Page 165 of Gilt

“Because I’m in a boardroom with a bunch of middle-aged men who already drool over my fiancée. I don’t need to give them any more material to fantasize about,” he admits.

“Then you better delete that photo.” I pour a cup of coffee and take a slow sip.

“That photo and I are going to have some alone time together later,” he promises.

“How about you hold out for the real thing?”

“Just promise you’ll stay like that the rest of the day, and we have a deal.” I can hear the wicked smile in his voice. “Duchess, I have to go. I love you.”

“I love you, too.” I hang up and look around the room. I’m not entirely sure how I’m not floating mid-air right now. Before I can come down from my high, my phone rings again, and I answer it immediately.

“Yes, I am naked, but you’re going to have to be patient.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Agent Mackey says dryly. “I guess you didn’t want to wait for your test results—or you didn’t care.”

My temper flares, and I have to set my coffee mug down to avoid spilling it all over myself. I’m mad at myself more than her, but that doesn’t mean she’s getting a free pass. Not this time. “We had private testing done. Your lab didn’t seem as concerned with the results as we were.”

“Ah, the royal we. How is the pedestal he’s placed you on?” she asks.

“Did you call for anything else?” I can barely get the words past my gritted teeth.

“Mostly to deliver the good news, but when you have a moment, I’d like to get a statement from you regarding your stepfather.”

I swallow against the bile rising in my throat. Mackey is never going to allow me to be happy. She’ll always find a way to disrupt my life. “I have nothing to say about him.”

“That’s interesting. I’d still prefer we talked,” she presses.

“You’re never going to let this go, are you?”

“Let what go, Miss Southerly? Or are you Mrs. West now? It’s hard to keep up with the gossip.”

I bypass the jab and focus on the real issue. “You have your DNA results. You know it wasn’t me. You know it’s not Jameson. When are you going to stop this persecution?”

“Persecution is a strong word,” she warns me. “As far as the FBI is concerned, you’ve been cleared. There’s no evidence to substantiate your involvement.”

“And as far as you’re concerned?”

“I’ll let it go when I know who’s responsible for Nathaniel West’s murder.”

“It wasn’t us!” I’ve completely lost my cool now.

“But it was. Maybe not you or Jameson, but it was one of you. Someone at that party killed Nathaniel West, and whoever he or she is, they think they’ve gotten away with it. I’m here to make certain that you can’t go on buying your way out of trouble. Don’t fool yourself. A lot of people wanted him dead, and someone close to you saw that it happened. How well do you know your new family, Emma? How much will they pay to keep the truth locked away?”

“I’ve never bought my way out of trouble,” I say flatly.

“No, but you sold your soul to a man who did.”

What Jameson doesn’t know can’t hurt him, which is why I don’t tell him I’m leaving the suite. I bribe Maddox to keep quiet with a venti white chocolate mocha, his guilty pleasure. I even allow him to drive me. Given the increased interest in my personal life, having a bodyguard the size of The Rock around seems like a good idea. Plus, it’s pretty easy to feed Maddox bullshit.

“I need to run an errand for my dad,” I say. “This guy brought a bogus baseball card into the shop the other day, and I have to deliver the bad news that it’s a fake.”

Tucking a little kernel of truth into my lie makes it easier to sell. Don’t say I never taught you anything.

Maddox pulls into a spot in front of Dominic Chamber’s office, and I jump out before he can unbuckle his seat belt.

“I’ll only be a minute,” I promise him. He looks unconvinced. Probably because I’ve pulled a few over on him. I take my phone out of my bag and drop the bag on the passenger seat. “Consider this collateral. I’ll be right back.”

Chambers puts out a cigarette as soon as I enter. “Sorry, about the smoke, Miss Southerly.”