by Rachel Grant
He stalked off, and she stared after him, stunned. His insinuation was chilling, but it was nothing compared to the maelstrom he’d created in calling Lee the senator’s stepson.
Erica had seen several profiles of the senator and his wife on TV, and every one of them mentioned the senator’s current wife—his third—was childless. She wasn’t Lee’s mother. JT’s mother was wife number one. Lee’s mother had to be wife two. Her head began to throb. Why the hell hadn’t he told her?
She saw Alexandra on the far side of the room. She headed toward the vivacious blonde, but before she’d taken three steps, the announcer asked everyone to move the party to the front room. The crowd shifted en masse. She had no choice but to follow.
Sam Riversong stepped onto the dais set up in front of the Aztec Room with a microphone in his hand. “Good evening,” he said. “Welcome to the Menanichoch Casino.”
The crowd applauded. She took a shallow breath and tried to calm herself. Had Lee lied to her or just omitted the part about being Joseph Talon’s stepson?
Was there a difference?
“You are all gathered here for a very special evening, and I know you didn’t come here to listen to me, so I’m going skip the flowery words and just hand the mic over to the man we’re all here to support tonight. It is my great pleasure to introduce to you my brother in spirit, fellow tribal member, and the best senator this country has ever seen, Joseph Talon.”
The room broke out in ecstatic applause worthy of a sporting event, and Joseph Talon took the microphone. An arm slipped around Erica’s waist, and she felt a light kiss on her neck. She glanced at Lee and felt choking anger.
“I need to tell you something,” he murmured under the sound of the crowd. “Joe just told me he’s going to introduce me—”
“Jake told me. How nice of your stepdad to include you,” she said through gritted teeth. A pool of raw, burning, ferocious hurt simmered inside her.
His eyes changed from wary to urgent. “I love you, Erica. Remember that.”
“Bullshit.” If he loved her, he’d have told her who he was. Her eyes blurred. She grasped at the anger. Heartache would break her, but anger would get her through the next three seconds, three minutes, three hours.
Back in control, she faced the senator, who waited for the crowd to quiet.
“Thank you,” Joseph Talon said. “It is such a joy to be in this room tonight, as I see here family, friends, and colleagues who give my life and work meaning. I have a few words I wish to say before I cut the ribbon to open up the newest addition to the Menanichoch Casino.”
An expectant hush fell over the crowd. Flashes went off from the press area at the side of the room. “As you all know by now, I came from nothing. A nobody orphan raised in an Indian school. I didn’t have a home, a family, or even hope. When my school burned down, I had nowhere to go. But my good friend Sam Riversong gave me a home, the people of the Menanichoch tribe became my family, and at long last I discovered hope. The Menanichoch sent me to college, where I met Edward Drake, a professor of engineering who took me under his wing and encouraged me. Later, Edward Drake and I started a company, an engineering firm, Talon & Drake. I’m immensely proud of the company. It has grown over the years into a multimillion-dollar business with clients all over the world.” He paused. “Not bad for a boy from nowhere. Not bad for ‘a stupid Indian kid.’ That’s a quote, by the way, said often by the headmaster at the Indian school.
“When I joined the senate, I was pleased my son, JT, took over the day-to-day running of Talon & Drake. JT has made me proud, and in the dozen years since he took over, he’s doubled the size of the business. Now my good friend and mentor, Edward Drake, is retiring from his position as head of the Bethesda office.”
Lee’s lips brushed her ear as he whispered, “I’m sorry. I will explain later.”
She jerked away from him and bumped against a woman to her right. Murmuring an apology, she stiffened her spine and listened to the senator.
“—as important to you as it is to me,” he was saying, “but please indulge a proud father. Many years ago, I was married to a wonderful woman who brought to our union a son from a previous marriage. I am a flawed man and was even more so then. I was a lousy husband and worse father. I let Talon & Drake take all my time. The marriage ended because I failed to prioritize. But my stepson didn’t leave my life when my marriage dissolved twenty years ago. He forgave my flaws, my ambition, and, even though I’ve had no legal ties to him since he was twelve years old, he has remained my son, my friend, my supporter, and a source of great pride. Tonight I’m pleased to announce my stepson, Lee Scott, has agreed to take over management of the Bethesda office of Talon & Drake upon Ed’s retirement. Lee, please, join us up here. I want my whole family with me as I embark upon this next great journey.”
The attention of the audience shifted in their direction. Lee slipped an arm around her waist. She wanted to jerk away from him again, but everyone was watching. The sonofabitch had trapped her. Again.
Lee took a step forward, and she had to go with him or create a huge, awful, appalling scene. She plastered on a smile and walked toward the dais with Lee. Coldness swept through her. She was a glacier, moving relentlessly forward. Little did Lee know she would destroy everything in their path.
“With my stepson is his girlfriend, Erica Kesling,” she heard the senator say. “An archaeologist who is as smart as she is lovely and the perfect addition to both the Talon and the Talon & Drake families.”
Christ. Joseph Talon had just claimed her.
She was being manipulated by masters and now had to stand and face the crowd while reeling from the blow of having the meager facts she’d known about Lee dissolve.
She felt the heat of the lights as she tallied what she knew about him to be true.
He was no intern. He was no career student.
His name. That was all she knew.
How old was he? He’d been twelve at the time of the divorce, which had happened twenty years ago, according to the senator. Lee was thirty-two. Older than her by three years.
She was an idiot. A complete moron. Of course he was older than her. He’d done a rotten job of playing the green intern. She’d just been too stupid to see it. She’d been so absorbed in trying to corner Jake and Sam, she’d ignored every sign.
The senator had continued speaking, and his words finally penetrated her thoughts. “As I start this next great adventure, it’s important to look at the foundation that made me who I am and to appreciate the gifts this life has given me. I’m proud of my sons and the business I created. Talon & Drake provides a vital service, here and around the globe. This is a great nation that gives a young orphan Indian—a stupid Indian kid—the opportunity to succeed and share that success with future generations. I got where I am not only because I am intelligent and driven. I got here because people believed in me, mentored me, and supported me.
“As a nation, we’ve become fractured. We’re struggling as a world power and divided in our beliefs, our causes. That isn’t the road to success. We need to come together and support each other. We need to mentor other countries, bring them back from civil war and poverty…”
His words faded as Erica’s concentration splintered into disjointed thoughts. Several times she’d asked about his past, his connection to JT, only to be distracted by roving hands or words of love. Tonight she’d asked him point-blank who he was, and he responded by coercing her into saying she loved him.
Days ago, he’d been angry with her for using their attraction as a weapon, but she had nothing on him; his skill at deception outdistanced hers by miles.
Lee held her hand in a viselike grip. He brushed his lips against her temple. “Keep it together, Erica.”
She tightened her smile and shifted so her pointed heel came down directly on his foot.
He didn’t flinch. She dug in, shifting all her weight to her heel. He released her hand and moved his foot, causing her to teeter and clutch at
him to stop her fall.
His caught her so smoothly she doubted anyone noticed their scuffle.
“…I have a plan.” She tuned in to the senator’s speech again. “And that is why I’m running for president!”
The crowd cheered. Cameras flashed. Lee looked down at her, beaming with enough warmth to fool the world. But not her. He would never fool her again. “Clap,” he whispered.
She did as instructed. She’d been dressed up and set up. She may as well play her role until she got inside the Aztec Room and saw the artifacts.
Minutes, hours, it could have been years later, the senator finally cut the ribbon, and the gathering flowed into the room. Lee kept a firm hold on her as they followed the first visitors across the threshold.
She’d waited for this for a year, but a half hour ago, she’d decided to give up her plan for redemption because she was in love. No. Because she was a fool.
No more. She gripped her evening bag, which held the photographs she would use to convince the authorities the provenance for the artifacts was false, Jake was a thief, and Sam a buyer of black market antiquities. To hell with the senator. To hell with his campaign. She owed him nothing but a fancy dress.
She nearly stumbled as a wave of pain broke through her wall of anger. Lee had pushed her to admit she loved him. A last humiliation before the truth came out.
She felt a dull, cold ache and tried to pull away from him. He didn’t let her go.
The chill inside radiated outward. She looked at Lee, not bothering to hide her hostility. Who cared if a reporter saw? She hadn’t created this situation. He had. He could deal with the repercussions. “If you don’t take your hand off me right now, I’ll scream.”
He let go.
“You and Jake are more alike than I ever imagined.” She headed to one of the Aztec displays, near a roulette wheel. None of the artifacts were from the shipwreck. She approached another display, near the blackjack tables. Lee followed her.
“You won’t find them,” he said. “They aren’t here.”
She turned on her heel. “Won’t find what?”
“The artifacts you and Jake recovered when you worked for him.”
“I didn’t recover the Aztec artifacts from the shipwreck. I refused. Don’t group my morals with Jake’s. Or yours, for that matter.”
“I’m not the enemy, Erica.” The hurt in his eyes was almost touching. If she didn’t know better, she’d think he had feelings.
“Don’t kid yourself, Lee.” Her voice caught. She took a deep breath and continued. “You’re worse than Jake ever was. Jake used my name and my reputation to get a permit from the Mexican government, then smeared both after they’d served their purpose. But you screwed me to distract me, so I wouldn’t figure out who you are. You used me.”
He headed toward a doorway labeled Employees Only and pulled her with him. “I made love to you because I’m crazy about you. Keeping you from figuring out who I am was just a side benefit.”
She searched his face, looking for some sign he told the truth. But all she saw were the same sincere green eyes that had sucked her in when he told her he was twenty-five. When he said he loved her.
“That’s what I’ve been all along, isn’t it? A side benefit. You cooked up your little scheme with JT to infiltrate the Bethesda office so you could scope things out before Drake quit and you were installed. Lucky you, you got to play spy and get laid at the same time.”
“Keep your voice down.”
“No.”
“Please, Erica. We need to work this out. If not for other reasons, then consider the fact that I’m your boss now.”
The sonofabitch was already pulling rank on her. “I quit.”
For a second, she thought she saw fear in his eyes. “You can’t. You need your job. You’re stuck with me.”
She sucked in a shallow breath. “I’ll sleep in the street before I work for you.”
“I’d rather have you sleep with me.”
She wanted to slap him. What was stopping her? She raised her hand to strike.
He caught her wrist and pulled her through the employee door. Walking with purpose down a long corridor, he dragged her behind him until they reached an office door, where he punched a number into a keypad, opened the door, and pulled her inside with him.
He slammed the door closed and pulled her against him. “Okay. Hit me. We both know I deserve it.”
She swung full force, but her fist only grazed his cheekbone. He held her too close. The angle wasn’t right to actually hurt him. “Back up,” she said. “I want another shot.”
He cupped his cheek. “No. I think that’s enough.”
“It’s nowhere close to enough.” She aimed for his testicles with her knee, but he pushed her against the wall and forced his legs between her thighs. She couldn’t knee him.
“Goddamn you! Let me go.” She writhed against him.
“Calm down so we can talk.”
She tried to scratch him, but he caught her wrists and pinned them to the wall on either side of her face. “I’m sorry, Erica. I—”
“Don’t you dare! Don’t you dare claim to love me again.”
“I do—”
“Everything you’ve told me is a lie.”
“I lied. Yes. But I had a good reason.”
“A good reason to use me?” Raw pain cut through the anger. He thought he could justify what he’d done. Just like her mother. Just like Jake, who saw her as a pawn, expendable.
“I had no choice.”
“You always have a choice, Lee.”
His grip on her wrists loosened. “Dammit, Erica, I’ve done a pathetic job of pretending to be an ignorant kid with you. I couldn’t be the character JT and I created, because I wanted you, and you’d never give that boy the time of day.”
“So you’re saying this is my fault for being an imbecile and failing to see through your farce. You don’t need to rub my face in it. I figured that out while the senator droned on.”
“No. I’m saying I’m crazy about you.” He dropped her hands and stepped away from her. “I’m sorry I hurt you.”
She rubbed her wrists. “Was it fun lying to me? Seducing me?”
“I hated every lie.” He looked earnest, sounded earnest.
But she wouldn’t be taken in again. “Bullshit.”
He cursed under his breath. “This isn’t about you or me. Hasn’t it occurred to you that I could have a very real reason for pretending to be something I’m not? Have you been so self-absorbed it hasn’t crossed your mind I could be doing something more important here?”
She flinched. “Tell me.”
“I can’t. Not yet.”
After everything he’d done, he still refused to tell her why. Cold hurt gripped her. “You won’t get a chance later.”
His eyes flashed with alarm. As if he was afraid she meant it. He took a deep breath. “We need to rejoin the party. If you have any respect for the senator, please go out there and smile and play your role.”
“Arm candy to the senator’s stepson.”
“Yes.”
“Are you so desperate you need to sink to this sort of deception just to get a date?”
He smiled, his mouth crooked and sad. “Only with you.”
Her head pounded. She was sick with heartache and fear. “Where are the artifacts?”
“JT talked to Riversong, who, I assume, removed them and arranged for replacements.”
“Where are they?”
“I don’t know. Probably long gone—so they won’t be able to hurt the campaign.”
She hadn’t told Lee the truth because she was afraid the artifacts would disappear—which was exactly what had happened. She had nothing on Jake. Nothing on Marco. Rage, hurt, and fear battled for primacy in her fractured mind. What the hell was she going to do?
Logic told her she was stuck with Lee for the next few hours. Jake was here. He couldn’t touch her while she was with Lee. She pushed off the wall. “I’ll pl
ay your date; then we’re through. I never want to see you again.” She turned toward the door.
“I’m not giving you up without a fight, Erica.” His voice was low, husky. Full of pain.
No, that was probably wishful thinking on her part.
“You’ve already lost.” And he’d taken her down with him. Anger spiked anew, and she whirled to face him. “When you told JT to have the Aztec artifacts removed, you chose a campaign over me. Those artifacts were my only chance to protect myself from Jake and Marco. That’s why I didn’t tell you or the senator the truth.”
He reached for her, but she backed away. “I’ll protect you from Jake.”
The thought of depending on him, seeking solace in his arms was tempting. But it was just another lie. “Earlier tonight, I would have taken you up on that offer. But you aren’t who I thought you were. I’d rather face Jake alone than be with you.” She spun on her heel and left.
Alone again. Just as she’d always been.
Needing to regroup before returning to the party, she found a restroom and collapsed onto a love seat in the lounge area. A sob bubbled up from deep in her chest. She couldn’t cry. If she allowed one tear, it would be followed by great, racking waves of grief. Over a year of pent-up hurt and anger, starting with her mother’s betrayal and ending with Lee’s, waited for release. She couldn’t let it out now.
Several minutes later, the door opened, and Alexandra stepped inside. “Erica? Lee said you might need company.”
“How much do you know?”
“Not much.” Alexandra sat next to her on the sofa. “I knew Lee was supposed to be your intern, and I wasn’t supposed to mention Lee and JT had been stepbrothers.”
“Did it bother you?” Erica asked, resenting the woman’s complicity.
“Yes.”
“Then why did you go along with it?”
“I knew there would be a good reason. JT and Lee operate on a different level, Erica. Talon & Drake holds huge international contracts, and Joe is making his bid to be the most powerful man in the world. Something very important must be happening in the Bethesda office for Lee to pretend to be an intern.”
“What is Lee? Besides the senator’s stepson, I mean. Is he an engineer?”
