The Pint-Sized Secret

by Sherryl Woods

  “No wonder you don’t talk about your marriage,” he said. “And no wonder you despise Max Coleman. The two men who should have stood beside you during all of this abandoned you.”

  “Which just proves how lousy my judgment is,” she said pointedly.

  He flushed guiltily. “And by tailing you today, I haven’t exactly proved myself to be someone you could trust either, have I?”

  There was a hint of contrition in his voice, and she responded to that. She still didn’t understand what had motivated him to do what he’d done, but maybe it had been nothing more than curiosity. “It’s understandable, I suppose. I lied to you. I’ve been lying to everyone at Delacourt, except your father. He’s known from the beginning. In case you didn’t know it, he’s an incredible man. He didn’t have to hire me. Nor did he have to take on his insurance carrier to make sure Emma got the care she needed, but he did all of that. I will never forget that.”

  “So the accident, all of it, happened before you came to Delacourt Oil?”

  She nodded.

  “Why did you insist on the secrecy? It doesn’t make sense,” Jeb said. “Being a single mom isn’t something to be ashamed of. And surely you’re not embarrassed about your daughter needing rehabilitation?”

  “Absolutely not,” she said fiercely. That was Larry, not her. And yet, in her own way, hadn’t she been guilty of keeping Emma hidden as if she were ashamed of her? Wouldn’t that be a plausible interpretation for an outsider to make?

  “What was it, then?” Jeb asked. “Why the silence?”

  “It’s complicated. Your father brought me into a very responsible position. There were others in the department who probably thought they should have gotten the job. I had a lot to prove. I didn’t want anyone to think I couldn’t give it a hundred and ten percent.”

  “So, this was all about professional pride?”

  “More or less.”

  “Why not tell me, though? Maybe not on our first date, but later?”

  “The timing never seemed right.” She met his gaze. “I’m sorry. It wasn’t that I didn’t think you would understand. I guess I just got used to keeping Emma all to myself. After all, Larry abandoned both of us. I couldn’t take a chance that you might do the same thing—not for my sake, but for hers. Her self-esteem is already very fragile.”

  “I guess I can understand that,” he conceded. “But don’t confuse me with men like Larry O’Ryan and Max Coleman.”

  She wanted to believe him, wanted to believe that this was the end of it, but something told her that the trouble between them was far from over. That phone call hadn’t been about Emma. And she hadn’t imagined his reaction to her after receiving it.

  “Okay,” she said, putting down her fork and meeting his gaze evenly. “I’ve been as honest as I know how to be. Now it’s your turn. What was that phone call in London all about? And why did you say earlier that you would try to help me? Why would I need help?”

  He hesitated, then shook his head apologetically. “Sorry. I can’t get into it. Not yet.”

  The warmth that had been in his eyes just moments before vanished. As if someone had flipped a switch, the same cool distance she had felt in the hotel room was back again. She couldn’t let it rest until she knew what had put it there between them.

  “Why not?” she persisted. “I thought we were getting all of our cards out on the table, clearing the air once and for all. Or is that just a one-way street?”

  “You’ve given me a lot to think about.”

  “What does one thing have to do with the other?”

  “I can’t explain.”

  “Well, isn’t that just dandy? You turn my life into an open book, poke and prod into my privacy, but your life is off-limits.” She was suddenly struck by a thought. “Why did you follow me today? Was it just a casual whim or something more?”

  There was a telltale flush in his complexion, but he tried to shrug off the question. “Impulse, I suppose.”

  Suddenly she recalled the talk at Delacourt in the past when Jeb had taken off. He’d gone to help his brother, a well-respected private investigator. Carly had been fascinated. In fact, hadn’t she predicted that Jeb would one day abandon his father’s company to become a full-time investigator?

  So, Brianna wondered, had the phone call been about another case? And if so, how in the world was she involved?

  She met his gaze evenly. “I don’t think so,” she said finally. “It had something to do with that phone call, didn’t it? Are you watching me, Jeb?”

  His gaze turned heated as he surveyed her with leisurely enthusiasm. “Absolutely,” he said. “You know I love watching you.”

  She waved off the glib, all-too-male explanation. “I’m talking about surveillance.”

  Tellingly, he refused to meet her gaze. His reaction was all but an admission that she had hit on the truth.

  “That’s it, isn’t it? You were actually tailing me as part of some sort of investigation,” she said, fury mounting as the implications sank in. She regarded him coldly. “I think you’d better explain.”

  “I’m not at liberty—”

  “Cut the nonsense, Jeb. You’re the one who said I needed help. Why? Explain, or I will go straight to your father and tell him you’ve been harassing me, and if need be I’ll file suit. I can make a pretty damned good case, too.”

  He looked shocked. “Harassment? You’re going to charge me with sexual harassment? What happened between the two of us was both private and consensual and you know it.”

  This time around she was playing hardball. She wouldn’t lose another job through no fault of her own. Even though the circumstances were different, with Emma on the mend, she had her fighting spirit back.

  “It won’t sound that way when I’m through,” she warned him. “I might not have fought Max Coleman when he fired me without justification, but I will take you and Delacourt Oil to court, if I have to. I’m not running this time, Jeb, so you’d better spill everything right now or it’s going to get very ugly and you are going to be right in the middle of it. If I know your father, he won’t be happy about it, either.”

  “Ugly,” he echoed incredulously. “You want to talk about ugly? How about selling out Delacourt Oil? After everything you’ve just told me about how my father brought you in and helped you with your daughter, let’s talk about how you turned right around and betrayed him and his company.”

  This time it was Brianna who stared in shock. “I beg your pardon.”

  “I learned for a fact today just how clever you are at concealing things, Brianna. What’s the big deal about hiding a little corporate espionage?”

  She was stunned into silence. When she could finally gather her thoughts, she whispered, “You think I’ve been leaking inside information?”

  “Why not? Even with the best insurance, that treatment center must be costing you a pretty penny. You can probably use the extra cash. And what mother wouldn’t do anything when her child’s future is at stake?”

  The words hammered at her, but what hurt more was that Jeb was the one uttering them. Brianna quivered with outrage. How could she have slept with a man capable of thinking such awful things about her? What he was accusing her of was reprehensible. For him to insinuate that she had hidden Emma’s existence because she hadn’t wanted anyone to guess how desperately she might need money was insulting, to say nothing of infuriating. Had he believed it of her from the beginning? Was that why he’d started seeing her in the first place, why he’d turned up at her house so often? It made a horrible kind of sense.

  Jeb’s harsh accusation hung in the air. She stared at him in shock. She knew about the failed deals, the suggestion that the competition had had inside information, but to be accused of being a part of it? How could anyone think that, especially a man who knew her as well as Jeb did? Of course, right now, after today’s discovery, he must not think he knew her well at all.

  Still, she faced him with indignation. “Excuse me? Maybe
you’d better spell out just exactly what you think I’m guilty of.”

  “You already know precisely what I’m talking about. Three deals have soured in recent months. One went bad just this last week.”

  “And that’s what the call was about,” she guessed. And it was also why he’d said he hoped that it had nothing to do with her. Obviously he’d already tried and convicted her, though.

  “That’s right. Somebody has to be leaking inside information. Only you, my father, Michael and Tyler knew about this deal. I know they wouldn’t sell out the company.”

  “So obviously that leaves me,” she said sourly. She thought over the conversations she’d had with Jeb’s father about the two earlier deals. Bryce Delacourt had assured her it was just the nature of the business. He hadn’t seemed overly upset by the losses. Now she knew better. He’d had his son investigating her all along. Was that why he’d been so delighted that the two of them were getting close, because it put Jeb right in the middle of the enemy camp?

  Then to compound their suspicions, right in the middle of his investigation yet another deal had gone bad. Despite their closeness, Jeb hadn’t even hesitated before blaming this one on her, too, because he’d been waiting all along for her to slip up.

  “You believe I’m guilty, don’t you?” she suggested, her voice like ice, even though she was quivering inside. “After everything we’ve shared the past few weeks, after everything I’ve told you today about how much I owe your father, you still think that I could hurt your family like that.”

  For an instant, he regarded her with obviously conflicting emotions. For one single moment, she thought he might say, “Of course not. I believe in you.”

  Instead, when he finally spoke, he said, “I don’t want to, Brianna, but yes. I think if you were desperate enough, you would do anything to protect your daughter. It’s the only logical conclusion.”

  It took every ounce of self-control she possessed to get to her feet with some measure of dignity and stare him down. “If you think that, then you can just go straight to hell,” she said quietly. “And take your stinking job with you.”

  Outside, she was still shaking as she flagged down a cab. It had felt good to tell him off, even better to throw her job back in his face, but now what? What would she and Emma do?

  “Brianna?” he shouted, racing from the restaurant just as she slammed the cab door and gave the driver directions to the rehab center, where she’d left her car. When the driver hesitated at Jeb’s shout, she met his gaze in the rearview mirror. “Go.”

  “Whatever you say, ma’am.”

  She managed to hold back the tears that threatened until she got into her own car. She fumbled with the keys, but finally managed to get them into the ignition. She was shaking so badly she knew she had no business driving, but the threat that Jeb would return here and force another confrontation finally steadied her nerves.

  Rather than go home, which was obviously the second place he would look for her, she drove around until by instinct or chance she happened on the park where they had shared that first picnic. She pulled into a parking space, then climbed out of the car.

  The day was every bit as lovely as it had been on that Saturday afternoon, the sky as blue, the sun as brilliant, but Brianna saw it all through a haze of bitter tears.

  Everything she’d worked for, everything she’d struggled to hold together for herself and her daughter, was falling apart, and all because of a lie. Whoever was causing the finger of suspicion to be pointed in her direction deserved to suffer for it. Since Jeb thought he already had his culprit, it was up to her to prove her own innocence.

  Leaving Delacourt Oil wasn’t the solution. It had been a knee-jerk decision made out of pain and heartache. She had vowed to fight Jeb once today before she had even realized exactly what the stakes were. Now that she knew, the fight was even more critical. She couldn’t walk away from it. This wasn’t just about a job, it was about her reputation. It was about the one man on earth who should have trusted her selling her out when the chips were down.

  But she couldn’t think about Jeb now. It hardly mattered that he had been her lover. What counted was the damage he could do to her future in the profession she loved. He had to be stopped from making these absurd accusations public before he destroyed her. Later she would shed whatever tears needed to be shed for losing a man she might have loved.

  Jeb was at his wit’s end. He’d searched high and low for Brianna, but she was nowhere to be found. She’d taken her car from the rehab center and vanished. He knew without a doubt, though, that if there was one place she would return, it would be the center.

  He went back there, spent a half hour in the parking lot debating with himself, then went inside.

  “Could I see Emma O’Ryan?” he asked a willowy blond nurse behind the desk.

  “And you are?”

  “A friend of her mother’s, I work with Brianna at Delacourt Oil. I’m Jeb Delacourt.”

  “Ah, the handsome prince. Emma talks about you all the time. I’m Gretchen Larson.”

  “Emma talks about me? We’ve never met.”

  “No, but her mother told her all about the ball you took her to. Emma was enchanted. She’s pretty sure you’re at least as handsome as the prince in Cinderella. Normally, I’d never let a stranger in to visit, but Emma will be thrilled to see you for herself.”

  Jeb chuckled. “Think I’ll disappoint her?”

  “Why Mr. Delacourt, are you fishing for compliments?”

  “No, more like reassurance. I don’t want to scare the girl.”

  “Believe me, she’ll be delighted to see you. She doesn’t get a lot of visitors besides her mother. She left a couple of hours ago, by the way.”

  “I know,” Jeb said succinctly.

  Gretchen came out from behind the desk to display a curvaceous body that once upon a time would have sent his hormones into overdrive. Now it did nothing. Only one woman seemed to have the key to his heart these days, and she was justifiably furious with him. Thinking about how anguished she’d looked when she realized he thought her guilty filled him with regret. He’d blundered badly, yet again, laying out suspicions instead of facts. He wouldn’t blame her if she never forgave him.

  Was that what he wanted? Forgiveness, rather than the truth? It said a lot about the state of his heart that he thought it might be. In the meantime, there was Emma, and the feeling he had that he needed to know this child who was so important to Brianna.

  When they neared the sunroom again, it occurred to Jeb that he should have brought along a present on his first visit. Such a momentous occasion called for one.

  “Is there a gift shop?” he asked suddenly.

  “I’m afraid not,” Gretchen told him. “But it’s okay. Your company is what matters. If you suggest a game of Go Fish, you’ll have a friend for life.”

  Jeb couldn’t recall ever playing such a game, but he was willing to learn.

  They found Emma in the sunroom, staring out the window with a despondent look that no child of five should ever have.

  “Emma, you have a visitor,” Gretchen called out.

  The girl struggled with the controls on her wheelchair, but eventually managed the turn. When she spotted Jeb, her eyes brightened with curiosity.

  “Who’re you?”

  Jeb held out his hand. “I’m Jeb Delacourt.”

  Emma’s smile spread. “Mommy’s prince,” she said as she placed her fragile little hand in his.

  “I don’t know about that, but I am her friend.” He gestured toward a chair. “Mind if I stay a while so we can visit?”

  Gretchen leaned down to whisper in Emma’s ear, drawing another grin. Then the nurse winked at Jeb. “Call if she has you on the ropes. I’ll rescue you.”

  “Thanks.” He turned his attention to Emma. “I hear you play a mean game of Go Fish.”

  She nodded, curls bouncing. “It’s my favorite.”

  “Want to play?”

  She flipp
ed up a tray on the wheelchair, then reached into a side pocket and whipped out a deck of cards. “I’m really, really good, you know.”

  “So I hear. I’m afraid you’ll have to explain the rules to me. I don’t know them.”

  “It’s really, really easy,” she said, as she awkwardly dealt the cards.

  She launched a detailed explanation of the card game that left Jeb more confused than enlightened, but he was ready to try. When Emma had beaten him six games straight, he studied her intently. “You aren’t by any chance the national Go Fish champion, are you?”

  “No, silly. They don’t have a championship for that.”

  “Well, they should. You’d be a shoo-in.”

  She patted his hand. “Don’t feel bad. I beat Mommy all the time, too.” She leaned close and confided, “I think she lets me win so I’ll feel better.”

  “I doubt it. Your mother is a very competitive woman. I think the real truth is that she’s no match for you.”

  Emma beamed. “Do you really think so?”

  “Absolutely.” He cupped her tiny hand in his. “Thank you for teaching me, Emma. I had fun.”

  “Even though you lost?” she asked doubtfully. “It probably wasn’t polite for me not to let you win at least once.”

  “Never let someone win just to be polite,” he said. “It’s important always to do your best.”

  She regarded him shyly. “Will you come to see me again?”

  “I would like that very much.” He hesitated. “There’s just one thing.”

  “What?”

  “Could you not tell your mom that I stopped by?”

  “You mean like a secret?”

  Jeb nodded, swallowing back the guilty feeling that he had no business getting Emma to hide things from her own mother. But he knew Brianna wouldn’t approve. In fact, she was likely to blow a gasket if she learned he’d been by to see her daughter.

  Something had happened to him in the past hour, though. He’d fallen in love with another of the O’Ryan women. Spending time with Emma had, in some way, reassured him about Brianna. Any mother would fight to save a child this incredible. It was a defense no jury on earth would ignore. He certainly couldn’t, and he had more reason than most to want Brianna to pay for her crimes against his family’s company.