Deal of a Lifetime (12 page)

Mike Buddswell! For the entire week, the former basketball star had been trying to worm his way into Tam’s good graces and her pants. Con had a few choice words for Mike. When they were through talking, the man would give up Tam’s address. She must have given it when she registered for the conference. It should be in the hotel files. None of the employees would violate a guest’s privacy, but the owner could and would. Especially, one who had the convenient principles of Mike Buddswell. Con would make certain Mike understood the advantages of giving out Tam’s address. Once in possession of that information, Con would plan his next encounter with Tam very carefully. She probably thought she’d pushed him out of her life forever. She was wrong.

Chapter Ten

For weeks, Tam spent too much time looking over her shoulder. Logically, she knew Con had no way of tracking her. Secretly, she hoped he’d find a way. Only in the past couple of days had she decided with some regret that she’d succeeded in removing him from her life, if not her thoughts. Finally she relaxed and enjoyed the small pleasures of her everyday activities in Phoenix. Like taking her daughter to school and bringing her home again.

A dozen times Tam had picked up her cell phone to dial O’Neal Corp.’s Chicago office, intending to tell Con about Susannah. Each time fear of losing her daughter had Tam breaking the connection before the call could go through. She couldn’t find the right words. As the days passed, the urgency to tell him faded. There was plenty of time. What she needed most was to focus on business and family. That was true happiness.

And she was happy. She told herself that every day. Even her aunt’s departure yesterday on her annual four week vacation—delayed to allow Tam to go to the Buddswell conference—couldn’t dim the joy of knowing Susannah was safe and content. Yes, Susa expressed disappointment that Tam hadn’t found a daddy so Susa could have a baby brother, but that disappointment was short lived. A few more weeks and school would be out for the summer. Susa would be home for most of every day. The only dark cloud on the horizon was the call Tam just received from the school nurse. Susa was running a fever and had developed a cough. Tam had been working from home, but she dropped everything as soon as she hung up the phone. Grabbing her purse and keys she started for the garage.

She put her hand on the kitchen doorknob; the front bell rang. Shoot! She didn’t have time for visitors or salesmen. Nonetheless, she did an about face. Her car was in the driveway. She could leave from the front of the house as easy as the kitchen. She hustled through the rooms, jerked the front door open and came face to face with…Con!

Shock drained the blood from her brain, making her dizzy, so she grabbed the doorframe to steady herself.

“Hello, Tam.”

“Con.” She forced calm into her voice. Pushing herself upright, she stepped forward, compelling him backward. “How did you find me?”

She pulled the door shut, locked it, then met him eye to eye.

One of his brows rose. “Locking me out already? You haven’t heard what I came to say.”

“You know I don’t care. I don’t care what you have to say. I don’t even care how you found me.” Speaking more for her own benefit than his, she pushed at the wisps of hair straggling into her face and hurried past him. Why hadn’t she taken more time with her appearance?

He followed her to the car, but he didn’t touch her. “I would have thought you’d drive something with more class than a minivan. What happened to the vintage T-bird you always wanted?”

“It’s in the garage.” She opened the car door, sank into the overly warm interior and breathed a sigh of relief. She’d made it. He hadn’t even tried to stop her. A worm of doubt burrowed a hole in her satisfaction. Why hadn’t he stopped her? She closed the door, buckled her seat belt, and put the key in the ignition. The engine roared as nerves had her flooring the gas pedal. Then she pushed the button to slide down the driver’s side window. “I want you gone. If I come back and you’re still here, I won’t get out of the car. I’ll call the police, then swear out a restraining order.”

Leaning one suit-clad arm against the van roof, he stared down at her. “I don’t believe you.”

She shrugged and released the parking brake.

Con stepped back, watching her drive away.

Tam struggled to calm her breathing. He’d called her bluff. He didn’t know it, but he’d won this round—won big. She would never subject Susa to the emotional stress and hoopla of calling the police, and Con wouldn’t leave. It wasn’t in him to give up.

When she and Susa returned, he’d know what Tam had done. Nothing she could do would prevent it. He could count well enough to figure out when Susa was born. In addition, Susa was the image of her father—that soft, straight black hair constantly dangled over her gray-green eyes. Her square jaw and the stubborn set to her shoulders were an exact match for Con. No way could he fail to know his daughter the moment he saw her.

Tam acknowledged the inevitable. With less than an hour to figure out how, she turned her mind to preparing Susa for meeting her father.

****

Con watched the woman he desired most in the world drive down the street, then turn a corner. Not until she was completely out of sight did he go back to the rental parked at the curb. He entered the SUV, turned on the ignition, and sat waiting for the air conditioning to cool the interior. Arizona in mid-May was a lot warmer than the Windy City. As his skin chilled, he wished he could cool his temper as easily. He’d been hard pressed to keep from dragging Tam into his arms and shaking her for all she’d put him through. Not just in the past four weeks, but for the previous seven years.

Forty-five minutes later, Tam’s van turned into her driveway. Con exited his car, heading for the van just as the garage door rose, even though Tam parked in the driveway. He saw the T-bird sitting in quiet splendor. The van door opened. Con rounded the back of the vehicle. Tam got out and opened the rear passenger door. She bent inside and lifted an object.

“Here, let me help,” said Con.

“No.” She straightened. A little black-haired girl rested in Tam’s arms. The girl’s eyes were closed, and her head was pillowed on Tam’s shoulder.

He stepped away. He’d expected a lot of things, but not this. “She yours?”

“Yes. Get the backpack and paper bag from the car, please.”

Tam walked away before he could say anything else. He followed her through the kitchen and set his load on the counter. Tam disappeared through a door near the end of a hall extending off the far side of the kitchen. A minute later she made a flying return, grabbed the bag, and disappeared the way she’d come.

Tam had a daughter
? From what little he’d seen, the girl could be anywhere between five and seven years old. Did Tam have an affair and get careless while they were living together? Was that the real reason she disappeared? The thought that she’d cheated on him made him sick to his stomach
. It’s not possible. Not Tam. She had too much honor to sneak around. But what if she had?
He tamped down rage and tried to think clearly. He wasn’t about to repeat the mistakes he’d made in Montana. If she deserted him for another man, where was he? Why then give herself like she did on the mountain? She was too honorable to cheat, although the child was evidence that Tam could and did love someone else. Any other possibility was either too horrifying or too incredible to believe.

Eventually she would answer his questions. More important than what happened in the past was what effect the daughter would have on his hopes to marry the mother.

He wandered from the kitchen toward the front of the house. As he went he noticed the deck and fenced pool in the large backyard, the quality of the furnishings and the considerable size of the house. Tam had done well for herself. Knowing her sharp mind, Con wasn’t surprised. However, on entering the living room he suffered a severe shock.

The room was fairly ordinary, though tastefully decorated with the usual sofa, chairs, tables, entertainment equipment. Pictures filled a set of wall-to-wall bookshelves. A formal portrait occupied space above the sofa. The image showed a seated Tam with her daughter, slightly younger than she must be now, standing beside her mother.

The shock came from seeing his features stamped on the girl’s face. That was his daughter smiling at Tam, no question. He’d never seen the same combination of black hair, gray-green eyes beneath night-dark brows, stubborn chin and thin nose on anyone but himself. His own mother was a blonde with soft round features. She said he looked like his dad. Since Con had never met the man, he couldn’t say.

Unable to resist, he reached out to trace his daughter’s smile through the glass covering the portrait.

“I guess I don’t have to tell you that you’re Susannah’s father?”

His hand dropped, and he turned to face Tam where she stood inside the room, her fingers twined tightly together. The number of questions he had multiplied by several hundred.

“Is she okay?” His daughter’s name was Susannah. He remembered telling Tam early in their relationship about his favorite high school teacher, Susannah Summersby. She’d shown him the magic of math and economics and set his feet squarely on the path that led out of the Chicago projects to where he was now.

“Yes. She has a cold and will be fine in a day or so. She just needs rest and a little coddling.”

“May I help?”
He had a daughter. Tam’s daughter
. He couldn’t quite wrap his mind around the idea.

“I don’t know. This might not be the best time for the two of you to meet.”

He set his jaw. The best time to meet his daughter would have been the day she was born. “If not now, when?”

“Sit down, Con.” She gestured at the sofa, then sat in an over-stuffed, armless scroll-back. “I don’t want to argue with you, but if I had my way you and Susa would never meet.”

“Why? I’m not a bad person, and I could be a very good influence.”

“Your ethics aren’t in question. They never were. We never discussed children. I was determined to finish my degree. Having a child changed everything and added stress. Your assistant did her work too well. Communication and trust were already destroyed.”

She looked out the window then sucked in a deep breath, as if preparing to face a judge. When she turned back to Con, he saw pleading in her eyes as well as resignation.

“I didn’t know I was pregnant until I became ill,” she continued. “In fact it was the pregnancy that made me ill. It was toxic.”

“A toxic pregnancy?”

“It begins as a bacterial infection which, if un-treated or incorrectly treated, can attack the liver and kidneys. The strain of bacteria I had was very strong and resistant to treatment. I was lucky to survive. Susa was even luckier, because the child is most at risk
in utero
. Add the trust issues your admin exploited and the insecurities that grew out of my parents’ marriage, and the wonder is that I’m talking to you at all. I fought so hard to keep Susa and myself alive. I was determined to prevent her from experiencing the kind of misery I suffered as a child.” Defiance overlaid Tamsin’s supplicant tone. She squared her shoulders and set her chin.

What could possibly make her so afraid? Was it him? Something he’d done? Yes he was angry, and with anyone else that would be cause enough for fear—not with Tam. Could she imagine he would hurt her or Susa for Tam’s lack of trust? The very idea pained him. “I wanted you, Tam. I have difficulty understanding why you would believe a newspaper report over what you knew of me from personal experience. Do you know how much it hurt to wonder what happened to you—how much it hurts to know you still have no faith in me?”

She imagined it hurt about as much his silence had hurt her, but she remained impassive rather than show any weakness. She was negotiating the deal of her lifetime, and any chink could be exploited.

“In Montana, you complained about me interfering in your life. What about your interference in mine?” Con asked. “You took all choice away from me.”

She felt the blood rush from her face. She couldn’t deny the accusation. “I did what I thought best for you, me, and my child.”

“Our child.”

Tam refused to argue over Susa. Her daughter wasn’t a toy to be squabbled about. “If I ignored that engagement announcement and saddled you with a wife and child, O’Neal Corp. wouldn’t be what it is today.”

“Am I supposed to thank you for being considerate of my business concerns?” He clipped his words.

She knew he wanted to shout. Hell, she wanted to shout. Being reasonable and calm wasn’t even on the list for how she wanted to behave.

“No,” she said sharply. “You’re supposed to listen. You want to know why I didn’t come back despite months of silence and that stupid announcement. It’s because I grew up with a father who was rarely home. The few times he was, he spent closed in his office on the phone. He never played with me, never listened to my childish troubles, never attended one school event, never paid attention whether I was with him or not. He was so busy making money that it killed my mother. Before I could graduate from high school, he died from a heart attack while on a business trip.”

“And you thought I was just like him.”

Open mouthed, Tam stared at him. Had she? It wouldn’t be odd if she had. Women tended to choose men very like their fathers.

Yet when she and Con lived together, she’d been certain he wasn’t neglectful or indifferent. They’d been working hard and creating O’Neal Corp. all those months. She’d wanted the same success Con wanted and had achieved. They’d been like partners every step of the way.

Recalling past events now, she realized Con’s total absorption in work and business throughout their time together had begun to undermine her faith in their continued relationship. She’d made terrible mistakes.

She shook her head. “You’re nothing like him.”

“Damn right. I never neglected you in all the time we were together. You were my partner, not just some intern; my friend, not just a lover. Keeping Susa away from me was a despicable thing. Why did you?”