Page 40 of Dirty Secret

She pushed the glass back at me while tugging me toward the beverage table in the corner of the room. Despite the uneasy conversation we were a part of moments ago, it felt good to have Heidi's fingers curled with mine.

"My dad's up to something."

I couldn't agree more and added, "My ex's father is, too. I have never had a conversation with my ex-father-in-law that didn't end in a fight. The fact that he hasn't argued with me is unnerving."

I held onto her hand, refusing to let it go as we made it to the drinks table. She had my heart, even if she didn't realize it. And for that, I would protect her. No one here, not even Mr. Willis, could scare me away from the most wonderful woman in the room.

"I thought my dad invited him to scare you off. You think it's worse than that?"

I placed the glass on the table and leaned toward her, inhaling her sweet scent. My breath moved a few loose tendrils from her braid over her delicate neck. "There is nothing anyone can say or do that would ever scare me away from you. I never knew love was this pure, this fulfilling. Why would I walk away from that?"

Heidi's cute little eyebrows lifted as the wrinkle between them deepened. There was hesitation and something I had never seen before in her gaze as she said, "You love me?"

Even her words were breathy and faint, but I clung to every syllable as they dripped from her lips.

"Yes. I'm not saying this with the expectation of you feeling as I do. But I suspect you need to hear it. After finally witnessing how your parents treat you," I shake my head at the crowd before falling back into Heidi's eyes, "I want you to know that this beautiful woman standing before me is worth loving. You are sweet, kind, understanding, patient, goofy, intelligent, and a million other things I don't have the time to list tonight. But if you give me the chance, I will happily spend the next days, months, years, or however long you will have me, naming everything I love about you."

"Wow. How do I respond to that?" Heidi brought her hands up to her face. Was she hiding?

I never meant to scare her off, but I feared that was what I'd done. "Heidi, you—"

I was cut off by a man entering the room, announcing that it was time to move to the dining room. With an abrupt tug, Heidi broke away from my grasp and confirmed my fear. I was not a man Heidi could love.

I did my best to follow her, but the crowd intensified as we neared the doorway to the dining room. A long, rectangular, dark wooden table took up most of the room. Vases filled with white roses dotted the center of the table, and I estimated there were at least two dozen place settings with fine china, crystal goblets, and silver utensils.

Heidi's mother mentioned earlier that this was to be an informal dinner party. If this was informal, what would she consider formal?

Each setting had a name card perfectly printed on thick card stock. After a harrowing walk where my feet were stepped on several times and a drunk woman winked at me as she felt my ass, I found my place in the middle of the table.

Where was Heidi? I glanced around, and I found her near the head of the table, with her father at the head to her right and Mr. Willis to her left.

This wasn't going to end well.

I made small talk with the woman to my left during the meal. She was elderly, and a bit hard of hearing so I had to raise my voice to speak with her, which caused the people around us to stare.

She's the attorney general's aunt and kept going on about her son, who used to be a senator, and her grandson. They disappeared back in the 1990s. Even though I was just a kid when that occurred, I mentioned that I remembered my dad discussing the disappearance. It's one of the few times my father showed heartfelt concern for a political family.

I kept peeking over at Heidi. She was in a deep conversation with Mr. Willis, and that concerned me. I had no idea what my ex's father was telling her. He could be filling her head with falsehoods, like the slander he believed I did to Jackie. He thought it was me and not his daughter who lied, cheated, and stole throughout our marriage.

The man couldn't fathom that his precious little girl could do those things, so it must have been me.

Once the dessert arrived, I noted Mr. Willis and Senator White exchanged glances that accompanied a smirk. And the smirk was followed by a turn of Mr. Willis' head so he could stare at me.

I had trouble swallowing the decadent lemon cake and turned my attention to Heidi. She wasn't eating, either. Her eyes were glued to her plate with worry etched in her features.

This dinner had to end. I had to speak with Heidi and find out what Jackie's father told her. I got my chance when the butler announced that drinks would be in the first-floor library. How many large rooms did this home have?

Jumping from my seat, I moved toward Heidi. Instead of heading in the direction of the crowd, she was making her way back to the front entry. The same place I told her, when we first arrived, that she had nothing to worry about.

How could I have been so foolish?

"Ready to leave?" I asked a little breathless and with hope tickling my voice.

"Yes." Heidi didn't even turn to face me as the butler handed Heidi her purse. My forehead beaded with sweat from her cold response.

"The food was good. I liked the steak. Don't get that too often." I attempted to brush some hair from Heidi's shoulder, but her body stiffened the same way it had when her mother had touched her earlier.

Heidi finally turned when the butler left. "How many people have you tried to swindle money from, Max?" The glare from her eyes could easily have sliced the steak I enjoyed earlier.

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