Semiautomatic Marriage (14 page)

“I’m sure we can work things out,” she answered with more conviction than she felt.

“Well, I hope you’re not going to tighten the purse strings,” he said frankly. “Mom’s a bear when she’s forced to turn loose with an extra dollar. Jasper lets her handle all the finances, you know. He’s right along with me and Lisa, begging for an extra dollar. I know she’s got a nest egg hidden away somewhere, but I’ll probably never see any of it till she’s six feet under.”

The callous remark made Carolyn want to lash out at him about getting a job and earning his own way, instead of waiting for his mother to die.

Adam took a different tack. “I guess Arthur was pretty good to her during the years.”

“What she’s got, she got on her own,” Buddy said bluntly. “Well, I’m beat. See you in the morning—maybe.”

Carolyn and Adam looked at each other as he disappeared, but before they could say anything, a movement at one end of the kitchen caught their eyes.

Morna stood, a scowl on her face, in the servants’ hallway. Her graying hair was tightly braided, and she wore a faded, unbecoming bathrobe that was pulled tightly over her large figure. To their surprise, she ignored the pilfered food and bottle of wine in their hands.

“Buddy Denison is a lazy leech,” she said in a tone that was almost a growl. “Never done an honest day’s work in his life. If you want to know the truth, Mr. Jasper has been a saint to put up with him and his sister.” Her mouth tightened. “You’d be doing everyone a favor to toss all of them out.”

Her tone left no doubt that Della was included in the statement as Morna turned around and disappeared. Carolyn decided she certainly wouldn’t want to be in Buddy’s shoes if the woman ever unleashed her anger.

These encounters in the kitchen took a toll on Carolyn and Adam’s appetite, but they carried their food and drink upstairs to their wing of the house and settled in the study with a pleasant fire.

Adam did his best to recover their earlier lightheartedness, but without much success. Carolyn made a valiant effort to respond to his quips, but he could see it was a strain.

As the firelight flickered on her face, she looked fragile and vulnerable.
What have I done?
he asked himself with a pang of guilt. He wanted to assure her that all would be well, but how could he lie to her? He longed to pick her up in his arms, tuck her in bed and crawl in beside her. A spurt of warm desire picked up the thought, and he forced himself to get to his feet.

She put down her half-eaten sandwich and finished her small glass of wine. “Any plans for tomorrow?”

He sensed that already danger and deceit were thickening around her. She could precipitate some dangerous reactions without even realizing it.

“Why don’t you sleep in and give me a chance to check out the business of Nick’s? I don’t know if his beating is connected to anything going on at Horizon or if it’s related to his poker playing.”

“I could go to the office without you,” she offered in a slightly defensive tone.

“Of course, you could,” he agreed.
Easy does it,
he cautioned himself. He knew she was more than capable of moving ahead on her own, and under normal circumstances he would have applauded her determination to take hold of her inheritance. If he didn’t handle her exactly right, she could put herself in jeopardy without even knowing it.

“I was hoping that maybe you could spend some time with Lisa and pick up a little personal background on her mother. There’s always the chance that Arthur might have said something to Della, which she repeated to her daughter. A casual remark might give us a hint of Arthur’s concerns. Maybe you could do some of that shopping she suggested.”

He reached out and helped her to her feet. He had promised her that he wouldn’t make any advances on her, and he wondered if she could tell that she was becoming very important to him on a level that had no place in this investigation.

For a moment she leaned into him as if inviting his embrace. He let his arms encircle her back and then stiffened as he felt the vibrating warning that his cell phone was ringing.

Damn. Angel was the only one who had this number. Why was she calling at this time of night? He stepped away from Carolyn and drew out the pocket phone. “Sorry, why don’t you head for bed while I take this call?”

Her expression was unreadable, but as she disappeared into the bathroom, she gave the door a punctuating slam. He knew one thing for sure. He would be staying on his side of the bed that night.

Chapter Nine

When Adam left their suite early the next morning, Carolyn was still asleep on her side of the bed, and there were no signs the rest of the household was awake. He slipped out to his car and headed toward town. The late call had been from the agency, giving him the background check on Cliff he’d requested. He found some of the data very, very interesting.

Cliff’s father had been a successful oil man and had settled his family in several foreign countries while Cliff was growing up. Cliff’s schooling had been varied, and he had attended several universities, earning high marks in a few areas. His medical career had seemed a sure thing until his father died, and then Cliff dropped out of medical school after achieving only certification as a laboratory technician.

The report made one thing clear to Adam. Cliff Connors was one smart fellow. Maybe smart enough to run a black-market scheme right under Jasper Stanford’s nose. But Cliff couldn’t do it alone, Adam thought as his hands tightened on the steering wheel. He’d bet there was a weak link somewhere, and he intended to find it.

As he passed a coffee shop a couple of blocks from Horizon, he saw Susan Kimble sitting at a window table and quickly pulled into the parking lot for his morning coffee and a chance to see what he could find out about Susan’s relationship with Cliff.

“Morning, Susan,” he greeted her with a broad smile. “Mind if I join you? I left the house without my usual caffeine fix.”

She looked startled and embarrassed to see him, and her hand went to her collar in a nervous gesture. Even as she nodded, he had the feeling she was already getting ready to flee.

“You must be a morning person like me,” he said in a light conversational tone. “It’s barely six o’clock and here we are. Oh, you’re not meeting someone, are you? I wouldn’t want to intrude…”

“No, I’m not meeting anyone. I take an early bus and spend time here until the gates open.” She looked worried, as if her habit might not have his approval for some reason.

“Sounds like a good idea,” he assured her quickly.

Obviously she wasn’t used to having coffee with someone she barely knew, but after a few minutes she seemed to relax.

Adam kept the conversation light and general, hoping that she might offer some information about Cliff that might be useful. When none was forthcoming, he mentioned casually, “We saw Cliff at the Galloping Goose last evening after work. I guess that’s a favorite hangout.”

He was surprised when she said, “I don’t know. I’ve never been there.”

“Really?” He searched her face, trying to pick
up some undercurrent of emotion. “You’ve never been there with Cliff? I mean, the two of you having lunch together yesterday and everything, I kinda thought…” He let his words trail off, inviting her to set him straight.

“Oh, there’s nothing like that between Cliff and me.” She looked almost pleased that he’d thought such a thing.

Either she was a damn good actress or she was telling the truth. He veered the conversation in another direction. Since the company grapevine would be buzzing with Nick’s assault, he might as well view Susan’s reaction when she heard the news.

She listened, looked horrified, then made all the appropriate remarks about how awful it was. Only one thing was missing from her reaction—honest surprise. Adam would have bet she already knew.

He decided to go fishing. “Are you friends with Nellie Ryan?”

She seemed surprised at the question. “I know who she is. Why do you ask?”

“She came to the hospital last night to be with Nick.”

“I see her once in a while at work, but we’re not really friends.”

Then who told you about Nick’s beating last night?

The question must have flickered in his eyes, because Susan suddenly showed her earlier signs of nervousness. She touched her mouth with her napkin. “I really better be going.”

Her hasty exit spoke volumes. His fishing expe
dition had snagged something, but what? Her defenses had gone up as if he was trawling too close to forbidden waters.

W
HEN
C
AROLYN AWOKE
it was midmorning. For a moment she panicked. She’d missed her shift at the hospital by oversleeping. Her loyal little alarm clock must have failed her.

She sat up with a jerk and the elegant bedroom came into focus. Then she remembered. She glanced at the other side of the bed. Empty. Only the impression of Adam’s head on the pillow told her that he had slept there. Usually the dip of the mattress under his weight signaled his presence, but last night a bone-deep fatigue had claimed her. She must have fallen asleep before he finished his telephone conversation, because she couldn’t remember him crawling into bed with her.

Thank heavens, she thought as she steeled herself to face another day as Mrs. Adam Lawrence. God help her, if she played the fool and let herself believe in the charade of this so-called marriage, if Buddy and Morna hadn’t spoiled the mood of their “picnic” and Adam’s phone call hadn’t come when it had, no telling what would have happened.

As she dressed and made her way downstairs to the morning room, she half expected to see Adam sitting there waiting for her, but only Lisa was at the table, sipping coffee and reading a fashion magazine.

She gave Carolyn a warm smile. “Somebody else knows a civilized hour for breakfast, I see. Terrific. I hate to eat alone.” She touched a porcelain bell sitting on the table. “Morna always removes the breakfast buffet right at nine o’clock, but Seika will
bring you anything you want.” She eyed Carolyn’s trim figure. “I’m betting you’re a toast-and-coffee gal.”

Carolyn smiled and shook her head. “I usually prefer a hearty bowl of oatmeal, because when I’m busy, lunch often gets missed.”

Lisa sighed. “You workaholics are a mystery to me. My mother is the worst kind. She wore my father out with all her push, push, drive, drive.” She didn’t disguise her resentment when she added, “He ended up six feet under when he was only forty. Heart attack.”

“I’m sorry,” Carolyn murmured. “That’s young.”

“I guess that’s why Buddy and I are determined to have a little fun while we can. Of course, how long that’s going to last depends on you,” she added frankly. “Are you going to boot Mother out of the company?”

Seika appeared at that moment and Carolyn didn’t have to answer. The pretty young woman poured her a cup of coffee and took Carolyn’s request for orange juice, oatmeal and toast.

“Well, are you?” Lisa asked again when they were alone. “Are you going to give Mom her walking papers and take over?”

Take over?
The thought was so scary that for a minute Carolyn didn’t know what to say.

“I mean, I could understand your wanting to be the CEO,” Lisa said. “I guess that’s what Arthur had in mind, making out that unbelievable will to a granddaughter he didn’t even know.” She gave a false laugh. “The whole thing beats me.”

“Me, too,” Carolyn admitted honestly. “Did my
grandfather give any hint that he was disturbed about anything that was happening at Horizon?”

“Disturbed?”

Carolyn knew the question was a clumsy one, and she felt an unreasonable spurt of resentment that Adam wasn’t around to smoothly guide the conversation. “I mean, did he seem to be himself before the accident?”

“I haven’t the foggiest idea what was going on in Arthur’s mind. He was always pleasant enough, but he didn’t have much to do with Buddy and me.”

She eyed Carolyn’s plain linen dress, slightly faded from repeated washing. “What do you say we go shopping? The next best thing to splurging on myself is spending someone else’s money.”

“All right. Sounds like fun,” Carolyn agreed, knowing Adam would be pleased she’d followed his suggestion.

It didn’t take long for Carolyn to realize that Lisa had told her the truth—she loved spending money, period. And boy, did she know how to do it, Carolyn thought as they emerged hours later from another expensive boutique with more new clothes than she’d had in the previous five years.

When Lisa suggested they have a late lunch at the country club, Carolyn agreed. With all the shopping, there hadn’t been any chance to pump Lisa about her mother or the company. So far, she’d picked up absolutely nothing that might interest Adam. At Lisa’s urging, she’d decided to wear a sexy red dress out of the store and wanted to try out her new look on some unsuspecting strangers. Maybe she’d get used to the glances that
came her way as the two of them sauntered down the street, loaded with packages.

Highland Country Club guests and staff alike seemed to know Lisa, and she laughed and joked with everyone as she led the way to an attractive patio overlooking the golf course. Carolyn was conscious of curious looks that came her way and she was grateful that Lisa didn’t stop to introduce her to anyone. She felt like an actress making her entrance on the stage without the foggiest idea of the script.

Lisa insisted on ordering a couple of cocktails while they consulted the menu. Carolyn followed her suggestion and ordered shrimp-and-lobster salad which Lisa had proclaimed “divinely wonderful.”

“So, Lisa, is there a man in your life?” Carolyn asked as they ate. She was determined to glean something worth reporting to Adam.

“I’m dating a golf pro at the moment,” she said with a shrug. “I need a change of scenery. Until Arthur got himself killed, Mom was talking about financing a European trip for Buddy and me.”

“Really? That would have been nice. Does she travel out of the country a lot?”

“No, but I think she had plans for that to change. I heard her talking to Arthur one night about making some trips to increase Horizon’s foreign markets. I don’t think he liked the idea.” Lisa caught the waitress’s eye and ordered a second drink.