“To you, too, Hunter. Good-bye.” She rose up on her toes and kissed his cheek.
Kari virtually danced up the steps of the district attorney’s building. She had stopped at a deli across the street and picked up two corned beef sandwiches, not even knowing if Hunter liked corned beef. But, busy as he must be, she knew he would welcome the distraction of seeing her. The few hours they’d spent apart already seemed like days. Besides, she couldn’t wait to share the news about her job with him, and telephone calls were so unfulfilling.
The halls on the first floor were deserted and quiet. Most everyone was out to lunch. The outer office was empty. Hunter’s secretary’s desk was littered with memos and unanswered correspondence, but her typewriter was switched off.
Kari went straight to his door, knocked once, and then pushed it open.
Chapter Twelve
THE SCENE WAS STRAIGHT OUT OF A BAD FARCE: THE MAN caught in the arms of another woman by his faithful lover.
The guilty culprits sprang apart. The scorned lover summed up the situation in one glance and wished the floor would open up and swallow her. Or that she could die on the spot. Or better yet, that the man would die a slow, painful death.
The other woman, as befitted the script, was strikingly beautiful. Her dark hair and almond-shaped eyes gave her the exotic look of a stereotypical temptress. And of the three of them, she seemed to be the only one with any poise remaining.
She stepped toward Kari. “From the guilty expression on Hunter’s face, I suppose you’re the reason for the rush on the divorce.” She extended a slender hand. “Hello. I’m Pam McKee.”
Kari ignored the offered hand. Instead her eyes flew to Hunter. “Your wife?”
“Until a few weeks ago.”
Kari felt her whole body caving in and wondered if it were visible from the outside. She envied Pam McKee’s composure.
The woman turned back to him and said, “Good-bye, Hunter.”
“Good-bye.”
“I’m sorry about this.” She waved a hand toward Kari.
“I’ll straighten it out.”
Kari watched them share a sad smile, then Pam glided past her. They were silent until the tapping of her heels could no longer be heard, then Kari faced Hunter. “Don’t count on it,” she ground out.
“Count on what?”
“On straightening it out. Have a nice lunch.” She flung the sack of sandwiches at him. He fumbled the catch but managed to keep the sack of corned beef from splattering open on the floor.
Turning, Kari made for the exit, but he was only two long strides behind her. He caught her arm and jerked her to a halt.
“You’re not about to storm out of here, jumping to the wrong conclusions and thinking the worst.”
She pulled on her arm, but he wouldn’t release it. “Was this your way of paying me back?”
“Paying you back? What the hell are you talking about? Paying you back for what?”
“For all the negative news stories I did on you?”
He cursed elaborately. “I don’t play petty games of revenge like you do.”
“No? Didn’t you decide it would be a great joke to trick me into sleeping with a married man?”
“I wasn’t married!” he shouted.
The words echoed down the empty corridors. He pulled her into his inner office and slammed the door. “I wasn’t married,” he repeated in a more reasonable voice. “Now are you going to go off half-cocked, or are you going to behave like an adult and let me explain?”
She finally succeeded in tugging her arm free. Because she knew she couldn’t get past him if he didn’t want her to, she went to the window and sightlessly stared out at the noon traffic. She pressed her forehead on the cool panes of glass. A headache was coming on and it was going to be a dilly. How could things have gone from so good to so bad in so short a time?
“Pam and I haven’t lived together for three years,” Hunter began.
“You said she’d been your wife until a few weeks ago.”
“We’ve been legally separated. The marriage was over, but I stubbornly refused to admit it.”
“Why? Did you still love her?”
“No, Kari,” he said with a long-suffering sigh. “I hated to admit defeat.”
She glanced at him over her shoulder. “That I can believe. Go on.”
“The fact that I was still married didn’t become important until that night I went to your house and kissed you. I knew then that I wanted you and that it was serious. I came home, called Pam immediately, and told her I would finally consent to a divorce. She didn’t even ask the reason, because she had wanted the marriage ended years ago. I told her to make it as expeditious as possible.”