Like Silk

by Mary Lynn Baxter

  “Like warmed-over piss.”

  She frowned. “That’s really bad.”

  “I’m glad you’re here.”

  “I wouldn’t have it any other way.” She paused, swallowing a sigh. “Is there anything you need besides a cold rag on your head?”

  “Yeah, I wanna go home.”

  He sounded so forlorn, so miserable, she fought the sudden urge to cry. Ever since Rupert had showed up at her trailer, her nerves had been shot.

  And Collier. Their precarious situation weighed heavily on her, giving her the sensation of being on a wild roller-coaster ride. Sooner or later that ride had to end, either in disaster or jubilation.

  “I want you home, too, more than anything,” she whispered, forcing her mind off her personal troubles and back on her brother. She brushed his hair back, all the while wondering if she should call a nurse and ask for a wet cloth.

  Tommy was facing her with glazed eyes. “Pastor Ed says I should pray. Imagine that.”

  “Maybe you should try it,” she said calmly and carefully, thrilled to hear him talk like that. “So you’ve actually gone to work in the chapel?”

  “Yep. Three days ago.”

  “That’s great.”

  “At least it keeps me away from most of the creeps all day, unless I lose the job for getting sick.”

  “You won’t. The chaplain wouldn’t do that to you.”

  “He wouldn’t, but the warden might. He doesn’t like me.”

  Brittany didn’t know what to say. One minute she felt a little glimmer of hope for her brother, who wasn’t a bad person, just a misguided one, while the next she felt he would never get it together. He always wanted someone else to blame.

  “Every morning when I wake up, I think maybe this is the day I’ll walk out of here.” He paused and stared through seemingly blank eyes at the ceiling. “But it never happens.”

  “It will,” she said desperately. “I promise you it will.”

  “Your promises don’t mean Jack shit. I bet you haven’t even talked to your boyfriend.”

  Her heart took a dive. “I—”

  “I knew it,” he said in a listless tone.

  She had dreaded this visit, fearing he would ask about Collier. But since he was ill, she had hoped that subject wouldn’t come up again. She should have known better.

  “You’re right, I haven’t.”

  “And you don’t intend to,” he said in that same listless tone.

  “No, I don’t.”

  Tommy turned away, his lips stretched in a straight line.

  “Look, darling, you’re too sick to worry about that now,” she said anxiously. “You just have to trust that I’ll do whatever I can to get you out of this place, but Collier’s not the answer.”

  Tommy looked at her again, and she noticed that his face appeared more flushed. Without saying anything, she located the nurse call button and pushed it.

  “Smith’s the perfect answer,” Tommy muttered. “I just know he is, only you won’t cash in on it.”

  She sighed aloud. “Our relationship’s not what you think.”

  “Then it doesn’t matter if you use him,” Tommy pressed, then began to shiver. “Sounds like he’s using you.”

  Although that barb made her wince, Brittany wasn’t about to argue with Tommy, especially not when he was so sick. Besides, she had no intention of asking Collier for any special favors. The idea had been ludicrous when Tommy posed it, and that hadn’t changed.

  “What do you need?”

  Brittany turned around and faced a burly male RN. “It’s my brother. He’s burning up with fever. Perhaps you should call the doctor.”

  “It’s time for his medication,” the nurse said in a gruff but not unkind voice. “If that doesn’t do the trick, we’ll go from there.”

  Brittany would have liked to argue, very much wanting to talk to the doctor while she was there. But she didn’t push the point.

  Turning back to Tommy, she placed her hand on his arm. “He’s going to bring you something to make you rest.”

  “I heard him.”

  Brittany wanted to shake him and hug him at the same time. If only he didn’t make her feel so guilty for something he had done. She clenched and unclenched her fingers. One of these days he was going to have to assume some responsibility for his actions, though now was not the time to bring that up.

  “While I still think Smith’s my best way out, I guess I’ll have to pursue Plan B.”

  Dumbfounded, Brittany simply stared at him. “Plan B? I don’t understand.”

  “He’s probably just blowing hot air up my ass, but since it’s my only prayer, I’m gonna explore it.”

  “You’re making absolutely no sense,” Brittany said in a frustrated tone, thinking the fever might have made him delirious.

  “A guy by the name of Rupert Holt came to see me.”

  Brittany’s jaw dropped, while her heart plunged to her toes. “What?”

  “Said he was a real close friend of yours who could help me get out of here.” Tommy pushed himself up on his elbows, the hope in his eyes disappearing. “From the look on your face, the guy was obviously feeding me a line of bull.”

  “He was here?” Brittany choked the words out, unable to accept that Rupert had actually come here and talked to Tommy. Was there no end to the man’s hideous influence on her life?

  “Sis, what’s going on?”

  She stiffened. “Nothing’s going on. He’s not to be trusted, so forget he was here.”

  “That’s easy for you to say. He looked like he had money and clout. And he said he really cared about you, and that if you cooperated, he’d make things great for both of us.”

  Brittany’s bones turned as brittle as ice. “He’s not a nice man, Tommy. You can’t believe anything he tells you.”

  “Shit, I could’ve sworn—”

  “Forget it! It’s not going to happen.”

  “If I have to depend on you, you’re damn right it’s not going to happen.”

  “Please, Tommy…”

  “Go away,” he mumbled in a defeated tone, falling back against the pillow and closing his eyes. “I don’t wanna talk to you anymore.”

  Brittany opened her mouth to argue, then thought better of it. Instead she whispered, “You’ll just have to trust me. I promise I’ll get you out.”

  And she would, she vowed. And soon, too. Otherwise she feared Tommy might crack mentally. There had to be a way.

  “I was just about to call you.”

  “Oh, really,” Collier muttered, unable to look at his dad, deep-seated anger laced with pain usurping everything else.

  “Yeah. I have some great news.”

  When Collier had arrived at the mansion, he’d headed straight for the study after Maxine told him Mason was there. For a second he’d been tempted to call Jackson down and let him in on this set-to with their dad. But then he’d thought better of that. He suspected it would be an ugly scene, and it would be better not to involve Jackson, not at this point, anyway.

  Rupert Holt’s less than admirable conduct hadn’t surprised him. He’d concluded long ago that underneath the man’s polish and glib manner was a slimy lowlife who couldn’t be trusted, despite his money and influence.

  But Mason, the man he’d looked up to all his life, wanted to emulate, wanted to please more than anything, flagrantly breaking the law was unthinkable and unconscionable.

  “My news isn’t so great,” Collier said at last, staring at Mason, who stood by the fireplace, a glass of wine in hand.

  “It’s not the appointment, is it?” Mason asked in an appalled tone.

  “No,” Collier bit out.

  Mason raised his eyebrows as if to ask what burr he had under his saddle. Instead he said, “Help yourself to a glass of wine. You look like you could use one.”

  Silently Collier crossed to the small fancy bar area, where he poured himself something much stiffer than wine. After taking a drink and feeling it land in hi
s stomach with the burn of a lighted stick of dynamite, he set down the glass. In order to have his say, he needed a clear head. He knew Mason wasn’t going to take this confrontation lightly.

  “Since you apparently aren’t going to ask what the good news is, I’ll tell you anyway.” Mason lifted his glass and grinned widely. “Your brother’s getting married. Not only that, he’s returning to work.”

  For some reason Collier pretended to be surprised by the news. He sensed it was important to his dad to be the first to know about his eldest son’s good fortune. For a moment he buried his ax to grind and asked, “Since when?”

  “Since a little while ago.”

  “Way to go, Haley,” Collier said, raising his own glass.

  “I second that. After I got home, I saw her car and went upstairs.” Mason paused with a chuckle. “They wouldn’t let me in, which makes me think they were having a good time.” His gave a knowing smile. “A very good time.”

  “Making love, huh?”

  Mason’s eyes twinkled. “Another miracle, wouldn’t you say?”

  “That it is, and I couldn’t be happier. I never thought he should’ve let Haley get away in the first place.”

  “You just missed them. They left a few minutes ago.”

  When Collier failed to respond, Mason continued. “If I have my way, we’ll have a blowout of an engagement party.” He leaned his head to one side and narrowed his eyes. “You wouldn’t be interested in making it a dual engagement party, by chance?”

  “You know the answer to that.”

  “You—”

  Collier held up his hand. “Don’t start, Dad. It’s not going to happen.”

  “I just hope you know what you’re doing,” Mason said, his mouth thin. “I suppose you’re still seeing that little—”

  “Don’t,” Collier interrupted again, harshly. “Don’t say it.”

  Mason’s features darkened. “How you can do this to your brother is something I can’t figure out. After what her brother did to yours, you ought to be ashamed.”

  “Don’t talk about shame to me,” Collier lashed back, his fury reigniting.

  His words seemed to pull Mason up short. “Suppose you tell me what that means?”

  “Oh, I think you know,” Collier said bitterly.

  “The hell I do.”

  “Does paying off Darwin Brewster ring a bell?” Mason’s face turned white. “Who told you that?”

  “Please, Dad, don’t insult me.”

  Mason merely stared at his son, the veins bulging in his neck.

  “Yeah, your fair-haired lackey got tired of waiting for his just deserts, as he so delicately put it, and came to see me.”

  “Why didn’t he come to me?”

  “Guess he wanted to jerk my chain right along with yours.”

  “And you believed the cockamamy crap he fed you?” Mason’s bitterness rivaled Collier’s.

  “He sounded pretty convincing to me.” Collier felt as though his vocal cords were strained to the max. “Especially when he started throwing your promises in my face, along with accusing you of blatantly breaking the law. You, of all people, who always preached the sacredness of the laws of our land.”

  “I can’t help it if Brewster misinterpreted what I said. Hell, son, as an officer of the court, do you think I’d do anything to undermine that or my integrity?”

  “So Brewster made all that up?”

  “Did he have anything in writing?”

  “No.”

  Mason shrugged. “Then it’s his word against mine.”

  While he didn’t totally believe his dad, God help him, Collier didn’t have the stomach to call him a liar. Besides, Brewster was a first-class sleazeball. Who was to say he hadn’t read more into his and Mason’s conversation than was there?

  “But you were opposed to Rogers walking,” Collier pressed, still far from satisfied with Mason’s explanation.

  “Damn right, I was. I didn’t want that little upstart to get by with putting Jackson in a wheelchair.”

  “Maybe that wouldn’t have happened. Thanks to Brewster, we’ll never know. He obviously didn’t give due process a chance to work.”

  The veins in Mason’s neck thickened even more. “You know how some of these bleeding heart liberal judges and juries are. They would probably have bought his sob story.” He paused and took a shuddering breath. “If Rogers had walked out of that jail a free man, I think I would’ve killed him myself.”

  Collier’s mind reeled. How could he reason with someone whose hatred had taken over, rendering him totally unreasonable? This was a side of Mason he’d never seen before.

  “If you had been here,” Mason added, “you would’ve felt the same.”

  “And whose fault was that?” Collier countered. “My not being here, that is?”

  “Mine. You were better served by staying on the job.”

  “No. That’s another wrong call. But I blame myself for not listening to my own instincts and coming home.”

  “It’s too late now. And I don’t want to discuss it anymore.”

  “Well, I do, dammit! I know Rogers claimed he was duped, that his drink was doctored at a party, which could’ve been shot down easily enough without using illegal means.”

  “Not when it was the truth.”

  Collier froze. “What?”

  “That’s right. When Darwin and I talked over dinner, he admitted he could get Tommy Rogers off, that he’d tracked down his girlfriend, who said she’d actually witnessed a guy named Chad Creekmore put something in his drink.”

  “And what did you say?”

  Mason didn’t so much as flinch. “I didn’t respond one way or the other.”

  Sure you didn’t. “So why did Rogers end up doing time?”

  “Apparently Brewster went back to the girl and offered her money not to testify. She took it, and Tommy got what was coming to him.”

  Collier merely stared at Mason, his head spinning. So Brittany had been telling him the truth, only he hadn’t believed her. Suddenly he felt as if he had fallen in a tub of shit and desperately needed to take a shower and wash the stench off.

  “And you had no hand in that?” Collier demanded harshly.

  “I told you, I can’t help it if Brewster misinterpreted me.” Mason’s tone was cold and brooked no argument.

  “You know Brewster’s not going to take this lying down. He’s going to cry foul like a stuck pig.”

  “Not if you let sleeping dogs lie,” Mason said fiercely.

  Collier’s tone and look were just as fierce. “You’re asking me to turn my head?”

  “Look, I know you don’t agree with the way the situation was handled,” Mason said, his voice tempering and his features taking on a haggard look. “But if you care about our family, the firm and your future, you’ll forget we ever had this conversation.”

  Collier merely stared at him, then turned on his heel and headed toward the door.

  “Where are you going?”

  Collier didn’t bother to answer. He just kept on walking.

  Thirty-Five

  Collier stood at the window in his office, feeling like a weight was tied to his chest. How could Mason have pulled such a stunt without his knowing it? Easy. He hadn’t been around. Now, in his heart, he knew Mason had lied. But he had no way to prove it, thank God. His dad had covered his tracks well.

  He gritted his teeth. How was he ever going to tell Brittany the truth? That thought turned his blood to ice. But how could he not tell her? He was the first to admit he could be a jerk at times, but to withhold that information would make him a real ass. He simply couldn’t do it and live with himself—or continue to sleep with her.

  At first the beep coming from the phone didn’t register. Then, muttering a curse, Collier swung around, strode to his desk and answered it.

  “Mr. Smith,” Pamela said, “a Mr. Richard Robb is here from the bar committee. Shall I send him in?”

  Collier cringed. Of all days fo
r him to have a key interview. He’d better be glad, he reminded himself, since he was expecting to learn at any minute that he’d been dropped, thanks to Rupert’s efforts. Maybe that was what this visit was about. He held his breath, then released it, realizing that Senator Riley would be the one to deliver that news. This guy was here to question him.

  Pulling himself together, Collier said, “Of course. Send him in.”

  “Don’t forget you’re due in court in a couple of hours.”

  “I won’t, and thanks.”

  Seconds later he welcomed a bespectacled middle-aged attorney with a wiry build. Once the handshake and the pleasantries were out of the way, Robb took a comfortable chair. Collier sat across from him, feeling as though he was about to go before a firing squad. If he blew this…

  “You know why I’m here,” Robb said without preamble.

  “Fire away.”

  Robb smiled, though his posture was all business, especially when he crossed his leg over his knee, then opened his plush leather notebook. “Actually I’m following up on the documents you filled out.” He pulled them out of his briefcase and slotted them into the notebook.

  “Which means I’m still in the hunt, and I’m grateful. However, I pretty much covered all bases in those forms you have in front of you.”

  “Everything?” Robb’s gray eyes were hard and piercing.

  “Except every time I took a crap.” The moment he said that, he wanted to kick himself. But hell, what else could they possibly want? Dirt. The fact that he didn’t have any mud in his background obviously made him more of a target.

  “So nothing of significance has happened since these papers were filed?”

  Had the committee learned about his affair with Brittany? Had he been mistaken about Rupert? Had he squawked to the senator? Or was this just a formality? Another routine fishing expedition? Collier didn’t know. What he did know was that his relationship with Brittany was neither illegal or immoral, and therefore none of their business.

  His breath constricted. Only they would make it their business.

  But how could he air his feelings about Brittany to this man? He couldn’t.