Lisa Jackson's the Abandoned Box Set

by Lisa Jackson

  “Does it bother you?” she whispered.

  “I don’t let it.” Scraping his chair back, he carried his plate to the sink. “I don’t even know why I told you all this,” he said, frowning darkly and hooking his thumbs in the front pockets of his jeans.

  Marnie crossed the kitchen, wrapped her arms around his neck and smiled up at him through her tears. “I wish I could say something, anything, that would change things.”

  “No reason to,” he said harshly, but didn’t push her away. In fact, his hands moved from his pockets to surround her and hold her close. Marnie held back the sobs that burned deep inside for the little abandoned boy who’d never known a mother’s love.

  If only he would let her close to him, let her take away some of the pain. She listened to the steady beat of his heart and she knew that she loved him, would always love him, no matter what.

  “Marnie,” he whispered hoarsely into her hair as the first tears trickled from the corners of her eyes. “Oh, Marnie…Marnie…Marnie.” His voice sounded desperate, and Marnie clung to him as he swept her off her feet and carried her to the bedroom.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  “YOU HAD THE NERVE to remove my things from the boat?” Kent accused, his voice cracking and his face turning white beneath his tan. He grabbed her arm and propelled her down a corridor.

  “Let go of me.” Marnie jerked back her arm and glared at him. “I’m sick of you manhandling me. Don’t ever touch me again! Got it?” When he didn’t respond, she added, “I just thought you’d want to know about your things.”

  “But you had no right—”

  “It’s all in my car,” she cut in, disregarding his protests of injustice. “I’d be glad to transfer them to yours, if you give me the keys.”

  “You want the keys to the Mercedes? Are you out of your mind? Do you know what it’s worth? You think I’d trust you with it after that stunt with the boat?” He was nearly apoplectic.

  Marnie didn’t care. “Do you want your stuff or not?”

  “Of course!”

  “Then let’s transfer it now.”

  Kent checked his Rolex. “I have a meeting in seventeen minutes.”

  “It won’t take long.” He hesitated while Marnie walked to the elevator and pushed the button. “No problem. I’ll leave it on your hood.”

  “What the hell’s gotten into you?” he growled, but followed her to the bank of elevators, straightening the cuffs of his jacket and tie. “You used to be sane.”

  “When I was engaged to you?” She almost laughed. Most of the pain had faded with time. And the fact that now she knew what a real relationship between a man and a woman could be, she hardly believed that she had once considered herself in love with Kent. “Let’s not talk about it. All right? In fact, let’s not talk about anything.” She considered the last time she’d been trapped in an elevator alone with Kent, but she wasn’t worried. She could handle herself.

  The doors to the elevator opened, and she stepped inside, joining Todd Byers, the hotel-services manager and two men from the sales team. She smiled at the other occupants, and Kent made a failed attempt to hide the fact that he was vastly perturbed with her and the entire situation.

  Marnie, on the other hand, talked and chatted with Todd, laughed with the men from sales, and was still chuckling when she and Kent landed in the first subbasement, where the executives parked their cars.

  The luster of Kent’s black sports car gleamed under the overhead lights, in sharp contrast to her used Ford. She didn’t care. Unlocking the trunk, she motioned to the three stacked boxes. “Didn’t you miss any of this stuff?”

  She thought he blanched and swallowed hard, but she only caught a glimpse of his profile as he unlocked his car. “Some of it,” he said, lifting one of the flaps and peering inside the largest carton. “You found my computer?”

  “Right where you left it—humming and clicking and spinning out information left and right,” she said, unable to stop from baiting him.

  “What?” he asked, horrified. “But it has an automatic shutoff…” He stopped short, finally realizing that she was joking with him.

  “Relax, Kent. Your computer and all you other precious belongings are safe.”

  “You brought them straight from the boat?”

  “After a short layover at my apartment.”

  “Oh.” He yanked at his tie as he carried the first box to his car. It was too large to stuff in his trunk, so he had to place it behind the front seat. “Did, uh, did anyone else see any of this?”

  “What do you mean?”

  Kent looked at her over the shiny roof of the Mercedes, and she noticed tiny beads of sweat at his hairline. He licked his lips. “I mean Drake. Did he see it?”

  She shrugged and thought about lying to him, but couldn’t. Instead, she said simply, “He didn’t rifle through anything. Why?”

  Kent seemed relieved. “It’s private, Marnie. That’s all. Just between you and me. It’s got nothing to do with him.”

  Suspicious, she dropped a small box into his open trunk. “Well, I hope you didn’t have anything specific that you didn’t want him to see, because he spent a lot of time alone on the boat.”

  “On our boat? Damn it, Marnie, you won’t even let me near the Marnie Lee and I own half of it! But that loser, he’s allowed to snoop around anywhere he wants! I can’t believe you, Marnie.” He slammed the passenger door of the car shut. “After what that jerk did to your father, how can you even think of allowing him anywhere near you or the yacht!”

  “You knew he was on it,” she pointed out, then waved her hands to forestall any further protests. She wasn’t going to get into an argument with Kent. “Have you got everything?”

  “You tell me. Since I’m not allowed on my boat, I can’t tell if everything’s here.”

  “If I find anything else, I’ll send it to you,” she replied, turning toward the elevators but catching a glimpse of the hard set of Kent’s mouth.

  * * *

  A WOMAN. Henderson had said he’d thought Simms was in cahoots with a woman. But which woman? Seated at a bar stool in Marnie’s apartment, Adam stared at the printouts Marnie had brought from the accounting department. In the corporate headquarters of Montgomery Inns there were over seventy employees, fifty-two of whom were women.

  Crossing off those who didn’t have access to computer terminals and accounting records, the number dwindled to thirteen; though with Kent’s authority, the woman involved could merely have been an accomplice. She could have been the one pulling the strings behind Kent, even though she didn’t have the power or wherewithal to actually move the funds. Leaving Kent in charge. No, that didn’t work. Unless Kent really was the brains behind the operation.

  Adam tapped his pencil against his teeth in frustration. Four women had easy access to the computer terminals as well as authority to access delicate information: Linda Kirk in accounting, Rose Trullinger in interior design, Kate Delany, Victor’s assistant, and Marnie.

  There were other women who worked in bookkeeping and records, and a few secretaries who were high enough on the corporate ladder to dig into the files. But to create an intricate embezzling scheme? Not likely.

  However, he couldn’t discount the men. Henderson thought Fred Ainger was involved. And what about Desmond Cipriano? The man who had taken over Henderson’s office was young, brash and hungry. He’d had a lesser job during the time of the embezzlement and had been promoted after Henderson left the company. Only with the corporation a few years, Desmond didn’t have all that much loyalty or time invested in Montgomery Inns.

  A headache began to pound at Adam’s temples and he rubbed his eyes. He threw his pencil down in disgust. Who? Who? Who?

  * * *

  MARNIE FELT LIKE a traitor as she walked toward Kate’s desk. Of course, no one knew she had taken company records home, but nonetheless she was uncomfortable and she felt like talking with her father, maybe gaining some insight from him or maybe even convincing h
im to speak with Adam.

  No doubt Victor would hit the roof when he found out she’d misused her authority, but better he learn it from her than find out on his own.

  “Is he in?” she asked as Kate set the receiver of the phone back in its cradle.

  Kate shook her head, and her auburn curls swept the shoulders of her linen suit. “Had to meet with the lawyers. I thought he said something about seeing you later…” She thought for a minute. “Something about dinner?”

  “That’s news to me.”

  Kate seemed puzzled. She ran her fingers down her appointment book and sighed loudly. “Nothing here, but I could’ve sworn…”

  “Then you’re not going out with him?” Marnie asked, knowing that her father and Kate often had dinner together.

  “Not tonight.” Kate closed the appointment book. Her lower lip trembled a little.

  “Trouble?” asked Marnie.

  “Not really.”

  “But…”

  Kate sniffed and cleared her throat. “Your father is… preoccupied right now. Lots going on. The Puget West just opened, the architects are working on the blueprints for Deception Lodge, and the California projects…well, I don’t have to tell you about them. San Francisco’s due to reopen in October and—”

  Marnie held up her hands, palms out, as if in surrender. She understood only too well how easily Victor Montgomery could bury himself in his work. “Enough said. It sounds as if my father has put his personal life on hold for a while and something should be done about it.”

  “Oh, no!” Kate shook her head vehemently. “He’s just busy and he needs that—being busy, I mean. He can’t slow down. It would kill him. And besides, this isn’t the first time I’ve been shoved to the back burner. We’ll get through it,” Kate predicted, but tears shimmered in her eyes, and she suddenly reached forward and grabbed Marnie’s hand. “If I can give you one piece of advice, Marnie, it’s don’t get involved with a man who isn’t ready to commit. You could spend the rest of your life waiting.” The phone rang, and Kate, obviously embarrassed by her outburst, let go of Marnie’s hand and waved her off. “I’ll be all right,” she mouthed before turning her attention to the phone and saying, “Mr. Montgomery’s office.”

  Feeling totally depressed, Marnie moved quickly down the corridor. Did Kate know about her dead-end relationship with Adam? But how? Just a lucky guess? Or from bits and pieces, snatches of conversation?

  Inside her office she shivered and rubbed her arms while surveying this room that she had once claimed; the plush carpet, the expensive furniture, the panoramic view. Did she want it back?

  No. Beautiful as the office was, it was made up of carpet and ceiling tile and antiques and brass lamps and piped-in music. Things. Just material goods. And material goods had never seemed less appealing. Especially now that she was forced to consider a life without Adam, or worse yet, to be strung along like Kate, always waiting, while knowing in her heart that the man she loved could never let go of the past or offer her a future. “Oh, Lord.” With a sigh, she took off her earrings and dropped them into her purse.

  She considered her father’s fervent loyalty to a wife who had been gone over a decade. To what purpose? Why wouldn’t he marry again?

  And Adam. Would he never marry? Would he never find a woman on whom he was willing to take a chance? Well, if he did, his future wife certainly wouldn’t be the daughter of a man who had tried to put him behind bars.

  But she loved him, Marnie thought painfully. And that was the pure, naked truth. Of all the men in the world, she was senseless enough to fall in love with the one she couldn’t have. So, could she live with him and forget about marriage, about children, about a mate for life?

  Perhaps her romantic notions were nothing more than dusty fantasies left over from a childhood without a mother, a child who was read stories about beautiful princesses and castles and dragons and knights on white steeds who wanted to do nothing more than live happily ever after with the girl of their dreams.

  “Idiot,” she chided, as she punched out the number of her own publicity firm.

  Donna answered on the second ring. “Montgomery Publicity.”

  “Hi. How’s it going?” Marnie asked, balancing a hip against the desk in her old office at the hotel.

  “Mmm. Busy,” Donna said, and Marnie could almost imagine her polishing her nails, swigging coffee and smoking a cigarette while manning the phones and typing out complicated corporate tax returns for Miles Burns, the accountant in 301. “You got a couple of call backs from Andrew Lorenzini at Sailcraft. He liked your proposal and wants to meet again next week.”

  “Good.” With a few accounts like Sailcraft, Marnie wouldn’t be so dependent upon Montgomery Inns.

  “Andrew Lorenzini,” Donna repeated. “He sounds interesting.”

  “He sounds married,” Marnie replied.

  “Oh, well, too bad,” Donna replied with a loud sigh.

  “Anything else?”

  “Nope. As I said it’s a real killer today.”

  “Well, don’t work too hard.”

  “Wouldn’t dream of it,” Donna replied, before saying, “Oh, yes, there was one more message. Adam called. Couldn’t get through to you at Montgomery Inns, and said he’ll meet you tonight at the usual spot. Now he sounds interesting and romantic. I’ve seen him, you know. Total hunk.”

  “What you’ve seen is too many movies.”

  “Not enough. And definitely not with the right men.”

  Marnie laughed as she rang off. Her mood improved as she thought of an evening alone with Adam. So they weren’t planning to walk down the aisle together, so they didn’t have a future all mapped out for them, so her father thought he was as crooked as a pig’s tail. So what? The new Marnie Montgomery could take a relationship and her life one spontaneous step at a time! The old Miss Ellison-trained Marnie was long buried. The new Marnie was taking over!

  She hummed to herself as she grabbed her briefcase and started for the elevator. Then the thought struck. Hadn’t Kate said that her father wanted to take her to dinner? And Adam had left a message saying he and she were to meet at the usual spot, meaning her apartment. So there was a chance that Victor, if he planned on picking up his daughter for dinner at her place would come face-to-face with the man he hated.

  Marnie sucked in her breath. The thought of the two men she loved confronting each other at her place chilled her to the bone. She dashed back into her room and dialed the number of her father’s mobile phone. A monotone voice told her that the phone wasn’t in service. Quickly she punched out her father’s extension and Kate answered. Without explaining why, she asked Kate to try and reach Victor and make sure that tonight’s dinner plans were rescheduled. “Anytime later this week,” she instructed, and felt a little better when Kate told her she was expecting Victor to call in to the office at any moment.

  Marnie’s relief was short-lived. How long could she sustain this juggling act? she wondered, her good mood chased away by the horrid memory of Adam and her father, fists clenched, squaring off at Deception Lodge.

  “It won’t happen. It can’t,” she told herself as she took the elevator to the employee cafeteria, grabbed a doughnut and poured herself a cup of coffee. She talked with a few of the women from the marketing department, people she’d worked with at Montgomery Inns. Within minutes she caught up with several women—their lives, their children’s trials and tribulations and their grandchildren’s accomplishments.

  “So, now that we’ve bored you to death. What about you, Marnie?” Helen Meyers asked. “How was your grand adventure in the San Juans?”

  “So it’s hit the local gossip mill?” she countered.

  “And a three-county area,” Roberta Kendrick agreed.

  Marnie laughed, enjoying the company. She told them bits about her trip in the storm but didn’t mention Adam’s name and was blindsided by Helen’s next remark.

  “I heard Adam Drake kidnapped you.” Helen’s graying brows arched o
ver her rimless glasses.

  “Stowed away,” Roberta interjected. Picking up her teacup, she shook her head at Helen. “Don’t change things around.”

  “I’m just repeating what I heard.”

  “He was on the boat,” Marnie conceded. “And I hate to admit it, but it was a good thing. The storm was worse than anyone would have guessed. And Adam’s a pretty good sailor.”

  Helen swiped at a stain on the table. “Well, I know it’s not popular to say, but I, for one, and I think I speak for everyone in the marketing department, miss Mr. Drake.”

  “Do you?” Marnie was surprised to hear such anarchy from one of Victor’s loyal employees.

  “If you ask me, he got the shaft!”

  “Helen!” Roberta cried, then made quick, apologetic motions with her hands. “Please, don’t listen to her, she’s just angry with Mr. Simms today.”

  “That know-nothing! You were right to break off with him, Marnie. He’s useless!”

  One side of Marnie’s mouth lifted, and Roberta tried to pour oil on rough waters. “We all miss Mr. Drake,” she admitted, throwing a speaking glance in Helen’s direction meant to still the little woman’s tongue. “He was fair and had a sense of humor, and no one worked harder for the company than he did. It looks bad for him, but… well, most of us don’t believe that he took any money from your father. It just doesn’t make sense.” Helen looked as if she were about to add her two cents, and Roberta put in quickly, “However, we all are doing our best to work with Mr. Simms. If your father trusts him, then we—”