Evangeline’s manicured nails glinted as she lifted her hand, accepting the bid at twenty-five thousand. People murmured their surprise. When the auctioneer asked for twenty-six, the room held its breath.
Ainsley shook her head, signaling she was out, and I was pleased. I did not want to spend an evening with her, let alone a roundtrip flight on my jet. My gaze turned back to Evangeline—
“One hundred thousand dollars,” a woman called out from the back of the room.
There were gasps, followed by applause, and the damn lights blocked my view beyond the first few rows of people. The crowd split, parting to make way for her, and the shadow of the woman ambled toward the stage.
No.
My body went rigid, my face frozen, and my mind blank when Vivian Shaunessy stepped into view.
Sound distorted in my ears as the auctioneer accepted the bid and called for another, but I didn’t pay any attention to it. It took all my focus to maintain a look that didn’t reveal the turmoil inside me.
Vivian was still married to Liam, and her outlandish bid invited more scandal to my doorstep. Sophia knew about Liam’s affair with my wife, but I was unsure about the rest of Cape Hill.
“Sold!” The woman’s voice rang through the speakers and punched into my chest.
My body took over the perfunctory tasks, moving me down the stage steps to where Vivian was waiting. I stood painstakingly still as she met with the administrative manager at a side table. I was powerless as Vivian signed a form on a clipboard, produced her checkbook, and scribbled out all those zeros on her check.
As she tore it free, the sound of it twisted my insides.
The deed done, her nervous gaze lifted to mine.
She was a slight thing, pretty and elegant and almost bird-like, and her timid demeanor matched her exterior. Her eyes darted around with anxiety, struggling to keep her gaze on me. Some of my anger dispelled, making way for intense curiosity. She looked terrified, so why had she done it?
I gestured toward the back doors. “Let’s discuss this outside.”
The covered porch was empty of people. The auction continued inside, but it was muffled enough that we could hold a conversation. The water below lapped softly at the docks, and the air was warm and breezy, ruffling Vivian’s dark brown hair.
She said it like the words caused her pain. “Did you know? I don’t mean to speak ill of the dead, but Alice and Liam—”
I straightened. “Yes. I was aware.”
She was relieved not to have to break the news of my wife’s adultery. If I was honest with myself, I should have seen it coming. It wasn’t long into our marriage before she began to stray, and we’d come to an understanding. Divorce wasn’t something that happened in the Hale family, so I released her to pursue other partners, provided she was discreet, and as the years went by, she’d grown more brazen in who she became involved with, desperate for my attention.
Alice was hollow. It was one of the things that had originally attracted me to her. I’d thought I could fill her up and mold her as I wanted, and it had worked in the beginning. But when her appetite grew beyond me and I was no longer enough for her, we were finished. She craved newness, consumed it relentlessly, but never could find satisfaction.
“I don’t want to go to Aspen with you,” Vivian said.
Suspicion coiled in my stomach. “Is that so? You paid a lot of money to do just that.”
There was fierce woman hiding inside her shell, and she came forth. “No. I paid a lot of my husband’s money. I wanted to embarrass him like he did me, and I thought it was fitting that I’d use you to do it.”
The coil untwisted inside my body, dispelling some of the tension. What she’d done unexpectedly pleased me. Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned, they said.
As if on cue, Liam charged through the doors, barreling at her with anger coating his face.
“Vivian, what the—” When he spotted me at her side, he pulled up short. “Macalister.”
“Hello, Liam.” I peered down at him and was grateful for my height. I was taller than most men, placing me at a physical advantage, and I used it now. “I was just thanking your wife for her generosity. What an enormous amount of money you’ve donated.”
He stared at my chest, refusing to meet my gaze, and he looked like I’d just put a fist in his stomach.
Over his shoulder, I watched as Sophia slipped out and stood near the side of the building, and although her focus didn’t appear to be on us, I was certain it was. I settled the full weight of my intense gaze back on him.
“You made a mistake when you slept with Alice,” he shrank back, but I kept my tone even, “and your wife has just paid for it, so I suggest you thank her.”
Disbelief finally drew his gaze up to mine, and when he saw I was entirely serious, he turned hesitantly toward her. “Thank you.”
It was humiliating for him, and it gave me a modicum of satisfaction. I rolled my shoulders back. “I consider this matter settled between us.”
He couldn’t believe it. “Really?”
“Yes. I am striving to be a better man these days.” I couldn’t stop the pointed directive from coming forward, though. “But you will remember how forgiving I was if you’re ever asked to vouch for my character.”
Liam nodded quickly. “Of course.”
He took his wife’s hand, anxious to be gone from my sight before I changed my mind, and it wasn’t long before Sophia moved in, filling the space at my side.
“That was unexpected.” It wasn’t clear if she meant the results of the auction or the abrupt forgiveness I’d given a man I despised. She asked it in a hush. “You all right?”
Strangely, I was. It felt good not to have the burden. “I’m fine.”
She accompanied me as I walked to the edge of the porch, and I rested my hands on the railing, looking out over the water. For a long moment, the two of us lingered there in enjoyable silence, admiring how the moon looked as it hung over the ocean.
“I assume you encouraged both Evangeline and Ainsley to bid.”
“Yeah. I did.” She gave me a guilty smile. “But you want to know something interesting?” Electricity sparked in her eyes. “I told them you’d cover fifteen K. So, that last ten grand they bid? It was all them.”
She had an infectious smile, and that saying was appropriate. I was becoming infected by Sophia. I’d never been quick to smile, but it kept happening when she was around.
“Thank you for your help tonight,” I said.
My appreciation landed on her and she nodded, perhaps unsure of what to say.
“What’s next in this plan of yours?” I asked.
She looked up at me with mischief in her eyes, and it was enticing. “I start telling you Cape Hill’s secrets.”
Instead of reading blogs about the stock market during my run tonight, I used that time to evaluate what I wanted and how I would achieve it. Once the decision had been made, I increased the treadmill to the highest speed I could sprint and told myself if I could complete a quarter-mile while maintaining that pace, I’d allow myself to have Sophia.
I set a new personal record.
And although I was gasping for breath when it was over, I was pleased with both my victories.