Intimate Seduction - Brenda Jackson [67]
“She isn’t my girlfriend. At least not anymore,” Donovan snapped.
Bas rolled his eyes. “Okay, then. Are you saying that the woman you brought to the hospital last week, and the same woman you brought to our game on Saturday, could be a corporate spy?”
“Why else would she have something like this in her possession?” Donovan countered.
“Did you bother to ask her?” Chance asked.
Donovan shrugged. “I didn’t want to hear anything she had to say.”
All the men in the room, including Juan, stared pitifully at Donovan for a moment before shaking their heads. Bas spoke for the group. “Donovan, you have a lot to learn about women, especially if it’s a woman you care deeply about. You never accuse her of anything unless you have concrete proof.”
“But this is proof,” Donovan said in a frustrated voice. He could tell by his brothers’ and Juan’s expressions that they weren’t totally convinced.
“What does she do for living?” Juan spoke up for the first time to ask.
“Her aunt injured her ankle, and she’s been helping out for the past few weeks as a cleaning lady. We met when she came to clean my house,” Donovan said, deciding they didn’t need to know he’d found her asleep in his bed.
“And when she’s not cleaning houses, what’s she doing?” Chance asked.
“She said she was in school,” Donovan responded, folding his arms across his chest. “And before any of you ask, I did consider the possibility that this was homework, but she claimed she was out for the summer, so she had no reason to be scribbling down chemical equations.”
No one said anything for a moment and then Juan spoke up. “May I see the notepad, Donovan? It won’t take me but a second to decipher the equations and tell if you’re right about her.”
Donovan handed it to Juan, who browsed through the pages a few minutes in silence, then looked up at Donovan. “I hope she’s a forgiving woman.”
Donovan swallowed. A funny feeling stirred in the pit of his stomach. “Why would you hope that?”
“Because these formulas have nothing to do with Gleeve-Ware.”
“B-but the GW—”
“Stands for global warming.” Juan browsed through the notepad again. “What’s the name of your used-to-be girlfriend again?”
“Natalie. Natalie Ford.”
A surprised glint appeared in Juan’s eyes. “Natalie Ford? The Dr. Natalie Ford? Renowned chemistry professor at Princeton University, who just last year received a special award from the federal government for her work with NASA? And,” he added, reaching across his desk to retrieve a book from a nearby bookcase, “The New York Times bestselling author of this book?”
Juan flipped the book to the back where a color photo of a young, but professional-looking, Natalie was on the cover. “Nice photo of your ex-girlfriend, don’t you think?”
Donovan’s jaw dropped, clearly stunned. “She never told me.”
“Um, probably because she wasn’t one-hundred percent sure about you just yet, Donovan,” Chance said smartly. “Makes one wonder why.”
Donovan was already headed for the door.
“If I was her, I wouldn’t take you back,” Morgan called after him.
“I’d never give you the time of day again,” Bas added.
“I’d definitely make you suffer a little bit,” Chance threw in, chuckling.
“If she does forgive you and you get back in her good graces, I’d like her to autograph my book,” Juan couldn’t resist saying.
Donovan didn’t bother making a comment. His mind was filled with a question of significant magnitude: How was he going to win back the woman he loved?
Natalie opened her mouth to argue a point made by one of the other panelists, only to snap it closed when she saw Donovan enter the auditorium and take a seat in the back. What was he doing here in Princeton?
Refusing to let his presence unnerve her, she turned her attention back to the discussion, rebuffing her desire to look out over the crowded audience and seek him out. Their eyes had met when he entered the room, so he was fully aware that she’d seen him.
Her mind sifted through all the global warming ideology her colleagues were presenting, and she was able to rejoin the discussion