling and his father. Richard Hallman was on his cell phone, likely to their lawyer. Sudden icy contempt flashed in Sterling’s eyes.

Reid took hold of her hands. “Lucille made them do it.”

Lucille stepped out of the Jeep’s front passenger seat and padded toward them in her trim black faille summer suit. “I’m so happy you’re all right, Kate. I was terrified.”

“I don’t understand. How did you convince Sterling’s father to fly you here?”

Lucille’s voice was mild as was her manner. “Sterling has much to learn about trust and responsibility if he ever hopes to stand on his own as a man. A desperate child will do and say
anything
if he’s fearful . . . and he’ll say it to
anybody
if he thinks it will help him get what he wants.”

Kate remembered what Sterling said in the car about seeing Reid again. A shiver ran down her back. He knees became weak and she leaned against Reid for support.

Dad looked at her, his face heavy with remorse. “I understand, Kate. You were afraid that you had destroyed my career and hurt the company. You were trying to make amends. And to think I was the one pushing you to marry Sterling so I could preserve by business ties with Richard.” He looked down at the road. “Can you ever forgive me?”

Kate hugged her father. “It’s all right, Dad. Let’s forgive each other and forget about it.”

Reid stepped beside Kate. “Lucille? Don’t you think you should tell her?”

The horn-rimmed wispy little woman did her best, blushing. “Kate, I know you think that I’m like some meddling busy-body aunt but I can’t help wanting to protect a family that has always been so good to me.”

“Lucille, thank you, but I don’t understand what you’re trying to say.”

“Yes, well. After the informal meeting yesterday between Mr. Hallman, Sterling and your father, I was cleaning up the meeting room when I noticed Sterling’s jacket over the back of a chair. Complaining of the heat, he had insisted they all go down to the bar for a refreshing drink and had left it behind without thinking, I suppose.”

Reid coughed. “Lucille? Could you hurry it up? It looks like the concerned officers are almost finished with the Hallmans.”

Lucille glanced nervously over at the police. “The cell phone in the pocket rang and, assuming it was Sterling calling from the bar asking for me to return his phone, I answered.” She and cleared her throat. “Unfortunately, it wasn’t. It was an e-mail containing . . . ahh . . .
personal
expressions
of gratitude . . . which is the polite way of saying it.”

Kate shook her head. “You read Sterling’s private e-mail?”

“Please don’t be angry with me, Kate. I recognized the name of the sender and I felt compelled considering the mess your father was in.”

Kate had sensed the anger hanging in the humid air when Sterling showed up at Maxwell’s. Sterling
was
a spoiled, selfish child. He had done this to get back at her because of Reid
and
her father because he was an obstacle to his sense of entitlement. If Kate didn’t say the name now she felt her teeth would explode. “Liz Presley?”

“I’m sorry, but it seems the young Mr. Hallman has much to say when it comes to pillow talk . . . and Miss Presley could not thank him enough, in fact, she sent a few . . . I would say . . .
encouraging
pictures of herself with promises of more
wild nights
once he returned.”

“I’m sorry too, Kate.” Reid added. “With all the competition, sometimes Liz won’t let the facts get in the way of a good story if she thinks it will get her more freelance assignments.”

Kate turned to him. “You knew about this and didn’t tell me?”

“No. I didn’t know then and you didn’t give me time to find out before you ran out the door with Sterling, and considering how angry you were would you have honestly believed me?”

Reid was right. Kate remembered the intensity of her anger and feelings of betrayal with a shiver of vivid recollection. She would have thought he was lying again and even worse, trying to blame Sterling.

“I’m not making excuses for Liz but she swears she didn’t make any off-the-record promises to him.” Reid looked over to Sterling and the police. “Simple truth is Sterling Hallman said whatever he thought would get your father voted out as president . . . and make you hate me forever.”

Kate’s father turned to her. “When I told Richard he was furious and didn’t believe me at first but we’ve known each too long to know when the other is telling the truth or not.”

Lucille glanced over the edge of the cliff. “Sterling must have been scared to death ever since the broadcast. He knew what would happen if his father ever found out.”

“You’re a lying bitch! Tell them Jeff!” At the sound of Sterling yelling, everyone turned to witness the tall officer escorting him in handcuffs into the back of the police cruiser.

The short officer closed his notebook with instructions to Jeff and Bridget to “stay put.” Richard Hallman was still on his cell phone. He looked up at Kate with a profound expression of loss and sorrow.

Reid’s reassuring arm drew her near. Still shaking from the accident, Kate dropped her head down on his shoulder, relaxing in the warmth and comfort of his nearness. “Reid,” she whispered. “I’m sorry I didn’t trust you.”

“And I’m sorry I was a jealous idiot. Let’s put all that behind us now, okay?” He guided Kate to the edge under some pines. They watched the surf break golden beneath the moon. “I’m not sure how everything is going to work out between us but I do know one thing for sure. I love you, Kate, and I want to be with you . . . only y—”

His last words were smothered on Kate’s lips sending shivers of desire racing through her. “I love you too, Reid.” Her lips still warm and moist from their long, deep kisses, Kate stared out at the breaking waves. There were no guilty shadows across her heart now. Yes, they were different in many ways but that was part of the reason she felt so wonderful and fully alive when she was in his arms.