Erica Spindler - Cause for Alarm

"It's true. I wanted us all to get together. I called him several times, and when he didn't call me back, I decided to go see him."

"And because it was all so perfectly innocent," he said slurring his words, "you lied to me about it."

She clasped her hands together, wishing she could go back, take back the lie, hating herself for it. "At first I didn't tell you because I knew you'd react like this. Then the other night, I didn't want us to get into it in front of your assistant. I'm sorry, Richard. Believe me, I wish I had been honest with you from the beginning."

"Sure you do." He took a lurching step toward her. "You lied to me. So you could see him. That bastard."

"I'm not going to talk with you about this now," she said, hanging on to her temper by a thread. "You're drunk."

She tried to duck by him; he blocked her exit, face twisted with rage and jealousy. "You don't have the time or energy to devote to me when I need you, yet you have enough of both to drive into the city with Emma and wait hours in line so he could sign his precious, fucking book."

"You're drunk," she said again. "We'll talk about this in the morning."

"The hell we will, we'll talk about it now!" He dragged a hand through his hair. "She saw you there. That night, she knew the truth about you and Dallas. You can't imagine how humiliating, how-"

"Who saw me there?" she demanded. "And what truth are you talking about? That Luke and I were friends and now we're not?"

"You know what I'm talking about." He leaned toward her, swaying drunkenly. "You know."

"Who saw me?" Kate demanded again. "Your assistant?" His expression said it all, and Kate felt sick. No wonder the young woman had been so interested in the book, no wonder she'd brought Luke up that night at dinner.

"She's a snake, Richard. You're just too smitten to see it."

"You wish you'd married him, don't you? Now that he's Mr. Big and Famous Author. Now that he has more money than I do."

Kate recoiled from his words, even as they tore at her heart. "How can you say that? How, after all these years together?"

"That's why you went to see him, isn't it? To tell him you made a mistake. That you wished you'd married him."

"That's ridiculous," she said stiffly. "You're being ridiculous. And I'm not going to listen to one more word."

She began to turn away; he stopped her, catching her by her upper arms. "Why'd you marry me, Kate? For my money? So you could be Mrs. Richard Ryan and live in a big, fancy house?"

"Stop it!" she cried, losing her tenuous grip on her emotions. First Luke, now Richard. Didn't the men in her life know her at all? "Stop before this goes any further. Before we both say more that can't be taken back."

From the baby monitor clipped to her belt came the sound of Emma stirring in her crib. A moment later the harmless snuffling became whimpers, then mewls of discomfort.

Kate yanked free of her husband's grasp. "Emma needs me."

"I need you, too. What about me, Kate?"

She looked at him, incredulous. "She's an infant, Richard. Not an adult."

She started for the nursery.

"Go on, then," he called after her. "Like you went to Luke. You have time for everyone but me, don't you? Luke Dallas. The Bean. Your daughter."

She stopped, turned and faced him. "Our daughter," she murmured, voice shaking. " Ours. Though for all the time you spend with her, no one would ever know it."

"Why should I? You're already spending twenty-four hours a day with her. What's left for me, Kate?"

Kate was stunned by his jealousy. His feelings toward Luke and Luke's success were bad enough. But to be jealous of his own daughter, a helpless infant? It made her sick.

"Grow up, Richard. Act like an adult instead of the spoiled little rich kid who always got his way."

Kate hurried to the nursery, Emma's mewls full-fledged cries now. Richard followed. Before she could scoop the child up, Richard caught her by the arm and yanked her back against his chest. "You're mine, Kate. I won you and I won't let Luke or anybody else take you away."

"Won me?" she repeated brokenly, remembering what Luke had said to her. "Is that what our marriage is about? Some sort of competition?"

He didn't answer, and she began to struggle against his grasp. "Let me go, Richard! Emma's crying."

"Mine," he said again, tightening his grip on her.

A moment later his mouth crashed down on hers in a bruising kiss. He ground his lips against hers, forcing them open, shoving his tongue inside. She gagged at the sensation and at the sickly sweet smell of bourbon.

She wrenched her mouth free, heart thundering, Emma's cries ringing in her ears. "Let me go! Richard-"

He brought a hand to the back of her head to hold her immobile as he found her mouth again. This time, as he forced his tongue into her mouth, he ground his pelvis against hers, his erection-and intention-obvious.

Hysteria rose up in her. She struggled, pushing against his chest, twisting and kicking. Dear God, who was this man? What had happened to the loving and gentle man she had been married to for ten years?

She jerked sideways and wedged her arms between them, then brought her heel down hard on his instep. With a grunt, he released her and stumbled backward, the pain seeming to penetrate his liquor-induced frenzy.

He looked at her, his bleary-eyed expression becoming one of dawning horror at his own actions.

She spun around, snatched up Emma and cradled her to her chest, talking softly as much to calm her own fears as Emma's. Tears burned her eyes and throat, choking her.

"Kate?" he murmured brokenly. "Kate?"

She couldn't bring herself to acknowledge the anguish in his voice, couldn't bring herself to even look at him- not now, when her mouth still burned from his brutal attack, when her limbs still trembled from the effort expended fighting him off.

"She's not even ours," he whispered. "And still you love her more than me."

Kate felt as if her world were crumbling around her. She'd never been so angry, so hurt, in her life. She looked at her husband then, acknowledging that he was a total stranger.

"What's wrong with you?" she asked, voice quavering. "How can you say that? She is ours. Parenting is about loving and nurturing. Not about a physical act of copulation." She struggled to speak around her tears. "I thought we both believed that, Richard."

When he said nothing, just simply stared at her, her tears welled and spilled over, her heart hurting so badly she feared it would break. She bent and pressed her head to Emma's. "Get out," she said. "Get out because I don't want you around Emma. And I can't bear to look at you."

Without a word, he turned and left the nursery. A moment later, the sound of the front door slamming echoed through the house.

Emma snuggled safely in her arms, Kate sank onto the rocking chair and sobbed.

Richard found himself at Julianna's front door. For long minutes, he simply stood there, staring at the door, wanting to knock but knowing he shouldn't. It was late. He was her boss. Being here crossed an invisible line, one that separated employer from employee, professional from personal.

Richard told himself to turn away, to head home, tail tucked between his legs. He stood frozen to the spot instead. He closed his eyes, imagining Julianna opening the door, ushering him in. She would gaze up at him in the way she always did, the way that made him feel ten feet tall and invincible. She would listen and understand.

Julianna believed in him. She thought he was special.

The way Kate used to.

He lifted his hand and rapped lightly on the door. The moment he did, twin emotions of exhilaration and panic coursed through him. Panic won, stealing his breath, bringing him to his senses. What the hell was he doing? He was a married man. Julianna was his employee. Forget the moral ramifications of his behavior, what about the legal ones? This could surely be labeled sexual harassment. He was a lawyer, for God's sake. He hoped to be St. Tam-many Parish's next district attorney.