Page 27 of The Gilded Lady (The Gilded West #3)

Chapter Fourteen

“ Y ou!”

Zane was brought up short by the unexpected accusation as soon as he walked through the door of Glory’s apartment.

She stood across the parlor staring at him, her eyes wide in both fear and anger.

She wobbled a little as she stared him down, bringing his attention to the tumbler of whiskey in her hand.

“Yes, it’s me.” He proceeded cautiously, wondering what the hell had changed in the two hours since he’d left her to go talk to Hunter. It probably had something to do with that drink in her hand. As he shut the door behind him, Charlotte and Sally watched him from the sofa.

“I told you, I don’t want you looking for him.

” Glory gave a snort and tossed back a swallow of the amber liquid, making a face as she did.

A strand of red hair had come out from its pins to curl down over her shoulder.

She peered into the glass, mumbling, “This isn’t brandy.

” He’d never seen her so unpolished and undone. There was something appealing about it.

“It’s whiskey, doll, you finished the brandy so I switched it for you,” Sally answered helpfully.

“How much of that has she had?” he asked the woman.

“Notalot,” answered Glory. She spoke so fast that the words ran together.

His lips twitched as he attempted to keep from smiling at the way she stood there swaying, trying her best not to look like she was drunk.

Sally shrugged innocently but somehow managed to look guilty as sin at the same time. “Not much. That’s only her first glass.”

He looked to Charlotte for confirmation. “It’s only her first glass of whiskey.” Charlotte clarified. “She and Sally finished off that fifth of brandy first.” She nodded toward a side table which held the now empty bottle.

“Oh, posh.” Sally waved her hand. “It was only half full when we started. Who gets drunk off that much? I drank much more than she did before I even got here.”

Zane squeezed his temples. Two hours. He’d been gone for two hours and that’s all it had taken for Sally to get Glory drunk and unsteady on her feet.

He did believe there was some truth to Sally’s protestations of innocence, though.

She didn’t seem nearly as affected as Glory, meaning she’d probably had much more experience drinking than Glory.

He hadn’t seen Glory drink anything but a glass of wine the entire time he’d been staying at Victoria House.

Charlotte confirmed it when she said, “It’s because Glory rarely drinks.

I’m sorry, Mr. Pierce. I only just arrived a few minutes ago. ”

“No need to apologize,” said Zane. “Glory makes her own decisions.”

Charlotte looked uncertain, but she nodded.

Sally sighed in dramatic fashion. “She was upset. I simply kept refilling her glass to get her to calm down.” Charlotte gave her a critical eye, but didn’t say anything.

“H-h-hey!” Glory waited until she had their attention. “I’m right here. Stop talking about me.”

Zane bit down on the inside of his cheek to keep from smiling. Her fury lacked its usual heat. She was strong, kind, fiery, and apparently adorable when drunk.

“Glory, doll, I have a half hour until my show. I have to go.” Sally walked over and gave her a hug before turning back to Zane. “Take care of her,” she mouthed as she let herself out.

He inclined his head in confirmation. That was a request he could follow.

“I’ll be down when you go on,” Glory called out.

The hell she would. Zane wasn’t letting her downstairs in her condition. He came to a stop in front of her, and she blinked, apparently only just realizing he was so close to her. “Don’t you think you’ve had enough to drink?” He held out his hand for the tumbler.

She scowled and held the glass behind her back. “Maybe.”

If she thought it was out of his reach, she was sorely mistaken. He was nearly twice her size and could have easily reached around her, but he didn’t. Instead he put his hands in his pockets and sighed. “Why are you so angry with me?”

“Because…I told you I don’t want you to have one thing to do with him and you went and got yourself involved anyway.”

“I hate to tell you this, pretty lady, but I was already involved. I’ve been involved since the night you came to me for help.” Sooner than that if he was being honest with himself. He’d have helped her at the first sign of trouble, whether she’d asked him for help or not.

Her scowl only deepened. “You know what I mean. You were s’pose…

” She frowned at the way the word had come out and tried again.

“You were supposed to find out if the letter was real or not. I didn’t want you all tangled up in…

” She waved her hand, forgetting that she was holding a half full tumbler of whiskey so some of the golden liquid spilled out onto the rug.

He ran a hand over the back of his neck to keep from reaching out to take it from her. Charlotte hurried to the bathing chamber and came back with a towel to wipe up the spill.

“Now that we know it is real, what did you expect me to do? Did you think I’d sit here and do nothing? Or did you think I’d run off because my job is done?”

Glory frowned down at Charlotte, seeming to be confused about the mess she was cleaning up. Shaking his head, Zane took the glass and gently pried it from her fingers.

“Stop that!” she yelled and swatted at his wrist. “Hey! That’s mine.”

He stepped back with the glass and set it on the side table. “And it’ll be right here waiting for you. You can have the rest tomorrow.”

She crossed her arms over her chest and then stomped over to the window.

“Charlotte, can you leave us?” he asked.

Still on her knees, she looked at him and then over at Glory, clearly uncertain if she should leave him alone with her. “Glory?”

“’S fine, Charlotte. Thank you.”

Glory didn’t turn from the window, even after Charlotte shut the door behind her. Zane slowly walked over to her, giving her time to move away or to turn around and confront him. Finally, when he was close enough to reach out and touch her, he asked, “Why are you really so upset with me?”

Her shoulders lifted as she took a deep breath, but she let it out on a ragged sigh that was suspiciously like a sob. “I don’t want anything to happen to you.”

He was helpless against the warmth that seeped into his chest. It tugged him forward, and he was resistant to stop himself until he could feel the heat from her body against his front.

He brought his hands up but stopped himself just short of pulling her back against him.

Instead, he rested a cautious hand on her shoulder.

She didn’t pull away, so he left it there, letting his fingers gently squeeze her arm, absorbing her warmth through the silk of her dress.

“I’ll be fine, Glory. I know what I’m doing.”

She shook her head and her shoulders straightened as if she’d passed through the momentary weakness.

“You men. You all think you know everything.” The moment of tenderness was over when she swung around, dislodging his hand as she marched to the other side of the sofa. “But you don’t know anything.”

Apparently belligerent could be added to adorable to describe Glory drunk. He’d never seen this side of her. She was always so controlled and reserved. He liked it. He liked it a lot.

“Are you…are you smiling?”

“Definitely not.” Zane wiped away whatever smirk had been lurking around the vicinity of his mouth.

She glared at him suspiciously before uncrossing her arms to wave a hand at him.

“You men with your knives, and your guns, and your…” Her gaze traveled down his body to narrow in on the general vicinity of his crotch.

“Your male appendages.” The word appendages was exaggerated and said very slowly so that she wouldn’t stumble over it in her inebriated state.

He wisely brought his hand up to cover any smirk that was stupid enough to show on his face. He rather appreciated his male appendage and hoped to keep it intact.

“You all think you always know everything. This time you don’t.”

“I know that I want to keep you safe.”

This only made her shake her head again. “But you don’t know him. You don’t know what he is, what he can do. What do you think? You can just walk up to him and it’ll be over.”

Ah! He hadn’t included her. That’s what had her hackles up.

He’d been so anxious to have Justin Dubose investigated that he’d hurried over to Hunter’s without talking to her about it first. “You’re right,” he said.

Her eyebrows shot up in surprise. “I don’t know him like you do.

I should’ve had you come with me. We could’ve talked to Hunter together and come up with a plan. ”

Her brow furrowed and her lips pursed as she thought over what he’d said. She seemed suspicious of his intentions, so he took a cautious step forward, wary of making her feel cornered. “I’ve asked Able to meet us in the morning and we can talk more about a plan then. Forgive me?”

She hesitated, but eventually gave him a jerky nod. When she did it was as if the air went out of her. Her shoulders slumped forward and she let out a ragged breath. She’d been using her anger as a buffer so that she wouldn’t feel the fear and pain that was shining out from her eyes.

“You don’t know him.” She said it again but this time she stated it quietly.