“Are you sure about that, Darcy? What’s your gripe with your dad?”
“What’s going on between you and me is none of my father’s business. And what goes on between me and my father is none of your business.”
He shook his head. “You’re wrong.”
“If I’m going to have a relationship with a man, I want it to be my idea, not my father’s. He’s been running my life for as long as I can remember. I’ve never been good enough for him, no matter how hard I tried. He wants me to be just like my mother.”
“And you don’t want that?”
“Don’t get me wrong. She’s a lovely woman, but I’m not her. She was satisfied to live in a little corner of my father’s life. She’s never had anything of her own. I want to make something more out of my life, and that doesn’t include marriage and a family.”
“What’s wrong with marriage and a family?” Kel asked.
“Nothing.” She sighed. “I’m just warning you, don’t get too close to my father. Before you know it, he’ll have us married and producing a grandson every few years.” She paused, trying to contain her frustration. “I’m good at my job. I’m really good and I deserve a shot to run this company someday. And I’m going to do whatever it takes to make him see that.”
Darcy turned and walked toward her office. She hadn’t worked so hard these past two years to let a man show up and come between her and her future. Kel Martin would walk out of her life in two more days and she would go on as she had before. But even as she said the words to herself, Darcy’s conviction wavered. Somehow, she sensed that her life would never be the same again.
DARCY STOOD in the tee box of the second hole, staring out at the fairway. “I don’t golf,” she insisted. “I’m not any good at it and I would think that should be clear to you by now. It took me thirty-seven swings to get this far.”
“Strokes,” Kel corrected. He smiled to himself as he watched her struggle with the club. This may not be the relaxing afternoon he’d hoped he and Darcy would enjoy, but at least he’d achieved his goal. After all, he’d tricked Darcy into coming along with him.
Sam Scott had planned to join Kel, but at the last minute had to take a conference call. He’d insisted Darcy accompany Kel in his place and she’d immediately refused. Yet the moment Kel had tried to reschedule the round with her father, Darcy had magically agreed. It was obvious she didn’t want him spending any more time with her father.
“I swear, you’ll learn to love it,” Kel reassured her. “Just keep your eye on the ball, keep your head down and swing. It’s not that hard.”
Darcy groaned. “I’m not athletic. I was always picked last for teams in school. I hate sports.”
Though she’d laughed at her mistakes and generally been a trooper about the whole thing, it was clear Darcy hadn’t had much sleep the night before, through no fault of his own. Her father had kept her busy for most of the day yesterday, then insisted that they all have dinner together. Kel had hoped they’d be able to sneak away to his room once Sam retired, but Darcy’s father had other plans for his daughter. According to Darcy, they’d worked until three a.m.
Kel walked over to Darcy and stood behind her, wrapping his arms around her and covering her hands with his. It felt good to hold her. “Maybe you need to loosen up your hips,” he said, his breath soft against her ear. “They seem a bit tight.”
“How am I supposed to do that?” Darcy asked.
Kel checked her grip, then placed his palms on her waist. “You just shift slightly when your weight moves from one foot to the other.”
She turned to him. “Can’t we try something else? There are so many more interesting things to do than chase this stupid little ball around in the grass.”
“Try one more hole,” Kel suggested.
“Loosen my hips,” she murmured. Darcy wriggled her backside, leaning into him and making direct contact with his groin. “Oh, there!” she said, feigning surprise. “That feels good. I think they’re getting looser now.” She wriggled again. “Oh, that feels good.”
Kel clamped down on her waist. “Darcy, stop it.”
This time she bent forward suggestively as she pressed her backside into his crotch, her little golf skirt riding up. “I think I feel it now,” she said playfully. “Is that better?”
Kel couldn’t control his reaction. He looked down at the growing erection pressing against the front of his trousers. “You’re right, this was a mistake.”
Darcy turned and wrapped her arms around his neck, then brushed a kiss across his lips. “I’m glad you finally agree. How can golf possibly be any fun if we have to keep our clothes on?”
“We don’t need to keep our clothes on,” Kel said. He reached for his belt and began to unfasten it, but Darcy grabbed his arm.
“We’re not playing nude golf. But if you come with me, we can get naked for all sorts of other reasons.”
Kel pressed his forehead against hers and stared into her eyes. “We can’t spend all our time in bed, Darcy. Don’t you want something more than that? Something…normal?”
She sighed, turning away from him. “Why do we have to talk about this now? Can’t we just enjoy ourselves? We only have one more day together. And with my father here, who knows how much time we’ll have?”
“That’s my point,” Kel said. “I just thought we might be able to spend a nice morning together, doing something other than rolling around in my bed.”
Darcy put her fingers at the corners of his mouth and forced him to smile. “There’s no one I’d rather spend my time with. But we aren’t a normal couple,” she said. “We’re just having fun here—that was the deal.”
“You’re right,” Kel said, his voice curt. “I keep forgetting the deal.”
“And you’re angry now,” Darcy countered. “I’m sorry. It seems, since my father arrived, all we’ve been doing is fighting.”
“I consider it renegotiating,” Kel said.
“I just don’t understand what we have to fight about.”
“What are you afraid of?” Kel asked.
“Nothing,” Darcy replied. She walked back to the tee box and picked up her golf ball before strolling back to the cart.
Kel struggled to put his feelings into words, but that had never been one of his talents. A great curveball, a charming smile and a decent short game on the golf course, that’s what he was good at. But he’d spent his adult life trying to avoid any emotional entanglements. And now that he’d gotten himself so tangled up in Darcy, he wasn’t sure how to handle it.
Every instinct told him to hold her close and not let go. At first, it was all about the sexual fireworks between them. It felt so good to touch her, to have her touch him, to lose himself inside her. But with every minute they’d spent together, things inside him had begun to change.
Unfortunately, he’d managed to fall for a woman who had absolutely no feelings for him at all—at least none she’d admit to. She seemed perfectly happy to go on as they had, enjoying their time in bed then going back to her life as it was before he came to The Delaford.
Odd how the roles had been reversed. Usually he was the one who looked for a way out. Now, he was searching for a way in—into her heart and her soul, maybe even into her life. Perhaps signing the offer for the house on Crystal Lake hadn’t been the best idea, but Kel had to believe that there was a chance for them.
“Why don’t you take the cart back and I’ll finish the round?” Kel suggested, unwilling to fight her any longer. “I could use the exercise.”
She gave him a strange look. “Will I see you later?”
If he ever expected to get out of this mess without regrets, then he’d have to put some distance between him and Darcy, starting now. It would do him no good to hope that she wanted him for anything more than his talents in the bedroom.
“I don’t know.”
“I could always ride along with you,” Darcy suggested, “and watch you golf. Maybe I could learn something.”
He shrugged. At least she was willing to compromise. That was a step in the right direction. And for all that he wanted to regain some perspective, he still preferred to spend the day with her. “All right,” he said.
She hopped in the cart, sitting behind the wheel, and watched as he teed off. “Wiggle those hips,” Darcy shouted.
Kel hit a nice drive, straight down the middle and Darcy steered the cart over to him. But just as they prepared to drive down the fairway, Kel noticed another golf cart approaching at a fast speed. He recognized one of the bellmen from the hotel.
“Mr. Martin? Mr. Martin, I have an emergency phone call for you.”
Darcy straightened. “An emergency?”
The bellman handed Kel a cellphone. “It’s a Mr. Waverly.”
Kel turned to Darcy. “My agent,” he explained. “Every time he calls, it’s some kind of emergency.” He took the cellphone from the bellman and sent Darcy a reassuring look. “Don’t worry. I’m sure it’s nothing.”
His agent’s voice crackled over the fading connection. “Kel. Ben Waverly here. I’ve got some news.”
“I’m on the golf course right now, Ben,” Kel said into the phone. “Can this wait?”
“Kel, they want to trade you. To Atlanta. I just got a call from the front office. You need to fly out there for a meeting and a physical. They want to know what’s going on with the shoulder before they sign on the dotted line. You’re going to have to make a decision, Kel, and pretty quick.”
“Let me get back to the hotel,” Kel said. “I’ll call you from there.” He switched off the phone and handed it back to the bellman.
“Is everything all right?” Darcy asked.
“Not really,” he murmured. He glanced around. “We should go back. I’ve got to take care of this and I can’t do it from here.”
“Tell me,” Darcy murmured, her eyes filled with worry. “If something is wrong, I’d like to help.”
Kel winced, then rubbed the back of his neck, trying to ease the tension that always came with a call from his agent. At least if he retired, he’d never have to deal with Ben Waverly again. “Would you? Come on, Darcy, that’s not part of our deal,” he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm. “I wouldn’t want you to have to pretend that you cared.”
“Why have you become so obsessed with our deal? This was supposed to be simple, wasn’t it?”
“But it’s not simple. It’s gotten all messy and complicated, and now you want to cut and run.”
“And you don’t?” Darcy demanded.
“Maybe not.” He pointed toward the clubhouse. “Drive.”
She cut across the first fairway, glancing over at him as they bumped along. He kept his eyes fixed straight ahead, trying to contain his frustration. It would have been too perfect to meet the woman of his dreams just days before he retired. Maybe he was looking for something that wasn’t there simply out of fear about the changes taking place in his life.
“That was my agent,” he said. “I’ve been traded to Atlanta.”
Darcy gasped. “Atlanta? But that’s all the way across the country.”
“Yeah, the last time I checked my map it was.” He studied her expression and then drew a deep breath. The hell if she didn’t care! For an instant, he saw it there in her eyes. She wasn’t ready to give him up. “I was going to retire, but now I’m thinking I might be able to get a few more years out of the arm. They want to see me in a few days.”
“You’re going to go?”
Kel knew he shouldn’t play with her emotions. But if this was the only way he could gauge her feelings, then he’d use it. “It’s an option I should explore. If they don’t want to put me into regular rotation, I might be able to get by without the surgery. It would probably mean a cut in my salary, but I’m all right with that.”
“So you’ll go to Atlanta?” Darcy asked.
“What do you think I should do?”
Darcy shook her head, forcing a smile. “What I think shouldn’t matter.”
“Yeah, I guess you’re right. It doesn’t make any difference what you think because you don’t really care.”
“That’s not true,” she murmured, her voice turning defensive. “I would miss you. I will miss you—when you leave here, and if you leave San Francisco. A lot of people will.” Darcy pulled the cart to a stop in front of the clubhouse, then turned to him. “While you go take care of your business, I’m going to take care of mine. I’ve been waiting to talk to my father and I think now is the perfect time.”
“Right,” he said. “I do have some big decisions to make.”
The only problem was Kel’s heart was telling him to do one thing and his head was telling him to do the exact opposite. He wanted to believe he and Darcy had a future, but he knew she felt differently. And with just one night left together, Kel wasn’t sure he’d have enough time to change her mind.
6
DARCY STOOD AT Kel’s door, ready to knock. After their one-hole round of golf, they’d come back to the hotel and Kel had disappeared into his room to call his agent. Darcy had spent the next hour with her father, discussing a new corporate advertising campaign.
She still hadn’t worked up the courage to issue her ultimatum, even though she’d decided exactly what to say. Darcy wanted a seat on the board immediately and a promise that she would be next in line for a vice presidency at corporate headquarters. And if Sam Scott didn’t agree, then she was prepared to walk away. In addition, she’d decided she should tell him the truth about Kel—that their relationship had been over before it had ever started.
Things had been so easy between her and Kel over the past week. It had almost made her believe that they could sustain a real relationship. But since her father had arrived, things had begun to go bad. Maybe it was the impending end of their little “arrangement” that had set them both on edge, but they couldn’t seem to be together without an argument arising.
She tipped her head back and sighed deeply. This was what she’d wanted, proof that the attraction they had was passing at best. Proof that she’d made the right decision to put her career first.
Tonight would be their last night together and she’d have to make it special. Tomorrow would be Valentine’s Day and they’d say good-bye to each other for good. A sharp stab of regret pierced her heart and she pressed her hand to her chest. It would have been nice to have a Valentine for once. But Darcy knew better than to get caught up in silly romantic fantasies. Still, she did have feelings for Kel and, to her dismay, they were beginning to feel a lot more like love than lust.
Was she falling in love with him? Kel had touched her body like no other man had, but he’d also managed to touch her heart. He was sweet and funny and honest, all the qualities she wanted in a man. Yet she couldn’t quite believe that he wanted her as much as she wanted him.
Darcy reached out and rapped on the door, then gathered her courage. Maybe it was time to risk her heart. What’s the worse that could happen—he’d leave? He was already planning to do that.
The door swung open and Darcy looked up at Kel. He was dressed and toting his garment bag and a small duffel. “Darcy. I was just coming down to talk to you.”
Her gaze darted back and forth between his face and the bags he carried. “You’re packed?”
Kel nodded. “I’ve got to go home. There’s just so much going on and I really can’t think here. I’ve got calls to make and meetings to schedule.”
Darcy swallowed hard and tried to control her emotions. Was this how it would end, in the hallway, he going one way and she going the other? “You’re going to Atlanta then?”
“Yeah, I think I am.”
She gnawed at her lip, trying to calm the whirlwind of thoughts in her head. “I—I just wanted to say a few things before you left.”
He waited, but Darcy couldn’t decide exactly how to begin. “Everything happened so fast between us,” she said. “Sometimes I wonder if things could have been different if we…” Darcy let her voice tr
ail off. It was silly to think of what might have been. “I had a wonderful time,” she said. “And I’m glad we met that night in San Francisco, and that we met again in the candy shop.”
He reached out and took her hand, drawing her into the room. His garment bag slipped to the floor and Kel pulled her into his arms and kissed her. He lingered over her mouth, his tongue teasing at the crease between her lips. When he pulled back, his gaze met hers. “Will you miss me?” he asked.
Darcy felt tears pressing against the corners of her eyes. She laughed softly, brushing a stray tear off her cheek. “Of course I will. Gosh, why am I crying? It’s not like you’re leaving for the moon. We might run into each other again someday.”
“I’d like that,” Kel said. “And maybe, just to make sure, I could call you and we could figure out a time and a place to meet.”
Darcy laughed softly. “Wouldn’t that be a date?”
“Yeah,” Kel said with a slow grin. “I guess it would be.”
“Well, I think that would be a sensible thing, just to make sure we don’t accidentally miss each other.”
Kel kissed her again, molding her mouth to his as his hands furrowed through her hair. “All right, that’s the plan. Someday, I’ll just give you a call.”
“You’d better get going,” Darcy said. She didn’t want to weep in front of him and the emotion clogging her throat was making it difficult to talk.
“Will you walk down with me?”
Darcy shook her head. “No, I think I’m going to stay here. I wouldn’t want to make a fool of myself in front of my staff. You never know what I might do to get you to stay a little longer. I have been known to tear off my clothes in your presence.”
“All right then,” Kel said. He brushed one last kiss on her lips, then opened the door. “See ya, Darcy.”
“See ya, Kel,” Darcy replied.
She watched as the door swung shut, then stood frozen in place for a long time, willing herself not to chase after him, to accept the fact that he had gone. When she was sure she wouldn’t follow him, Darcy walked into the bedroom and flopped down on the bed.
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