A Legal Affair (22 page)

But then elation at seeing her mother took over, and she threw her arms around Pamela. “Mom, you’re home! I missed you!”

Pamela chuckled dryly. “Could have fooled me.” She drew back, looking vaguely amused as she searched her daughter’s face. “Who was that young man on the motorcycle?”

Daniela shrugged. “Just someone I met at the university,” she replied, trying to sound offhand—but not so offhand that her mother would think she was engaging in cheap, meaningless flings with random men.

Pamela looked skeptical. “Just someone, huh?”

“Yes, just someone.” She dropped a kiss onto her mother’s soft, fragrant cheek before heading toward her bedroom. “I want to hear all about your trip to Houston—”

“Then why are you walking in the opposite direction?” There was a trace of humor in her mother’s tone.

Daniela glanced over her shoulder with a sheepish grin. “Because if I stand there a minute longer, Mom, you’ll have me confessing to everything I’ve done over the past week. Give me time to get my story straight.”

At that, her mother laughed.

Thanks to Deacon Hubbard, who arrived an hour later to take Pamela out to lunch before escorting her to a gospel choir concert at church that evening, Daniela was spared from having to answer her mother’s questions about Caleb.

As she observed the warm, friendly interactions between Pamela and the quietly handsome church deacon, a pleasant suspicion took root in her mind, and she found herself wondering if her mother and Lionel Hubbard were falling in love with each other. And then her mind went a step further: If the two got married, Daniela wouldn’t have to worry about her mother growing old alone.

And she wouldn’t have to feel so guilty about not getting her mother the ranch.

After seeing the couple off, Daniela treated herself to a long, leisurely bubble bath. As she soaked in the hot, steaming water scented with her favorite bath crystals, her thoughts invariably turned to Caleb. She fantasized about him, reliving every sensuous detail of the past twenty-four hours, blushing when she found herself becoming aroused.

She had no business spending another hour with him, much less the entire weekend—a
three
-day weekend, at that. When she’d agreed to go for a ride with him the night before, she’d told herself it would be the very last time. And now here she was, preparing to be whisked away to his father’s stunning, secluded ranch for what promised to be the most romantic weekend of her life.

It was an opportunity she couldn’t refuse.

And though she knew she was being selfish, that it was wrong to prolong her relationship with Caleb when they could have no future together, she wasn’t about to cancel her plans with him.

Daniela rose from the clawfoot tub, wrapped her body in a big fluffy towel and padded to her bedroom. After dressing in a pale linen skirt and a pink tube top, she packed her overnight bag, wishing she hadn’t thrown away all of her sexy lingerie when she’d declared her no-dating moratorium a few years ago.

Not that she remained clothed for very long in Caleb’s presence anyway, she thought, a wanton smile curving her lips.

Caleb arrived an hour and a half later, clean-shaven and incredibly handsome in a pair of khaki trousers and a hunter polo shirt that showed off his powerful physique.

As his gaze ran the length of her, his eyes glinted with frank male appreciation. “Are you ready?”

Daniela nodded. “First I want to give you something.” As he raised a curious brow, she went into her bedroom and returned carrying the framed photograph of the Majestic Theatre that she’d bought from April.

Caleb looked surprised as she handed it to him. “You don’t have to—”

“I know,” she interrupted softly. “I want you to have it, Caleb.”

“But you like this photo. That’s the reason you bought it.”

“True,” Daniela admitted. “But
you
also liked it, and were it not for the fact that I beat you to it, you would have bought the photo first. So please take it, Caleb. I insist.” When he continued to hesitate, she added quietly, “I think we both know that the Majestic Theatre has more sentimental value for you than me.”

He gazed at her with an expression of such tender warmth that her throat closed. “Thank you, Daniela,” he said huskily. “This is a wonderful gift.”

Daniela felt the sting of tears behind her eyelids. She swallowed hard. “It’ll give you something to remember me by,” she joked, then wished she could take back the revealing words.

Hearing the note of finality in her voice, Caleb frowned a little. “Are you going somewhere?”

Instead of answering right away, Daniela reached up and touched his face, her fingers splaying across the hard line of his jaw, the sculpted softness of his mouth.

I love you,
she thought.
I’ll never forget you.

Caleb had grown very still as he awaited her response. “Daniela?”

She mustered a wobbly grin. “Of course I’m going somewhere,” she said lightly. “Unless I’m mistaken, we’re
both
supposed to be going somewhere.” She glanced at her watch. “And if we don’t get out of here before my mother returns, we’re going to find ourselves in the hot seat, the kind that makes what you put us through in class look like child’s play.”

Chuckling softly, Caleb picked up her overnight bag, then followed her from the house with his hand resting in its familiar place at the small of her back.

It was one of those simple pleasures that Daniela would remember, and ache for, long after he was out of her life.

O
n Tuesday morning, Caleb was riding high on an emotion that could only be defined as euphoria. He’d spent the most incredible weekend with Daniela, a weekend in which they went horseback riding, dined by candlelight, slow danced under the stars, talked into the wee hours of the morning and made love so often, it became difficult to discern where one body ended, and the other began. He couldn’t get enough of her, in bed or out of it, and that was an unprecedented experience for him.

All too soon Monday had rolled around, signaling the end of their time together in their own private paradise in the mountains. As Caleb drove Daniela home, he was already thinking of ways to get her alone again.

And when he awakened that Tuesday morning bereft of her warm, enticing body curled against him, he knew he had to get her into his life on a permanent basis.

When his father called and casually asked him to drop by the ranch after his last class of the day, Caleb thought nothing of it.

But the moment he crossed the threshold of his father’s study and saw the grim expression on Crandall’s face, he knew he wasn’t going to like what he heard. And that was putting it mildly.

“Have a seat, son,” Crandall offered, waving him into a chair. There were pronounced lines of strain around his mouth that hadn’t been there the day before, when Caleb picked him up from the airport after taking Daniela home.

Caleb eyed his father warily as he sat down. “What’s going on, Dad?”

“This morning I received a visit from the private investigator I hired to run surveillance on Hoyt Philbin.”

Caleb automatically tensed at the mention of the former mayor, who’d been on a relentless campaign to ruin Crandall Thorne ever since learning that his wife and Crandall had once been in love.

When his father fell silent, Caleb prompted, “And?”

Crandall pinched the bridge of his nose tiredly, looking as if he’d rather scale Mount Vesuvius during a volcanic eruption than deliver the bad news weighing heavily on him. “He came to report information on the private detective agency that Philbin hired to dig up dirt on me. The name of the agency is Roarke Investigations, a local outfit run by two former law-enforcement officers and their younger sister.” He paused, his lips thinning to a flat, hard line. “Her name is Daniela Roarke.”

Caleb stared at his father as if unable to absorb what he had just heard. “What are you saying?” he inquired evenly. “Are you telling me that Daniela Moreau is actually Daniela Roarke, a
P.I.?
”

Crandall studied him in silence for a moment, then inclined his head in a grim nod. “She’s not a law student, son. Apparently she’s working undercover as part of an investigation to expose me for some wrong Philbin is convinced I’m guilty of.” His tone hardened. “My guess is that she—they—were hoping to get to me by luring you into sharing confidences about my alleged criminal conduct. Daniela was the bait they used.”

Caleb kept his expression carefully blank, because Thorne men weren’t prone to fits of hysteria or extreme outbursts of emotion. But inside he was screaming, raging at the world as a secret hope slowly shriveled and died inside him.

He hid his wrath behind a flat, terse tone. “I want to see the photos.”

Crandall frowned. “I really don’t think—”

“It’s too late to protect me now, Dad. The horse is already out of the stable. It can’t get much worse. I want to see the photographs.” Because a small, foolish part of him—the part that had allowed him to fall in love with Daniela—was still in denial. He needed indisputable proof of her betrayal.

Slowly Crandall slid a thick manila folder across the desk at Caleb.

Wordlessly Caleb took the folder and opened it. Inside were typed reports nestled between black-and-white photographs that consisted mainly of Hoyt Philbin entering a nondescript, single-story brick building on various dates and times. Jaw clenched in mounting fury, Caleb sifted quickly through the stack, then froze when he came to what he was looking for. There, right before his very eyes, was a close-up shot of Daniela emerging from the same building, wearing the brown gypsy skirt and sexy lace-up sandals that had sent his imagination into overdrive. The picture had been taken just last Wednesday, the day she visited his office after class and claimed she’d missed him.

The day he offered to introduce her to his father.

She’d probably left campus that afternoon and driven straight to the detective agency to share the good news with her partners in crime. What a coup that must have been for her, to land such a prime opportunity less than two weeks after going undercover. She must have realized, then, what a gullible fool Caleb was, to have played into her hands so easily. Judging by the triumphant smile on her face in the photograph, the joke was definitely on him.

He had been played for a fool, and he had no one to blame but himself. He—who’d always been taught not to trust beautiful women, who’d had more than his fair share of dealings with gold-diggers who were only after his father’s wealth and prestige—should have known better. Instead he’d allowed himself to be tempted and seduced by a woman who should have remained off-limits to him.

He’d been so mesmerized by her that, as of that morning, he’d planned to ask her to marry him.

Oh, yeah. The joke was definitely on him.

With the manila folder still clamped in his fist, Caleb got abruptly to his feet and strode purposefully to the door.

“Don’t do anything rash, son,” his father called out in warning.

Caleb didn’t break stride as he left the room. He was past hearing, past caring and—soon enough, if he was lucky—he’d be past feeling at all.

The house was silent when Daniela returned from campus that afternoon.

She’d attended all of her classes as if it were a normal day, then she’d calmly walked to the admissions office and withdrawn her status as a student. Mistaking the cause of the tears that blurred her eyes, the kind admissions clerk had attempted to console Daniela by telling her that there would always be a place for her at the university whenever she was ready to continue her studies.

Daniela cried all the way home.

When she stepped through the front door and was greeted by empty silence, it only punctuated the sense of loneliness and despair threatening to engulf her.

After checking her mother’s bedroom and finding it empty, Daniela assumed that Pamela had stepped out to run errands or visit her friends at the senior center where she volunteered.

Returning to the living room, Daniela kicked off her shoes and sank down on the sofa with the remote control. As she wandered aimlessly through channels, she marveled at the pendulum of her emotions. After the glorious, magical weekend she’d spent with Caleb, she’d been walking on cloud nine. In the span of a day she’d gone from feeling the highest of highs, to the lowest of lows.

Because today was the day she’d decided to tell Caleb the truth about herself.

Withdrawing from the university had been the first step, a way to bolster her courage for the difficult task that awaited her.

Difficult?
Daniela thought sardonically.
Try excruciating.

Her only consolation, if one could be found, was that once she came clean to Caleb, dealing with her brothers would be a veritable cakewalk. Because there was nothing Kenneth could say that would make her feel any worse than she already did, knowing she’d betrayed Caleb in the worst possible way, and knowing that her punishment was to face a future without the first and only man she’d ever truly loved.

When the doorbell rang, she got up and shuffled to the door on leaden legs. As if he’d been conjured by her thoughts, Caleb stood on her doorstep.

Her pulse raced at the sight of him. She loved him so much. And though she knew it was a long shot, deep in her heart lingered the hope that somehow, some way, she could tell him the truth about everything, and still not lose him.

She licked her lips nervously. “Hi, Caleb,” she said with forced normalcy. “You must have read my mind. I was just going to call you and ask you to come by after your last class.”

His mouth curved upward in a half smile, but there was something in that smile, something barely perceptible, that sent a whisper of foreboding through her. “In that case,” he drawled softly, “I guess it’s a good thing that I’m a mind reader, isn’t it?”

Unsure how to respond to the strange undertones in his voice, Daniela merely smiled and stepped aside to let him enter. As he shouldered past her into the house, she noticed a manila folder tucked beneath his arm.

“Would you like something to drink?” she asked, closing the door and leaning against it for support, her knees feeling oddly weak—even weaker than they normally felt whenever Caleb was near.

“No, thanks. I’m fine, Daniela.”

Was it just her imagination, or had there been a slight edge to his voice when he said her name?

Deciding it was just her guilty conscience getting to her, Daniela pushed away from the door, walked over to the sofa and sat down, automatically expecting Caleb to follow suit.

He didn’t. Remaining by the window, he propped a shoulder against the wall and regarded her in calm, implacable silence. He seemed to be waiting for something, though she couldn’t fathom what that might be.

Her hands twisted nervously in her lap. “Have you already eaten? I could fix you something, like a sandwich or—”

“I’m fine, Daniela.” A shadow of cynicism curved his mouth. “Or would you prefer to be called Miss Roarke?”

For one stunned moment Daniela stared at him, his words not fully registering. But once they did, she felt a huge wave of sorrow, and a shame so intense she could scarcely hold her head up.

She got to her feet slowly. “Caleb—”

He pinned her with a look of such scathing contempt that tears burned her eyes. “How long were you planning to keep up the charade, Daniela?” He sneered. “Weeks? Months?
Years?”

She shook her head quickly. “No, of course not. I—”

“Of course not?”
he thundered furiously, advancing on her. “You say that as if I should know better, as if the idea of your going undercover for ‘years’ should be any more outrageous than your going undercover at all!”

Daniela strove for calm, though her insides were quaking violently. “Caleb, please let me explain—”

“Don’t bother!” He slapped the manila folder down onto the coffee table, spilling some of the contents to the floor. Daniela stared, in abject horror, as a black-and-white photograph of herself leaving Roarke Investigations landed right at her feet.

“How apropos,” Caleb jeered. “That’s the very same photo I wanted you to see. They say a picture is worth a thousand words, Miss Roarke. What do you suppose that particular picture is saying?”

Daniela knelt down to pick it up, her heart sinking further when she saw her smiling image, and realized how Caleb must have interpreted it. She looked up at him. “It wasn’t like that, Caleb,” she said, imploring him to believe her.

“Oh, really?” he mocked bitingly. “So you
didn’t
leave campus after we spoke that day and run straight to your brothers to brag about landing an interview with my father?”

“I didn’t brag!” she cried, surging to her feet. “If anything, I was hoping they’d talk me out of going!”

Shaking his head slowly, Caleb raked her with a look of withering scorn. “You must really take me for a fool, Daniela. And why wouldn’t you? I fell for your little scheme—hook, line and damn sinker. Oh, you were good, I’ll give you that. Oscar-winning good. That whole help-me-find-my-calling act was inspired.”

“It wasn’t an act!”

His brow arched in cynical disbelief. “So you really
do
have an interest in becoming a lawyer? Is that what you’re telling me?” When she floundered, he nodded tersely. “That’s what I thought.”

Daniela took a beseeching step toward him. “Listen to me, Caleb. Almost everything I told you about myself is true. About my family, about where I attended college—”

“That’s even more insulting,” he bit out. “You were so confident in your ability to win my trust that you didn’t even bother to invent a solid alias. It never once occurred to you that I might see through your lies, that I might grow suspicious enough to check into your background. My God, Daniela, you didn’t even bother supplying the school with a fake address! All it would have taken was
one
phone call to ascertain the name of the homeowner at this address, and you would have been busted. But that never occurred to you, did it? You and your brothers knew I would be easy prey—”

“No!” Daniela cried, unable to bear the thought of him somehow blaming himself for letting down his guard with her. “That wasn’t it at all! I never for one moment thought you’d be easy prey! We made the decision to stick as close as possible to the truth to make it easier for me to…to—” She couldn’t even bring herself to complete the awful explanation, which sounded far worse than she could have ever imagined.

“To lie to me,” Caleb finished for her, his mouth twisting contemptuously. “You stuck close to the truth to help you keep your lies together. Brilliant strategy.”

Tears crowded in Daniela’s eyes and rolled, unchecked, down her face. “If you believe nothing else I say, Caleb,” she told him in an aching whisper, “believe me when I tell you that I never meant to hurt you.”

His gaze hardened. “You’ll forgive me if I have a hard time believing that,” he mocked scornfully. His eyes narrowed on hers. “Tell me something,” he said, understated menace in every inflection. “What did you really expect to learn about my father? What deep, dark secret did you hope to expose by befriending me?”

She shook her head helplessly, on the verge of hysteria. “I don’t know, Caleb!” she choked out miserably. “Hoyt Philbin thinks your father has ties to the Mexican mafia, that he tampers with juries and engages in economic espionage, that he accepts bribes from corrupt labor union bosses and extorts money from his clients.”