Shelby regarded him shrewdly, then shrugged. He left the sofa and went to pour himself a cup of coffee from the dispenser. "Want some?"
"No thanks."
He blew on his hot coffee, then sipped. "Devon wanted an inside, in-depth story on a white-collar crime that most people would merely label good business. Because I claimed to be innocent, the victim of manipulators too smart to get caught, the case made damn good fodder for her column."
"She's got talent."
"She sure as hell does. She had everybody in Dallas rooting for me." He frowned into the Styrofoam cup. "Too bad the judge and jury couldn't read the newspapers. Maybe we should have put her on the stand as a character witness. She might have convinced them of my innocence."
"Like you convinced her?"
Again, Shelby shrugged noncommittally. He was too clever to admit anything or to be caught in a verbal trap. Lucky wanted to pound his complacent smile to mush.
"Devon got out of our marriage what she wanted," Shelby said.
"If you're suggesting that all she wanted out of it was a good column or two, you don't know her at all."
Shelby actually laughed. "Maybe you're right, Tyler. You probably know her at least as well as I do."
Lucky wasn't going to discuss Devon and their relationship with this man, whom he was despising more each minute they spent together.
Shelby finished his coffee and tossed the cup into the wastepaper basket. "I've been a model prisoner, you know," he said conversationally. "I don't complain about the food. I keep my quarters neat. I don't pick quarrels with the other inmates. I had a good chance for an early parole."
He turned a menacing stare on Lucky. "Then you banged Devon, and she didn't even have the good sense to keep it quiet."
Lucky's hands balled into fists, but Shelby was so caught up in his own wrath, he didn't notice that or the flexing motions of Lucky's jaw.
"I didn't want any wrinkles in my plan. My lawyer said I had a good chance to get out the first time I was reviewed for parole, if there wasn't a blemish on my record. Now this," he spat. "Of course, it has nothing to do with me personally, but they're bound to figure that our hasty marriage was a gimmick to try and keep me out of here by swaying public opinion in my favor."
"Which it was."
Lucky was fully enlightened on Shelby's character now. He had manipulated Devon into feeling sorry for him and marrying him on the spur of the moment, as girls marry soldiers on their way to the front trenches. He hadn't thought a man could stoop that low, could use someone so unconscionably, but Shelby didn't have a word of regret for how this scandal had affected Devon. All his concerns were for himself.
He was saying, "I mean, if my wife's bedding other men, it sure as hell doesn't say much for our marriage, does it?"
"No, it doesn't." Lucky came to his feet. "Tell me something. Did you ever love her?"
"Love her?" Shelby repeated scornfully. "That's the real joke on me. There was a possibility that Devon's stirring prose might keep me out of prison, so I milked that for all it was worth. It didn't work.
"Then I married her on the chance that would help, but lost that gamble too. So what have I got? A wife who's no use to me at all. In fact, she's a liability now that she's made her own notorious headlines. And the real kicker is that I haven't even availed myself of the consolation prize, her sweet body."
Lucky's heart slammed against his ribs. Only excellent control kept him from audibly gasping. His ears rang with Shelby's words. A shudder passed through his body.
"Stupid bitch. If she's going to pass it around, the least she could do is keep her affairs secret until I'm released."
Lucky, elated and furious in equal measure, had to get out of there or he was going to ram his fist through Shelby's front teeth. Over the last few weeks he had learned the wisdom of exercising self-control.
He stretched his arm s
traight out in front of him and aimed an index finger at the center of the prisoner's chest. His eyes were as cold and blue and still as a fjord.
"When you get out of here, I'm gonna beat the hell out of you."
Having made that promise, he pivoted on his bootheels and stalked toward the door. There, he turned and, almost as an afterthought, added, "Before long, it won't matter to you who Devon is sleeping with. She's getting an annulment."
* * *
When the office door was pushed open, Chase glanced up from the paper work he'd been doing. He was surprised to see Tanya come in, followed by a tall, attractive woman.