by Sonya Weiss
“If you’re wondering how I could afford a place like this, I couldn’t. Mason and the others had it built for me,” Martha said.
“I wasn’t wondering.”
Martha crossed her arms and this time, her look was definitely unfriendly. “You could have prevented what happened to my grandsons and the others. Why didn’t you tell the truth about that night?”
The harshness of the other woman’s tone caught Olivia by surprise. “I don’t know what you mean.”
“Enough, Martha,” Mason said quietly, but with authority. He turned his focus to Olivia. “Make whatever phone calls you need to so we can head to the airport.”
Agitated about Martha’s accusation and Mason’s high-handed remark, Olivia said, “I can’t simply run away. I have people I need to notify. I’ve got to arrange for mail pickup and I need to pack some things.” She shook her head. “I’ll need at least two days and that’s after we finish going over my list and if I even agree to go with you, which I haven’t done.”
“You have one hour.”
Martha quickly excused herself after another look at Mason.
“That’s not possible.” Olivia tried to find her inner peace. Her horoscope said she’d deal with a trying situation today, and it was right on target. “I have a photo shoot for dresses I need to reschedule as well as a conference call with a fabric supplier this afternoon.”
“You have fifty-nine minutes remaining.”
Her anger trampled the minimal peace she’d managed to find. “I think the dislike I feel for you is going to grow into full-blown hatred, Mason. I don’t work for you. I don’t follow your orders. This is where I tell you that you can go f—”
“Do you know what happened to Martha’s grandson?”
Olivia took a breath in an attempt to rein in her anger. “He died while he was at the juvenile center. He had a heart attack from an undiagnosed heart condition.”
Mason’s lips twisted. “Is that still the story making the rounds?”
Her stomach did a flip at the anger in his voice. “I read about it in the paper.”
“Of course.” He turned away, but not before Olivia saw the bitterness in his eyes.
“Martha,” he called out, “arrange to have the Ferrari returned. I’ll take your car to the airport so I can haul Red. Have someone pick it up for you.”
The older woman walked back into the room and handed Mason a small canvas bag. “Red’s toys and some treats I got for her.”
“Thanks. I’ll see you the next time you come to Chicago.” He whistled, and Red bounded toward him. As he walked out of the house with the Great Dane following, he said over his shoulder, “Fifty-five minutes, Olivia.”
She marched after him, determined he was going to see her point. “Like I said, I never agreed to go to Chicago with you. I need at least two days.”
“You know as well as I do you’ve got no choice in the matter if you want to protect your business. You know you’re coming to Chicago, so let’s not waste either of our time, hmm? I’m a man who likes to make every second count.”
She clenched her teeth together. How the hell was she supposed to upend her entire life in less than an hour? Damn Mason. She got into the car with a huff and glared at his profile as he drove to her house. She heard the dog moving restlessly in the backseat, mirroring the same restlessness she felt within herself. This was ridiculous. Going to Chicago might be part of the package, but she didn’t have to do it now. Once they got to her house, she’d take a minute to calm herself and then explain to Mason why she needed a couple of days before she could be ready to leave so he would understand.
Fifteen minutes later, Mason pulled into her driveway and shot her a look, then tapped his wristwatch. She debated for a moment on whether to tell him to go to hell as she hopped out of the car. But in the end, she supposed it worked out for the best that she’d simply slammed the car door and marched into her tidy Cape Cod–style home instead.
The moment she entered, she received a call from the rehabilitation center about a payment and that had settled the “leave now or tell Mason off” dilemma. Her bank account was the swaying factor. She couldn’t afford for Mason to call a press conference and expose her lie. She couldn’t lose her credibility. Her father’s recovery was on the line.
Dragging a suitcase from the closet, Olivia fumed while she packed. Every which way she turned led her toward Mason. She hated that money was the factor that decided her fate.
Almost every penny Heather Ramsey had paid for the wedding dress Olivia designed had gone to taking care of the balance already owed to the center for her father’s care. So she was not quite back to square one financially. But the financial pressure would all go away the minute she could fulfill some of the demand waiting in the wings for her dresses. She just needed a little more time, and it looked like for now, her time belonged to Mason.
She hated not being in control of her life. She projected a tough independence and she wanted people to believe that. No one knew it hid a fear that life might once again deal her the kind of wracking pain she’d experienced when she’d lost her mother. There had been little emotional support. Her friends had meant well, but hadn’t known what to say and had eventually stopped calling, stopped coming by. Her father had withdrawn into himself. She’d learned to pretend. To be the girl who was okay, the one who hid the hurt and didn’t lean on anyone but herself.
…
The woman has a body that demands attention. While he’d waited for her, Olivia had changed into a pair of figure-hugging shorts that made him think about taking them off and putting himself on her instead. He knew he needed to be careful. She was the daughter of his enemy, and he wanted her with a passion that would take him down if he didn’t keep it under tight control. He’d seen more than one man ruined because of a woman. Not him. Nothing would deter him from what he intended to do, no matter how damned sexy Olivia Carter was. Or how long those shorts made her legs look.
She pulled a suitcase on wheels behind her as she left the house, her lips tight with disapproval. Mason got out and opened the trunk, then took the case from her, easily swinging it into place.
“My life is officially scrambled thanks to you. Anything else?” The anger flushing her cheeks made her eyes look brighter.
His body was screaming for him to reach for her, to haul her against him and quiet the hunger. He closed the trunk and allowed his gaze to travel across her womanly hips and up to where her breasts were outlined in the form-fitting T-shirt she now wore. He could almost picture what they looked like minus the bra visible under the thin material. “Unless you want to kiss me, no, that’s all.” Taunting her was probably not the wisest idea, but he wanted to throw her as off-kilter as he felt. He wanted to see the real Olivia Carter beneath the mask.
“Kiss you? Why would I want to kiss you?”
“Do you think that I can’t tell that you’re attracted to me?” Mason shifted as his body painfully reacted to her nearness, wanting to find relief with the woman in front of him.
Olivia ran her hands up the length of his shirt and stopped when she reached the collar. Flipping it up straight, she tugged, using the edges of the material to pull his head lower. “This is one woman who won’t fall for your sex appeal. I have too much to lose. I’m no fool. What was it you said about yourself? That you had no heart? So save yourself the effort, Mason. I won’t kiss you or fall into your bed.” She released his collar and stepped back.
It’d been a long time since a woman had told him no, a long time since he’d had to give chase.
She crossed her arms over her breasts and Mason jerked his gaze upward. “I answered the question of whether or not I wanted to kiss you.” She smirked. “I can tell that you don’t like my answer. Do you want to try again? Any more questions?”
“Just one more, sweetheart. The night of the fire, why didn’t you tell your father that I was with you?”
…
Fear raced along Olivia’s spine. T
he same fear that crept into her whenever she tried too hard to push her thoughts back to that night. With the pain of her mother’s death only a few months old, she’d gone to that party with the intention of getting drunk. Hoping she could drown out the pain, hoping at least for a little while to fill the aching loss threatening to swallow her whole. She lifted her chin. “I had too much to drink and I barely remember it.”
He moved around the car and opened the door, waiting for her to get in. “But you do remember something.”
“Not much. My state of undress. I was upset the next morning because I couldn’t remember anything. I didn’t think I’d drunk enough to black out. I thought someone might have slipped something in my drink, so I asked Seth’s sister because we came to the party together, but she said nothing happened. I asked around but no one saw anything out of the ordinary.”
His eyes darkened and his lips twisted. “You went to the party with Seth’s sister. Of course.” He slammed the door.
Olivia glanced over her shoulder at the dog. “What’s his damn problem besides me?” Red barked in response and then rested her head on the seat to fix Olivia with soulful brown eyes.
Never one to tiptoe around subjects, when Mason got in beside her, Olivia said, “Because I had bruises on my arms the next day and couldn’t remember what happened at the party, I went to the doctor to get examined. I wasn’t assaulted.”
“No?”
“You act like you know something that I don’t. What is it? Why did you grimace when I mentioned Seth’s sister? Why don’t you just tell me?”
The tires spun as he backed out. “You honestly don’t remember seeing me that night during the time I was supposedly setting the fire?” His tone was disbelieving.
Olivia shook her head. “I remember seeing you at the party, but only briefly. Anything after that I don’t remember.”
“Or maybe you choose not to remember the truth because you’re protecting someone else? Like the person who started the fire?”
Olivia mouthed a word she didn’t normally use. “I told you I don’t remember. You don’t know me at all if you think I’d let an innocent person get prosecuted for something he didn’t do. I’d wondered about your innocence, but then I saw the arson investigator’s report. All the facts in it pointed to you and your friends.”
“I’m sure the report did blame me and my friends, but it’s a little too convenient and a little too circumstantial.” He sighed. “Forget it. I don’t know why I thought you’d believe me.”
“Mason, if there’s something about the past you want to discuss, I’m willing to listen.” Her phone rang and she ignored it. Seconds later, the voicemail reminder buzzed.
“Go ahead and check that.”
Olivia pulled out her phone.
She scrolled through her notifications. Seven text messages and three voicemails. She sighed, wondering how many were business-related and how many were about her father. Though his ability to communicate wasn’t 100 percent better, he managed to get one of his former deputies or a friend to constantly remind her to call or to stop by. Then when she did, he acted like he didn’t want her there. Like she’d betrayed him for putting him in rehabilitation.
The therapist at the center warned Olivia not to cave, not to baby her father or do things for him that he was capable of doing but stubbornly wouldn’t. Easy for the therapist to say. Olivia’s heart went through the wringer every time she saw her father. She couldn’t stand the thought of losing him, too.
Mason glanced at her. “Let me ask you another question about that night.” He looked into the rearview mirror and then smoothly merged with other traffic on the interstate heading to the airport. “Where’s my motive?”
“For setting the fire?” Olivia thought for a second. “People don’t always have a motive for the stupid things they do.”
“So my friends and I set the fire for the hell of it?”
“The four of you had a reputation for not liking authority, for vandalizing public property. After I read the report, I assumed you set the fire because you hated my father.”
A muscle worked in his jaw and his hands tightened on the steering wheel. “I won’t deny that I never cared much for your father. But did you ever consider that he’s the one who was wrong about me?”
“I’ve had no reason to believe Dad was wrong. Do you have proof that he was? My father is an honest man.” When Mason didn’t respond, Olivia pulled out the agreement she’d worked on. With everything in her life changing at the moment, she needed to get back in control. “We should iron out these issues before we get to Chicago. I’ll need to come back to Butler Field a few times.”
Though she visited her father every day after she finished working at the shop, Tuesdays and Fridays were the days she spent half days with him trying to coax him into taking an interest in life again. But since she couldn’t afford to fly back and forth that often, she’d have to tell her father she was away on business.
“You can use my private plane to return whenever you need to. If it isn’t available, I’ll make sure you get another flight home.”
“I assumed my needs weren’t of any concern to you.”
Mason parked the car at the private airstrip on the other side of the main airport. With the engine running to keep the air-conditioning on, he unbuckled his seat belt and angled his body toward hers. “That’s where you’re wrong. Everything about you is my concern.”
Jerking on the release mechanism for her own seat belt, Olivia said, “Not everything. Just the land I own.” She pushed the door open.
…
“Just the land,” he agreed. He didn’t like the vulnerable look in her eyes, the tense expression on her face, and he wondered if there was something he didn’t know about Olivia. He mentally cursed. Vulnerable wasn’t something he wanted to see. He needed her to be as cold and uncaring as he’d always pictured her in his mind. He needed to believe that she’d known he was innocent that night and had deliberately chosen not to speak up because she hadn’t wanted to taint her reputation. Didn’t want her father thinking she’d been with him and get the wrong idea.
They got out of the car and walked toward the Gulfstream waiting for them.
“Besides being too drunk to remember that night, do you remember anything leading up to the party that stood out as odd?”
Olivia waited until she was seated to answer. “Not really. It was an ordinary day before and after. Well, except that I don’t like being around Seth’s sister anymore and I feel uneasy when I try to think too hard about that night.”
“You’re not associating any fear with being around me, are you?” he asked. That he’d saved her from being assaulted and ended up linked with fear in her mind made his gut burn at the added injustice.
“Not at all. I don’t feel afraid around you. Mostly irritated. I’m assuming you have that effect on many people.”
He acknowledged that with a dip of his head.
“I believe the fear stems from having that blank space of time in my memory. I don’t like thinking about having drunk so much. I was trying to dull the wound of losing my mother. It didn’t work.” She looked at him with a pained smile.
“I understand about wanting to quiet pain.” He was responsible for Adam’s death. Responsible for his friends serving time for a crime they didn’t commit. He’d tried in the beginning to tell Chief Carter how’d he’d rescued Olivia from the assault at the party, but the man had been enraged and refused to listen. He’d decided that Mason was guilty long before the court had. Even Mason’s court-appointed attorney hadn’t believed him. At the cemetery, he’d told Jake and Cole how he’d tried to make the chief listen. Though they hadn’t said anything, Mason assumed the two of them thought he should have tried harder.
Olivia pulled her gaze away from his. Leaning back in her seat, she ran her hands along the arms of the soft cream-colored leather. “From a juvenile correctional facility to immense wealth. How’d you do it?”
�
�I worked my ass off and didn’t let anyone or anything stand in my way.”
“And that’s the same philosophy you plan to use to get my land?”
“You won’t be able to stand against me, Olivia. Like I told you at the hotel, I always know my opponents. Their strengths. Their weaknesses. What they want more than anything in the world. I’ll show you the benefits you’ll receive from selling the land.”
“No amount of money will make me sell.”
“Sweetheart, the land is already mine. Signing the paperwork is just a formality on your part. Think of all the good you can do by agreeing. Your mother wanted to set up a program to help at-risk teenagers while they were in high school. She wanted to create scholarships to send them to college. The money from the sale can help make that happen. I know it’s something that you want.”
Olivia nodded. “It is something that I want, but I’ve already looked into it. There are other ways that I can put a program like that in place in Butler Field without selling the land.”
“Maybe, but who’s going to back you from start to completion? It’ll take a lot of money. Good things always cost something, Olivia. I can make that happen for you.”
“No.” She crossed her legs and laughed. “And don’t think that just because you’re handsome and sexy that you can work your charm and I’ll change my mind.”
His gaze caressed her legs and he smiled with assurance. “Give it time.”
“Maybe instead of me giving in to you about the land, you’ll fall for me and not want it anymore. You did already make it clear you want me,” Olivia pointed out with a smug smile. “Wanting can be a prelude to falling in love with someone.”
“I wouldn’t take that to the bank if I were you.”
“You falling for me or you wanting me?”
