The Billionaire's Temporary Bride (Scandal, Inc #3)(76)

"I like the sound of that."

Jack kissed Charlotte on the cheek and looked to the window. "If I don't get going, I'm going to miss my flight. I'll pull the shades down so you can get some more sleep." He went to the closet and pulled one of his blue suits off the rack. He dressed and pulled down the shades, leaving the room pleasantly dark, then headed for the door.

He paused in the doorway for a second and came back for one more kiss. "There's something I want to talk to you about tonight. I can't get into it now, but I've been trying to figure out how to tell you this for a long time."

As Jack pulled back from the final kiss, Charlotte swore she saw him wince, like it hurt him to leave. Even so, he turned and left without another word, leaving her alone in the dark in an unfamiliar room.

Charlotte lay across the wide bed, trying to fall back asleep for an unbearable stretch of time, but she couldn't get comfortable. She was exhausted, but she couldn't sleep.

What is he up to?

Jack was so good at masking his emotions, but that brief flash of pain in his eyes made it clear something was wrong. Charlotte wished she could help in some way. Jack was always protecting everyone from whatever he thought they couldn't handle, taking all of the trouble on himself and denying anything was wrong. She loved that about him, but she hated it too.

Charlotte could see how much it hurt him to be pulled away from the people he loved. She wanted to be there for him, standing by his side. She wasn't just some prop for the camera anymore. She wasn't there to solve his image problem. She was his wife. She loved him, and she'd be damned if he didn't love her too. If only he hadn't been so damn obstinate about not saying it. She pulled her phone out and called him, but it rang through to voicemail.

That's it, she decided. She pulled herself out of bed. She was going to stop worrying and do something with herself. She had spent every day since the honeymoon at Jack's side, even as he tried to deny how he felt about her. Maybe she'd take this day to take care of herself.

Charlotte stumbled across the room into the bathroom and turned on the shower. Before getting in, she noticed a small flip phone lying on the sink. It wasn't Jack's phone, and it definitely wasn't hers.

Must be a campaign phone, she thought.

Before she could step into the shower, she heard her own phone ringing.

Great timing, Jack.

She headed back into the bedroom to answer. When she picked it up, she was surprised to find that Jack's campaign manager was calling.

"Lauren?" she said, "what's going on?"

"Hey Charlotte, I'm sorry to bother you, but is Jack there? I haven't been able to get through to him."

"Me either," Charlotte said. "He said something about an emergency meeting. Hey, does he have a campaign cell you could call?"

"No," Lauren said. "He wouldn't take one. I'll call down to the DC office. They're terrible at keeping me in the loop anyway."

"Hold on. Let me check one thing," Charlotte said. She flipped open the other phone and looked at the call history. All the calls were to one number. She selected it and hit dial.

"Hello?" a woman asked on the other end of the line. Her voice was bright and clear, and she had a thick accent. Charlotte couldn't place it, possibly South American, possibly European. "Jack?" the woman asked. "Are you still coming?"

Charlotte snapped the phone shut. She placed it on the sink and stepped back. From her own phone, she could hear Lauren asking what was going on. She could feel the sharp pang of adrenaline rushing through her veins.

"I have to go," Charlotte said quickly. "I'll let you know when I hear from him."

What do I do? What do I do? Charlotte wondered. She couldn't just call Jack up and yell at him, and she didn't want to simply sit around and wait for him to return from whatever it was he was doing.

She picked her own phone back up, and did a quick web search for the phone number. It was an unlisted number, but the area code was North Carolina. Charlotte tapped her finger against her temple as she tried to figure out a next step. There was at least one thing she could try. She flipped through her contacts and pressed send.

"Good morning, Callie," she said. "I need to ask a little favor."

"Is the long-lost Charlotte Coburn actually calling me?" Callie said. "How have you been?"

"Great," Charlotte said, "but I need your help with something. Can you help look up a number for me?"

"Of course," Callie said. "It's actually a lot easier than you'd think to even get unlisted numbers. Why do you need it? I'm speaking from my experience with Logan when I say if it has to do with your relationship, you'll have much better results if you just talk to Jack."

"I can't get into it right now," Charlotte said.

"Say no more," Callie replied. "What's the number?"


Charlotte read out the digits. Within a minute, Callie had an answer.

"It's Jack's number," she said. "It's a landline to a house his family owns in North Carolina. 2248 East Wind Drive, Sand Hill Island — does that ring a bell?"

"That's what I thought it was," Charlotte said. "Sorry, Jack got a call from the number and—"