“Baby, honey—”
“You’re pathetic, Sean. I’ve never been so hurt in my life. You haven’t even asked how I’m doing. You’re not even curious about what I’m doing here in this house. You haven’t asked about my apartment, if I still have my job, my family, let alone my sanity.”
He gave her a grin. “You seem pretty sane to me. And pretty hot—”
Allie tried not to punch him in the face. “How do I know you won’t do this to me again? How can I ever trust you? You threw me off for a case that any other lawyer in your office could have taken over—the other lawyers who were supposed to take over while you were gone on your honeymoon.”
“But that case honed my sleuthing skills. I used them to find you here in podunk Heartland Cove County.”
Allie stared at him in disbelief—and then she began to laugh. “Wouldn’t my hometown be the first place you’d look? My parents were at the wedding, including my sister, my brother, my best friend, the minister and one hundred guests. Don’t forget the wedding cake, a stack of gifts and Courtney Willis from the office, smiling behind her hand at my misfortune. You seen her lately, Sean, huh?”
“Well, yeah, of course. She’s at the office every day. She’s my secretary now and she helped me find my client that day.”
“Your secretary—isn’t that convenient!” Allie felt her eyes fill with tears when she thought of watching Courtney Willis leave the church that afternoon, only to hook up with Sean and go searching together. They had managed to be in communication with each other.
Sean gave Allie a disappointed look. “Sarcasm has never become you, sweetheart.”
She prickled at his term of endearment. “You haven’t seen true sarcasm yet, buddy. What else did you do on our wedding night? Enjoy a celebratory dinner with Courtney, your partner in crime?”
“Stop it, Allie,” Sean said, pulling her against him, his arms locked around her waist. She stood still as a statue, unmoving. “This is silly. We’re meant to be together. We could get married today. You still have your wedding dress, right? Just call your family and have them meet us at the courthouse.”
“It’s Saturday,” Allie told him. “The courthouse is closed.” She wanted to yell at him some more, but the days of crying herself to sleep had drained her. It would be so easy to give in to Sean, the man she’d loved for so long. At the same time she wanted to tell him to jump off the Heartland Cove Bridge and swim back to TO.
“I’ve missed you, Allie,” he said, placing his hands against her cheeks. He turned her head towards him, sensing the fight going out of her. A moment later, his lips were on hers again, his tongue teasing against her mouth. “Come away with me. You know you want to.”
Allie’s throat swelled with frustration. That was part of the problem. Sean made her feel weak. As if he only had to snap his fingers and she’d follow him like a good puppy dog.
Behind them, the front door suddenly opened, banging against the wall.
Ethan’s figure loomed large, his voice louder than Allie had ever heard before, words crisp with indignation. “Who the hell are you? Take your hands off Allie!”
Sean’s eyes did a slow appraisal of Ethan Smith. “Since when does the help barge into their employer’s house?”
Ethan didn’t miss a beat. “When “the help” owns the house,” he retorted evenly.
“Oh, hey, sorry buddy,” Sean said, completely oblivious.
Allie extricated herself from underneath Sean’s arm, walking toward Ethan, but stopped halfway between the two men.
“Ethan, this is Sean Carter. Sean, this is Ethan Smith—and yes, Ethan owns this house. I’m renting it.”
Sean narrowed his eyes. “I still find it funny that he just walked in without knocking. Even bad landlords don’t walk all over a person’s privacy. I can sue him for you if you’d like.”
“You’re not suing anybody! Stop being a lawyer for two minutes, okay? And, um,” Allie stammered. “He’s here—because—”
She could feel Ethan bristle. He’d assessed the scene quite accurately, and he wasn’t going to back off. “What she’s trying to say is that I live here, too. But I was just packing to leave.”
Sean gripped Allie’s arm. “You just exploded on me with all this righteous indignation about leaving you at the altar—meanwhile you’re shacking up with some stranger?”
“I’m not shacking up with anyone!” Allie snapped. She’d had enough of both of them. “There was a rental misunderstanding—oh, why do I bother to try to explain—my bedroom is upstairs, Ethan downstairs. And for your information, Sean, Ethan living in his own house as a temporary roommate isn’t even in the same league as you disappearing for a month without a single word. You essentially broke up with me so you have no claim on me. None.”
“Sweetheart,” Sean began, moving toward her.
Allie stepped back against the fireplace hearth. “Don’t touch me.”
Sean threw a fierce look at Ethan. “Get your stuff and leave, buddy. Can’t you see that Allie and I are trying to work things out?”
“Is that what you call this? A reconciliation?” Sarcasm overlaid Ethan’s voice. “I’d say you’re harassing Allie.”
The testosterone in the room was making Allie ill. “This isn’t a reconciliation and Sean isn’t harassing me, but I want you both to leave. Now. If I want to speak with either one of you, I’ll call you. Don’t call me.”
She went to the front door and opened it, staring at them both.
The two men were having a stare-down of their own. Finally, Ethan reached down to grab a box sitting behind one of the sofas. Without a backward glance, he charged through the front door and hauled it to his car. Not thirty seconds later, the man peeled out of the driveway and was down the street.
Allie’s chest tightened. She hated Ethan to leave on such poor terms, but she found herself feeling a bit annoyed with him as well.
“Next?” she said pointedly to Sean, keeping her distance.
“I can stay, Allie,” Sean told her. “I’m sure you need a shoulder to cry on. I’m here for you. I took three days off from work.”
“Three whole days? Wow, Sean, you really thought you could win me back in seventy-two hours? That’s audacity at a level ten.”
“We’ll talk. We’ll go to dinner. We’ll work this out, sweetheart. You’ll see. This bad month will soon be forgotten.”
Allie threw up her hands. “You don’t get it, Sean. Even after everything I’ve said the past hour you don’t get it one iota. Leave, please. I’m about to pass out from a massive headache.”
“I’ll make that herbal tea you like so much and we can snuggle on the couch like old times.”
He spoke as if they did that every evening—not! Maybe the man was delusional. His memories of their past were very different from her memories.
“No! Go, Sean, before I take a baseball bat to you.”
Bending over, Sean picked up his suitcase and briefcase, both monogrammed with his initials. Allie almost laughed, recognizing the briefcase as the one he took with him to the office. Three days off, right! The man had brought work with him.
“I’ll be at the Bed & Breakfast when you need me. And you have my cell number, of course.”
Allie bit her lips. A lot of good his cell phone did her on their wedding day.
He leaned in for a kiss as he brushed past her on the way to the door. She stepped backward, out of reach. “Goodnight, Sean.”
He paused on the threshold. “Take a shower and put on a pretty dress, Allie. We could have a night on the town.”
“This town—ha! And no.” Inwardly, Allie rolled her eyes. Seeing Sean—a stranger in town—would have everyone gossiping. The last thing she wanted to encourage from nosy neighbors.
She could just picture people staring, taking pictures, curious. Dear Lord in heaven, no.
Sean had stayed strictly with her life in TO. To have him here in her hometown almost felt wrong. He didn’t belong here. Did she any longer
?
Allie sighed, wondering if she could still think clearly.
Sean’s breath brushed across her face and she suddenly realized that she smelled mint gum. To cover up the shot of whiskey he must have had earlier. Of course he would find the only bar in town before he showed up on her doorstep. The nerve he had, the gall to assumed she’d run into his arms the moment he showed up.
Did the man assume those things because she had behaved exactly that way for the past five years? It was a sobering revelation to learn about herself.
Sean let go of the doorjamb, giving her a mournful gaze as he reluctantly dropped down the porch steps to the driveway. He actually had the nerve to think he could seduce her.
A sharp pain sliced at Allie’s temples. Ibuprofen pronto.
She closed the door hard, and then immediately locked it.
Chapter 16
By midnight, Allie had received three calls from Sean, none of which she answered. She finally turned off the sound and then turned off the television that sat on the bureau of the master suite. Shows she’d been watching dully, without a single coherent thought in her mind.
After a long hot bath, Allie shut off the lights and burrowed into her pillow, the window cracked for fresh air.
Allie’s mind spun with the events of the day. It had been such a shock to see Sean at her door.
He had made the effort to come a thousand kilometers to Heartland to see her. Leaving behind his work and important cases. Not something he’d ever done before. Not since his father had passed away three years earlier. At that time, Sean had been gone exactly four days. Two for travel, one for the funeral and the fourth to help his mother go through financial paperwork.
He was giving her three days—and nobody had died. Maybe it meant something, maybe it didn’t. His secretary was still Courtney Mills, his previous fiancée.
Sean knew how much Allie despised the gloating woman. The woman who had broken up with Sean for another man. A pro baseball player who lavished Courtney with gifts and took her to the best parties and spent vacations on first class cruises and hotels.
Once upon a time this had made Allie feel sorry for Sean. He knew what it was to suffer, but that didn’t seem to stop him from being obtuse about his own actions.
To show up after a month was ridiculous. Allie had spent these past weeks coming to terms with his actions. His obvious desire not to marry her, the embarrassment she’d suffered.
Except she knew that Sean didn’t see it that way. He probably hadn’t tried to purposely shame her. He just didn’t think the same way. For him, it was easier to just reschedule and get on with his busy life.
Except, if a man truly loved a woman he wouldn’t do that to her. Right?
“Right,” Allie murmured into her pillow. She punched the downy filling and glanced at the clock. One-thirty a.m. Darn it, why couldn’t she sleep?
Rising groggily from the bed, she headed downstairs to get a glass of water and a sleeping pill.
Her phone blinked red with text messages.
Not wanting to stir her mind up with more pleadings from Sean, Allie turned away, but after swallowing the sleeping medicine and crawling back under the covers, she reached over for the mobile, curiosity getting the better of her.
The messages weren’t from Sean. They were from Ethan.
* * *
My grandmother was delighted to meet you. Asked if I’d bring you back sometime.
* * *
She was quite taken with you. . . as I am . . . but no pressure.
* * *
Allie. I’ll wait. I’m good at waiting. I’m here if you ever need someone to talk to, or a shoulder to cry on.
* * *
I have pretty empathetic shoulders like that.
* * *
Allie snorted at the funny, innocent way he had. She didn’t want to laugh, but Ethan did make her laugh. She never felt any pressure from him. Despite the secrecy of his photography and his future billions, he had never outright lied to her. He was fairly steady and unassuming. Such a different personality from Sean who was loud and brash and steamrolled over her.
There was a time that Allie had liked that about Sean. She saw it as confidence. A man driven by intelligence and ambition.
A man like Sean didn’t usually make for a family-oriented husband and father though. She’d probably only see him late at night and on Sundays. He’d already worked Saturdays for a year.
Allie rolled over, replaying the physical moments with Sean today. At first, her stomach had jumped when he kissed her, as it always had done in the past.
But now Sean’s kisses made her want to pull away. He came on too strong. Too brusque. There was little tenderness, and she’d needed his tenderness, his thoughtfulness—especially after what he’d done to her.
But there had been none.
Sean couldn’t even understand why she wanted it.
His good looks and personality and high-powered presence didn’t do it for her any longer.
Allie stared at the ceiling. What a strange revelation. For five years she thought she’d wanted one thing only, and now she was rejecting it.
Drifting off to sleep, Allie found her mind returning to that morning when Ethan had kissed her on the beach at Hopewell Rocks. His lips had been so warm, so soft, it startled her. She’d melted against his gentle sensitivity as she’d never done with Sean.
She could still feel the protective touch of his arms around her, shielding her from the world that had hurt her so much. And yet, there had also been a surprising dose of passion and emotion. A tugging sexiness in the way his lips tasted hers.
Definitely, there had been an undercurrent of desire but Ethan kept himself in check with gentlemanly tenderness. He would never presume or pressure her.
Allie opened her eyes, staring through the lace curtains at the half moon shining through. She got the feeling Ethan would be one of those men that waited for sex until he married the woman he loved. He’d give her that respect and deference. It was a startling revelation.
“What does it all mean?” she moaned. She’d never pictured herself with anybody but Sean Carter, and now she couldn’t picture herself with him. Her world was upside-down.
The only thing to do was to tell both Sean and Ethan to leave town for awhile. Or to stay out of her way. She needed time and space and no men in sight.
Of course, avoiding someone in Heartland Cove was easier said than done in a town this size.
Yawning, Allie placed her phone back on the night table. The red light flickered with another text message. This time from Sean.
I’m lonely without you, Allie.
* * *
You’ve hurt me so much. I can’t believe you were living with a total stranger and not me.
* * *
I think we need some couples counseling.
* * *
We can work through this.
* * *
Allie slammed the phone down. “Just shut up, Sean!”
Even after deserting her, he was still trying to control her. The arrogance. The superiority. The condescension.
“Get yourself some counseling, Sean Carter. Learn how to be a nice human being first.”
When the cell phone rang, it was after two o’clock in the morning. Of course, it was Sean again. Ethan would never annoy her and then wake her up in the middle of the night.
Allie punched the phone off.
The next day she slept until ten.
There were three more missed phone calls from Sean. One to say good morning. One to invite her to breakfast. And the last to ask her to marry him and check into the Heartland Cove Bed & Breakfast tonight.
As if all it took was a proposal without apology or explanation or groveling. Not that he needed to grovel, but Sean Carter needed to admit what he’d done. He needed to truly understand why she was so angry, and to empathize with her, and not his own hurt ego because she’d rejected him yesterday.
Was the man even in love w
ith her?
Did you leave someone at the altar that you honestly, wholeheartedly loved?
Her gut feeling on that score was not encouraging.
Strangely, at the same time, she was feeling despondent that there wasn’t a single call from Ethan. Maybe she’d scared him off. Maybe she’d been too irrational and annoying and screeching. What guy would come back after that?
While she got dressed, Allie started wondering if Ethan had slept in his car, especially if Sean had taken the only available room at the B&B.
At least the temperatures were warm. She should have thrown him a blanket and pillow because when Allie stood at the doorway to his bedroom, the man had taken nothing with him. Only his personal clothes and shaving gear.
Perhaps he’d driven into Somerville to find a room, or gone to his grandmother’s house.
Her mind kept returning to the brunch with Miss Ellie when Ethan revealed that he’d had a crush on her since he was a teenager. A crush was a fleeting teenage emotion. True feelings were something else entirely.
Allie put a hand to her chest on the way into the kitchen to fix a pot of tea. Ethan had told her he was falling for her—and had kissed her in the most utterly romantic way she’d ever been kissed.
“Oh, golly, I want Ethan to kiss me again like that,” she told the tea kettle. “But it feels illegal.”
Allie twisted the diamond engagement ring on her finger. That ring of hope and promise. She hadn’t had the courage to take it off, or throw it across a room. It had once meant everything to her.
Ethan had glanced at it before, but hadn’t said a word. As if he understood the pain she was going through and wasn’t going to hurt her by bringing attention to it.
The Neighbor's Secret (A Secret Billionaire Romance #1) Page 13
