“Are you all right?”
“No thanks to him.” Callum pointed a thumb at Oliver.
His oldest brother shuffled inside, looking a bit stunned. “She really doesn’t have a fiancé?”
Callum shut and locked the door. Thea had been waiting for him outside the hotel. She’d managed to sneak into the car park and had been lying in wait for him. All in all, it had been a fairly terrible night.
With the singular exception of watching Tori Glen come apart in his arms.
She’d been so beautiful, so unselfconscious. She hadn’t been pretending. Her eyes had gone wide with wonder as he’d stroked her and sent her over the edge. She’d been a woman finding her sensuality.
“No, she doesn’t. The investigator’s report is on the bar if you don’t believe me.” He crossed to the utilitarian kitchen and grabbed the fifty-year he kept for special occasions or days when the world seemed coated in dung. It had been both today, so he poured three fingers. And then a second glass because Rory hadn’t been a bastard. He slid it to his brother.
“I believe you.” But Oliver was already opening the private investigator’s report. “I could use a drink.”
“Then go home and get one,” Callum shot back stubbornly.
“No one is leaving until we figure out what to do,” Rory said decisively. “We must fix this situation.”
“What is there to do?” Oliver ran a hand through his hair. “She quit. She’s leaving tomorrow.”
“Well, we can choose not to accept her resignation, for starters.” Rory took a sip and sighed. “I don’t believe she truly wants to leave.”
“She seemed fairly certain she did when she attempted to eviscerate Oliver with her umbrella.” Callum wished she’d gotten in a good hit. “I’ll be surprised if she shows up for work. I’m going to be at her doorstep first thing in the morning. I’ll convince her to let me go with her. You’ll have my resignation in the morning, too. And you won’t talk me out of it.”
He knew one thing in the world: He wanted to be with her. And after talking to Thea tonight, perhaps leaving London for a while would be a good thing. She’d been off, and not simply zany, the way she’d been before. She’d actually convinced herself they were a couple. Claire had called the police, but not before Thea had made a terrible scene.
He could lay that at Oliver’s feet, too. His older brother had taken the limo, leaving the rest of them to find their own ride. Luckily, a friend had dropped them home after the nasty row with Thea. She’d accused him of sleeping with whores. Had she been talking about Tori? What did she know about their relationship? The last thing he needed was Thea confronting Tori, though after seeing Tori’s fierce anger, Callum wasn’t quite as worried. Unfortunately, her fury had been aimed at him and Rory—the wrong brothers.
“You should go with her.” Oliver nodded. “She needs you. I don’t like the thought of her out in the world on her own. Trouble seems to follow her.”
“Both of you are idiots, and I’m only going to have the rest of this conversation because she deserves to get what she wants. Though I have my worries that she no longer wants any of us.” Rory set his glass down.
“What are you talking about?” The truth was, Callum didn’t want to leave England. This was his home, but he couldn’t see a way out of it now. He certainly couldn’t see them being one big happy family.
“She won’t run off with you, Cal. I know you think she will but she won’t separate or hurt this family. She’s got too much integrity. It’s exactly why she hadn’t given in to any one of us until tonight. Callum, how did you get her alone? I seriously doubt she jumped you in the conference room.”
He felt himself flush. He wasn’t proud of what he’d done. He’d thought she simply needed a little push to give into her desire. Once she had, she’d responded beautifully. “I might have told her I would exchange my silence about the false engagement for a kiss, and things might have escalated from there.”
“You blackmailed her.” Oliver’s lips thinned to a judgmental line.
“It was only supposed to be a kiss. I was giving her the nudge she needed.”
“To fuck you? At least I didn’t blackmail her,” Oliver snapped.
“So how did it happen?” Rory asked.
Oliver’s eyes tightened, a sure sign he was feeling guilty. “I told you, trouble follows her. She was attacked as she walked into the building. We’re lucky I have a key card.”
Callum’s gut knotted. “Attacked?”
“Well, she was walking around wearing ridiculously expensive jewelry, thanks to you,” Oliver pointed out. “Though she had nearly been attacked recently, too.”
“Are you serious?” Rory demanded.
“Like I said, trouble finds her. She must look like an easy target.” Oliver shrugged. “Tonight, like last time, I fought the man off. When we reached her flat, the adrenaline kicked in. We ended up in bed. Everything was fine until…”
“You found out she was a virgin,” Rory stated flatly.