by Abby Gaines
Her father snorted. “You might love him, but I sure as hell don’t.”
Brianna took a deep breath. “No, but you love me.” Silence. “At least, that’s what I choose to think. And I say that if you love me, you’ll sponsor Zack Matheson.”
“That’s preposterous,” he sputtered. “Not to mention blackmail.”
She reminded him with her silence how he’d blackmailed her into taking on this project in the first place. His gaze slid away.
“If it’ll make it easier,” she said, “let me remind you that drivers come and go, but Chad Matheson is the best team owner in the business—and you don’t have to be in love with him to see that.”
Acknowledgment flashed in her father’s eyes.
“Dad, for the sake of our relationship—yours and mine—you need to accept my recommendation.”
“You’re saying it’s him or me?” he said ominously.
“I’ve told you how I feel. That’s not going to change.” Never had she spoken so directly to her father. If she hoped to see a dawning respect in his eyes, the kind he’d given Chad, there was none. Just irritation and outrage…and disbelief.
“I need your answer now.” She pushed through her fear that his displeasure would turn to loathing, trusting Chad’s call on this. “You’ve thought about this sponsorship a lot, so don’t tell me you need more time.”
She stopped there. She folded her hands in her lap and waited. The carriage clock on the mantelpiece ticked, measuring her father’s regard by how long it would take him to back her or turn her down.
After what felt like minutes, he said, “Matheson is a good team owner.”
Brianna caught her breath. She hadn’t actually believed he would give in.
“I accept your recommendation,” he said formally. “Getaway Resorts will sponsor Zack Matheson.”
“Dad, that’s fantastic!” She couldn’t restrain herself; she rushed forward and hugged him, kissed him.
He kissed her cheek, his lips dry, and patted her back.
“I can’t wait to tell Chad. I’ll stay here tonight and fly back to Daytona tomorrow.”
CHAD KNOCKED on his father’s front door. A turn of the handle revealed it was unlocked, so he went on in.
Something about the silence unnerved him.
“Dad?” Chad picked up the pace, raced into the den, half expecting to find Brady laid out by another heart attack. The room was empty.
Fear sucked logic out of him. “Dad!” he shouted, and headed for the kitchen—empty—then the garage. His father’s classic Mustang was there, but no sign of Brady. He strode back into the kitchen all set to dial 9-1-1—only to find his father sitting on a stool at the island.
Chad jumped a mile high. He cursed.
“Thought you were still in Daytona,” Brady said.
“I thought you were. Until our pilot told me you flew out on the team plane on Tuesday. He wouldn’t say where to.”
“Ah.” Brady walked across the kitchen to the sink. Chad noticed his feet were bare. “You look like hell,” Brady observed conversationally as he poured a glass of water.
“So do you.” Chad’s reply came automatically, because Brady had looked like hell ever since he’d broken up with Julie-Anne. Then he realized Brady actually looked okay—tired, but more relaxed than he’d been since the heart attack.
Maybe, Chad thought, a guy could get over the pain of breaking up with the woman he loved. Or maybe it was just too early in the morning for Brady to have recalled his sorrows.
“Care to talk?” Brady asked. Which was a strange thing for his father to say, but Chad was too relieved to question it. He needed to repair the damage he’d done. If that meant getting up close and personal, well, he could do it.
“When you broke up with Julie-Anne,” he said, “how did you feel?”
Brady made a sound of disgust.
“Physically,” Chad added. “Did your chest ache—I mean differently from your heart attack?”
Brady rubbed his chin. “Maybe.”
“Did you have this kind of hollow feeling in your gut, and your legs were all heavy and leaden?” Chad’s legs felt heavy enough to drag him under.
Brady was looking at him as if he were crazy. “The gut thing, yeah. Nothing wrong with my legs. But, son—”
“I can’t believe you let yourself feel like this—like that.” Chad didn’t want his father knowing he was in the same pathetic state. He paced across the room and didn’t stop until he reached the picture window that looked out over rolling green pasture. “How could you be so dumb as to let me or anyone else tell you Julie-Anne isn’t right for you? Look how I messed up my marriage, for Pete’s sake.”
“I didn’t exactly let—”
“Hell, Dad, you’re old enough to know better.” Chad hooked his thumbs over his belt. “You need to call Julie-Anne right now and apologize for being such a jerk.”
His father gaped, and all the steam hissed out of Chad. “Please, Dad,” he said. “You love that woman, she loves you. I’ll never forgive myself if you let me break you two up.”
Brady threw back his head and laughed. And laughed. The delighted roar brought a smile to Chad’s face.
“Okay, maybe I sound a little crazy myself,” he said sheepishly. “But when you meet a woman who turns you inside out, you need to hang on to her and not let go, even if it means you’re in for the most uncomfortable ride of your life.”
Brady wiped his eyes. “What’s really crazy is that you think I’d let you decide who I should or shouldn’t marry.”
“But…I thought me going on about how you didn’t know Julie-Anne well enough had finally gotten through.”
“You’re a great team boss, son, but you’re the last guy I’d take advice about my love life from,” Brady said. “I’ve got a few years on you and I already figured out for myself that I couldn’t live without Julie-Anne.”
“So you’ve spoken to her?” Chad asked hopefully.
“I’ve done better than that.” Brady paused for effect, then said with a grin, “I’ve married her.”
“You’re kidding, right?” Chad started to laugh.
“We took a leaf out of your book—we flew to Vegas.” Enjoying his son’s stunned expression, he called, “Sweetheart, guess who’s come to congratulate us.”
Half a minute later, Julie-Anne entered the room. She was dressed, but the way her thick hair was tousled, Chad guessed she’d just got out of bed.
She walked into the shelter of Brady’s arms as if this was the place in the world she most wanted to be.
“Brady’s told you our news,” she guessed. Her voice quivered with happiness, but also, Chad sensed, apprehension.
“I couldn’t be more delighted,” Chad told her. “You two are great together. I’m only sorry I was too much of an ass to see it earlier.”
“I blame it on your Matheson genes.” Julie-Anne blew a kiss to Brady, who patted his new wife lovingly on the bottom. “It’s not your fault.”
“You’re too kind,” Chad said, and meant it.
Brady tugged Julie-Anne closer as if he literally didn’t want to let her go ever again. “Chad, going by the lecture you just gave me, you should be somewhere else right now.”
Chad’s problems returned in a rush. It was all very well telling his father how to fix his love life, but things weren’t that simple between him and Brianna.
“I’m already fond of that wife of yours,” Brady said. “So don’t you let her slip away.”
“I always told her I didn’t want to mix work and marriage,” Chad said. “But with Brianna it’s all-in or all-out. Which means it’s allin. It’s what I want. I just have to figure out how to make it work.”
“The problem between your mom and me wasn’t that we worked together,” Brady said abruptly. “If that’s what you’re thinking.”
He seldom talked about the breakup with his first wife, Chad’s and Zack’s mom.
“I don’t remember much, except you gu
ys fighting,” Chad said. “Mostly about work.”
“It might have seemed like that.” Brady grimaced. “Truth is, we fought about everything. You know your mom and I had to get married, with you on the way—we were never love’s young dream.”
“That can’t have helped,” Chad agreed.
“Thing is, we never would have got married otherwise. When I think how I felt about Rosie and now about Julie-Anne—” the smile he directed at his new wife was so full of love Chad got a lump in his throat “—your mom and I never had those feelings for each other. If we had, they would have given us something to hold on to when things turned bad. The way you look at Brianna, I think you two have those feelings.” Brady reddened, embarrassed by his own soppiness. “Not that I know anything about it,” he muttered.
Chad looked out the window. “She wants…more than I thought about giving.”
“Take it from me.” Brady joined him at the window, and they both took a great interest in the neighbor’s goat, grazing a hundred yards or so from the house. “Give her what she wants and you’ll be the happiest guy alive. Next to me.”
Chad was sure no man could be happier than he was when he had Brianna in his arms, but who was he to argue with a newlywed?
As he left, he shook his father’s hand, kissed Julie-Anne. This was one Las Vegas wedding that would last.
BRIANNA FLEW into Daytona from Atlanta at lunchtime on Saturday.
The balmy Florida weather meant she could roll up the sleeves of her light wool jacket and let the sun warm her wrists. Weak though the rays were, they promised springtime, and to Brianna it felt like hope.
Which was crazy, because she and Chad were finished. She loved him, knew in her heart she always would, but she couldn’t live with his idea of a marriage.
That didn’t stop the anticipation fizzing in her stomach at the prospect of seeing him again.
A mechanic grilling burgers outside Zack’s hauler greeted her with a wave. “Chad’s inside.”
“Thanks.” Brianna grinned, hardly able to contain the good news that would have the entire team celebrating tonight.
As she stepped into the hauler, her cell phone chirped. The display showed an Atlanta number. Her dad had said he’d have someone from Getaway’s in-house PR team call her about announcing the sponsorship. She pressed to answer.
“Miss Hudson? This is Dr. Martin Greer from Emory University Hospital, calling about your father.”
“How did his tests go this morning?”
“We didn’t need to run the tests,” the doctor said quietly.
“What’s happened?” Brianna clutched the counter that ran down the right-hand side of the hauler, her legs shaking.
“Brianna, is that you?” Chad came out of the office. One look at her face and he raced to her. He grasped her shoulders, sustaining her.
“Your father collapsed at home and was admitted to the hospital,” the doctor said.
“But…I was with him just a few hours ago. He was a thousand percent better.”
“It’s quite common for terminal patients to rally briefly to what seems like full health,” Dr. Greer said. “When that happens, it’s followed by a total relapse…and death.”
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
WHEN SHE ENDED the call, Brianna slumped against Chad’s chest.
He stroked her hair, his big hand soothing. “Your dad?”
“I have to go. He’s in the hospital. He’s not going to make it.” Her vision hazed and she stepped blindly forward. Chad steered her toward the door. “I don’t know if there’s a flight from Daytona now, and I might need to go to Orlando. Will you drive me?”
Asking Chad for help came as naturally as breathing. However Chad didn’t feel about her, he would protect her with his last breath, she knew.
“We’ll take the team plane.” He pulled out his cell and made a call, only to discover the team plane was right now bringing emergency engine parts from Charlotte.
“I’ll try Brent Sanford, see if his plane’s free.” Chad scrolled through the numbers on his phone. He talked fast to Brent, whom Brianna assumed must be associated with Sanford Racing, and soon had the flight arranged. “Two passengers,” he said.
“You’re coming with me?” she asked, after he ended the call.
“No arguments,” he ordered.
She was more likely to kiss him than argue with him, but there was no time for either. Chad summoned a helicopter to take them to the airport. Brianna was thankful for the noise of the chopper, which meant she didn’t have to make conversation when her mind was consumed with worry about her father.
They took off in Brent’s plane less than an hour after the doctor phoned. Brianna prayed they would get to Atlanta in time. Prayed it would turn out to be a false alarm, and her father would snap at her for believing he was frail enough to die like other people.
They flew over the speedway, the crowded infield. “You can be back here in time for the race,” she said to Chad. “Even if you have to stay overnight in Atlanta.”
“I’m not leaving you.”
She swallowed. “Thank you.” Her fingers tightened around her purse at the thought of her father.
Chad’s hand closed around hers. He pried her fingers loose. “Let me tell you some good news. Dad and Julie-Anne got married in Vegas on Wednesday.”
That did jerk her mind away from her troubles. “That’s wonderful.”
He grinned, and suddenly he looked younger. “Dad woke up to what he was throwing away just in time. He groveled enough that Julie-Anne agreed to marry him.”
“How do you feel about it?”
“Relieved,” he said. “Those two are crazy about each other. I can’t live with Dad making everyone miserable when they’re apart.”
Despite the flippancy of that last remark, Brianna could see he was genuinely happy for his father. She wondered what had changed his attitude, but her mind soon strayed back to thoughts of her father. She blinked rapidly.
Chad ran a knuckle down her cheek. “Sweetheart, you should try to sleep. You might have a long night ahead of you.”
About to protest that there was no way she could sleep right now, Brianna’s eyelids suddenly turned heavy. So heavy, she couldn’t keep her eyes open. Obediently, she leaned back into her seat.
She felt something soft descend on her and realized Chad had put a blanket over her. He raised the armrest between her seat and his and took her hand.
“You’re being so sweet,” she murmured.
“You’re being so compliant.” She heard the rumble of laughter beneath his words, and despite her worry, she smiled.
CHAD TRIED TO SETTLE in to sleep himself—this week had been short on shut-eye. But he was worried about Brianna. If her dad died now, she would feel as if she hadn’t got that assurance of his feelings that she wanted.
He watched her as she slept. She was so beautiful he longed to hold her in his arms forever. Could he convince her of that somehow?
One thing was for sure, he was going to have to get mighty comfortable with talking about his feelings. What was it she’d asked him down on the beach when he’d botched that proposal? Oh, yeah. To name one of his fears.
His brain and mouth had dried up. Pathetic! How big a deal could it be to name something he was afraid of?
“Letting my family down.” He spoke the words aloud.
He glanced at Brianna—still asleep.
Chad cleared his throat and continued quietly, “I’m afraid of letting my family down, and when things fall apart it’ll be my fault. I know Zack and Trent are old enough to look after themselves, but I feel responsible. I always have, from when we were kids.
“I’m worried about Zack’s comeback into racing,” he said. “I lie awake at nights wondering if he’s good enough behind the wheel, or mentally strong enough, to make it at the top level. Sometimes I think letting him back in was a huge mistake, but I couldn’t turn him down. Not after the bad feeling of the past couple of years…and not af
ter seeing how happy Dad was to have him return.”
He tilted his head back, closed his eyes. “I just know there’ll be animosity between Zack and Trent on the track, and that’s going to be a strain on everyone. Including Dad, who doesn’t need it right now. Dad’ll be happy with Julie-Anne, but that doesn’t mean he might not have another heart attack. And if he does, how will we run MPI and the team? Something’s got to give.”
Chad lifted his lids just enough to see Brianna was still asleep, then closed his eyes again. “When we get a sponsor for Zack—if we ever do—he’s going to have to make nice to a lot of people, and that’s never been his strong suit. I mean, sure, he likes you, but that’s probably just to annoy me. No, everyone likes you,” he corrected himself. “But Zack’s concerned about you, too. He’s too self-absorbed to be doing it for any reason other than to bug me. That makes me sound like a jerk, I know, but I also know Zack.”
The words poured out of him. “Speaking of me being a jerk, most of all I’m afraid I’m going to lose you through my own stupidity. All my big ideas about us not working together—did you ever hear such garbage? I know we’ll argue and there’ll be pressures, but I’m starting to figure out that doing this all on my own is no life at all.
“When you came to Charlotte,” he said, “you asked me if I’m happy. I lied. Sure, I have a kind of happiness, but it’s not what it could be.”
He peeked at Brianna again. Her eyes were still closed—but her mouth was curved in a wide smile.
Chad jerked upright. “Dammit, Brianna, are you awake?”
“No,” she said, still grinning, eyes stubbornly closed. “I’m sound asleep, not listening to a word you say.”
“Brat,” he said, amused but embarrassed as hell. He leaned over and kissed her.
Still, she didn’t open her eyes. “Maybe one day you’ll be able to say this stuff to me when I’m awake, but until then, I’ll just keep on sleeping.”
