Perfect Timing (18 page)

“A
re you feeling better, Mr. Chandler?” Christopher's secretary asked when he walked past her desk as he headed for his office.

“I wasn't sick, Mary,” he said with an answering smile.

“Oh, I just assumed you were, sir. I've never known you to miss a day from work, especially on a Monday.”

“There's a first time for everything,” he responded in a lighthearted mood. “Has Gabe arrived yet?”

“Yes, sir, he came in thirty minutes ago.”

Christopher nodded. “Ask him to come see me when he gets the chance.”

“Yes, sir.”

Christopher entered his office and closed the door. Placing his briefcase on the desk he opened it and began removing the files he had come by his office to pick up on Sunday afternoon after taking Maxi to the airport. He had intended to work on them but had found he'd been too keyed up after her visit to concentrate on anything.

And yesterday instead of coming into the office, he had spent most of the day relaxing and making airline and hotel reservations for their trip to Las Vegas, something he was looking forward to. If anyone had told him he would be this anxious to get a woman pregnant he would not have believed them.

Goose bumps broke out on his arms when he thought of making love to Maxi again. He had had sex with a number of women but he had never actually made love to any of them. In the past all his focus had been on seeking pleasure in a hot feminine body but with Maxi it had been more than that. Never before had he experienced anything so beautiful, so wholesome, so sensuous, and above all, so pure. Nothing had ever felt so right. She had taken him into the very essence of her body and had satisfied him more than any woman he'd ever had, because everything Maxine Chandler did, she did from her heart and a part of him knew that also included making love to him. And he had given her a part of him that he had never wanted to share with any other woman. Yet he had given it to her without any reservations or misgivings because in his heart Maxi was deserving of anything and everything he had.

“So you decided to remember you need to earn a paycheck?”

Christopher glanced up. Gabe had entered his office, closed the door behind him and was leaning against it with his hands shoved deep into his pants pockets. “I take it you missed me yesterday, Blackwell.”

Gabe smiled. “Envious of you is probably a better word. I figured you had talked Maxi into staying over until Monday and that was the reason you played hooky.”

Christopher chuckled. “No, she left as planned on Sunday but now that you mention it, that would not have been a bad idea. Too bad I didn't think of it.”

Gabe walked over and stood in front of Christopher's desk. “So what was the reason you didn't come in? Not that I'm complaining, mind you. I think you spend too much time in this place anyway.”

“The reason I didn't come in was because I just wanted to stay home and chill…and to remember.” He met Gabe's gaze. “I enjoyed having Maxi here this weekend.”

“Yeah, I'm sure you did. I like her, Christopher.”

A low chuckle rumbled in Christopher's chest. “Yeah, and she mentioned that she likes you, too.”

“You're going ahead with your plans to get her pregnant?”

“Yes, that's what this is all about.”

Gabe lifted a brow. “You sure about that?”

“Yes.”

“Yet you claim she means a lot to you.”

“She does. Maxi has always been able to make me feel something I usually don't feel around other woman.”

“What?”

“Special. Even when I was young and was going through my worst moments, she never made me feel like a charity case. She always made me feel special and without a whole lot of effort in doing so. She has that knack.”

“Yet, you won't consider marrying her.”

“No, because as much as I care for Maxi, I'm not in love with her. I've outgrown those feelings I once had for her. I don't think I'm capable of loving a woman. I like a lot of women but I don't love any of them. It's just that simple.”

Gabe nodded, wondering if Christopher really believed that. He glanced at the pile of mail that had accumulated on Christopher's desk. “Well, it seems you definitely have a lot to do today, so I'll leave and let you get to it. What did you want to see me about?”

“Just to let you know that I'll be out of the office a couple of days next week. Maxi and I are flying to Las Vegas for the weekend and will probably stay through Monday.”

Gabe nodded. “Okay. Will she be coming back here?”

“Why would she? After she gets pregnant I probably won't be seeing her any more until probably after the baby is born.”

“And she has agreed to that?”

Christopher met Gabe's gaze. “Yes. I offered Maxi a baby, Gabe, not my life. She understands that once she gets pregnant it's business and pleasure as usual for me.”

“In other words you go back to screwing anything in a skirt and reinstate your philosophy that, ‘there's nothing like getting between a great pair of legs'.”

“Whatever works.”

Gabe shook his head. “You know whatever you do, you have my full support. But I don't think you're thinking straight with this thing involving Maxi.”

“Meaning what?”

“Meaning any man in his right mind can see she's the marrying kind.”

“Yeah, and she's also the mothering kind. All she wants is a baby and that suits me just fine because that is all I'm prepared to give her.”

“Well, you better hope Mom never meets her because she'd do anything to get us married off. And if she ever finds out you plan to get Maxi pregnant without marrying her, you may as well—”

“What the hell!” Christopher's loud voice cut into Gabe's words.

Gabe frowned. “What's wrong?”

Christopher handed him the large photograph he had just taken out of the envelope. “Take a look at this.”

Gabe did. He smiled. “Good looking woman from what I can see. However, it's hard to do so with your mouth planted so firmly on hers. Who is she and what is this about?”

“That's Tori Smithfield.” Christopher knew that was all he needed to say. Although Gabe had never met Tori, he knew about Christopher's occasional affair with the journalist who worked for CNN. “She came to Detroit on business a month before I went on the cruise.”

“Who took the picture and why was it taken?”

“The hell if I know. I don't recall anyone around with a camera that night and even so, Tori and I don't have to sneak around since we're two consenting adults. We're both single, so this photograph doesn't make sense.”

Gabe nodded. “It seems that someone wants you to know that they are aware of the two of you together.”

“Yes, but who and why?”

Gabe didn't say anything for a moment as he studied the photograph of the scantily dressed woman locked in Christopher's arms. He then looked up and met Christopher's gaze. “And you're sure she isn't married? The only reason a person would send a photo like this is because they feel it could in some way be damaging to either one of you.”

Christopher shook his head. “When I met Tori three years ago she was single and as far as I know she's still single.”

“If I were you I would make sure, Christopher. There's a reason someone sent you this photograph. Since we know for a fact that you're single and this picture won't have a damaging effect on you, that won't be true for Tori Smithfield if she's married.”

“I don't mess around with married women, Gabe,” Christopher said curtly.

“Not if you know they are married. What if she was married all along and just didn't tell you?”

Christopher drew a long steadying breath, not liking the feel of things. He couldn't believe Tori would deceive him that way. They had been open in their relationship, which had been one based on sexual need, nothing more. Now with what Gabe was saying, Christopher couldn't help but recall just what he did know about Tori. He had never wanted to get into her business like he had never wanted her to get into his. But he was fairly certain that she hadn't been married when they had first started seeing each other. She had told him that straight out. Had she gotten married but hadn't told him and intended to keep things between them as they had been before?

“It's not uncommon for some married women to take lovers, Christopher.”

“I don't like being used that way, Gabe, and I'm going to find out what the hell is going on.”

“What are you going to do?”

“Try contacting her. I don't know her home number but I'm sure I'll be able to track her down through her employer.” He took the photograph back from Gabe. “I plan to get to the bottom of this immediately.”

“G
etting upset won't do you much good at this point, Christopher. Calm down and let's analyze the situation to see what we're up against. It may not be as bad as it seems,” Gabe said encouragingly.

“I disagree, Gabe. It
is
as bad as it seems. I slept with another man's wife,” Christopher said with barely contained anger. According to the person he had spoken to at CNN, Victoria Smithfield had decided to become a freelance journalist since her marriage eight months ago. “Dammit, she should have told me.”

“But the fact of the matter is that she didn't, so you didn't know. Stop kicking your own butt for it. What we should be doing is trying to figure out what's motivating the person who sent that picture to you. Chances are Tori Smithfield received a copy of that photograph as well. And if she really is married, she has more to lose than you. Maybe her husband suspected she's been cheating and hired a private detective to prove it.”

And that was what Christopher was afraid of. Just how far would this suspecting husband go to prove his wife's unfaithfulness? For reasons Christopher had never shared with Gabe, the last thing he wanted was to become involved in any sort of scandal. Because of his mother, he had been part of a scandal before and the depth of it had had a lasting effect on him. No one knew how he'd felt being a part of such negative publicity. He had made a pact with himself never do anything that would put him in that sort of situation. For the past ten years he had worked hard to establish decency and honor to the Chandler name, something his mother had never thought of doing.

For nineteen years he had witnessed a good number of the married men in Savannah being constant visitors to his mother's bedroom. He had sworn he would not be like those men who did not respect the marriage vows they had taken. He had also gone a step further and decided never to marry.

It had been hard for him to watch those men sneak into their house at night then see them in the daylight with their wives and children. Such was the case of Mayor Potter who somehow had gotten exclusive rights to his mother's bed during the beginning of Christopher's junior year of high school. It had been an affair that had lasted two years. During that time Christopher would go to school every day and sit in Mrs. Potter's class remembering the sounds of her husband screwing his mother's brains out the night before. And the sad thing was that Deborah Chandler had fallen hopelessly in love with Will Potter and had believed his lie that he would one day divorce his wife and marry her. How his mother had been so gullible, Christopher didn't know. All he knew was that when the scandal broke out, in an effort to save face with the community and with his family, Potter had further trampled his mother's already tarnished name as well as her heart. One night after having drunk an entire bottle of Johnny Walker Red, she had gotten the nerve to ingest an entire bottle of Valium while Christopher slept in the other room. He had been the one to find her the next morning, lying on the sofa with the most peaceful look on her face. At first he had thought her merely sleeping, until he had found the letter she had written to Potter.

“Christopher, are you okay?”

Gabe's question reeled Christopher's thoughts back to the present. “Yeah, I'm fine. I was lost in my thoughts for just a moment.”

At that moment Mary sounded the buzzer on Christopher's desk. “Yes, Mary, what is it?”

“Tori Smithfield is on the line, sir.”

Christopher released a deep sigh. He watched as Gabe silently excused himself and left his office, closing the door behind him. “Put her through, Mary.”

As soon as he heard Tori's voice on the phone, he lit into her. “Why didn't you tell me you had gotten married, Tori?”

 

Tori bit her bottom lip. She could feel Christopher's anger all the way through the phone lines. She wondered how he had found out about her marriage. “I had planned to tell you that night, Christopher, but then, later, afterward, I didn't think it was important.”

“Evidently your husband doesn't feel that way since he's having you followed.”

Tori's breath caught. Panic seized her. “I don't understand. What do you mean? My husband is not having me followed.”

“If you're so sure it's not him, then it's someone else. Somebody sent me a photograph of the two of us together. It was taken the last time we saw each other as we stood in the open doorway of your hotel room, kissing. “I take it that you haven't gotten your copy of the photo yet.”

“No, but I just got back in town and haven't gone through my mail.”

“Then I suggest you do so. And what makes you so sure your husband didn't send it?”

She paused for a moment before replying. “He trusts me.”

“If he does then he has a case of bad judgment.”

Although he had spoken the truth, Christopher's words hurt nonetheless and she reacted. “What makes you think that photograph came from someone that
I
know? It could be from one of your former girlfriends who has a jealous streak, especially since I didn't get a copy. I would think if I was the intended target I would have gotten a copy before you did. How do you know it isn't someone trying to hurt
you
?”

Christopher didn't say anything for the longest moment. She did have a point. A man couldn't make it to the top of his profession without making some enemies, and he would be the first to admit that he had made a number of them. But still, he couldn't see any of them going to this extreme to ruin him with this sort of scandal. “Who did you marry, Tori?”

“I'd rather not say.”

Christopher balled his hand into a fist at his side. “Look, Tori, this isn't getting us anywhere. I can find out the information if I want to, so you may as well go ahead and tell me. Unfortunate as it may seem, we're in this mess together and it's going to take the two of us cooperating to get to the bottom of it.”

“He's not behind this, Christopher,” she said with strong conviction.

“Well, somebody is and whether that person intends to damage your reputation or mine is the issue right now and my main concern.”

Sighing defeatedly, she said. “All right. I'll contact you again.”

“When?”

“The first of next week. Will I be able to contact you at this same number then?”

Tori's question made Christopher realized that he had planned to be off the first couple of days during the beginning of the week. “Yes, you can contact me this time next week. If I'm not here my secretary can forward your call to me.”

All right. Goodbye.” She then hung up the phone.

 

A short while later Gabe entered Christopher's office. “I was able to get that information that you wanted, Christopher. Tori Smithfield is married to Adam Benedict.”

Christopher turned from where he had been standing, looking out the window for the past half hour or so. “Adam Benedict?”

“Yes,
the
Adam Benedict, retired senator from California. I'm surprised Tori Smithfield wasn't more discreet.”

Christopher shook his head. “I can only assume she thought me coming to her hotel room was being discreet enough.”

“Not when she's married to Adam Benedict. I'm surprised you didn't recognize her face on television when they first got married. It made news since he's so much older than she is.”

If that was eight months ago it was during the time I went on that monthlong cruise to Alaska, remember, trying to get that Landmark Deal.”

Gabe nodded. “Yeah, it was about that same time and by the time you returned all the sensation about their marriage had died down. The media had turned its attention to the September 11th tragedy. Well, at least you know the photograph wasn't taken by anyone in the media. With the senator's long history in Washington, news of his wife having an affair would have been plastered in all the tabloids.”

Christopher inhaled deeply. “It still might. We still don't know who we're dealing with here.”

“And she doesn't think it's the senator who's having her investigated?”

“No, she doesn't think that it's him. She even suggested it may be someone I know.”

Gabe gave that some thought. “In that case, have you considered Pamela Carlyle?”

“Pamela?”

“Yes, she is a photographer and you did piss her off that time you came home and found her naked in your bed.”

Christopher nodded, remembering that day and Gabe was right. Pamela had left pretty mad at him, and he hadn't seen or heard from her since that night. She was a freelance photographer who worked for a number of major magazines. Her profession would place her in the company of a number of high-profile individuals. And he knew for a fact that she had worked exclusively in the California area a year ago. Had she seen him and Tori together and had remembered Tori as being the senator's wife and this was her way of getting back at him?

Christopher sighed deeply. “I need a few days off to make a trip to Savannah.”

“To see, Maxi?”

“Yes. She deserves to know what's going on.”

“Why? This has nothing to do with her.”

“Yes it has, especially since she has indicated that she plans to let others know that I'm the father of her child. Just think of the major mess if a copy of that photo is sent to the press. I learned the hard way that any sort of a scandal has far-reaching effects on people, and I don't want Maxi affected by any of this.”

Gabe shook his head. “It's not like you've assassinated the president or slept with the First Lady.”

“No, still, I refuse to place Maxi in an embarrassing situation.”