Hidden Talents

just didn't want to believe it.
    “Please don't yell at me.” Serenity gripped the arms of her chair and glared at him. “I'm having a difficult day. I don't need you making it worse.”
    “I'm not yelling. When I yell, you'll know it.”
    “I'd appreciate it if you'd stop snarling, then.”
    “I am not snarling, either. Why didn't you tell me earlier that the negatives were missing?”
    “Because I had a hunch you'd overreact,” Serenity admitted. “I wasn't up to dealing with it.”
    “You think I'm overreacting? You don't know what overreacting is.” Caleb swept aside the pile of business papers he'd been going over for the past two hours.
    He straightened and began to prowl the tiny office. The only reason he wasn't actually yelling was because he knew he'd be overheard by Zone and the sprinkling of locals who were shopping at Witt's End Grocery. The closed door that stood between the office and the main part of the store was not very thick.
    “I had a feeling this morning that this thing wasn't over,” Caleb muttered. “I knew something else was going to go wrong.”
    Serenity pressed her lips together in a mutinous expression. “Don't worry about it, Caleb. This isn't your problem, it's mine.”
    So much for their short-lived truce, Caleb thought. “I've already told you, as long as you're a client, your problems are my problems.”
    “You and your precious business ethics. Nobody's asking you to go above and beyond the call of duty here. You're the one who's pushing it.”
    “I'll decide what constitutes above and beyond the call.” Caleb reached the wall, swung around and stalked back across the room. He was disgusted to realize that he was pacing. He never paced. He had too much self-control to pace.
    A shock of self-awareness jolted him back to a cold, calm acknowledgment of just what was happening. Pacing was clear evidence that he was allowing his emotions to gain the upper hand.
    Emotions were dangerous. They left a man vulnerable, weakened him, encouraged him to make mistakes, made him forget his responsibilities, caused him to run off with a platinum-blond centerfold model and to father an illegitimate son who would spend the rest of his life paying for his father's emotional stupidity.
    Caleb was discovering that emotions were also what made a man feel alive.
    He fought back the confusion within and came to an abrupt halt in the middle of the room. “All right, let's calm down here and think this through in a logical manner.”
    “I am calm,” Serenity said pointedly. “Unlike some people I could mention. Not finding the negatives came as a surprise, that's all. I'm sure there's nothing to worry about.”
    “The hell there isn't. You've got a set of missing blackmail negatives to worry about.”
    “Those pictures can't do me any more harm than they've already done. The only thing that really concerns me now is the possibility that maybe Ambrose wasn't the one who tried to blackmail me. Maybe someone else was involved. Damn. I was so hoping this thing was finished.”
    “Asterley is still the most likely suspect.” Caleb forced himself to do what he did best, to unemotionally analyze a situation and reach a reasoned conclusion. “He probably removed the negatives from his files at some point and hid them in a safe place while he conducted his blackmail dealings.”
    “Why would he do that?”
    “Because what he was doing was illegal.” Caleb gave her an exasperated glance. “If you'd gone to the cops and those negatives had been discovered in Asterley's possession, the authorities would have nailed him. This way, if he was caught and his files searched, he could always claim that the negatives had been stolen from him and that someone else had done the blackmailing.”
    “If that's true, there's no telling where he might have hidden those negatives. We'll probably never find them.” Serenity exhaled softly. “I suppose it's for the best.”
    “I'm not so sure about that.” Caleb rubbed the back of his neck. “I don't like the fact that those negatives are floating around out there somewhere. Someone else might find them by accident.”
    He eyed the envelope on top of Serenity's desk with a brooding gaze. The thought of another man drooling over nude photos of Serenity, photos that he himself hadn't been allowed to see, made every muscle in Caleb's body tighten.
    “It's not really very likely when you stop to think about it.” Serenity sat forward determinedly.