Trust Me (11 page)

“No. It’s more complicated when you’re an adult.”

A sudden, anticipatory tension in Max’s body made Carly realize that he had found her answer very interesting, and an alarming
possibility presented itself. Had Richard indeed said something about their involvement? Or had Max guessed, and was trying
to get her to confirm it? It was not a pleasant thought. But why would Max care about her old relationship? What interest
could he possibly have in her personal life… unless it was the same curiosity that she felt about him, the urge to know him
on a level deeper than the outer self he presented to the world.

Could he actually be thinking of her that way?

“Complicated,” he repeated. “How?”

Anxiously, Carly squeezed the edge of her seat. “Sometimes people enter relationships for the wrong reasons,” she said. “Looking
for the wrong things.”

“And what were you looking for, Carly?” Max asked quietly. “Security? Someone older and more experienced to take you under
his wing?”

He knew. Humiliation burned through her. He knew, and the only way he could have known was through Richard’s idiotic male
posturing. Damn Richard, damn his ego! What warped version of the story had he given to Max? He had probably painted her in
his usual colors, as a Goody Two-shoes who didn’t have the sophistication to handle an adult relationship. She could see him,
winking at Max.
Just a warning, buddy. Guys like us have to stick together.

“Security was part of it,” she said. If Max already knew everything, at least she could try to set the record straight. “I
was just out of school, and I didn’t know if I could make it on my own. I thought I loved him.” She sighed. “I have this problem
with idealism. Rose-colored glasses, that kind of thing. I end up wasting a lot of time because of it.”

Max looked skeptical. “The age gap didn’t bother you?”

“Age gap,” Carly said. “I never really thought about it. If anything, I guess it helped. All the guys my own age were just
getting started, but he was well established. He seemed very glamorous then, and I was in awe of him. I didn’t know him very
well. Anyway,” she added, “It was a huge mistake, but by the time I figured that out, it was too late.”

“What do you mean, too late?”

“Too late to leave. I couldn’t afford to walk out. I didn’t have any choice but to stay in the arrangement and wait until—Max,
good grief! What’s wrong?”

He had recoiled sharply. “Stay in the
arrangement
?” he repeated.

“Well, yes. I had to.”

“And wait until when?”

“Until I can get my money. It’s a long story.”

“Really,” said Max, with a sudden chill in his voice. “It sounds very simple to me. Let me see if I understand you. You fell
out of love and wanted to leave, but instead you decided to wait around for the big payoff?”

“I suppose you could put it like that,” Carly said slowly. “But it wasn’t much of a decision—I mean, I had to stay. If I’d
quit, I would have lost everything I’d invested up to that point.”

She looked curiously at Max. There seemed to be something wrong with him. He looked almost ill. “It would have been foolish
to leave,” she explained, “just because my feelings had changed.”

“Foolish,” Max repeated.

“Well, yes. It wasn’t an ideal situation, but I knew it would only be for a few more years. It hasn’t been that bad, really.
He can be unpleasant, but I’ve learned how to handle him.”

Max’s face darkened like a thundercloud. “I see,” he said, staring stonily through the windshield.

Carly couldn’t understand why he was suddenly so angry. She felt a flicker of guilt; was she being unfair to Richard? From
the way that Max was scowling, she thought that she must have said something wrong. Maybe she did sound unkind. “He is a brilliant
man,” she amended. “That was what first attracted me to him. And I suppose I do owe him a lot…”

“Yes,” Max growled. “You sure do.”

So that was it. This was some kind of guy thing, with men defending their own. She felt rising annoyance. “Hold on,” she said.
“I think I deserve more credit than that. He would have had a really difficult time finding another partner who was willing
to do the kinds of things that I—”

“My God!” Max exclaimed violently. The car swerved, and Carly braced herself, alarmed, as he quickly brought it back under
control. “This is unbelievable. Please, spare me the details. I really don’t want to know.”

Carly stared at him. “Okay, I’m sorry.”

“So am I,” he said grimly.

They drove in silence, until Carly couldn’t stand it any longer. “I just wanted you to hear my side of the story,” she said.
“I don’t understand why you’re so upset.”

“I’m not upset.”

“Something is obviously bothering you.”

His fingers were tight on the steering wheel. “Look,” he said finally. “I have no idea why you’re suddenly being so candid
with me, but I’ll return the favor. You caught me by surprise. I had started to think that you were a different kind of person.”

“Oh,” Carly said, confused. “Well, I guess I’m just me.”

“You should have stuck with your earlier approach. I would have been much more generous if you had convinced me that you loved
him. But now—for some unfathomable reason—you’re telling me that you don’t, and that you’ve been willing to sell years of
your life to a man that you find
unpleasant.
”

“What else was I supposed to do?” Carly demanded. “I thought about walking away, but I couldn’t. I can’t. Maybe you don’t
understand what it’s like to worry about money, but I’m still paying off student loans. And then there’s rent, and insurance,
and car repairs, and… and utility bills, and by the time I take care of everything, I’m happy just to be able to feed myself!
That money is the only security I have. It belongs to me. I earned it.”

“That’s one way to look at it,” Max said. “But I’ll give you some advice, Carly. You might think that the money is worth it,
but it isn’t. And telling me all of this was a very big mistake.”

“Oh,” Carly said hotly. “That is so unfair. You have no right to judge me for being practical. I’ve had no choice. Not until
now, with Henry’s gift.”

“The payoff, you mean?” Max said. “I guess it was worth it, then. I suppose that if you’re going to sell your body, Henry
Tremayne was the right man to pick. But tell me, Carly, are you available to anyone who looks like a potential gold mine,
or do you restrict your
arrangements
to lonely eighty-year-olds?”

O
ne look at Carly’s face told Max that his cruel question had hit the mark. She sat as if stunned, her mouth slightly open.

“What?” she croaked, finally. “Henry?”

The light ahead turned green, and Max hit the accelerator with more force than necessary, his hand clenching the gearstick
as the engine roared. Was this how it was going to be? After everything she had just admitted, did she think she had the right
to be insulted and hurt by his judgment? He was fighting down a hot mixture of emotions, not the least of which was a sense
of betrayal. To think that she had actually gotten him to the point of making excuses for her, imagining scenes of romance,
of love, of—at the very least—honorable motivations for her affair with Henry. So much for the rebirth of ideals. He should
have known better.

“Let me make sure I understand this,” Carly said, her voice rising shrilly. “All this time, you were talking about Henry?”

“Who else?”

She made a noise that sounded strangely like a growl, and Max suddenly felt a sharp blow to his shoulder. He turned to see
Carly, her face a mask of outrage, balling another fist and aiming it at him.

“You’re disgusting!” she shouted, landing another blow. “You’re a rotten, filthy-minded misogynist sicko!”

“What the hell are you doing?” Max demanded, swerving as she smacked him again. “I’m driving—”

Carly didn’t even seem to hear him. “How could you think I was talking about your grandfather? About Henry Tremayne, my friend,
whose pets I look after and who discusses world news and literature with me over afternoon tea!”

“Ouch, damn it,” Max said, giving up on trying to handle city traffic with a madwoman in his front seat. He pulled the car
to a screeching halt by the curb next to a small city park.

“I’ve had it with you, Max Giordano,” Carly raged. “I was actually starting to like you, but I just changed my mind. You’re
horrible, and I never want to see you again!” She fumbled for the door handle.

“Hold it,” Max said. “If that whole discussion wasn’t about Henry, then who—”

“Richard, you idiot!” Carly shouted, opening the door. “I was talking about Richard.” She slammed the door behind her and
stormed away.

Max cursed under his breath, yanked the keys out of the ignition, and followed her. “Carly!”

She was well on her way into the park before he caught up with her. Head high, stride firm, she shot one furious sideways
glance at him. “Go away!”

“The hell I will,” Max said, keeping pace with her. “We’re going to straighten this out right now. You were talking about
Richard Wexler, your partner?”

Red spots burned hotly on her cheeks. “I just told you that, Sherlock.”

“You and he were… involved?”

“Right.”

“For how long?”

“Too long.”

“That’s what you meant when you said that you couldn’t afford to leave your arrangement? You meant a professional arrangement?”

“No,” Curly snapped, stopping in her tracks and turning on him, her words tumbling out in a rush. “I meant that I was sleeping
with your grandfather, trying to milk that nice old man for every penny he’s worth. That’s what you’ve been waiting to hear,
isn’t it? Why even bother to wait, Max? As far as I can tell, I’ve already been tried and convicted, so why not just hang
me right now?

“Obviously,” she continued sarcastically, “I’ve been spending my nights scheming to get into Henry’s will, so that I’ll never
have to work another day in my life. I’m sure you’ve noticed that I just hate my job. Can’t stand animals, either. And all
those years in vet school? Those sixteen-hour days I worked just to get myself through? Oh, those were for fun, not because
I actually have a goal that I’ve been dreaming of since I was a kid.”

She reached out with one emphatic finger and poked him in the chest. “And I’ll tell you something else. To somebody with your
bank balance, my life may not look like much, but you had better believe that I’m pretty darned happy with it, and all of
your grandfather’s money wouldn’t do so much for me that I’d ever manipulate him or prostitute myself to get it.”

Her eyes met his defiantly, and Max could tell that she was ready for him to argue. But he didn’t. Instead, he simply waited,
watching as she faced him expectantly, her lips compressed and her shoulders tense. He waited, as her quick and shallow breathing
slowed, and the hard lines of her face slumped into wary uncertainty.

She took one more ragged breath, and Max could see that she was trying to bolster her own rage, to pull it around herself
like chain mail.

“I’ve had enough of this,” she said, and turned her back on him. “Good-bye.”

He moved quickly, catching her by the arms and turning her around to face him again.

Carly gasped, and tried to pull away. “What do you think you’re—”

“Look at me.”

“What… ?” A flush crept over her cheeks as he held her. He stared down at her, trying to see the truth behind the startled
blue shimmer of her eyes.

Integrity in others was the last thing that Max expected to meet when confronting the world. He had seen too many adjustable
morals to have any illusions left about the inherent goodness of humankind, especially where money was concerned. But as he
searched Carly’s face and saw nothing but clear, unwavering honesty, his cynicism broke under the rising force of his instinct.

“I’ll be damned,” he said slowly, stunned. “You’re telling me the truth.”

There was a rush of release in saying the words, and also a strange feeling of vertigo as he understood their deeper meaning.
Carly Martin was not his enemy. It was possible that she wasn’t even his opponent. But if she wasn’t any of those things,
then who exactly was she?

Carly let out a shaky sigh. “Of course it’s the truth,” she said. She sounded as if she was trying to be stern, but Max felt
her tremble under his hands.

“I don’t know why Henry gave his house to me,” she said. “Honestly, I don’t. And this foundation that he wants me to set up
… I don’t know how to do it. I’m only twenty-eight, and I’m still learning how to be a vet. I’ll do the best job that I can,
but I can think of a hundred people who would be better at it than I.”

“He obviously had a reason for choosing you,” Max said.

“I’ve been thinking about it for days, and I can’t come up with any reason except…”

“What?”

“Well, I wonder if he thought that he could rescue me, like he rescues his pets.”

Max realized that he still had his hands on her arms. Her skin was soft under his fingers. He frowned, and let go. “Rescue
you from what?”