“Maybe he’ll come up with something on you,” Zach suggested.
“Impossible. I’m as innocent as a babe.”
“Tell Laura Winston that.”
“I don’t think I’m going to be able to tell Laura Winston anything,” Michael said, as the building shuddered from a bulldozer’s too-near pass. “Not for a while.”
“Whatever you say. When’s the wedding? Connie will want to help.”
“God only knows,” Michael said, staring out the coffee-splattered window. “I haven’t even asked the lady yet. She might hand me my head on a platter.”
“Marita strikes me as an intelligent human being.”
“She does, doesn’t she?” Michael murmured, deliberately noncommittal.
“Let me know.”
“You’ll be the first, Zach. Thanks for the papers.”
Zach grinned. “Use them wisely.”
“Let’s just hope I get to use them fast.”
The second set of instructions was awaiting Laura when she finally turned up at Glass Faces three hours later. She’d had too much champagne with her mother, her body felt worn out and tingly in places she didn’t even want to think about, and she couldn’t rid herself of the totally unfamiliar urge to burst into tears. For the first time she really understood what Susan had been going through over Frank, and had every expectation of their crying on each other’s shoulders when she finally showed up at the office.
Susan sat behind the desk, a beatific glow on her face that caused Laura’s throat to tighten up once more. The smile she flashed at Laura was brilliant, mocking the stern words.
“Where have you been all day? You wouldn’t answer your phone all morning, and when I finally went down to try to find you, you were gone.”
“I slept late,” she said, dropping into the chair and rubbing her head. “Do you have anything for a headache?”
“Looks like your plans worked out just fine,” Susan said, casting a critical eye over her. “Where’s Carnaby?”
“I expect he’s back in Kansas by now.”
“Did he take the Wicked Witch of the East with him?”
“You don’t mean Marita?”
“I don’t like her.”
“She’s going to be bringing in the money to pay your salary,” Laura pointed out.
“Maybe I could live with a pay cut. So it wasn’t over the rainbow, after all?”
“Maybe I’m not as dumb as I look. I didn’t go to bed with him, you’ll be pleased to know.”
“Then who did you go to bed with?”
“Who says I went to bed with anybody?” She tried for a casual laugh, but it came out as a defensive growl. “God, I can never fool you.”
“Why should you want to?”
“I’m as big a fool as you are. Falling in love with a man who disappears the next morning and probably doesn’t give a damn about...”
“I resent that.” Frank appeared in the doorway of her inner office, his easy, sexy grin belying his words.
Laura looked from Susan’s glowing face back to her former model. “I should have realized,” she said with a sigh. “I’m glad something’s going right. Uh...what were you doing in my office, Frank?” Her earlier suspicion came creeping back, unworthy as it was. If Frank turned out to be her mysterious blackmailer, she might just consider paying up rather than watching Susan’s heart break again. An expression like Susan’s was worth almost any price.
“Looking through your private papers, love,” Frank said with complete candor. “Did you realize your lock had been broken?”
She held herself very still. “Why were you looking?”
“Because someone was blackmailing me over that stupid movie I made, and I figured they could only have gotten their information from here.”
“You too?” Laura gasped.
“Don’t tell me,” Susan said. “That’s what that mysterious letter was yesterday.”
“Exactly. Someone wants ten thousand dollars, or they’ll give Dubrovnik a copy of the engineer’s report on this place.”
“Is it that bad?”
“Bad enough,” Laura replied.
“Whoever it is, they like the ten-thousand-dollar figure,” Frank said. “Seems sort of paltry to me, but then, I suspect our blackmailer’s a paltry sort of person.”
“Do you have any idea who it is?”
“Yup.”
Both women stared at him, but it was Susan who spoke first, with an asperity only slightly softened by complete adoration. “Who?”
Frank only smiled, a mysterious smile that should have sold a million dollars worth of cologne. “Let me think about it a little bit more. I have to figure out if it’s just because I dislike the person, or whether I really have any reason to suspect them.”
“Are you going to pay?” Laura asked.
Frank laughed. “You know my financial situation, love. I couldn’t pay for a Dove bar at this point, much less a blackmailer. What about you?”
“I haven’t made up my mind yet. I’ll wait till you tell me who you think it is.”
“You may not have the time,” Susan said. “This came for you, and unless I miss my guess, it’s from the same source.” She held out a plain white envelope.
Frank took it before Laura could. “Do you mind?”
“Go ahead.”
He tore it open. “You’re supposed to leave ten thousand dollars in unmarked bills in the Steinberg office on the fourth floor of this building.”
“Whoever it is knows even more than I thought. Their lock was broken, and I can’t get a locksmith in until the middle of next week. Damn,”
“You’ve got a while to make up your mind. It is now two forty-five. You’re not supposed to drop it off until seven, and then you’re supposed to leave the building.”
“That’s stupid. I can come back in the service entrance and wait to see who picks it up.”
“I don’t think our blackmailer is overloaded with smarts. Otherwise they would have picked better marks and asked for more money,” Frank said.
“They?” Susan echoed. “Do you think there’s more than one?”
“Just a generic term, lovey. I think it’s one very greedy, fairly short-sighted person. And I’ve got a pretty good idea who it is.”
“Stop saying that if you’re not going to tell me,” Laura snapped. “Where are you supposed to leave your payoff?”
“Same place, different time. I only have till five o’clock.”
“You, however, don’t have anything to lose.”
“I do if I intend to use my long-lost M.B.A. in anything nearing respectability. Blue-chip companies frown on their executives appearing in porn movies.”
“I forgot you had an M.B.A.,” Laura said momentarily distracted. “If I ever get rich and famous, I’ll hire you as Susan’s assistant.”
“You are rich,” he pointed out. “And famous.”
“Not rich enough. Ever heard the term ‘land-poor’? It doesn’t just apply to farmers in the Midwest.”
“Speaking of Midwestern farmers, you never did tell me who you slept with?” Susan piped up.
Frank immediately looked very interested. “Yes, who did you sleep with? I thought you didn’t go in for that sort of thing?”
“Shut up, both of you!” Laura snapped. “Any more mail?”
“Marita’s book came back from the studio. You might want to check it. Want some coffee?”
Laura took the book, curiously loath to look at the perfect face of the girl who was much better suited to a Whirlwind than she was. “A glass of tea,” she muttered, retiring to the pink leather sofa. “With a spoonful of jam in it.”
Susan just looked at her. “It must be love,” she muttered.
“Or the horribleness of your coffee,” Laura retorted, opening the book and staring down at Marita’s brilliant photos.
The room fell into silence, broken only by the whistle of the teakettle, the clink of glass and teaspoon, the rustling of clothing as Fra
nk and Susan touched every time they got close. Laura took the proffered glass of tea with a murmured thanks, noting with a trace of amusement that her two companions were drinking the same brew, before she returned to her perusal of Marita’s burgeoning career.
It was almost an hour later when she closed the book. “I’m going to let Marita out of her contract,” she said flatly.
Susan had been sitting in Frank’s lap, and she almost fell off in her surprise. “You’re crazy. She’s the hottest thing to arrive on the scene in years. Lancome’s about to come up with a huge offer. You can’t just throw that away.”
“I can,” Laura corrected her.
“She’s going to be the face of the New Face!” Susan wailed.
“You haven’t looked at her pictures.”
“Sure I did. They were fabulous.”
“They were very, very good. She’ll go to the very top of her profession. But she won’t go with me,” Laura said. “I finally realized what was so mesmerizing about her. It’s not just her beauty. There are a lot of beautiful women in the business. It’s the expression in her eyes. Beneath that sultry gaze there’s nothing but a cold, dead contempt. It’s hatred for the world. If that’s the New Face, I don’t want it.”
No one said a word. After a moment Susan gave a reluctant nod. “I’ll trust your judgment. I admit, I haven’t been comfortable around her, but I thought I might warm up to her later.”
“Frank doesn’t like her, does he?” Laura said shrewdly.
Frank smiled. “Frank doesn’t like her at all,” he replied softly.
Laura’s eyes narrowed. “You think it’s her, don’t you? You think she’s the blackmailer?”
“The thought had crossed my mind. Problem is, I have no proof. Just a gut instinct. And the knowledge that she’s a stranger who’s had access to this place.”
“She’s never been alone here...” Susan began hotly, then blushed. “Yes, she has. For about an hour, last Wednesday. She must have gone through the files then. You weren’t aware of anything wrong?”
“The box was in the back of the closet. I don’t usually notice it,” Laura said. “The question is, how are we going to prove it?”
“Lie in wait,” Frank suggested. “What has she got planned for today?”
“Nothing. It’s Sunday, remember? She went out with Dubrovnik last night, so I didn’t arrange any appointments.” She could feel the telltale blush darken her face.
Susan’s eyes widened. “You mean it was Michael Dubrovnik? He abandoned Marita for you?”
“Hard to believe, isn’t it?”
“You’re worth a dozen of Marita, and you know it,” Frank said calmly.
“Yes. I just don’t expect anyone else to realize it.” She managed an impish grin, feeling momentarily light-hearted.
“So what are we going to do about this mess? How do we catch her red-handed?” Frank continued.
“We’re going to hide out in Steinberg’s Import-Export and wait for her. All of us,” Laura said flatly. “And I get to be the one to deck her.”
“She’s a lot bigger than you are,” Frank pointed out.
“I’m a lot madder than she is. God, if life gets any more complicated, I’m going to scream.”
“Fair warning,” Susan said. “Life is about to get more complicated. Michael Dubrovnik just stepped off the elevator.”
Laura’s back was to the hallway, and for a moment she considered strolling into her private office and locking the door without a backward glance. But now wasn’t the time for cowardice. Besides, if she could judge by the sound of his footsteps on the marble floor, he’d probably break the door down with one knock.
“You’ve got trouble,” he said flatly, his voice rough.
Slowly she turned, schooling her face into her blandest possible expression. It wasn’t her fault that her cheeks were flushed with the memory of the night before. “Do I really?” she countered smoothly, trying to keep the surprise out of her voice, he didn’t look like a callous seducer; he didn’t even look like the Whirlwind. He looked harassed, confused and angry.
“Can we talk in private?”
“My friends can hear anything you have to say.” She didn’t trust herself alone with him. She was too vulnerable, too desperate.
He was keeping his temper in check only with an extreme effort. “Well, if you want to talk about birth control with an audience, that’s fine with me,” he snapped.
“My office.” She preceded him, her cheeks flaming even brighter, sitting at her desk, glaring at him as he shut the door behind him.
“Someone’s trying to blackmail me,” he said without preamble.
She stared at him in astonishment, forgetting her embarrassment. “What?”
“Someone has your engineer’s report on this building. They offered it to me for ten thousand dollars.”
Laura shut her eyes. She might as well give up—the game was over. “Damn.”
“When I informed the extortionist that I’d bought the report months ago for a hell of a lot less and had no intention of making it public, he changed his tune.”
“He?” She picked up on the pronoun. “It was a man?”
“Actually I don’t know. The first contact was by letter. The voice on the phone was disguised—it could have been a man or a woman, old or young. Why do you ask?”
She didn’t answer. “Why haven’t you used it?”
“Despite what you seem to think by that gloomy expression on your face, it’s not airtight. I couldn’t be sure I could get the building condemned simply on the strength of one engineering firm’s concerns. I was waiting until I had more ammunition.”
“Nice of you.”
“I’m not nice. I’m thorough. You know that.”
“I know that,” she agreed. “What did your friend say, when you told them you weren’t interested?”
“They suggested that if I didn’t want to pay ten thousand dollars to use the information, I might want to pay ten thousand dollars to suppress it.”
“That’s ridiculous! We’d already figured the blackmailer was stupid, but I didn’t think it was this bad.”
“You mean you know about it?”
“I mean someone’s been blackmailing me about the same report. They seem to have an affection for ten thousand dollars. Supposedly if I ante up this evening, you won’t ever know of the report’s existence. So much for false hopes. And if Frank Buckley comes up with a similar amount, his involvement in an unfortunate situation won’t come to light, either.” She shoved a hand through her hair, wishing she’d had even half an hour of sleep the night before. The man standing in front of her had been...relentless.
She looked up at him, determined not to show any emotion. “What did you tell her?”
“Her?”
“Marita.” There was no use pretending. Only Marita would know of Dubrovnik’s involvement with her, of his irrational, quixotic affection for an enemy.
“That bitch,” he said succinctly. “I told her I’d think about it. I was going to leave it up to you.”
She stared at him in astonishment. “Why? Wouldn’t it have fallen into your plans perfectly?”
“I don’t like being blackmailed,” he said.
She nodded. “Well, we’re busy working on revenge. Do you want in on it?”
He was too close to her. Despite her better judgment she wanted to lean against him, wanted his strong arms wrapped around her, wanted to go back downstairs to her rumpled bed with him. She stayed where she was, waiting.
“I wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Michael Dubrovnik said fiercely.
A sudden horrifying thought came to mind. “What did you mean by that crack about birth control?” she demanded. “I thought you did something about it.”
He grinned. “Just wanted to scare you. You look so ridiculous when you blush. It doesn’t go with your image.”
“Whereas low blows fit your style perfectly.”
“Touché! That’s the only reaso
n I left when I did.”
“What is?”
“I ran out of my supply. And I was more than well prepared.”
“You’re a beast.” She could feel the color mounting on her face once more.
“And you’re amazing for such a prude,” he murmured in return. “Don’t worry. I won’t run out again. What time do we confront the blackmailer?”
Next time? There was nothing she could say to that, so she wisely ignored it. “Six-thirty. Come up to my apartment and we’ll all go down together.”
“All of us? Won’t that get a little crowded?”
“Marita might have accomplices.”
“I can take care of them.”
“Don’t be disgustingly macho. Frank has his own score to settle. Susan will stay near the telephone, in case we need to call the police. Or an ambulance,” she added hastily.
“Sounds delightful. The papers are ready.”
“What papers?”
“For the sale of the Glass House to Dubrovnik Enterprises. I had Zach bring them over. Anytime you’re ready to sign, they’ll be down there.”
“You can have Zach shove them...”
“Now, now. What would my sister say if she heard you saying such things to me?” he mocked.
“She’d probably say ‘Bravo.’“
“She probably would. Six-thirty. And then we need to talk.”
“I don’t want to talk to you.”
“Tough. I’m bigger and stronger than you are, and I always get my way. I presume you decided not to charge me with assault?”
She shrugged. “I figured I couldn’t make it stick.”
“Liar,” he said softly. “We’ll talk about that, too.”
“Next time I won’t be so nice,” she warned.
“Next time I’ll be even nicer,” he said, his voice a low, sexy purr. “See you at six-thirty.”
She waited until the sound of his footsteps could no longer be heard, waited until Susan and Frank started talking again in the outer room. And then, laying her head on her desk, she let out a long, miserable moan.
Marita looked around the spacious confines of her suite, and her perfect upper lip curled in disgust. She’d come a long way in a few short days. When Laura Winston had first brought her here, she really had thought it was a palace, a fairyland of elegance and luxury.