The Million Dollar Catch Bundle

by Susan Mallery

  “Goodbye, Willow.”

  “Bye.” She opened the door, then hesitated. “Do you want my phone number?”

  He looked at her then, his dark gaze locking with hers. She searched for some hint of the fire she’d seen before, but it was so gone, it was as if it had never been.

  “No, you don’t,” she whispered, and left.

  Four

  Kane finished his presentation on security for the company’s latest acquisition. Todd and Ryan glanced at each other.

  “Remind us not to get involved with anything this proprietary again,” Ryan said. “It’s a real pain.”

  Kane thought about the executive detail he’d had to protect for two months in Afghanistan. Compared to that, this was something he could do with his eyes closed. “It’s not that difficult. I’ll handle it. As long as everyone follows procedure, we’re protected.”

  “And if they don’t?” Todd asked with a grin.

  “Then they answer to me,” Kane said.

  Todd looked at Ryan. “This is why I like him.”

  “Right back at you.”

  Todd turned back to Kane. “I heard there was some trouble at the house yesterday. I go away for one day and all hell breaks loose?”

  Kane had a sudden image of Willow in his bed, her body flushed, her eyes glazed and her long, blond hair spread out on the pillow. His groin tightened, but he ignored the flash of need, not to mention the pictures in his brain. It had happened, it was over, end of story.

  Still, he couldn’t stop wondering why she’d wanted to be with him. He would bet a large portion of his considerable bank account that she was the type who led with her heart. So why take on a guy just for the night?

  “It was Willow,” Ryan said. “Julie told me last evening. Apparently Willow’s still a little annoyed that you got between me and Julie.”

  Todd grimaced. “I didn’t get between you. I was looking out for a friend. You’re happy now—that’s the end of it.” He returned his attention to Kane. “Should I be worried?”

  Kane held in a smile. “I think you could take her.”

  “That’s not what I meant. Is she crazy?”

  “No. She wanted to tell you off because you’d messed with her sister.”

  “It’s the money,” Todd grumbled. “If Aunt Ruth hadn’t offered her granddaughters a million dollars to marry me, none of this would have happened.”

  Kane raised his eyebrows. “I didn’t know you were looking for a wife.”

  “I’m not.” Todd sighed. “Aunt Ruth is our late uncle’s second wife, so we’re not actually related. Ruth had a daughter who ran off when she was seventeen and got married. Ruth and our uncle cut her off and apparently never had anything to do with her until a few months ago. Our uncle died. Ruth missed her daughter and got in touch with her only to discover there were three granddaughters she’d never met. Somewhere along the way, she got it in her head that life would be perfect if one of her granddaughters married me. She offered them each a million dollars if one of them would take me on.”

  Todd glared at Ryan. “Do you know how insulting that is? The assumption she has to pay someone to marry me?”

  Ryan grinned. “Actually it’s kind of funny.”

  “So says the man who’s getting married.”

  Ryan turned to Kane. “I went on the first date to throw the sisters off the path. I met Julie and after a few complications, we got engaged.”

  Kane knew that Julie was also pregnant, but he wasn’t about to say anything. Being in charge of security meant keeping secrets—and he was good at that.

  “So everything worked out,” Todd said. “Willow should just let it go.”

  “I don’t think she’ll be back,” Kane told him. “Although there were a few interesting events.” He explained about Willow running through the grounds and spraining her ankle. He left out the cat, the kittens and the sex.

  Both his bosses stared at him. “You didn’t just leave her there, did you?” Todd asked.

  “I took her home and iced her ankle.”

  “To your house,” Ryan confirmed.

  “Uh-huh.”

  “You don’t usually invite people to your house,” Todd said.

  “I didn’t invite Willow. It just happened.” Which was true. If only he had an excuse for what he’d done last night…and again this morning.

  She’d been a hell of a temptation, but he’d been tempted before. And resisted. There was just something about her…

  “Be careful,” Ryan said with a grin. “The Nelson women are complicated. Just when you least expect it, they’ve invaded your world and changed everything.”

  “I’m not worried,” Todd said confidently. “I’m not marrying either one of them. They’ll have to find their million dollars elsewhere.”

  “I was thinking more of Kane,” Ryan said with a grin. “Willow’s a pretty lady.”

  Todd looked at Kane. “Intrigued?”

  Not in the way they meant. “I don’t do relationships. Don’t worry about me.”

  She was gone and he would never see her again, which was exactly how he liked things. But as the day wore on, he found himself remembering her smile, her laugh and the way she’d felt in his arms. It was as if she were a song he couldn’t shake from his brain. One that played over and over and wouldn’t go away.

  Willow showed up on Saturday morning without warning because she didn’t have Kane’s phone number and naturally Mr. Macho Security Man wasn’t listed. She’d even Googled him and had come up with nothing. It was as if he didn’t exist.

  But she knew he was real. Elusive and possibly dangerous to her emotional well-being but real. He was an interesting combination of contrasts. A tough man who knew how to be tender. A rich man who chose to live simply.

  She’d told herself to forget him, but that wasn’t happening anytime soon. All she had to do was close her eyes to remember how she’d felt when he touched her. Last night she’d even dreamed about him.

  So she braced herself for possible rejection, grabbed the tote bag on the passenger seat and climbed out of her car. She was halfway up the walk when the front door to the gatehouse opened.

  He wore jeans and a long-sleeved shirt and looked sexy enough to melt chocolate.

  “You came back,” he said, his voice, not to mention his expression, giving nothing away.

  “I’m here to see the cats, not you,” she said with a smile, hoping he wouldn’t guess that was a big, fat lie. “You don’t have to panic.”

  “I don’t panic.”

  Her smile widened. “I can think of a few girly conversations that would make you sweat. Want to test my theory?”

  One corner of his mouth twitched. “Not especially.”

  “I didn’t think so.” She held her tote in both hands. “I would have called first, but you didn’t give me your number. And don’t bother telling me you didn’t give it to me on purpose. I already know that. You were afraid I’d turn into stalker girl.”

  “I’m not afraid of you.”

  She walked toward him and braced herself for the impact of seeing those dark eyes and that mouth up close.

  “You could be, and you know it,” she said cheerfully. “Now let me inside.”

  She was operating mostly on bravado, but either he didn’t know that or he was just going with it. He stepped aside to let her in.

  She walked into the living room and was assaulted by memories. There was the chair where he’d carried her when she’d first hurt her ankle and that was the doorway to the hall that led to the bedroom.

  Her skin heated as she remembered him touching her. She swung to face him, prepared to mention how it had been, but the words died unspoken.

  His expression was one of polite interest—nothing more. There was no humor, no flash of fire, no need. It was as if it had never been.

  He hadn’t been kidding about the one night, she thought sadly. If she were someone else, she might have tried tempting him, but hey, this was her. What was
the point? Instead she would have to be happy for what they’d had and remind herself that at least he’d wanted her once.

  She dropped her tote on the ottoman and crossed to the box by the fireplace. The mother cat was curled up with her three kittens. She purred as Willow approached.

  “Hi, sweetie,” Willow murmured. “How have you been? Your babies are bigger. Look at how big they’re getting. Are you doing all right?”

  The cat rubbed her head against Willow’s hand. “Is she still eating well?” she asked.

  “About twice what I think she should,” he told her. “Stuff comes out the other end really regularly, too.”

  She smiled. “At least we know she’s healthy. That’s something. Have you thought of a name?”

  “I’m not naming the damn cat.”

  “But you have to. She needs an identity.”

  “She’s a stray.”

  Willow sat on the carpet and looked up at him. She had to tilt her head back until she could meet his gaze. “Everyone deserves to have a name.”

  His mouth tightened. “Fine. You name her.”

  “Okay.” She looked back at the gray and white cat. “How about Muffin.”

  “Not Muffin.”

  “Why not?”

  “It’s a food. You don’t name a cat after something you eat.”

  So he had opinions, she thought as she held in a smile. “Then Pookey.”

  Kane made a strangled sound. “No.”

  “You’ve made it very clear this isn’t your cat. Why do you get veto power?”

  “It’s living in my house. I’ll have to call it by the name. Not Pookey.”

  He could barely say the word. Willow ducked her head so he wouldn’t see her grinning.

  “Jasmine? Snowflake? Princess Leia?”

  “Princess Leia?”

  “I’m a Star Wars fan. More the first three than the last three, but I like them all.”

  “Good to know. I can live with Jasmine.”

  “Not Snowflake?”

  “She’s not white.”

  “Snow can be gray.”

  He made a sound that was more strangled groan than growl, but she couldn’t be totally sure about that.

  “Then Jasmine,” she said as she stood. “Hi, Jasmine. Welcome to the family.” And before Kane could point out they weren’t a family, she grabbed her tote and headed for the kitchen. “I’m going to make cookies.”

  He followed her. “Here? In my kitchen?”

  “In your oven, actually,” she said as she set the temperature. “My powers of cooking through psychic energy aren’t what they used to be.”

  “What if I don’t want cookies?”

  She looked at him. “Everyone wants cookies. They’re chocolate chip. What’s not to like?”

  She pulled a baking pan out of her tote along with a package of premade cookie dough. All she had to do was break off the little squares, put them on the pan and stick them in the oven. Nearly instant fresh-baked cookies.

  When the pan was ready, she leaned against the counter and looked at him. He looked good…too good. He made her wish things could be different, that he was secretly desperate to have her again. If only there was a scrap of evidence, she would cling to that fantasy, but so far…not so much.

  She also knew that he could throw her out in a heartbeat, if that was what he really wanted. The cookies wouldn’t matter to him. But as he made no move to bodily remove her, she settled in for a little visit.

  “So,” she said, “how are things?”

  “It’s not going to work,” he told her.

  “What isn’t?”

  “You’re not going to convince me to get involved with you.”

  “I kind of know that. The cookies are just my way of being nice.” And maybe hanging around for a little longer, which made her pathetic, but she could live with that.

  His dark gaze settled on her face. She felt the weight of his attention down to her toes, which chose that moment to curl ever so slightly.

  He was as big as she remembered. Big and powerful and totally masculine. Kane was not the kind of guy to get in touch with his feminine side. He was more likely to get a knife and cut it away.

  “Why did you do it?” he asked. “Why did you sleep with me? I made the rules very clear and you’re not that kind of woman.”

  She sighed. “Slutty, you mean? I know. I’ve never done that before. I mean sex, sure. A couple of times. But meeting a guy and jumping into bed with him…not ever. I think it was the blood loss. My brain wasn’t working right.”

  That earned her a smile, which, unfortunately, faded quickly. “You weren’t slutty. I still want to know why you did it.”

  “Do I confuse you?” she asked, hoping that was it because confusing and intriguing weren’t all that different.

  “A little. I know there’s more going on than I can see.”

  Yeah!

  He waited expectantly. She shifted, then folded her arms across her chest.

  “It’s kind of embarrassing,” she said.

  “I won’t laugh.”

  She drew in a deep breath. He’d been honest about what he wanted and didn’t want, so maybe she should be honest about why she’d done it…

  “You wanted me,” she said simply. “I liked you and trusted you. Being with you made me feel safe, but what pushed me over the edge was how much you wanted me.”

  He frowned. “You’re available to any guy who’s interested?”

  She laughed. “No. Well, probably not. I don’t know. Guys don’t want me.”

  “You’ve said that before and it’s crap. Of course they do. Look in the mirror. You’re beautiful and funny. A little strange, but not psycho.”

  Compliments? Compliments before he’d even had cookies? She wanted to bask in the moment, but he looked impatient.

  “I’m the best friend,” she said. “I’m the one guys confide in, the one they tell their troubles to. I fix them and they go out and fall in love with someone else. I couldn’t figure out what was wrong, then a couple of years ago I was at a party. I heard a group of guys talking. They were pretty drunk and going on about which of the girls at the party they’d like to sleep with. When they got to me, they all said they liked me, thought I was sweet, but I wasn’t the kind of girl they wanted to…you know.”

  That was the easy part. She looked out the window over the sink and steeled herself to tell the rest. “I’d gone out with one of the guys and we’d…been together. He’d kind of been my first. I thought we were in love, but then he broke up with me and never really said why. That night he said he’d slept with me because he’d owed me. He’d been doing me a favor.”

  It still hurt. Not in the bone-crushing way it had at first, but enough to make her catch her breath.

  “The second guy I was with said all the right things, but after the first time, he was never very interested in sex. He said it was me, that he’d never had any problems with other women.”

  “It wasn’t you,” Kane said flatly.

  “You don’t know that.”

  “Willow, I’ve seen you naked. I’ve touched you everywhere possible. I’ve kissed you and tasted you and watched you come apart in my arms. It wasn’t you.”

  Her eyes widened. He was good. Better than good. She felt her battered ego heal a little.

  “But those guys, the things they said…”

  Kane shook his head. “You’re complicated. Guys, especially young guys, want things simple. You scare them off. Or you take care of them so much they think you’re their mother. But there’s nothing wrong with you.”

  “But…”

  He cut her off with a look. “Did I fake it?”

  She smiled. “No. You were very clear about what you wanted.”

  “What did I want?”

  “Me?” The single word came out in a squeak.

  “You. Now let it go. You’re fine.”

  Just then the oven dinged. She put in the pan of cookies and set the timer.
/>   If only he wanted her again, she thought. But he’d been clear about that, too. One night. She decided not to push her luck and instead changed the subject.

  “How’s Todd?” she asked.

  “Why do you want to know?”

  “Just making conversation. Does he know I was here?”

  “I told him.”

  She laughed. “Was he scared?”

  “No.”

  “Couldn’t you have told him I was really scary?”

  “No.”

  “Typical. I think he’s safe. Julie and Ryan are so happy together, and he wasn’t able to break them up, so I’m losing energy about the whole telling him off thing.”

  “Any plans to date him?” Kane asked.

  “What?”

  “I know about the million-dollar offer on the table.”

  Ah, yes. It was more than a fortune, she thought. “My grandmother is an interesting woman. I don’t know why she made that ridiculous statement, but now we all have to deal with it. I’m not interested in marrying someone for money.”

  “It’s a lot of money.”

  “I believe in falling in love. That my soul mate is my destiny. Money doesn’t matter.”

  He shook his head. “Money always matters.”

  “That’s cynical and sad.”

  “That’s realistic.”

  “You’ve never been married, have you?”

  “I don’t do relationships, remember?”

  Which was more than sad, she thought. It was tragic. “You have to connect to someone.”

  “Why?”

  “It’s how people are. We are the sum of our experiences, our relationships. You can’t tell me you’re totally happy living on your own.”

  “I am, but you won’t believe me.”

  “Kane, be serious. Don’t you ever want more?”

  He stunned her by walking toward her and crowding her back against the counter. He was close enough for her to feel the heat of his body. Close enough for her to see the various shades of brown and gold that made up the color of his eyes. Close enough for her to begin to melt with longing.

  “This isn’t going to work,” he said in a low voice. “You can prance around all you want, but it’s not going to change anything.”