The Seduction Game by Anastasia Maltezos Page B

out at a snail’s pace and he didn’t have time to wait for them. “All I know is she’s a psychologist who’s written four self-help books,” Adam said. He would have added that Edward thought she was an angel who saved his granddaughter’s life, but Adam wasn’t ready to acknowledge any decency in Kate. His feelings were still raw.
    Kyle cleared his throat. “Buddy, she’s more than that. This woman’s big. Real big, and she’s worth millions. Her assets almost equal yours.”
    “What about a boyfriend? Lover?” A part of him didn’t want to know the answer.
    “Nothing. From what I’ve learned, this woman has led the life of a saint. She was seeing some guy, Simon, about five years ago, but that’s it.” Kyle cleared his throat. “Adam, she’s donated close to a million dollars to the children’s ward at the General Hospital the past four years. She volunteers at a church for their bi-annual charity bake-offs, and helped fund an organization that houses low income families. I…I don’t know what you expected me to find, but I think you’re dating Mother Teresa.”
    Adam felt his gut wrench. “Are you sure? There’s nothing else you haven’t told me?”
    “There is, and brace yourself,” Kyle added wryly. “I went to the hospital this afternoon and struck up a conversation with a nurse. Casually, I mentioned Kate’s name and the nurse’s face lit up like a thousand watts. Apparently Kate footed all the medical bills three years ago for one of the children, a little boy called Joey Billings, who had a rare form of leukemia. His parents were strapped for cash and couldn’t pay for the treatment needed to save their son’s life, and Kate came to the rescue. Joey Billings has been in remission ever since. The nurse had tears in her eyes when she told me this. Damn near made me cry, too.”
    This was impossible, he thought. She wasn’t perfect, she was conniving and devious. “Anything else?”
    There was a pause on the line. “Buddy, what else could there be? What were you expecting me to find?”
    Adam rubbed his eyes. “I don’t know.”
    “Call me when you’re ready to talk about this,” Kyle said. “And forget the bill. This one’s on me.”
    Adam didn’t know how long he stared at the fax machine after the call ended. Finally, he grabbed the sheets, found her work address, and stormed out of his office.
    “Cancel the rest of my appointments,” he said curtly to Mary on his way out.
    “Mr. Tyler?” Mary sat there, nonplussed, staring after her boss. In all the years she’d worked for him, he’d never cancelled appointments, let alone left the office before six.
    “Do it,” he barked, and left.

Chapter 8
    Kate smiled at Pete Weathers, her seventeen-year-old patient paralyzed from the waist down.
    “We made a lot of progress today, Pete. I’ll see you next week, same time,” Kate said warmly. “And thank you so much for your help.” She rose, went around him, and pushed his wheelchair carefully into her reception area. She smiled at his parents waiting for him next to her floor-to-ceiling zebra plant by the large bay window filtering in the sunshine.
    Gary Weathers rose from the sofa. “Good afternoon, Dr. Moore. I was hoping we weren’t late. We had to stop at the drug store.”
    Linda Weathers made a face and touched her rounded stomach as she rose. “Morning sickness, all day long.” Her affectionate gaze dropped to her son. “Hi, honey.”
    “Hi, Mom. Hi, Dad.”
    “Even if you were late,” Kate said, “I wouldn’t have minded. Any extra time I have with Pete is a blessing. He just spent twenty minutes helping me re-install a program I downloaded last week. Your son’s quite the computer whiz.”
    Pete shrugged, but there was no mistaking the pleasure on his face. “It was nothing, Dr. Moore.”
    Kate smiled down at him. “For you, but for people like me, who don’t know the first thing about computers, I’d say it was a feat in itself.” She gave