Dangerous Attraction Romantic Suspense Boxed Set (242 page)

Alex examined the report on his desk that summarized the employee log-ins since the time Alex assumed his position at the Treasury: Alex figured that anything that happened before his arrival was not his responsibility, but if anything went amiss afterwards, Finnegan would be sure to skin Alex alive. Alex was looking for any unusual spikes. He quickly leafed through the log-ins for Laskin and other data analysts who used the software on a daily basis. The list was structured alphabetically, and Alex’s attention turned to the letter w. Dennis Walker was the last employee on the list. A deep crease appeared on Alex’s forehead. The log-in history showed that Dennis had hardly been using the system previously, but for the past few days he had been logging in for several hours at a time. Alex flipped to the section of the report that showed the subjects of the searches. Apparently, Walker had a keen interest in the backgrounds of the board members of company called Rover Industries. The name was vaguely familiar, and Alex typed it into the search engine on his computer. He soon learned that Rover was a major industrial conglomerate. Alex’s lips drew into a sharp line: Janet Maple had not mentioned anything about an investigation into Rover in her report to Alex that morning.

“That lying bitch,” Alex muttered, groping for the phone. He was going to get to the bottom of this right away. But before he could unleash his anger on Janet, the door of his office opened, revealing Georgiana on its threshold. Alex slammed the phone receiver down. “What is it?”

“Are you happy with the report that I got for you earlier?” she asked. “I must say that that system is a real pain to use.”

“Huh?”

“I said that that system is a real pain to use, and you haven’t even said thank you,” Georgiana pouted.

Normally, Georgiana’s pout never failed to elicit a smile from Alex, but right now it produced nothing but annoyance in him. For all her time working as his “assistant” this was the only job-related task he had asked of Georgiana, and the girl had the nerve to complain. Meanwhile, he did not see her complaining about her fat salary.

“I’m sorry to hear that, Georgiana. Perhaps you should try to become more proficient with the system, so that future requests would take less time to complete.”

Georgiana’s eyelashes fluttered. “Future requests?”

Suddenly, Alex felt very tired. A few moments ago the world had been his oyster, but now he felt that he was in over his head. The truth of the matter was that he had taken on a job that he had no idea how to do; he was hated by the majority of his direct subordinates, with maybe a handful being indifferent toward him; and with no one but a dumb hooker to back him up. Alex rubbed his forehead: he had to get his act together, fast.

“Alex, what’s wrong?” Georgiana dashed across the room and was now kneeling by his chair, her hands groping for his fly, ready to do what she did best.

Alex pushed her away. “Not now, Georgiana. This is an office; we could get caught.”

“That never stopped you before.”

“We’ll have to be more careful from now on.”

But Georgiana was not easily deterred. Her nimble hands undid Alex’s fly, sending a jolt of pleasure pulsating down his legs. The tension oozed from his mind, replaced by a pleasurable sensation that filled his limbs. Oh, what the hell, Alex thought. It was almost five o’clock anyway. He would deal with Janet Maple in the morning, and after that he would decide if the matter was worthy of Finnegan’s attention.

* * *

It was five thirty, and Janet had one more task before leaving work for the day. The task involved visiting Alex’s office, and she had been deliberately putting it off until after five in the hope of not finding Alex in his office. Earlier in the day she had given Alex another report on fictitious investigations that she and Dennis were supposed to be working on, and Alex had requested that she bring over the case files. Janet had spent several hours putting the files together (without any help from Dennis Walker, who was off doing who knows what who knows where, but that was another matter entirely), and now she hoped she would be able to leave the files with Alex’s assistant without actually having to face the man himself. She grabbed the heavy binders and headed for Alex’s office.

When Janet reached Alex’s office, she saw that his assistant, who usually guarded the access to Alex’s office like a sphinx, had already left for the day. The door to Alex’s office was closed. Janet was about to leave when she noticed that there was light underneath the door. Janet sighed: she had promised to give the files to Alex today, and the last thing she wanted was for him to accuse her of not doing her job.

“Alex?” Janet knocked on the door. When she didn’t hear a reply, Janet was about to walk away discreetly but the door gave way under her knuckles, cracking halfway open.

What she saw next made Janet wish she had imagined it. Georgiana was sitting on Alex’s lap with her arms around his neck. At the sight of Janet, Alex pushed Georgiana off his lap, catapulting her several feet across his office.

“That will be all, Georgiana,” said Alex in a voice that sounded as though Georgiana had just been performing some kind of benign clerical task for him, like taking shorthand.

“Yes, Mr. Kingsley.” As she sashayed out of the office, Georgiana smiled at Janet.

“I didn’t mean to interrupt,” Janet stammered. “I can come back tomorrow.”

“Interrupt what?” Alex stared her down. “You didn’t interrupt anything. As a matter of fact, it’s a good thing that you stopped by. I have a few questions I’d like to ask you.”

“By all means,” Janet said, struggling to keep the apprehension out of her voice. Questions from Alex at five thirty in the afternoon signified only one possible outcome: trouble. “I hope that I have the answers for you.”

“I hope so too,” said Alex, smiling.

Perhaps it was her imagination, but Janet thought that Alex’s smile looked more like a scowl, as though he were taking a cue from the animal world, baring his teeth in the gesture of a threat. “What’s going on?” Janet eyed Alex with what she hoped was cool nonchalance.

“What’s Dennis Walker been up to?”

Janet felt an inner tremor. She had been feeding Alex with reports of fictitious investigations that Dennis and she were supposedly working on while in reality both of them had been spending most of their time gathering dirt on David Muller; or, to be more specific, trying to gather dirt on Muller, but unsuccessfully so. “As far as I know Dennis’s caseload has not changed since the update I gave you this morning,” Janet replied coolly.

“Are you sure about that?”

Janet felt Alex’s dark eyes burrowing into her. It was almost impossible to believe that there had been a time in her life when she had found Alex’s gaze to be sexy. Now, it filled her with a mixture of alarm and repulsion, akin to the sensation one felt when facing a cunning and dangerous beast, for in the world of the corporate jungle, Alex was the equivalent of a wolverine. Still, she could not very well give into her fear. “What makes you think otherwise?” Janet made a conscious effort to look straight into Alex’s eyes, keeping her hands calmly pressed together on her lap.

“Oh, I don’t know. It could be this.” Alex flung a piece of paper across his desk.

“What is it?” Janet asked without reaching for the paper.

“It’s a report on log-ins from the background search software. I had Georgiana run it for me this morning.”

You mean to tell me that your assistant is actually capable of performing other functions than wearing revealing outfits and sitting on your lap? were the words on Janet’s tongue, but she knew better than to voice them—she was in deep enough trouble already. Both Laskin and she had specifically cautioned Dennis against doing background searches on Muller. Instead, Laskin was to perform that part of the job, as Laskin was the only employee in the department who was on Alex’s good side, if such a thing was possible. Most likely, it was just that Laskin’s bland looks and boring personality had fooled Alex into indifference. But now Dennis had jeopardized the entire project with his pigheadedness.

“Why is Dennis Walker doing research on board members of Rover Industries?”

“Rover Industries? The name does ring a bell,” Janet improvised. “Let me just check here a moment.” Janet flipped open the folder that kept her past reports to Alex. There was no information there that she could use, but she made the gesture to give herself time to invent a plausible lie. “Oh, yes, I have it in my notes here. This is a new case. Dennis has just told me about it this afternoon. We received an anonymous complaint accusing Rover Industries’ executives of tax evasion. Dennis is investigating it.”

“An anonymous complaint? Are you telling me that you’re squandering company resources on anonymous complaints?”

“The department policy has always been that all complaints have to be investigated. It’s in the procedures manual.”

“That’s been changed effective immediately. No complainant, no inquiry, which means no investigation.” Alex rose from his chair. “I want to see the Rover file closed by tomorrow morning. I trust you will take care of this, Janet.”

“Yes, Alex.”

“That’ll be all for now. And Janet, going forward, I expect you to notify me of any new investigations immediately.”

“Yes, Alex.”

Her heart beating like a sledgehammer, Janet shot out of Alex’s office. At the moment her only desire was to get her hands on Dennis Walker’s neck and squeeze really, really hard. In her enraged state she stormed down the hallway, ready to storm the bastard’s office. Most likely the bugger had gone home already, but she would give it a try anyway. A few steps before Dennis’s office, Janet felt a male arm grip hers and almost screamed from the shock.

“Easy there, Janet. It’s me, Dennis.”

“You!!!” There were several words Janet would have liked to use to address Dennis but at the moment her mind went blank, and all she could manage to say was, “What are you doing here?”

“I work here, remember?”

“Do you?” she fumed.

“Easy there. What’s eating you?”

“What’s eating me? I’ve just been reamed by Alex and I had to stand there and come up with excuses for you.”

“Shhh, calm down.” Dennis grabbed her arm and pulled her inside his office, closing the door behind them. “Lower your voice. Now, what are you talking about?”

“What are you doing poking around Rover executives’ backgrounds?” Janet hissed. “Didn’t Laskin and I tell you to keep your hands off the background search system? Don’t you know that the log-ins are traceable?”

“Actually, I didn’t. I wish you would have told me that.”

“I told you not to use the software!”

Dennis patted his chin. “That means I’m really on to something. Just wait till I tell you what I found—I bet you’ll change your tune then.”

“Change my tune? Now you listen to me, you …” Words failed Janet as she found herself powerless under the gaze of Dennis’s triumphantly shining blue eyes.

“I’ll listen later. Come on, we’re going to see Laskin.” Dennis grabbed her shoulders. “We don’t want anyone to see us leaving together, so I’ll meet you on the corner two blocks over from the office. Wait ten minutes before you leave.”

“Enough! I won’t go anywhere unless you tell me what was it you were hoping to discover through that search, Dennis. Laskin had already run the background search on Rover execs, and he did not find anything. He is the guru on dealing with that software. Do you seriously think that you could find something that Laskin did not?”

Janet might have been mistaken, but it seemed to her that a look of hurt flashed in Dennis’s expression. For a moment she thought she might have been too tough on Dennis, but only for a moment. After the grilling Alex had just subjected her to, she deserved an answer.

“What were you looking for, Dennis?” she demanded.

“You’ll find out soon enough, Janet. Now meet me outside, as we agreed,” was all Dennis said and shut the door behind him.

Chapter Twenty-two

“He’d better be there,” Janet muttered as she walked over to the spot where Dennis had told her to meet him. And why was he calling the shots anyway? As if a ten-minute difference in their arrival was a major decoy. This had better not be a ploy to get rid of me, Janet thought, already regretting having let Dennis Walker out of her sight. The man was an irresponsible, cocky know-it-all, and that was putting it mildly. Whatever it was that Dennis had uncovered by running the background searches on Rover executives was not worth the jeopardy he had subjected his colleagues to by drawing Alex’s attention to them. And it certainly was not worth Janet putting herself out on a limb to save Dennis’s inconsiderate behind.

Janet eyed the street but saw no sign of Dennis. Typical, she thought, inconsiderate as always. Suddenly, a nasty thought crept into her mind. What if Dennis had indeed stood her up? What if the whole thing was a ploy for him to slip through her fingers so that he would be free to pursue his plans for the night undisturbed? By now he was probably at some bar, romancing the next soon-to-be ex-victim of his charms.

A cab pulled up next to the curb and the passenger door opened. “Get in.”

“Dennis?”

“No, it’s Prince Charming. Get in already!”

Janet climbed into the cab. “Don’t you think we could have taken the train? Laskin is all the way down in Brooklyn.”

“There’s no time for the subway. The cab fare is on me.”

“That’s the least you could do after Alex chewed my butt out because of you.”

Dennis frowned. “Chewed your butt out?”

Janet blushed. “You know what I mean.”

“No, I don’t. Did he make a pass at you again?”

Janet resisted the impulse to roll her eyes. For reasons unknown to her, Alex had been making passes at Janet since the day he became her new boss. As much as it would have pleased Janet’s ego to think that Alex had recognized the error of his ways and wanted her back, she knew better. Besides, she would not take the two-timing bastard of a snake back if he begged her on his knees, not that he did, incidentally. But at any rate, Alex’s sudden lust for her was not the issue at hand; rather, it was the motivation that drove Alex’s attention back to Janet. What did the man want?