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Chapter Twenty-Six

Nancy

I leaned over the counter in the Amory Lodge lobby. “Are there any messages for me?”

The desk clerk rolled her eyes. “Not in the past fifteen minutes.”

Damn. Liam had told me he would arrive around eight. It was a quarter to nine, and Peter and Enid’s showcase was scheduled for nine-thirty.

I looked up to find Enid bearing down on me in full performance regalia: a velvet miniskirt, cleavage bulging out of her black leather vest, her hair a mass of luxurious blow-dried curls. “Peter forgot to pack my new mic!” she wailed. “I just spent a thousand bucks on that thing!”

“You bought a thousand-dollar mic before paying me back for the registration fees?” I said wryly. “Seriously?”

“I couldn’t sing ‘The Far Shore’ with that piece of crap! It sounds like I’m singing in a public bathroom!”

I sighed. “This hotel is crawling with musicians who have good mics. Think of someone who owes you a favor.” My eyes flicked to Enid’s cleavage. “Shouldn’t be that hard,” I muttered, and then felt immediately ashamed of myself.

“Hey,” came Liam’s deep voice from behind me.

I whirled around. There he was, large as life, in a crisp white shirt, jeans, and a long, elegant black coat. Incredibly handsome.

Enid simpered. “Aren’t you going to introduce me, Nance?”

I suppressed an impulse to smack that sugary smile right off her face. “Enid, this is Liam Knightly, a friend of mine. Liam, Enid Morrow, one of my clients.”

“Delighted,” Enid cooed, holding out her hand.

He shook it politely. “You must be Peter’s wife.”

Enid smiled brilliantly. “Nancy must have told you all about us!”

“Of course.” He turned back to me. “Sorry I’m late. I hit traffic.” He gave me a hard, possessive kiss right in Enid’s face.

An uncontrollable grin spread over my face. “I’m just glad you’re here.”

My whole body was smiling. Every cell, every atom, every photon of me was happy to see him. He was the handsomest man in the room. By a factor of ten.

“You’re just in time to hear our showcase,” Enid announced.

“Wouldn’t miss it.”

“Find Eugene and ask if you can use a Mandrake mic,” I suggested. “I think I saw him in the restaurant about ten minutes ago.”

A pout marred Enid’s heart-shaped face. “Can you take care of it? I have to touch up my makeup and make sure Peter’s dressed properly.”

“Okay,” I said. “I’ll do it.”

Enid scampered toward the elevators, casting a dimpled smile back at Liam.

I grabbed his hand and towed him toward the restaurant. “Sorry to rush you, but I’ve got to catch Eugene and chase down that mic.”

Liam’s fingers curled possessively around mine. “He left you for her?” he said, in an incredulous tone.

I tried to wipe the satisfied grin off my face, with no success. So Enid’s sex-kitten appeal didn’t affect him. Well, great. My mood soared.

“Pick up the pace,” I urged. “I’ve only got ten minutes to save the world.”

He swung me around into a corner alcove full of vending machines. “If you’ve got ten, you can spare one of them to kiss me. That leaves nine to save the world. For you, that’s a generous margin.”

He kissed me until I was soft, hazy, and glowing. “Wait. What was I supposed to be doing?” I asked, dazed.

He leaned his forehead against mine and kissed my nose. “The mic. From Eugene. For Enid,” he said dutifully.

“Oh, God.” I took off running.

He tagged after me companionably as I ran my errands, and finally we were seated in the back of the hall, my hand tucked in Liam’s.

Peter and Enid were great, and the band that backed them played with energy and precision.

When the plaintive strains of “The Road to You” died away, the applause was long and loud.

I nudged Liam as I clapped. “What do you think?”

His face was noncommittal. “Better than I expected.”

I tugged on his hand. “Let’s congratulate them. Come on.”

Enid spotted Liam’s tall form first, and she bounced toward them, beaming, her eyes expectantly on Liam. “Hey! Did you like the show?”

“Yes, I enjoyed it very much,” he said politely.

Enid took him by the arm, pulling him toward where Peter sat, fingering his guitar. I trailed uncomfortably behind. “Hey, Petey! Meet Liam, Nancy’s new friend," Enid said.

Peter’s head whipped around. His eyes narrowed. “Ah. So you’re the guy who spirited away our manager the most important week of the year?”

Liam gently extricated his arm from Enid’s grip. “And you’re the guy who left her at the altar and mooches money off her.”

Peter’s mouth dropped open. He glanced at Nancy, his face looking utterly betrayed. “Who does this asshole think he is?” he hissed.

I pushed closer, horrified. “Peter, I’m sorry. He?—”

“Don’t tell me. Don’t want to know.” He grabbed Enid’s arm. “Come on, baby. Let’s network.” Enid shot a bewildered glance over her shoulder as he dragged her away.

I stared after them, aghast. “Liam! What the hell have you done?”

The expression in Liam’s eyes was absolutely unapologetic.

I walked away from him, quickly, but Liam kept pace. No matter how fast I went, his stride lengthened to match it.

I kept my back to him in the elevator. I was horrified. I’d known he was opinionated, but this was wantonly destructive. Damaging for me.

Once out of the elevator, he stalked beside me with catlike grace to my room door, waiting as I fumbled for the key. I unlocked it and stumbled inside. The door ka-thunked shut behind us.

Liam flipped on the light by the door. “Okay,” he said. “Let me have it.”

“I cannot believe what you just said!” I exploded. “I told you those things in confidence! I had no idea when I invited you here that you would do your best to sabotage my professional life!”

He frowned. “I didn’t mean to sabotage you. I just told it like it was. And about time, too.”

“About time for what? To ruin my career? Are you trying deliberately to do that?”

“No,” he said. “For a reality check. Peter and Enid are vampires. They suck you dry. And you don’t react. You don’t draw the line.”

“But timing! Why say that right after an important gig, in the earshot of other agents and managers and concert-series presenters? It’s a terrible time to?—”

“There’s never a good time, Nancy.”

I plowed on. “Grace, delicacy, and minding your own goddamn business. These are crucial earmarks of maturity.”

“So call me immature.” The label clearly did not bother him.

I crossed my arms over my chest. “Liam, if I didn’t know better, I’d think you were jealous.”

He grunted low in his throat. “I’ll tell you who’s jealous. Peter. He’s jealous of me. Afraid of losing you. Or at least, losing control of you.”

I gaped at him, bewildered. “No way! Peter’s got Enid now, which means he definitely has his hands full! And besides?—”

“I got his number the minute I laid eyes on him. ‘You’re the guy who spirited away our manager,’” he mimicked in a voice so much like Peter’s, I almost betrayed myself by smiling, but I caught myself just in time.

“Peter and I are old friends. We have a lot of history. It’s normal that there’s ambivalence?—”

“Ambivalence?” His voice was heavy with sarcasm.

“For the first time, he doesn’t get to have his cake and eat it, too.

He took advantage of you when you were together.

Then he met Enid, and he wanted her, too, so he figured out a sneaky way to keep you both.

It’s the perfect setup. You, to do all the scutwork and the secretarial stuff, to get him the gigs, and make sure he gets paid.

Enid to suck his dick and fluff his ego.

Nobody will give you the respect you deserve for free, Nancy.

You’ve got to demand it. You’ve got to put your foot down. ”

I opened her mouth in automatic denial, then closed it.

A dull pain in my belly told her that it was the truth. An ugly, dangerous, ill-timed truth.

“Maybe you’re right,” I said. “But it was wrong to say it out there. Putting me on the spot. It embarrassed everyone. And reflected very badly on me.”

Liam shrugged. Right or wrong, he did not care.

An aching silence spread out between us. I wanted to howl in frustration. “So what do you expect me to do about it?”

“Get rid of them,” he said. “Fire their asses.”

I snorted. “It’s not that simple. They’re my clients, Liam, not my employees. And they’re also my?—”

“Friends, right.” His voice was heavily laced with irony.

“Yes! They are! Friendship is complicated. It’s never perfect!”

“They suck you dry, and they don’t even thank you. They’re spoiled children. They don’t deserve you. Get rid of them.”

“Liam, you can’t just fire your friends. You have to find solutions, compromises.”

“No, you don’t.”

I gazed into his grim, unreadable face. “You’re not very good at compromise, are you, Liam?” I asked slowly.

His silence answered for him.

I clenched my hands. “I can’t deal with this conversation right now. I’m busy. So either keep your mouth zipped around my colleagues, or leave. Understood?”

Liam started to speak, stopped himself. He nodded.

I braced myself. “What does that mean? Does that mean you’re staying?”

“I’ll stay,” he said.

I let out my breath in a sigh of relief.

So this wasn’t the wall. Not quite. We’d gotten a reprieve.

I pulled my key card out of my pocket and handed it to him.

“Here. Get another one made at the front desk and get yourself settled. Mandrake plays in about an hour. Same hall as Peter and Enid’s showcase.

See you there.” I opened the door and turned to him. “Liam?”

“Yes?” His voice was wary.

I searched for words to express the yearning in my chest. The hope. How I was so glad to see him, how much I missed him, wanted him. Maybe even loved him.

“Nothing,” I whispered as I slipped through the door.