All of Me, Leeanna Morgan [cheapest way to read ebooks .txt] 📗
- Author: Leeanna Morgan
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“I could have had a woman in here,” Dylan grumbled. “We could have been having wild monkey sex. What would you have done then?”
“Made myself at home while you died from exhaustion.”
Dylan grunted, then flopped down on the sofa. “You can make coffee for me, too. What’s so important that it couldn’t wait until the morning?”
Logan pulled a couple of coffee mugs out of the pantry and told Dylan about Tess, Jilly, and the senator.
“You’ve got yourself more than a handful of problems.”
“You could say that. What do you think I should do?”
Dylan stretched his legs out in front of him and looked at the pink curtains hanging from the window. The house he was living in was a rental. Logan knew he’d taken it sight unseen from a realtor when he’d first moved to Bozeman. It was supposed to have been an in-between step until he decided whether he wanted to rent or buy. But apart from the pink curtains, it had suited Dylan, so he’d stayed.
Until recently, Dylan had appreciated the solitude that living out of town gave him. But solitude didn’t work too well when you were looking for a girlfriend. So he’d started looking for a house closer to town, somewhere he could bring his dream date back to. Logan had no idea what would happen once she got there, but that was up to Dylan.
Dylan took the mug Logan held out to him. “Sit down and tell me more about the senator’s ex-wife. She’s the one with the power to blow this story right through to the White House.”
Logan sat down and told Dylan what he knew about Marcie Gibson. “She’s ambitious. Senator Gibson’s lawyers tied her into a prenup she wasn’t happy about. She wants revenge, but she wants his money as well. She’s fighting their divorce settlement with everything she’s got.”
“Where’s the copy of the senator’s hard drive?”
Logan frowned. “I don’t know. She said it’s somewhere safe.”
“She’d better hope it is. If her ex-husband finds out she’s got it, he’s not going to be happy. What does she look like?”
“Tall, brunette, big green eyes. She won the Miss Virginia contest six years ago.”
“Photogenic?”
Logan nodded. “She’s stunning, if you like that sort of woman.”
Dylan drank his coffee. “I’ve got an idea, but you might not like it.”
“Try me.”
“Talk to Marcie before Jilly finds her. Convince her to let you write a story. Get professional photos taken of her looking sad and unhappy, real tear-jerker stuff. Publish the story, then make sure she goes to the police. Once the story hits the headlines, the police won’t be able to ignore her allegations, especially with the evidence she’s got.”
“What about, Tess?”
“If Tess gets caught up in the fiasco, Mrs. Ex-Senator will be lucky to get a mention. From what you’ve said, that will be the last thing Marcie wants.”
“It’s the last thing Tess wants, too.”
“Keep Tess out of it. Don’t mention her name. It might be good if she goes on vacation when the story’s about to break.”
“Jilly and Tess are going to hate me.”
Dylan stared at him. “Who are you most worried about?”
“Tess.”
“Look out for her, then. Jilly will eventually forgive you.”
“Yeah. In about fifty years’ time.”
Dylan didn’t look remotely concerned. “It’s better than Tess hating you.”
“She’ll do that, anyway.” Logan knew that whatever happened, Tess wouldn’t be talking to him. If he didn’t get to Marcie Gibson tomorrow, Jilly would be publishing a story that would land Tess in the spotlight.
He had to decide what to do, and it had to be tonight.
Dylan walked out of the room and came back a few minutes later. He had a pillow and a duvet in his arms. “Here…” He threw the whole lot on the sofa beside Logan. “If you’re not going to get much sleep you might as well stay here. At least I’ll know you haven’t crashed on the way home.”
“Thanks.”
“Don’t worry about it. You might need to repay the favor one day. If you wake up with a pillow over your head, it’s because you’re snoring like a train.”
“Nice to be appreciated.”
Dylan snorted and left him on the sofa. “I’m going to bed. Don’t wake me up when you leave.”
They both knew that wouldn’t happen. Dylan slept for about as many hours a night as Logan did. Between them, they were almost normal. He could guarantee that four-thirty would roll around and they’d both be up, drowning their sorrows in the biggest mug of coffee they could find.
And right at the moment, that thought was more comforting than what he had to tell Tess in the morning.
Tess kept an eye on the clock as she made another vegetarian quiche. Logan hadn’t been in all morning and she wanted to know what his reporter friend had said.
She added garlic and mixed herbs to the egg and milk she’d already mixed together. She’d half expected him to call last night, but he hadn’t.
The kitchen door opened and she jumped. She had to blink to make sure she wasn’t imagining Logan standing in front of her.
“Sorry I didn’t call. I stayed the night at Dylan’s, then went into work early.”
“How did you end up at Dylan’s house?”
“I went there after Jilly left the restaurant.”
“Does that mean it was a good or not so good dinner?”
He took a glass out of the pantry and filled it with water. “Dinner was good, but she wants to write an article about Senator Gibson.”
Tess sat on a kitchen stool and stared at him. “She can’t.”
“She can and she’s going to.”
“Does she have any evidence that he was supplying drugs to Evie?”
“She’s spoken to a few people, but she hasn’t got anything concrete.”
Tess felt like her whole world was collapsing. “Does she know about me?”
He nodded. “She knows about your modeling career, about Evie, and about the senator. She wants him to face criminal charges for what he did.”
“I want that too. But doesn’t she realize he’s dangerous? He has friends who know how to bury a story. He’ll destroy her career, then come after me.”
“I have a plan.”
Tess dropped her head into her arms. She’d had a plan, too. A plan that involved running a café in Bozeman, having a happy life. “Jilly can’t write her article without solid evidence that will stand up in court. I need to call her and tell her what happened last time.”
“She knows what happened last time. She’s going to write her story regardless of what you say.”
The timer on the oven beeped and Tess took out a tray of chicken pot pies. “What’s your plan?”
“Do you want to put the other pie in the oven?” Logan looked at the vegetarian quiche she’d been making.
As soon as he’d mentioned Jilly’s article she’d forgotten all about the quiche. She looked down at the half made mixture and poured the filling into the pastry shell. She added sliced tomatoes and Parmesan cheese to the top. There were five different vegetables in the quiche, but right at the moment she didn’t care how healthy or good it would taste. All she cared about was the article Jilly wanted to write.
While she’d been daydreaming, Logan had finished his glass of water and washed his hands.
He lifted the quiche off the counter and slid it in the oven “How long?”
“Forty minutes.” Tess watched him move around the kitchen with the ease of someone who’d been working here a long time. Except he hadn’t been working, not officially anyway. Sometimes he made breakfast for her and Annie. He’d helped make salads and put together more panini and toasted sandwich combinations than most people knew how to make.
She enjoyed his company. Most of the time. Today, she wasn’t so sure. Especially when he had a determined frown on his face. “Tell me about your plan.”
“I need to write a story about Senator Gibson before Jilly does.” Logan held his hand up when she started to interrupt. “Hear me out first. Senator Gibson’s ex-wife has all of the evidence a court needs to make a conviction.”
After everything that had happened, Tess wasn’t trusting anyone’s word on what they might or might not have. “How do you know she’s telling the truth?”
“I called her this morning and she sent me the files she copied. The senator was meticulous when it came to his finances and business transactions. The documents show the dates he bought drugs, supplier details, the works. I had the information checked by a lawyer and there’s enough evidence to send him and his
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