get you?”
“Of course not.”
“You’re obviously not in a clear state of mind.”
Hey, you wouldn’t be clear if you’d gone through what I have in the past week, she wanted to tell her father but didn’t. She’d already left her family with the mess caused by her ruined wedding. Instead of facing the music and handling things herself, she’d hopped on a plane and left town.
Not the action of a responsible adult, perhaps, and she felt guilty about that . . . along with the fact that she’d just slept with her father’s enemy. Or to be more precise—she’d slept with an employee of his enemy.
“You haven’t forgotten why that bastard King is our enemy, have you?”
“No, Dad, I haven’t forgotten.” How could she? Their rivalry was legendary.
“He worked for me. He was my best friend, and he betrayed me.”
Yeah, Faith sure knew how betrayal felt. She’d had more than her fair share lately.
“After swearing he’d never start his own agency, he did just that. He’s been out to get me ever since—stealing clients, sabotaging cases, messing with our investigators. When Alan the Asshole went missing, my first thought was that King had gotten to him. I don’t think that’s what happened in that instance, but I will certainly check it out again. This case with Caine Hunter showing up in Italy is another matter. Hunter isn’t just any employee. He’s got a sick grudge against us. He blames me for his father’s death.”
“What? Why would he do that?”
“His father was involved in a major case of ours, one involving corporate theft in the millions of dollars. We were about to turn our information over to the authorities when the guy committed suicide.”
“How can Caine blame his father’s suicide on us?”
“Because he doesn’t think his father was guilty, which is ridiculous. Listen, Faith, this Hunter guy is not to be messed with. He’s a former Marine with revenge on his mind. That’s a dangerous combination.”
And here she’d been thinking Caine’s dark eyes and broad shoulders were a dangerous combination. Silly her.
“You need to get away from that bastard immediately,” her father said.
“I fly home tomorrow.”
“Don’t wait until then,” he ordered before hanging up.
Faith’s first inclination was that she wasn’t about to let Caine force her out of her dream trip—even if it was now threatening to turn into a nightmare. Here was yet another man who’d messed things up for her. Yet another betrayal.
Maybe she should just leave. Was it really worth hanging around for another day?
Before she could make that decision, the door to her room opened. Because the door had a habit of not latching all the way, she usually made sure it was shut after she entered her room, but today she’d been too upset.
Caine stood there, wearing a towel and a scowl.
“Get out of my room!” She still held her cell phone in her hand, and while a part of her wanted to throw her BlackBerry at him, she needed it to get help. Wait; dialing 911 wouldn’t do a thing for her in Italy.
“I can explain—” he began.
She cut him off. “I’m sure you can come up with some additional lies to add to the pile you’ve already told me. Don’t bother. My father already told me all about you.”
Caine’s face darkened. “You father wouldn’t know the truth if it bit him in the ass.”
“That sounds like a more accurate description of you. I know that you work for Vince King. You’re not going to try to deny that, are you?” Was some small part of her hoping he’d say there had been some terrible mix-up? Yeah right. That was like hoping that Alan would show up at the church last week.
“No. I don’t deny that,” Caine said. “Vince had me follow you because he was suspicious of you going to Italy on your own. Come on, you have to admit it doesn’t fit your pattern of behavior. You’ve never traveled on your own in your entire life.”
“And because I haven’t taken a