A Very Lusty New Year [The Lusty, Texas Collection] (Siren Publishing Ménage Everlasting)

by Cara Covington

  “Who didn’t, sweetheart?”

  “Carl Sanders. He didn’t even try to make the signatures look different. He signed on the line for his own name, and his brother’s as well.” She looked up and met Craig’s gaze. “Was the check made out to them both?” Considering the amount of money involved, she doubted the bank would cash a two party check if it was presented by only one of the parties.

  “No, I made it out only to Craig. Since it seemed he was the one handling the money. I don’t understand. What do you think is wrong?”

  “I’m not sure. My instincts are screaming at me.” Actually, Anna was pretty sure she knew what was going on. Neither Craig nor Jackson would think twice about one brother being the one to handle the money. It wouldn’t occur to them that a brother might swindle a brother.

  Anna got up and went over the file cabinet and pulled out the file on the Sanders’ venture. She sat again, and quickly flipped through the paperwork. She wondered if there was a contact number for Gareth Sanders—and smiled when she discovered there was indeed.

  She felt the eyes of her men on her as she turned Craig’s phone around and punched in Gareth Sanders’ number. As the call went through she looked at each of her men. Only curiosity met her inquiring look.

  “Hello?” The voice that answered didn’t sound full of Christmas cheer.

  “Hello, is this Mr. Gareth Sanders?”

  “Yes. Who’s this?”

  “Mr. Sanders, I’m Anna Jessop. I had a question for you, for our files here at C & J Jessop Inc.”

  “Look, I understand you can’t finance everyone who comes to you with a dream. I really don’t know much about your paperwork. Carl handled all of that, but of course, he’s gone. In fact you just missed him. I didn’t think he’d stick with me if the investment from y’all fell through, and I was right.”

  “Mr. Sanders, the investment didn’t fall through. Your brother received a check from us late yesterday.”

  “He what? Oh, God. I’m an idiot! When the courier came by late yesterday afternoon he said you turned us down. I never looked at it, I just...hell, I just kind of sulked away to my room.”

  “What time was that, Mr. Sanders?”

  “Oh, it was just before supper, I think. Around five.”

  After the bank had closed for the day. Anna looked up at the clock. There were only about ten minutes before the bank opened. Sanders had received the check too late yesterday to present it for cashing. He’d likely left his brother’s on the way to the bank, and then, once he had his ill-gotten gains in hand, who knew where he’d go?

  “Mr. Sanders, I or someone else from this office will get back to you shortly.”

  She disconnected the call and met Craig’s gaze. “He says his brother told him we said no. And his brother has just left.”

  “Heading to the bank, no doubt.”

  Anna nodded. She quickly dialed the bank. Impatience threatened to boil over while she waited to be connected to the manager.

  But the call did go through. Since Craig knew the man personally, she handed the phone over to him.

  Her husband quickly explained the situation to the bank manager. Then he thanked the man and hung up. “He’s going to call back. Right now he’ll be talking to his staff before the doors open. Gavin Carmody, the bank manager, said he’ll not only seize the check, he’ll use security to detain Mr. Sanders for the police. He’ll call us back as soon as he has something to report.”

  “How did Gareth sound, Bella?”

  “When he answered the phone I thought he sounded really blue. But when I told him—well, he was angry. I don’t have any way of knowing this for certain, but I felt as if he was angry with himself as well as his brother.”

  “Maybe his brother has let him down in the past.” Craig shook his head. “I don’t understand that kind of cheating, the kind that turns a man’s own brother into his mark.”

  “No, I know that you don’t.” Anna wanted to caress the frown off Craig’s face. He and Jackson had been raised by loving parents in a close-knit, respectful community.

  Perhaps because her mother had always been the way she’d been, Anna could understand this little bit of reality easier than her husbands could.

  The phone rang and Craig grabbed it up. “Hello?” He listened for a moment. Anna didn’t like the look of the frown on his face.

  “Well at least you have the check, Gavin. Thank you for that. Yes, send the police by here. We’ll make a full report.” Craig hung up the phone.

  “He got away?” Anna asked.

  “Yes, but he got away empty handed. Good job, sweetheart.”

  Anna smiled. “Thank you for trusting my instincts.”

  “No need to thank me for that, love. We Jessops put a lot of store in the intangibles. Heeding instincts? Well, Jessops are like that.”

  Anna knew she had a lot to learn about her men, and their family history. She sighed. “Why don’t you call Gareth Sanders back, darling?”

  “Good idea. I’ll let him know that we’ll be in touch after the honeymoon, and that we will indeed underwrite his company.”

  Anna was pleased the man was going to have something to celebrate for the New Year, after all.

  Chapter 20

  Anna stood at the entrance of the grand ballroom in the Dallas Carstairs hotel for just a moment, a husband on either side of her. Her eyes took in the panorama of Texas society in all its splendor. The room was awash in light, laughter, and life. Music played, all instrumentals of course, provided by the dapper looking group of musicians dressed in formal attire and taking up space on a raised platform to the left of the stage.

  Anna had attended this event a couple of times with her parents, and on those occasions she’d catalogued the evening, content to be a spectator on the elegant sidelines.

  Tunes from eras past, including melodies made famous by such talents as Scott Joplin and Glen Miller, would lure couples out onto the dance floor. Seating was provided in the form of round tables covered with white linen covers, sporting decorative candles, and sprinkled with confetti. Hats and noisemakers had been distributed, so that when the countdown reached its climax, partygoers could traditionally cheer in the New Year.

  There were dozens of tables at this end of the room—and a few, a very special few, reserved at the front of the room near the stage, for the evening’s most honored guests.

  It had always been Clara Cooper’s goal to snag a place at one of those rarefied tables—said glory being her motive for the good deeds she performed throughout the year, and the dent she made in her own trust fund and her husband’s wallet.

  Anna couldn’t help but think of the parable of the poor woman who gave a penny and was considered more generous than the rich man giving a stack of gold. She thought that perhaps the organizers were honoring the wrong donors.

  But those thoughts, she knew, really were motivated by her anger with her mother. Would she have felt that way if Clara hadn’t been so blatantly self-serving in her charity all these years? Or if she’d remembered the precept that charity began at home and had treated her own daughter more kindly?

  Now that is a very interesting question, and one I’ll have to think about in the days and weeks to come. Until the day she learned the extent to which her mother would go to control her—the day that finally drove her away from parental bonds and into holy matrimony—Anna’s feelings about her mother’s manipulations had been buried.

  They were buried no more, and she suspected it would be a while before she could box up those particular emotions again. First she would need to deal with them.

  Jackson leaned close to her, and the scent of his heated skin combined with his cologne cut off her mental ramblings and drew her attention, like the proverbial moth to a flame. “You look especially beautiful tonight, wife.”

  Anna met his gaze, felt his love for her pouring out of him, and let every care and worry simply slide away.

  The bottom line for tonight was she was with two si
nfully handsome men—a spectator at this event no longer. Tonight there would be wine and music and gaiety. So she would drink, and she would dance, and she would, just simply, have a good time greeting her first New Year as a new bride.

  Having a good time and living for the moment were two things she’d allowed herself far too seldom in her life.

  “You look very handsome, husband. You both do.” She looked at them each in turn. “You quite take my breath away.”

  Jackson stood close, but Craig held her hand. “Anna.” He lifted it now and kissed her fingers. “Talk about breath-stealing. That gown makes your eyes appear fathomless.”

  “Thank you. I really do love this dress.” This was the first formal gown she’d ever worn that not only fit well, it looked and felt good on her. It wasn’t lost on her at all that like so many of her clothes all through her life, this one was chosen for her, not by her.

  The difference really is in the motive behind the purchase.

  Despite that, Anna was no latter-day Cinderella. Midnight wouldn’t be the end of her real-life fantasy. It would, instead, be the beginning.

  “Our table’s near the front of the room, sweetheart. Shall we?”

  “Yes, please.” A sudden thought occurred to her. “Um, do we know who our table mates are?”

  He husbands knew her well enough already to know what she was really asking. “We know who they’re not, Bella. We made sure of that.”

  Jackson’s reassurance soothed her last minute anxiety. She didn’t think she was adult enough yet to enjoy the evening if they were sharing a table with her parents.

  Craig kept hold of her hand, guiding her through the crowd. It wasn’t lost on her that the masses seemed to part for him. It’s that focused look he wears. She’d seen it on him as he’d been at his desk, seeking out information on a potential investment. And she’d seen it as he’d risen above her and thrust his cock inside her, the dew of her juices coating his lips and chin.

  He shot her a look that said he knew exactly what she’d been thinking. His wink, combined with that mini-vignette her thoughts had just conjured succeeded not only in washing her in arousal, but painting her cheeks pink as well.

  They hadn’t quite reached their table when a middle-aged woman, dressed in a slithery, silver sheath and wearing enough jewelry to be seen from Austin rushed up to them. Her gaze was fixed on Craig, a kind of worshipful lust shining from her eyes.

  Anna’s muscles stiffened and her temper stirred.

  Craig didn’t seem to be aware of her reaction, while Jackson made a sound that told her he was swallowing his laugh.

  She shot him a look that had him wiping the smile from his face, and then she turned her attention to the approaching maven. Of course, Anna recognized the woman. Ursula Howard, wife to John William Howard the Fourth, and quite arguably the queen bee of the country club set.

  Craig saw the woman’s approach and stopped. She guessed she was getting to know her husbands fairly well. The expression on his face was cordial, but wary. Anna moved subtly closer. To his credit, Craig released her left hand and put his arm around her, drawing her tightly to his side.

  “Mr. Jessop! We’re delighted, simply delighted that you’ve chosen our little organization for your generosity! I’m Ursula Howard, chairwoman of the social committee.”

  She offered her hand in such a way that told Anna she was hoping for more than a handshake. Craig took her hand and gave it a perfunctory shake.

  “Mrs. Howard, how nice to meet you. May I present my wife, Anna, and my brother, Jackson.”

  Ursula had given Anna barely a glance. Well, that will never do. “So lovely to see you again, Ursula. How is Johnny Bill?”

  That got the woman’s attention, because she absolutely loathed the nickname her husband adopted with his friends and business associates—of whom Anna’s father was one.

  “Do I know you, Anna?”

  “Mrs. Jessop,” Jackson corrected.

  “We’ve met.” Anna had no doubt that the woman would never remember having met her in years past. She’d been dressed like a giant wallflower then and hadn’t said two words.

  Since she really did want to play nice, she smiled as she looked around the room. “You’ve done an outstanding job decorating this year.”

  “Thank you.”

  Anna saw the exact moment when the woman’s civic-mindedness kicked in. “As I said, we’re delighted to welcome you here this evening. I was hoping that you’d be kind enough to give us a few words later?”

  Craig turned to Anna, his one eyebrow raised. He couldn’t possibly mean for her to get up and speak? With her next breath she realized he was offering her just that very thing. She understood his heart was in the right place—but she knew right then and there, that despite all she’d said to her husbands, they still didn’t quite get it.

  Knowing he wouldn’t answer the woman until she answered his unspoken query, Anna gave a very slight nod.

  Craig turned back to Ursula. “My wife will speak on our behalf.”

  The woman’s smile seemed impossibly wide. “Wonderful.”

  Anna thought that was quite a talent—being able to say one word, and in doing so convey its complete opposite.

  Ursula showed them to their table—Anna held back her groan when she saw they would be sharing the first table along with the Howards and Senator and Mrs. Godfrey. Samuel Godfrey was a state senator of long standing, a man whose name was as recognizable to most Texans as that other famous Samuel for whom that other major city was named.

  Anna had met the Godfreys on one or two previous occasions as well. Though they were a couple older than her parents, she’d liked them. Heather Godfrey had seemed a woman whose style was aped yet never quite copied, but whose down-home roots always shone through.

  In other words, the lady looked like the city but sounded like the country. Anna liked her. That, at least, was a bonus.

  A cash bar had been set up, just to their left, on the opposite side of the room from the orchestra. Waiters circulated with trays of wine, but any guests who preferred a harder liquor—or beer or even soda—were expected to procure, and of course pay for, their own.

  “Do you want wine, sweetheart?”

  “Yes, please.” Anna wasn’t one for strong spirits, though she did enjoy a cold beer now and again.

  Craig signaled the waiter, and though she didn’t specify, her husband proved his knowledge of her by placing a glass of white wine before her.

  “How about I get us a couple of beers while you dance with our woman?” Jackson’s question, coming from her right and just above a whisper, likely could only be heard by the three of them.

  “Best idea I’ve heard all day.” Craig met her gaze. “Dance with me, Anna?”

  “Yes, please.”

  For the first time in her life, Anna was glad for the major embarrassment of dancing lessons when she’d been a young teen, because the moment Craig turned on the dance floor and took her into his arms, she relaxed. The familiar strains of “Moonlight Serenade” filled the room. Craig was an excellent dancer, and she really did feel like a princess in his arms as they moved to the romantic melody.

  “You like to dance, wife?”

  “I didn’t used to. I hated the required lessons. But with you holding me like this, moving to the music? I like it very much.”

  “Then this is something we’ll have to do more often.” Craig’s smile turned up at one corner. “We didn’t woo you properly. We have a lot to make up for.”

  “I’m thinking the floor in the living room in our penthouse—as well as the one in Lusty—would serve very well as our own private dance floor. And husband, you and Jackson woo me very well when the lights are low and our clothing is gone.”

  A smile caressed his lips. He held her close, his right arm around her waist, his left hand cradling her right. For all that it was a proper dance pose, Anna felt the intimacy of his embrace.

  “Well, we could both certainly dance with yo
u at the same time at either of those venues, at any rate.”

  “Now that sounds very promising.”

  “But I think we’d both like to take you out from time to time. You have no idea how special I feel right now, because you’re in my arms.”

  It was a thought that had never occurred to Anna—that they might feel special being seen with her. He seemed to sense a little of where her thoughts had taken her.

  “You’re beautiful, wife. It’s going to be our pleasure over the next fifty or sixty years to help you embrace that truth.”

  “As long as you’re embracing me, I’ll be happy.”

  * * * *

  Craig had been aware of the scrutiny Anna was receiving from some of the women in attendance. Her mother didn’t really look their way—at least not when he’d been watching. But some of those others who did so appeared to be friends with Clara Cooper—or maybe not friends, so much as acquaintances. He watched as one pinch-faced matronly woman, after having focused on Anna for several minutes, seemed to be giving his mother-in-law a very detailed report.

  Clara Cooper didn’t look very happy about what that maven was saying, either.

  Craig, of course, didn’t care if Clara was happy or not. His only concern was that Anna have a good time tonight. Considering the way several of Dallas’ so-called elite looked at his wife made him rethink having her stand up on stage and give a small speech.

  It wasn’t something, normally, that Craig would ever consider doing himself, but he thought he would make the offer—he would give Anna the opportunity to change her mind and he would suffer the discomfort of it to spare her.

  “Come, Bella. They’re playing our song.” The orchestra’s string section began the long sweeping introduction of Frank Sinatra’s “All The Way.” He grinned as Jack led Anna to the dance floor, both of them clearly happy to be together.

  He and his brother were both aware that if anyone studied their woman closely in these moments—when Jack held her close and swayed to the music as he looked into her eyes and she did the same—they’d be at the very least curious about the relationship between them.