“Fine.” She shrugged. “It happens. Don’t worry.” When he’d left, she turned to Garth. “I want to go wipe off the pants so they don’t get stained.”
“Should I wait?” he asked.
“No. Go have your bondy moment with the senator. I’ll clean up, then join you in a few minutes.”
He leaned in and kissed her on her neck, just under her ear. “Don’t be long.”
The stupid shivers returned, but she ignored them. Maybe she could find some kind of Garth vaccine. Something that would keep her from reacting every time he was close by.
She made her way to the restroom. It was huge and contained everything from hairspray to spot-removing cloths. She wiped off the few drops of wine, decided nothing was ruined, then washed her hands and returned to the party.
It took her a few minutes to spot Garth, then wished she hadn’t. He was in the same crowd as the senator, but instead of talking to a portly older man, he seemed to be having an intense conversation with a petite, beautiful blonde.
The woman was maybe thirty, with features so perfect they didn’t look real. She was almost a doll come to life. A doll with large breasts that moved under the low-cut fitted top she wore over a slim, dark skirt.
It wasn’t so much the conversation that got her attention, or the woman’s exquisite features. It was the way she looked up at Garth, all wide-eyed and hopeful. As if he could make her world exactly right just by smiling at her.
Dana shook off the thoughts, reminding herself that unless she’d had a recent brain injury, being fanciful wasn’t her style, then walked up to join them. Just before she got there, the woman excused herself.
By the time Dana joined Garth, he was talking to the senator and there was no chance to ask about the blonde.
Garth introduced her to everyone in the group. She nodded and smiled and did her best to remember names, but couldn’t seem to keep her attention on the conversation. Instead she found herself watching the other woman, who circulated through the party. She seemed to know nearly everyone. When she stopped by an older woman, dripping in jewels, they embraced.
The blonde laughed, then put her hand on the older woman’s arm.
If Dana hadn’t been watching so intently, she wouldn’t have seen what happened next. There was a quick shift with the blonde’s hand, then the diamond bracelet that had been winking from the older woman’s wrist disappeared. Seconds later Dana watched the blonde slip it into her small handbag.
“Excuse me,” Dana said then walked toward the blonde. Even as she crossed the space between them, she argued with herself.
She had to be wrong, she thought. But she knew what she’d seen and every instinct, not to mention her police training, insisted she find out what had happened.
Dana walked up to the blonde, who had started to move on, and stepped in front of her. The other woman smiled up at her.
“Hi.”
“Hi,” Dana said, staring into eyes the color of the Caribbean. True aqua-blue fringed by long, dark lashes. “Tell me she’s your grandmother. A relative? Not that it would necessarily help your story.”
“What?”
“That woman you were just talking to. Grandma? An aunt?”
“No.”
“Then you probably want to give her back the bracelet.” Dana grabbed the blonde’s purse and opened it. The bracelet glittered against the black lining, as did a watch and a ring. “You’ve been busy.”
The other woman’s eyes widened. “Who are you?”
“Someone who is going to be calling the police.”
A large, masculine hand covered hers, closing the small handbag. Garth stepped between them and put his arms around their waists.
“We should take this somewhere else,” he said. “It’s a party.”
“Tell that to the jewel thief.”
“Fawn already knows.”
“FAWN?” DANA REPEATED as she paced the length of the meeting room on the same floor as the party. “Her name is Fawn? Who does that to a child?”
“It’s a family name.”
“Great. So her mother is Doe and her father is Buck?” Dana swung around to face Garth. “Wait a minute. How do you know her name?”
He didn’t even bother to look uncomfortable, she thought bitterly as he leaned against the wall and put his hands in his pants pockets. “I’ve known Fawn and her family for several years now. And no, her father isn’t named Buck.”
Dana wanted to spit. “Tell me we’re calling the police. If we’re not…” She didn’t know what she would do but it would be really, really painful. She wasn’t sure who she was going to hurt, but someone was going down tonight. There would be blood. Or at least serious bruising. “Where is Fawn, by the way?”
“Her name isn’t her fault.”
“How nice for her. And the stealing?”
Garth had led both women out of the ballroom, then a tall, older man had collected Fawn. While Dana seethed in frustration, Garth had whispered to him and then led Dana into this empty room.
“Don’t think you can distract me into forgetting,” she said. “I’m pissed.”
“I can tell.”
“She stole. Not just the bracelet, but a watch and a ring. I don’t know what they were worth, but there were a lot of diamonds. What is she? A professional jewel thief?”
“Not exactly.”
The door opened and to Dana’s amazement, Fawn rushed in. She ran directly to Garth. Worse, he didn’t back away or sidestep. Instead he let her wrap her arms around him and hold on as if she would never let go. Things went to hell very quickly as he returned her embrace.
Dana knew she was the wronged party in this trio, but righteous indignation didn’t make her feel any less awkward. Fawn was tiny and perfect. Next to her Dana felt half mutant. Fawn belonged—Dana never would.
Garth looked at her over Fawn’s head.
“It’s not what you think,” he said.
“You don’t know what I’m thinking.”
Fawn turned in his arms, but grabbed his hand. “I’m making a mess of everything, aren’t I?”
“Yes,” Dana snapped, not caring when the other woman winced.
The older man from before stood at the open door. “Fawn, we have to go.”
Fawn raised herself on tiptoes and pressed her mouth to Garth’s. “I’m sorry,” she said as she backed away. “You know that, don’t you?”
He nodded.
Then they were gone.
Dana folded her arms across her chest. “If she’d been the gardener instead of a pretty socialite, you would so be throwing her ass in jail,” she said bitterly. “It’s all about power and social position. And looking like an angel doesn’t hurt, either.” She turned to him. “Tell me I’m wrong.”
Garth hesitated.
“Figures,” she muttered and started past him.
He grabbed her arm. “Wait. Fawn has a problem. She takes things. She has plenty of money and could afford to buy anything she wants, but sometimes…”
“Ask me if I care,” Dana said, pulling free of his grasp.
“She’s trying.”
“Not very hard. Give me a break. Poor little rich girl has a problem. So what happens now? None of you will press charges, so it never happened. Let me guess, Daddy takes her home and we go on with our lives.”
“Everyone likes her,” he said.
“So that makes it okay.” But Fawn wasn’t the entire problem, she admitted to herself. There was a bigger one she couldn’t ignore anymore. “How do you know her?”
He hesitated.
She waited. The information was only a few computer clicks away. Skye would know her last name and then a quick Internet search would give her more than she wanted to know.
“It was a long time ago,” he began.
Dana felt beyond stupid. They’d gone out. Of course. Why hadn’t she figured that out the first second she’d seen them together?
But Fawn was the opposite of her. How could he have been interested in Faw
n and then want to be with her? Which brought up a whole lot of other questions she didn’t want to answer.
“We were engaged.”
“YOU DON’T WANT TO do this,” Lexi said, standing beside Dana’s chair.
Dana ignored her and typed in Garth’s name along with the phrase “and women.” The Internet responded instantly, producing over ten thousand listings. She picked one at random.
There was a picture of Garth with a tall skinny woman who had to be a model of some kind. No one normal had such bony knees and elbows. She clicked on other articles and saw Garth with plenty of heiresses, successful businesswomen and even an actress. There was a theme to his women—they were all beautiful and accomplished. They had style, possibly grace and moved effortlessly in his social circle.
She was a small-town deputy who, until a few weeks ago, hadn’t worn a dress in nearly ten years.
“What was I thinking?” she whispered.
“I can’t answer that until you tell me what’s going on,” Lexi said, then pulled up another chair and sat heavily. “My back hurts.”
Dana turned to her, the search forgotten. “Are you all right? Do we need to go to the hospital?”
“No. My back hurts. I’m seven and a half months pregnant and getting bigger by the second. Of course my back hurts.”
Dana drew in a breath. “Don’t scare me like that. I have enough stress in my life.”
“If you tell me what happened, I can help.”
It was a reasonable statement, especially considering Dana had shown up that morning with a suitcase, asking if she could stay.
To her credit, Lexi hadn’t asked a lot of questions, but instead had shown her to a guest room. Dana had gotten out her laptop and gone online to find out the truth about Garth. Something she should have done weeks ago.
Everything was right there, in the pictures. Woman after woman, smiling at the camera. Leaning against him or holding hands or linking arms.
She’d been a fool. Worse, for him, she’d been convenient. He didn’t even have to make a booty call. The booty was right there in his condo.
“I don’t need help,” she said. “I’m fine.”
“You are so going to tell me what’s going on,” Lexi said. “Dana, I mean it. What happened?”
Dana turned to her friend. “I’m sorry. Everything is totally screwed up and it’s all my fault. Well, his, too. Mostly his.”
Lexi covered her face with her hands and shrieked. “What are we talking about?”
“Garth was engaged.”
Lexi dropped her hands to her lap. “I knew that. It was a few years ago. Three or four. Rich girl. Then she sort of disappeared. What does that have to do with…Oh. You met the ex.”
“I more than met her.”
Dana told her what had happened, ending with Fawn’s father taking her away.
“She was stealing?” Lexi asked, sounding outraged. “And nothing happened. Why am I even surprised?”
“That’s what I said.”
Dana thought about Fawn in Garth’s arms. Jed had been right. She would never fit in.
“I don’t belong with him,” she said.
Lexi frowned. “What does Fawn have to do with you and Garth?” She held up a hand. “I know finding out about someone’s past is never easy. But I’d like to point out all you have to deal with is an ex-fiancée. Cruz didn’t tell me he had a teenaged daughter. We all keep secrets, Dana.”
“I don’t.” There wasn’t anything secret-worthy in her past. She wasn’t excited to talk about how her father had treated her, but Garth already knew the basic story.
“He’s not with her now.”
Dana logged off the Internet. “Lord, I know. Garth didn’t know she was going to be there, blah, blah, blah. But when it came down to it, he protected her. She was stealing. And he let her get away with it.”
He’d chosen Fawn over her.
Dana would never say that. She wasn’t sure she would admit to even thinking it, but that was the bottom line.
“Fawn obviously needs help,” Lexi said. “She needs to learn to take responsibility.”
“That’s not going to happen while everyone steps in to protect her.”
“I agree.” Lexi frowned. “I’m surprised Garth did that.”
“Why?”
“He’s pragmatic,” Lexi said. “Why would he get involved with someone like that then or now?”
“He probably didn’t know when they started dating. Besides, you haven’t seen her. She’s so beautiful, she doesn’t look real. Talk about a trophy wife.”
“Garth doesn’t need a trophy. He’s young and successful. He can have anyone he wants.”
Dana sighed. “This would be you making me feel better?”
Lexi smiled. “Do you need me to? Is there something you want to tell me?”
“No.”
“Are you falling for him?”
“No one says ‘falling for him’ anymore.”
“I do, and stop avoiding the question.”
Dana leaned back in her chair. Falling for Garth? Not possible. They weren’t anything alike. He was from another planet, while she lived on this one. He was…
“I don’t know,” she admitted. “I want to tell you no. I want to tell you he’s just someone I know, but I can’t. It’s too confusing. We aren’t following any rules I know.”
“Then maybe it’s time to start breaking the rules.”
“Have you met me? I don’t break the rules, I enforce them.”
“How’s that working for you?”
Dana shrugged. “Good point. I just wish she hadn’t been there.” Or that she could forget seeing Fawn melt into Garth’s arms.
“You can stay here as long as you’d like,” Lexi said.
“Thanks.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to talk to Garth about this?”
“And be rational? No, thanks. I like wallowing in uncertainty. It’s a new experience for me.”
“Welcome to the real world.”
“When do I get to go back to the old one?”
Lexi smiled. “I have no idea.”
Later, Lexi went to her office, while Dana wandered through Cruz’s large house, feeling more uncomfortable than she did at Garth’s place. The only bright spot in her otherwise boring afternoon was a wild game of chase the string with C.C. the cat.
At three-fifteen, the doorbell rang. Dana opened it to find Garth standing there.
As always, the sight of him made her whole body go on alert. If only she could look into his dark eyes without imagining them bright with passion. She wanted to be able to look at his arms without seeing them around Fawn.
“You left me,” he said.
Why did he have to say it like that? “I needed to think. Wait a minute. It was just this morning, after you’d gone to work. How did you know?”
He shrugged. “I had a feeling. I went home and you weren’t there.”
“So you called Lexi?”
“No. I knew you’d be here.”
How? When she’d left his condo, she hadn’t known where she would go. She’d driven here without thinking.
She waited for him to ask her why. Or to get angry with her for walking out. Or to blame her for everything that had happened. Instead he stared into her eyes and said, “I’m sorry. Please come home.”
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
DANA WANTED TO TELL HIM it wasn’t home, that she had a home. A lovely little apartment where she was never confused. But she knew what he meant and what he was asking. As she had no answer, she held the door open a little wider, to let him in, then closed it behind him.
Emotion complicated everything, she thought grimly as she followed him into the large living room. If she wasn’t confused about her feelings, she could make a decision easily. Stay with Garth because right now it wasn’t safe to be on her own. Or move in with Lexi. Or hire a bodyguard and stay at her place. There were multiple solutions…until she started thinking with something oth
er than her brain.
Garth stood in the center of the room, watching her.
She motioned to the sofa, but he shook his head. She shrugged. “This is your party. You should do the talking.”
“Fair enough.” He cleared his throat. “I met Fawn about five years ago. She was dating some European duke or prince or something back then. I can’t remember.”
“I have that problem all the time,” Dana murmured.
He ignored the comment. “I didn’t think that much about her until she called me the next day and invited me to lunch.”
Dana found it difficult to believe any man could be in the same room as Fawn and think about anything else, but stranger things had happened.
“We went out a few times,” he continued. “I liked her well enough. She was a fun date. A violinist, so we went to the symphony a lot. I wasn’t thinking about anything serious until her father came to see me.” He looked at her. “You met him last night.”
The tall, older man who had collected Fawn? Guessing was enough—she didn’t need Garth to confirm the information. “Go on.”
“He wanted Fawn married and I seemed like a good choice. He let me know there would be many advantages to being his son-in-law.”
“Did he mention her problem with other people’s possessions?”
Garth’s expression didn’t change. “No. He didn’t say anything. I thought about what he’d said, then I talked to Fawn about it.”
“How did she feel about Daddy trying to sell her off?”
“She wasn’t surprised. I sensed there was a catch, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. We went away together for a couple of weeks to see if we could consider marriage. When things went well, I proposed.”
“So it was a business arrangement,” she said, wishing she could believe him. It was all just a little too convenient.
“At first,” he said cautiously. “The more I was around Fawn, the more I liked her.”
Why didn’t he just say he was in love with her? That was the significant information. She didn’t want to hear the words, but once she did maybe the ache in her chest would go away.
“A few months later, I found out about her problem. She liked to take things.”
“You mean steal jewelry that didn’t belong to her.”
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