“Yes?” He opened the door the smallest crack possible.
It was one of Cady’s security force. “Mr. Cady would like to extend an invitation for you to join him for breakfast in his private dining area in one hour. I’ll return then to escort you.”
The man didn’t wait for an answer; just turned to leave. Evan closed the door and found Juliet up and already starting to get dressed.
“Breakfast with Cady. Is that bad or good?”
Evan honestly didn’t know. “We’ll just have to see and go from there.”
True to his word, the guard was back to escort them an hour later. Evan and Juliet hadn’t said much to each other during that time. There wasn’t much that could be discussed when they knew their conversation would be overheard.
Her expression was tight and she kept biting at her lip as they walked toward Cady’s dining room. Evan wished he could reassure her, but had no idea how.
“Good morning, Bob, Lisa,” Vince said to them as they were shown into the room. He sat at a small table that held settings for four. “Please sit down.”
Coffee and juice were already on the table, but no food had arrived. Evan held out a seat for Juliet, then took the one next to her.
Juliet glanced quickly at him, then turned her attention to Vince. “Mr. Cady, please allow me to apologize for what happened with your son last night. I am afraid I still have some…residual issues from some…occurrences in my past.”
Vince didn’t respond, just added some cream to his coffee.
“Mr. Cady,” Juliet continued, “I hope you will take into consideration that it was only me who assaulted your son. Bob had nothing to do with it. He wasn’t even with me at the time.”
Evan stared at her. What the heck was she doing?
“I don’t blame you if you want me to leave. But I hope you will not penalize Bob, or the people we work for, because of my actions. Please allow Bob to remain for the auction today.”
Cady turned his head and looked at her while stirring his coffee. “You assaulted my son.”
Damn it. Evan knew he should’ve stepped in before now. Assaulted was such an ugly word. “Mr. Cady, my wife—”
“I’m just trying to tell you that it was me. It had nothing to do with Bob.” Juliet cut him off.
Cady leaned back in his chair and took a sip of his coffee. “No offense, Mrs. Sinclair, but you don’t look like you would be big or strong enough to assault anyone. Much less someone as large as Christopher.”
Juliet started to speak again, but Cady held out his hand to silence her. “Furthermore, I know Christopher well, and I have no doubt that if you flipped him over your shoulder, then he did something to deserve it.”
For the first time since last evening Evan could relax slightly. Cady wasn’t mad. He was impressed with Juliet.
“I just don’t like to be touched, once I’ve told somebody not to.”
Cady took another sip of his coffee, laughing. “That’s right. No means no. Well, you’ve certainly helped Christopher learn that lesson. One I’d hoped he’d learned, but evidently had not.”
Two waiters brought out trays of food, setting plates before each of them. “My wife was going to join us, but she’s not feeling well because of the rough waters.” Cady was referring to the empty chair. “Please go ahead and eat.”
Evan was a few bites into his delicious meal of eggs, bacon and fruit when Christopher Cady walked in. When he saw Evan and Juliet his expression turned from bored to irritated to smug.
“You wanted to see me, Father?”
Evan saw Juliet’s fork hesitate halfway up to her mouth. Did Cady expect her to apologize to Christopher? She would do it to save the case, but Evan wasn’t sure he could stomach it. He reached over and grasped her free hand.
“Mr. Cady—”
Cady held out a palm to silence Evan.
“Christopher, I was just speaking to Bob and Lisa about what happened last night.”
The younger Cady could barely tear his gaze away from Juliet to answer. “A misunderstanding, Father. I’m sure Lisa did not mean any harm by what happened.”
“I’m sure you’re right. You, on the other hand, I cannot speak so confidently about.”
Now Vince had Christopher’s attention. A growing awareness of his father’s feelings about the situation dawned over his dark features. And he wasn’t happy about it.
“Father—”
“Christopher, I want you to apologize to Mrs. Sinclair for your behavior last night.” Vince cut him off without even waiting to hear the rest of the excuse.
At first Evan thought Christopher would refuse, defying his father. But then he turned stiffly to Juliet. “Please accept my apology. It was never my intention to hurt or frighten you in any way.”
Juliet nodded, but didn’t say anything. There wasn’t anything she really could say. Christopher returned her nod and turned to leave, but Vince stopped him.
“I want you to apologize to Mr. Sinclair, too. After all, it was his wife you traumatized.”
Evan caught Juliet’s concerned gaze. She knew, as he did, that this was going too far. Evan didn’t understand all the dynamics between father and son, but obviously there was some sort of power struggle going on.
Evan had not expected—or wanted—an apology from Christopher. Neither had Juliet. The best both of them had hoped for was just not having to abandon the case because of what had happened. Evan wasn’t sure what buttons Vince wanted to push with Christopher, but wished it didn’t involve him and Juliet.
“Mr. Cady. That’s not necessary. Truly.” Evan tried to defuse the situation.
“Oh, I think it is,” Cady replied, while casually eating his breakfast. Obviously, putting his son in this humiliating situation didn’t bother him at all. The opposite, in fact.
Christopher
