by Ann Major
“Tomorrow! Saturday! I know he told you he broke off his wedding plans, but if he did, they’re on again. He’s every bit as bad as you said. You were right to go away. If I was you, I’d never come back.”
So, since he’d never cared which Murray sister he married, he was going to marry Jaycee after all.
Well, she’d stop him. She’d go back—at once—and she’d stop him cold.
Five
A sign in front of the church displayed a calendar that said Murray-Sullivan Wedding: 7:30 p.m.
It was five-thirty as Kira swung into the mostly empty parking lot.
Good. No guests had arrived. She’d made it in time.
The sun was low; the shadows long; the light a rosy gold. Not that she took the time to notice the clarity of the light or the rich green of the grass or the tiny spring leaves budding on the trees. Her heart was pounding. She was perspiring as she hit the brakes and jumped out of her Toyota.
The drive from the coast hadn’t taken much more than three hours, but the trip had tired her. Feeling betrayed and yet desperate to find her sister and stop this travesty before it was too late, Kira ran toward the back of the church where the dressing rooms were. Inside, dashing from room to room, she threw open doors, calling her sister’s name. Then, suddenly, in the last room, she found Jaycee, wearing a blue cotton dress with a strand of pearls at her throat. With her blond hair cascading down her back, Jaycee sat quietly in front of a long, gilt mirror, applying lipstick. She looked as if she’d been carefully posed by a photographer.
“Jaycee!” Kira cried breathlessly. “At last… Why aren’t you wearing…a wedding dress?”
Then she saw the most beautiful silk gown seeded with tiny pearls lying across a sofa and a pair of white satin shoes on the floor.
“Oh, but that’s why you’re here…to dress… Of course. Where’s Mother? Why isn’t Mother here to help you?”
“She’s not feeling well. I think she’s resting. Mother and Quinn told me to wait here.”
Odd. Usually when it came to organizing any social affair, their mother had endless reserves of energy that lasted her until the very end of the event.
“Where are your bridesmaids?”
Turning like an actress compelled by her cue, Jaycee pressed her lips together and then put her lipstick inside her blue purse. “I was so worried you wouldn’t come,” she said. “I was truly afraid you wouldn’t show. We all were. Quinn most especially. But me, too. He’ll be so happy you’re here. I don’t know what he would have done if you hadn’t gotten here in time. You don’t know how important you are to him.”
Right. That’s why he’s marrying you without a qualm.
As always, Jaycee worried about everyone she loved. Kira very much doubted that Quinn would be happy with her once she finished talking to Jaycee.
Guilt flooded Kira. How would she ever find the words to explain to her trusting sister why she couldn’t marry Quinn? Jaycee, who’d always been loved by everybody, probably couldn’t imagine there was a soul in the world who wouldn’t love her if she tried hard enough to win him. After all, Daddy had given his blessing.
“You can’t marry Quinn today,” Kira stated flatly.
“I know that. He told me all about you two. When Daddy asked me to marry Quinn, I tried to tell myself it was the right thing to do. For the family and all. But…when I found out he wanted to marry you…it was such a relief.”
“Why did you show up here today if you knew all this?”
“Quinn will…explain everything.” Jaycee’s eyes widened as the door opened. Kira whirled to tell their visitor that this was a private conversation, but her words died in a convulsive little growl. Quinn, dressed in a tux that set off his broad shoulders and stunning dark looks to heart-stopping perfection, strode masterfully into the room.
Feeling cornered, Kira sank closer to Jaycee. When he saw her, he stopped, his eyes flashing with hurt and anger before he caught her mood and stiffened.
“I was hoping you’d make it in time for the wedding,” he said, his deep baritone cutting her to the quick.
“Damn you!” Her throat tightened as she arose. “Liar! How could you do this?”
“I’m thrilled to see you, too, darlin’,” he murmured, his gaze devouring her. “You do look lovely.”
Kira, who’d driven straight from the island without making a single stop, was wearing a pair of worn, tight jeans and a T-shirt that hugged her curves. She hadn’t bothered with makeup or a comb for her tangled hair. She could do nothing but take in a mortified breath at his comment while she stared at his dark face, the face she’d painted so many times even when images of him had blurred through her tears.
“What is the meaning of this?” she screamed.
“There’s no need for hysterics, darlin’,” he said calmly.
“Don’t darlin’ me! You have no right to call me that!” she shrieked. “I haven’t even begun to show you hysterics! I’m going to tear you limb from limb. Pound you into this tile floor… Skin you alive—”
“Kira, Quinn’s been so worried about you. Frantic that you wouldn’t show up in time,” Jaycee began. “Talk about wedding jitters. He’s had a full-blown case…”
“I’ll just bet he has!”
“I see we misunderstand each other, Kira. I was afraid of this. Jacinda,” he said in a silky tone that maddened Kira further because it made her feel jealous of her innocent sister, “could you give us a minute? I need to talk to Kira alone.”
With a quick, nervous glance in Kira’s direction, Jaycee said, “Kira, are you sure you’ll be okay? You don’t look so good.”
Kira nodded mutely, wanting to spare Jaycee any necessary embarrassment. So Jaycee slipped out of the room and closed the door quietly.
Her hand raised, Kira bounded toward him like a charging lioness ready to claw her prey, but he caught her wrist and used it to lever her closer.
“Let me go!” she cried.
“Not while you’re in such a violent mood, darlin’. You’d only scratch me or do something worse that you’d regret.”
“I don’t think so.”
“This storm will pass, as all storms do. You’ll see. Because it’s due to a misunderstanding.”
“A misunderstanding? I don’t think so! You promised you’d break up with my sister, and I, being a fool, believed you. Then you slept with me. How could you go back on a promise like that after what we—”
“I wouldn’t. I didn’t.” His voice was calm, dangerously soft. “I’ve kept my promise.”
“Liar. If I hadn’t shown up, you would have married my sister.”
“The hell I would have! It was a bluff. How else could I get you to come back to San Antonio? I was going mad not knowing where you were or if you were all right. If you hadn’t shown up, I would have looked like a fool, but I wouldn’t have married your sister.”
“But the newspapers all say you’re going to marry her. Here. Today.”
“I know what they say because my people wrote the press releases. That was all part of the bluff—to get you here. We’ll have to write a correction now, won’t we? The only Murray sister I plan to marry today is you, darlin’. If it’ll help to convince you, I’ll repeat myself on bended knee.”
When he began to kneel, she shrieked at him, “Don’t you dare…or I’ll kick you. This is not a proposal. This is a farce.”
“I’m asking you to marry me, darlin’.”
He didn’t love her. He never would. His was a damaged soul. He’d told her that in plain, hurtful terms right after he’d made love to her.
The details of the conversation she’d overheard came back to her.
“Let me get this straight,” she said. “You always intended to marry a Murray daughter.”
“And your father suggested Jaycee because he thought she would agree more easily.”
“Then I came to your office and asked you not to marry her, and after dinner and sex, you decided one sister was as good as the other. So, why not mar
ry the easy sister? Is that about it?”
“Easy?” He snorted. “I wish to hell you were easy, but no, you disappeared for weeks.”
“Back to the basics. Marrying one of the Murray daughters is about business and nothing more to you?”
“In the beginning…maybe that was true…”
“I repeat—I heard you talking to Habib, whoever the hell he is, the morning after we made love. And your conversation made it seem that your relationship with me, with any Murray daughter, was still about business. Your voice was cold, matter-of-fact and all too believable.”
“Habib works for me. Why would I tell him how I felt when I’d only known you a day and was still reeling, trying to figure it out for myself?”
“Oh, so now you’re Mr. Sensitive. Well, I don’t believe you, and I won’t marry you. I’ve always dreamed of marrying for love. I know that is an emotion you despise and are incapable of feeling. Maybe that’s why you can be so high-handed about forcing me to take my sister’s place and marry you. I think you…are despicable…and cold. This whole situation is too cynical for words.”
“It’s true that our marriage will make Murray Oil employees see this change of leadership in a less hostile way, as for the rest—”
“So, for you, it’s business. I will not be bought and sold like so many shares of stock. I am a human being. An educated, Western woman with a woman’s dreams and feelings.”
“I know that. It’s what makes you so enchanting.”
“Bull. You’ve chosen to ride roughshod over me and my family. You don’t care what any of us want or feel.”
“I do care what you feel. I care too damn much. It’s driven me mad these last few weeks, worrying about you. I wished you’d never walked into my office, never made me feel… Hell! You’ve made me crazy, woman.”
Before she had any idea of what he was about to do, he took a long step toward her. Seizing her, he crushed her against his tall, hard body.
His hands gripping her close, his mouth slanted across hers with enough force to leave her breathless and have her moaning…and then, dear God, as his masterful kiss went on and on and on, she wanted nothing except more of him. Melting, she opened her mouth and her heart. How could she need him so much? She’d missed him terribly—every day they’d been apart.
Needle-sharp thrills raced down her spine. His tongue plunged inside her lips, and soon she was so drunk on his taste and passion, her nails dug into his back. She wanted to be somewhere else, somewhere more private.
She’d missed him. She’d wanted this. She hadn’t been able to admit it. His clean, male scent intoxicated her. The length of his all-too-familiar body pressing against hers felt necessary. Every second, asleep and awake, she had thought of him, craved him—craved this. Being held by him only made the need more bittersweet. How could she want such a cold man so desperately?
“We can’t feel this, do this,” she whispered in a tortured breath even as she clung to him.
“Says who?”
“We’re in a church.”
His arms tightened their hold. “Marry me, and we can do all we want to each other—tonight…and forever,” he said huskily. “It will become a sacred marital right.”
How could he say that when he didn’t care which Murray sister walked down the aisle as long as it saved him a few million dollars?
The thought hissed through her like cold water splashed onto a fire.
Her parents’ love had carried them through many difficulties. Her dad was a workaholic. Her mother was a perfectionist, a status-seeking socialite. But they had always been madly in love.
Kira had grown up believing in the sanctity of marriage. How could she even consider a marriage that would be nothing more than a business deal to her husband?
A potential husband who had lapped up women the way she might attack a box of chocolates. Maybe he temporarily lusted after her, but he didn’t love her and never could, as he’d told her. No doubt some other woman would soon catch his fancy.
Even wanting him as she did, she wasn’t ready to settle for a marriage based on poor judgment, a momentary sexual connection, shallow lust, revenge and business.
She sucked in a breath and pushed against his massive chest. His grip eased slightly, maybe because the handsome rat thought he’d bent her to his will with his heated words and kisses.
“Listen to me,” she said softly. “Are you listening?”
“Yes, darlin’.”
“I won’t marry you. Or any man who could dream up such a cold, cynical scheme.”
“How can you call this cold when we’re both burning up with desire?” He traced a fingertip along her cheek that made her jump and shiver before she jerked her head away.
“Cheap tricks like that won’t induce me to change my mind. There’s nothing you can say or do that will convince me. No masterful seduction technique that you honed in other women’s bedrooms will do the job, either.”
“I wish I had the time to woo you properly and make you believe how special you are.”
Special. Now, there was a word that hit a nerve. She’d always wanted to feel beloved to those she cared about. How did he know that? It infuriated her that he could guess her sensibilities and so easily use them to manipulate her.
“What you want is revenge and money. If you had all of eternity, it wouldn’t be long enough. I won’t have you or your loveless deal. That’s final.”
“We’ll see.”
His silky baritone was so blatantly confident it sent an icy chill shivering down her spine.
Six
“You told him—the enemy—that Mother might be dying, and you didn’t tell me or Jaycee! And you did this behind my back—weeks and weeks ago!”
Kira fisted and unfisted her hands as she sat beside her father in the preacher’s library. Rage and hurt shot through her.
“How could you be so disloyal? I’ve never felt so completely betrayed. Sometimes I feel like a stray you picked up on the side of the road. You didn’t really want me—only you have to keep me because it’s the right thing to do.”
“Nonsense! You’re our daughter.”
He blanched at her harsh condemnation, and she hung her head in guilt. “I’m sorry,” she muttered.
She wanted to weep and scream, but she wouldn’t be able to think if she lost all control.
“You know your mother and how she always wants to protect you. I thought only of her when I confided in him.”
“First, you sell Jaycee to him because, as always, she’s your first choice.”
“Kira…”
“Now, it’s me.”
“Don’t blame me. He wants you!”
“As if that makes you blameless. Why didn’t either of my parents think about protecting their daughters from Quinn?”
“It’s complicated. Even if your mother weren’t sick, we need someone younger at the top, someone with a clearer vision of the future. Quinn’s not what you think. Not what the press thinks. I knew him as a boy. This can be a win-win situation for you both.”
“He grew into a vengeful man who hates us.”
“You’re wrong. He doesn’t hate you. You’ll never make me believe that. You should have seen how he acted when you disappeared. I think he’ll make you a good husband.”
“You don’t care about that. You don’t care about me. You only care about Murray Oil’s bottom line, about retiring and being with Mother.”
“How can you say that? I care about you, and I care about this family as much as you do. Yes, I need to take care of your mother now, but like I said—I know Quinn. I’ve watched him. He’s good, smart, solid. And he’s a brilliant businessman who will be the best possible CEO for Murray Oil during these tumultuous economic times. He’s done great things already. If I had time, I’d fill you in on how he helped organize a deal with the EU while you were gone. He’s still in the middle of it at the moment.”
“For years he’s worked to destroy you.”
“Hell
, maybe he believed that’s what he was doing, maybe others bought it, too, but I never did. I don’t think he knew what was driving him. This company is his heritage, too. And I saw how he was when you were gone. The man was beside himself. He was afraid you were in trouble. I don’t know what happened between the two of you before you ran away, but I know caring when I see it. Quinn cares for you. He’s just like his father. You should have seen how Kade loved his wife, Esther. Then you’d know the love Quinn is capable of.”
“You think Quinn will come to love me? Are you crazy? Quinn doesn’t believe he can love again. The man has lived his life fueled by hate. Hatred for all of us. How many times do I have to repeat it?”
“Maybe so, but the only reason his hatred was so strong was that the love that drove it was just as strong. You’re equally passionate. You just haven’t found your calling yet.” Her father took her hands in his as he continued, “You should have seen him the day he came to tell me he had me by the balls and was set to take over Murray Oil. He could have broken me that day. Instead, he choked when I told him about Vera because he’s more decent than he knows. He’s ten times the man that his father ever was, that’s for sure. Maybe you two didn’t meet under ideal circumstances, but he’ll make you a good husband.”
“You believe that only because you want to believe it. You’re as cold and calculating as he is.”
“I want what’s best for all of us.”
“This is a deal to you—just like it is to him. Neither of you care which daughter marries Quinn today, as long as the deal is completed for Murray Oil.”
“I suggested Jaycee primarily to avoid a scene like the one we’re having, but Quinn wants you. He won’t even consider Jaycee now, even though he was willing to marry her before you meddled.”
“Oh, so this fiasco is my fault.”
“Someday you’ll thank me.”
“I’m not marrying him. I won’t be sacrificed.”
“Before you make your decision, your mother wants to talk to you.” He pressed a couple of buttons on his phone, and the door behind him opened as if by magic. Her mother’s perfectly coiffed blonde head caught the light of the overhead lamp. She was gripping her cell phone with clawlike hands.
