She blanched, but he honestly wanted to know how she’d pulled it off.
Many women had tried to trap him many different ways. He’d let his guard down with Charlotte. A mistake, obviously. But she’d seemed different, genuine, uninterested in his money. He’d been certain it was safe to enjoy a fling. But now he could almost hear his late father’s admonition in his ears.
Across from him, Charlotte appeared speechless.
“What’s your explanation?” he pressed.
And then they started. The big, shimmering crocodile tears he’d seen a hundred times. Next would be the protestations of innocence, the near-Oscar-quality denial that she’d been involved in any kind of plot whatsoever to get her hands on his money.
Damn.
He felt so hollow this time.
The betrayal was so much worse when he wasn’t prepared.
“No explanation?” he asked.
“An accident,” she managed in a halting rasp. “I didn’t mean—”
“Yeah. An accidental pregnancy. Oldest trick in the book.”
She shook her head.
“I guess I’ll see you in court.” He shook his head, turning for the door.
“Alec.” His name seemed torn from her soul.
But he didn’t turn back. As he made for the door, fury bubbled up inside him, both at her and at himself. He’d been a fool, and it was going to cost his family big-time.
It was all Charlotte could do to say upright. Her legs were wobbling and her broken heart was shooting pain to every corner of her being.
She’d expected to Alec to be angry.
She certainly hadn’t expected him to declare his love and propose marriage. Although a small corner of her soul had hoped for that. But she hadn’t expected his accusations. And she’d been completely unprepared for his cruelty.
She gripped the corner of a Mercedes. She had to walk out of here. There were a hundred people making a movie on the front lawn. Somehow, she had to hold her head up and make her way back to her room.
There, she’d pack. Hopefully, she wouldn’t see anyone before she could call a taxi and make it to the airport. Home to Monte Allegro. She’d explain to her grandfather, quit her job and disappear. There was absolutely no way she’d be meeting Alec in court or anywhere else.
He could take his money and choke on it.
She heard a sound. Then Raine and Cece appeared. They rushed to her side.
“Oh, dear,” said Cece.
“Bad?” asked Raine.
Charlotte nodded, valiantly fighting her tears. “I have to get back to my room. He thinks I got pregnant on purpose.”
Both women gasped.
Raine growled. “I am going to—”
“No!” Charlotte grabbed Raine’s arm. “Please don’t say anything to him! Just let me leave. All I want to do is go home.”
Raine searched Charlotte’s expression for a long moment. Then she nodded. “You should go home. Take care of yourself. I’ll ream my brother out later.”
Alec couldn’t get Charlotte’s image out of his head, her tears, her confusion, her vulnerability. Obviously, she’d been certain her plan would work. Just as obviously, he couldn’t let it. Even if he had been plagued with second thoughts for the past two hours.
He brought his fist down hard on the desktop.
He couldn’t marry a woman who’d set him up, no matter how much he wished it could work between them. And what kind of a fool was he for even considering it?
Suddenly, his office door burst open. He spun around, ready to shout. Not even Kiefer and Raine walked in on him without knocking.
It was Jack, and before Alec could react to the shock, Jack drew back his fist.
Alec’s first reaction was to duck the punch. But he forced himself to hold his ground, taking the shot straight to his jaw.
He grunted at the pain, which felt strangely good. Setup or not, he’d slept with Jack’s sister and made her pregnant, and he deserved the other man’s anger.
Jack stepped back, shaking out his hand, blue eyes near black with anger. “You son of a bitch,” he spat.
“Yeah,” Alec agreed, staring levelly into Jack’s eyes.
“We’ll see you in court.”
Alec shook his head. “You won’t have to. Your niece or nephew will have everything they could ever possibly need.”
Jack snorted. “Except for a father.” Then he turned for the door, and a pain worse than a cracked jaw shot through Alec.
His child would have a fractured family. Just like Charlotte. Damn.
He hated this.
He hated every single thing about it.
“Do me a favor,” he called to Jack.
Jack halted. After a moment, he turned, looking ready to throw another punch.
“Tell her you decked me for it.”
Jack’s brow furrowed. “Why?”
Alec inhaled, taking a moment to make sure he said it right. “Because Charlotte doesn’t believe you love her. She’s been waiting twenty-one years for you to start acting like a big brother.”
Ten
Charlotte stared at the pile of designer clothes on the bed. Half of her wanted to forget Alec ever existed. The other half wanted to cling to every scrap of a memory.
She ran her fingertips over the gold, beaded dress she’d worn the first time they made love. Then she lifted the strap of the evening gown she’d worn to the Royal Ballet. Alec had booked the director’s box, and their seats were second only to the royal family.
They’d eaten dinner overlooking the Thames, danced to an orchestra, then laughed their way through sweet treats in their bedroom at the Ritz. Alec was convinced she’d fallen in love with his lifestyle. Truth was, she’d fallen in love with Alec. She’d wear rags and live in a hut if it proved it to him.
She heard the bedroom door open, but she didn’t bother turning around. It would be Raine, back with a bigger suitcase. But it didn’t matter. Charlotte had pretty much decided to leave the clothes behind.
The bed creaked, and she realized it was Jack sitting down beside her.
She hurriedly swiped her cheeks, pasting a smile on her face. “Leaving a little early,” she said, gesturing to the scattered clothes. “Raine’s out looking for a bigger—”
Jack’s strong arm curled around her shoulders. “Oh, Charlotte.”
Charlotte gasped out a sob.
Jack’s other arm went around her, and he pulled her close, rocking her against his broad chest. “Cece told me. I am so sorry.”
Charlotte shook her head, embarrassed by the fresh tears. “It’s okay.” She sucked a painful breath into her burning chest. “I knew…It wouldn’t…” She gave up trying to talk.
Silence rose between them.
“I have loved you,” Jack finally said, emotion thick in his voice, “every second of every day since they took you away from me.”
Charlotte stilled.
“You were my baby sister. I thought they’d bring you back. I thought he’d—” Jack struggled with a breath. “I thought he’d come to his senses. I mean, how could anybody not love you?”
Charlotte clung to her brother, pressing her cheek against his chest while he stroked her hair. Her chest burned even more painfully. “I love you, Jack.”
“I’ll always love you, Charlotte. I’m here. For anything, everything. Whatever you need. I’m here, and Cece’s here, too. And Theo. Theo will be the best cousin ever.”
Charlotte nodded, a small sigh of relief coming through her wall of pain.
“I punched him out,” said Jack.
Charlotte drew back.
“I punched Alec out. He doesn’t mess with my baby sister and get away with it.”
“Is he okay?”
Jack frowned. “Not ‘thanks, big brother’?”
“Oh, yes. Thanks, big brother. But is he okay?”
Jack closed his eyes for a long second. “Uh-oh.”
“What?” Not that everything wasn’t colossally wrong at
the moment.
“You’re in love with him.”
Charlotte couldn’t admit it. But Jack obviously saw it in her eyes.
“Of course you’re in love with him.” Jack nodded. “Why else would you make love with him.”
“I knew it was temporary,” said Charlotte.
“But you fell for him anyway.”
Charlotte closed her eyes. “Yes,” she admitted quietly.
“I know how that goes,” said Jack in a sympathetic tone. “When I realized I loved Cece—”
“It’s not the same thing,” Charlotte quickly pointed out.
“Are you sure?”
“Oh, I am sure.” She nodded, voice shaking with conviction. Alec Montcalm didn’t fall in love with anybody. He was honest and up-front, and he meant every syllable when he told a woman it was temporary.
“What can I do?” asked Jack.
“You can be an uncle.”
He gave her another hug, and it felt good. Despite the fact that her world was falling apart, it felt so good to hug her brother again.
“I’m only a phone call away,” he told her.
Charlotte glanced around. “I think I’m just going to leave. I don’t need these clothes. What I need is to set up a life for a baby.”
“California is nice,” said Jack. “You don’t have to be right in L.A. to be close by.”
Charlotte managed a smile. “Thanks for that. I have to talk to the ambassador first. But I really will give it some thought.” There were definitely worse places in the world than California.
Alec needed to get away, and Tokyo seemed like it might just be far enough.
He had to get Charlotte out of his head. He had to stop thinking about his baby. And he had to purge the ridiculous idea that his being in love with Charlotte, and Charlotte being in love with his money, was a recipe for happily ever after. It wasn’t, and it never would be.
In the driveway, he tossed his briefcase onto the passenger seat of the Lamborghini. Then he opened the driver’s door and dropped down on the seat, slamming the door and stuffing the key into the ignition.
He’d check in with Kiefer and Raine while the jet refueled in New Delhi.
“You were right,” came Jack’s mild voice as he appeared in Alec’s rearview mirror. “She didn’t know I loved her.” He brought his hand down on the top of the Lamborghini’s door, and rounded on Alec. “But after that, your theory fell way apart.”
Alec didn’t get the point. But he waited for Jack to explain.
Jack placed his other hand on the door and leaned in. “She would have given anything for it to be you who said it instead of me.”
“Said what?” Alec reached for the ignition key.
“That you loved her.”
Alec scoffed. That statement made absolutely no sense. “It’s the money,” he reminded Jack.
Jack’s eyes narrowed. “Would you repeat that?”
Hell, yes. Alec would repeat it as many times as Jack liked. “Charlotte and every other woman I’ve ever dated are in love with my money. M-O-N-E-Y. To get it, they’re willing to put up with me.”
Jack suddenly looked as if he might laugh. “You actually believe that? You actually think it’s the money?”
Alec didn’t bother answering this time.
“Charlotte doesn’t need your money,” said Jack. “The family has money.”
“Charlotte’s not involved in Hudson Pictures.” Alec knew that for a fact. Even if she hadn’t told him herself, Kiefer had researched the corporation before letting them anywhere near Château Montcalm.
“I’m not talking about the Hudsons,” said Jack.
What the hell else could he be talking about?
“The real money’s on the Cassettes side.” He shook his head as if he pitied Alec. “Charlotte is the presumptive heir to Ambassador Edmond Cassettes’s fortune. And even if she wasn’t, her trust fund is big enough to buy a small country.”
Alec’s stomach clenched around nothing.
“My God, Alec. To her, your money’s probably nothing but a tax burden.”
Jack might as well have slammed him in the head with a brick this time.
Charlotte had money?
Serious money?
She wasn’t, couldn’t be after Alec’s.
“Then why…” He stared at Jack in confusion. What was this all about then? Why did she sleep with him? Why did she get pregnant?
Jack smacked his hands down on the car door and jerked back to standing. “Grab a clue, Alec.” And he turned and walked away.
“Son of a bitch.” Alec flung open the door.
None of this was making any sense. None of it. But he had to talk to Charlotte. She had to help him understand.
Charlotte came to the bottom of the main staircase with a small suitcase in her hand. Filming had finished in the foyer a few days ago, and it was back to normal again.
Raine was arranging for the limo, and Charlotte had called ahead for a plane reservation to Monte Allegro. By midnight, she’d be back in her own bed.
Then the front door burst open, and Alec strode through. Her stomach clenched, and for a second she felt a wave of dizziness.
Alec glanced from side to side. There were voices in the great room, and footsteps in the hall. On the landing above, two housekeepers chatted as they dusted the wooden railing.
Alec clenched his jaw.
He stepped determinedly forward, grasping Charlottte’s hand. “Come with me.”
In surprise, she dropped the suitcase, spinning around, her legs reflexively taking up a near trot as she struggled to keep up with him.
Behind the stairs, he jerked opened a thick door.
“Alec? What—” And then they were pacing down a flight of stone stairs. They rounded a corner into a cool, dimly lit wine cellar. Old racks stretched away on both sides, covered in thousands of dusty bottles of wine.
Then the aisleway widened out, revealing a hewn beam tasting table, a rack of clean glasses and several antique chairs.
Alec turned on her, letting go of her hand. “I don’t understand.”
Charlotte glanced around. She wasn’t exactly scared, but she was more than a little confused. “I don’t understand, either. What are we doing? Why did you bring me here?”
“Why did you get pregnant?”
Charlotte stood up straight, determined to maintain her composure. She had another chance to give Alec a final memory of her. And it was going to be dignified, or she would die trying.
“Did you miss eighth-grade biology?”
“That’s not what I meant.”
“Well, that’s exactly how it happened. We had sex. Birth control is not foolproof, and we were in the bottom, or is it the top two percent?”
He took a few steps, in a half circle around her, eyes narrowing like a predator. “What do you want from me?”
“You’re the one who dragged me down here.”
“Do you want my money?”
“I never wanted your money. If you’ll recall, I tried my damnedest to get you to stop spending it.”
“I thought it was part of the plot.” He paced back the other way.
“The plot?” The only plot she’d ever had was to keep away from Alec. When that became impossible, she convinced herself to have a fling. Falling for him was entirely accidental, and it would have been the stupidest plot in the world.
“To convince me you were different, so I’d let my guard down.”
“Did it ever occur to you that I was different?”
He continued pacing. “Only every second we spent together.”
“So?” What was this all about?
He came to a sudden halt. “You can’t love me, Charlotte.”
A chill poured over her body.
“It’s not possible,” he said. “It makes no sense.” His expression was totally and completely sincere.
“Why not?” she dared ask.
“I’m self-centered and suspicious. I have no depth of
character. And I’ve skated along on my family’s legacy my entire life.”
Charlotte couldn’t believe what she was hearing.
“I accused you of sabotaging our condoms,” he continued. “And, and at the time, I meant it.” A note of desperation came into his voice. “If it’s not my money—Without my money—” The question seemed torn from his soul. “What is there to love?”
Charlotte’s shoulders slumped, half in astonishment and half in abject relief. “I love you, Alec.”
He shook his head.
“I don’t want your money.”
“I know,” he admitted.
“Then there’s no other explanation, is there?”
“There could be,” he argued.
She moved toward him. “Then come up with one.”
He watched her in suspicious silence.
She moved in closer. “Come up with one,” she dared him.
Then she stopped less than a foot away, tipping her chin to gaze at his tense expression in the dusky light. She gathered the final shreds of her courage, going for broke. “Come up with a logical explanation, or tell me that you love me back.”
He stared at her, and something flickered in the depths of his dark eyes. “Are those my only choices?”
“Yeah.”
“Can I propose instead?”
The burning weight lifted off Charlotte’s chest, and she blinked against tears of relief. “Only if you say you love me first.”
“I love you first.” He reached for her. “I’ve loved you since I saw you on that dance floor in Rome.”
“I didn’t love you then,” she admitted, and he laughed.
“Just so long as you caught on eventually.”
“I caught on a few weeks ago.” She smacked him in the shoulder. “Why weren’t you paying attention?”
“Ouch.” He rubbed his shoulder, pretending she’d hurt him. “You’re as bad as your brother.”
She peered at Alec’s face. “Where’d he hit you?”
Alec pointed to his jaw.
She came up on tiptoe and kissed it better. Then she leaned forward to kiss the shoulder she’d smacked.
“I was paying attention,” said Alec. “But all I could tell was that I wanted to be with you more than any other woman, other person, ever in my life. I was afraid it wasn’t real.” He paused. “So I guess I took steps to make sure it couldn’t be real.”
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