The Pint-Sized Secret (12 page)

He promptly called and canceled his plans to meet Tyler for lunch, then set out to follow her.

In the heavy midday traffic, it was all he could do to keep her car in sight as she traveled across town. Where the devil was she going in the middle of the day? He knew her routine almost as well as he knew his own. She never left the office unless she had a lunch meeting, and she always scheduled those for a nearby downtown restaurant to save time.

Could she be going to meet her secret contact? Was that why she was heading to some obscure, out-of-the-way location, so she wouldn’t be spotted?

He warned himself to stop imagining things, to stick to the facts. The only fact he had was that she was in her car, heading away from Delacourt Oil. His conversations with the seller of those mineral rights hadn’t given him any evidence directly pointing to Brianna. Nor had his terse phone call to Jordan Adams, who clearly resented the implication that he had been involved in anything shady. After that conversation, Jeb had been thoroughly chastised by Trish and then Dylan, both of whom had assured him that Jordan Adams would never do anything underhanded.

“He bought those rights out from under us,” Jeb countered. “How did he know about it, unless someone leaked the information?”

“You’d have to ask him that,” Dylan said. “But I guarantee you he didn’t buy the information. His son’s the sheriff over here. Where do you think Justin got his sense of right and wrong? Jordan’s as much a straight shooter as you’ll ever run across. And Harlan Adams, Jordan’s daddy, is the most honorable man in the entire state. It’s his moral compass that guides the whole family.”

Jeb had sighed and let the matter drop. Maybe Jordan Adams had come by the information legitimately, but the whole deal still smelled to high heaven and he intended to get to the bottom of it before Delacourt Oil was ruined.

That brought him back to Brianna. He followed her for nearly forty minutes as she led him eventually into a more residential area with shaded lawns and lush gardens. When she turned into a gated drive, he slowed and waited before turning in after her. He paused long enough to read the discreet sign on the gate: Corcoran Treatment Facility.

What on earth was she doing here? He took note of the neatly tended grounds, the man-made lake that was home to several ducks, the park benches on which several uniformed nurses sat. There were patients in wheelchairs on the lawn as well, most of them adults, though surprisingly few of them senior citizens.

A rehab center, from the looks of it. For what, though? Psychiatric problems? Stroke or heart attack recovery? He’d never heard of the place, though it was evident that it was very exclusive and more than likely very expensive. Was this where Brianna’s money was going? Into care for…who? An elderly relative? An errant sister or brother? Maybe even the ex-husband she never mentioned? Maybe she was still tied to him by duty, if not legalities. There was only one way to find out.

After giving her a few minutes of lead time, he parked and followed her inside, then asked at the desk where he could find Brianna O’Ryan. “She just came in. I believe she’s visiting a patient.”

“Of course. She’s down the hall in pediatrics, probably in the sunroom. That’s where Emma usually is this time of day.”

Pediatrics? Emma?
Heart beating as wildly as if he’d been in pursuit of a hardened criminal, Jeb headed in the direction the woman at the desk had indicated.

In a large room, splashed with sunlight, he found Brianna bent over a pint-sized angel in a wheelchair. The child was holding a doll and gazing at it with something akin to awe.

“All the way from England?” she asked. “You brought her to me all the way from England?”

Brianna nodded. “She reminded me of you.”

In fact, Jeb noted, she did have the same golden hair, the same big blue-green eyes, though no doll’s could shine as brightly as the child’s.

Something Brianna said made the child laugh and brought his heart to a halt. Suddenly it all came together—the eyes, the coloring, the laugh. The child’s hair was strawberry blond, but he would have bet anything it would darken to Brianna’s auburn by the time she was an adult.

Her daughter,
he thought in shock. He knew it as certainly as if they’d been introduced. All this time and Brianna had never said a word about having a child. What did that say about their relationship? Why would she hide the fact that she had a little girl? Especially one she obviously loved as much as she loved this one? He had seen the adoration in the way she’d touched her daughter’s cheek, in the way her gaze had lingered on the little angel’s face, the way her own face had brightened at the child’s laughter.

Did his father know? Was that why his father wanted Brianna treated with kid gloves? Because he sympathized with the fact that she had a little girl in an expensive treatment facility? Whatever injuries the child had sustained, whatever the cost of her care, Jeb knew his father. Not only would he sympathize, he would see to it that the treatment was paid for by the company’s generous insurance plan. Brianna wouldn’t have to betray Delacourt Oil to get money.

So what the devil was going on here? He needed time. He needed to think.

Thoughts churning, he left the building, then almost got into his car and drove away, but something stopped him. He’d been way too busy the past few weeks leaping to conclusions based on faulty information and half-truths. It was time to get everything out in the open once and for all. Past time.

He crossed the parking lot, then leaned back against the side of Brianna’s car and waited.

It was an hour before she finally emerged from the building, her shoulders slumped, exhaustion written all over her face. When she spotted him, her footsteps slowed, but her eyes flashed with anger.

“What are you doing here?” she demanded, clearly displeased to see him.

“I could ask you the same thing.”

“What I’m doing here is none of your business. You had no right to follow me.”

“But I did,” he said, dismissing that much as a
fait accompli.
“So, who is she, Brianna? Your daughter?”

She stared at him, anger, confusion and misery mingling on her face. “You came inside? You saw Emma?”

He nodded. “We have to talk about this, Brianna.”

“No.”

“Yes.”

“Why? Because you say so? I don’t think so. This is my private life, Jeb. It has nothing to do with you.”

This time he was the one who felt a sharp shaft of pain cut straight through him. Now he knew exactly how she had felt in that hotel room.

“Really? I thought what happened in London brought us together,” he said, much as she had. The irony wasn’t lost on him, but he went on just the same. “I thought we were as close as any two people could be. Now I discover you’re keeping a huge part of your life a secret. What does that say about our relationship?”

“We don’t have a relationship,” she said flatly. “You proved that when you walked out on me without telling me why.”

“It’s not the same,” he insisted, despite the guilty pang that told him it was darned close to being the same. Still, he defended his actions. “That happened in an instant. It was something I couldn’t share at the time. I would have gotten into it eventually.”

“Would you?” she said skeptically. “Well, maybe I would have gotten into this eventually.”

Frustrated, Jeb raked his fingers through his hair. “Brianna, we have to talk about this. There’s more at stake here than hurt feelings.”

“Such as?”

“I’ll explain when we sit down somewhere we can talk. I won’t do it in the middle of a parking lot.”

“Some other time. I’m beat.”

“No, today. Right now.” He gestured toward the benches by the lake. “We can do it over there, if you prefer. Or we can go to your house or to a restaurant. I don’t care.” He leveled a look straight at her. “But we are going to talk about it. Maybe once the air is cleared, I can help you.”

“Help me?” she echoed, looking genuinely baffled. “Why would I need help?”

“We’ll talk about that as well.”

She stared right back at him, challenging him, then finally nodded as if she were too weary to fight him. “Okay, fine, but not here. A restaurant,” she said, as if she hoped that a confrontation in a public place would be easier. Or maybe simply to get him far away from her daughter.

He gestured toward his car. “I’ll drive.”

“But—”

“I’ll drive,” he repeated.

“You really don’t trust me, do you? Do you honestly think I’ll take off?”

“Right this minute, I don’t have any idea how I feel about you or what you’re likely to do,” he told her truthfully. “Bottom line, I don’t think I ever knew you at all.”

There was another flash of hurt in her eyes, but she dutifully climbed into his car, then pointedly turned her gaze toward the window with the clear intention of ignoring him until they arrived at whatever destination he chose.

Jeb wanted to say something, but nothing came to him. He felt as if he were riding with a stranger. And though the restaurant was only a few blocks away, it was the longest drive Jeb had ever taken.

He chose a restaurant where they weren’t likely to run into anyone they knew. It was well past lunchtime, so most of the booths were empty. A few people remained at the counter, but most of those were drinking coffee or eating a slice of one of the homemade pies on display in glass cases.

Brianna sat silently while Jeb ordered coffee for himself and iced tea for her.

“What would you like to eat?” he asked politely.

“I’m not hungry.”

Ignoring her, he ordered a salad for her and a club sandwich for himself. She noticed that he knew exactly what dressing she preferred, knew to order her tea unsweetened. How could a man who remembered such details know so little about the kind of woman she was? How could he not know how deeply she would resent his prying?

He reached across the table and touched her hand. The caress was brief, as if he knew he no longer had the right to assume any sort of intimacy but had been unable to resist.

“Tell me about her,” he said.

When she would have balked at the request, he added quietly, “Please. She’s a beautiful little girl. There’s no mistaking that she’s yours.”

Maternal pride swelled in her chest. “She is pretty, isn’t she? You should have seen her before…” she began, but her voice trailed off.

“Before what?”

She hesitated, then gave a mental shrug. What was the harm now? He already knew the most important part, that she had a little girl.

“Her name is Emma,” she said at last. “She’s five.”

“How long has she been at the rehab center?”

“For a year now.”

He was clearly shocked. “That long? How terrible for you both.”

“Her injuries were severe.”

“What happened?”

She drew in a deep breath, then told him about the accident, about Larry’s desertion, about being fired and, eventually, about Emma’s long-term prognosis. “She will walk again,” she said fiercely. “No matter what I have to do, no matter what it costs, she will walk.”

“No wonder you don’t talk about your marriage,” he said. “And no wonder you despise Max Coleman. The two men who should have stood beside you during all of this abandoned you.”

“Which just proves how lousy my judgment is,” she said pointedly.

He flushed guiltily. “And by tailing you today, I haven’t exactly proved myself to be someone you could trust either, have I?”

There was a hint of contrition in his voice, and she responded to that. She still didn’t understand what had motivated him to do what he’d done, but maybe it had been nothing more than curiosity. “It’s understandable, I suppose. I lied to you. I’ve been lying to everyone at Delacourt, except your father. He’s known from the beginning. In case you didn’t know it, he’s an incredible man. He didn’t have to hire me. Nor did he have to take on his insurance carrier to make sure Emma got the care she needed, but he did all of that. I will never forget that.”

“So the accident, all of it, happened before you came to Delacourt Oil?”

She nodded.

“Why did you insist on the secrecy? It doesn’t make sense,” Jeb said. “Being a single mom isn’t something to be ashamed of. And surely you’re not embarrassed about your daughter needing rehabilitation?”

“Absolutely not,” she said fiercely. That was Larry, not her. And yet, in her own way, hadn’t she been guilty of keeping Emma hidden as if she were ashamed of her? Wouldn’t that be a plausible interpretation for an outsider to make?

“What was it, then?” Jeb asked. “Why the silence?”

“It’s complicated. Your father brought me into a very responsible position. There were others in the department who probably thought they should have gotten the job. I had a lot to prove. I didn’t want anyone to think I couldn’t give it a hundred and ten percent.”

“So, this was all about professional pride?”

“More or less.”

“Why not tell me, though? Maybe not on our first date, but later?”

“The timing never seemed right.” She met his gaze. “I’m sorry. It wasn’t that I didn’t think you would understand. I guess I just got used to keeping Emma all to myself. After all, Larry abandoned both of us. I couldn’t take a chance that you might do the same thing—not for my sake, but for hers. Her self-esteem is already very fragile.”

“I guess I can understand that,” he conceded. “But don’t confuse me with men like Larry O’Ryan and Max Coleman.”

She wanted to believe him, wanted to believe that this was the end of it, but something told her that the trouble between them was far from over. That phone call hadn’t been about Emma. And she hadn’t imagined his reaction to her after receiving it.

“Okay,” she said, putting down her fork and meeting his gaze evenly. “I’ve been as honest as I know how to be. Now it’s your turn. What was that phone call in London all about? And why did you say earlier that you would try to help me? Why would I need help?”

He hesitated, then shook his head apologetically. “Sorry. I can’t get into it. Not yet.”

The warmth that had been in his eyes just moments before vanished. As if someone had flipped a switch, the same cool distance she had felt in the hotel room was back again. She couldn’t let it rest until she knew what had put it there between them.

“Why not?” she persisted. “I thought we were getting all of our cards out on the table, clearing the air once and for all. Or is that just a one-way street?”

“You’ve given me a lot to think about.”

“What does one thing have to do with the other?”

“I can’t explain.”

“Well, isn’t that just dandy? You turn my life into an open book, poke and prod into my privacy, but your life is off-limits.” She was suddenly struck by a thought. “Why did you follow me today? Was it just a casual whim or something more?”

There was a telltale flush in his complexion, but he tried to shrug off the question. “Impulse, I suppose.”

Suddenly she recalled the talk at Delacourt in the past when Jeb had taken off. He’d gone to help his brother, a well-respected private investigator. Carly had been fascinated. In fact, hadn’t she predicted that Jeb would one day abandon his father’s company to become a full-time investigator?

So, Brianna wondered, had the phone call been about another case? And if so, how in the world was she involved?

She met his gaze evenly. “I don’t think so,” she said finally. “It had something to do with that phone call, didn’t it? Are you watching me, Jeb?”

His gaze turned heated as he surveyed her with leisurely enthusiasm. “Absolutely,” he said. “You know I love watching you.”

She waved off the glib, all-too-male explanation. “I’m talking about surveillance.”

Tellingly, he refused to meet her gaze. His reaction was all but an admission that she had hit on the truth.

“That’s it, isn’t it? You were actually tailing me as part of some sort of investigation,” she said, fury mounting as the implications sank in. She regarded him coldly. “I think you’d better explain.”

“I’m not at liberty—”

“Cut the nonsense, Jeb. You’re the one who said I needed help. Why? Explain, or I will go straight to your father and tell him you’ve been harassing me, and if need be I’ll file suit. I can make a pretty damned good case, too.”

He looked shocked. “Harassment? You’re going to charge me with sexual harassment? What happened between the two of us was both private and consensual and you know it.”

This time around she was playing hardball. She wouldn’t lose another job through no fault of her own. Even though the circumstances were different, with Emma on the mend, she had her fighting spirit back.

“It won’t sound that way when I’m through,” she warned him. “I might not have fought Max Coleman when he fired me without justification, but I will take you and Delacourt Oil to court, if I have to. I’m not running this time, Jeb, so you’d better spill everything right now or it’s going to get very ugly and you are going to be right in the middle of it. If I know your father, he won’t be happy about it, either.”

“Ugly,” he echoed incredulously. “You want to talk about ugly? How about selling out Delacourt Oil? After everything you’ve just told me about how my father brought you in and helped you with your daughter, let’s talk about how you turned right around and betrayed him and his company.”

This time it was Brianna who stared in shock. “I beg your pardon.”

“I learned for a fact today just how clever you are at concealing things, Brianna. What’s the big deal about hiding a little corporate espionage?”

She was stunned into silence. When she could finally gather her thoughts, she whispered, “You think I’ve been leaking inside information?”

“Why not? Even with the best insurance, that treatment center must be costing you a pretty penny. You can probably use the extra cash. And what mother wouldn’t do anything when her child’s future is at stake?”

The words hammered at her, but what hurt more was that Jeb was the one uttering them. Brianna quivered with outrage. How could she have slept with a man capable of thinking such awful things about her? What he was accusing her of was reprehensible. For him to insinuate that she had hidden Emma’s existence because she hadn’t wanted anyone to guess how desperately she might need money was insulting, to say nothing of infuriating. Had he believed it of her from the beginning? Was that why he’d started seeing her in the first place, why he’d turned up at her house so often? It made a horrible kind of sense.

Jeb’s harsh accusation hung in the air. She stared at him in shock. She knew about the failed deals, the suggestion that the competition had had inside information, but to be accused of being a part of it? How could anyone think that, especially a man who knew her as well as Jeb did? Of course, right now, after today’s discovery, he must not think he knew her well at all.

Still, she faced him with indignation. “Excuse me? Maybe you’d better spell out just exactly what you think I’m guilty of.”

“You already know precisely what I’m talking about. Three deals have soured in recent months. One went bad just this last week.”

“And that’s what the call was about,” she guessed. And it was also why he’d said he hoped that it had nothing to do with her. Obviously he’d already tried and convicted her, though.

“That’s right. Somebody has to be leaking inside information. Only you, my father, Michael and Tyler knew about this deal. I know
they
wouldn’t sell out the company.”

“So obviously that leaves me,” she said sourly. She thought over the conversations she’d had with Jeb’s father about the two earlier deals. Bryce Delacourt had assured her it was just the nature of the business. He hadn’t seemed overly upset by the losses. Now she knew better. He’d had his son investigating her all along. Was that why he’d been so delighted that the two of them were getting close, because it put Jeb right in the middle of the enemy camp?

Then to compound their suspicions, right in the middle of his investigation yet another deal had gone bad. Despite their closeness, Jeb hadn’t even hesitated before blaming this one on her, too, because he’d been waiting all along for her to slip up.

“You believe I’m guilty, don’t you?” she suggested, her voice like ice, even though she was quivering inside. “After everything we’ve shared the past few weeks, after everything I’ve told you today about how much I owe your father, you still think that I could hurt your family like that.”

For an instant, he regarded her with obviously conflicting emotions. For one single moment, she thought he might say, “Of course not. I believe in you.”

Instead, when he finally spoke, he said, “I don’t want to, Brianna, but yes. I think if you were desperate enough, you would do anything to protect your daughter. It’s the only logical conclusion.”

It took every ounce of self-control she possessed to get to her feet with some measure of dignity and stare him down. “If you think that, then you can just go straight to hell,” she said quietly. “And take your stinking job with you.”

Outside, she was still shaking as she flagged down a cab. It had felt good to tell him off, even better to throw her job back in his face, but now what? What would she and Emma do?

“Brianna?” he shouted, racing from the restaurant just as she slammed the cab door and gave the driver directions to the rehab center, where she’d left her car. When the driver hesitated at Jeb’s shout, she met his gaze in the rearview mirror. “Go.”

“Whatever you say, ma’am.”

She managed to hold back the tears that threatened until she got into her own car. She fumbled with the keys, but finally managed to get them into the ignition. She was shaking so badly she knew she had no business driving, but the threat that Jeb would return here and force another confrontation finally steadied her nerves.

Rather than go home, which was obviously the second place he would look for her, she drove around until by instinct or chance she happened on the park where they had shared that first picnic. She pulled into a parking space, then climbed out of the car.

The day was every bit as lovely as it had been on that Saturday afternoon, the sky as blue, the sun as brilliant, but Brianna saw it all through a haze of bitter tears.