Marie Harte - Below the Surface

“Let him finish about the crazy woman,” Aerolus interrupted. “I want to know what else she said.”

“She broke down when I refused to marry her,” Marcus said with disgust.

“Marry her,” Tessa repeated, having never heard anything so ridiculous, or annoying.

“She grew irrational when I said no, and bits and pieces of her part in discrediting you leaked through. I admit I pushed her into a full confession—for which she was immediately fired from Craiger-Mim. She saw you as competition and thought by taking you out of the picture, she and I would become one.” He grimaced. “At least we now know she, not the Djinn or ‘Sin Garu, concocted the idea to have you arrested.”

“That’s nuts.” Tessa stared in disbelief.

“She was insane with lust, you might say,” Cadmus threw in with a chuckle. “Now don’t blame me for pointing out the truth,” he said quickly when Tessa beaned him with a dinner roll. “Look at the package she’s in lust with.” He pointed to himself and his brothers. “How could she help herself?” He motioned to himself as if showcasing a prize.

“For God’s sake, Cadmus,” Tessa huffed but couldn’t help a chuckle. “This isn’t The Price is Right. ”

At his confusion she shook her head. “Never mind. I want to know how she planned to get rid of me.”

“She gave Leanne Sumpter a packet of files to put in your office,” Marcus explained. “Files that would show you had embezzled money into a personal account.”

“Leanne works in pay services,” Tessa murmured, suddenly aware of just how close she’d been to prosecution. “She has full access to my pay records. She knows my bank account number, my social, my birthday.” A nightmare of knowledge.

“And she’d already made the changes in the computer. Leanne didn’t like you either.” Marcus scowled. “If Sheila hadn’t confessed, you might now be sitting in a jail cell.”

“What did I do to Leanne? Don’t tell me she fell for you too?” Women were dropping like flies around Marcus, and she didn’t like it one bit. Not when she’d finally come to the conclusion she was keeping him.

“No. Apparently she’s under the impression Jonas Chase has the ‘hots’ for you. And she’s in love with him.”

His sharp tone reminded her he still thought Jonas was a Djinn.

“Good lord, this all sounds like something that should be on a daytime soap.” She shook her head, dismissing his charge about Jonas. “Assuming anything is never smart, Marcus. Don’t pin your suspicions on Jonas, a man who’s supported me from day one.” As she scraped the last bit of machia from her bowl, she realised she felt lighter, as if freed from a tremendous weight she carried. The question of who wanted her gone from Tomanna had at last been answered. “Sheila Covington. Hmm. I never would have believed you’d be involved in trying to get me fired.”

“I wasn’t,” Marcus said, his tone cold.

The man felt guilty about it. Good. “Maybe if you didn’t play so fast and loose with women’s emotions, this wouldn’t have happened.”

Cadmus guffawed and Aerolus quirked his lip in what looked like the hint of a smile. Marcus, however, tensed and his eyes blazed. Not so cool and collected now, are we? she thought with satisfaction.

“For your information, I have never in my life treated a woman with anything less than respect.” He coloured, and she knew he was remembering the first time they’d kissed in his office. “Almost never,” he muttered and pushed his bowl away, apparently having lost his appetite. “The point is, Sheila imagined something between us that wasn’t there.”

“Okay,” Tessa said slowly, enjoying needling Marcus, especially in front of his captivated brothers. Marcus hot and bothered made her heart race. “So tell me why I saw you breaking off with a woman in public a month ago.”

“Yes, do explain,” Cadmus prodded.

“I remember Darius being awfully angry about it,” Aerolus said, looking down into his bowl. “Something about dumping your women in public landing him in trouble with his affai .” He turned to Tessa. “Samantha had thought Darius was the one being so callous.”

Marcus’ eyes blazed, and Tessa couldn’t have been more pleased. This was the real Marcus, the man she wanted with her last breath, the man who intrigued her on every level.

Strong yet tender, icy cool and in command, yet perilously out of control when it came to dealing with her. That had to be a good sign .

“That was unavoidable, and an instance I deeply regretted.” He spoke stiffly and mentally shoved Cadmus when his brother smirked. “As it happened, Sophia Mitchell brought it all on herself.”

Tessa was fascinated and wanted to know more, but a comment he’d made earlier bugged her. “Yeah, yeah, you’re a heart breaker, and we women are fragile flowers you try so hard not to crush.”

“You’re no flower, trust me,” Marcus growled.

“Tell me about Davis.”

Marcus looked uncomfortable and she had to know more.

“ Tell me .”

“Marcus punched him in the face for some rude comments he made about you,” Cadmus answered her, while licking his spoon completely clean.

“Really?”

“How the hell do you know all this?” Marcus frowned and stood, conveniently taking his bowl to the sink in an attempt to escape interrogation.

Cadmus shrugged. “A vision, what else?”

“I suppose I should thank you.” Tessa watched Marcus, not quite sure what to make of his encounter with Davis.

“Don’t thank me for that. I should have pounded him the first time he implied less than the truth about you.”

“No really, thank you,” she said, genuinely pleased at his sincerity. “I wish I could’ve slugged him back into the Stone Age where he belongs.”

“That I’d like to see.” Marcus relaxed enough to share a small grin with her and a warmth unfurled in her belly.

“Right. Well,” Cadmus drawled as they stared at one another. “So where do you two go from here? You know who wanted you fired, but that still doesn’t explain why ‘Sin Garu was so interested, or even who the Djinn is that’s been feeding him information.”

“True,” Aerolus said slowly. “The Covington woman and the worker from payroll knew of Covington’s deceit. The Djinn might have overheard the two talking.”

“Or had access to the company’s personnel accounts,” Cadmus added.

“Like Jonas Chase.” Marcus said his name like a curse.

Marcus stared at the ceiling in his bedroom, wishing he could ignore the fact Tessa slept so soundly just two inches away. But just the scent of her drove him crazy, and knowing she lay nearly naked next to him, clad in one of his thin white Tshirts, was more than any man, or prince, could stand.

No matter that Tessa was not of Tanselm. No matter that she came from another plane entirely. Everything within him cried out for her, and he had already decided to accept her as his, as if that were a major hardship. He’d tried to avoid the truth, but for all his faults, he’d never lacked integrity. And the truth stared him in the face with bright blue eyes.

Tessa Sheridan was his affai . He knew it, and she knew it. He’d murmured the word in the aftermath of ‘Sin Garu’s impromptu visit, and he’d known he couldn’t delay the admission forever.

Hell, in the six months he’d worked at Tomanna, he’d been constantly aware of her, if only to keep her potential distraction as far away as possible.

She slid one thigh over his and murmured in her sleep, causing his temperature to rise a few hundred degrees.

Closing his eyes, he tried counting aloud the reasons he shouldn’t make love to her again, as if by uttering them in the dimness of reality he could make them convincing.