Nora Roberts Land(122)
***
When Tanner woke again, Arthur was leaning over him.
“You going to live?”
His face itched, he needed a shave, and he still felt like shit, but the sleep had helped. “Looks like.”
“That’s a good thing. Peg just took Keith to my house to get some sleep. Jill’s going to look after him so your sister can come back.”
Tanner reached for the styrofoam cup next to his bed. Bliss didn’t describe what it felt like to coat his cottony mouth with water. “Been upgraded to liquids. Where’s Meredith?”
Arthur’s tapped the handrails. “Your sister explained what happened with Sommerville, and Meredith found the file you told her about.”
The machine monitoring Tanner’s pulse blipped as his heart rate increased. So she knew everything now. “I don’t remember that.”
Arthur drew out a red hot. “You told her about it when you came to after surgery.”
“Is she upset?” He struggled to sit up, wincing at the bruises. Would his kidneys ever function normally again?
“She understands now.” He leaned back, crossing his ankles. “She’s not happy, but she understands why you lied. She was married to that asshole, after all. She knows he’s ruthless.”
He sank deeper into the pillows and looked toward the door. “Thank God. Where is she?”
Arthur grinned. “She went to see that asshole about some blackmail.”
Chapter 56
Meredith knocked on the elaborately carved entrance to Richard’s new townhouse. If she had survived Killer Pass, she could certainly handle this.
When her ex-husband opened the door, his surprise couldn’t have been more evident. Then he veiled it with a crooked smile.
“Meredith, my dear,” he drawled like she was from the society set. “What a delightful surprise.”
She stepped inside and let him take her coat. “You always say that when it’s not.”
“I assume this isn’t a social call, then.” His eyes fired, but he extended his arm grandly. “How about we talk in the study?”
Meredith ignored him and walked forward like she owned the place, praying it was down the single hallway like it would be in most houses. She turned and cocked a hip. “Are you coming?”
Her impertinence wiped the fake, toothy smile off his face. She headed down the hall, smiling when she found the study. He followed her inside silently.
He immediately took the massive chair behind his even larger desk. Hello, Napoleon, she heard Divorcée Woman intone.
Nice to have you back, she responded.
Nice to be back.
His tastes had always run a little ornate. She’d put up with it, not wanting to upset the apple cart. When she didn’t kick herself for that, her sense of inner peace expanded.
“What are you grinning at?” he hissed.
“Just realizing I truly am in another place—and it’s a good one. You should be glad. I envisioned beaning you with a candlestick after what you did.”
On the airplane trip across the country she’d decided against recounting his sins and raging at him. His back would only go up, and she wouldn’t get what she came for.
“Colonel Mustard in the library with a candlestick,” he said in his best British imitation of a Clue character.
His wicked sense of humor had been what first drew her to him. In addition to his good looks. Add in his dogged pursuit, and she’d fallen fast—too fast, she now realized. Well, all in the past now.
She slid a file toward him. “We have some horse trading to do. You get the dirt I have on you for the dirt you have on Tanner’s brother.”
“I see.” He opened the file. After flipping through the photos, he looked up at her. “Impressive. I wasn’t sure how much you had. You never would show me everything.”
“I’m not stupid. And I’m a damn good investigative journalist. You forgot that.”
“Obviously.” He shoved out of the chair. “I thought you were my wife. Didn’t expect you to spy on me.”
This time, his attempt at guilting her didn’t make her stomach long for a Rolaid. The firelight danced upon his pretty face, the blond highlights in his hair.
She felt absolutely no regret over losing him.
In fact, she felt like she’d been saved from a life-sentence of misery.
Peace uncurled within her like a precious flower, softening her heart. She let it expand with gratitude. The sensation heralded new beginnings—and a final release of the past.
She sat back in her chair. God, she felt wonderful. Wonderful enough to set aside her anger over what this man had done to Tanner. It was time to devote all her energy toward the good things in her life—exactly as she’d decided in the bookstore all those months ago.