Little Secrets--The Baby Merger

by Yvonne Lindsay

  The questions continued to play in the back of Sally’s mind over the next day and a half until she couldn’t keep her concerns to herself any longer. She had to talk to someone about it. She called her dad at home and asked if she could come over.

  Jennifer let her in the door as she arrived.

  “Dad in the library?” Sally asked as she stepped inside.

  “Where else is he at this time of evening?” the housekeeper answered with a smile. “Mr. Tanner is with him.”

  Sally hesitated midstep. Her dad hadn’t mentioned anything about Kirk being over when she’d called. Maybe he hadn’t wanted to put her off coming. She’d already told him that she wasn’t planning to see any more of Kirk outside the office and that she’d turned down his proposal. Her father had expressed his disappointment, stating that he firmly believed a child’s parents ought to be married. Without pointing out the obvious—that his stance on the matter was archaic at best—Sally had made her feelings on the subject completely clear, and he’d eventually agreed to abide by her wishes.

  She’d barely seen Kirk in the office over the past few days. And she’d kept telling herself that was just the way she liked it. Regrettably, her self begged to differ. The thought of seeing him now made her pulse flutter and her skin feel hypersensitive beneath her clothes. You can do this, she told herself. She could talk to him and her father in a perfectly rational and businesslike manner without allowing her body’s urges to overtake her reason.

  “Thanks,” she said to the housekeeper. “I’ll let myself in.”

  “Can I get you something?”

  “No, I’ll be fine, thank you.”

  The idea of eating held no appeal. She already felt sick to her stomach over what she suspected. Maybe she was completely off track with it, but what if she wasn’t? It would be good to have the benefit of someone else’s opinion.

  Her father and Kirk rose from the wing chairs by the fireplace as she entered the library. She crossed the room and kissed her father, nodding only briefly to Kirk.

  “It was an unexpected, but lovely surprise to get your call this evening,” Orson said when they’d all settled down again.

  “It may not be so lovely when you hear what I came to say,” Sally replied, smoothing her skirt over her thighs.

  She stopped the instant she realized that the movement had attracted Kirk’s attention. Her gaze flicked up to his face, and she saw the flare of lust in his eyes before he masked it. Lust was all very well and good, she told herself, but it wasn’t love, and unless he could offer her that as well, she had to hold firm.

  “That sounds ominous,” Kirk observed.

  “I could be completely wrong, but I think I might have uncovered the leak.”

  Both men sat upright, all semblance of relaxation gone in an instant.

  “Who?”

  “You have?”

  Their responses tumbled over each other, and Sally put her hand up and looked directly at her father.

  “Dad, you’re not going to want to believe this, but I think Marilyn is behind it all.”

  “Marilyn? What? She’s worked for me since before you were born. Heck, I’ve known her longer than I even knew your mother.”

  A shaft of understanding pierced Sally’s mind. Was that an explanation for Marilyn’s behavior? She’d said she cared for him, but was she in love with Orson? Had she been all along? Was that why she wanted him to slow down?

  “Think about it, Dad. Who else had access to the information that’s been spread? Even the news of the baby. No one else aside from the three of us knew at HTT. Unless you told Marilyn.”

  Orson shifted uncomfortably in his chair and puffed out his cheeks. “Well, I might have told her that I was looking forward to being a grandfather. She may have put two and two together from that. And as for linking you and Kirk together, she’s very astute, and someone would have to be deaf, dumb and blind not to see the way you two look at each other.”

  Sally stiffened in shock. They would? She looked over to Kirk, who appeared equally shocked. He rubbed a hand over his face and leaned forward, elbows on knees.

  “Sally, what brought you to this conclusion?”

  Of course he wanted proof. As would she in the same position, but somehow it rankled that he was the one asking her, not her father.

  “It was a few of the things she said to me over lunch the other day.” Sally repeated them for the men. “There was a tone to her voice, a hardness that I hadn’t heard in her before. She sounded really fed up. Bitter. Angry. Plus, she was the one to cast doubt on me, telling Dad that I told her I was frustrated with my job—which is not true.”

  “We’ll have to interview her,” Kirk said to Orson. “Test the waters without making an outright accusation. We’ll need to be careful. We don’t want her suing us for defamation.”

  “Oh, Marilyn wouldn’t do that,” Orson protested.

  “If she’s behind the leak of information, then she’s already shown she’s willing to hurt the company. I tell you what. I’ll do a little investigating of my own. Have my forensic specialist delve a little deeper. If she is responsible, she’s very, very good at hiding it. It might not be so easy to prove.”

  Sally fidgeted in her chair. She felt terrible for believing that the culprit could be Marilyn, but if she was their leak, she had to be stopped before she did irreparable damage to the company. Each information release had undermined HTT’s integrity just that little bit more. The loss of new business had been felt, and if existing clients began to doubt the safety of their information and started to withdraw from HTT, it wouldn’t take long before the company truly began to crumble.

  “Should I tell her to take some days off?” Orson asked Kirk. “She’s due for some time, and she’s been working long hours lately.”

  “No, I think that would tip her off that we suspect her. Better to just keep things going as normal.”

  After a brief discussion about their plan of attack, Sally stood to leave.

  “It’s late and I’m tired. I’ll be heading home unless there’s anything else you need me for?”

  Kirk stood, too. “I’ll take you home. It’s time I headed off, too.”

  “That’s not necessary. I have my driver and my guard.”

  “Please, I’d like to talk.”

  “I’ll tell Jennifer to let your men go,” Orson said, getting up and going to the door. “And I’ll see you two at work.”

  He was gone, leaving them alone together. Sally bristled at Kirk’s nearness. She grabbed her handbag and headed toward the door, but Kirk beat her to it, holding the door open for her as she went through.

  The scent of him tantalized and teased her. Reminding her of what she was missing out on, of what was right there, hers for the taking if she wanted it.

  And she did want him. But what she really wanted was more than he seemed willing to give. Love, forever, the whole bundle. And he hadn’t offered her that.

  “Sally, slow down a sec,” Kirk called as she strode out down the corridor to the front door.

  He drew level with her, and she gave him a querying look.

  “In such a hurry?” he teased, taking her by the arm and making her slow to his more leisurely step.

  “I am, actually. I wasn’t lying when I said I was tired. I really need to get home.”

  * * *

  Kirk looked at her more carefully. In the subdued lighting in the library he’d only seen how beautiful she was, but here, in the main entrance, he became aware of the shadows under her eyes and the strain around her mouth. It brought his protective instincts to the fore and made his gut clench in concern.

  “Is everything okay with you, the baby?” he asked.

  He’d been so frustrated by her refusal to consider their marriage that in all honesty he’d been avo
iding her these past couple of days. Part of him hoped that absence might make her more willing to reconsider his proposal, while another, less calculating part was learning to deal with not getting his own way. It wasn’t something he’d had to do often in adulthood, and he found he didn’t like it now any more than he had back when he was a powerless child. But he couldn’t force Sally to accede to his suggestion, and she had made it very clear that she wouldn’t be coaxed, either. Which was all the more frustrating.

  Kirk escorted her down the front stairs of the house and held the door to his car open for her. She stopped in her tracks.

  “This isn’t your usual SUV, is it?”

  “Nope. This one’s a hybrid.”

  She turned and looked at him. “Really?”

  “How can I expect everyone else to follow your sustainability proposal if I’m not doing it myself?”

  He closed the door as she settled in her seat and resisted the urge to punch the air in triumph—he definitely hadn’t missed that look of approval on her face. Score one for him, he thought with a private smile as he walked around the back of the vehicle and to his door. As he got in and secured his seat belt, Sally spoke again.

  “And the other managers?”

  “As their leases come due on their existing vehicles, even good old Silas will be going hybrid or full electric.”

  “Seriously?”

  “No point in being halfhearted about it, is there?”

  “And you approach everything in your life full-out like that?”

  He caught her eye and hesitated a few seconds before answering. “When I’m permitted.”

  She looked away.

  “Are you sure you’re okay? Not overdoing things?” he asked.

  “I’m fine. Did you get my schedule of prenatal visits?”

  He nodded. He hated this skirting around the subject he really wanted to discuss, so he took the bull by the horns.

  “Sally, I wish you’d change your mind about us marrying. I can promise you my full commitment to making it work. To being a good husband and father.”

  She shook her head slightly. “I thought we agreed to leave this subject where we finished it.”

  “Actually, no. You said the subject was closed. But I’m still very open to negotiation.” He started the car and put it in gear, driving smoothly up the driveway and through the automatic gates that swung open as he approached. “I miss what we had.”

  She stiffened beside him. “What we had was a few brief and highly charged sexual encounters. Nothing more than that.”

  “Really? Is that how you see it? You know more about my background than any other woman I ever dated.”

  She snorted. “If they know less than me, then I’m sorry for them. I don’t even know what your favorite color is. What kind of food you like. Your favorite drink. Your favorite author. We don’t know one another at all.”

  “Blue, Italian, beer and J. K. Rowling.”

  “Kirk, it’s not enough. And not knowing you isn’t the only thing. I don’t want to marry you. Please respect that.”

  Silence fell between them. And then Sally giggled.

  “What?” he asked, not feeling at all like laughing given her very solid rejection.

  “J. K. Rowling? Really?”

  He shrugged. “What’s wrong with a little fantasy in a man’s life? I’ve done reality every day for thirty-four years. When I read I like to escape into someone else’s world.”

  Sally fell silent again. When he pulled into the parking area at her apartment, she sighed heavily.

  “I apologize for laughing. I didn’t mean to poke fun at you—it just seems so incongruous. You strike me as more the type to enjoy self-help books, or male action adventure.”

  “I read those, too. You asked for my favorite author.” He shrugged. “I told you.”

  He got down from the car and opened her door for her before escorting her up to her apartment. She opened the door and turned to him.

  “Thank you for driving me home. I’m sorry if I disappointed you again. Good night.”

  And before he could reply, she was inside her apartment and the door was firmly closed behind her.

  Kirk stood there a full minute before spinning on his heel and heading for the elevator. She might think she’d had the last word on the subject of their marriage, but one thing she hadn’t yet learned was that, for him, disappointment only served to whet his determination and appetite for success. One way or another, he’d figure out how to break her walls down. He had to, because somewhere along the line she’d become less of a challenge and more of a necessity in his life.

  Fourteen

  Sally tried to give Marilyn a breezy smile as she arrived at her father’s office. She’d never make it as a spy, she told herself. It was all she could do not to break down and beg Marilyn to explain why she’d done it. It had taken a week, but Kirk’s specialists had found a trail, well hidden, of the information Marilyn had misused. She and Marilyn had been called to a meeting with Orson and Kirk to discuss what was going to happen next. Sally knew Kirk wanted to press criminal charges, and he had every right to, but she honestly hoped it wouldn’t go that far.

  “I don’t know what this is about, do you?” Marilyn asked her as she quickly smoothed her always immaculate hair and reapplied her lipstick.

  “No,” Sally lied, not very convincingly. “Have you heard anything?”

  “Not me,” Marilyn said with pursed lips and a shake of her head. “But then, since Kirk Tanner has come on the scene, I’m the last to find out about anything, even your pregnancy.”

  Sally stiffened at the veiled snipe and watched as Marilyn fussed and primped in preparation for the meeting. She wondered again how it had come to this. The woman had been a maternal figure to her for as long as she could remember. It was one thing to betray the company, but the betrayal of Orson and his family went far deeper than that. What on earth had driven her from faithful employee to vindictive one?

  Marilyn snapped her compact closed and returned it to her handbag, which she locked in the bottom drawer of her desk.

  “Right, we’d better go in, then,” she said, standing and squaring her shoulders as if she was preparing to face a firing squad. “Ironic, isn’t it? That I was your support person not so long ago and now you’re mine?”

  Sally could only nod and follow Marilyn into her dad’s office. Her eyes went first to Kirk, who wore an expression she’d never seen on his face before and, to be honest, hoped never to see again. Anger simmered behind his startling blue eyes, and his lips were drawn in a thin, straight line of disapproval. Orson, too, looked anything but his usual self. The second she saw him, Marilyn rushed forward.

  “Orson, are you all right? You look unwell. Are you sure you should be here today? I told you you’ve come back to work too soon.”

  Orson stepped back from her. “Marilyn, please. Don’t fuss—I’m absolutely fine. Take a seat.”

  “But surely we can put this off until some other time. You probably should be resting.”

  “Please, sit!” he said bluntly.

  Marilyn looked affronted at his tone, her gaze sliding from Orson to Kirk and back again before she sniffed to show her disapproval and finally did as Orson had asked. Sally sat in a chair next to her, perched on the edge of her seat. She knotted her fingers together in her lap and kept her gaze fixed on the floor. Orson resumed his position behind his desk and Kirk drew up another chair next to Marilyn and turned slightly to face her.

  Once everyone was settled, Orson began.

  “We have had some...difficulties...in the past year with losing business to DuBecTec. At first I thought it was just their good luck, especially with their strengths in networking systems, but as it happened more often, I began to suspect that we had a traitor in our midst he
re who was feeding information about our prospective clients to our competition.”

  Sally flicked a look at Marilyn, who shifted in her seat but kept her silence. The tension became so thick you could cut it with a knife.

  “And it seems that the traitor was quite happy to set Sally up to take the fall for their insidious and, quite frankly, illegal behavior. I could have forgiven a lot, but I cannot, ever, forgive that.”

  Sally was shocked to hear the break in her father’s voice. She hadn’t expected him to bring the suspicions of her own conduct into the equation, but to hear him stand up for her like that came as something of a surprise. He’d barely mentioned the accusations against her when she’d returned to work, but now she could see a cold fury simmering beneath his professional facade. She began to feel some sympathy for Marilyn, but that was soon dashed as the older woman began to speak.

  “But Sally was cleared, wasn’t she? Of course she was. She had nothing to do with it, I knew that all along and so should you!” Marilyn protested.

  “That’s right, she had nothing to do with it,” Kirk said, rising from his chair and moving to stand beside Orson’s desk. “But the strain you put her under by planting evidence against her was inexcusable.”

  “What? Wait. Me?” Marilyn’s voice rose in incredulity.

  “We have proof, Marilyn. We know who our culprit is,” Orson said heavily. “What we don’t know is...why?”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Marilyn insisted, but her face had paled and small beads of perspiration had formed on her upper lip. She looked toward Sally. “Tell them, my dear. Tell them I could never be involved in something like that. I love this company and I love your fa—”

  Her voice cut off before she finished her sentence, as if she’d suddenly realized she’d revealed too much. She slumped back in her chair, her gaze shifting from Orson to Kirk and then Sally before settling back on Orson.

  “I have loved you for thirty years, Orson Harrison. And this is how you treat me?”

  Orson, too, had paled. “This is about your behavior—not mine,” he said gruffly. “And you know there has only ever been one woman for me.”