Alethea explained that it was for one of the young children.
The nurse nodded. “They brought their whole family with them. Unbelievable, huh? A lot of fuss over something that happens here every day.”
The other nurse leaned against her station and sighed dreamily. “Don’t even try to pretend you’re not excited that the Corisis are having their baby here. I’d ask to take a photo with them if I wasn’t sure it would get me fired.”
Alethea nodded and smiled blandly in agreement. Nothing out of the ordinary. Nothing to question. One of the nurses walked Alethea to the outer door of the suite, where two more security men were standing. “It’s okay, she works here. Just more food being delivered.”
The nurse had her hand on the suite door and was swinging it open when the hair on Alethea’s neck rose and she turned her head to see why. Steel-blue eyes clashed with hers and she knew she’d get no farther.
Marc Stone strode forward and shut the door firmly. He took the tray in one hand and grabbed her arm with the other. “You don’t belong here,” he ground out.
The nurse waved her hands nervously in the air. Her high-pitched voice carried. “What do you mean? They cleared her at the door.”
Not letting go of Alethea’s arm, Marc addressed the nurse. He handed the tray to her and said, “You’re not in trouble. I’ll handle this.”
Alethea struggled to free her arm, but his grip was ironclad. She tried not to enjoy it. There was something about Marc—perhaps his imposing height, the expansive breath of his muscular shoulders, or the cool steel in his eyes—that never failed to set her libido running. What would it be like to be with a man she wasn’t entirely certain she could control?
And why was that image so damn enticing?
He pulled her around the corner into a quieter hallway. “I should have known you would show up today.”
“Let go of my arm,” Alethea ordered between clenched teeth.
“Not likely. Not until I throw your cute little ass back out the door you came in.”
Cute little ass? She fought the bolt of pleasure that his comment sent through her. With a slight curl to her lip, she pushed back at him verbally. “You should be thanking me. I could have been anyone. Now you know that you need to cover all back entrances and issue specific photo security badges to enter this area. Take your Neanderthal hands off me and I won’t even tell anyone about the hole in your security.”
“There was no hole. You never made it into the suite.”
“Because you recognized me. But what if you hadn’t? Or what if you’d looked away for just a moment?” Her rebuttal came out huskier than she would have liked. “That’s all it takes. One opportunity.”
Something we had the night we met, before I blew it. I could have achieved my goal without testing if I could distract you from your duties that night. And, having discovered how wonderfully easy it was, I could have reaped the benefits of our mutual attraction instead of documenting your lapse in judgment in a report to Dominic.
So I may have earned the bite in your grip, but I don’t have to accept it. She glared at him and assessed the likelihood that a well-placed kick would loosen his hold long enough for her to break free.
“Oh, my God, Al.” Lil came rushing toward them. “Why are you here?”
Marc dropped Alethea’s arm and swore beneath his breath.
Alethea took off her wig, shook out her long mane, and faced her friend proudly. “I had a feeling Marc had failed to cover all access points, and I was right.”
A less observant person would have thought her barb didn’t bother him. Marc’s expression remained coldly professional, but his pupils dilated and his nostrils flared ever so slightly. Without an audience, Alethea was certain his response would not have been so well concealed.
Lil turned to Marc and said, “Can you give us a moment?”
He nodded abruptly and moved a few yards away but kept his eyes on them. He’d moved out of respect for Lil’s request, but his nearness declared that the reprieve was only temporary.
Lil threw up both hands and paced in front of Alethea, her tone high from emotion. “I can’t do this right now. I can’t deal with you and your crazy need to test everything. The nurses are upset. We heard someone tried to break in.” She shot her friend a furious look. “Do you know what that did to the mood in the waiting room? Thank God Dominic is back with Abby. Jake calmed everyone down. He didn’t have to come out here with me—you know why? Because we both knew as soon as we heard what happened that it was you. Only you would do this.”
Contrition was slow in coming. No, she didn’t like upsetting Lil, but how upset would everyone have been if something had happened to Abby or the baby? Lil’s anger was acceptable collateral damage. “Be grateful it was only me. Anyone could have come in that back door. Anyone.”
Lil covered her face with her hands. “I know you mean well, Al, but you took it too far today. I don’t know what to do with you anymore. I thought it would get better as we got older. I thought you would calm down once you knew Jake and Dominic. I keep putting off my damn wedding waiting for you and Abby to make up. It’s never going to happen unless you change.”
Alethea folded her arms in frustration. “So, you’d prefer to have your family in danger than be annoyed by me?”
With a frustrated sigh, Lil said, “No. Of course not. But was there danger today? Really? Or did you need an excuse to come here?”
Arms falling to her side, Alethea rocked back on her heels beneath the accusation. “That’s what you think?”
Hugging herself around the waist, Lil said, “I don’t know what I think, Al. But I know you can’t stay here. Go home. Wait for me to call you and tell you how everything went. Just like I asked you to do. Like any other friend would.”
Suddenly torn between believing she was right and regretting the pain she was causing her friend, Alethea offered what was close to an apology. “I didn’t mean to upset anyone.”
Lil’s bottom lip quivered, a sure sign that she was holding back tears. “I know, Al.” She shook her head and walked away. “Please, just go home.”
As Lil departed, Marc started toward Alethea, but halted when Jake called to him from the suite door. “Marc, we need to talk.”
Alethea was about to take advantage of the distraction when Marc pinned her with an angry glare from across the hall. There was heat as well as anger in his gaze, and her breath caught in her chest as she reeled beneath the intensity of their attraction. The desire to cross the distance between them was almost irresistible. What would he do if she boldly walked over, not stopping until her breasts were pressed against the solid wall of his chest? She imagined winding her arms around his neck, pulling his stern mouth down, and kissing him until he groaned and lost control.
All that anger would only flame his hunger for her.
Just as it had the first night they’d met.
She was saved from herself when Marc spoke into his earpiece and two of his men instantly flanked her. Yet he held her eyes, and she held her breath. Was he also remembering their first encounter?
“Please come with us, ma’am,” one guard said. “We’re to escort you out.”
“Of course,” Alethea said with forced politeness, but she didn’t look away from Marc. He was listening to Jake and nodding. Unable to stop herself, she winked at him.
A red flush spread up his face and he turned away, but not before she saw the truth in his eyes. No matter how cool he tried to appear, he was just as drawn to her as she was to him.
Not that either of us can act on it. Alethea lectured herself the whole way to the elevator. It doesn’t matter if he’s attracted to me. It doesn’t matter that his kiss shook me as none had before. He’s off-limits. Focus on why you came here today. As she rode down the service elevator with the two security men, Alethea said, “Check that someone is watching the morgue. People hesitate to question a person who is wheeling a corpse.” She looked at the other operative and said, �
�It wouldn’t hurt to have one of you in the laundry room either.”
One of the men wordlessly put her out the back door, ironically the same one she’d used earlier. The other followed her out and stationed himself outside the door, acting as a physical barrier to her reentry.
Walking away, head held high, Alethea glanced back with satisfaction. I wouldn’t win a popularity contest, but the kitchen entrance is now secure. Going home alone is a small price to pay for achieving that objective.
Marc walked with Jake down a side corridor until they were out of everyone’s earshot. Normally composed, Marc was more than a little frustrated with Alethea’s invasion and how it had left him wanting what he’d successfully denied himself thus far.
“She shouldn’t have been able to get as close as she did,” Jake said.
Pulling himself out of a fantasy—in which Alethea writhed beneath him and called his name as he pounded a year of pent-up frustration into her sweet wetness—Marc met Jake Walton’s eyes. “No, sir.”
“Don’t go all formal on me, Marc. I didn’t pull you aside to chastise you. Alethea’s good at what she does. She may be the best I’ve ever seen. That’s why she’s in high demand. She always gets in. But seeing her made me think I can’t wait any longer to make you aware of something that’s been going on.”
“Today? Here?”
Jake shook his head. “No, at Corisi’s main headquarters. I haven’t said anything to anyone because it may be nothing. Right now it’s a series of computer glitches and a rumor that someone is doing it deliberately.”
Marc frowned. “The kind of technology you’re talking about is not my area of expertise.”
“I know that, but if this isn’t a series of minor code errors, then someone is sabotaging our software again—but the firewall that Jeremy designed should be impenetrable.”
“So do you think it’s an inside job?”
Looking a bit grim, Jake said, “It would have to be. I’ve had our people on it, but so far they believe the errors are unrelated.”
“And the rumor?”
“Unknown source of initiation. I don’t know what to think, but I want you to keep your eyes open. Watch for anything out of the ordinary. Don’t bother Dominic with this. He’s in Daddyland right now. It may be nothing. I don’t want to bring this to him unless we find evidence of tampering.”
If the saboteur was good enough to circumvent Dominic’s pet hacker, getting evidence wasn’t going to be easy. “I’ll beef up the physical security at the main building and at the satellite offices. I can have additional cameras installed discretely. We’ll comb through the security clearances and background checks. If someone is where they don’t belong, I’ll find them.”
Jake nodded. “I have every confidence that you will.”
Marc looked down the hallway at the service elevator. Coding errors that did nothing more than reveal a weakness in a firewall. He didn’t want to believe that his late-night fantasy woman would go that far, but he had to admit it fit her pattern. “You don’t think . . .”
Rubbing the back of his neck tiredly, Jake said, “I hope not. She means well, but there isn’t a line she won’t cross when she thinks she’s right.”
“A bit like someone else we both know.” Marc referenced his boss, who had made his fortune living by his own code of ethics.
“Dominic has me to keep him in check, though. Alethea listens to no one.” Lowering his voice, Jake said, “I want you to watch her closely. It would break Lil’s heart if she found out Alethea was causing more trouble. No matter what you discover, bring it to me first.”
“Understood.”
Business done, Jake smiled. “Time for me to head back in there and see if Dominic still has his manhood.”
Marc almost asked what Jake meant, but decided he didn’t want to know.
Chapter Three
“This isn’t good,” the doctor said, watching the monitor. “The baby is in position but she’s not moving as much as I’d like. The heartbeat is still steady.” He wheeled a small machine closer. “We’ll need another ultrasound.”
Abby put a protective hand over her stomach. “What’s wrong?”
“I don’t know yet,” the doctor grumbled, and pulled more equipment into the room. He ran a wand over Abby’s stomach.
“That’s not good enough,” Dominic snarled.
The doctor looked from Abby to Dominic and said, “I will have you removed from the room, Mr. Corisi, if I believe your presence in any way inhibits me from saving the life of your child or her mother. Do you understand me? You may bark orders in your boardroom, but this is my world. My patient.”
Deflating a bit, Dominic said, “What can I do?”
“Hold your wife’s hand, talk to her, and let me do my job.”
Dominic nodded and went to look down at his wife’s worried face. He sought the words to comfort her. In all of his life he’d never felt as terrified as he was right then. “The doctor said everything is normal. He’s just being cautious.”
Abby smiled bravely. “I heard him, Dom.” She squeezed his hand. “He’s right. Something’s different. I can feel it.”
Talking around them instead of to them, the doctor started barking orders. “The baby’s heartbeat is slowing. It looks like a potential umbilical prolapse.”
“What does that mean?” Abby asked, gripping Dominic’s hand tighter.
“We have to act now. If the umbilical cord drops out before the baby we risk compression, which means blood and oxygen may be cut off.”
“Do what you need to,” Dominic said harshly. He held his wife’s cold hand to his face. “I’m here, Abby. Right where I’ll always be. Right beside you.”
She gripped his hand and said, “I’m scared.”
As the doctor worked, Dominic took his advice and kept his attention on the only place he could help. He said, “Do you remember backing your car deliberately into mine the first day we met?”
Some of the fear left her eyes as she defended her actions of that day. “You were an arrogant ass. I couldn’t believe you’d offered me money to spend the night with you. You’re lucky your car was the only thing I hit.”
He smiled down at her, using those memories to soothe her. “I didn’t know it at the time, but I fell for you the moment I laid eyes on you. No one had ever stood up to me the caring way you did. You made me want to be a better man.”
Abby’s eyes filled with tears. “You were a good man before you met me, you just didn’t know it.”
The doctor said, “Looks like we can stay here. She shifted. What a smart little girl you have. And impatient. She’s coming out fast.”
Dominic looked at the doctor and then back to Abby. She said, “Go meet her.”
Watching his daughter come into the world filled Dominic with a rush of feelings. Shock held him immobile even as the doctor caught her and cleaned her off quickly. The nurse said, “Time to meet Mommy,” and laid her down on Abby’s chest.
Ever so gently, Dominic touched the tiniest fingers he’d ever seen. He met the doctor’s eyes across the bed. “Thank you,” he said quietly.
The doctor merely nodded and started giving instructions to the nurses again.
Abby kissed her crying daughter’s forehead and said, “She’s so beautiful.”
“Is her head going to stay that shape?” he asked without thinking.
Abby smiled down at the baby with love. “If you’d read the baby book I gave you, you’d know they all look like that.”
“I read some of it,” Dominic said. When she raised her eyebrows in disbelief, he said, “Okay, I had Jake read it. He was supposed to give me the bulleted notes. Knowing him, he’s cross-referencing everything in it against medical journals. I’ll be briefed before she comes home, I promise.”
Abby laughed and shook her head. “Briefed? Like she’s a new project?”
He leaned down and kissed Abby’s cheek, then the back of his daughter’s head. “The most important project of
my life. One we need to name. I know we came up with a list and said we’d choose when we met her, but I’ve been thinking. What about Judith Rosella?”
“Judith for my mother and Rosella for yours. I like it.” Abby tipped her head to one side. “What do you think, Judy? Do you like the name?”
At the sound of her mother’s voice, the baby stopped crying. Abby smiled up at her husband. “Judith Rosella Corisi it is. We’ll name the next one after Marie.”
Dominic swayed on his feet. “Next one?”
The doctor said, “Mr. Corisi, would you like to cut the cord?”
Feeling a bit queasy at the idea, Dominic nodded once with authority and took the scissors with shaky hands. “Of course.” This was his wife, his baby. Refusing was not an option he considered.
He returned to Abby’s side with relief.
“Just a few more contractions and we’re done, Abby. How are you feeling?” the doctor asked.
Abby looked down at her baby and then up at Dominic. The love in her eyes clogged Dominic’s throat with emotion. He prayed the doctor wouldn’t ask him a question. He doubted he was capable in that moment of saying anything that would make sense.
With a few adjustments to the bed, Abby was comfortably covered again and propped in a semi-seated position. Dominic nodded and sank into the chair beside Abby’s bed. The nurse took the baby for a moment to tag her with a wristband and run some routine diagnostic tests.
In hardly enough time for Dominic to catch his breath, Judy was back. This time the nurse handed her to him. He held her in the crook of his arm, looked down into the most beautiful blue eyes he’d ever seen—a smaller version of Abby’s—and fell even deeper in love with his wife and the child they’d made together.
A few moments later, Lil burst into the room, stopping at the sink to wash her hands, and then rushed to where Dominic sat. “I’m so sorry I was . . . I had to . . . forget it. Where’s my niece?” Jake was on her heels, the love he had for Lil evident in his eyes, as he watched her wiggling with excitement beside Dominic until he handed Judy over to her. With Judy in her arms, Lil went to Abby’s side. “She’s perfect, Abby. Just perfect.” Then she looked over her shoulder at Jake and said, “Jake, I want another baby. Colby needs a sister. And maybe a brother.”
The Legacy Collection Box Set Page 78
