Trouble In Triplicate (18 page)

Of course Grant had been apprehensive about her reaction to Sophia's tale, Juliet thought as she drove the van home alone shortly afterward. After all, Miranda had ended their engagement on the basis of a Sophia story. It was logical for him to assume that Juliet might similarly overreact and end her own relationship with his brother.

It wasn't until she was entering the Field House for the Rock-a-Mania concert with Mark Walsh a half hour later that it occurred to Juliet that Sophia Saxon was unaware of her relationship with Caine. Grant himself had only learned of it that day.

"I'm glad you decided to come with me tonight, Juliet," Mark said happily as he leafed through his program. "I was sitting around feeling sorry for myself. Your phone call was a welcome relief."

As Juliet had meant it to be. She'd seen the lone light on in Mark's house when she had pulled the van into her driveway, and had decided that it was foolish for both of them to spend Saturday night sitting home alone, feeling lonely. Caine wouldn't be over for hours. And there was poor Mark, depressed by Sherry Carson's cruel rejection. Juliet had decided on the spot to call Mark and offer to go to the concert with him.

They took their seats shortly before intermission. The band on stage played another number before the hohselights came on and the master of ceremonies, a local disc jockey, took over the mike to announce the winners of his radio station's promotional contest.

"And now we'll draw the winners of our sister station—TV channel 42's—contest. ..."

As the jovial voice pattered on Juliet turned to make a comment to Mark. His fingers suddenly dug into her arm. "Juliet! I see Sherry in the first row, directly in front of the stage."

Juliet winced. Poor Mark. How awful for him to see his former dream girl with another man—and at the very event to which he himself had planned to take her! She shouldn't have suggested that they come tonight. At least Mark would have been spared the misery of seeing Sherry Carson with— Juliet's eyes widened and her breath caught in her throat. With Caine Saxon!

It was Caine, sitting beside the bosomy blonde, who was poured into the tightest, lowest-cut black dress that Juliet had ever seen. That Sophia had ever seen!

The pieces were all beginning to fit together now in a horrible but crystal-clear picture. Sophia Saxon hadn't been lying about Caine's sexy date tonight. She didn't even know about Juliet Post's relationship with her brother! She had merely been making small talk. Remembering Sophia's honeyed tone and flirtatious smile confirmed it for Juliet. Sophia had been playing the coquette, not the bitch. This time she hadn't been trying to cause trouble.

Juliet could hardly swallow, thanks to the tight band that was forming around her throat. Yes, it all made sense now. Caine's phone call canceling their dinner date, Grant's near apoplexy when he'd heard what Sophia had told Juliet and Miranda, his great relief when they hadn't believed Sophia. It made depressingly painful sense.

Caine had tired of her and moved on to another woman, the woman who had dumped dear, sweet Mark because he wasn't rich enough to suit her expensive tastes, because he drove a Chevrolet instead of a fancy sports car. Well, Caine Saxon was a millionaire and drove a yellow Ferrari. Exactly what the mercenary Sherry wanted in a man.

Juliet watched the woman lean close to Caine and whisper something in his ear, and a pain of shattering intensity tore through her. For the first time she truly understood the depths of the suffering Miranda had undergone when she'd learned of Grant's betrayal. No wonder Miranda had behaved somewhat irrationally then. Such brutal pain could cause one to become temporarily unhinged!

Juliet's mind clouded. She slipped an icy-cold hand into Mark's. "Mark, I have to get out of here!" She hardly recognized the strangled little voice as her own. Her eyes burned as they filled with hot tears that blurred and distorted her vision. But the image of Caine and his voluptuous companion remained fixed in her mind's eye with stunning clarity.

"Juliet, the man with Sherry—that's the man you were with in the rain the other night!" Mark was aghast. "Oh, this is terrible! I'm so sorry." He placed a supporting arm around her waist and helped her to her feet. "We're getting out of here, now!"

Juliet cried the whole way home. She couldn't help herself. She was convulsed by deep, gasping sobs, and tears spilled down her cheeks in salty torrents. Caine didn't love her. He had merely wanted her, and now that he'd had her, he was ready to move on to his usual, sophisticated fare.

She'd been afraid from the first that she couldn't hold him, that she lacked what it would take to keep the interest of a man like Caine Saxon. But after the past few days she'd begun to think, to hope . . .

"Oh, Juliet, I'm sorry," Mark kept saying over and over as he handed her tissues from a box on top of the dashboard. "If only we hadn't gone to the concert in the first place. ..."

"No, I'm glad we did, Mark," she managed to say between sobs. "It's good that I found out the truth. I wanted Caine to love me so much that I'd almost convinced myself that he did. And one should never confuse fantasy with reality."

"The man is a fool. You're a wonderful girl, Juliet," Mark said loyally.

His words brought little consolation. A wonderful girl she might be, but both Caine and Mark preferred the glamorous Sherry Carson.

In a desperate attempt to divert her Mark switched on the car radio and they listened to the plaintive voice of Tina Turner demanding to know what love had to do with it. Nothing, Juliet's heart cried. Nothing at all.

Her soul was lacerated by the razor-sharp realization that she was not Caine's love and never would be. Juliet Post had been a challenge to him because she was a virgin. Obviously, as far as he was concerned, when she'd lost her virginity she'd lost her appeal.

Juliet felt sick. She'd been living in a fool's paradise, hoping that Caine would fall in love with her. How coulr: she ever expect to compete with a glamorous, sophisticated woman like Sherry Carson? And how could she expect Caine to give up women like Sherry for a woman like herself, who wasn't glamorous or sophisticated or worldly, whose main attraction to the world at large was being born a clone of her sisters?

Juliet declined Mark's offer to come inside with her. She wanted to be alone. The tears wouldn't stop. She had never cried so hard or so long in her life. She sat in the darkened living room, not bothering to switch on the lights. The darkness suited her, for her whole life had turned dark and dreary.

Liwy and Bobby Lee arrived back at the house shortly before midnight, talking and laughing about the movie they'd seen. When Liwy turned on a lamp Juliet blinked, squinting at the sudden streak of light.

"Julie!" Liwy took one look at her sister and gasped in horror. "What's wrong?" She sank down onto the sofa and put her arms around Juliet. "Julie, tell me what happened!"

Juliet tearfully poured out the whole story to her sister. Liwy was outraged. "The dirty, rotten, lying, cheating cad!" she exclaimed furiously.

"Wait a minute." Bobby Lee, who had been sitting in a chair opposite the sofa and listening quietly, spoke up. "Liwy, I heard you say those exact words to Randi when she first found out that Grant had gone to Richmond with another woman. When she thought Grant had gone to Richmond with another woman," he added pointedly.

"This is different, Bobby," Liwy said. "This is infinitely worse! Julie actually saw Caine Saxon with another woman. He blatantly lied to her about working late tonight. And not only is the man a liar and a cheat, he's a thief! He broke Julie's heart and he stole our garden club luncheon!"

"No, he isn't," Juliet protested with a sob. "It's not Caine's fault that he doesn't want me, Liwy. It's mine."

"Oh, Julie!" Liwy began to cry too.

When the doorbell chimed at twelve-fifteen Bobby Lee stood up and started toward the door. He glanced out the window and suddenly halted. "There's a yellow Ferrari parked out front," he said.

"Oh!" Olivia gasped, appalled. "Of all the nerve! How dare he come here after—after—"

"Don't let him in, Bobby Lee!" Juliet interrupted, her pulses pounding. She couldn't face him. Not now.

The doorbell chimed again. And again. And again. No one in the Post house moved. "Juliet!" Caine's voice sounded through the door as he began to pound on it. "Juliet, are you there?"

"Tell him no," she cried frantically. "Tell him that I'm not here, Bobby."

Bobby Lee walked to the door, frowning. Juliet shrank down against the sofa as she heard him greet Caine.

"Bobby Lee," Caine said. "I was beginning to think no one was home."

Juliet's eyes filled at the sound of his voice. Caine might need another woman to give him what she couldn't, but Juliet knew that she couldn't share him with anyone else. Much as she loved him, she would have to tell him that it was over. She needed him exclusively or not at all.

"Where's Juliet?" he asked. He sounded puzzled.

"Liwy?" Bobby Lee called. "Where's Juliet?"

"Julie's not here!" Liwy shouted back firmly.

"Wait a minute." Caine's voice sounded louder, closer.

"He's inside, Liwy!" Juliet whispered, clutching her sister's hand. "Bobby Lee must have let him in. Liwy, I can't see him. I can't bear it!"

"Don't worry, I'll get rid of him." Liwy patted her hand and »tood up. Juliet watched her walk out of the living room and moments later heard her voice in the hall.

"Hello, Calne." Liwy's voice was icily controlled. "What brings you here?"

"I told Juliet I'd be over after the restaurant closed. Do you know where she is?"

"Oh, she's probably out partying somewhere," Liwy said breezily. "No doubt she forgot you were coming over. She's always in such a social whirl. It's difficult to keep track of all her dates, isn't it, Bobby Lee?"

Juliet groaned inwardly. Liwy was laying it on too thick, much too thick. Caine apparently agreed. "Would you mind telling me what's going on here?" he demanded. "Where's Juliet?"

Without waiting for a reply, he strode into the living room. Juliet willed herself to disappear. Needless to say, it didn't happen.

"Juliet!" He stood over her as she leaned back into the sofa cushions. "You've been crying!"

She didn't need to be reminded how ghastly she must look, with her swollen, red-rimmed eyes and puffy nose. She cast him a quick, covert glance from under her lashes. He was still wearing the gray suit, yellow shirt, and patterned tie she'd seen him in at the Field House. It was the first time she'd seen him in a suit, and he had a breathtaking elegance she had never known he possessed.

Because he didn't bother to get dressed up for her, she thought. He didn't have to! He didn't take her anywhere but bed! But he dressed up for the beauteous Sherry Carson. He took the local TV celebrity to parties, to concerts. . . .

A wild flash of anger revitalized her. Juliet jumped to her feet and faced him defiantly. She might not be able to disappear, but she could do the next best thing. "I'm not Juliet," she told him succinctly. "I'm Liwy."

Caine grimaced. "And I suppose that was Juliet in the hall with Bobby Lee?"

"Yes!" Liwy had entered the living room in time to hear her sister's bald pronouncement. Bobby Lee stood beside her, looking exasperated. "I'm Juliet. Now go home! We don't want you here."

"This is absurd!" Caine reached for Juliet, but she quickly crossed the room to stand behind Bobby Lee.

"You heard what she said," Juliet said hotly, safely out of Caine's reach. "Go away, Caine Saxon. We—we never want to see you again!"

"Will you drop the 'we'? It's for royalty and editorials and the pope." Caine moved slowly, purposefully across the room. "I'm dealing with you on a one-to-one basis, Juliet. And I want an explanation from you. Right now!"

"You can't order us around!" Liwy snapped furiously. "You make us sick!" Caine stared at her steadily, and she flushed a little and amended, "You make me sick."

"Why do I make you sick, Olivia?" Caine asked with maddening patience. "Why has Juliet been crying? I'm sure it all has to do with the lack of welcome I've received here tonight."

"You're damn right it does!" Olivia's voice shook with anger. "You can drop the innocent act, Caine Saxon. You've been found out. Julie saw you at the concert tonight with your—your blond bimbo!"

"I guess it goes without saying that none of us are ever going to watch Channel 42's weathercast again," Bobby Lee put in wryly.

Caine's eyes lit with instant awareness. "You think I went to that concert at the Field House with Sherry Carson tonight?" he asked Juliet, who was beginning to back slowly out of the room. She had hold of Bobby Lee's shirt and was pulling him along, usin? his stocky frame as a shield.

Olivia answered for her sister. "We don't think, we know! Julie and Mark saw you at that concert with Sherry Carson!"

A flash of pure rage crossed Caine's face. "And so history repeats itself. I'm to be condemned and hanged without a hearing." He continued to advance steadily toward Juliet, who was continuing her retreat, dragging Bobby Lee along with her. "Does anything about this scenario strike you as familiar, Bobby Lee?"

"Everything about this scenario strikes me as familiar, Caine," Bobby Lee replied respectfully.