Sean had been right. She couldn’t stop living.
But what would he say if he knew that she had ruined their bargain by falling in love with him? Would he run back to California? Would he laugh and tell her she was being silly? Would he panic?
“You love him, don’t you?”
“What?” Melinda jolted and looked up at Katie.
“Sean,” the woman said. “You’re in love with Sean.”
Brushing that away, she forced a laugh and busied herself with putting the rest of her finished pieces back in the glass case. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
“Nope, she’s right,” Rose said. “It’s all over your face, sweetie. Trust me when I say I know that look.”
Melinda’s gaze moved from one to the other of the women and she sighed miserably at their matching expressions of sympathy. “I can’t be in love with him. You know about our marriage. The…deal we made.”
“Yeah, Rafe and Lucas told us,” Katie said.
“But the deal changed, didn’t it?” Rose lifted Danny to her shoulder and began patting his back.
Melinda could lie, but she wasn’t very good at it. And even as she considered it, she told herself there was no point in trying to deny the truth to these two. They were too smart to believe it, anyway.
“Yes, it changed. For me, at least.”
“Look,” Katie said quietly, “King men aren’t the easiest males in the universe, but they’re worth the trouble.”
“Absolutely,” Rose echoed.
“But you’re the only one who can decide if you’re willing to fight for him. Because you’re going to have to batter down all the walls he’s put up around his heart.”
“I always thought there was a loneliness about Sean,” Rose said thoughtfully, then smiled when the baby burped. “What a good boy.”
“I know what you mean,” Katie agreed, taking the empty baby bottle from Rose. She capped it and tucked it back into the diaper bag. “He’s sweet and funny, yet he always seems to sort of be on the outside, you know?”
Melinda listened and thought about the things Sean had told her about his early life. About the mother who hadn’t appreciated the son who tried to protect her. About how he must have felt—thrown aside, forgotten. And yes, she could understand his underlying loneliness. But that didn’t mean—
“He needs you, Melinda.” Katie nodded as if emphasizing her words. “You love him. Sean needs that.”
“Plus,” Rose said slyly, “we Wives-of-Kings have to stick together, right?”
“Amen.” Katie laughed a little. “I love Rafe like crazy, but King men are the most stubborn, bossy males on the face of the planet.”
“Tell me about it,” Rose murmured, rocking Danny as he fell asleep. “Did you know, Lucas got rid of my car? Said it wasn’t safe.”
“The skillet car?” Melinda asked, then explained, “Sean told me about it. I thought it sounded great.”
“Thank you, but I kept the skillet.” She grinned. “He bought me some monster SUV, said it was safer to drive the baby around in. But I insisted that my skillet go back on top.” She laughed in memory. “It almost killed him to put my skillet on top of a new car. But it’s there.”
“See, Melinda,” Katie urged, “they’re stubborn but they come around. And believe me, there is no better husband in the world than one of the Kings.”
“You don’t have to convince me,” Melinda assured them both. “I already know how great Sean is. But our marriage is different. We didn’t get married for love.”
“You said yourself,” Katie reminded her, “things change.”
Were they right? Could she risk finding out?
Could she live with herself if she didn’t?
Twelve
A few days later, the King family was gone, with the promise to return soon. The cargo ship had arrived, carrying all of the King company equipment they would need. The crews would be flying into the islands the following week. Time was passing so quickly, Melinda’s head spun. Soon, Sean would be leaving—unless she could convince him to stay.
She watched him as he walked the construction site, his gaze taking in everything. As soon as the King crew arrived, they’d begin work on the hotel. For now, Tomin and his sons had the foundation area taped off. Small wooden stakes had been hammered into the ground with white string drawn between them. She could see it now, the footprint of the King hotel and it was immense. It looked at the moment, as empty as she felt. To distract herself from the ache in her heart, she spoke up.
“What were you arguing about with Rafe this morning?”
“Huh?” He stopped walking and looked at her. “What?”
“You and Rafe. I saw the two of you arguing just before they got in the launch to leave.”
“Nothing,” he said, shaking his head. “It was nothing. Just my brother poking his nose in again. Like always.”
“I think it would be wonderful to have family like that. People who care enough about you to get into your business.”
He snorted. “Sounds good in theory.”
Something was wrong, she’d been feeling it ever since his family left. “Sean, what’s going on? You seem a little…tense.”
“No. Just thinking.”
“About?”
“A lot of things.” He pushed one hand through his hair. “Mostly, at the moment, my annoying brother.”
She smiled at the irritation in his voice. “What did he say?”
“Oh, he’s full of advice, Rafe is,” Sean told her wryly. “Not so good at taking it, but excellent at dishing it out.”
“You want to tell me about it?”
He laughed, but there was no humor in it, and Melinda’s heart gave a little lurch. “That’s the question, isn’t it? Do I tell you or not?”
Irritation blossomed just beneath the hurt, and she welcomed it. Better to be angry than in pain. “I’d rather know, whatever it is.”
Sean looked at her as if trying to decide what to do, and his blue eyes were shadowed with emotions she couldn’t read. “I don’t like secrets.”
“Neither do I.”
“Yeah,” he muttered. “We’ll see.”
Then he started talking. He told her about his first marriage and with every word he spoke, Melinda’s heart broke a little for him. To be used that way. To have something and then have it ripped away. She felt the old pain in his voice and read the carefully banked emotions in his eyes.
“I’m sorry,” she said when he was finished.
He bent down, picked up a rock and threw it. After a second or two, it clattered against more rocks some distance away. Then he walked toward her, closing the distance between them in a few long strides. He wore faded jeans, a dark blue Henley and the boots she was becoming way too fond of. But the look on his face was dark. Haunted.
Instinctively, Melinda reached out to hug him. Wrapping her arms around him, she held on tightly. He didn’t respond at first, and that tore at her. But she held on, and, after a moment or two, he returned the embrace, resting his chin on top of her head.
“I’m sorry she hurt you.”
“It was a long time ago. She doesn’t matter anymore.”
Melinda pulled back and looked up at him. “I can’t believe you didn’t know she was lying.”
“Good liars are hard to spot.” He stepped back from her.
“I suppose, but no one’s ever lied to me like that.”
“Oh, Melinda…” He shook his head, snorted a laugh and turned his gaze from hers. “If you knew.”
“What?”
“Nothing.” His jaw was clenched tight as if he were holding back a flood of words clamoring to get out. “Never mind.”
“Oh no,” she countered, taking his arm and holding on. “If you have something to say to me, say it.”
“There’s no point.”
“What are you talking about?”
He stepped away from her, shoved both hands into his back pockets and propped one boot on a rock beside hi
m. “Melinda, I’m in a piss-poor mood. Now’s not the time. Let’s just go, and forget all about this.”
“No,” she repeated. “There’s something you want to say, so say it, Sean. It’s been eating at you all day. Do you think I can’t see it? Tell me.”
He studied her for a long minute, then seemed to come to a decision. “Fine. You said you’d rather know the truth than have secrets?”
“Yes.” Warning bells were going off inside her, but she didn’t listen. Everything in her braced for whatever was coming and still, she was unprepared.
“Okay.” He rubbed the back of his neck, locked eyes with her and said, “I’m not the only one who can’t spot a liar. You didn’t notice that your beloved Steven was robbing your grandfather blind.”
“What?” She staggered back a step, shock draining the blood from her brain until she felt almost light-headed.
He gave a short, harsh laugh. “Yeah, the wonderful Steven was a con man with dozens of poorer but wiser women in his background.”
“You’re lying,” she whispered as a cold, tight band wrapped itself around her chest. She couldn’t breathe. Spots danced in her vision, and she shook her head to clear it.
“I don’t lie.” He held up one hand. “Wait. I guess I do. Because I’ve known about that jackass fiancé of yours for days and didn’t say anything.”
“How? Why?”
“I had my cousin Garrett do some checking into Steven’s background. Wasn’t hard to find.” He pulled his hands from his pockets and rubbed them both over his face as if he could somehow wipe away this whole afternoon.
It didn’t work though, and Sean was forced to watch her as the truth slammed home. He should have kept quiet. Damn Rafe and his advice to tell Melinda the truth. To let her know what kind of man Steven was so that she’d be ready to take a chance—a real chance—with Sean.
Why in the hell would she want to be with the man who had shattered her nice, pretty world? God, he was an idiot for listening to his brother. Rafe had advised coming clean. Telling Melinda about what Garrett had discovered—but mainly, confessing to her that he loved her. But he didn’t see the second half of that plan happening now. And the minute he got back to Long Beach, he would punch Rafe dead in the face as a big thank you.
But for now, he was standing opposite the woman he loved and watching as he slowly destroyed everything she had believed in.
“You’re wrong. Steven wouldn’t do that. He wouldn’t steal from my grandfather.”
“Damn it, Melinda!” Frustration bubbled over, and there was no stopping what he said next. “See the truth! He was a thief and a liar. He was planning on taking your money and dumping you. He’d already stolen from your grandfather and would have been arrested that last day but he died first, the bastard.”
Her mouth fell open and a single tear slid from the corner of her right eye. Sean tracked its progress, along her cheek, like a sunlit diamond. She didn’t wipe it away and no more followed.
“My grandfather knew?”
“Yes.”
“He never said.?…”
“He didn’t want to hurt you.”
“So he lied to me too?”
“To protect you,” he muttered and wished he could call this whole conversation back. He’d been feeling tension mount all day and that last-minute fight with Rafe hadn’t helped anything.
But time was passing. The crews would be arriving soon. Melinda had her trust fund, it had been wired into her account on St. Thomas. Soon, he’d be leaving, and that knowledge had been eating at him for too long.
“I shouldn’t have said anything,” he muttered, disgusted with himself, the situation, but mostly, with Steven.
“You’re sorry you told me.”
“Yeah.”
“Because I need protecting?”
“Well, yeah.”
“That is the most insulting thing I’ve ever heard,” she said, words tumbling together. A cold wind shot over the property, buffeted them both, then swept across the island. Waves crashed like a frenzied heartbeat and Melinda looked…pissed.
This was going well.
“I don’t need to be protected, Sean. I’m an adult whether you and my grandfather choose to see it or not. I can take hearing the truth no matter how hard it gets.” She moved in on him, eyes narrowed, mouth grim.
Being a sensible man, Sean took a step back.
She kept coming and poked her index finger into his chest as if she could drill through to the other side. “What you’re telling me is that everyone in my life has been lying to me. My grandfather. Steven. You.”
Fine, she had a right to be mad. But damned if he’d stand for being compared to that dead jackass one more time. “Don’t lump us in with that dirtbag,” Sean argued hotly. “That SOB was scamming you. We were—”
“Lying to me,” she finished for him. “It doesn’t matter why, Sean. My God, you don’t even see it, do you? How could I have thought I was in love with you?”
“What?” Had he heard that right? The open black hole in his chest filled with hope, but a moment later, that hope drained away.
“At least I loved the man I thought you were,” she corrected. “But if you’ve been lying about this, then how do I know you haven’t lied about other things?”
“I haven’t.” He grabbed her shoulders, pulled her close. “Melinda, nothing that happened between us was a lie.”
“And I should take your word for that, I suppose?” She looked up into his eyes, and Sean saw not only fury, but pain in those blue depths. Pain that he had caused by dumping all of this on her. Lucas was right. Sean was an idiot. He was about to lose the woman he loved, and there wasn’t a thing he could do about it. He’d blown this so badly he couldn’t see a way out.
“I won’t be lied to anymore,” she told him, and though her voice was soft the determination in it was unmistakable. “This temporary marriage is over, Sean. We both got what we wanted out of the deal. Now it’s done.”
A cold fist squeezed his heart. “Melinda…”
“I don’t want to talk to you anymore,” she said and turned to walk to the car. “Just please take me back to the hotel.”
Sean watched her go, and a big piece of his heart went with her.
Sean moved out of their suite as soon as they returned to the hotel. Melinda didn’t watch him leave. She didn’t think she could stand it. Instead, she went to her grandfather. Her fury with him wasn’t as deep as what she felt for Sean. Because her grandfather’s actions she could understand. He would always see her as a child. As that small girl she had been when her world dissolved and only he had been able to protect her.
But Sean, Melinda told herself for three days, should have known better. He should have told her the truth as soon as he learned it. She had had a right to know that the man she had mourned so deeply wasn’t who she thought he was.
Now, she stood at Steven’s grave as a cold wind tossed her hair into her eyes. She’d come here to say goodbye, and now she knew it hadn’t even been necessary. Steven was the past and she’d already wasted too much time on a man who hadn’t deserved it.
Silly to be talking to a headstone, but Melinda needed to say a few things and this was the only way to get it done. “I’m not even mad at you anymore. I’m angrier with myself. See, what I felt for you is nothing compared to what I feel for Sean. But I was in such a hurry to love and be loved, that I let you convince me that what I felt was real. The truth was, we were both lying.”
She sighed and looked out over the cemetery with its trees, neatly clipped grass and sprinkling of monuments. “You didn’t love me, and, as it turns out, I didn’t really love you, either.”
Melinda knew now what love was. It was the overwhelming emptiness in her heart where Sean used to be. It was knowing that nothing in her world would ever be right again because the most important person in it was gone.
Nodding to herself, she looked back down at Steven’s grave and said, “I just had to face you befor
e I can do what I have to do. I’m going to California. I’m going to find Sean and tell him I love him. I’m going to tell him that I was angry, but that I never stopped loving him. And then I’m going to drag him back to Tesoro. Where he belongs. With me.”
Then she walked away and didn’t look back.
She had one last piece to finish for James’s shop before she could leave the island to face Sean. Melinda bent her head to her task, carefully using the wire wrapping tool to ease the fine gold wire around a flat topaz. She fought for concentration, forcing her mind away from the man she loved to the pendant in front of her. But it wasn’t easy.
“And interruptions won’t help,” she muttered when a knock sounded on her workroom door.
Disgusted, she got up to answer it and found a small man in an elegant suit smiling at her. “Melinda King?”
“Yes,” she said, praying that she would be keeping that name.
“Excellent,” he said, stepping into the room and sending his gaze darting over everything. “Ah…” He spotted the glass case and walked to it.
It was only half full, since Rose and Katie had purchased so many pieces. But what was there clearly had the little man captivated.
“Beautiful. Even lovelier than the pieces I saw in town.”
“Excuse me,” Melinda said, leaving the door open—just in case he was crazy—“who are you?”
“Forgive me,” he said, whirling around to hand her a business card that read Fontenot Fine Jewels. “I’m Dominic Fontenot, and I believe I’m about to make you a very wealthy woman.”
“What?” She looked from the card to the man and back again.
“I spoke with your husband, Sean King? He insisted I come to the island to see your work for myself, and I can tell you, I don’t ordinarily enjoy travel.” He sighed and glanced at the jewelry again. “But this was worth it. I would like to represent your work. I can promise you that a designer of your talent will go far. Why, this necklace alone…” he pointed to the teardrop design Melinda had made for Kathy, “would easily fetch more than twenty thousand dollars.”
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