The Rogue (The Moorehouse Legacy #4)(62)

“Even after all these years—”

“Yeah, okay, you’re really making me feel like an old maid here. What about you? Have you spoken about it?”

He stared into his glass and Jaynie noticed absently that the color of his eyes was almost as yellow as the lemonade. “No. There’s been no one to talk to for me, either.”

The name Madeline seemed to hang in the air between them.

“What about that woman you went to see in Newport?” So much for not prying directly.

Spike took a drink from his glass. “That was a no-go. And man…the ending of it was really whacked. I thought it was because of the prison time I’d done. Turned out she just didn’t trust me at all.”

“You’re completely trustworthy.”

“Not in her eyes. And I didn’t even go into the past with her. Hell…if she didn’t have enough faith in me to begin with, no way she’d have been able handle the ex-con thing.” He tilted the lemonade up and swallowed a couple of times, then wiped his mouth with his hand. “Especially because her mom…her mom was an innocent victim in the course of a violent felony. It would take a special kind of connection to work through that kind of thing and we didn’t have it. At least not on her side.”

“Were you in love with her?”

“Okay,” he said briskly. “Back to you and the job search. Are you sure I can’t try and get you something in this town?”

Like hell he was changing the subject. “Spike, I’m really sorry. Do you understand that? I hated that you did what you had to do to save me. And that you went to prison…The longest days of my life were when you were suffering for what I volunteered for.”

His eyes bored into her. “No woman volunteers to get beaten. And no man worth his name allows it to happen, especially if he walks in on it. You did the best you could.”

She clamped a hand over her mouth, trying not to cry. “No, I didn’t. I should have left him before you—”

“I would do it all over again,” Spike said in a dead voice. “The act and the time. To save you, I would do it again.”

Jaynie put the glass on the floor between them and buried her face in her arms. Only to feel a solid, soothing palm land on her back.

“It’s okay,” Spike said softly.

“I ruined your life because I was too weak to get away from him—”

Spike’s voice became very quiet. “He would have killed you if you’d tried to leave, you know that, right?”

Oh, God…yes…she’d known that. She hated to think about it, even now. But it was…horribly true.

Eventually, she lifted her head, wiped her eyes and offered him a watery smile. “I still can’t forgive myself.”

“There’s nothing to forgive.”

She shook her head but wasn’t going to argue. “How is it possible we’ve never really talked about this before?”

“We haven’t been in the same house for long enough. That’s why I was so glad when you called and wanted to come up here. That’s why I want you to stay.”

Jaynie reached out and took his hand. “You know something…that woman who doesn’t trust you? She’s crazy.”

He shook his head. “Madeline’s—”

“Absolutely crazy.”

*

Mad was nuts. Certifiable. Completely crazy.

Because she was way too calm.

At quarter of three in the afternoon, she stepped out of a cab and tilted her head back, looking up, way up, into the sky over Manhattan. The Chrysler Building was impressive from any angle, but the view from the ground was overwhelming.

So she really should have been scared.

Instead, she gave her black suit jacket a good yank at the hips, squared her shoulders and marched over to the doors. After she went through the security check point, she got into an elevator with six other people. Everyone was in suits, and she imagined even with her height and her tan, she looked like the others.

She got off on the third floor from the top, stopped in front of a nicely dressed receptionist and was shown into a large conference room with a huge, egg-shape table in the middle. The place was filled with more people in suits and smelled like fresh coffee and aftershave.

Richard was in the corner with Charles Barker.

Mad headed for the first empty seat she saw and put her board books on the glossy table. There was a notable lull in conversation as she sat down, but she ignored it by shuffling through the packet of additional materials that was arranged like a place setting in front of her chair.

For the next fifteen minutes, Richard pressed palms with the other nineteen board members, working his way around the table.

When he got to her, he leaned down. “You never returned my calls.”

“What was the point?” she said calmly, looking him right in the eye.

He seemed taken aback and he moved on with a frown.

The meeting was started by Charles Barker and the pace was brisk. Senior staff members made reports, questions were asked, answers were given. She kept quiet. Until the very end.

The subject of the acquisition of Organi-Foods was last on the agenda and Richard stood up to make his presentation. While he talked, it was obvious by Charles Barker’s body language that the board’s chairman didn’t approve: Barker crossed his arms over his chest and stared straight ahead, lips tight.