Lady In Red

by Fayrene Preston

  He laughed. “Yes, I think he would be.”

  “And your parents?” she asked curiously. “Are they proud of you?”

  “They always have been. My dad helped me set up a workshop in the attic when I was seven, and each year added to the tools I could use. It’s never seemed to bother him or Mom that I’ve never stopped playing with toys.”

  She heard no censure in his voice, but her conscience was nagging at her. She passed a hand over her forehead. “Look, I should apologize for making such a fuss about the remote control cars.”

  “You don’t have to. I think I understand.”

  She was caught off guard by the expression of kindness she saw on his face. The expression made her say more than she had intended. “You may, but I still want to explain. I was eleven when my father left us and my mother had to go to work. Someone took care of Bobby while I was at school, but when I came home, he became my baby. I adored him. And when Mother died eight years later, he became mine legally.”

  “How old were you?”

  “Nineteen.”

  “An eight-year-old boy must have been a big responsibility for a nineteen-year-old girl.”

  “I would have fought anyone who tried to take him away from me.” She made a vague gesture. “I’m a little fierce when it comes to him and trying to get the best for him.”

  “He’s lucky to have you.”

  She chuckled. “There are times I’m sure he doesn’t think so.”

  “I doubt that. Anyway, thank you for telling me about Bobby and you. Now I understand a little more.”

  She looked at him oddly. “What? What do you understand?”

  “Why my toys bother you. You’ve had a hard life and never had a chance to be a little girl and learn to play.”

  She frowned, unhappy with the picture he had drawn of her. “Just because I took care of Bobby doesn’t mean - ”

  “Lily went to bed early tonight, to get her beauty sleep, she said. I’ll go make us some coffee.” He leaned down and kissed her. “Be right back.”

  She watched him leave the room, the frown still on her face. He had a way of slipping under her defenses and making her feel vulnerable, and at the same time, making her feel safe - the most hazardous of combinations, she thought, and shivered.

  Her gaze traveled slowly around the room, stopping when it got to a briefcase sitting on a table. Zach’s briefcase. Slowly she crossed the room to the table and stared at it. Going through other people’s possessions was abhorrent to her. Besides, what if she found something that would incriminate Zach, something that would link him with the plot to sell the video game? She turned away. She didn’t want to know if it was true. She twisted her hands together. But with her contact out of the picture and Zach her only lead, if she did look in the briefcase and found nothing, she could drop the assignment with a clear conscience.

  She silently cursed. The damned thing was probably locked anyway. She turned back, drew the case toward her, and pressed two buttons. The locks clicked open. With another curse she opened the briefcase and started sorting through its contents.

  “Looking for anything in particular?” Zach asked, standing in the doorway, his hands in his pockets, the twinkle gone from his eyes.

  Four

  Ice slid down her spine as she turned to face a Zach she hadn’t seen before. His easygoing nature had vanished. A powerful tension radiated from him, making him appear to Cassidy formidable and intimidating, with an anger that bothered her all the more because it was so controlled. But despite his foreboding appearance, she wasn’t afraid of him. Somehow she knew without a doubt that he would never harm her.

  “Well, Cassidy?”

  She faltered.

  His gaze steady on her, he crossed the room and shut the briefcase, his movements precise and contained. “You owe me an explanation.”

  There was no excuse she could give for invading his privacy, searching through his briefcase - no excuse, just the truth. And to tell him the truth she had to decide if she could trust him.

  She gazed up at him. Many times she had rued the twinkle in his eyes, but now that it was gone she felt a kind of cold emptiness in her. A simmering anger had replaced his twinkle and behind the anger there was pain.

  Pain? Oh, Lord, she had hurt him.

  Her heart began to ache. And in that moment, she knew.

  “I’m sorry,” she said, meaning the apology with everything that was in her.

  “Just exactly what is it you’re sorry for, Cassidy? For being caught?”

  “For a lot of things, but especially for not knowing until this moment that I could trust you.”

  He stared down at her for a long moment. “Are you going to explain that?”

  She nodded. “Yes. Let’s go sit down, and I’ll tell you everything.”

  On the couch, she clasped her hands together and tried to compose her thoughts. Zach took the decision about where to begin out of her hands.

  “This has to do with that man you’ve been trying to meet, doesn’t it?” he asked quietly.

  “Yes. He contacted me at the newspaper and said he has information about your company.”

  “My company? What about it?”

  “You’re developing a new video game?”

  “Yes,” he said, frowning.

  “Well, someone in your company is planning to steal it and sell it to a firm overseas. The man I’ve been trying to meet with heard a telephone conversation between the two parties involved. He wanted to give me the information so that I could investigate.”

  He was off the couch and across the room before she had time to blink. He paced a few steps, then turned to face her, his body rigid. “And you waited this long to tell me? It never occurred to you that I might be even mildly interested in this information?”

  “I wasn’t sure about you. My contact is afraid of you.”

  “Afraid of me?” He cursed.

  “I thought it best to wait and see what I could find out before I decided when and if I should tell you.” She hesitated. “I didn’t know whether I could trust you or not.”

  His expression was bleak as he gazed at her. “I built my company from the ground up, Cassidy. All my dreams are in it. Why on earth would you think that I would do something to jeopardize my dreams?”

  If at that moment a hole had miraculously appeared she would have gladly crawled into it. Even though one part of her still considered her rationale sound, another part of her felt like a fool for ever having suspected him. “For the very reason that the company is your dream. If you were in financial trouble, the sale would offer you quick money.”

  “I’m surprised you didn’t run a financial check on me.” His tone was tinged with cynicism.

  She swallowed. “I did, but I haven’t received the information yet.”

  His head jerked back as if he had been struck.

  “I’m sorry,” she said again. “The company might be your dream, but being a journalist is mine. I had to work my way through school, and it took me longer to finish and made me late starting my career. And even after I was able to secure a position with the newspaper, I had to turn down any assignments that would take me out of town because of Bobby. I'm twenty-seven, and I’m still trying to prove myself.” She paused. “It’s not an excuse, Zach, it’s an explanation. And if I had it to do over again. I’d probably do the same thing.”

  His eyes were enigmatic as he studied her. After a minute, he strode back to her and came down beside her on the couch. “All right, Cassidy, tell me what you know.”

  “I’ve already told you just about everything. You spoiled the two meetings that the man set up - another reason, by the way, that I was suspicious of you.”

  “Both times I was there because of you.”

  “But I wasn’t sure.”

  “What could I have done to make you sure, Cassidy? Make love to you?”

  Unable to hold his quiet, steady gaze, she looked away. “No, you were right. I wasn’t ready. I’m n
ot ready.” She glanced down at her hands, which were twisted together. “Could we get back to business, please?”

  “Business. Okay… you have no idea who this man is who’s been trying to meet with you?”

  “None. I assume he’s one of your employees. At least, he was in the building when he overheard the conversation. Plus, he said that he had duties he had to perform at the party.”

  “There were quite a few of my people who donated their time for the party.”

  “Do you know of anyone who works for you who’s afraid of you?”

  He gave an impatient shake of his head. “Of course not.”

  He bolted off the couch again and wandered aimlessly around the room. Finally he stopped before a display of Tootsietoy “aeroplanes” marked 1940 and stared at them. “When is your next meeting with this man supposed to take place?”

  “It’s not. You really spooked him.”

  He glanced at her. “You mean he’s broken contact with you?”

  She nodded. “He hung up on me this morning and hasn’t called back.”

  He picked up a silver and blue plane and flicked the propeller, sending it spinning. “So you thought you’d come here tonight and see what you could find out.”

  “Basically,” she said. Her feelings of shame made the admission grudging.

  “And your coming here had nothing whatsoever to do with me, personally, or anything you might feel toward me.”

  She opened her mouth, then closed it again, unsure how to answer. She had told herself the only reason she was going on this date with him tonight was to see what she could find out. But deep down she hadn’t believed herself, not for a second.

  He looked at her. “Well?”

  “This is all really complicated, Zach.”

  “Apparently so.” Holding the little plane, he flew it through the air in front of him, banking it against the shelves, sending it into a steep dive, then bringing it back to his chest level. “So what’s your next step, Cassidy?”

  “I don’t have one,” she said with a frown, wondering why he was playing with that stupid airplane. “I don’t have any leads. As far as I’m concerned, the story is dead.”

  He replaced the plane on the shelf and switched his attention to another shelf and a wooden fort marked 1941. He began rearranging the lead soldiers in front of it. “Do you usually give up on things that easily?”

  “It’s not a matter of giving up - ” Consternation furrowed her brow as she watched him play. “Are you listening to me?”

  “You have my complete attention, Cassidy.” He rolled a cannon to a different position. “If it’s not a matter of giving up, what is it?”

  “Well - ”

  “I thought you said you had things to prove. I’m surprised you get any stories the way you go about it.”

  He was right, she thought. This story had been important to her, yet she had already abandoned it. But she wasn’t sure what else she could do.

  He pushed an armored car with an antitank gun in front of a line of soldiers. “I assume your editor is in on this.”

  “Yes,” she said, searching her mind for another tack she could try for the story. “He gave me a week to come up with something, otherwise I’m back in assignment rotation.”

  “Really? And you don’t want that?”

  “No. I want my own story with my own byline.”

  He began to rearrange the line of soldiers again. “You think the man who contacted you works at my company?”

  Playing with the toys was obviously causing him to lose his train of thought, she reflected, because she had already answered that question. “It makes sense.” She paused as suddenly a new possibility occurred to her. “I wonder if it would do any good to spend some time - No, probably not.”

  His expression inquiring, he turned to her, a soldier in his hand. “What were you going to say?”

  She shrugged. “Nothing.”

  “No, go on. I’m interested.”

  “Well, I was just wondering if it would do any good to spend some time at your company. It might scare the man who tried to contact me even more. But on the other hand, I doubt if he’s going to call me again anyway - ”

  “Let’s call him Deep Teddy Bear.”

  She blinked. “Excuse me?”

  “This mystery contact of yours needs a name. I think we should call him Deep Teddy Bear.”

  “You mean like the Watergate informant, Deep Throat?”

  “Not really. They didn’t have a Deep Teddy Bear. We do.”

  She rubbed her forehead. “Are you saying I should spend some time at your company?”

  “Why not? Can you think of anything better?”

  “Well, I - Won’t people think it’s strange that I’m there?”

  “Not at all. We’ll tell them you’re my new girlfriend.”

  Her jaw clenched. “Are your employees used to you taking your girlfriends to work with you?”

  “Sure.”

  “Do you do it often?”

  “All the time.”

  Her eyes narrowed. His mood had lifted considerably, and she wasn’t certain why. “I don’t know, Zach. …”

  “What have you got to lose?”

  He was right once again. “You wouldn’t mind passing me off as your girlfriend?”

  He smiled. “It would help me, and I could have my secretary give you a list of the people who came to the benefit here. If nothing else, you could talk to them and see if any of them sound familiar.”

  It made sense. “All right, then. I’ll try it for a couple of days.”

  “Good.”

  “Good,” she repeated without knowing why, noting with both relief and misgiving that the twinkle was once again back in his eyes.

  The next morning she stopped by the newspaper to check in with her editor and to pick up her messages. There was no word from Deep Teddy Bear, as Zach called him. But there was the financial report she had requested on Bennett Toys and Zach. She tossed the report into the trash can, then stood there, staring down at it, chiding herself. If anyone else were involved but Zach, she would read the report without a qualm.

  Her face set with determination, she rescued the report and read it. Both Bennett Toys and Zach appeared solidly and healthily in the black. She threw the report back in the trash can, feeling really awful for having read it. What’s more she hadn’t gained an ounce of respect for herself as a professional journalist. She couldn’t seem to win.

  Cassidy used the drive to Bennett Toys to think over some things that had been bothering her, namely why she had such a hard time keeping her head out of the clouds whenever she was around Zach. He wanted her. He wasn’t the only man over the years to make it clear he wanted her, however, he was definitely the only man who had ever made her want him to such an extent that she had no power over her own responses.

  Her reaction to him was a big problem. And she had committed herself to spending several days with him. A bigger problem.

  If she ever decided to let herself fall in love - and of course, she told herself, she had no intention of doing so - it certainly wouldn’t be with someone like Zach Bennett. Just because he was a nice man and he was an expert at kissing…

  On the other hand, he hadn’t done one single thing to hurt her. And simply because she had had to work hard most of her life didn’t give her a right to be judgmental about someone like Zach whose life had been easier. Sure, he played with toys and kept stuffed animals on his bed and wore a silly Mickey Mouse watch, but that didn’t necessarily mean he was undependable. After all, he was obviously capable of competently running a large corporation.

  No, the problem was with her. She had to get her feet back on the ground and view her association with the toy company and its president as an impersonal assignment.

  She was frowning harshly as she turned into the parking lot of Bennett Toys.

  “We call this the pit,” Zach said to Cassidy, pointing toward the large open area where about twenty people wo
rked in front of video display terminals. “And” - he grinned as he turned to the four people who had just walked up - “these more or less reputable-looking people are the supervisors for our new video game.” He gestured toward an attractive brunette who was dressed in a white silk shirt and narrow black skirt with smart gold earrings at her ears. “Cassidy, this is Janet McCloskey. She's in charge of Part One of The Game, The Quest, in which the hero must find a special treasure.”

  Cassidy smiled. “Hello.”

  Janet eyed her curiously, but nevertheless nodded pleasantly and extended her hand. “Hello.”

  “And this is Will Frazier,” Zach continued, gesturing toward a young man who wore jeans and a Rocky Horror Picture Show T-shirt and held a box of cough drops. “He’s in charge of Part Two, The Battle, where good fights evil. If it is played correctly, not only does good win, but the hero also wins the fair young maiden.” Will’s expression was blatantly admiring as he shook her hand. “Nice to meet you, Cassidy. Would you care for a cough drop?”

  She smiled, noticing the deep huskiness of his voice which spoke of a cold. Janet had the same quality in her voice. “No thank you. Nice to meet you too.”

  A man, thirtyish, dressed in an Italian designer suit and mongrammed shirt didn’t wait for Zach’s introduction. “Hi. I’m Brad Monroe. It’s a nice surprise to have you with us today. We’re running a special on spice tea that’s chock-full of vitamin C. Could I get you a cup?”

  “Maybe later.”

  “Brad’s in charge of the last part of The Game, Part Four,” Zach explained, grinning at Brad’s eagerness. “But I want you to hear about The Game sequentially, so we’ll skip to Mitchell Compton, who has Part Three.” He indicated an older man with a receding hairline and a thickening middle who wore slacks and a dress shirt opened at the collar.

  Mitchell extended his hand with a friendly smile. “Part Three, that’s me. It’s called The Rescue, which is where evil forces steal the maiden away, and the hero tries to get her back. Pretty much like everyday life.”