Jane gave Bonnie a blank stare when she dropped by her office one morning. “I’d like to help,” Bonnie said. “Maybe another pair of hands would be useful.”
“Did Garrett approve of you joining the team?” she demanded.
Standing before Jane’s desk, Bonnie felt like a naughty schoolgirl. Garrett’s PA was all business. Her golden hair was drawn back into a tight bun. Her skirt suit was primly navy, but she’d cleverly added a feminine touch, one Bonnie would be hard put to emulate without a stylist. Her blouse was semi-sheer, and her nipples shadowed the fabric. A wayward curl was trained by her ear, from which diamond studs winked a subtle invitation.
Maybe that was why a niggle crept into the back of Bonnie’s mind. Why was this woman so defensive? Jane had depths, Bonnie was sure of that, and she reminded her of someone, or something. She just couldn’t remember who or what it was.
“I am a member of the team,” she said. “I’m his wife.”
Jane shrugged. “That doesn’t mean you’re authorized to study company details. You have your job, I have mine.” Her head bent over her work again.
Bonnie persisted. “Perhaps I can help.”
“I doubt it.”
She’d get nothing from Jane. She gave a shrug and turned to leave the room. “Never mind. I’ll ask Garrett.” She was going nuts with nothing to do except appear in public looking like an accessory. She didn’t count their bedroom activities, since they couldn’t do that all day. Much though she’d like to.
“Is he tired with you?” Jane said, a smile curling her mouth.
Bonnie halted, schooled her features and turned around, folding her arms to meet the PA’s aggressive stare. “I beg your pardon?”
“Oh, you’re so English! That’s why he wanted you, because you’re different. And obedient. I can’t think of another reason, especially when I see Georgia. She is utterly gorgeous, and she would have helped Garrett much more, by doing her job. You? You’re a distraction. Once you’re gone, I’m sure Garrett will go back to her. All he has to do is divorce you and he’s back on track.”
“So you think they had a great romance?” Inside, Bonnie was shaking with rage, but she worked hard to ensure her reaction didn’t show.
“Of course it was. Georgia was made for him.” Jane gave Bonnie the kind of look she might deliver to a lowly underling. “She wants him, too. She’ll take him back when she’s ready.” She shook her head. Not a hair came out of place. “How could you come between a woman and her baby’s father?”
“Garrett isn’t the father.” Garrett had never lied to her.
Jane sneered. “You think? Don’t you know how crazy he was for her before you arrived on the scene? You’re just a passing fancy, that’s all. The sooner you’re out of his life, the better. Of course he’s the baby’s father.”
Jane was obviously on Team Georgia G, but she wasn’t alone in that. “Do you want him for yourself?”
Jane shrugged. “I have a life. I don’t need to usurp anyone else’s. Listen. Do yourself a favor and go home. Back to London, and your mother. This marriage was a mistake. Garrett panicked when he found out about the baby, but he’ll come around. I’m sure you’ll be well compensated.” She paused. “In fact, I know you will. Five million, wasn’t it?” She gave a bitter laugh. “Oh, don’t worry, we all know about that.”
Shock arced through Bonnie. Did the whole team know about the contract? Or did she mean more people knew?
Garrett had told her his core team was closer than his family. Jane would be bound by a non-disclosure agreement, but that didn’t stop her gossiping with people who also knew the details of the contract Bonnie had signed with Garrett.
“Georgia means nothing to him,” she said, then she did leave. She didn’t want to spend any further time in Jane’s poisonous presence.
Back in the apartment, she paced for a while, then switched on her laptop. She couldn’t think straight after that attack. If she told Garrett about the way Jane had treated her, she’d be running to him for help. She desperately wanted to stand on her own two feet. But did Garrett know Jane felt that way about her?
Would he care?
After all, in one way Jane was right. She was part of the team. Garrett liked everything in its neat little slot and he’d obviously labeled her as “wife.” She was there to put a block on an unfortunate decision he’d made.
When he’d told her he hadn’t slept with Georgia, that had rung true for Bonnie. Either that, or she didn’t want to believe the alternative. Imagining Garrett with anyone else in bed hurt. Her lack of sexual experience didn’t give her any way of judging those other women, or what he was wanted in a sex partner. She only knew she couldn’t imagine anything more perfect, or a more attentive lover. When Garrett did a job, he did it thoroughly, and that included her.
She hadn’t checked her emails in a while. She spoke to her mother online at least once a week, but their conversations had become short and desultory. She could send her mother a nice long email instead.
When she opened the program, the long, long collection of unread mails shocked her. Most of them were probably spam. She should clear her inbox because new emails were coming in all the time. She returned to the top and read the first one.
It was hate mail. She read through a vile spewing of insults and accusations, telling her she didn’t deserve to live because of what she’d done to Georgia.
Bonnie should have stopped reading there, but horrified, she went on to the next, and the next. After the first ten of what must be hundreds, maybe thousands of emails, she had to stop reading so she could visit the bathroom and be comprehensively sick.
She hadn’t realized people had such twisted minds, that they could dream up such terrible fantasies. What had she ever done to deserve this? Going back to the desk, she slammed her laptop closed. No way could she look at those things again. She felt persecuted and dirty.
She hadn’t responded to any of the mails, so the senders had no way of knowing she was the person they were hunting. She didn’t use social media much, and she didn’t have her private email address listed there, because anybody who needed it already had it. But these disgusting people had found her, and they thought it was fine to hurl abuse at her.
Going to the bar, she poured a stiff drink. She didn’t like Scotch, but that was the point. She needed medicine, something to stop the way her hand shook when she poured the amber liquid into a cut-glass tumbler and tossed it back.
She was sitting on the sofa by the window with remote in hand, flicking through the channels on the TV, when he came in. As usual, he tossed his tie over a chair and dumped a file on the desk before he came to kiss her. She’d loosened him up that much, at least. He drew back. “Have you been drinking?”
She jutted her chin belligerently. “Is there something wrong with that?”
“No. It’s unusual for you, that’s all. Want to share my shower?”
Normally she’d jump at the offer. But today, she wanted to be alone to lick her wounds. One of the messages had been about sex. The names were etched on her memory.
She should tell him. “I got hate mail.”
“Who from?” His voice hardened, and he straightened. “Why didn’t you tell me before?”
“Because I hadn’t checked it recently. When I looked through my emails last Friday, I didn’t have any. Now there are thousands. Somehow, people have my private email address. I don’t look at my public one, the one my old school used, and I put on social media, because I guessed what that would be like. But this—this mail is the one I use with friends and family.” She shrugged, trying to act casual. “I’m sure some of it is libelous. They talk about you, too, but as if you’re my victim.” Tears pricked her eyes but she refused to let them fall. That would be giving in to the hatred, admitting it had got to her.
Sighing, he ran his fingers through his cropped hair. “Murray will find out who did this.” He turned to her. “I’m sorry.”
She got the feeling he didn’t say that often. “Thanks. I’ll get a new email, but I won’t use my name.”
While Garrett made a call, Bonnie flicked on the TV. She wanted to know everything. She never wanted that kind of attack to take her by surprise again.
While she watched, Murray arrived and Jane followed. She had obviously heard the news.
A woman appeared on the screen, talking. Bonnie listened numbly until a copy of the contract she’d signed flicked up on the screen. Bonnie froze, her body like ice. Where had they got it from? That was a confidential contract, and it made everything ten times worse. Someone must have leaked it. But who?
On the big HD screen they could read every word. Every single embarrassing clause, and of course they’d chosen the sex part. “This scandal–ridden family has yet another story to add to its collection,” the woman said, with a smug smile on her face. “The contract makes the terms of the marriage clear. It is to last three years, exactly as long as the one with Georgia G, and Bonnie Miller will be paid five million dollars for the work. Garrett Rocquelaire wants to escape his responsibilities. Hey, Garrett, you’re a sleaze. A man who doesn’t accept the results of his catting around doesn’t deserve a flip of my fingers.”
The report got worse when pictures of Bonnie flashed across the screen. Pictures of when she arrived in Vegas, and the polished creature she’d become.
Shame swept over Bonnie in hot waves. The implication was that she’d been bought. And wasn’t it the truth? The reporters wouldn’t bother to say how she’d refused, and how Garrett had to coerce her into it. Or how she felt about him now. Least of all that.
The screen showed a montage of her gazing adoringly at Garrett. Bonnie hadn’t realized how doll-like she appeared when she was styled and ready, like something Garrett had invented to fit the slot available for her.
It hurt too much. Whirling around, Bonnie made for the bedroom. She caught sight of Jane’s smug features as she went.
The tears she had been holding back since they left the restaurant hit her. She could no more stop them than she could stop the world turning. Ripping off her clothes, she slammed into the bathroom, turned on the shower and stood under the hot stream. Her makeup dissolved messily, mascara cascading down her face in a stream of black tears. As fast as the water washed her tears away, more came. She would never stop.
But the tears also washed away her uncertainties.
The shower door slid open and Garrett stepped in. Unlike her, he wasn’t naked. He’d taken off his jacket, tie and shoes, but that was all. She tried to push him away, but she had no strength left, no will to do anything but hold him and cry.
He said nothing. She’d assumed he’d be busy for a while, thinking up another strategy, but he’d come to her. That, at least, helped to calm her until she could think again. “What business is it of theirs?” Her face was buried against his shirt. Absently she noted there was still enough mascara left to stain the fine white cotton.
When she’d stopped gasping, when her heart was almost back to normal, he gently released her and reached for a towel. Ashamed he’d caught her so broken, she let him dry her, then lift her and take her into the bedroom. She didn’t feel any better.
Except he had come to her.
He stripped off, leaving his soaking clothes on the floor. That was unusual for neatnik Garrett. Then he lay next to her and drew her into his arms. “I’m sorry,” he said. “I have to ask. How did they get that contract?”
Bewildered, she shook her head. “I don’t know.”
“Where’s your copy?”
Breath left her body in a rush. “What are you talking about? I don’t have a copy.”
“You received one,” he said gently.
She sat up, pulling the damp towel around her to cover her nakedness. “What are you saying?”
“The other two copies are locked away. They’re only in paper form, for security’s sake. That leaves the third copy. Did you leave it somewhere?”
She shook her head. “I didn’t have a copy. I read them, signed them and gave you the name of my solicitor in London. I thought you’d send him the copy.” At the time, the thought of what the solicitor who generally handled their house sales and other routine legalities must have thought. “He’s been our family lawyer for a long time. He’s trustworthy. He sent me a short email to say he had it.” He was also her godfather, but she didn’t think it was the time to mention that.
Finally, her mind started working again. “So you think somebody intercepted my copy?”
“It has to be that one.” He was all business now, his manner decisive. “Who did you think sent it to the press?”
“I don’t know. I’ve been so taken up with all the other stuff, I never checked.”
He shook his head. “It would have gone special courier. So somebody at this end must have seen it before it went.” His gaze was hard. “You didn’t show anyone else?”
“No, and neither would my solicitor. Jane asked for his address, and I gave it.”
“Are you saying Jane did this?” His words were as hard as his eyes. While he sprawled on the bed, naked and seemingly unselfconscious, Bonnie didn’t feel that way. She felt flayed, vulnerable.
“No. But it wasn’t me.” And yet—yes, of course she suspected Jane. But what chance was there of Garrett believing her? Jane didn’t like her, and she had the opportunity.
He propped his upper body up on one elbow. Her gaze lingered on his broad chest and she felt herself melting for him. Even her body was betraying her. “I don’t mix with people I don’t trust. Not any more,” he said.
“What are you talking about?”
He shrugged. “Nothing that matters now.”
The conversation she’d had with his brother after the wedding came back to her. “Is it to do with your family?”
“What?”
“The reason you don’t trust anyone beyond the boundaries that you set? Is it? Did somebody let you down? Julia?”
With a roar, he sprang from the bed, landing on the floor with a thump. “Who told you about that?” He groaned and turned away, giving her a perfect view of his backside. “Of course, you met Elliott. Did he say anything?”
She gasped, afraid she’d make more trouble between the brothers. “He wouldn’t tell me anything. He just told me to ask about her. That’s all.”
Still stark naked, Garrett strode toward her, and then away, tunneling his fingers through his hair. “He had no right,” he muttered. “None at all. That business is dead and buried. Gone. It has nothing to do with this.”
She pressed her back against the padded headboard, pushing the strength back into her limbs. “It has everything to do with this. That’s why you push me into the little compartment marked ‘wife,’ isn’t it? Why you won’t let me even think about doing anything else?” She got out of bed, heading for the clothes closet. “Is that why you won’t fall in love with me?”
Behind her, the air froze.
She plowed on, regardless. “Because I don’t have boundaries like that. I fell in love with you ages ago.”
The moment she said it, the rightness of her words fell into place, filling the part of her that had been yearning to tell him. She hadn’t been sure. Besieged by doubts at first, eventually she had to acknowledge the rightness of her words. She loved him, and that wouldn’t change. “It doesn’t fit into a neat, imposed compartment. It involves every part of my life.”
Finding a sundress, she dropped it over her head, covering her vulnerable nudity. Only then did she turn around.
He was standing in the center of the room, staring at her as if seeing her for the first time.
“You really do need an occupation, if you can let your imagination run as wild as that.”
Had she thought she’d been hurt before? She hadn’t known what hurt was. “You don’t believe me?”
“I think you’ve fooled yourself that lust and love are the same thing. We have a good time in bed, Bonnie. That’s all. Learn the difference and we’ll be happy.”
Shaking her head, she backed up until the wall next to the closet hit her. “I know what I feel and I know what I can take. If you loved me, we could get past this. We could tell the world the truth and let them make of it what they would. I won’t lie, not any more. I’m sick of hiding the truth.”
Had she ever lied? She didn’t know. The first time she’d met him, she’d been incredibly attracted, but she’d explained that to herself by reminding herself of his looks and his wealth. It wasn’t that. It never had been.
“It’s not lying. It’s keeping private what should stay private.”
How could he look at her so calmly, as if she was just another problem to solve? Was that all she meant to him?
Bonnie knew what she had to do. Using everything she’d learned, she schooled her face into impassivity. “I’ll be okay here for a while. I’m calm now. Go back out there. Sort the problem out and then we’ll talk.”
He folded his arms across his chest. Even now, she wanted him, yearned to feel his arms around her. He often fell asleep holding her. Deep down she knew she would never feel that again. “Just like that?”
“Yes. Only one thing. Tell me about Julia.”
If he didn’t, then she would have lost his trust completely.
As she’d expected, he tried to pass it off as nothing, his gaze turning cool. She recognized his expression as a mask coming down when he wanted to hide inner turmoil. Whatever he was about to tell her, it wasn’t nothing.
His chest rose with a deep breath. “She dated Elliott briefly and then me before she married my father. Elliott warned me she was a gold-digger but I didn’t listen. She told me she loved me, but she had her eyes on the bigger prize. As soon as she had him in her sights, she dumped me, too. Then she married Papa. Is that enough?”
Numbed, she stared at him in horror. How could people like that live with themselves? “Did she fall for him?”
His mouth flattened. “No more than she fell for me or my brother. I was her stepping stone, that’s all. She dated Elliott first, but I still lived at home, so she ditched him and went on to me. That created a chasm between us we’ve never healed. Then she dumped me for my father. I watched her fawn over my father for five years, or at least, if I’d stayed I would have done. I chose not to stay. I joined the army.” He shrugged. “It was a long time ago. It doesn’t have any bearing on this.”
How old had he been when he’d suffered this? Eighteen?
The cold way he spoke about his father’s fifth wife told Bonnie everything she needed to know. When she first knew Garrett he could have fooled her by speaking in such a crisp, businesslike tone. Not now. The more he did that, the more he was hiding. Julia had hurt him, forced him into retreating into the sterile life he lived now.
“And you chose to compartmentalize your life.” That was the reason, she was sure of it. “If there’s one thing I know, it’s this. You can’t do that forever. Life is messy, events and people overlap. Sometimes somebody who works for you has another life.” Bitterly, she turned away, back to the closet. “You just told me how much you trusted me. Less than you trust Jane, because I haven’t been working for you as long as she has.” If she carried on like this, the despicable woman who’d ruined her life would win. Julia had forced the passionate Garrett into a mold he shouldn’t be in.
Rather than stay and watch him turn himself into a complete automaton, she’d go now. Before he broke her heart. Oh, wait, he’d already done that. “Here’s a truth for you. For some reason Jane is completely Team Georgia. I’m betting she leaked my contract. My email is on it, you know, which is why I’m getting all the hate mail. She completely believes that you got Georgia pregnant. I don’t know why she didn’t quit, but maybe she wanted to cause trouble before you went.
She needed time to herself. She waved her hands in a dismissive gesture. “Okay, then go. Sort this mess out. Then we’ll talk.”