HIS DOUBLE, HER TROUBLE

by Donna Sterling

  He shouldn't be thinking about Brianna at all. He couldn't base a business decision of this magnitude on his feelings for a woman. But it meant so damned much to her—this company, this town. And whether he liked it or not, she meant everything to him.

  "Mister Jake," Lucy called from the doorway, "I knew I'd find you down here playing. Cy's wantin' you."

  Brianna had walked straight home from the meeting, too upset to talk to anyone from the office. She now sat on her sofa in painful contemplation of how she'd believed the worst about Jake, just as she always had. She'd accused him of playing reckless games with the company, and with her. She'd been wrong about the company. Maybe she'd been wrong about other things, too.

  As she remembered the sweet love they'd made, pain cut through her, deep and sharp. As far as Jake knew, she'd used him for sex, then shoved him out of her life. Any chance they'd had of something more had died there and then.

  And today, she'd had the gall to ask him to save her home. Why should he? Why should he give a damn?

  A knock at her door jarred her. She peeked through the peephole and her heart expanded. Jake! Her face grew warm and her hands shook as she unlocked the door. But when she'd swung it open, she realized it wasn't Jake but Evan.

  "Brianna, are you okay?" He patted her shoulder and squeezed it, studying her in concern.

  "I'm fine." She swallowed her disappointment and led him to the living-room sofa. "How are you holding up?"

  "Better." Although he still looked grim, he seemed more in control of himself. "I'm glad everything's out in the open. And I'm sorry for the mess I've caused. I thought you'd want to know the outcome of the meeting."

  "Outcome?"

  "The board thinks Jake has lost his mind. He came back after lunch with the idea of merging his investment company with Rowland Insurance. Don't get your hopes up," he warned, but her hopes rose anyway. "Even Jake admits it's a long shot. He could end up broke. Neither Cy nor the board wants to get involved. He'll have to find backers with deep pockets. He's on the phone right now."

  "He's risking his own fortune to save the company?" A volatile mix of hope and worry churned within her. "Why?"

  "I thought you'd understand that better than I would." With a tilt of his head, he studied her. "There's something that's been right under my nose for years and I've never seen it. I knew how Jake always pestered you, but I thought it was just a game—a challenge, since you were the only girl he couldn't get."

  Embarrassment stole over her to hear Evan discuss the matter, but he seemed lost in his own musings. "He had more fun hassling you than dating anyone else. In his wildest years, whenever he'd had one too many beers, he always brought up your name. When he got older, he was touchy whenever you were mentioned. And one time, during a ski trip, I overheard an argument coming from his bedroom in the chalet. His date had slapped him. From what she shouted, I gathered they'd been … uh … in bed … and he'd called her Brianna."

  Her breath stopped somewhere between her heart and throat. Dare she believe what he seemed to be telling her?

  "Jake loves a challenge, but he'd never let one interfere with his sex life," Evan reflected. "I should have paid more attention to all that." He lifted a shoulder in a shrug. "I didn't see it for what it was until this morning, outside Cy's door. The way Jake looked at you—and you at him—I'd have to be blind not to see that you're in love."

  "Me?" she whispered.

  "And Jake. Especially Jake. It didn't take twin telepathy for me to figure that out. I've spent ten years watching him make a fool of himself over you."

  "Oh, Evan." Her voice caught. "I've been horrible to him. I wouldn't blame him if he never spoke to me again."

  He handed her a key. "To my apartment," he said. "I won't be home tonight. There's someone I promised to meet, but Jake will have to stop by to pack before he heads out for the airport."

  "Tonight? He's leaving tonight?"

  Evan smiled and for a second looked identical to a mischievous Jake. "Not if you stop him first."

  * * *

  13

  « ^ »

  Darkness had fallen before Jake finished his phone calls at his grandfather's house, leaving him little time before his scheduled flight. Since Evan had left earlier with the car, Jake walked the few blocks home. The heaviness that had been riding in his gut worsened as he thought of his brother's destination.

  "I'm going by Brianna's to settle some things," Evan had told him. Leaning closer, he'd whispered, "I never went to bed with her, you know. She wouldn't have me."

  Jake clenched his jaw as he neared his apartment. He was glad to know that she and Evan had never made love. As much as he'd told himself it was none of his business, the issue had lurked somewhere in the murky darkness of his heart. But what had Evan meant by going to her house to "settle some things?" Had he been talking about their unconsummated affair? Had she given him some reason to believe she'd make love to him now?

  On an impulse, Jake veered away from the stairway that led to his apartment and strode to his Maserati in the garage. He barely had enough time left to pack before his flight, but he couldn't leave town without knowing how things stood between Evan and Brianna.

  Realizing how fast he was driving, he eased off the gas and loosened his fingers from their stranglehold on the wheel. A terrible irony mocked him: what if he'd erased the inhibition that had stopped her from making love to Evan?

  No. He wouldn't allow himself to believe it. She hadn't been using him to further any sexual agenda, even if she'd claimed as much. She'd had nothing on her mind but him during their loving. He'd stake his life on it.

  But that didn't mean she wouldn't take Evan back. Both had the crazy idea that platonic companionship could take the place of passion. Evan would torture himself with guilt by finding sexual release elsewhere, and Brianna would carry on as if nothing was wrong and spend her life in misery. He couldn't let that happen to either of them.

  As he pulled up in front of her bungalow, he saw no car parked outside. Evan, for some reason, wasn't here. The house was dark; only the porch light was on. Apparently no one was home—unless she'd already gone to bed. He marched up to her door and rang the bell. "Brianna! Brianna?"

  No one answered.

  Acute emptiness gnawed at him. She had to be with Evan somewhere. He trudged back to his car. No sense in returning to the apartment; he didn't have enough time left to pack. Evan could send his things to his apartment in New York, where he would be coordinating the merger.

  He sped off for the Columbus airport.

  But as he reached the main highway, he pulled over onto the shoulder. He didn't want to leave this way. He didn't want to agonize all through the night, wondering if Evan and Brianna had mended their rift. And he was tired of rehashing every word she'd said in her passionate defense of him today, wondering if anything deeper than compassion lay behind it.

  He'd be a fool to leave without knowing these things for sure. He drove home and parked his car in the garage. Evan's Mercedes sedan still wasn't there. Had he taken Brianna out for dinner somewhere? Resisting the urge to track them down, he climbed the stairs to the town house.

  The windows, he noticed, were lit with a flickering glow, as if flames danced in the hearth. Evan wouldn't have left a fire burning unattended. Puzzled, he unlocked the door and walked in. Appetizing aromas wafted to him—grilled steak or chicken, maybe. The table, he saw, had been elegantly set for two, complete with candles and wineglasses.

  "I wondered when you'd get home." The soft, low feminine purr drew his gaze to the shadows beside the fire.

  His heart ceased to beat. She stood there … Brianna … in the sexy black cashmere dress she'd worn that very first night, her shapely shoulders bare, her hair a tawny, shimmering cloud. She looked good enough to die for. He felt as if he might.

  She walked toward him, her gaze a warm invitation. Uncertainty threaded through her whisper, though, as she drew closer. "I … I wanted to surprise you."

/>   Oh, she'd surprised him, all right. But she'd surprised him this way before. He wouldn't touch her, wouldn't pull her to him, even if the resistance killed him. In a voice too gruff and strained, he forced out, "I'm not Evan."

  She stopped only inches away, so close that her familiar scent and warmth tantalized him with vivid, sensual memories. Her eyes widened and her surprise made every muscle in his body clench to ward off the fatal blow. If she'd been waiting for his brother…

  "Do you really think I'd go back to Evan after what you and I had?" Hurt clouded the sensuality in her gaze. "Do you think I'd ever want him the way I want you?"

  Strong, blessed relief washed through Jake, and his heart kicked into action, its rhythm hard and erratic. "No," he whispered. An awesome happiness loomed incredibly within his reach. He settled his hands around her narrow waist and savored the keen pleasure of touching her. "But there are some things about you that confuse the hell out of me."

  She peered at him with the most beautiful eyes he'd ever seen—golden-green fire burning with both tenderness and desire. "Like what?"

  "Like why I can't stop loving you."

  Her lips parted in a silent cry, and her eyes glazed with emotion. Meaning what? His world paused for a heart-lurching moment. Then she slid her arms around his neck and brushed his mouth with a sensuous whisper, "I think we should delve further into that issue."

  He did, with a kiss that thoroughly explored each facet of the question. She was heaven in his arms, exhilarating perfection, and he knew he'd never willingly live without her. But as the kiss ended, he wanted more reassurance than she'd given. "This isn't about erasing inhibitions, is it?"

  "It never was," she confessed. "I was fooling myself. I was afraid of … of falling in love with you. But I did anyway."

  He wanted so much to believe, he could barely speak. "You're not afraid now?"

  "No." With clear and simple faith, she answered, "I believe in you. And in me. I'm sorry it took so long for me to realize it."

  He swallowed hard against the emotion expanding within him. "I might end up penniless. Broke."

  "I know. Evan told me." She pressed closer against him, her love a shining beacon.

  He didn't want to ruin the moment—the sweet, sharp, sanctifying moment—but he had to shine the light in even the darkest corners. "We might end up … homeless."

  "No such thing, as long as we're together."

  His love for her unfurled with a majesty that awed him. He met her in a powerful kiss. He lifted her in a fierce attempt to hold her closer and she wrapped her legs snugly around his hips, but even that didn't bring her close enough.

  He wanted to be inside her.

  As he carried her to the bedroom, he murmured against her ear, "I'm working this time on creating a new inhibition."

  "A new one?" She drew back enough to search his face.

  His stare smoldered into hers. "One that'll stop you from wanting to make love to anyone but me. Ever."

  Her heart, already full, swelled with joyous love and secretive laughter. His gaze narrowed on her smile. She whispered, "That's been my hang-up all along."

  He stopped in the bedroom doorway, stunned. A profound gladness soon glimmered in his dark blue eyes, but his brows converged. "We haven't erased it, have we?"

  "Oh, no." She traced his bottom lip lightly with her tongue, then said in a throaty murmur, "It's only gotten worse."

  He caught her in a deep, binding kiss—one that turned them around, tipped them against a wall, then tumbled them onto his bed. "I love you," he swore. "I love you."

  She swore the same to him in every way she could. And though she'd always vowed to belong to no man, she did indeed belong to Jake—body, heart and soul.

  She wanted it no other way.

  * * *

  Epilogue

  « ^

  It had been a summer of mergers, and looking back on it, the town of Pleasantville gathered around bonfires on the riverbank and lifted glasses of sparkling cider to the new corporation's five-year anniversary.

  Cy Rowland himself had proposed the toast, proclaiming his grandsons to be "gutsy geniuses." Midwestern Insurance & Investment Corporation, under the direction of Jake, the day-to-day management of Evan, the nurturing of Brianna and the backing of employees and tycoons alike, had taken its place in the global economy as a thriving force.

  Investors from around the country had joined them for the celebration—with good cause. The corporation had gone public, and the shares they'd purchased five years earlier had skyrocketed in value.

  Many had become millionaires. One was Cort Dimitri, Jake's long-lost childhood pal, a quiet man of Greek ancestry who rarely smiled but toasted in pleased acknowledgment of his gain. His vivacious sister and soft-spoken mother mingled with neighbors they'd remembered with affection. Both ladies had cried joyous tears when Jake had first surprised them with a visit.

  Another investor—Tyce Walker, the strikingly attractive detective who had captured the embezzler and invested his considerable fee—now stood surrounded by town folk who listened to how he'd tracked her down and recovered the stolen money. Most of the detective's audience was composed of women vying for his attention. Chloe settled the matter by putting a proprietary hand on his muscle-corded arm and taking him off for a grand tour of Pleasantville.

  Watching the festivities from a blanket on the hillside, Brianna and Jake lounged in each other's arms as their three-year-old daughter picked dandelions. They celebrated the success of the other merger that had taken place that summer five years ago—the elaborate wedding of Brianna Devon and Jake Rowland.

  That move had been risk free … and had surprised no one.

  * * * * *