Lotus Blossom (12 page)

“Yes, I want to see something for her.” Dash kept his arm around Lotus.

“A specific color?”

"Blue,” Lotus answered.

“Coral or a medium green perhaps,” Dash said at the same time.

Lotus looked at him. “Blue is my favorite color.” He kissed her nose. “I like it myself, but I want to see how you look in . . . ah, that’s nice . . .’’He nodded to the woman as she and two of her assistants spread some dresses and suits in front of

them. “Try the satin suit, darling.” Dash indicated the salmon-colored Chanel suit one of the women was carrying.

Lotus tried on the suit, glad that she had succumbed to the temptation of the fine lingerie and worn it as one of the attendants helped her off with her clothes. She wished that her panty hose didn’t have a run in one leg, but that was life.

“Ah, that is attractive on you,” the saleswoman said as she stepped back and Lotus stared at herself in the mirror.

Her long, straight, black hair seemed to gleam with an ebony fire it had absorbed from the dull gleam of the salmon-colored satin, her pale skin had even deeper pink tones, and her green eyes flashed emerald. “It is pretty,” Lotus faltered, trying to feel for the price tag on the suit.

The saleswoman watched her for' a moment, then pulled back the curtain and gestured for Lotus to precede her. “I am sure that Mr. Colby would like to see this on you.”

How did she know his name? Suspicion warred within her. Of course, salespersons would know him, she argued with herself, not feeling one bit mollified. She squashed feelings of jealousy when visions of Dash arm in arm with gorgeous creatures crossed her mind.

Dash rose from the beige-colored silk chair where he’d been sitting. “Darling, that’s beautiful on you We’ll take this one, and we’ll get some shoes for you, love.”

“What’s the price?” Lotus hissed at him.

“Very affordable,” Dash told her, smiling.

“For whom?” she persisted, plucking at his sleeve.

“Not to worry.” He gave his credit card to the saleswoman and Lotus went to change back into her clothes. When she came out, Dash had the dress box under his arm and he led her to the shoe salon.

A small army of personnel appeared from nowhere and soon had boxes strewn everywhere for Dash’s scrutiny.

“Would you believe they would have just the right color to match your suit? Right size too.” Dash looked smug after they had made their choice.

Lotus computed the length of time it would take her to pay off the shoes and grimaced. “I will be paying you back for years,” she grumbled even as she admired the coral slings that emphasized her trim ankles and calves.

“Purse.” Dash aimed himself and Lotus toward the counter of bags that the salesperson assured him would hold a matching clutch bag. “Don’t worry, I have no intention of charging you interest.”

“I am still paying off some of my school loans, buster,” Lotus said grimly.

“Do you think that there would be hose in this color?” Dash ignored her and quizzed the shoe saleswoman who immediate gestured to an attendant, who looked at the color of the suit in the box and nodded.

“This is ridiculous. I was brought up in a very conservative family. We don’t run up big bills unless it’s for something worthwhile like education or helping the poor. . . Lotus huffed after him as he thanked the woman for the pale coral stockings that she had handed him, then with his parcels he strode toward the escalator.

"Good principle,” Dash assured her as he took

her arm and escorted her out the door down Fifth Avenue to Van Cleef & Arpels.

Lotus dug in her heels. “Oh, no, you don’t. I would have to take out a loan and use my parents’ home as collateral. No way.”

“Don’t be silly.” Dash half lifted her into the elegant shop of Van Cleef and Arpels.

“Let’s leave,” she whispered, pleading with Dash as a man who looked more like a funeral director than a salesman approached them.

“Mr. Colby. How are you, sir?”

“Good God, you know the help in a jewelry store? That’s disgusting,” Lotus muttered through her teeth as the dark-suited man inclined his head toward her, then ushered them to stools placed in front of an enclosed case. “This is insane. I could go to jail. I want to go home.”

“Tomlinson, the last time I was in here, you showed me a fine collection of coral jewelry. Do you still have it?”

“I think so, sir,” he said and disappeared into another room.

Lotus looked left and right. She saw a man go to the front door and activate the lock. She rose to her feet. “Closing time. We have to go.” She pulled at Dash’s arm. “Don’t want to get locked in.”

“Sit down, Lotus. Everything is fine.” Dash urged her to take her seat again.

“I don’t like it here. It smells so rich. He’ll see right through me. People can tell if you have student loans, you know.”

“How?” Dash arched one dark brow.

“Infrared lamps?” Lotus begged.

“Ah, here’s Tomlinson. Do you have it?”

“He doesn’t have it.” Lotus rose to her feet again, only to be pushed back into place by Dash.

“Look at these. Won’t they be perfect with your suit?” Dash lifted the Daliesque slash of coral that would fit along the outer edge of her pierced ears.

“Wrong color,” Lotus bleated, throwing anxious glances at the phlegmatic Tomlinson.

“They’re perfect. We’ll take the earrings and the pin.”

“Not both,” Lotus said from the side of her mouth, trying to smile at the expressionless Tomlinson at the same time.

“And I think the pendant is beautiful.” Dash pushed the silk-lined velvet-covered box at Tomlinson and nodded.

Open-mouthed, Lotus watched the man wrap the box in silver paper. “I will be in debt until I’m ninety-two ... if I’m not thrown into debtor’s prison before then,” she muttered.

“They don’t have debtor’s prisons anymore.” Dash soothed her as he took the small bag from Tomlinson and led her toward the door.

“Do too,” Lotus mumbled, glaring at him when he signaled for another taxi and helped her inside.

'You’ll love wearing the jewelry with your suit.” Dash took her flaccid hand between his two, lifting it to his lips to kiss the palm.

I'll bet you were at the official counter when the aristocrats were led to the quillotine,” Lotus said through clenched teeth, frustrated by her inability to fight his persuasiveness.

"Darling, that would make me so old.”

"You are in your third life, I’d bet my next check on it,” Lotus said darkly, wishing her pulse

would settle down, wishing she didn’t love what he was doing to her.

“You’d lose.”

She turned to look at him. “You don’t know me, or what I want to do with my life.”

Dash felt alert, his skin prickling in warning. “What don’t I know, Lotus?”

“My family will hate you. They’ll want to draw and quarter you,” Lotus wailed, even as she snuggled close to him as he pulled her into his arms.

“Why?” Dash whispered.

“Because.” Lotus sobbed.

“Tell me, Lotus.”

She wiped her cheeks. “I don’t know where my courage has gone. I never used to cry about anything. I didn’t even flinch when my brothers poked me in the arm . . . not that they did it much.” She gulped. “They love me . . . and I love them. And I love my cousins and my aunt . . . and uncle . . .” Her voice trailed.

Dash held his breath, deciding to nudge her himself. “There was a Sinclair in my files. Hans and the rest of my security people seemed to think the file had been disturbed.” He paused as he saw how white she became. He felt his jaw ache as he clamped his teeth together.

“Hey, buddy, this is your destination. Gettin' out?” The weary cab driver looked over his shoulder and indicated the pay box.

“Right.” Dash pushed some bills into the box and told the driver to keep the change. Then he pulled Lotus out of the cab with him. “Stop looking like that. Nothing is going to happen to you. Dash leaned over her as he led her into the lobby of the building.

“My uncle,” Lotus breathed as they stepped into the elevator and were whisked to their floor.

“Will you tell me about it now?”

Lotus hesitated, then nodded. “I will tell you all I can.”

“Fair enough.” Dash decided in that moment that he was going to wipe away that strained look on her face no matter what it took.

He led her into the apartment and up the stairs to the bedroom where he threw their bundles down on the bed. “Now, do you want to sit down here and talk to me?”

“Why don’t we dress first?” Lotus struggled to keep the tremor from her voice.

She is really uptight about this,
Dash thought, watching her walk toward the bathroom, then retrace her steps to pick up her duffel bag and hug it to her.

She stopped before she entered the room. “I don’t think I want you looking at me when I tell you.” She went into the bathroom and closed the door. She pressed her face against the wood of the door, drawing in deep breaths. Why should she feel guilty and afraid? He’s the gambler. It was in his gambling casinos that the man who besmirched her uncle’s name played. How could she have approached Dash and told him what she was planning to do? He would have had her thrown out of the place or arrested. She looked at her duffel bag, then lifted the file out of her bag. She hated it! Now when she showed it to Dash, he would hate her.

Dash stood there in the outer- room, listening to the muffled sounds of her movements in the bathroom, his hands jammed into the pockets of his suit coat. He had pushed her to the wall, forced the issue. She could end up despising him. He took a deep breath. “Whatever it is, darling, we will be staying together. Don’t doubt that.” He spoke to the closed door, then he peeled off his suit coat and shirt and flung them at a chair. He stalked down the corridor to the other bathroom that belonged to the suite. He shaved, alternately cursing his image and telling it he was right. He washed quickly and left, retracing his steps toward the other bathroom. He inhaled a deep breath and pushed the door open.

Lotus was sitting in front of the vanity in the bathroom doing her nails when Dash entered, a towel around his waist. “Hi.”

“Hi.”

She pushed at the folder on the vanity. “That is a copy of the file in your office. I took the file, had it copied, then returned it.”

“Why?” He spoke low, not wanting to interrupt the jerky statements she was making.

“Because the file says that my uncle ran up huge bills in your casinos both in Las Vegas and in Atlantic City. It isn’t true.” Her eyes flew to his face. “He isn’t a gambler, and even if he were, he would never take funds from the family company.” Dash sighed. “I have heard the same story many times before, Lotus.”

“This time it’s true. Uncle loved Sinclairs. He would never do anything to harm the business. He and my father have expanded the company so much. They have put their blood and backs into it, so have my brothers and my cousins. No one in our family would do such a thing.”

 “I see,” Dash said quietly. He took the file from the vanity, turned, and left the room. He sat in one of the chairs, his eyes speed-reading the information in front of him, aware that she had come into the room and stood at his side. When he was through, he handed the file back to her and rose to his feet. “If what you say is true, then the file is a lie and someone has embezzled funds from your family’s company.”

Lotus’s eyes widened. “You accept what I say?” Relief and a flood of love filled her. She felt blinded by Dash for a moment.

“I accept that you would tell the truth to the best of your ability. That means that someone else is lying. So . . . we’ll find out who that is.”

“We.”
Lotus’s voice trembled.

“We, my darling. We are going to settle this together. Then after we settle it, I’m going to take you to Boston to meet my family.”

“I like Boston,” Lotus ventured, feeling a small wriggle of relief deep inside. Perhaps they could settle things! No, she wouldn’t get her hopes up! "Do you live near Quincy Market?”

“Ah, we own some land around there.” Dash smiled at her, delighting in seeing some of the tension dissipate in her face.

“Oh, is your family in fishing?” Lotus knew that the Charles River wasn’t that far from the market. “Ah, yes, we have been in fishing.”

Lotus nodded. “Fishermen.”

“Now maybe we should study this file more closely. We might pick up a glimmer of who the culprit could be,” Dash told her, taking her arm and sitting her on the chair while he took the hassock in front of her.

“All right.” She felt almost euphoric. He believed in her! He wanted to help her! Could he be fooling her? She brushed away such a stupid thought. She loved Dash.

“Then after we look at it, will you tell me how you got into my office, and even more important how you learned to use a burglar’s tool?”

Lotus laughed. “It wasn’t that difficult, but I won’t tell you how I got Hans away from the door because then you might fire my friend.” “Richard?”

Lotus gasped. “How did you know?”

“You were seen talking to Richard. And he won’t be fired, but I am putting him in another casino away from Hans. There would be ill feeling if he stayed at Cicero’s.”

Lotus stood, rocking the overstuffed chair, seeing Dash rise from the hassock. She reached up to him. “Dash. Thank you.” She kissed his chin.

Dash held her when she would have moved back from him. “He has his job because he’s your friend, my darling.” His mouth took hers in a plundering kiss that had her dizzy.

They sat down again, but this time Lotus was in his lap. They pored over the file twice, but Lotus couldn’t find anything pertinent. Dash didn’t say anything. She assumed he had come to the same conclusion.

He rose with her in his arms. “I think it’s time to relax a little.” He kissed her nose as he stood her on her feet. “Now get dressed.” He took the file with him and left the room.

Later, as Lotus dressed in the beautiful salmon-colored satin evening suit, with matching shoes and bag, she studied herself in the mirror as she donned the jewelry.
I don’t know him. I never know what he’s thinking, but he doesn’t frighten me. I don’t feel threatened. But what kind of man is Dash Colby?