Can't Buy Me Love (14 page)

Noah shot him an I-hope-you-know-what-you
’re-doing look, then reached for the phone.

Blake waited impatiently, alternately drumming his fingers on the edge of Noah
’s desk and jingling the change in his pocket. He was too nervous to sit.

“
I see,” Noah said into the receiver. “And when do you expect him to return? I see,” he said again.

Blake
’s apprehension grew as Noah left his name, phone number, and stressed the urgency of his call.

“
What’s the matter?” he demanded before his friend replaced the receiver.

“
It seems that Master’s doctor advised him to take it easy for a while so he booked an extended cruise in the Mediterranean and can’t be reached. His secretary has promised to call me as soon as he returns.”

“
Oh, that’s just great.” Blake sank into the horse-shoe shaped leather chair where this whole mess had started. “He’s off playing shuffle board with the Greeks, and I’m living with a murderess.”

“
It is possible that you’ve misconstrued what’s happened.”

“
How can you misconstrue poisoned meat?”

“
And how can you prove that the meat was poisoned?”

“
It’s not just the ham. Don’t forget the car and the sewing machine. I’m afraid to go to sleep at night.”

“
Blake, you can’t prove Paige is responsible. In fact, this all could be a series of unfortunate accidents, and you could be going to these extremes for no reason.”

“
I’m not willing to take that chance.” Blake shook his head. “You want to know the worst part? I still have fantasies about a woman who’s trying to kill me. It’s morbid. I lie awake every night and wonder if all of this is just my imagination. And then I wonder if she’s lying awake and thinking about me while I’m thinking about her. I wonder if I go to her if she’ll take me in despite the contract, or if she’ll chase me around the bed with a butcher knife.” He sighed. “Either way, that woman will be the death of me.”

Chapter Thirteen

“
Paige, if you didn’t want to eat here you should have said something. We could have gone somewhere else.”

Paige met Maddie
’s gaze over her untouched plate. “This is fine, really.”

“
I only wanted to eat here, because I never have. If you didn’t want to, all you had to do was say something.”

“
Maddie, this is fine.”

“
Then why aren’t you eating?”

“
I’m eating. See.” Paige took a bite of rice to back her claim. Lately her appetite had been enormous, but today the food could have been sawdust and cardboard with a side order of Styrofoam and she wouldn’t have known the difference.

“
That’s the first thing you’ve eaten since the waiter brought our food. Now what’s the matter?”

“
Devin will be home from his buying trip tomorrow. He’s been gone three weeks, you know. He sent me a postcard from Mexico.”

“
How thoughtful. Is that what’s got you down in the dumps?”

“
I’m not down in the dumps.” Paige smiled to show Maddie just how happy she was, but her lips felt plastic.

“
Is it the new cook?”

“
Mrs. Elliot is great, though Blake hasn’t eaten at home since before Devin left.”

“
So that’s the problem.”

“
There’s no problem. I don’t care where he eats.”

“
Liar. Come on, Paige. Level with me.”

Paige sighed and put down her fork.
She never could hide anything from Maddie. They had been friends too long, had shared too much, and knew each other too well to keep secrets from each other.

“
I’m pregnant.” There. She said it, but having the words out in the open didn’t diminish the problem as she had hoped it might.

Maddie briefly closed her eyes.
“Please, tell me you’re lying.”

“
I did one of those home tests this morning, then I went to the doctor before lunch. But I don’t need any further confirmation.”

“
Paige, when?”

“
The night of my birthday party.” She laughed, just a small sound, more lonely than humorous. “It’s all so ironic. I wanted him to notice me, and he did.”

Maddie took a drink of her water then shook her head.
“Why didn’t you tell me?”

“
What was there to tell? It was only one night.”

“
The bastard.” Maddie slammed her palm down on the table, turning several heads in their direction.

“
Oh, Maddie, I appreciate your loyalty, but Blake’s not the only one to blame. These things just happen, I guess.”

Her lunch forgotten, Maddie leaned back in her
chair and studied Paige. “Are you going to tell him?”

“
Don’t you think I should?”

“
When?”

“
Soon.”

“
What are you going to do?”

Paige sighed.
“I know he’ll want this child, and I know I don’t stand a chance against him in court. He’s got too much money and too many high-placed friends.”

“
You think he’ll try to take the baby away from you?”

“
Maddie, his entire household staff couldn’t pass a background check. Do you honestly think he’ll abandon his own flesh and blood?”

“
We can always hope.”

“
No. I just have to tell him.”

“
And—” Maddie cocked her head toward some point behind Paige. “There’s no time like the present.”

Paige half-turned in her seat, then groaned.
“What’s he doing here?”

“
Don’t quote me on this, but my guess is eating.”

“
Why here? Why today? There has to be a thousand restaurants in Chicago. Why did he have to pick this one?”

“
So you do care where he eats.”

“
Maddie.”

The red-head merely shrugged.
“Montrachet is a good restaurant. Why not pick this one?”

“
Because I wanted to eat here.”

“
No,
I
wanted to eat here.”

Paige turned back around in her chair and tried to pay attention to her food and more importantly tried to forget that her husband was seated a mere half -restaurant away.

“So are you going to go tell him?”

“
Now?” Paige squeaked.

“
There’s no time like the present,” Maddie repeated.

“
I can’t go over there now. I...I...He’s probably waiting on someone. Yeah, that’s it. He’s probably meeting a client or a buyer or whatever it is he calls them. No, I couldn’t interrupt his business lunch. It may be very important.”

“
Well, I don’t know how important she is, but I can assure you she’s not business.”

Paige resisted the urge to look over her shoulder and see who had joined Blake at his table.
Probably nobody. This “she” was most likely just Maddie’s covert way of making Paige look.

“
And if I’m not mistaken, that’s Anna Rivera.”

“
Anna is in Africa.”

“
Not anymore.”

“
Maddie, I’m not going to fall for this. I’m not going to look and I’m not going over there.”

“
Paige.” Her friend’s voice turned soft with regret. “I wish this was a trick. But I think Blake was waiting on his ex-lover.”

Unable to hold out any longer, Paige turned just in time to see Blake bend his head and kiss the newly-returned Anna Rivera.

****

Blake lightly kissed Anna at the corner of her mouth, then lifted his head.

“I almost didn’t recognize you.”

Africa had changed Anna.
Her flawless features, once accented by the world’s finest cosmetics, were adorned only with the merest trace of pale coral lipstick and lingering sunburn. A band of freckles arched across a nose that her plastic surgeon was surely proud of and an insect bite adorned her left cheek where a beauty mark should have been.

“
Will you join me?” Blake pulled out a chair for her.

“
I can’t stay long. I’m meeting some friends for lunch.”

She sat across from him and an uncomfortable silence descended.
The months between them created a gulf that even their shared social standing couldn’t breach. Blake felt it in the coolness of her cheek and the lack sparkle that used to ignite between them. Funny though, he wasn’t saddened by the loss, but comforted. It was as if a chapter of his life had passed and he had moved on. So had Anna.

“
When did you get back?” Blake asked.

“
Last week. I’m sorry I didn’t call, but I just didn’t know what to say.” She worried with the wrapped silverware. “Cherry told me about the wedding. I wish you the best.”

“
You sound like we’re never going to see each other again.”

Anna smiled that knowing smile all females mastered in the cradle and all men went to the coffin still t
rying to decipher. “It’s funny how things turn out, isn’t it? I never wanted to go to Africa, but Father insisted. Now I’m so glad he did. I met a man while I was there. A missionary. I’m going back to Africa, and we’re going to be married.”

“
And what does the Congressman have to say about this?”

“
Father’s fit to be tied, but he can’t change my mind. I spent the first part of my life not caring about others. Now, I’m going to spend the rest of my life helping them.”

Blake tried to compartmentalize her words, but couldn’t help thinking how much she sounded like Paige. Wanting to help people, not caring about worldly things, not willing to take the job at
Caldwell. The entire concept gave him a headache, so he pushed the thoughts aside and said the one thing he could. “Stop by the office next week. I’ll leave a check with Catherine. Any cause that can change a person this much has to be worthwhile.”

“
Thank you, Blake. Your support means a lot to me.” Anna stood. “But I really have to go.”

Blake stood as well, taking one of her hands in his own.
After all she had told him, he shouldn’t have been surprised by the calluses, but he was. “Take care of yourself.”

Anna smiled, raised on her toes, and kissed his cheek.
“Good luck to you, Blake. And God bless you.”

He returned to his seat as Noah approached.

“Was that Paige?” Noah sat down across from him.

“
Really funny, Anderson. I know she’s changed a lot, but would hardly say that Anna looks like Paige.” Blake glanced back in the direction Anna had departed.

“
Not her.
Her
.” Noah turned in his seat and pointed toward the front of the restaurant.

There was no mistaking that seething turquoise gaze as belonging to anyone other than his wife.
“I’ll be right back.”

Blake caught up with her just outside the restaurant.
“Paige,” he called as she unlocked the door to her new blue Mercedes. She had originally refused to drive the car, so he had hidden the keys to her Volkswagen and given her no choice. “Why didn’t you tell me you were having lunch here today?”

She shrugged.
“You didn’t ask.”

“
We could have at least had a cup of coffee together.”

“
You looked a little busy.”

“
I was just waiting on Noah.”

“
Oh. Well, tell
Noah
that I’m glad his sex change operation was such a success. For a minute there I actually thought he was a woman. Anna Rivera, to be exact.”

“
I can explain.”

“
I’m sure you can.” She flung her purse into her car and started in after it. “The problem is I’m not willing to listen.”

For a minute there she almost sounded jealous. His heart warmed thinking that might actually be the case, but there was no way he could let her leave upset.
“I know what that looked like, but nothing happened. I just—”

The car door slammed on his words
, and Paige started the engine before he could protest any further. She shoved the car in reverse, then rolled down the window. “By the way. During the course of their experiments, the aliens left lipstick on your face.”

She punched the gas and barely missed running over his foot as she sped from the parking lot.

Blake re-entered the restaurant, trying to wipe away the traces of Anna’s innocent kiss from his cheek.

“
You’re just smearing it,” Noah criticized as Blake sat down at their table.

“
Why didn’t you tell me I had lipstick on my face?”

“
I didn’t see it at the time.”

“
Well, Paige did.”

“
Trouble in paradise?”

“
I would hardly call my marriage paradise. So tell me what you found out today.”

“
Not good.”

“
Let me guess. Daniel Masters, counselor at large, had a stroke while playing golf in Crete.”

“
Close. He had a heart attack while playing tennis in Capri.”

Blake folded his arms across the table and laid his head down.
“I don’t believe this,” he said his voice muffled against the sleeves of his suit coat.

“
Well, believe it. It was only a mild attack, if there really is such a thing, but he’s going to take a couple more months off to recoup.”

Blake lifted his head.
“I thought he went on this vacation to improve his health.”

Noah shrugged.
“I talked to the attorney handling Masters’ cases, but he wasn’t given authorization to handle any changes concerning your aunt’s will. He’s just supposed to contact you periodically and make sure that you and Paige are still co-habitating. As far as Masters is concerned, the case is closed until the annual report comes due.”

“
What am I supposed to do in the meantime?”

“
Make the best of it. At least there have been no further attempts on your life since the incident with the ham.”

“
So you finally believe she poisoned me.”

“
I didn’t say that, but whatever it is you’re doing with Paige, keep it up.”