Undercover Virgin (21 page)

"Yes, but we've been apart a long time." She nervously twisted a dishcloth in her hands. "I thought you might have someone else in your life now."

"There's no one else in my life or my bed, if that's what you really want to know. I'm not that superficial, and we have unfinished business between us."

Relief rushed through Rianna. She'd secretly feared he would tell her he wasn't interested anymore.

"We need privacy and some uninterrupted time to work things out. I just want to keep our relationship totally separate from all the ugliness of the trial. Does that make any sense?"

She watched some of the tension drain from Kyle. He nodded in acceptance. "We've waited a long time to put an end to Haroldson's reign of terror. It'll be over soon, and then we can discuss the future."

Neither his expression nor his tone gave her a hint at what he was feeling, but she was content to know he didn't plan to disappear once Haroldson had been convicted.

"Sullivan says we can get you out of the courtroom as soon as you're done testifying."

"No." She shook her head. "I don't want to miss any of it. I need to hear what the other witnesses have to say."

"You can always read the court transcripts. I'm not sure it's safe for you to be there unless you're testifying."

"What can possibly go wrong in a federal courthouse?" she asked. "I know you and Donald are doing everything humanly possible to keep it safe, and I can't think of anyone I'd rather have on my side. I'm not afraid." Her tone was more dismissive than she intended.

"Good." Kyle studied her for another long moment and then turned to go. "I'll see you in court."

It was hard to watch him leave, but Rianna knew it was for the best. At least, for now.

* * *

Kyle's skin crawled the next day as the judge pounded the gavel on his bench and started the proceedings. He had that prickly feeling he always got when something was dangerously wrong. Adrenaline surged through him as he scoured the courtroom for anything or anyone that seemed out of place.

He hadn't slept much last night. Seeing Rianna, yet not being able to touch her had kept him too keyed up to rest. She hadn't given him much of a clue about her feelings, but at least she hadn't sent him packing. That meant there was hope. He just had to be patient until this damnable trial was over.

Most of the faces in the courtroom were the same as yesterday with a few variations of paparazzi. He knew Sullivan had checked and rechecked every person, but he couldn't shake the feeling that something sinister was present today.

Rianna took the stand again in the morning session for the cross-examination. Today, she wore a simple black dress that made her look cool and elegant. Coupled with the blond hair, she looked fragile, yet she continued to impress him and everyone else with her professionalism.

Haroldson's high-priced legal team was good, but they couldn't shake her unfaltering conviction that he was guilty on all charges. The only time her control wavered was when the lead defense attorney, Robert Fenton, started to badger her about her family.

"You were very young when your father worked for Mr. Haroldson, isn't that correct?"

"I was ten when my dad went to work for Haroldson, and he worked for him nearly two years."

Fenton, a distinguished, silver-haired man of sixty, continued in a pleasant,
noncombative
tone. "How would you describe your life during those two years? Pleasant? Your family prosperous?"

A small frown creased Rianna's brow. Kyle knew she was wondering where the questioning might lead. So was everyone else in the courtroom.

"I'm not sure what you mean," she replied. "I always thought we were a normal family. My father went to work on weekdays. My mother worked part-time at a grocery store. My brother and I went to school."

"Would you say that your quality of life continually improved while your father was in Mr. Haroldson's employ?"

"Improved how?" asked Rianna.

"Isn't it true that you moved into a nice new home, that your dad bought a new car, you got to buy a lot of pretty new clothes, and your family was generally more prosperous?"

"I think my dad was pleased with his salary, if that's what you mean."

"What I mean is that your dad was spending more money than could be justified by his salary," said Fenton.

The AUSA protested. "Objection, Your Honor. I don't see the relevance."

The judge looked pointedly at Fenton.

"We intend to prove that Ms. Sullivan's testimony is tainted by her personal vendetta against my client."

"That's a lie!" insisted Rianna.

Fenton didn't hesitate, but turned his attention to the jurors. "In order to defend my client. I have to prove that Ms. Sullivan's testimony is prejudiced. My client terminated her father's employment rather than file criminal charges against him, but she was too young to understand."

"Objection,
Your
Honor!" said the AUSA. "Mr. Winthrop is not on trial here."

"That's a twisted pack of lies." Rianna's heated accusation had the courtroom stirring with whispers and the judge pounding his gavel for quiet.

Kyle wanted to rip Fenton's throat out for deliberately baiting Rianna, jabbing at her tender recollections of her family, and attacking her where she was most vulnerable. He didn't like seeing her upset, and he wanted to strangle the arrogant defense lawyer. He willed her strength, and noticed that her spine stiffened and her chin hiked higher.

The ploy to rattle her backfired. When he glanced at the jury, he noticed that most of the jurors were glaring angrily at Fenton. Chalk one up for the good guys. If the legal eagles were smart, they'd get her off the stand instead of trying to discredit her.

Fenton and the AUSA spent a minute arguing with the judge, but then Fenton was allowed to continue.

He spoke directly to the jurors, his tone sympathetic. "Ms. Sullivan was only a youngster at the time. She can't be faulted for seeing Mr. Haroldson as the villain."

"The authorities brought charges against him," Rianna interjected in a tight voice.

Fenton turned back to her. "They were dropped as soon as another employee confessed."

"
Which would have cleared my father, as well.
"

"We have no way of proving his innocence. This court, on the other hand, has the trusted word of an honorable man and a highly respected citizen."

Kyle glanced at Haroldson. His demeanor throughout the trial had remained cool and confident, but his eyes narrowed slightly when Rianna turned to stare at him. It was the first time she'd made eye contact with anyone other than the attorneys, so all eyes were on her. No man is his right mind could misunderstand the warning glint. She was getting more furious by the minute, so much so that Haroldson actually frowned.

"I wouldn't rely too heavily on your client's honor," she insisted, her voice holding a veiled threat. "There was more than financial misconduct that sent my dad to the authorities."

"Don't believe a word she says!" shouted Haroldson. He shocked the courtroom by jumping to his feet and waving a threatening hand toward Rianna. "She'll do or say anything to protect her father's name."

The judge pounded his gavel again, quieting the stir of sensation caused by the unexpected outburst. Fenton moved swiftly to his client's side and urged him to sit down. They exchanged fierce whispers, and Fenton requested an extra few minutes to confer with his client.

Kyle had never seen Haroldson sweat, but he was sweating now. His expression was tight, his demeanor visibly agitated as he exchanged heated whispers with his attorney.

What did Rianna know that could shatter his smooth, practiced calm? It had to be something deeply personal, something that would permanently mar his public image,
something
that Haroldson feared even worse than the criminal charges against him.

While the defense team huddled around their client, Kyle took another slow look around the courtroom. The faces were mostly the same as yesterday, with a couple of exceptions. Sullivan had identified one of the new faces as Haroldson's sister. She sat on the defense side of the aisle. He knew she'd been subpoenaed to testify.

Another unfamiliar face was that of a tabloid editor from
France
. He was seated a couple of rows behind the defense table. As Kyle watched, the pale, thin man took a camera out of his case and began fiddling with the dials on it.

Something about the way the man handled the camera made Kyle tense. He watched as a small zoom lens began to protrude from the casing. The shape reminded him too much of a gun barrel.

At first, the editor had the lens pointed straight at Haroldson, but then he slowly angled it above his head and directed it toward the witness seat. All the fine hairs on Kyle's body stood on end.

Everything seemed to move in slow motion after that. Fenton declared his cross-examination finished, shocking everyone in the courtroom. The judge excused Rianna, but she was still bent on vengeance.

"What's the matter, Gregory?" she taunted. "Are you afraid I might mention the main reason my dad left your employ? That he caught you trying to molest his daughter?"

"You lying bitch!" Haroldson yelled, charging to his feet again.

Kyle watched in shock as Haroldson's head seemed to explode and his body crumpled.

"Dive!" he shouted, leaping to his feet and over the railing. He saw a second bullet shatter the wood of the witness seat, missing Rianna's head by inches as she dropped to the floor. Panic that he couldn't reach her in time had his heart pounding riotously.

All hell broke loose as he dove to cover her body with his own. He draped his arms over her head and buried his face in her hair, shielding her as much as possible as he dragged her under the prosecution table.

The courtroom erupted into pandemonium. Screams split the air along with loud shouts and a roar of mass confusion. Bodies were thudding against bodies in the rush to get out of the way. Kyle knew the guards at the door would be no match for the stampeding mob.

People fell to the floor all around them, some crouching under the same table. He stayed put, reassured by the feel of Rianna beneath him. Her heart pounded against his, the warmth of her permeating his clothes.

"Clear the room, but nobody leaves the building!" Sullivan's voice rose above the din. "I want all exits locked and guarded. Find a short bald guy with a dark gray suit."

Good, thought Kyle. They had an ID on the shooter. He'd made his getaway, but he'd never get out of the building. Sullivan's team had planned for every eventuality, and men were posted throughout the courthouse.

"Get the paramedics in here, and a forensic team." Sullivan continued to issue orders, and they could hear men scrambling to obey them.

Kyle listened, his heart racing, his body folded around Rianna's, until some sounds of normalcy returned. He didn't start to relax until the AUSA and his assistant rose from the floor. Once the room had been cleared, he finally moved his arms and spoke softly to Rianna.

"You okay?"

Her voice came in a puff of breathlessness. "You're squishing me."

Relief rolled over him like an avalanche, making his limbs tremble. Her gentle complaint was music to his ears. He propped his weight on his forearms, and slid lower until they were face to face, nose to nose. Then he just stared at her for a minute, savoring every feature.

"Sorry." He hadn't meant to crush her.

"No," Rianna said swiftly. She wiggled until she freed her hands, and brought them up to his face. "No, I'm the one who's sorry," she whispered, her heart in her eyes. "I'm so sorry I dragged you into this ugly mess."

Her touch sent heat coursing through him. Her words brought an ache to his chest. She shouldn't be apologizing for circumstances she had no way of controlling.

Right now there were more important personal things to deal with. He had so much emotion to express. There was so much to say, there were so many things crowding his mind. Things he should have said, but hadn't. Important things, life-altering things, all cluttering his thinking, quivering through his limbs and clogging his throat.

"I love you" was the only part of the turmoil he could verbalize.

He watched her beautiful eyes fill with tears, but the moisture didn't blur the love shining through. He felt it to the depth of his soul. Her response was little more than a whisper.

"I love you more."

"Impossible," he insisted huskily. "Kiss me." He needed the contact, the reassurance and the intimacy.

Their mouths met in a slow, sweet coupling that expressed hearts full of yearning. Kyle didn't want it to end. He wanted to keep her locked to him for all time, to feel her warmth and femininity, her generous heart beating against his own.

But they were rudely interrupted. "Hey, you two okay?"

They broke off the kiss and turned toward the voice. Sullivan had crouched beside the table. His grim expression softened a little when he saw them.

"We're fine." Rianna's reply was soft but sure.

Kyle cleared his throat. "I guess it's safe to surface?"