“I understand.” Venus nodded, twisting strands of her hair around two fingers. Realizing she was giving herself away, she dropped her hands into her lap, twining her fingers tightly together. “Never in your wildest dreams did you think it could happen but somehow, some way, you let go of your preconceived ideas about him and then the possibilities for the two of you became endless.”
“Exactly, Venus.” Rebecca laughed. “And they call Athena the wise one.”
Unable to ignore Diana’s stare another instant, Venus met her eyes, knowing full well her sister knew she was thinking of Connor.
Determined for all their sakes to get at the truth, Connor picked up the phone to call Tony.
This morning, he answered on the first ring. “Connor, is something wrong?”
The worry in his voice hit Connor hard. I should have made this move sooner, for his sake.
“Someone tried to break into Venus’s town house last night. Probably to steal the brooch. It’s time we all face this head on. Can you come to Clayworth’s, Uncle Tony?”
“I’m on my way.”
Her mug still hot and steaming on his desk, Connor took long swallows of caffeine waiting for his aunt Bridget to come for their morning coffee together.
The wary look in her eyes when she walked in warned him this wouldn’t be easy.
She dropped into her favorite chair in front of his desk and took the mug between her palms.
“I know you’ve refused to talk with Tony, but you need to know someone tried to break into Venus’s town house last night. This gives credence to her theory that the real thief, or at least someone who knows the true value of the brooch, is trying to get it.” Coming around his desk, he leaned against it, watching her. “Atlas and Georgia warned us and scared the thief away. I don’t believe for an instant it could have been Tony. Besides, my gut’s telling me it’s true, you know the dogs only bark at strangers. They know Tony as well as they do you or me.”
All the color drained from Bridget’s face. “God in heaven, Venus is puttin’ herself in danger for us. What are you plannin’ to do about it?”
“I’ve alerted the police to add patrols to Venus’s neighborhood. And I got her to promise to stop wearing the brooch. At least she won’t be a walking target until this is over.”
“When this is over, what are you plannin’ to do about your feelin’s for Venus?”
As always, his aunt pulled no punches and expected him to do the same.
“Finding the thief and vindicating Tony is only the tip of the iceberg.” He sighed, placing his own mug beside him on the desk. “For Venus, Tony and her dad’s problems have somehow become connected. If she can prove Tony is innocent beyond the slightest doubt, despite the evidence against him, then it becomes possible for me to be wrong about her father.”
All the love he knew Bridget felt for him welled up in her eyes. “How do you feel about the possibility? Can you make this dream come true for her?”
“You’ve seen the evidence. The money trail to Alistair’s new bank account.” He shrugged. “Although it contains only a fraction of the funds lost. We’ve got his signatures authorizing stock sales and crazy risks. All supposedly done by him on the basis of memos from Drew, Grey, and Ric. Plus the transactions he denies ever signing, although he agrees it’s his signature.”
Frustrated, Connor paced back around his desk. “Hell, he even claimed I sent him a memo authorizing a huge sale, and you know how close we’d become.” The sharp pain he’d felt at Alistair’s betraying their friendship had a new edge now because of Venus.
Unlocking the drawer, he took out Alistair’s thick file and threw it on the desk. “I’ve gone over and over this evidence every day for the last few weeks searching for something, anything, I might have missed.”
Palms flat on the desk, he leaned over the file, staring at it as if somehow he’d miraculously find what he needed. “You know company policy dictates all memos are shredded at the end of the day. There is absolutely no proof to substantiate his claims. Besides the crucial fact that none of us sent him any such memos.”
“But you keep lookin’ and hopin’ anyway.” Bridget came to his side to pat his arm in a gesture of comfort from his childhood. “I understand, Connor. I’m doin’ the same thing with Tony.”
Connor looked up, gazing into her eyes. “You need to talk to Tony. If I question both of you together about the night he was given the brooch perhaps something will click to help solve this mystery.”
Continuing to pat his arm, she nodded. “I’ll do it for you, Connor.”
He kissed her forehead. “I knew you would. He should be here any minute.”
As if on cue, Tony hurried into the office with his normal long, quick strides. The look passing between him and Bridget scorched the air.
For the first time in his life, Connor understood emotions so powerful they needed no words.
Venus’s image flashed into his mind. The taste of her lips and skin. The feel of her body in his arms. They would have made love if she hadn’t taken Brad’s call.
Why did she? Does she care more about Brad than Diana believes she does?
“Connor.” Bridget’s voice snapped him back. “You should tell Tony about the attempted robbery at Venus’s town house.”
“I already did. That’s why he agreed to come.” Connor’s eyes locked on his aunt’s face and then on Tony’s. “I wanted to tell you both together that Venus and I went to the private casino on Taylor Street. We’d hoped to find someone who had been there for decades. Someone who might know anything that could help us prove your story, Tony. Or lead us to the real thief.”
Both his aunt and his uncle became very still. With a deep sigh, Tony settled into a chair in front of the desk.
“Mr. Marco was there that night. He knew everyone.”
“He’s been dead three years. But you knew that, didn’t you, Tony? You need to talk to me, Tony. Now,” Connor said, more coldly than he’d intended. “Tell me exactly what happened the night you got the brooch.”
Tony sent Bridget a pleading look and she moved to slowly perch on the edge of the chair next to him.
“That night your aunt and I had an argument about my gambling. I thought she was being overly dramatic. Perhaps we both were that night. I was feeling particularly cocky and believed I could beat the odds. At that time everyone went to the private club for gambling. Fortunes in those days were won and lost.”
“Who exactly belonged?” Connor asked.
“That you would know?” Tony shrugged. “So many. All the Clayworth men except your father. Ed and his father. Alistair Smith. My father. Some current alderman you know well. All the political power brokers of the day. Even though it was a private club, often high-stakes poker games were in progress. Then outsiders were invited.”
His instincts urging him on, Connor leaned closer. “Do you remember who was there that night?”
Across his wide forehead deep frown lines appeared and Tony closed his eyes as if he were trying to see the scene.
“No one I knew well.” He lifted his heavy lids, his eyes grave. “I remember I did not go into the poker rooms that night. I lost everything at craps. Then I left and sat on the curb, defeated, until I was approached by the stranger.”
“What did he look like?” Connor asked.
“I don’t remember very clearly.” Tony shook his head. “It was dark away from the streetlight and I was depressed. Feeling hopeless.”
Connor and Bridget locked eyes. They both recognized Tony was being vague, not really answering the question.
“Is the stranger the reason you kept goin’ down to Taylor Street and kept it a secret from me?” Bridget asked softly.
Tony turned to her. “Cara, I was wrong that night to lie to you and it has cost us much. The rest of my actions have nothing to do with my love for you.”
Her eyes filling with tears, Bridget stared at him. “If you were doin’ nothin’ wrong, why did you keep your visits a secret? Why can’t y
ou tell me now when it’s so important?”
Reaching out, Tony clasped her hands, carrying them to his lips. The fact that Bridget allowed it gave Connor hope.
“Cara, I give you my word my actions over the years have nothing to do with the troubles at Clayworth’s. Nor have I ever gambled again. Why can’t you believe me?”
“I want to believe you, but your choice to keep hiding the whole truth makes it impossible. Like now. Avoiding giving us a description of the Saint, the man who supposedly gave you the brooch.” With a little sob, Bridget pulled free and fled the room.
Tony half rose to follow her but then slumped back down. Defeat glazed his eyes.
“How does a man choose between love and his honor? How much must he sacrifice to keep a promise?”
Sadness ate at Connor’s gut. He had no answer for himself or for Tony. He believed his uncle was telling the truth about the Saint. Just as he knew Tony wasn’t answering completely in order to keep another secret, at great cost to himself.
What price am I willing to pay to give Venus back the father she believes in despite all the evidence against him?
Chapter 18
Working at his Golden Gloves Gym on Sheffield, sparring with the kids, kept Connor’s mind off Venus for a few minutes here and there. Yet the same questions kept running through his head.
How can I give her what she wants?
He sparred with Gregori until they were both breathing hard, their shirts dark with sweat. He watched Gregori go through his circuit training and kept the clock on his pushups.
Willful. Beautiful. Unpredictable. Venus drifted back into his head.
I know she is attracted to me. I know her responses to me are real. But does she feel like I do? All I want is her.
He also knew she was safe. His contact keeping surveillance on her town house and the undercover cops working the blocks around Pandora’s Box kept him informed.
What he didn’t know knotted his gut.
Is she seeing Brad?
“Whoa, Mr. Clayworth, where’d you go?” huffed Gregori. “You still keeping time? Ain’t that a hundred?”
“Sorry.” Connor clicked the timer. “Good job.”
“Thanks. Gotta go now and take my shower.” Gregori hauled himself to his feet and flung a red towel around his neck. “My mom’s meetin’ me here to take the bus to Miss Smith’s store.”
All attention, Connor stared at him. “You’re going to Pandora’s Box today?”
“Yeah. Miss Smith’s gonna style my mom for her job interview at the Polish restaurant close to where we live.”
Curious, Connor narrowed his eyes. “How did this come about?”
Shifting from foot to foot, Gregori looked uncomfortable, glancing at the floor, everywhere but at him. “Miss Smith didn’t tell you about takin’ me home one night and meetin’ my mom and offerin’ to help her find the right clothes for her job interviews?”
Knowing there was more to the story, but not wanting to press Gregori, Connor smiled. “Miss Smith likes to help.”
“Yeah, she’s smokin’.” Gregori shifted back two steps. “A real nice lady. You know what I mean.”
“I do indeed.” Connor laughed, feeling better now than he had in days. He had an excuse to see Venus. “You don’t need to take the bus. I’ll drive you and your mom to Pandora’s Box. I need to talk to Miss Smith myself.”
In a rare moment in which there were no customers in the store, Venus went over her calendar, noting that she needed to look at two estates next week and she had an appointment to do Maxie’s closet. It was hard to concentrate on business when she kept glancing at the phone, trying to come up with a plausible reason to call Connor.
She could thank him for the plethora of policemen patrolling her neighborhood. No thieves with an ounce of the instinct of self-preservation would come near her. Unless they were desperate.
The way I feel.
Her decision to accept Brad’s date for the Black and White Party sat like a big hot mistake in the region around her heart.
It gave new meaning to the word heartburn.
The sudden swoosh of the door opening and the tinkling bell brought her gaze away from the phone.
Sunbeams streaked Connor’s damp, dark hair with shimmering lights. He looked harder, leaner, his eyes even more guarded than when she’d last seen him.
It took her two full, deep breaths before she noticed Gregori and his mother.
“Oh, hello.” She rushed around the counter to squeeze Mrs. Prozument’s hand. “I’m so happy you’re here. I have some outfits in the dressing room for you. Would you like to try them now?”
“Yes. Yes.” Mrs. Prozument nodded.
Venus led her to the dressing room and pushed back the heavy curtain. “Let me know if you need any help.”
At last she turned to Connor, using every ounce of self-control not to fuss with her hair. “This is a pleasant surprise.”
“Mr. Clayworth drove us here so we didn’t need to take the bus,” Gregori piped up.
“How nice.” Foolishly she looked deep into Connor’s emerald eyes.
She wanted to throw herself into his arms and sob all over his wonderful chest. Wanted to tell him she was sorry she’d answered the stupid phone. Even though she knew with a deep, painful certainty that making love with Connor would be a horrible mistake from which her heart might never recover.
She turned away before she actually blurted it all out in front of Gregori.
Frightened at how close she’d come to making a fool of herself, she swung back to the dressing room. “Do you need any help, Mrs. Prozument?”
“No. No. It fits good. My favorite color.” She stepped slowly from behind the heavy brown velvet curtain to look at herself in the enormous gilt-framed mirror.
The 1960s-style three-piece navy suit with its pencil shirt, jacket with notched collar, and a beautiful navy silk blouse with tuxedo pleating and a tie bow did indeed fit her to perfection.
Grinning from ear to ear, Gregori whistled. “You look beautiful, Mom.”
The look of wonder Venus loved to see in clients lit his mother’s face.
“I feel pretty. Maybe now I’ll get the job at the Polish restaurant greeting customers.” She chuckled, her cheeks rosy.
“Absolutely.” Studiously avoiding catching Connor’s eyes, Venus led her back to the dressing room. “Let’s have a fashion show. Please try on the other dresses. I think you’ll like them.”
In the end Mrs. Prozument left with the suit and a navy and cream shantung dress with a vee neckline and three-quarter sleeve jacket, plus information from Dress for Success to help her with job interviews and smooth her way back into the business world.
There was no point in pretending not to be waiting for Connor to finish paying the cab driver and stroll back into the store.
His mouth curled into his real smile. “That was special for both of them. Thank you, Venus.”
Warmed by his words, by him standing so close, she flung back her head to watch him. “You know me. Always trying to fix things. Speaking of which, how are we going to trap the real thief with a squad of policemen patrolling my street? He’d have to be crazy.”
“Or desperate. Either way we can’t take the chance with your safety now that we’ve put this in play.”
He stepped closer and she backed against the counter. Only inches separated their bodies.
Studying the firm curl of his mouth, she wanted to pull his head down to kiss those lips here in the sunlight, in the full exposure of her store where anyone could walk in at any moment and catch them in the act.
It’s official. I’ve lost all sense of right and wrong.
Yet still she didn’t move, mesmerized by the look in his eyes.
“You need to know I wanted to believe that Tony was innocent even though he was in possession of the brooch and his story is suspect at best. But now I believe it with all my heart, despite the evidence against him. You helped me to think outside my own ri
gid preconceptions.”
Such strong emotion caught in her throat, she gasped. “Are Bridget and Tony back together?”
The sadness shadowing his face warned her before his words.
“No. I told Aunt Bridget how I feel. I think she believes it, too. But there’s more between them than the brooch and his innocence in its theft.”
Like there’s more between us, keeping us apart.
She gripped the edge of the counter behind her so tightly her fingers went numb. “What happens now, Connor?”
“That’s up to you, Venus. As much as I want it for your sake, I can’t make you any promises about your father.” The bones in Connor’s face seemed to relax into tenderness. “We’re both aware of the attraction between us. Can’t we find a way to work this out together? Will you try with me?”
His clear-eyed honesty made her want to sob like an infant. But if she started to cry now she’d drain every cell in her body. She needed him to leave quickly before she made a fool out of herself.
She needed to be honest right back. “I’m going to the Black and White Party with Brad Friday night.”
The effect on him hardened his face back to its perfect form and he stepped away from her.
“Why?”
It wasn’t the response she’d expected. Off guard, she blurted out the truth. “Because all of this… us… our attraction is like a romance novel that can’t possibly have a happy ending.”
Looking amused instead of being angry, he shocked her out of her tears and into deeper confusion.
“I’ve never ever in my entire life, even when we were kids, seen you grin before.”
“I’ve never felt like it before. You told me to let go and I’m trying.”
This new side of him made her nervous in a stinging, pleasurable way.
“You should know that I’m also attending the Black and White Party on Friday night, Venus.”
Now the sting became unreasonable jealousy. “Are you taking CeCe?”
The way his eyes roamed over her body gave her goose bumps.
“No, I’m not taking CeCe. I’ll be seeing you there, Venus.”
He would be attending the party if he could convince the right woman to go with him.
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