Farrah laid her head on his shoulder. “Girlfriend, you have to be willing to risk everything if you want everything in return,” he said in a voice barely above a whisper.
Farrah rifled through a set of scenarios of how that would work, how she’d manage physical compatibility without mutual trust. Regardless of how she might feel about Robert, it just wasn’t enough. “No...not with Robert. He was crazy in love once and got his heart handed to him.”
Paul gasped and Farrah raised her head and met his gaze. “Meeks told Francine all about it, and I’m her sister so of course she eventually told me. After that, he swore off love completely and proudly clipped on his playboy badge.”
“What crazy fool let him get away? He’s gorgeous and rich. She had to be blind, deaf, intoxicated and stupid,” he proclaimed. “And not exactly in that order.”
Farrah giggled, lifting the image from her mind. “I don’t know about all that, but after he found out she was only after his money and was sleeping with someone he thought was a friend at the same time, he ended it and vowed to have no more serious relationships. All he wanted to do was party. And unlike Meeks, he doesn’t even care about having an heir. He’s leaving all of his money to charity,” she said in a wistful tone.
“But—”
“How can you expect me to risk my heart with a man who’ll never risk his?” Farrah said, extracting herself from his hold and returning to her chair.
Paul leaned against Farrah’s desk and watched as she turned to her computer and began reading over some legal documents.
“Ignore me if you want, but that won’t change a thing. That’s just one more thing you two have in common, you know—having experienced a broken heart in college. Need I remind you of Jimmy Long and declaring, I’ll never fall in love again?” he said in a dramatic interpretation of a Southern belle—with a hand over his heart for effect. “After you found out he was only dating you because you fit his family’s idea of the perfect mate, someone beautiful from a good family that was on the same social and financial level as them, when all the while he was still seeing his real girlfriend from the other side of the tracks.”
Yes, Jimmy Long had put up such a really good façade that even her family had fallen for it.
“Whatever happened to him?” Paul asked.
“He married her and I hear they have three kids. His family finally came around, I guess.”
“Well, good for them—now back to you.”
Farrah turned and gave him a defiant look. “I was twenty at the time. What the hell did I know about love? Anyway, I didn’t say I’d never fall in love again. I said I’d never fall foolishly in love again. Big difference.”
“Is there really any other kind?” Paul asked, frowning down at her.
Farrah ignored his question as she continued, “In fact, I plan to love and get married one day to—”
“To someone weak that you can control and loves you more than you love them,” Paul said.
Farrah flinched, but then had to laugh. There was a little truth hidden in those words.
“You’d be bored silly. Safe from heartbreak and no real passion. Not like the out-of-control passion that you feel for Robert. That same passion Francine and Meeks have for each other. Hell, what I feel for John.”
Out-of-control is right; if you all only knew just how out of control I’d been. Thoughts of their first night together came to mind.
Robert having her in the private elevator, taking her fast and hard in the living room of their suite before finally gently making love to her until dawn in one of the biggest beds she’d ever seen. The feeling of contentment that engulfed her as she lay in his arms and wanted nothing more than to stay there forever.
Farrah released a wistful sigh and turned back to the documents that required more of her attention than her lack of a love life did at the moment. “Is everything set for New York?”
Paul scowled and picked up his cup. “I can take a hint. Of course everything’s all set. Do you think you’ll find what you need when you get there?”
“I hope so. We’re running out of leads and we’ve got to find evidence that Ted Jefferson Jr.—or whoever hired Alexia—planted those bogus documents in the first place.”
Ted had presented the court with twenty-year-old drawings nearly identical to the ones Robert had developed and filed their patent on. An investigation revealed a set of those same drawings had been buried in the Blake & Montgomery archived records—which presumably had been planted there by their former employee, Alexia. Everyone with system access passed the polygraphs with flying colors.
“How did she even manage to plant the documents in the first place?” Paul asked, frowning.
“That’s just it. We haven’t been able to figure that out.” Farrah slammed her fist against the desk. “We have records of everything in the archived database and while there was a listing for a new system authored by Ted Jefferson during the year in question, the records directed us back to the bogus files we found.”
“Wait, those documents are what...at least twenty years old?” he asked, his frown deepening.
“Yeah, and Dad was leading the company then. He knew everything that Ted worked on, and he approved his budget. He’s certain that with the technology they were dealing with back then, there’s no way Ted could have created anything that Robert could have used to help develop the type of complicated technological designs that he has now.”
“So there’s no evidence that the system was tampered with?”
“Not that we’ve been able to find yet.” Farrah sat back in her chair.
“What kind of proof will you need exactly?” Paul asked with a deep scowl.
“Mainly, we need to show that Robert’s designs were his own and weren’t based off anything that anyone else started a million years ago.”
“Too bad Senior’s no longer in the land of the living. I bet your dad could get the truth out of him. He owes him.”
Ignoring Paul, Farrah continued her rant. “And I don’t give a damn what Ted Jefferson Jr. thinks. Both he and that traitorous little witch can kiss my—”
Paul sucked in a quick breath. “Calm down, girlfriend.”
“It makes me furious that we have to keep defending ourselves over such crap, like we’d stoop to something so low—not to mention hang on to the incriminating evidence. We all know what a brilliant mind Robert has, especially when it comes to computer systems. He doesn’t need some old fart’s road map to come up with his amazingly innovative design ideas. How dare they try and tarnish his reputation!”
Paul’s smiled widened. “Man, you’ve got it bad...his reputation.”
“I said our reputation.” Farrah checked her desktop clock and picked up a set of files that sat in the center of her desk. “I don’t have time for this. I have to get over to the law library and check on the Plan B options that Trey and his team sent over.”
“Plan B?” Paul asked, his slim lips pulling into a frown.
“In case we can’t find a way to prove our innocence.”
“Hell, we don’t need a Plan B. We’re going to find whoever is trying to screw us and put a stop to this madness,” Paul stated.
“I agree, but we have to be prepared. We all have a lot of time and money riding on the outcome of this case. Including you, mister. Last time I checked, you had a great deal of stock in the company, too.”
“Yeah, well, remember, I already have the best thing that money could never buy—the ability and the guts to marry the love of