Tempt Me at Midnight (20 page)

“You’re one to talk,” Lexi shot back.

When her mother flinched, she felt a stab of guilt.

She should have known the retaliation would be swift.

“I don’t know how long you and Quentin have been dating,” Carlene said with malicious satisfaction, “but I should tell you that I saw him going into Wolf’s Soul with another woman two weeks ago.”

Lexi snorted derisively. “Is that the best you can do? Quentin always takes new clients to Wolf’s Soul for lunch meetings, male or female. But if he really wanted to sneak around behind my back, do you honestly think he’d be stupid enough to take his mistress to Michael’s restaurant, of all places?”

Carlene faltered for a moment, then shrugged. “Maybe he knows Michael would cover for him, the way they did for each other in college. Or maybe he just doesn’t give a damn. Rascals like him usually don’t. I’m telling you, he and that woman looked
mighty
cozy together.”

“I don’t believe you.” But Lexi hated herself for the kernel of doubt that whispered through her mind, hated the fact that she thought of Jocelyn and her topless photos.

Carlene’s eyes narrowed spitefully. “Mark my words. Quentin Reddick’s gonna make a damn fool out of you, just like Adam did. And when he does, don’t come crying to me, expecting sympathy and support. ’Cause I’ve tried to warn you that the man’s no good, but you refuse to listen! You keep choosing the same type of men—the
wrong
men. And that’s why you’re never gonna be happy!”

“No! You’re wrong!” Lexi shook her head vehemently, resisting the childish urge to clap her hands over her ears to block out her mother’s taunting words. “You don’t know Quentin the way I do. He loves me. He would never—”

“Ask him,” Carlene dared her.

“I’m not asking him anything!” Lexi cried, her voice breaking because she knew her mother might be right about Quentin, and she couldn’t bear it.

“What are you so afraid of?” Carlene jeered. “Ask him about that woman he was with!”

“
No!
I won’t dignify your ridiculous accusation by repeating it to him. And I know
exactly
what you’re doing. You’re deflecting, trying to change the subject so I’ll forget about my father. But it won’t work. I want answers from you, Ma.”

Carlene’s expression hardened. “You need to go.”

“I’m not going anywhere until you answer my questions! My father told me to ask you why he left us. Why did he say that?”

“Your father is a worthless—”

“What is he holding over you?”
Lexi roared.

Pushed to the limit, Carlene exploded. “The fact that I almost killed you!”

Stunned, Lexi stared at her, feeling the blood drain from her head.

Several long seconds passed.

“I—I don’t understand,” Lexi finally managed in a choked whisper.

Carlene lunged to her feet, her face contorted with anguished rage. “You want to know why you’re so afraid of heights? Blame
me!
”

Suddenly Lexi didn’t want to hear any more. But she had to know. Had to know the truth once and for all. “What happened?”

Now it was her mother’s turn to stalk up and down the floor. “He came home drunk one night, reeking of sex and another woman’s perfume. It wasn’t the first time, not even close. But I’d finally had enough. You were only two years old. I had my hands full with you, and your father was no help whatsoever. So I’d made up my mind to ask him for a divorce.

“When he stumbled through the door that night, I confronted him about where he’d been and what he’d been doing. He got mad and defensive. We started arguing. Our yelling woke you up. At first I tried to ignore your crying, but you only got louder. Your father started cursing and shouting at me to shut you up. I kept screaming at him to get out, but he refused. Dug in his heels and said he wasn’t going anywhere. Something came over me, and I just snapped. I marched into your room and snatched you out of bed. The next thing I knew I was on the patio, dangling you over the railing. We lived on the tenth floor, so…we were up pretty high.”

Lexi stared at her in abject horror, nausea and dread churning in her stomach.

“I threatened your father, told him to leave or I’d drop you. He called me a crazy bitch, but he wouldn’t get out, wouldn’t back down. He was
daring
me to let you go. So I kept dangling you over that railing, and you were kicking your little legs and wailing in terror.” Carlene’s voice was raw, ravaged with pain and guilt. “Sometimes I close my eyes at night and I can still hear your screams in my head.”

Lexi sank weakly onto the sofa, her legs unable to support her.

Carlene continued pacing furiously. “One minute your father was laughing and taunting me. The next minute he was storming across the patio, telling me to stop my foolishness. He grabbed my arm. I tried to shake him off, but he wouldn’t let go. And then…and then…
I dropped you!
”

“No!” Lexi screamed, a sound of anguished denial wrenched from the depths of her soul. “No. No.
No!
”

Carlene crumpled to the floor, her body convulsed with the deep, racking howls of a wounded animal.

Reeling, choking with sobs, Lexi descended upon her, thinking she might actually kill her. She grabbed Carlene’s frail shoulders and shook her violently as she shouted into her face, “How could you?
How could you?
”

“It was an accident!” Carlene wailed, tears pouring down her cheeks. “I never meant for you to fall!”

“You could have
killed
me!”

“I know.
I know!
It’s nothing but the grace of God that kept you alive that night!”

“What happened?” Lexi demanded hoarsely.
“Tell me what happened!”

Trembling uncontrollably, Carlene squeezed her eyes shut. “One of our neighbors had heard all the commotion. He lived on the ground floor of our building. When he heard you screaming, he stepped out onto his patio and looked up. That’s when he saw you dangling in the air. He jumped over his railing and started shouting up at me. When I dropped you—oh, Jesus!—he was there to catch you. By the grace of God, you only came away with a few cuts and bruises!”

“And a paralyzing fear of heights!” Lexi cried shrilly.

“You can survive that! You
couldn’t
have survived a fall from ten stories!”

Lexi stared at her mother for an agonized moment, then released her so abruptly that Carlene sagged against the wall.

She shoved to her feet and backed away on rubbery legs, staggered by the enormity of Carlene’s horrifying revelations. Were it not for the intervention of a complete stranger, Lexi would be dead. Dead at the hands of her own mother. It was inconceivable.

“I could have gone to jail,” Carlene said in a low, haunted voice. “But the neighbor took pity on me and decided not to call the police. Your father promised to change his ways, so I let him stay. But a leopard can’t change its spots. He hung around long enough to knock me up two more times before he gave up on the marriage and walked out on us.

He moved in with one of his mistresses before she got fed up with him and put his sorry ass out. His drinking eventually got worse, and he fell on hard times. One day he came crawling back to me, begging for money. When I refused to give him any, he threatened to tell you about that night. He said if you ever found out what I’d done, you’d hate me for the rest of your life. So I gave him what he wanted.”

“And that’s how it started,” Lexi said flatly.

Carlene’s head snapped up, her features twisted with sudden fury. “I shouldn’t have let him blackmail me all those years! I should have let him tell you the truth. What difference would it have made? You grew up to hate me anyway!”

“I don’t hate you!” Lexi cried, tears scalding her eyes.

“Well,
I
hate
you!
”

Stunned, Lexi recoiled as if she’d been leveled with a two-by-four.

“Every time I look at you,” Carlene spat viciously, “I’m reminded of what happened that night. I’m reminded of the way I allowed your father to push me over the edge, to make me do such an unspeakable thing to my own child. Every time I look at you, I’m reminded of how much I failed you. I can’t take any pride or joy in your accomplishments, because I know you achieved them
without
any help from me!”

Lexi gaped at her, torn between compassion and incredulity. “How can you say you didn’t help me? You
raised
me—”

“That’s right! And I did the best I could! But sometimes, God help me, I wish you hadn’t survived that fall. Because if you weren’t here, I wouldn’t have to be constantly reminded of everything I have
ever
done wrong as a mother. Your father never looked at me the same after that night. He was disgusted with me for dropping you from the balcony.

He called me deranged, said I was an unfit mother. He told me the whores he slept with could raise you better than
I
ever could!” She glared accusingly at Lexi. “If only you’d stayed asleep that night. If only you hadn’t rattled my nerves so much with all your goddamn wailing! Maybe,
just maybe,
your daddy and I could have worked out our problems. But because of what happened that night—because of
you
—he left us! So yeah, I hate you!
Hate you!
”

Every cruel word lashed at Lexi, battering at her fractured psyche until she finally snapped with an outraged roar, “You know what, Ma? If that’s the way you really feel, you don’t have to worry about me anymore!”

Carlene went utterly still, staring at her. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“It means I’ve had enough of you and your toxic bullshit! I’m doing what I should have done a long time ago. I’m leaving Atlanta, and I’m getting as far away from you as possible!”

Panic flared in Carlene’s eyes. “You can’t do that—”

“Watch me!”

And as Lexi spun blindly and fled from the house, she knew just where she would go.

Q
uentin slowed his car to a red light and impatiently drummed his fingers on the steering wheel. He was eager to get to Lexi’s house. He hadn’t seen her in over a week, and he missed her like crazy.

But that wasn’t the only reason for his eagerness that afternoon.

Smiling, he reached inside his breast pocket and removed a small black box.

Thumbing the lid open, he examined the four-carat princess-cut diamond ring nestled in velvet. He hoped it wasn’t too much. Lexi had never been flashy or materialistic. What moved her more than anything was the sentimentality in simple gestures, like the flowers he’d given her that day in Dijon. Or the romantic dinner he’d arranged to re-create their experience in Burgundy.

Yeah, he knew she wasn’t the kind of woman who’d appreciate expensive trinkets he threw her way just because he could afford to do so.

But, damn, he couldn’t
wait
to slide this beautiful ring onto her finger.

Assuming she says yes,
an inner voice reminded him.

As the traffic light clicked to green, Quentin snapped the box closed and kissed it for good luck.

A few minutes later, he pulled up to the familiar two-story redbrick house and did a double take. There was a For Sale sign in the yard.

He frowned. When had Lexi decided to put her house on the market?

Maybe she’s ready to take the next step and move in with you.

Perfect, he thought.

But as he climbed out of the car and walked to the front door, he couldn’t shake a sense of foreboding. Because he knew Lexi wouldn’t have put her house up for sale without telling him first. Unless she had a specific reason for not telling him.

A reason he wouldn’t like.

When she answered the door, he took one look at her drawn face and knew something was wrong.

“Quentin.” She gave him a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Welcome home.”

He stepped inside the house, swept her up into his arms and kissed her the way he’d been dying to all week. When she responded with equal hunger, he felt some of his misgivings dissolve.

Drawing back, he ran a hand over her soft hair and smiled into her eyes. “I missed you.”

“I missed you, too,” she whispered, her arms looped tightly around his neck.

“That was the longest week of my damn life.”

“Mine too.”

He gave her another kiss, then set her back down on the floor and closed the door behind him. “We have so much to talk about.”

“I know.” Her voice was subdued. “We hardly spoke on the phone this week.”

“I know,” he agreed with a grimace. “Between your book-tour schedule and the fires I was putting out at the D.C. office, there just weren’t enough hours in the day. I want to hear all about your whirlwind tour. When do you leave for the West Coast?”

“Tomorrow.”

Quentin groaned. “So soon?”

“Afraid so.”

As they moved into the living room, Quentin claimed his usual spot at one end of the pin-striped sofa. Instead of sitting next to him, Lexi sat on the adjacent mahogany settee.

That set off another warning bell in his head.

He searched her face, noting the faint dark smudges beneath her eyes that indicated she’d been sleeping poorly. “Are you feeling all right?” he asked with gentle concern.

“I’m fine. Just…tired.”

Struck by a sudden suspicion—or hope—he stared intently at her. “Are you…pregnant?”

She visibly tensed, a shadow crossing her face. “No. I’m not.”

Disappointment crashed through him. Ever since they’d been named godparents of their friends’ baby, Quentin had been daydreaming about getting Lexi pregnant. He’d imagined her, lush and petite, waddling around with an adorably swollen belly. And he’d gone further, envisioning her in the kitchen with their daughter, a miniature version of herself, a smudge of flour on their noses as Lexi taught their child how to make one of her divine French dishes.

He would have given anything to walk through her front door and hear the words
we’re going to have a baby.
Talk about an unforgettable homecoming.

Reluctantly pushing the thought aside, he focused on the grim, tense woman before him. “What’s going on, Lex? Why didn’t you tell me you were selling the house?”