One Week in Your Arms (5 page)

For a moment, disbelief rendered Marla speechless. “Seriously?”

“Yes.” He knotted his tie. “Go with me and the grant money is yours. And I'm not talking about trading favors here. You'll have your own room. No sex required.”

“Seriously?” she asked again. Had the man lost his mind?

“I've never been more serious in my life.”

Beyond words, she turned and walked back into his office.

Her briefcase waited on his desk. Otherwise, there was nothing here for her except a ghost from her past who had the power to destroy her life.
To destroy Sophie's life
. That was never going to happen. She would literally kill him first.

He stood in the studio doorway, arms folded with serious etched all over his virile face. “Yes or no?”

“I've never heard of anything so absurd.”

“One week in paradise and the grant money is yours. It's not a bad deal,” he said. “And it's the only offer I'm going to make, sweetheart. Take it or leave it.”

“We're practically strangers.”

“We weren't always strangers.”

Her senses zeroed on her former lover. His body. His hands that had once traveled every inch of her body. His tanned face. Stormy blue eyes and a mouth that had teased her unmercifully.

“No we weren't,” she said softly. For a short time, they had not been strangers at all. “But that's not now. It ended well between us,” she reminded him. “Let's keep it that way.”

He shoved his hands in his pockets and turned to the glass wall in his office that afforded a striking view of well-kept buildings, palm trees, and a blue sky. With his back to her, he spoke, “Are you willing to go home empty-handed?”

“I can't believe you don't know a dozen movie stars or socialites who'd love to go off to Hawaii with you,” she said. “Call one of them.”

He looked over his shoulder at her, his expression dark. “I don't want to call one of them.”

She stared at the neat stack of papers in her briefcase as desperation made her hands clammy. How do you hold your ground when it is cracking beneath you?

“Truman and Julia will like you.” He turned from the window. “Julia definitely approves of you since you're a doctor. She's always lecturing me about raising the bar.”

Marla stared at him. “Raising the bar?”

He shrugged and she shook her head. “I have obligations,” she insisted. “I have patients who depend on me. Responsibilities. I can't just up and go to Hawaii with you. That's crazy.”

He strode over to his desk like a man who had things settled. “Call home and take care of your obligations. Have your colleagues cover for you. Surely, your patients can live a week without you.”

“You're such an asshole.” She shut her briefcase with a thud.

He grinned as he checked the messages on his smartphone. “I've been called worse.”

She shoved away from the desk. Standing beside the bookcase, she looked at Miss Eva's picture and went with a new tactic. “Miss Eva was well-respected in Lafayette Falls. She was known for her sense of honor, duty, and dignity. She would never approve of you using the clinic as leverage to get what you want.”

“Unfortunately, I'm nothing like my grandmother.” He finished the sentence with a broad smile that put a crease in his right cheek. Sophie had his smile. Marla looked away as the burden she carried in her heart almost overwhelmed her.

“Marla.” He closed the space between them and towered over her. She stared down at her hands and at his hands. A Rolex watch gleamed beneath the cuff of his white shirt, and he wore a beautiful platinum ring featuring black diamonds.

“What if I throw in an extra hundred thousand?”

Her eyes widened.
An extra hundred thousand just like that
.

“When we get back from Hawaii, I'll write you a check. This time next week you'll be on your way home with the grant, an extra hundred thousand, and maybe even a tan.”

Money fixes everything
.

He adjusted his silk tie, and she looked away, wondering if she had totally blinded herself at Royal Oaks. At least, she now knew she had made the right decision regarding Sophie. He had no qualms about using his fortune to get what he wanted, especially from those in need.

He'd have no qualms about Sophie either. He could merely buy the right attorneys and judges to gain custody of Sophie if he so desired. Marla knew she wouldn't have a chance. Her life would become a series of court appearances and appeals.

He wouldn't think about what was best for Sophie. It wouldn't matter that she was a happy child with friends and family who loved her dearly. It would be all about him and what he wanted. Marla smiled as righteousness bloomed inside her.

Sophie would never be a part of Carson Blackwell's life.

“Have we got a deal?” he asked.

She couldn't afford to say no, and he was well aware of that.

“I'll have to make some calls. I'm sure Doctor Hughes will cover for me.” That wouldn't be a problem. And, her parents would be delighted to keep Sophie for a few days. They doted on their only granddaughter.

He tapped his phone. “I'll see if Jack can have the jet ready by nine in the morning.”

Suddenly, the trip was becoming a reality.

“I need to go to a department store and pick up a few things,” she said. Her plan had been for an overnight stay, not a trip to purgatory. “I only brought an overnight bag.”

“There's a retail galleria at Kingsford,” he said, referring to the resort where they would be staying. “And we can stop by a few stores this afternoon. Rodeo Drive is only a couple of blocks away.”

“Rodeo Drive?” She repeated the name of a place synonymous for luxury shopping and designer clothes that were way beyond her budget.

“Yeah.” He sent a text message to his pilot. “That's where everyone shops.”

Everyone
. She sighed.

She and Carson didn't even live on the same planet.

“I
f you can get an additional hundred thousand, we've got it made!” Nolana cried, practically beside herself. “We won't have to worry about money for a long time.”

Marla stood in the opulent guest room in the Blackwell mansion where she was staying the night. She feigned happiness as she spoke to Nolana on the phone. “Mr. Blackwell thinks some of his friends might be willing to donate to the clinic. We'll see.”

She looked in the mirror over the dresser. Was her nose growing?

She had told so many lies she fully expected to look like Pinocchio at any given moment. Unfortunately, she hadn't known how to explain her sudden trip to Hawaii with Carson except to say it was a business trip where she would have the opportunity to raise funds for the clinic.

What she didn't want to say was that the money was part of a deal she'd made with an ex-lover who needed a female companion for the trip.

“Let the girls know that Doctor Hughes is covering for me for sick patients only. Schedule all the rechecks and physicals for when I get back.” At eighty, Dr. Hughes still practiced but only on a limited basis.

“Sure. I'll take care of everything,” Nolana assured her as their conversation ended. “Have a good time. You haven't had a vacation in ages. You're due one.”

Marla sighed. This trip wasn't going to be about having a good time or picking up where she had left off with a former lover.

She had proved that a couple of hours ago.

In the backseat of Carson's limousine.

The afternoon had been interesting to say the least. He had taken her to the swanky shops along Rodeo Drive in Beverly Hills. She walked into the first elegant store and noticed there were no price tags, which gave a bargain shopper like her a jolt of horror.

She insisted all she needed was a pair of jeans and a casual top for the flight. She would buy additional clothes once she was on the island. Using the search app on her phone, she had found out the city of Lihue had a mall that included a Macy's store as well as other affordable retailers. Affordable being the key word.

Yet once they were in a shop, he purchased three cocktail dresses for her, maintaining she would need them for their dinner engagements. She had no idea what they cost as there was no mention of price. Carson signed for them and the assistant manager, who knew Carson by name, said the dresses would be delivered to his home in an hour.

Marla had sent Kayla a text.

They went to a couple more shops where Carson picked up a couple of things for himself, and he bought her a pair of jeans, a red-and-white striped top, and a lightweight, hooded windbreaker he said she might need due to the rain and cool breeze in the evenings.

After the shopping excursion, they stopped by the hotel where she had a room rented, and she picked up her overnight bag. Although she would have preferred to stay at the hotel, he said that was unnecessary and the trip to the airport in the morning would be quicker without the extra stop.

By the time they finally made it to a restaurant for dinner, she was exhausted and starving. He was, too. Except for small talk, they didn't say much while devouring their food.

It was later, when they had settled themselves in the backseat of a limo, that their conversation took a personal twist. “What a long day. I'm exhausted,” she said.

He tucked his phone inside his jacket. “We'll be home soon.”

His passing comment brought a touch of sorrow to her heart. The two of them would never be
home
. Not together.

She smoothed the hem of her black skirt. “This day hasn't turned out like I thought it would.”

He shifted toward her, and she caught a whiff of the mix of men's colognes she had squirted on him during their short shopping spree. They blended with the scent of the limo's new leather. She was tempted to slide closer to him. Just a few inches. But if she did that, there'd be no going back. She knew herself too well.

She had to return to Lafayette Falls unscathed.

“How did you think the day was going to turn out?” he asked.

“I never thought I'd be leaving for Hawaii tomorrow morning.” She'd never thought she'd have to spend a week in hell to get the money for the clinic.

“Life has its twists.”

She rested her head against the comfortable seat and closed her eyes.
Out of sight. Out of mind
. “Do you think the Crawfords will believe we're a couple?”

“Why wouldn't they?”

“It'll require some acting,” she said. “I did take drama in high school.”

He muttered something she couldn't hear. “What?” she asked.

He stretched out his legs. “We could be a couple for a few days.” He threw that out casually and her eyes flew open.

“That was not part of your offer.”

“No, it wasn't,” he agreed. “And it still isn't.”

She was quiet for a moment. “I'm not that silly girl you met at Royal Oaks.”

“You were never silly.”

“You know what I mean. Young and foolish and irresponsible.”

“What?” He straightened. “We weren't teenagers. It was only a few years ago.”

“Carson, it was a lifetime ago.” Her words came out in a whisper. That was how it felt now. Surreal and hazy. “Things are different now. I'm different.”

He punched a button and a mist of ambient light filled the rear of the limo. He moved to the empty rear-facing seat, parallel to the one where she sat. Sitting directly in front of her, he asked, “What happened to you?”

“Nothing happened to me.” She crossed her legs and her foot rocked. “Time passes. People change. It's an inevitable fact of life.”

He leaned forward and clasped her hands, securing his fingers around her palms. For a moment, she enjoyed the strength of his grasp before she freed her hands.

“Something happened,” he said.

“Nothing happened.”

“You got married and divorced. That's something.”

She stiffened. “How did you know about that?”

A silence followed. He sat back against the seat as the limo snaked through the night traffic. “About three months after I left Royal Oaks, Nana had a stroke.”

Marla nodded and kept her expression neutral. When she was home for Christmas that year, she'd heard that Miss Eva had died in October.

“It was the last week of September when she had the stroke. Her doctor called me and told me he didn't think she'd recover. I returned to Royal Oaks to be with her.”

He stopped and leaned back into the seat, away from the light. “I had decided to drive over to Memphis to see you in a couple of days. Then, the next morning, I was having breakfast and looking through a copy of the Sunday edition of the
Lafayette Falls Daily
. That's when I saw a picture of you in a wedding dress, and below it was the announcement of your marriage to Dr. Ben Archer.”

She remained still and silent. Fate was a strange thing.

He pinned her with a bitter stare. “You can imagine my surprise. It had been barely three months since you were sleeping with me, and now you were married to another guy.”

Her jaw dropped. “It wasn't like that at all,” she retorted.

He looked her in the eye. “Yeah, it was.”

She gulped. There was a minefield ahead and she needed to be careful.

“Okay. Yeah, it was like that,” she agreed readily.

“There you go.”

“If you're thinking that I was in a relationship with Ben when I was sleeping with you, you're wrong,” she said. “I did know Ben. We were close friends and we're still friends. I have known him all my life. We grew up together. His family lived down the road from mine, and we were high school sweethearts. But we weren't a couple when I met you.”

“It didn't take long for that to change,” he pointed out, still sounding irate.

Tense, she remained silent as she contemplated an inventive and veiled response. “Sometimes relationships are complicated.”

He leaned forward. “Our relationship wasn't complicated.”

“True. Sex is not complicated.” She gazed into his blue eyes and she felt another tug. This time it was a tug on her heartstrings. He had no idea just how he had complicated her life.

The limo turned into a driveway, lit by in-ground spotlights. She glanced out the window to see an eight-foot brick-and-mortar wall and a pair of towering wrought iron gates. The limo driver punched in a passcode and the automatic gates started to swing open.

Those dark iron bars sent a shudder through her. Years ago, she had been turned away at those gates. Gates that had made her realize Carson hadn't exactly told her everything when they were at Royal Oaks. He had omitted certain facts such as living in an Italianate mansion, safely ensconced behind walls, gates, and security monitors.

A place where Sophie could be kept from her.

“I'm sorry, but I don't want to pick up where we left off.”

He shrugged as if he could care less. “What's there to pick up?” He pushed open the door to the limo and told her he had some things he had to do before they left in the morning.

They had parted company in the foyer. The housekeeper ushered her into a guest suite where the muted green and ivory décor and the faint fragrance of lavender encouraged calmness. The stylish bedroom had Moorish carpet, Greek urns flanking a faux fireplace, and it was as large as all the bedrooms in her house combined.

Now, Marla stood in the classy room, wishing she could go home.

Home to her family and her little girl.

She gazed at the background picture of Sophie on her smartphone. Her daughter was wearing a pink hat. Sophie would already be in bed now since it was past eleven in Lafayette Falls. Marla sighed. She hadn't been there to tuck her in and kiss her goodnight.

Of course, Sophie was in the best of hands. She was staying with her grandma and grandpa. She'd be spoiled rotten as always. They were leaving tomorrow for her great-aunt Lily's farm in Mississippi. It would be a fun trip for Sophie, who couldn't wait to see the farm animals.

Marla tapped her phone and other photographs appeared. She had dozens of Sophie as well as the rest of her family. And Ben. She looked at a photo of Ben and Sophie taken at Christmas.

Ben was the boy next door. Plain and dependable. They had everything in common. A tear slipped down her cheek. He had been a true friend when she had needed one the most.

He had held her hand and never condemned her when she confessed to making a stupid mistake. He had never asked what happened or who the baby's father was. Instead, he had said he loved her and her baby would be his baby.

When they were exchanging vows in the church, she had been happy when he slid the ring on her finger. She was certain she was marrying the right man, and they would always be together. They would grow old together.

But that was not to be.

It had been a glorious summer day when it ended. A day of warm breezes and bright sunshine. Not the kind of day when a marriage dies.

She sat at a picnic table, and Sophie played on the swing set in the shade. She watched as Ben walked toward them. His shoulders slumped, and the sorrow in his face reached the depths of his soul. For the past month, she had tried so hard to comfort him.

They had been through such a terrible ordeal. Ben had been in practice with another orthopedic specialist in Nashville for a few months. A new doctor, Ben was eager to be associated with an established physician, but he hadn't known his partner was illegally taking and dispensing drugs as well as committing insurance fraud. A raid by the DEA had shut down their clinic, and Ben's medical license had been temporarily suspended pending a full investigation. His career was in shambles.

“I just talked to Doctor Hughes,” she told Ben as he took a seat at the picnic table. “He said we can both work at his clinic until you get your license back. He said he would help you open up a new practice and he wants me to take over the clinic.”

She reached for Ben's hand. “Let's go home. Let's go back to Lafayette Falls and put all this behind us.”

For a long time, he said nothing. “Marla,” he spoke in that gentle voice you use when you're about to deliver bad news to a patient.

“It's okay,” she whispered as a lump formed in her throat.

“I can't go back to Lafayette Falls,” he said. “I can't be with you any longer.”

“I know.” Tears filled her eyes. She knew he had married her hoping she would fall in love with him. Instead, he had fallen out of love with her. She had known that for a while now.

“I have to go somewhere new. I have to start my life over. I'm dying inside.”

“I want you to be happy.” She gripped his hand. “Whatever that takes.”

“Don't think I'm cutting you and Sophie out of my life. I'll always be your friend and her father.”

Now, it was two years later, and Ben had stayed true to his word. He was a somewhat distant father figure now since he had moved to Seattle, but he was never more than a phone call away. He and Sophie did video chats every week, and he always came to see her on the holidays.

Marla toyed with the phone for a moment. Then she tapped Ben's name and his phone rang.

“Doctor Archer,” he answered.

“Hi, Ben,” she managed to get out.

“Marla? Hi. What's going on?”

When she didn't answer right away, he asked, “Is it Sophie? Is she all right?”