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Her eyes widened when he removed the shiny domed lids of several individual plates piled high with a variety of different foods. “I’m not a big breakfast eater,” she began, her gaze on the offerings, “but this looks too good to pass up. Where did you get it? Is this a hotel?”
“Of sorts,” he answered, handing her a cloth napkin.
She looked up to stare at him, surprise and a touch of fear evident in her eyes. He smiled and added two more fresh strawberries to her plate, then sat on the corner of the sofa near her. He wasn’t quite ready to reveal her whereabouts. Until he could discover how much she knew about J.R., he’d keep the information to himself. When he was certain she wasn’t involved in his stepbrother’s nefarious activities, he’d answer her questions. The less personal ones, at least.
“Relax and enjoy your breakfast,” he told her, crossing one foot over the other knee and leaning back to watch.
“Aren’t you going to eat, too?”
“A little late in the day for breakfast for most people, don’t you think?”
She placed her plate on the table in front of her, sighing, and looked up at him. “There you go again. A question for a question. I’m beginning to think you don’t want to tell me anything. Am I right?”
“I’ll answer your questions and maybe show you around when you’re finished. How’s that?”
Shrugging, she picked up her plate again and took a bite of fresh cantaloupe. While she was busy with her food, he studied her. As inquisitive as she was, he wondered how J.R. had managed to con her, if indeed he had. It was entirely possible that she was embroiled in the man’s schemes. But she didn’t strike Dev as the devious type.
He weighed the possibilities. Her angelic face and air of innocence might be an asset J.R. could put to good use. The man had fooled almost everyone with his false tales and easy-on-the-eyes appearance. But for a woman who’d left her intended at the altar, Dev wasn’t ready to believe she wasn’t involved in anything or even knew that the man she’d nearly married was nothing more than a thief.
“You don’t seem too concerned for a bride who just jilted her groom,” he pointed out.
The strawberry in her hand stopped at her open lips. She closed her mouth and returned the fruit to her plate, hanging her head, her shoulders drooping. When she looked up at him again, her eyes brimmed with tears and pink tinged her pale cheeks. If she was acting, she was one of the best he’d ever seen. But J.R. would find the best. Still, Dev had to quell the sympathy he suddenly felt for her.
“I made a…mistake,” she said, ducking her head again.
“You mean you had to marry him?” His gaze slid down her body, wondering if she might be carrying the child of his sworn enemy.
“Mercy goodness! It isn’t what you’re thinking,” she cried, her cheeks deepening to a rosy red. “We never…He didn’t—”
“You aren’t pregnant,” he finished for her, ignoring his slight feeling of relief. “Then why was it a mistake?”
Pushing the plate of food away, she leaned back in the chair and closed her eyes. “This is very embarrassing,” she said in a soft voice he had to strain to hear.
Had she been duped and was now too ashamed to admit she had been involved in anything that might be illegal? But he wasn’t ready to trust her. Maybe she was playing on his sympathies, and he wasn’t going to fall for it if she was. He wasn’t sure what he could say to get her to open up to him, but he tried with, “You can tell me. I’m a good listener.”
She shook her head, and a tear trickled slowly down her cheek.
“I promise not to judge you,” he coaxed.
For a moment she didn’t move, except to sink her teeth into her bottom lip and nod.
“He hurt you?” Dev asked when she didn’t say anything.
“No, he never laid a hand on me. He was always a gentleman.”
“I mean…emotionally,” he tried.
She blew out a breath. “You mean because of Prissy.”
“Prissy?”
“My maid of honor. Prissy is supposed to be my best friend.”
“Then you are in love with him?” Somewhere deep inside, Dev almost hoped she would say she wasn’t. And he didn’t like thinking that. But if she wasn’t, he didn’t want to learn that this young woman was on the wrong side of the law.
Her chin lifted and her lower lip quivered. “I suppose it won’t sound very good if I say I thought I was.”
He smothered the slight stab of disappointment he felt. Yesterday, when he’d helped her leave the church, his only thought had been that she might give him some information about J.R. After all, the wedding wasn’t going to take place, and he had lost his chance to corner the man. But because she felt she had nowhere to go, he didn’t see any reason not to take advantage of the situation and use her to lure J.R. here on his own turf. It would be even better to confront him here. The bride might have taken offense to the groom being led away by police on their honeymoon. Especially now that he had met Carly.
But he found himself losing his perspective and wanting to help her out of whatever trouble she was in. Maybe he could still help her and nail J.R., too, but he’d have to have the full story before he could do it. And he had to keep his plans for the casino and J.R. uppermost in his mind. Getting sidetracked because of a pretty woman wasn’t like him. He wasn’t about to take that chance now, when he was so close.
“Tell me what the two of you were involved in.”
She stared at him, her eyes wide. “Involved in? We were getting married. That’s the only kind of involvement we had. And why were you at my wedding? Are you a friend of James? Or maybe family?”
Dev nearly laughed out loud. Family? No. Friend? Far from it. They had known each other since birth and had been enemies even before that. Four generations, to be exact. “I’ve known him a long time,” he answered, unwilling to say more until he was sure that she wasn’t involved in something unlawful.
And something in the “was” about loving J.R. still bothered him. “If you knew about his…uh, unfaithfulness before the wedding, why didn’t you just call it off then?”
Placing her hands in her lap, she linked them tightly together and lowered her head. “I don’t know. Janelle, one of my bridesmaids, phoned me the morning before to tell me the news. I was so confused and hadn’t had much sleep. I didn’t really know what to do until the last minute.” She looked up at him and sighed. “There had been signs, but I ignored them.”
“What signs?”
“Well, for one thing, he was impatient about the wedding date. He wanted to get married sooner than I had chosen. We finally convinced him that anything sooner would mean a shoddy wedding, and Mama wouldn’t stand for that. Then he started acting strange as the wedding drew closer.”
“In what way?”
“He…hovered, wanting to spend every second with me. He would get upset if we hit a snag in the wedding plans. He stopped caring about the wedding plans after a while, when he had been very involved in them in the beginning.” She sighed, and her eyes filled with tears again. “I should’ve done something then. At least asked him what the problem was. But I excused it as pre-wedding jitters and continued with the wedding plans.” She paused for a moment, looking down at her hands, still clenched in her lap. “But it’s obvious there was something going on with Prissy, even then. Maybe he swept her off her feet like he had me. I don’t know. And then there was Mama and Oak Hill Grove.”
He shook his head, trying to make sense of it. “Oak Hill Grove is your home?”
She breathed a long sigh. “Yes. You see, it’s been in the Charpentier family for years. It was passed down from my great-great-grandfather Charpentier to his son, to his son, and then to Mama when she married, because she has no brothers. But it’s so old, and expenses and taxes have been so high and—” she lowered her head and shook it “—and Mama isn’t very good with money. She went through what little bit Daddy left her, years ago.”
Stunned, Dev stared at her. “You were marrying him for his money?”
He heard her sniff before she looked at him. “No, not at all. In fact, Mama and I made plans when we knew I would be getting married and moving into my own home. She would sell Oak Hill Grove, pay off the debts and move to a nice apartment.”
Remembering what J.R. had done to others and nearly done to his oldest brother’s wife before they married, Dev asked the only thing on his mind. “Was there oil on the land?”
“Oil? Why, no. We had it surveyed two years ago. Mama was hoping there might be. It would’ve been the answer to our prayers. But there isn’t. Why do you ask?”
This was his chance to tell her how J.R. was no good, but he hesitated. “An answer to your difficulties maybe?”
“It would have been,” she agreed with another sniff. “No one knows how bad things have become for us. Mama insisted that we always put up a good front. Even the cousins don’t have any idea. Somehow, we’ve been able to fool everyone.”
“And James didn’t know this, either?”
“Oh, mercy, no! I never breathed a word to him. Why would I? There was no reason to. We had everything worked out. Our financial problems would be solved and still be our secret.”
Dev got to his feet, turning to hide his smile. It would’ve served J.R. right if the wedding had occurred. In addition to his questionable real estate practices and other business ventures, the man owed a small fortune to enough casinos and money sharks across the country to keep him running for years. He was obviously hoping he could get his hands on the Albright’s money and family name to hold off some of his debtors until he could find a way to pay them off, if not have enough money from the marriage to do it all. People were on to his oil schemes in Oklahoma and Texas. Probably Louisiana, too. Dev knew J.R. had tried his marriage scheme on at least one other unsuspecting woman. Carly didn’t know how lucky she was that her prospective groom had committed his indiscretion.
That wasn’t the problem now. Dev was convinced J.R. still didn’t know the truth and would come looking for Carly. But Dev couldn’t keep her here against her will. If she stayed of her own free will—and he would see that it was—all he had to do was wait and play out the hand to the last card. Even if she moved on, J.R. would still come looking for her at the casino.
Carly pushed away from the table and stood to walk to the windows. “Would you tell me about James?” she asked, turning back to look at Dev. “You seem to know him well.”
Dev wasn’t sure if it would be better or worse for her to hear the truth. He didn’t know her well enough to assess how much damage it could cause. But she deserved to know as much as he felt he could reveal.
“You’re not the only woman he’s conned,” he admitted. “My older brother’s wife, Ellie, had a similar experience with him.”
Carly’s eyes widened. “Did she marry him?”
“No, it didn’t come to that. But he had learned there was oil on land that she and her brothers owned. He was trying to buy it, and when he couldn’t, because her brothers refused to sell, proposing marriage was his next step. As it turned out, Ellie didn’t fall for it. But from what I know, it was a close call for her.”
“Oh, my!” she whispered, her face pale.
Dev hurried to her side and reached out to steady her, afraid she was going to faint. “Are you okay?”
“Yes,” she said, her voice breathless, “but I had no idea…” She looked up at him, adding a smile. “I can’t thank you enough for telling me.”
Fearing he might have caused more damage, he decided to change the subject, hoping that doing so, she might have time to come to terms with all that had happened. “What size do you wear?”
Surprised by his question, Carly forgot her own questions. When his one-eyed gaze roamed from the tips of her toes to the top of her head, she shivered. Mercy goodness! If he could make her feel that warm by looking at her with one eye, how hot would she get if he had two?
“Eight,” she managed to answer. “Why?”
When he released her but didn’t answer, she watched him cross the room and pick up the phone. He punched a number on the keypad and waited. “Janet, can you bring me up a size eight swimsuit? No, just pick a pretty one and have it sent up to my quarters. Thanks.”
Carly wondered just who this man was who had come to her aid when she had needed it the most. “Are you going to tell me where we are?” she asked when he had finished the call.
“You’re in Shreveport, sugar. And this is The Devil’s Den, the biggest hotel and casino in the area.”
“And we’re in your…?” she asked.
“My suite.”
“And I suppose you own this place?”
“All seventy-five-thousand square feet of it. How old are you?”
“I’m old enough to gamble, if that’s what you’re wondering.”
Her warmth went up another notch when he smiled at her. “You won’t mind not participating, will you?” he asked.
“I’ve never been in a casino, but—”
They were interrupted by the door buzzer, and he went to answer it. He didn’t open the door wide enough for her to see anything, but she heard him thank whoever it was, and then he turned to her with a beautiful aqua swimsuit on a hanger.
“There’s a nice pool downstairs,” he said, walking back to the table. “I thought you might enjoy a swim. While you’re doing that, I’ll find something else for you to wear. Anything more you need?”
The consequences of her actions the day before were quickly catching up with her. Now that he had told her about James, she was ashamed to admit that she didn’t have a penny on her. She had somehow managed to lose even the one tucked in her shoe for good luck.
“What?” he asked. “You don’t like to swim?”
She shook her head and then took a deep breath. “I can’t pay you.”
“So?”
“You’ve already been too kind to get me out of the scrape I was in. If it hadn’t been for you, well, I don’t know what would’ve happened at the church. As it is, I don’t know how I’ll repay you for your kindness, much less the swimsuit.”
“Forget it,” he said, with a wave of his hand. “We all get in a scrape from time to time.”
“But if I had just one nice outfit, I could look for a job, and I could pay you back with my first check.”
His mouth drew down in a frown. “Don’t worry about a job right now. You’ve been through a lot. You’re probably worn out. I hear planning a wedding can do that.”
“Well, yes,” she admitted. And so could planning how to dump the groom.
“We’ll find a way to work it out.”
“But I can’t stay here.”
His frown deepened. “Why not?”
“Why, because it…because I…” She stood and planted her hands on her hips, glaring at him. “Well, think about it. How would it look?”
He reached out, taking her hand, his smile slanted and his eye twinkling. “For you or for me?”
She had to force herself to swallow to kick-start her heart. “For either of us.”
Holding her hand, he gently guided her toward the bedroom. “Believe me, sugar, there isn’t much left of my reputation.”
What was he thinking of? Surely she hadn’t led him to think she was the kind of woman who would repay a man with sex. Mercy sakes! Hadn’t she just made the mistake of her life with one man? Had she made an even worse one by trusting this man?
She pulled away. “But—”
“But nothing. I’ll sleep on the sofa and you can have the bed.”
“But—”
He stopped in the doorway, silencing her with a shake of his head and handed her the swimsuit. “Get changed. I’ll meet you at the elevator on the ground floor and take you to the pool. As long as you stay out of the casino, you don’t have to worry about your reputation.”
“Oh. Okay.” The sudden disappointment she felt surprised her. Mercy goodness, she couldn’t have been hoping he had something else in mind.
As she walked into the bedroom, she heard him leave the suite, and she breathed a sigh of relief. What had come over her? For the past few days she had hardly known herself. She had always been a good daughter, but when she learned James had slept with Prissy, her impulse had been to run, and she had grabbed the chance. She hadn’t thought of her mama, only of herself. But even knowing deep in her heart how selfish that was, she simply couldn’t be sorry.
She definitely needed some time to sort through things. Maybe time would improve her bad judgment, and she would learn to be more cautious.
But here she was, practically living with a strange man. Even worse, she couldn’t take her eyes off him. What had come over her, indeed?
