Make Me Read online

  “Like what?” he asked quietly, pushing back his unfinished salad.

  “Like that you were a gifted programmer and that military intelligence recruited you after college to work on anti-hacker software, and you used that knowledge after you left the army to create Lattice.”

  “And?”

  “And what?”

  “Did she insinuate that my success was suspect? She mentioned the insider trading scandal, didn’t she?”

  “Yes,” Harper replied honestly.

  “Did she ask you to dig for a story about me?”

  She set down her fork with a clinking sound. “In fact, she did.” His face turned to stone. “Is that really relevant? Did you see a story on you at the Gazette about anything I’ve learned about you since we’ve been together—which, trust me—isn’t much,” she added succinctly with a glare. “Why are you so edgy all of a sudden?”

  “Am I?”

  “You know you are,” she muttered, taking a bite of salad and then pushing back her plate in mounting frustration.

  For a few seconds, he didn’t speak.

  “I’m sorry,” he said after a moment. Her gaze jumped to his face. He still looked tense, but also irritated. At himself, she thought. His apology had been genuine. “It’s not pleasant for me. To consider you hearing speculation and gossip about my past.”

  She exhaled slowly, some of her frustration going with her breath.

  “You are very secretive, Jacob. You’re very closed off. I’m not telling you anything you don’t know already. People are bound to gossip, given all that. Nature abhors a vacuum, isn’t that what they say?” she asked quietly. “That doesn’t equate to being dishonest or a criminal.”

  “You believe that I’m above reproach?”

  “Maybe I just want to believe it,” she replied sincerely. She couldn’t decode what she read in his eyes at that moment. “I do believe that the fact that you are so shut off and suspicious of people’s intentions only amplifies the rumors about you. Your aloofness only fans the flames.”

  “Maybe I should hire you for public relations. You could clean up my murky public image,” he said, a mirthless smile tickling his handsome mouth.

  “Would you actually want that?” she asked archly, taking a sip of wine, thankful the tense moment had passed. “Why does it matter if people backbite about you? Why do you care?”

  “I don’t, usually,” he said very quietly. He seemed to hesitate. “In your case, it matters.”

  Her mouth fell open. It was a strange compliment. He’d just told her he cared about what she thought of him. What confused her was the hard slant of his mouth when he’d said it.

  He may care, but he wasn’t pleased about it.

  • • •

  Jacob seemed intent on making sure she had a nice evening following that tense, bewildering exchange at dinner, as if he was determined to make up for his flash of irritation and edginess. His attentiveness and warmth were very much appreciated by Harper, but they weren’t necessary to improve her mood. Instead of ruining the evening, their exchange at dinner had somehow made her feel closer to him. She’d learned they had something elemental in common.

  So . . . he was ambivalent about caring about her? She couldn’t fault him for that. She was just as prickly and unsure about her strong feelings for him.

  • • •

  The opera was La Bohème, which she enjoyed very much from their prime seats in the first row of the lowest balcony. She was highly aware of the man beside her: his thigh brushing lightly against her own, his handsome, stark profile as he stared at the stage, the subtle hint of his woodsy, spicy cologne. His presence and his nearness seemed to amplify her sensual appreciation of the production. During the touching second aria between Mimì and Rodolfo, she glanced over at him, only to find his gaze already on her face. There was something in his eyes . . .

  She felt something expand in her chest. More powerfully than she ever had before, she sensed his sharp hunger. She couldn’t understand it, but there it was in front of her, impossible to ignore, difficult to deny, even given his doubts. His hand enclosed hers. The tension in her chest broke. She gasped softly and stared at the stage and the romance unfolding there . . . a love story that was destined to end in tragedy.

  In the past, she’d occasionally had strong emotional reactions to music, but she’d never experienced this level of feeling during a performance. Of course . . . she’d never sat next to the likes of Jacob Latimer during a production, either.

  Embarrassed by her strange uprising of sharp emotion, she immediately made an excuse to go to the bathroom when they reached the lobby during intermission. Jacob touched her shoulder when she turned away.

  “Is anything wrong?” he asked her, his brows slanted in concern.

  “No, I’m fine,” she assured with a bright smile. “I should have warned you. Music makes me a little emotional sometimes. Sorry. It’s embarrassing, to get swept up into the drama so easily,” she said, rolling her eyes.

  His hand tightened on her shoulder and she reluctantly met his gaze, despite her burning eyes.

  “It’s not embarrassing, to feel deeply.”

  She nodded, ducking her head, mortified by her bewildering show of vulnerability.

  “I’ll get us some drinks and wait for you,” he said.

  “That’d be great, thank you,” she murmured, turning away.

  By the time she emerged from the ladies’ room a few minutes later, she’d collected herself completely. Hopefully, Jacob hadn’t thought her display too odd. Eager to find him now that she’d calmed herself, she searched the crowd for his head. As tall and distinguished as he was, he was sure to stand out. She didn’t see him, however. Maybe he’d decided to use the facilities, as well. No sooner had she stationed herself near a column in order to wait, she caught a quick glimpse of him in the distance. He jogged up a flight of red-carpeted stairs.

  That was strange, Harper thought, moving away from the column in his direction. His manner had seemed rushed and tense. Was he looking for her? She walked through the milling crowd of people in his direction. She reached the stairs where he’d disappeared, craning her head to see. There was a bend in the stairs, obscuring her vision. The men’s lavatory wasn’t in this direction, she knew from prior experience. Maybe Jacob knew some roundabout way to get there?

  She rose up the first three steps, getting a better view of the entire lobby. This would be a good pace to wait . . .

  “. . . you promised me, Regina.”

  Harper started. It’d been Jacob’s tense, low voice she heard resounding from the upper part of the stairs.

  “I didn’t promise you that I’d never come back to San Francisco,” a woman exclaimed.

  “You know that’s not what I meant,” Jacob seethed. “That’s what I meant.”

  “It’s just champagne!”

  “How did you know I’d be here tonight?”

  “Elizabeth told me she’d gotten two opera tickets for you tonight. Don’t be mad at her. I kind of tricked her into telling me.”

  “You agreed to stay in Napa until you’re more stable,” he continued quietly, but Harper heard the anger in his tone, as if he felt the situation spinning out of control.

  “You’re here,” the woman replied bitterly. “You told me that you were so busy in Tahoe, and yet you have time for the opera? And I saw that woman you’re with.”

  “I’m not making excuses to you. I’m not the one who broke a promise.”

  “Oh, that’s right,” the woman said sarcastically. “Jacob Latimer, always above reproach. Always so cold.” Her harsh laugh segued into a sob. Harper’s heart lurched uncomfortably.

  “Why don’t you love me the way I do you, Jacob?”

  “Jesus,” Harper thought she heard him mutter before she became aware of rapid movement beside her. A dark-h
aired man flew up the stairs next to her and paused on the landing, looking upward.

  “Regina?” he called. “What’s going on? Are you all right?”

  “Is this your escort?” Jacob asked.

  “Yes. It’s okay, David,” Regina sniffed.

  Harper started back guiltily when she saw movement and a flash of red. The woman—Regina—put her hand on the dark-haired man’s lapel.

  “What did you do to her?” David demanded accusatorily, looking up the stairs.

  “I didn’t do anything to her. You did. She’s drunk,” Jacob snapped. “Are you drunk as well?”

  “What? I’m not going to—”

  “It’s okay, David. Jacob and I are old friends,” Regina said.

  “Friends?” David asked scathingly.

  Regina turned.

  Harper was suddenly face-to-face with the most beautiful woman she’d ever seen. Even with reddened eyes and wet cheeks, she was stunning. Long, shining dark brown hair stood in dramatic contrast to her form-fitting red dress and smooth, golden skin. Dark eyes fastened on Harper. Harper stepped down and clutched at the bannister.

  It’d all happened so quickly. She’d been caught red-handed and flustered in the act of eavesdropping. Jacob suddenly appeared on the landing. He tapped David hard on the chest.

  “She has a history of substance abuse, you idiot. And she’s on medication. Don’t give her any more alcohol.”

  “Listen, you son of a bitch—”

  “Stop it, David. You don’t know what you’re talking about, and neither does Mr. Holier Than Thou here. Just take me back to the hotel,” Regina said, her speech slurred. She grabbed David’s hand and proceeded very unsteadily down the stairs. It was only then that Jacob noticed Harper standing there. His eyes seemed to blaze in his rigid face.

  Regina paused next to her.

  “So you’re the new flavor of the night? Is this some new kink you’ve dreamed up, screwing the girl next door?” she called back to Jacob.

  “Damn it, Regina.” Jacob jogged down the steps and grabbed David’s elbow aggressively. He was so large and intimidating, such an oncoming storm, Harper stepped back instinctively.

  “Get a cab and take her back to the hotel,” Jacob demanded. “I don’t want you or her driving—”

  “I’m not drunk. And I’ve had about enough of you,” David blazed, throwing off Jacob’s hold. Harper wondered if what Jacob had insinuated about David being drunk was true. David was clearly the smaller of the two men, but seemed strangely cocky in the face of Jacob’s pointed anger, concern, and much more intimidating size.

  “Oh shut up, both of you,” Regina hissed disgustedly. She shoved David in the opposite direction of a dangerous-looking Jacob. Harper saw her look back once at Jacob in a kind of desperate longing before they disappeared into the crowd.

  Jacob turned to her with a jerky movement. His volatility seemed to roll off him in waves. Harper didn’t know what to say. It’d all happened so quickly. So unexpectedly . . . and it all seemed so out of character for Jacob.

  “I’m sorry,” he said thickly. He raked his fingers through his hair in a gesture of sharp frustration. His gaze focused on her. “Regina is . . . an old friend.”

  She didn’t reply. She’d never seen him so frayed. Harper wasn’t sure what she was feeling at that moment, beyond confused. It was clear that despite his anger at the woman, he cared about her a great deal.

  The chimes calling the audience back to the performance rung. Jacob blinked at the sound dazedly. Suddenly, a handsome, gray-haired man of medium build who was dressed to the nines separated himself from the crowd. He came toward them. Jacob glanced around and froze.

  “Clint,” he said, his voice hollow with disbelief.

  “I saw her. The girl. Gina,” he pointed in the direction where Regina and David had disappeared. “You still have contact with her?” the man asked incredulously, his mouth slanting into a frown.

  Jacob straightened, all vestiges of his strained state vanishing. Here was the glacial, utterly in control, intimidating man Harper recognized. “I saw her just now. What’s it to you?” A strange expression suddenly slid over Jacob’s face. He glanced uneasily at the doors where Regina had just exited with her date. “Did she see you? Regina?”

  Jefferies scoffed.

  Jacob lunged toward him. Jefferies’s smug, disdainful expression vanished and he took a half step back, clearly alarmed.

  “Did Regina see you, damn it?” Jacob seethed.

  “No, not that I’m aware of,” Jefferies said with bravado, although it was clear he was intimidated by Jacob’s pointed fury. He glanced around, seeming to take heart in the fact that they were in the middle of a public forum, despite the diminishing crowd. “Honestly, Jacob. I can’t believe you’re still letting her get to you. I swear, I’ve stopped trying to understand you.”

  Jefferies’s gaze landed on Harper and moved over her speculatively, as if suddenly aware that there was a close audience to their charged conversation.

  “Clint Jefferies,” he said, stepping toward Harper and putting out his hand, all smooth urbanity. He struck Harper as oily and manipulative in that moment. Jacob moved so fast, Harper was stunned. He came between her and the other man and grabbed her hand.

  “Don’t you even look at her.”

  She walked next to Jacob back toward the theater, his furious snarl echoing in her ears.

  twenty-four

  During the performance, Harper couldn’t help but be aware of Jacob’s continued tense state. Although he looked at the stage, he seemed to silently simmer, and she felt sure his mind was on what had just occurred during intermission—on Regina and Clint Jefferies—and not the opera. At one point, she glanced to the left and saw him in the audience: Clint Jefferies. His gaze was trained directly on Jacob and her.

  She knew from Ruth Dannen’s pre-cocktail-party coaching that Jefferies owned the multibillion-dollar Markham Pharmaceuticals and had once been a kind of older brother–father figure to Jacob.

  Jacob had made a great deal of money from a windfall sale of Markham Pharmaceutical stock at a very young age. He’d allegedly bought the stock just days before a breakthrough Markham medication for diabetes was given FDA approval. After approval went through, Jacob’s investment skyrocketed. Later, Clint Jefferies had become the target of an insider trading investigation because of that very deal in which Jacob had prospered so richly. Harper knew that the SEC usually went after the bigwig suspected of insider trading, not the little guy, like Jacob had been at the time. Was it true what Ruth had insinuated? That even though Jacob had made his first fortune from the Markham stock sale, he’d afterward washed his hands of the taint of Clint Jefferies, sacrificing the man who had supported him in his early career?

  And why had Jefferies been so incredulous and disdainful about seeing Regina and Jacob together? More importantly, why did Jacob seem to hate his former mentor with a white-hot passion?

  All those questions and many more besides circled around her head, mixing with her already potent anxieties about getting involved with a man as secretive and powerful as Jacob.

  After the performance was finished, he took her hand and led her from the balcony even before the first curtain call. His driver was waiting.

  The back of the limo was dark and painfully silent. His brooding mood oppressed her. He didn’t speak until they were only a few miles from his home.

  “I’m sorry about all that,” he said quietly after a while, and she knew he referred to the Regina–Clint Jefferies spectacle.

  “Is that all you’re going to say?”

  He blinked and glanced over at her, his face enigmatic in the cloaking shadows.

  “I’m just checking,” Harper continued. “Because if it is, you needn’t bother. I know you didn’t plan any of that.”

  “Do you really want more t
han an apology?”

  “Do you mean do I really want to know about yours and that woman’s relationship?”

  He nodded once. She saw his eyes glitter through the shadows. His attention was fully on her now.

  “I know she must be one of your old lovers,” Harper said, turning and staring blankly out the window. “I’m not that naïve, Jacob. I know there must be lots of them. So you ran into one of them tonight? It’s not that shocking. And this one”—she looked over at him—“you care more about than most.”

  He remained completely still.

  “You do care about her a lot, don’t you?”

  “Yes.”

  Her heart gave a little lurch and she stared back out the window.

  “Is she an old lover? Or is she still one?” she asked, surprised at how calm she sounded.

  “No. Not anymore. Harper, look at me.”

  She turned her head.

  “You’re the only woman I’m sleeping with.”

  “How fortunate for me.”

  A muscle jumped in his cheek. “Don’t.”

  She inhaled shakily, ashamed of her flash of jealousy.

  “You never promised me fidelity,” she breathed out. “You never promised me anything except a good time. An opportunity to forget my troubles.”

  “That’s true. But I’m telling you that I have no immediate plans or interest in being with someone else. Doesn’t that mean anything?”

  She took a moment to absorb what he was saying.

  “Yes,” she admitted. “It does.” She tried to tease out his expression in the darkness, but the shadows prevailed. As always, he was a mystery to her. “You’re worried about her still, aren’t you?”

  “Yes.”

  She nodded. “Do you want to go to her hotel, and make sure she’s all right?” she asked through a tight throat.