Secret Seduction (18 page)

“Get this. It was sent from a personal computer using an IPS billed to Senator Garcia’s home.”

“WHAT’S GOT YOU ALL SMILES?” Julie asked Vanessa when she joined her friends for coffee at the kiosk inside Confidential Rejuvenations. “I thought after last night you’d be upset.”

“I’m betting it’s got something to do with Tanner Doyle,” Elle said. “You look exactly the way I felt when I was falling in love with Dante.”

“How do you know about Tanner?” Vanessa asked, too excited to deny what she was feeling.

“Please, you were in the Bahamas with Maxine Woodbury. The woman doesn’t miss a trick,” Elle said.

“The whole hospital is buzzing about you two.” Julie grinned. “I’m so happy for you, Nessa.”

In the past Vanessa would have told her friends not to jump the gun. That these emotions were too new to poke and prod and analyze. But something had happened to her last night. A line had been crossed, a moment defined, a lifetime of fears vanquished. And it was all Tanner’s doing.

“Thank you,” she said. “I’m pretty happy for me, too.”

Elle placed a hand over hers. “You’ve waited a long time for a good man. Treasure him.”

“I intend to,” she said with a fierceness that both startled and delighted her. “Oh, you guys, he’s just the best. Strong and kind and understanding. He really gets me, you know? The way you guys do.” Tears misted her eyes and a lump blocked her throat as she remembered the previous night.

“I know,” Elle said, tears welling in her own eyes. She did know, Vanessa realized. She had Dante.

“Tanner’s such a loyal man. I love how he backs me up, no matter what. He’s always on my side. He’s hardworking and capable and highly principled. But he doesn’t judge me and he makes me feel secure. I’ve never felt so safe in my entire life.”

“I wish I could find a man like that.” Julie sighed. “You and Elle are so lucky to have found your soul mates.”

“Your turn is coming,” Elle told her. “Think about that old song, ‘You Can’t Hurry Love.’ It’s too true. Hang on. He’ll show up one day.”

“I hope it’s before I’m eighty-five,” Julie muttered.

Elle shot Vanessa a look. “She doesn’t understand how it’s all worth the wait.”

Vanessa smiled. It was as if she and Elle belonged to a special sisterhood for women who’d found their true loves. A sisterhood she’d never believed would be open to her.

“Have you told him that you love him?” Elle asked.

She shook her head. “I’m working up to it. One step at a time.”

“Has Tanner told you that he loves you yet?” Julie asked.

“Not in so many words. But he’s shown me time after time,” Vanessa said. “For instance, he was so wonderful last night. He stayed right beside me the entire time I was giving my statement to the cops. Then he insisted I come home with him and this morning, he cooked me breakfast and then he called a cleaning crew to come in and clean up the mess at my house. He takes care of me and I never thought I’d be able to trust someone to do that.”

Julie sighed wistfully.

“So, do the cops have any idea who vandalized your condo?” Elle took a sip of her coffee.

“They believe it might have something to do with the sabotage here at Confidential Rejuvenations.”

Julie cringed. “It’s awful that whoever it is might be branching out to employees’ private homes.”

“Tanner’s intensified the security around here so tightly the perpetrator might have moved on to easier pickings.” Vanessa dipped a biscotti into her coffee.

“I still don’t understand what the saboteur has against Confidential Rejuvenations.” Elle looked forlorn. “We do such good things here.”

“It’s hard to understand the human psyche,” Vanessa said. “Let’s just hope that having Tanner as head of our security starts a whole new chapter for the hospital.”

“And for you,” Elle added.

“We’re so happy for you, Nessa, truly,” Julie said.

“Thanks,” Vanessa said. “I’m happy for me, too.”

It was in the moment with her friends, she just knew. Tanner was the man she’d been waiting all her life to find. The kind of man she’d feared never existed. And she wasn’t about to let him go. The very next time she saw him, she was going to just come right out and say it. Those three little words she’d never uttered to a man in her entire life.

I love you.

“Got it,” Charlie said.

Tanner was reluctant to leave Vanessa unguarded, but he had to confront Robert in person. This wasn’t the kind of conversation you had over the telephone. Besides, he had to see the senator’s face when he told him that he knew about his relationship to Vanessa and that he had proof the threatening e-mail had originated from the senator’s home.

All he could think of was that somehow Robert’s wife, Amanda, had found out Vanessa was his biological daughter and wasn’t happy to hear of her husband’s past. But the image of a petty, bitter woman who would send such an e-mail didn’t jive with what Tanner knew of Amanda Garcia. He’d always found her kind and considerate. She served on numerous charities and she’d checked up on him often after Maria had died.

Could Robert have sent the e-mail? That made no sense. Why would he send a threatening message to the child he’d anonymously put through medical school? The same child he’d hired Tanner to protect?

He was determined to find answers.

Vanessa was busy with her patients in the office that morning and the cameras in the doctors’ building were all working. Tanner had checked them twice to make sure. He’d also checked all the other cameras in the hospital. She was as safe as she could possibly be without being joined to his hip.

Tanner left the hospital and drove to Robert’s office near the state house only to discover the senator wasn’t there. His secretary told him Robert had mentioned he was going to be working from home that afternoon.

It took Tanner almost half an hour to maneuver through the traffic near the University of Texas, and by the time he reached Robert’s house, his patience was severely frayed.

He drove up the sweeping driveway to the stately colonial-style house in one of Austin’s most elite neighborhoods. A gardener was in the yard trimming the privacy hedges. Tanner parked the Jeep, got out and strode to the front door.

The maid answered. “Hello, Mr. Tanner.” She grinned broadly at him. “Nice to see you.”

“You as well, Yasmine. Is the senator in?”

“No, no.” She wiped her hands on her apron. “He was here, but he left a little while ago.”

He suppressed his grunt of frustration. It wasn’t the maid’s fault he’d missed Robert. “Do you know where he was headed?”

“No, sir.”

He shifted his weight. “Is Amanda home?”

“She’s at the women’s shelter on Oakmont Street. She volunteers there on Mondays.”

Splaying a palm against the back of his neck, he let out a long-held breath. “No one’s home?”

“Miss Chloe just left. She came home from the hospital on her lunch break.”

“Is that typical?” he asked.

Yasmine shook her head. “She seemed very upset about something.”

Her comment piqued his interest. For the first time he thought about Chloe. Could she be the one who’d sent the e-mail to Vanessa? The young woman was so quiet and un-assuming, it was easy to forget her.

“How long was she here?”

Yasmine shrugged. “Twenty minutes, maybe twenty-five.”

“Do you know what she was doing?”

“She didn’t speak to me.”

“Have you noticed anything different about Chloe lately?”

Yasmine shook her head. “I don’t want to speak out of turn.”

Tanner clamped his eyes on the older woman’s. “This is important. Something’s come up at Confidential Rejuvenations and I really need to know what Chloe was doing here. You know me, Yasmine. You knew Maria.”

“Yes, Mr. Tanner. You and your wife were very good to me. I remember the time you fixed my car when it broke down and how your Maria gave me a pair of shoes once. Almost new, very expensive shoes.” A faint smile lifted her lips. “I still wear them to parties.”

He put his hands on her shoulders. “Do you trust me?”

“Yes.”

“Then listen to me when I tell you it’s in Chloe’s overall best interest for you to tell me what she did when she came home,” Tanner said. “I promise you, it will be all right.”

Yasmine considered his statement before she said, “Chloe went to her room and came back with her computer. Not the laptop but the big one. She said it was broken and she was taking it in for repairs.”

A chill raised the hairs on his forearm. He didn’t for one minute believe Chloe’s computer was broken. “Thank you, Yasmine. I appreciate you placing your confidence in me.”

“I worry about that girl.” Yasmine nibbled on her bottom lip. “She’s always been a strange child. No matter what the senator and his wife do for her it seems never to be what she needs. It’s as if they can’t love her enough.”

The maid’s words stirred an ominous feeling in Tanner’s gut and in that moment, he just knew. Chloe had sent the e-mail to Vanessa. Chloe had vandalized her condo while they were in the Bahamas.

He didn’t know if she was involved in the other offenses at Confidential Rejuvenations, but in his bones, he knew that Chloe had discovered Vanessa’s true identity.

Now all he needed was proof.

A KNOCK DREW Vanessa’s attention to her open office door. She lifted her head, hoping to see Tanner, but instead spied her scrub nurse, Chloe Garcia, standing in the doorway.

“Hi, Chloe.” She smiled and waved her in over the threshold.

“Hello, Dr. R.”

“What can I do for you?”

Chloe shifted her weight. The girl had never been loquacious. She pushed a hank of brindle-colored hair from her full-moon face. “Maxine told me your place got vandalized while you were in the Bahamas.”

How had Maxine heard about that already? The only people she’d told were Julie, Elle and Tanner. It troubled her to think one of them spilled the beans.

“Yes.”

“I’m sorry that happened to you.”

What did the woman want? “I appreciate your sympathy.”

“I was thinking…” She paused.

“Yes?” Vanessa prompted when Chloe didn’t automatically continue.

“Well, if you needed somewhere to stay while your place is getting fixed up, you could stay with me.”

“That’s a generous offer, Chloe, but I thought you lived with your parents,” she said.

“I moved out today.”

“Oh.”

“So if you need a place to stay—” she nodded “—I’d love the company.”

In that moment Chloe looked so lonely that her forlorn expression tugged Vanessa’s heart. “That’s very kind of you to invite me.”

“So you’ll move in with me?” The faintest of smiles tipped up the corners of Chloe’s lips.

“Thank you, but I already have a place to stay.”

“Oh.” She ducked her head as if embarrassed. “Okay. Sorry to bother you.”

“You didn’t bother me.”

The woman raised a hand, but kept her head tucked down as she backed out of the office. “I better get back to the hospital.”

Vanessa had a sudden thought. If the scrub nurse was this tuned in to hospital gossip, perhaps she had an idea who might be trying to sabotage the hospital. She couldn’t help thinking that the sabotage and the threats against her were somehow connected. “Chloe, wait.”

Tentatively the woman’s head came up. “Yes.”

Vanessa motioned her back inside. “Please, close the door so we can speak in private.”

Chloe did as she asked.

“You’re smart. You keep your ear to the ground. Do you have any idea who’s behind the petty thefts and other disturbances at Confidential Rejuvenations?”

Chloe’s eyes widened. “No.”

“You haven’t noticed anything out of the ordinary lately? Anyone acting suspicious or odd?”

“Well, there is one thing.”

“Yes?” Vanessa folded her fingers into her palms and sat up straighter.

“It’s about Tanner Doyle.”

That was the last thing Vanessa expected her to say. “Tanner?”

“They didn’t really hire him as head of security.”

Vanessa frowned. What was Chloe talking about? “I don’t understand.”

“I overheard my father talking to Dr. Butler.”

“And?”

“He’s been hired to watch over you.”

“What do you mean?” Vanessa pushed back her chair, got to her feet.

“The head of security job is just a ruse to cover the fact he’s been hired as your bodyguard.”

“What?”

“It’s true.”

“But why?”

Chloe was headed out the door again. “That’s all I know. If you want more details, then you’re just going to have to ask Tanner.”

DISTURBED BY Chloe’s statement that Tanner had been hired as her bodyguard, Vanessa had the receptionist, Hailey, reschedule the remainder of her office appointments, then she went in search of Tanner. She was determined to get to the bottom of this because, as crazy as Chloe sounded, there was the ring of truth to her words.

It would explain why Tanner had shown up everywhere she had been since Carlo Vega had been released from prison—Emilio’s, the hospital, the condo next door, the Bahamas. It also explained why he’d moved her in with him. Not because he was falling in love with her, as she’d wanted to believe, but because he’d been hired to guard her.

The biggest questions of all were who had hired him and why?

Feeling as if she’d had her guts ripped out and stomped on, she stalked across the asphalt between the doctors’ building and Confidential Rejuvenations. She thought briefly about going to Elle and Julie for advice, but honestly, she didn’t know who she could trust anymore.

Just then, Tanner’s yellow Jeep Cherokee pulled into the parking lot.

Her chest contracted, the sweet soreness between her legs a sorry reminder of how she’d fallen for him, hook, line and sinker.

He got out of his vehicle. “Vanessa,” he said, walking toward her, relief etched on his face. “I was coming to look for you.”

“What a coincidence,” she said coolly. “I was looking for you.”

The afternoon sun beat down bright, a stark contrast to her dark mood. Her stomach ached and her lungs felt so tight it hurt to breathe.

Tanner put his hands on her upper arms. “We need to talk.”

“Yes.”

As he looked at her, hope mingled with the desolation ramming into her heart, twisting up her gut.

Please, she prayed, please let Chloe’s gossip be unfounded. She shrugged off his touch and stepped back.

He looked bewildered. “Is something wrong?”

“You tell me.”

“I think I know who sent you those e-mails and vandalized your condo, but I can’t say. Not until I have proof.”

“Why not?” she said, her voice caustic. “Don’t you trust me?”

“Something is wrong.” Tanner came toward her, closing the gap she’d made between them. “What’s happened?”

“You want to tell me the real reason you’re with me? Why you were at Emilio’s? Why you’re here at Confidential Rejuvenations? Why you moved in next door? Why you’re sleeping with me?”

He exhaled, threaded his hand through his hair. “You found out.”

She sank her hands on her hips. “Just who in the hell are you, Tanner Doyle?”

Tanner shifted his weight. He knew he was going to have deal with this sometime, he’d just hoped to postpone it until after he’d confronted Robert.

Vanessa wasn’t letting him off the hook. Her eyes flashed hotly, her expression was livid. He suddenly feared she wasn’t going to forgive him for his deception. “It was never my intention to lie to you.”

She went perfectly still. “What was your intention?”

“To guard you with my life.”

Vanessa drilled a hole straight through him with her scowl. He felt bare, exposed to the bone. “Because you were hired to do so.”

“Yes,” he admitted.

“Were you hired to sleep with me, as well?”

He reached out, aching to touch her, but she jerked back before his fingers could graze her arm. “I crossed the line. I let my feelings for you interfere with my job. It was wrong. I broke all the rules.”

She looked as if he’d just slapped her across the face. “I trusted you,” she whispered. “I trusted you and you lied to me.”

His eyes burned. He knew he’d let her down. “I promised my employer that I wouldn’t reveal my real purpose for being around you.”

“Who hired you?”

“I can’t tell you the person’s name. It would violate my contract.”

“And screwing me didn’t?” Her voice grew hard.

He clenched his jaw. He deserved that.

Vanessa clamped her lips together and didn’t speak another word. He could see the hurt in her eyes, in the proud set to her shoulders. He had betrayed her. When he found himself crossing the line, he should have told her the truth. He should have told her from the very beginning. He should have quit the job. Now it was too late.

She wouldn’t even look at him. She turned, heading to the doctors’ offices with jerky movements.