There was a glint in his eyes she didn’t trust, but short of throwing a tantrum, there wasn’t much she could do.He let go of her hand slowly.
Caitlin clapped her hands together.“Great!Now we can have another glass of wine before you need to go to bed.”She smiled and grabbed Dana’s hand.“Let’s go find a bottle of wine.We haven’t had time for a chat in ages.”
*
David stared afterthe two beautiful women, his body still not quite back to normal.He couldn’t remember the last time a woman had him all hot and bothered and aching for more.Much, much more.
Don slapped him on the back, bringing him back to earth.“She’s beautiful, isn’t she?”His brother smiled, also staring after the two women.
“Very beautiful,” David murmured.
“Hey, you’re talking about my wife!”Don growled and punched him on the shoulder.
“I wasn’t talking about Caitlin.”David immediately wished he could press a delete button to erase his words.He was never going to live this down.
Don laughed and grabbed their other brother’s arm as he walked past them.“You should hear what our brother has to say about Dana Roux,” he teased.
Darryn grimaced.“Please don’t tell me another one of my brothers is about to become starry-eyed over a woman.It’s becoming very boring around the lot of you.”
“I said she’s beautiful; I’m not starry-eyed.Besides, she made it abundantly clear she doesn’t like me.”
Don sobered.“It’s probably because she knows you used to be a journalist.”
Surprised, David looked at his brother.“Why?What does that have to do with anything?”
Don frowned.“I thought you knew.Because of what happened to her dad.He was believed to have been involved with some Ponzi scheme in which thousands of people lost their money.The Bob Hastings mess?Surely you remember the case?He was the mastermind behind the whole thing.You were still working as an investigative journalist at the time.It was a big scandal and front-page news in all the newspapers, including the one you worked for.The article was the reason her dad was taken into custody.”
David grimaced and nodded.How would he ever forget?
Don continued.“It was suggested that Dana’s dad was working with the Hastings fellow.But exactly how deeply he was involved in the whole scheme is anyone’s guess.He was arrested but committed suicide before he could testify.The mother, who sounds to me like she was difficult to begin with, fell apart after the whole incident and is making Dana’s life a living hell.Not that she’s complaining, but the fact she spends more time at the Sutherland house than with her mother should tell you something.”
David stared at his brother.His brain was finally linking the dots.Roux.“You mean her dad was Gareth Roux?”he asked his brother.
Don nodded.“Yeah, that’s the name.”Don cocked his head.“Come to think of it, wasn’t it your story?”
David swore.“Yes, it was my story.It was also the story that made me quit the job and join you guys.The best decision I’ve ever made.”
Darryn frowned.“I remember you were upset about a story, but I didn’t know it was about Dana’s dad.”
“I was more than upset.I got a tip that Bob Hastings’s business might not be all it was supposed to be, heard something here and there, and told the editor about the rumors that were going around.At that point, I didn’t have all the facts; I was still checking and double-checking everything, but I wanted to let him know what I was working on.I still needed another couple of days to talk to people, especially about Gareth Roux’s involvement.I wasn’t so sure he knew what was going on, but the editor smelled money and went ahead and printed what I had.And even though he didn’t use my name in the byline, everybody at the paper knew it was my story.I was livid.But it was too late.I realized then that the truth and ethics didn’t matter; selling papers was and still is what counts.That’s when I quit.”
He rubbed his hand over his face.“And after a few days, Dana’s dad was dead,” he murmured, still recalling how angry and dismayed he’d been.Roux was a name he’d written in brackets on his notes; he hadn’t even begun digging up facts about the man, but the editor had printed the man’s name, and he had been questioned and taken into custody.
“Well, you had better tell her before you do more than drool over her.”Don smiled.
David nodded, his head reeling.He’d, of course, heard Dana’s surname before.It was a common enough surname, but it had never even crossed his mind that the man who still haunted his dreams was also her dad.He stopped investigating after he’d decided to quit his job, but the case had been bothering him all this time.
At least he now knew why he was never included in Dana’s smile.His crime was that he’d been a journalist.And if she knew he was the one responsible for everything that had happened to her dad, he would probably never see her again.
Don was right.Tomorrow, they would be spending a six-hour flight together, during which time he’d have to tell her he was the one who had spilled the story.It wasn’t something he was looking forward to, but at least then she’d have a definite reason not to like him.And he’d do it because it was the right thing to do, not because he was drooling over her.Was he?
He grabbed another glass of wine from a passing waiter.All he’d thought of when Don asked him if Dana could fly with him tomorrow was how interesting things could become in the small space of their aircraft.He downed the wine.Now he wished he could think up an excuse not to have to fly with her.
Not because he didn’t want to.After what had happened between the two of them tonight, there was nothing he’d like better than to explore what else lay hidden behind Dana’s cool exterior.But the whole thing had just become way beyond complicated.
There was a moment earlier tonight when she’d been in his arms, and he’d felt something so intense, so real, he’d forgotten to think, to analyze, to explain.And truth be told, he was a little bit freaked out.So maybe it wasn’t such a bad idea to tell her about his role in the whole scandal.That would surely be reason enough for her to resent him for the rest of his life.And, at the moment, that seemed like the saner option.
It would be much better if she hated him, ignored him.Life would resume its normal, boring pace, and all would be well with his heart.
