An Irresistible Bachelor (An Unforgettable Lady #2)(85)

She thought of burning it just to get away from the memories.

There was a knocking sound and then Grace put her head in the door. “Are you all set? Ross and I are ready.”

Callie stood, smoothed down the skirt, and squeezed her feet into her heels.

“You look lovely,” she said to Grace with a smile.

Her half sister was wearing a dark red sheath dress that fell, strapless, from her pale shoulders. With her blond hair cascading down her back, she was almost too beautiful to be real.

“Well, thank you. So do you. Those simple lines really suit you.” Grace went over to the window and leaned in, looking at the cars. “I used to come to Jack’s holiday party religiously, but in the last couple of years I’ve had to bow out. There are so many friends to catch up with! And I’d like to introduce you to a couple of eligible men, if you wouldn’t mind.”

Oh, no. Not that.

Grace turned around, a smile on her face, but the expression faded. “Callie? Are you all right? You don’t look well.”

That was funny. She didn’t feel well, either.

“I’m fine. But I need to talk with you.”

Concern lifted Grace’s perfectly arched brows. “Is everything all right?”

“No, it isn’t. After we get through this evening, can we find a quiet place?”

“Of course.” Grace eyed Ross, who was waiting in the hall. “Do you want to talk now?”

“I think later would be better.” She didn’t want the pressure of keeping Grace from the party and had no idea how long the conversation was going to take. “Just promise me. By the end of tonight.”

Walking downstairs behind Grace and Ross, Callie felt as if she were wearing concrete shoes. Or maybe lead-lined underwear. Her body was impossibly heavy and she gripped the railing as she approached the crush of people in the front hall. There was a jam as guests came in the door and handed their coats to more uniformed staff. The foyer was filled with the sounds of the party, and the volley of talk and laughter made Callie wince as her senses became overloaded. There was too much noise, too much light, too many perfumes competing for the same air space.

As Grace got swept up in some woman’s arms, Callie blindly went into the living room and immediately knew she’d taken a wrong turn. She was lost in a sea of people. There must have been a hundred already there and more kept squeezing in from the hall. Moving through the throng, she went over to one of the bars that had been set up and ordered a glass of wine, not because she was thirsty but because she felt like she needed something to do.

She’d just accepted a Chardonnay when a woman wearing a dramatic gold dress stepped in front of her and said crisply, “Oh, good. And my husband wants a martini.”

The woman snatched the glass out of Callie’s hand and turned back to the man she’d been talking with.

I’m out of here, Callie thought.

But before she left, she tapped the brunette on the shoulder.

The woman pirouetted around and then smiled at the man next to her. “Oh, darling, your drink’s here already.”

“No,” Callie said politely, taking her glass back. “That one’s mine. If you want to be waited on, you could ask one of the men in tuxedos who are passing trays. Otherwise, you can stand in line at the bar.”

As the woman began to sputter, Callie walked away, leaving the glass on a side table as she tried to get back to the stairs. The congestion in the hall had gotten worse, though, so she decided to head for the rear of the house. She was moving through the dining room, which was filled with some truly gorgeous food, when she saw Jack in one corner. He was talking to someone intently, his back to her.

Callie stopped, forgetting the feel of people brushing up against her.

Jack had changed into a tuxedo and he looked good in formal clothes. The jacket stretched over his broad shoulders and the stark white of the shirt’s jaunty collar played well against his dark hair.

He turned to shake a man’s hand and she saw he’d been talking with a woman. Like so many of the other ladies, the long-haired blonde was wearing a dress that was right off the runway, and she’d accessorized it with plenty of important jewelry. Jack turned back to her when he was done talking to the man and she said something in his ear, a smile playing over her lips as she ran her hand over his cast. Jack laughed and pointedly stepped back.

It could have been innocent, probably was, at least on Jack’s part, but at that moment Callie wasn’t inclined to hang around. Her head was spinning from the noise and the people and so much more. If she didn’t get away from the party, she was going to disintegrate and do something ridiculous, like elbow that woman right out of the room. As quickly as she could, she fled to the kitchen and left through the back door.

The night was cold and she was grateful because the chill helped quiet the buzz in her ears. Wrapping her arms around herself, she walked across the driveway and went up into the studio. She just couldn’t bear to be in that house, not until after the party died down. She wasn’t part of Jack’s world and she couldn’t pretend to be. Not tonight.

She went over to the couch and sat down by the last of the documents. One by one, she picked pieces of paper from the bin, in search of Nathaniel’s truth.



Jack saw Gray through the crowd in the dining room and excused himself from a conversation about highway funds. There were a lot of people who wanted to discuss issues involving the state and it was clear that rumors about his candidacy were getting around.