It was the smoking gun. And it screwed Jared five ways to Sunday.
From outside, he heard the muted chaos of Philadelphia traffic. So different from the occasional buzz of traffic he could hear at Annabelle’s place.
He’d called her last night to tell her he could come up today. She’d sounded…drunk.
Not sloppy, falling-down drunk. Just buzzed enough to slightly slur her words. And she’d sounded sad. Upset.
He’d asked what was wrong. She’d told him about Kate breaking off her engagement.
He knew how she felt about Kate’s engagement. She wouldn’t have been so sad over just that. Did she suspect something? Or was that his own guilty mind talking?
Shit. He tossed the paper on the desk. “If I tell her I know, she’ll be upset that I had her investigated. But if I don’t, her identity’s not safe and someone could use this to hurt her. And then I’ll have to kill them. Christ, this is a fucking mess.”
Dane laced his fingers over his stomach and stared at him. “So what are you going to do?”
Good question. After the horror she’d lived through, he understood why she’d wanted to be someone else, someone no one knew. It explained her reluctance to be seen in public with him. His family and his bank account made him a public figure. He’d never had a problem with it before. Now…
They may cost him the woman he…What? What did he want from Annabelle?
Jared raised a hand to rub at his temple. “Damn, my head hurts.”
“You need to tell her what’s going on,” Dane said.
Hot anger that anyone might dare hurt her boiled in his stomach like acid. He’d do whatever it took to spare her that.
Including telling her he’d had her investigated. “And when she tells me to go to hell…”
Dane gave an amused snort. “The mighty Jared Golden thwarted by a beautiful redhead. I’m more impressed with her now than I was last weekend.”
When Dane had been the second man in her bed. The remembrance of her passion that night made Jared hot as hell. He wanted to haul ass back to Adamstown, get her back into bed, naked and panting his name.
“See what you can do to hide the information. I need to clean off my desk so I can get the hell out of here.”
“Belle, we need to talk.”
Because it was exactly what she’d meant to say to Jared when he walked through the door of the shop later that afternoon, it threw her for a second.
The smile that’d curved her lips when she’d first seen him froze before fading.
Some emotion passed through his eyes. Regret, remorse. She couldn’t tell.
And her lungs seized into a tight ball of anxiety. He knew.
He took a deep breath. “Is anyone here?”
She shook her head, feeling a deadly cold chill encase her body. “The store’s empty for now. What’s wrong, Jared? Did something happen?”
He paused and took a deep breath. “I know who you are, Belle. I know who your parents were.”
She actually felt like he’d kicked her in the gut. Even though she’d suspected it was coming, it still hurt like hell. “I don’t know what you mean.”
But she did. She knew exactly what he meant.
“You’re Graceanna O’Malley, the daughter of Peter and Catrina O’Malley.”
She hadn’t heard anyone speak her real name to her face in years, and now it felt like tiny daggers in her heart to hear it coming out of his mouth. She wanted to feel a sense of relief that he knew her secret, wanted to be relieved that he knew. That she didn’t have to tell him.
The relief never came. Only that ice-cold chill in her blood.
She didn’t bother to deny it. Why should she, when she’d thought about telling him herself?
“How did you find out?”
His eyebrows lifted for a brief second, as if he hadn’t expected her to admit it. As if he thought she’d at least put up a fight. Then he took another deep breath before saying, “Dane.”
She understood what he wasn’t saying. He’d had her investigated.
Okay, she’d known this was a very real possibility. She’d known Jared was smart enough to figure or at least wonder why she had so many O’Malleys in her collection. He’d seen the portrait of her mother.
So why did she feel so betrayed?
Her chin lifted. “How long have you known?”
“Since this morning. I left soon after he told me. Belle—”
“How long has he been investigating me?”
Jared paused now and she knew again what he was going to say.
“Since I saw the O’Malleys upstairs.”
Her lips curved but it couldn’t be considered a smile. “They’re not for sale.”
He straightened as if she’d offended him but he shook his head, his expression carefully neutral. “I’m not asking. I would never ask you to sell them. Listen, Belle, I know what you must think about me right now, and I probably deserve it but there’s something else.”
He moved closer and she took one step back. If he touched her, she might shatter. That ice was moving out of her blood and into the rest of her body.
Jared’s mouth tightened then, the only outward sign that he’d noted her response. “Dane said he had trouble accessing the information but it wasn’t impossible. Whoever hid you…You’re no longer safe.”
She wanted to laugh but could barely breathe. “I’ll pass on that information. Thank you for letting me know. Is there anything else you need to tell me?”
He moved close enough to touch and she couldn’t move fast enough to get away. He froze for a brief second before his expression hardened with determination. “Don’t. Don’t pull away. I know you’re pissed at me and you have every right to be. But it doesn’t change how I feel about you. God damn it, Belle, I care about you.”
Her breath caught in her throat as she waited for him to say those three little words. The three little words that might make this all better.
But he didn’t.
“We work well together. And I’m not ready to give this up yet. Let me make sure the information about your parents gets buried right this time. I’ll make it all go away. No one will ever know who you are.”
And his reputation would safe. No one would ever known he’d dated the daughter of one of America’s most scandalous affairs.
Goose bumps covered her skin, the chill turning to a gut-churning, teeth-aching cold that encased her from head to toe. “I want you to leave.”
“No way. We’re going to figure this out, Belle. We’re going to get past this.”
Get past this to where? For what purpose? Did he want more than a sexual relationship with her? Or was his reputation more important? So far he hadn’t said anything that led her to believe otherwise.
“There’s nothing to figure out. Thank you for the information. I’ll be sure to tell my lawyer. Please close the door behind you.”
“Annabelle, we can—”
“There’s no we, Jared. You made that perfectly clear at the beginning of this affair. No ties, no…” No love. “I look forward to continuing our business relationship but I’m sure you can understand if I’d like to work with Tyler from here on out. That might be better for both of us.”
At least it would be for her. She’d already done the absolute worst thing she could have done by falling for Jared. To have to work with him now, after this…
She snapped her mouth shut to stop any other words that might escape. Or at least to hide the hurt she heard in her voice.
“Belle—”
She walked toward the door, her steps careful, but he caught her upper arm before she could get there. The heat of his hand began to seep through the cold but not enough. Her first reaction was to rip her arm out of his grasp but she refused to give him the satisfaction.