She sighed. “Thank you for putting it that way, but I know he’s furious with me. Wow, I don’t remember a darn thing. I seem to be able to be persuaded very easily. I drank too much and I’m sure I put him through hell worrying.”
“He was near frantic last night when he came home and couldn’t find you. He finally tracked down your friend.”
Tammy felt terrible.
Lance came into the room then and Mavis quickly busied herself. His walk was angry, determined, and his eyes were on her as he approached. Oh, yes, he was still upset with her.
He placed something next to her plate without saying a word.
“What is this?”
“Your cell phone.”
She picked it up and looked at it. “Lance I don’t—”
“Tammy, you are. You are going to be married to me soon and you may not realize it, but I would like to be able to get a hold of you when I worry. This would have come in handy last night when I spent three hours tracking you down,” he added tersely.
“I’m sorry I made you worry,” she said sincerely. “You know I’m not like that.”
“Yes, but still, it could have saved me from aging ten years. If it wasn’t for Marianne, I still wouldn’t know where you were. I didn’t have Eli’s last name.”
Marianne. Oh, God, she knew she was missing and out partying without her fiancé. She bet Marianne just jumped at the opportunity to help. She grit her teeth angry with herself for putting Lance in that situation. She drove him in that direction.
“What about when we have kids? What if I need to get a hold of you if one is sick?”
Oh God, that really put things in perspective. “That makes sense.”
He softened his expression slightly. “I’m angry with you.”
“I know. I don’t think I’ve ever drank to the point of passing out, or not remembering.”
“You were passed out on Eli’s sofa while people partied around you, and two men were sitting next to you and you were leaning on one of them. I’m thinking you were slipped something.”
“He wouldn’t allow that. I’m sure he wouldn’t.”
“No, probably not, but there are a lot of drugs at parties like that, and according to Eli, who at the time wouldn’t have lied because I had him by the throat—”
“What! Oh my God! Lance!”
“—he said you only had a couple of cocktails, but then he wasn’t watching you the whole time. He thought you knew better. I enlightened him. It was probably a good thing Marianne was with me, or I would have hit him for inviting you.”
She could have died hearing the other woman saw her in such a state, but it was no less than she deserved seeing how upset Lance was.
He looked away for a moment and she could see the muscle clenching in his jaw. Yes he was angry, and now she could see he had a right to be. If the roles were reversed, she doubted she’d be as calm. He continued talking after collecting himself.
“He said you passed out around midnight and he kept you on the sofa to keep an eye on you.”
She stood up and faced him. “I am so sorry.”
He took a deep breath to still his temper while staring down at her.
His eyes burned right through her. Now she could see that he had every right to be angry. “I was stupid.”
He shook his head. “You werenaïve, naïve to think that everyone is as righteous as you. Those fashion parties have a lot of drugs at them and Eli seems like a good man or I doubt I would have you back in one piece, but you are not going to his, or anyone else’s, parties without me. That kind of New York nightlife can ruin people’s lives. I’ve seen a lot of it.”
She reached up and touched his cheek. “It won’t happen again. I promise. It’s not me. It’s not something I’d repeat. I didn’t want to be alone—”
“You could have come with me Tammy.”
