Authors: Jennifer Morey
* * *
A week later, Autumn felt like herself again. Her head didn’t hurt and her wound was healing. She’d spent a lot of time with Leonardo and had grown rather attached to him despite his love of movies and the stars in them. He’d asked her lots of questions about her dad and the movie business but in a nonintrusive or overly awed way. He’d been interested, that’s all. The conversation had transported him to a place outside of his dying body, which had pleased Autumn.
Ever since pampering her the night she was released from the hospital, Raith came back late at night and generally avoided them. Going on eight tonight, he, of course, wasn’t here. She and Leonardo had just finished dinner. He had to leave the day after tomorrow to make a doctor’s appointment later in the week.
“What is your appointment for?” she asked.
He seemed to hesitate. “To discuss some experimental treatment.”
Carrying a magazine, Autumn moved from the kitchenette to the seating area where Leonardo had turned on the television and was watching a movie. “Is it promising?”
He looked up at her grimly. “I don’t see how. They don’t usually offer experimental treatment until they’re sure you’re going to die. They figure you have nothing to lose, so why not try anything? Human experimentation,”
She stopped near him. “What kind of treatment is it?”
“Apparently, something kind of new. It’s a pill that contains a chemical that theoretically gives your immune system a boost, tells it to attack a type of protein cell in the cancer. Works on some, doesn’t on others.”
“You don’t seem very hopeful.”
Leonardo smiled at her. “I’m as hopeful as a dying man can be.”
And he had nothing to lose, as he’d said. She didn’t say anything, but she felt as though he did have at least something of a chance. She’d heard about that type of experimental treatment. It did work on some. But Leonardo was right. It didn’t work on everyone.
The hotel-suite door opened. Raith was back early tonight. The sight of him gave her heart a lurch, painful and warm at the same time. She hadn’t seen much of him. He slept late and walked out the door as soon as he was ready. She wondered why he was home so early.
He walked into the suite slowly, taking the sight of her in and then his dad.
“Welcome back,” Leonardo said with a hint of sarcasm.
He didn’t approve of the way Raith was managing the news that she was pregnant. Autumn wavered between agreeing with him and not faulting Raith. It had shocked her, too. Maybe he just needed time to adjust.
“Anything new on Garvin?” she asked. Raith had said he was watching the man, hoping he’d lead him to the one who’d hired Leaman.
“No. He’s kept a regular schedule. Ralston, too.”
So, he’d been keeping an eye on Ralston, as well. Did the two men know they were being watched? Were they being careful?
Raith came to stand a few feet from her. She grew uncomfortable, unable to tell if the energy radiating from him was animosity or attraction.
Leonardo made a show of yawning and stretching. “Gosh, I’m tired.” He groaned as he stood. “I’m going to go to bed now. Good night, you two.”
“Good night, Leonardo,” Autumn said.
“Good night,” Raith echoed in his deep voice. He was still rather aloof with his father, but there was some warming going on there.
Leonardo disappeared into his suite and Autumn was left alone beneath Raith’s observant gaze.
“You look like you’re feeling better,” he said.
“Yes. Much.” She dropped the magazine she still held onto the side table by the couch.
“Good.”
When she straightened, they fell into a long stare. The issue of the baby made it infinitely more tense. Several more seconds ticked on.
“Raith...” She’d tried to talk to him before but he didn’t give her a chance. “We still haven’t talk about—”
“Not now.” He started to turn away.
She grasped his forearm. “Don’t you think we
need
to talk about it?” What were they going to do? They should make plans. Get an idea of what each expected and come to terms with whatever that was.
“I’m not ready to talk about it.”
She wasn’t ready to be a mother. “What if I am?” She let go of his arm. “What about me?”
He blinked his acknowledgment. At least he had empathy for her. “Why did you lie to me when you said you were on the pill?”
Although he asked nicely, she could see it upset him a great deal. Maybe that was why it was so hard for him to talk about it. “I didn’t...I didn’t really lie. I was on the pill up until two days before.”
His brow came down and Autumn was forewarned that he didn’t like that. “Why didn’t you tell me?”
She put her hands on her hips. “Why didn’t you think to use protection if you were so worried about getting me pregnant? That wasn’t all my responsibility. You played a part in that as much as I did.”
He sighed and pinched the bridge of his nose with his fingers.
She probably would have told him everything if that man hadn’t started shooting at her. “You don’t have to worry. You’re off the hook.” She began to regret coming to Houston.
He lowered his hand and pinned her with a hard stare. “What do you mean, I’m off the hook?”
“The reason I didn’t tell you about the baby is that I was afraid you’d feel obligated to...do something.”
“Like be a father?” he asked, his voice raised.
He seemed angry that he was being forced into being one. And how could she tell him that with him, trouble soon followed, and she wasn’t sure he’d
make
a good father. “I meant...the rest that goes along with that.”
“Family.”
“Yes.”
“Marriage.”
“Yes.”
His gaze remained hard.
“You shouldn’t commit to anything out of obligation. And I wouldn’t stop you from being part of the baby’s life.”
“Which part, Autumn?” Although he kept his tone calm, she sensed his tumultuous emotion. “The part where the media follows me everywhere? The part where my job is destroyed? My privacy?”
Understanding where his anger came from, she didn’t condemn him for it. But he wasn’t looking at the whole picture. “Think of all the traveling I’ll do.”
The quip didn’t go over well with him. His eyes grew stormy and his jaw clenched.
“Sorry. It’s just that I can’t feel sorrier for you than I do for myself. You talk about how the media will affect you. Well, what about me? Have you stopped to think how this is going to change
my
life?”
When he didn’t respond, she went on. “I didn’t plan to get pregnant, Raith. I didn’t ask for this. I loved my life exactly the way it was. When this baby is born, my freedom is gone. I’ll have to plan everything around that. I won’t be able to do whatever I want. I’ll have a baby I’ll be forced to consider. And then a toddler who will have to be enrolled in school. I can’t drag a child along with me whenever I feel like taking a job in another country. So don’t look at me and expect sympathy. You won’t get it.”
At last his anger abated. At last he began to see this from her point of view along with his. He wasn’t the only one whose life would be turned upside down.
“I don’t blame you,” he said. “It was just... I’m angry because it was such a stupid thing to do.” He shook his head. “That whole night. Stupid.”
Oh, is that how he thought of it? She tried to steel herself against the sting of hurt, but it got to her, anyway.
“I didn’t mean... I...” he stammered.
“No, you’re right. It was stupid. I’ve never done anything so
stupid
in my life.”
“I didn’t mean you and me.”
He was talking about the sex and nothing more. That placated her some. More than placated. He warmed her with that revelation, that admission of truth. “Did you think about calling me after that night?”
She saw by the way he blinked that he had. As that knowledge heated her blood, it also became too much to bear. If it had meant that much...
Him and her. Them. Together. Connecting powerfully.
“You didn’t call because you found out who my father was.” She clung to that. Surrendering to love with this man frightened her more than ever.
“Autumn. I—”
“You regret that night. And you wish I’d have never shown up in Houston. Believe me, I wish the same.”
The lack of truth in that statement hung between them. How could she regret a night that had lit her up inside like never before? And if she looked deep down inside, she couldn’t deny that she was glad she’d come to Houston. Even with all of the danger, at least she was with him.
“I don’t regret it and neither do you,” he said.
Autumn turned and walked to the window overlooking downtown Houston, folding her arms. She felt and heard Raith approach. He stood behind her and put his hand on her upper arm.
“What are we going to do?” she asked, speaking her thought aloud.
He lowered his hand. “I don’t know yet.”
Fair enough. At least he was honest.
His cell phone began to ring.
Autumn turned from the window and watched him answer. As he listened to the caller, his eyes met hers and intensified with something new.
When he hung up, he said, “Paisley has something for us.”
* * *
Autumn accompanied Raith to meet Paisley, who didn’t want to be seen, so she asked them to come to her mother’s house. They passed through a wrought-iron gate between two four-foot sandstone-colored brick pillars and walked up a narrow sidewalk to the taupe-sided, white-trimmed Queen Anne–style house. The roof gabled on the right and ran into a second story balcony. Stepping up to the covered porch that stretched the entire length of the house, Autumn noticed how Raith searched their surroundings to make sure no one was watching. No one was. Paisley hadn’t been followed and neither had they.
Autumn was at odds over Raith and the talk they’d had. She had received mixed messages. Was he angry that she didn’t expect him to feel obligated? That sort of suggested he was daddy material...
Or was he angry because of what he’d said—the media would destroy his life?
The door opened before they reached it and Paisley ushered them into the dark wood–floored foyer. A hallway straight ahead led past a stairway, and arched doorways opened to a living room to the right and a dining room to the left. Paisley took them into the living room.
Yellow walls and crown molding gave the room a crisp and modern appeal. A white sofa with brown-and-white pillows and two wooden accent chairs faced an oval coffee table atop a colorful mosaic area rug. At the end of the seating area the white wood trim of the fireplace rose to the ceiling.
Her mother sat on the sofa, hands clasped on her lap. Her dyed-blond hair was cut into a chin-length bob and she wore moderate makeup, blue eye shadow and blush, trying to conceal mild wrinkles.
After introductions were made, Paisley’s mother said, “I keep telling her to stay out of this. That boss of hers is no good. And he treats her so badly.”
“Mother,” Paisley cautioned. “I’m going to do this.”
“You’re trying to take down your boss, and I just don’t think this is the way to do it.”
“Mrs. Orman,” Raith said. “I won’t let anyone harm your daughter.”
The woman eyed him as though skeptical.
“He does this for a living,” Autumn said.
Mrs. Orman frowned. “Are you a policeman?”
“No. Something better than that.”
After a bit more wavering, Mrs. Orman said, “Paisley did tell me you were capable.” She gave him an up-and-down look. “And you do look it.”
“Mother.” Paisley went to an antique buffet table and retrieved a folder. She handed it to Raith.
Raith opened it up.
“I got this from one of the engineers at NV Advanced,” Paisley said.
Raith looked over what appeared to be engineering documents and something called a technical assistance agreement.
“I shouldn’t be showing any of this to you, but the engineer said this is the technology that he’s been asked to send to Singapore. He also said he doesn’t think the agreement that’s in this folder covers the export.”
Autumn and Raith had already suspected the technology was questionable to be sending to a foreign country for manufacturing.
“How did you know this engineer was working with this?” Raith asked.
“I knew who was working with the Singapore office. He was the only engineer, so I just asked him. He didn’t talk to me at first, but when I convinced him I had outside help—you—and you were investigating Nash Ralston, he changed his mind. He said Nash fooled him into sending unauthorized technology to Singapore. He said NV Advanced tried to get an export license for some data that included information on some new image intensifier tubes, but that was denied.”
“But they sent the data, anyway?” Autumn asked.
“Nash didn’t tell the engineer about the ruling and the engineer didn’t find out until after the exports occurred.”
“So now we have a national security issue,” Raith said. “Image intensifier tubes have to be highly sensitive U.S. technology.”
“NV Advanced would be fined millions and Nash himself could do prison time.”
“Why would he risk that?” Raith asked.
Paisley shrugged. “I wouldn’t know anything about that. I’m just telling you what the engineer said.”
Autumn was sure Raith hadn’t asked her that question because he thought she could answer it. Even if manufacturing components in a foreign country saved money, why would any company take that kind of gamble? Moreover, why would a CEO take that kind of gamble? Prison? Was any job worth that?
Raith was silent awhile as he thought things through. At last, he looked at Paisley. “I don’t want you involved anymore. It’s too dangerous.”
That seemed to please Paisley’s mother. She leaned back with a smile as she looked up at Raith.
“I have to go to work in the morning,” Paisley said.
“Do you have any vacation time?” he asked.
“Y-yeah...” she said warily. “Three weeks or so.”
“Take them. Stay here with your mother and don’t contact anyone at NV Advanced until I call you.”
Paisley looked concerned. “What do you think Nash will do?”
“Let us find that out. I need you where I’m sure you’ll be safe. Will you do what I tell you?”