Wicked Pleasures (30 page)

Chase knew exactly why Cam had chosen Carlyle's. Invariably, if the Robertses were in town and there were no parties pending, they held court at Annalee's maternal uncle's restaurant.

He held back his concern after discussing it with Ian, but he had to admit that the return of Cam's recklessness was starting to worry him.

He hadn't been like this in years. Not since his return from the military, and when they started sharing their lovers. As though he needed an outlet, something to pour all that darkness into. And the wicked games they played with their women had provided that outlet.

Jaci, sweet, innocent Jaci, was holding out on the game, and it was pushing Cam. Chase could feel it. But he couldn't blame Jaci, either. She wasn't a woman who went to bed with one man that easily, so giving in to Cam's more extreme desires would be harder for her.

She was fighting her curiosity, too. He and Cam could both see it, feel it. She was fighting for Cam, and though Chase gave her an A for effort, he didn't hold out a lot of hope that his brother would ever willingly tell either of them what had happened all those years ago. As they moved through Carlyle's—Chase moving ahead of them, with Jaci in the middle and Cam at her back—he noticed the knowing looks they received.

Ian's club was safe, but there were a few of the members who were known for their sharing. Not a lot of them, but a few—those who willingly fronted for the club and drew attention away from the married members.

Ian's ancestors had known gossip and society. They had learned the most effective way of hiding was in clear view. Give the greedy piranha's something to latch onto and the others could slip by undetected.

Cam and Chase had no problems with others knowing who and what they were, to a point. They were members of Ian's club, but they were also members of several other men's clubs that were as staid and uptight as any ever created. Clubs based on wealth or position, and a clientele that benefited from the particular arena they fed off of. None of those clubs were based on sexuality. He and Cam avoided the sex-based clubs like a plague. They were counterproductive and just too much damned work.

"Ian, Courtney." Chase nodded to them as the waiter showed them to the private table Chase had requested.

"And here I thought the night would be boring." Courtney's smile was all teeth as she glanced across the room to where Richard and Annalee Roberts were currently holding court at a long center table.

"You promised to be good, Courtney." Ian glanced at her from the corner of his eyes, but Chase saw the carefully banked anger there.

He hadn't been pleased with the information Chase had relayed to him, and Chase knew he would now be working to make certain that, no matter how Jaci's relationship with Cam fared, the Robertses would never touch her again.

Ian didn't need proof, all he needed was his own certainty with which to go to the punitive committee. He and Cam needed more, though. Protecting Jaci from not just the Robertses, but from herself. Because he was damned certain Cam was right: Jaci was trying to take care of this all on her own.

He glanced at Cam, then to Ian. That shared look assured him they were in agreement. It was time to neutralize the bastards. No one, but no one, attacked one of Ian's employees, and especially a female employee. They were family. They were under his care. Under all their care.

Jaci watched the shared look between the three men, and glanced at Courtney. She was glaring at the Robertses, her gaze flickering back to them every few seconds before she would murmur a Spanish curse beneath her breath.

"What's going on?" Jaci kept her voice low, but she felt Cam tense in the chair beside her, just as Chase did on the other side.

She watched Courtney's gaze flicker over the two as Ian watched in amusement.

Courtney's lips pressed together as the waiter placed the water before her and Ian ordered wine. As he retreated, she leaned closer to Jaci and hissed, "Whose idea was Carlyle's?"

Jaci pointed to Cam with a subtle shift of her finger.

"Remind me to make you pay for this." Courtney glared at him.

"Undercurrents, undercurrents." Jaci smiled. "What the hell is going on?"

"The bastard dared to threaten Sebastian and Ian," Courtney huffed, ignoring Ian's warning look. "Chase should have told you. I am certain Ian informed him of it."

Her accent was thicker and her eyes glittered with ire.

"Sometimes they neglect to tell me things," Jaci told her calmly. "I'll discuss that with them later."

Courtney smiled at that, the gleam in her eyes turning to one of immense satisfaction as she glanced at the twins. "I gather they haven't exactly met the wrong side of your shoe, as of yet?"

Jaci only smiled, carefully keeping her gaze from turning to Chase and Cam as the waiter returned with the wine.

She stewed over their obvious machinations. The pure arrogance in bringing her here just pissed her the hell off and, she admitted, deeply worried her. Cam had been willing to let the subject of the Robertses slide earlier, just as she had wanted him to. Needed him to. And Richard had destroyed that.

Threatening Sebastian wasn't a good idea, and it was obvious he had pissed off the wrong woman when he made Courtney angry. Jaci knew Courtney. The fiery temperament could turn brutally cold and vengeful.

It was Cam and Chase who worried her now. They were . . . stealthy. Dangerous. She could see it and feel it in them now, where she hadn't earlier in the evening. She hadn't been looking for it. Cam especially had a way of hiding his anger when he needed to. It made him more dangerous, and she had a feeling it could make him more merciless.

Just what she needed, Cam in a merciless mood while Richard and Annalee were in the same room.

She sipped at her wine as they waited on the meal, chatting with Courtney and Ian, and doing her best to ignore Cam and Chase. It was hard, because both of them insisted on flirting with her.

After the meal was finished, the dance floor on the other side of the room darkened and the haunting strains of the band whispered around them.

Chase leaned close. "Dance with me?" he asked.

She sniffed at the thought. She had no desire to dance with either of them. She wanted out of here as quickly as possible, before years of planning were destroyed.

She had known what she had to do to declaw the Robertses, and it was just her misfortune that Cam and Chase had to be right here in Virginia at the same time. She could have used just a few weeks advance notice, she thought furiously.

"You can dance with me or you can dance with Cam," he said then. "And we both know how Cam gets when he has questions, don't we sweetheart? You'll fare a hell of a lot better with me."

She stared back at him mutinously, only to have him grip her hand and pull her from the table. Short of causing a public scene, she had no choice but to follow behind him.

"This is called force," she pointed out, careful to keep her voice low, as he pulled her against his chest and gripped her hand in his.

He grunted at the accusation. "It's called the better part of valor," he argued. "Cam's getting tenser by the moment. Better to give him something to focus on for a while, other than Richard Roberts."

And he was focused on
her
. She could feel his eyes stroking over her, and when she caught a glimpse of them, it was to see his expression flicker with a subtle sensuality. He had no problem seeing her in his brother's arms, that was a certainty. And it turned her on. Turned her on enough that she let her body relax, let herself give in to him.

She felt his erection pressing against the soft silk covering her lower stomach.

They moved around the floor and she glanced over at Cam. He stared back at her, shadows moving around him, intensifying the hunger in his eyes.

"He watches you like a wolf watches his mate," Chase murmured in her ear. "He always has, Jaci. Since you were sixteen years old and he dragged your ass out of that first party. Do you know, each time his leave was up he would make me swear to watch after you?"

She shook her head. She couldn't tear her eyes away from Cam's. She didn't want to. Right here, she could feel Chase's hard body against hers, his arousal heating the air around her, and Cam's need reaching out to them.

As Cam watched, the music changed. The soft, slow tune became faster, almost Latin, a sexual mix of music filling the air.

And he knew what was coming. His teeth clenched, his body tensed as Chase pulled Jaci into his arms and swung her into a sensual, hip-rubbing rhythm. A simple routine, but sexual, sexy. He turned her to him, turned her against him. Her hips swung, brushed Chase's and Cam felt his dick harden in his pants.

Chase loved dancing to the Latin beats, and Cam knew Jaci loved to dance. Her expression became sensually distant. Her gaze stayed locked with his whenever possible, her body moved and she teased. She teased Chase. And she was teasing him.

Jaci felt the blood pounding in her veins as Chase's hands slid down her sides then up. His fingertips brushed the rounded curves of her breasts, then slid to her hips, turned her, caught her. He pulled her to one side, to the other, her lower stomach brushing his erection with each swing of her hips as he lifted her arms with his, turned her again, brought her back to his chest and she made certain she teased.

She rubbed her ass against him, watched Cam, and let him see, know her pleasure. With each look, with each move of her hips she gave him a sensual view into the pleasures they shared, letting him see her pleasure, letting him experience it.

His gaze never left hers; his expression never wavered in its sensual, sexual demand.

As Chase turned her again, twined her arms around his neck, the music shifted once more, slower, a whisper of sex and a throb of lust. She moved against him, forward, backward. When she stared into his eyes, she saw Cam's. As she buried her hands in his soft black hair, it was Cam's. She touched Cam, and she desired this too sexy, too dark brother of his.

"You know what we're doing?" His lips quirked as he watched her. "Cam's going to be insane for you, Jaci."

"That's what we're doing," she admitted, staring over his shoulder, seeing Cam's shadowed face, his eyes, bright, lit with wicked hunger.

"Not the way to gain what you're looking for." Her lashes fluttered as his lips touched her neck. Pleasure was a cascade of color behind her closed lashes, it was an ache, a need, it was the thought of one man and his touch, and the knowledge that another man could spur her pleasure as well.

When she looked at Cam again, it was to see him moving, striding to them, his expression dark, forbidding, laced with lust and with need.

Chase stepped back, gave her a mocking grin, and Cam took her in his arms. His hands gripped her hips as the beat of the music grew slower, even more sensual. It was like making love in public. It was like touching and being touched, finally having a part of him, just to herself.

He stared into her eyes, he held her to him, and they swayed, rocking to the music, and Jaci felt herself coming alive for him.

"I love you, Cam."

His expression tightened, his eyes darkened. "I love you, Jaci." He pulled her closer, tucking her head to his chest, holding her, moving with her. "I love you."

Once they returned to the table, Jaci and Courtney escaped to the ladies' room. She wasn't unaware of the fact that Cam followed behind them until they entered the inner sanctum. He was watching her, protecting her. He was blowing all her plans to hell, and she knew it.

Making use of the facilities, Jaci and Courtney repaired makeup, waited, and watched until one of the few lulls in occupation in the room came.

"What the hell is going on, Courtney?" Jaci hissed as the last woman pushed through the heavy oak door.

"I don't know, Ian won't tell me everything." She grimaced. "All I know is that Chase called, and then Ian retreated to his office without me. He refuses to tell me what was said, but he's very concerned. I assume it has something to do with those detestable Robertses."

Courtney leaned her hip against the counter. The radiant, deep red, silk-and-lace dress she wore complemented her dark skin and long hair. She looked as wicked and wild as she was, until Jaci looked into her eyes again.

"Jaci, something's not right with this whole situation," Courtney whispered. "Whatever you're doing, you can't do it alone. Cam simply isn't going to allow it."

She didn't have a
choice
but to do it alone.

Shaking her head, she checked her appearance once again, smoothed her hands down the little black dress she wore, and thought of the man waiting outside for her.

"They were acting strange after Chase arrived at the house," she admitted. "I thought they were getting ready to fight again."

"They always fight." Courtney waved that away with a flick of her fingers. "Chase always pushes Cam for answers and Cam always pisses him off by refusing. This is normal, from what Ian says. But there's something added now, Jaci. Especially tonight. Cam's attitude makes me remember the stories Ian told me, that Chase related to him, of when Cam was in the military. He was merciless. He has that look in his eyes tonight."

Yes he did. Along with the hunger was the sheer anger that she had glimpsed only once or twice, and twice was enough. It was savage, and always directed toward the Robertses' table.

He couldn't have found out the truth of that night. The Robertses and their primping, sluttish secretary certainly wasn't telling, and she knew Moriah would never tell. There was no one else who knew, no other avenues for Cam and Chase to learn the truth. And if they did know, they wouldn't be watching her like junkyard dogs, they would have already taken the Robertses apart.

"Dammit, Courtney, I need to know what's going on!" she whispered fiercely. "I have my own plans, my own way of dealing with this. But I have to do it right."

"Good luck," Courtney said, with a moue of irritation. "Those men, once they band together, they tell me nothing. And Ian is the worst. He is worse than the clam. Refuses to open his mouth and tell me things I wish to know."

Jaci almost laughed at that—almost, because right now, Ian's silence was making it harder to take care of things herself. She needed to know what Cam could know.

"If you hear anything, will you let me know?" Jaci asked her.

"Of course, no matter Ian's wishes," Courtney agreed. "But heed me well, my friend, he'll say nothing."

"But anything I tell you is fair game?" Jaci sighed.

Courtney bit her lip in indecision, then breathed out roughly. "Your pain would upset me greatly, Jaci. Because of this, I would share whatever you told me with Ian. And we both know, if it's bad enough, he will tell Cam and Chase, no matter my wishes. They are men." She shrugged as though that explained everything. "And he believes this situation is dangerous to you. You are a friend, but even more, you are like family, because of Cam. Ian feels it is his duty to be protective."

"Being men is not a good enough excuse."

As the words slipped past her lips the door opened and several women filed in, laughing, chatting about the food and the band.

Biting off a curse, Jaci checked her makeup quickly, then she and Courtney moved back into the wide hall.

Cam, Chase, and Ian. All three waited stoically, their expressions as patient as only men who were waiting on women could be.

"Now, why would men who have so much in common to discuss wait for two women outside the ladies' room?" Courtney smiled at her husband, shaking her head in exasperation. "You are being bad with these boys, Ian."

Cam's hand settled at Jaci's lower back as he moved to her, leading her through the restaurant and to the exit. They passed the Robertses' table. Catching Annalee's glare, Jaci took the only opportunity she was going to find to tighten the noose around her nemesis's neck.

She smiled a smug, satisfied smile that assured Annalee that she'd found a way to beat her. She made certain the smile was completely confident and edged with knowledge.

And Annalee read it exactly as she was meant to. As they passed, she watched the little flicker of fear in the other woman's face and steeled herself not to turn and give her anything more.

She had to be subtle. She had to play the few chances she had just right. She and Moriah had it planned; they would bring Annalee down.

The scar at her hip seemed to smart as they left the restaurant; the whip mark had cut deep into her flesh and nearly allowed Richard to catch her that night. Annalee knew what she was doing with that particular weapon. The sound of the whip cracking in her nightmares never failed to bring Jaci awake in a surge of fear and sweat.

They had been so confident she would fall right into their little games, Jaci remembered, as Cam helped her into the Sinclair limo and got in behind her. What in the world had made Annalee think for a second that Jaci would accept a role in their dirty games? It still didn't make sense, even years later.

For five years, Jaci had tried to figure out why Richard and Annalee would ever conceive of the idea that she would join in. And they had been confident, so certain that she was theirs for the taking.

She let the conversation between the men drift around her, but she was very aware the moment Cam's arm slid around her and he pulled her closer to him. He did it comfortably, easily, almost as though he wasn't thinking about it as he listened to whatever Ian was telling him. Something about zoning laws and checking out problems with them.

She had to admit, she was paying even less attention now than she had been earlier. As he talked, his hand played at her hip, stroking it through her dress, the pads of his fingers moving in little circular motions that were destructive to her thought processes.

There
were
no thought processes when Cam was touching her. It was like autopilot hit the brain, and her hormones took control of her body.

She wanted to lean into him, feel him against her and over her. She couldn't get enough of him. No matter how often he took her, or how sated he left her. She always wanted more.

The limo pulled into the underground parking garage beneath Cam and Chase's home. After he parked the car, the chauffer jumped out and opened the back door.

Jaci said her good nights to Courtney and Ian, then, once again walking between Chase and Cam, moved away from the vehicle.

That was odd. They had done that all night long, keeping her securely between them.

"You two want to tell me what's going on?" she asked as Chase locked the door behind them and set the security.

"With what?" Cam asked innocently.

"With the whole keep-Jaci-between-you thing." She waved toward them to emphasize exactly how they had done that throughout the evening.

A smile curled at his lips—sexy, and diabolically sensual.

"I can't believe you had to ask that question," Chase injected with a chuckle.

A flush washed beneath her cheeks, heating her face.

"Chase, you're a pain," she told him, moving through the house.

"Duly noted," Cam replied. "Why don't you go on to bed, Jaci. Chase and I have a few things we have to take of for Ian tonight, so I might be a little late."

She stopped on her way to the bedroom. She had visions of comfortable clothes in her mind, and maybe a few hours in front of the television with Cam. She enjoyed those hours they spent together and she would miss it tonight. There was something in his voice that warned her, though, a vague suspicion that he wasn't being totally honest with her.

She turned and stared back at him silently, letting her gaze take in both men, comparing their expressions. She had to restrain the shiver that would have rippled over her. They looked dangerous. And they looked like men eager to ditch the little woman, to do whatever it was they had to do.

She wanted to roll her eyes at them. "Go play." She waved her hand over her shoulder as she headed for the bedroom. "I'll have fun here all by my lonesome. I'm good at that."

They watched her until she disappeared into the bedroom; she could feel their eyes on her, caressing her, intensity and male impatience swirling through the air to wrap around her.

"She's going to drive me to drink," Cam murmured, once Jaci disappeared around the heavy screen that surrounded the bedroom.

"She's chilling you out." Chase clapped him on the shoulder as he headed for the stairs. "Come on, let's see if any of my contacts have made any progress in the past few hours. I'm sick of dealing with those two."

Those two. The Robertses. If Chase thought he was sick of dealing with this shit, then he should be sitting in Cam's place, waiting for the other shoe to drop. There were times when he could stare at Jaci and see her mind working. He could almost feel her gearing herself up to face the congressman and his wife, and that he couldn't allow. There was something about the Robertses that set off every warning instinct he possessed. He just couldn't figure out what it was.

Rumors were they were into BDSM with their little secretary. But those rumors were unsubstantiated, and no more than giggling little tales told by a few women during their little ladies'-only cocktail parties.

As he followed Chase up the stairs to their office, he had to fight back the impulse to return downstairs and demand answers from her. Not that demanding jack shit worked with Jaci. She stared back at him with that redhead temper in her eyes and that stubborn chin of hers lifted. And then she would drive him crazy with her smart-assed little comments and her declarations that he give as good as he demanded.

He couldn't frighten her into telling him the truth, and he damned sure couldn't seduce it out of her. For some reason, those games just smacked of foul play with him. He didn't want games between them, he wanted trust. And he knew that was the crux of the entire matter. Because Jaci wanted the same thing from him.

"I put the files together before we left earlier," Chase said, as they sat down at their separate computers. "England, Italy, and New York. I also found another reference in Cancún. She was there on vacation. Left early when her dad got sick about a year and a half ago. The night she left, there was a hit-and-run on another guest of the resort. Auburn hair, about Jaci's build." He pulled up the picture of the tourist. She would have resembled Jaci in the dark. "We missed this in the first investigation. We were just looking at her, rather than at any strange occurrences revolving around her."

"Have you managed to pinpoint a suspect?" Cam stared at the picture of the tourist that had nearly died during her vacation, simply because she looked like Jaci.

"Nothing and no one." Chase shook his head at the question. "If you're right about her having a connection to Moriah, then the only time it could have occurred was the time she was at the Brockheim cabin. Moriah was supposedly on vacation in the south of France, but there are no records of her, there or anywhere else."

Cam breathed in deeply. "What does Moriah have to do with this?"

Chase snorted. "Coconspirator. Whatever Jaci is up to, Moriah is most likely right there beside her."

Cam had no doubt.

"The woman needs to be locked up for her own safety," Cam growled. "Son of a bitch, she knows they've targeted her and she still won't let me help her. Stubborn-assed woman."

"You sound surprised." The mockery in Chase's voice had him wincing. "Hell, Cam, you knew how stubborn she was when she was no more than a girl. What would make her any less so now?"

"Common sense?"

"Oh. She had some of that, then? When?"

Cam had to chuckle. When it came to him, she had never shown good sense. From the time she was thirteen to now, they had gravitated to each other like bees to honey. And he had to admit, she had the sweetest honey he had ever tasted.

"She was a virgin," he told his brother. The truth of that still filled him with a warmth that made no sense at all.

Silence met his statement. When he turned to look at his brother, it was to see the same primal arousal on his face that had filled Cam at the time.

"Damn," he finally blew out roughly. "Damn."

Chase rubbed the back of his neck and turned away, shaking his head. Cam knew what his brother was feeling. That sense of male fascination, the knowledge that her sensuality was theirs to mold and teach. It was a heady feeling for a man to have a woman as passionate as Jaci, one whose sensual pleasures were awakening beneath his touch.