The Texas Millionaire's Runaway Wife

by Mary Malcolm

  Her eyes seemed to search his. “I don’t—”

  “Cut the bull, Cassie.” God, how could he have been such a fool? Here, he’d believe her to be different than the others. And yet, despite what she said her intentions were, it seemed she believed she could use him like this? “Jordan Giles, Cassie? Of all the men you could screw around with, you choose him?”

  She shook her head, sending a spray of water in every direction.

  Stephen looked away. He couldn’t meet her eyes any longer. Grabbing a towel, he dried his pant legs as he stepped into the main bathroom. Opening the door, Abigail stood on the other side. Her jaw dropped at the sight of him. “Mr. Sands, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize you two were...”

  “We aren’t, Abigail. Excuse me.” He pressed past and reached the door as he heard Cassie behind him.

  “Stephen.”

  He turned to find her wrapped in a towel. “Can you? Can you tell me what Jordan Giles is doing sending flowers to you at my house? Calling you on my phone? Can you explain?”

  Her mouth opened and closed again. Her eyes widened and she stood, speechless.

  “No,” he finished coldly, “I suppose you can’t.”

  ****

  Cassie watched Stephen’s back, muscles flexing and tensing as he retreated down the hall. She wanted to chase after him, wanted to explain, to assure somehow, but what would she tell him? What, really? That Jordan was a man she’d met only yesterday. That she had no idea why he might be calling, or why he’d sent those flowers?

  Then she remembered Abigail still waiting at the bathroom door. She turned and faced the housekeeper. “Please tell Mr. Giles I am unavailable and not to call me.”

  “I’m not your secretary.” Abigail handed the phone over. “I don’t work for you. I work for Mr. Sands.” She turned on heel and left the room.

  Flabbergasted, Cassie stared at the phone in her hand. She remotely registered a distant voice calling, hello? Hello? Pulling the phone up to her ear Cassie finally greeted him. “Hello, Mr. Giles. What may I do for you this evening?”

  “Cassie, so nice to hear your voice.” He sounded like a smooth talker, it made her sick that she’d seen him as attractive only yesterday. What kind of man pushes this hard when he knows a woman is married? It made her stomach roil.

  “Look, I don’t know what’s going on between you and my husband, but I want you to keep me out of it, do you understand?”

  “Cassie,” he said, his voice sounding hurt, “I didn’t mean to cause any trouble. Actually, I just called to let you know the insurance company said they’d take care of everything. They’ll send an adjuster over to look at your car and we should be all squared away.”

  Cassie took a deep breath. He seemed so innocent, yet...she sensed a lot more going on. And with Stephen’s reaction, she couldn’t help the thought that Jordan Giles wanted nothing more than to get under Stephen’s skin.

  Finally, she said, “Thank you for your generosity, Mr. Giles but I’ve discussed it with my husband and we’re going to take care of the car ourselves. So, I appreciate your attentiveness with this matter but I won’t need anything further from you.”

  The line was silent. Then, “If that’s the way you want it to be.”

  “Yes. I would appreciate that.”

  “I’m sorry. I guess I just read things differently yesterday.”

  Cassie crossed farther into the room. She pulled her robe from across the bed and pulled it over her shoulders. “I don’t understand what you mean.”

  “I mean, yesterday you seemed as if you might be interested in me. You looked at me, like, well, I don’t know. You just seemed as if you wanted more.”

  Leaning against the bed Cassie closed her eyes. Honestly, yesterday Cassie would have liked more. Except she had made a promise to Stephen and she planned to follow through.

  Today she felt different. She felt like she and Stephen hadn’t been separated by lies and anger, as if she’d been waiting for him and finally had a piece of herself back. She felt her heart slipping away and that when this thing was all over she might not ever be the same. “I’m sorry for any confusion, Mr. Giles.”

  “Jordan,” he said.

  “Mr. Giles. Stephen is my husband and I love him very much.” Pressing a hand over her eyes she realized she meant it. “And I wish for you not to call here ever again. Goodbye.” She hung up the phone. Love. How had she gotten here so quickly?

  Taking a deep, ragged breath, Cassie put the phone down next to her leg on the bed. She smoothed the cloth of her robe and tried to quell the panic now racing through her veins. Love.

  She loved Stephen.

  The thought made her want to laugh, made her want to cry.

  There was a knock at the door. Turning, she tried to steady her breathing before opening it. She didn’t want Stephen to see her like this, see how vulnerable she really was.

  “Ste—” Not Stephen. Abigail.

  “I’m sorry, Mrs. Sands. I’m so sorry.” The woman wore a forlorn expression and rang a towel in her hands. Worry creases formed above her brow and her shoulders slumped as she stood before Cassie.

  Confused, Cassie motioned for her to come in. “I don’t understand. What are you sorry about?”

  In a rush of words, she said, “I listened. I know I shouldn’t have, but I was so angry that you might be betraying Mr. Sands and I wanted to know the truth so I could tell him. He’s the only family I have, so to speak. He’s taken such good care of me over the years that I feel protective of him. Then, you come along.” She paced the length of the room. “And he’s suddenly in love. Suddenly married.” She turned to Cassie. “Married! I thought that when he got married we’d have this large ceremony, that I’d have a chance to meet his wife before he moved her in, at least, but then you were here. And then the flowers, the phone call.” She turned worried eyes toward Cassie. “I thought you were using him. I didn’t want him to get hurt, so I listened.”

  Cassie’s head spun with the confession. She didn’t completely understand. “So, you love Stephen?”

  Abigail laughed unsteadily. “Oh no! No, it isn’t that. I’ve taken care of him for nine years. My kids moved on, they live out of state now and I never see them. I kept waiting for Mr. Sands to settle down and he never did. Never even brought any of his girlfriends home. Then you were here...”

  “Wait, he never brought them home?”

  She shook her head.

  “But he was with so many.” She’d seen pictures, Stephen put George Clooney to shame.

  She stepped closer to Cassie. “I know. I kept waiting for him to settle down. And he didn’t, so I assumed he planed to stay a bachelor as long as possible. Then you came along.”

  “I took him away from you,” Cassie finished.

  “Not took him away.” Abigail finally stopped pacing. “Changed him. Then when I thought you were cheating, I thought...”

  “That I would hurt him.” Cassie sat on the edge of the bed and looked at the housekeeper. “I’m sorry you thought that, Abigail. I don’t want to hurt Stephen.”

  Tears formed on the ends of the woman’s lashes. “And you were so kind to me! You brought the chocolate. You brought all those kids over. I thought he’d be angry about that, especially with the way the house looked afterward, but he wasn’t. Then I realized all these years you’re maybe what he needed. Someone to mess up his life.”

  “Mess it up?” Cassie’s eyebrows shot up at the proclamation.

  Abigail seemed to realize immediately what she’d said. “Oh, no! No, not like that. I mean...”

  “No,” Cassie said as she stood. “I know what you mean. To make him not so old before his time.”

  Relief shone on the woman’s face. “I’m sorry I didn’t trust you. That I acted the way I did toward you.”

  Cassie smiled. “I understand, now. But Abigail, you have to understand that Stephen is a grown man and can take care of himself. And you can’t listen in on my phone calls no matter how good your
intentions.”

  Her lips quivered. “Are you letting me go?”

  Shaking her head, Cassie took a step forward and placed her hand on Abigail’s shoulder. “No. Stephen is lucky to have you. I hope in time you feel the same loyalty toward me. Thank you for being honest.”

  She nodded and walked toward the door. “I truly am sorry, Mrs. Sands. I should have known Mr. Sands wouldn’t settle with anyone as bad as I thought.”

  If Abigail only knew the truth, the woman would probably send Cassie to live in the attic before the end of the night. Still, the truth of their relationship wasn’t something Cassie needed to explain to Abigail. “Like I said, I appreciate that you’ve looked out for Stephen all these years. Thank you for talking to me, Abigail.”

  The housekeeper nodded and left.

  Cassie felt horrible as she slunk back toward the bed. Though Abigail was wrong about Cassie having an affair, she could only wonder how the woman would feel when she found out the truth of their relationship.

  Messy. Abigail had said she made his life messy. The children from earlier came to mind, but then she let them go. She’d managed to mess things up, all right. And she had to find a way to fix it so they both could move on.

  Her thighs tingled from where he’d touched her earlier. Where he’d kissed. She might be able to fix things for Stephen, but Cassie knew once she left, she’d never be the same.

  Chapter Twelve

  As soon as they arrived at the Travis Building, Cassie recognized Stephen’s brothers. The three stood together, tall, proud and dripping with confidence with equally tall, gorgeous blondes dripping from their arms. It was as if they’d gone to some floozy factory and ordered matching sets. The women looked about as interchangeable as sensible black shoes. And Cassie, in her green knee-high dress and new heels, did not look like part of the group. In fact, as she and Stephen sidled up to them as they all stood by the bar, Cassie felt like the least matched person in the room.

  Stephen looked so much like his brothers it was uncanny. William and Andrew both had lighter hair and different eyes, but Daniel looked like Stephen, Version 2.0. The blondes gave their names, Paisley, Tinsley and Emery, of course, and then went back to being vapid arm candy for the younger Sands men.

  “I’d like you all to meet Cassie, my wife.” Stephen pushed her forward.

  She feigned a warm smile as she reached her hand out to each of the men. “So nice to meet you all. I’ve read a lot about you, it’s interesting to see you all in a room together.”

  William cocked an eyebrow. “Interesting?”

  Maybe a poor word choice. “What I mean to say is anyone walking into the room would have no doubt the four of you were related.”

  Stepping away from one of the blondes, Andrew whispered something into Stephen’s ear that made them both laugh.

  Cassie felt decidedly out of place. “Will you excuse me,” she said to the brothers and blondes.

  Travis Building had gorgeous architecture. One of the older buildings in Fort Worth, it had been renovated and now shone as a beacon of what the city used to be. The garden restaurant on the roof gave a full view of downtown bustling below. Tall winding columns, crown molding and the tin ceiling made the inside part of the restaurant feel as old-fashioned as the outside looked.

  They hadn’t been there long but Cassie needed a break from the brothers. She could tell from the looks and whispers that they did not approve of her relationship with Stephen.

  Just as well. If Cassie was going to talk Stephen out of this cockamamie plan, it would be best that his brothers at least not want him to remain married. And that was her plan, she decided. It didn’t matter how she felt for Stephen, they shouldn’t have entered into this. She never should have come back to see him. The only right thing to do was to not be involved anymore than possible.

  Only, it hurt. It hurt that his brother’s didn’t know her and still judged her like that. She glanced over her shoulder to see the brothers with their heads in tight and the blondes standing just as bored and lithe as Cassie had left them.

  “Would you like a drink?”

  Cassie turned to find herself face to face with none other than Charles Sands. “Oh!” she said with surprise. “I didn’t expect you there.”

  The tall, blue-eyed man chuckled and took her by the elbow. “Cassie, isn’t it?”

  She blushed. But nodded.

  “You’re not what I expected from Stephen.”

  Anger bubbled beneath the surface at the judgment of this family. It seemed so ridiculous! She was a kind, sweet person. Beautiful, really. Any other man in the room would have seen that. But the Sands men, God how ridiculous could male pride be?

  “Wait,” he said, seeming to sense her brewing anger. “I meant that in a good way.”

  Cassie took a breath and followed Charles Sands to the bar. The man had striking silver hair, a distinguished mustache and walked as if he owned the world.

  “Good way, huh?”

  He smiled and ordered himself a scotch, “And for my daughter-in-law, a...”

  He waited.

  “Scotch,” she offered.

  Charles let out a laugh. “That bad, huh?”

  “I could lie to you.” Cassie turned her back to the bar and propped elbows behind. “See those three?” She pointed to the blondes. “Almost matching names. Their dresses? All from the same store. They bought them together, different colors but the same dress. They told me. I was there all of five minutes and found that out.”

  She turned to find Charles looking at her intently. “But you’re different,” he said, in a way that sounded almost complimentary.

  Cassie rolled her eyes “Different, but I don’t know if that’s a good thing.”

  “I remember you,” Charles said a few minutes later. “From the wedding. Best cake I’ve had in my life. It’s no wonder he married you so quickly.”

  Hating to lie, Cassie just agreed. “It was fast, but Stephen seemed so certain about what he wanted. And he’s a great man. I have no doubt he’ll make a terrific husband.”

  Just not for me.

  Charles nodded and took a drink of his scotch. “I worry about my boys. Stephen has changed a lot since my last wedding and I was afraid he’d given up on relationships because of it. He’s not put as much time into work, not been as social, very evasive about his dating life. Before then I would have thought Stephen would marry one of those blondes. Oh, I don’t know any of their names, they’re all interchangeable, wouldn’t you say?”

  Cassie laughed. “Yes. But not so directly. And never to their faces.”

  He took another drink. “Now I think he was maybe trying to figure out his life. He’s always been a lot like me, very business minded, very determined to succeed. Now I’m not as sure who he is.” With one last swig, he continued. “Thing is, those three women are with my boys hoping they can get something out of them. Anything. They know my boys have money and are generous with it. So it doesn’t matter where they got their dresses or that they all match, they know that they’ll walk out of those relationships with things that my sons provided for them.” He turned his intense blue eyes on Cassie again. “What do you hope to walk out of this relationship with?”

  The intensity of his gaze pared with the alcohol from the drink sent prickles of awareness up and down Cassie’s nerves. “What do you mean?”

  “You signed a pre-nup, right?”

  “Post-nuptial agreement, actually.”

  “Well, what do you get? What part of my money—of my son’s money do you end up with at the end of this relationship?”

  She could lie. She knew she could tell this man she hoped the relationship would never end, that their love was once in a lifetime. But she glances at the blondes and knew Charles Sands did not need anyone to lie to him. It would be pointless. He’d see right through her. Purposefully not looking at him, she said, “I don’t know. I signed the papers, but I didn’t read them. I’m not in this for his money.”

&nb
sp; Charles Sands laughed. “You’re a fool then. Who signs papers like that and doesn’t look at them?”

  Cassie felt tired of their games. The brothers with their blondes, Stephen with his head bent listening to everything they said, Charles judging her without even knowing her.

  “I do.” She turned her eyes to him, downing the rest of her scotch. The bitter taste at the end gave her fuel for what she had to say. “I don’t care about your money, Mr. Sands. I don’t want anything from Stephen. You could take away his money tomorrow, his business even, and I’d take care of him. We’d move into my apartment, I’d support us both with my bakery and we’d live a happy life.” She set her glass down and stepped away from the bar. “The problem with you all is that you’ve had money so long you don’t remember what it’s like to just be a normal person. Normal people don’t care about having a mansion with empty rooms or more cars than we can drive.

  “And furthermore,” she continued, “Stephen doesn’t need your money. I happen to think he’d be a much happier person without it, even. So I might have been a fool to not look, but it doesn’t matter to me. It shouldn’t matter to you, or your other sons either. I feel sorry for you.”

  Charles held up his hands. “Whoa there, I don’t know where all this is coming from but your source is mistaken. Stephen’s money is his own. He’s earned it. And when I said you were a fool, it was because no one should sign anything without reading it first.”

  Cassie felt exhausted. She’d only been at Travis for about an hour, but there was no part of her that wanted to stay. “I’m sorry if I’m not what you expected for Stephen. Or if you think I should have wanted him for his money, but that isn’t who I am. I hope in time you’re able to see that on your own, but frankly, Mr. Sands, if you don’t, that isn’t my problem.”

  With that, she walked away.

  ****

  “Look at her over there, walking away from Dad, I’m telling you, she’s a gold digger.” Daniel’s insistence on Cassie’s intentions toward Stephen had grown stronger with every downed shot of whisky.