Last night Raine had come by her apartment and told her about driving Mike and Samantha to see Sam’s grandmother. Raine had had a good laugh about how besotted his cousin was and said he looked as though he’d walk across fire if Samantha wanted him to—or if he thought it would impress her. “I hope to hell I never fall as hard as Mike’s fallen,” Raine had said. “I think Mike would have gone after me with a shotgun if I’d so much as touched the hem of her skirt, which I wouldn’t mind doing given the legs under that skirt. I do rather envy him his nights.”
Now Blair was hearing that Sam and Mike had never gone to bed together. It was rather like finding out that Romeo and Juliet had been faking their love for each other.
“Where did Mike go tonight?” Blair asked.
“To find out more about my grandmother,” Samantha answered and explained a bit about the note. “He doesn’t want me to go with him because I’m not suitable for a bar. You know what he said about me? He said that I have an old mind in a young body. He thinks I’m…that I’m the motherly sort, the little church girl. I’ll bet Vanessa went to bars with him.”
“What do you know about Vanessa?”
“What do you know about Vanessa?”
Blair laughed. “Did you know that Vanessa slept with other men while she was going out with Mike and that Mike knew about it and didn’t care?”
A bit stunned by that news, Samantha blinked a couple of times. “Since Mike is the most jealous man in the world, that’s a little difficult to believe. He’s jealous of Raine and this city and everything that I like that isn’t him. Sometimes I think he’s even jealous of computers.”
“Well, he wasn’t jealous with Vanessa. She was a showpiece and she was there when Mike wanted her and left him alone when he didn’t want to be bothered. But then, it’s my opinion that Vanessa would have done anything Mike wanted, because she liked his money more than she liked him.”
“Is Mike wealthy?”
“Yes.” Blair was pretending that her attention was on her drink, but actually, she was watching Samantha intently.
“But Raine said all the Taggerts were poor.”
“Compared to the Montgomerys, they are. Mike inherited around ten million on his twenty-first birthday, and by now, with his skills at investing, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’d tripled the amount.”
With a big sigh, Samantha finished her drink. “I was beginning to think that was the case.”
Blair laughed at her tone because she sounded as though she’d been told Mike had some great, unchangeable flaw. “Mike’s money isn’t a tragedy, you know. It gives him a lot of freedom.”
“Freedom to have any woman in the world,” she said heavily. Blair nearly laughed again. Mike wasn’t the only victim of the green-eyed monster. “I think Mike is…is…”
“You don’t have to tell anybody what you think of Mike; it’s in your eyes for everyone to see.”
“I wish it were on my body,” she muttered, then looked up at Blair sharply. “You know what I’d like to do?”
“What?”
“Look like a slut.”
“What!?” Blair nearly choked on her drink.
“I think maybe I have some talent as an actress. I put on a dress my grandmother had worn in the twenties and I sort of, well, turned into her. Actually, I was an altogether different person. I sang an old blues song for Mike and I think he was a little shocked, and, truthfully, maybe I was too. Anyway, I wish I could put on a minuscule outfit and high heels and go to this bar and pick up Mike. I couldn’t do that as myself, but maybe if I were another person, dressed as another person, I would have some courage. I’m not sure what I’d do with him once I’d picked him up, but—”
“I have every confidence that my oversexed cousin will help you figure out something to do with him. You know, I might have a few pieces of clothing that could be just what you’re looking for. How does red lycra sound?”
“Like a leotard.”
“This is much smaller than a leotard. In fact, I’ve seen finger bandages larger than the skirt I have in mind.”
“It sounds perfect. Could I see it?”
“Sure. I’ll get a magnifying glass and we’ll start searchi
ng in my closet.”
Laughing together, the women headed for Blair’s bedroom.
“Would you look at that?” Nelson said, cigarette smoke curling about his head.