Big Easy Temptation (The Perfect Gentlemen #3)(40)

“Fine, not Zack. I was joking about that. He earned that nickname with a friend of mine, but I did hear about the incident.” She stared, her intelligent eyes boring into him. “Does it make you think differently of me? I’ve had about as many sexual partners as you. Why is it all right for you but not me?”

“Because you’re my sister.”

“Will you hate Dad now? Because he was your father and the people in your life aren’t allowed to be human?”

Dax felt tears stinging his eyes and fought not to shed the damn things. He hated seeing himself through his sister’s eyes. Maybe his mother had been right to keep the truth from him. He’d been viewing the world in black and white. A man was either a hero or a villain. Why could he be tolerant of his friends’ foibles but not his father’s? “I came back to clear his name.”

“I know.”

“How?”

“I work with Roman and I’m ridiculously good at eavesdropping. Also, I’m good at spying. Mad sleeps like a log. I got out of bed last night and couldn’t sleep. I thought I’d peruse some of the porn on his laptop but I found the files. Then he and Gabe were talking earlier this morning. I think they’ve found a couple of things they want to share with you.”

His sister was kind of an evil genius. And she was the only person he could really talk to about this. And she was the one person in the world besides himself who knew what it meant to be Admiral Harold Spencer’s kid. “Should I give the investigation up? Am I just hurting Mom more?”

Gus leaned forward, her stare serious. “Do you think he deserves less because he cheated? I don’t love him less, Dax. I was angry for a while. Still am. But he was my father. He loved us. He sacrificed for us. Whatever he was like as a husband, he was a good dad. I can’t let his mistakes take that from me.”

Dax squeezed her hand, emotion rolling through him. He remembered all the times his father had shown up at Creighton unannounced. He would get some leave and drag the family up to spend a single afternoon, taking Dax and his friends out to lunch, to the movies. He would say he missed his boy.

His boy. He’d been his father’s son. What did he owe his dad? His father had obviously hurt his mom terribly, but did that negate everything else in his life? His mother hadn’t wanted a rift between them.

“Do you think he raped that girl?” It didn’t matter that the sex might have been consensual. Legally, the girl wasn’t old enough to consent. It was still rape.

“No, I do not.” His sister stood and walked to the railing, her shoulders straight. “I don’t believe he’s the man who appears on that video. I know it looked like him, but the camera never captured his face. Mom says he was into younger women. So I did some digging of my own after he was murdered. None of his mistresses—and let me be plain, I could only find three—not a one of them was under thirty-five.”

Then why had his dad suddenly chosen fifteen-year-old Amber Taylor? Unless, like Gus suspected, his father hadn’t actually been the man on that footage.

“Our mother has a skewed perspective about age,” Gus went on. “I know why and I’m not going to correct her. She’s entitled to what she believes, but I know the truth. Dad got lonely. I’m not saying it was Mom’s fault, but there are always, always two points of view, two sides to any relationship. I know she threw herself into being a mom after she had us.” Gus let out a long breath. “Each of those three women looked like her.”

Tears rolled down his sister’s golden cheeks. Damn, he hated to see Gus crying. He hated even more that he’d been the one to upset her.

Dax stood and wrapped his arms around his older sister. She was larger than life and so strong willed that sometimes he forgot she was fragile, too.

“I’m sorry. And I apologize for what I said earlier. You aren’t like Dad. Hell, I don’t even know what to think anymore. I only know I don’t believe the reports. I think NCIS covered something up or they missed key facts.”

“No matter what he did, he was our dad. Dax, we can’t let this stand. I need to help you. We need to find out who killed him because the father I knew would never commit suicide. Ever. He simply wouldn’t have done it.” She turned and cried against his shoulder.

He heard someone moving behind them. The curtains fluttered and Mad emerged, his face red from his fight with the voluminous fabric. “Damn it. I knew it was hiding something. Fucking curtains. Hey. Shit. I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to interrupt.”

Gus lifted her head and sniffled. “Of course you did, Mad. Interrupting is what you do best.”

“That’s not what you said last . . . Never mind.” Mad knew better than to finish that sentence.

His sister held on to him even as she rolled her eyes. “Give it a rest, Mad.”

His sister could handle his crazy, lovably douchy friend. She would take what Mad had to offer without needing more. He had to admit, Gus was a woman who knew what she wanted and at this point, she wanted to have fun.

One day some guy would set Gus’s world on its ear, and he was really looking forward to that day. But for now, he could have fun, too.

“Hey, sis, who’s better in bed? Mad or Roman? You see, I’ve always heard women say Mad was a little immature. I wondered if that wasn’t referring to his . . . technique.”