know him, but he knows you,” he said, and added silently, Or at least he knows your wife.
“If you leave me your number,” Howard said once he seemed to catch his breath, “I’ll let you know what I find out.”
He had a pretty good idea what Howard would uncover. He hoped the older man didn’t do something he would regret. “I’ll be in touch,” Cooper said, making it clear that this wasn’t the end of it. “I want this man’s name.”
As they parted, he still itched to kick the bastard’s ass. Not that it would lessen his pain or solve the problem between him and Livie, he thought as he looked toward his pickup, only to find it empty.
* * *
AFTER LEAVING THE caretaker’s home, Livie couldn’t stand the confines of the pickup. Breathing in the cold spring air, she’d headed up the road toward the Wellesley cabin.
The men were still inside accomplishing little, she’d thought. If they really wanted answers they should have been talking to Amelia Wellesley.
The walk was short back up the road. It had felt good to be moving, to be doing something, especially after what she’d learned. The man had duped her in ways she hadn’t even imagined.
Livie knocked lightly, but didn’t wait for Amelia to open the door. Stepping in, she found her in the kitchen. She had a glass of wine in one hand and a cell phone in the other.
Seeing Livie, she glared at her as she said into the phone, “I have to go,” and disconnected. She took a sip of her wine before she said, “That’s quite the story you told earlier. How long have you been seeing him?”
“I’d never seen him before in my life or again after that night.”
Amelia raised a brow. “Would you be surprised if I told you that he’s been taking my money, as well?”
“Not really. Who is he?”
“He said his name was Drake, but I suspect even that was a lie.”
“But you know how to reach him,” Livie said.
“His number’s been disconnected.” She took another drink of her wine.
“I don’t believe you.”
Amelia slammed down her nearly empty wineglass on the counter. “I just tried to call the bastard. I thought I was rid of him and then you show up at my door. Do you realize what you’ve done coming here like this?”
Livie did. “I’m sorry if this causes you a problem.”
“A problem?” The woman let out a bitter laugh and drained her wineglass.
“He called me that night. Yes, that’s right, the night he was with you,” Amelia said. “I was supposed to meet him here, but I couldn’t make it. Nor could I give him any more money.” She met Livie’s gaze. “He sent me a photo of the two of you in my bed.”
“Do you still have that photo?”
Amelia looked at her as if she must be mad.
“But if he was blackmailing you, I’d think you want to see him caught as much as I do.”
She shook her head as if amused. “I’d never press charges against him and he knew it. Just as he knew you wouldn’t tell your fiancé about that night.”
“How could he know that? How could he know anything about me?”
She refilled her wineglass before she said, “The man preys on women like us. Women who don’t want the bad publicity and can get their hands on money. In my case, a rich husband. In yours, a rich father. He seemed to know me so well that for a while I thought maybe Howard had put him up to it. That it was a test.”
“How did he get a key to your house, to your SUV?”
The woman’s smile had a bite to it. “What do you want me to say? He played me, just as he did you. With me, he targeted me at a fund-raiser of my husband’s, also pretending to be someone he wasn’t. With you...”
“I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“His good luck,” she said, and raised her wineglass in a salute. They both glanced toward the front door at the sound of vehicles approaching. The men would be here soon.
“What will your husband do?”
Amelia looked away for a moment. “Howard will be angry, but he’ll get over it.” Her gaze shifted back to Livie. “Your fiancé doesn’t seem to be as forgiving.”
She didn’t want to talk about Cooper. She hesitated and then asked, “Is there a chance he could have drugged me that night?”
Amelia laughed. “Did he look like the kind of man who has to drug a woman to get her into his bed?”
That was the last thing she wanted to hear. Desperate, she pleaded, “If you know how I can find him...”
“I don’t.” She met Livie’s gaze. “Don’t worry. If you don’t pony up the money, he’ll find you. Because now he’s your problem.”
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