She felt as though she was intruding in something special.
As she was.
“Of course,” she murmured, ready to leave them to it.
“Ruth said you’d gone to Wainwright’s.”
His words spun her back to face him. She shot him a defiant look. “Yes, I did. And I finished it all, despite your attempts to make me do otherwise.”
“So I believe.” A light of admiration entered his eyes. “Good for you.”
His reply stunned her.
Then she quickly turned away, murmuring that she’d go change. She was confused and heartened in the same instant. Just when she wanted to hate him, he did or said something to make her change her mind.
Not that the feeling lasted long, she decided after dinner when he mentioned he was going out again, sluicing any softening toward him right down the drain.
Nonetheless, the next morning she was secretly glad of his company when they stepped out on the eighth floor of the House of Valente together. She wasn’t actually nervous about it all, more uneasy. The real thief could still be here and could be watching her.
His middle-aged personal assistant greeted her warmly. “Lana, it’s so nice to have you back.”
“Thank you, Irene,” she said, feeling cheered by the reception. She’d always enjoyed working here. Until her awareness of Matt had grown out of control.
Her eyes fell on Matt’s office, and out of nowhere memories of the Christmas party came flooding back. She felt her cheeks begin to heat up, but thankfully the others didn’t appear to notice.
Irene handed Matt a pile of messages. “You’re late for your first appointment,” she scolded in motherly fashion.
“I know, Irene, but we have a child who comes first now. Everyone else can wait.” He turned to Lana, his eyes distant. “Irene will show you to your office.” He turned and walked into his office and shut the door, leaving behind an awkward moment.
Typical.
Irene smiled at Lana. “New fathers are always cranky,” she mused.
Lana forced a smile but said nothing. What could she say anyway? The press might have put a spin on their marriage being a love match, but it wouldn’t take long before word got around the office once they saw her and Matt together. Loving they were not. Hopefully everyone would think they were just being private.
“Which office has he put me in, Irene?”
“The end one.”
Lana got a sinking feeling in her stomach. “That’s a single office, isn’t it?”
“Yes, that’s right. I’ll show you. Then I’ll take you around to meet the staff. There are some new faces.”
Lana went with her, embarrassment and anger warring beneath the surface. Matt was certainly making sure she started off on the wrong foot with her co-workers.
Of course that wasn’t hard to do with Evan Rogers, one of the other accountants, whom she’d worked with before. He was so swarmy that if she suspected anyone of stealing money, it was him.
“Lana, how lovely to see you back,” he gushed at her in front of the others. “And you’ve got the end office now, too. How…fortunate.”
Lana kept the smile on her face and ignored his dig. She actually hoped it was Evan who’d stolen the money. No one else deserved to go to jail like he did, she mused, determining that Evan’s accounts would be a great place to start investigating. He might not have been stupid enough to take money that led straight back to him, but perhaps he’d made a minor mistake somewhere…anywhere….
After that she managed to focus as she got reacquainted with the financial aspects that concerned her job, and by late morning she felt right at home. The work was so familiar she could do it with her eyes shut, though she knew that therein lay the danger. She had to keep her eyes open for any sign of fraud. Not just by Evan but by anyone else. She would bide her time; it might look strange if she started looking up old accounts straightaway. She would do that once she felt able to without suspicion.
She didn’t see Matt until he came to get her to go home.
“How was your first day back with us?” he said, leaning against the doorjamb.
He looked gorgeous and noticing it made her angry with herself. And damn, but she was still angry with him anyway.
Her mouth tightened. “You shouldn’t have given me this office.”
His eyes narrowed. “Why?”
“I didn’t have one by myself before. I shared with three others.”
“You weren’t my wife before.”
“Exactly. You shouldn’t show me any favoritism.” She only just refrained from saying that perhaps he should share that particular point with the others instead of ignoring her as he had all day, but then it sounded as though she actually wanted him to spend time with her.
“Maybe I should put you in my office with me,” he quipped, his lips curving sensually.
Her heart jumped in her throat. “I hope you’re kidding.”
All at once his smile disappeared and his face shuttered up. “Obviously,” he muttered, straightening. “Are you ready to leave?”
“Give me a moment to finalize something and I’ll be with you.”
“I’ll go talk to Irene until you’re ready.”
She nodded, glad for him to take his presence out of her sight. If only he could take the memories of being in his office with him. Maybe coming back here wasn’t a good idea after all.
No, she had to prove to Matt that the mother of his child wasn’t a thief. It was important to her.
She said nothing more in the car, but she was glad when they arrived home and she got to kiss and cuddle Megan. She missed her little girl when she went to work, though she knew she’d miss her work if she stayed home all day, too. She had the best of both worlds right now. It was one of the positive things about this situation.
Matt insisted on feeding Megan again that night, and with Ruth around the atmosphere was quite jovial.
Then he went to take a phone call and Lana put Megan in the bath, laughing at her little girl splashing the water with her toy duck.
Megan thought her mother laughing was funny and she splashed the water with her duck again, only this time the water splashed on Lana’s knit top.
“Megan! Look what you’ve done to Mummy,” Lana said, chuckling, not minding in the least getting wet.
Splash.
“Ooh, you little devil,” she said, and gently splashed the water so that it slapped against her daughter’s belly.