So maybe Colin set up the kidnapping to punish Eli, the man who at one time had been his best friend? Had Colin been determined to take away Eli’s family the way that Eli had taken Colin’s by having an affair with Lisa, then marrying her and adopting Jane? Could it be that screwed up?
It was possible, Dallas knew. Fucked up and depressing as shit, especially considering he actually liked the man. But possible nonetheless.
But no way was he telling Jane. Not until he was sure.
Telling her now would only taint her relationship with Colin if he turned out to be innocent. And if he turned out to be guilty, it would destroy her. Colin had been the one she’d relied on after the kidnapping, going so far as to beg to attend a boarding school near her birth father because she needed to get away from Dallas. From everything that reminded her of the kidnapping. And from the reality that the love and comfort that they’d found in each other’s arms while captive was forbidden out in the real world.
So yeah, he was holding on to one hell of a secret.
He only hoped that when the truth came to light, she’d understand that he’d broken his promise in order to protect her. Because he would always watch her back, even if doing so meant sacrificing himself.
Right now, however, he needed to let all of that go. This wasn’t the time to get lost in the memory of the way she’d looked and felt. And it sure as hell wasn’t the time to worry about how he would tell her the truth if the investigation proved that Colin was guilty.
Instead, right now he needed to focus on the reason he’d thrown this party in the first place—Henry Darcy.
He checked his watch and saw that it was almost ten. The party had been in full swing for two hours. He hadn’t seen Darcy among the guests, but the man had assured Dallas that he was coming, and since Darcy had a reputation of showing up late to pretty much everything, Dallas wasn’t yet worried about missing him.
What gave him more pause was seeing Jane downstairs.
They’d parted ways at the garden shed, deciding that it was safer to return to the party separately. He’d left first, circling the house and entering through the service entrance to avoid being noticed. He’d used the back stairs to head to the third floor and the master bedroom. Jane, he knew, had most likely used the same route to get to the second floor and her childhood bedroom.
She was just one floor below him, and it was so damn tempting to go down to her. To lock the door and strip her bare. To lay her out on the bed, spread her wide, and lose himself in the scent and feel of her.
Instead, he had to go back to the pool deck and pluck an anonymous woman from the crowd. Someone to look good beside him. Someone he could tease and tempt and put on a show with.
Someone who would expect him to take her to his bedroom and fuck her hard once they’d made the party circuit.
The thought made him cringe. Jane was the only woman he welcomed into his bed now. But that left him faced with the rather daunting problem of how to manage expectations, not to mention his own carefully-honed reputation as one of the biggest manwhores in the country.
Considering the scope of the investigations he ran for Deliverance, the dangerous calls that he made, and the sensitive data he handled on a daily basis, the fact that his biggest problem at the moment was how to deal with the rumors surrounding his cock seemed more than a little ridiculous.
Ridiculous, maybe. But still legitimate.
Then again, his cock wasn’t actually his biggest problem. That honor belonged to Colin—who was currently in a holding pattern—and Darcy, who wasn’t. And Dallas needed to get downstairs and talk to the man. Determine what exactly he knew about Deliverance. Did he know anything at all about the organization behind the code name? And if he did, Dallas would have to assess whether or not Darcy himself was a threat.
If so, he’d pull together the team and they’d come up with a plan.
If not, he’d breathe a sigh of relief and move on.
First, though, he had to find a girl he didn’t want, but who would serve his purpose.
Suck it up, Sykes. You chose this life. You built Deliverance. You know what it takes to make it work. Don’t start acting like a pussy now.
Right. Good advice.
With his pep talk running a loop in his head, he pulled on a fresh pair of jeans. He continued to wear the cashmere sweater that Jane had given him. It was still clean, but it carried her scent, and he wanted as much of Jane with him as he could have.
Presentable again, he started toward his bedroom door, then caught sight of the blue envelope sitting on the small table that sat flush against that wall. Well, hell. One more thing to add to his list of shit that just kept piling up.