High Stakes (17 page)

“Um, yeah, he was wearing one.” She thought
about the wide platinum band decorating his tanned hand, and it made her heart
ache. It looked so right on him.

“You think he’s still wearing it?”

“Who knows?” She shrugged, but trying to
pretend she didn’t care cost her. “He may have taken it off as soon as I walked
out on him.”

“Do you really believe that?”

“I don’t know what to believe anymore.”

A loud bang upstairs startled Lena. “What
the hell was that?”

“The caterers and florist are up there with
the party planner. The wait staff should be here soon.” She looked around for
something, anything that commanded her attention. “I guess it’s almost show time.”

Lena drew her into an exuberant hug. “I am
so proud of you for pulling this off. I just know this business is gonna be a
huge success. We’ll see to it.”

“Thanks, honey.” As much as she appreciated
her best friend’s words of encouragement, only one person could settle her
nerves tonight.

Liam checked his watch for the third time
as his limo pulled up in front of Alisa’s boutique. He was running an hour
behind schedule and this was one event he’d hoped to attend on time. But he’d
spent the better part of the week on his airplane, and air travel often meant
unexpected delays, like tonight.

The uniformed driver opened his door and
Liam got out, buttoning his suit jacket as he admired the building’s facade. He
didn’t know if she was leasing the space or had bought it, but the modern
stucco exterior of the small building lent an air of understated elegance he
appreciated. The large windows flanking the double door glass entrance gave him
a glimpse inside, where dozens of people milled about with drinks in hand.

“Hey,” a young man said, tossing a
cigarette to the ground, “you’re Liam Bryson, right?” He grabbed the camera
hanging around his neck. “You’re Alisa’s husband. Oh man, can you give me a
statement about your quickie wedding in Vegas? All kinds of rumors have
circulated. Is it true you married her ’cause she’s pregnant?”

Liam grit his teeth. “No comment.” He
pulled the door open, anxious to put some distance between himself and the
inquisitive reporter who undoubtedly intended to shadow him until he wore him
down or pissed him off enough to provoke him.

As soon as he crossed the threshold, a hush
that even the soft music filtering through the speakers couldn’t mask fell over
the crowd.

He saw Trey first, who smiled and tipped
his cowboy hat in greeting. At least someone was happy he’d made the trip
halfway around the world to support his wife tonight. He only hoped Alisa would
share her father’s opinion.

His eyes traveled to the back of the room
where Alisa stood with her back to him, talking to… Oh hell no, she was not
wasting her time with her cheating ex-fiancé, was she? She turned around just
as he was closing in on her.

Her expression exposed her shock at seeing
him. Apparently, her party planner hadn’t told Alisa she invited her husband to
join in the festivities.

“Hello, sweetheart,” he said, pulling her
into his arms and kissing her breathless. He didn’t care that they had an
audience of a hundred people looking on, so long as the person standing to his
left received his message loud and clear. “I missed you,” he said, trailing a
fingertip down her cheek.

“Oh my God, Liam, what are you—?”

He kissed her again, halting her question.
If everyone learned they hadn’t spoken a word since their hastily exchanged
vows, it was bound to raise a few eyebrows. Which was something he definitely
didn’t need with her ex looking on. “Can I steal you away for a few minutes?”

Alisa seemed to remember where she was as
she glanced at the small group surrounding them. “Um, excuse us, please.” She
led him back to the rear of the building, which contained a large storage room,
two offices, two restrooms, and a small break room. She closed her office door
and leaned against it, staring up at him. “I can’t believe you’re really here.”

He grinned as he moved in to grip her
waist. “Can I assume this is a pleasant surprise?”

“Yes, but how did you know—?”

He kissed her again. He’d thought about
kissing her almost nonstop since she walked out on him. “Your party planner
called my assistant to extend the invitation.”

Alisa ran a hand over his light blue silk
tie. “I’ll have to remember to thank her later.”

“Then you’re not upset that I just showed
up like this?” He couldn’t remember the last time he’d felt so uneasy. He
hadn’t sought another person’s reassurance about anything in a long time, but
he needed to know that she wanted him there as much as he needed to be there.

“Of course not.” She reached up to kiss
him. “In fact, before things got underway tonight, I was thinking about how
much I’d like to see you.” She looked down, obviously considering her words
carefully. “I’m sorry about the way we left things. I wasn’t thinking clearly.
I was hung over and confused, and I panicked when I thought about how my father
would react.”

Liam chuckled. “Trey’s not so bad. In fact,
we had a nice chat.”

“I heard.” She shook her head. “How the
hell did you manage to win him over so quickly?”

He raised an eyebrow. “You, of all people,
have to ask me that?”

She laughed and smacked her palm against
his chest. “Stop.”

He glanced at the rings she still wore on
her left hand. “Should I take that as a sign?” He’d been in Asia on business
all week, but he asked his assistant to contact him immediately, day or night,
if she received any documents from a legal firm in Nashville. He’d been
relieved to hear she hadn’t signed for any correspondence that fit his
description, though he suspected she knew what he expected when she learned his
wife wouldn’t be moving to San Francisco with him in the foreseeable future.

He’d been grateful that he had meetings
planned for this week, so the press couldn’t hunt him down and his employees
couldn’t shower him with congratulations. He wasn’t ready to celebrate his
marriage until he had Alisa’s assurance that she would give them a chance.

She reached for his left hand and he almost
heard her breathe a sigh of relief when she saw he still wore the ring she’d
placed on his finger. “I could ask you the same question.”

He traced her full bottom lip with his
fingertip. “I wasn’t the one making noise about wanting out of this marriage.
You were, remember?”

Alisa reached up to loop her arms around
his neck. “How did Abby react when you told her about us?”

He chuckled. “She knew before I told her.”
He let his hands drift over the curve of her hips. Alisa was the last thing on
his mind when his head finally hit the pillow at night, and the first thing he
thought about before he even opened his eyes in the morning. Feeling her body
pressed against his, so warm and responsive, made him wish he came to see her
sooner. “Apparently, teenage girls can be very resilient. It didn’t seem to
bother her a bit. I hate to admit it, but she’s getting to the age where her
life doesn’t revolve around her old man anymore.”

Alisa smiled and ran her hand through his
tousled hair. “That’s hard to believe.”

“I must look like hell. I came here
straight from the airport.”

“You look incredible,” she whispered,
pressing her body against his. “Were you punishing me by not calling this
week?”

He tried to laugh when he wanted to groan.
He suspected this was her attempt to exact a little revenge of her own. “I
wanted to, believe me. But I was trying to give you a little space to figure
things out.” He touched a soft tendril of hair that had escaped her fancy
up-do. “Besides, I was in Asia on business all week. The time difference would
have made it difficult to connect, and I didn’t want to call and risk waking
you. I knew you had a busy week.”

She looked up at him through her lashes. “I
was kind of distracted… thinking about you.”

He grinned as his hand ran up the length of
her bare back. “Now that’s what I like to hear.”

“I guess we should get back out there.” She
reached for the door handle, but he grabbed her wrist before she could turn the
knob.

“Not so fast. You wanna tell me what the
hell he’s doing here?”

Alisa flinched. “I didn’t invite him here,
I swear. As far as I know, he just decided to crash the party.”

“Well, we’ll just have to make it clear to
him how we feel about party crashers now, won’t we?”

She grabbed his arm. “Liam, please, don’t
make a scene. Not here, not tonight.”

“I wouldn’t ruin this night for you,
sweetheart.”

“Thanks,” she whispered, stroking his face.
“And thanks for coming. It means a lot.”

“You mean a lot… to me. Just remember
that.”

Liam was trying his best to keep a smile on
his face as he circulated through the crowd, posed for pictures with Alisa, and
met the people closest to her, but her ex-fiancé’s eyes bored holes into the
back of his head all night.

“You got a problem, man?” Liam asked
finally, inching in beside him at the bar that had been arranged amidst the
buffet tables upstairs.

Nick leaned back against the bar, propping
his elbows behind him. “Yeah, I do. You’re my problem.”

Liam barely resisted the urge to wipe the
smug grin off his face, but he was determined to honor his promise to Alisa.
“This I gotta hear.” Liam swirled the scotch around in the bottom of his glass.
“Let’s have it.”

“You think I don’t know you’re tryin’ to
take advantage of her?” he hissed, moving in closer. “You know she’s still
reelin’ because of what happened between us and you’re tryin’ to move in.”

“What happened between you two? Ah right,
you mean when you cheated on her.” He rolled his eyes. “Man, how a loser like
you ever got a girl like Alisa is beyond me. Then you’re stupid enough to cheat
on her…” He chuckled, trying to mask his rage. “Man, you’re even stupider than
you look.”

“Listen, I don’t know how the hell you got
her to agree to this sham of a marriage in the first place, but it’s never
gonna last. I intend to make sure of that.”

His threat grated on Liam’s nerves,
probably because the fear of losing her always lurked so close to the surface.
“If you think you’ve got a chance in hell of getting her back, you’re
delusional.”

“I’m not the one deludin’ myself, buddy.
You are. Me and Alisa have history. You guys have nothin’. You’re her rebound
guy. Can’t you see that?”

His barb couldn’t have pierced any deeper.
Liam had asked himself a dozen times if she was just using him to get over her
ex, but he wouldn’t know for sure until she found the courage to tell him the
truth. “You really think she gives a shit about you? She stopped caring about
you when she threw that ring back in your face.” Liam didn’t know exactly how
the break-up had occurred, but he hoped his version resembled the truth.

“Problem here, boys?” Trey asked, coming up
behind them and slapping Liam on the back.

Liam offered his hand. “How are you, Trey?”

Trey smirked at Nick as he shook Liam’s
hand. “I’m doin’ a hell of a lot better since you showed up. So’s my little
girl, judgin’ by that smile on her face.”

“Trey…” Nick said, looking uncomfortable.

“I’m sorry, was I talkin’ to you?” he
asked, looking at Nick like he was the foul-smelling mud he’d just scraped off
the bottom of his boots. “’Cause I coulda sworn I was talkin’ to my
son-in-law.”

Nick’s jaw went slack. “You can’t tell me
you approve of this marriage? You know she’s just usin’ him to get over me.”

Trey threw his head back and howled with
laughter, drawing curious stares from the guests surrounding them. “Man, you’ve
got some ego.” He hooked a finger in Liam’s direction. “The day this guy plays
second fiddle to you—”

Liam listened to the exchange between the
two men, in shock that Trey came to his defense. Not that he’d ever asked
anyone to have his back, but knowing his new father-in-law seemed more than
willing to step up when he needed an ally was nice.

“Trey, don’t even waste your breath. Your
daughter knows the deal. She’s tired of wasting her time with little boys who
don’t seem to know a good thing when they have it. I can promise you, I won’t
make that mistake, ever.” He pointed a finger at Nick. “I’m only gonna tell you
this once: stay the hell away from my wife. If you call her or come near her
again, you and I are gonna have big problems. You got me?”

Nick looked from Trey to Liam before he
shook his head and walked away.

Trey grinned. “I like your style.”

Liam chuckled before downing the rest of
his drink. “I’m glad you approve.”

“Not only that, but I saw the way my little
girl’s face lit up when you walked in. You made her night.”

“No, seeing her made my night.”

“You gonna be able to stick around for a
while? Sierra and I would love to have you over to the house. We’ll invite the
family, a few close friends, you know, since you guys didn’t have a big wedding.”