Second Time Around (2 page)

“Sounds boring as hell. Does this paragon have a last name?”

“His name is Jared Harper. You don’t know him. He set up practice after you left.”

“Practice?” He took a step closer his gaze still holding her captive.

“That’s right. He’s a vet.”

“And he loves you.”

“Yes.”

“He loves you so much that he let you come out here to face me alone?”

The air didn’t smell metallic anymore. It smelled hot and electric with the scent of his aftershave. A tingle ran along her spine as he picked up her hand, and she knew how a snake must feel as it swayed to the siren call of the charmer’s pipe. She couldn’t move, couldn’t look away.

“He wanted to come.” She forced the words through numb lips. “I wouldn’t let him.”

“If I’d been in his shoes, you couldn’t have stopped me.”

She shouldn’t have let him bring her here, should have insisted on going somewhere public. She knew how dangerous he could be. He seemed to have the uncanny ability to turn that animal magnetism on and off at will. He always had.

“Jared isn’t like you.”

“Right. He loves you.” His mouth hovered over hers. “The question is, do you love him?”

His breath was warm and lightly scented with wine. Her mouth went dry, her heart pounding so hard it echoed in her ears. “Of course I do.”

“You don’t sound too sure of that, Lanie.”

From somewhere she found the strength to step away from him, praying her legs would hold her up. “Then maybe you should listen closer. I love Jared and I plan on marrying him.”

Quinn looked down at the envelope again. He didn’t know why the surge of anger should surprise him. He’d known he was in trouble the second he’d seen her walk through the door tonight. In trouble and shocked right down to his soul.

Of all the people who could have shown up at that stupid fund-raiser, Lanie was the last one he would have expected. And she’d been here several days if her words were true. His anger became a boiling, helpless rage. It would do no good to fire his secretary. She’d only been following his father’s orders.

Wearily, he rubbed the scar, a gesture that had become second nature to him after five years. “I’ll need to keep this to show my lawyers. I can have them send it back to you after they make a copy.”

“Thank you. You’ll be going to Vegas, then?”

“Looks that way. I’ll know more tomorrow.”

Her head bobbed once, the dark brown curls, held by an elaborate gold clip, shinning in the overhead light. “I need to be going. I’ve already been away from home longer than I’d planned. You can call me there as soon as you find out anything.”

“I’ll drive you back to your motel.”

She hesitated only a second. “I think it would be better if I took a cab. Can I use your phone?”

“That’s not necessary.” He stepped to an intercom and pushed a button. “Duncan?

Bring the car around to the front. A lady in a red dress will be down shortly. Take her wherever she wants to go.”

He watched as she slipped the shoes back on and draped her purse strap over her shoulder, his gaze soaking up the feminine curves revealed by the clinging red silk. A dull weight settled on his chest. He had been denied the chance to tell her goodbye five years ago, and now she was walking out of his life again, this time straight into the arms of another man. He would have sworn he’d put her betrayal behind him, but seeing her again brought all the old hurt surging back to the surface.

“Well.” She straightened. “I guess this is goodbye, then.”

“Lanie?” He made himself smile, even though it felt fake, unnatural. “You look great. I always said you’d clean up good.”

A tiny smile curved her lips. “We both know I don’t belong in clothes like these, Quinn. I never will.” She paused before pulling the door open, casting one last look in his direction. “Take care of yourself.”

* * * * *

Quinn stared at the closed door, wondering if he’d imagined her being here. He undid his tie and slid it from his neck, heading straight for the wet bar. Seeing Lanie again after all these years had rattled him. She was a part of his life he’d thought gone forever. A part he had tried desperately to convince himself he no longer wanted or cared about. And he’d succeeded to some extent, burying himself in his work between the rounds of surgeries and physical therapy. Entire weeks went by when he didn’t think about her, wonder what she was doing or if she were involved with anyone. Now he didn’t have to wonder anymore.

His hand trembled slightly as he poured a scotch straight up. The limp he went to great lengths to hide was more pronounced as he turned down the hall, the pain in his 1thigh a burning spasm. Even if Lanie hadn’t shown up, he wouldn’t have stayed at the fund-raiser much longer. He needed a long soak in the whirlpool.

The phone rang as he went by his office and he turned in the door, easing down onto the padded chair before lifting the receiver.

“McAllister.”

“I hear you had a visitor tonight.”

Quinn leaned his head back and closed his eyes, taking a sip of scotch before he answered his father. “I see Judith didn’t waste any time calling you.”

“Why should she? You walked out and left her stranded. That’s no way to treat your fiancée.”

“Drop the crap, Edward. We both know Judith would have gone home with one of her ‘friends’ whether I was there or not.”

“Judith comes from an excellent background. Good family, good connections. If you treated her the way she deserved, maybe her attitude would improve.”

“Sorry. Not interested. She was your idea, not mine.”

There was a moment of silence from his father’s end of the line. “What did Lanie want that was important enough to make her come to Chicago? If it was money, she can forget it. She’s gotten everything from us she’s going to get.”

“If you’d bothered to let me know she was here you might have found out sooner.

Why wasn’t I told she’d been calling?”

“Because I didn’t think it was important enough to disturb you. We have some big deals coming up and you need to focus on those, not the past.”

“Well, this time you screwed up royally. It would appear the lawyer you hired to handle our divorce wasn’t really a lawyer after all. Lanie and I are still married. The good news is, that means I don’t have to marry Judith.”

A shocked silence greeted his statement. When his father finally answered, his words sounded gritty, as though spoken through clenched jaws.

“That’s impossible.”

“No, it’s not. I’ve got the letter from the court to prove it. I’m going to fax it over to Franklin. You might want to do the same with the rest of the divorce papers. Give him a chance to look them over before tomorrow.”

There was another pause from his father’s end of the line. “Is she still there?”

“No, she left a few minutes ago. I got the impression she was in a big rush to get back to her fiancé. She’ll probably take the first plane out.”

“This divorce business is all you talked about?”

Quinn couldn’t keep the sarcasm out of his voice. “What did you expect me to do?

Reminisce about old times and then drag her to bed?”

“Just don’t get any of your crazy ideas. We’ll get this mess straightened out as soon as possible and everything will get back to normal. You and Judith will have to move 1the wedding date but that shouldn’t be a problem. I’ll give Franklin a call and explain what’s going on. You just send him that letter.”

Quinn dropped the phone back into its cradle, glad for once that his father was taking over. He was too tired to think about legal ramifications right now, and he could feel the first dull throb of what he knew would soon become a crippling headache.

He levered himself out of the chair and put the letter in the fax before continuing down the hall. Stepping into the gym, he turned on the whirlpool and stripped, leaving the tux in a wrinkled heap on the floor.

The jets of hot water massaged his thigh, bringing blessed relief from the bone-deep ache. The scar there was much wider than the one on his face, standing out in stark, ugly contrast from the bronze of the surrounding skin. After the accident, it had taken months of physical therapy and numerous operations before he could walk again. And even after that had been accomplished, there had been several more surgeries to make his leg as normal as possible. The final one had been just a few months ago. But he hadn’t complained. The hard, painful workouts had helped keep his mind off Lanie. All for nothing. They were still married. And she was in love with another man. The spurt of anger that hit him was hotter than the water in the tub.

He was still trying to get his emotions under control when he heard the front door open and the sound of footsteps in the hall. Opening his eyes a slit, he watched Duncan scoop his clothes off the floor and hang them neatly in the closet.

“Did you take her to a motel?”

Duncan nodded. “I offered to take her to the airport, but she refused. What are you drinking?” He pointed toward the glass perched on the edge of the tub.

“Scotch.”

“How much have you had?”

“Only what’s missing from the glass.”

Duncan eyed the contents, apparently satisfied that he wasn’t half soused. “How about water and a couple of muscle relaxers instead?”

“Scotch,” Quinn repeated firmly. “You know I hate those damn pills.”

“Why the hell do you pay me if you aren’t going to listen to a thing I say?” Ignoring Quinn’s words, he went to a small fridge in the corner and took out a bottle of water.

On his way back, he snagged a bottle of pills. “Take them and stop being stupid. You know the scotch isn’t going to help, and there’s no one here you have to put on an act for.”

Quinn eyed them warily, but finally held out his hand and let Duncan drop the medication into it. After five years, he knew better than to argue. There may have only been a slight difference in their ages, but Duncan took his job seriously. He could be a real tyrant when he thought Quinn was overdoing it. That Quinn let him get away with it spoke volumes about their relationship. If it hadn’t been for Duncan, he would probably be in a wheelchair now. Or worse. He was the physical therapist who bullied, 1browbeat and forced Quinn into walking when all he’d wanted was to die. He owed Duncan a lot more than the hefty salary he paid him.

“How long have you been in there?” Duncan gestured at the whirlpool.

“About twenty minutes.” He swallowed the pills and washed them down with the cold water, letting his head fall back on the tub rim as he waited for the drug-induced floating sensations to begin.

“Why don’t you climb out and let me massage that leg. It might help.”

“Help?” Quinn opened his eyes. “I’m afraid the only way you’ll be able to help this time, Dunc, is if you can change the past.”

Quinn swiveled his chair restlessly as the lawyers went over the papers yet again.

They had been at it for hours now. Even his father was making impatient noises.

“This is a disaster.” Franklin Delaney, Chief Counsel for McAllister

Pharmaceuticals, raked a hand through his thick brown hair.

Light sparked from the gold etched pen Quinn toyed with, casting tiny rainbows across the ceiling. “I don’t see why I can’t hop a plane and get a quick divorce. No muss, no fuss.”

“Use your head, Quinn. Five years have passed. You’re the CEO and one of the largest stockholders of a major corporation. If Lanie wants to make trouble it’s conceivable she could wind up owning half the business.”

“How?” He glanced at his father, sitting silent at the other end of the table, gnarled hands curled around the head of his cane.

“You haven’t cohabited for five years. She can claim abandonment, and that’s not all. There hasn’t been a week your picture hasn’t shown up in the newspaper with some woman or other. How hard do you think it will be for her to prove infidelity? I’m telling you, if she takes this to court, she’ll win, and she’ll win big.”

“What about her infidelity? She told me she was in love with this guy, for God’s sake.”

“One man.” The lawyer held up a finger to emphasize his point. “We’d have to prove she’s sleeping with him, and that he’s not the first.”

“Lanie wants a fast divorce. Why should she fight it?”

The sound of Franklin grinding his teeth together was audible throughout the room. “You aren’t listening to me, Quinn. There’s just too much of a legal tangle that has to be ironed out before the divorce can even get started.”

Edward McAllister stirred, his gaze fixed on Franklin. “What about the McAllister Ranch? It was given to her free and clear when the divorce became final. Can’t we take it back if she doesn’t cooperate?”

Franklin shuffled through the papers and pulled one off the bottom. “According to the wording on the agreement, and since the divorce never became final, we
could
say the place still belongs to Quinn. That doesn’t mean she couldn’t make a lot of trouble in court. After all, the deed is registered in her name. It would be a long battle with an uncertain outcome. And that’s just one example of the mess this has caused. There are hundreds of others.”

He looked back at Quinn. “I know you want to get it over with, but there are too many problems. At this point, a fast divorce is out of the question. We’ll be lucky to 1have it all sorted through before the end of the year. And that’s only if the lady
does
cooperate.”

John Dempsey, one of the junior counselors who’d been making notes on a yellow pad, glanced up. “Don’t forget the publicity. The newspapers will have a field day when they get hold of this. The stockholders aren’t going to be happy. We can’t afford any adverse publicity with the launch of the new drug scheduled in a few months.”

Quinn suppressed a groan. In all the emotional turmoil he’d virtually forgotten their breakthrough new drug, which could reverse damage done by coronary artery disease. “So what do you suggest I do?”

“For starters, you’re going to have to go to Wyoming and talk to her. We can’t do anything until we know what she’ll agree to.” Franklin held up a hand as Quinn started to protest. “John and I will draw up some papers that you’ll need to take with you. If she’ll sign them, we can at least get things started. It will also serve the purpose of getting you away from the press while we take care of the legal end here. Edward can step back in and handle the business while you’re gone. That will placate the stockholders.”