The Delacourt Scandal (11 page)

“You’ll need to speak to a supervisor. One moment, please.”

Maddie waited.

“Hello, this is Mrs. Lockhorn. May I help you?”

“Yes.” She repeated her question.

“Normally we don’t give out information on our employees, past or present,” she said.

Maddie reached for a credible excuse and came up with one that she’d heard usually worked. “I’m working for a lawyer handling the estate of a relative. This woman has inherited quite a bit of money. I’m sure she’d want to know about it. Couldn’t you at least tell me if she is still employed there?”

Mrs. Lockhorn hesitated, clearly torn by the promise of large sums of money for someone she might know. “Tell me the name,” she said finally. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“Pamela Davis. I believe at one point she might have been in the accounting department.”

There was a soft gasp on the other end of the line. “Oh, dear, how terribly sad. Ms. Davis died about a year ago. She had cancer. It was a terrible pity. She was head of the accounting department at the time.”

Maddie bit back her disappointment, murmured the appropriately sympathetic comments, then asked, “Is there anyone who could tell me a little more about her? Did she have a family?”

“No, she was unmarried at the time she died. I know because we handled all of the arrangements for her funeral. Mr. Delacourt insisted. He was quite fond of her. She had been with the company for a good many years.”

Maddie immediately seized on the offhand remark. Was there a story there? Was that why her father had taken the fall, because Bryce Delacourt had wanted to protect a woman of whom he was “fond”? Was that the real reason he had never filed formal charges against her father, because he knew that Frank Kent was innocent?

“Really?” she said. “She and Mr. Delacourt were close?”

“Oh, dear, I didn’t mean to imply anything,” Mrs. Lockhorn said, sounding genuinely appalled by Maddie’s interpretation. “She was an attractive woman, but I’m certain they were nothing more than employer and employee. Mr. Delacourt would never cross that sort of line, not in this day and age of sexual harassment suits around every corner.”

Maddie let it drop. Such suits had probably been less prevalent back when any relationship between the two might have begun. Besides, there was always the possibility that both had been consenting partners. She knew one person who could tell her that, perhaps without even realizing she was being asked for such a personal revelation about her marriage: Helen De
lacourt. Maddie resolved to schedule that lunch with her within the next few days.

“Thank you, Mrs. Lockhorn. You’ve been very helpful,” she said and hung up.

Maybe more helpful than she’d ever intended to be.

That night when she met Tyler at O’Reilly’s, she was feeling more optimistic than she had in days. She’d even managed to communicate that to Griffin without giving him specifics. Maybe that upbeat feeling was why Tyler managed to catch her completely off guard.

“I’ve been thinking,” he began slowly, as they sat in a booth in a darkened back corner of the bar eating thick, juicy hamburgers.

“Should I be worried?”

“Funny.”

“Okay, what have you been thinking?” she asked with more suitable solemnity.

“You still haven’t found work, have you?”

“No, but I had two very promising leads today. Something should pan out very soon.”

“That’s great. Tell me.”

“Not just yet. I don’t want to jinx them. So what was your idea?”

Blue eyes regarded her evenly. “I think you should move in with me.”

Maddie felt the burger slide from her fingers. Fortunately it landed on her plate. “Excuse me? Where did that come from?”

“Come on, Maddie,” he said, leaning toward her, his expression earnest “Think about it. It makes perfect sense. In another week or so, I should be heading
back to Baton Rouge anyway. You’d have the place to yourself, rent-free, until you’re back on your feet.”

She didn’t like the way her heart fell at that reminder. She warned herself to stay focused on the fact that getting any closer to Tyler—long-term or short-term—was a very bad idea.

“I can’t do that,” she blurted at once.

“Why on earth not? If you’re not ready for us to have a relationship, that’s okay. I understand. Well, maybe I don’t understand, but I can accept it. Not that I’d turn it down if you were interested in something more, but there is a guest room. We could keep it strictly platonic.”

Maddie had serious doubts about that. Tyler was a very virile man. She was already having trouble keeping her attraction to him in check. Proximity would be a very dangerous risk. And even worse than the physical closeness was the possibility that their emotional bond, already strong, would deepen.

“It’s not that,” she said, at a loss to explain what it was. She could hardly tell him that she had already let him get too close, that she was in danger of losing whatever shred of objectivity she might have for the exposé she was trying to piece together.

“Just think about it. You don’t have money to throw around, and I’m not crazy about the fact that you won’t even tell me where you live. It can’t be safe.”

“It is,” she assured him. If only he knew just how pricey the apartment was that Griffin had rented for her. “It’s right in this neighborhood.”

“Parts of this area are better than others,” he countered. “It’s in transition, Maddie. You know that.”
He reached across the table to touch her cheek. “Maddie, I don’t want anything to happen to you. I couldn’t bear to lose someone else I care about.”

She understood how devastated he’d been by losing Jen and their child. That he even considered her to be half as important in his life was amazing. Under other circumstances…She sighed. How many times would she come back to those unfortunate words?

“Nothing is going to happen to me,” she insisted, resting her hand over his. “I promise. I am very careful whenever I go out. The neighbors look out for me, too. It’s not as if I came here from a small town. I’m used to a big city, Tyler. I know how to protect myself.”

From everything except him, anyway.

He frowned. “I’d feel more confident about that if you were at my place,” he said stubbornly.

“I’ll think about,” she said finally, though she had no intention of doing any such thing.

Despite her intentions, though, the thought was never far from her mind in the coming days. In fact, she thought about little else. A part of her desperately wanted to accept. A part of her even wished she had never started this blasted investigation, because in the end, no matter what she turned up, it was going to ruin her relationship with Tyler forever. She had deceived him from the beginning, and eventually, like it or not, she would betray him. How could either of them live with that?

In the end, though, after butting up against another dead end in trying to get information on Pamela Davis and Bryce Delacourt without having to go to Tyler’s
mother, she concluded that none of that mattered. She managed to convince herself that moving in would be a smart way to keep him and the rest of the Delacourts under constant surveillance. It would also give his mother even more reason to trust her. It would fuel her already wild speculation about Tyler’s plans for a future with Maddie, maybe cause her to drop her guard with Maddie when they eventually got together.

With that as her avowed motive, Maddie was able to reassure herself that she hadn’t yet lost her focus. She even managed to convince herself that she could keep her hormones on a tight rein.

Within days she knew it had been the right decision. As they grew closer, Tyler spoke more freely of Jen and the baby he had lost. He talked about his family, giving her insights that would one day be invaluable when she sat at her computer and wrote the story that brought Bryce Delacourt down.

Just thinking about that day sickened her, though. She couldn’t help wondering if she’d have the stomach for it when the time came. Already she knew that she would never print a word about Tyler and his illegitimate baby. That was Tyler’s private pain, and it had nothing at all to do with Bryce Delacourt.

Realistically, though, Maddie knew that when the headlines about his father broke, her reticence about Jen and the baby would bring Tyler scant comfort. He would hate her, anyway, and that prospect was getting harder and harder for her to bear.

“M
addie, what’s wrong?” Tyler asked, regarding her with concern as they settled in for the evening after meeting for a drink at O’Reilly’s.

Tonight they’d gone on to their favorite Italian restaurant for lasagna, but Maddie hadn’t been able to work up much enthusiasm for her meal. Now she was equally listless, and she could tell Tyler was becoming increasingly puzzled by her behavior.

“Nothing,” she insisted. “Just a long day.”

“None of those job leads have panned out yet?”

She shook her head. It was far worse than that, though she couldn’t explain to Tyler. When Griffin Carpenter had discovered that she’d left the apartment he’d rented and moved in with Tyler, he had blown a gasket. None of her excuses had satisfied him.

“You’ve fallen for him, haven’t you?” he’d de
manded. “I knew that was going to happen the minute you told me you planned to use him to get close to the family.”

She hadn’t been able to deny it, not with the vehemence that might have satisfied him. “My feelings for Tyler aren’t important,” she’d said. “I’m here to do a job and I will do it. I am every bit as highly motivated as you are.”

“Why is that?” Carpenter had asked suspiciously. “You never said why this story is so important to you.”

“And you’ve never told me why you want Bryce Delacourt brought down, either,” she pointed out.

“I own this publication,” he all but shouted. “My reasons don’t matter.”

Maddie had forced herself to remain calm. “Any more than mine do. We’re both after hard facts, right?”

“Right,” he conceded with obvious reluctance.

“Then leave it to me how I get them.”

“As long as you don’t do anything illegal,” he agreed. “I expect more frequent updates, Maddie. I won’t be kept in the dark on this.”

“You’ll have them,” she had promised.

Which meant that now she had to make that call to Helen Delacourt, the one she’d been putting off, the one she would rather eat dirt than make.

“Come here,” Tyler commanded softly, gesturing to a spot on the sofa in front of him. “Sit.”

Because she was too tired to argue, she did as he asked. His hands settled on her shoulders and began to massage away the tension.

His touch felt heavenly. If she closed her eyes and
shut off all the alarm systems she’d put into place when she’d moved in, she could almost pretend that she could have a lifetime of this, coming home to a man who would treat her with such tenderness. When his lips touched her brow, she sighed deeply.

“Maddie, you’re driving me crazy,” he whispered in a choked voice.

No man had ever said that to her before. She probably wouldn’t have believed it if they had. With Tyler, though, she knew it was true, because he was driving her just as crazy. The chemistry between them was as volatile as it was…wrong.

His fingers skimmed lightly up her neck, leaving a trail of fire in their wake. Her senses went on a five-alarm alert. When his hands stilled and his mouth covered hers, it was as if a blaze had consumed every single alarm, silencing them and leaving her prey to the uncontrolled heat.

Her mouth opened and his tongue invaded. Within seconds dark, sweet swirls of desire curled through her. Her brain shut down and her senses came alive. Right and wrong flew out the window. All that mattered was here and now and this man whose touch was electrifying.

He broke the kiss only long enough to come around the sofa, scoop her into his arms, then settle onto the sofa himself with her in his lap. There was no mistaking the fact that he was as turned on as she was. The hard bulge of his arousal pressed into her hip.

For what seemed an eternity, he seemed to be satisfied with the devastating kisses alone. Maddie wanted more. She wanted his hands on her sensitive breasts. She wanted his touch between her legs where
moist heat was already gathering ahead of a storm of more intense sensations.

When his hand slid under her shirt and grazed bare skin, she jolted at the pleasure of it. Her nipples puckered. By the time he began playing with each sensitive bud, that touch alone was enough to shatter her.

“Let it go,” he murmured against her lips as wave after wave washed over her.

“I can’t…I’ve never…Oh, Tyler.” The last came on a gasp of surprise as she came apart in his arms.

But it wasn’t enough. Not nearly enough. She wanted him to share this with her. She wanted to know the feel of holding him deep inside, wanted to experience a climax that rocked them both simultaneously.

“The bedroom,” she whispered urgently.

His gaze searched hers. “Are you sure?”

“I’m sure,” she said, because anything less, any hint of uncertainty, would have brought his sense of honor into play.

They made it to his bed in awkward, almost laughable fashion, half-dressed by the time they got there, clothes strewn behind them. The urgency hadn’t been lessened by the trip. Maddie’s hands were everywhere, exploring, studying, savoring, even as she delighted in his gasps of pleasure, his protests as he told her she would cost him his control.

“That’s the idea,” she said. Neither of them could take the time for second thoughts, not now when they were so close to having it all, to knowing everything about the delight they were capable of sharing.

“Now,” she pleaded. “Love me now.”

Tyler knelt above her, his gaze steady. Slowly, his
eyes never leaving her face, he entered her, stretched her, filled her. She gasped with the wonder of it, even as his strokes intensified, even as her body pulsed around his, demanding more and more of her…of him.

Then the world seemed to spin wildly out of control as the tension shattered in wicked, rippling aftershocks.

Nothing so magnificent had ever happened to her before. She doubted it ever would again. She touched his jaw in wonder.

“I never imagined it could be like this,” she said.

“I don’t think it’s supposed to be,” he teased.

“Oh?”

“Otherwise we’d never, ever stop doing it.”

“Okay by me,” she said, pushing aside the regrets that were already trying to crowd out the joy.

“Talk to me when I’ve recovered,” he suggested.

“When will that be?” she asked, even as her touch stirred him to arousal.

He laughed. “Apparently a whole lot sooner than I imagined.”

It was hours later before exhaustion overtook both of them and sent them into a deep, dreamless sleep. Maddie’s last waking thought was that she needed to remember this tiny glimpse she’d had of heaven, because hell couldn’t possibly be far away.

Tyler knew there were things that Maddie was still keeping from him. For the life of him, though, he couldn’t get a handle on what they might be. She ran hot and cold. She would melt in his arms one minute, then freeze him out the next, as she seemed to be
doing this morning after a night of electrifying lovemaking.

She had scooted out of bed before dawn, slipped in and out of the shower before he could even consider joining her, and now she was standing at the kitchen counter, barefoot, but otherwise fully dressed, eating a bowl of cereal as if she had no more than five minutes to spare.

As she bolted down her food, he stood there unobserved, regarding her with amusement and exasperation. “In a hurry?” he inquired mildly.

Her gaze shot up guiltily. “I didn’t know you were awake.”

“Were you hoping to avoid me for some reason?”

Her expression faltered, but then her chin lifted defiantly. “Of course not.”

“Maddie, do we need to talk about what happened last night?”

“I hope not.”

“No regrets, then?”

Her hesitation was enough of an answer.

“Apparently there are,” he concluded with a sinking sensation in the pit of his stomach. “Want to tell me why?”

Ignoring the question, she turned and rinsed her bowl, then set it with careful deliberation on the counter. “No time,” she said.

He caught her wrist before she’d taken two steps toward the door.

“Maddie, what’s going on?”

“Nothing. I’m late.”

“For?”

“An interview, what else?”

“At seven a.m.?”

“It’s a breakfast interview.”

“Then why did you just eat?”

She turned and stared at the cereal bowl as if it had somehow betrayed her. “Because…” She swallowed hard. “Because I’m usually too nervous to eat during an interview.”

He sighed. “Yeah, I’m sure that’s it,” he said, releasing her. “I hope everything goes okay.”

For a moment she looked lost and alone, more vulnerable than he’d ever seen her. Responding to that, rather than his own frustration with her evasions, he kissed her gently. “Just something to put a little color in your cheeks. Good luck, Maddie.”

“Thanks.”

She flew through the door as if she feared he might change his mind and come after her. He heard the front door click quietly closed seconds later.

“What are you up to, Maddie? Who are you really?”

One thing for sure, she was the most complicated, thoroughly enigmatic woman he’d ever known. And even though he didn’t entirely trust her, he realized that he was beginning to fall in love with her. He found the prospect terrifying, especially with all of those unanswered questions.

He finally concluded that he needed answers before he allowed himself to get in any deeper. He could have turned to either Jeb or Dylan for help, since investigating was right up their alley, but bringing in a professional felt too much like a betrayal. There were a few things he could do himself.

He began by going back to talk to Kevin O’Reilly,
who was out in front of his bar sweeping the sidewalk.

“You’re here early,” Kevin said. “I don’t start serving for a couple of hours yet.”

“I came for information, not a drink.”

“About?”

“Maddie Kent. Do you know anything at all about her?”

“Hey, you’re the one living with her. Isn’t that a question you should have asked before you invited her to move in?”

“I didn’t come by for a morality lecture, just for a little background information.”

“Sorry. I can’t help you.”

“Any idea where she lived when she first got here?”

Kevin stopped sweeping, his expression thoughtful. “Come to think of it, she said she lived in the neighborhood. She said she’d just moved to town.”

“That’s all she told me, too.”

“Well, there aren’t a lot of choices. This area’s still in transition. There’s a very pricey building in the next block.”

“Which is where she lives now with me,” Tyler reminded him.

“Oh, yeah. Okay, there’s an older building that’s being gentrified, but prices in there are skyrocketing. There are a few older tear-downs that will go as soon as some developer realizes what a gold mine this area is going to be. Most of those are vacant and condemned.”

He snapped his fingers. “Wait a minute. There’s a boarding house two blocks up. A woman named Kate
Porter runs it. Keeps it clean, but I can’t say much else for it. It might be just right for somebody new in town who’s trying to save while looking for a job. Kate looks out for her tenants.”

That had to be it, Tyler concluded. “Thanks, Kevin.”

“Tell Kate I said hello. Let her know I have a beer on tap for her if she helps you out.”

Tyler laughed. “I’ll do that.”

Unfortunately, Kate Porter had never heard of Maddie Kent. She suggested a few other small places nearby where someone could rent a room or an apartment cheaply, but after hours of going door to door, Tyler hadn’t found a single soul who knew Maddie Kent or anyone fitting her description. It was the single most frustrating day he’d ever spent in his life.

It was topped off by a call from his mother, cheerfully announcing that she and Maddie were having lunch. What the hell was that about? he wondered. It only added to his awareness that he didn’t understand Maddie Kent at all.

When he waited for Maddie that evening at O’Reilly’s, he was in no mood to hear any more of her lies. He intended to get to the bottom of her tight-lipped secrecy once and for all, even if he didn’t like the answers.

But Maddie never showed up.

Maddie knew that time was running out. Even if Griffin Carpenter hadn’t been pressuring her, what had happened the night before between her and Tyler would have been warning enough. She couldn’t let that happen again. It had been too magical, too per
fect. If she allowed a relationship to continue, to deepen, she would lose her nerve. She would do everything to hold on to Tyler, instead of trying to seek justice for her father. For the first time in her life, her loyalties were divided.

She had had to get out of the apartment first thing in the morning, because lingering was too dangerous. She wanted to stay in Tyler’s arms too badly. The frustration in his voice, the sparks of anger in his eyes, had almost destroyed her, but there had been no other way. If it was this difficult now to lie to him, what would it be like for her when she betrayed him and printed an exposé of his father?

It was midmorning before she found a pay phone and forced herself to make the long-delayed call to Helen Delacourt. This was a make-or-break meeting. If Mrs. Delacourt couldn’t tell her what she needed to know, then she would have to confront Bryce Delacourt directly. It was not a position she wanted to be in, not without more facts than she had at her disposal now.

“I would absolutely love to have lunch with you,” Mrs. Delacourt said at once. “I’m looking forward to getting to know you better, since you are clearly so important to my son.”

“Tyler and I are just…” She hesitated, at a loss to describe what they were.

“Don’t tell me you’re just friends, my dear. I know better. I could see the sparks flying when you were here and you’d only just met. That sort of spontaneous chemistry is as rare as it is wonderful.”

Maddie couldn’t argue with her about that. She would give anything to be able to hold on to
it…anything except the justice she sought for her father.

“I’ve been worried about my son for some time now,” Mrs. Delacourt said, snagging Maddie’s attention.

“Why?”

“He’s seemed terribly sad to me, but of course he won’t talk about whatever’s bothering him. Typical of a man, don’t you think? They suffer in silence or expect us to guess what’s wrong with them. At any rate, there was a sparkle back in Tyler’s eyes when he brought you here.”