“Champs Élysées,” she chimed in with him, wishing the timing wasn’t so bad. “I guess there’ll be other trips.”
“Since I have an office in Paris, you can guarantee it, but I wanted us to get away, just the two of us. You realize that between us we have six full-time interruptions? One of them’s always going to have something going on.”
“We could plan ahead, plan to go when nothing major is scheduled.”
He sighed, and she immediately caught the translation. And when would that be?
She longed to shed her responsibilities, pack a bag and jump on the plane with him. But she’d been a mother too long for that to happen. “Oh, Blake, I want to go.”
“At least I can be sure you’ll keep those home fires burning. You’ve got quite a way with welcome-home greetings.”
She blushed, remembering her abandon, grateful she’d found the courage to shed her reserve.
Blake swiveled around in his desk chair, ignoring the crackle of aged leather as he stared at the open jewelry box in his hand. A round diamond solitaire winked back at him. It was a traditional engagement ring—one he thought suited Cassie, especially since he’d chosen to custom-design her wedding band with six matching stones, one for each child. Blake listened to Cassie as he eyed the ring ruefully. Paris was going to be the ideal place to propose. “Can’t talk you into the Champs Élysées?”
“Oh, Blake...”
Hearing the longing in her voice, Blake decided to let up on the pressure. She couldn’t prevent the bad timing. When he returned, he’d bring some frivolous bit of Paris back with him—along with the ring, of course. “I’ll make the trip as short as possible. You won’t even know I’m gone.”
He heard a quick, breathy sigh. “Don’t count on it.”
“And those home fires?”
She laughed—a deep throaty, sexy chuckle that had him rethinking the trip. “Might burn down the whole city.”
“I could cancel the trip....”
She laughed again. “And jeopardize a deal you’ve been working on for months? No. Besides, by the time you get back, those fires will have time to really heat up.”
Blake withheld a groan. He’d never dreamed how much Cassie would come to mean to him in such a short time. If they’d both been single, without entanglements, he’d have considered taking a longer time before making such a big step. But with their six dependents, all of whom needed a stable family situation, they needed to affirm their commitment.
“Cassie?”
“Yes?”
“If I talk to you any longer, I’ll combust before I board the plane.”
“Have a safe trip,” she replied and he could envision her tongue-in-cheek expression.
“Don’t scorch yourself,” he shot back, chuckling as he replaced the receiver. Thank God he could count on Cassie. She was steady as a rock.
CASSIE STRETCHED OUT on the chaise longue beside the pool, relaxing in the growing twilight. Blake had been gone less than twenty-four hours, and already she missed him desperately. She’d just finished twice the distance she usually swam, hoping to tire herself into oblivion, but it wasn’t working. Instead, she was remembering the night before he left, the time they’d spent together in the pool, hours after everyone else was asleep. Hours that defied any other time she’d spent in a pool. And she’d thought diving competition was exciting. How little she’d known.
Hearing footsteps approaching, she turned with a smile, wondering which of the kids was seeking her out. But her smile faded. It couldn’t be... it simply couldn’t...
“Cassie, my girl, in the lap of luxury.” The man whistled, low and long. “And it suits you, but then, I always thought it would.”
Cassie snatched a towel from the nearby table and started to rise.
“No, no. Don’t get up. I didn’t mean to disturb you.”
Anything Tommy Brewster did was meant to disturb. “What are you doing here?”
He placed one hand dramatically over his heart. “You wound me. Is that any way to greet an old friend?” He reached forward to touch her cheek, but she shifted away before he could. Shrugging philosophically, he took some grapes from the bowl at the table. “Nice digs, Cassie.”
“How did you know where to find me?”
Tommy laughed. “That’s a puzzler, isn’t it? You know your mother wouldn’t tell me, and you managed to escape Dullsville without even a hint of where you were going. No one had any idea where you moved. If Madeline and Ray Don hadn’t run into you, you might have stayed a mystery forever.”
The Gardners. Of course.
Tommy smiled again. “And Madeline couldn’t say enough about your new lifestyle.” His eyes lifted to take in the rich surroundings. “Can’t say she exaggerated, either. Looks like your time with me was just training for the big-time.” His gaze settled back on her. “She had a lot to say about your new boyfriend, too.”
Panic clutched at her, and every shred of faith that things would be all right dissolved. “Madeline didn’t know what she was talking about. Bla—Mr. Matthews is my employer. I’m the nanny.”
“Yeah.”
“No, really.” She spoke frantically, hoping to convince him. “He was one of my boarders in Twin Corners.”
“Then he knew all about your hospitality?”
Cassie recognized the anger as it fought with the panic she was feeling. “You’ve got it all wrong, but then, you always did.”
“When you were sixteen, you didn’t think so.”
“I was an idiot,” she replied flatly.
He glanced around again. “You’ve definitely moved up in the world, sweetheart.”
Cassie felt a slow burn at his casual assessment. “What do you want, Tommy?”
“You could work on that hospitality. Makes a guy think you’re not glad to see him.”
“Then a guy would be right,” she retorted.
“Maybe your new boyfriend will be more friendly.”
“He’s not here,” she blurted out. “And he’ll be out of the country at least another week.”
“Is that so?” His eyes roved over her bare legs, and she jumped up from the chaise, dropping the towel to grab a modest cover-up. “Don’t get all bent out of shape, sweetheart. Maybe we could renew our... friendship.”
“Why don’t you crawl back into the hole you escaped from? Our friendship then didn’t extend to what you have in mind, and it certainly won’t now!”
His easy grin dimmed. “And I thought we could handle this business real friendly.”
Long-nailed fingers of panic clawed her again. “What business?”
“The way I see it, you’ve set yourself up real pretty. And it looks like there’s plenty to share with your old partner.”
“I told you, I don’t have any money,” Cassie protested.
“Oh, sweetheart, the way I see it, you’ve got more than enough.”
Cassie fought the desperation bubbling inside her. “I told you. I’m the nanny here. I get a monthly salary, that’s all.”
“And there’s nothing between you and your rich boss?”
Although she tried to hide the truth, some of it must have flashed across her face.
“You never could play poker, Cassie. Just tell the boyfriend you need a...bonus.”
“I can’t.”
“I’m afraid you’ll have to, Cassie. With your past, it’d be easy enough for him to believe you’ve just latched on to him for the money.”
“No, Tommy! Please!”
He studied her face. “Then get the money. I’ll call you tomorrow and tell you how much.”
New belief turned into hopelessness. Even without hearing the figure, she knew she didn’t have enough money to satisfy Tommy.
Casually he reached into the bowl of fruit, pulling out an exotic ruby creme banana, careless of its value. “Don’t they have apples in California?” Not waiting for a reply, he peeled the banana and took a bite of the rare, exquisite fruit, as though it were a common orange plu
cked from a nearby tree. “I’ll be in touch, sweetheart.”
With a sickening lurch of her stomach, Cassie knew it was a certainty.
AFTER A SLEEPLESS NIGHT and a morning that had had her practically snapping the children’s heads off, Cassie watched and waited beside a silent telephone.
When it finally rang, she yanked it up. “Yes?”
The line crackled—a bad connection. “That didn’t sound good,” Blake said.
Cassie squeezed her eyes shut, willing the tears not to fall. “I wasn’t expecting you.”
“Glad to hear it. I’d hate to think that greeting was for me...” The phone crackled again, drowning out the rest of his words.
“There’s something I need to talk to you about,” she began, hating to, but knowing she couldn’t hide the truth from him.
The phone crackled again, blurring both sides of the conversation. “This is a terrible connection—but I’m on a mobile. I’ll call you later, but whatever it is, you decide. I trust you, Cassie.” The crackling intensified, and reluctantly she replaced the receiver, knowing the conversation had ended, knowing she couldn’t hold on to him through only a phone connection.
I trust you. The words echoed and repeated, assaulting her.
Dropping her face into her hands, she allowed herself to remember a time that had brought only pain.
She’d been in high school when she met Tommy Brewster, a slick twenty-year-old who swept her away, and also swept the truth under the rug.
At that time, because she and her mother needed the money, Cassie had been employed cleaning the houses of the many rich people in Twin Corners who were enjoying the profits of the oil business before boom turned to bust. She’d confided impressive details of the magnificent homes and their contents to Tommy, never dreaming that he would make copies of her keys, so that he could burglarize those same homes.
When Tommy was suspected of the robberies, he’d sworn he was innocent and convinced her to run away with him. After they were on the run, and by then both labeled suspects, she’d discovered the truth. Embarrassed by her naiveté, the fact that she was clueless about Tommy’s actions, she couldn’t bear to return and face her mother’s disappointment.
When the police caught up with them, Tommy had told the officers that Cassie was the mastermind, the one who had purposely obtained work from the rich so that she could set them up for the robberies. She’d protested, telling the police she knew nothing about the robberies until after she ran away with Tommy. However, she’d admitted to staying with him after she discovered the truth.
With a previous record, Tommy had been sent up for hard time. Because of her age, her spotless record and a somewhat understanding judge, Cassie had been given a lesser sentence to be served in a correctional institute. Still, she’d served eighteen months—time that she could never erase.
While other kids were enjoying their senior proms, she’d been mopping gray tile floors. Her beloved dream of swimming and diving had died, as well. The closest thing to sports at the correctional facility had been hoeing beets and digging for potatoes. The band trip she’d worked so hard for had been forfeited, along with her graduation, and what was left of her innocence.
Lifting her face from her hands, Cassie imagined Blake’s expression, should he ever discover the truth. I trust you, Cassie. Her eyes squeezed shut. The truth would kill every shred of that trust.
The phone rang, startling her, even though she’d expected the call. Forcing her voice to be steady, she answered and then listened to Tommy’s exorbitant demands, her own voice turning dull.
“I told you, Tommy, I don’t have the money.”
“I wonder how you’ll feel after I have a chat with your boyfriend.”
Cassie clutched the phone, willing herself to sound convincing. “There’s no need to speak to him—he already knows all about my past.”
“Then you won’t mind if I drop in and pay him a visit.”
“No—”
“You wouldn’t want him to think you’re a money-grubber, would you, sweetheart?” The vision ran through her, chilling every cell of her body. But Tommy was still speaking. “That when times got tough, you turned to what you knew best? A man who could provide the money, no matter what you had to do to get it.”
Could Blake believe that their sweet love had been engineered on her part?
“Forget it, Tommy.” She tried to bluff once more, knowing her heart wasn’t in it, now that hope had been snatched away. “I’m not interested in your threats, and Blake won’t be, either.”
“Don’t count on it, sweetheart. And as long as I’m breathing, I’ll be in your face. Starting with your boyfriend.”
She heard a click in her ear, but she still held the phone, frozen in place. The horror of everything she’d kept hidden for years was now a nightmare from which she couldn’t awaken. She could never expose Blake to this pain...to the truth about her. Before he returned, she had to be gone, taking her love and the power to hurt him with her.
CASSIE STARED at the three shocked faces of Blake’s children and felt her own heart splinter. “I know this is unexpected,” she said, trying again. “It has nothing to do with you, but I have to leave.”
“You can’t go!” Mark wailed, forgetting to be cool.
“It’s not what I want—”
“Grown-ups always say that,” Todd protested. “Then they do things that hurt.”
“Like going away,” Mark added.
Kevin was quiet, but his facade had disappeared, too. In its place was a confused, betrayed boy. “I thought you cared about us. Really cared.”
“I do, Kevin. I...” She stopped short of telling them how much she loved them, how each of them had seized portions of her heart, pieces that no one else could replace. She feared knowing that would make the fact that she was leaving forever even worse.
“If you cared, you wouldn’t leave us,” Mark protested.
“Please don’t go,” Todd pleaded.
Hopelessly she stared between them. “I can’t explain... but always know how very much I care for you.” Her throat worked and she could barely speak. “I will never forget you. Ever.”
“Then don’t leave,” Kevin replied.
Closing her eyes against the betrayal on their faces, Cassie knew she had no other choice.
JIM AND KATHERINE ANN pushed their suitcases into the darkened front hall, fruitlessly flicking the light switch.
“I don’t think the electricity’s on,” Cassie told them wearily. Anticipating complaints, she sagged for a moment against the column on the porch, wilting in the warm, humid night.
“I know where some candles are,” Jim offered, to her surprise. He had been the quietest since she hustled them into packing, the one most outwardly affected by their departure.
But he’d been his stalwart self, except during their goodbyes to the Matthews boys. All three of her children had been shaken by having to leave behind the boys, who had become like family.
Cassie could still see the Matthews sons, the betrayal painted on their faces. Although Maria had agreed to watch over them until Blake’s return, Cassie still felt as though she’d abandoned them. Now there was another rip in her heart, to accompany the one she’d made by tearing herself from Blake’s life.
“Thank you, Jim. I’ll have the lights turned on tomorrow.”
“The house looks sad,” D.J. added in a small voice.
And lonely and neglected, Cassie added to herself. Instead of being a welcoming safe haven, the house seemed to commiserate with them in their sorrow.
Katherine Ann slipped her hand into Cassie’s. “It’ll be okay, Mama. Things will look better tomorrow with the electricity on.”
Cassie swallowed a lump in her throat. Despite the confusion she knew they must be feeling, her children were being troupers. Of course, they were no doubt still in a state of shock. It all still seemed unreal to her. If it could only have been a dream, instead of her old nightmare.
DA
PHNE IGNORED Maria’s not-too-subtle suggestions that it would be best to visit when the señor was home. Unable to believe her good fortune, Daphne strolled through the halls of her late sister’s home, pleased by the renewed feeling of control. She didn’t know what had sent Cassie packing, but she was celebrating. It had looked as though the little hick were making irreversible inroads, but now....
Daphne hummed as she ascended the stairs, determined to see that Cassie’s room was indeed empty. One glance told her that, despite her hasty departure, Cassie had left the room neat; tidy and most definitely empty.
Daphne’s smile grew. Feeling delightfully possessive, she pushed open the door of Blake’s suite. She swept the room with a proprietary gaze, then started to withdraw when a bit of paper on his dresser drew her eye. Insatiably curious, she moved closer. Seeing Blake’s name written in a clearly feminine scrawl across an envelope, Daphne picked it up. Feeling no guilt, she slipped the letter from the envelope. She read for a few lines, her giddy happiness disappearing. Daphne knew that Cassie’s explanation and avowal of love would send Blake scurrying to Backwater, Texas, without hesitation.
Needing no further convincing, Daphne crumpled the letter. Careful not to leave it in the trash can, she stuffed it in her purse as soon as she was downstairs again. Leaving an upset Maria and her sad-looking nephews without a further word, Daphne departed, new plans already brewing.
Chapter Eighteen
Baffled, Blake stared at Maria, watching her wring her hands in an agitated fashion. When her words still didn’t sink in, he turned to his boys, seeing matching expressions in their eyes. From sadness and disappointment to hurt and betrayal, their gazes echoed what Maria had just told him.
Cassie was gone.
Maria seemed equally upset as she answered his most obvious question. “I don’t know where, Senor Matthews, only that it must be something very serious to take the señora away so suddenly, not even waiting until the morning light to leave.”
His-And-Hers Family Page 21
