Our Little Secret (4 page)

“Lauren, are you listening? I want you here. Do I have to spell it out for you?”

Bingo!
She chuckled, relieved that she’d figured it out. Relieved, too, that the secret doubts she’d had about their relationship might be so easily solved. “No, you don’t. I understand. You think we need more quality time together, and I couldn’t agree more. In fact, I’m in the mood for some quality time with you right now.”

“Good.” He sounded happier already. “Then you’ll come home right away?”

He was more eager to expand their sex life than she’d thought. “As soon as I can.” Trying for an appropriately playful mood, she asked, “Do you have something planned already?”

“I will, just as soon as we get off the phone.”

Trust Jeff to plan everything, even sex. He’d never do anything kinky, but she had to admit to some curiosity. “Give me a hint. Is it something we’ve never done before?”

“Sure, if that’s what you’re in the mood for. I can probably find someplace we haven’t been.”

“That shouldn’t be hard.” Jeff wasn’t good at thinking outside the box, and the box was his bedroom.

“Well, I suppose if we drive to another town…”

She actually frowned at the phone before putting it back to her ear. “Another town? What are you talking about?”

“I’m talking about rescheduling our dinner with my parents. What are
you
talking about?”

“Sex! I’m talking about our sex life, Jeff.”

Silence filled several seconds. Then several more. “Excuse me?”

She sighed, feeling defeated before she began, but unwilling to back down. “Our quality time together—get it? I think you should take me to bed more often.”

She waited through another long pause. “I thought you were happy with our sex life.”

She couldn’t help noting that he hadn’t jumped at the chance for more sex. “I just thought I would enjoy having more. That I might be even happier with more. Is that too much to ask?”

“Um, no. It’s fine. What night of the week were you thinking of?”

That wasn’t the level of enthusiasm she’d been hoping for. She was fairly certain if Drew’s girlfriend demanded more sex, he wouldn’t ask her what night of the week. He’d probably do it right then and there.

Don’t think about that.

“It doesn’t matter when, Jeff. For God’s sake, just pick a night.”

“Fine. Um, fine. How about we discuss it during our vacation?”

“Fine.” She didn’t mind putting it off. The idea was already beginning to lose its charm.

“You will be back in time to salvage our trip, won’t you, Lauren? You only have two weeks off work, and we’ve already lost one day we can’t make up. Maybe two.”

It was a valid complaint, but somehow it sounded petty when Jeff said it. “I don’t want to talk about it tonight, Jeff.”

“What will you do tomorrow if Meg doesn’t call?”

“I don’t know. Why don’t we wait and see what happens?”

“You need to change your plane reservations as soon as possible, Lauren, or it’ll cost you a fortune.”

Lauren usually found Jeff’s frugal common sense admirable, but it didn’t seem to be the most important consideration right now. “I know, I just don’t want to think about it now.”

“I need to know your itinerary so I can schedule our dinner with Mom and Dad.”

Lauren squeezed her eyes shut. “I have a splitting headache, Jeff. I’ll call you tomorrow.” She hung up before he could reply. A minute later she realized the headache hadn’t been a lie and searched her purse for aspirin before crawling into bed.

Incredibly, she slept a full nine hours. With the early spring sunrise still a gray line in the eastern sky, she made as little noise as she could, washing and dressing.

It didn’t matter. When she padded silently downstairs in stocking feet, lights blazed in several rooms. She heard the low rumble of Drew’s voice from the kitchen, followed by Gerald’s softer tone.

She found them standing at the granite-topped island. Lauren took in Drew’s disheveled hair and Gerald’s tie-less shirt, with open collar and rolled sleeves.

“Have you two been up all night?”

They exchanged looks, as if her question required consultation. Drew came up with the answer. “Yes.”

She didn’t need a premonition to guess that something was wrong. A quick stab of fear sent a shiver through her as she walked to Drew’s side, refusing
to think about why standing next to him might offer reassurance.

“What is it? Have you heard from Meg?” An icy feeling gripped her stomach. “Is she okay?” At least a dozen more questions flew through her mind in the second before Drew shook his head.

“No, we haven’t heard from her.”

Maybe no news is good news, she told herself. “Senator Creighton?” she asked.

Across from her, Gerald shook his head.

“Then what?” She looked from Drew’s weary face, unshaven and shadowed with stubble, back to Gerald’s pinched expression. “What were you doing all night?”

“Searching the house,” Drew told her. “We hoped there might be a letter, or a notation on the computer, something that would hint at where they’d gone.”

They wouldn’t look this concerned if the search hadn’t been successful. “You found something,” she guessed.

“Not right away. Not until Gerald thought to check the safe. Meg told him she was going to the bank when she left here, and she’d been in Dad’s office, so we thought—”

“
You
thought,” Gerald corrected.

Lauren suddenly realized where this was going. The icy dread inside her mixed with hot anger as she turned toward Drew. “You son of a bitch. You thought she might have stolen something from the safe?”

He didn’t flinch. “It was a logical possibility.”

A rush of fury pulled Lauren’s hands into tight fists at her sides. With her remaining fingernails biting into her palms, she growled at him, “No, it’s not logical,
not if you know Meg. My sister would
never
steal.” She whipped her head toward Gerald. “You claim to know her. Did you really think Meg would do something like that?”

Pain creased Gerald’s forehead. “No, I didn’t.”

A tiny wave of relief washed over her. At least someone believed in Meg.

Gerald’s sad gaze shifted toward Drew. “I still don’t.”

Responding to the defeat in his voice, Lauren’s stomach clenched with dread. “Still?” She turned back to Drew, nearly shrinking from the hesitation in his eyes.

“Lauren…” Drew began.

She shook her head to emphasize the denial because she knew her voice would sound weak. “No. She wouldn’t.”

Drew’s voice was as hard as steel. “I’m sorry. But she did.”

She didn’t believe him. He wasn’t sorry. And Meg certainly hadn’t stolen anything from Harlan Creighton’s safe.

“Andrew,” Gerald scolded. “You don’t know that for sure.”

“You said yourself, the key was there two days ago. Now it’s gone.”

Lauren frowned. “What key? I thought you were talking about money.”

“All the money’s there,” Gerald told her, with a meaningful glance at Drew. “Three thousand dollars. She didn’t take it.”

“No, she aimed higher,” Drew said. “A fortune in jewelry, left to Miranda and me by our mother. It’s in a safety deposit box, and one of the keys to that box is missing. It was in the safe.”

“And you think Meg took it?” Her voice fairly squeaked with outrage. “Do you have any idea how incredibly stupid that is?”

Drew closed his eyes. “No, but I’m sure you’ll tell me.”

“Damn right.” She poked his chest for good measure, ramming her finger into a solid wall of muscle. “My sister is the most honest person I know. She might be a little irresponsible at times, and she might go to a lot of parties, and spend too much money on clothes instead of saving it, and go out with the wrong kind of men—”

Lauren noticed Drew’s interested look and changed direction. “The point is, Meg would never do anything to harm anyone else. She wouldn’t lie, she wouldn’t cheat, and she certainly wouldn’t
steal
.”

“That’s a moving testimonial,” Drew said. “But it’s not proof. I’ve met plenty of women in this town who are nice on the surface, but that doesn’t stop them from being manipulative gold diggers beneath it.”

Lauren flushed with anger. “My sister isn’t a gold digger.”

“I guess time will tell, won’t it? Either the newlyweds show up together with an explanation for the missing key, or my dad shows up alone, while his new wife scampers off with the spoils of her brief but profitable marriage.”

She refrained from hitting him, but just barely. “And your dad’s office still hasn’t heard from him?”

“It happens. You’re talking about the Playboy of the Potomac.”

Gerald sighed. “In other words, we wait.”

Great. Another day of listening to Drew’s cynical views on women in general, and Meg in particular. Or, worse yet, risking the disturbing effect of his quiet blue gaze piercing hers. Causing the very sort of wild feelings Meg sought from life, and look where that had
gotten her—married to a notorious, skirt-chasing playboy twice her age, raising eyebrows and suspicions, and leaving it to sensible Lauren to straighten out the mess.

No, thank you. Lauren would choose her perfectly ordered life over that sort of chaos any day. In fact, she’d be glad to go home right now and leave Drew to break up the misguided marriage if it weren’t for the fact that Meg’s disappearance had Lauren worried.

She’d stay just long enough to ensure that Meg was safe. Jeff wouldn’t like it, but he’d understand that it was the responsible thing to do. In fact, he’d just lectured her on the virtue of taking responsibility.

Thank goodness she was engaged to a reasonable man.

And in the meantime, she didn’t have to listen to Drew’s cynical opinions.

“I’ll be upstairs,” she told Gerald. “I brought some work with me from the office. Let me know as soon as you hear from Meg or Senator Creighton.”

She’d almost reached the doorway when Drew called, “Enjoy your phone sex with Jeff.”

There was no way she’d give him the shocked reaction he was looking for. “Thanks, I will.”

“Who’s Jeff?” Gerald asked behind her.

She strained to catch Drew’s careless reply. “No one special.”

She waited until nine o’clock, when Jeff would be at his desk, finishing his second cup of coffee. He dealt with problems better after a good dose of caffeine.

“What do you mean, you aren’t coming back today?”
Lauren could almost hear his scowl through the phone. “I thought we agreed that you would change your plane reservations.”

“Actually, you suggested it; we didn’t agree. I want to be sure Meg is okay before I leave.”

A long moment of silence followed. Lauren knew Jeff was taking a deep, meditative breath to calm himself. “Okay. We can still salvage our trip. Instead of just sitting around waiting to hear from Meg, you can rent a car and drive to my aunt and uncle’s house in Virginia. They’ve wanted to meet you for over a year now, ever since we got engaged. It’ll be a nice, relaxing drive, and you can forget about Meg for a while.”

She didn’t
want
to forget about Meg, she just wanted to know her sister was safe.

“I can’t do that, Jeff. I wanted to stick around here in case she calls.”

“For Pete’s sake, can’t anyone there take a message?”

After dealing with Drew, Lauren didn’t feel up to an argument with Jeff. She refrained from commenting as he laid out the reasons why a two hour drive to the Virginia countryside to see John and Betty Duchaine would be a good way to spend her time. As he finished, Jeff added, “I’ll be free tonight between dinner and my racquet ball game. Give me a call at eight fifteen, okay? I want to hear how your visit went.”

“Hmmm,” Lauren said, still wondering how to tell him she’d rather sit in Georgetown and worry about Meg than drive to Virginia to see people she didn’t know. Still, the evening phone call to him could ease part of her problems. “How much time will you have between dinner and racquetball?”

“Twenty-two minutes. Why?”

It might help if she had some experience at this, but you had to start somewhere. “Do you think that’s enough time for phone sex?”

“What? What’s gotten into you, Lauren?”

She wondered about that herself. “I don’t know. Do you want to help me find out, or not?”

“I don’t even know how to do that.”

“You just describe what you’re doing.” The idea of hearing Jeff whisper suggestive things in her ear intrigued her.

“Lauren.” She could already hear disapproval in his tone. “Don’t you think that’s a little low class?”

“No. Lots of people do it, and it has nothing to do with class.”

“
We’ve
never done it.”

“There’s a lot of things we’ve never done. That doesn’t mean we can’t try them.” She tried to be patient, reminding herself that she was pushing against the very thing that had drawn her to Jeff, his predictable, conservative nature. He was her anchor, the person who kept her grounded whenever Meg’s lifestyle threatened to throw her calm life into chaos. Years of rescuing Meg from disastrous relationships had made Jeff appealing. She just hoped he could stretch those sensibilities a little.