President's Girlfriend 07 - What He Did for Love (23 page)

Dutch sat there with that silent broodiness overtaking him.  Who was he to condemn any man?  But that damn Crader!  Always hurting this wonderful person!

“No, Loretta,” he said.  “It’s not wrong for you to feel that way.  Crader should not have hired her.”

“I thought this kind of drama was behind us.  I guess that’s why it hurt so much.  After he had it out with Christian, and we worked through that, I honestly thought all of this kind of drama was over.”

“It’s never over, my dear,” Dutch made clear.  “With a man like Crader, with a man like me, it’s never completely over.”

LaLa didn’t want to hear that.  It all seemed so hopeless.

“What am I going to do, Dutch?”

“You’re going to have to decide if Crader is worth it.”

LaLa hesitated.  “Is he?”

Dutch thought about it.  “Unfortunately, yes,” he said.

LaLa looked at him. 

“I say unfortunately,” he went on, “because it leaves you in a tough spot.”

“So you’re saying I shouldn’t leave him?”

“I can never tell you that.  Whether or not you leave your husband is something only you can decide to do.”

There was a long pause after that.  Then LaLa looked at Dutch.  “Can I ask you something personal?” she asked him.

Dutch smiled.  Everybody always wanted to go there.  “You can ask,” he said.

“If Gina had the kind of issues Crader has, would you still stay with her?”

“Gina wouldn’t have those kind of issues.”

“I know she wouldn’t.  But if she did would you leave her?”

The idea of leaving Gina caused Dutch discomfort just thinking about it.  “No,” he admitted.

“Why?  Because you love her?  Is that enough?”

“Because she’s Gina.”

“So I should stay with Crader because he’s Crader?”

“If you decided to stay with him, I would think that should be the reason.  Because he’s Crader.  The good, the bad, the ugly.  It’s all Crader.  I make no excuses for him, and he doesn’t deserve you, La.  He doesn’t.  And if you divorce him you will be doing yourself a favor in the short run.”

“But what about the long run?”

Dutch paused.  “I’m not so sure,” he admitted.

“But you’re not positive he’ll change?”

“No.  Not even Crader’s positive, La.  It’s a crapshoot staying with Crader.  That’s the truth of it.  And I hate that he’s put you in this position.  But he has,
got
dammit.  He has.”

Tears appeared in LaLa’s eyes.  Dutch’s heart dropped and he moved to her.  She lifted up and the covers dropped along her waist.  Dutch pulled her in his arms.

The next day, Crader entered the Oval Office with the feeling that he was entering a firing squad.  Dutch had summoned him.  He didn’t even have to ask what about.

“Good morning,” he said as he entered.

Dutch was seated behind his desk.  Little Walt was seated on the sofa playing with his toys.

“Hey, buddy!” Crader said as he walked by.

“Hey, Uncle Crader.  Mommy with you?”

Crader smiled.  “No, she’s not with me,” he said.  “What are you doing?”

“Playing with my toys.”

“Having fun for me too?”

Little Walt had to think about that.  “I don’t think so,” he said.

Crader laughed and walked around the desk to stand beside Dutch’s chair.  Dutch leaned back.

“Why do I feel like I’ve been summoned to the principal’s office?”

Dutch didn’t smile.  He remembered LaLa’s pain too vividly.  “I was with your wife last night,” he said.

“If those words would have been spoken by any other man on the face of this earth, I would have had a problem.”

“What’s your problem, Crader?”

“I didn’t think I had a problem.”

Dutch didn’t dignify that answer with a response.

Crader folded his arms.  “It’s old news, Dutch.  It happened before we were even married.  I wasn’t thinking about that woman.”

“Then why did you hire her?”

Crader said nothing.

“Is it because she’s a
just in case
?”

“You know me better than that.”

“I thought I did.”

“Okay.  Two can play this game,” Crader said and unfolded his arms.  “Why did you hire Lee Perry?  You and her had. . .”  He glanced at Little Walt.  “You’ve been intimate with her before.  But you hired her at Harber Industries.”

Dutch looked at him.  “Are you serious?  You truly see an equivalency here?”

“You had her before, and she works for you.”

“I hired her years before Gina was even my girlfriend.  Gina wasn’t on the radar screen when Lenora Perry started working for me.  What are you talking about?”

“Did you tell Gina about your past with the gorgeous Miss Perry?”

“Yes, I did.”

Crader was surprised by that.  “You told her?”

“Yes, I told her.  Why you didn’t tell Loretta about Shannon is a mystery to me.  She’s not stupid.  She’ll get it.  She knew you were a dog in heat day and night even when you were engaged to be married.  She gets it.  And she would have forgiven you and moved on.  But you had to hire your piece on the side.”

“Now wait a minute!”

“Who went to the press with this information?” Dutch asked him.

“Shan declares it wasn’t her.  So I don’t know.”

It was her, Dutch thought.

“What difference does it make anyway?  What can I do about it now?”

“Get rid of Shannon.”

Crader looked at Dutch.  “Fire her?”

“Accept her resignation.  Immediately.  Make a statement to the press denying the allegations and then let her make a statement herself saying she doesn’t want to be a distraction to the great work you’re doing, or something like that, and she therefore wishes to resign.  And then give your wife some time and space to think about her marriage and to reach her own conclusions.  You owe her that much.”

Crader looked at Dutch.  “She really respects your opinion, Dutch.  You didn’t tell her to leave me.  Did you?”

“I should have.”  Then Dutch hesitated.  “But I didn’t.”

Crader was relieved.  Still concerned, but relieved.  And then he left to take care of his clumsy problem.

When he left, Dutch stared at his son playing so blissfully without a care in this world.  And then he thought about his child’s mother. 

He picked up his cell phone from his desk, and called her.

“Hey,” she said when she picked up her phone and answered it.  She was in the backseat of an SUV on her way to BBR.  “What’s up?”

“I was thinking about you.”

“That sounds lovely.  How’s our baby boy?”

“Sitting right here in the Oval Office with me.”

“Oh, Dutch, you could have let the Nanny do her job.  You’re so busy.”

“Don’t worry.  I’m keeping my eyes on him.”

Gina smiled.  “Make sure that you do.  I don’t care if some great world leader is in your office with you, don’t forget my baby.”

“He’s my baby too, you know.”

“I’ll give you about a twenty percent share.”

Dutch laughed.  “So,” he said, thinking about that luscious body of hers, “how did you rest last night?”

“Good actually.  I phoned but I didn’t get an answer.  I assumed you were in meetings.”

“I was.  And then LaLa and I had a long conversation.”

“LaLa?”

“Yup.  She spent the night in the Residence.”

Gina frowned.  “Why?  What happened?  What has Crader done this time?”

“He was given a head’s up about a story coming out in today’s paper about him and his chief of staff.”

“His chief of staff?  Shannon Corcoran?”

“Yes.”

“What about him and Shannon?”

“An affair.”

“Oh, no, Dutch, not another one!  Is it true?”

“No.  But they had something going on in the past.”

“Before he met LaLa surely?”

“After,” Dutch said.  “But before they married.”

“But didn’t he just hire her as his chief of staff?”

“Yes.  That’s the part Loretta can’t abide.”

“What woman would?”  Then Gina shook her head.  “What is wrong with that man?  He always finds a way to hurt La.  Poor girl.  I’d better call her.”

“She can certainly use you right now.”

“I’m glad you were there for her.”

“I heard noise in the guest room.  When I went in, I found her curled up in the shower stall naked and crying her eyes out.   All I could think to do was pull her in my arms.”

“Oh, Dutch.  I can just kick Crader’s ass!”

“Enough about Crader!” Dutch admonished.  “I want to hear about you.  How’s it going with you?”

“It’s going good.  I’m getting a lot of work done.  Thanks for letting me come.”

“The house still standing?  You seemed so worried about it.”

Gina smiled. “Very funny.  It’s still standing, Dutch.”

“So where are you?  In your office?”

Gina dreaded this part of the conversation.  “I’m on my way there now,” she said and cringed.

“On your way there?  On your way where?”

“On my way to my office,” Gina said.  “At BBR.”  She said this and waited for the outburst.

And it came.

Dutch lurched from his seat.  Little Walt looked at him.  “BBR?” he asked.  “Gina, didn’t I tell you to stay at the estate?  Didn’t I tell you not to go anywhere near that office while I was out of town?”

“I know what you told me.  But I don’t want to have meetings at our home.”

“Why the hell not?”

Gina hesitated.  She remembered Roman putting his hands on her, and how, initially, she allowed it.  “Because I don’t want to mix our private life with work anymore.  I’m taking care of BBR business and I prefer to take care of it at BBR.”

Dutch wanted to argue with her.  But something within him heard her.  He heard the words she was not saying.  Gina wouldn’t willfully disobey him unless she felt cornered, and had no other viable choice.

He sat back down.  “Just be careful, Gina,” he said to her.

“You know I will.”

“I miss you.”

Gina smiled.  “I miss you, too.  In every way.”

Dutch smiled.  “I have a kid staring at me so cool it.”

Gina laughed.  “Tell Walter Harber, Junior, I’ll call him later.”

Dutch looked at Walt.  “Mommy will call you later, okay?”

“Okay,” Little Walt said, and then went back to his play.

“Goodbye, babe,” Dutch said.

“’Bye, babe.”

When Dutch hung up with Gina, he immediately phoned Ralph Shaheen, the head of the Secret Service.

“How many people met with my wife at our home yesterday?”

“Eight people in total,” Ralph replied.

“They stayed into the night?”

Ralph looked at his computerized information.  “Negative,” he said.  “Everybody left before dark.  Only Mr. Wilkes remained after dark.”

Dutch’s heart began to pound.  “How long after?”

“He left the home at exactly eleven forty nine p.m.”

Dutch swallowed hard.  “Thank-you, Ralph,” he said.  Then he added: “The next time your agents allow my wife to leave home and I’m not notified of this change in plans, you will be fired.  Do I make myself clear, Ralph?”

There was a pause.  “Yes, sir.”

And Dutch hung up the phone.  He was certain that Roman Wilkes made a play for Gina.  And because Gina was so insistent on not having any more meetings at the house, she apparently had to resist his play for her.  And she did resist, Dutch would stake his life on that assertion.  But just how badly she felt about that resistance was what concerned Dutch.

His concern, however, was interrupted, when he received word that Marcus Rance was in the building.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Dutch sat quietly in the soundproofed, underground bunker and watched Marcus Rance squirm in his seat.  For nearly half an hour he just sat there, legs crossed, and watched his wife’s disgraced half-brother sit there like a defeated man too arrogant and full of himself to admit defeat.

But it didn’t matter to Dutch.  He had asked him a question and he wasn’t going anywhere until he received an answer.

Marcus took another drag on the cigarette he had been given.  He wasn’t smoking for the hell of it.  He was smoking to avoid shaking. 

“You’re killing me here, Dutch,” he said to his brother-in-law.

“Who bankrolled you?” Dutch asked again.

“Nobody bankrolled me, okay?  I bankrolled myself.”

Dutch stood up.  Enough was enough.  He began to remove his suit coat.  Marcus looked up, as his heart began to pound.  Dutch wore stylish suspenders on top of his expensive dress shirt, but Marcus knew that sonafabitch.  He was not fooled by his professorial look.  Dutch Harber was a hard, cold, calculating man.  And Marcus knew, when he was captured in South America and clandestinely returned to the U.S., that he was in mortal danger.

And now Dutch was removing his suit and tie, and rolling up his sleeves.  Marcus stood up.  Dutch’s private security personnel moved to his side.

“What?” Marcus asked.  “I’m not going to be allowed to defend myself?  Is this how it works, Dutch?  They hold me down while you beat my ass?”

“On the contrary, Marcus.  I have no intentions of letting anyone hold you down.  And yes, I intend to beat your ass.”  He looked at his security.  “Step outside,” he ordered.

The team did as they were told.  They joined Secret Service agents who had been ordered to remain outside.  They had contacted their boss, Ralph Shaheen.  Ralph had told them to obey the president.

Marcus dropped his cigarette on the floor and stomped it out.  He remained looking down as Dutch approached him.  But that was his game plan.  The only chance of any survival he had was to beat Dutch Harber so decisively that Dutch’s shame and respect for a superior opponent might just be enough to spring him.  He knew he was grappling at straws.  He was unlikely to leave this room alive.  But ever since his capture, straws were all he had.

That was why, when Dutch was within swinging distance, Marcus looked up and attempted to cold cock Dutch Harber.  Dutch, however, blocked that punch and gave one of his own.  Only his punch knocked Marcus to the floor.  Dutch then grabbed him, slammed him against the wall, and asked him again.