him, Eliza and David? Did he actually believe…?
“I don’t know what’s gotten into you, but there is nothing going on between me and Eliza.” He had to know Brandon had no intention of pursuing her. He couldn’t call her wild anymore, but she still craved the spotlight. His mind hadn’t changed about her.
“I saw the way you looked at her last night.” He drained his drink.
Seeing Eliza had taken him aback. He’d forgotten just how striking her beauty was. He’d rather not think about kissing her. Not knowing how to respond, he decided it was better not to.
Instead, he met Jillian’s discontented eyes and wondered how long it would be before the she-snake in her struck.
“What are you doing here?” he asked her.
She passed David an uncertain glance. “I ran into him when I left the party. David was just arriving.”
“She told me you were there.” David’s drunken reproach landed on Brandon.
“He drew his own conclusions,” Jillian quickly added. “And then invited me to accompany him here. I agreed, but only to make sure he made it all right. He’d already had something to drink, so I drove his truck. My car is still at the hotel.”
That was more explanation than he needed. She was covering her tracks. She hadn’t intended for Brandon to find out she was here…with his brother. Her uncertain look earlier had him suspicious. What had they been discussing when he and Eliza had arrived?
The news relaxed Eliza. She lowered her arms. David wasn’t with Jillian to sleep with her.
“Jillian’s been quite a chaperone,” David said. “I’ve been sitting here with her trying to figure out why you broke up with her. I mean, I could understand if you knew she—”
“Maybe I should drive you back to Brandon’s ranch now,” Jillian interrupted, turning from David to Brandon. “Then maybe you and I can talk.”
They had nothing to talk about. Or did they? What had David been about to say? She was obviously hiding something. And he didn’t believe she was here by coincidence.
“I’ll drive him home.” Brandon would like to question her, but his drunk brother was his first priority. “You take his truck, and I’ll arrange to pick it up tomorrow.” Eliza moved forward and extended her hand to David. “Come on, David. You and I can talk about this tomorrow…when you’re sober.”
“I don’t need to be sober.” He waved her hand away. “And I’m not going back to the ranch.”
“David…” Eliza was clearly mystified. “Why?”
“I’m doing you a favor, Eliza.” Pain and resentment laced his tone. “Go home with Brandon. That’s what you wish for.” He turned to Brandon. “It’s what you both wish for.” And then more somberly, “You belong together anyway.”
“That’s enough, little brother,” Brandon said. He’d had enough of this nonsense. “Let’s go.”
He took hold of his brother’s arm to help him up from the booth.
David yanked free. “If I go anywhere, it’ll be with Jillian.” He turned to her. “Right, sweetheart?”
Jillian turned a narrow-eyed, warning look to David. Was David threatening her? Why had he called a woman he barely knew sweetheart? Had he discovered something about her? Once he had David alone and sober, he’d be sure and ask.
“Brandon, come back to the ranch with us,” Eliza said.
Brandon shot a look at her. David went utterly still.
“I—I mean…David,” she corrected.
David smiled without humor, calculating and cruel. “You see? You’re even saying his name instead of mine now.”
“You drank too much,” Brandon said. “You’re overreacting.”
“It was an accident. It doesn’t mean—”
“Come on, Eliza, let’s not pretend what this marriage is all about,” David cut her off. “We both know it’s him you’ve always wanted. I only married you so I could see what all the fuss was about.”
Eliza drew in a sharp breath just as the jukebox went silent with the last notes of piano music. She gripped Brandon’s jacket sleeve. David’s insensitivity was hurting her. Why was he acting this way? It couldn’t be that he truly believed his own brother fancied his wife.
“Brandon doesn’t want Eliza,” Jillian said to David. “She’s married to you. Besides, Brandon and I are seeing each other.”
The woman really grated his nerves when she did that, talking as though he hadn’t broken up with her and she hadn’t gone crazy on his front doorstep.
“He doesn’t care about you,” David said and sneered. “He doesn’t care about any woman. Except maybe Eliza here. Other than her, all he cares about is himself and that ranch of his.”
Eliza’s face had gone pale. “That isn’t true.”
David got up from the booth and staggered to her, making a show of running his gaze down to her hand still gripping Brandon’s sleeve and back up again. “Yes, it is.”
Jillian slid out of the booth and hooked her arm with David’s. She said to Brandon, “I’ll drive him home.”
“I don’t want to go back to the ranch. Let’s go to your place.”
“David—”
“Now,” David growled, making Jillian’s head flinch ever so slightly.
This was not the brother Brandon had grown up with. This man Brandon felt like punching. The way he’d just given Jillian another order kept him from acting. It was as if David had something on her, whatever she had stopped him from saying earlier.
David rounded on Eliza, cold eyes scathing. “I want an annulment. I can’t believe I was stupid enough to marry you.” And then he began walking toward the door, his arm around Jillian’s waist.
Jillian looked back apologetically at Brandon and mouthed, “I’ll take him home.”
They left through the door. David didn’t want to be anywhere near him or Eliza. What bothered Brandon was that all it had taken to send his brother walking was seeing Eliza with him. The friction hadn’t been there after they’d first been married. Clearly David had worried his wife still felt something for his brother. Seeing them together had confirmed his suspicion.
Beside him, Eliza silently cried.
Anger boiled up hotly in him. He had sound reasons for letting Eliza go all those years ago. She may not be as wild as she once was, but she still put her parties ahead of anything else, just as he’d predicted. David hadn’t seen that about her. He was accustomed to women falling all over him. He was a good-looking man. And now he thought Brandon and Eliza wanted to be together.
When
