Nobody's Baby but Mine(106)

No!” He gripped the door handle. “After the first few weeks, I cooled off and dropped the whole thing. I let it go!”

“I don’t believe you. No lawyer would put something like this into motion without authorization.”

“He had my authorization. Not for this, but . . .” He pushed the door open and moved into the house. “I just never got around to telling him to back off, that’s all!”

“Why is that?” she asked as she followed him.

“We just didn’t talk about it.” He stopped next to the fireplace. “There were a bunch of other things going on. One of my endorsements got screwed up. The whole thing was a mess, and it took a while to get straightened out. Then he went on vacation, and I ducked a couple of his calls.”

“Why?”

“I wasn’t in the mood to deal with contracts.”

“I wasn’t a contract.”

“No. But I just didn’t think what was happening between us was any of his damned business!” He looked frustrated. “It never occurred to me that he’d try to take action against you without my go-ahead.”

“But it sounds as if you’d already given him that.”

“Yes, but—” He opened his hand in a gesture that was oddly vulnerable. “Jane, I’m sorry. I didn’t think for a minute he’d do anything without talking to me.”

She should have felt better. After all, he hadn’t been actively plotting against her this past month, but she still felt awful. “This wouldn’t have happened if you’d picked up the phone and told him to call off his dogs. Why didn’t you do it, Cal? Were you afraid you were going to lose your macho by backing off?”

“It just wasn’t important, that’s all. Things had settled down between us, and revenge was the last thing on my mind.”

“Too bad you didn’t let your bloodsucker know that.”

He plowed his hand through his already rumpled hair. “Look, no harm’s been done. I have no intention of giving Preeze a penny, and if anybody there tries to get rid of you, I’ll slap them with a discrimination lawsuit so fast they won’t know what hit them.”

“It’s my business, Cal, not yours.”

“Just give me a couple of hours. I’ll straighten it all out, I promise.”

“And then what?” she asked quietly.

“Then you won’t have to worry about anything like this again.”

“That’s not what I mean. After you straighten it out, what happens between us?”

“Nothing happens. Everything will be the way it was.” He moved toward his study. “I’m going to make my phone calls, then I’ll unload your car and we can go out to eat. I can’t believe you even considered running away.”

She followed him to his study, then stopped in the doorway. She rubbed her arms, but the chill she felt came from inside instead of outside. “I don’t think we’re going to be able to go back to the way things were.”

“Sure we can.” He moved toward his desk. “I swear to God, I’m going to fire Delgado.”

“Don’t blame him for what you started,” she said softly.

He spun back toward her, his body rigid. “Don’t you dare say that! You’re the one who started this, and don’t you forget it!”

“How can I when you throw it in my face every chance you get?”

He glared at her, and she glared back at him. Then she looked away. This game of assigning blame accomplished nothing.

She pushed her hands into the pockets of her dress and reminded herself that her worst fear had been groundless. He hadn’t been plotting against her at the same time they were making love. But the awful knot in her stomach wouldn’t go away. What had happened was merely a symbol of all the problems that lurked between them, problems she’d ignored or glossed over as if they didn’t exist.

She remembered how hopeful she’d been only a few days earlier that he loved her. She remembered all the dream castles she’d built in her head. It was ironic that a person who’d been trained in the scientific method could be so swift to abandon logic for wishful thinking.

She withdrew her hands from her pockets and clasped them in front of her. “I need to know where we’re headed, Cal, and what your feelings are toward me.”

“What do you mean?”

The discomfort in his voice indicated that he knew exactly what she meant. “How do you feel about me?”

“You know how I feel.”

“Actually, I don’t.”

“Then, you must not have been paying attention.”

He was going to make this even more difficult than it already was, but she wouldn’t back away. The time for daydreaming had passed. She needed to know exactly where she stood. “The only direct remark I can ever remember you making is that you like me.”