Secrets of the Tycoon's Bride (14 page)

Adam winced and held up a hand. “You've made your point. But I wasn't in love with any of them.”

Brandon noted Adam's slip by cocking his head.

Damn. Adam emptied his glass. The liquor burned all the way down his throat and hit his stomach like acid. He wanted to drink himself into oblivion. To forget Lauryn Lowes and her lover. His marriage. His decimated plans to win more say in Garrison, Inc.

Parker would never take him seriously now.

But drowning his sorrows ran a little too close to his mother's problem.

“At least Cassie's honest,” he muttered under his breath.

“Cassie and I think Lauryn is, too.” Brandon refilled his own tumbler. “Lauryn's right. In the eyes of the law once a marriage is annulled no valid marriage ever existed, and the grounds for getting a legal annulment aren't easy to get around. Maybe you'd better focus on that.”

Adam looked at Brandon in surprise. His best friend would not mislead him. Intentionally. “You're saying her ‘he drugged me and married me' excuse could be the truth?”

“Absence of consent is a valid reason for annulment, but she would have had to prove it. Let Ace find out the details for you. He can also check into her other questionable stories.”

“The stuff about her birthmother sounds preposterous, but it's true. I told you about the letters, diaries and the birth certificate.”

“So you did. And you're sure Lauryn doesn't want to petition the Laurence estate? If she wanted money approaching the executers should have been her first move. From what you said she found in that compartment, confirmation of her identity and even a DNA match is a real possibility.”

Adam rubbed the back of his neck. Brandon had a point. The Laurence estate was worth far more than the million Lauryn had planned to get out of him. And
he'd
approached
her
about the marriage and the money. Not the other way around.

Could he be wrong about her? Was she telling the truth? Or had she and Saunders concocted a scheme to bleed Adam dry?

And did it matter? Hell yes.

Was she still in love with Saunders? Was she still married to the bastard?

Adam couldn't think about that now when he had enough bourbon in his system to make him want to put his fist through something. Or someone. Saunders.

He caught Brandon subtly checking his watch and realized how late it was. “Why aren't you with Cassie tonight?”

“Because you needed me.”

“Yeah. Thanks.”

“Are you okay with me marrying your half sister?”

“Brandon, I'm closer to you than I am to my own brothers. As far as I'm concerned, making you an official part of my family is just a formality.” He offered his hand and then yanked Brandon close in a bump-shoulders-slap-on-the-back embrace. “I owe Cassie for letting me borrow you tonight.”

“She'll join me tomorrow if she can get away from the hotel or I'll join her.”

“Sounds like you're doing a lot of commuting.”

“I am, and you need to know that because of that I've decided to open an office in Nassau. There's no point in getting married if I'm never going to see my wife.”

“You're closing down here?”

“No. Just adding another branch of Washington & Associates.”

“Good. Because I'll need you to handle my divorce.”

“Why would you come forward when all the rest of the Garrisons are saying is, ‘No comment'?”

“Because you've made a terrible mistake,” Lauryn said across the reporter's cluttered desk Saturday afternoon. “Adam is completely innocent in this situation.”

She'd decided a counterattack was the only way to end the vicious scandal that Tommy's story had launched, and as much as she hated being the center of attention these days, if pouring out her past for public consumption would clear Adam, then Lauryn would willingly humiliate herself by doing so. She also hoped sending the press on the trail of the missing documentation would cut through the Thanksgiving weekend barriers keeping her from getting to California and the truth.

The reporters had been relentless over the past twenty-four hours. The tabloid press in particular had followed her everywhere, and she'd used that to her advantage—she hoped. First thing this morning she'd gone to the police department, trailed by an assortment of paparazzi, and filed an official report on the extortion.

Adam may have already filed a complaint like he'd said he would, but this was her mistake and she would take the steps to rectify it. The money she'd paid Tommy wasn't hers. She hadn't earned it. It belonged to Adam and she wanted to return it. Maybe then he'd believe she wasn't trying to fleece him.

After leaving the police department she'd called the reporter who'd broken the original story, offered her an exclusive and set a time for this meeting. Lauryn had told the woman the whole sordid story. The only detail she'd held back was the marriage of convenience part.

“Do you believe what you've told me exonerates Adam Garrison?” the reporter asked.

“Yes. He hasn't done anything wrong. The mistakes were all mine. Adam didn't know about my past or my annulment. I honestly believed it wasn't relevant, and I was too ashamed of my rebellious teenage behavior to tell him. I'm not that person anymore and I haven't been for a long time.

“But whether Tommy's claim that our annulment is invalid is true or not, I underestimated his desire to make a fast and easy buck. I paid him to keep quiet because I love my husband and I didn't want to see Adam hurt. But now because of
my
mistakes the best candidate for the presidency of the Miami Business Council is being trashed in the news.”

The reporter's gaze sharpened. “So you're officially announcing Adam Garrison's interest in the position?”

“Adam would be a great council president. He knows business and he knows the community. But only he can announce his candidacy. My purpose in coming forward is to make sure you understand he is a victim, not a perpetrator.” She gathered her purse and stood. “Will this run in tomorrow's paper?”

“As soon as I've verified a few facts.”

The woman's condescending attitude throughout the interview had rubbed Lauryn the wrong way. Her last remark raised Lauryn's hackles.
All right. Gloves off.

“You should have verified the facts before running the first story. Have you considered what will happen if Tommy Saunders is lying about the annulment being denied and you've falsely accused a Garrison of bigamy? That could be considered libel and your job and credibility would be in jeopardy.”

The woman paled, her indolent posture turned stiff and her mouth fell open.

Lauryn turned on her heel and left. She didn't believe for one moment that the Garrisons would go to battle to clear
her
name, but they would to clear Adam's.

Despite the tensions within the family, there was a bond in the Garrison clan that she envied. And maybe sacrificing her pride and her reputation would make Parker step forward and show Adam just how important a part of the family he was.

“What is this?”

Lauryn's heart stuttered Monday afternoon at the anger in Adam's voice. She swiveled in her office chair. He stood in her doorway holding up a copy of Sunday's newspaper folded to display her interview with the reporter.

Drinking in every inch of him from his overlong hair to his collarless black shirt and crisply pressed black trousers, she rose, rounded her desk and closed the door. She stopped just inches from him, and tilted her head back to meet his gaze.

She'd missed him over the past three days and hadn't expected to see him today since Estate was closed. He looked stressed and his blue eyes were hard and unforgiving. Her hopes sank. She'd bared her soul for that interview, hoping he'd read it and understand her choices. Would he ever forgive her for keeping her secrets? Apparently not.

What had his family thought of the article? She hadn't been invited to the Garrison Sunday dinner yesterday, so she didn't know.

“It's me trying to make this right. Until I can get to California and find my copy of the original documents it's the best I can do. I need a couple of days off. My flight leaves at five tomorrow morning. I should return Wednesday evening.”

His jaw shifted. “I don't want your help. I'll handle it. In fact, you can stay in California. I'll have your belongings shipped to you along with the divorce papers—if they're necessary.”

She nearly staggered from the verbal blow, but she held her ground because this was one fight she couldn't afford to lose. “You're sounding a lot like your ‘control freak' brother at the moment.”

He scowled.

“Adam, you told me you were trying to live down a past you weren't proud of. Why is it different when it's me?”

“I didn't lie about mine.”

“I didn't lie about mine, either. I just didn't tell you things that I thought were irrelevant and that you wouldn't want to hear.

He snorted in disgust. “You're saying you were protecting me?”

“I thought I was, but I guess I was only protecting myself. Remember that conversation we had about birth order affecting personalities? I said only children either rebelled or conformed. You're the one who guessed I'd conformed and before I could correct you, you followed up that statement by saying a wife with a rebellious past was the last thing you needed. But that was exactly what you had and it was too late to change that. I didn't say anything then because I didn't want you to think less of me.

“I wasn't a good kid, Adam. For five years I gave my parents hell. I used to dress and act like a tramp because it garnered the kind of attention that drove my control freak father nuts. I didn't value myself or those who loved me. I'm not proud of that, but I can't change who I was. I can only make sure the person I am now makes the right decisions for the right reasons.

“And the person I am now promised to help you win the council nomination. I'm trying by making sure the public knows the responsibility for this disaster with Tommy was my fault and only my fault. You're totally blameless.”

His face stayed hard, expressionless. Was she getting through to him at all?

“So tell me, Adam, what would a man who loved someone enough to elope do in this situation? Would he run at the first obstacle? Because when we expose Tommy's lie—and I'm confident we will—the paper's going to want to know why you married me in the first place if you quit loving me after barely two weeks and at the first obstacle. Talk about making you look capricious to your business council peers. And then your pretense of marrying for the sake of the nomination is going to come to light.”

He stiffened. “Is that a threat?”

She sighed. “No. I would never intentionally do anything to hurt you.”

“You're the one who should be worried about lies coming to light. The ‘crush-at-first-sight' bull you fed the reporter is absurd.”

Embarrassment warmed her skin, but she'd promised to be one hundred percent honest with him from now on. No more secrets.

“It's the truth. I was attracted to you from our first interview. The attraction only increased after I took the job. You're smart. You have a way with people that makes everyone around you feel at ease and an enthusiasm for your job that's contagious. Your employees fall all over themselves to please you—even me.

“But then I heard the rumors about your legions of women and your meaningless affairs and I told myself to get over you. You were living the life I'd left behind—one I never wanted to return to. Only I didn't get over you. I couldn't.”

She'd told him before, but he'd blown her off. She needed to say it again, to watch his face when she said the words.

She took a bracing breath. “I love you, Adam. I fell in love with you the day you offered to spend hours on your hands and knees helping me search those walk-in closets, helping me find out about my family because family is important to you. It is to me, too.”

Disbelief flickered in his eyes and then he abruptly turned away, dismissing her. “I'm hosting my mother's birthday party here Wednesday night. I don't want you there.”

The stab of pain caught her unawares. “We need to present a united front if you want to come out of this with any credibility at all.”

He rounded on her. “Don't you get it? Any chance for the nomination or for Parker to take me seriously is gone. Wiped out by your lies.”

“I think you're wrong. And I intend to prove it.”

“A
re you sure you're up for this?” Lauryn asked Susan as the cab pulled away from Miami International Airport and headed toward Estate Wednesday night.

“Of course I want to meet your husband and your in-laws. If Adam's an unforgiving sort, then he doesn't deserve you, and I intend to tell him so.” Ever the optimist, her mother smiled and squeezed Lauryn's hand. “But I'm sure that won't be necessary. Besides, I've never crashed a party. It might be fun.”

The thought of her very proper mother going anywhere without an invitation made Lauryn smile.

She didn't know how she could have forgotten that Susan Lowes had always been her champion. From the moment Lauryn had greeted her mother's ship through the convoluted confession of the diary search, her marriage, Tommy's reappearance and the scandal that had rocked Miami's elite community, Susan had been nothing but supportive. The only question she'd asked was, “Do you love him?”

When Lauryn had answered in the affirmative, Susan had said then they'd better get back Miami and fix this.

No mother, real or adoptive, could be better.

“Thanks for coming. After the way I acted…” Tears burned Lauryn's eyes and choked off her words. “I don't deserve your support.”

Susan's fingers tightened. “You were hurt, Lauryn. I understood. I should have insisted your father tell you the truth on your eighteenth birthday the way we'd planned, but with Adrianna already dead—”

“And my rotten behavior…”

“Well, yes, I admit we did take that into consideration. We didn't want to exacerbate the situation. But still, you had the right to know. And then you were so upset after that business with Tommy, we just didn't want to add to your worries.”

“I can't apologize enough for my behavior back then. Every rule seemed to hit a hot button and I overreacted.”

“Your dad was bossy because he loved you and feared for your safety. You were running with a dangerous crowd. Although he came across about as subtle as a tank most of the time.”

“Amen.”

“And he couldn't seem to comprehend that you weren't a new recruit who needed to be broken down and built back up into a team player. The harder he pushed the more you pushed back.” She shook her head. “You two were so much alike.”

Lauryn gaped. “Daddy and I?”

“Oh yes. Both strong-willed. Both determined to test your limits. The difference is your father found a job that allowed him to channel his wild side and to push himself against the barriers of light, speed and sound—literally.”

“I thought my rebelliousness must have come from Adrianna.”

“Your father was always a bit untamed.”

“But you loved him.”

Susan smiled wistfully. “Not at first. Back then we banged heads more often than not. I only married him because I was pregnant and alone and felt I had no other options. But I saw his tender side when he stood by me after I lost my little Daniel and then soon after he brought you home I fell hard. He was a little slower to catch on. But once he did we were good together. I'm gonna miss him for a long time.”

Swallowing the sudden lump in her throat, Lauryn covered her mother's hand. Her parents' marriage hadn't begun with love, but it had ended there. Could she hope for the same? Or would Adam never forgive her?

The cab pulled to a stop outside Estate. Lauryn paid the driver, climbed from the car and picked up their luggage. “We'll put these in my office and then find everyone.”

The employee entrance was locked at night and she didn't have a key to the exterior doors, so she led Susan past the long line of chicly dressed wannabe guests on the wide sidewalk leading to the front door and stopped in front of the massive guard. “Hi, Deke.”

“Lauryn, hey. Been on a trip?”

“Yes, and I brought my mother back with me. Where's Mrs. Garrison's birthday party being held?” She tensed and hoped he didn't refuse to let her in, but he unhooked the rope.

“Upstairs. Red room.”

“Thanks.”

Inside the music from the downstairs DJ pulsed around them. Lauryn turned away from the milling crowd and used her ID to access a locked door to the offices where she deposited their bags behind her desk. She huffed out a breath and squared her shoulders. Nervousness made her almost queasy.

There was no reason to stall before joining the party. She and her mother had changed into suitable attire at the airport. But she was afraid. Afraid she'd lose Adam tonight. If she hadn't lost him already. But if she didn't go upstairs and try to make this right then she'd definitely need to kiss her heart and her husband goodbye.

“Lauryn?”

“I'm ready, Mom.” She retrieved the small gift she'd bought for Bonita from her suitcase. “Let's go crash a party.”

His heart wasn't in this.

Adam stood on the sidelines of his mother's birthday bash watching two hundred of Miami's most powerful movers and shakers mingle or dance to the music pulsing through the speakers in the private upstairs room.

He wasn't out there working the crowd, slapping backs, shaking hands and trying to win their confidence for the business council nomination. In fact, he didn't even care whether or not his guests enjoyed themselves. A first for him.

Everyone he'd spoken to had asked for Lauryn. Apparently, her touchy-feely newspaper interview had impressed them.

“Adam,” one of his hostess's voice broke into his thoughts, “there's somebody here who insists on speaking to you tonight.”

Lauryn?
“Who? Where?”

“By the door.”

Instead of his wife, Adam spotted Ace Martin, the P.I. Disappointment weighted his shoulders. Disappointment he had no business feeling. He'd told Lauryn not to come. For all he knew she could be in California with Saunders spending forty grand right now.

Was he married or wasn't he? Adam's muscles tensed, but he forced them into action and crossed the room. Had Ace found the answers? Adam wasn't sure what he wanted those answers to be or even if they mattered. His marriage was very likely over either way.

Adam extended his hand. “Ace, thanks for coming.”

The P.I. nodded. “Is there someplace private we can talk?”

“My office.” He took the freight elevator rather than the stairs. He wasn't in the right frame of mind to charm the guests he'd encounter in the front of the club, and he didn't want to get hung up in a conversation with anyone and delay Ace's revelations even one minute.

The office suite was dark and deserted, but for a second Adam thought he caught a whiff of Lauryn's perfume.
Mind's playing tricks on you, man.
He shook his head. But dammit, he'd missed her. How stupid was that when she'd deceived him and possibly even loved another man?

But when he lay in bed alone at night he kept seeing the honesty in her eyes, and it made him second-guess himself—not a frequent occurrence.

He closed his office door behind Ace.

“Saunders lied,” Ace said without preamble. He pulled a file from his briefcase, opened it and spread copies of documents across Adam's desk surface. “Your wife's annulment went through without a hitch. Saunders drugged her just like she said. Medical records backed it up.”

Adrenaline shot through Adam. He and Lauryn were still married. Had her claim that she loved him been a lie?

“Every story you asked me to look into checked out. From all accounts, her father was a tough SOB. Rode her hard throughout her teens. She defied him in the typical teenage ways, but other than some underage drinking, never broke the law—or at least there's no record of it. Good student. Popular. Typical kid, if a little on the rowdy side during her high school years.

“Adam, I can't see her being your Garrison, Inc. snitch. Doesn't fit her character. And there's no unexplained money trail.”

“What about Saunders?”

“California cops nabbed him yesterday. Dumbnut still had the cash and the forged document on him. He's not the sharpest knife in the drawer. He's offering to return the money in exchange for a lesser charge. Our pretty boy's not too eager to spend more time behind bars. He's been there before for jacking a few cars and dealing drugs.”

“Was he alone?”

“Yes. No sign of Lauryn.”

Relief coursed through Adam.

Ace closed his briefcase. “Anything else I can do for you?”

Find my wife.

But Adam didn't ask. Even if Ace found Lauryn the P.I. couldn't make her forgive Adam or make her stop caring for her ex.

“Nothing else. Thanks for your help.”

“Just doing my job. Nice to find out someone's innocent for a change.”

Innocent. But Adam had convicted her. He'd been judge, jury and hangman. She probably hated his guts.

He wrote Martin a check and showed him out. The last thing Adam wanted to do was rejoin the party. He wanted to find Lauryn and apologize.

For doubting her.

For not telling her he loved her.

Too little, too late? Probably. But he had to try.

He returned to the red room and walked right in on Jordon and Emilio Jefferies standing nose-to-nose, fists clenched and looking ready to brawl.

Adam could make out the tone of their angry voices as he approached, but not the words. He had bouncers for this kind of crap, but considering Emilio would soon be family Adam decided to handle it rather than call security and have Jordon turfed.

“Jordon, I don't remember seeing your name on the guest list.” And if the man had a spy planted in Garrison, Inc. then he sure as hell wasn't welcome here.

“What? You don't want me to wish your mother a happy sixtieth?”

“If I believed the sentiment was legitimate I might consider it. But I don't. What do you want?”

Jordon's blue eyes scanned the room, alighting on a target Adam couldn't identify in the shifting crowd. “Nothing. Absolutely nothing.”

Looking disgusted, he turned on his heel and stormed out.

“Know what that was about?” Adam asked Emilio.

His future brother-in-law hesitated. “No.”

Adam would bet his Beemer Emilio Jefferies knew exactly why his brother was here. But pushing for an answer fell right off Adam's priority list when he looked across the room and saw the beautiful blonde standing with his mother and Brooke.

Lauryn had come home.

“You look like her,” Bonita Garrison said before Lauryn could escape after delivering the birthday gift and good wishes.

“Who?” Lauryn asked absently. She noted the worried expression on Brooke Garrison's face as Adam's sister stared across the room and looked to see what had caught her attention. Emilio Jefferies and Adam.
Adam.
Lauryn's heart thumped harder, faster and her palms moistened.

“Your mother,” Bonita answered, yanking Lauryn's attention back to her. Bonita's eyes, so like Adam's, shifted to Susan Lowes, assessed her and then returned to Lauryn. “Your birthmother. Adrianna Laurence.”

Lauryn's throat closed up. She yearned for details, but she didn't want to make Susan uncomfortable by asking for them.

Susan took the initiative. “How so, Mrs. Garrison? I've never seen a picture of Adrianna although my husband did speak of her occasionally.”

Bonita looked like she regretted opening the dialogue. Her lips thinned and her gaze drifted to the bar then returned. “The coloring is different. She was as dark as Lauryn is fair. But the bone structure is identical. The profile, the set of your eyes, your chin.”

No slurring marred Bonita's clipped words tonight. Lauryn wondered if that was her choice or because Adam controlled the bartenders.

“You knew her?” Lauryn asked with a flutter of excitement in her belly.

“She often accompanied her mother to society functions.”

“Really? What was she like?”

“She was quite a trial to her parents, always finding little ways to stir up trouble and draw attention to herself. Reading the interview you did with the paper quite reminded me of her. I trust you've outgrown the need to be the center of attention? Or have you? I'm not sure after this debacle.”

“Mother!” Brooke exclaimed.

“I have, Mrs. Garrison. All I want to do now is be a good wife to Adam.”
If he'll let me.

Bonita lifted her chin and looked down her nose at Lauryn. “Adrianna went out on a limb to save her child. You went out on a limb to save mine. Perhaps you have some redeeming qualities. But that remains to be seen.”

“Mother!” Brooke repeated.

“It's okay, Brooke. She's right. I—”

“Lauryn.” Adam's voice stalled her racing heart.