A Silken Thread (23 page)

Chapter Twenty-Eight

D
onna decided to arrive at Stella’s early and sit in the back to check out the place and see if she recognized anyone who entered.

She glanced at her watch before looking around the establishment once again. Two women sat at the bar, several couples at tables, and a man at a corner table was pecking away on his laptop. She recognized none of them.

She got the waitress’s attention for a refill on her drink and continued to wait. She had cancelled her sex session with Judge Meadows and he hadn’t been at all pleased about it. He was beginning to get on her last nerve with his horny self.

“May I join you?”

She nearly jumped out of her skin. She had been so busy staring at the entrance that she hadn’t noticed that the man with the laptop had gotten up. At that moment a knot tightened in her stomach.

She swallowed thickly. “Why would you want to join me?” she asked coolly, not liking the vibes she was getting from him.

The smile he then gave her nearly made her flesh crawl. “We have a meeting planned. Let me introduce myself. I’m your friend.”

Jaye pulled out a chair and sat down. He thought Donna Hardy was even prettier up close, but there was no doubt in his mind that this was one lady he had to watch. Lethal. At no time could he ever let her assume she had the upper hand. Any man who did so was a fool. He would tell her what he wanted and give her no choice in the matter.

“Who are you?”

He smiled over at her and the dark angry eyes staring back didn’t bother him one bit. She was at his mercy and not the opposite. “I told you. I’m your friend.”

“What is this about?”

“It’s about you and Brian Lawson.”

He saw surprise flicker in her eyes. “Brian Lawson? You must have me mistaken for someone else. The only thing between me and Brian is that he’s my boss and, if you don’t already know, he’s getting married.”

“Not if you have anything to do with it.”

She lifted a brow. “What do you mean?”

He leaned back in his chair. “What I mean is that although the wedding has now been postponed, I want to make sure there will never be a wedding.”

Her gaze widened with curiosity. “Why?”

“I have my reasons and you shouldn’t concern yourself with them. All you need to do is deliver what I want.”

“And if I don’t?”

He chuckled as he took a sip of the drink he’d brought to the table with him. “And if you don’t, then everyone at the office will know what a slut you are. And I wouldn’t hesitate to post your secrets all over the internet.”

She sat up straight in her chair, her face flaming in anger. “I would not only sue you but I’d handle your case and win.”

He shook his head and laughed. “Sweetheart, there’s no way you could win with the amount of dirt I’ve got on you.” At her surprised blink he said, “Just do what you’re told.” He stood. “I’ll be in touch.” He then walked off, whistling as he exited the bar.

Later that night Jaye contacted Karen. Once again he had some good news and he had some bad news. The good news was the update he had to give her on his meeting with Donna Hardy. He was convinced the woman would do whatever they needed her to do.

However, the bad news was that his sources had reported that Griffin had purchased an engagement ring and the likely recipient was April North. Of course Karen was furious and said they would need to move up their timetable.

The more Jaye talked to Karen the more he was convinced that she would do anything to make sure both Griffin and Erica were free to eventually marry each other.

As he undressed for bed that night he shrugged, deciding if there was something else driving her obsession he was better off not knowing. Over the past three months he’d determined that his mother’s cousin wasn’t playing with a full deck…but she was paying him a lot of money and that meant he would do whatever she wanted him to do.

Little did she know he would do her dirty work, but in the long run it would cost her for him to keep quiet.

He smiled, thinking that in a few years he would be able to retire, and not only that, with the videos and photographs he had of Donna Hardy, she would want to keep him pretty happy, as well.

He chuckled. Life was good.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

“G
uess who I talked to today?”

Erica glanced over at her mother. They had returned to the States and were now at the Sanders’s cabin on Lake Tahoe. As a child she’d always liked it here and this had always been one of her favorite pastimes, sitting in the backyard watching all the beautiful boats that went by.

“Who did you hear from today, Mom?” Erica figured it probably was too much to hope for that her father had called. Neither she nor her mother had heard from him since they’d left home and that had been almost two weeks ago. She figured he was probably too busy getting the divorce off the ground.

“Marnita. Surely you remember her.”

Erica searched her brain for a few moments before finally remembering. “Your friend from college who lives in Wyoming?”

“Yes, that’s the one. Her husband died a few years ago and she’s invited me to come visit her for a few days. I figured that would give you a break from me for a while. You might want to go visit April in California while I’m gone.”

She glanced over at her mother, trying to keep the happiness out of her face. Was she really suggesting she visit with April? Umm, at that moment an idea popped into her head. She would let her mother assume she was visiting April in L.A. but instead she would catch a plane to Dallas and see Brian.

God, she missed him. Although after purchasing another phone in Alexandria she had been able to talk to him more, she needed to see him.

“Well, what do you think?”

She smiled. “I think that’s a wonderful idea, Mom, and I appreciate your thinking of it.”

“It’s the least I can do. You have been spending a lot of time with me and all. I feel bad you’re doing it.”

“I’ve enjoyed our time together,” she said. The only thing she regretted was that she hadn’t mentioned Brian to her mother at all. In a way she felt bad that her mother hadn’t suggested she go visit Brian instead of April. It was as if Karen intended to wipe Brian from her memory and refused to acknowledge that he still existed.

“Then it’s settled. I’m going to leave day after tomorrow to visit Marnita for a few days and you’re going to visit with April. This should be fun and is probably something we both need.”

Erica couldn’t help but smile. Yes, seeing Brian was definitely something she needed.

“Are you sure of your plan, Karen?”

Karen stood at the window and watched Erica standing near the water. Every so often she would stick her toe in and then snatch it back out. Erica was in a good mood, and had been ever since she’d suggested she go visit with April. But Karen knew her daughter well enough to know where she would be going instead.

“Yes, Jaye, I deliberately eavesdropped on her conversation with April a little while ago when she thought I was taking a nap. April is in Los Angeles like you said, but Erica has already purchased a ticket to Dallas. She’s going to surprise Brian and show up on Wednesday. And while she’s headed for Texas, my flight is taking me to L.A. to deal with April.”

“Are you sure you want to meet with April yourself? You’ve been letting me handle everything so that no one would know about your involvement. What if April goes back and tells Erica about your visit? She might put two and two together and—”

“It won’t happen, trust me,” Karen said, smiling. “I know something about April that she will want kept a secret and I will do so if she gives me what I want.”

“Which is for her to get out of Griffin’s life,” Jaye said.

“Precisely.”

“And are you sure you won’t run into Griffin while you’re visiting with April?”

Karen eased down in the chair. “Positive. I talked to his mother earlier today, and she mentioned that Griffin is home this weekend.”

She unfolded a sheet of paper. “I have Erica’s flight information for Wednesday. I’m depending on you to make sure when she returns here that there’s nothing left of the relationship between her and Brian that can be salvaged.”

Donna was silent as she listened to the male voice on the other end of the phone.

“Erica Sanders will be arriving at Brian Lawson’s house around two o’clock that day. It’s my guess since it’s a surprise that she will come straight from the airport and let herself in.”

“It’s a gated community. They won’t let her in,” Donna said, trying to get out of whatever she was being forced to do.

“According to my sources, her name is approved on security’s registry and she has a key to let herself in. I need you to arrive before she gets there and do your thing. By the time Brian arrives I want you to have painted a picture so condemning she won’t believe a thing he says.”

Donna nibbled at her bottom lip. She didn’t want to do it but she had no choice. “And you sure there’s nothing that will link anything back to me?”

“Not unless you get sloppy with what you need to do and I suggest that you don’t. Do we understand each other, Donna?”

She drew in a deep breath, again wondering who didn’t want Brian to marry his fiancée to the point they would go through all this trouble to make sure they were kept apart. “Yes, we understand each other.”

The phone then clicked dead in her ear.

“Hello.”

A chagrined look touched Griffin’s features at the sound of the sleepy voice. “Oops. Sorry, I assumed you would still be up. Did I wake you up, sweetheart?” California was two hours behind Ohio, which meant it was only eight o’clock there.

“I would have been up had it not been such a grueling day. But I always love hearing from you, just like I love you.”

Griffin couldn’t help but smile. Now that he and April had declared their love for each other, these were the happiest days of his life. He only wished she would give in and let him be open about their relationship. But he figured next weekend would change that. He intended to ask her to marry him. And if she said yes, there was no way he would continue to keep her a secret.

“And I love you,” he said. “I wish I was there with you this week.”

“You had things to do, I understand,” she said. “Besides, with this new makeup campaign, I’ve been getting up at the crack of dawn for shoots. We’re still on for next weekend, right?”

“Definitely.” He wouldn’t spoil his surprise by telling her just how
on
they were. The game plan was for him to arrive in L.A., spend the night and then whisk her off to a bungalow in Australia’s outback that was owned by a business associate of his.

“Get some rest, baby. You’re going to need it for next week,” he said and chuckled.

“I think I’ll give you the same warning.”

“Warning taken.”

When he hung up the phone half an hour later, he snuggled beneath the bedcovers thinking that one day he wouldn’t sleep each night alone in this bed anymore. He couldn’t wait.

Chapter Thirty

E
rica felt elated as she entered Brian’s home. She couldn’t wait to see the look on his face when he came home from work. She had thought about telling him she was coming and then decided to surprise him, although he would probably figure out she was here when he saw the rental car in his driveway.

She and her mother had two more weeks at Lake Tahoe and then there would be no reason she and Brian couldn’t reschedule their wedding. They needed to talk about it while she was here for a few days.

And she had decided to meet with Rita while she was here, too, and get a grip on the other woman’s relationship with her father. Angry that her father hadn’t at least tried to contact them, she had called him from the airport to tell him exactly what she’d thought of his insensitive behavior, only to be told by him that he had indeed tried calling both her and her mother several times. Her mother had outright refused to talk to him, told him not to call back, and he’d said for some reason he couldn’t get through on her line.

She really wasn’t surprised her mother hadn’t mentioned that her father had tried calling them on the cruise. Karen had been perfectly happy letting Erica assume he had basically written them off.

Pulling her carry-on luggage behind her, she moved up the stairs. The first thing she was going to do was unpack and then she would start preparing Brian’s favorite meal. Unless he worked late at the office she could expect him home in a few hours and she wanted everything ready. She smiled, thinking she would greet him at the door wearing the sexy nightie she’d purchased at an airport shop. Brian would definitely like that.

She couldn’t help but envision how her night with Brian would pan out. She intended to stay until Sunday night, returning to Lake Tahoe before her mother did on Monday evening. Hopefully the glow would have worn off her face by then.

The scent of Allure met her nostrils the moment she opened Brian’s bedroom door. She glanced around the room and felt a sickening lump in her stomach. Brian’s bed was unmade, which for him was not uncommon, but she knew he stayed on his side of the bed—unless he was sharing it with someone. It was plain to see the way bedcovers were strewn all over the place that there had been two bodies in this bed.

She pulled in a deep breath, refusing to jump to any conclusions, but the heavy scent of Allure that swept through her nostrils was making that hard to do. Whoever had been in this room wore that fragrance. Leaving her carry-on by the door, like a person in shock she slowly moved to the center of the room. There had to be a reason why his clothes were tossed carelessly on the floor.

She picked up his dress shirt and blinked back tears at the red lipstick stain she saw on the collar. A strangled sound of pain caught in her throat. He hadn’t known she was coming. Had he been playing her for a fool all this time?

She closed her eyes and shook her head not wanting to believe what was so clearly in front of her. A man and a woman had shared that bed, and the woman wore Allure. She then recalled the last time she had come into contact with that particular fragrance.

The jogger, the woman who was another lawyer at Brian’s firm, wore it. Her name was Donna Hardy. Erica had warned Brian about her. Had the woman played on Brian’s moment of weakness? Her blood began boiling at the mere thought, the very possibility.

She closed her eyes and placed her hands over her ears as if to shut out all the damaging evidence that was going through her mind, but the moment she opened her eyes and uncovered her ears, she saw that nothing that was wrong had changed. She refused to believe that Brian had been playing her from the beginning. He had loved her. He did love her. The mere thought that he didn’t was too much to bear.

She wanted to go back to her earlier assumptions that that Donna woman had gotten to him in a weak moment, but even if that was true Erica doubted she could forgive him for what he’d done. He had destroyed her faith and her trust totally.

She stood and wrapped her arms around herself, feeling pain in every part of her body. Knowing she needed to leave, that she couldn’t remain in the perfume-drenched bedroom a moment longer, she went to the door and, taking hold of her carry-on luggage, she beat a hasty retreat down the stairs, with anger raging out of every single pore.

She headed for the door and something made her stop. Maybe it was her love for him, and that part of her that refused to believe what she’d seen and wanted to believe there had to be a reason for it. Maybe he hadn’t slept here last night. What if he had loaned his house to one of his friends? More than one woman could wear Allure. She just refused to believe the worst of the man she intended to marry one day. The man who had promised to love her forever and she thought would never be unfaithful to her.

Deciding he deserved a day in court no matter how damaging things might look, she parked her carry-on at the foot of the stairs and moved toward the sofa. She would wait for Brian to come home as she’d originally planned and then she would ask him to explain.

She moved toward the sofa and stopped when she saw a piece of red cloth sticking out between the cushions. She quickly strode over to the sofa and snatched up the panties that had almost gotten buried between the cushions. Panties monogrammed with the initial
D.

She threw the panties down and then dropped on the sofa. Feeling the pain of a broken heart, not only in her chest but in every part of her body, she buried her face in her hands and cried.

With an inward sigh April kicked off her shoes as she walked out of her bedroom. She appreciated the fact that the makeup shoot had ended early today and she would spend the rest of the day relaxing. A soak in her Jacuzzi sounded nice for later, but first she needed to go into the kitchen and find something to eat.

Moments later she was in the middle of preparing a salad when her intercom went off. She wiped her hands on a kitchen towel and she moved across the room to answer it. “Yes, Denny?” she greeted her doorman.

“There’s someone to see you. A Ms. Sanders.”

April blinked. Why was Erica in Los Angeles when she should be in Dallas by now? What could have happened to make her change her plans? “Yes, please let her come up.”

April placed the salad in the refrigerator and quickly moved to the door when she heard the doorbell. She hurriedly snatched it opened and gasped in disbelief, almost losing her balance in shock. “Mrs. Sanders! What are you doing here?”

Without waiting for an invitation to come inside, the woman walked past April then turned around with a cold look on her face. “It’s time that we have a talk, April.”

The minute Brian opened the door to his condo, he found it hard to believe his eyes. Erica had consumed his mind and thoughts all day, and now she was here. But instead of the sexy greeting he expected, she crossed the room and pounced on him.

“How could you do this to me? To us? I loved you! I trusted you!”

A shocked Brian reached out to grab Erica’s hand before it could make contact with his face. “Erica, what are you doing here? What’s wrong? Why are you upset?”

She snatched his hand from hers. “Like you don’t know. I arrived today to surprise you and I found out about your little tryst. How could you do this to us, Brian? How could you?”

“What are you talking about?” he demanded furiously, not knowing what the hell she was talking about.

“This!” she said, hurling a piece of fabric in his face. “Remember these?”

The item fell to the floor and he reached down and picked them up. Ladies panties? He glanced back at her, confused. “What are you accusing me of, Erica?”

She placed her hands on her hips. Fire was blazing in her eyes. He had never seen her this angry before. “You tell me, Brian. I found them sticking out of your sofa cushions. Do you want to tell me who they belong to?”

He stiffened visibly. “If they were stuffed under my sofa then I would assume they are yours, Erica. The last time you were here we made love on that sofa several times, or have you forgotten?”

“They aren’t mine,” she almost screamed. “I would not wear panties monogrammed with the initial
D.
So tell me, Brian. Who do they belong to? And as you’re trying to come up with a name, you might as well tell me why a woman’s perfume is all over your room, who slept in the bed with you last night and whose red lipstick is on your shirt collar on the floor in your bedroom.”

He looked at her like she’d lost her mind. “No one slept in my bed last night and there is no fragrance in my room other than my aftershave and there is no red lipstick on my shirt in my room.” He hadn’t made his bed this morning, but there definitely hadn’t been any perfume on anything and his white shirt had gotten tossed in the laundry bin as usual. What the hell was she talking about?

“Come on, Erica, let’s go up to my bedroom and you can show me what you think you saw.”

“What I
think
I saw? Oh, so now you want me to believe I’m crazy and that I’m imagining things?”

“No, that’s not it at all, but if things are like you say then there has to be a reason for it. One I don’t know about, like those panties. If they aren’t yours then I truly don’t know who they belong to.”

“I don’t believe you!”

He stared at her incredulously and then anger seeped into his body. “How in hell can you say that you don’t believe me when I’ve never given you reason to doubt my love or my honesty? What kind of crazy thoughts has your mother been feeding you these past three weeks?”

“My mother has nothing to do with this. She hasn’t mentioned you and she thinks I’m visiting April in L.A. I lied to her to come here.”

He crossed his arms over his chest. “Why would you have to lie to your mother to come see me? You’re a grown woman who doesn’t need permission to come see the man you’re supposed to love.”

She glared thunderously at him. “Please don’t try shifting the blame from you to me. My mother had nothing to do with me finding out the man I’d planned to marry is screwing around on me. I know what I found here today, Brian. And you can have this back because there won’t be a wedding!”

She pulled off her engagement ring and threw it at him, hitting him on the cheek before it fell to the floor. He grabbed her before she could get out of his reach and jerked her to him.

“I don’t know what the hell is going on here, Erica, but don’t end things like this. If things are as you say then something is going on that I know nothing about. I love you, baby,” he whispered gently, close to her ear. “Please believe that I would not destroy our love or cheapen it in any way.”

For a moment he thought he had gotten through to her, but then she twisted out of his arms. “No,” she said, with tears streaming down his face. “You couldn’t love me and hurt me this way. I warned you about
that
woman who works at your office, but you evidently didn’t heed my warning.”

“What are you talking about?”

“That day I was here and she was jogging by wearing red lipstick and Allure perfume. And the panties had the initial
D.
Didn’t you tell me her name was Donna?”

He clenched his jaw. “I have not been having an affair with Donna, Erica. How could you think that of me?”

“Why shouldn’t I? Like mother, like son.”

He flinched as if he’d been slapped. “You’re wrong for that, Erica,” he said, as hurt filled his lungs to a bursting point. His body ached and he felt wounded all over.

“And you’re wrong for what you did,” she replied. “Just stay the hell away from me. I don’t ever want to see you again.”

She grabbed her carry-on and stormed out of the house.