“These parties suck,” Ian said as Cam retreated, leaned against the wall once again, and cocked his brow mockingly.
“I wouldn’t have hurt him too bad,” he murmured with a tight smile.
Ian snorted at that before extending an extra cigar toward Cam. Cam took it as Ian lit up his own. Seconds later, the sweet scent of imported tobacco filled the air, and Ian leaned against the stone balustrade of the patio.
“A woman can mess up a man’s mind sometimes, Cam.” He sighed. “Make him rethink things.”
“Don’t start on me, Ian.”
Ian had been full of wise little comments since he learned Cam had a weakness, and that weakness was a woman. For some reason, the other man had seemed surprised that Cam could care either way.
“Ms. Wright left the party with Chase awhile ago,” Ian stated. “Did you know about that?”
“I knew.” Cam shrugged. Chase knew the limits, he had always known them, where Jaci was concerned.
Ian watched him for another long moment before staring out at the garden. “Sometimes a man can accept the need to share his woman’s pleasure. Sharing her heart is another thing. They can be separate.”
“Let’s cut the shit,” he told his employer coolly. “I don’t tell you how to conduct your marriage, or your business. Refrain from giving me advice here, if you don’t mind.”
He didn’t need it. Jaci belonged to him and Chase would know it. But his fist curled at his side and the need to leave the party, to rush to her hotel, was nearly eating him alive.
“Agreed.” Ian sighed. “But stay away from Roberts, Cam, until you have proof of whatever you think he may have done. I can handle violence if there’s reason for it. Otherwise, stay back.”
“I’m well back,” Cam mocked.
Cam didn’t need proof, no more than he needed proof of Jaci’s innocence or her guilt. He understood the world. Sometimes a woman stepped into things she shouldn’t—that was always possible. But Roberts had threatened her, and that wasn’t acceptable.
He stared into the night once again, a frown brewing at his eyes. The investigation they had done on her had been too damned sketchy for seven years of a woman’s life.
There were rumors, here and there, of lovers, but none of those rumors had panned out. For seven years, Jaci had worked her ass off at her career, but she hadn’t put much into making friends or developing relationships.
Whatever had happened with Roberts had happened five years ago. After that, even less effort had gone into filling her life with anything other than work.
She didn’t party, except for business occasions. She was known for her restraint and cool purpose, her stubbornness and determination. She was outspoken in her design work, but rarely discussed personal issues with her clients. She had only a few friends, and pulling information from two of them had been like pulling teeth.
Courtney Sinclair and the manager of Ian’s men’s club, Sebastian De Lorents, had been less than forthcoming about anything they might know about her. Such loyalty wasn’t common, especially within the society they moved in.
“What are you going to do?” Ian finally asked.
“About what?” Cam turned back to him.
Ian shook his head. “If she’s going to design the club, then she’s going to have to understand the rules she’s working under. I expect you to take care of that.”
“It’s your club,” Cam growled.
“And your woman. See it’s done before she leaves tomorrow. Then we’ll decide if this job is truly hers or not. I’d rather lose the deposit I paid her than the reputation my wife is building in this community, Cam. You understand the rules and you know the woman. Take care of it. And make damned sure you and Chase know this woman you vouched so strongly for. I’d hate for either of you to be wrong.”
Jaci allowed the hotel room door to close heavily behind her before tossing her evening bag to the couch in the sitting room and reaching back to tear the silver clip from the back of her hair.
As the long, thick strands fell down her back, a surge of anger tore through her. A second later the hair clip was arching through the air to smack into the thick curtains covering the balcony doors.
“Damn him!” The vicious snarl that left her lips surprised her, as did the tears that she was forced to blink back.
He couldn’t even say hello. Couldn’t tear himself from his “business” discussion to even let her know he was there. No, he had sent Chase instead.
Cam couldn’t have meant the threat he had made so long ago. She drew in a hard, controlling breath. It was seven years ago, and when it came to women they wanted sexually, men could say a lot of things. She knew that. And Chase’s warning had been just that. The warning of a man who wanted her sexually, and who wanted answers to his questions, nothing more.
But he had acted as though he believed in her, a little voice inside her head whispered. He had asked her what Richard and Annalee had done to her, not what had she done. No one else had ever asked that.
She shook her head, kicking off the high heels and reaching behind her to release the zipper at the back of her evening gown as she moved into the bedroom.
She pulled the straps over her shoulders and let the silk slither down her body, leaving her clad in nothing but her thong and the thigh-high, black silk stockings.
Laying the dress over a chair, she grabbed her robe and wrapped it around her.
She didn’t need this headache. It was going to be all she could manage to keep her wits about her and keep the congressman and his wife from attacking her openly.
They were terrified of her. Even five years later, they were so frightened of the truth that it rolled off them in sickening waves every time they saw her. It would have been amusing if it didn’t continually destroy parts of her life along with it.
She stared around the hotel suite.
She was alone. She shouldn’t have been. Over the past few years, the ache inside her had grown to such proportions that it was nearly physical. She ached to be touched, to close her eyes as a lover touched her, even if she had to pretend it was Cameron Falladay.
It should have been so easy to accept the invitation in Chase’s eyes tonight. He could have come up here—she could have touched him, been touched, and pretended it was Cam.
She shook her head. She was losing her sanity, evidently. Chase would have never allowed her to get away with it, and she knew it. Just as she had known it before she left town seven years ago.