Rebecca York - Betrayed

Of course, the episode had made another decision for her, as well. Lincoln Kinkead had suggested she might want to talk to a counselor. That was out of the question now, because the thing at the top of her mind would be her fantasy sex with Shane Gallagher. And she certainly wasn’t going to talk to anyone about that.

After only a few hours of sleep, Shane heaved himself out of bed and winced. He must be out of shape if a jaunt to the eighth floor of an office building made his muscles sore.

He laughed. Yeah, sure. He’d been confident of his ability to make the climb down from the roof, but now he was paying the price because he’d used muscles that didn’t usually get a workout.

He did some stretching exercises, then headed to the home office that doubled as his workout room. After a punishing forty-five minutes on the elliptical trainer, he showered and headed for Rockfort Security.

Max was already in the office. Jack was probably at home, snuggled in bed with his wife. Shane wasn’t going to complain about that. The guy was entitled after the rough year he’d had before stumbling naked into Morgan Rains’ front yard. Quite a way to meet. But then Jack had never been the conventional type.

Part of him envied his friend for being happy and settled down. The other part knew that Jack had found a rare woman—a woman worth trusting and loving. Was that in the right order? Did you have to trust someone before you could love her? Probably it was the wiser course. He’d fallen in love with Glenda without knowing enough about her—and paid the price for his impulsiveness later.

He shook his head, then realized that his other partner, Max Lyon, was watching him.

“What?” he asked.

“You look like you’re doing some deep thinking.”

“Yeah, about the case,” Shane lied. “I was hoping you or Jack could do some background checking for me while I’m at S&D.”

“Sure, what do you need?”

“There are two guys in the IT department, Jed Lansing and Roy Newman, that I’m wondering about. I don’t want to use the work computers to poke into their backgrounds, because if I did, they might find out about it.”

“You mean—they might check up on you?”

“Right.”

“What do you want to know about them?”

“Dig below the surface of the usual information and see if either of them has been involved in anything questionable.”

“Any particular reason you’re interested in them?”

“Both of them act uncomfortable around me. I’d like to know if there’s a reason for it.”

“Will do.”

Shane thanked his partner, then headed for S&D. He had planned to go straight to his office, but as he walked down the hall, people kept stopping him to congratulate him on the takedown of the evening before and to ask questions. By the time he got to his desk, it was after ten. But the questions gave him an idea. He’d been wondering how he could bump into Elena today. It would certainly be natural for him to go over to IT to find out how she was doing after yesterday’s harrowing events.

The plan lightened his mood, which he found annoying. His relationship with her should be strictly business, yet he was pleased at the prospect of seeing her again.

He spent an hour and a half at his desk doing routine security work, looking at the logs of calls from hardwired company phones as well as running through cell phone calls made inside the building. He was sure most employees didn’t know that the company could track their private communications. In fact, the system was something like what the National Security Agency had been using to monitor phone calls and emails around the United States.

He didn’t have ready access to the conversations themselves, but he could see who was calling whom. So far he hadn’t picked up any suspicious patterns, but that could simply mean the person out to steal company secrets was being cautious and not communicating with anyone questionable while he or she was at work.

Around eleven thirty, Shane got out of the computer program and sat for a moment, picturing the layout of IT.

There was a small reception area, then cubicles along two short halls. Elena’s desk was near the end of the hall on the right.

Shane took the elevator down to IT and stepped into the department, pausing in the reception area as he pretended to get his bearings. He saw that several people noted his presence, including Roy Newman, one of the men he’d asked Max to check on.

When Shane looked in the guy’s direction, Newman quickly lowered his head back to his work, which might be significant or not.

Shane continued down the right-hand hall, walking slowly on feet that were almost silent. Several of the nearby cubicles were empty, but Elena was at her desk, poring over a spreadsheet on her screen. Absorbed in her work, she wasn’t aware that anyone was standing behind her, which gave him a few moments to take her in.

His gaze skimmed over the glossy black of her wavy hair and the feminine tilt of her shoulders. He could see her delicate features reflected in her computer screen.

When she realized she wasn’t alone, she stiffened and looked up quickly, turning to see who was there. As she registered who it was, a mixture of expressions flickered across her features. She looked glad to see him, but at the same time embarrassed and wary.

“Mr. Gallagher,” she said.

“After last night, I think you know me well enough to call me Shane.”

After last night.

She flushed, and he wondered what about the hostage takedown was making her blush. “Shane,” she murmured, letting the sound of his name hang between them.

He had the feeling she’d wanted to ask why he was there, but then thought better of the question and waited for him to explain.

“I wanted to find out how you were doing—after that ordeal with Duckworth yesterday.”

“I’m fine.”

“You answered pretty quickly.”

She raised one shoulder. “Okay, it was an automatic response. But it is true.”

“I’d like to get your impressions of what happened.”

“I’m kind of busy.”

He waited a beat before saying, “I was thinking we could get some lunch. You were planning to eat lunch, weren’t you?”

“I guess.”

“Let’s get out of the building. There’s a sandwich shop I found a few blocks from here that’s very good.”

She looked torn, and he felt his stomach clench while he waited for her to make a decision. When she finally agreed, the tension eased out of him.

“Give me a couple of minutes to freshen up.”

“I’ll meet you in the main lobby.”

Elena hurried to the ladies’ room, used the facilities, and went to the sink where she inspected her face in the mirror while she washed her hands.

The woman who stared back seemed flushed and nervous, and she was sure Shane Gallagher had picked up on that when he’d come to her cubicle. Did he think she was hiding something that had to do with work? She hated to think so, but on the other hand, she’d hate him knowing the real reason why she was on edge. She’d had a very sexual dream last night, a dream where he was the star attraction. Just that thought brought more color to her cheeks, and she made a sound low in her throat.

“Stop it,” she muttered to herself. “Think about something else.”

She dug her comb out of her purse and swiped it through her hair, then got out lipstick and stroked on a little. Standing back to survey the effect, she hoped it didn’t look like she’d gotten fixed up for him. But then what was wrong with that? An attractive man had asked her to lunch, and there was no reason not to make herself look good for him. Any American girl would do that.