“There’ll be something else. Something else he worries will upset me, things he needs to keep secret for my own good. He’s got this unbelievable protective streak, and he absolutely refuses to treat me like an adult. I could help. I could have helped.”
“With the blackmail threat?”
“Yes.”
“Yes. Well, of course. Because with your extensive experience with criminal investigative techniques, and your training in hand-to-hand combat…”
“You sound like Joe.”
“Have you tried to talk to Reed?”
“Until I’m blue in the face.” But nothing convinced Reed to let her in. If she couldn’t get in, she couldn’t be his wife.
“Do you still love him?” Hanna asked softly.
The tears that had dried up threatened again. “It’s not like an on/off switch.”
“I’m telling you,” Reed said, rising to his feet and raising his voice so that Collin would get the point. “It’s over. I left her at her request.”
“And I’m telling you,” Collin replied, “it
“It’s not like I won’t support her. She can have anything she wants.”
“That’s not the point, and you know it.”
Reed did know it. He simply didn’t want to accept it. “To make her happy, I have to stay away.”
“To protect her, you have to go back.” Collin dropped back down in the guest chair. “The judge will want to see an intact family. You want Elizabeth to keep Lucas? You put your ass back in that penthouse and keep it there until the court case is over.”
“It doesn’t work that way,” said Reed, trying to imagine Elizabeth’s reaction if he showed up at the front door. “You don’t understand. You’ve never been married.”
“I’m not giving you marital advice,” said Collin. “I’m giving you legal advice. Sleep on the couch. Eat at restaurants. You work eighteen hours a day anyway. It’s not like you’ll have to see each other.”
Collin’s accusation came too close to one of Elizabeth’s complaints for Reed’s taste.
“I don’t work eighteen hours a day.”
Collin snorted. “How many times last month did you have business dinners?”
Reed scanned back in his mind. “A few.”
“Seventeen, to be exact. Devon showed me your schedule.”
“Seventeen?” Reed turned the number over in his brain. Add to that his Chamber of Commerce functions, the two nights he gave speeches, and a couple of business trips to Chicago, and it started to add up.
He tried to picture his last dinner with Elizabeth. They’d eaten together at the anniversary party, of course. But he’d dealt with a flurry of problems while she danced with other men.
“Let me make one thing perfectly clear,” said Collin. “I have absolutely no designs on your wife.” He paused while Reed’s eyes narrowed. “But I’m glad she did it. If I was her, I’d have left you a long time ago.”
“Wellington International doesn’t run itself,” Reed pointed out. He didn’t attend business dinners because he’d rather be there than at home. They were important. They were necessary. Particularly when you were dealing with out-of-town guests or other cultures, the social aspect could make or break a deal.
“Don’t you think I know that?”
“So, what’s your solution?”
“My solution is to stay single.”
Reed dropped back into his chair. “Looks like I’m about to do the same thing.”
“But not for three weeks.”
“Right,” Reed reluctantly agreed. For Elizabeth, for Lucas, he’d be a man about it. She was going to resist. But he’d make her understand it was for her own good.
The last person Elizabeth expected to knock on her front door was Reed. It was surreal for him not to use his key. Plus, she’d been picturing him in her mind for so many hours, it was almost a shock to see him in person. Frustratingly, her heart gave a little lift. She squelched it.
He made no move to come in.
“Sorry to disturb you,” he said instead, sounding formal even for Reed.
“No problem,” she managed. “Lucas just went down for a nap.”
Reed nodded. “I…uh…”
Did he need something? His clothes? Elizabeth struggled for the right way to behave.
“Can we talk?” he asked, looking very serious.
Her heart did the little lift thing again. “Sure.”
She stood to one side and motioned him in, telling herself that nothing had changed. She could not, would not let him sweet-talk her into trying again.
He walked through the doorway and dropped his keys in their usual spot on the table. There was something about the unconscious act that tightened her chest and clogged her throat.
“What did you want to talk about?” She knew her only hope was to get this visit over with quickly. The pain of having him here was too intense, and she knew she was in for a fresh crying jag after he left.
As long as she could make it that far…
She sat down at one end of the sofa.
“I’ve been talking to Collin,” Reed began. “He thinks…well, for Lucas…” He paced to the bay window.
Her stomach hollowed out. Reed wasn’t going to fight her for Lucas. Please God, not that.
He didn’t meet her eyes. “For the sake of Lucas, and the court case, and to maximize our changes of defending ourselves against the Vances, we should stay together until custody is settled. Three weeks.”
Elizabeth was speechless.
Reed, here? Them, together, but not?
Reed slowly turned to look at her. “Elizabeth?”
“I…” she tried. How could she do it? How could she possibly see him every day while she was trying to get over him? It would be horrible, painful, impossible.
“I can’t,” she managed, her voice cracking.
His jaw clenched. “I know. That’s what I said to Collin.”
So, Reed had already refused. That was good. They’d find another way. A way that didn’t require her heart to be shredded for twenty-one long days.
His blue eyes turned flat with determination. “But we have to.”
A small whimper escaped from her, and she shook her head.
He crossed back to her, coming down on one knee. “If we separate, it gives the Vances exactly what they need. Their lawyer will use it to destroy our case. It puts Lucas at risk, Elizabeth.”
She closed her eyes, fear and despair roiling within her. She wanted to throw herself into Reed’s arms. She wanted his soothing voice to assure her that everything would be okay.
But he couldn’t. And he never would again. She was on her own this time, and she had to be strong for Lucas. Her nephew, and her brother’s last wishes were all that mattered now.
“I’ll sleep on the couch,” Reed offered. Since they’d set up the nursery, there was no spare bedroom.
“I can sleep on the couch,” she croaked out, realizing the words told him she’d given in. Not that there was a choice. Logic told her that Collin was right. How could they present the better environment for Lucas if they were in the middle of a divorce?
Reed was shaking his head. “You need your sleep. You have a baby to take care of.”
“And you don’t?” She found an ounce of strength somewhere to argue with him. “You have a corporation to run, criminal charges to defend against, and a blackmailer on your trail.”
Reed unexpectedly gave a dark chuckle. “We’re fairly pathetic, aren’t we?”
She frowned. It was way too soon for humor.
“Sorry.” His hand moved toward her face. He was going to brush her hair from her cheek, like he’d done a thousand, maybe a million times before. But he checked himself just in time. “I’m going back to the office. I’ll probably be late.”
Elizabeth watched him leave. The door swung shut behind him. The silence closed in around her. And the
