CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Roman
After an incredible afternoon at the lake, we dressed and rode back to the house. I’d phoned Ms. White to let her know we were on our way and that she could begin preparing dinner.
When I walked in the door, my cell started ringing. It was Adam, my assistant.
The smile died from my face as I answered and listened. “Sir, all the news channels have taken up the original article’s story. CNN is reporting that Crave dot come and your… greed, sir, is…” Adam cleared his throat.
“Go on, my greed is doing what?” My hand grasped the phone.
“Decimating small villages and helpless people who provide goods to your company. There have been interviews and fake confessions. Have you seen any of this?”
“No, I’ve been…” I glanced at Adara, who was looking at me with a concerned expression. “I’ve been busy.”
I strode to the den, flipping on the giant screen TV. Froze. Adam was right. My company’s stock had plummeted overnight. It was an incredible scandal being spewed from every network I switched to. I paced while on the phone, trying to tamp the stress down.
Punching off with Adam, I called my publicity director, then the COO and CFO of the company. I wasn’t sure when Adara left the room, but when she came back in, I was so involved that I didn’t know she was there until she grabbed my elbow.
I whirled, and she shrank back, fear becoming a living thing on her face. I closed my eyes and pressed my fingers to my temples. “Sorry. What do you need?”
She swallowed so hard, I saw her neck work to get the emotions down. “I… I’ve been in the kitchen with Ms. White. Just wanted to see if you needed anything.”
After our glorious time together at the lake house, I’d practically abandoned her, turning into a person she was clearly nervous to be around. I took a deep breath, trying to shake some of the stress off. “I’m sorry. There’s a problem with work.”
She looked at the television and nodded. “Clearly. And I think I know why.”
I faced her, my hand still tight around the phone. “Why?”
She swallowed again. “Last night, I made a threat to Jack. He said if I went through with it, he would make sure my boyfriend’s business would suffer even more.” It didn’t come as a shock, but I was still pissed. “Do you think it’s him, or…” She bit her lip and looked at the TV again.
It was like a punch in the gut. She was wondering if there was any truth to the reports, despite the possibility of it being all at Jack’s hands.
Every part of my body stiffened. “I don’t do what they’re saying. On the contrary, I often put back so much into the towns and people that it becomes more of a human relations mission than a business opportunity. It usually pays off in the end though, both for the people and my company.”
She nodded like she didn’t know what to say, and I was suddenly afraid that this would push her away from me. Or me away from her. Her life had been so full of corruption at Jewel that she probably didn’t want to be touched by any more scandal of any kind. Who could blame her?
But still… it hurt like a motherfucker that she didn’t trust me after all I’d done for her.
My phone rang again, and I ignored it, then cursed when it began to ring again. “I need to take this.”
She nodded and left the room.
After I’d done all I could at the moment to minimize the damage at work, I went hunting for her.
Neither Adara or I knew each other that well, so when we’d played with one another earlier, we’d both taken a risk. I’d been willing to take the risk, to make her relax and forget about my seeing her scars. I’d broken through the thick shell Jewel and her injury had encased her in. We walked a fine line as we got to know each other, each trusting our instincts, hoping the other wasn’t crazy or an asshole.
This was definitely one of those times.
I needed her to know I was neither.
I found her down by the barn with Sissaleigh, who was leaning over the fence, trying her best to hug Adara with her neck. Adara was returning the affection, stroking the horse’s nose as she cooed in her ear.
“You’re going to spoil that horse.”
Adara turned to me with a smile, her eyelids heavy. “Affection doesn’t spoil a living creature. Things do. Too many things and not enough affection, enough kindness.” She stroked Sissaleigh thoughtfully for a moment. “Do you eat alone when no one is here? Except Ms. White, I mean.”
I frowned, feeling like I was stepping into a trap. “Of course. Who else would there be to eat with?”
Her eyes raised to mine. “Ms. White. She seems very lonely.”
The suggestion threw me, but it also was a bit laughable. It, in all honesty, had never occurred to me to invite the dowager to the table. I would expect her to smack me for offering such an invitation. But… I’d never asked. Never given her the chance to say yes or no.
As I considered it, the only real kindness I’d extended Ms. White was to keep her employed and pay her a large Christmas bonus every year. It dawned on me how impersonal and unkind that really was.
“I had staff. You know, before.” It was like she had taken a step back, couldn’t bear to mention Nate’s name. The horse nosed her when she stopped petting and Adara laughed. “I’ve had staff, but I ate with them when no one else was around, got to know their kids. I even took one of them on tour with me as a back-up singer. My staff was my family.” She shook her head. “You live in a hotel-sized mansion in the middle of nowhere, and you’ve never eaten with Martha… seriously?”
“That’s not a reprimand, I hope.” I was attempting to be playful, but I was a little hurt. I was also surprised she was on a first name basis with my housekeeper, and I wasn’t.
And then I got it. Why she’d withdrawn.
She’d let me release the butterfly from her cage like I’d asked for in my note. Only she was too big of a butterfly to just fly to me. The world needed her out there.
The revelation made my chest turn cold. Was Adara working her magic so that I wouldn’t be lonely out here all by myself? After she left.
“All I’m saying is that this poor woman’s probably even more lonely than you are. She never gets out of this place, she’s stuck on a mountain all by herself making phoofy food for you and only you.”
Stuck. Adara considered this place as being stuck.
I stroked the horse, doing my damnedest not to let the worry appear on my feature. “She doesn’t make me phoofy food.”
She crossed her eyes at me. “Lamb shanks with mint leaves?”
I forced a smile. “It’s not phoofy, it’s delicious.”
She sighed.
I threw up my hands. “Okay, I get it. I confess, I’m a snob, and I withdraw from the world, barring even my housekeeper out of my life. Are you happy now?”
Her blue-green eyes stared back at me, as if she were waiting for more. What could she be…?
“Dammit. Okay! Let’s invite her to dinner. Or I can go into Butte. Whoa, good thing my brother-in-law isn’t here, or he’d be all over that.”
She laughed, which had been my intension.
If I had to invite Ms. White and every other person I’d ever employed to my table to show Adara I wasn’t an asshole, I’d damn well do it. “What is for dinner, anyway? I’m starving after all that exercise.”
I pulled her away from Sissaleigh, who neighed her displeasure, and leaned in for a kiss, which I made slow and wet and hot.
“Phoofy herb-crusted halibut.”
I swatted her rear and breathed in the lighter atmosphere. “That’s a tongue twister I’d like to untwist later. What kind of food do you like that’s not phoofy and not pizza?”
“Oh, so many things. I’m sick of salad. At Jewel, I had to Uber into town if I wanted anything that wasn’t a vegetable or low fat. The girls didn’t have that option though. They had to stick to a certain diet to maintain their body fat ratio.” Her eyes clouded, her forehead creasing with worry. “Have you heard anything from your detective friend?”
“Nothing yet.” I put my arm around her, began leading her back to the house. “Let’s ask Ms. White to dinner, then I’ll give him a call.”
I watched her as we walked back to the “mansion” as she called it. I’d never thought of it as being a mansion. Just home.
She was such a contradiction. She hid most of her face behind an exotic mask but called me out for not having a close relationship with my housekeeper. Here she was, an enigma with the kindness of a child, all rolled into an amazingly talented, big hearted, sexy as hell woman. I couldn’t help but begin to love her.
When we got back, Adara set the table and made it beautiful as Ms. White brought dishes heaped with food out from the kitchen. The dinner was awkward to start, but I learned what a wonderful conversationalist Ms. White was when she wasn’t being stiff and formal. Through Adara’s gentle questions, I learned that she’d lived a very interesting life before and between working for us. Her holidays sounded exciting with hiking trips to Peru, backpacking in India, and bicycling through France. She had a group of women she traveled with during her two weeks holiday from work, and I honestly never knew.
Dinner was much more fun than I expected it would be. In one day, Adara had bought more life and joy into this house than I’d been able to muster in my whole thirty-five years of living here.
After dinner, Adara encouraged me to play piano while she sang to an audience of one. It was a stunning performance, and Ms. White practically beamed from being included. While I wasn’t a pro, I’d been classically trained in piano throughout my childhood and Adara had a voice you could die for. It was rich and throaty and made me think of both Pink and Shakira. Her voice had deepened and taken on more of a graveled quality than it had when she was singing before the accident, but I liked this sound better — it was more real and reflected maturity and strength.
I began to think on what a musician like her would need. I knew she’d played guitar. An artist of her caliber needed her own studio.
After Ms. White retired for the night, I asked Adara to fill our wine glasses while I made the call to the detective. As I had thought, progress was slow.
“We don’t want to go in guns blazing,” Thomas said. “Right now, we’re looking at money trails, gaining background evidence so the assholes don’t shut down accounts before we get through the gate.”
I made sense, even though I was eager for something to be done now. Adara watched me anxiously, listening to the call on speaker phone.
“The investigation could take a while. Several weeks or even months. Ms. Wilde…?”
Adara spoke up. “Yes?”
“Please don’t return to the compound for any reason. Once we have our evidence, things will move quickly, and I don’t want you in the way when things go down. Besides, Jack Marshall will most likely be looking for revenge.”
“I won’t go there. I’m worried about Brandy, but she’s texted, so I know she’s alive at least. I’ll find a way to help them, but I never want to go there again.”
“Thank you,” I whispered. There was nothing more for Thomas to add, so we disconnected the call. I pulled Adara to my chest. “Would you like to join me on my side of the house tonight?” Even though I was playing at being pretentious, the question was still loaded. “There’s a guest suite over on that side too, if you want your space. It’s just a little smaller. My sister stays there when she visits. I’d rather you were closer.”
I’d purposely put her at the far side of the house last night to keep myself away from her. But now I couldn’t have her too close.
“Sure,” she answered lightly. “I’ll have to book the first flight out of my wing and meet you over there in an hour. I’ve got to take a shower.”
“You don’t want to shower at my place on the East Coast?” My tone was hopeful, more hopeful than I’d meant it to be as visions of her naked in my shower with soap bubbles running down her body slammed into my brain.
“A girl needs a little downtime, lover boy.” She smiled and batted her lashes.
“Yes, yes, of course.” I backed down a little. The idea of having a shower with her sounded so nice, but so did being with her in bed, on the couch, on the back porch. Having her just about anywhere sounded perfect.
We finished our wine and parted for a while. She was ready about an hour later, and I got a text asking me to meet her at her room, as she was sure she’d never be able to find my suite.
When I met her, she was wearing a flowing robe and a beautiful nightgown, both in a deep plumb color that strangely reminded me of what she’d worn at Jewel. She was stunning, such a surreal beauty. My cock swelled as it had so many times already today. She turned me into a needy bastard.
She walked slowly, obviously sore from the day. I thought of offering to carry her but decided to stay by her side and be patient. It took us awhile to get to my room, but she never got frustrated and her dignity and style never diminished. When we arrived at my part of the house, relief flooded her face.
“Why don’t you have a seat.” I motioned to the chaise in the sitting area. “It’s pretty late, would you like to go to bed?” I realized I sounded more like a father than a lover.
“I’m a little tired,” she confessed and sat. “Is your sister’s room far?” I could see she was teasing me, letting me choke on my own awkward way of asking her to my room earlier.
I handed her a glass of water and kissed her forehead. “If you want, this is as far as you have to go, if you don’t mind sleeping with me here. The bed’s huge, and I promise I’ll let you just sleep.” I flashed her a guilty smile.
Unless she didn’t want to sleep…
Her head bowed, and her eyes closed, as if she was preparing herself for something. I waited.
“I don’t usually sleep in my mask, it’s not very comfortable.” Her voice was small and distant.
“Oh, right, of course.” My chest constricted. She was afraid to sleep with me because I would see her without the mask. I didn’t know what to say to her. I felt a little lost. “Well, the room is just down the hall, not too far, the second door on the left. I can take you if you want.”
I was trying to be cordial and normal, but all I wanted to do was whip my businessman skills out and sell her on ripping the damn mask off of her face. But I had to wait for her to get to the next level of trust.
“But…” I hesitated for a moment, feeling anxious. “Sooner or later, you’ll need to take it off, if there’s not going to be anything between us. I’m ready whenever you are. But it’s entirely up to you.”
She took a deep breath. I could hear the ragged intake as she battled… what? Fear? Shame? Rejection?
Without a word, her fingers raised to her face, and my heart began to thud hard against my ribs. She grasped the mask, and it began to lower. Lower.
Please, god, don’t let me say the wrong thing. Don’t let me react the wrong way.
She kept her head bowed as silent tears dripped onto her robe, turning the plum an even deeper shade of purple. Her breathing was shallow and erratic, and after a few moments, I could tell she was waiting for me to make the next move.
I knelt in front of her and took her chin in my hand, applying pressure but not forcing her to lift her face to mine. I held my hand steadfast. I would face this with her.
After a few deep breaths, she raised her head and looked me in the eye with so much bravery, tears burned at my own damn eyes.
There was an angry red scar from the top of her eye socket, running through her temple and nearly to her jawline, as if a streak of lightning had been painted across her face. The lines were hard, deep and jagged, pulling at her eye. The injury must have been bad, if this was the result after surgeries.
And it didn’t diminish her beauty at all.
Using my thumb, I traced a line beneath the scar, and I couldn’t keep the awe of seeing her face for the first time out of my voice. “You look like a warrior princess who’s survived a terrible battle.” Which she had. And because of it, she was more real than any other person I’d ever known.
Like the heroines of fantasies, she was more interesting and alluring with her scar.
Her face on the undamaged side was exquisite. I remembered Adara being beautiful, but she’d matured and become as close to perfection as a human could get. The side with her scar looked… like she had a scar. It was long and deep, and she’d been very lucky to not have lost her eye. Even though it pulled her eyelid in an odd direction, there wasn’t anything frightening about it. It was much worse in her mind.
And it was probably much worse to an industry that expected perfection from its stars.
I smooth my hand over the crooked line and kissed her cheek, then her temple. She shivered under my touch, so I lifted her from the chair and carried her to bed. I then wrapped her in the warm fluffy duvet, and slid in behind her, engulfing her in my arms.
I scooped her close, and our fingers twined together. “You’re the most beautiful woman in the world.”
I knew my erection was pushing into her backside, and I was sure she could feel my need for her, but tonight wasn’t about satisfying needs. It was about forging a path into the unknown, together.
She didn’t say anything, just let out a soft sigh as her muscles relaxed and laid in my arms until sleep claimed her.
I nuzzled close, hoping to protect her from the monsters in her head, and followed her into the deep black of unconsciousness.