The Guest (10 page)

They entered the humongous room filled with New York’s elite, all
elegantly attired and seated around formally set tables. To the right of the
stage an orchestra played strains of fine classical music, which added to the
affluent ambience. As they approached the expansive table where Cole was seated
along with a number of other persons, he rose to greet Jared with a hearty
handshake and then bent to place a circumspect peck on Julie’s cheeks.

Unable to stop the wave of awareness that flowed over her at his
nearness, her cheeks grew warm with a blush and she prayed no one had noticed.
She was more than a little relieved when Jared pulled her chair out so she
could slide into it with as much grace as she could muster. Cole did a quick
introduction of the people at their table which included his parents, family
friends, Audley and Anita Caldwell, along with their daughter, Chelsea, and two
of Cole’s business associates, a fresh-faced young man by the name of Carlton
Goldsmith and an elderly gentleman, Frederick Clark.

No one seemed overly interested in Julie and Jared after the initial
small talk queries were made, except for the young woman, Chelsea, who kept eyeing
Julie with a peculiar expression. She tried not to return her stare, convincing
herself the woman’s keen watching of her was probably all in her mind anyway.
She smiled as Cole’s mother complimented her on her gown and then struck up a
conversation about the season’s fashion, which Julie could barely follow.
Luckily the other women at the table were far more versed than her in that
arena so the chit chat didn’t lag.

Dinner was served shortly after. It was a sumptuous four course affair and
every dish was even more delicious than the one before. Jared seemed to be in
heaven as he ate and Julie was happy to see him so at ease in a setting that
was way outside his usual comfort level. Given his less refined persona, he
didn’t do formal as smoothly as Cole did, but he still looked sexy as hell in
his grey evening suit with a powder blue silk shirt and a matching tie. Her
gaze drifted to Cole, who was rocking a well-tailored black tuxedo suit with a
slender black tie. Pride swelled her heart at the knowledge both these extremely
fine men would be sharing her bed later on tonight.

The presentation of awards began immediately after the last course was
cleared away. Cole was presented with the award for Banking Executive of the
Year. The entire room erupted in a blaze of applause when he was called up and
as he made his way to the stage Julie held onto Jared’s hand under the table
and tried to stop herself from beaming like a proud spouse. His thank you speech
was brief but authentic and eloquently delivered. It elicited another round or
uproarious applause as he exited the stage.

The rest of the evening progressed smoothly and soon the awards section
was completed. Some guests began to leave and some took to the dance floor as
the orchestra started up again. Others gathered about the room to socialize a
little longer. Cole danced with his mother, then Mrs. Caldwell, until Chelsea
Caldwell cut in and he danced with her as well. Julie noticed the way the woman’s
face lit up when Cole put his arms around her and began gliding masterfully
across the dance floor. For some reason, the way his hand rested at the small
of her back and the way she wrapped her arms around his neck caused a surge of
jealousy in Julie’s stomach.

Her reaction startled her and she chanced a glimpse at Jared to ensure
he hadn’t noticed. A visit to the ladies’ room was probably a good idea at this
time, she thought, and quickly excused herself to locate it. Once there, she
splashed some water on her face and dragged in a deep breath to calm her
nerves. When she felt rational again, she dug into her purse for the
necessaries to freshen up her makeup.

At that moment the door swung open and the stunning blonde who had just
been occupying the dance floor with Cole sauntered into the bathroom. Julie
stiffened perceptibly, then forced herself to relax as the other woman smiled
and began to fluff her hair in the mirror.

“Julie, isn’t it?” she said offhandly.

Julie blinked, then swallowed hard before she responded. “Yes, that’s
right. And you’re Chelsea.”

She snickered a little as she finished primping her hair and began
retouching her makeup as well. “Yes, forgive me. I’m terrible with names
sometimes. I do know your husband has a Jay name as well, though.”

A soft smile touched Julie’s lips as she realized the girl was actually
quite pleasant. “Jared,” she said, before smacking her lips together to even
out her lipstick. “Julie and Jared. Has a nice ring to it, huh?”

“Sure does! And you guys are such a cute couple, you look so great
together. Have you been married long?”

“Thank you. Almost two years, and I’ve been loving every minute of it.”

“That’s awesome. I can’t wait for Cole to get to that stage with me.”

Ice slithered through Julie’s veins, her hand freezing in midair for a
nanosecond before she caught herself. “C-Cole and you? I hadn’t realized you
two were together…”

 
The girl laughed again, waving
her hand dismissively. “Oh yes, Cole is my fiancé. The man is secretive to a
fault, I tell you. He proposed to me a few weeks ago and I was so ecstatic I
just wanted to scream it to the world. But he’s so well-bred that he couldn’t
possibly think of announcing it to everyone until after he got me a proper ring
and asked my father for my hand.”

Julie’s throat constricted and it took all her effort to force the next
words out. “Oh my, that’s … that’s so wonderful. You must be thrilled.”

“Oh, I am! Dying for the day I get to answer to the name Mrs. Chelsea
Richardson.” She looked over at Julie and then expelled a self-deprecating
titter. “Silly me, here I am running my mouth off like a school girl and to a
complete stranger at that!”

“No, no, it’s perfectly fine. You have every right to be excited. I’m
happy for you.” She hoped the words sounded more genuine than she intended, but
the thought of Cole being engaged when he told them he wasn’t even involved
with anyone, made her want to hit something.

“Yes, well, please don’t say anything to anyone about it just yet. I
wouldn’t want Cole to know I betrayed his trust and told someone about it.”

Julie forced her lips into a smile and nodded. “Of course not,” she
told the woman, then called upon an old cliché. “Your secret is safe with me.”

“Perfect! I’m going to get back out there now, everything is just about
winding down. Thank you, Judith, I enjoyed our chat.”

“It’s
Julie
,” she said,
forcing the words out through clenched teeth.

Chelsea laughed for the fiftieth time. “Oh dear! Yes,
Julie
. Told you I was horrible with
names.” With that she spun on her heels and breezed back to the door, pushing
it open and disappearing through it just as quickly as she’d come in.

Julie stood staring at the closed door for a long moment, the entire
encounter replaying in her head like a scratched record. The awful mix of
emotions churning in her gut finally galvanized her into action and she
hurriedly stuffed her makeup back into her purse then bolted from the bathroom
to find Jared.

It took her only a few minutes to locate him, standing just outside the
entrance of the building along with Cole and two other men.
           
Offering them a polite greeting, she
pulled Jared to the side so she could whisper in his ear that she had a
terrible headache and needed to leave. Being the caring man he was, he didn’t
even question her, simply made their apologies and asked Cole to call for the
car because she wasn’t feeling well.

A concerned frown creased Cole’s forehead briefly, but he quickly did
as Jared asked. Lying snake, Julie thought and quickly looked away from him
lest anyone should read her thoughts in her eyes. As soon as she was satisfied
that the car would be out front, she bid everyone a good night and started for
the door. Jared could catch up with her easily enough when he’d said his
goodbyes, but at that moment she just couldn’t bear to be in Cole’s presence
any longer.

Chapter Ten

The apartment was dark when Cole pushed the door open and stepped
inside. That was to be expected though, since it was now well after midnight. Jared
and Julie must have already retired for the night. When Julie had complained of
a headache earlier and asked to be taken home, he’d had every intention of
leaving immediately after they did so he could be here to help Jared care for
her. But several business associates had accosted him right away to engage him
in lengthy conversations, and the delays had set him back quite a bit. Now that
he was finally home though, he was eager to see her and make sure she was okay.

Throwing his jacket off, he flung it over the arm of the sofa as he
passed by it in his hurry to cross the living room and get to the bedroom. Thankfully,
the carpeted floor that muffled his footsteps because he didn’t want to risk
waking her if she was indeed asleep. He took his time pushing his bedroom door
open then quickly moved over to the bed. When he got there however, his
forehead instantly wrinkled in a deep frown because he found his king sized bed
empty, the sheets still neatly spread and cool to his touch. On a whim, he walked
over to the bathroom and took a peek inside, but wasn’t surprised to find that empty,
too.

He’d figured Jared would have taken Julie back here straightaway if she
wasn’t feeling well. Had they changed their minds and stopped off somewhere
else instead? As soon as the thought popped into his head, he tossed it aside.
Where else would he take her at this time of night? It just didn’t make any
sense. Maybe they’d decided to sleep in the guest bedroom tonight. They had put
all their things there when they arrived the day before, but they had all slept
in his bed together last night. Did they figure he wouldn’t want them there
tonight as well? Slightly bewildered by that thought, he quickly left his room
to check his theory.

He was completely flabbergasted to find not only that the room was empty,
but none of his guests’ belongings were there either. What the hell was going
on here? Within seconds he had his phone out and hit Jared’s number on speed
dial. He didn’t pick up until the fourth ring.

“Matthews,” he said, his tone half way between weary and irate.

“Jared, where the fuck are you? Why haven’t you taken Julie back to—”

“’Cause she didn’t want to go back to your place. We’re at a hotel for
the night.”

Cole’s brows knitted in confusion and his voice rose perceptibly when
he responded. “What? Why the hell would she want to go to a hotel?”

Jared’s sigh of frustration wafted over the phone line. “Look Cole, I
don’t know what happened back at the party but she was very upset when we left.
She hasn’t told me exactly why, but I know someone said something to her.”

“Said something to her? Who could have said anything to her? She was
with you all night. And what could they have said to make her not want to come
back here?”

“Like I said, I don’t know. I’ve been trying to get her to talk to me
but she’s not budging. Just insisted I take her anywhere but there and had me
call to change our flight home from Sunday evening to tomorrow morning.”

“Now wait a minute, you’re leaving? Seriously? All this over something
someone said? What the fuck could be so terrible to make her want to leave,
man?”

“Could be somebody found out about our relationship. She was very wary
about coming to the function earlier. She was worried someone would know
somehow.”

“But that’s ridiculous!
Nobody
knows anything about us, I promise you that. How would they?”

“That’s what I figured too. But I don’t want to upset her anymore right
now so I’m just gonna let her sleep on it and see if she feels any better in
the morning.”

By this time, the panic in Cole’s gut was like a living, breathing
animal. “I’m not willing to take that chance. Where is she? Let me talk to her.
Maybe I can…”

“Not a good idea, bro. Trust me, letting it stew for the night is the
best option.”

“Dammit, Jared, come on! Tell me where you are then. I’ll come over there
so I can at least be there when she’s ready to talk this through.”

“She has her phone, send her a text if you need to, but until I find
out what has her so upset I think it’s best if you kept your distance.”

Rage surged inside Cole like searing hot lava. He wanted to punch
something, anything, just to get the pent up anger out. “Jesus Christ, Jared,
that’s bullshit and you know it! Yes, she’s your wife, but I care about her,
too, and if she’s hurting because of me I need to fix it.”

“We
will
fix it, okay? In
time, we can sort it out together … just not right now.”

Cole’s jaw clenched so hard he swore his teeth would fall out. Silence
stretched over the phone line as he tried to compose himself and Jared waited.
Finally, he expelled his pent up breath and said, “Fine, I’ll let it go for
now. But promise me you’ll tell me what’s up when you find out.”

“You got it, man.”

“Okay, I guess I’ll let you get some rest then.”

“Yeah, you try and do that too, okay?”

He sighed. “Okay. Oh and… Ah, give her a kiss for me, will you? Tell
her I’m sorry she was upset.”

“No problem. Good night.”

The call ended with a click in his ear, but Cole stood there holding
the phone just the same and stared off into space. He couldn’t quite wrap his
brain around the fact that his wonderfully orchestrated weekend had come to
such an untimely, tragic end. The three of them were supposed to be wrapped
around each other in his bed right now, dammit. He’d had so many great ideas
about ways he wanted him and Jared to make love to Julie, and they hadn’t even
begun to explore any of that yet. How the hell could she just get up and leave
like that? And over what? What could have propelled her to act this way?

Just then, the deafening silence around him was shattered by the sudden
buzzing of the doorbell. What the fuck? Who could that be at this hour? He
thought as he finally moved the phone from his ear and tossed it on the sofa.
Then the thought that it might be Jared and Julie returning caused hope to
flare in his chest and galvanized his feet to carry him quickly to the door. He
pulled it open without even checking the peephole and was completely stumped to
see Chelsea standing outside. She was still dressed in the black and silver gown
she’d worn to the awards ceremony, but her makeup was smudged, her hair
disheveled and she was skewering him with a look that could kill bears.

He frowned, looking over her head to make sure she was alone. “Chelsea?
Is something the matter? Why aren’t you home?”

“I need to talk to you,” she said in a hard voice, then stepped
forward, giving him no choice but to step out of her way. She stalked into the
room, and turned to face him when she got to the center, arms folded across her
chest. As she passed him, he got a strong whiff of alcohol coming from her and
realized she’d been drinking.

“
Okay
,” he said, folding his
arms as well. “Well, you’ve got my attention. Shoot.”

“I know your little secret,” she said smugly, an odd little smirk
touching her lips.

“Excuse me? I don’t follow.”

“Cut the innocent act, Cole! I know all about what you’ve been up to
these past few months.” Her voice was scathing now and ice settled in Cole’s
veins as he contemplated the implications of her words. But he was smarter than
to talk himself into a trap. She’d have to accuse him outright if she wanted
to, but he wasn’t admitting anything.

Forcing himself to remain calm, he cocked an eyebrow at her, arms still
folded across his chest. “And just what exactly
have
I been up to, Chelsea? Do tell.”

She scoffed, her gaze flickering over him from head to toe. “You’re so
perfect, aren’t you Cole? Completely above reproach. The perfect son, perfect
businessman, perfect charmer with the ladies. Isn’t that right?”

He shrugged. “You’re telling me, Chelsea. I wasn’t aware of that at
all.”

 
“But I know the truth!” she
shouted, ignoring his snide comment. “I know you’re the ultimate wolf in sheep’s
clothing.”

His eyes narrowed at that accusation, but his voice was deadly quiet when
he asked, “How do you figure that?”

“What else do you call a man who’s been fucking his friend’s wife all
along right under his friend’s nose?”

Cole stiffened instantly, cold fear sinking its fingers into his flesh
and hanging on for dear life. Still he managed not to react, simply impaled her
with a frosty stare as he took a menacing step toward her. “
What
did you just say?”

“Oh, you heard me, Cole. You have some nerve bringing your little bitch
and her fool of a husband here to flaunt in front of me the way you did!”

“Okay, Chelsea, it’s clear you’ve had too much to drink tonight. I
think I need to call—”

“I’m not drunk, dammit! And I’m not stupid either. I went through your
phone a few weeks ago. I saw the texts you sent to her. You spent that weekend
with her, didn’t you, Cole? The one when you were supposed to take me to that
stupid luncheon!”

Fuck! Cole thought, squeezing his eyes shut for a brief moment. He must
have left his phone unlocked for her to get into it and now she thought he was
having some sort of clandestine affair with his friend’s wife behind the man’s
back. The irony of it almost made him laugh, but he was still very grateful
that she didn’t seem to know the full extent of his relationship with Julie and
Jared.

“That’s all speculation, Chelsea. You and I know you have no proof of
it, you’re just grasping at straws.”

“Really? You think so?” she sneered, reaching down to pull something
out of the purse he hadn’t even realized she had hanging over her shoulder. It
was a small brown envelope which she handed to him with a flourish, her lips
curled in a self-satisfied smile.

“And what is this supposed to be?” he asked, with as much bravado as he
could muster. His brain had already worked out all the possibilities though,
none of which were good.

“Why don’t you open it and see for yourself?”

Cole pursed his lips and slowly did as she suggested. It was sheer
willpower that prevented his hands from shaking as he opened the envelope, but
when the contents were finally revealed, not even that could keep him calm.
There were over a dozen photos inside the envelope, all of him and Julie
together the previous weekend. They’d gone to their special place out at Misty
Cove, just the two of them because Jared had needed to get some work done. Then
they’d had lunch in the town nearby. Cole had figured it would be okay, Misty
Cove was a pretty secluded spot and they’d been out to lunch together before
without any issues. The fact that they’d actually been observed was surprising,
but the most worrying part of the whole thing was how
Chelsea
had been able to get these pictures.

“Where the hell did you get these?” he asked, his voice sharp and hard
as granite. “What the fuck kinda game are you playing?”

“Let’s just say I’ve had eyes on you for a while now,” she replied.

Cole saw red. His nostrils flared as he stared daggers at her. “You had
me followed?” he bellowed, taking another step toward her.

Chelsea stood her ground, her chin jutting up defiantly as she returned
his steely stare without flinching. “I did what I needed to do, Cole! I had to
know why you lost interest in me.”

Dear God, the woman was crazy, Cole thought. She had to be. “I lost
interest in you because you and I weren’t compatible, for God’s sake! I told
you the day we had lunch that you and I couldn’t work out. We wanted different
things, it didn’t make sense.”

“Because you wanted another man’s wife!” she said. It was clear her temper
was rising now, making her lose some of her feigned composure.

“You don’t know anything about Julie and me, okay? A few text messages
and some random pictures isn’t enough to base your accusations on.”

“That’s what you think! Well, you just wait till I have this on the
front page of the Gazette. What will you have to say then, Cole? What will
Jared say when he finds out you’ve been fucking his wife? How will you explain
this to your mother and all her snooty friends, huh? What about the partners
over at the bank? What will they think of you, Cole? Mr. Fancy Award recipient?”

“That’s enough, Chelsea!” Cole said firmly, although he didn’t raise
his voice. He closed his fist, crumpling the pictures inside it, then tossed
them on the floor. “Do whatever the hell you want to do with that crap. Contrary
to what you might believe, it will take a whole lot more than that to ruin my
reputation.”

Her eyes narrowed and she folded her arms again. “Oh yeah? Well how
about I ruin
her
reputation then?” She
sneered. “She’s a school teacher, right? From a decent family, well respected
in the community? Maybe I should have this run in the Barker Wood local paper
instead, so everyone can see what a dirty little whore the sweet Mrs. Matthews really
is?”

And that was the clincher. Anger and panic clenched Cole’s stomach,
making him want to throw up and punch something all at the same time. “You
wouldn’t fucking dare!”

“Oh yeah? Try me!”

It was a good thing he thought men who put their hands on women were
the scum of the earth, otherwise he’d have his hands wrapped around this one’s
neck so tight she’d be blue in the face and stiff as a board by the time he let
her go. My God! Hell really had no fury like a woman scorned. He could hardly
believe Chelsea would go to these lengths to get back at him for his lack of
interest in her.

Pulling in a deep, calming breath, he held up his hands in surrender.
“Okay, Chelsea, I get it. You have some information that I wouldn’t want to get
out because it could hurt someone I care about. So, where does that leave us?
What will it take for you to make that information disappear?”