She smiled and opened the door. Peeked out while he stole one last look at her perfect butt. The woman filled out a slim-fitting dress better than any woman he’d ever known. She was curvy and sleek...and he would have to concentrate very hard not to think about what she could do with that mouth.
They’d just stepped into the hall when Carter appeared in front of them. That grin. The way his gaze wandered over both of them.
This was not going to be good. Spence would bet money on that.
“Where were you two?” Carter asked as he glanced into the dark pantry behind them.
Abby’s eyes widened. “What?”
“Hmm?” Spence asked at the same time.
Carter’s grin only grew bigger. “Was that a hard question?”
Leave it to his baby brother to pick this moment to come home after months away. Now he was showing up everywhere. The guy’s timing sucked. “Of course not.”
Carter gestured for them to go into the library two doors down the hall. Since complying struck Spence as the quickest way through this situation, he followed. They all stepped inside and were immediately surrounded by walls of books. A desk sat in the corner by the large floor-to-ceiling window. There were a few other chairs scattered around the room but they stood there, with the door closed behind them.
Carter looked from Abby to Spence and back again. “You missed the toast to the happy couple.”
“Well...” Yeah, that’s all Spence had. His brain refused to jump-start after the mind-blowing sex.
“Ellie can’t drink anyway,” Abby said, piping up to fill the silence.
“Yes.” Spence nodded. “Good. That’s right.”
Carter shook his head, looking far too amused by the stilted conversation. “Because that was my point.”
“We’re just...” It happened again. Spence started talking, then nothing. His mind went blank.
Abby touched the back of her hand against his chest. “Walking.”
“Wow.” Carter crossed his arms over his chest. Looked pretty impressed with himself, as if every minute was more fun than the last. “You two aren’t very good at this. Maybe you need practice.”
“What are you talking about?” Abby asked.
The door opened behind them and Jackson slipped inside, sparing Spence from whatever answer Carter might have come up with to Abby’s question. Jackson’s shoes clicked against the buffed hardwood floor as he walked. He’d picked up a piece of cake at some point and now balanced that plate along with his glass. With his fork raised halfway to his mouth he started talking.
“I heard you guys were in here. Where did you...” His gaze switched from Abby to Spence. “Oh.”
Carter snorted. “Right?”
“I give up. Are we wearing a sign?” Abby finished the question by glaring at Spence.
He wasn’t sure what he did to warrant that, or maybe he did, but he knew no matter what had happened in that pantry, this embarrassment was going to be his fault. No way would Carter let this opportunity pass.
“Kind of.” Carter cleared his throat as he pointed at Spence’s chest. “Your shirt is—”
“Buttoned wrong, genius.” Jackson shook his head as he put his drink on the edge of the desk and scooped up a forkful of cake.
After a quick look at Spence, Abby rolled her eyes. “You had one job.”
A guy could not catch a break around here. Spence went to work on fixing the misbuttoning. “Excuse me, but my brain is not working at top-speed right now.”
No one said anything for a few seconds. Spence knew he should jump in and clean up his last comment but what the hell did he say?
When the quiet dragged on, Carter rubbed his hands together. “So, how do you want us to handle this?”
“With a little dignity would be nice,” Abby mumbled as she threw them all a men-suck glance.
“We’re all grown-ups.” Jackson’s gaze moved around the group before landing on Spence. “For the most part.”
“Right. We’ve all had sex. Not together, of course.” Carter was just revving up, speaking faster as he went when he glanced at Abby and his words sputtered out. “What? Are we dancing around the word? At least I hope it was good sex. You were both smiling a few minutes ago.”
“I can think of a thousand places I’d rather be right now,” Abby said in an emotionless voice.
“So that it’s official and since I know introducing myself shouldn’t get me in too much trouble compared to whatever else I might say, I’m Carter Jameson.” He held out his hand to Abby.
She took it as she frowned at him. “We’ve actually met before.”
Carter’s eyes narrowed. “We have?”
Spence thought back to the calls he shared with Carter all those months ago. The complaints about Dad and his behavior. Talks about the kiss and how sick he felt at seeing it. He hoped Carter forgot every last word. “Be careful.”
“I’m Abby Rowe.” She finished shaking his hand, then dropped her arm to her side again. “I work for your company. On the management team, actually. We used to pass in the halls. Not often but sometimes when you were in the office visiting your brothers.”
“I don’t... Oh.” Carter’s eyes widened. “Okay, yeah.”
Jackson nodded. “Subtle.”
“You’d be less annoying if you didn’t smile so big right now.” Abby shot Carter her best watch-it look as she talked.
“Sorry.” Carter had the grace to wince as he looked at Abby. Then he turned to Spence. “So, is she why you came back home so fast when Derrick called for help?”
This discussion just got worse and worse. It was as if Carter didn’t have a filter. Spence wanted the talk before Abby unleashed and kicked them all. “Hey, Carter? Shut up.”
The noise from the hallway grew louder right before the door pushed open. Spence’s vision refused to focus...but then it did. He saw a couple—him in his sixties, tall with a regal look to him. Her in her forties with shoulder-length auburn hair and a smile that looked like it was plastered on her face against her will.
Eldrick and the newest missus. All dressed up with her in flowing off-white pants and a matching shirt, and him in navy pants and a blazer. The type of outfit that suggested he’d rather be on a boat.
The only thing that made the unwanted meeting tolerable was that Eldrick’s newest wife looked even less excited to be there than any of his children. Spence almost felt sorry for her. Officially meeting the family for the first time like this couldn’t be easy. Especially this family.
“I see your behavior has not improved since we last saw each other, Spencer.” That familiar stern Dad voice floated through the room.
All of the amusement drained from Carter’s face. “Dad.”
“When did you get here?” Spence didn’t mean for it to come out like an accusation but even he heard the edge to his tone.
“I just arrived. You remember Beth.” Eldrick gestured toward his wife.
For a second, Spence thought he missed a marriage. They’d eloped and Derrick and Spence had only seen her once, even then only briefly and as she stepped on a private plane at the airport. Carter never had. But that wasn’t the name Spence remembered. “I thought your name was Jackie.”
She nodded. “Jacqueline Annabeth Winslow Jameson.”
That was quite something. Spence felt a headache coming on.
“She prefers...” Eldrick smiled as he looked around the room, and then his mouth fell into a flat line. “Abigail.”
Without a word, Abby picked up Jackson’s glass and threw the contents in Eldrick’s face. They all jumped back, and Beth or Jackie or whatever her name was this week gasped.
Abby didn’t even blink. “Welcome home.”
Eight
Abby’s brain had clicked off. Just seeing Eldrick pushed her into a killing rage. He stood th
ere, smiling while he acted as if everyone around him should jump to his command. When he said her name, her brain snapped. All those months of seething backed up on her and she grabbed the drink. Not her usual move but she refused to regret it.
She’d heard people whisper about his good looks. They hadn’t faded as he’d aged. He still possessed that country-club air. The salt-and-pepper hair matched his trim frame. The Champagne dripping down his shirt and stuck in tiny droplets in his hair, not so much.
She hated every inch of his smug face.
She looked around the room. No one seemed angry, but Eldrick sputtered as he wiped his hands down his shirt. His wife patted her hand against his chest, as if that would somehow dry the material.
Well, they could all stare at her or be furious—even kick her out—Abby didn’t care. Eldrick deserved to be drenched. That and so much more.
“What in the world was that about?” Jackie-Now-Beth asked.
“Ask him.” Because Abby wanted to see if he would say it to her face. Spew his lies with her standing right there, ready to pounce.
“Okay.” Jackson put out both hands as if trying to calm down the room. “Let’s all relax for a second.”
“Jackson is right. Let’s not get excited. It isn’t as if that’s the first time someone doused Dad in a drink in this house.” Carter shook his head. “I can think of at least two other wives who used that trick.”
Abby liked him.
“Carter, not now.” Spence issued the order without moving his gaze from her.
He still didn’t get it. That realization moved through Abby, nailing her to the floor. After the sex and the flirting, even the fighting, he didn’t see the truth. He still believed she was a willing participant in that kiss with his father back then.
Some of the fight ran out of her at the thought but she would not back down. Eldrick could not weasel out of this confrontation by throwing his weight around or running away to get married. She stood right in front of him because he needed to face her. He owed her this moment.
“That was unnecessary.” Eldrick kept his voice even as he threw a scowl in Abby’s general direction.
That ticked her off even more. “You made my life miserable.”
“Who are you?” Beth asked. There wasn’t any heat in her voice. More like a mix of confusion and concern.
Abby didn’t know what to think about Beth. In her shoes, if she were married and in love, she’d go ballistic if someone attacked her husband. Then in private, she would shake him until he told her the truth.
But she asked, so... “I’m Abby. I work at Jameson Industries and—”
“Not if you keep behaving like that.” The anger edged Eldrick’s tone now. The threat hovered right there but he didn’t drop it. “Do you understand me?”
He talked to her like she was a child. Dismissive. The man was completely annoying. She had no idea how he’d produced or had any part in raising his otherwise decent sons.
“No one is firing her.” Spence’s tone was clear and firm. The underlying beat of don’t-test-me rang in his voice.
Abby couldn’t figure out if that was aimed at her or his father...or both. She tried to ignore the part of her that cared what he thought. She had to block every memory of his touch and the way his mouth felt against her skin to get through this. Fury fueled her now and she couldn’t back down. She needed all of her focus now. She’d waited for so long for this moment. It was happening.
She turned to Beth, not sure if the woman was an ally or not. “Your husband, on those occasions when he bothered to come into the office, would corner me. He talked about how we should have private dinners. Commented on my skirt length.”
Carter’s mouth dropped open. “What?”
“When was this?” Beth asked as she shifted a bit. One minute she was tight up against her husband’s side. The next she put a bit of space between them.
Abby had expected the other woman to lash out and aim all of her disbelief right at Abby, not believing any accusations. But Beth looked engaged. Maybe she’d always suspected her husband could cross the line. Abby wasn’t sure. Beth’s eyes had narrowed but she wasn’t yelling or shouting about Eldrick’s imaginary good points.
That was enough to encourage Abby to keep going. “It happened right up until the time he left to marry you.”
“That’s not true.” Eldrick took a step in Abby’s direction. “You stop this.”
Spence blocked his path. “Let her talk.”
That’s exactly what she intended to do, with or without their permission. She’d laid this out for Human Resources at the office right after it happened. They’d called Derrick in and then she’d shut down. She knew she needed to own that piece, but back then the idea of going up against a wall of Jamesons had panicked her. She needed to hold on to her job, at least until she’d found something else.
It took her months to realize Derrick wasn’t his father. Derrick would have believed her, but by then the damage had been done and Spencer was gone. She’d lost all she could tolerate losing and Eldrick was no longer around to cause trouble, so she let the complaint drop. But now he was back, and that meant he was fair game. She refused to let anyone else suffer because of him.
Which mentally brought her to the hardest part of her story. The part she once tried to tell Spence but he was too busy storming off to listen. “You kissed me. Grabbed me in my office and told me that Spence was wrong for me.”
Carter moved then. He turned to face his father. “You did what?”
She couldn’t stop now. The words spilled out of her. “He bragged about how Spence would never believe me. How he’d see us together and immediately blame me and bolt.”
“Oh, man. That’s messed up.”
She was pretty sure that comment came from Jackson. She didn’t look around to see, but Carter and Spence seemed frozen. Neither of them moved. The only sign of life she could pick up in Spence was the way his hands balled into fists at his sides.
“Okay, look.” Eldrick held up his hand as he stepped into the center of the group. “You’re exaggerating this a bit, don’t you think?”
She refused to stop now or let this slide. This time he needed to face the consequences, even if they only amounted to her yelling at him. “You thought it was funny to see Spence back down.”
When Eldrick took another step, Spence grabbed his arm and pulled him back. “Funny? How could you possibly think that?”
“I was saving you, as usual.”
Spence made a choking sound. “You can’t be serious.”
“She worked for you. It was too risky for you to make a move. I was proving a point. It all worked out.” Eldrick had the nerve to shake his head.
Between what he said and the patronizing tone in which he said it, Abby wanted to punch him. Worse, open that door and yell her accusations into the hall so that everyone in that big house, on that massive property, knew the kind of man Eldrick really was.
Eldrick stared down at Spence’s hand on his arm. “It was a matter of containing the potential damage. We both know you weren’t in it for the long term, so why endanger our position? Dating was too risky. The potential liability outweighed whatever feelings you thought you had.”
Before Abby could say anything else, Beth turned to her husband. “Eldrick?”
Abby couldn’t read the other woman. She stood tall and her voice never wavered. Abby knew almost nothing about her. No one at work talked about her. Jackson had said something about her being different from the other wives. Not as young. Not demanding or the type to run through money, except for her request that they move away and enjoy life on the beach.
One look from his wife and Eldrick’s stern I’m-in-charge-here glare faltered. His tone morphed into a lighter, more cajoling sound. “Beth, it’s not—”
“We were engaged when this happened. You had
n’t announced it to your family, but you had asked. I wore the ring.”
Eldrick shot a look in Abby’s direction. She sensed a hint of desperation. He no longer stood there as if he could kick them all out at any minute, even though he likely could.
Good, let him squirm.
He shrugged. “Help me out here.”
“You’ve got to be kidding.” Abby crossed her arms in front of her to telegraph the very simple message that the man was on his own.
“She could have sued you.” Beth took a step closer to Abby. “It sounds like she should have. And hurting your own son? Your behavior was appalling.”
The move was so sudden that Abby lost her balance. She leaned against Beth for a second before straightening up again.
“I figured he was protected. It’s his company, after all,” Abby explained.
An odd sound escaped Spence. “Abby, you can’t believe that his behavior would have been okay with us. With me.”
She almost said words that would cut him down. The sentence was right there. You were too busy running away to care. The only thing that stopped her was Spence’s pained expression. “He was in charge, Spence. He’d been in charge, had that big corner office that Derrick now uses. I didn’t know how many other women—”
“None.” Eldrick practically yelled the response.
Carter snorted. “That’s doubtful.”
Abby blew out a long breath and spilled the last of the truth as she looked at Spence. “I didn’t know who to trust.”
The hit didn’t land any lighter because of her softer tone. She saw Spence wince. So did Jackson. But she wasn’t aiming at either of them. Her target, the man she ached to hurt, stood right in front of her.
In the last few seconds he seemed to have lost some of his height. His shoulders fell and he stared at his wife as if he wasn’t sure how to approach her.
“Beth, listen to me.” Eldrick’s hand brushed against Beth’s arm.
“Did you really say those things to Abby?” When he didn’t immediately answer her, Beth’s eyebrow arched. “Well?”
She sounded like a mom now. A really ticked off one. Abby remembered that you’re-in-trouble tone from her childhood.
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