Wild Man Creek (Virgin River #14)(58)

“You must have been at least flattered if you were going to break rules,” Colin said, pulling her closer to him.

She laughed. “Truthfully, I had promoted him because we lost a director in my department and Kurt had come with glowing letters of recommendation. I was watching him closely to see how he was holding up with his added responsibilities. He was watching me closely for other reasons. I began to get the attraction message from him and he was…”

“Tempting you…”

“I was very busy with work. I didn’t have a lot of time for socializing. But, I began to see him away from work and I knew these were not just a couple of colleagues talking business over dinner. I knew what his intentions were. I warned him that it was not a good idea, but after a few months, after he continually made the excuse that we both spent so much time at work, neither of us had anyone to date and next thing I knew, I was sleeping with him and worrying about keeping it a secret from the boss.” She laughed bitterly. “The boss, Harry, who was my best friend in the company. Six months after I met Kurt and one month after I first was intimate with him, he accused me of sexual harassment. He had a lawyer, witnesses, a complicated log of events that I couldn’t exactly refute, text messages and emails that could certainly be construed as exploitive if it weren’t for the simple fact that he’d approached me, worked very hard to seduce me and it was completely consensual. In fact, when you get down to it, he put the pressure on me! I was very reluctant! He had set me up from the beginning—he forced me out of my job and part of the settlement he asked for to keep us all out of court was to take over my position and he wanted me terminated.”

“Did you fight?”

She shook her head. “We talked about fighting it, me and Harry. We both knew it was all trumped up. But in the end Harry pulled my fat out of the fire. He told me to resign, but that he was going to replace me with a consultant and would consider my resignation a leave of absence. He gave Kurt vested stock options—probably worth a lot of money, but going to court might have cost more. But Harry got a confidentiality agreement, which both Kurt and I signed, and a waiver—that would be the end of the complaint. No further suit. This was critical—I wouldn’t have my reputation damaged by these phony accusations. I still have a good reputation in the industry.” She fell back on the bed and looked up at him. She shook her head. “I can’t believe I was so naive. So unprepared.”

Colin reclined beside her, his elbow braced on the bed, his head balanced on his hand. “You never suspected?”

“Not for a second,” she said. “He was cute and charming, but so wily. It never would have occurred to me that he was both lazy and predatory. He even walked me into a jewelry store once and got me looking at rings. Not that I was ready to be so serious, just a casual, fun thing. Know how I found out the truth? I walked into the boss’s office for a meeting and Kurt was sitting there wearing a perfect, pathetic hangdog look—the poor victim. I was stunned. I could barely breathe.”

She sat up, cross-legged on the bed, facing him. “I was devastated. Not only was I shattered that this man would betray me like that, I’d lost my real true love—the company I’d helped found and build.”

“And tell me this—how could your mentor, your best friend, let that happen to you?”

“Because he didn’t know. In retrospect, I should have confided in Harry immediately.” She shook her head. “I didn’t want my friend and mentor involved in my love life. In the end, he had to rescue me as best he could.

“When this accusation hit the fan, everything changed. I wanted to fight it out, but Harry saw it otherwise. I can see now that he made sense. When it was all over I left BSS, got in my car and drove. I came up here to get away, to rest and think. I didn’t know I was going to discover the garden. That was an accident.”

“And what did he get?” Colin asked, reaching out and running a finger around her ear, along her jaw.

“Well, not everything he wanted. He got his vested options and will make some money, but he didn’t get my job. But, there wasn’t a going-away party for me. That tells me he wasn’t as confidential as he was supposed to be and leaked the whole thing. And that he’d charmed more people than just me.”

“Bastard,” Colin grumbled.

“So in answer to that first question—are there friends there? There are several I’d work with again and a few I’d consider friends, but to be completely frank I actually didn’t have many close friends in San Jose—probably because I spent most of the past ten years simply working. Believe me, I won’t make that mistake again.”

Colin’s jaw pulsed briefly and she put her palm against it. “Don’t,” she said. “Please don’t feel sorry for me.”

He gave a short laugh. “Sorry for you? God, no! Angry for you, yes!”

“But here I am and in truth, Colin, I’ve never felt better about anything. I’m the CEO of the backyard garden and it feels real good. No one’s getting the better of me here. Well, the frost or aphids might—but I’m on top of it!” She smiled at him.

“Jilly, do you feel safe and in control now? With the garden? And with me?”

She leaned toward him for a kiss. “Yes. And you don’t have to be angry for me, either. I’ve got that covered.”