as he hooked his finger in the spaghetti strap of her satin nightgown.
“Come back to bed and it’ll be my pleasure to show you, sweetheart.”
Blake held Sasha close as he watched the shadows of night gradually be chased away by the first light of dawn. After they’d made love, she’d drifted off, but sleep had escaped him.
He’d been more bothered by the newspaper article that he’d let on to Sasha. But not for himself. She was the one whose reputation was being called into question. And that’s what caused the anger burning deep in his belly.
Blake had long ago gotten used to being fodder for the gossip columnists. Whether any of the Fortunes liked it or not, it went hand in hand with being a member of the wealthiest family in South Dakota. But Sasha wasn’t used to having her private life chronicled for the masses to read about over their morning coffee.
Her name had appeared in the newspaper a few times because of the social functions and charity events she and Creed had attended together, but those stories hadn’t been based on speculation or been malicious in tone. The article in yesterday’s paper had been both and read more like something Trina would write than a reputable columnist.
He closed his eyes in an effort to block out the truth. His half siblings, Case and Eliza, and even his Australian cousin, Max, had had information about them leaked to the press and they’d all accused Trina of being behind it. But surely she wouldn’t do the same thing to her own son. Would she?
Blake wasn’t so sure. But the next time he stopped by her place for a visit, he had every intention of finding out.
Eight
“Do you have a minute?”
Sasha was surprised, not only by Creed’s question, but the fact that he’d even asked it. He never cared how busy she was or what she was doing. If he wanted to drop by her office to chat, he walked right on in. Of course, as co-president of Dakota Fortune, he was her boss and entitled to do that.
“Sure, what do you need?”
An ominous feeling filled her when he held up a news clipping as he reached to close her office door. “We need to talk.”
“That’s the gossip column that ran in last weekend’s newspaper, isn’t it?” she asked, wondering if the nefarious story would ever go away.
“Yes.” Creed had been out of town on business for the past six days and had apparently just learned about the article.
Walking over to her desk, he slapped the clipping down in front of her. She gasped when she read the sticky note attached to it. “How does it feel to come out the loser for a change?” She looked up at him. “Where did you get this?”
“It arrived in today’s mail.”
She felt as if she might be sick. “Who would do such a thing?”
“I think we both know who’s responsible,” he growled.
“Y-you think Blake sent this to you?”
“Who else?”
“You’re wrong, Creed.” Sasha’s fingers trembled as she rubbed at her suddenly throbbing temples. “Blake would never do anything like this.”
He propped his fists on the surface of her desk, then leaned forward. “Are you sure?”
Tears filled her eyes as she nodded. “Of course.”
“Then who else would be malicious enough to send me something like this?”
“I don’t know.” She felt as if she were being interrogated on a witness stand and Creed was her prosecutor, judge and jury.
When she opened her bottom desk drawer for a tissue, then wiped at an errant tear on her cheek, Creed swore vehemently. “I knew he’d do something like this. I just didn’t anticipate it happening this soon.”
“Y-you’re wrong, Creed.” Sasha tried to sniff back a fresh wave of tears. “Blake’s not like that. What would he have to gain?”
“The satisfaction of publicly humiliating me,” Creed stated flatly. “Sending this to me was just his way of rubbing my nose in it.”
She couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Other than the picture of her and Creed dancing at Case and Gina’s wedding reception, his name had only been mentioned a couple of times. She’d been the one the columnist had focused on.
“You think you’ve been publicly humiliated? How do you think I feel?” she asked, suddenly more angry than hurt. “I’m the one who’s been accused of being a social-climbing gold digger.”
That seemed to drain away much of his anger and, straightening to his full height, he shook his head. “I never meant to dismiss the effect this has had on you, Sasha.”
“But that’s exactly what you’ve just done,” she said, saddened that her friend hadn’t even considered how the story might have upset her.
They stared silently at each other for what seemed like an eternity, each knowing their friendship had suffered a serious blow.
“Are you going to Deadwood this evening?” he finally asked.
She shook her head. “Blake’s flying in later this afternoon to spend the weekend here.”
Creed’s mouth flattened into a tight line a moment before he nodded, and without another word walked out of her office.
Feeling drained from the confrontation, Sasha began to carefully stack the marketing charts she’d been working on when Creed had shown up. After what he’d just put her through, he owed her the rest of the afternoon off. With pay.
As she retrieved her purse from the bottom drawer of her desk, turned off her computer and left her office, she made a conscious decision not to mention the disturbing incident to Blake. The brothers were already at odds and there was no way she was going to add fuel to a fire that was rapidly growing out of control. Nor was she going to be the catalyst that brought their feud to a head.
Getting into the shiny red sports car he kept at the airport for his frequent visits to Sioux Falls, Blake started the powerful engine and headed straight for Sasha’s apartment. It had been four days since she’d left Deadwood and he couldn’t believe how much he’d missed her. He’d called her every night, but phone conversations were a poor substitute for holding her, kissing her and making love to her until they both collapsed from exhaustion.
A half hour later, when he parked the car in front of her apartment building and got out to walk up to her door, he whistled a tune. Life was good. Profits at his three casinos were higher than any of the projections; there hadn’t been any more reports about him and Sasha in the gossip columns and he was going to spend the next three days with the most exciting woman he’d ever known. As far as he was concerned, it didn’t get any better than that.
When he stopped to dig Sasha’s apartment key from his jeans pocket, he smiled. She was going to be surprised and hopefully quite pleased when she came home from work and found that he’d had a caterer deliver a specially prepared dinner for them. She was
