Authors: Natasha Rostova
The Naked Truth (37 page)
Gloria fought to regain her breath as she turned stunned eyes on Elenore. Elenore smiled and let the dildo fall to the floor. She spread herself out on the couch again, stretching her body like a cat.
‘Gloria, that was incredible. I must say, this might not be a bad trade-off after all.’
Gloria stood up and went to make herself another martini. Her entire body continued to pulse with sensation. What a delicious way to combine woman and man. She sipped her martini and gave Elenore a pointed look.
‘I should tell you that I’m not willing to be at your beck and call,’ she said. ‘I don’t care what kind of arrangement you had with Logan. Although I’ll be more than delighted to indulge myself with you, I have no intentions of letting you take advantage of me.’
To her surprise, Elenore laughed. ‘Oh, Gloria, I would hardly expect that of you. You’re very much your own woman. Believe me, I know your kind. I happen to be one myself.’
Gloria smiled. She poured Elenore another scotch and joined her on the couch. She discovered that she rather liked the other woman, manipulation and all. A few thoughts began to turn in Gloria’s brain. ‘By the way, I’m having a dinner party this Friday if you’d like to come.’
Elenore’s eyebrows lifted. ‘You’re inviting me to a dinner party?’
‘Don’t look so surprised,’ Gloria replied. ‘And I’m not inviting you out of the goodness of my heart. I intend to recoup my investment, and there will be some people there who might help you with your business. The more successful it is, the better it will be for me.’
Elenore gazed at her for a moment before her lips curved. ‘I like you, Gloria. You’re a bitch, but I like you.’
Chapter Seventeen
L
ogan pressed the button to open the gate. As he pulled into the driveway, his gaze went to the car parked near the garage. He frowned. What was Callie doing here? He went inside and left his briefcase near the front door.
ogan pressed the button to open the gate. As he pulled into the driveway, his gaze went to the car parked near the garage. He frowned. What was Callie doing here? He went inside and left his briefcase near the front door.
‘Callie?’ Logan went into the kitchen and found it empty. He shrugged and went into the sitting room, his gaze going to the French windows that opened on to the terrace. The doors were wide open, allowing a breeze to ruffle the curtains.
Logan stepped on to the terrace and found his wife in the garden. She was kneeling next to the flowerbed, pulling clumps of weeds from around the pansy plants. She wore a dirt-covered pair of jeans and one of his old shirts. Logan thought that she had never looked better.
‘Callie.’
She looked up, brushing her hair out of her eyes with the back of her hand. ‘Logan, you might have at least weeded the flowerbeds while I was gone.’
‘While you
were
gone?’
were
gone?’
Callie dumped another handful of weeds into a bucket and stood up. She brushed off her jeans and watched him approach.
‘I’m back,’ she admitted.
‘For good?’ He couldn’t quite believe it. ‘What brought about this change of heart?’
‘I knew you were going to ask me that question,’ Callie said. ‘And I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about how to answer it. I admit that I thought about lying to you, but that would be a pretty lousy start to a reconciliation.’
‘True enough,’ Logan allowed. He reached out to brush a speck of dirt off her chin. ‘So what’s the real reason?’
‘Gloria.’ She looked at him, her eyebrows drawing together slightly with concern. ‘I told her about Elenore Lawrence. I didn’t give her any details, but I did explain that you were being blackmailed. She agreed to help.’
A rush of irritation tightened Logan’s muscles. ‘You told your sister?’
‘Don’t get angry with me. Even you have to admit that you were at a loss about what to do. I knew that Gloria could at least try to help.’
‘What the hell did she do?’
‘She went to talk to Elenore. I don’t know exactly what happened since she made me leave, but they worked out a deal. Gloria promised to give Elenore the money as long as she agreed to leave us alone.’
Logan stared at her in shock. ‘And Elenore agreed to this?’
‘From what Gloria said, yes, she did.’ Callie eyed him cautiously. ‘I’m sorry I didn’t let you know I was going to tell her. I knew you wouldn’t approve, but I couldn’t think of any other way to help you.’
Logan sat down on one of the terrace steps and tried to understand what Callie was telling him. ‘I can’t believe this.’
‘It’s true. Gloria called me last night and told me that she and Elenore were working things out with their lawyers.’
‘Why in the love of God would Elenore let me go that easily?’ He’d thought that Elenore would keep him dangling on a string for as long as she pleased.
‘Maybe she realised that getting the money wasn’t a sure thing with you,’ Callie suggested. ‘But she knew it would be with Gloria.’
‘And why did you do this?’
‘I wanted to help you. I’ve been angry with you, but I never wanted to see you ruined. Despite everything, you’re still my husband. I care about what happens to you.’
Logan shook his head, still too stunned to believe this was actually happening. ‘This is unbelievable.’
‘It’s the truth.’ Callie approached him and sat down next to him. ‘But Gloria had a condition for agreeing to help us. She wanted me to come back to you.’
‘You mean you’re here because she forced you?’
‘Partly,’ Callie admitted. ‘But I suspect that she would have helped even if I was adamant about not coming back.’
‘So why weren’t you?’
Callie shrugged. ‘Our relationship is far from perfect, Logan, but I’m not willing to give up yet.’ She glanced at him and added, ‘Although I’m still mad at you for kidnapping me.’
‘Point taken,’ Logan muttered. ‘I just . . . I wanted to talk to you. Every time we saw each other, we either argued or got interrupted. But I didn’t mean that you should come back under duress.’
‘It certainly seemed like it sometimes,’ Callie replied. ‘I left you partly because you were too controlling. I don’t want to leave you again for the same reason.’
‘I know.’ Logan let out his breath in a long sigh. He pinched the bridge of his nose between his fingers and closed his eyes. The slightest spark of hope rose in him, but he refused to let himself believe this was all true.
‘Logan.’ Callie put her hand on his thigh. ‘Gloria is having a dinner party tonight. She wants us both to attend.’
‘I really don’t –’
‘It’s the only decent thing to do,’ Callie reminded him. ‘We owe her a lot, but she did say that Elenore would be there. I think you need to talk to her.’
‘I have nothing to say to that woman.’
‘I know, but if you want her out of our lives for good, then you have to end it.’
Logan couldn’t help noticing Callie’s use of the phrase ‘our lives.’ He opened his eyes and looked at her for a long moment. She was watching him with concern, her brown eyes filled with an emotion that he couldn’t identify.
‘I’m sorry,’ he finally said. ‘I went ballistic when I realised that you’d left. I hated living in this house without you. I hated being without you.’
Callie’s fingers twined through his. ‘Logan, I’m going to ask you a question.’
‘All right.’
Callie hesitated. Her hand tightened on his. ‘Why did you marry me?’
Logan no longer had to think about that question. He looked at his wife. He could have gazed into those eyes for ever. ‘I married you because you were the one good person who ever came into my life and there was no way I was going to let you go. I’m only sorry it took me so long to realise that I love you.’
‘Hello, sugars!’ A slightly tipsy Gloria opened the door and gave Logan and Callie a big smile. ‘Come on in. Logan, do I get a kiss for saving your arse?’
Logan bent to kiss her cheek.
Callie gave him a wry smile. ‘You realise, of course, that we’re going to be paying for this for the rest of our lives,’ she said.
Gloria giggled. ‘Don’t worry, darlings, I don’t expect anything except that you both live a long and happy life together. The key word is
together
.’
together
.’
She led them into the sitting room, where a group of about ten people sat around drinking and munching on hors d’oeuvres. Logan’s gaze went immediately to Elenore Lawrence, who sat perched on a chair near the window. By her side, a silver-haired man gazed at her with a rather rapt expression. Elenore looked away from her admirer and met Logan’s eyes.
Callie squeezed Logan’s arm. ‘I’m going to talk to Ted,’ she whispered. ‘Find me when you’re finished, OK?’
Logan nodded. He walked across the room towards Elenore. For the first time, he didn’t experience a wave of disgust at the thought of an encounter with her.
‘Elenore.’
She held out her hand as if expecting him to kiss it. ‘Logan, hello. This is my new friend, Daniel Franklin.’
Logan shook hands with the other man before turning back to Elenore. ‘I need to speak with you.’
‘Of course,’ she replied smoothly. ‘Daniel, will you excuse us for a moment, please?’
He nodded and went towards the bar, giving Logan a slightly hostile look. Logan sat down and levelled a gaze on Elenore.
‘Is he one of the new flies caught in your trap?’
She laughed. ‘Hardly. However, he certainly wants to be in my trap. So to speak.’
‘I hear you’ve found your investor elsewhere.’
Elenore glanced across the room at Gloria. ‘Yes. Callie and her sister are rather extraordinarily different, aren’t they?’
‘They’re half-sisters,’ Logan explained. ‘And they have very different backgrounds.’
‘I admit that I enjoy Gloria,’ Elenore said. ‘I didn’t have a chance to get to know Callie, but she seems sweet. Not the kind of woman I’d have picked as your wife, but sweet nonetheless.’
‘What kind of woman did you expect to be my wife?’ Logan asked. ‘Someone like you?’
‘Possibly.’
Logan laughed. ‘That would have been one of the universe’s biggest jokes.’
‘Really, Logan, don’t you think you might have married Callie because she was the opposite of the type of women you’d experienced in the past? The refined, well-bred type?’
‘That might have been the reason I was attracted to her in the first place,’ Logan allowed. ‘But it’s not the reason I married her. And as it turned out, she’s a great deal more refined and well bred than any woman I’ve known. Women like you only wish you could be like Callie.’
Elenore’s eyebrows rose. ‘Goodness, Logan. There is no need to slight me. I didn’t have to accept Gloria’s offer, you know.’
Logan gave her a guarded look. ‘Does that mean that you did?’
‘Our lawyers have already drawn up contracts,’ Elenore replied. ‘As Gloria so aptly put it, I knew I had a better chance of getting the money from her rather than you. You can be terribly stubborn.’
‘And does that mean that you weren’t just out to ruin me?’
‘Logan, I have no grudge against you,’ Elenore replied. ‘I never have had. You provided both me and my husband with enormous amounts of pleasure. Of course, I was quite upset when you decided to leave, but I haven’t spent the last fifteen years cultivating ways to enact revenge.’
‘Then you have a way with blackmail,’ Logan said. ‘I assumed you had some vendetta against me.’
‘I wanted your money.’ Elenore sipped her drink and shrugged. ‘I knew you weren’t going to give it to me willingly, so I had to think of other ways. Frankly, I didn’t know who else to turn to.’
‘And you thought that dragging my past into the present would get you two million dollars?’
‘Logan, why do you persist in being so hostile about your past?’ Elenore asked. ‘You did what you had to do. There’s nothing to be ashamed of, for heaven’s sake.’
Logan struggled against a sudden rush of images of himself locked in all manner of sexual positions with Elenore and Gerald. He tried not to cringe. That whole episode of his life had been so degrading that he wished he could banish it from his memory.
‘Logan?’ Elenore gave him a quizzical look. ‘You’re not ashamed, are you? Because there’s no reason to be.’
‘What does that mean?’
‘Selling sex is just another form of commerce. You were well paid for what you did.’ She smiled. ‘And, if I recall, you rather enjoyed much if it yourself. Is that what’s bothering you?’
‘Nothing is bothering me, Elenore. It’s just part of my past I’d rather forget about. I don’t appreciate your coming back into town and threatening me with it.’
‘We all do what we have to do,’ she reminded him. ‘And you can’t forget about your past, dear heart. It’s part of who you are now.’
Logan looked across the room at Callie. As much as he still disliked Elenore, he couldn’t help wondering if she was right, at least in part. He’d hated his year with the Lawrences and hated himself for letting them use him. When it was over, he’d been determined never to let anyone degrade him again. As a result, he’d kept such tight control on himself that there had never been room for anyone else. Not even his wife.
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