Goodness Had Nothing to Do With It Read Online Free PDF Page A

why she'd done it.
     
    But he wasn't the one who started the questioning once they were seated in the chowder house.
     
    She laid her menu down on the table. "Why didn't you tell Mr. Kline about what happened at CIS?"
     
    Damn good question. He'd told himself it was because he hadn't wanted Kline jumping to conclusions and putting himself in a state of false ease.
     
    "Let's just say I decided to talk to you first."
     
    Behind the black rims of her glasses, her gray eyes mirrored wary hope.
     
    Good. His job would be that much easier if she trusted him. She had to trust him at least a little if she was already hoping he wouldn't spill the beanson her. Or did she think she could manipulate him into staying silent? Either way, he would work it to his advantage and a speedy resolution to his case at Kline Technology.
     
    "Wh-what did you want to talk about?"
     
    His eyes narrowed at her uncharacteristic stumbling over her words. "I wanted to ask you why you did what you did, but I realize now that it doesn't matter."
     
    She flinched, drawing her hands from the table and into her lap. "It doesn't?"
     
    "No. Besides I think I can figure it out for myself."
     
    "You can?" She didn't look like she believed him.
     
    That irritated him because her motives were so blatantly obvious, "The money. You did it for the money, not that it did you any good."
     
    "You're wrong, Marcus. It did me a great deal of good."
     
    "You liked living the high life for a while? Too bad it couldn't last." Not that she wasn't already taking measures to increase her cash flow again.
     
    And why in Hades was he baiting her? He needed her compliance, her trusting cooperation to find answers to his questions. He wasn't going to get it by pissing her off. And she was angry. Royally so.
     
    Her gray eyes looked like a hurricane was swirling through them. "You know nothing about it, but that's no surprise. You were never interested in getting to know the real me."
     
    Were they back to that again? The bitterness in her voice surprised him. Why was she so convinced he didn't know the real woman?
     
    "You're wrong. I got to know you very well."
     
    He let his gaze slide down her body and watched with interest as her skin flushed.
     
    She glared at him, her face taut with strain. "That's not what I mean. You learned a lot about my body, but nothing about my heart."
     
    She blushed as she said the wordbody , reminding him that she'd been a twenty-three-year-old virgin when they met. How many men had there been since then? How many others had tasted the passion that simmered under her cool exterior? The questions gnawed at him, making him harsher than he intended.
     
    "What's the matter, Ronnie? You think I should have tried harder to see into your cold little heart and searched out your greedy desires for money and the high lifestyle it could provide?"
     
    The chair scraped against the floor as she shoved it back and shot to her feet. 'Youbastard . I had reasons for doing what I did, not that you could ever understand them—not in a million years, not with your no-ties and no-commitment rules. I'm damn well not going to sit here meekly while you rip me to shreds with your tongue. It's a game I don't enjoy."
     
    She spun on her heel and marched out of the restaurant.
     
    The waiter, who had been approaching their table, made an about-face and walked back into :he kitchen.
     
    Marcus sat in stunned silence for several seconds. He had known Veronica Richards for three and a half years before she disappeared from his life, and in all that time, he had never once heard her swear, had never seen her lose her cool like she had just done.
     
    Something about this scenario didn't fit and he was going to find out what it was.
     
     
    Chapter Three
     
     
     
     
     
    Veronica's hand shook as she inserted the key into her car lock.Darn. Darn. Darn . Why had she lost it like that? She needed to find out if Marcus planned to tell Mr. Kline about her