An Act of Persuasion(69)
He was supposed to protect the mother of his child. Not upset her. It was self-serving logic. He knew it, but he didn’t care. He would talk to Sharpe tomorrow about stopping the search for Anna’s parents.
Ben opened a drawer and put the certificate away where he couldn’t see it.
Then he made his way to the couch and released a deep sigh as he laid down. His body would finally get the rest it needed. Fatigue was still his mortal enemy, sometimes sneaking up on him and hitting him like a fist in the gut. The doctors told him it would most likely be a year before he was truly back to normal. He could see how right they were.
Hell, the sad truth was if Anna had wanted him to make a move today, he doubted he could have made the event very memorable. No, this was better. Let her wait for it, the way she made him wait for it.
Letting his arms and legs relax and his eyes close, Ben’s last thought was that it was good to be alive.
And better than being alive was wondering what might happen the next time he saw Anna together with the king-size bed.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
“NICE OFFICE,” MARK COMMENTED as he sat in Ben’s guest chair. “But why here and not in the heart of the city where all the action is?”
“I don’t need the flash of Center City. This is a nice, growing community and it serves its purpose.”
Right, Mark thought. Ben was always about efficiency. He’d never had much use for the extras. That included small talk.
“So I’ll get right down to it. Anna told me that she gave you her birth certificate.”
“She did. I’m glad you brought that up. I know I asked this of you before, but now I’m being serious when I say I would like you to stop your investigation. She’s trusted me with the task. I’ll take it from here. There is no point for you to waste your time.”
Mark should have been surprised, but he wasn’t. He’d already told Ben he had no plans to back off, but that had been before Anna brought Ben into the investigation. She, too, probably would prefer that Mark drop the matter and let Ben handle it. There was no doubt the man was completely capable of finding out whatever Mark would find out.
Sitting in this office, he felt a little silly now. He’d actually come here to offer a wager. It’s why he hadn’t wanted to discuss it in front of Anna when he saw her at the furniture store. Seemed a little insensitive to use the woman’s past as a challenge between him and Ben.
Only it had been months since he’d felt anything remotely challenging work-wise. Even the cases he took on seemed like no-brainers to him. He’d been polite when the officers had thanked him for his uncanny work in identifying clues and bringing new eyes to the case, but the truth was he thought whoever had worked those cases to begin with must have been fairly incompetent—or at best, overworked and under-observant.
No, the only real challenge Mark had faced since returning to the states was trying to win the affection of a teenager who hated his guts. So that wasn’t proving to be very satisfying. Since nothing got his juices going like matching wits with Ben, Mark thought he might use Anna’s situation for his own purposes. His conscience was appeased as long as Anna got the information she wanted. He figured no harm, no foul and a win-win for both of them.
Only Ben wanted him off the case. And, Mark realized, he felt like a jerk. “I haven’t changed my mind on this.”
“Look, Sharpe, it’s pointless to have us both looking into the matter. I’m the more obvious choice to do so—”
“You are?”
“I’m her... We’re going to be... What I mean is—”
“As far as I can see you’re still only her baby daddy and nothing else,” Mark said. “She gave the case to me first.”
“You have a business to run. You should be taking cases that pay.”
“I can do both. Besides, you know how I feel about Anna.” Mark watched a muscle in Ben’s jaw tick and he took an inappropriate amount of pleasure from it. After all, needling Ben was almost as fun as competing against him.
“No. Tell me. Exactly how do you feel about my Anna?”
Mark flashed the older man a smile. “She’s my friend. My only friend in the states really. And because, for some reason, she seems to like you, I won’t upset her by letting her know you referred to her as my Anna. I mean, really. Dude, it’s the twenty-first century.”
“If you won’t back off, then why did you come here today?”