Betrayal - Fern Michaels [100]
Melanie put the phone in its cradle. “Is there something I can help you with?” she asked Coleman.
“Yes, is Mrs. Winter in? I need to talk with her. It’s personal.”
“No, she’s gone for the day. Again. I can tell her you stopped in if she checks in later,” Melanie suggested.
Coleman seemed to be considering her suggestion. “No, that’s fine. Thank you. I’ll see if I can catch her another time.”
“Mrs. Ramsey?” Melanie called to her. Coleman turned away from the desk heading for the door. Kate shoved the magazine so close to her face, she felt like her eyes were crossed.
“Kate? None of the agents found your bracelet,” Melanie said.
Kate wished she would shut up until Coleman left the office.
Melanie walked to the other side of the reception desk and over to where she was sitting. “Mrs. Ramsey, are you all right?”
Kate nodded.
“Then take that silly magazine away from your face!” Melanie teased. She took hold of the glossy pages and yanked the magazine away from her face. This was something out of a nightmare.
“Melanie, please!” Kate shouted at her. Coleman Fitzpatrick stopped just as he was about to leave.
Shit! Kate hadn’t disguised her accent at all. He turned around. Slowly, he walked to where she was seated. He looked at her as though he was seeing a ghost. Melanie took a step back to observe them. This was getting worse by the minute. All the years of work were about to go down the drain.
She stood to leave. “I’ll call you, Melanie,” Kate said.
With Coleman at her heels she exited the office. She would take her business with Coleman outside. She didn’t want to provide Melanie with anything to report to her boss when Debbie checked in.
“Kate Rocket, is it really you?” Coleman asked once they were outside.
“In the flesh.” Her heart sank as she said the words.
“Well, I must say you look a bit different than the last time I saw you. How are you, Kate? What are you doing in Debbie Winter’s office? Why didn’t you answer my calls? I’ve been searching for you for years!” Coleman gushed.
She took a deep breath. Perhaps, she thought, I can make this work to my advantage. How? I haven’t gotten to that part just yet. But I will.
“You ask a lot of questions, Coleman. Why don’t we go someplace where we can talk. In private.”
“Of course. Would you like to have lunch?”
“No, I . . . ” There really isn’t any reason not to have lunch with Coleman. He’s an old friend. And I certainly don’t owe him an explanation about why I’m here. “Actually, lunch would be nice.”
“Let’s go somewhere private where we won’t be disturbed. I can’t believe I found you after all this time, Kate.” He smiled and shook his head. “You can’t imagine how many man-hours I’ve spent searching for you. Then bang, I walk into a local real estate office looking for you, and there you are.”
Kate stopped dead in her tracks. Why was Coleman going to Debbie’s office looking for her?
“Did I say something to frighten you, Kate?” Maybe lunch wasn’t such a good idea after all. “You know, I’ve changed my mind. I just remembered an appointment. It was good seeing you again, Coleman. We’ll have that lunch another time. See you.” She bolted to her car before she changed her mind. She crammed the key into the ignition. Shifting into drive, she peeled out of the lot. Two minutes later she saw Coleman’s face in her rearview mirror. He’d followed her!
After he searched for me all these years, what else did I expect him to do. I cannot believe my own stupidity. Now I’ll have to explain to him why I ran away.
She saw a Taco Bell up ahead and pulled into the parking lot. Coleman followed her, just as she knew he would.
They got out of their vehicles at the same time.
Coleman spoke first, “Kate, when I asked you to join me for lunch, well, I had something more . . . Well, let’s just say Taco Bell wasn’t first on my list.”
Dear Coleman. He had the grace not to humiliate her. She didn’t deserve him as a friend.
“They have really good burritos.”
“Then let’s go have lunch.” Coleman took her hand, leading her inside the fast-food joint.
She wanted to jerk her hand out