“She’s grown up. It’s hard for us, the freaks.” Colin grinned. “That’s what she calls us and herself. We all had to deal with not fitting in and stuff. Meri wants us to put that aside and deal with life as it is. Look forward. That sort of thing.”
There was affection in his voice, but not the romantic kind, so Jack didn’t have to kill him. He realized that the reports might have told him the specifics but they hadn’t allowed him to get to know the woman she’d become.
“I was thinking about your business,” Colin said. “There’s some new military software that could help with your security issues.”
“Military software? Is it classified?”
Colin grinned. “Sure, but I know the guy who wrote it. There’s a couple of beta versions floating around. I might be able to get you a copy to test out-you know, as a service to your government.”
“Lucky me.” Jack eyed the other man. “You’re a lot more dangerous than you look.”
Colin grinned. “I know.
“Left foot green,” Betina called.
Meri looked down at the Twister sheet on the floor and groaned. “I’m not built to bend that way.”
“The very reason I don’t try to play the game. But so not the point.”
“You’re basically mean,” Meri muttered. “I don’t know why I didn’t see that before. Sorry, Robert. I’m going to have to slide under you.”
Robert arched his back as best he could. “Good luck with that. You do realize you’re in danger of hyperextending your shoulder.”
Colin looked up from his awkward position. “I’m not sure she would hyperextend it. Technically speaking-”
“Stop!” Meri yelled. “I don’t want any technical talk right now. Let’s pretend to be normal.”
Colin and Robert both frowned at her. “Why?”
She started laughing, which made bending and stretching impossible. But she still tried, because the big green dot was just out of-
She wobbled, leaned, then collapsed, bringing everyone down with her. She landed on Robert, and Colin sank down on top of her.
“I’m not sure I approve of this,” Betina said from the sidelines. “Colin, do we need to talk about fidelity?”
“Not really.” He grunted as he rolled off Meri, then scrambled to his feet. “Unless you want to spank me.”
Meri gagged. “I so did not want to know that about you two.”
“I’m surprised,” Robert said from his place on the floor. “Usually men who enjoy domination have powerful positions in their work life. It’s an attempt to obtain balance and let someone else take responsibility.”
Meri looked at him. “Is there anything you don’t know?”
“How to get the girl. Any girl.”
“We’ll talk later,” Meri said, offering her hand and helping him to his feet. “I’m on a roll. Are you interested in anyone in particular?”
Before he could answer, Jack walked into the room. There was something about his expression that warned Meri he didn’t have good news.
“What’s wrong?” she asked. “Is someone hurt?”
“No, but we need to talk.”
He took her arm and led her into the kitchen. She didn’t like anything about this.
After folding her arms over her chest she said, “So talk.”
His dark eyes were unreadable. “Andrew isn’t who you think.”
She’d thought maybe her father had been in an accident or had a heart attack. But Andrew?
“Not who I think? You mean like secretly a woman?”
“I’m serious, Meri. I have some information on him. His background. He’s not the man he’s pretending to be. He’s in it for the money.”
A thousand different thoughts flashed through her brain. At any other time she would have paused to marvel at the exquisite structure of the human mind-of how it could hold so many contradictory ideas at any single moment. But right now all she cared about was being strong enough to punch Jack in the stomach.
“What the hell are you going on about?” she asked, her voice low and cold. “Why would you know anything about Andrew?”
“I had him investigated.”
Anger burned hot and bright. “You have no right to get involved in my personal life. Who do you think you are?”
“I know you’re upset-”
“Upset? You have no idea. Dammit, Jack, this is wrong on so many levels.” She glanced toward the door to the living room and lowered her voice. “Just because we slept together doesn’t mean you get to tell me what to do. You gave up that right the day you walked out on me after Hunter died. You were supposed to be there for me and you weren’t. So I don’t care what you think about anything.”
She started to walk away. He grabbed her arm and held her in place.
“You have to listen to me,” he said.
“No, I don’t. Not that it matters, but I already had Andrew investigated. Thoroughly. He’s clean. He comes from a comfortable background. He doesn’t have my trust fund, but he’s not hurting for money. He’s a good man.”
“He’s married.”
Her entire body went cold. She knew intellectually that her core temperature was what it had been five seconds ago, but the sensation of being on the verge of turning to ice was incredibly real.
“You’re wrong,” she breathed. “My investigator-”
“Did exactly what I did the first time I learned about Andrew. A basic investigation. That’s usually good enough. But when you said you were thinking of marrying this guy, I had my people dig deeper. It was eight years ago. They hooked up and conned an old man out of about two million dollars. Three years ago, they took another heiress for the same amount. I’m guessing you were their next target.”
She couldn’t deal with the news about Andrew, so she turned on Jack. “You dug into his background? What gives you the right?”
“Someone has to look out for you. Your father is useless. With Hunter gone, there was only me.” His gaze was steady. “I couldn’t do what Hunter asked-I couldn’t stay in your life. I was too destroyed by what had happened. Still, I had a responsibility to look out for you. So I did. From a distance.”
“You spied on me?”
“Call it what you want. I made sure you didn’t get into trouble.”
He’d paid people to watch her? To poke into her private life? But he’d never cared enough to get involved himself?
“Bastard,” she breathed and raised her hand to slap him.
He grabbed her by the wrist and held her still. “It was for your own good.”
“That’s a load of crap. You were trying to assuage your guilt by doing the least you could. You weren’t a good friend to my brother and you sure as hell weren’t a friend to me. You don’t get to do this, Jack. You aren’t running my life. I’ll marry Andrew if I want and you can’t stop me.”
“Bigamy is illegal in all fifty states.”
Andrew-married? She couldn’t believe it. He might not be the handsome prince she’d first imagined, but married?
“He’s not playing me,” she insisted even as she wondered if he was.
“How do you know? At least look at the report. Then make your own decision.”
There was nothing to look at, she thought sadly as she pulled her hand free of his grip. Nothing to consider. She wasn’t in love with Andrew. She’d been fighting that truth since he’d shown up here. Their time apart had demonstrated that big-time. She hadn’t missed him.
Had she ever been in love with him? Did it matter? If he was married and playing her, then he was nothing but a weasel.
“Your gender sucks,” she muttered.
“I agree.”
“You most of all. I will never forgive you for spying on me. For spending the last eleven years hiding in the
