Brides and Grooms Box Set: Marriage WantedBride WantedGroom Wanted

by Debbie Macomber

  Alek greeted her at the door. Without a word he drew her into his arms and hugged her. She was swallowed in his embrace, surrounded by his love, and she soaked it up, needing it so badly.

  “Tell me what’s troubling you,” he said.

  She had no choice but to sidestep the question. “What makes you think anything’s wrong?”

  “I’m your husband. I know you,” he said, echoing his comment from that afternoon. But then he’d been teasing; now his statement sounded like the simple truth.

  “I’ve got a terrible headache.”

  He studied her as if he wasn’t sure he should believe her, although it was true enough. Her temples throbbed and she was exhausted. “Did you have dinner?” she asked, wanting to turn the subject away from herself.

  “No, I waited for you. Are you ready?”

  Her appetite was nil. “I’m not very hungry. If you don’t mind, I’d like a bath.” She left him without giving him a chance to respond.

  The hot water was soothing and a full thirty minutes passed before she could bring herself to leave the tub. She dressed for bed, craving the oblivion of sleep. But Alek was waiting for her when she finished. He seemed to anticipate her every need, which increased her guilt.

  He followed her into the bedroom. “Would you like me to rub your temples?” he asked, sitting on the edge of the bed.

  “You’d do that?”

  He seemed surprised by her question. “Of course. There’s nothing I wouldn’t do for you.”

  “Oh, Alek,” she moaned.

  “Come,” he said, sitting on their bed, his back against the headboard, his legs stretched out. “Rest your head on me and I’ll massage your forehead. Would you like me to sing to you again?” He reached for the light at the side of the bed and turned it off.

  “Please.” The meaning of the words he was singing was beyond her, but she loved the deep, melodic sound of his voice. As he sang, his nimble fingers gently soothed the throbbing pain in her head. She was sleepy when he finished. Lifting her head from his lap, he began to leave her. It was then that Julia realized how much she wanted him to stay.

  “Don’t go,” she pleaded softly. “Come to bed with me.”

  “For a few minutes,” he agreed with obvious reluctance. He undressed in the dark and slipped beneath the sheets, then gathered her in his arms.

  Alek held her for a long time and she savored these moments of closeness as the warmth of his love stole over her. Alek alleviated the feelings of abandonment and loss she’d felt since Roger’s betrayal, since her father’s death and now her grandmother’s. He loved her as no man ever had.

  * * *

  Julia was restless. She didn’t understand why she couldn’t sit still. Then again, she could. It was only natural to be nervous, considering the phone call she’d received earlier that morning. It had been a week since Jerry had hired Rich Peck and now Rich had phoned wanting to give them his first weekly report. Since Jerry was out for the afternoon, Julia had agreed to meet with the investigator herself.

  Virginia announced his arrival and Peck entered her office. He was tall and wiry, and much younger than she’d expected. Perhaps thirty, if that.

  “Hello,” he said, stepping forward and shaking her hand.

  “Please sit down,” Julia invited.

  He took the chair on the other side of her desk. “This Stanhope fellow is an interesting character,” he began. “I’ve been tailing him for nearly a week. I managed to get photos of just about everyone he’s met. My guess is that whoever’s leaking information to him is a woman. Once you get a look at the photographs you’ll understand why. He’s quite the ladies’ man.”

  This wasn’t news to Julia.

  Rich brought out a folder thick with photographs, reached for a small pad and flipped through the first couple of pages.

  “He had several business lunches, as best as I can tell. Although we’ve got a twenty-four-hour tail on him, there are certain periods of time we can’t account for.”

  “I see. Do you think he knows he’s being followed?”

  Rich snickered. “The guy hasn’t got a clue. He’s way too arrogant. He lives on the edge, too. I talked to his landlady and learned he’s two months behind on his rent. It’s happened before. His credit rating’s so full of holes he couldn’t get a loan if his life depended on it.”

  “What about his position with Ideal Paints? Is that secure?”

  “Who knows? From what I’ve been able to find out, he doesn’t have many friends. He seems to get along all right on the job. As for what he does with his money, that isn’t hard to figure out. The guy goes out with a different woman every night. He seems to get his kicks showing off what a stud he is.”

  This, too, didn’t come as any surprise to Julia. Roger liked to refer to himself as a “party animal.”

  “Go ahead and look through those photos and see if there’s anyone you recognize. Take your time. I’ve got them stacked according to the day of the week. Thursday of this week is on top. He left his apartment about ten. He seemed to be in a hurry and got to his office around ten-fifteen. He didn’t leave again until four, and then came out a side entrance. My tail noted that some girl came out the front of the building directly afterward and seemed to be looking for someone. Our guess is that he was escaping her.

  “He waited around ten or fifteen minutes and then left. He went home, changed his clothes and was out again by six. He picked up some chick and they went to dinner. He spent the night with her.”

  That, too, was typical.

  “Wednesday…” Rich continued as Julia flipped through the photographs. “Again he was late to the office. He arrived about ten and left again at eleven-thirty. He drove to Henshaw’s, that fancy restaurant on Lake Union.”

  Julia nodded; she knew it well. An eternity earlier it had been one of their favorite places. The food was delicious and the ambience luxurious but not overpowering.

  “Whoever he was supposed to meet was waiting for him outside. I assume this was a business lunch. The guy he was meeting was angry about something. The two of them exchanged words outside the restaurant. We got several excellent photos. It looked for a moment like they were going to have a fistfight. Frankly, Stanhope was smart to avoid this one. The guy would’ve pulverized him in seconds.”

  Julia flipped to the next series of pictures. Her gaze fell on Alek’s angry face and she gasped.

  Rich’s attention reverted from the tablet to her. “You recognize him?”

  Julia felt as if she was going to vomit.

  “Ms. Conrad?”

  She nodded.

  “An employee?”

  Once again she nodded. “Yes,” she managed. “An employee. You can leave the rest of the photographs here and I’ll go through them later. You’ve done an excellent job, Mr. Peck.” She stood and ushered him to the door. “Jerry will be in touch with you sometime later this afternoon. I believe you’ve solved our mystery.”

  “Always glad to be of service.”

  “Thank you again.”

  Julia collapsed against the door the instant it was closed. Her stomach twisted into a knot of pain. This couldn’t be happening. This couldn’t be real. She felt nauseous and made a dash to her wastepaper basket, where she threw up her lunch. She was kneeling on the floor, her trembling hands holding her hair away from her face, when Virginia walked into the office.

  “Oh, dear! Are you all right?”

  Julia nodded.

  “Let me help you,” Virginia said. With her hand under Julia’s elbow, she raised her to her feet. “You need to lie down.”

  “Could…would you see if you could find my brother for me?”

  “You don’t want me to call your husband?”

  “No,” she said forcefully, “get Jerry. Have him come as soon as he can.… Tell him it’s an emergency.”

  Her legs were unstable and she slumped into her chair. In the past three years Julia had received a number of lessons in pain. Roger had been
her first teacher, but his tactics paled when compared to Alek’s. It would’ve been easier to bear if Alek had aimed a gun at her heart and pulled the trigger.

  It took her brother twenty minutes to reach her office; he must’ve been in the middle of something important when Virginia called. As she waited she gazed sightlessly at her desk. She should be sobbing hysterically; instead, she found herself as calm and cool as if the man who’d been betraying her and her brother was barely more than an acquaintance.

  Jerry rushed into her office, apparently having run at least part of the way, because his face was red and he was breathless.

  “Virginia said it was an emergency.”

  “I…I was being a bit dramatic.”

  “Not according to Virginia. She wanted to know if she should phone for an ambulance. You’re pale, but otherwise you look fine.”

  “I’m not, and you won’t be, either, once you take a look at these.” She handed him the series of three photographs.

  The blotchy redness faded from Jerry’s face and he blanched as he studied Rich Peck’s photographs.

  “Alek?” he breathed in disbelief.

  “It appears so.”

  “There’s got to be some explanation!”

  “I’m sure there is.” There always was. Something that would sound logical and persuasive. She’d been through this before and knew all there was to know about betrayals of trust. When she’d confronted Roger, he’d worn a hurt, incredulous look of shock and dismay. He’d angrily declared his innocence, told her it was all a misunderstanding that he’d be able to clear up in a matter of minutes, given the opportunity. Because she loved him so desperately and because she wanted to believe him so badly, she’d listened. In the end it all seemed credible to her and she’d defended him because she loved and trusted him. She loved and trusted Alek, too, but she’d been wrong before, so very wrong, and it had cost her and her family dearly.

  “What are you going to do?” Jerry asked in a whisper. He hadn’t recovered yet. He continued to stare at the photographs as though the pictures themselves would announce the truth if he studied them long enough.

  “I don’t know,” she said unevenly.

  “You aren’t going to fire him, are you?”

  “I don’t know yet.”

  “Julia, for the love of heaven, Alek’s your husband.”

  “I don’t know what I’m going to do,” she repeated. “I just don’t know.”

  Jerry rubbed a hand over his face and inhaled deeply. “We should confront him, give him the opportunity to explain. It’s possible that he’s got a very good reason for meeting Roger. One that has nothing to do with Phoenix Paints.”

  “Jerry, you were ten before you stopped believing in Santa Claus. Remember? There’s only one reason Alek would contact Roger and we both know it.”

  “That doesn’t make any sense,” he argued. “Alek has more reason for Phoenix Paints to succeed than anyone. His career hinges on the success of our new line. Why would he deliberately sabotage himself? He spent years researching these developments.” His eyes pleaded with her.

  “If you’re looking to me for answers, I don’t have any. Why do any of us do the things we do? My guess is that he’s out for revenge.”

  “Revenge? Alek? Why? We’ve been good to him, good to his family, and he’s been good to us. He doesn’t have any score to settle.”

  “Dad was good to Roger, too, remember? He was the one who gave Roger his first job. Dad hired him directly out of college when he could’ve taken on someone with far more experience. If we’re looking for reasons Alek would never do this, we’d be putting blindfolds over our own eyes.”

  Jerry watched her for several minutes. “I’m going to talk to him.”

  Julia folded her arms around her waist and nodded.

  “Do you want to come with me?”

  “No! I couldn’t bear it. Not again.” She squeezed her eyes shut and her body swayed with the pain. “I can’t believe this is happening.”

  “I can’t believe it is, either.”

  “Why do I continually fall for the wrong kind of man? There must be something wrong with me.”

  Jerry walked to her window and stared out. His shoulders moved in a deep sigh. “We’re overreacting.”

  “Maybe,” Julia agreed. “But I have that ache in the pit of my stomach again. The last time it was there was when Dad forced me to face the truth about Roger.”

  “The least we can do is listen to his explanation.”

  Julia shook her head. “You listen, I…can’t.” She didn’t want to be there when Alek made his excuses. She’d let her brother handle this because she was incapable of dealing with it.

  Jerry’s eyes narrowed. “It’s been a long time since I’ve seen you so…detached.”

  “Let me guess,” she returned sarcastically. “Could it have been following my breakup with Roger?”

  “This is different. You’re married to Alek.”

  “That means it’s a little more involved, a little more complicated than before, but it’s not really so different. Until…this is resolved it would be better if Alek didn’t come into work. Tell him that for me.”

  “Julia…”

  “Tell him, Jerry, because I can’t. Please.” Her voice cracked. “It’s just until this is settled. Alek will understand.”

  “But you aren’t going to listen to his explanation?”

  “No. You listen to what he has to say, but don’t argue his case with me. I tried that with Dad, remember? I was so certain Roger was an innocent victim of circumstances.”

  Her brother looked older, as though he’d suddenly aged ten years. Julia understood. She felt old herself. And sick. Her stomach felt decidedly queasy.

  Jerry left and her stomach pitched again. Automatically she reached for the wastepaper basket.

  Julia left the office an hour later, her cell phone turned off. She wasn’t sure where she intended to go, but she knew she couldn’t stay at work any longer. She started walking with no destination in mind and ended up at the Pike Place Market. People were bustling about and, not wanting to be in a crowd, she headed for the waterfront. Not the tourist areas, but much farther down where the large cruise vessels docked.

  She walked for hours, trying to sort through her emotions, and eventually gave up. She was in too much pain to think clearly.

  She didn’t cry. Not once. She figured this numbness was her body’s protective device.

  It was well past dark and she’d wandered into an unsafe area of town. She finally realized she had to make her way home.

  When she reached her building, the security man looked surprised to find her arriving so late. He greeted her warmly and held open the heavy glass door for her.

  The elevator ride up to her apartment seemed to take forever, but it wasn’t long enough. Soon she’d face her husband.

  She’d barely gotten her key into the lock when the door was wrenched open. Alek loomed above her like a bad dream.

  Eleven

  She saw the same signs in Alek that she’d seen in Roger. The indignation. The hurt, angry look that she could believe such a terrible thing of him. As if she were the betrayer. As if she were the guilty one.

  Roger had turned the tables on her with such finesse she didn’t realize what was happening until too late. Julia studied her husband and if she didn’t know better would’ve believed with all her heart that he’d never betray her.

  “Where have you been?” Alek demanded. “I’ve been worried sick.”

  “I went for a walk.”

  “For five hours?”

  She moved past him. “I should’ve phoned. I’m sorry, but I needed to think.”

  Alek followed her. “Why didn’t you come to me yourself? Instead you sent Jerry.” His voice revealed his pain. “I don’t deny talking to Roger Stanhope, but at least give me the chance to explain why.” “You can’t deny seeing him since we have the evidence,” she responded lifelessly. “You called him, too, from
the lab. We know about that, as well.”

  If he was surprised, he didn’t show it. “I called him because I wanted him to stay away from you. He wouldn’t listen. Our meeting at Henshaw’s was an accident, he was arriving just as I was leaving. He taunted me, said he could have you back anytime he wanted. He said other things, too, but I don’t care to repeat them. Ask the man you hired to take photographs what happened that day. Stanhope and I nearly got into a fistfight.”

  Julia desperately wanted to believe that he was telling the truth about his motives. Her heart yearned to trust him. But this was like an old tape being played back again and the memories it brought to the surface were too compelling to ignore.

  “That man Stanhope is slime. I won’t have him anywhere near you,” Alek said heatedly. “If you want to condemn me for protecting you, then you may. But I would rather rip out my own heart than hurt you.”

  He was saying everything Julia longed to hear. She pressed her hands to her head, not knowing what to do. “I have to think.”

  He nodded, seeming to accept that, but he was hurt and she felt his pain as strongly as her own. Rather than continue a discussion that would cause them both grief, she showered and dressed for bed.

  Alek appeared in the doorway to the guest bedroom when she’d finished. “Anna left you some dinner.”

  “I’m not hungry.”

  “You’re too thin already. Eat.”

  “Alek, please, I’m exhausted.”

  “Eat,” he insisted.

  Julia’s appetite was gone. She’d thrown up her lunch and hadn’t eaten since. Unwilling to argue with him, she went into the kitchen, took the foil-covered dinner plate warming in the oven and sat down at the table.

  His sister had cooked veal cutlets, small red potatoes and what looked like a purple cabbage stir-fry. Even after sitting in the oven for hours, the food was delicious. Julia intended to sample only a few bites to appease Alek and then dump the rest in the garbage disposal, but she ended up eating a respectable amount of food. When she’d finished, she rinsed off her plate and retired to the guest room. Alone.