That Night with You (37 page)

Monday morning she marched into her
office and sat down at her computer. She had been writing and
re-writing her resignation letter in her head all weekend, and as
she typed out her planned explanation for her hasty departure, she
prayed Hayden would let her go and not put up a fight. She didn’t
think she had the strength to fight him. No, Madison knew she
didn’t have the strength, which scared her more than the
possibility of being destitute.

A knock at her open office door made
her hands come to a halt on the keyboard. Swallowing back her
apprehension, she slowly pivoted around in her chair, fully
expecting to see Hayden standing in her office doorway.
Fortunately, a happy surprise awaited her when she beheld the
intense brown eyes of Garrett Hughes.

“
I just wanted to stop by
and say good-bye.” Garrett closed her office door. “I’ll be leaving
for New Orleans tomorrow.”

“
Tomorrow? So
soon?”

Garrett nodded as he approached her
desk. “Harry wants me to get rolling on the new office. He came in
this morning pretty adamant I get down there as quickly as
possible.” He halted at the corner of her desk. “He’s also in a
real bad mood. Any idea why?”

Madison returned her eyes to her
computer screen. “Maybe he fought with his ex again?”

Garrett snickered. “Not his ex. I was
thinking more along the lines of you.”

“
You’re mistaken,” she shot
back in a dismissive tone.

He shifted his hip on the desk. “I may
not know a lot of things that go on inside of Harry’s head, but I
do know how he feels about you…how he has always felt.”

Madison sat back in her chair, eyeing
the handsome man with the dark, brooding features. “What do you
know, Garrett?”

He glanced about the office. “When we
were at UT together, I remember a time when he became obsessed with
finding a certain undergrad architecture student. I worked in the
administration building at the time and tried to help him find her,
but instead I found Ellen.” He folded his arms over his wide chest.
“I always thought she was the one he wanted…that was until I saw
how he was with you. Ellen was a poor substitute for you, wasn’t
she, Mary?”

Madison shook her head,
smiling.
So much for secrets.
“How long have you known?” she gently
challenged.

“
Since the day he saw you
in the elevator. He told me he had found Mary. Then, when you began
working here…well, I can’t remember the last time I saw him so
happy. Now, he’s back to the man I knew before your arrival;
grumpy, snapping at everyone, and ornery as hell.” His uncanny eyes
patiently explored her face, making Madison shift uncomfortably in
her chair. “Do you mind if I ask what happened?”

She stood up, unable to take his
piercing gaze any longer. “Nothing to tell. We rekindled an old
flame, but it was only a fling.” Madison moved away from her desk
and went to the picture window overlooking downtown.

Several seconds of silence ticked by,
making her wonder what he was thinking.

“
So why are you typing a
resignation letter?” Garrett probed as he came alongside her.
“Seems a bit much if it was only a fling.”

“
It’s better if I
leave.”

Garrett laughed, filling the office
with an alluring sound. “You may be a great architect in the
making, Madison, but you’re a crummy liar.”

She turned to him, frowning. “I’m not
lying. I can’t work with him anymore.”

“
You can’t work with him
because you’re in love with him, just as much as he’s in love with
you.”

The comment floored her. “Hayden Parr
isn’t the kind of man to fall in love.”

Garrett placed his hands behind his
back and his eyes cut into her. “You’re wrong. He may never want to
admit it to you, or even to himself, but he is. He’s been in love
with you since that first night you two met. You changed him then
just as you have changed him now.” He paused and a smile curled his
thin lips, adding an uncharacteristic warmth to his features. “And
he has changed you, Madison. You’re not the same timid girl who
came into this office on that first day. You’ve grown; you’ve
become a woman to be reckoned with. I would hate for Parr and
Associates to lose such a valuable employee.”

Madison went back to her desk chair.
“It’s no use, Garrett. I have to go.”

“
Quitting won’t deter him,
Madison. Harry won’t give up on you. He’s the most determined man I
know.”

Madison took her chair. “I can be
pretty determined, too.”

“
So I’ve noticed.” Garrett
came around her desk. “Any idea where you’ll go after you leave
here?”

“
I’ve called my former boss
at Pellerin, Everly, and Walters. He’s offered me a position in his
firm.”

“
I guess you’ve got it all
figured out then.”

He moved toward the door, and
Madison’s eyes followed him across the room. “Good luck in New
Orleans, Garrett. I hope you’re happy there.”

Stopping at the door, he turned back
around and faced her. “You know, it doesn’t matter whether we call
them marriages, relationships, or arrangements; in the end it’s how
two people make each other feel that’s important. How did Harry
make you feel?” Garrett opened the office door. “Think about it,
Madison.”

Sitting back in her chair, Madison
mulled over Garret’s question. How Hayden made her feel didn’t
matter anymore. That was the past and she needed to refocus her
sights on her future, despite the protests of her crumbling
heart.

“
Life is filled with tough
choices,” her mother had always told her. For the first time in her
life, Madison was beginning to comprehend how tough those choices
really were.

***

After several minutes of pacing in her
office, Madison headed to the elevators with the envelope
containing her letter of resignation gripped firmly in her hand.
She had planned on leaving it with Emma, hoping to avoid a
confrontation with Hayden, but when the elevator doors opened,
Hayden stood before her.

“
We’re going to talk,” he
growled, exiting the elevator.

Staring into his eyes, she saw the
anger simmering just below the surface. “There’s nothing to say.
Here.” She handed him the envelope.

“
What’s this?”

“
My
resignation.”

His eyes scanned the empty waiting
area of Parr and Associates. Taking her elbow, he ushered her
toward the dark-paneled doors. Practically dragging her along the
empty hallway, he reached her office, shoved her inside, and
slammed her door closed.

“
You’re not leaving,
Madison.”

“
I can’t stay. We can’t
work together anymore.”

“
Bullshit. I stayed away
all weekend believing you needed time to think. You’ve had time.
Now you want to quit, just like that, without discussing it with
me.”

“
Do you honestly think I
could stay? After everything….” She turned away and headed to her
desk.

“
Everything we had, we
still have. Nothing has changed.” He came up to her desk, his eyes
blazing. “I know you’re angry about the wedding, and I told you I
was sorry. What is it going to take for you to forgive
me?”

She was dumbstruck by his question.
What was it going to take for her to forgive him? Or was backing
out of their relationship and leaving her job what she really
wanted? Sure she had been thrilled he had chosen her, but in the
back of her mind she’d wondered why a man like Hayden Parr desired
someone like her.

“
Why did you pick me up in
that bar? I know you were looking for a one-night stand, and I’m
sure any woman in that bar would have done, but why me? What made
you want me?”

He tossed up his hand, still holding
the letter. “What difference does that make?”

“
Tell me,
Hayden.”

He went to her desk and dropped the
envelope in his hand on her keyboard. “It wasn’t how you looked, it
was more about how you acted. Like you needed to be taken care of.
I found the quality very attractive.”

“
But I didn’t need to be
taken care of, and I still don’t. I can take care of
myself.”

“
I disagree, Madison. I
feel you need to be taken care of, and by a man who knows how.” He
sat on the edge of her desk. “I want to be that man.”

“
Jesus, you just don’t get
it, Hayden,” she exclaimed, raising her voice. “You can’t keep me
locked away because you want to take care of me or control me.
That’s not how relationships work. You were always asking me if I
trusted you, but did you trust me? In relationships, you have to
trust each other.”

“
Then what do I have to do?
Take you to fancy parties, dine in nice restaurants? We’ll do all
of it. Anything you want.” His lips pressed tightly together,
accentuating the irritation in his eyes. “Just reconsider your
resignation.”

She slowly walked up to her desk,
noting how the anger instantly vanished from his gray eyes only to
be quickly replaced by lust. “I have to go. If I stay, I’ll always
wonder if I’m getting assignments in this firm because I’m a good
architect or because of our arrangement.”

His lips stretched into a disarming
smile. “It’s not an arrangement anymore, Madison. It hasn’t been
for quite a while.”

She held up her head, determined to
resist his charm. “You’ve always kept me from knowing how you feel,
from telling me what you’re thinking. If it were more than an
arrangement, Hayden, we would have shared so much more than our
bodies.”

He sat on the edge of her desk,
staring into her eyes, as if making up his mind. “I’m sorry you
feel that way. I had hoped….” He abruptly stood from the desk and
adjusted the sleeves of his suit jacket. When he raised his eyes to
the office door, his face was like stone. “If you need to go, I
won’t stop you.” He strode across the office to the door and
stopped, but never faced her. “You can return to your job with Parr
and Associates at any time. The door is always open to
you.”

After he had left the office, Madison
picked up the envelope containing her resignation letter. Fighting
back the tears, she began to rub her hand across the envelope,
smoothing out the wrinkles Hayden had made. “I have to walk away,
because if I don’t do it now, I never will, and I’ll be his
forever.”

Chapter 20

Sitting in her cramped office behind
her oak desk, Madison tried to think of some way to change the
design staring back at her on her computer monitor. The French
provincial exterior she was hoping to incorporate into the strip
mall she was drawing was going nowhere, and the more she tweaked
her plans, the worse it became.

Pushing her high backed chair away
from her desk, she made her way to the corner scenic window that
overlooked the children’s playground next door. This was the best
part of her job at Pellerin, Everly, and Walters: being able to
stare out her office window and watch the children running amuck on
the grassy playground. There were days, like today, when she itched
to join them.

“
You keep staring out that
window and you’ll never get any work done, Madison.”

When Madison wheeled around, she was
greeted by the dull brown eyes and wrinkled countenance of her
boss, Curtis Pellerin. No one really knew how old he was, but by
the way he shuffled into her office—slightly hunched over with his
loose-fitting, brown suit hanging from his bony frame, and with a
smattering of white hair on his head—Madison guessed he was well
into his seventies.

“
Sorry, Mr. Pellerin. The
kids just help me think.”

Curtis Pellerin cackled loudly,
betraying his frail exterior. “Something I would expect a woman to
say. Ever think of having any of your own?” He slowly came up to
her side, taking up a position beside her at the window.

Madison wistfully shrugged.
“Someday.”

“
Well, be careful who you
have them with. My daughter married an idiot and now she has three
idiot children to show for fifteen years of marriage.” He held up
his hand. “Yes, I know. I’m supposed to love the little heathens,
but my grandchildren often give me indigestion.” He motioned to her
desk. “Show me what you have on that strip mall. The contractor
wants to get started soon.”

“
Actually, I still have a
bit more to do.” She went to her desk and hit the space bar on her
keyboard, pulling up the design on her computer screen.

Curtis Pellerin eyed the plans,
lifting the thick, wire-rimmed glasses slightly higher on his face.
Madison stood by her desk, intently studying his craggy features as
he perused the computer screen.

“
Perhaps strip malls aren’t
your thing,” he reasoned with a half-smile. “I know it’s boring as
hell, but it’s what we do here at Pellerin, Everly, and Walters.
However, you knew that before when you interned for me, which makes
me wonder why you returned to us last month.”

“
I told you I wasn’t a good
fit with Parr and Associates. Mr. Parr was very kind, but I think
my designs weren’t what he was looking for.”