by Shelby Reed
Dimness reigned inside the rich leather and mahogany-enhanced restaurant. Max waved to her from an intimate, candlelit table, and for a moment, as she crossed the restaurant to meet him, it felt like the old days. The usual lift to her heart upon seeing him was missing, though. Gone for good. In its place sat a leaden sense that somehow she’d been bamboozled into this dinner.
“Hello, Max,” she said when she reached the table. “Where’s the client?”
He glanced at his watch. “Not here yet. I haven’t heard from him, so he should be here any minute.” Pulling out the chair at his right elbow, he said, “Take off your coat and stay a while.”
Those were the same words she’d said to Colm the first night they made love. Cheeks warming, Sydney slid out of her coat, hung it on a nearby rack, and waited while he wheeled back, drew out her chair and helped her sit. Everything stiff and oh-so-polite. She wondered what Colm was doing. When he’d heard she was meeting Max, he made other plans to check his house and to visit his sister, who Sydney wanted to meet. Instead she was stuck here with her past staring her in the face.
At first they didn’t say much. She ordered a glass of Shiraz, to which Max said, “So the new Sydney drinks wine, eh?”
“I’ve always liked wine.” She didn’t have to explain herself to him. Truth be told, hard liquor would have done a better job of making all this bearable.
He sat back to look at her. “Tell me more about yourself. How’s the portrait business?”
“It might surprise you to hear it’s going really well.”
“Maybe I was wrong to doubt you. I’ve heard your name in certain charity circles, and people are anxious to get their hands on a Sydney Warren portrait. It’s almost as though the erotic artist has dissolved into thin air.”
“That phase would have fallen out of favor at some point, Max. It’s a fickle crowd.”
“Yes. You did the Marilyn Monroe trick. Step out while you’re still shining. And now look at you. You’ve never been more beautiful or successful. You’ve got a whole new life.”
Sydney frowned and took a sip of wine, her gaze skimming the group of people standing in the entry. “Max, I can’t wait all night for this man.”
His hand slid along her blouse sleeve. “He’ll be here. Talk to me a little, Sydney. Tell me about your life.”
She sighed and glanced at him. In the flickering candlelight, he was the same handsome Max she’d met four years ago. He still turned female heads, and the wheelchair seemed no deterrent. If anything, it fascinated people, especially because Max radiated the same charisma and power he had when he could walk.
“Tell me about your life, Max. That would be much more interesting.”
He shrugged. “I’ve got three new artists who are keeping me busy. I’m looking for a condo in the city since the commute has become tiresome.” He slid his gaze over her. “The house in Virginia is for sale.”
A soft nostalgia swirled through her. “Oh, that’s too bad.”
“You could buy it.”
“What would I do with all that room?”
He smiled. “Well, you wouldn’t be alone there, would you? Not anymore.”
Sydney stopped and looked at him. “It was too much space for you, me, and Hans. It needs a family.”
A waiter interrupted to refill their water glasses and inquire about the still missing third party.
“Let’s go ahead and order,” Max told Sydney. “The client will understand, considering he’s almost a half hour late.”
She glanced briefly at the menu then ordered a salad. Her stomach felt strangely queasy. “I’ll eat with you, but then I have to run.”
“Ah,” he said, smiling at the waiter as he handed back the menus. “Hot date?”
“Max, don’t start.”
“I’m just curious how long you’ve been seeing him, that’s all. Would you humor me?”
“No. My life is my business, especially because I know how you feel about Colm.”
Max laughed, a harsh, humorless sound. “Any man would feel the same. After all, I hired him to model for you, and look how it turned out?”
“Don’t—”
“Did the relationship start right away with him? Working in that isolated studio, just the two of you, him naked, and you—”
“Max!”
He went silent, but his cheeks were flushed, his gray eyes black and piercing in the candlelight. “There are things you don’t know about your new boyfriend, Sydney.”
“I don’t have to sit here and listen to this.”
She pushed back her chair and started to rise when he said, “I paid him to do more than model for you.”
A chill slid down her spine. She reached for her coat and scowled as she slid into it. “You’ll say anything to hurt me. I knew I shouldn’t have come to this meeting. Is there even a client?”
“Yes, damn it. Me!”
“I knew it. I knew it! Then the painting isn’t for sale.” She paused in the midst of wrapping her scarf around her neck and offered him an arid smile. “Anyway, what would you do with an image of Colm hanging in your living room? Throw darts at it?”
“Sydney, listen to me.” His hand shot out and caught her wrist firmly enough to make her wince. “Sit down for just a second. There’s something you should know before you get hurt.”
“You honestly think I would trust anything you tell me, Max? You only have your best interests at heart.”
“Listen to me—”
“No. Max, I swear to God, if you don’t let go—”
“I hired Hennessy to test your fidelity.”
Everything went silent. Sydney sank to the chair and stared at him. “You hired Colm because you thought he might tempt me to cheat on you? My God, Max. I know things hadn’t been good between us, but were you really that insecure?”
“You’re misunderstanding me, Sydney.” His fingers around her wrist went from gripping to caressing. “I hired Colm to seduce you.”
She jerked free from him, her pulse commencing an erratic thud. “I don’t understand what you mean.”
“He’s a prostitute. His job was to try to sway you. According to Azure, his pimp, he failed. Yet I don’t understand why he was at your condominium in such a state of undress—”
She didn’t hear the rest. The room spun. Perspiration broke out on her upper lip. “Colm’s not a prostitute, you bastard! He’s not . . .”
And just like that, all the disjointed pieces fell into place. Colm’s hazy background. The women she’d seen him with. Azure . . . his pimp?
While she sat there in stunned silence, Max withdrew a business card from inside his suit jacket and slid it across the corner of the table to her. “You don’t have to believe me. Call Azure Elan and ask her. She’ll undoubtedly set you straight.”
Sydney blinked and focused on him. “Why, Max? Why would you do something like this to me?”
“Simple,” he said. “I knew eventually you’d leave me. And I wasn’t wrong, was I? Given the right circumstances—one week with a man like Hennessy—and off your pedestal you go.”
Hollow. She’d gone hollow inside. Tears burned her eyes, but she wouldn’t cry in front of Max. She stood slowly and reached for her purse. “Thank you, Max.”
“For what?”
“For saving me from spending the rest of my life thinking you were capable of love. You never were, even before the accident. I guess your assumptions about me leaving you are coming true, because you really are alone.”
She didn’t give him time to speak before she slipped through the crowd and out into the December night.
For a long time she didn’t know where to go, just paced up and down the street, her brain on pause. Then she stopped.
It was one thing that Colm was a prostitute. It was another thing entirely that he had been hired to deceive her and that he had followed through. For deceived she was, and in love, and shattered.
It couldn’t be true. Max was just cruel enough to concoct some
thing so horrendous. Her fingers were trembling, stiff with cold as she stopped beneath a streetlight and dialed the number on Azure Elan’s business card.
“Hello,” said a sultry feminine voice.
Shivering, Sydney said, “This is Sydney Warren. I got your number from Max Beaudoin. You know who I am.”
“Of course,” Azure exclaimed. “How could I ever forget so lovely and talented an artist?”
She grimaced, her stomach roiling. “I’m calling to talk to you about Colm Hennessy.”
Pause.
Let the games begin. Sydney clenched her teeth to keep them from chattering. “Please don’t lie to me. Max said . . . Max told me everything. He told me what Colm is, and what you are.”
“Mm-hmm. Oh, and what I am, as well? Shame on Max.”
“I’d like to give you the chance to tell me he’s lying.” Sydney closed her eyes, her heart beating in her throat. “What are you?”
“I am a club proprietor.”
“What club?”
“A pleasure club for women, darling.”
Sydney braced a hand against the metal lamppost to hold herself up, its chilled steel seeping through her skin and into her bones. “Colm does work for you, then.”
“Make up your mind, Sydney. Would you like me to say yes or no? After all, I’m in the business of fulfilling women’s fantasies.”
Sydney hated her almost as much as she hated Max. “Colm’s a prostitute?”
“He’s a fine companion. It’s not always about sex, darling. You should know that. After all, he claims he failed Max’s directive, which was to get you into bed. I’m not sure I believe him, but that’s what he says.”
Sydney might hate the players in this game, but the one thing that still felt sacred—even though its memory had crashed and crumbled—was the lovemaking she’d shared with Colm. She wouldn’t hand it over to someone like Azure, no matter how defiled the memory now felt.
Anger revived her, although the tears kept coming. “I would like to speak with him.”
“I’m afraid that’s not possible just now,” Azure murmured.
“Is he there now? At your . . . pleasure club?”
“He’s somewhere around here, but busy.”
“He’s working?” The tears clogged her throat, thickened her words. “He’s with a client?”
“He’s doing his job.” Silence fell between them, and Sydney couldn’t stop the sobs welling in her chest. The phone slipped from her numb fingers and cracked on the sidewalk. For a moment she left it there, then she snatched it up in a fit of rage. “Are you still there?”
“I’m here, waiting for you to tell me if there’s anything else I can do for you.”
Sydney shook her head. “I don’t know. I’m so . . . I’m . . .”
“You’re curious about his world, aren’t you, Sydney? Any red-blooded woman would be.”
Sydney closed her eyes. If she let herself cry the way she wanted to, she would throw up.
“I’m willing to allow you to make an appointment with him,” the other woman said gently.
Sydney sucked back a harsh laugh, a fresh wave of ire reviving her. “You think I would come to your—your club and—?”
“Careful, darling. I’m offering you an opportunity to put this all behind you and set your life on its proper path. Most women, even lovely, talented ones like you, don’t receive invitations to Avalon. Consider before you insult me.”
“You were part of this game.”
“And it’s nothing personal. Surely you can understand that.”
Damn Colm Hennessy. Damn all of them.
And then a soul-sickening idea began to form in her mind. She let it swirl, and though it stripped another piece off her very being, she finally said, “You’re right, Azure. I’m . . . curious. I’ll make an appointment.”
“And you understand you’ll have to pay handsomely for his services?”
She closed her eyes. I already have. Heart. Body. Soul. She’d given them all.
“Money is no object,” she said.
A group of giggling college girls danced by her on the sidewalk and she turned to shelter the call from their raucous good time. When the noise had faded, she added, “But I have one more request.”
“What’s that?”
“I want one more of your men there to . . . to service me. At the same time.”
Azure gave a laugh of delight. Sydney could picture her applauding. “Really, darling? How fabulous and uninhibited of you. Shall I handpick him for you?”
Agony sharpened and twisted her thoughts. “No. It’s Garrett. I want Garrett there, and I don’t want Colm to know I’ve made this request.”
“Speaking of surprises, are you planning to shock Colm with your appearance?”
“On the contrary. You can warn him I’m coming. In fact, do it as soon as possible. I want him to think about it for a while.”
“Your desires are of utmost importance, Sydney.”
“I’d like this appointment as soon as possible. Tonight. Now.”
“That isn’t possible, Sydney. We’re booked tonight.”
Colm’s booked tonight.
A silent sob shook her shoulders.
“But what about two nights from now, darling?” Azure said. “I see Garrett has a cancellation, and I can move clients around for Colm to accommodate you.” She paused. “Of course it’s New Year’s Eve . . .”
“I have no plans,” she said, tears turning cold on her lashes as she thought about the romantic dinner she’d planned to cook for Colm at her loft. “Two nights from now will be fine.”
“Splendid. My secretary will call you to arrange a time.”
Sydney pressed the Off button and stood there, her chest heaving. A homeless woman passed her, matted head turning to stare at her in the purple-white light. Sydney felt naked suddenly, stripped to the bone, the way Colm had always left her feeling when his eyes slid over her. Flayed and bare. Now she knew where that ability had been honed. Azure had taught him everything he knew.
She climbed into her car, blew her nose, and wiped her eyes, resisting the urge to simply weep and weep. She would step into Colm’s world, invade his soul space the way he had hers.
By God, she would bring him to his knees before this was over.
Chapter Twenty-three
For two days, Colm’s calls to Sydney went unanswered. Consternation wound around his insides at the realization that he’d already waited too long to tell her the truth. Of course he would lose her. No human being could stand such betrayal, not even a beautiful, loving spirit like Sydney. No matter the outcome, he had also made a decision about Avalon. His life was unraveling, and the line of love and trust between his heart and Amelia’s would do the same. He might lose her as well, but the time was long past to cleanse himself of lies, prostrate himself before the consequences, and bear what came to pass.
At noon on New Year’s Eve, he met Azure in the corridor at the back of Avalon’s lobby. She was dressed in a white catsuit and diamonds, her ebony hair swinging lose around her face. She reminded him of a very beautiful, very deadly wraith.
“Welcome back at last, Colm. Tell me, are you coming to work for New Year’s Eve?”
He studied her pale blue eyes. She had saved him in her own way. As much as he wanted to hate her, he never would. “I’m out, Azure. I can’t do it anymore.”
Her fair features didn’t change from their slight expression of forbearance. “What will you do?”
“Look for a job in something legitimate.”
“I see.” She paused. “Colm, my darling, we’re friends, wouldn’t you say?”
A faint alarm sounded in the back of his mind. “In a manner of speaking, yes.”
“Then would you humor me one last time?”
“In what way?”
She folded her arms and leaned a shoulder against the brocade papered wall. “You have a special client who has come a long, long way for her moment with you. Will you meet with h
er tonight?”
He drew a breath and thought about the lie of omission that would soon end his relationship with Sydney. “No. I’m sorry, Azure.”
“But wait. Don’t you even want to know who she is?”
“I’m sure she’s someone outstanding. But I’m not interested.”
“Oh, I beg to differ.”
Anger crept through his nerves. “I’m not in the mood to play games, Azure. I’m quitting this job, and it doesn’t matter who the—”
“Would Sydney Warren persuade you?”
Colm stilled. Ice filled his being. “What?”
“Sydney has called and requested you specifically.”
Oh, God. Not like this. Not like this. He stepped closer, teeth gritted, every muscle tightened. “What did you do, Azure?”
She shrugged. “Nothing she didn’t ask me to do. I fit her into the schedule tonight, this night of myriad clients, because as I’m sure you can guess, she’s a woman hurting.”
“You told her what I am.”
“No, darling. Max Beaudoin obliged you.”
Of course. Somewhere deep down, Colm had known it would play out this way.
His hands clenched into fists and he whirled, looking for something to hit in substitute for Beaudoin. There was nothing except the white, brocade-covered wall, as white as the flowing dresses Azure favored.
His fist went right through it, sent plaster and dust drifting to the carpet. He hardly felt the scrapes on his knuckles.
Azure straightened and her features softened. “Don’t worry about that, darling. We’ll just take it out of Sydney’s payment.”
He closed his eyes and leaned his forehead against the marred wall, his breath rushing in and out, heart racing.
Behind him, Azure approached in silence and he jerked when she spoke softly next to his ear. “Will you meet her, Colm? I think this can’t end any other way for you.”
Colm wanted to die and take Beaudoin with him.
“Colm?”
It was time. Everything was unraveling, and he would stand and take the blows he deserved.
He turned his head to look at Azure. “I’ll meet her,” he said.
