“Sometimes there’s not a lot to do except think nice thoughts while I wait,” Barry said. “It helps to have something especially nice to think about.” Was the man actually leering at Eden? It definitely looked as if he was leaning closer to her.
Jeremy drummed his fingers on the desk. “I think we’re ready to get down to business,” he said. “Will this take much time? You indicated that a face-to-face interview was necessary. I’m assuming that means you have some important information for me.” Or maybe Barry just wanted the chance to stare at Eden’s legs, Jeremy thought, noting the way the man’s attention seemed to be wandering.
The fact that Barry could actually see Eden’s legs better than he could and obviously wouldn’t mind running his hands over her naked flesh did nothing to put Jeremy in a better mood. Which was ridiculous. What she and Barry were to each other was none of his business.
Barry had looked up and appeared to be waiting for him. Jeremy realized that he was now the one concentrating on Eden. Immediately he sat up and directed his attention to the investigator. “You were saying…” he said to Barry.
The man scrubbed a hand over his face. “I’m afraid I’ve hit a snag, Mr. Fulton.” His voice radiated sincere concern, and immediately Jeremy felt bad for having had negative thoughts about the man. “I thought I was on the trail of a former employee but then that person just disappeared. I suspect he didn’t want to talk to me. I also suspect, from my earlier contact with the man, that you did actually produce offspring as a result of your contributions to the sperm bank. I believe that there is at least one child, maybe more, but I have no hard evidence. I haven’t been able to find out if anyone has suffered any genetic consequences or even managed to locate a child who might benefit from the information or aid you’re offering. I’m sorry.”
Barry’s voice radiated sincerity, and Jeremy remembered that the man was divorced with a son of his own. He’d made no secret of how much the boy meant to him or how much he missed his child. Immediately, any confrontational feelings between the two of them fell away. “It’s all right, Barry,” he said. “I know you’re doing what can be done. We both knew this wouldn’t be an easy proposition. People who don’t want to be found often can’t be found.”
“Will you keep looking?” Eden’s soft voice slipped into the room.
“Yes,” both men said at once.
“Is there anything we can do to help you?” she asked Barry. “That is, I’m sure you’re pursuing every lead you have, but maybe we’ve missed something. There might be questions we haven’t asked or a different angle we should approach this from. I guess what I’m saying is that the two of you began this before I ever came on the scene and, admittedly, I don’t know much of what you’ve discussed or of how to conduct an investigation, but…I don’t mean to be presumptuous, but you’re both…well, men. If we can’t locate anyone or any records from the sperm bank…”
When no one responded, her voice trailed off and she frowned. “Of course, I’m sure you have women in your offices who can view things from the perspective of the mothers you’re looking for.”
Silence followed as Jeremy digested the small but pertinent suggestion she’d just made. He looked up. Was Eden squirming?
“Let’s just forget I suggested that,” she said suddenly, her voice tentative. “I was just…I don’t know. Thinking out loud, I guess.”
Jeremy’s concentration was on Eden, so he heard rather than saw Barry laugh. “I’m afraid there are no women in my office,” Barry said. “It’s a small operation, and my assistant is a guy.”
And I would never win any awards for understanding the minds and hearts of women, Jeremy thought. He’d grown up with a harridan of a woman who couldn’t begin to be called either normal or average, he’d dated women without getting to know very much about them, and he hadn’t been interviewing his housekeeper or cook to discover their perspectives on the world. And although he could manage that last one, he reasoned, he probably wouldn’t, not when right before him there was—
“I’d love to have your help and discuss what the woman or women we’re seeking might think,” Barry was saying, uttering the words that Jeremy had been thinking. Eden was nodding. The man was opening his mouth again to speak.
“I’ll fill you in on my initial discussions with Barry so that you’ll know what’s already been covered,” Jeremy heard himself saying to Eden. “It’s all on tape, and I’d like to have your take on things. Anything that would help the case.”
“Or help a child,” Eden said. Yes, that was what this was all about, wasn’t it? Not his bizarre need to try to vie for Eden’s attention with a man more whole than himself.
Yet when Barry followed Eden into the library to discuss his part of things, Jeremy had a strong urge to put his fist through a wall.
But that wasn’t his way. When facing frustration, speed had always been his style. Fast cars, fast women, fast everything. If a man moved fast enough, his demons couldn’t catch him.
Right now he had plenty of demons. A child or maybe multiple children at risk. He closed his eyes and thought about the parents sitting up at night wondering what was going wrong in their child’s life and if that child would ever be better. The pain closed in, got in Jeremy’s face, attacked.
He tried to turn from it and ran smack up against his thoughts of Eden, who had grown up differently from those around her. She had been ridiculed and shunned, had had too much responsibility thrust on her and had obviously been hurt by men along the line. She deserved to have a good man like Barry to care for her and mend her. She didn’t need someone temporary trying to step between her and Barry.
But the pain spasmed, like a fist clenching around Jeremy’s heart. He wanted Eden, and he had the terrible feeling that nothing was going to stop him from taking her and hurting her. It was and always had been his way to grab what he wanted.
Stop, he told himself. Get past it. Do it.
He rose from his chair. And then he did what he did best. In mere minutes he was outside in the wind and sun. Running. Much faster than was wise.
CHAPTER SIX
“THANK you for the tea, Mrs. Ruskin,” Eden said as the housekeeper set a tray down before her. “You didn’t have to do that, but I really appreciate it.”
“Lula and I know how to make a person feel at home,” the woman said. “We want you to feel welcome here, dear, and it must be difficult holding your own when you have two big men facing off in front of you. Mr. Fulton is…well, he’s ours and he’s wonderful as far as we’re concerned, but Mr. Leedman is a hottie, too. And he likes you. I don’t think Mr. Fulton is happy about that. He gets that angry caveman look when Mr. Leedman talks to you.” The older woman shook her head. “Sometimes, with all that testosterone flowing, a woman needs something soothing. Like tea. You know?”
Eden couldn’t help laughing. “I do know,” she said as the woman left the room. Although, Eden didn’t believe what the housekeeper had tried to imply. Oh, she knew that Barry was interested, and yes, Jeremy had kissed her. Her heart still raced at the memory of his mouth against hers. But that over-too-fast kiss hadn’t meant anything. Jeremy was just used to kissing any convenient woman. She had seen that firsthand, and Ashley had talked about the phenomenon enough. If Jeremy was upset, the feeling had more to do with this case than anything.
“Which is good,” she told herself. Her goals and Jeremy’s were nothing alike. In fact, he wouldn’t want to even go near her dream of having children or starting a school. And there was one thing more. A big thing.
She and Barry and Lula and Donald and Mrs. Ruskin were all ordinary people. They weren’t like Jeremy at all, she thought, staring at the walls that were covered floor to ceiling in leather-bound first editions. Even the air here smelled expensive and rare. Wanting someone like Jeremy to kiss her again was like climbing a cliff when the only way down was to leap off onto the rocks below. Not smart, and—
A shadow flitted past the window, and automatically Eden
sat up straighter in her chair. She turned toward the shadow, jumping up from the chair, her heart racing as she looked out the window.
Jeremy had just run past, on the drive this time, not on the grass as he usually did. He was moving fast, really fast and there was something on the ground five feet ahead of him, probably entering his limited field of vision too fast for him to see it.
Pushing at the window and forcing it open, Eden started to yell his name. Too late. He stumbled over the object and went sliding, rolling, ending up hard against a tree.
“Jeremy, no! No, oh no!” she yelled. And then she ran, too, down the stairs and out the door.
The trip down the stairs, through the house and out the door seemed to have taken forever, yet Eden barely remembered it. Her entire focus was on reaching Jeremy, praying that he was all right. She tore across the lawns onto the drive, heading straight for him.
And then she pulled up short. He was sitting on the ground, his strong back against the tree, one knee drawn up in what looked like a casual pose, the other stretched straight out before him. He looked perfectly normal and calm, except his eyes were closed.
“Eden,” he said. Just that one word.
Had he been watching? She didn’t think so. “Are you all right? I saw—I thought—how could you tell it was me when you don’t even have your eyes open?”
The smallest of smiles lifted his lips, and he opened those gorgeous amber eyes. “I can sense you.”
She raised one eyebrow. A small startled sound hissed through her lips.
He chuckled. “Don’t go all imperious and practical on me. You don’t believe me?”
“I…I don’t know if I believe you.”
And then his laugh deepened. Dark and masculine, the sound curled around her, enticing her to step closer. “Good,” he said. “Don’t believe everything a man tells you. But I did sense you, in a way. I seem to know when you’re around and—”
“And what?”
“You smell good. I always know when you enter a room.”
His voice was deep and husky. Eden’s breathing kicked up. For half a second she remembered his lips on hers, and then she frowned. Something wasn’t right here. What wasn’t right was that Jeremy had her thinking about kissing him when he had just come up against a tree. “Are you trying to distract me?”
“Why would I do that?”
“I saw you fall. You’re hurt, aren’t you?”
“Only my pride. I was pushing my limits while letting my mind wander. Not a good combination. Remember that.”
“Yes, Mr. Fulton.”
He laughed. “Was I lecturing?”
“Yes, but you’re allowed. You’re my boss.” Which was a reminder more to herself than to him. And then, because she couldn’t seem to stop herself, she said something more. “You always pushed your limits even when we were young. Why? What drives you to do that when even you just said that it wasn’t always smart?”
For a moment she thought he wouldn’t answer. “Never mind,” she said. “It isn’t really my business, is it?”
“I suppose it is when you’re the person watching me nearly crash on the rocks. Twice.”
She tilted her head. “Twice?”
“The Aston Martin.”
“Umm. It was a pretty little car.”
“There’s one just like it in the garage. You can drive it.”
Eden nearly choked. “Me? No, I couldn’t do that.”
He rose to his feet. She saw him wince, but she didn’t say a thing. He wouldn’t want her to. Then he moved over to her, his body taut in the black running jersey and shorts. Gently he touched her cheek, sending a shiver right through her. “Live a little, Eden. Take some time to play. Drive the Aston if you like. It needs driving, and Donald feels like a hulk in it. It would be a favor to me.” Which she suspected was a total lie, so she smiled.
“I might,” she promised on a choked whisper.
“I could make it an order,” he said.
“But you wouldn’t.”
He shook his head slowly, his fingers brushing along her jaw. “I wouldn’t.” He lowered his hand to his side.
“Don’t worry, Eden. I push my limits because it feels right. It makes me know that I’m alive, that I’m solid and that I can’t be dismissed easily. I suppose my reasons are suspect, however. Growing up, I resented being under my aunt’s thumb when she only agreed to raise me out of a sense of family obligation. In fact, she hated me. She’d been in love with my father when they were young, and he had supposedly been in love with her, engaged to her, in fact. But he was a faithless jerk and he got my mother, Aunt Rose’s sister, pregnant. And when my parents died young, and I came to live here, Aunt Rose saw him every single time she looked at me. He had been wild, and so was I. The easy thing would have been to let her hatred drive me into hiding, but I didn’t. And the easy thing, now that I’m losing my sight, would be to retire into safe pursuits, but I can’t, so I push. Amateur therapy, but it works for me.”
Eden looked up into his eyes and saw the determination still written there, despite everything. She’d just bet he had never let his aunt see how her cruel attitude had affected him. Instead his pride had kicked in and he had defied the woman. And now he was defying the condition that threatened to rob him of his way of life and dignity.
“If you didn’t push, then I guess you wouldn’t be who you are,” she said softly. “All of that must have helped shape you, and—” she smiled “—Donald tells me that you were practically a genius at Yale, and that other businessmen seek you out because you not only know what you’re doing, you have bold ideas you’re not afraid to try. And you usually succeed.”
“Donald might be a bit biased,” he told her with a smile.
“Well, of course he is, but he’s also smart and honest. So…don’t stop pushing,” she said. “I’ve been reading up. You can still do so much, just differently, perhaps.”
He frowned. She knew he didn’t want to do things differently.
“All I meant was that you might find a partner when you’re out testing fate,” she said. “Someone to warn you about obstacles ahead. You already get Donald to play basketball with you.”
“That’s because Donald likes to play basketball. But at his age and after years of service, he’s earned the right to take it easy now and then. I won’t make him uncomfortable by asking him to do things he hates just so that I can test my limits.”
“So, hire someone else. You have oodles of money.”
“Oodles?” he asked with a laugh. “Do people still say oodles?”
“They must. I just did.”
“All right, I do have oodles of money. So, you think I should hire someone to be my partner in crime?”
“Why not? I saw you were having a climbing wall built. And there are blind people who bicycle. There are even a few who have taught themselves echolocation and use sounds to locate objects so that they’re able to in-line skate and skateboard. I’m not suggesting that, but with a partner…”
“Skateboarding?” he asked. The expression on his face was devious.
“Maybe with a partner,” she said, wondering what had come over her. Why was she acting so bold? She had a terrible feeling that Jeremy’s personality was rubbing off on her a bit. She had another terrible feeling that she cared too much about the man, when he wasn’t why she was here at all. And couldn’t ever be. Whether he was a wild and faithless man like his father or not, he was definitely a man who could hurt her badly if she let herself get carried away. And she had already been hurt too much by too many men.
The pain of knowing that her father and uncle hadn’t wanted her had taken a long time to get past. She was still bearing the consequences of her mistake of a marriage that had left her alone and in debt. And that had been with a man who had once claimed to care. She had to be more careful around Jeremy.
Searching for common sense and the will to step away, Eden looked down, away from Jeremy’s compelling gaze. And then…
<
br /> She frowned. Staring for a minute, leaning closer, she reached out.
“No. Don’t do that.” Just before her fingertips met Jeremy’s side, he turned away. “You’ll get blood on yourself.”
“You’re hurt,” she said. “I didn’t even see that before.” The irony of that statement, that she, the fully sighted one had missed his injury, came to her, but she didn’t care. “We need to take care of this.”
“I’m fine. Thank you. I’ll think about your suggestion.” He turned to go.
Now she knew that he was more badly hurt than he let on. “You don’t have to be such an island, you know.” She couldn’t stop the words.
He whirled back. “Eden?”
She stood her ground. “You know what I mean. When we were growing up you dated all the prettiest girls, but you never let any of them close and you didn’t keep any of them. You were an aloof loner who didn’t need anyone, and you’re obviously still that way. But even if I was mostly invisible to you when we were young, you helped me that day my dog died. You gave me this job when I really needed it and defended me and my family to Miriam. What’s more, you’re planning to aid those children when you really don’t have to, and yet the one time when someone actually has an opportunity to do something for you, when I can give back to you without being paid for the favor, you won’t accept it. You have to be invincible.” Then, realizing she was lecturing her boss, she froze.
“It was a mistake to say that,” she said, horrified. Witnessing his injury and experiencing his touch had wreaked havoc with her emotions and was making her irrational. “I have no right to tell you what to do.”
He looked down at her, and she knew he couldn’t see her clearly, but it felt as if he saw right through her. He reached out and slid his hand beneath her hair. He drew her close and kissed her. Just once, his lips warm and open over hers so that her head started spinning. He had fallen but she felt dizzy.
Her Millionaire, His Miracle Page 6
