by Cara Marsi
“I have to go,” she said.
“Your babysitter has a great sense of timing,” he said with a wry grin. “And won’t she wake your son?”
“Babysitter?” She frowned. “Babysitter. My son. I have to go.” She was babbling. She pushed open the door a crack, praying Josh wasn’t on the other side.
“Doriana.” Regret tinged Logan’s voice.
“Good night.” She slid through the door and locked it behind her. Trembling, she braced herself against it.
Another jolt of ear-splitting music propelled her up the stairs to Josh’s room.
Josh threw her a dark look and flicked off the offending music. “I knew that would get you in the house,” he said in an accusatory tone.
Standing with his arms folded across his chest and his legs apart, he looked so much like his father. Doriana swallowed around the lump in her throat.
“Was it necessary to wake the neighbors?” she asked.
“You were ready to trade spit with some guy.” He wrinkled his nose. “You reek of beer.”
She bristled. “That is no way to talk to your mother. I’m a grown woman. I don’t need your permission to go out.” Not even with your father. She put a hand on her hip. “Didn’t you tell me at Nonna’s the other day that I should date?”
Defiance lashed his features. “This is different. You wanted to kiss him. Who’s the guy, Mom?”
He’s your father. A small voice dared her to say the words. She couldn’t. Not yet. She’d always known she’d have to tell Josh about his father someday. She hadn’t expected that day to come pounding at her door so soon.
Drawing a harsh breath, she walked into the room and leaned against the dresser. She ran her finger over the dust on the smooth surface, stalling for time.
“You really need to clean this room, Josh.”
“Don’t change the subject, Mom.”
She shrugged, trying to diffuse the tension that lay heavy as like painters’ cloth over the room. “Logan is just a co-worker.” Liar, liar, her conscience prodded. She ignored it.
“I don’t like him,” Josh said in a voice filled with indignation and hurt.
“You don’t even know him.” She kept her voice calm and smooth, hoping Josh wouldn’t guess at the turmoil clenching her stomach.
Some of the belligerence left his face. He ran fingers through his wavy hair in a gesture she’d seen his father do countless times. Her heart squeezed.
“He looked dangerous,” Josh said. “And you like him.”
Hurt and fear washed across Josh’s face, making him look like a little lost boy. Doriana ran to him and hugged him. He stood stiffly in her arms at first. Then he relaxed and wrapped his arms around her.
What would Josh say if he knew the truth about Logan and would he want Logan in his life? Doubt squeezed her heart. She wasn’t sure she could share Josh after all these years.
She looked up at him. “You know I love you more than anyone in this world. You’ll always be first with me, no matter what happens.”
He gave her a searching look. “What’s going to happen?”
She stroked a finger down his high cheekbone. “It’s late, sweetheart and we’re both tired. Go to bed.”
“Something’s going on. Why won’t you tell me?”
“You’re growing up too fast.” And you’re way too perceptive for your age. She patted his cheek. “Now go to bed.”
What tangled webs we weave. The words mocked her as she headed down the hall to her bedroom. Tangled webs indeed. Her head hurt. She had a confused son. And she feared she was falling in love with his father all over again. God help her.
The phone rang just as she entered her room. Logan? She raced to answer it.
“Out with him again, weren’t you, bitch?”
Riveted by fear, Doriana gripped the receiver.
“What did I tell you about that pretty boy?” The malicious words slithered over the phone lines. “He can’t give you what I can. A woman like you needs a real man.”
She slammed down the phone.
“Mom, who was that?” Josh called.
“Wrong number.” She hoped Josh didn’t notice her voice shook. She stuffed her fist into her mouth to stop her scream. The scum knew she’d been out. What if he’d tried to break in while Josh was alone?
* * * *
“That’s it,” Logan said. “I’m moving in with you. Tonight.”
Doriana felt the blood draining from her face. “You can’t.” She shouldn’t have told Logan about the call last night. She shivered despite the sunlight streaming into her office windows.
He gripped her upper arms. “The hell I can’t. You’ve got a pervert stalking you. You live alone with a small child. You need protection.”
“That’s not your job,” she said.
“I’m making it my job.” His eyes were hard as marbles and just as unyielding.
“No, no,” she shook her head and tried to free herself from his grasp, but he held her firmly.
“Then take your son and stay with your parents until the scum is apprehended.”
“I can’t,” she said.
“Why not?”
“Their new house is smaller than the old one. My grandmother’s staying with them while her house is being painted. There’s no room for me.” She squared her shoulders. “And no one is chasing me from my home.”
“Then think about your son,” he said.
“I will protect my son.”
Logan gripped her arms tighter. “The guy calling you is unhinged and dangerous. You can’t be alone.” He narrowed his eyes. “You didn’t stay with your parents Thanksgiving weekend like you promised, did you?”
She shook her head.
“You lied to me.” He sounded so much like Josh last night, accusing and hurt at the same time.
“When I promised I’d go to my parents I’d forgotten about Nonna’s staying there.”
“You didn’t tell your father about the calls, did you?”
She shook her head.
“Damn it, Doriana, this is serious.”
“What’s serious?” Her father’s voice boomed from the doorway.
Logan released his grip on her. They turned to stare at her father.
Frowning, Dan shifted his gaze between the two. “What’s going on?”
“What are you doing here?” Doriana asked. She needed a dead bolt for her office door with all the family that kept popping in at the worst times.
Her father focused his piercing blue eyes on her. “Devlin’s in the lobby. I’m on my way to meet him. You need to get up to the conference room right away with the report.”
Doriana glanced at her watch and back at her father. “He’s early. Why didn’t you just have Nancy call me?”
“She’s busy copying notes for the meeting. I figured I’d walk to your office and then the lobby. I need more exercise.”
“I’ll be right up,” Doriana said.
Dan looked at Logan. “I want you at the meeting too, Tanner. To take the minutes.”
Doriana didn’t miss the pointed look between the men. Somehow she would discover what they were keeping from her.
“After the meeting you’ll tell me whatever it was you two were discussing when I walked in.” Her dad tossed the words over his shoulder as he left.
The meeting droned on well past lunch. John Devlin, an important potential client, liked to expound on his many business successes. Doriana’s head ached from stress and hunger. But she smiled at all the right times and laughed at Devlin’s jokes along with the rest of Callahan’s senior management.
Devlin’s corporation owned several major casinos in Las Vegas. He wanted to build a new casino in Atlantic City. Callahan Construction wanted the job badly. They couldn’t afford to lose the bid.
While Nancy, her dad’s executive secretary, served sandwiches, Doriana allowed herself to relax. She settled back in her chair and glanced over to where Logan sat making notes into his laptop. He looked
up and their gazes locked. Awareness throbbed between them before his eyes took on a hooded look.
Logan wanted to move in with her. Her pulse quickened at the thought of spending every day and night with him. She was thinking crazy. She had to remember Josh.
With the meeting over at last, Doriana tried to slip out the door with the others.
“Doriana, stay,” her father ordered. “You too, Tanner.”
Feeling like a teen caught playing hooky, she sat down.
“Do you have something to tell me?” Dan asked as soon as the others had gone. “You two were having a pretty heated discussion in your office a while ago.” His gaze searched Logan’s before locking on her. “Was it work? Or maybe it’s none of my business.”
Doriana wanted to sink into the floor. Now her father was picking up vibes between her and Logan. She shifted in her seat and felt Logan’s stare, but didn’t dare look at him. Letting out a sigh, she clasped her hands together on the table. Her father wouldn’t let her leave the room until she told him.
“I’ve had some calls, Dad. I didn’t want to worry you. I know you’ve been under a lot of stress. The phone company’s been alerted and Logan’s helping. It’s not a big deal.”
A vein throbbed in Dan’s neck. “What kind of calls?”
“Someone’s been watching me.” She placed her hand over her dad’s where it rested on the polished wood table. “It’s okay. Really. We have everything under control, don’t we, Logan?” She looked at Logan for confirmation.
Logan nodded at Dan. “Things are in motion. We’ll get this scum.”
“Some stranger’s watching you? He knows where you live?” Dan’s face reddened.
“Dad, your blood pressure,” Doriana said, patting his hand.
“The hell with my blood pressure.” Dan’s raised voice brought his secretary to the door. He waved her away. Pulling his hand from Doriana’s, he turned to Logan. “Someone tell me what kind of calls.”
“He’s made sexual suggestions,” Logan said.
“And no one thought to tell me?” Dan’s face got redder.
“Dad, please,” she said.
“Don’t ‘please’ me, Doriana. My daughter is being stalked by some pervert and no one tells me? What if he breaks in? My grandson could be in danger too.”
“I’ve got things under control, Dan,” Logan said.
Dan gave Logan a hard look. “Did you call the police?”
Logan shook his head. “The police won’t touch it unless the caller makes a direct threat.”
“I know the police commissioner,” Dan said. “He owes me. I’ll give him a call. But we need to do something now to protect my daughter and grandson.”
Logan turned to Doriana, a challenge in his eyes. He turned back to Dan. ‘I’m moving into her place tonight.”
Doriana stood up. “And I told him no. I can take care of myself. I’m careful and I always put the security alarm on, even when I’m home.”
Her father stared at her. She knew that expression. He was mulling over the idea. Dread washed over her.
“Doriana, I don’t want to tell you what to do,” Dan said.
She rolled her eyes and sat slowly down. “That’s a new one. You’re always trying to tell me what to do.”
He chuckled. “And you’re always fighting me.” His features turned serious. “Logan’s right. You can’t be alone. Either Logan moves into your house or you stay with your mother and me.”
Doriana’s secrets, past and present, were rapidly colliding. She wouldn’t give up yet. “Nonna’s staying with you. I’ll go to a hotel.”
“Your grandmother can go to a hotel,” her father said.
The rope of her deceit tightened. “I won’t send Nonna to a hotel.”
“Then it’s settled,” her father said. “Logan moves in with you and Josh for a while.”
“Josh?” Logan said.
She turned to him. He sat very still, tension in every line of his body. Only the muscle working in his jaw hinted at strong emotions held in check.
She swallowed. “Josh is my son.”
“Your son.” The harshness in his voice could cut through cement. “I thought...”
The roaring in Doriana’s ears got louder as her world crashed around her. Her father only wanted to protect her and Josh. But she felt like a mouse cornered by one of the construction site cats.
Both men stared at her, waiting. Head high, she picked up her papers and left the room without a word. No way would Logan move in with her. It wouldn’t happen. The heaviness in her chest told her otherwise.
“Logan, stay,” she heard her father say. “I want to look over your notes.”
Doriana walked slowly toward the elevator. Her throat felt thick. She had to tell Josh he was meeting his father tonight. She couldn’t. What if Josh grew attached to Logan? Logan would leave. She could handle the hurt, but could her son?
* * * *
The rushing noise in Logan’s head muffled Callahan’s words. Josh. Doriana’s son. She’d argued with her son on the phone, not a lover. He asked for money. Was on his way into town. Not a small child.
“Tanner, have you heard anything I’ve said?”
Callahan’s sharp voice snapped Logan from his thoughts. “Sorry. What were you saying?”
“You’ll move in with Doriana?”
Logan nodded. “I can better protect her and her son if I’m there all the time.”
“I agree.” Callahan smiled. “It will also save a bundle on your hotel expenses. Not that I care about that. The safety of my daughter and grandson is paramount.”
“They’ll be safe with me. It’s all part of my job.”
Callahan studied Logan. “My daughter is a beautiful woman. I trust you to maintain a professional relationship.”
Little too late for that. “Doriana is beautiful. But I know my place.”
Dan nodded. “Now back to Devlin.”
Callahan sat at the conference table and tented his fingers in front of his face, lost in thought. Sighing, he pressed his palms on the table and looked at Logan.
“I want that casino job. It means a lot to the future strength of this company. I won’t take a chance on one of my competitors getting the bid.”
Logan pulled out his laptop and turned it on to the meeting notes. He scanned the screen. “It won’t be easy. We’ll have to figure out a way to give James another bid without his being the wiser. You’ll have to get the real bid to Devlin.”
“You’re right about it not being easy.” Dan’s features tightened. “I hope you’re wrong about Bryce.”
“I hope I am, for your sake,” Logan said softly.
“Let’s brainstorm right now,” Callahan said. “I’ve got an hour before my next meeting.”
Logan glanced at the clock. He would have to use all his powers of concentration to focus on working with Callahan when his mind screamed Doriana. He had to get answers to the questions that gnawed him.
Thankfully the hour flew by. Logan put his laptop back in its case and headed out of the conference room. “Dan, can I ask a question?” he said, turning back.
“Shoot.”
“How old is Doriana’s son?” Logan stood very still, afraid of the answer, but somehow knowing what it was.
Callahan threw him a surprised look. “Josh will be sixteen Christmas Eve.”
The breath knocked out of Logan.
“Tanner, are you okay?” Callahan scowled at him.
“I’m fine.” Logan exited the office quickly.
Once out in the carpeted hallway, Logan leaned against the wall for support. His mind spun and his heart thumped wildly against his chest. He swallowed, trying for control.
He’d been under fire, afraid for his life, more times than he could count. But nothing had prepared him for this. He did the math in his head. It all added up. Why hadn’t she told him?
He was good enough to father her child but not to raise him. The old hurts and insecurities hit him like a k
nockout punch.
He had a son. He was a father. Straightening, he walked toward the stairs. Time for a showdown with Doriana.
~~~~
CHAPTER ELEVEN
“Stay in the lobby, Josh. I’ll be right down.”
Doriana’s voice hit Logan like a fireball, fueling the anger and hurt he’d carried from Callahan’s meeting. He dropped his briefcase on the floor by his desk and marched into her office.
He grabbed the cell phone out of her hand, ignoring her startled cry.
“Josh,” he said into the phone. He kept his voice dead calm, not wanting to take his fury out on the boy. “This is Logan Tanner, your mother’s assistant. Come up to the office. I’d like to meet you.” He snapped the phone shut and tossed it onto her desk.
“What are you doing?” Doriana shrieked.
Logan gripped her upper arms, pulling her close until only inches separated them. White-faced, she tried to jerk away. “When were you going to tell me, Doriana?”
“Tell-tell you what?” She shivered.
“The game’s up. I know.”
“I don’t understand.”
“The hell you don’t.”
She twisted, trying to free herself. At the fear in her brown eyes he loosened his grip but still held her. He’d rather suffer physical wounds on the battlefield than this ache at her deceit.
“Tell me,” he said. “I want to hear it from you.”
She licked her lips. He wanted to shake her. And God help him, he wanted to kiss her until all the years and all the hurt dissolved.
“Please. Let me handle Josh. He’s my son.”
“And mine,” he said quietly.
Her porcelain face turned ashen. Tears gathered in her eyes. Her silence shouted the proof he demanded. Pain, mingled with joy, took his breath. Josh. His son.
“Get your hands off my mom.”
A teenage dynamo charged Logan, fists ready. Logan released Doriana and grabbed the boy by the shoulders, holding him at arm’s length. Anger and determination tightened Josh’s features, features so like his. The air in the room seemed to thicken.
Josh tried to kick, but Logan continued to hold him. He studied Josh’s face, the high cheekbones and hazel eyes. His son. His flesh and blood. Pride ripped through him, threatening his control.
