he growled, then settled into the old leather office chair that he’d used at every building site for the last twenty years. “All right, you wanted to talk, so talk. What’s the problem?”
Any hope that Pru had had that they might, for once, have a nice, friendly conversation died a swift death at his cool tone. His eyes were dark with distrust, his mouth set and unsmiling. He even glanced pointedly at the clock, silently reminding her that she was wasting precious time. It shouldn’t have hurt—she’d known getting past the hostility he kept between them like a shield wouldn’t be easy—but it did.
Sternly ordering herself not to be so sensitive, she met his gaze unflinchingly. “I think it’s time you told me what’s going on around here, don’t you?”
In the process of reaching for a pencil, Murdock froze. “Going on? What are you talking about?”
“I would think that was obvious,” she retorted. “I’m not deaf, you know. I’ve heard the stories about the project and all the problems you’ve had. The tool thefts, the vandalism, the unacceptable materials—”
He stopped her right there. “Pick any building site in this city and you’re going to run into some type of theft and vandalism. It just goes with the territory, especially in today’s world. As for problems with materials, I don’t know what you’re talking about. True, there was a mix-up with the cement, but it was within the acceptable limits.”
Pulling a piece of the foreign-made wiring she’d found earlier out of her pocket, she tossed it onto his desk. “This has nothing to do with cement. You’d better look at this.”
A licensed electrician, Murdock knew before his fingers ever closed over the small length of wiring that it wasn’t anything he’d ordered for the Fort Sam project. “Where did you get this?” he demanded sharply, glancing up. “I didn’t buy this.”
“Then why are your electricians using it all over the site?”
“They’re not,” he snapped. “Roy ordered all American-made materials for this job, including the electrical supplies, then inspected them himself when they came in. If there’d been a problem, he would have told me immediately and corrected it.”
“Then someone’s pulled a fast one on the two of you,” she replied. “Because right now the east wing’s wired with this and I can’t pass it until it’s changed.”
“The hell it is!”
“I’m sorry, Murdock, but it is. If you don’t believe me, go look for yourself.”
He was already on his feet, stepping around his desk. “All right, I will. Let’s go.”
Following her outside, his long legs quickly carried him to the east wing where the electricians had started roughing in the wiring the second the cement had been approved. Another shorter woman would have had a difficult time keeping up with him, but Pru’s legs were only a few inches shorter than his and she matched him stride for stride. So when he stepped inside the shell of a building and inspected the wiring that was already in place and soon to be concealed behind Sheetrock, she was right there with him.
“Son of a bitch!”
The softly snarled curse echoed like a scream in the empty building. Watching him closely, Pru slowly released the breath she had been unobtrusively holding, any doubts that Murdock might have known of the subterfuge vanishing when she saw the fury in his eyes.
“Have you checked the rest of this wing?”
She jumped when he turned on her suddenly, his blue eyes dark and piercing. She saw in an instant that he wasn’t mad at her, but at whoever did this. And she didn’t want to be in their shoes when he caught up with them. The fur was going to fly.
She nodded. “It’s all the same.”
He cursed again, a low, fluent damnation of the bonehead who didn’t know the difference between American and imported wiring. “What about the material that hasn’t been installed, yet?” he asked tersely. “Have you checked that?”
“No, of course not. I only inspect the work in progress and after it’s finished.”
“Then let’s go check it out.”
With her at his side, he hurried outside and crossed to the stockpile of supplies that were stacked high under sheets of protective plastic. Tossing the plastic out of the way, he found the wiring right where it was supposed to be. A single glance told him all he needed to know. It wasn’t made in the U.S.A.
Three
Stunned, feeling like someone had sucker punched him in a kidney, Murdock never knew how long he stood there staring in disbelief at the useless wiring. His teeth locked on a string of unprintable curses, he didn’t make a sound, but the rage building in him must have been apparent because Pru suddenly reached over and touched the tensed muscles of his forearm.
“It could just be an innocent mix-up,” she said hopefully. “Someone else’s order probably got delivered here by mistake. It happens all the time. You can straighten it out with a few phone calls.”
The lines bracketing his mouth deepening, Murdock knew the mistake couldn’t be explained—or corrected—that simply. Sure, screwups happened. But this project had had more than its fair share and each one hit him right where it hurt the most—in the pocketbook. If it didn’t stop, and damn soon, he’d be lucky to walk away from the job with the shirt on his back.
“I’ll take care of it,” he told her grimly. “And don’t worry about the east wing. It’ll be rewired, of course.” Letting out a heavy sigh, his eyes met hers. “It looks like I owe you an apology. Oh, yes, I do,” he insisted when she started to shake her head. “I did everything but accuse you of lying.”
“You’ve been under a lot of stress,” she said quickly, disturbed at the thought of him apologizing to her for something that was perfectly understandable considering their adversarial working relationship. “With everything that’s been going on around here, who can blame you?”
His lips starting to twitch, Murdock gazed down at her. “Let me get this straight. You’re making excuses for me being a jackass?”
Put that way, Pru couldn’t help but laugh. “Yeah, I guess I am.”
Her sexy laughter rolling over him like a heat wave, Murdock knew it was a sound that would haunt his dreams if he didn’t put some distance between them, and damn soon. Before the thought had fully formed, he took a step away from her. “Well, you don’t have to, but I appreciate your understanding.” His voice too husky, he took another quick step. “I’ve got to find Roy and see how this happened without anyone noticing. Thanks for your help.”
Leaving her with her own reports to file, he went in search of Roy and found him deep in a conversation with one of the plumbing subcontractors. He’d been Murdock’s right-hand man for more than five years. In all that time he’d never missed a day of work. He’d also never screwed up on a supply order. Murdock couldn’t believe he had this time, either. He was too dependable, too good at what he did. So what the hell had happened?
He was still asking himself that same question a few minutes later when the plumber went back to work. Roy turned toward him,
