illness?
The questions were pointless because whatever he had been willing to do eighteen months ago, this was now.
Tears pricked her eyes, but she didn't let them fall. She knew if she started crying, she wouldn't be able to stop.
It just didn't matter anymore. Nothing could undo what she had done. If he had cared once, he didn't care any longer. He'd said it. She had betrayed him and her own honor rather than trust him enough to ask for help.
Even now she wondered what exactly he could have done if she'd gone to him. She had needed more than a shoulder to cry on to save her sister's life. Not that he appeared to appreciate that.
Bile rose in her throat when she thought about how he would react to the knowledge that he had a son she hadn't bothered to tell him existed.
Chapter Seven
Marcus slanted a glance at Ronnie's silent silhouette.
She had said very little since making her revelations about what had prompted her actions eighteen months before and nothing at all since getting into the car for the return trip to her apartment. It was as if she'd answered his questions and now she had nothing else to say to him.
Didn't she realize that her answers had only prompted a whole host of other questions?
To be fair, he hadn't said much either. Finding out about her parents' deaths and her sister's illness had completely gutted him.
Why hadn't she told him ?
She hadn't trusted him worth a damn. Okay, so he'd made it clear that he wasn't a commitment-centered man, but did that mean she had to hideeverything from him? Hadn't she realized that every man had his Armageddon? The spinsterish little automaton that used to be CIS's secretary had been his.
She had touched him in a way no other woman ever had, but she didn't realize that.
His desire for her had never abated, not over the brief months of their affair, not during the long months since. He'd been thinking in terms of a future and she had been thinking about how to save her sister's life—without his help.
Where did that leave them now? And what about the corporate espionage happening at Kline Technology?
"You told me before that your sister was okay now. Is that the truth?"
His voice seemed to echo in the silent car, but she eventually answered. "She's fine, physically."
"What does that mean?"
Ronnie's head turned to look out the window at the black-shadowed landscape. "It means her body is healthy again, but she has a lot of catching up to do. She spent her sophomore year in and out of hospitals and her junior year undergoing radical chemotherapy. She's home-schooled since finishing the treatment in order to catch up with her peers and let her hair grow again. She wants to attend her senior year at a regular high school and go on to college after that."
He heard frustration in Ronnie's voice.
"Is that a bad plan?"
Maybe she resented her sister going to college when she'd had to drop out of school herself. He remembered wondering why she'd done it and now he knew. Even Ronnie's formidable will could not maintain a full-time class load with her sister in and out of the hospital.
Her attention swung back to him and he could feel frustration and bitterness rolling off her in waves.
"It's a great plan. It's a wonderful plan, but it's also an impossible plan. She wants to go to high school with her old friends back inPortland . My job is here. She wants to go to a university, but I don't even know how I can afford community college tuition. And she's so darn understanding about it all. She doesn't complain when I can't buy her designer clothes like the other kids her age are wearing. She's…"
Her voice trailed off and he thought he heard a suspicious sniff.
"Are you crying?" Stupid question.
"Why would I be crying?" She sounded defiant, like he'd offended her by asking.
Hell. He probably had.
He reached out and laid
The questions were pointless because whatever he had been willing to do eighteen months ago, this was now.
Tears pricked her eyes, but she didn't let them fall. She knew if she started crying, she wouldn't be able to stop.
It just didn't matter anymore. Nothing could undo what she had done. If he had cared once, he didn't care any longer. He'd said it. She had betrayed him and her own honor rather than trust him enough to ask for help.
Even now she wondered what exactly he could have done if she'd gone to him. She had needed more than a shoulder to cry on to save her sister's life. Not that he appeared to appreciate that.
Bile rose in her throat when she thought about how he would react to the knowledge that he had a son she hadn't bothered to tell him existed.
Chapter Seven
Marcus slanted a glance at Ronnie's silent silhouette.
She had said very little since making her revelations about what had prompted her actions eighteen months before and nothing at all since getting into the car for the return trip to her apartment. It was as if she'd answered his questions and now she had nothing else to say to him.
Didn't she realize that her answers had only prompted a whole host of other questions?
To be fair, he hadn't said much either. Finding out about her parents' deaths and her sister's illness had completely gutted him.
Why hadn't she told him ?
She hadn't trusted him worth a damn. Okay, so he'd made it clear that he wasn't a commitment-centered man, but did that mean she had to hideeverything from him? Hadn't she realized that every man had his Armageddon? The spinsterish little automaton that used to be CIS's secretary had been his.
She had touched him in a way no other woman ever had, but she didn't realize that.
His desire for her had never abated, not over the brief months of their affair, not during the long months since. He'd been thinking in terms of a future and she had been thinking about how to save her sister's life—without his help.
Where did that leave them now? And what about the corporate espionage happening at Kline Technology?
"You told me before that your sister was okay now. Is that the truth?"
His voice seemed to echo in the silent car, but she eventually answered. "She's fine, physically."
"What does that mean?"
Ronnie's head turned to look out the window at the black-shadowed landscape. "It means her body is healthy again, but she has a lot of catching up to do. She spent her sophomore year in and out of hospitals and her junior year undergoing radical chemotherapy. She's home-schooled since finishing the treatment in order to catch up with her peers and let her hair grow again. She wants to attend her senior year at a regular high school and go on to college after that."
He heard frustration in Ronnie's voice.
"Is that a bad plan?"
Maybe she resented her sister going to college when she'd had to drop out of school herself. He remembered wondering why she'd done it and now he knew. Even Ronnie's formidable will could not maintain a full-time class load with her sister in and out of the hospital.
Her attention swung back to him and he could feel frustration and bitterness rolling off her in waves.
"It's a great plan. It's a wonderful plan, but it's also an impossible plan. She wants to go to high school with her old friends back inPortland . My job is here. She wants to go to a university, but I don't even know how I can afford community college tuition. And she's so darn understanding about it all. She doesn't complain when I can't buy her designer clothes like the other kids her age are wearing. She's…"
Her voice trailed off and he thought he heard a suspicious sniff.
"Are you crying?" Stupid question.
"Why would I be crying?" She sounded defiant, like he'd offended her by asking.
Hell. He probably had.
He reached out and laid
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