S H A D E S

Motives part 2

Carefully, very carefully, I put down my wine glass.

"Aren't you?" I asked, daring him to challenge me. To lie. "Surrounded by peers, colleagues and staff, but no one who's close to you? And before you think to interject about your ex-wife, I doubt she really knew you."

His lips quirked but there was a flicker of temper beneath the humour. "She did write those books, didn't she?"

"A memoir is still a degree of fiction, isn't it? A one-sided truth with no one to contest or argue the veracity?"

"Did you read them?" Apprehension? Reservation? I couldn't be sure what I was sensing beneath the words, only that the questions was as loaded as a six-shooter aimed at his soul.

"No," I said honestly. "Not my cup of tea. Regardless of how...gossip worthy."

His eyes danced around me, to the sea of faces, some of who were trying their damndest not to look our way, and only then did I realize the crux of why he had appeared so tense when first arriving. He wasn't uncomfortable being in a crowd, but being in the face of public scrutiny. I felt a little flutter of regret and guilt sour what had otherwise been an incomparable meal.

"They were pretty salacious." Those eyes returned to me and gave no hint of his earlier misgivings.  

"Oh I don't dispute that, otherwise your attorney wouldn't have dragged her through the mud for slander and defamation. Beautifully done, by the way."

That brought the smile back to his features, softened the edges that had gone all hard and rigid. "Her only saving grace was she'd distributed the eBooks through Amazon for free. She wasn't after money so much as my humiliation for ending the marriage. But I learned a valuable lesson from little Ms. Steele. Never trust a person of weak character. A mistake I won't repeat in future."  

"A mistake we both learned." I skimmed my finger around the rim of my glass so that a single, mournful note rang out. "One not easily forgotten."

How much he knew about me, about my loves and losses I couldn't be sure, but now it was his turn to reflect a moment of regret and I gathered he knew enough to understand the subject was a sore one with me.

Lifting a hand, Tristan accepted the tab, tucking in a black AMEX into the billfold.

"I hope I have eased your concerns and sufficiently answered your questions."

"For now." I answered and was pleased to see his brilliant smile flash, transforming the rest of his astounding features.

"Perhaps I can do something to further absolve them. If you're not too tired?" He rose to his feet, notching his top button in his blazer.  "There's something I want to show you."

Curiosity alone accounted for me leaving the restaurant with Tristian back to Shade Enterprises accompanying him in his chauffeured car.

At this late hour, his floor was empty. The lights all dimmed for the evening. He revealed a set of silver keys, unlocked his suite door and held it open for me to enter. At this height, the cityscape lay before me, framed in the length of floor to ceiling windows that ran the entire stretch of his office. Coloured lights from billboards danced and pulsed against blackened concrete, a florescent contrast to the smoky silver glow of the moon.

Full, heavy and dominating in the night sky.

I threaded my clutch between my fingers, laying it against the edge of his coffee table. "Your view is even more impressive at night."

"It is." Tristan strode, unhurried, towards the windows and stood, almost exactly as he had earlier that afternoon, to gaze out at the heart of New York City.