A tap on the door froze Carly’s muscles and set her heart racing.
She didn’t want to talk to Mitch.
“Mama,” Rhett’s treble penetrated the closed bedroom door.
Rhett. She’d been in such a panic to pack her belongings that she’d left him with Della too long.
Della. Another casualty of Mitch’s deviousness. Carly was going to hate losing the older woman’s friendship.
“Carly?” Her mother’s voice.
And suddenly Carly needed her mother more than she needed anyone. She dumped her armload of clothes on the bed, rushed to the door and flung it open.
How was she going to explain there wouldn’t be a wedding?
She didn’t have to say a word. Her mother set Rhett down inside the room, closed the door and opened her arms. Carly fell against her and took strength from her hug.
After a few moments, her mother leaned back to look into Carly’s eyes. “Mitch says you’re not going to marry him. Tell me what I can do to help you.”
The whole story tumbled out in fits and spurts. The will and Rhett’s inheritance. Falling in love with Mitch. The P.I.’s report. Getting her heart broken. Again. Her mother waited until Carly ran out of steam.
“First off, Mitch is right. If his father is responsible for Marlene’s…end, then a higher power has already dealt out the consequences. That doesn’t mean I don’t want to know what happened. I won’t rest easy until I do.
“Second, you are my daughter. I know you’re hurting now, but I also know you have the most generous heart of any woman I’ve ever met. You’re going to make the right decision.” She cradled Carly’s cheek. The love and approval in her mother’s eyes and words brought tears to Carly’s eyes.
“Whatever your decision is, your father and I will support you. If you need to leave, we’ll help you. But if you want to stay here for Rhett, then your father and I will move to Miami to be your backup.”
“But you love your life in Arizona.”
“We love you more. And just like we moved to give you a fresh start after you relinquished your baby, we’d move for you again in a heartbeat.”
“I thought you moved because I’d embarrassed you.”
“No, dear. We told you we left Nashville because we didn’t want you to be continually reminded of painful things and because the press wouldn’t let you forget. I know you didn’t believe us then, but that’s the gospel truth. And with the dangerous path Marlene was headed down, it was a good time for us all to start over somewhere else.”
Carly’s breath snagged. “You knew about Marlene?”
“Of course I did. And your father and I tried to help her, but she wouldn’t let us. She derived something from those boys’ attention, as inappropriate as it might have been, that we couldn’t give her.”
“But the home for unwed mothers…I thought you wanted me out of the house and out of your sight. I thought I’d disgusted you.”
“Oh, Carly, I’m sorry I didn’t communicate my concerns better. I tried, but I was afraid to harp on and sway you into making a choice you’d regret, one you might hate me for later, so perhaps I didn’t say enough. Baby, letting you go through that alone was like tearing off a limb, but we did it anyway because we wanted you to have counselors who would help you make a decision you could live with. The home promised me their specialists could do that.”
Tears streamed hot paths down Carly’s cheeks. “They did. And I know in my heart that I did the right thing. I couldn’t have been the mother my daughter deserved.”
She studied her finger, the one that for a few hours had worn Mitch’s ring. “Mom, for Rhett to inherit his share of Everett’s estate he has to live here for the rest of the year. I don’t know if I can handle that, but I won’t abandon him. He deserves this. It’s the only thing his father will ever give him. I need to find a way to make it work.”
“Why am I not surprised that you would put Rhett’s concerns ahead of your own? Running away has never been your style. And I have no doubt that if you choose to stay, you will find a way to manage it. You’re strong, Carly. You can handle anything.”
Her mother sat silently for a moment and then tilted her head. “Is there a way to share this monstrosity of a house without having to cross paths with Mitch too frequently?”
“Pish! Orange pish. Big,” Rhett cried out.
Carly’s glanced over to where he knelt on the window seat pointing toward the koi pond. The evening sun glinted off the windows across the yard and an idea took root.
“The nursery is on the opposite side of the house.”
Her mother stood and offered a hand. “Then I think we need to see the nursery, don’t you? And if it’s suitable, then we’re going to lay some ground rules for Mr. Kincaid. He’s going to learn he can’t mess with the Corbins. We are a formidable team.”
“I don’t need you tonight,” Mitch said Friday afternoon from the door of Rand’s office, and then immediately turned and left. He didn’t want to discuss his aborted plans.
“Whoa,” his brother called out and chased him into the hall. “You can’t drop a bomb like that and keep walking. You’re supposed to get married in a matter of hours. What happened to the wedding? You come to your senses?”
Rand shadowed him past his PA’s desk and into his office. “Spill it, Mitch.”
“I had Dad’s P.I. do a little checking into Carly’s past and her sister’s death.”
“Marie, hold his calls,” Rand told Mitch’s PA and then shut the office door. “What did he find? She’s already married? A black widow? A transvestite?”
Mitch scowled. He wasn’t in the mood for Rand’s twisted humor.
“There’s nothing in Carly’s past to change my mind.” If anything, he wanted to hunt down an ex-volleyball coach and remove the guy’s nuts with a rusty knife.
He’d been his father’s axman for years. He should be able to handle this situation without breaking a sweat. He wiped his brow, trying to clear the vision of Carly’s pain-filled eyes from his mind. No such luck.
She loved him.
The idea energized him, but at the same time filled him with panic.
“Then what’s the problem?”
“She found Frank Lewis’s report.”
Rand whistled silently. “The guy is thorough and he doesn’t pull his punches.”
Rand would know. He’d dealt with Frank before moving to California. “No. He doesn’t.”
“And? C’mon, Mitch, don’t make me drag this out of you word by word.”
“I also had Frank investigate Marlene Corbin’s death. I was concerned that Dad might have had something to do with the hit-and-run that killed her.”
Rand swore. Viciously. “You think he did it?”
“Or paid someone to. I have no proof and no reason other than he was more pissed off at Marlene for having Rhett than I’ve ever seen him about anything before. Not even Nadia’s marr—” No need to bring that up. Not speaking about his sister’s early and tragic marriage had become a habit. “You know you didn’t cross our old man.”
“No. Not without repercussions.” Rand and their father had a serious load of issues. His brother’s part of the will requirement involved one of them. Rand had been forced to return from his self-imposed exile, take over as KCL’s CEO and work side by side with the woman their father had stolen from him. The only woman his brother had ever loved, in Mitch’s opinion.
He focused on his own problems. “If Dad was involved, I wanted to know before some reporter ambushed us with evidence and used it to take KCL down.”
“Understandable. What did Frank find?”
“Nothing to incriminate Dad. But the fact that I’d suspected him and had Carly investigated was enough to send her into orbit.”
“Understandable. Wouldn’t you have been pissed?”
“Why? I was dealing with facts, not slander.”
Rand stared at him with an odd look on his face.
“What?”
“The end justifies the means. You’ve become Dad.”
Mitch reeled back in disgust. “No, the hell I haven’t.”
Folding his arms, Rand remained silent.
“I didn’t break any laws,” Mitch defended.
“What about a violation of her privacy? Withholding evidence from the cops?”
“There is no evidence. That’s what I’m telling you. Whose side are you on? I’m trying to protect our inheritance and this company.”
“We all are, Mitch. But at what cost? Is Dad going to make us stoop to his level to keep what’s rightfully ours? And is holding on to Kincaid Cruise Lines worth sacrificing our self-respect?”
Carly had called him a conniving bastard who would intentionally hurt others. Cold, sobering realization crept over him. She was right, and so was Rand.
He’d become his father.
The idea horrified him. He staggered to the window and stared out at the bay thirty stories below. Everett Kincaid had been a mean, bitter SOB. Not openly. He was too clever for that. No, to your face he was charming, caring, and a benevolent CEO of a company voted best to work for five years in a row. He could charm confidential information out of you and you’d never even notice you were handing him the nails to your own coffin.
And then he’d stab you in the back and bury you without hesitation or second thought if it served his purpose.
Mitch did not want to be his father.
“Did she and the kid move out?”
Rand’s words yanked him out of an arctic well of discovery. “They’ve moved into the nursery.”
Yesterday afternoon she’d ordered his staff to move her and Rhett’s belongings, and afterward Carly and Rhett had gone out to dinner with her parents. Last night, his wing of the house had echoed with silence. Silence he’d once relished. Silence that had kept him up most of the night.
This morning, Mrs. Duncan had appointed herself their guard dog. She’d been cold and abrupt—the housekeeper he remembered from the pre-Carly days. He hadn’t even caught a glimpse of Carly and Rhett, and damn it, he’d missed the racket and the cereal bombs at breakfast.
“So we’re still in this fight to fulfill the terms of the will,” Rand said. “I hope to hell Nadia isn’t having as tough a time as we are.”
“Yeah.” Their father’s demands might have brought Rand home, but they’d also kicked Nadia out of the only home she’d ever known.
“What are you going to do?”
Mitch looked up and met his brother’s gaze. He didn’t have it in him to bluff. “I don’t know.”
Mutiny.
There was no other word to describe the situation at Kincaid Manor this past week, Mitch decided. His entire staff had turned against him and sided with Carly. They spoke to him respectfully and followed his orders, but otherwise stayed out of his way. Mrs. Duncan served his meals in silence.
He’d become an outcast in his own damned home. And he had no one to blame but himself. He’d hurt someone every member of his staff cared about.
Carly and Rhett were within the walls each evening, but managed to completely avoid him. They ate and played in the nursery. If Carly went running, then it wasn’t in the gated community. The jogging stroller stayed in the back of her minivan, which led Mitch to believe if she ran she did so elsewhere.
If he wanted to see her, he’d have to hunt her down.
He hiked up the back stairs Thursday evening after dinner. He’d always avoided the nursery. Sealed off from the rest of the house by thick soundproof walls, the place had been his prison as a kid. He, Rand and Nadia had only been allowed out when they were clean and well-behaved. One screwup and back to prison he’d go. He’d learned early on to listen and not draw attention to himself.
The sound of Rhett’s squeals and laughter reached him as soon as his feet hit the landing and he caught himself smiling. His step lightened. He quickened his pace and pushed open the nursery door. Carly knelt on the floor beside Rhett in the large main room. Judging by the towel she held, his brother had just finished his bath. There were three bedrooms off this play area, four if you counted the nanny’s suite. Which had she chosen for Rhett? For herself?
“Mitt,” Rhett screeched. His naked little body streaked across the room.
Mitch dropped to his knees and held open his arms. The boy hit his chest like a torpedo, winding him, making him ache for what he’d thrown away. Mitch hugged him.
Over the top of the fuzzy dark hair, Mitch’s eyes sought Carly’s. She rose, clutching the towel in front of her. Her damp T-shirt and low-rider jeans clung in all the right places. His pulse drummed out an appreciative beat.
“You’d better diaper him fast unless you want to use a mop.” She tossed a disposable diaper in his direction. Mitch caught it, gently tumbled the boy onto the rug. Rhett rewarded him with cackles and wiggles as he taped the diaper on. And then he lifted his little brother and held him tight.
His fool of a father had missed this. And the boy’s mother would, too.
Mitch wasn’t going to. But how could he convince Carly to let him back into their lives? He stood, holding Rhett against his heart. “You’ve been avoiding me.”
“Rhett has been getting to know his grandparents. They’re talking about moving here to be near him.”
“They didn’t take the jet back to Arizona on Sunday.”
She shook her head and her ponytail swayed. “They preferred to get a commercial flight. They flew out this afternoon.”
She’d been with her parents all week. That explained why she hadn’t been here when he raced home from KCL each night to his silent, solo dinner. He stared at her and tried to prioritize the week’s worth of thoughts he’d saved up to tell to her, but settled for, “I’m glad you stayed.”
Her chin lifted. “I promised to see this year through for Rhett’s sake. He deserves to know his family and to have something from his father besides DNA.”
“I agree.” Rhett squirmed. Mitch set him down. The child bolted for Mitch’s old room and returned with a toy dump truck. He plopped down on the floor and vroomed the truck around the rug.
Carly watched him for a moment before turning back to Mitch. “I tried to return the wedding dress. The store wouldn’t take it.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“It was expensive. I hate to see you waste your money. And it’s a beautiful dress. Someone needs to wear it.”
No, she definitely wasn’t mercenary like her sister. How could he have ever believed otherwise?
“I miss your company, Carly. Yours and Rhett’s.”
Her gasp filled the silence. She blinked and averted her gaze.
“Come back to the other side of the house.”
She shook her head again but didn’t look at him. “I can’t do that. I can’t lo—live with a man who’d try to hurt us.”
She walked away. The sight gutted him mainly because he knew his actions were the cause of the gulf between them. He wanted to call her back, to haul her back. Into his life. Into his arms. Into his bed. He’d settle for seeing her face across the breakfast table.
He loved her.
The realization crushed his chest and depleted the oxygen in the room. That’s why his life had sucked since Carly had returned his ring. The staff hadn’t mutinied. Their cold treatment was the same as it had been for years. Ditto the silent tomb of the house. Both were exactly the way he used to like them.
But that was before Carly and Rhett had shown him how different, how dynamic life at Kincaid Manor could be.
He missed the controlled chaos. He missed them.
The house and staff hadn’t changed. He had.
Because of Carly. Because of Rhett.
“Carly.” He waited until she cautiously looked at him. “I’m in love with you.”
The color drained from her face and her eyes turned guarded. Tense, silent seconds dragged past. She licked her lips and then swallowed as if gulping down nasty medicine. “You’re a man who says and does whatever it takes to get what he wants. But that was low, Mitch. Even for you.”
A bowie knife under the ribs would hurt less. “I’m not that man anymore.”
Disbelief twisted her mouth. “You’re not the man you were seven days ago?”
“No.”
“Forgive my skepticism. But no thanks to whatever you’re offering. We’re happy here.”
She didn’t look happy. She looked as if she wasn’t sleeping any better than he was.
“I’ll prove I’ve changed.”
A parody of a smile revealed straight, white teeth. It couldn’t distract him from the pain in her eyes. Pain he’d inflicted by acting like his father and taking what he wanted without regard to the casualties.
She picked up Rhett. “You do that, Mitch. Now please leave. I need to get Rhett into bed. Good night.”
He’d never been one to walk away from a fight, but he wouldn’t get anywhere with Carly tonight. And if he forced the issue, he might run her out of the house. Now that he knew he loved her, he had to come up with a winning strategy.
But before he left, he wanted to remind her of what they’d had. He strolled toward her. Her expression turned wary. He stopped mere inches away and reached out to hug Rhett. If in the process his hand grazed Carly’s rib cage and he made her breath catch, too bad. He planted a kiss on the kid’s forehead and inhaled his fresh-from-the-bath scent. He caught a whiff of Carly’s fragrance, as well. Hunger and need swelled within him. His throat closed up.
He would not lose them, damn it.
“Good night, kid,” he choked out before pivoting on his heel and stalking from the nursery. When he reached the bottom of the stairs he sucked air as if he’d just climbed a mountain. His chest ached, reminding him of that video game he and Rand used to play back in their teens. One where the Ninja master punched into some poor sap’s chest and ripped out his beating heart. Mitch was that sap.
Winning Carly back seemed impossible. He had to find a way to convince her he’d changed.
But how?
She didn’t care about useless trinkets or money. He couldn’t buy her love. A first for him, because he’d never met a woman he couldn’t buy. Even Trish had liked to be shown affection via a shower of material goods.
Instead of returning to the emptiness of the house, he slipped out the back door, walked down to the waterfront and stared across the bay. The lights of the distant shore and a few passing boats only marginally distracted him, and the waves lapping against the bulkhead did nothing to soothe him.
What could he give Carly that she would never give herself?
An idea shot across his brain. His pulse quickened and his palms tingled. He knew he had a winning plan.
Flipping open his cell phone, he punched Frank Lewis’s auto dial. The P.I. answered on the first ring.
“Lewis Investigations.”
“Frank, Mitch Kincaid. I have another job for you.”
She’d survived. Barely.
Carly leaned against the door she’d closed behind Mitch. She hadn’t expected seeing him to hurt so much. But the fact that the old cliché “out of sight, out of mind” hadn’t worked with him should have been a clue that getting over him wouldn’t be easy.
And when he’d said he’d fallen in love with her, she’d wanted to believe him so badly she’d almost broken down.
“Mitt. My Mitt.”
“Yes, munchkin. Your Mitt. Bedtime.” She carried Rhett to bed and tucked him in. After a good-night kiss, she retreated to the nanny suite. Restless, she paced the confines of her room. There was no way she could sleep. Not now. She needed a run—a l-o-n-g one. But she couldn’t leave Rhett alone.
The week had been both physically and mentally exhausting. Without her parents’ help, she wasn’t sure she could have endured the dragging time. She’d worked flat out every day, and in the evenings her parents had asked her to show them each of her favorite parts of Miami. In the process of visiting her old haunts, she’d managed to run into her ex-fiancé. Her first one.
Seeing Sam again had been one of those good news–bad news situations. On the positive side, she hadn’t experienced even a twinge of jealousy when he’d introduced his new girlfriend. She’d honestly been able to wish them well with no ill will.
On the bad side, she was completely over Sam and not just trying to plug a hole his leaving had caused. That meant her feelings for Mitch weren’t a rebound romance.
She blew out a slow breath, crossed to the window and pushed back the curtains. Her eyes caught a movement down at the dock. Mitch. Those broad shoulders and erect carriage were impossible to mistake. Her heart clenched.
Her love for Mitch was the real deal. And that meant it would be around to haunt her for a very long time.