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“You mean she just showed up at the house one day?” Sutton had never been jealous of his brother before, but there was a first time for everything. He wished his mystery woman had tracked him down. Instead, she’d fled in the night without a trace.
“Yes. She said she saw my picture in the newspaper and realized who I was. Told me she had to talk to me because of the way everything happened. I was stunned to have her just drop in my lap like that, so I jumped at the chance and asked her out to dinner. And now here I am, sitting with you, wondering where it all went wrong.”
“So it wasn’t the same?”
Sebastian shrugged. “I don’t know how to describe it. I mean, Lauren is lovely. She’s pretty and smart and honestly, a fling with a masked woman could’ve ended much worse when identities were revealed. But it’s not like it was that night. The electricity, the draw...it’s gone. She’s just a nice woman and nothing more. That’s all I can say about it. There was no spark.”
“That sucks.”
“You could say that,” Sebastian grumbled. “And I don’t understand it. I can’t stop thinking about the masked woman. I’ve even dreamed about her. She was everything I wanted, like a fantasy that stepped out of my head and onto the dance floor. But Lauren is just not the same woman. She said she wasn’t quite acting herself that night, but I don’t think you can fake chemistry like that. She says she is the woman from that night, but in my gut I know it just can’t be true.” He shoved a hand through his hair. “I wish she’d left behind a glass slipper I could try on her foot to prove her identity one way or another.”
That’s when a dull ache started to worry at Sutton’s stomach. There were so many similarities to their stories and yet Sutton hadn’t mentioned much about that night to his brother or anyone else. Maybe there was more to this than just an innocent fling. But what were the odds that both of them would have a night like that, then the woman would show up on their doorstep claiming to be the one Sebastian had been with?
He didn’t like having such paranoid thoughts, but with everything going on with Wingate Enterprises, they couldn’t be too careful. Maybe someone had hired a couple women to come to the party and seduce them for information.
“Tell me more about her. But focus on that night at the party, not your date tonight, since we’re not certain they’re one and the same. Describe her as though she were two different people.”
Sebastian nodded and closed his eyes. “The woman at the party had dark brown hair and large, dark eyes. Her hair was up, but I could tell it was longer. She was wearing a black mask and a long, red dress—”
“Stop,” Sutton said, holding up his hand. “Are you sure about all of that? She had brown eyes, a red dress and a black mask?”
Sebastian rolled his eyes at his brother. “Of course, I’m certain. She’s been on my mind ever since that night. I couldn’t forget what she looked like if I tried. Why are you giving me the third degree on her?”
Sutton took a deep breath and tried to gather his thoughts. “Well, because I had a very similar experience at the party. And it happened to be with a brown-eyed brunette in a red dress and a black mask.”
“That’s a weird fluke.”
“Perhaps. But what if it was the same woman?”
Judging by the expression on his twin’s face, he wasn’t buying it. “No way. There had to be more than one woman in a red dress there that night.”
“Yes, but everything else seems too coincidental. We both meet a mystery woman in red and have anonymous affairs at the party? Maybe me, but you? You never do things like that. It’s like we were targeted.”
“Are you suggesting that we both slept with the same woman that night? And that she did it on purpose?” Sebastian winced with disgust as he said the words. “That’s not possible. And even if it were...why would she want to do that?”
“Why would someone want to set us up to get the family kicked off the board and all our assets frozen?” Sutton countered.
His brother sat back in his seat and took another long swig of beer. “You think it’s all related somehow? That the woman at the party targeted us on purpose because of something to do with the drug charges?”
It seemed far-fetched. He knew that. But so was both of them being under the seductive spells of such similar women on the same night. “Maybe. I wouldn’t put it past anyone, anymore. No place is safe, not even the club.”
“But why? Whether it was one woman or two dressed similarly, what does sleeping with us both get them?”
That, Sutton wasn’t sure about yet. But he’d piece it together eventually, just the way he’d eventually get to the bottom of who had framed them. “Maybe just to set us up for some scandalous photos. More bad press for the family could ruin what little positive public opinion we have left. Or maybe she was hoping to get some information about us. Did you talk about the family or business at all with her?”
“No,” Sebastian insisted. “Nothing personal, really. You?”
“No. We took full advantage of our anonymity at the party. What about at dinner tonight?”
His twin shook his head again. “It was all fairly light subjects. Mostly small talk. I’m not even sure Lauren knows much about the family, much less that she’s the mastermind of the whole plot. She’s not a club member or involved in Royal society at all. She’s an outsider to all of this.”
“Or so she wants you to think.”
“That just doesn’t ring authentic to me,” Sebastian insisted. “I think you’ve got too much time on your hands if you’re thinking up evil plots.”
“And yet she knew enough about you to show up at the house even though she wasn’t supposed to know who you were?”
His brother shrugged. “She said she realized who I was when she saw a picture of me in the paper the next day.”
