A Risky Affair (16 page)

It wouldn't have surprised Crandall in the least to discover that Hoyt had gone behind Tessa's back and gotten a vasectomy. That was the kind of man he was, the kind of scheming, vindictive coward who'd spent years and a small fortune having Crandall investigated for everything from bribery and witness tampering to economic espionage and public corruption. The fact that he'd never been able to substantiate any of these outrageous claims had only fueled his hatred of Crandall and made the two men the bitterest of enemies.

Crandall dreamed of the day Tessa would finally leave the worthless bastard and go where she belonged—with him.

“Tomorrow evening,” he pronounced. “You can meet Solange tomorrow evening.”

“Where?” Tessa asked.

“Here at the ranch. I'll throw an impromptu dinner party, invite other people so she won't suspect anything.”

“All right.” A note of apprehension crept into Tessa's voice. “Who are you thinking about inviting?”

His mouth curved cynically. “No one who will report back to your husband that you were here, I assure you.” He glanced over his shoulder as a gentle knock sounded on the door. “If you'll excuse me, Tessa, I have another appointment.”

“Of course.” She paused, then added quietly, “Thank you, Crandall.”

He clenched his jaw, his heart constricting painfully. “See you tomorrow night at seven.”

As he crossed to the desk and hung up the phone, there was another knock on the door. “Come in,” he called.

He stood behind his chair as Solange slowly entered the room. She'd changed into a pistachio-colored velour sweater and crisp khaki slacks over a pair of suede brown loafers. Her hair had been pulled back into a tight bun, but he could still see that it was wet, making it appear darker than usual.

She offered him a tentative smile. “Ms. Rita says you wanted to see me.”

“Yes. Have a seat, Miss Washington,” he said, gesturing her into one of the visitor chairs. As she sat and crossed her long legs, he deliberately remained standing.

“You washed your hair?” he inquired, arching a brow at her. “In the middle of the afternoon?”

“Um, yeah,” she replied, looking slightly self-conscious as she reached up with a slender hand to touch her hair. “I didn't have enough time before I left this morning.”

“I see.” Lips pursed, Crandall studied her a moment longer, sensing there was more to the story than she'd have him believe. “I wanted to find out how the meeting went this morning. What did Senator Vance discuss?”

He listened as she gave him a brief rundown of the presentation, although the senator's people had already furnished him with a copy of the speech days ago.

“What did you think of him?” he asked when Solange had finished speaking.

A thoughtful frown creased the smooth line of her brow. “I haven't really decided, to be honest with you. At times he seemed sincere enough, but then he'd say something that reminded me why I generally distrust politicians. And I don't think he answered questions from the audience as well, or effectively, as he could have.”

Crandall smiled wryly. “You don't think he'll get reelected?”

“Hard to say. More than half the people in the room seemed less than pleased with him, but there were plenty who detained him afterward not only to ask more issue-related questions, but also to inquire about his family and to make small talk. Which leads me to believe he still has a strong, loyal constituent base.”

Crandall nodded, pleased by the astute observation. “You're probably right. Did you get a chance to meet him?”

She shook her head. “The line was too long, and he was on his way to another speaking engagement.”

“I see.”

Hearing the note of disapproval in his voice, Solange gave him a worried look. “Did you want me to meet Senator Vance?”

“It certainly wouldn't have hurt.” Choosing his words carefully, he said, “Please keep in mind that when I send you to these functions, Miss Washington, you're representing me and my firm, which means I expect you to behave like a professional at all times and network as much as possible.”

She nodded. “Yes, sir. I understand.”

“Good. Which brings me to another matter. Your clothing.”

“My clothing?”

“Yes.” He pulled out his chair and sat, calmly regarding her across the desk. “I realize you had a modest upbringing—”

She bristled, her chin lifting a notch. She was as beautiful as Tessa had ever been, and just as proud.

“—and your previous employer Ted Crumley told me himself he wasn't able to pay you as much as he would've liked. So I understand that you've had to be frugal with your earnings. However, now that you work for me and will be representing me at various functions, it's absolutely imperative that you dress the part, so to speak. That's why I've arranged for my daughter-in-law to accompany you on a little shopping excursion tomorrow.”

Solange frowned. “With all due respect, sir, I really can't afford—”

“The clothing allowance is on me.” He smiled blandly. “Consider it part of your signing bonus.”

“That's awfully kind of you, Mr. Thorne, but I really couldn't—”

Crandall didn't know too many young women who would have balked at being treated to an all-expenses-paid shopping trip. “You really don't have a choice, Miss Washington,” he snapped impatiently. “I've already contacted Daniela to make the arrangements, and it's all settled.”

Solange opened her mouth, looking like she wanted to offer another protest. After one look at his stern face, however, she wisely reconsidered. “Well, if you insist—”

“I do.”

“All right.” Those bow-shaped lips curved in a slight smile. “Thank you, Mr. Thorne. Your generosity is appreciated.”

He gave a short nod. “You're welcome.”

“Will that be all, sir?”

“Not quite. I'm throwing a small dinner party tomorrow evening. Just a few close friends and family members will be invited. Do you own a decent cocktail dress?”

She hesitated, then shook her head.

“Get one tomorrow,” he instructed.

“All right. I will.”

As she rose to leave, he said, “Oh, by the way, Miss Washington?”

“Yes?”

Crandall leaned back in his chair, his head tipped thoughtfully to one side as he regarded her. “This may be nothing, but after you left the house this morning, I overheard Rita on the phone telling Dane Roarke that you'd be attending the meeting at the convention center.”

Solange grew very still. “Oh?”

Crandall nodded, watching her closely. “Just in case he happened to show up at the meeting, I thought you should know it wasn't a coincidence—as he may have led you to believe.”

“I see.” Although her expression remained impassive, Crandall knew he'd struck a nerve. Good. If the girl had any silly, romantic notions about Dane Roarke, Crandall was only too willing to strip her of them. A man like Roarke would only bring her heartache and disillusionment. The sooner she realized this, the better.

“Thank you for sharing that news with me,” she said evenly. “If you need me for anything else, I'll be in my room.”

Crandall inclined his head, then watched as she turned and left the room with an air of quiet dignity.

And for the first time ever, he wondered if, perhaps, he was making a terrible mistake by not telling her the truth about who she really was.

Soon enough,
he told himself, thinking ahead to tomorrow night when they would all be together—him, Tessa and their long-lost granddaughter.

Soon enough.

A
fter leaving the Riverwalk hotel, where he'd spent one of the most memorable afternoons of his life making love to Solange, Dane went home to shower and change before heading to the office.

When he arrived, his cousins Kenneth, Noah and Daniela were seated in the reception area, laughing and talking as if they hadn't spent most of the previous day together at their mother's house for Sunday brunch.

The receptionist had left early, and Christmas tunes drifted merrily from hidden speakers.

“So you finally decided to show up,” Kenneth Roarke remarked as Dane stepped through the door. “We were beginning to wonder.”

Dane chuckled. “What is this? You guys taking an extended lunch break or something?”

They all laughed. “You know business slows down around this time of year,” Noah reminded him.

“Yeah, people don't believe in spying on their cheating spouses during the holidays,” Kenneth added drolly.

Grinning, Dane sauntered over to Daniela and planted a kiss on her smooth, upturned forehead. “What're you doing here, baby girl? You ready to come back to work for the family business?”

“Not quite,” Daniela Thorne said with a rueful grin. “I had a doctor's appointment today, so I decided to swing by afterward and check up on you fellas.”

“How'd everything go?” Dane asked. “You and the baby doing okay?”

“We're doing just fine. Caleb Junior weighs almost three pounds, which is what he's supposed to weigh at twenty-eight weeks, and the doctor says he's probably going to be tall like his daddy, his uncles and his favorite cousin, Dane.”

Kenneth snorted. “Who says Dane's going to be his favorite cousin?”

Dane laughed. “I hate to break it to you, my friend, but the kid has already spoken. Watch and weep.” He dropped to his haunches in front of Daniela and laid the flat of his palm upon her gently rounded belly. Almost at once, he felt a hearty kick against his hand, which made Daniela giggle.

Dane threw a smug grin over his shoulder. “See, what'd I tell you?” he bragged. “The kid loves me. He only does that when
I
touch Daniela's stomach.”

“You
and
Caleb,” she said.

Dane's grin widened with triumph. “See?”

Kenneth scowled. “Well, if you ask me, he's not kicking you because he likes you. That's his way of telling you to get lost.”

Dane chuckled. “Aw, don't be jealous just because your nephew's gonna want to hang out with me more than you.”

“You're
both
wrong,” Noah, seated nearby, chimed in. “
I'm
going to be Caleb Junior's favorite, just like I'm the twins' favorite.”

Kenneth looked affronted. “What?
I'm
their father—”

“Boys, boys!” Daniela laughingly intervened, reminiscent of the way she'd refereed their childhood skirmishes. “Are you trying to send me into preterm labor? You know all this bickering isn't good for me or the baby.”

“Sorry, El,” the three men muttered sheepishly.

“That's all right.” Daniela smiled, idly rubbing her swollen belly. “Between Caleb, the three of you and Daddy Thorne, it's good to know that my son will be surrounded by such strong male role models.” While her older brothers basked in the praise, she leaned forward and whispered conspiratorially in Dane's ear, “Pay them no mind. You're
my
favorite cousin, so why wouldn't you be my child's?”

Dane grinned at her.

Daniela, who'd once been a gangly teenager with a mouthful of braces and wild hair, had blossomed into an extraordinarily beautiful woman. The skinny arms and legs that had once been fodder for merciless teasing had been replaced by an hourglass figure that turned male heads wherever she went, and her unruly mane had been tamed into soft, lustrous black curls that now tumbled past her shoulders. Her long-lashed dark eyes sparkled, and her face had the pregnancy glow often referred to by other women.

“Marriage and pregnancy really agree with you,” Dane told her with an affectionate smile.

Daniela grimaced. “
Marriage
agrees with me. The jury's still out on the whole harvesting another human being thing. I spent the first three months with my head stuck in a toilet, I couldn't sleep through an entire night without having to get up and pee every hour and now my ankles swell up like water balloons if I'm on my feet for more than a few hours.”

Dane chuckled sympathetically. “Hang in there, kiddo. You only have three more months to go.”

She shot him a withering look. “Easy for
you
to say, He Who Hath No Womb. And don't even get me started on that husband of mine.”

“What has Caleb done?” Noah asked, sounding distinctly amused. “Other than give you unlimited back rubs, make runs to the store at ungodly hours of the night to satisfy your weird cravings, tell you on a daily basis how beautiful you are and force you to take an early maternity leave from the law firm so you could rest during your final trimester?”

Daniela glared at her brother, fighting the tug of a smile. “As I was about to say before I was so rudely interrupted,” she said, directing her words at Dane, “Caleb has been nothing but good to me, which only makes me feel guilty for any whining and complaining I do.”

“Yeah, well, there's a solution to that,” Kenneth muttered under his breath.

Dane and Noah snickered, which earned them dirty looks from Daniela.

Dane reached up and chucked her lightly on the chin. “Seriously though, El. We all think you're going to make a wonderful mother, even if we don't tell you often enough.”

Her expression softened with gratitude. “Thank you, Dane,” she said tenderly. “You're a sweetheart.”

He flashed a wolfish grin. “Don't tell anyone else, though. I've got a rep to maintain.”

“Yeah, we know,” Kenneth said drolly. “I was speaking to one of our clients this afternoon, and he could have sworn he saw you at the Riverwalk earlier today, having lunch with a young woman he described as ‘very fetching.'”

Noah chuckled, shaking his head at Dane. “No wonder you were so eager to trade places with me at this month's chamber of commerce meeting. I should have known something was up when you called early this morning to let me know you'd be going to the meeting instead.”

Dane grinned. “Maybe I really wanted to hear the senator speak.”

“Like hell.” Kenneth and Noah guffawed.

Daniela smiled, arching an inquisitive eyebrow at Dane. “Come on, fess up. Who's the mystery lady?”

“No one you know,” he said evasively, rising and walking over to the reception desk to retrieve his mail, all too aware of the three pairs of eyes that followed him.

“Where'd you meet her?” Daniela persisted.

Dane snorted. “Like I'm really going to tell you. And by the way,” he added, turning from the desk, “thanks for telling old man Thorne about me and Renee.”

“Which one is Renee?” Kenneth asked.

Noah laughed. “The dental hygienist. Keep up, man.”

Daniela frowned in confusion. “I didn't tell Daddy Thorne about…Oh, wait a minute. Yes, I did,” she admitted with a sheepish grin. “He said he was looking for a new dentist, because the one he'd been seeing for years had retired. So I told him about Renee and the office where she works. Why? Did he say something to you?”

Dane scowled. “Let's just say he brought her up—and a few others—at an inopportune moment.” The instant the words left his mouth, he realized his mistake.

Daniela traded amused, knowing looks with her brothers. “You mean he put your business out there to a woman you were trying to impress,” she translated.

With a grunt, Dane turned and started down the hall toward his office. He wasn't surprised when his cousins followed him.

“When did Daddy Thorne bring up Renee?” Daniela started firing questions at him. “Were you at the ranch? Did he have company? Who was there at the…” She trailed off as comprehension dawned. “Wait a minute. You're not talking about his new personal assistant, Solange Washington, are you?”

Dane plopped down in the leather chair behind his desk, tossed his mail on a growing pile of paperwork and met Daniela's incredulous stare. “I don't know what you're talking about,” he said, straight-faced.

This set off a chorus of disbelieving groans. “Please don't tell us the woman you were having lunch with today was Crandall's personal assistant,” Kenneth demanded.

Dane's mouth twitched. “Okay. I won't tell you.”

“
What?
Damn it, Dane.” Kenneth barged into the tiny office, hot on the heels of his sister, who claimed one of the visitor chairs while Noah lounged in the doorway, arms folded loosely across his broad chest. Noah—ever the calm, cool, collected one. There was a reason Dane had always gotten along better with him than Kenneth, who had a tendency to make mountains out of molehills.

“Crandall Thorne is our biggest client,” Kenneth said, jabbing an accusing finger at Dane from the opposite side of the desk. “You can't go messing around with his personal assistant!”

Dane cocked an eyebrow. “Since when does he get to dictate what his employees do in their private lives?”

“Since he became one of the richest, most powerful men in Texas! Since his law firm consistently makes
Fortune'
s list of the one hundred best companies to work for!”

Dane scowled. “What the hell does that have to do with anything?”

“I think what my brother is trying to say,” Noah interjected dryly, “is that it might not be good for business if you get on Crandall's bad side by breaking his poor assistant's heart.”

Dane took umbrage. “Who says I'm gonna break her heart?”

Kenneth snorted rudely. “Come on, man. This is us you're talking to, remember? We all know how you operate. You're the proverbial love 'em and leave 'em guy.”

“Maybe this time is different,” Dane countered, a note of subtle challenge in his voice as he glared at his older cousin. “Maybe this
woman
is different.”

The hushed silence that swept across the room was deafening. Three pairs of dark eyes stared at him with identical expressions of stunned disbelief. Dane would have found his cousins' reactions rather comical—if he wasn't reeling from shock himself.

Maybe this woman is different.

Had he actually spoken those words out loud? And what had possessed him to say such a thing in the first place?

Kenneth was the first to break the silence. “Nice try,” he said, grinning and shaking his head. “You almost had us going there for a minute.”

Dane smiled, but only briefly. Noah and Daniela were studying him with a look of quiet speculation that made him decidedly uncomfortable. He shifted in his chair, then sat forward and busied himself straightening a sheaf of papers on his desk.

Kenneth glanced at his watch. “I have to go. I promised Janie I'd be home early to attend the twins' Christmas recital at school.” He pointed sternly at Dane. “Stay away from Crandall Thorne's personal assistant.”

Dane met his gaze unflinchingly. “I can't do that,” he said in a voice edged in steel. And it was true, he realized with some surprise. He could no more stay away from Solange than he could deny that he was a Roarke, born and bred.

Kenneth threw up his hands in surrender. “Talk some sense into him, please,” he told Noah and Daniela before stalking out the door.

When he'd left, Dane divided a warning look between the two remaining siblings. “Save your breath.”

Noah laughed, holding up his hands in mock surrender. “Hey, I'm the guy who spent five years secretly pining away for my best friend's fiancée. I'm the
last
person to be telling anyone who they should, or shouldn't, date.”

Daniela grinned. “And you know I wouldn't dare, considering how hard I fell for Caleb when all I was supposed to be doing was ‘investigating' his father. However, at the risk of appearing to side with Kenny—God forbid—he may be right in this case. In the four years since I've been married to Caleb, I've had an opportunity to really get to know Daddy Thorne. He has a big, soft heart and can be incredibly generous when he wants to be, but he also doesn't forgive or forget easily. When it comes to members of his family or his employees—many of whom he considers family—he can be very protective. Territorial, even. So if you're not interested in having a serious relationship with Solange, it may not be worth making Crandall angry or losing his valuable business.”

Dane grabbed a letter opener and went to work opening his mail. “Everyone needs to calm down,” he muttered irately. “Just because a client saw me having lunch with Solange doesn't mean I plan to run off and elope with her.”