“I have one last question, if that’s okay.” The women nodded. “Why didn’t you report this to Liam?”
They both gave him nervous glances. “Whatever you have to say, say it. I will understand,” he said.
Jocelyn nodded again. “We are both newcomers to the area. New Alphas can be tricky, so we weren’t sure how Liam would respond.”
“And we were embarrassed because of who had assaulted us.” Pamela shook her head as she spoke. “We only came forward when we found out Chris had also raped women in the other packs. They were all new to the area as well, and all felt the same way we did about going to their Alphas. We told them to come to Liam because he’d been so kind and patient with us.”
I could understand the embarrassment. Was it warranted? No, but it was understandable. Chris had been so pathetic I’d have felt the same way.
“Thank you for telling me all of this. I really appreciate it.” I smiled at them while peering at Liam from the corner of my eye. He had a genuinely warm smile aimed at them.
An enigma. The man was an enigma.
I chatted with Jocelyn and Pamela a bit longer. They were nice to talk with, but my goal was mainly to see if anything else slipped out while they were more relaxed. About half an hour later, with no added information, they said their goodbyes and headed out.
“Thanks again for arranging this,” I said to Liam.
He smiled. “It was nothing.”
“Maybe you could ask the other women if they’d received any candy before Chris assaulted them?”
“I plan to. I will let you know what they say.”
“Thanks. Um, do you think my shirt is ready?” I asked. I tugged the delicate fabric of my borrowed shirt over my breasts for the millionth time and tried to ignore the fact that he watched me do it.
“Let’s go find out,” he said, turning to head back into the house.
“It’s none of my business, but why do you have these clothes?”
“They’re my sister’s. She drops in from time to time,” he said, surprising me that he’d answered.
“Oh. Sorry I called her Tinkerbell, then.”
“She is quite petite.” He turned his head to look at me. He moved his eyes over my body in such a way it made me want to lean in toward him. “Ah, there you have it,” he said, shifting his eyes to look over my head.
I followed his gaze to see my shirt folded neatly on the table near the front door. “Is there somewhere down here I can change?”
He gestured to a door that led to a bathroom. I changed as quickly as I could, folded the borrowed top, and carried it out intending to hand it to Liam, but he was gone.
“Of course,” I muttered as I left the top where I’d found mine before seeing myself out to my car.
“Miss Steele,” Philip called as he hurried out after me.
“Yes?”
“Mr. Fraser wants me to extend his apologies for leaving you. He had an urgent call.”
“It’s no problem. I didn’t expect him to wait for me.” I made to get in the car, but Philip cleared his throat making me turn back to him.
“Yes, well, to make up for it, Mr. Fraser would be honored if you would join him for dinner tomorrow evening.”
“Say what now?”
Philips lips twitched for a second before he locked them back into their usual neutral position. “Dinner will be here at the manor. A car will pick you up at six o’clock. Please dress…” His eyes roamed over me. “Appropriately.” And with that he strode back to the house.
“What in the actual fuck just happened?”
I sat in my car debating with myself about going back in the house and confronting Liam. Who the hell did he think he was to order me to dinner? Through his butler, no less. And then the guy insults the way I dress.