On screen, she started to shake. Her breath wheezed in and out, heaving her chest under the oversized sweatshirt. She swore under her breath—or tried to—as the word escaped as more of a vague “shiiii” sound, and then the phone swung around, showing him the drab wall of her hotelroom.
“I need...aminute.”
He could hear her struggling to inhale, and his own panic crawled up hisspine.
“Elizabeth?” Alexander yelled. “Elizabeth? Bloody hell, answerme!”
“A...minute,” sherasped.
“Goddammit. Turn the phone around, or I’m headed for Seattle.” He stalked over to his closet, yanked open the door, and grabbed the first shirt hefound.
The video shook as she righted the phone. “I’m here,” she said in a small, hoarsevoice.
Alexander stared at the terrified woman on screen, and his heart thudded in his chest. “Fuck me, Elizabeth. I won’t just sit here while you try not to panic on the other side of the continent. Where are you? What hotel? I can be there…well, bymorning.”
“No!” She shoved away from the desk, but when she tried to rise, her legs buckled and she ended up falling to her knees next to the bed. The top of her head bobbed almost off camera until she pushed up and glared at him. “Before I left, you promised to let me handle this until I got back. That’s all I’m askingfor.”
How could he make her understand she was killinghim?
Focus.
Years of experience had honed his skills. He could cut to the root of any problem with a few pointed questions—one of the reasons he’d been so successful over the years. CPH. She’d gone to Seattle to see herlawyer.
“They’re afteryou.”
Her eyes widened. “Don’t. Please. Don’t say anything else. Just…give me untilThursday.”
Another, darker thought chilled him. “Did you work on the Fairhaven accounts?” Struggling to keep the phone in his field of vision, he stalked across the room to pour himself a stiffdrink.
Elizabeth shook her head. “No. But…you should bring your brother when we talk onThursday.”
The scotch burned a path down his throat as he tossed back the double shot in one swallow. “I need to callNicholas.”
“Talking to him now couldruinme!” Her phone shook as she dropped back into the chair. “I knew I shouldn’t have called. Clancy told me notto…”
Alexander’s blood ran cold. “Clancy? You’re harboring secrets that could affect me, Nicholas, and our company, and you talked to someone elsebeforeyou talked to me? How is thattrust?”
“Clancy is my lawyer,” she cried. “Fine. CPH is suing me. Saying I violated my confidentiality agreement. I didn’t. The photographer at the ice rink—he wasn’t a reporter. He was followingme.Our relationship is the evidence CPH has against me. My lawyer says I have two options. I know which one I have to choose, but before I do, we need to talk. Really talk. But I can’t do this over the phone. I’ve...shit. I think I’ve fucked this whole thing up. Whatever this is...between us. All of it. Maybe my entirelife.”
Every word widened the chasm between them until Alexander wondered if she’d ever truly trusted him at all. “I care for you, Elizabeth,” he said, emotion threatening to choke him. “Why won’t you tell me everythingnow?”
“If I do,” her sob ended as a hiccup, “and you tellanyone…I can’t…I won’t have anythingleft.”
Alexander staggered back to the wet bar and poured himself another two fingers of scotch. Was this how they were toend?
“You don’t trust me.” Each word hurt more than the last, and Alexander didn’t know how to stop the pain. After he’d emptied his glass again, he cleared his throat. “I believe in honesty, Elizabeth. Without that, what do wehave?”
She swiped at her cheeks. “I’ve never lied toyou.”
“Maybe not.” He struggled with his next words. “However, you believe I’d let you come to harm, that I’druinyou over business matters. We’re new, Elizabeth. But you should know me better than that by now. You said you trusted me, yet clearly, you donot.”
Desperation pinched her features as she pulled the phone closer. “I let you tie me up,” she whispered. “I trustedyou—”
“With your body, yes. Not your mind. Your heart. I thought you were willing to take a chance on me. On us. But now, you’re across the country, crying, implying that your former employer did or is doing something that could be detrimental to my companyandto you, and you won’t trust me to help. What am I supposed tothink?”
Her answer, when it came, didn’t reassure him—nor was he surprised. “That I thought I could handle this on my own.” She squared her shoulders, and when she focused on the screen again, her eyes held a hint of the fire he’d seen that very first day. “I’m not one of your causes, Alexander. Nor am I perfect. I—” Her voice wobbled, but she swallowed hard enough for him to see the muscles of her throat clench. “I swear—on my grandmother’s grave—that I never touched your accounts. When I get back, I’ll explain everything. I’ll even go to Nicholas myself. On onecondition.”
Ultimatums didn’t sit well with him. Nor did seeing the woman he—Alexander stopped himself before he finished his own thought. Without trust, there couldn’t be love. Elizabeth waited, three thousand miles away, her lower lip tucked under herteeth.
I can’t do this. Not when she doesn’t trustme.
“What is your condition?” Alexander wasn’t proud of the cool edge to his voice, but if he didn’t detach himself, he’d end up on a plane to Seattle tonight, and he wasn’t sure he could handle having his heart broken inperson.
“You can’t say anything to anyone until then. No lawyers. No one at CPH. Not even your brother.” The phone shook, and her voice dropped. “Please.”
“You have my word. Good night,Elizabeth.”
Alexander threw the phone across the room, and as it shattered against the wall, along with his fantasies of a future withElizabeth.
