Hot Commodity(23)

"She’s already gone back home," she said, her voice cracking.

She looked about as scared as a lost lamb, and Cameron’s frustrations grew. If what she’d told him about her mother was true, then she was just as innocent in this situation as he was, and the whole night had been one big, avoidable accident.

God. Exactly what he didn’t want to deal with.

"Okay," he said, remaining as calm as possible. "Where’s home?"

Her shoulders heaved as she sucked in air. "Pasadena."

He nodded. "Fine. Tomorrow, I’m headed home myself. I’ll just have my pilot detour us by your place on the way."

"But you’re going in completely the opposite direction of California," Leah cut in.

Cameron gave his sister a sour look. "What would you rather have me do? Take her back to KC with me?"

"Well, she is your wife."

Cameron growled and tossed down the block he’d been holding. It hit another that happened to be a vital foundation piece to the structure his nephew was building. As the entire stack went tumbling, four-year-old Aiden burst into devastated tears.

Leah gathered her sobbing son into her arms and held him to her chest as she glared at Cameron. "Look what you did," she said accusingly. She cooed to Aiden and struggled to her feet. With a final scowl at Cam, she carried her son from the room, telling him they’d go do something else and leave mean old Uncle Cameron alone.

Cameron sighed and shoved over another pile of blocks. He glanced at Olivia, who watched him with untrusting eyes.

God, he needed a drink.

Feeling his nasty mood spark, he decided to take it out on her. "So, how am I supposed to know you’re telling me the truth?"

Her story was too fishy. None of it added up. He was having a hard time believing she’d stumbled across him by mere coincidence when he was the one guy she claimed to be avoiding.

When Olivia frowned in confusion, he explained, "Maybe you wanted to do exactly what Mommy told you to do. Maybe you followed me to that bar last night and waited until I was good and plowed before strolling over in that tight little number."

"No."

He snorted when Olivia shook her head emphatically. "You know, maybe Mommy didn’t want to keep me as a son-in-law at all. Why would she need to? If you could talk me into marrying you, which you did, then you could just keep me in bed long enough until we bypassed the opportunity to get a nice simple annulment and had to go through a divorce instead, where you’d take half of everything I own."

Olivia’s jaw dropped. "I don’t want anything from—"

"But you know what?" Cameron cut in. "You can go ahead and take it. I don’t give a rat’s ass. I can be poor and miserable just as easily as I can be rich and miserable."

"You’re wrong," Olivia told him, shaking her head again.

But Cameron wasn’t buying it. "You know what’s wrong? You. It’s just plain wrong to go out, planning on seducing a complete stranger just because you know he’s rich. Some people would call that stealing, you know. You didn’t even earn it. Oh, wait. I guess you did. You screwed me real good last night, didn’t you? Well then, it must be time for me to pay my whore. Except you’re a little more pricey than most, aren’t you?"

Gasping, Olivia took a step back. "Why, you awful, awful man. I see why your wife killed herself."





Six



Olivia’s hands fisted inside the sleeves of Cameron Banks’ long-sleeved shirt. If they’d been free, she would’ve slapped him. As it was, her words seemed to knock him back as effectively as any physical blow she could’ve produced. He blanched and lurched a step in reverse. But he stopped moving so abruptly, she wondered if he’d been petrified. Then he swallowed, and by the expression on his face, he was ingesting razorblades.

For one awful, drawn-out second, she feared he might burst into tears. His bottom lip trembled and his eyes went moist. It took her a moment to remember what she’d said in her rage. When she realized she’d accused him of driving his first wife to suicide, she stopped breathing, appalled by herself.

Oh, God.

Olivia could actually see where all his insults toward her originated. Her tale was ludicrous. If she were him, she’d probably think she was merely following her mother’s orders too. She always had before. But his words had hurt, so she’d lashed back with the first thing she could think to say.

Her mother always made similar comments, telling Olivia her father had killed himself to escape such an awful daughter. Over the years, she’d grown numb to the barbs, had actually become immune to them. So it was a little surprising to see how adversely they affected Cameron Banks.