If everyone else was seeing it, Deacon should, too. Surely when he read the message he could come out of hiding and seek her out. She couldn’t very well locate him, if the last few days were any indication. No, she’d left a digital breadcrumb trail for Deacon to follow, and all she could do was to sit back, wait for the love of her life to sweep her off her feet and brace herself for her world to change forever.
* * *
Deacon was used to being invisible in Royal. As a kid, most people had paid him no mind, and not much had changed over the years, despite his Cinderella moment at The Bellamy grand opening. He’d considered bailing on the town entirely after the fiasco with Chip, but something had kept him here. Whether it was his obligation to Shane or his misguided feelings for Cecelia, he wasn’t sure. Either way, he knew he wasn’t staying long, but in the meantime, the most effective course was for him to hide in plain sight—at The Bellamy itself.
He pulled the laptop out of his bag and set it up at the modern glass-and-chrome desk that was a feature of the penthouse suite. He could go downstairs to his office, but he ran the risk of running into someone and having to answer questions. Shane knew he was up here, but he had respected his space so far and promised he wouldn’t reveal his whereabouts.
He’d never actually left the hotel that night. He’d marched through the bowels of the building trying to burn off his anger, then he’d had the front desk code him a key for the unoccupied penthouse suite, and he’d been there ever since. He’d left only to move his car from the employee lot to the virtually empty parking garage for guests.
He’d returned to the lobby just long enough to see Chip holding Cecelia’s hand as they spoke to one another in a dark, quiet corridor near their offices. Hearing Chip boast had been bad enough, but it was like a knife to his gut to see them together like that.
He doubted anyone missed him, or was even looking for him, but if they were, they wouldn’t expect him here. Why would he stay in a hotel with a perfectly lovely and secluded home only a few miles away?
To avoid Cecelia.
It was childish, he knew that. And perhaps she didn’t give a damn where he was or what he was doing. She might be off making lavish wedding plans with Ashford for the social event of the year. If she was looking for him, it might just be to apologize for leading him on or to thank him for the lovely trip to France. Thanks, bye.
Either way, he didn’t want to know what she had to say to him. He’d heard plenty that night from Chip. She’d made her decision, wrong as it might be, and he would live with it. He just didn’t have to stick around so they could rub it in his face. He was going to make sure the hotel was running smoothly, hand over the reins to Shane, put his rustic lodge up for sale and return to his role as The Bellamy’s silent, and invisible, partner.
Hell, if Shane could buy him out, he’d let him. Then he’d have no reason or need to ever set foot in the state of Texas again.
Maybe once he returned to Cannes, he could wipe Chip’s smug face from his memory. Deacon hadn’t even known they were competing for the same woman until Chip announced that he had won. Of course he’d won. Chip didn’t believe for a moment that Deacon was his competition. And despite the strides he’d made over the years, Deacon wasn’t sure he was Ashford’s competition, either.
They offered Cecelia different things. They both had money and good looks, so with that canceling out, Chip had things Deacon simply couldn’t give her. Could never give her. Like a good family name, political connections and peace at home with her parents. That couldn’t be bought, no matter how much money he made.
Then again, Chip didn’t deserve a woman like Cecelia in his life. Not even with all that he could offer her, because he just wasn’t a good person. He wasn’t nice to Cecelia, much less to the little people whose votes he was constantly chasing. The only question was whether Cecelia knew that and appreciated what that meant for her future. If she even cared.
In France, away from her parents and the pressures of Royal, she had been free to be the person she wanted to be. That was the person he loved. But apparently those two Cecelias couldn’t coexist back home. Within days of returning to Texas, she’d not only changed her mind about Deacon...changed her mind about who she wanted to be and how she wanted to live...but she’d decided to take Chip back. Never mind how cruel he’d been, or how he’d kicked her when she was down. Once he was willing to “overlook” her shortcomings and take her back, she’d fallen into his arms.
Apparently she preferred being the good robot her parents wanted her to be than the happy, free spirit he saw inside her. And if that was the case, Deacon was fine moving on without her in his life. He didn’t want that Cecelia anyway.
The suite doorbell rang, pulling Deacon from his thoughts. He didn’t know who it could be. He hadn’t ordered room service, and housekeeping had already visited for the day. With a frown, he got up and went to the door. Through the peephole, he spotted Shane. Reluctantly, he opened the door. If something was wrong at the hotel, he needed to man up and deal with it, not barricade himself in the penthouse, even if it meant he might see Cecelia downstairs. “Hey,” he said casually, trying to act as though they didn’t both know he was hiding up here after getting his heart trampled.
“Hey.” Shane had a strange expression on his face. It was a weird mix of excitement and apprehension, which made Deacon even more curious about this unexpected visit. “Have you been online?” Shane asked.
Deacon took a step back to let his business partner into the suite. “No,” he admitted. “I’ve done some work, read some emails, but I haven’t really felt like seeing what the rest of the world was up to the last few days.” He certainly didn’t want to see a new engagement announcement for Cecelia and Chip, or run across any type of society buzz about their upcoming wedding being back on despite her tragic, secret past. He intended to be far, far away from Royal, Texas, by the time that event took place.
Shane charged in, nearly buzzing with nervous excitement. “So you really haven’t seen it?”
Deacon closed the door, slightly irritated at the intrusion. “Seen what, Shane? I told you, I’ve been livin
g in a cave for the last few days.”
“Wow. I’m so glad I came up here, then. You need to see this.” Shane turned his back on him without elaborating further, ratcheting Deacon’s irritation up a notch, and walked over to the computer. He sat down at the desk, silently typing information into the web browser.
“Can’t you just tell me?” Deacon asked as he came up behind him.
“No,” Shane said. “You have to see this for yourself.”
Deacon tried not to roll his eyes. He crossed his arms over his chest and waited impatiently for Shane to pull up whatever important news had to be seen firsthand. At the moment, all he could see was that he’d pulled up Facebook. Deacon didn’t even have a Facebook account. He didn’t need a social site to remind him that he didn’t really have any friends to keep up with online.
“Here,” Shane said at last. He pointed to the screen as he got up from the chair. “Sit down and read this.”
Deacon didn’t argue. He sat down and looked at the post Shane had pointed out. It was a post from Cecelia’s Facebook account. Her screen icon was a selfie that the two of them had taken when they were walking on the beach in Cannes. That was an odd choice for a woman who was engaged to another man, he thought. Then he read the words, and his heart stopped in his chest.
“Despite persistent rumors to the contrary, I am not, and never will be, engaged to Chip Ashford ever again. I would much rather be Mrs. Deacon Chase, and I hope that after everything that has happened between us, he will believe that and know how much I love him.”
Deacon sat back against the plush leather of his computer chair and tried to absorb everything he’d read. She wasn’t engaged to Chip? Had the smug bastard lied to Deacon’s face about the whole thing? Was he so arrogant that he’d assumed she’d take him back if he only asked? That was a bold bluff, he had to give Chip that. From the sound of that post, it was a bluff that hadn’t succeeded. If they really weren’t together, that meant she still wanted to be with him.