WILL STARED at the message Kate handed him, then looked up at her. “Is this a joke?” he asked suspiciously.
Kate shook her head. “No. I talked to my dad myself. He wants you to go over to the field house to talk to him at four this afternoon.”
“What about?” Will demanded, following Kate into the laundry room.
“That,” Kate replied carefully as she began sorting a pile of dirty clothes, “he didn’t say.”
Will glared at Kate, trying to figure out her hidden agenda. “Why should I go? He already kicked me off the team.” When Kate said nothing in response, Will pushed on, still angry not just at Kate and her dad, but the whole world. “Did you have anything to do with this?” Will asked.
“I talked to my dad on your behalf,” Kate replied calmly, looking him straight in the eye.
Will stalked farther into the laundry room, doing his best to intimidate her. “I don’t need you trying to protect me.”
“I know that,” Kate said calmly.
“So why did you?” Will demanded, wishing like hell Kate would mind her own business, for once.
Kate advanced on him, the fire of her convictions in her eyes. “Because I thought someone needed to, Will. I don’t want to see you crash and burn, and I think, if someone doesn’t do something, that’s right where you’re headed.”
Will’s eyes burned. Leave it to Kate to give it to him straight, whether he wanted to hear it or not. “This isn’t going to make me like you any better, you know,” he warned.
Kate sighed. “I know.” For a second she was both hurt and saddened by his deliberate cruelty. Composing herself quickly, she said, “I might be out of your hair sooner than you think. Your dad is interviewing fifteen housekeepers in Dallas today. If one of them fits the bill, he’ll be bringing her home with him, and I’ll be out of here today.”
Will paused. This, he hadn’t expected. He didn’t want to have to break in another housekeeper. He studied Kate. “You can’t be happy about that.”
Kate offered him the kind of cool, professional smile he figured she gave her patients at the hospital. “On the contrary, Will,” she said, “I’ll be relieved if your dad finds someone who can take care of you boys on a permanent basis.”
“I thought you wanted to do that,” Will said accusing.
Kate looked away—a sure sign, Will thought, that she was hiding her feelings—and went back to loading laundry into the machine. “You know as well as I do that my helping out here was only a temporary thing.”
Will didn’t know why, but he couldn’t rattle her. Any of the other housekeepers they’d had would have been screaming at him in frustration by now. Not Kate. She kept her cool with him and his brothers, no matter what. It wasn’t fair.
Kate leaned against the washing machine, folded her arms in front of her and regarded him gently. “Look, Will, I know you’re having a rough time of it. And I’m sorry for that. I really am. I wish I could do more for you.”
“I don’t want you to do more for me!” Will retorted angrily.
“Believe me, I am all too aware of that,” Kate said, a hint of irony creeping into her voice before she turned serious once again. “But it doesn’t change how I feel. I still wish you’d let me help. In the meantime, think about keeping that appointment with my dad. If you’re as smart as I think you are, you’ll at least want to hear what he has to say.”
WILL TOLD HIMSELF a million times he didn’t have to go. He wasn’t going to go. Coach Marten had already reamed him out quite enough, thank you very much. But in the end, curiosity won out and he found himself heading over to the L.H.S. field house at three forty-five, anyway. Not because he wanted to grovel to Coach Marten. But because without football, his life was truly wrecked. And if there was even a chance—he didn’t care how it had come about—he could get himself back on the team, he had to take it.
Coach was sitting in his office when Will walked in a couple of minutes before four. He looked up at him, no expression readily identifiable on his face, and gestured to a chair. “Sit your butt down, kid. I want you to see something.”
Not sure whether he was more ticked off than nervous, Will reluctantly sat. Coach picked up the remote control for the VCR and pressed a button. Will turned toward the TV and watched what Coach wanted him to see—play after play of Will messing up during practice. He shook his head and sighed. “Okay, I get the picture,” Will said grimly. “I’ve been screwing up out there—a lot.”
Mike frowned and looked at Will as if he were the biggest dunce in the world. “That’s not what I want you to look at,” he said gruffly. “I want you to listen. What do you hear?”
Aside from the thuds and grunts and groans and the whistle blowing shrilly at the end of every play? Will shrugged. He didn’t have a clue what Coach Marten wanted from him, but maybe that was the problem—he never had. “The only other thing I hear is you yelling at me,” Will said, exasperated.
Coach nodded. And for a moment Will could have sworn he saw sadness come into his eyes. “Exactly, kid. It embarrasses the heck out of me to admit it, but I gotta face facts, even when I’d prefer not to. All I did from the get-go with you is yell. And I shouldn’t have, especially when I saw it wasn’t working as a motivational tool.”
Will turned back to the screen. The apology was nice, if unexpected. But he was more interested in what was appearing on the TV. Despite his earlier conviction to never give Coach Marten another moment’s peace as long as he lived, he was beginning to understand why Coach was such a fanatic about videotaping practices as well as games. You could learn a lot from watching a tape. Will shook his head, unable to tear his eyes from the TV. “Man,” he whispered, “I knew practices weren’t going well for me, but…I had no idea I was this bad.”
“Then that makes two of us. I had no idea I was yelling that much at you, either, until you pointed it out to me and I took a good look at these tapes.” Coach clicked the remote again. The TV screen went blank. Will had no choice but to look at Coach as he turned back to Will. “I need to explain a few things to you about the way I coach. You got time to listen?”
He was asking—not telling. Amazing. Will wondered just what Kate had said to her father to get him to come to his senses and ease up. It must have been something to cause such a change as this… Given the way he’d treated Kate, Will admitted silently, he was amazed she’d even bothered. “Sure,” Will said.
Mike met Will’s glance in a man-to-man stare. “Gus and I work a lot on plays and drills over the summer. But my entire focus during preseason workouts is to try to get to know all the kids and to figure out who they are and how I can best coach them. It really burns me to admit I didn’t do that with you, kid. I started out with a preconceived notion of who you were—and that wasn’t fair to either of us. I expected you to give one hundred percent to me at every practice, yet I wasn’t willing to give the same to you.”
Will nodded. He couldn’t believe Coach Marten was being this frank with him. But now that he was, Will felt he owed it to him to be just as honest. “I think we both could have done a lot better,” Will admitted grudgingly, encouraged by the relief in Coach Marten’s eyes. “’Cause you’re right. I wasn’t giving one hundred percent effort, either. I didn’t know my plays as well as I should have, and I kept screwing up because I was nervous. Instead of working harder to overcome that and to fit in better with the rest of the team…” Will’s face reddened in embarrassment despite himself. “I just tried to forget about it.”
Mike leaned forward and looked him straight in the eye. “The thing is, Will,” Mike continued, all the mind games and anger forgotten, “I could have helped you make the transition from your old team’s way of doing things to ours, but I didn’t. And looking back at the past couple weeks, I’m ashamed of that.” Mike put a beefy hand over the center of his chest. “I love football with all my heart. And I love to win. I became a coach because I’m a teacher, and I think sports is one of the best ways to teach kids about courage and teamwork. When you play football, you learn how to work hard and how to dedicate yourself and persevere even in the face of great adversity. You learn how to lead and how to follow and how to work your way through crises, both over the long haul and moment-to-moment. But so far this season I haven’t been teaching you or any of the other kids any of that. Instead, I’ve been thinking about myself and my own personal losses, and taking them out on the players. Especially you. And that’s not right, Will. Not when you and I have a chance to be a part of something bigger than ourselves, and neither of us has taken advantage of that.”
Mike stood and held out his hand. “I’ve always believed a man should own up to his mistakes as soon as he realizes them. I have not been a good coach to you thus far this season, and for that I’m sorry. I want another chance to do right by you and the team, if you’ll give it to me.”
How many times had Will wanted the chance to start over with Coach, to earn his respect instead of his wrath? Will stood and took Coach’s hand. It was the first time anyone had treated him like a man and at the same time made him want to be better than he was, the man Coach Marten seemed to think he could be. “I won’t let you down this time. I promise.” No more stupid mistakes, on or off the field.
“Good.” Mike clapped his other hand on Will’s shoulder, understanding, even empathizing. “It’s important that we both learn from situations like this. Now that we have, we move on.”
“I DON’T SEE WHY you have to go so soon,” Lewis complained as he and Kevin helped Kate carry her belongings out to her car.
If Kate had harbored any doubts about the woman Sam had brought home, she would have found a way to stay on indefinitely, helping to ease the transition. But she had only needed to talk to the petite, lively woman with the silver-gray hair and kind blue eyes to know Sam had found a real gem. Evelyn Roundtree was a fifty-five-year-old former schoolteacher and mother of two, had a sparkling sense of humor, an intimate knowledge of growing boys and the problems they faced, and a genial, can-do attitude that would bring more calm to Sam’s household than Kate’s stay had wrought. Kate had not a single qualm about leaving the boys in her care. Sam had been right to hire her and bring her home straight away.
“Mrs. Roundtree needs the room.”
“So? You could sleep in my bed,” Kevin offered desperately, wiping the chocolate off his mouth with the back of his hand. “I’d sleep on the floor in my sleeping bag. I don’t mind.”
Kate paused to ruffle his hair affectionately. “I know you don’t, honey, and it’s really nice of you to offer, but it’s time I went back to my own apartment and back to work at the hospital.”
“I think he’s trying to say he’ll miss you,” Riley said, as he came up to join the group.
“We all will,” Lewis added.
Although it suddenly felt more as if she was leaving home instead of going home, Kate feigned an air of nonchalance. “You guys have my home phone number and also the one at the hospital. If you need me or want to talk, just call me up or come over and see me. In the meantime, you’re going to have your hands full helping Mrs. Roundtree get settled in here. So do your best to make it easy for her, instead of initiating her to your ways, okay?” Kate gave them a stern but knowing look. The boys grinned mischievously, recalling what they had done to her, and she to them, then promised they would not do the same to Mrs. Roundtree. “And give your dad a break, too,” Kate continued firmly, “’cause he’s really trying to be around more.”
“We know,” Riley said.
Kate smiled, knowing her work here—to get the family back on an even keel—was done. Yet at the same time, even knowing the kids were being left in good hands, she felt as if her heart were breaking. Maybe everyone was right, she admitted reluctantly to herself. Maybe she had gotten too involved here, under the circumstances. Determined to be upbeat for the kids’ sakes if it killed her, Kate plastered a cheerful smile onto her face and hugged them goodbye, one after another.
The misty looks in their eyes triggered an answering ache in her throat. Knowing she was going to cry if she didn’t hurry, she turned and got into her car. “Aren’t you going to wait until Dad finishes talking on the phone?” Lewis asked anxiously.
Kate shook her head as she put her key into the ignition and started her car. The unexpected three-way call with Sam, the California company and his Dallas office that had come in a few minutes ago could take a long time. “Just tell him I’ll catch him later, okay?” And on that promise, she drove away.
DECIDING THE BEST THING for her sinking spirits would be to return to work as soon as possible, Kate changed into business clothes and headed over to the hospital to lead a grief group. She had just finished the evening session and had returned to her office to catch up on her mail when Sam arrived. He, too, was wearing business clothes, but she could swear he’d had a haircut and a shave since she had seen him last.
His glance covered her from head to toe as he rapped on the door frame and—not waiting for permission—sauntered in. “You left without saying goodbye.”
Kate shrugged. “It’s not as if we’re never going to see each other again,” she replied calmly, doing her best to pretend her heart hadn’t just skipped several beats.
Sam circled around to where she was sitting. He thrust his hands into his pockets and lounged against her desk. “If you’d hung around, I could have told you the good news. We got the contract with the California company to build their new Web site.”
“Congratulations,” Kate said. Was it her imagination or had it suddenly gotten very hot and close in here? She leaned back in her chair and crossed her legs. “I know how hard you’ve worked to earn their business.”
“It means a lot to me,” Sam conceded. He paused. “Almost as much as what you’ve been able to do for my boys, and me, getting our lives back on track.”
Kate struggled to maintain a professional demeanor. “That’s my job.”
Sam shook his head in disagreement and gestured at the room around them. “No, this is your job,” he said with studied nonchalance. “What you did for us was an act of friendship and genuine caring, and for that,” he continued solemnly, looking deep into her eyes, “I will always be grateful.”
“Is that why you came over here?” Kate asked, her heart suddenly pounding. “To thank me?” To be nice to me? To tempt me to fall into your arms all over again? Because it could happen. So easily….
Sam shook his head and looked straight into her eyes, his regard for her as innocent as it was sexy. “I was hoping we could go somewhere and talk about where you and I go from here,” he told her, “now that you’re no longer working for me or living at the house.”
Kate’s hands began to tremble. There was no mistaking what that meant. Or what he wanted here. Her. In bed with him. Again. She pushed back her chair and leaped up, nervously moving aroung her office, checking a plant that needed watering, adjusting the blinds so they were open not closed. “I thought we’d covered that.”
Sam shook his head, straightening, and followed her to the window. “You had your say,” he said, casting a glance out at the darkened visitor parking lot with its dwindling supply of cars. “I have yet to have mine.”
Kate inhaled a jerky breath and turned away from him, aware nothing essential had changed, despite how much the vulnerable part of her wished it would. “I don’t think that’s wise,” she said in a low, strangled voice. She was looking for love. He was offering her sex.
Sam gripped her wrist before she could move away and held her eyes with his steady, probing glance. “We can’t pretend it didn’t happen, Kate.”
Oh, really, Kate thought as footsteps sounded in the hall outside her office, because that was exactly what she wanted to do.
Kate shook her head and pulled away from Sam. And Major Craig Farrell, resplendent in his blue air force uniform, walked in.
For a second Kate couldn’t breathe. And then Craig was beside her, his handsome face sporting a wide, welcoming grin, his arms open wide. “Surprise!” he teased, lifting her up and swinging her around jubilantly before kissing her firmly on the lips and lowering her ever so slowly to her feet.
Ignoring her stunned response, Craig turned to Sam and reached for his hand. “Good to see you again, Sam,” Craig said warmly.
Recovering, Sam shook Craig’s hand and said cordially, “Good to see you.”
Which was, Kate knew, a complete lie. Sam wasn’t any happier to see her fiancé crash their first truly intimate conversation, than she was.
“I’m really sorry about Ellie,” Craig told Sam, his low voice radiating a laudable depth of compassion. Craig slid a possessive arm around Kate’s waist before continuing. “But I’m glad Kate was able to step in and help you and the boys out.”
Sam nodded, abruptly looking as uncomfortable as Kate felt. And for that, Kate couldn’t blame Sam. She didn’t want to be here, either, pretending her farce of an engagement was okay when it clearly wasn’t. But short of telling Craig here and now that it was off, there was nothing she could do but suffer through it.
“We really appreciated her help.”
Craig turned back to Kate. “I hate to rush you out of here, but your mom and dad are hosting a big party for us over at the Lone Star Dinner and Dance Hall.”
“Tonight?” It was all Kate could do to not groan. It was hard enough now, pretending everything was okay, when she knew damn well it wasn’t. To have an audience looking on…
“You and all your boys are invited, too, Sam.” Craig grinned, tugged Kate closer still, and pressed an affectionate kiss to her cheek, before turning his attention back to Sam. “Just don’t count on stealing a dance with her,” he added with a friendly wink. “I’ve been away from my woman for a long time and I’m not letting her go tonight. Even for a minute.”
TO KATE’S CHAGRIN, no sooner had she and Craig entered the dance hall and greeted her parents, who looked very happy to be welcoming their future son-in-law home again, than Craig took Kate’s hand and dragged her up to the bandstand.
“Man, it’s good to be back in Texas,” he drawled as the entire dance hall erupted in applause. “I know some of you were disappointed when I didn’t make it home a few days ago. Especially Kate.” Craig paused to plant an affectionate kiss on her cheek, which prompted another round of cheering and applause. “’Cause we were supposed to set our wedding date. But I’m here now. And this time—” Craig whipped a small notebook out of his pocket “—I’ve got my calendar! So, enough dawdling. Right here and right now, Kate and I are going to pick a date.”
Kate stared at him. This was her worst nightmare come true. Not only were her parents and all the friends she’d grown up with here, so were Sam and his boys. She’d never been a good liar. She was an even worse actress. And she hated Craig for making them a spectacle this way. Especially after the cavalier, uncaring way he had treated her. But then again, maybe that’s why he was doing this, because he knew his behavior had been unforgivable. Determined to not let his actions humiliate her, Kate merely smiled and said, “Why don’t we just keep that our secret?”
“Actually…” Craig interrupted, something in his eyes hardening decisively. “Why don’t we give them a hint?” He turned to the crowd and determinedly waved his pocket calendar. “Starting November first, I’ve got twenty-one days’ leave. That’s plenty of time for a wedding and a honeymoon, don’t you-all think?” Hoots and hollers accompanied Craig’s joshing. “So, what do you say, hon?” Craig persisted, running her down like a bulldozer. “The first Saturday in November?”
If there had ever been a chance to get even with him, this was it, Kate thought. The trouble was, she thought, spying a grim-faced Sam out of the corner of her eye, she didn’t want to get even with anyone. She just wanted to end their engagement, quickly and quietly, with as much dignity as possible. As much as she wanted to, she couldn’t do that here or now.
Anger flickered briefly in Craig’s eyes. It was quickly replaced by incredulity. “What do you know, folks, I do believe she’s speechless!” he teased lightheartedly, prompting more chuckles from the crowd. “And those of you who know Kate know that’s a first.”
Determined to end this before she inadvertently gave away her true feelings, Kate grabbed the microphone and took control of the situation—and by extension, her life. “Sorry, folks, but you’re just going to have to wait.”
Still playing gregariously to their audience, Craig looked deep into Kate’s eyes. “Is the groom going to have to wait, too?”
She nodded.
Knowing not just when he had been bested but when Kate was truly miffed with him, Craig shrugged. “Then there’s only one thing to do.” Craig turned to Greta McCabe, who was manning the sound system. “Maestro, our song?”
The worried look in her eyes matching the sinking feeling in Kate’s heart, Greta complied. Seconds later, the foot-tapping strains of Tim McGraw’s “The Trouble With Never” erupted from the sound system. Still looking as if he had the world on a string, Craig guided Kate onto the dance floor. And soon they were joined by everyone else.
“WELL, DON’T YOU LOOK like the dog ate your last shoe,” Wade McCabe drawled, joining Sam for a bottle of Lone Star beer.
Sam grimaced. The only thing worse than a comment on his love life or lack thereof from John and Lilah, was a commentary from one of their sons. He turned to his cousin and said drolly, “Cute.”
“I’m serious.” Wade pushed back the brim of his black hat. “I know it’s been a rough year for you and the boys, but you really look glum tonight.”
That was because he felt glum, Sam thought. He hadn’t expected to come to depend on Kate in such a short period of time. But he had. And so had his boys.
“Especially given the fact that your company just landed one of the biggest e-commerce deals going right now,” Wade continued with the same business savvy that had made him a multimillionaire by age thirty.
“How’d you hear about that?” Sam asked, raising his voice to be heard above the music. So far, he hadn’t told anyone but Kate.
Wade, a phenomenal investor and businessman in his own right, replied, “The CEO gave a heads-up to the Dallas and San Francisco papers. They’re both running it on the front pages of their business sections tomorrow morning. I imagine you’ve got messages right now from reporters, needing quotes from you on the deal.”
That was probably true, Sam thought.
Wade paused to study him thoughtfully. “You wouldn’t by any chance have developed a thing for Kate while she was bunking at your house and helping you out with the boys, would you?”
His gut tightening with a mixture of jealousy and resentment, Sam watched as Craig two-stepped Kate around the dance floor. Even as his emotions rose, he schooled himself to cool it. “Kate has a fiancé.”
“So?” Wade shrugged as if that were of no consequence. “She’s not married yet.”
Sam had promised himself he was never going to love again because he didn’t want to be hurt. Yet, here he was, not sure what he felt for Kate, only knowing he didn’t want to lose it, whatever it was.
Wade’s glance turned compassionate. “If you want her the way I’m guessing you want her, cousin, you better go after her.”
BECAUSE IT WAS a week night and everyone had to work the next day, the party broke up around midnight. Craig and Kate thanked her folks for the party on their behalf and headed back to her apartment for some necessary time alone.
“You were awfully quiet tonight,” Craig remarked as they walked through the door.
With good reason, Kate thought. It hadn’t been easy pretending everything was fine in front of all those people when she knew, better than anyone, that it wasn’t.
“I guess you’re just tired. It’s been a long day for both of us. Maybe we should try to get some sleep and talk about the wedding tomorrow,” Craig said.
Kate blocked Craig’s path before he could head toward her bedroom. “That’s not it…” she hedged.
It isn’t going to get any easier, she told herself. Just say it. “I can’t marry you.”
Abruptly, Craig’s face relaxed into a coaxing smile. “Kate, honey, you don’t mean that.”
Kate looked Craig straight in the eye. “Yes,” she said firmly, never more sure of anything in her life. “I do.”
Silence fell between them. Craig’s geniality began to fade. “You’re not yourself tonight,” he repeated, decisively. “We’ll talk tomorrow.” He took her arm and tried to steer her into the bedroom.
Kate shrugged off his calming grip. “There is no reason for us to talk tomorrow, Craig. I know what I want and don’t want. And I don’t want to marry you.”
Silence fell between them. Craig’s patience vanished. “What’s going on here?” he demanded, piqued. He unbuttoned his uniform jacket and jerked it off. “You’ve been as cold as an ice cube all night long. If it’s about last weekend…I couldn’t get back—”
“Couldn’t,” Kate countered before she could stop herself, “or just didn’t want to?”
He looked at her impatiently. “Kate. Come on. I explained why I canceled my trip.” He spoke as if to a five-year-old.
“Yes,” Kate agreed. “You did.”
“So why are you still ticked off?” He strode toward her, arms outstretched. “You’ve never been mad before when something came up and I couldn’t make it home.”
“But I should have been,” Kate replied tightly, refusing to let Craig take her into his arms again. “It should have bothered me a lot the way you put us second at every opportunity. The bottom line is, I don’t think we have what it takes to make this marriage work.”
Craig’s jaw tightened. “Are you speaking for both of us,” he asked quietly, retaining his military bearing, “or just you?”
Kate swallowed. She had known he would argue. Arguments could get ugly. She didn’t want it to end ugly, but he wouldn’t be satisfied, he wouldn’t give up on them, without a reason or an honest accounting of the problems. “Look, it’s not just one thing,” Kate said in frustration. “There are other reasons, too.”
“Such as?”
Kate shrugged. “The fact that you couldn’t be bothered to set a date or come home and plan our wedding, no matter how much I pleaded with you to do so. The fact that you not only had no idea how to describe your feelings about me to others, but had no desire to do so, either. The fact that our relationship is nowhere near the top of your priority list!”
“Those are all things that can be fixed, Kate.”
Hurt Craig was dismissing her concerns as irrelevant, Kate shot back emotionally. “Yeah, well, some things can’t!” She met his eyes with difficulty and forged on quietly. “We have to face it, Craig. The passion just hasn’t been there for us—ever—not the way it should be if we’re going to get married.” Surely he could accept that. Surely he felt it, too.
Craig stared at her as if seeing a stranger. “I don’t believe this. Now you’re complaining about our sex life?” He was astounded. And furious.
Kate reddened and moved away from him. “Damn it, Craig, we both deserve to have real passion in our lives. The kind that makes it absolutely impossible for us to stay away from each other for months and months at a time!”
Craig relaxed again. Abruptly he looked as if it all made sense to him. “You’re upset about the time we’ve had to spend apart, aren’t you?” he asked gently.
“That’s part of it,” Kate conceded reluctantly. The only problem was, she swiftly realized, he wouldn’t accept that their engagement needed to be called off. Not at all.
“It’s not as if this was some big surprise, Kate,” he told her reasonably, coming closer once again. “You’ve known for years I was career military. You knew that there’d be long separations. So did I. It’s just part of life in the service.” Jaw hardening resentfully, he glared at her as if this were all her fault. “You told me you could handle it.”
“And I could have, Craig, if things were different when we were together! But they’re not,” Kate snapped, suddenly beginning to lose control of her emotions, too. “And I can’t pretend that everything is going to be all right anymore, when it just isn’t!”
“So what do you want, then?” he asked resentfully. He grabbed her hand and tugged her against him, length to length. “More hot and horny lovemaking the moment I walk in the door?”
Kate pushed him away, frightened by his aggressiveness. “Let go.”
Craig grabbed her again and shoved her against the wall, pinning her there with his weight. “I thought this was what you wanted.”
Kate turned her head to the side before he could kiss her. It was just this kind of ugliness she had wanted to avoid. “Don’t.”
“See?” Craig taunted, releasing her as abruptly as he had grabbed her. He stared at her, hands jammed on his waist, breathing hard. “You’re not as passionate as you thought, after all.”
SAM TOLD HIMSELF he was just going to drive by her apartment to make sure she was all right. If Craig was there…if things looked peaceful, he’d go on home. On the other hand, if there was any sound of discord coming from the apartment, he wouldn’t hesitate to step in. After all Kate had done for him, he owed it to her to see that she was all right. He had just turned the corner when he saw Craig’s rental car zooming off.
He parked and took the steps two at a time to the entrance of her apartment. Knocked. The first thing Sam noticed when she opened the door was that, except for the tears streaking down her face, she was fine. The second was that she seemed very glad he was there. “I told him it was over,” Kate said stonily.
“I’m guessing he didn’t take it well.”
Kate let out a soft, bitter laugh, as if that were the understatement of the century, and looked at Sam miserably. “He didn’t believe me. He said I was just angry at him for not coming home to see me more often. So I told him the truth. That our relationship wasn’t going to stand the test of time.”
Going with his instinct, and against what her body language seemed to be telling him to do, he went to her and took her into his arms. “Did he hurt you?”
“No,” Kate said, wincing when he touched her arms. She pulled away from him.
Sam looked down at her hand and noticed that she was no longer wearing her engagement ring. “Are you sorry you ended it?”
“No.”
But there was something troubling her, Sam thought.
Kate turned her glance back to him. “I’m worried what he’s going to say to my folks.” Now that it had actually happened, Kate was afraid what news like this would do to Mike’s health.
For all their sakes Sam tried to formulate an action plan to curtail the damage. The last thing Craig needed to do was to compare suspicions with Kate’s dad. “Where did Craig go?”
“I don’t know. Maybe one of the bars. Or a motel. It’s too late for him to drop in on my folks tonight—”
“I’ll find him.”
“Sam—” Kate caught his hand and looked up at him. She let out a shuddering breath. “Thanks.”
And the next thing Sam knew, he was kissing her again. And once he had started, he couldn’t stop. His lips fused with hers and his hands were in her hair, crushing the soft, silken strands, guiding her head beneath his. Over and over he stroked her tongue, tasting the sweetness of her lips mingled with the salt of her tears. Whimpering low in her throat, much the way she had when he’d made love to her, she wrapped her arms around his shoulders and pulled him against her.
And that was when the door opened. And Craig Farrell walked in.