“But…you didn’t actually see anything.”
Connor winced at her logical protest. “And that’s exactly what I told Doug. Only it didn’t matter. Far as he was concerned, I’d seen enough and was off the job.”
If only it had ended there…
“I couldn’t get over my gut feeling that I was wrong. Wrong about Cara, wrong about what I’d seen. I thought if I followed her a few more days, I’d know for sure.” Kelsey hit the gas as another red light turned green, and Connor desperately wished he was still the one driving. He’d go from zero to sixty in a split second if pure speed would give him the chance to outrun his memories.
“I was across the street watching when Doug came home from work in the middle of the day. I don’t know if he hoped to catch Cara in the act, or if his rage and jealousy got to be too much. I heard her scream. I rushed into the house.”
“But you stopped Doug, right?”
“Not soon enough. Cara was badly beaten and nearly unconscious by the time I got into the house and pulled Doug off her.”
He could still see her, bloody and bruised, lying on the floor because of him. “The guy she went to see was a counselor. He’d rented the motel room to give her a safe place to stay, but he couldn’t convince her to leave Doug, even though he’d been abusing her for years. If I’d listened to my gut—”
“But you did listen. You listened when you knew you didn’t have the whole story. Cara Mitchell would likely be dead if not for you. You saved her life, Connor.”
“If I hadn’t taken the job—”
“Someone else would have. Someone who wouldn’t have cared about a gut feeling. Once the job was over, that would have been it. They wouldn’t have given Cara Mitchell a second thought.”
Connor opened his mouth, ready to argue, but Kelsey’s words ran deeper into his soul, soothing some of his guilt. Not that he believed he was any kind of hero. But he’d witnessed Doug’s determination. He wasn’t the type of guy to give up easily. Had Connor turned down the job, Doug would have found another P.I.
“Maybe—maybe you’re right.”
As Kelsey stopped for another red light, she turned to meet his gaze straight on. “I know I am,” she said with the same certainty as when she’d vowed he was a good man.
Would she still think so when he told her about the money her uncle had paid him to leave town? No one had ever put the kind of faith and trust in him that Kelsey did, and every ounce of self-preservation inside him resisted the thought of telling her the truth.
Even if she gave him the chance to explain, even if she understood his reasons, the truth would change things. And yet he had to tell her. If he wanted her to believe he truly was a good man, if he wanted to believe that, he had to tell her.
But not tonight. There’d already been enough revelations about the past. And in case finding out about the money did change things, well, Connor selfishly wanted to hold on to Kelsey’s faith in him for a little while longer.
“You know, this isn’t necessary.” Side by side on her couch, Kelsey watched as Connor placed the last piece of tape over the bandage on her hand. As far as a protest went, her words were pretty weak. Just like the rest of her, she thought.
Connor smoothed his thumb across her palm, his gaze intent on his task. A lock of dark hair had fallen across his forehead, shadowing his eyes and adding the slightest touch of softness to the hard planes and angles of his features.
Little shocks zapped up her arm, but it had nothing to do with pain. If she hadn’t been sitting next to Connor, she probably would have melted into a puddle at his feet.
“It would have been tricky to do this on your own. Besides, it was the least I could do,” he said, guilt and concern filling his expression as his hand rose to brush her hair back from her cheek.
And Kelsey couldn’t resist his caring side any more than she’d been able to resist the other facets of his personality: the bad boy, the loyal friend, the protective warrior. They all combined to make up the man Connor was—the man Kelsey loved.
Her every instinct shouted in denial, but it was a useless protest. She’d been falling for him since the moment they met, a slow-motion tumble that landed her in this place, in this time, in his arms…
The intimacy of the moment pulled her closer. Her job, her family, even Connor’s relationship with Emily seemed like distant, insignificant concerns. His fingers tunneled into her hair. Her amazing hair, Kelsey thought, recalling the words he’d spoken outside of Todd’s office. She hadn’t believed him then, but she did now. On the day she confronted him in his hotel room, he’d demanded she prove her loyalty to Emily, and she’d told him actions, not words, proved how a person truly felt. And Connor was a man of action, and he proved his feelings by trusting her—with his past, with his close friendship with the Delgados. How could she do anything but trust him in return?
“The last thing I’d ever want to do is hurt you, Kelsey,” he vowed, that sense of responsibility carving a groove between his eyebrows.
“You didn’t,” she promised. “You won’t.”
Despite her words, doubt lingered in his gaze. Leaning forward, she brushed her lips against his, actions once again backing up words. Because whether Connor knew it or not, she was his. Body and soul. She shifted closer but couldn’t get close enough.
Her hands charted a course her body longed to make, following a path from his shoulders to his chest, where she could feel his heart pounding a wild rhythm, and to his flat stomach and muscled thighs, which tensed beneath her hands.
Connor’s hands stayed buried in her hair, but like the emotional connection moments before, the physical connection was so deep that with her every touch her own body responded. She felt the brush of his fingers trailing from her collarbones down to her breasts, to her stomach, ticklish enough to tremble at the imaginary contact.
Connor ended the kiss for a much needed breath but kept his mouth pressed to her cheek, her jaw, her throat…
A shrill buzz started them both. After the first few bars, Connor recognized his phone’s ring tone, but the electronic device—one he never went anywhere without—was the last thing on his mind. He nearly groaned in frustration at the very thought of ending the kiss, of pulling away from Kelsey’s embrace.
Maybe his battery would die. Maybe the signal would cut out.
His wishes went unheard as the phone rang again. Desire gradually clearing from her eyes as her breathing slowed, Kelsey pushed at his shoulders, and he had no choice but to back away.
“It’s not important,” he vowed, hoping his words were true as he fumbled with the phone. “I’ll turn it off.” He actually had his thumb on the button when he saw the number glowing on the small screen, and hesitated.
Just a split second, but the slight pause didn’t get by Kelsey. “Who is it?”
The husky, passion-filled sound of her voice sent another shaft of desire straight to his gut. He could still turn the phone off. Turn it off and pretend the interruption had never taken place. The lie hovered in his thoughts, but meeting her gaze, he couldn’t take the easy way out. “It’s Emily.”
Kelsey’s eyes widened, and the warmth in them chilled even as the fire in her cheeks suddenly blazed. “Well, then, you should answer it.”
“Kelsey—”
“Answer the phone, Connor.”
Biting back a curse, he nearly barked into the phone, “Yeah?”
“Connor…is that you?”
“It’s me. What’s up?” Silence followed the brusque demand, and wouldn’t it figure if the damn signal cut out now. “Em? You still there?”
“Yes. I’m here. What are you—Never mind. You sound like you’re busy.”
Forcing the slang definition of busy from his thoughts, he cleared his throat and asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing, really. Can’t I call without you assuming something’s wrong?”
A note of desperation had entered her voice, telling Connor it was more than an assumptio
n. “Yeah, sure you can. So, what’s up?”
“I guess I wanted to talk,” she offered, uncertainty filling her voice.
Connor couldn’t help glancing over at Kelsey. Her face turned away from him, she was determinedly ignoring the conversation going on only a cushion away.
Hesitation cost him for the second time in a matter of minutes when Emily said, “This was a bad idea. I shouldn’t have called.”
“Em—” The line went silent before he could come up with even a halfhearted protest. Flipping the phone closed, he slid the tiny device back in his pocket.
“What did she say?”
“Not much.”
“She didn’t say why she called?”
“No.” And he didn’t care. At least, not nearly as much as he cared about what was going through Kelsey’s mind. “Kelsey—”
“It’s okay.”
“Really?” Connor asked, doubt lacing the word.
But when Kelsey met his gaze, a smile teased her lips. A little shaky around the edges, but a smile just the same. And Connor felt something in his heart catch at her remarkable strength and resiliency. He knew the call had to bring up reminders of his relationship with Emily as well as Kelsey’s long-ingrained feelings of inferiority.
“Really,” she insisted. “Like you said, we can’t change the past, and I think it’s time we both moved on.”
Chapter Nine
“Kelsey, this is a surprise.” Emily rose from the large oak table in her parents’ kitchen, where she’d been flipping through a bridal magazine, and gave her a hug.
“I had a free morning and wanted to come by and invite you to breakfast.” Kelsey mentally cringed at the half-truth. She did have a free morning, but the invitation was an excuse to find out what that phone call to Connor meant.
Emily wrinkled her nose. “I can’t. I’ll never fit into my wedding dress if I stuff myself with waffles.”
So Emily was still dieting. Almost every bride thought about dieting before the big day even if they didn’t stick with it. Or need to lose a single pound, Kelsey thought, as Emily walked over to the pantry—slender, graceful, and gorgeous. A powder-blue silk robe wrapped her body, and her hair was pulled back in a simple ponytail.
“You can keep me company while I have some tea and toast,” her cousin suggested, a hopeful note coming to her voice.
“I’d love to. It’ll give us a chance to talk.”
After setting a kettle on the stove, Emily popped a piece of what looked like whole-wheat cardboard into the toaster. “What did you want to talk about?” she asked, once Kelsey declined her offer of toast in favor of fresh strawberries.
About that phone call last night, Kelsey thought. The one you placed an hour after your oh-so-perfect fiancé met a Realtor at your dream house.
“Uh…” Unable to jump into the conversation, her mind blanked and the last thing she expected popped out of her mouth. “I saw Matt the other night.”
“No!” Looking appropriately horrified and curious, Emily sank back against the tan-and-gold-flecked granite countertops. “What happened?” Before Kelsey could answer, Emily waved off the question. “No, don’t start yet.”
She plopped a tea bag in a mug the size of a cereal bowl, poured the hot water and dropped her hot toast—sans butter—onto a plate. Settling eagerly onto the chair next to Kelsey, she said, “Okay, tell me everything. Did he beg you to take him back? Has he come to his senses and realized that other woman can’t compare to you?”
Kelsey managed a small smile, knowing Emily didn’t realize the irony of her words. Kelsey had never told her cousin she was the woman Matt was in love with. As blind as Kelsey had been to her ex’s infatuation, Emily had missed the signs, as well. Of course, she was used to attracting male attention. Matt’s shy and awkward behavior had been nothing new.
“No, he didn’t beg me to come back.” Though some begging had been involved, she recalled with satisfaction, thinking of Matt pleading with her to call Connor off.
But it was the look in Connor’s eyes when he’d touched her cheek that stayed in her mind, replaying like the romantic comedies she enjoyed. Last night’s kiss was another memory that played over and over, and unfortunately her mind didn’t come with a handy remote. The images had flickered across her eyelids for hours.
She’d talked a good game last night, declaring the past over and done for both of them, but could it be that easy? Facing Emily on a day when her cousin looked gorgeous—as usual—and Kelsey felt tired and cranky and worn by comparison, could she really believe Connor was over Emily?
Waving the desert-dry toast, Emily decreed, “You’re better off without Matt.”
“Yeah, that’s what—that’s what I think, too.”
“You’re an amazing woman, Kelsey. You’re sweet, successful. You own your own business, and you’re so totally organized.”
Rolling her eyes, Kelsey ignored the heat rising in her cheeks. “I don’t know about amazing.”
“Do you know how impressed Daddy was when you didn’t take money from him to start your business?”
“I couldn’t. Your parents have already done so much for me.” And Kelsey had never forgotten that her father had gotten her mother pregnant—with her—in the hope of getting his hands on the Wilson fortune. She was not her father’s daughter, and she flat-out refused to step anywhere near the tracks he’d left behind. “I couldn’t take money from them. Your mother’s referrals have been the real boost the business needed.”
Referrals that hinged on Emily’s wedding going off without a hitch.
You’re going to be a success with or without Emily’s wedding. Connor’s words echoed in her mind. A single setback won’t stop you.
He was right, Kelsey realized. Weddings Amour was her calling, her dream, one she would fight for. One wedding was not going to make or break her business.
Just like her family’s approval or disapproval would not make or break her. She was stronger than her cousin, and if Connor was right about Todd, Kelsey needed to do what she could to look out for Emily.
With the reminder in mind, Kelsey said, “Enough about me. What’s Todd up to this morning? Why aren’t you two lovebirds hanging out?”
“He and Daddy went golfing.”
Golf. Kelsey had never understood the sport. Especially not during the summer when tee-off times were at the break of dawn. “I’m surprised you didn’t go with them.”
Emily, along with looking chic in linen capris and argyle print polo shirts, was an amazing golfer. She gave a soft laugh. “You know. Gentlemen only, ladies forbidden.”
“Hmm.” That long-ago restriction, the acronym that gave golf its name, might have something to do with Kelsey’s aversion to the sport. “You probably would have beaten them. Which might be why they didn’t invite you.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t have—” A soft blush lit Emily’s cheeks, and she turned her attention to peeling the crust from her toast.
“Wouldn’t what, Em? Play to win?” Between the abbreviation of her cousin’s name and the challenge she’d issued, Kelsey felt like a ventriloquist’s dummy with Connor pulling the strings and his words coming out of her mouth. But as worried as she might be by his influence, her cousin’s possible answer worried her more.
“Come on, Kelsey,” Emily said, “you know how fragile the male ego can be.”
“I can understand why you wouldn’t want to show Todd up, but do you really want to live your life playing second best?”
“It’s only a silly game of golf, Kelsey.”
“I think it’s more than that.”
Emily’s smile faded away, and Kelsey felt like she’d caught a glimpse of the real woman lost behind the beautiful facade. “Todd is a wonderful man. I love him. Really, I do, and I can’t wait until we’re married.”
Kelsey had heard the words before, but this was the first time she sensed a touch of desperation underscoring the refrain. “Emily—” she began, but the opening of the kitchen door interru
pted what she might have said.
“Kelsey, good morning,” Charlene greeted Kelsey with raised eyebrows that seemed to ask why she wasn’t keeping an eye on Connor as she’d been told. “I didn’t expect to see you here.”
Emily flashed a smile she’d perfected years ago, during her beautiful baby and pageant days. The slight tilt of her head, the perfect curve to her lips, the flash of white teeth. The smile was camera ready, but like an image captured on photo paper, it wasn’t real. The moment and whatever else they might have said was gone.
“Kelsey came by to talk about the shower tomorrow and go over a few last-minute wedding details,” she filled in, but the excuse only made Charlene frown.
“What details?”
“We’re, um, we’re going over the items Emily will carry down the aisle. You know, the something borrowed, something blue…”
“That’s already decided, remember?” Charlene filled her own teacup and set the pot back on the stove. “You’ll wear my pearls as something borrowed. I wore them at my wedding, and Aileen wore them at hers. It’s tradition.”
“Oh, right,” Emily agreed. Kelsey knew her cousin thought pearls old-fashioned. Instead of making a fuss, though, Emily bowed to her mother’s wishes. An argument built inside Kelsey like the steam building in the teapot, but what good would it do to stand up for her cousin when Emily wouldn’t stand up for herself? “My bouquet will be tied with a blue ribbon, and my ring is new. So that leaves something old.”
“I have a lace handkerchief that belonged to your great-grandmother.” Adding a tea bag to the water, Charlene said, “Kelsey, run upstairs, would you? The handkerchief is in the bottom drawer of my dresser.”
Charlene turned back to the counter to add sugar to her tea, and Kelsey wondered if her aunt was sending her on the errand because she didn’t want to leave Emily and Kelsey alone. Still, she agreed. “I’ll go get it.”
Once Upon a Wedding Page 14
