Page 21 of Hard Deal

“High standards.” This time she couldn’t keep a straight face. “It’s nothing personal, but you’re not my type. And I get the impression you have plenty of choice, so why do you care what I think?”

That was a bloody good question. Maybe it was because the second Imogen had walked into the Allbrook office he’d been permanently distracted. His attraction to her didn’t stop at the physical. She put him in his place on a regular basis, never sugarcoated her opinions and didn’t treat him any different despite him being related to Gerald. She’d risen up on her own merits, without any of the sucking up or politicking that most people used, and that was genuinely fucking refreshing. Plus, he enjoyed the chase. And Imogen gave it to him in spades.

“I respect your opinion,” he said.

Their dessert arrived and Imogen fussed with her napkin. “I didn’t know that.”

“I also figured you hated all men,” he joked.

“Why? Because if I don’t fall at your feet I must hate all men? Give me a break.” She spooned some of the cream into her mouth and sighed. “I date. I just don’t date you.”

“Current circumstances might argue that.”

“You blackmailed me.”

“No, I traded my services.” He reached for the bottle of wine and topped her glass up, not caring if it took her another two hours to drink it. For once, he wasn’t itching to get on with the evening. “Totally different.”

“This isn’t a real date.”

“No? You’re certainly dressed like it’s a date. No starchy white shirts in sight.” He cracked the top of his crème brûlée with the back of his spoon. “The most important question is, what did you put under the dress?”

Her cheeks flared a bright shade of pink, making her eyes look even greener by comparison. “None of your business.”

“Boring beige, then? Interesting.”

She looked like she wanted to say something, but held her tongue. Instead, she reached for her wine and took a long gulp. Liquid courage, perhaps?

“We should talk about the information you’re going to extract from Daniel,” she said.

Ah, change of conversation. An obvious diversion tactic, but he’d let it slide. For now.

“I need to find out if he’s got someone on the side. What else do you want to know?”

She thought for a moment. “Who it is or how many women he’s seeing.”

Caleb raised a brow. “Why does that matter? Isn’t it cheating, regardless of whether it’s with one person or ten?”

“There’s a big difference between one person and ten...or nineteen.”

Caleb’s body revolted at though he’d been sucker punched. Nineteen? That was far too specific a number to have been plucked from thin air. Of course, it had been obvious that Imogen herself had been a victim of cheating, given her determination to catch her brother-in-law. But she was right, there was a big difference between one and nineteen.

“How did you find out?” he asked.

He wouldn’t have been surprised if she’d thrown up the shutters and locked him out. It wasn’t any of his business and it was obviously painful for her to talk about. But she rested her dessert spoon against the porcelain dish and sucked in a breath.

“I got a call,” she said. “He’d given an STD to one of the women he was sleeping with and she was furious because he’d told her he was clean. So her ‘revenge’ was alerting me to his affairs.”

Fucking hell. What a way to find out.

“I was gobsmacked. I knew our marriage wasn’t all sunshine and roses, and we weren’t having the amount of sex that newlyweds were supposed to be having...or any sex at all, really. But I didn’t think we were doing that badly.”

“I had no idea you were married,” he said.

“I was nineteen and he was thirty. The marriage only lasted a year, so it’s not exactly something I put on my résumé.” She attempted to smile but it came off as more of a grimace. “The woman who called told me he was using that affair site, the one where married people go to cheat on their partners. So not only was he cheating on me but it was with multiple women, and he was paying for the privilege. I managed to find the messages of all the women he’d agreed to meet with, but there could have been more that he met off the site. He was away at conferences a lot.”

Caleb blinked. It wasn’t often that he was rendered speechless, but this had thrown him for a loop. No wonder Imogen was so standoffish when he’d teased and flirted with her. She obviously guarded her heart closely.

“And then I spent an agonizing few weeks getting tested to make sure he hadn’t passed anything on to me. I’d never thought I would be so grateful that he lost interest in sleeping with me the second we got married.”