“What do mean she trusts me?”

“I...I know about your marriage.”

Joanna’s body stiffened, her spine stretching to its extreme as her casual perusal of the stunning redhead morphed into a glowering stare. “Pillow talk?”

“Look, this isn’t what it seems.”

“No?”

“I mean it is, but it’s isn’t.”

“Have you been drinking, too?”

“No, but honestly I think I could use one,” Luce said, setting down her coffee cup. Going over to the courtesy bar, she opened the cabinet and pulled out a bottle of gin. “Would you like something?”

“No, thank you. Coffee’s fine for me,” Joanna said as she went over and filled another cup. As she took a sip of the hotel’s finest, Joanna looked over at the woman across the room and almost instantly, she felt her annoyance surge. Why in the hell did she have to be so damned attractive?

Joanna put down her cup and strode over to the bar. “I’ve changed my mind. Whiskey, please.”

Luce grabbed a tumbler and splashed some single malt into it. Handing it to Joanna, she said, “I want you to know that if I thought she had taken any more than three, I would have called emergency services. I just didn’t think—”

“No, you did the right thing. I just don’t understand why you let her take them to begin with.”

“I didn’t!” Luce said, slamming down her glass. “I left to go home. I got halfway to the bloody lift when I remembered that yesterday there were three pills in the bottle and when I put it away tonight it was empty. I came back in, tried to wake her up, and then I called you.”

“Do you think she did it intentionally?”

“Absolutely not,” Luce said, shaking her head. “She was royally sloshed. I doubt she even knew her own name.”

“Speaking of names,” Joanna said, holding out her hand. “Joanna Kane.”

Taken aback by the sign of civility, it took a few seconds before Luce extended her hand. “Luce Gainsford.”

Joanna sized up Luce as they shook hands, and she liked what she saw as much as she didn’t. Curvy, slender, and with flowing red hair, Luce was a beautiful woman, and the sprinkling of faint freckles across the bridge of her nose added an earthy wholesomeness that irked Joanna to no end. No sooner had their hands dropped to their sides when Joanna asked, “So, what do you mean by this isn’t what it seems?”

“Sorry?”

“A few minutes ago, you said this isn’t what it seems. Care to explain?”

“Oh,” Luce said, taking a sip of her drink. “I meant me being here isn’t based on...on love. I care about Addison, but I’m not in love with her.”

“You’re not?”

“No. I just...um...help her...help her unwind.”