Page 74 of Dark Lover

She somehow smiled. “I have some unfinished work to do. I’ll catch up with you in a few hours. Maybe I’ll even jump into the sack with you…lucky guy.”

His gaze narrowed.

She blocked her thoughts, even though she was beginning to think he wasn’t all that good at mind reading. “I work at night, remember?”

His gaze veered behind her, at the media room. “What are ye up to?”

She wet her lips. “Hemmer has a collection of sex tapes. He’s got the one you saw and he might have others, featuring yours truly.”

Ian’s eyes widened. She felt his interest change.

“Like hell,” she said softly. “Take a hike. This is my business, and I’ll catch up with you later. Promise.”

Instead of going out the door, he approached. “You’re lying. I can feel it. While ye might be mad that Hemmer has seen ye with yer other lovers, ye wouldn’t stay here, in jeopardy, to get the tapes. What’s in the room?”

A terribly graphic image of the swinging cage assailed her before she could stop the recollection. It was followed by that male hand with the gold signet ring, reaching for the padlocked door.

Clearly, the image was so powerful that Ian saw it, too. He blanched another time. Briefly, he was speechless. He choked, “Ye saw a boy in a cage?”

“No, I didn’t see any cage! What are you talking about?”

He seized her. “What did ye see?”

“It was Hemmer,” she cried. “I’m sorry! It was just an old, grainy video, maybe from the sixties or seventies. It was just a cage, swinging in the night. Ian, it’s okay!”

He was almost green as he released her.

Sam seized him. “Are you going to faint?”

He looked at her with horror. “He has a video…of me in the cage.”

Sam kept a tight grip on him. She wasn’t sure she’d ever seen someone as shocked. “Ian, it was really out of focus and it was only a cage and—”

He shook her off and cut her off. “What did ye see?” he roared.

She cringed inwardly. “Just a boy!”

“Ye saw me!”

She wanted to cry. She thought her eyes felt moist. She slowly nodded. “No one would ever be able to tell that it was you,” she tried.

“You could tell!”

Sam took his hand. He flung her off. “C’mon! You have a really rotten past. I know it—you know it. Damn it, no one else should know it—I agree with you. But this is real life. Life isn’t fair. Others know it, too. Hemmer showed me the one clip. I’m sorry.”

Ian stormed past her, into the media room. “How many tapes of me does he have?”

She followed. “I have no idea. Did you know they were taping…you?”

He paused when he was inches from the big screen. He was trembling wildly now. “I can’t do this,” he suddenly said, not turning.

She did not like the sound of that.

He did not look at her. “I’m going to sell the page today.”

Her stomach churned with dread. She sensed where he was going. “Ian.”

“No. I don’t have yer courage. I never have.”