Page 39 of False Evidence

His mouth shifted in the slightest of smiles while his eyes lit with humor. “Yes. Some more than others.”

“Room 2204. Fifteen minutes. Don’t be late, or you’ll turn into a pumpkin.”

His smile deepened, and the sparks in her belly turned to a flame. “Yes, ma’am.”

She started to walk away, then turned. “One more thing. If you haven’t learned my name from the police…don’t.”

His face showed surprise, but he nodded. “Do you know mine?”

“No. And I intend to keep it that way.” She turned and headed to the hotel room that Russ Spaulding would pay for. Her first order of business was to place a room service order for the most expensive bottle of champagne she could get.

“She invited you to her room.” Lee gave JT a wry smile.

JT grimaced in response even though the invitation had pleased him. “I’d be thrilled, but it’s messed up how it came about. She’s got to be wrecked right now. And technically, it’s Spaulding’s room.”

“It’s the room where he would have raped her.”

“Yep.”

“Offer to take her home instead. Ask her out. Take her to dinner next week when she isn’t reeling from an assault.”

“I’ll offer, but from what she said earlier, Spaulding’s buddy Brent Forbes might be at her place tonight. She can’t go there.”

“There’s always the family home.”

He shook his head. “No way am I taking her to the senator’s estate. Or his townhouse.” JT’s dad was weeks from completing his first term as a US senator. He’d been referring to his father by his title or first name in work situations for years—it came with the territory of working for the family business—but this might be the first time he’d done it when speaking to his brother.

Former stepbrother, really, but it wasn’t just the brother bond that had lasted far longer than the marriage between JT’s dad and Lee’s mom. The paternal bond had remained as well. But ever since Joe entered politics, Lee had stepped back, wanting no part of living on the fringe of the spotlight that followed Senator Joseph Talon wherever he went.

Unlike Lee, JT had no choice. He was the senator’s only biological child and he’d taken the reins of the old man’s company, ensuring management caused no ethics violations for the junior senator from Maryland.

JT didn’t mind because he had his own political ambitions and was content in the reflective glow. He’d put in his time at Talon & Drake, an engineering firm that had contracts all over the world. He cut deals with governments and sometimes even royalty, literally building bridges that would secure international support when he made his own move.

Not that anyone outside the US could vote, but it never hurt to show you were an international player. His dad had used the springboard to great effect and intended to throw his hat in the primaries for the 2008 or 2012 presidential elections if he had enough support—financial and political—to be viable.

And if Dad didn’t make it to the Oval Office, his work would just be paving the way for JT, who, at thirty-one, had more than enough time to build his team.

The fact that Talon & Drake had a sexual predator on staff was not publicity he needed, however. At least if the arrest made local news, he could show it had been dealt with swiftly in cooperation with police and the guy would be fired the moment the tests on the drink were official.

He’d fire Brent Forbes too if he was linked to the crime.

“Be careful, my friend,” Lee said. “She’s had a rough night.” The kid was five years younger than JT, but he no longer saw him as a little brother or even protégé. He was one of the few men JT could really be himself with, who understood what it meant to exist in the senator’s orbit.

It was probably why JT had never told Lee about his own political ambitions. Lee might want to distance himself from JT, just as he had from Joe, and JT couldn’t afford that.

JT’s world was a lonely one. He didn’t socialize with employees. He was younger than the executives who worked beneath him, and way too far up the ladder for the employees who were of similar age. It was easier to keep himself separate because the executives wanted to put him in his place, while the midlevel biologists and engineers who would be his peers were intimidated.

Events like this one were a job requirement, but not one he would bring a date to. This was work. Lee, knowing how miserable JT would be after the formalities were over, had shown up so JT wouldn’t be alone with executives who despised him, or worse, be the recipient of awkward attempts at small talk from employees looking to become drinking buddies, or the women who weren’t afraid to make a pass at the young, rich CEO.

He’d been ready to call it a night when the blonde returned to the party, alone and mad as hell, and JT was absolutely certain she did not work for Talon & Drake, making her a party guest he could spend time with.

So he’d approached her and was surprised to discover she had no clue who he was.

Even better.

Now she’d invited him to her room for muffins. And that wasn’t even a euphemism.

“She needs a friend and a shoulder,” he said to Lee. “That’s all I’ll be.” He glanced at his BlackBerry. Nine minutes until he turned into a pumpkin. Better get going, because the hotel was a walk from the casino, and she was on a high floor. “Thanks for coming. I know you hate this stuff.”

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