When the water started to go cold, she gave up on her brain winding down into relaxation and decided she needed to just go to bed. Maybe then she could get a break from her own thoughts for a while.
Wrapped in a towel, she stepped out into the bedroom and found Harley sitting at the desk with his laptop. He wasn’t frowning at the screen this time, though. There was a glint of interest in his eyes that caught her attention. That was different. It made Jade wonder what information he’d managed to uncover this late, after such a long and miserable night.
“I believe I’m going to have to think outside the box with this case,” he said. “If I can’t get the Steele family to contact me, I’m just going to have to go directly to them.”
“What do you suggest?” Jade asked, as she unzipped her bag and pulled out something to sleep in. “I can’t imagine you could just stroll up to their front door or march into their offices downtown.”
“Normally, you’d be right.” Harley turned his laptop around to face her.
She tugged on an oversize Clemson T-shirt from her undergraduate years and walked over for a closer look. It was the website for the annual Steele Tools charity ball, scheduled for Friday night at the Steele estate.
“Isaiah just sent me the link for this, along with more background on Morgan. This is the one night of the year that you can stroll right up to their door and go inside, as long as you pay for a ticket. As the community outreach representative for the company, Morgan will be at that party, I have no doubt. As will the rest of the family. All I have to do is dust off my tuxedo and lay out the required donation to get that ticket.”
“You’re going to look suspicious going by yourself,” Jade said.
If the family had been deliberately avoiding him, they probably had people on the lookout for attendees that didn’t belong. She had no doubt he would look handsome, but a single man typically wouldn’t go to a party like that alone. Especially a man who looked like Harley, fresh from the front lines. “You’re going to need a date if you want any chance of getting in the front door.”
Harley stopped and looked at her with conflict in his gaze. He
knew she was right, she could tell, but he didn’t like it. “I can’t take you to the party,” he said.
Jade couldn’t hide her pout as she crossed her arms over her chest. “Why not? You said if you put me in a pretty dress you could take me anywhere.”
“That’s absolutely true. But you know I’m trying to not involve you in the case. I’ll be there to ask questions and try to get an in with the Steeles. Is that really how you want to meet your potential family? Accidentally bumping into your birth mother in line at the bar?”
She hadn’t thought about it that way, but the more she considered what he said, the less it mattered. “Actually, I think this might be better. It would take the pressure off to just be there and observe them, without this big announcement about me being their daughter hanging over my head.”
“And you think you’ll be able to keep your cool and not say anything? Pretend like they’re nothing to you even as I try to corner Morgan into a private discussion? If her parents aren’t cooperating, it’s critical that I get her on board to help.”
Jade nodded confidently. “I can. And even if I couldn’t, you have to take me, Harley. You can’t leave me by myself. You said yourself that it’s too dangerous.”
“I can leave you here. You’re perfectly safe with my mother,” he countered.
“Well, then who else are you going to drag to a black-tie party on such short notice?”
Finally, after she’d chipped away at all his excuses, he relented, although he still had a wary look in his eyes. “Okay, you’re right. I don’t have a lot of options here. I can’t believe I’m about to say this, but Jade Nolan, will you go to the dance with me?”
* * *
Harley felt incredibly out of place in the department store. Like a bull in a china shop, he tried to stay in the corner and out of the way, but he was just too large a man in such a tiny dressing area. The dressing rooms themselves were down a narrow hall, but he was waiting just outside of them where a three-paneled mirror offered a view of your every angle whether you wanted to see it or not. The room was also had a small counter where a chic woman dressed all in black assisted the ladies and rehung outfits that they passed on. Every time a woman went in or out, he had to press into the wall so she could pass between him and the clerk.
“Do I have to be here for this?” he said loudly, making the clerk roll her eyes at him. He didn’t care.
“Yes.” Jade’s voice drifted to him from over the wall partition. “You’ve generously offered to buy me a new gown, so should get some say in what I wear to the party.”
Yeah, that’s what she’d said as she lured him into the department store. After perusing rack after rack of beaded and silky gowns, Jade had led him to the dressing area so she could try on a few of the selections. Somehow the idea of seeing Jade model a bunch of slinky garments was better in his mind than it was in reality.
“Fine,” he growled. He didn’t understand why a place selling dresses that cost more than his first car couldn’t have a bigger fitting room area. He should’ve just hired a personal shopper to handle this, but Jade had told him he was being silly. It was bad enough that he was buying her a dress, she’d said. Jade hadn’t wanted to accept, but he’d insisted she needed something nice enough to blend in with the other rich partygoers. Since she didn’t have anything suitable, she could choose between staying home or letting him buy her a dress.
Only then had she relented. But she wasn’t going to let him go overboard. She’d insisted she would just pick out something off the rack, whatever that meant.
He sighed and crossed his arms over his chest. Hopefully, one of the dresses she’d selected would work. Harley couldn’t imagine going through all this a second time at another store.
“Are you going to come out in any of them?” he asked.
“As soon as I find one worth showing you, yes.”
After an eternity of waiting, he finally heard a door down the corridor unlatch, and a moment later, Jade emerged from the dressing room in a crimson beaded gown. It had a plunging square neckline that highlighted the delicious curves of her small, firm breasts and her long, graceful neck. The cap sleeves left most of her arms bare, highlighting the stark contrast between her pale skin and hair and the blood-red fabric. The beaded and sequined design crisscrossed over the dress and down to the floor, where it just barely pooled at her feet.