Sterling had no experience with the death of a friend. He’d been seducing guests along with the others for over two decades, never letting anyone get too close. This was as serious as it got for a human being, and Sterling had no fucking clue what to do or say. He’d never felt so helpless, and he didn’t like it.
Leo, Andras, and Blair came into the room. “What happened?” asked Blair, taking in the scene. She addressed Hugh. “Does this have something to do with that piece of paper Robert handed you during the show?”
Hugh handed her the telegram. Blair read it and tears welled up in her eyes. “A family member?” she asked.
Hugh shook his head. “She said he was a dear friend.”
“She’ll want to go to the funeral,” said Sterling.
“Of course,” said Leo. “We’ll give her as much time off as she needs. Zach can fill in.”
“She shouldn’t go back to Philly alone. Sterling and I should go with her,” said Hugh.
Sterling stared at Hugh’s profile for long moments as Hugh gazed down at Caleigh. It was about time he showed his feelings for her. Hugh caught him staring, and the mask went back up again. “That okay with you?” he asked. “If we both go?”
“Of course it is.” Sterling suppressed a smile. There would be time later to talk about this.
“Let’s take her back to my suite,” said Hugh. “She shouldn’t be alone right now.”
“Why yours?” Sterling immediately regretted saying anything. This wasn’t the time to fight over her.
Leo and Andras exchanged a veiled glance. “We can move her into an empty suite on our floor,” said Leo. “That way you both can watch over her.”
Hugh nodded. “Fine with me.”
“That sounds best,” said Sterling.
Blair, Leo, and Andras helped them move Caleigh’s few belongings into her new suite, then Sterling and Hugh sat in chairs next to her bed until she fell asleep. They went into the sitting room, where Hugh poured a generous glass of Jack Daniel’s and offered one to Sterling.
Sterling didn’t care for the taste of whiskey, but tonight he needed something strong, so he accepted the drink from Hugh. “I don’t know how to help her, Hugh.”
Hugh sat across from him and took a long swallow before speaking. “Neither do I.”
“You’ve never left the resort. Are you sure you’re all right with going to Philadelphia?”
Hugh narrowed his eyes. “Why? Do you want her all to yourself in her grief-stricken moments?”
Sterling slammed his glass down so hard on the table the whiskey sloshed over the edge. “Dammit, Hugh. That’s not what I meant, and you know it. I’ve been away from here. You haven’t.”
“How big of a deal can it be? You act like I’m afraid to ride on a train or something.”
Sterling stared into Hugh’s eyes and decided it was now or never. He was going to make him admit his feelings for Caleigh once and for all. “First you tell me to find one of the others to live out my mortal life with her, and now you’re all possessive. You can’t have it both ways, you know. Either you want her or you don’t.”
“Shut the fuck up, Sterling. Her friend is dead.”
“Don’t play the guilt card with me, Hugh. If we’re going to make this work, we both have to be on the same page.”
“What do you want from me?” Hugh stood up, his fists curled at his side.
“Lower your voice. Do you want her to wake up and hear us fighting?”
“Your sympathy is touching.”
“And yours is fake, unless you truly do care for her.”
“Bastard.”
“Coward.” Sterling stood and took a step toward Hugh.
The men faced off, glaring at each other. Only the knowledge that Caleigh was in the other room kept him from advancing on Hugh. He broke eye contact first because the air felt heavy. He didn’t want Caleigh to feel it and wake up.
“This isn’t getting us anywhere.” Hugh strolled toward the bar and poured another glass of whiskey. “We can’t escort her to a funeral if we’re ready to tear each other’s heads off.”
Sterling took his seat again. “That’s the first intelligent thing you’ve said since she arrived.”
Hugh turned to face him. “Sterling, what the fuck do you want from me? Do you want me to tell you I’m in love with her? What would that change? Movie night was a bust. She doesn’t want us.”
“What? How can you say it was a bust? She had a great time.”
Hugh snorted. “Ah, where were you during Lady from Louisiana? She didn’t say a word.”
“It’s not a dancing-in-the-aisles sort of film. Maybe she simply didn’t enjoy it?”
“Her entire aura changed after she came out of the bathroom with Blair.”
“Don’t go there, Hugh.”
Hugh sauntered over and took a seat next to Sterling. “I’m not, okay? I know better. And I know Blair wouldn’t say anything to discredit us. But they were in there a long time, and they must have talked about something. Whatever it was upset Caleigh. I’d bet money on it.”
Sterling ran his hands over his face. “We need to ask Zach how to reach her family. Do they even know she’s here?”
“I’m sure she’s told her family where she is. Let’s just ask her how we can help, okay?”
Sterling gave Hugh a searching look, carefully weighing his next words. “Sounds like you’re as concerned about her as I am.”
Hugh drained his glass. “Of course I am. But my original point is still valid. No matter how I feel about her, or how you feel for that matter, it changes nothing. It has to be her choice.”
Sterling realized that was as close as Hugh was going to come to admitting his feelings for Caleigh, but it was still miles further along than where he’d been in the basement the day he told Sterling to live out his mortal life with Caleigh and one of the other owners. At least he’d made some progress.
Right now though, the most important thing was getting his songbird through this terrible ordeal. He tried to imagine what it would be like to have a friend die, but couldn’t. His relationship with the other owners was so complex, and their history so intertwined, it was difficult to think of them as friends. Their bond was something no mortal could ever understand.
Now that Leo and Andras were human and had begun to age, Sterling and Zach often discussed how they would all deal with the eventual deaths of the two. Zach had never watched anyone die and wanted to know what it was like. Sterling had seen birth and death during his travels several years ago, but the others weren’t interested in hearing about his experiences. They were too busy enjoying themselves with the guests. Leo and Andras were too wrapped up in Blair to notice anything else, but Sterling had often wondered if they thought about their own deaths one day.
A frightening thought occurred to him as he thought about Caleigh traveling to Philly. What if she decided she didn’t want to work at the resort anymore? What if she stayed in Philadelphia and never returned?
He immediately felt guilty for asking such a question. He shouldn’t be thinking of his own needs at that moment. But losing a close friend might prompt her to want to be near the rest of her family right now. Hadn’t she told him both her brothers were overseas fighting in the war? She’d be even more concerned for them now.
“You still with us?” The sarcastic tone of Hugh’s voice snapped Sterling back to the present.
“Yeah, just thinking.”
“I hear water running. Caleigh must be awake.”
Chapter Sixteen
Caleigh glanced at the clock on the nightstand and couldn’t remember for a few seconds whether it was two in the morning or two in the afternoon. She remembered fainting—or at least she remembered feeling herself drift away from Hugh and Sterling in her dressing room—but she didn’t remember being carried to an unfamiliar bedroom. Where were Sterling and Hugh?
She drew aside the heavy drapes and gazed at the full moon. Wispy clouds scuttled past it, and its light ca
st a bluish hue on the forest below. Under better circumstances this view would be extremely romantic.
Someone had left the telegram from Babs on her nightstand. She picked up the flimsy paper and read the words again that told her Harold had died in battle five days ago. Five days ago. Caleigh hadn’t known. She hadn’t sensed he’d passed. Shouldn’t she have had some sort of premonition—a spark of knowledge that a man she’d known most of her life was dead? She and Harold had grown up three houses apart.
Perhaps she’d been too busy fucking Hugh and Sterling to notice? Caleigh sighed and dropped the telegram back onto the nightstand. This wasn’t their fault any more than it was hers, and no amount of self-deprecation would bring Harold back. As it was, the guilt she felt over dumping him in a letter just a couple of weeks before he died would haunt her for the rest of her life.
She used the bathroom then tried to clean the exhaustion and grief from her face, but it was impossible. Babs’s telegram had said the funeral was in three days and asked if she was able to come. She’d have to buy a train ticket and ask for time off. Caleigh perched on the counter and tried not to cry again. The memories assaulting her were overwhelming.
Harold had taken her to her first school dance, and he’d encouraged her to apply to Juilliard. When she told him Edgar was taking her on the train to New York to audition, he’d offered to come along. Caleigh had turned him down. Now she wished she hadn’t.
He’d always been a gentleman and treated her with respect. The first time they made love, Caleigh had seduced him, not the other way around. He was always sending her flowers or finding excuses to show up at the clubs where she performed, but he never pushed her or asked more than she was willing to give. Any of her friends would have considered him the perfect man, but she hadn’t been in love with him. She’d never been in love with any man, until now.
“It was not fair,” she whispered to her reflection. “The way I treated Harold was not fair.”
A soft knock on the bedroom door stopped her reminiscing. Hugh entered first and pulled her into his arms. The gesture was so unexpected, and so tender, Caleigh almost started to cry again. “I’m so sorry,” he said softly.
“Thank you.” She pulled away and looked into his handsome face. “Where am I?”
“One of the spare suites,” said Sterling. “We didn’t think you should be alone.”
“You should try and sleep some more,” said Hugh. “We’ve already talked to Leo about your going to the funeral, and he said to take as much time as you need. We’ll be escorting you to Philadelphia.”
“But you have a business to run.” Caleigh wasn’t even sure she wanted to go. Her indecision wasn’t borne of disrespect. She simply wasn’t sure she could handle the guilt she knew her family would heap on her.
Hugh moved behind her and rubbed her shoulders. Caleigh felt the tension drain from her muscles, and goose bumps broke out along her arms and torso. “Caleigh, we’re not letting you go through this alone. The others can handle things for a few days.”
Sterling took the stopper out of a small brown bottle and placed it on her nightstand. The air filled with the smell of old socks.
“What on earth is that?” she asked.
“Valerian root. It will help you sleep. You’ll get used to the smell in a moment.”
“Lie on your stomach, and I’ll massage your back,” said Hugh.
Caleigh opened her mouth, intending to tell him she wasn’t in the mood for sex, then closed it, feeling foolish as she turned and looked into his eyes. He wasn’t trying to seduce her. He was serious about helping her relax so she could get some rest. It was the first time since they’d met that she could remember him offering to do something for her without seduction involved.
As she settled on the bed, resting her head between her crossed arms, she tried not to let a glimmer of hope build. She knew Sterling cared for her. Love shone in his eyes whenever he glanced her way. The emotion she’d spotted in Hugh’s eyes during movie night wasn’t just a fluke, and the realization sent a rush of joy through her.
Why would he do this for her if he didn’t care about her? He and Sterling had brought her here, arranged for her to have time off, and made plans to escort her to Philly for Harold’s funeral. They weren’t going to leave her on her own to deal with this, and they weren’t asking anything in return. It wasn’t the first time Caleigh had been treated this well by a man, but it was the first time she hadn’t taken it for granted.
That realization brought fresh tears to her eyes. Was she really that shallow and cruel of a person? She’d used so many men over the years. She hadn’t meant to be so careless with their affections. She simply hadn’t felt the same toward them as they’d felt toward her. She’d cared for them, and had honestly enjoyed their company, but something was always missing. She’d never given her heart.
She’d been so focused on trying to fit in with her family, and then with her singing career, that she’d been afraid to fall in love. When you gave your heart away you sacrificed your own dreams. Hadn’t Aislinn and Maire always told her that? Neither one of them had given up graduate school to get married, even though both had been given that chance. Caleigh winced inwardly when she realized how many times they’d expressed regret about their choices, even though both were on their way to brilliant careers.
They’d all done the same thing. They’d each pursued their dreams, and in doing so had given up chances at love. It wasn’t fair. Why couldn’t a woman have both? “Oh God,” she mumbled.
“Did I hurt you?” Hugh’s hands left her back and his voice was filled with concern.
“Oh, no. I’m sorry. I was thinking about my sisters. I didn’t mean to speak out loud.”
“Anything you want to share with us?” asked Sterling. “Maybe it would help to talk?”
Caleigh turned over. “I would love to talk. Will you both stay with me for a while?”
They lay on their backs, on either side of her. Caleigh closed her eyes for a moment and debated how much to tell them. The only two people she’d trusted with her deepest darkest secrets were Babs and Edgar. But neither one was here right now, and Hugh and Sterling had proven themselves to be not only amazing lovers, but friends as well. Why shouldn’t she tell them everything? They’d trusted her, after all, with a secret only a few people would truly believe.
“The man who died wasn’t only a friend. He was one of my lovers. He proposed to me, but I turned him down.”
Hugh rolled to his side and stared at her. “Do you turn down many marriage proposals, Caleigh?”
She knew he wasn’t trying to hurt her, but his words stung. Now that she’d committed to this, she had to tell them the entire story. “I turned down three in fact, on the same day. I wrote them and told them I didn’t want to get married.”
Sterling sat up. “You turned down three marriage proposals by letter?”
Caleigh nodded. “All three men are fighting overseas. They didn’t propose in person.”
“You must feel terribly guilty right now.”
Caleigh was grateful for his insight. Was that part of his powers, or was she simply that transparent? “Yes, I do.”
“Caleigh, your letter had nothing to do with Harold’s death. That was preordained.”
She sat up, crossed her legs, and looked from one man to the other as she tried to explain. “I know that, but I want you to understand this. I never meant to use any of them. I simply didn’t feel the same way about them as they did about me.”
“But you enjoyed the attention,” said Hugh.
Caleigh flushed. “Wouldn’t anyone? Don’t you enjoy it when the guests fawn all over you?”
Hugh grinned. “Sure I do.”
Caleigh shivered and hugged her elbows. Her entire body felt weary. She took a deep breath and realized Sterling was right about the oil. She could no longer smell it, but its effect was obvious. She could barely keep her eyes open. But she couldn't sleep until she got this out.
“Caleigh, we’re not judging you,” said Sterling. “You’re a beautiful woman, and I’m sure men have always fallen at your feet. You didn’t do anything wrong to Harold. To string him along would have been cruel, but you didn’t do that.”
Fresh guilt washed over Caleigh as she stared into Sterling’s emerald eyes. “I strung him along for years.”
“Okay, but you didn’t cause his death. Don’t blame yourself for this.” He caressed her face gently. The touch sent a thrill straight to her pussy. What was wrong with her? How could she feel aroused at a time like this?
“Caleigh, you’re a flirt, but you’re harmless.” Hugh stroked her arm. “Don’t beat yourself up. Sterling is right. The war caused his death, not you.”
“I don’t want people to think of me as shallow or cruel.” She searched their faces. If they thought of her that way, she was done here. She’d leave and never come back. There was no way she could handle that label from either of these men.
“You’re not,” said Sterling. He cut his gaze to Hugh. “What Hugh meant by saying you’re a flirt is that you’re not afraid to make the first move. Men find that exciting. But neither of us thinks of you as mean or without feelings.”
“That’s right,” said Hugh. “We don’t.”
Caleigh smiled and took their hands. “Thank you, both of you. I needed to hear that right now.”
“Is the women who sent you the telegram a friend?” asked Sterling.
“Babs is my best friend. We’ve known each other all our lives.”
“You should telephone her.”
“But it’s long distance.”
Hugh waved a hand in the air. “Don’t let that concern you. You can telephone anyone you want.”
“Thank you. I’ll call her in the morning.”
Tempted by Two Angels [Notorious Nephilim 3] (Siren Publishing Ménage Amour) Page 12
