Tread Softly (22 page)

"Thank
you, Stacy." Cady smiled at the woman through a mist. She had believed
what Bruno had said about Rafe, and she had called Rafe a liar, but Rafe hadn't
been lying to her. "And, Stacy, thanks for the little book. If I can, I'm
going to ruin Bruno Trabold." She gave the other woman a grim smile. Stacy
lifted her water glass. "To justice."

CHAPTER
NINE

Cady
called Dr. Kellman and asked him to recommend a good obstetrician. Her regular
gynecologist no longer took obstetrical cases. When she met Dr. Green, she was
a little taken aback by his youthful appearance, but within minutes they had
established good rapport.

Cady went home
overflowing with goodwill, her purse stuffed with vitamins, her mind's eye already
picturing a dark-haired boy with deep blue eyes.

The
phone was ringing as she passed the study. Her head was in the clouds when she
answered.

"You
sound pretty chipper today. Have you got what we want?" Todd's voice
brought her back to earth with a crash.

"I
told you Rafe won't be stampeded." Cady couldn't keep her voice from
shaking.

"No
more stalling, Cady. I'll call you back tonight and I'll want a firm answer
about when your husband will begin blocking the environmental bill and
cooperate on a few other matters." All at once there was harsh amusement
in his voice. "Look in your mailbox, Cady. There's a package for
you."

Cady
didn't want to open the package, but she did. There were more pictures of her,
making her gag. She opened the file drawer and pushed them in with the others.

That
night at dinner Rafe seemed content to sit with her over coffee. Cady felt
flustered by his presence. She needed time to think.

"I'll have
my coffee in the library," she said, rising.

"All
right. I'll join you." Rafe smiled, then reached for the silver tray.

"There's no
need for you to bother," Cady said quickly. Her plan to speak to Trock was
rapidly becoming impossible to execute. If he came to the library while Rafe was
there, she would just have to put off the man.

"It's
no bother." Rafe gestured to her to precede him as he easily held the
heavy silver tray.

Cady settled down in one of the overstuffed leather chairs
that stood at right angles to the fireplace, watching as Rafe set the tray on
the small table between them.

They
sat in silence while Cady poured, then handed a cup to Rafe. Still they didn't
speak. Cady tried taking deep breaths to calm herself. She took a relieved
breath when Rafe set down his cup and went to kneel in front of the fireplace,
jabbing at a smoldering log with the poker to coax it to flame.

When
the door to the library opened and Trock entered, Cady knew at once that he
wasn't aware of Rafe's presence in the room, even though Graf bounded forward
to nuzzle his master.

"Mrs.
Densmore, I have the pictures with me and I was able to get the recorder
from..." He paused, staring at Cady's frozen face.

When
Rafe rose to his feet, frowning, Trock took a step backward as though he would
retreat. "Trock, come here," Rafe rasped out. "What are you
talking about?"

Trock swallowed
but said nothing.

Cady stared at
Rafe, seeing her whole life sweep down the sewer that Bruno and Todd had
created. "He won't answer you because I told him not to discuss this with
you." She cleared her throat, her eyes heavy as she focused on her
husband.

"Why
did you tell him that?" Rafe's voice was gentle, but his eyes had a
sapphire glitter.

"Because
I'm being blackmailed." Cady coughed the words from her constricted
throat.

Rafe
let out a deep breath. "So that's it." He turned to Trock. "Come
in and close the door." He put out his hand for the things Trock carried.

For a moment it
looked as though the taciturn man would resist; then, at a nod from Cady, he
relinquished his package.

There was dead
silence while Rafe scanned the contents, then walked to the portable tape
recorder, snapped in the cassette, and switched the machine on.

Bruno's
and Todd's voices were quite clear. Though their words were terse, the meaning
was obvious. At the end of the tape, Rafe stared at Trock, then at Cady, his
hand fondling the Doberman's head. The pit bull terrier lay quietly at Cady's
feet, watching. "I'm not as surprised as you might think, Cady. I've been
suspicious of Bruno for quite some time now," he said. Rafe spoke in a
relaxed way. He leaned down and took a pencil-slim cheroot from a silver box on
the table, then asked Trock if he would like some coffee. The man shook his
head.

"There
were pictures." Cady bit her lip. "They were going to use them to
make me force you to help destroy the environmental bill and other bills that
didn't suit them." Her voice had a grainy sound.

"They?"
Rafe looked at her through the curl of smoke.

"Bruno...
Todd Leacock... I suppose Greeley She sipped the scalding coffee, ignoring the
way it burned her throat.

Rafe
rolled the cigar between his fingers, then looked at Trock. "Continue what
you're doing, but now report back to me as well as to my wife." The man
nodded once and left. Rafe tapped the ash from his cheroot. "I take it
that the pictures were bad." He sat down facing her again.

"Horrible" Cady choked. ""More came
today." She set the cup onto the saucer with a clatter.

Rafe stared at
her for long moments. "Get them."

"No."

"Cady, get
the pictures."

Feeling
catatonic, she rose, went to the file cabinet, unlocked it, took out the two
boxes, and held them in her hands. She stared at them, knowing her life was
over, that she would go on breathing but she would really be dead.

Rafe was there to lead her back to her chair and push her
gently down into it, then remove the boxes from her grasp. He opened them,
perused the pictures in both boxes slowly, then replaced the tops and put the
boxes on the floor at his feet.

Cady
kept her eyes on his face, even though she knew her own was bright red and her
insides on fire.

Rafe
looked up at her. "That woman has a rather good body, but it isn't quite
as good as yours. The photographer should have been more thorough and gotten a
woman with a crescent mole under her left nipple." Rafe still looked at
her. The muscle under his eye jumped once.

Hope blossomed in Cady. "Rob said I should wait to
tell you, that maybe we could take care of it without upsetting you with this
whole sordid business."

"You
told him? You showed him these pictures?" Rafe's features seemed set in
concrete.

Cady felt his anger radiate around the room. "Yes. I
called him... because... because I was afraid." How could she tell Rafe of
her paralyzing fear of losing him?

"Isn't
that what a husband is for?" Rafe spat out the words as though they were
poison in his mouth.

"Yes."
Misery coursed through Cady.

Rafe
took a deep breath. "I'm going to kill Bruno and that Leacock for putting
you through this." His voice was so matter-of-fact that Cady was sure she
must have misheard him.

Before she could
reply, the buzzer on the phone sounded twice, signaling that the call was for
her. She lifted the receiver and Rob spoke to her. "Rob, listen"—
Cady gulped a breath—"I just talked to Rafe. He knows all about it." Cady
looked at her husband as he gestured that he wanted the phone. "Just a
moment, Rob."

Cady listened
through a fog as the men talked. She was aware that Rafe was talking to Rob
about the necessity of getting information on Bruno. All at once she remembered
what Stacy had given her at lunch the day they met. She looked at Rafe, then
rose to her feet and went to the filing cabinet, knowing that his eyes were on
her every moment. She held the envelope on her lap until Rafe had replaced the
receiver, then she handed it to him in silence.

He
opened the manila package, lifted the thin pile of papers, and began reading.

Cady watched,
agonized, as his color fluctuated from pale gray to brick red. When he
finished, his clenching hands threatened to destroy the papers altogether. Cady
bit her lip, not interfering.

All
at once Rafe seemed to realize what he was doing. His long fingers pressed the
papers smooth. "Well, Cady, I guess you've realized what a fool your
husband was... is. You said you wouldn't get rid of me until I was three kinds
of a jackass. I guess now is the time."

"Are
you going to divorce me because of the pictures? They could ruin your
career," Cady ventured, feeling shy with him.

"God,
no, I'm not going to allow you even to be touched by them. They couldn't wreck
my career, Cady. I intend to bring this out in the open and expose Greeley and
Trabold and that sleazy louse Leacock. You have nothing to be ashamed of, my
love," Rafe said, his face a mask of anger. "No one is going to get
away with intimidating you. I promise you that."

"Rafe—" Before she could speak, the phone rang
again. This time it was for Rafe.

Cady
had the feeling he would be on the phone a long time. Feeling tired and wrung
out, she mouthed to Rafe that she was going to bed.

She
didn't even bother to shower, settling for a sponge bath and then falling into
a druglike sleep.

The
next day she struggled awake as though she were fighting her way through miles of
black velvet. Her eyes seemed to be glued shut.

"Open
your eyes, darling," Rafe whispered. "I have juice for you. Ice-cold
orange juice, just the way you like it."

Cady
unstuck her eyes, feeling her stomach rise into her throat as Rafe sat down on
the edge of the bed and proffered the glass. "Take it away," she said
faintly, locking her mouth as she began to gag. "Ohhhh, Rafe, move."

Rafe
stared at her as she tried to push him away. Then he placed the glass on the
table and swung her out of the bed in one motion, striding to the bathroom as
he wrapped her in a robe.

"Put me
down. I'm sick," Cady groaned.

"There
you are, sweetheart," Rafe crooned, holding her head as she retched.

When
she was finished, Rafe stripped off the sweat-soaked robe he had wrapped her in
and set her gently in the tub, cushioning her head on the bath pillow, then
slipping in beside her to hold her while the rub filled with warm water.

"Were
you going to tell me you were pregnant soon, or were you just going to wait and
let me notice your figure rounding out?" He smiled down at her. wiping her
face with a soft cloth.

"I
feel green," Cady moaned, weak and grateful for the muscular body
supporting hers. "How did you get out of your clothes so fast?" she
asked dully.

"Practice,"
Rafe soothed, washing her body, his touch gentle.

"Thank
you." Cady spoke into his neck.

"For what,
love?" Rafe's lips feathered her cheek.

"For taking
care of me."

"That's
my primary mission in life. Didn't you know that?"

"Nice," Cady muttered as he lifted her, dried
her, then carried her back to bed. "I can get up now, Rafe. Really. I'll
get dressed and eat breakfast with you."

"No."
He left the room in a run.

Before
Cady could feel too sorry for herself for being abandoned, Rafe was back, a bed
tray in his hands. He grinned at her. Right behind him came Mrs. Lacey with a
teapot and a platter of toasted muffins on a tray, and a large jug of orange
juice. "I can't eat all that." Cady stared at the tray Rafe set
across her lap.

Then Mrs. Lacey
brought a table close to the bed and set her things on that. "You mustn't
mind the morning sickness, ma'am. It will soon pass." She smiled at them,
then closed the door behind her.

Rafe
removed his robe and slipped into bed beside her. "You're not going to eat
it all. Some of it's for me, love." He kissed her nose, then poured her
some fresh juice.

"What
about the glass there?" Cady pointed to the juice Rafe had placed on the
bedside table when he had taken Cady to the bathroom.