Free A Guilty Affair by Maureen Smith

“I’m calling a staff meeting. Now .”
    Janie glanced at the ringing telephone. “But what about—”
    â€œLet voice mail pick it up,” Noah growled over his shoulder, jerking his tie loose as he strode down the hallway toward the conference room that would eventually be converted into a fourth office. Kenneth and Janie followed more slowly.
    â€œWhat the hell was that all about?” Noah demanded once they were seated at the large conference table that dominated the long, narrow room. “Since when do we make decisions about hiring personnel without everyone’s input?”
    Kenneth and Janie traded amused glances. “If memory serves me correctly,” his brother drawled, “we started that practice last year, when you and Daniela ganged up on me and offered Janie a job against my wishes.”
    Noah scowled. “That was different.”
    â€œHow’s that? I had objections to my wife working here, just as you obviously have very strong objections to Riley working here. The only difference I see is that my reasons—though they’ve since been proved wrong—at least made sense at the time.”
    Noah’s scowl deepened. “I have perfectly legitimate reasons for not wanting Riley to work here.”
    Kenneth and Janie looked at him expectantly.
    â€œWell?” Janie prompted after a prolonged moment of silence. “Let’s hear your reasons for not wanting her here.”
    Because I’m in love with her, and the idea of working beside her every damned day and not being able to touch her, and tell her how I feel, is the worst form of torture imaginable .
    Aloud he said, “For starters, I thought we’d already decided to hire another private investigator, not an assistant.”
    â€œWe did,” Kenneth agreed. “But getting the right person on board may take a couple of months. And we also decided we didn’t want to hire another P.I. without Daniela’s input. So either way we have to wait for her to get back from Italy.”
    â€œThen why don’t we just hold off on hiring anyone—period?”
    â€œBecause we need help now. We all know that.”
    â€œAnd before you say Riley’s not qualified,” Janie chimed in, “I think we can all agree she’s more than capable of doing the job. She’s an award-winning investigative journalist, for crying out loud. If she wasn’t returning to D.C. in two months, I’d offer her the P.I. position in a heartbeat.”
    Noah countered, “She’s not licensed.”
    â€œSo she’d get licensed,” Janie said with a shrug. “No big deal.”
    â€œIt is a big deal,” Noah snapped.
    His brother and Janie stared at him, their eyes alight with avid curiosity.
    â€œWhy is it a big deal, Noah?” Kenneth asked quietly. “The way Janie and I see it, it’s a win-win situation for everyone. I don’t know Riley’s reasons for taking a sabbatical from work, but she’s obviously not opposed to pinch-hitting for us here at the office. She’ll probably welcome the opportunity to get out of the house for a while and do something productive with her time.”
    Janie chuckled. “It’s not as if she’s gonna sit around baby sitting her grandmother. Florinda Kane has more of an active social life than all three of us combined.”
    Noah couldn’t argue with that, much as he would’ve liked to. So he raised another issue. “Who’s going to train Riley? I sure as hell don’t have time, nor does Kenneth.”
    â€œI’ll work with her,” Janie blithely volunteered. “I can already tell she’s going to be a quick learner.”
    That’s an understatement , Noah thought darkly, remembering the veiled look of triumph in Riley’s eyes as she’d accepted the job offer. He knew there was only one reason she wanted to work at Roarke Investigations, and