His hands were thrust inside his pockets, but Beth wasn’t fooled by the casualness of that pose. Upon further inspection, she realized his expression was positively morose.
Puzzled, she took a seat at a small round game table, and Landon surveyed her with slitted eyes. What was up with him today?
“Did I miss something?” she asked, frowning.
He made a noncommittal sound, as though whatever he’d been about to say couldn’t quite be said, and shook his head like the situation was dire.
His expression made Beth’s unease increase tenfold. “What?”
“Who told Halifax of the engagement party? You?”
Her hands began to shake so hard, she set down her coffee mug before she spilled it all over herself. Something tumultuous charged the air. Landon looked…enraged. “I called David, remember? You said I could invite him.”
“And who did you speak to? Hector?”
She frowned in consternation and her stomach churned uncomfortably. “Anna, the housekeeper. She’s become a nanny to him, I think. Why? Why do you have that look on your face?”
He reached for the sofa, then flung a newspaper for her to see. “The picture today in every newspaper except the Daily is not ours. It’s of Halifax.”
Beth gasped as she spotted Hector’s loathed face staring back at her from the black and white picture. “No!”
The headline was even more disgusting than Hector.
Gage and Lewis engaged in illicit affair long before wedding date…
“Yeah,” he said, tightly, and slammed his fist into the table. “Hell, yeah.”
Panic bubbled up inside her. “God! You’re the owner of a newspaper, can’t you do something?”
“Beth, it wasn’t just the Daily covering the party, it was the Houston Chronicle, the Dallas Morning News, even the Enquirer, for God’s sake.”
“And that is my fault, how?” Beth pushed her chair back, the outrage that swept her so intense her voice trembled. “I’m sorry it didn’t go as we planned but that certainly wasn’t me. And you full well know we’re not—you and I are not having…having sex.”
His pointed stare and the way it slowly raked up and down her body made her nipples bead so wickedly under her buttoned shirt she wanted to hide. “No, Beth, you and I are not having sex yet.”
Her blood bubbled in her veins. What did he mean by yet? “Landon, it was a mistake to call David. I see that now. But he’s just a little boy. All I wanted was to see him.”
But Landon rammed a finger to his temple and made a twisting motion. “Emotions make us sloppy, Beth. You need a cool head.”
“How can I when my son is with that monster!”
Crossing the distance between them, he seized her shoulders and leveled their gazes, as if that alone could make her see the problem through his glimmering silver eyes. “Precisely why you can’t risk our position.” God, his stunning features were so much more amazing up close, she could barely decipher his words. “You can’t attempt to see David anymore, not until I say so—I can’t have you saying or doing the wrong thing around Halifax. It could compromise everything. Understand me?”
“I understand.”
He released her. “All right,” he relented, dropping his arms. “So not a word to Halifax unless our lawyer is present—agreed, Bethany?”
“Why on earth are you snapping at me, I’m on your side!”
“Just stay away from Halifax from now on.” He grabbed the newspapers scattered throughout and rammed them into his briefcase before locking it shut. “I’ve got to go.”
“You forgot this one.” She glowered down at the paper as though she could destroy it with one glare. God, it was so not what they’d planned, she wanted to hit someone. “What are we supposed to do now?” she asked him as he took the paper from her. Their fingers brushed and sent a disquieting little tingle through her arm.
The kiss. Oh God, she’d almost mated with him right there in front of everybody, and for nothing. For more lies, more and more lies from Hector.
Landon started for the foyer, all angry power and dark predatory steps. “We do what we planned to do. We’re getting married.”
The front door slammed shut.
For Beth, the next few days were busy.
They consisted of overseeing the run of the household along with the housekeeper, Martha; working on her and Kate’s project; worrying about David and cursing that loathed, cheating, bribing snake Hector; wondering what Landon was doing and when he would get home and if he would smile at her; then back to Kate and Beth’s project.