Page 64 of Nothing to Tell

The food and service were provided by the professional elite.The crème-de-la-crème.If she hadn’t discovered his secret before, she would like to think she’d have figured it out from that clue alone.Was she sure?No.It had been staring her in the face since the night they’d met, and she’d missed it.Putting any money on her comprehending the obvious would be a bad bet.

None of the guests made a move to leave the house; the party was far from over.Guests were filtered back into the parquet-floored hall they’d started in.Harper left her wine on the table and went with the herd waiting their turns to stroll through the bottleneck.

“Come here.”

She heard Bastian before she saw him.Her hand was snatched, and she was tugged away from the other dinner party guests.More than a few noted her and Bastian’s escape to the opposite corner.

Through a door, up some stairs to a corridor, and into a room, much homelier than the dining room.It didn’t quite fit with the impression of the rest of the house.The thick, purple rug on the floor was lush, but modern.An open fireplace dominated one wall.On another was a huge television with deep, wide couches aimed its way.

“What happened?”Bastian asked, snapping her focus from the decor.

“Nothing happened,” she said, admiring the dark gray fabric across his shoulders when he turned his back.Except something had happened, hadn’t it?“I’m an idiot.I suppose that happened.But it’s nothing new.”

“You’re not an idiot,” he said, taking off his jacket and tossing it to the back of one of the couches.

“I didn’t see it,” she said.“I suppose I saw what I wanted to see.Or rather didn’t see what I didn’t want to see.”

“What are you talking about?”

He could be exasperated, he could be angry, but both of them had to face the truth.

“I know who you are.”Now, she now knew, hadn’t before.Idiot.“If you deny it, Huddle Hunt will call you a liar.”

“Sweet—”

“No,” she said, stepping out of his reach.The conflict in his expression tore between anger and contrition.Her own thoughts produced a question as they fell into line.“What the hell do you need me for, Bastian?Do you know who you are?”

“I know who I am.My identity doesn’t take away all life’s worries.”

“You’re not worried,” she said.“Coming to my sister’s engagement party was a game for you, nothing more.Why in the hell did you come to the hospital?”

“I was concerned.”

Fingernails digging into her palms, she wanted to scream.“About what?One of your associates could’ve got an update.I’m sure you can pay the hospital for information like that over the phone.”

Anger brought his scowl back full-force.“You learn this one piece of information and re-write my whole character around it?”

“I shouldn’t have had to learn it from someone else.I thought we were in this, whatever this is, together.”

“We are.”

That was an insult.“You lied to me.”

“I didn’t lie.”

“You weren’t upfront.”

“This whole thing was a con from day one.”

“To everyone else, not to us.”Least that was what she’d believed.“I didn’t know you were conning me the whole time.I’ve been nothing except honest, but you… What is it?Charity?Is that what I am to you?”

“No.”

“You didn’t need me,” she said.“A man like you doesn’t—you don’t need charity.”

“You’re not charity.I haven’t changed.This doesn’t change anything.”

He hadn’t even asked what she learned or what was going on.He knew without explanation, proving he wasn’t ignorant to the issue, or how she’d react to it.