All Chapters of Mine Alone: you belong to me : Chapter 21 - Chapter 30

Nick half expected—hoped—Abbey would be at the hotel when the taxi dropped him off. But she wasn't. She wasn't in the foyer and she wasn't in his suite.It was frustrating. She was frustrating. He didn't understand her. One minute she wanted him, the next she was shrugging him off.He turned on the shower and stood under the running water. It was cleansing, washing away the salt, the sand, Abbey.But it didn't wash away the image of her face, her cheeky grin and her pouting, kissable lips.What had happened in the water today? She'd been so keen, then so cold. He could almost see her mind ticking over, weighing something up, digesting.Did she not believe him when he said he was sorry? Did she think that he still thought she was a hooker?Nick placed his hands against the cool blue tiles and bent his head forward. The water rushed down his neck, his spine, soothing—much like Abbey's fingers had done on the first night she'd entered his room.Or was she just concerned that this was goi

Tarken hated these things. Not only were they dull, but software demonstrations were something only computer geeks could get a kick out of. He was an administrator, a manager, not an I.T. specialist. That’s why he’d brought Donaldson along—to talk geek-talk. Tarken was at the Crown Complex software seminar to talk numbers. Donaldson didn’t have a clue about money, but he knew everything about software. Tarken knew everything about money and nothing about computers, except how to read and send email. Together they made a formidable team.Which was good, because the sooner they cut through the sales crap, the sooner they could leave. There were only three software packages relevant to the health care and pharmaceuticals industry, and they’d already had demos of two of them. Software Solutions was the last.Donaldson pointed to the stand and they headed that way. There seemed to be only one person standing there. Good, that meant they could railroad the salesman with questions and figure

He reached across the desk and picked it up, but paused. Damn it, this was important. He'd been lied to, someone was trying to set him up for something, and he had a right to know what was going on.He flipped open the flap and pulled out three large photographs.Abbey's naked body was clearly recognizable, even though her face was hidden in his shoulder. His face, and everything else, was there to be seen in all its glory.Nick's face heated up. A flash of red passed before his eyes and his heart beat trebled. So he was right. He was about to be blackmailed. But why? Who cared who he slept with?The only possibility he could think of was that someone knew he was posing as Vane and wanted to prove it to ruin his company's reputation. But why obtain photos of him having sex with a strange woman? That was odd and didn't add up. It would make more sense to get photos of him at the seminar wearing his Damien Vane name tag.Damn. When he found out what was going on, he'd make the blackmail

"Shit." Lucy took her sobbing friend in her arms.Abbey, annoyed at herself for allowing her feelings for Damien to get the better of her, cried into her friend's shoulder, letting the pain wash out of her. Then, sucking in a deep breath, she straightened, wiped her cheeks and hopped off the desk."I'm not going to let him get to me," she said, as much to convince herself as Lucy."Bit late for that," said Lucy, eyeing her closely.Abbey tried to smile. "I'll be fine. I'm tough.""Yeah, as tough as marshmallow when it comes to Vane."Abbey cursed. "I shouldn't have let him get so close to me again." It's just that he was so persuasive. She just couldn't keep her hands off him.There was something... magnetic between them.Lucy surveyed her desk and placed her fists on out-thrust hips. "It's partly my fault. I shouldn't have left you alone with him."Abbey picked up the stack of files that had fallen to the floor and arranged them neatly on the edge of the desk. "Sorry about the mess,"

"Like you want to kill me.""I do want to kill you. I've had a bad week."Actually, his week hadn't been all that bad. The parts with Abbey in his bed, on the couch, at the restaurant, the beach, Lucy's desk—those had been rather good. It was the other parts he didn't like so much.Vane held up his hands in self-defense just as Nick uncrossed his arms and reached toward him."Okay, okay, I'm leaving." Vane scuttled toward the door. "You know, when I heard you were pretending to be me, I thought we could turn this to our advantage. I could pretend to be you, just flying in to check on the last day of the seminar and attend the cocktail party and charm the pants off everyone. We'd make a good team.""I don't charm the pants off people. I talk straight and get the job done.""Yeah, right. Like all the women in the office don't go ga ga over you.""That's because I treat them with a little respect and don't try to grab their asses as they walk past.""Hey, I only did that once.""Yeah, on