Oh, but it wasn’t. Alexei might be an excellent liar, but he didn’t seem capable when it came to her. There was something else going on, but she let it go. She turned to Caleb. She still wasn’t sure what was such a big deal. Alexei was right. A lot of people came to Bliss because they wanted to forget something. “Sommerville is a little stuffy, babe. I like Burke better.”
“You’re okay with it?” Caleb asked. Every muscle seemed tense.
She shrugged. “Why would I care? Lots of people change their name. Laura changed hers. Rachel did, too. Nell went through a phase where she called herself Moonbeam Laughingstick. I should have changed my name, but I’m way too lazy.”
Nicky slapped his hands together. “Good, excellent. Then we’re all happy. Dad, you should ship out. Don’t you have voters to defraud?”
Scott’s eyes narrowed, speculation plain in the blue orbs. “She doesn’t know.”
“Dad.” The word sounded like a warning coming out of Nicky’s mouth.
Holly got a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach. Nicky knew something, too. Everyone knew except her. She looked at Caleb. “What are they talking about?”
He seemed to find the floor behind her endlessly fascinating. “Nothing that matters. I’m Caleb Burke.”
Scott rubbed his hands together as though something pleased him greatly. “No, you’re Caleb Burke Sommerville of the Chicago Sommervilles. Holly, darling, if you think you couldn’t handle the Langs, you really should meet the Sommervilles. Talk about old money and power. They invented the terms. That family came over on the Mayflower, didn’t they? Well, it didn’t take them long to become one of the premiere families in American politics, and they’ve kept it that way for a couple of hundred years.”
“You’re an asswipe, Dad.” Nicky’s fists were clenched.
Holly looked around the room. “Nicky, you knew who he was?”
Nicky’s eyes turned down. “Yes, Mom. I lived in DC long enough to know who the power players are. I knew who he was the minute I laid eyes on him. And I knew he was different. He wouldn’t be in this town if he wasn’t.”
Scott laughed. “If you think my mother is a monster, you really should meet his brother, Eli. He’s in the Senate. There’s talk of a run for the presidency. How is that going to look? The heat’s going to be on, Holly. The great Elijah Sommerville isn’t going to like the fact that his sainted brother is involved with a waitress and apparently a foreigner. This little ménage of Caleb’s might be just what my party needs to bring him down.”
It was happening again.
“Dushka, calm down. Caleb has his reasons.” Alexei’s eyes fairly pleaded with her.
“He managed to tell you.” An icy stubbornness was settling over her.
Alexei shook his head. “No, I discover on my own. I discover what an amazing man he is. Yes, his family is wealthy and powerful, but he choose to be doctor to poor people in Africa. He choose to save peoples. And he choose to come here. He choose you. He might be too stubborn to admit to this, but he loves you, Holly.”
Not enough. Never enough. “He didn’t even tell me his real name.”
Caleb’s eyes were flinty stones staring at her. “This is my real name. This is who I am.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
His jaw hardened, and he looked back at the floor. “Because it doesn’t matter.”
“If it doesn’t matter, why didn’t you tell me?”
His eyes came up, and they were cold. So damn cold. “Because I’ve had too many women who were interested in my family and not me.”
She felt her hands shaking. She was right back where she’d begun. She was twenty and in love and under fire. “You thought I was a gold digger. Just like my ex-mother-in-law.”
Scott laughed, a smug, satisfied sound. “If he doesn’t, I assure you his brother will. Caleb Sommerville is worth about fifty million dollars. That’s what your trust is worth, right? And Eli is worth probably a billion. Trust me, you don’t marry into that family without some heavy vetting. His first wife was a socialite. Caroline Hanover. Good stock. My mother would have approved.”
“Congressman, I think we’ve had about enough of you. Please feel free to go.” Nate gestured toward the door. “My deputies can show you out.”
Holly had heard enough. “I think I’ll go, too, Sheriff. We can all agree this is probably not about me. I’ll be at my cabin if you need me.”
Caleb reached out and grabbed her arm. He pulled her close. So close. She could feel the heat of his skin. “I’m not through.”
She wasn’t about to let him manhandle her. “But I am. I’ve played out this scene before, Caleb. I won’t put myself through it again. I thought the reason you wouldn’t commit was because you hadn’t gotten over your first wife. I can see now that you wouldn’t commit to someone like me. Scott told me once that I was excellent mistress material for a man like him. He’s a bastard, but at least he was honest with me.”
Caleb wouldn’t let go. His face tightened. “You pulled me into this. I wanted to stay away. I wanted to be alone, damn it. You made me care about you. Don’t you dare walk away from me now. You sit down and talk this out.”
She pulled away from him. “I think I’ll pass, Dr. Sommerville. You can find some other cheap lay.”
“Dushka, don’t go.” Alexei didn’t touch her, but she could feel his will.
She turned away from him, too. “You knew, and you didn’t bother to tell me. I don’t really want to talk to you, either.”
She strode out of the sheriff’s department, Nicky hot on her heels.
“Mom,” he called out.
He was the one man she was mad at who she absolutely couldn’t get rid of. “Could you please drive me home, son?”
His face fell. “Sure. But you’re making a huge mistake. He’s not like Dad.”
“I don’t want to talk about this with you. I want to go home. You can’t understand what it’s like. You belonged. You had Lang blood. I can’t do it again. I can’t be the person everyone looks down on. Caleb can talk all he likes, but in the end, he’ll want someone his family will approve of. You heard your father. His wife was a socialite. She fit into that world. When he chose a woman, he chose one who fit into his social network. He’s told me for a year he wasn’t good for me. I should have listened.”
Nicky followed her across to Stella’s parking lot where his car was parked.
She was so stupid. Nicky was driving a hundred-thousand-dollar sports car, and she’d bought his whole “Dad kicked me out” routine. She also bought Alexei’s sad puppy eyes. He hadn’t even bothered to mention that he had two US Marshals tailing him. No one told her anything. That was how much she meant to these men.
Her son she could forgive, but Alexei and Caleb? She wasn’t sure. She’d been an idiot thinking this would work out.
She’d just opened the door to the Benz when Nell came rushing up. She was still in her mime face paint, but her mouth was moving a hundred miles a minute.
“Oh, my god, Holly! I just heard that Sasquatches blew up your car. I mean, I know it was a person. Even Mel knows that now, but are you okay? How did it happen? What went wrong? Do you know who I should protest against?”
Nell’s hands fluttered as she spoke. Holly caught them in her own. Nell immediately calmed.
“I’m fine. Everyone’s fine except my car. My car is now evidence. Don’t worry about it. I think I’m out of the line of fire.” But Alexei wasn’t. Caleb wasn’t. Someone was still trying to hurt one of them. Indecision bit at her. She looked back at the station house. Was she making a mistake?
What the hell was she doing walking away when they were in trouble? But how could she trust them when they’d lied to her?