Carly Phillips - Brazen

As she dressed, she admitted the obvious. "It's over." The pain was almost blinding. Clothed now in jeans and a T-shirt, she glanced around the suite one last time. To make sure she hadn't forgotten anything, not because she wanted to memorize the sweet-smelling flowers or the room service cart in the corner with champagne chilling in a silver bucket.

But she'd never forget the warmth and flow of this room as she'd first seen it. She plucked a red rose from beside the trays of food. Planning to leave it on the pillow, she walked into the bedroom.

Then she remembered the ring. It was a symbol that spoke volumes, as did the effort that went into creating this setting.

"Oh, God." Sam closed her eyes. All that came to mind was Mac and the pain she'd glimpsed in his dark eyes.

He wasn't a vindictive man. She knew that. He hadn't gone to all this trouble after learning of her engagement, he'd done it before. He'd bought her a diamond ring and set the stage for a romantic proposal. Then he'd learned the truth.

She'd hurt him and he'd lashed out, hoping to hurt her in return. And he had. She pressed her fists into her cramping stomach. Oh, how he had.

Despite his harsh words, she understood. Not that understanding could change anything. When two people came together with lies as the foundation of their relationship, they didn't stand a chance.

She swiped at a stray tear. At least she'd leave with the knowledge she had meant more to him than a temporary fling, even if he no longer believed that himself.

Grabbing a hotel pad, she scrawled a note to Mac, then rolled the sheet and placed the paper and the red rose against the white pillow.

Maybe one day he'd look back on this week with pleasure and not bitterness. Love and not pain.

Maybe one day, she would, too.

Mac slid into one of the many empty bar stools at The Hungry Bear. He studied the multicolored bottles of liquor lining the racks along the wall and wondered which would make him numb the quickest.

"A shot of tequila ought to kill the pain."

At the sound of the familiar voice, Mac glanced over to see Zee making his way from the storeroom in the back. "Where's Bear?"

"Where do you think? Setting his new family up at my place. The upstairs apartment is too small for Bear's rowdy boys and soon-to-be newlyweds. You didn't tell me I'd be having grandbabies so soon." The older man beamed with excitement.

Mac shrugged. "I promised."

"So you're good for something after all. Bear will be back to open for business tonight." Zee turned his back and began working on pouring them drinks, then slid the tequila Mac's way. "Here. You look like you could use this."

"Damn straight," Mac muttered.

"If you hurt Sammy Jo, I'll rip your heart out where you sit."

Mac rolled his eyes. Zee had only known the woman for a week and already he loved her. Unfortunately for Mac, he understood the feeling all too well.

Zee leaned across the bar. "Don't go making faces at me. She's a good girl who deserves better than to be lied to."

"Oh, really." Mac swallowed a harsh laugh, then reached for the salt and performed Zee's nightly ritual. Expecting the bitter taste of hard liquor, he nearly choked on the glass of amber-colored water.

"Shoe's not so funny when it's on the other foot, is it?" the older man asked.

"You knew?"

"I may be old, but I'm no fool. And you don't need to get drunk, you need to talk or you wouldn't be here."

Why argue the point, Mac thought. "What would you say if I told you Sammy Jo had a rich fiancé waiting back at The Resort?"

Zee didn't flinch. "I'd say there was an explanation."

Mac grunted.

"So what was it?" Zee asked.

"What was what?"

"Don't play dumb with me. What was her explanation?"

Mac shrugged, feeling like a teenager who'd knocked up a neighborhood girl and now had to face the consequences. "I didn't stick around to hear it."

Zee rounded the bar and smacked him in the head. "That was because your daddy's not here to do it himself," he muttered. Then he perched himself on a neighboring stool. "Usually when someone lies, they have good reason. You tell her you own The Resort yet?"

Trust Zee to get to the heart of the matter, Mac thought. And wasn't that why he'd come here in the first place? He looked at the man he thought of as a father. "She already knew."

Mac didn't need to ask the old man whether he'd been the one to inform Samantha. Contrary to what she believed, Mac understood loyalty. He knew Zee hadn't betrayed him.

Just as he'd known the minute he slammed the door behind Samantha he'd overreacted. But it wasn't every day a guy saw the woman he wanted forever with another man's ring on her finger.

Considering Mac had planned her ultimate fantasy-the fairytale proposal and the happily ever after-then to discover the truth the way he had was humiliating in the extreme.

"And you think she set you up," Zee said.

"No." Mac spoke emphatically. "Not anymore." When he first heard the news, he'd reacted with his heart and not his head. Now, having had time to think, he knew better. Hadn't he lied, too? Yet he hadn't given an inch when dealing with Samantha.

"But you thought so at first." They both knew the unspoken answer to that question. "Just don't tell me you told her."

"Fine. I won't tell you, so pour me a damn drink. Real liquor or I'm not having this conversation." Because although he'd felt like a fool, he'd acted like a jackass. He'd damn near called the woman he loved a whore. How the hell could he live with that?

Accepting the glass, Mac swallowed what looked like whiskey in one gulp. The raw liquid burned on its way down. "Good choice," he muttered. "Now keep them coming." Because only then could he forget the shock and the pain that flashed across her face with each cutting word he'd spoken.

"You had your reasons. Don't you suppose she had hers?"

Reaching for the bottle, Mac poured another shot glass full and drank before answering. "I'm sure she did."

"And the signs must have been there all along."

"That she was trying not to get too close? Yes. That she belonged to another man? Hell, no."

"Then focus on those reasons. And you can't do that if I let you get stinking drunk." Zee grabbed the bottle and shoved it beneath the bar. "Consider it payback for the watered-down crap you and Bear make me drink every night." He turned and headed for the back.

"Where are you going?" Mac hadn't come here to be left by himself.

"I figure if I leave you alone with yourself for company, you'll get smart and go after her." With that parting shot, Zee rounded the corner and disappeared.

Mac knew without being told that he'd been wrong. He knew his Samantha could not deliberately set out to entrap and hurt him. She just didn't have it in her.

"Think explanations," Zee called from the back room. "And then get the hell out of here." Explanations. The woman had arrived straight out of the desert. What else did he know? She came from back East and had violet eyes he could drown in. Her mother died three years ago and she rambled when she was nervous. She was a financial planner and made love like she couldn't get enough of him. Her only family was an aging father whose love she sought, who was in debt up to his…

That was it. The father who needed money. What was it Samantha had said about the engagement? "Not that it ever was anything to begin with, but it was… necessary."

And Zee was right. There had been signs. She'd promised her dying mother she'd take care of her father. "Besides, I've always done the right thing." And because she wanted them to love her.

"Dammit." She was marrying the rich old man to help out her father. Mac was sure of it. He was also sure she hadn't baited him to take the first guy's place. She'd gathered her courage and turned her back on her father's predicament and her word even when she'd believed him nothing more than a bartender. He may not know who told her, but he had a damn good idea of when she'd learned the news. And it was sometime after she'd left him at Bear's.