A Murderous Game (23 page)

She didn't want to keep him any
longer than she already had. "No, I just wanted to hear your voice,"
she said honestly. "I don't know how he knew my route, but a reporter was
waiting for me two blocks from the office. He ruined the good mood you worked
your magic to create so effortlessly this morning."

She twirled the phone cord around
her finger. "I'm just being selfish. I haven't seen you for a whole two
hours and I miss you."

"In that case, it's imperative
we get together as soon as possible. I can come by your office around six and
see what I can do about reversing whatever damage the bastard caused."

She laughed. "That would be
wonderful. I'll let you get back to your meeting now." Before she could
hang up, Gage said, "Aren't you forgetting something?"

"I love you," she said.

"Good. We'll explore that in
more detail this evening."

Abby spun back around to hang up
the phone. On the edge of her vision she saw someone standing in her office
doorway. Her heart lurched against her chest. The eyes that bore into her were
cold, and she knew with a dread she couldn't deny he'd been listening in on her
conversation.

Pushing away from the frame, the
man strolled into her office and closed the door behind him.

~~~

She had a lovely neck, a slender,
graceful neck. He'd fantasized about tasting it. He'd fantasized more, much
more. He had to smile. She didn't have a clue. Neither had Dick, poor,
misguided Dick.

He held the power. She didn't
realize it yet. She would soon. He enjoyed playing with her, but lately she'd
been trying to steal his power. He couldn't let that happen. In the end he knew
he'd win. He always did. But if she refused to do what he wanted, he'd have to take
their game to the next level.

"What do you want Billings?"

"You always were perceptive,
weren't you, Abby?" Not perceptive enough, though. Harold smiled to
himself as he pulled out the chair in front of her desk and sat down.

She sat back and looked him
directly in the eyes, challenging him with that cool green stare as if
she
were the one with the control. Stuck-up bitch! She'd always thought she was too
good for him. He stretched his fingers, feeling the strength course through his
hand, and took comfort in the knowledge that soon, very soon, she'd be at his
mercy.

"It's time you and I had a
little talk. You've been a bad girl, Abby, very bad." He looked at her
blouse, the place where her breasts pushed out against the silk. The
conservative clothes she wore to work were just part of an act. She liked a man
touching her, liked it hot. If she didn't, she wouldn't have spread her legs so
willingly for Faraday. It shouldn't have surprised him. She was just like every
other woman he'd ever known.

He leaned forward and licked his
lips.  "You never told me you liked to play naughty."

"Get out of my office."
She pushed up from her chair, her cheeks exploding with color. "I've had
it with this harassment, and if you don't leave immediately, I'll file a complaint
with Norwell right now."

He laughed. She was
too
funny. "You're not going to tell Norwell a damn thing."

"Oh
yeah?"
She shot around the other side of the desk, her long legs
covering the distance to the door in quick, angry strides. "You just watch
me, bucko."

"Abby, Abby,
Abby.
Sit back down."

She snorted and reached for the
door handle.

"Should I come with you? I'll
bet Norwell will be very interested when I tell him how you really bagged
GFI's
account."

She turned back to look at him. She
didn't seem so confident now. No, it was apprehension he saw in her expression,
he was sure of it.

"What the hell are you talking
about?" she asked, as if she didn't know, but she didn't fool him.

Harold grinned. "Why, how you
offered that sweet little body to Faraday as enticement to put you in charge of
his account. Like I said, you've been a very naughty girl." He
tsk
tsk'd
.
"Sex
for hire, Abigail?
That's not playing fair. It puts me at an obvious
disadvantage."

Her mouth fell open, and she looked
so stunned he almost burst out laughing. He leaned forward and patted her
chair. "Now why don't you sit back down, and we'll have that talk I
mentioned."

~~~

"I damn well will not!"
The muscle in Gage's jaw went taut. He filled a glass with ice then poured it
half full from the bottle of scotch Abby bought for when he came over.
"And I don't give a shit what he thinks." He topped the drink off
with water then stirred it.

"Dick told him we were
sleeping together. Those are my words. Billings
used a more colorful term." Abby crossed her arms over her chest,
wondering how she could make Gage see reason. "I don't trust him. He's
convinced I manipulated you to remove him from the
Riv
One account and tell Norwell to assign me. He said if he'd known you could be
won over with sexual favors, he'd have hired you a couple of hookers."

Gage stared at her a moment, his
eyes going dark with anger. He threw back some of the scotch. Not even when
he'd thought she betrayed him had he looked so angry. Here was the lethally
dangerous man she'd read about.

"I'll deal with Billings." His
fingers tightened around his glass until Abby though it might break.

She went to him and put her arms
around his waist. "No. This is all supposed to be my idea. He warned me
that if I told you he put me up to this, I'd regret it. Besides, I don't want
you dealing with him. Billings
is my problem. And I've got enough to worry about right now without inviting
trouble from him."

Gage's expression remained stony.
"He became my problem when he tried to blackmail you into stepping down
from the account. Don't be misled, sweetheart," he said with deadly calm.
"Choosing you was a business decision. I believed then, as I still do,
that you're the best one for the job. If you give in to Billings, I'll yank my contract with
Norwell."

"You can't do that. Don't you
understand? Billings
can't be trusted. If he goes to Norwell, my reputation will always be in
question. Who knows, he could even go to the police or say something to the
press and ruin your reputation right along with mine."

Gage set his glass on the counter
then took her by the shoulders. His hold, though gentle, was firm. "I
don't think
you
understand."  He brushed a knuckle over her
cheek. "I'm not afraid of Billings.
And it's a little late for you to worry about my reputation. Anyone who's read
the articles that have been written about me knows I'm a heartless bastard who
cares nothing about anyone or anything and is so lacking in moral fiber I'm
sleeping with a different woman every week."

Abby leaned her head back and blew
out a frustrated breath. "You're not going to give on this, are you?"

"No."

She frowned up at him. "Why
did I have to fall for such a stubborn man?"

Gage chuckled and dropped a kiss on
the top of her head. "What? Aren't you jealous about all those other women
I'm sleeping with?"

"About as jealous as you'll be
over the next couple of weeks when you read about all the men I'm having
affairs with."

"I want the name of every one
of them so I can challenge each to a duel and eliminate my competition."

"As soon as I read who they
are, I'll let you know."

"Fair
enough."
He gave her a lazy grin. "And now," he said as
he lifted her up in his arms, "it's
late,
you
need to be in bed."

Abby smiled. "But I'm not
tired yet."

His eyes gleamed wickedly.
"Did you hear me say anything about sleep?" He held her close against
his chest as he carried her across the room.

"Aren't you worried you'll
ruin yourself for all those other women the way you're always lifting me up and
carrying me around?"

He started up the stairs.
"No." The finality in his tone made her swallow. Gage had been the
prince charming of her youthful dreams, and she'd been Abby Sheridan, chicken
girl.

As much as she wanted to believe in
the fairy tale, a part of her kept waiting for the day, the moment, he'd look
at her with disenchanted eyes, and she'd know the spell had been broken.

She laid her head against his
shoulder and closed her eyes. Once everything began running the way he wanted
with River Place One, Gage would return to Chicago. Until then, she would enjoy whatever
they had for as long as it lasted. When he walked out of her life, she'd pick
up the pieces of her broken heart and find a way to put them back together
again. Right now he was here, and she needed him.

CHAPTER
ELEVEN

L
ate Monday morning Gage sat
at his desk rolling his pen between his fingers as Brett and Mel Shields,
GFI's
Chief Legal Counsel, updated him on the State
Attorney General's investigation.

"They're calling off the
probe," Mel said. "When they couldn't provide substantive proof of
wrongdoing, we accused them of initiating a witch hunt under pressure from
Carpenter. For some reason the Attorney General took serious offense to
that."

"I'll just bet he did,"
Gage said dryly, conjuring up an image of the stiff, humorless Forrester in his
head. Glue had more personality, but to his credit, the AG was known for his
integrity and exacting standards. He wouldn't appreciate having them
questioned.

Brett leaned back and crossed his
ankle over his knee. "It got the desired result. Forrester decided to look
into things for himself. All he could find was a letter from someone in our
finance department claiming we'd misrepresented income."

Gage's eyes narrowed. "One of
our people has been in on this?"

Mel sat forward. "It looked
that way. Forrester wouldn't show us the letter or tell us who. He claimed he
had an obligation to protect the whistleblower. Fortunately, we created enough
doubt in his mind to spark some action."

"So what was it?" Gage
asked. "Was the guy working for Carpenter, or did he have a personal
gripe?"

"Neither. When Forrester tried
to contact the employee, he found out the guy didn't exist. The good AG called
the investigator and demanded an explanation about where the letter came
from." 

Gage glanced at Brett. "Let me
guess. The guy admitted he'd been bribed by Carpenter."

Brett chuckled and looked at Mel.
"The woman," Brett said, "admitted forging the letter in order
to initiate a probe."

Gage tapped his pen against the edge
of the desk as he studied the expressions on the two men's faces. "The
woman was Carpenter's lover." It wasn't a question.

Brett nodded. "The things
people do for love."

"Yeah," Gage said,
thinking it was a good thing somebody else had gotten to Carpenter before he
had. "Let Forrester know we'll be releasing a press statement that GFI was
found to be in complete compliance. Tell him I'd like our file and all
information connected to the probe to remain confidential. If the press makes
any inquiries to his office, ask that they only respond that the allegations
were unsubstantiated and no wrongdoing occurred."

Firm in his decision Gage glanced
at Mel. "I'm sure he'd just as soon not have to deal with anyone raising
questions about the possibility of other tainted investigations." He had
no doubt there'd be an internal investigation, but Forrester would be doing it
his way, and if he had to guess, Gage would predict the atmosphere at the AG's
office was going to be very tense over the next several months.

Mel frowned. "It's your call,
but Carpenter's little affair can't hurt GFI."

"Just make sure nothing gets
leaked about the woman and Carpenter." Gage looked up through shuttered
eyes. "The guy's dead, and the woman will be going to jail. Dredging up
all the sleazy details serves no purpose. The only thing I care about is
clearing the company's name."

Brett studied him with assessing
eyes. It would be more in character if he'd told them he wanted the parties
involved made an example of. In this case, though, he'd do everything in his
power to keep the details behind the probe from coming out.

Abby didn't need the humiliation of
seeing another one of Dick Carpenter's affairs sensationalized in the papers.
The bastard had hurt her enough when he was alive. And Gage hadn't spent the
last week introducing her to her passion to risk anything stirring up her
doubts again.

"What do you want to—
"

Gage's intercom
buzzed,
and he held up a finger to Brett. Grace would only interrupt him for an urgent
business matter or if Abby was calling. He picked up the phone. "What is
it?"

"I've got a woman on hold who
demands to talk to you. When I asked her what it was about, she said she
couldn't tell me but that you would want to talk to her."

"It's probably another
reporter. Tell her if she doesn't want to give you a message, she can leave a
number, and I'll try to get back to her." He hung up and turned back to
Brett and Mel.

"Mel, get in touch with
Forrester and tell him I'd like to see the—" He frowned when the intercom
went off again. "What?" he said, tamping down his
impatience.
He relied on Grace to handle these kinds of situations without bothering him.

"She won't leave a message,
but said to tell you her name's Rachael Gooding and that it's urgent."

"I'll take it." The phone
rang through, and he grabbed the handset. "What's wrong?"

"The cops have Abby. We were
supposed to meet for lunch, but she called to cancel. Baker showed up at her
office and said they wanted her to come in to the station."