Family Man

by Jayne Ann Krentz

  “Justine isn’t running things around here now,” Katy reminded him gently. “Luke is. And I’ll bet Luke loves the idea, don’t you, Luke?”

  Luke gazed into her crystal-clear eyes and wondered how he could have ever imagined that she had conspired with Fraser Stanfield. No one who hated all Gilchrists would have schemed to undo some of the effects of the rejection that Hayden and Maureen had suffered.

  Guardian angels did not sit around and plot revenge, Luke realized with sudden insight. They had other priorities. They got on with life.

  His spirits abruptly felt lighter and more exuberant than they had all day. He brought his attention back to the matter at hand, aware of Maureen and Hayden watching him with intent gazes.

  “Well…” Luke said slowly. He broke off, wincing as Katy kicked him under the table. He looked at her and saw the warning expression in her gaze. He almost grinned. “Well, sure. What the hell. Why not? Put Hayden’s glass in all the lobbies.”

  Something relaxed in Maureen’s face. “Thank you, Luke,” she said softly.

  Hayden appeared stunned, but he started to smile slowly. “Didn’t know you appreciated my work, Luke.”

  “It’s a relatively new interest of mine,” Luke admitted.

  Luke pulled Katy into his arms as soon as he had closed the hotel suite door.

  “I thought I’d never get you alone,” he muttered as he covered her mouth with his own. The sense of urgency that was driving his emotions tonight had created an aching hunger in him that only Katy could assuage.

  Katy parted her lips for him without protest. Her arms went around his neck, and she leaned into him.

  The wispy silk of her yellow and turquoise dress was as thin and insubstantial as it looked. Touching her through the gossamer stuff was almost the same as touching her without anything at all in the way.

  Almost, but not quite.

  Luke stripped the dawn-colored dress from her and dropped it onto the floor. Katy’s eyes were clear and warm and welcoming as he carried her to the bed.

  He wanted to take his time with her, but his need was overpowering. He left a trail of discarded clothing on the rug, his own as well as Katy’s. She made a soft little sound when he put her down on the white sheets, and then she reached for him.

  His hands were shaking with need a few minutes later when he parted her thighs and lowered himself over her. He entered her slowly, pushing carefully against the natural resistance of her tight passage. When he was safely inside he drove deep, seeking release and reassurance and the comfort of knowing she wanted him as much as he wanted her.

  Katy closed around him, hot and wet and clinging. He felt the dampness of his own sweat on his shoulders and the exciting bite of her nails as she clutched at him.

  When her small, sharp little teeth bit into the muscle of his shoulder all the questions that had made the day a maelstrom of uncertainty for Luke vanished. His body surged toward climax. He heard Katy call his name, and he shuddered. And then he was lost in the free-falling dive that would tear him apart and put him back together once more, a whole man.

  How could he have thought for one single minute that Katy had been plotting vengeance? he wondered.

  “So why have you been in such a rotten mood for the past couple of days?” Katy asked conversationally.

  Luke lounged against the pillows. Katy was lying on her stomach, her arms folded on top of his bare chest. One of her legs was bent at the knee and she was swinging it idly back and forth above the rumpled bed.

  “I have not been in a rotten mood for two days.” Luke threaded his fingers through her hair.

  “Yes, you have.” She grinned. “Even by Gilchrist standards.”

  He gave her a playful swat on her nude rear. “I resent that. You can’t judge my moods by Gilchrist standards. You have to judge them by my own personal standards. And you don’t know me well enough yet to make judgments like that.”

  “You’re evading the issue.” She plucked at his curling chest hair.

  “Ouch.” He grabbed her tormenting fingers. “Whatever my mood has been, I can assure you I am feeling terrific at the moment. Or at least I was until you started torturing me.”

  She eyed him narrowly. “Are you sure you’re no longer in a foul mood?”

  “Positive. Look, I’m smiling.”

  “Gilchrists can smile even when they—”

  Luke closed her mouth with his fingers. “Don’t say it.” He took his hand away.

  “Okay. If you’re sure your mood has vastly improved since yesterday,” she murmured slowly, “I’ve got a question for you.”

  “What’s that?”

  “What did you really think about the locations the real estate agent showed us yesterday afternoon?” Katy asked eagerly.

  Luke considered the terrible possibility that Pesto Presto was ultimately going to be more important in Katy’s life than he was, and some of his good mood started to fade.

  “They all sucked,” he said.

  Katy grabbed a pillow and began bashing him with it. Luke laughed until he felt his body growing hard again, and then the laughter turned to passion, and he was lost once more in the sweet heaven of Katy’s warmth.

  CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

  Two days later Luke responded to the knock on the cottage door, a cup of coffee in one hand, his mind on some figures he had been crunching on his computer. He knew by the way Zeke flicked his ears that whoever was on the other side of the door was a friend. That limited the possibilities to two: Katy and her brother.

  Luke hoped it was Katy.

  It turned out to be Matt. His hands were bunched into fists at his sides, and his face was rigid with anger. There was sharp accusation in his eyes.

  “You’re sleeping with my sister,” Matt said.

  Luke stepped back and held the door open. “Come on in, Matt.”

  Matt took one step into the tiny hall. His shoulders were stiff with the tension of issuing a challenge. “You’re sleeping with her.”

  “Did she tell you that?” Luke led the way into the kitchen. Matt followed reluctantly.

  “She didn’t have to tell me. I figured it out for myself after you two got back from Seattle. Jesus. What do you think I am? Stupid?” Matt slammed his hand against the refrigerator door. “You think because I’m only seventeen I don’t know what’s going on?”

  “No. I just figured it wasn’t any of your business.” Luke sat down at the table and pushed aside some notes he had made.

  “She’s my sister. I gotta look out for her. She’s real smart about a lot of stuff, but she doesn’t know much about guys. Not guys like you, at any rate.”

  “What’s wrong with me?”

  Matt ran his fingers wildly through his hair and flung himself down onto the other chair. “I told you once, you’re not exactly her type.”

  “And I told you I’d take care of her.”

  “I know, but I saw how she was yesterday after the two of you got back.” Matt broke off, glowering. “Are you going to tell me you’re not sleeping with her?”

  “No. I was just reminding you that I gave you my word I’d take care of her, and I will.” Luke studied Matt’s impassioned expression. “What was wrong with your sister yesterday? What got you so concerned all of a sudden?”

  “She cried, dammit. Katy almost never cries. But I saw her. She was in her room.” Matt shoved his hands into the front pockets of his jeans. “She doesn’t know I saw her.”

  “You think Katy was crying because of me? Because of something I did?”

  “Yes.”

  “What makes you think that?”

  “She’s my sister,” Matt ground out. “I know her better than anyone. The last time she cried like that, all by herself in her room, was when that dumb Nate Atwood ditched her and started dating Eden.”

  Luke’s mout
h tightened. The comparison with Atwood was an unpleasant one. “Matt, I promise you I am not going to treat her the way Atwood did.”

  “No, you’re going to treat her worse than he did. She’s going to be more torn up about you. At least Atwood didn’t seduce her. She told me that when I asked her.”

  “You’re kind of a nosy younger brother, aren’t you? What the hell gave you the right to ask her a question like that?”

  “Because I was gonna do something if he had,” Matt declared.

  “Like what?”

  “I dunno.” Matt looked sullen. “Something. Katy said I wouldn’t have to do anything to him regardless of whether or not he had seduced her because Atwood was going to be punished enough as it was.”

  Luke slanted Matt a wary glance. “Yeah? How?”

  “She said he would get everything he deserved when he married a Gilchrist.”

  Luke drummed his fingers in irritation on the table. “That sounds like something Katy would say, all right.”

  There was silence in the kitchen for a while. Zeke padded in with his dish. He surveyed the tableau of the two males glowering at each other across the width of the kitchen table. He put down his dish and rested his head on Matt’s knee, offering silent sympathy. Matt absently stroked his ears.

  “Why did you come here, Matt?” Luke asked quietly.

  “To tell you not to hurt Katy.”

  “How do you suggest I avoid that now?”

  Matt looked briefly uncertain. Then he scowled again. “You should at least ask her to marry you. Then she wouldn’t feel like you were taking advantage of her.”

  Luke absorbed that. “You want me to ask her to marry me?”

  Matt straightened in the chair, looking newly determined. “Yeah. Yeah, I think you should.”

  Luke felt oddly lightheaded. “All right. I will.” Matt eyed him with vast skepticism in his young eyes. “You will?”

  “Yes.” A deep certainty filled Luke as he met Matt’s gaze. “As her brother I guess you have a right to know what my intentions are. I give you my word they’re honorable.”

  “Yeah?” Matt was clearly taken aback by Luke’s readiness to do the right thing.

  “Word of honor,” Luke said solemnly. “But you had better know up front that the problem here is not my intentions. It’s your sister’s intentions.”

  “Huh?”

  “I’m not at all sure Katy’s intentions toward me are honorable,” Luke said softly. “I’m not sure she wants to marry me.”

  “Oh, yeah, I know.” Matt looked relieved. “I just think you should ask her, that’s all. She probably won’t actually want to marry you. You’re a Gilchrist, after all.”

  Luke set his back teeth. “It’s not easy, you know.”

  “Being a Gilchrist? Yeah, I can understand that.” Matt brightened. “So you’ll ask her?”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay.” Matt nodded, satisfied. “All right.” He apparently considered his mission accomplished. “Hey, you want to go down to the gym and work out? You could help me practice some of my throws.”

  “Sure, why not?” It was as good a way as any to relieve the tension seething in his gut, Luke thought.

  Katy saw Zeke watching her from inside Luke’s cottage when she went past on her way to the beach. The big dog had his face pressed against the kitchen window, a somewhat awkward position given the fact that he had his dish clamped in his mouth. Zeke tracked her with an intent gaze, ears half cocked.

  Katy hesitated, aware that the dog was alone. Matt and Luke had left for the Dragon Bay Athletic Club an hour ago. She told herself the dog was not really lonely and that he would be just fine by himself for a while.

  Zeke continued to stare hopefully at her through the glass. He probably knew she was on her way down to the beach, she thought. Zeke loved to go down to the beach.

  “Okay, okay,” Katy muttered. She used the key Luke had given her and opened the cottage door.

  Zeke trotted out with his dish and headed straight for the cliff path.

  The dog hit the beach several yards ahead of Katy and dashed off to explore the exciting scents left behind in the wake of the outgoing tide. Katy followed slowly.

  She was in a strange mood today, she realized. Actually, she had been that way since returning from Seattle with Luke. Last night she had actually cried quietly in her bedroom. Thank heaven Matt had not heard her. He would have been concerned and would have asked her what was wrong.

  Katy knew she could not have supplied a clear answer. She could hardly tell Matt that she was in love with Luke and that there was very little future in loving him.

  Loving Luke was a monumentally stupid thing to do. But she had known from the first time she went to bed with him what the probable outcome was. If she was honest with herself, she had to admit she had sensed that outcome the first time she had met him.

  The best thing she could do was not look beyond the next few months. Take what was offered for as long as Luke was in Dragon Bay. Be prepared to have him walk away at the end of six months.

  Katy sighed. It was going to be hard. She was accustomed to long-term plans and commitments. She was accustomed to looking into the future.

  Luke was still recycling his own past.

  “Katy.”

  Katy turned in surprise at the sound of her name being called above the roar of the surf. Zeke glanced up from where he had his nose in the sand farther down the beach.

  “Fraser.” Katy smiled as Fraser Stanfield loped down the cliff path. “What on earth are you doing here?”

  “I came to say good-bye.” Fraser reached the beach and strode quickly toward her. “Didn’t get much of a chance yesterday.”

  “I thought you were on your way to the airport.”

  Fraser gave her a grim smile. “Didn’t you realize what was happening? Gilchrist was hustling me out of the building. He had just fired me.”

  Katy was speechless. “Fired you? I don’t believe it. Why would he do such a thing?”

  “It was business.” Fraser’s mouth twisted. “No hard feelings, you know?”

  “No, I don’t know. What is this all about?”

  “Gilchrist was afraid I was too close to the inner circle of Gilchrist power. He saw me as a threat and decided to get rid of me.”

  “But the only reason you were close to the inner circle was because Justine asked you to help us hold things together.”

  “Hey, don’t worry about it, Katy. I’m a big boy. I know how these games are played.”

  “But if what you say is true, it’s horribly unfair.” Katy was stricken. “This is terrible. I’ll speak to Luke right away. I won’t allow him to fire you just because you were helping me keep tabs on things for Justine.”

  “Forget it, Katy. It’s done. You’ll never change Gilchrist’s mind. We’ve both worked with Gilchrists long enough to know that they always get their own way when they want it badly enough.”

  “But it’s not right.”

  Fraser laughed sourly. “You always were a little naive about business ethics. Stop worrying about it. I’ll land on my feet. I always do.”

  “This is awful. I feel terrible. This is partly my fault. You were helping me do my job.”

  Fraser’s eyes darkened. “Personally, the only reason I feel terrible is that you and I never had an opportunity to get close. But I figure that situation can be changed.”

  He grabbed her arm before Katy realized his intention. She tried to jerk herself free. When that failed she drew herself up and fixed him with a stern calm.

  “Let me go, Fraser.”

  “No. Not yet.” Fraser’s fingers bit through the sleeve of her sweatshirt and into her arm. “You’re right about one thing, Katy. You owe me.”

  “I told you, I’ll talk to Luke.”

  “Talking
to Gilchrist is a waste of time.” He gave her a shake. “I invested a lot in this operation. I stand to lose a bundle because you screwed things up for me.”

  “What was I supposed to do? I didn’t realize Luke was going to fire you.”

  Fraser loomed over her. “You were supposed to keep me informed of his plans, remember? You never told me about the goddamned investigation he was running.”

  Katy sucked in her breath. “I wasn’t free to talk about it.”

  “Yeah? I thought I was your friend. You’re not very loyal to your friends, are you? All your loyalty goes to those damned Gilchrists.”

  “What do you want from me, Fraser?” Katy asked quietly.

  “Access to the Gilchrist computers for the next couple of months. You can do it, Katy. You can get me the new entry codes and the information I’ll need to get into the computers and manipulate some data.”

  Katy stared at him. “Why?”

  “Because I’ve set some plans in motion that will work if they’re given a chance. I’m too close to the finish, Katy. I can’t quit now. Help me and I’ll cut you in on the deal.”

  “What deal?” she snapped. “What have you been doing, Fraser?”

  “I had a real sweet arrangement going. All I had to do was make Gilchrist Gourmet look like it couldn’t compete. Things were working out just fine, thanks to the fact that I was close to the inner circle.”

  Outrage blossomed in Katy. “You were sabotaging the corporation, weren’t you? Luke was right all along. The culprit was an insider.”

  “He can’t prove a damn thing, and he knows it. All he has are a lot of suspicions. That’s why he fired me yesterday instead of bringing charges. But you’re going to help me finish this thing, Katy.”

  “No.”

  “Yes. I’m going to get my own back. Gilchrist can’t treat me the way he did and get away with it. I’m going to force him to sell Gilchrist Gourmet.”

  “How?”

  “With your help, of course. And a computer. I can do it.”

  “Don’t be an idiot. I would never help you do that.”