The Bourbon Kings

He’d been a polo player before the abduction. An event jumper. A runner. A basketball, tennis, and squash player. A swimmer. And because Edward had been a golden boy not just in business, but in every other aspect of his life, he had excelled at all of them.

I wish I had done this before. My body was once something worth seeing.

Sutton struggled to open her car’s driver’s-side door, her hand slipping off over and over again like she’d had some kind of a stroke and could no longer grip things properly. And when she finally was able to get herself into the car, she ran out of energy and just collapsed into the seat.

I should have tried to have you before, but I was too much of a coward. I was an arrogant coward—but I could have withstood anything except you turning me down.

What had he been saying—and who had he thought he’d been saying it to? Her heart broke with the idea that he was in love with someone like that.

He’d been so drunk. To the point where right before she bolted, she’d checked to make sure his heart was still beating and he was breathing—because, yes, the idea that she might have killed him because they’d …

“Dear Lord.”

How was it possible that, after years of thinking about it, they’d actually had sex. But only because he’d thought she was a whore he’d ordered from somewhere?

And no, they hadn’t used protection.

Fabulous. This veering off the beaten path thing tonight was just all-around wonderful … especially because, even though he’d been drunk … even though she’d been a head case … and in spite of the physical condition he’d been in … the sex had been incredible. Maybe it was all that pent-up wondering, maybe it was compatibility, maybe it was because it had been a one-time-only, stars-aligned kind of event.

But whatever the reasons, he had just blown away the few men she had been with.

And, she feared, scorched the earth for anybody else.

Reaching forward, she pushed the start/stop button—and as the car’s engine let out a purr, the headlights flared and made her panic. There were other people on the grounds—had to be—and the last thing she wanted was to get caught. She was going to need to figure out how to deal with this, and having the gossip mill get to churning was not going to be part of her coping strategy, thank you very much—

At that very moment, another car came down the alley of trees and, instead of heading for one of the barns or outbuildings, it pulled up right next to her.

The woman who got out was … tall, brunette, and dressed in a full-length evening gown.

She frowned as she looked at the Mercedes.

And came over.

Sutton put her window down, because what else was she supposed to do? At the same time, she also started searching for the right lever, button, whatever, to get the sedan into reverse.

“I thought I was on the schedule for this tonight?” the woman asked pleasantly enough.

“I … ah …” As Sutton stammered, a flush ran through her. “Ah …”

“Are you one of the new girls Beau was talkin’ about? I’m Delilah.”

Sutton shook the hand that was offered. “How do you do.”

“Oh, you sound so posh!” The woman smiled. “So did you take care of him?”

“Ah …”

“It’s okay if you did. Sometimes these things happen, and I’ve got two other calls tonight.” She reached up and yanked what turned out to be a wig off her head. “At least I can be free of this. Is he okay?”

“I’m sorry?”

The woman rubbed at her cropped blond hair as she nodded in the direction of the cottage. “Him? We all look after him, the poor guy. Beau won’t tell us who he is, but he must be someone important. He’s always so generous, and he treats us all real good. Such a sad case, really.”

“Yes. It is very sad.”

“Well, I’ll head out. You want me to let Beau know we’re all set?”

“Ah …”

“I’ll take care of next week, then.”

“No,” Sutton heard herself say. “He told me … the man said he wanted me again?”

“Oh, okay, no problem. I’ll pass that word along.”

“Thank you. Thank you very much.”

Maybe this was some kind of a bizarre fever dream?

As Sutton resumed her search for the right lever, the prostitute leaned back down. “Are you looking for reverse?”

“Ah, yes, yes, I am.”

“It’s that one right there. Move it up for reverse. All the way down is drive, and you push in the end for park.”

“Thank you. It’s hard.”

“One of my regulars has this exact car. It’s a real beauty! Drive safe.”

Making a noncommittal noise, Sutton backed her way around carefully, very aware that the other woman was standing oh, so close with that brunette wig in her hand.

Heading off to the main road, she decided this had to be the result of her having contracted the flu and taken to her bed. Any moment she was going to wake up …

Really.

She was.

Holy shit, how did all that just happen?

TWENTY-EIGHT

The day of the Derby dawned bright and clear, although, as Lizzie drove in to work, there could have been thunder and lightning, torrential flooding, and hurricane winds, and she would still have smiled the entire ride to Charlemont.

Lane and she had played rock, paper, scissors to decide who went in first, and in spite of the fact that he had won three times in a row, they’d decided she should leave before him. One, she had a lot to do, and two, he had been in no hurry to go anywhere.