The Billionaire's Touch (The Sinclairs #3)(63)

I have to get out of here.

Escape was the only thing she could think of right now.

The harshly cold temperatures hit her the moment she ran out the front door, her gown offering little protection from the elements.

“Madam, are you all right?” The male voice came from beside her.

She saw Stokes as she turned her head to the side. “No. I’m not okay,” she told the elderly man as she angrily swiped the tears from her face. “I need to get home.”

“I’ll take you.” The driver took her arm gently and led her to the Rolls.

“Evan will want you,” she protested.

“For once in his life, Mr. Sinclair can wait,” Stokes answered firmly, helping her to the vehicle sitting right out front.

Distraught, Randi didn’t argue. She needed to leave this place, she needed to think, and she needed to put space between herself and the man who had just rocked her world in a good way . . . and a devastating one. She jumped into the rear seat of the luxury vehicle as soon as the driver opened the back door for her.

Stokes set the car in motion almost immediately, leaving her huddled in the seat behind him—bewildered, crying, and feeling as though her heart would never be whole again.





CHAPTER 20




“What the hell happened?” Micah grilled Evan about the scene he’d stumbled upon at the Center.

Completely confused, he eyed Evan curiously. It never looked good when a disheveled woman came sobbing out of a bathroom with an unkempt man right behind her. Oh, not that he thought Evan had done something wrong, but when it came to Randi, it was quite possible for him to actually do something stupid.

“I told her the truth about being the guy she was writing to,” Evan admitted glumly.

“I thought she already knew. Hope told you to tell her right away.”

“I . . . didn’t.” Evan was chugging down whiskey like it was bottled water.

Shit! No wonder Randi was pissed off. Micah wondered what had motivated Evan not to follow his sister’s advice.

“Why didn’t you tell her?” Julian asked curiously as he motioned to the bartender for another beer.

As soon as he’d prevented Evan from making more of a scene in the Center by keeping him from chasing after a sobbing Randi, Micah had grabbed Julian and the three of them had left to go somewhere quieter. That destination ended up being Shamrock’s Pub. It was a small, quiet bar and grill on Main Street, not far from the Center, and there were only a few other people in the entire place. Micah was betting that it was so slow here because of the party. Half of the town was probably there, and it wasn’t tourist season.

Evan looked at Julian suspiciously.

“I filled him in,” Micah confessed calmly, not feeling the least bit guilty because he’d told Julian all about Evan’s past and his attachment to Miranda Tyler. After all, it was family business.

“I was fucking afraid to tell her,” Evan rasped, jerking at his collar, only to have the buttonless shirt he was now wearing open wider. “It’s hot in here.”

It wasn’t warm at all in the bar, but Micah suspected it was the whiskey that Evan was slugging down causing his hot flashes. “Hope told you to tell her,” Micah reminded him.

“I couldn’t. I was afraid she’d dump me. And I was getting more uncensored information as her friend on the Internet than I was in person.”

“You talked about yourself to her via email? And she didn’t know it was you, but you knew exactly who she was?” Julian asked, obviously trying to verify what he was hearing.

“Yes.” Evan slumped back in his chair.

“You’re an asshole,” Micah and Julian said in tandem.

Evan threw both of them a furious look from across the wooden table. “I thought you said you were going to help me.”

“That was before we knew you did something so stupid. Jesus, Evan. Why couldn’t you just listen to Hope? She might be your sister, but she’s also a female. You betrayed Randi’s trust. There’s no getting around that.” Micah wondered how someone as smart as Evan could be so clueless when it came to relationships.

I may not be an expert, but I know better than to lie to a woman. They always find out the truth, and it’s never good when they do.

Micah had never been in Evan’s predicament. In fact, he’d been the one who had been shafted. He’d tried a serious relationship once, and his supposed fiancée had ended up sleeping with, and eventually marrying, his best friend. He hadn’t tried having another exclusive relationship since.

Evan slammed his empty glass on the table. “I know I kept the truth from her. But I was going to tell her.”

Micah looked at Julian and caught him grinning. “Don’t piss him off,” he warned. “He’s already going off the deep end.” He spoke just loud enough for Julian to hear him.

“I know. I can’t help myself. I can hardly believe this is our Evan,” Julian said in a low voice, still smirking as he looked across the table at his cousin. “He doesn’t get rattled about anything, but right now he looks completely destroyed. I feel sorry for him, but it’s really just a little bit scary to see him looking this way. And it’s all happening because of a female.” Julian shook his head.

Micah knew what Julian was thinking, but he also knew Evan was hurting . . . bad. The guy did look like somebody had taken him to hell and back, and that was so not like Evan. He rarely had a lock of hair out of place, and he wore his custom suits without a single wrinkle. It was pretty shocking to see that a woman had reduced him to his current state.