Someone To Believe In (43 page)

He turned around. “What?”

“I’m sorry. I’ll rest more. I’m bitchy, and I
shouldn’t be taking out my problems on you.”

Bracing his hands on the rim of the bar, he
sighed heavily. “You’re sad and lonely and you miss your
husband.”

“Guilty as charged.” She picked up her
sandwich and nibbled at it.

“Go back to him. Wives belong with their
husbands.”

She caught his underlying tone. “How’s it
going with Brie?”

“Not good.” He shook his head. “She’s takin’
the kids to Syracuse to her parents’ house for Thanksgiving.” He
ran a hand through his dark hair. It had gotten longer, and she
noticed some gray at the temples. “I can’t believe I’m not gonna
be with my kids on a holiday.” His dark eyes were so grim. “That
this might be what my life is like.”

“Maybe you should go to counseling.”

“I hate that stuff.”

“You need to compromise if you’re gonna get
what you need.”

“Pot calling the kettle black, little
girl?”

“Maybe. I’ve been thinking about doing the
same thing.” She closed her eyes and leaned against the wall. “I’m
so confused right now.”

A pause. She heard the door open, cold air
swirl in. “Fuck. You’re about to get even more confused.”

She opened her eyes. “Huh?”

“Hello, Street Angel. How are you?” She
turned to see the smiling face of Eric Lawson.

Damn it, he was about the last person she
wanted to see. She dropped her feet to the floor. “Eric, haven’t
seen you in a while.”

The councilman leaned over and gave her a
kiss on the cheek. “A condition I’m here to remedy.” He sat on the
stool next to her. “I called you.”

“I know. I called back and left you a
message.”

“Saying you weren’t dating for a while.” He
smiled, though his dark good looks didn’t interest her a bit. “Why
is that?”

The hell with it; she was tired of fending
off this man. She didn’t want to be with him; she missed Clay, and
just that peck on her cheek by somebody else made her ill. Besides,
she hated this limbo. Still she was reluctant to tell Eric about
their marriage. Who knew how he’d use it in his own interests? And
since hers and Clay’s wedded un-bliss had every earmark of being
permanent—God the thought made her stomach do somersaults this
time—she knew she shouldn’t reveal anything now.

“You okay?” Eric said taking her hand. “You
just turned white as a sheet.”

“I’m fine.” She withdrew her hand. “Look,
I’ve been seeing someone. It’s serious between us.”

“Really? Who?”

“I’d rather not go into it.”

He reached out and took a lock of her hair
between his fingers. It was an intimate gesture. “Give me a
chance, and I’ll make you forget him.” He slid his hand to her neck
and caressed it. Oh, yuck.

Before she could tell him to back off,
the door opened again. She heard, “What the
hell
?” Clay, looking big and beautiful, stalked
toward them. “Get your hands off my wife, Lawson.”

CLAY WAS SEEING red. He couldn’t believe
Bailey would actually be spending time with another guy. She was
his wife, so he tugged her off the stool and yanked her to his
side. Wearing a pair of black slacks and the green shirt of the
pub, she looked healthy enough, but her blue eyes were clouded, and
her color a bit pale.

Open mouthed, Lawson’s brows skyrocketed on
his face. “Wife? Are you married, Bailey?”

“She didn’t tell you?” His arm tightened on
her. This just kept getting worse.

“No, she didn’t.”

Clay drew back and peered down at her. He
hoped she saw the hurt clawing at his insides. “Why didn’t you tell
him, Bailey?”

“I didn’t know if I should let this out,
Clay. If it would affect your seat in the Senate.”

“Fuck my seat in the Senate.”

Lawson snorted. “Can I quote you on
that?”

“You can do anything you want, Lawson. Just
stay away from my wife.”

The potential opponent for Clay’s Senate seat
shook his head. “You’re nailing your own coffin, Wainwright.”

“Get out of here.”

Lawson arched a cocky brow. “It’s a public
place.”

“My
place.”
Paddy had come up to them. “And I’d like you to stop harassing my
sister and my favorite brother-in-law.”

Lawson shrugged, but stood and ambled out the
door, hands in his pockets, whistling.

Bailey faced Clay. “What’s he going to
do?”

Clay ran a hand through his hair. “Leak it to
the press.”

“Oh, no.” She touched his arm. “I’m
sorry.”

He turned to her. “Would that be so bad?”

“My cue to leave,” Patrick mumbled, and
walked down the bar.

“Clay, I’m not ready for...I don’t know
how...shit. You’re forcing my hand again. I asked for some time to
sort this out.”

“Well, excuse me for flying off when I saw
another man feeling up my wife.”

“He wasn’t feeling me up.” She sounded
indignant.

“Whatever.”

“I don’t like being manipulated. It’s so
typical of you.”

Suddenly exhausted, he sank onto a chair.
“Look, I’m sorry. I just reacted.”

“What are you doing here, anyway?”

“How can you ask me that?” He brushed his
knuckles down her cheek. It felt like down. “I miss my wife.” He
pressed a hand to her stomach. “My baby.” He drew in a breath. “How
is she?”

“The doctor says fine.”

His heart plummeted. “The doctor? You went to
a prenatal appointment without me?”

Her face flushed with guilt. “Yeah, look, I’d
made the appointment a while ago. Then I didn’t know if I should
call you to come.”

He swallowed hard and turned to brace his
arms on the bar. He scrubbed his hands over his face.

“You look exhausted.”

“I am. I can’t eat or sleep.” He shook his
head. “Never mind me, this isn’t helping you. I’m sorry I blew it
with Lawson. But now we have a problem to deal with.”

“I know. You have to put some spin on our
marriage politically.”

“I’ll call Thorn right away.”

She shook her head. “This is so us, Clay.
Circumstances keep throwing us together when we’ve decided not to
be.”

“I never decided that!” He shook his head,
feeling the ground slip out from under his feet. “I wasn’t aware
that you had either.”

“I haven’t. But we don’t have any choice,
now. We’ll have to live together for show. At least for a little
while so you can deal with this publicly.” She sighed. “We’d have
to do something to explain the baby anyway, so this will fit right
in with our original plan.”

His heart turned to mush. “Did you find out
how far along you are?”

“Just a few weeks. I still don’t know which
time it happened.”

“Early enough so we can fudge the timing.” He
swallowed hard and took her hand. Turning, he captured her legs
between his on the rung of the barstool. “Don’t you miss me?”

“Of course I do.”

“Can’t you forgive me?”

“Yes, but...” She looked at him with
fathomless eyes filled with hurt. It stunned him, how deep the pain
was. “How can I ever trust you again, after what you did? You just
take control of everything, regardless of what I say I want.”

“I can change; I can win back your
trust.”

“Maybe, but I’m not sure yet.”

Yet
. Well, that
was good. “All right. However, we have to be living together when I
make the announcement of our marriage, or when Lawson
does.”

“We’ll move in together right away. But this
isn’t a commitment. It isn’t a decision. It’s just a temporary
solution to the problem.”

Did she have to keep saying that? “I’ll need
the ground rules, then,” he said tightly, angry and happy at the
same time. At least he’d be near her. But he hated her
distancing.

“First off, you have three bedrooms in your
town house, so we’ll live there. I can take one of the spares, Rory
can have the other.”

He nodded. “I guess that about says it all,
then.”

“It’s the best I can do, Clay.”

“No, it’s not. But I’ll take it for now.”

THE NEWS BROKE in
The Daily Sun
the next day before Bailey even got
her things to Clay’s. He’d been meeting with Thorn all morning, and
her brothers helped her move hers and Rory’s stuff into Clay’s town
house.

“Mommy, this is so awesome,” Rory said after
he’d explored the top floor. “I got my own bathroom.”

“You share it with the other spare
room.”
Her
room, she thought,
but didn’t want to tackle that issue with Rory.

As her son dug into a box of his belongings,
she went to that room, and found her brother there. “How come your
things are goin’ in here?” Dylan asked as he dropped some bags onto
the floor.

“Um, long story.”

Liam, usually ready to give people a break,
was right behind him with another huge box. “This is crazy, Bay.
Are you or are you not in love with him?”

“I am.”

Paddy sidled in with a fish tank. “I tried
talking some sense into her.”

“He’s your husband,” Liam put in, shaking his
head. “I don’t understand you two at all.”

Exhausted—she hadn’t slept last night—she
sank onto the bed. “Please guys.”

Aidan joined them. “What’s up?”

She gave him a help-me look. “They’re playing
the Spanish Inquisition again.”

“They’re right, kiddo.

Bailey shook her head and surveyed the four
of them. “Why are you defending him, anyway? None of you even like
him.”

“He’s family now.” This from Paddy. Dylan and
Liam agreed.

“Besides, what he did, he did to protect
you.” Again, Paddy took the lead.

Great. Now she had their contingent to deal
with.

Exasperated, she said, “Look, it’d be easy to
give in. But then what? How can I ever trust Clay to let me make my
own decisions? He’s a man used to power and control. It was why he
went to Rochester. I can’t allow him to run my life.”

Paddy said, “That’s bullshit. If you love
him, you can work with him on this.”

Aidan jammed his hands into his pockets. “I
knew about it, B.”

“What?”

“That he went to Rochester. That he put the
whole thing into motion.”

“What?
And you
didn’t tell me?”

“No. What’s more, I advised Clay not to tell
you. Ever. I knew you’d react like this.”

“Damn it, Aidan, I thought I could trust
you.”

Paddy stepped forward. “Bailey, your safety
was at stake. I would have done the same thing.”

Dylan said, “Me, too.”

Liam, of course, agreed.

She lay back into the pillows. “Go away, you
guys. I need to rest. Clay’s bringing Thorn by. We’ve got to decide
our spin on all this, then we’re meeting with a news reporter to
give our side of the story.”

“We’ll finish bringing your things in,” Liam
told her. “And watch Rory while you rest.”

“Thanks.” Each of her brothers came to the
bed and kissed her. Paddy whispered, “Don’t blow this like I did,
Bay. I’m miserable. I hate to see you like me.”

After they left, she sighed. Her brothers
were, by far, the nicest men she knew. Basically moral. Decent.
Possessive and controlling, too. But good guys. A lot like
Clay.

She closed her eyes thinking about that.

“SO, MS. O’NEIL, we meet again.” Hank Sellers
sat in Clay’s living room with a tape recorder on. He wore his
uniform—jeans and a denim jacket. “Or should I call you Mrs.
Wainwright?”

“Bailey will do.” She hesitated. “I’m not
taking the Wainwright name.” But she leaned into Clay. At least he
got to be close to her again because of this ruse. He relished the
weight of her body next to his.

“I understand.” The reporter grinned. “The
feminist voters will love you.”

She smiled. Clay could see her struggling to
make this right for him, and he appreciated it. Thorn had briefed
her on the thrust of the interview; she’d made astute observations
and promised to be totally cooperative.

“So, how did the Street Angel and the senator
get together?”

Briefly Clay outlined their initial meetings.
“Despite all that, we liked each other. Right away.”

Sellers studied his notes. “You gave me an
interview after you’d met him, Bailey. As I recall, it was pretty
negative.”

The interview was after she
slept with me
, Clay thought. Wouldn’t that make great
headlines?

Again, Bailey touched his arm and left her
hand there. “If you recall further, I said nothing derogatory in
that interview about my husband. I only attacked his views on
stopping youth gang crime.”

“Let’s talk about that issue. How will you
reconcile that battle now that you’re married?”

“There’s no battle to fight anymore,” Bailey
said succinctly. “I’m no longer working at ESCAPE.”

“This have anything to do with that girl who
got killed? Was she one of yours?”

“Yes, to both answers.” Tears came to
Bailey’s eyes.

“I prefer you don’t ask her any questions
about that, Hank,” Clay said, covering her hand with his. “It’s
still pretty raw.”

“Yeah, sorry.”

“And although it will come out that she’s the
Street Angel, if we could keep her connection to Tazmania Gomez
quiet, I’d appreciate it. For her safety.”

He nodded. “So, Senator, was the secrecy
about your marriage for her protection only?”

Nothing to do but be honest. “Partly.” He
gave Sellers a we’re-buddies look. “Hank, Bailey and I were sworn
enemies. We fell in love. But the differences between us remained.
We had no idea where we were going with a relationship. We wanted
it quiet until we decided how to handle that angle as well as how
to keep the Street Angel’s identity a secret. Once the press found
out who she was, she would be in too much danger.”