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He’d barely left for the bar when Betsy saw her former employer, Chad Dunlop, making his way through the crowd. Dressed in jeans and a navy long-sleeved cotton shirt, he looked different than he did in the office. There he always wore a hand-tailored suit and shiny Italian shoes with names she couldn’t begin to pronounce.
She supposed she could have moved or looked away, but she didn’t. When she’d walked out of his family’s law offices all those weeks ago, Betsy had vowed that she wouldn’t let anyone make her feel like a victim. If anyone should feel awkward about their paths crossing again, it should be him.
He saw her and changed course, making his trajectory one that would intersect with her. It figured that he wasn’t smart enough to leave well enough alone.
Betsy wasn’t sure of his motives, but there was one thing of which she was certain. She wasn’t going to run or back down. If Chad was foolish enough to cause a scene, the only loser tonight was going to be him.
While Ryan waited at the bar for Betsy’s club soda—with a hint of lime—he flirted with a few of the waitstaff. Out of the corner of one eye, he kept watch on Betsy. Although he’d expected her to snag a table, she stood in the same spot he’d left her.
The only difference was her back was now ramrod straight. As he watched, she lifted her chin.
“Hurry up, Wally,” he said to the bartender without moving his gaze from Betsy. “The lady is really thirsty.”
Of course it wasn’t true, but Betsy was Keenan’s little sister and nothing was going to happen to her on Ryan’s watch. For some reason, he had a feeling she needed him.
“Here you go.” The plump, bald-headed owner of the establishment set the drink on the bar. “Can I get you a draw?”
“Not now.” Without shifting his gaze from Betsy, Ryan curved his fingers around her glass of soda.
He started through the crowd, smiling when someone called out a greeting or slapped him on the shoulder but not slowing his steps. Ryan was almost to Betsy when he saw him.
Chad Dunlop had been a senior at Jackson Hole High School when Ryan was a sophomore. They’d been on the football team at the same time. Ryan had no use for the man. As a boy, he’d had a mean streak. As a man, there was something about him Ryan didn’t trust.
From the defiant way she was standing, Betsy didn’t like the guy any more than he did. Even though Chad had given her a glowing letter of recommendation, Ryan wondered if there was more to the story of her departure than a simple downsizing.
No time like the present to find out. He reached his friend’s little sister at the same time as the attorney.
“Chad,” Ryan said in a hearty tone. “Didn’t expect to see you here tonight.”
Ryan turned to Betsy and handed her the club soda. “Sorry it took so long.”
Chad’s gaze turned sharp and assessing. “You’re together?”
“Betsy and I are old friends,” Ryan said. “I understand she worked for you for a while.”
For a second, the man’s smooth facade slipped and the bully Ryan remembered from all those years ago stood before him.
“Yeah, what of it? We had to downsize.” Chad’s pale blue eyes settled on Betsy. “Whatever else she told you is a lie.”
Anger rolled off Betsy in waves. If looks could kill, Chad would be six feet under.
“She didn’t tell me anything.” Ryan kept his gaze fixed on the tall blond man. “But sounds as if there’s something to tell.”
Chad shot Betsy a warning glance, then turned to Ryan. “Lynnette is waiting for me at home. We’re taking the kids over to the grandparents’ tonight.”
If Chad was trying to convince Ryan he was a committed family man, he might as well have saved his breath. Ryan had seen the way the guy flirted with the waitstaff.
“Jerk,” Betsy muttered as Chad spun on his heel and walked away.
“You got that right,” Ryan said.
Betsy looked surprised. “You know about him?”
“I know he’s got a wife and kids, but he’s no family man.” Ryan met her gaze. “I don’t know what he did to you.”
Betsy averted her gaze and took a sip of her club soda. Her hand shook slightly. “Who said he did anything?”
“You did.” Ryan put a hand on her arm and steered her to a table that a couple had just vacated. It was away from the karaoke stage and far from the three-piece band playing country classics. A quiet spot. Or at least as quiet as it got in Wally’s Place.
“I did not.”
“You said, and I quote, ‘You know about him?’”
“That didn’t mean anything.”
“It did, but you don’t have to tell me about it if you don’t want to.” Even though Ryan wanted to know what Chad had done to put the anger in her eyes, he was determined not to press. Until he saw tears forming.
She blinked rapidly and immediately lowered her gaze to her drink, as if hoping he hadn’t noticed.
But he’d noticed all right. He placed a hand on her arm. “You can trust me.”
She looked up and met his gaze. Something in the liquid blue depths told Ryan he wasn’t going to like what she had to say.
“This has to stay here,” she said finally. “Just between us.”
Ryan nodded. “Understood.”
“Chad attacked me in the boardroom.”
“He what?” Ryan shouted. He rose from his seat, but Betsy grabbed his hand and pulled him down.
“Keep your voice down,” Betsy ordered. “This is between us, not everyone else in the bar.”
“Tell me,” Ryan demanded. “And don’t leave anything out.”
Although he’d been in his share of fights, Ryan wasn’t a violent man. But this was his friend’s sister and Keenan was, well, he wasn’t here. Betsy had no one to protect her. No one but him.
“We were working late on a case.” Betsy’s voice shook slightly.
Ryan tightened his fingers around the edge of the table. Let her talk, he told himself, don’t interrupt.
Betsy glanced down at her club soda and took a deep breath. She lifted her gaze to meet his eyes. “He made remarks about my—” she paused and chewed on her lower lip, then glanced down at her chest “—breasts. Apparently he likes women who have, uh, who are generously endowed.”
Ryan wasn’t quite sure how to respond. Everyone in town knew that in looks she’d taken after her Las Vegas showgirl mother. He hadn’t really paid attention to her curvaceous figure—she was Keenan’s sister, for crying out loud—but had no doubt other men had noticed.
“I told him that kind of talk wasn’t appropriate. That he was my employer.” A bleakness filled her eyes for a second, then disappeared. “He laughed and said if it bothered me, I’d have said something long before then.”
Ryan chose his words carefully. “Had he made other overtures?”
Betsy gave a jerky nod. “The first day I started, he made some comment about how my dress flattered my figure. It wasn’t so much what he said as how he said it. I didn’t like the way his gaze lingered on my chest, but I told myself I was simply being overly sensitive.”
“Then what happened?” Ryan forced a conversational tone at odds with the anger sluicing through his veins.
“The comments continued, becoming more blatant, more…crude.” Betsy’s eyes took on a distant look. “I started searching for another job, but there was nothing. And he was very careful to be perfectly respectful when we were around other people.”
“How did you end up alone with him?”
Thankfully she didn’t appear to take offense at the question. “One of the other attorneys was with us, but she got a call that her child was sick and had to suddenly leave. We were almost through, so I thought it would be okay.”
“What happened?” Ryan asked through gritted teeth.
“He started talking about how I wanted it, how I wanted him. I tried to laugh it off, but he was, well, he was acting crazy. He lunged at me, tore my silk blouse. I’m not sure how far he would have taken it. I used one of the self-defense moves Keenan had taught me and I got away.”
“You should have called the police, charged him with attempted rape.”
“It would have been my word against his…and we both know that his family’s reputation in the community is so much better than mine.”
“Still—”
She placed a hand on his arm. “He wanted to fire me, but I told him he would give me a good reference and say I was downsized. If he didn’t, I’d go to the police.”
“The authorities need to know what he did.” His lips were stiff and the words sounded as if they were coming from far away.
“Ryan.” Her tone took on an urgency. “Listen to me. You don’t know what it’s like coming from a family like mine. I want to put all that behind me. I don’t want to go to court and feel like a victim and then have people look at me and whisper and wonder what I did to encourage him.”
Ryan clenched his hands into fists. “I hate the thought of his getting away with this.”
“As do I,” she said in a sad little voice. “But that’s how it has to be.”
“I suppose …” Ryan fought to keep a lid on the anger rising inside him. The thought of Chad talking to Betsy in that manner, of touching her, made him want to go over to his house and punch him in the nose.
“You promised me,” she reminded him.
“I won’t do anything.”
“Or say anything.”
“Or say anything,” Ryan reluctantly agreed, not liking this arrangement at all and already trying to think of a way around it. Must be the lawyer in him.
“Thank you.” Her hand reached over and covered his, giving it a squeeze. Then, as if realizing what she’d done, she pulled it back. “You know, I vowed to never tell anyone about the incident.”
“Why?”
“I felt stupid, almost as if I was the guilty one.”
“That’s how predators like Chad want you to feel.”
“I know,” she said with a sigh.
“You didn’t tell anyone?” A thought struck him. “Not even Adrianna?”
Betsy shook her head.
“Yet you told me.”
“Maybe because you were available.” She gave a little laugh. “Maybe it was time to get it off my chest.”
He winced at the pun and she chuckled.
“Seriously, I feel better.”
“I’m glad you do. But I’m mad as hell.” If Chad had been standing in front of him now, Ryan would have decked the guy.
“I shouldn’t have said anything.”
“No, I’m glad you did,” he said, realizing it was true. He’d known Betsy as long as he’d known Keenan. He’d watched her struggle to grow up in that difficult home life. She had every reason to be proud of her success in breaking free of her mother’s world. “That’s what friends are for.”
Tears filled her eyes. “Do you really mean that?”
“Absolutely.” Ryan looked into her soft blue eyes and made a vow. While Keenan was away, he would be Betsy’s champion, her protector and her friend.
As long as he was around, no man was going to even look at her wrong. If they did, they’d answer to him.
Chapter Four
“That pond-sucking scum.” Adrianna’s green eyes flashed and she placed the dress back on the rack with extra force.
Betsy had just finished telling her friend the same story she’d told Ryan last night. The way she figured, she couldn’t tell him about Chad and keep her best friend in the dark.
When Adrianna had called Saturday morning and mentioned doing some shopping, Betsy had been seriously tempted to beg off. After recounting the tale of that night in the boardroom with Chad, she’d had difficulty sleeping.
But she’d decided nothing would be accomplished by moping in her apartment. And she wasn’t in the mood to go over to Aunt Agatha’s home—with no heat—and clean.
“Let’s not talk about Chad anymore,” Betsy said. “He’s so not worth the time.”
Adrianna met her gaze. “You should file charges.”
“That’s what Ryan said,” Betsy said with a sigh.
“You told Ryan Harcourt the story?” Adrianna’s eyes widened with disbelief. “Before you told me?”
Betsy briefly explained about running into Chad at Wally’s Place. “I have to admit I felt better getting it off my chest.”
“Why didn’t you tell me when it happened?” Hurt underscored Adrianna’s words. “You had to know I’d be there for you.”
“I was embarrassed,” Betsy began, then paused when the clerk, who’d been hovering just out of earshot, moved closer.
“Is there anything I can help you ladies find?” the woman asked.
