by Reese Ryan
“No, I don’t.” Audra’s voice trembled. She swiped a finger beneath her eye, then resumed her packing.
Darius sat on the edge of the bed they’d made love in, been so happy in, less than twelve hours ago.
“What can I do to prove that I’m telling you the absolute truth? I’ll do anything, Audra.” He grasped her hand. “Because I do love you. And there’s no one in the world I’d rather be with.”
She didn’t look at him, but she didn’t withdraw her hand from his grasp.
“I need some time to sort this all out. I’m sure you can understand that.” She wouldn’t look at him.
“Of course.” He released her hand reluctantly. “But don’t leave. You have client appointments booked all this week. You stay here. I’ll go to a hotel, or maybe I’ll crash at my parents’ place.”
“I’m not going to run you out of your own house.”
“I want you to stay. Please. Just give me a few minutes to throw a bag together and I’ll leave.”
Darius grabbed the go-bag he kept in his closet and added a few more items. When he returned to the bedroom, Audra was still standing there, her arms wrapped around her middle.
“Thank you for giving me space.” Her voice trembled, and she cast her gaze in the opposite direction. As if glancing at his face was too painful.
“For you, Audra? Anything.” He hiked the bag on his shoulder. “I’ll call in a few days. Call me, if you’re ready to talk before then.” He leaned in and kissed her cheek, then headed for the door.
She sank onto the bed, as if exhausted by the entire ordeal.
“Audra.” He turned back to her briefly. “I really am sorry. I keep finding new and inventive ways to sabotage the thing I want most in the world. To be with you.”
Darius got in the Range Rover and drove to his parents’ house in Brentwood.
The thing he’d feared so, five years ago, had finally happened; Audra was rejecting him. And he deserved it.
Twenty-Two
Audra padded down the stairs in her bare feet. Given the circumstances, it was strange to be at Darius’s house. But Darius had been adamant that she should stay. She was grateful for the offer, given her state of mind.
Audra called in a delivery order from her favorite Asian fusion restaurant in LA. While she was waiting, there was another call she needed to make.
The conversation had been stewing in her brain for the past eighteen hours.
She selected the number from her contacts list. A part of her hoped no one would answer.
“Hey, Audra! Are you still in LA?” a cheery voice greeted her.
“Yes, or didn’t your brother tell you?” Audra tried not to sound snappy. After all, Sophie Blackwood was still a client.
“Kellan?” There was wariness in Sophie’s voice. A sense that the jig was up.
“No.” The word came out as a crisp, complete sentence. “Darius. Darius is your brother, isn’t he?”
Sophie hesitated before answering. “Did Darius tell you that?”
“No. My ex did. Which made me feel pretty stupid since you both claim to be my friends.” Audra paced the floor. “Darius gave me his excuses. Now I’d like to know why you didn’t tell me that the ex I just happened to run into at Royal Diner was your long-lost brother.”
Sophie sighed. “Darius didn’t want anyone to know before he told his parents. And he didn’t want his paternity to become a lurid headline that would steal the thunder from Thr3d’s runway show. Besides, it wasn’t my story to tell. So when Darius said he wasn’t ready to divulge that information to the world...we respected his wishes,” Sophie said contritely.
Audra could understand Darius’s reasoning. It was considerate of him to deliver the news to his parents in person. A juicy tabloid headline about Blackwood’s secret love child would definitely have overshadowed the positive press Thr3d was getting after their successful runway show. So at least their stories aligned.
But did he really equate her with the general public, not to be trusted with the information? The fact that he hadn’t trusted her hurt even more.
“And Darius and I ending up in Royal simultaneously, renting houses next door to each other? That couldn’t possibly be a coincidence.” Audra plopped down in a chair in the family room off the kitchen. “Darius obviously put you up to this.”
Sophie hesitated again. “Yes and no.”
“What exactly does that mean?” Audra’s patience was wearing thin.
“It means Darius had nothing to do with it.”
“But you did?”
“Yes.” Sophie sighed. “After we learned about Darius being our brother, I looked into him. I went through his social media accounts as far back as I could go. That led me to you. That’s when I realized who you were and that the two of you were once together.”
“So Darius didn’t ask you to hire me?”
“No. I hadn’t met him yet, and he still had no clue he was a Blackwood then. But when I learned his story, I felt bad about everything he’d been through. I wanted to do something for him. So I commissioned you to make our wedding rings and wedding party gifts. And I invited you to stay in town hoping—”
“That Darius and I would run into each other. God, Sophie. Life isn’t like The Parent Trap. You can’t trick people into getting back together.”
“Well...it kind of worked, didn’t it?”
“No, it most certainly did not.” Audra’s face got hot. She walked over to the patio door overlooking the pool. “At least, not now that I know you manufactured the entire thing. I do not like being manipulated. Putting us next door to each other and then telling me to use his swimming pool? That was incredibly shady.”
“That’s just the thing, I didn’t realize he was in town until you told me. And I certainly had no idea Miranda had put him up at the house next door to the one you were renting. But when I learned that you two were staying next door to each other... Well, you really couldn’t ask for a bigger sign, could you?”
“You just said you invited me to stay in town so Darius and I could meet. If you didn’t arrange his arrival, how’d you plan to get the two of us together?” Audra asked, still dubious of Sophie’s claims.
“I was going to reach out and ask him to spend a week in town leading up to my wedding. I figured you’d still be here, too. I planned to place you two together at the pre-wedding festivities.”
Audra sank her teeth into her lower lip, trying to decide whether or not to believe her.
“And all that talk about us being friends...that was part of your plan, too?” she asked finally.
“No, of course not. I genuinely like you, Audra. It didn’t take long for me to see why my brother adores you.”
“Did Darius talk to you about me?”
“Never. But he didn’t need to. Anyone who’s seen you two together can see just how much he adores you and how into him you are. When you said you were going to LA for his show, I was thrilled. And then when I saw that photo in the paper of you two kissing—”
“You saw it, too?”
“I did.” There was a giddy grin in Sophie’s voice. “And I couldn’t have been happier for both of you.”
Audra sighed. “Thank you for your honesty, Sophie. I’ll see you back in Royal in a few days. I have a few more things to handle here in LA.”
“So you’ll still be at the wedding?” The joy in Sophie’s voice was evident.
“A promise is a promise,” Audra muttered. “I might not appreciate your matchmaking scheme, but I don’t doubt your heart was in the right place. Speaking of the wedding, will everything be ready at the clubhouse in time?”
“Everything is ready, but I had another idea. My mom and dad are gone, but I thought that if I could have the wedding at Blackwood Hollow, then at least I’d have the memories of my parents surrounding me. Sounds corny, right
?”
“No, Sophie. That sounds lovely.”
“I’ve been trying to get up the nerve to ask Miranda, since she owns the estate now.”
“Nigel knows her pretty well, doesn’t he? If he thinks she’d be open to the idea, then you should at least try. Give Miranda a chance. Maybe she’ll surprise you.”
The doorbell rang, and Audra said her goodbyes. When she opened the door, a scruffy older man with chin-length gray hair and sparkling blue eyes stood at the door, holding her delivery bag. Something about him looked incredibly familiar, though she couldn’t place him.
Not surprising. Half of the people in LA were current, former or aspiring actors.
She held up the tip, taking the bag from him.
The man released the bag but waved off the tip. He jerked a thumb over his shoulder. “I already tipped the guy, though not nearly as generously as you were going to,” he said.
“If you’re not the delivery guy...” Audra took a few steps back, her eyes scanning the space for anything she could use as a weapon. “Who the hell are you?”
“Guess that wasn’t the best introduction.” He chuckled good-naturedly and extended his hand. “Hello, Audra. I’m William Pratt, Darius’s stepfather.”
Now she remembered where she’d seen the man’s face. There were photos of Darius’s mother and stepfather in his guestroom and one in his office.
She shook the man’s hand. “Good to meet you, Mr. Pratt. But if you know who I am, then you probably know Darius isn’t here and why. So how can I help you?”
“May I come in?” The two men might not be related by blood, but it was obvious where Darius had gotten his charm.
She let him in, taking the food to the kitchen and washing her hands. She set out two place settings. “I hope you like Asian fusion because I got carried away and ordered too much.”
“I’ll try anything once.” He shrugged.
Audra divided the food on their plates, giving him a small portion to sample. She climbed onto a stool and opened her chopsticks.
“So why was it that you wanted to see me, Mr. Pratt?”
“Call me, Will, please.” He studied the small portions of braised pork, thinly sliced, marinated Angus beef and ground chicken as if he wasn’t sure which would be the least offensive to his taste buds.
“May I suggest you start with the marinated beef?” She held back a grin. “It’s particularly good with the rice.”
He nodded his thanks and tried a bite. Then he smiled. “Not bad.”
“Did Darius send you here?” She picked up some of the braised pork with her chopsticks.
“No, and I’ll likely have quite a bit of explaining to do once he finds out.” The man’s eyes crinkled with a small smile. “But he was just so down about what happened between you. I just couldn’t sit by and not do anything. Figured talking to you was at least worth a try.”
Audra studied the man as he tried the braised pork. He seemed genuine, and he obviously cared very much for Darius.
She put her chopsticks down and sat up tall in her seat as she faced the man.
“All right, Mr. Pratt—”
“Will.”
“All right, Will. What is it that you came to say in Darius’s defense?”
The man put his fork down and wiped his mouth and scraggly beard with one of the white napkins. He turned toward her.
“I came to remind you of what you probably already know. Darius has made some mistakes, but he’s a good man.”
“How can you say that when he walked away from you two, just like he walked away from me back in grad school?”
“Even when he was angry with his mother and me, he still took care of us. Bought us a home the moment he could afford to. Sends us money every month to supplement our incomes. And as for you, Audra, I suspect he never stopped thinking of you. Never stopped rehashing the horrible mistake he made in walking away from you because he was afraid you’d eventually turn your back on him.”
“I would never have done that.”
“I think he knows that now,” the man said kindly.
“He still obviously doesn’t trust me, or he wouldn’t have believed that I’d leak the info to the media.” It hurt her just to say the words.
“I don’t suspect he believed that of you at all. But it’s a sensitive subject, and I think he felt guilty about talking to anyone about it while his mother and I were still in the dark. I suspect that had a lot to do with the guilt he felt over that magazine article that came out a few years ago.”
“You’re a thoughtful man, Will Pratt. Darius is lucky to have you as a father.”
“Thank you, Audra.” A wide grin spread across the man’s face. “Before I go, there’s one more thing I want you to know.”
“Yes?” She picked up her chopsticks again.
“My son loves you very much. I know he’s made some flubs where we’re both concerned. But the rejection and betrayal he felt when he learned I wasn’t his biological father...it hit him hard and he’s been struggling ever since. If you can find it in your heart to give him another chance, I know he’s worth it.”
Will thanked her for the meal and left.
Audra closed the door behind him and sighed.
She loved Darius. But that wasn’t enough if he didn’t trust her and if she couldn’t trust him.
One thing she realized for sure; she needed the time and space to figure this out for herself. And she couldn’t do that here, in the house where everything reminded her of Darius. After her meal, Audra rescheduled her remaining client meetings and booked herself a flight for Dallas.
She needed the comfort of home.
Twenty-Three
Darius stared at the note in his hand, studying the perfect penmanship. Aesthetically, it was beautiful. Almost worthy of being framed and hung on the wall. But its contents were devastating.
Audra had returned to Dallas, declaring that she needed the time and space to think. She’d asked him to allow her that.
So that was what he was doing. It’d been a week since she’d left that note on his nightstand after sending him a text message to say he could come back to his house because she was already on a plane heading home.
Stasia walked into his office and he dropped the note, shifting a blue file folder on top of it.
Her attention went directly to the corner of the note, which peeked out from beneath the file folder.
He obviously wasn’t fooling her.
She closed the door behind her and sank into one of the chairs on the opposite side of his desk. “I’m really sorry, Darius. Audra obviously means a lot to you.”
“Thanks,” he muttered, not looking up. He’d given Stasia the basics on what had happened between him and Audra when she’d persisted in asking.
Mostly so she’d stop. And so she’d understand if he was a bit short with everyone.
“Look, I know she asked for space, and I’m glad you’re respecting her request. But you should let her know how deeply you care for her. Before she ends up hooking up with some other guy, like her shady ex, the tattler. What if they make a connection? Are you gonna wait until she’s walking up to the altar with this guy before you speak up? Or maybe you plan to wait until her first baby shower or—”
“All right, Stasia.” He held up a hand.
It tore a hole in his heart to think of Audra getting with some other guy, like that low-life, politician ex who’d obviously used sleazy tactics to delve into his past.
“You’ve made your point. But if she doesn’t want to talk to me, what am I supposed to do? I don’t know if you’ve heard the news, but creepy dudes who can’t take no for an answer are definitely out for the foreseeable future. So I don’t want to be that guy.”
“There is a delicate line to walk,” she acknowledged. “So I’m certainly not encouraging you
to harass her like her jerk ex-boyfriend. But you can’t just sit here and do nothing. Send her an email. Leave a voice message. Send her something through snail mail. Hell, hire a skywriter or the Goodyear blimp, if you have to. Just don’t let this phenomenal, brilliant, amazing woman go without a fight. I definitely wouldn’t. You don’t think I snagged a woman as gorgeous as May by sitting up in my office and wallowing in my feelings for a week, do you?”
“I thought May asked you out.” He folded his arms.
“Totally not the point.” She leveled a finger at him.
“What is the point, Stasia?” He shuffled some papers, busily.
She got up from her chair, taking the hint. “The point is don’t compound your past mistakes with an even bigger one. If you let Audra walk away again, we both know you’ll never forgive yourself.” She frowned, fiddling with one of the two cotton candy–colored braids her hair was divided into. “Oh, and Miranda Dupree called before you arrived. She asked if you’ll be in Royal again soon because she has some designs she’d like to show you. She said no tricks this time. She emailed a few preliminary sketches to prove it. I forwarded them to you.”
“Do me a favor, Stas. Get Miranda on the phone. Before I agree to anything, she and I need to talk, so that we’re not wasting each other’s time.”
“I’ll buzz you as soon as I get her on the line.” Anastasia left his office and closed the door, putting Miranda through a minute later.
“Didn’t trust me not to pull any more shenanigans?” Miranda asked, teasingly. “The invitation is straightforward this time. I already sent proof.”
“Thank you for that,” Darius said. “But that isn’t why I called. I’ve decided that if Sophie and Kellan move forward with contesting the estate, I’m going to join them. So if that’s a deal-breaker for you—”
“I honestly think that Buck would be happy to know that the three of you banded together.” There was a hint of laughter in her voice. “And no, I’m not offended by your decision. I would do the same thing in your place. As for this, it’s business. I was already on board with this collaboration, but after seeing your fall collection, especially the rollout of the swimwear, I have no doubt that Thr3d is who we want to partner with on this project.”
