Rumor(45)

Grace put the last clip in Tiffany’s updo. “There you go. Just pull this one pin, and your hair will fall everywhere.”

“Perfect.” She stood and smoothed down the bodice of her corset. “Thanks, Grace.”

She glanced at the clock above the dressing table. Almost 6:00 p.m. And still no word from Isaac. Maybe he wasn’t going to show. Maybe he’d talked to Josh. Though Josh hadn’t said anything, and his only odd behavior today had been trying to figure out her odd behavior.

What a pair.

Grace slipped out a side door and walked around the front of the building to avoid Josh’s watchful eye from the studio. He was too perceptive. He noticed the slightest change in her mood, almost seemed to be able to read her thoughts. She’d always thought it would be great to have a man like that—until she was trying to hide something.

Walking in the front door, she caught a what-the-hell look from the bouncer, Theo. “Where’d you come from?”

“Around the side. No sign of him?”

“Nothing.”

She drummed her fingers on the podium up front. “The others know?”

“If anyone comes in tonight asking about you, we get ahold of you discreetly. No one goes to Josh even if this Beck guy asks for him.”

“Thanks, Theo. There’s a big tip in this for you on payoff.”

He grinned and saluted. “Anything for you.”

“And the almighty dollar.”

“Amen.”

She sighed, growing more nervous by the moment. “Okay. I guess I’ll head back again.”

Exiting through the front door, she made her way toward the side entrance again. As soon as she stepped inside, someone slipped a hand around her arm. She startled, twisted, and found Josh.

“Baby, what in the heck is going on with you today?” he asked, clearly concerned.

She exhaled, slipped her arms around his waist, and leaned into him, but not skin to skin like she preferred. He was working without a shirt again, layered in dirt and sweat. She was dressed in white silk, with a long night of customer contact ahead. Under different circumstances, he wouldn’t have been able to peel her off him.

“Someone didn’t let me get any sleep last night,” she said. “I get jittery when I’m tired.”

He stroked back a piece of hair off her forehead. “It was the other way around, sugar.”

“Speaking of sugar…” She followed the hollow of his throat with the tip of her index finger. “Would you want to come make cookies with me and Mom tomorrow? We’ve made sugar cookies on Christmas day for as long as I can remember.”

He stroked her cheek with the backs of his fingers. “Can I smear you with frosting and lick it off?”

“Afterward, absolutely.”

He grinned. “I wouldn’t be anywhere else—”

“I want to see Grace.” The bellow erupted from the direction of the back door, and Grace recognized Beck’s voice immediately. A river of ice slid through her chest. Panic stung her heart. “Grace Beck. I know she’s working here.”

“Sir, step outside before we take physical action,” Theo’s voice interjected. “We don’t have an employee named Grace.”

Josh’s hand closed on her arm, drawing her gaze. “Grace,” he hissed, “what is he doing here?”

“Get your hands off me, dude,” Isaac said. “I don’t want to hurt you, but if you touch me again, you’re going down.”

“Jesus.” Grace turned toward the mayhem, but Josh pulled her back, and when she looked at him again, hurt and fury flushed his face.

“Last time I talked to him he was halfway around the world,” Josh said. “Grace, what in the fuck…?”

“I’m sorry…” She put a hand to his chest. “Let me go take care of this before someone gets hurt.”

He ignored her, searching her face as the facts took shape in his mind. “You knew he was coming.” He released her and stepped back but blocked her path. “When? When did you know?”“Josh—”

“When?”

Grace jumped at his bark. “He called last night—”

“On the drive to the hotel.” Realization filled his voice, and hurt crept into his handsome features. “You talked to him on the drive from your mom’s to the hotel.”

More voices joined the fray near the back door. “Please, Josh—”

He gripped her arms, his expression shifting to one of accusation. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“I don’t know.” She couldn’t think. “I…I—”

“You didn’t trust me,” he finished, his hands tightening. “You knew he was coming, and you thought I’d bail again if I had to face him. You thought I’d choose my loyalty to him over my love for you.”