Evidence of Desire Read online

  “Dad, don’t worry about me. Azure and I are good. She’s got my back. I know it.”

  “I wasn’t going to say anything, but after I watched you drown in court this morning…”

  Hanging his head in shame, Harper pushed his gold-rimmed fork aimlessly around his plate. He waited for his dad to blast him for embarrassing the firm today in Judge Hackett’s courtroom, but the rebuke never came. For the first time ever, his old man seemed more interested in his personal life than his career.

  “I have nothing against your wife, son....”

  A grin warmed his lips. My wife. God, he loved the sound of that. And the woman who filled his days and nights with joy. It was true. He loved her, loved living with her and making her smile. Azure always said exactly what was on her mind, and Harper liked knowing where he stood with her. She didn’t play games or keep secrets from him, and after being engaged to someone who willfully misled him for months, he found Azure’s candor refreshing. No way she’d ever play him. Not a chance. He didn’t care what his dad or anyone else thought.

  “To be honest, I’m more worried about Azure’s boss screwing us over than I am about her,” Frank confessed, stroking a hand over his jaw. “Leland Watson is as slimy as they come.”

  “Yeah, Dad, I know. Azure told me.”

  “Leland’s had it out for me ever since I sued him, and I’m worried he’s going to take his vendetta against me out on you or one of your brothers. I didn’t want to do that interview last month, but your uncle Jacob insisted, so for the sake of peace, I went along with it.”

  Harper lowered his fork. “You sued Leland? What for?”

  “It was a long, long time ago. I was fresh out of law school, and he was senior editor of a now defunct trashy gossip tabloid called The Scoop,” Frank explained.

  “Are you the reason the magazine folded?”

  Frank gave a slow nod. Harper expected his dad to grin, to wear his proud trademark smile, but he didn’t. His expression was somber and he was standing perfectly still, like one of the uniformed guards standing outside Buckingham Palace. “The magazine ran a fallacious story about one of my celebrity clients, so I smacked them with a million-dollar lawsuit. They eventually settled out of court, but the bad press ruined them, and they eventually closed up shop. Leland’s been gunning for me ever since.”

  The room exploded in cheers.

  “That was sick!” Benjamin shouted, jumping to his feet. “Dad, did you see that? Kobe rebounded his shot and dunked it in the defender’s face!”

  Frank turned toward the seventy-inch flat-screen TV just in time to see the replay. “I told you Kobe still had it! My boy’s taking them all the way this year!”

  “No way,” Shawn said, shaking his head, “and the Chicago Bulls are definitely going to win this game.”

  Jake leaned forward in his seat. “Want to put your money where your mouth is?”

  “You’re on. A hundred bucks says that my team wins.”

  “A hundred bucks?” Jake flapped his hands in the air, as if he were fending off a colony of bees. “That’s chump change. Don’t talk to me until you’re ready to make a grown-man wager. I’m talking five bills or more.”

  Harper blocked out the insults flying around the room. He had better things to do than listen to his brothers and cousins argue about who the best player was in the NBA. As he sat at the bar, eating his food, he gave more thought to what his father said. Harper knew his dad was only looking out for him, but he didn’t like him bad-mouthing Azure. Her boss might be a shady double crosser, but she wasn’t. They’d only been married for three weeks, but Harper felt as though he’d known Azure for years. And whenever she was interviewed, she always made him look like “the man.” She gushed about his cooking skills, praised him for being a thoughtful, romantic husband and spoke with admiration about his family’s charity, The Tuck Me In Foundation.

  Feeling his cell phone vibrate, he pulled it out of his pocket. When he read the latest text message from Azure, he dropped his fork, grabbed his coat and headed for the door.

  “Hey, where are you going?” Jake called out, peeling his gaze away from the television screen. “You just got here!”

  Harper dashed across the room as if a pit bull were hot on his heels. “Gotta go, guys. The wife just paged me 911, and if I don’t hurry, she’ll start without me.”

  Chapter 18

  Azure stared at the computer screen. Her fingers were poised to type, and the sunshine flowing through the open window made her office feel warm and cozy. Azure had everything she needed to create magic, to write an article that would knock her editor’s socks off, but her mind was blank, as empty as a Hooters waitress with a seventy IQ.

  Azure blocked out all the noises swirling around the office. This had never happened before. Usually, she sat behind her desk and the ideas flowed, but today she couldn’t think of a single thing to write. I wonder if staying up late has anything to do with it, Azure thought, feeling a smile coming on. I think all that wine-flavored body paint I licked off Harper’s chest last night is messing with my concentration!

  To refocus her thoughts, Azure opened the draft she’d written last week but deemed too erotic to print. She reread it, ensuring that her ideas were complete and well expressed. It was no easy task, considering that the article had been inspired by Harper. Her editor would never publish How to Unleash Your Inner Freak, but writing it had been great fun, more enjoyable than watching a Girlfriends marathon on BET. Or in her case, an hour in bed with the man she loved.

  Her office phone rang, and Azure snatched it up on the second ring. “Eminence magazine, Azure Ellison-Hamilton speaking.”

  “Is this my sexy, gorgeous wife?”

  Azure felt a rush of divine pleasure at just the sound of Harper’s rich, dreamy voice. They had been married for three blissful weeks, and had been spending all their free time together, but talking to him on the phone still gave her butterflies. Turning away from the computer screen, she sat back comfortably in her chair and twirled the phone cord around her index finger. “I was just thinking about you. How’s your day going?”

  “It got better the second I heard your voice.”

  A smile kissed her lips as she crossed her legs.

  “Can you talk, or is this a bad time?”

  Azure made a face but tried to keep the negativity out of her tone. “Unfortunately, I have all the time in the world. I have writer’s block like you wouldn’t believe.”

  “Maybe going dancing tonight at the 90 Degrees Nightclub with your dashing, new husband will get your creative juices going.”

  That, among other things. A laugh tickled Azure’s throat and bubbled up out of her lips. To stifle her giggles, she deleted the salacious thought from her mind.

  “So, are we on?”

  “Baby, you don’t even have to ask. You know I can never say no to you.”

  “Keep talking like that and I’ll have to come down there and thank you in person.”

  “You better not. Our beauty editor hasn’t forgiven me for marrying you, her longtime crush, and if she sees us together she’ll kick my butt for sure!”

  “Don’t worry, baby. I’ll protect you.”

  “I love the sound of that.” And I love you, too went unsaid. It wasn’t time. They were lovers, and although Azure was starting to think they could make their marriage work for real, she wasn’t going to ruin things by making any weepy declarations. Azure loved living with Harper, loved being his wife, and the thought of spending the rest of her life with him made her feel like crying tears of joy. For the first time ever, she was completely and truly happy, and she owed it all to Harper. He’d redefined her definition of love and made her realize she was worthy and enough, just as she was. It didn’t matter what her mom or anyone else said. Love handles and cellulite be damned! She was a smart
, vivacious woman who had everything going for her, and as long as she had Harper’s love, she’d never want for anything.

  “Common’s album release party is tonight, and I want to go and show you off,” Harper said, his voice taking on a cool, sexy edge.

  “I’d love to go!”

  “Wow, I’m surprised. I thought I’d have to bribe you with sexual favors.”

  “Not this time. I’m giving you the night off!” Azure giggled. “I heard on the radio that Demetri Morretti is in town, and I bet he’ll be at Common’s album release party. His publicist has been giving me the runaround for weeks, so tonight, I’m going to introduce myself and see if I can persuade him to give me an exclusive.”

  “Demetri Morretti’s a bad boy who loves chasing after the ladies, and from what I’ve read he’s a real handful.”

  “I’m not surprised. He is the highest-paid athlete in baseball.”

  Harper scoffed. “And that makes bedding everything in a skirt okay?”

  “No, of course not. I never said it did.”

  Silence polluted the line. It stretched on for so long, Harper knew Azure had taken offense at what he said. He couldn’t tell her the truth, not without looking insecure. “I hope he agrees to do the interview,” Harper said through clenched teeth.

  It was a lie. He didn’t. Demetri Morretti, the hotshot major league baseball player with the golden arm and chiseled looks, made women all around the world squeal and swoon. What if Azure interviewed him and he made a move on her? Harper swallowed hard. It wasn’t a question of “if it happened,” but “when it happened.” Five minutes alone with Azure, and Demetri Morretti would be smitten. That’s what had happened to him. And every day Harper spent with her, his feelings grew deeper, stronger. To the point where just the thought of her spending time with another man made him break out in a cold sweat. Harper wasn’t the jealous type, and he trusted her wholeheartedly, but that didn’t mean he wasn’t worried. He was. A lot.

  “Do you have a problem with me interviewing Demetri Morretti?”

  “Of course not. I support everything you do. You know that.”

  “I’m just checking,” she said, her voice a stroke lower, softer, “because if you didn’t want me to do it, I wouldn’t.”

  “Really?”

  “Harper, why does that surprise you? I’d never want to do anything to upset you, and if you weren’t on board, I’d scrap the whole thing.”

  At her words, the tension in the air lifted and his anxiety disappeared. He couldn’t wipe the goofy, lopsided grin off his face, and made a mental note to stop at Tiffany’s on his way home. His wife deserved something extra special, and Harper knew just what to get her. Something she could wear tonight to bed. Envisioning Azure naked, in nothing but the diamond necklace, made his heart race. “Are you sure you don’t want me to swing by your office? We could have lunch, then each other.”

  “Goodbye, Harper,” she sang, giggling. “I’ll see you later.”

  “I can hardly wait…”

  Smiling from ear to ear, Azure hung up the phone and turned back to her computer. No more distractions. She was going to sit in her chair, write the best damn article she’d ever written and then go home to her husband.

  Pride and joy bubbled up inside her. My husband. If someone had told her that one day she would be Mrs. Harper Hamilton and live in one of the best neighborhoods in the city, she would have dropped them off at the state psychiatry center. Life had a funny way of working out, and Azure knew if she continued to make Harper happy inside and outside the bedroom, there’d be a chocolate-brown bundle of joy in their future—

  Her phone rang, interrupting her thoughts. Azure knew it was Harper, calling back to flirt some more, and snatched up the phone. “Baby,” she began, trying to sound stern but failing miserably, “if you keep calling me, I’ll never finish this article and it’s due tomorrow.”

  The line was quiet.

  “Hello? Hello?”

  “The Hamiltons are not the big, happy family they appear to be.”

  Frowning, Azure stared down at the phone receiver. This was the second crank call she’d received today, but this time the female caller wasn’t whispering. Her voice was louder, stronger, dripping with malice and contempt.

  “I know for a fact,” the caller continued, “that Frank Hamilton has not always been faithful to his wife, and the evidence of his infidelity is out in the open for the whole world to see.”

  “Who is this?”

  “I have proof to back up everything I’ve said.”

  Azure gripped the receiver, sat up straighter. “Who is this, and what do you want?”

  Click.

  Stunned, Azure listened to the dial tone pulse loudly in her ear. Hanging up the phone, she considered what the caller had said. Could Frank really be a cheater? And what “evidence” was the woman referring to? Widely known and respected around town, Frank Hamilton moved effortlessly around people of all socioeconomic backgrounds and races. There was even talk of him running for mayor in next year’s election. With Frank’s bigger-than-life personality he was a shoo-in to win, but a tawdry sex scandal would knock him clear out of the race.

  Azure tapped her fingernails absently on her desk. A few weeks ago, she would have jumped all over this story—this was the kind of “dirt” her boss was hungry for—but now that she was in love with Harper, she couldn’t stomach exposing his family’s secrets.

  Leaping out of her chair, she hustled through her office and out the open door. Bridgett Dalton, the gregarious beauty editor who never stopped running her mouth, would be able to tell her everything she needed to know about Frank Hamilton. And when Azure entered Bridgett’s small, cramped office and found her sitting behind her desk trolling online gossip sites, Azure knew she’d come to the right place.

  Chapter 19

  The house was in darkness, but Azure heard music playing and wondered if Harper was cooking dinner again tonight. At the end of a long day, Azure loved nothing more than coming home, and as she unlocked the door and stepped inside the grand foyer a warm, peaceful feeling came over her. The lavish, two-story home was decorated with browns and creams, striking stone details and oversize bay windows that offered a breathtaking view of the vast, rolling landscape.

  Emerging from his hiding place behind the door, Harper captured Azure around the waist. “I was just about to send out a search party for you!” he joked, wrapping her up in his arms and playfully nibbling her neck. “I thought you’d never get home.”

  Azure giggled when Harper flicked his tongue over her ear. “It’s only five o’clock, Harper. Common’s release party doesn’t start for several hours.”

  “But I need you now, baby. I’ve been thinking about you all day.”

  “Awwwww.” She sighed. “I missed you, too, baby.”

  “I have everything waiting in the bedroom. Wine, fresh fruit, whipped cream…”

  “Wow, you thought of everything.”

  “All I need is you.”

  Turning her face toward him, she kissed him softly on the lips. “I want you, too, baby, but can we swing by the kitchen first? I really need a glass of cold water.”

  Harper released her, but not before giving her butt a hard squeeze. Inside the kitchen, he opened the cupboard, took out a glass and strode over to the stainless-steel fridge.

  “How was your day?” Azure asked, unzipping her jacket and removing her scarf.

  “Insane.” Harper filled the glass with ice, then water. “My dad’s in a bad mood, and this morning he ripped my head off for being five minutes late to the staff meeting. Normally, I’d shrug it off, but the whole team was there, and he tried to make me look stupid.”

  “I’m sure your dad didn’t mean anything by it. He’s probably just having a bad day.”

  “More l
ike a bad week. He’s been uptight and crabby since Monday.”

  Azure wondered if the female caller who’d phoned her this afternoon was threatening Frank. Or worse, blackmailing him. “Are you parents having problems in their marriage?”

  Harper put the glass on the counter. “Not that I know of. Why?”

  For hours after leaving Bridgett’s office, Azure had sat at her desk, thinking about their hour-long conversation. Most of it was hearsay, and although Bridgett had no hard proof, she knew a lot about the Hamilton family. According to her colleague, rumors had existed for years that Frank Hamilton had indulged in a long-term affair that had resulted in a love child. Azure didn’t know if Harper had ever heard the rumors, and wasn’t brave enough to ask. He’d think she was being nosy, prying just for the sake of it, and Azure didn’t want to ruin the great thing they had going. But if the rumors ever became public…

  Shuddering at the thought, Azure swiped the water glass off the counter and took a long, thirst-quenching sip. Azure couldn’t—no, wouldn’t—let anyone ruin the Hamilton family. She had to protect her husband no matter the cost. A sex scandal would not only devastate Harper, but it would bring shame to the entire family and ruin their renowned law firm.

  “I got an anonymous call this afternoon,” Azure began, wiping her sweaty palms on the side of her belted sweater dress. She told Harper what the caller said, and when she was finished talking, she felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. “I wasn’t going to say anything, but I don’t want there to be any secrets between us—”

  “None of it’s true,” Harper snapped, cutting her off. “They’re filthy lies that have been circulating for years, and were likely started by someone who has it out for my family.”

  “So you’ve heard the rumors before?”

  “They’ve been around for as long as I can remember.” Harper folded his arms across his chest. “My dad would never cheat on my mom. They love each other.”

  Azure held out her hands in a gesture of peace. She heard her cell phone ring in her coat pocket, but made no moves to answer it. There was nothing more important to her than being there for Harper, and she could tell by his stiff posture and cold, harsh tone that he was upset. “Baby, don’t get mad at me. I was just asking. I told you about the call so we could figure out what to do together, as a team.”