Those fists hit his shoulders, as if the emotion inside her had become too much to bear. "She said you were out on the balcony but she could get you if I wanted. The way she spoke … how was I supposed to think anything else? We'd had that fight and you'd been so angry-angry enough to do something hurtful."
Before he could say anything in his defense, she took a jerky breath and hit him with words of such raw emotion, he could hardly believe it was his restrained, elegant Victoria in his arms.
"Then you came back and you wouldn't touch me! You didn't want me at all and I thought she'd given you what I couldn't. What was she doing in your room, Caleb? Why was she answering your phone in the middle of the night?" Her hands pushed against his chest, distancing her body from his.
He'd never seen her this way-pure fury, pure rage. "We swapped rooms," he said, wondering if she'd believe him.
"What?" Her face was a study in confusion. "Why?"
"The hotel made a mistake with the booking. I was given the smoking room and Miranda the non-smoking one." He paused, remembering the events of that week. "Unless they didn't make a mistake … She couldn't have planned it?" After his fight with Vicki, he'd been in one hell of a mood during the flight to Wellington. Miranda hadn't said a word about his temper, had instead been full of concern.
Now that he thought about it, he could see what he'd missed at the time-the woman had been offering much more than sympathy. It must have burned her when he hadn't responded to her overtures. He could well imagine her pursuing him by attempting to wreck his marriage.
Vicki took another shuddering breath. "Didn't the desk staff know? They're the ones who transferred my call."
"We checked in very late at night. Remember, we took the last flight. When we discovered the mistake, we just swapped rooms and Miranda said she'd deal with the desk in the morning." His whole body thrummed with tension.
"Oh, God." Vicki swallowed and shoved her hands in her hair, face pale and drawn. "But you didn't want me. You didn't touch me for a week! And you always touched me before. No matter what, you always touched me!"
"I was hurting." If Vicki was being honest with her pain, he could do no less. "I'd wanted my wife to care enough about me to contact me, to make up for that fight. But as far as I knew, you hadn't bothered."
"She was incredibly convincing. If you'd heard her … " Vicki's voice was a whisper now. "It hurt me so much that you might've been with another woman. It broke my heart."
He stared at her, his certainties long gone. "I've never cheated on you and I never will." Even the fact that he'd once angrily considered such a thing had caused him endless guilt. He could never take that step and live with himself. Never. "Fidelity is the only weapon I had to fight the shame Max convinced me was my heritage. It's something I'm incapable of betraying. Do you believe me?"
The blunt question made her tremble. "Yes. Oh, God, yes." When she raised her head, there was such need in her gaze that he was lost. "I'm so sorry, Caleb. I should've talked to you, not just … "
He was angry at her for her lack of trust but not enough to relish her suffering. And it hadn't been all her doing. "I remember what I was like after I got back. No wonder you didn't want to bring up the subject. And you were right about one thing."
"What?"
"The reason I have a new secretary is because Miranda hit on me heavily a few days after you and I separated." It had enraged him that anyone would dare question his loyalty to his marriage, to his wife. He'd been brutal in his rejection of Miranda. "When she realized I'd rather slit my own throat than take her up on the offer, she resigned, and I brushed it off as a lapse in judgment on her part. If I'd known what she'd done in Wellington … "
Vicki let out a short, choked scream. "I can't believe I almost killed myself worrying about something that wasn't true! Over four months I let that thing fester inside me, telling myself I could get past it, that I could accept it for the sake of our child. And all that time, I knew I'd never be able to forgive and forget."
"I guess that's your punishment. And it's over," he said, meaning it. He wasn't going to let Miranda's lies push him into throwing away this marriage they'd rebuilt with their hearts and their souls. And nothing he could do would equal the torment Vicki had put herself through.
Not only that, but the fact that she'd spoken to him about her worries instead of continuing to let them grow, was in itself a sign of the deepest trust. "Cheating is the one thing you never have to worry about with me, honey. Between you and the firm, when would I have the time?" He wanted to make her laugh, wanted to ease the ache.
Instead, she wrapped her arms tightly around his neck and crawled into his lap. "We'll save your firm, Caleb. Nobody's going to take it from you. I promise."
Struck by the fierceness of the declaration, he crushed her to him. Yet, even as he held her, he knew that there was something he wasn't hearing. And this time, he didn't even know what question to ask to find out the hidden truth.
Two days and hours of hard work on both their parts later, Caleb found himself presiding over a dinner party involving nine of his biggest clients and their spouses. Kent Jacobs and his fiancée-another woman who'd stuck by her man-were also present.Midway through the meal, when everyone seemed to be relaxed and at ease, an older client leaned across and said, "Caleb, you've been my first choice for eight years, since before you had your own firm. I won't run scared but neither will I let my company sink with you.
"We simply can't afford to be linked with a firm that has an image of incompetence if you'll forgive my bluntness. I know you're the best but I have to answer to shareholders who get their information from the media."
Pensive silence descended on the table, but Caleb was glad for the opportunity to lay things out in the open. He took a deep breath, caught Vicki's eye and began to speak. Here went nothing.
No regrets.
"We have every confidence we can rescue this deal. All we ask is that you don't precipitate a crisis in the firm by withdrawing your files prematurely." It was a bold request but none of these people liked dancing around hard facts. "If the deal crumbles, we'll cooperate fully in transferring files to your new attorneys. Just hold off your decision for two weeks."
The man who'd originally spoken nodded. Like the others around this table, he was used to making quick decisions. "I'm willing to do that. You're the best-I don't want to lose you if there's a chance you can come out on top."
One by one, after a few more probing questions, every one of his clients agreed. They had two weeks' grace.
In bed that night, Caleb hugged Victoria. "Breathing room.""I'm with you all the way."
"I know." That knowledge gave him more drive and determination than anything else. "The next two weeks will be tough."
"Tougher than our separation?"
"Nothing could be as tough as that." That quickly, everything was put into perspective. "What's the worst that could happen? The deal falls apart and my firm goes down the toilet along with my reputation."
Vicki's eyes filled with laughter at his mournful tone. "And?"
"And we start over again." The vise around his chest loosened. "We won't be destitute. I've got enough saved in investments to last us a long while."
"I could keep you," she suggested, kissing his neck. "I still have that money from the trust fund that came to me on my twenty-first birthday. Plus, I'll be getting paid soon."
"The life of a kept man," he murmured. "Might have something going for it."
Her teeth scraped his jaw. "You'd go nuts within the first hour." There was a chuckle in her words, affection in the way she touched him.
"Yup. But I can dream." He turned his head to capture her wandering lips with his own.
The kiss held his devotion to her. It was tender and beautiful and this side of ravenous. When they parted, her eyes were slumberous but her lips didn't smile. "Caleb, we're okay, aren't we?"
He immediately knew what she was referring to. "We're stronger than ever. All you did was prove you can act as much a fool as me."