Love is Only a Whisper (Whisper Series) (8 page)

“This is serious,
Sarah. I need to talk to Nicole.”

“Then why come here?”

He ran a hand
through his hair. “You ladies are tighter than any crawl space.”

She giggled. “True.”

“She tells you
everything—”

“Hmm.”

“You’re trying my
patience.”

“Didn’t know you
had any.”

He inhaled deeply
and waited.

“She had some
business to attend too.”

“I know that. Have you spoken to her?”

“Maybe.”

“Tell me where she
is.”

“Whoa. Did you just issue a command? I’ll acknowledge that
you’re distraught so I’ll let it pass…this time. Anyway, you don’t need to
worry. She’s fine.”

“And?”

She stared at him, placing a finger across her cheek. “Interesting. You’re anxious to find her, aren’t you? I wonder why?” She held up her hand. “No need to answer. My intuition has never failed me.” She closed her eyes and sighed with dramatic effect. “Just let me absorb the fact that Mr. Commitment Phobe has fallen for a woman who happens to be my best friend.”

“Sarah, you are
really
trying my patience.”

“Good.” She rubbed her hands together and had the audacity
to smile. “Would you like something to drink?’

“No.”

“How about a seat?”

“No.”

“Okay. What else do you want? Besides Nicole, that is.”

Frustrated, he strived to remain calm, which was hell to do around Sarah. She was irritating and pissing him off. He could tell she was enjoying herself at his expense. He gritted his teeth, fighting for restraint.

“She’s not like your other women.”

“There are
no
other women.” His voice held conviction.

“That’s good to
hear.” She was silent as if waiting for him to say more.

He cursed under his breath. It was no one’s business what
he felt for Nicole, and he certainly wasn’t discussing it with her nosey friend.

“You know you’re
too old for her, right?”

He didn’t need someone to tell him what he already knew.

“Nicole thinks she’s in love with Brent,” she said.

“She’s not.”

“I agree. But the problem is that she believes it. Right
now, Nicole is confused. She sees what happened between the two of you as betrayal.”

“She never belonged to my brother. Besides, what makes you think something happened?”

She rolled her eyes. “Are you really asking me the same
thing that she did? I can see clearly, you know. I was the one who picked her
up from your house.”

He remained silent.

“Guilt can cause a person to do foolish things. Give her
time to work it out in her head.”

“Time isn’t on my side.”

She shrugged. “Okay. Do it your way. Don’t be mad when it
blows up in your face.”

“Sarah, I don’t need advice from a young chirp—”

“Stop, right there. I’ve taken a lot with your bossy attitude
but name calling won’t be one of them.”

“Okay. I retract.”

“Boy, it’s hard for you to say, I’m sorry.”

“You’re too old for your age. You got more mouth than…” A
frown put creases in her forehead. She was perturbed but it didn’t stop him. “You’re
mouthy. I can understand why. Being born during a woman’s late life creates a
different breed.”

She threw him a quizzical look. “Thank you…I think. I have
been told I act more mature than my age. Mom was forty-four and Brody was almost
twelve when I came along.” She chuckled. “Brody didn’t like it much.”

“Being an only kid for as long as he was, hell, it took some
getting used to.”

She grinned. “Well, I’m here now.”

“Yeah. Back to Nicole.”

“You have a one track mind.”

“Sarah…” He
silently cursed.

“Since you’re being so
nice
about it,” she retorted, sarcastically. “She’s
out of town.”

“I surmised as much since she’s not at her aunt’s house or
hers. The question is where?”

“New England.”

“Where in New England?”

“I believe Connecticut, Rhode Island, or Vermont. I don’t really know. Her parents left her businesses in those states and a house in Boston.”

He frowned. “Weren’t the two of you supposed to leave for Europe?”

“Well, things changed. Once she takes care of her business, she’ll meet Danielle and me over there. I had planned to leave a couple of days ago but gams is in the hospital.”

He frowned. “What’s wrong with your grandmother?”

“Her dog, a bichon frise, saw a male collie she liked and
went running after him. Gams got tangled up in the leash and took a stumble.
She received a few bruises and a severe sprained ankle. Because of her age, the
hospital is keeping her a couple of days for observation. Mom and Dad are with
her now. I just arrived back this morning from seeing her.”

“Does Brody know?”

“Yeah, he’s there with the parents.”

“Good. I never could understand why you and Brody don’t call
your grandmother Grandma or Granny like normal people. Whoever heard of calling
someone gams? Your mother should’ve moved her to Dallas a long time ago. Los Angeles is too fast a pace for a woman of your grandmother’s age.”

“First of all, she likes us calling her Gams. She said all
those other names for grandmother made her feel old. She’s eighty-six but acts
fifty. No one tells her what to do. And she lives in Beverly Hills, which is a
far cry from inner city Los Angeles.”

“Doesn’t matter. Your family need to handle the situation,” he said off-handedly. “Now give me the address to where Nicole is staying.”

“Nope.”

“Why the hell not?” he snapped.

“I don’t take kindly to cursing.”

He took a deep breath, silently counted to ten, and reached
for control. “Sarah…Again, I retract the words.”

“No need to contact Nicole in New England. She left a couple
of days ago. She’s probably on her way to Europe, or there by now.”

“Why didn’t you say so? Which hotel in Europe?”

“We aren’t booked into a hotel. We’re doing bed and breakfast or hostels along the way.”

“You’re kidding?”

She had the nerve to grin. “Nope.”

“Have you lost your damn minds! What the hell could you two be thinking? You’re
heiresses
. You don’t travel around the world sleeping in dumps,” he shouted.

Sally glared. “If you keep shouting and cursing, you’re
going to burst a blood vessel.”

He gritted his teeth. This red-haired piston was stringing his last nerve. “What’s wrong with the Ritz? Hel—” He caught himself. “You can stay in one of my properties. I have enough of them around the world.”

“No thank you. We decided this is the way we want to do it.”

He pinched the end of his nose to defuse the angry words struggling to roll off his tongue. Young ladies, rich or not, traveling alone could be dangerous, but to be roughing it is something entirely different. He wouldn’t allow.

“Where is the first city on this trip?”

“London, Paris, Rome, or maybe Amsterdam for the first leg
of the trip.”

“Make up your mind. Which is it?” he said impatiently.

“We’d planned to meet in London.” She spoke slowly as if she
was talking to a child. “The itinerary is subject to change.”

“Who else is on this adventure?”

“Besides, Danielle, a few friends from college. We’re experiencing Europe in its truest form. It’s going to be so much fun.”

“It’s a bunch of bullshit…crap.”

“Only you would think so. Is there anything else you need?” Sally looked innocent but could be a barracuda when pushed.

She might be wacky with her new age beliefs and yoga
meditations but she was devotedly loyal to Nicole and vice versus.

Ashton thought about probing for more information but decided against it. Sarah Beaumont wasn’t buckling. He withdrew a card from his pocket and gave it to her. “Call me when you’ve heard from her,” he said and reached for the doorknob.

Sally stopped him. “You never did tell me what you wanted
with Nicole.”

“No, I didn’t.” He walked out the door and closed it with a thump.

Frustrated, Ashton slammed the phone down, curbing the urge
to throw it across his office. Where the hell is she?

He’d hired a private investigation team to track her in New England and Europe. There was no evidence of her ever being in Connecticut, Vermont, Rhode Island or anywhere else in the New England states, period. No commercial airlines tickets, ship passengers, or private charter flights listed her name. He’d checked for aliases and came up empty. It was damn frustrating, but he refused to give up.

He’d tried to contact Sarah again but had gotten nowhere. The thought of enlisting his mother’s help to get in touch with Nicole’s aunt on the cruise ship crossed his mind but he decided against. For one thing his mother would ask questions and he didn’t want that. What happened between Nicole and him was something that was not up for discussion.

Nicole’s aunt and his mother were nosey. They felt it was
their right to be entrenched in their children lives. Friends since college, it
was unusual during those days for a modest black woman and a well-to-do white
woman to become friends, but they had. Now, forty-five years later they were
still very close.

Nicole was confused by their lovemaking, especially with her belief that she was in love with his brother. Brent? Why hadn’t he thought about it before?

He slammed out of his office and quickly made his way down the long corridor to the end of the hall. With shocked expressions on their faces, the employees scurried out of his way. Damn, the people in the office barely spoke to him, and when they did, it was with reservation. It never bothered him and it definitely didn’t matter now. He was on a mission.

Without knocking, he threw open the door. His brother was at
his computer but looked up when he approached and leaned back in the chair.

“Well, what do I owe the pleasure of you storming into my
office?”

“Where is she?” Ashton asked, abruptly.

Confusion lined Brent’s face. “Who?”

“Don’t play games with me. You know damn well I’m talking
about Nicole.”

Brent hurried to his feet and came from behind the desk. 
“What happened to her?”

“She always turns to you when she’s troubled.”

“Whoa, back up. Nicole troubled? What’s going on? Why are
looking for her?”

“She and I need to talk.”

Brent’s head snapped back, clearly shocked. “What’s the matter with you? You charge into my office like a raging bull and I’m supposed to know what caused it. Calm down and tell me what the hell is going on.”

Ashton ran a hand down his face. “Nicole and I had disagreement.”

“You and Nicole are always having a disagreement about one thing or the other. The two of you butt heads at every turn. What’s different this time?”

“It wasn’t the norm. It was personal.”

Brent stared hard at him. “I see.”

“I don’t think you do.”

The air was thick with tension. Unmoved, Ashton stared back at his brother, knowing words didn’t need to inform him how close he and Nicole had become. If she had turned to Brent it would cut him deep, but he still wouldn’t let her go.

Brent’s eyes narrowed. “What happened between the two of you?”

He watched the realization of what he didn’t say dawn on his brother’s face.

“You son of a bitch! How could you?” Brent shouted. “When did it happen? Was it the night of the party?” Brent laughed, cruelly. “Now I understand. Whenever Nicole and I were together, you made it your business to be around. I see it clearly now.” His voice cold and brittle, Brent shouted with disgust. “Even though you knew she was my girl, you wanted her for yourself.”

“She was never yours and I don’t owe you explanations.”

“The hell you don’t!”

“I want to know where she is.”

“I’m not telling you a fucking thing.”

Ashton advanced closer. “No games today, Brent. I’m not in
the mood.” He clenched his fists at his sides. “Don’t cross me.”

“Wow. Threats? Is that all you got?”

Ashton tried hard to reel in the hot anger fighting to explode.
 He was quickly coming apart.

“Has Nicole contacted you?” Ashton forced the words out. “I need to talk to her.” The desperation in his voice sounded foreign and anxious to him.

His brother was silent throughout the exchange.

“You made a move on her,” he said matter-of-factly.

Ashton remained closed-mouthed. His anger rolled deep inside of him. He wanted to curse and throw something to get Brent to give him an answer. But he would be damned if he would discuss what transpired between him and Nicole. That was off-limits.

Brent’s laugh was brittle. “You couldn’t get her to notice you the old fashioned way, so you seduced her.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I know you can be a bastard when it comes to something you want.

“You’re out of line, Brent.”

“I’m out of line? What the hell do you think you are? 
Nicole and I are very close but it burns your gall to know that she loves me
and I love her.”

“Love her? What the hell are you talking about? You’re
married to Melissa.”

“That’s right…married to Melissa. I have a wife who wanted
you but settled for me.”

“You’re delusional. There’s never been anything remotely romantic between Melissa and me. We’ve always been friends and nothing more. She and I are like brother and sister and you know it,” Ashton added with emphasis. “You trying to make something out of nothing won’t be an excuse.”

“Really?” He shrugged. “Too bad. I realized the night of the party I’d made a mistake marrying Melissa.”

“Don’t even think about it.”

He continued as if he hadn’t heard Ashton. “Sweet Nicole has always wanted me. I was too much of gentleman to take advantage of what she offered, but things have changed now.”

“Stay the hell away from Nicole,” Ashton ground out.

“Once I talk to Nicole and tell her the mistake I made, she’ll
understand and forgive me.”

Now up in Brent’s face, Ashton sneered. “If you as so much
come near Nicole, I—”