15. Chapter 15

CHAPTER 15

PRADA

Jamie

T hat Friday, Jamie negotiated walking through the busy lunchtime tables to where he saw Ned seated, his menu set aside, a bottle of San Pelligrino already on the table.

Ned got up when he saw Jamie, and their greetings included handshakes and claps on the arm.

They took their seats, putting their napkins on their laps, with Ned starting it.

“I was pleased when your assistant asked mine for this lunch.”

“It’s been a while,” Jamie agreed.

Ned’s eyes warmed. “Congratulations on JT.”

Jamie smiled at him.

“And on Nora,” Ned continued.

Jamie smiled again.

The warmth faded from Ned’s eyes.

“So it fucks with me that I have to share all I have to share with you,” he concluded.

Jamie’s smile died.

This lunch was about them being friends, and extended family, and not seeing each other for a while.

It was also for Jamie to broach the difficult subject of asking after Ned’s love life, which would also hold a warning, because Nora knew, and Chloe would find out, and Jamie had learned that when Chloe, or Nora, set their sights on something, things could get dicey.

Before he could ask, the waiter was there.

“Drink, sir?”

“The sparkling water is fine,” Jamie replied.

The waiter poured the water. Jamie quickly picked up his menu to make his decision, they both shared their preferences, and the waiter took off.

Jamie didn’t fuck around. “What news do you have to share?”

“Were you aware that Paloma was feeding Roland information about your relationship with Nora?”

Ah.

This was about that.

Jamie took a sip of his water, put it down, sat back, and replied, “Yes.”

“Were you equally aware she was doing this to have her path cleared to make a play for you?”

Jamie went still.

Ned read his response and nodded. “She was. And just in case you doubt my sources, this comes from Blake. She hears things through some female grapevine we’re not privy to, and she says the person who told her knows she’s close with you, so she told her so Blake would warn you.”

“How could she ever imagine…?” Jamie trailed off and shook his head. “Paloma knows I detest her.”

“I’m not sure you made that clear.”

“No, Ned. I made it very clear when she made a pass at me while my wife was dying.”

Ned flinched before he murmured, “Good Christ.”

“Yes. She’s a vulture. When she’s not being a viper.”

“Perhaps desperate times,” Ned suggested.

“I don’t give a fuck what it is,” Jamie clipped.

He’d not had time to find a way to get in touch with Paloma and share some truths.

The priority level of that had changed with this lunch.

“I hesitate to share that isn’t all the bad news I have,” Ned said.

“Terrific,” Jamie muttered.

Ned didn’t make him wait. “Roland, and I can only assume this is through Paloma, is making a number of meetings.”

“To do what?” Jamie asked.

“To gather the capital to buy the note on your family’s ranch.”

Jamie could do nothing but stare at his friend.

“Roland isn’t in ranching, he’s in shipping,” Ned stated. “But even with that, I can’t imagine what he’s trying to do, outside of fuck with you.”

Oh, he was doing that.

“The note isn’t for sale,” Jamie stated.

“It doesn’t have to be. AJ can pay it off if he remortgages with Roland’s group.”

“Goddammit,” Jamie bit.

He needed to stop delaying. With Chloe pregnant, then JT coming, and Nora and he what they were, then becoming who they are, not to mention, Jamie had to be emotionally ready to do all he needed to do, he hadn’t leaned into his father in order to decimate his resources so he could call the note.

By Texas law, his father was not as yet in default, but in Jamie’s estimations (which were never wrong), AJ had three months of assets before that would happen.

Once it happened, they’d send a 30-day breach trust letter, which would include the twenty days AJ would be given to cure the default, something he wouldn’t be able to do.

Unless someone bankrolled it.

“This is bigger than Paloma making a play for a meal ticket,” Jamie said to his glass, his mind turning through the possibilities. He looked to Ned. “Roland is definitely angry Nora and I are together, but this is even bigger than that. I don’t recall Roland ever playing nasty. Inside his sandbox, yes. Outside it, no.”

“The both of them do seem to have a healthy interest in messing with the two of you,” Ned agreed.

“And AJ is determined to stop me doing what he knows I’m doing,” Jamie added.

“An unholy trinity,” Ned murmured sympathetically.

“Why doesn’t Paloma just make a play for Roland?” Jamie groused.

“He’s already had her, and she’s far too old for him, Jamie,” Ned said. “He wants Nora back because he doesn’t want anyone else to have her, particularly you. You’re worth more than he is. You have more respect than he does. Her finding someone else after all these years, and it being you, is a one-two punch for a man like Roland. If she’s alone, he can convince himself he broke her and she’s pining for him, something that strokes a man like Roland’s ego. If she’s moved on, especially trading up, he’s unable to do that. And he wouldn’t hesitate to use an ex-lover if she proved useful to him. Apparently, Paloma is making herself very useful.”

“His relationship with his children is hanging in the balance on this, Ned. There’s enmity there. Nora has good kids, they’re loyal to her, but she’s not averse to them having a relationship with their father. If they got wind of this, I don’t think that will be in the cards for him in future.”

“It’s the bed he’s making, Jamie,” Ned replied, reaching for his water. “He may learn he can’t act like a petulant child until the day he dies. He might not. Obviously, my family knew his family. His mother spoiled him.” Ned took a sip and put the water back before he shrugged. “He’s always been a brat. Eleanor bemoaned Nora’s choice before their marriage, and after. And Eleanor was very rarely wrong.”

“And Nora is learning that the hard way, which is not something I can allow to go on, I just have no fucking clue at the moment what to do about it.”

“You’ll think of something,” Ned assured.

Jamie blew out a frustrated breath.

“I hate I had to share all of this,” Ned said.

“I’m sorry you hate it, but I’m glad you shared,” Jamie replied.

Ned inclined his head.

“Now, since our conversation hasn’t been comfortable, we might as well get it all out of the way with me telling you not only Nora, but Mika, know about Marlo.”

Ned’s lips thinned.

“And I can assume you understand, if those two know, then Chloe isn’t going to be far behind,” Jamie finished.

“Blake and Alex don’t know,” Ned said.

“I’m aware.” He watched his friend closely. “Is there a reason why?”

“They’ve had to compete with my work, and me fighting with their mother, for my attention all their lives, and they lost. Those things aren’t in the way anymore. But not much time has passed since I removed them. I don’t want them to think they suddenly have another obstacle to my love.”

“It doesn’t work that way, Ned,” Jamie said quietly.

Ned shook his head. “Blake is blossoming. Alex is happy and getting married very soon. It isn’t the time.”

“And Marlo feels about this…?”

Ned looked away.

Mm-hmm.

“Do you care about her?” Jamie asked.

“She’s an extraordinary woman,” Ned said to the napkin in his lap he was adjusting.

“You’ve waited longer to find someone to share your life with than I have, Ned, but take my advice. Don’t fuck this up. The girls will understand, and perhaps it might be rocky with Blake at the start, but she’ll come around.”

Ned finally looked at him. “I just need more time.”

“Don’t take too much,” Jamie cautioned.

Ned held his gaze a beat before he nodded.

And their lunch was served.

That evening, when he arrived home, Alyona opened the door for him, and he smiled at her.

“Hello, Mister Jamie,” she greeted.

“Alyona. Good day?”

She nodded. “Miss Nora is in the study.”

“Thanks, darlin’.”

He moved in and saw his little girl prancing his way, so he bent and picked her up in his arms.

As was becoming her habit, Heiress moved to rest her paws on his shoulder and sniff his neck while he carried her to the study.

He found Nora on the sofa, the coffee table in front of her covered in papers.

She glanced up at him. “Darling, remind me never to accept the assignment of creating seating charts ever again . I must have had a moment of insanity when I agreed to this torture.”

“The Frick thing?” he asked, moving to her and bending to brush his lips against hers.

When he straightened, she shook her head. “No, the ballet thing.”

“Ah,” he murmured.

Her eyes narrowed on him, reading him, he knew, when she asked, “How did lunch with Ned go?”

Jamie lifted a leg high to step over both of hers in the space between sofa and table, and then he (and Heiress) sat down beside her.

“I wouldn’t count on him calling a family meeting with his daughters anytime soon.”

She huffed.

He smiled, but said, “It has to be on his time when he’s comfortable with it.”

“Marlo Winslet doesn’t strike me as someone who will wait very long for a man to extricate his head from his ass,” she remarked.

“You waited for me.”

“I was hopelessly in love with you.”

He grinned at her and said, “Maybe Marlo is in love with Ned.”

She looked to the charts. “We can hope so…for Ned.”

“Ned had some things to share with me too.”

She refocused on him. Acutely. “Why does your tone warn me to brace?”

“Because it’s some fucked-up shit.”

Her eyes widened, then she lifted a hand to roll it at him to prompt him to divulge.

Jamie did so.

He told her about Paloma, which made Nora appear annoyed. He then cautiously told her about Roland, which made her look shocked. And he made sure she knew AJ had to be involved in this, which made her openly contemplative.

“What?” he asked.

“I don’t know,” she hedged.

He knew her too well, so he noted, “I think you do.”

She shifted in her seat as if preparing, for what, he had to prepare for, before she said, “You may consider me crazy, but I think in that mess, Paloma is the mastermind.”

“I love you, sweetheart, but you’re giving her too much credit. If Roland isn’t, AJ is.”

“Roland can be petty, but this is beyond the pale.”

“You haven’t lost you, twice . And I’ll add, in losing you, for all intents and purposes, he lost his children. I don’t agree with it, but I can see how that would take things beyond the pale.”

“There’s something I haven’t shared…about Paloma.”

Jamie felt the skin at the back of his neck stretch taut.

“What?” he pushed when she didn’t go on.

“Well, as you know, she was with Tom for a time.”

“I know this.”

“And Tom broke things off when he started seeing Mika.”

“I know this too.”

“And Paloma wasn’t happy about it.”

“I could guess at that.”

“Well, she intended to do something about it. And not long after Mika and Tom realized their undying love for each other, I got a call from Hale.”

Now, he was confused. “Hale?”

“Hale, who told me that Elsa had told him that Paloma had been doing some pretty intense digging, and she was close to finding out the name of the woman Tom had an affair with.”

The air Jamie sucked in at that hissed between his teeth.

And then it hit him.

“So you intervened,” he guessed.

“Not exactly,” she dissembled.

“How not exactly ?” he pressed.

“I believe it was Hale who made certain the woman wasn’t found.”

“And you?”

She fluttered out a hand. “Well, it was light work, darling. She’d already burned a great many bridges.”

“But you burned the rest of them so there were no more invitations, which meant cutting her off from her means of existence, as she wouldn’t easily be able to meet men of a certain standing, married or not.”

She bit her lip to communicate he was correct.

She then continued, “And she might, well…be banned from the Prada boutique on 5 th Avenue.”

Jamie sighed.

“And the one on Madison,” she continued.

Jamie rested his head on the back of the sofa.

Heiress took this opportunity to climb out of his arms and settle between them on the sofa.

“And the one on Broadway,” Nora mumbled.

Jamie returned his gaze to her.

“Prada is her preferred house. Almost to the point she’d made it her signature,” she explained.

“And you cut her off.”

“Hardly,” she drawled. “They have boutiques all over the world, and you can buy online, darling.”

“Do you think maybe, in the several times we discussed her, I might need to know this?”

“Would you believe me if I said it slipped my mind?” she tried.

“No.”

She smiled. “It’s good for our relationship to know I can’t lie to you.”

“Nora, this is about you,” he pointed out. “She’s pissed as shit at you. This isn’t about you having things she doesn’t. This isn’t a society catfight. She’s coming at you.”

“Tom’s business is not mine to tell, Jamie,” she said softly.

“I know all about his business, Nora. We’re close. He’s confided in me. And you know why.”

Her face scrunched.

She knew why. Then again, everyone did. Belinda made sure of that.

When he’d sought connection and intimacy in another woman’s arms, that woman not his wife, he’d been separated from Belinda and had already filed for divorce.

When Belinda leaked the “affair” to the press, she didn’t mention that part.

“We were no longer together,” he told her.

“You don’t need to explain this to me.”

Was she insane?

“Of course I do.”

“I know the man you are, Jameson. Even if you didn’t say that to me, I could have guessed,” she snapped.

Jamie sat solid.

“I also knew her issues. And that a custody battle and quite a bit of money were at stake. She was a woman playing her options, and you paid,” she continued.

“Judge paid,” he forced out.

“Both of you paid,” she declared. “I honestly don’t care what people think of it, but before the ink was dry on my divorce to Roland, I went on the prowl. I slept with a number of men. I did this before I realized it wasn’t my choice to do it, he’d driven me to do it as a form of revenge. It drove him up the wall I was taking lovers, and to all appearances, something Roland didn’t miss, I enjoyed doing it. I came to my senses. But although our stories are very different, I do know how it feels to have a spouse betray you as they fill their driving need to have something else. I also understand having the desire to feel attractive and rebuild your confidence so the way they treated you, like you were worthless, as was your love, doesn’t dig in, fester and ruin you forever.”

Christ, he loved it that she got that.

Got him.

Always.

With what had happened with Belinda.

How much he’d lost of Judge.

How much he’d gained, then lost, with Rosalind.

“Fuck, are you real?” he asked.

“I’m sitting right here.”

He was pleased to note at that juncture she was wearing a dress.

“I need to go down on you,” he stated.

Her eyes flared and she retorted, “This is a problem for you, since I suddenly have the overwhelming urge to have you in my mouth.”

“Nora—”

She smiled a sultry smile as she leaned toward him. “You know you’re going to let me have what I want, Jamie.”

Her hand went to his crotch.

“Fuck,” he bit out.

“I’m sorry, darling,” she murmured as she shooed Heiress from between them.

She then made to move as if she was getting on her knees on the floor.

“Not on your knees,” he grunted.

Her eyes went from his lap to his face. “If I don’t?—”

“I’ll let you blow me, baby, but Nora Ellington does not get down on her knees.”

A different flare lit her eyes before she nodded, then she unzipped him.

Remaining beside him on the sofa, she bent to him when she released his hard, throbbing cock from his trousers.

He’d learned she didn’t fuck around when she did this. She wasn’t about teasing, and she wasn’t hesitant.

She was about results.

This wasn’t about hurrying through an unpleasant task.

No, Nora used skill, precision, dedication and urgency to provide the ultimate explosive experience.

As such, Nora worked his cock with mouth and hand until she gave Jamie that experience, and their sexy little secret, Nora Ellington swallowed.

Jamie had barely come down before he ordered, “Straddle.”

“Jamie—”

“Get astride me,” he demanded.

She hitched a leg over him.

He dipped a hand under her skirt and into her panties, feeling she was drenched.

Her head fell back.

He worked her, and he watched his work in her face, getting mildly hard again while listening to it as it heightened, crested and crashed over her.

He slid his hand from between her legs to cup her ass inside her panties when she collapsed against him, her forehead in the side of his neck.

And she brought them back to their earlier discussion.

“She’s the mastermind,” she murmured into his skin.

“I hate to admit it, but I think she is.”

“I don’t think a call to her is going to change her mind.”

“I hate to admit this too, but I believe you’re correct, and further, this is not my forte, dealing with women like that.”

“Leave it to me.”

Oh no.

“Not gonna happen,” he replied.

She lifted her head. “Jamie?—”

“No, Nora.”

“Jamie!” she snapped, post-orgasm mellowness vanishing.

“You’re not in the line of this fire,” he clipped.

“You’re not either.”

“Acquiring the ranch is a waiting game at this juncture. If Pop doesn’t find an ally, and at this point, he has only two, Roland and Paloma, he’s fucked. The only recourse we have is me uncovering who Roland is conning into getting involved in this mess and convincing them not to get involved in this mess. The ranch is leveraged for more than it’s worth. I can’t imagine anyone with a lick of business sense getting involved in the first place, so we might be worried about nothing.”

“I can imagine, if they don’t like AJ, and they want to fuck him nearly as much as you do.”

Christ, he was off his game.

He hadn’t thought of that.

And his father had a lot of enemies.

“Damn,” he muttered.

“This is a good course of action,” Nora approved. “Find them. Stop them. Obviously, Paloma is not going to win you. And Roland isn’t going to win me. If you can put a stop to your plans being stymied to take the ranch, eventually, none of them are going to have any ammunition to hurt either of us.”

Roland was a pest.

Paloma was a vulture.

And AJ was a snake.

Thus, Jamie wasn’t certain Nora was right.

But there was nothing else he could do.

Beyond the ranch, he’d taken everything AJ had. Roland was his woman’s ex, and the father of her children, so Roland might think his hands weren’t tied, but Jamie understood, in some ways, his were. And he wasn’t comfortable fucking with a woman. Paloma wasn’t his favorite person, but she had nothing but fading looks. He couldn’t live with himself if he found a way to leach blood from that stone.

“Fuck,” he muttered again, dropping his head back to the sofa.

Nora curved a hand around the side of his neck and pushed up so he could see her. “We’ll be just fine, darling.”

Jamie was pleased to hear the strength behind her assertion.

She believed that.

But Jamie had a bad feeling that something was coming.

And Jamie had not made the life he’d made by ignoring his intuition.

It wouldn’t take long at all for him to discover, as usual, he was very right.