Rand (A 3 Brides for 3 Bad Boys Novella)

by Lucy Monroe

  "But that’s sick. Why didn’t they just get a divorce?"

  "I can’t speak for Carter’s mother, but Hoyt liked the prestige and façade of respectability that marriage to the daughter of one of the founding families of New Hope gave him."

  Phoebe reached across the table and soft, warm fingers curled around his wrist. "I’m sorry."

  He rubbed her fingers with his own and let the pleasure that gave him settle his insides. "That was only part of it. I read my grandfather’s will after my father died and Grandfather stipulated that all his assets would go directly to Carter if my father divorced his wife and married my mother."

  There had been no family acceptance from the old man toward Rand ever. The bastard son had had no place in the Sloane family and his grandfather had made sure that would not change.

  Phoebe’s eyes had filled with sympathetic tears and Rand felt like a dog. He didn’t want to make her unhappy.

  "What a horrible thing to do. That’s just plain wicked."

  "I guess Carter thinks so too," he found himself telling her when he’d had no intention of sharing his brother’s nutty scheme with anyone. "He’s got some crazy idea about giving me half of Sloane Electronics."

  Phoebe’s eyes grew wide. "So that’s why he came home."

  Rand didn’t know. His brother made no bones about wanting the lithium on Luna Island for Sloane Electronics, but then he wanted to give half of the company to Rand. Or so he said.

  "When did Carter tell you that?"

  "He called." Actually, he’d called multiple times, but Rand hadn’t picked up the subsequent calls on his cell.

  "I’m glad."

  "I don’t trust people named Sloane."

  Phoebe’s eyes filled with understanding, going warm with compassion. "That’s hardly a surprise after the way both your grandfather and dad behaved."

  "The old man made damn sure Hoyt never married my mom, that’s for sure."

  "And Hoyt did nothing about it."

  "That’s for sure."

  "That kind of pressure wouldn’t have worked on a man like you. You would have told your grandfather to take a flying leap and built your own company."

  Which was essentially what he had done.

  "But your dad stayed in a marriage he didn’t want for the sake of money and appearances. It’s pretty obvious he never loved Carter’s mother. A man doesn’t have affairs when he loves his wife."

  Rand tended to agree, no matter what current psychobabble stated. "He didn’t love my mother either."

  "No. He would have married her otherwise."

  "Mom thought he did. She felt bad for him and lived a shadowy place in his life until the day she died."

  "You refused to stay in the shadows," Phoebe said perceptively, her grip on his wrist tightening momentarily.

  "That’s right. I gave him a choice, publicly acknowledge me or be publicly denied by me."

  "He chose to acknowledge you."

  And to this day, Rand didn’t know if that was because he was afraid of the scandal Rand might have caused or because he’d wanted a real bond with his oldest son. But all he said was, "Yes."

  "You aren’t responsible for the lack in your father."

  "I finally figured that out." About the time he married Susan, but then he’d lost her and he’d come to accept that love had too high a price to pay.

  His mother had paid dearly for her love of Hoyt Sloane. Rand had paid for that love throughout his childhood too. Susan and their baby’s death had been the final blow to a heart that turned to stone from the battering.

  ***

  That night in bed, Phoebe curled into Rand’s sleeping body and ached for the boy who had been denied so much and the man who had lost so much. She loved him with an unstoppable love, but after their discussion in the restaurant, she realized how little hope she had of him ever risking his heart on love again. It hurt, but she couldn’t blame him. All he knew was the losing side of love, something she understood all too well. He wouldn’t give her a lifetime, but she had three more days with him and she would make the best of that time.

  For now, she had him and she was going to revel in that, not ruin what time she had left as his woman, grieving for what would not be.

  If he did dismiss her from his life, she would have memories to warm her lonely bed.

  ***

  Phoebe listened to the third message from Carter Sloane on her answering machine. They’d arrived back in New Hope in the early morning hours. Before going to his office, Rand had dropped her at her apartment so she could check on things. He expected her to be back at his place when he got home from the office, but it was not even late morning yet and she had the whole day ahead of her without him.

  She had wanted to cling when he had left, but she couldn’t very well demand he take more time off from work just because their days together were over half gone.

  Feeling depressed and trying really hard not to, she picked up the phone to dial Carter’s number. He said he wanted to meet her for lunch to talk about Rand. She believed him. Apparently, Carter had realized he needed his brother, even if Rand hadn’t reached that conclusion yet.

  Two hours later, at a small downtown bistro, she weaved between the tables toward Carter. He stood up as she reached him and pulled out her chair.

  She smoothed her short skirt under her and sat down. "Thanks."

  "My pleasure. It looks like being with Rand has had a definite impact on your wardrobe."

  Phoebe looked down at the strappy summer dress and smiled wryly. "You could say that."

  "I like it."

  "So does Rand."

  "I’m glad." Carter’s eyes probed hers. "Are you sure you know what you’re doing Phoebe? This new relationship thing between you and Rand is pretty coincidental to the discovery of lithium on Luna Island."

  Apparently everyone assumed both she and Rand had been spouting off at the charity reception. Of course when they stopped seeing each other after a week and Rand started mining operations on Luna Island, Mrs. Sloane, Aunt Emmaline and Carter would know the truth about the deal, or at least be able to guess at it. The thought bothered Phoebe, but there was nothing she could do about it.

  "I didn’t come here to discuss my relationship with Rand. I’m a grown-up and have to make my own decisions."

  "And mistakes?" Carter asked gently.

  "And mistakes, but then I’ve done that before."

  He winced. "Point taken."

  She softened toward him immediately. "I didn’t mean it like that. I’m honestly grateful that you left like you did. Rand brings out things in me that I didn’t even know were there."

  Carter looked at her with eyes that saw into her soul. "Yes, I believe he does. I’m sorry I didn’t."

  "I thought I loved you." But the lukewarm feeling she’d had for Carter was nothing like the overwhelming passion and need she felt for Rand.

  "For what it’s worth, I cared about you and I really didn’t want to hurt you."

  "Then why did you leave?" she asked with more curiosity than accusation.

  "I found out stuff about my dad that sent me into a tailspin. It made me question things about myself and my commitment to you. Hoyt loved my mother when he married her, or at least thought he did, but he’d been having an affair right up until the wedding. Rand was born six months before I was."

  "I know that."

  "Mom never forgave him, but she refused a divorce and my grandfather made sure dad wouldn’t push the issue."

  "But he resumed his affair with Rand’s mother."

  "Yes. And said he loved her."

  "I don’t understand why that made you leave me." What did his father’s Tomcat ways have to do with Carter’s plans to marry her?

  "There was a woman."

  "You were having an affair?" Now that shocked her. She couldn’t imagine it of Carter.

  "No." His face clenched. "But I wanted her and I thought maybe I was as incapable of fidelity as my father. You deserved so m
uch better than the life my mother led with Hoyt."

  Compassion moved in Phoebe’s heart for this incredible man who believed he had his father’s emotional weakness. "You aren’t your father, Carter. He put money and social position above love. You wouldn’t do that."

  "Are you sure about that?"

  "Yes."

  Carter sighed. "Maybe you’re right, but I was right, too, that the emotional connection didn’t last."

  "You still care about me, or you wouldn’t have been worried about Rand hurting me."

  "That’s not enough to base a marriage on."

  "No doubt, but then you didn’t make that mistake, did you?"

  Carter looked at her, his expression unreadable. "I guess you could look at it that way, but I didn’t ask you to lunch to discuss me."

  She smiled. "I didn’t think you had."

  The waiter arrived and took their order and she waited until he was gone until she spoke again.

  "So why did you invite me to lunch? I should probably tell you up front I won’t be negotiating for Luna Island. I promised it to Rand." Which was as good as telling Carter she’d made the deal with his brother.

  Only Carter didn’t look like he’d made the connection because his expression didn’t change. "I had that figured out. You’re not going to sell mineral rights to me when your lover wants them too."

  Her lover. For a week. And she wanted so much more, was desperately hoping for so much more. "So..."

  "I wanted to talk about Rand."

  "Did you come back to make peace with him?"

  "He’s my brother. It’s time we lived like it."

  "I agree, but I’m sure your mother doesn’t."

  "She made her own choices and I’m making mine."

  Phoebe nodded. Mrs. Sloane had opted to kick her husband out of her bed, but insisted on staying married to him. She had been cold to Carter, obviously blaming him in some way for his father’s sins. While Phoebe felt a certain amount of compassion for the older woman, she couldn’t help being bothered by the price both Rand and Carter had paid for her stubborn inability to see any viewpoint but her own.

  "I was hoping you’d convince Rand to talk to me."

  "I thought you’d already talked. He told me you wanted to sign over part of the company to him."

  "I’m surprised he told you. He wasn’t very open to the idea and he hasn’t taken any of my calls since that one."

  "Rand’s a proud man. He doesn’t need your company."

  "I know, but I need to right the wrongs of the past. He’s my older brother. He should have inherited along with me. We’re family and that should mean something."

  "I agree."

  "So you’ll get him to talk to me?"

  "You think I have that kind of influence with him?"

  "You’re his lover. I’ve seen how he looks at you. I thought he was going to take a swing at me at the charity reception. Yes, I think he’ll listen to you."

  It was a heady concept. "I’ll try."

  "Thanks." The expression in Carter’s eyes reflected two things: relief and frustration that he’d had to ask for her help.

  He and his brother had a lot in common. Rand’s pride would have balked at asking for help too.

  ***

  "You had lunch with my damn brother?"

  Phoebe jumped, shocked by the incandescent rage that had erupted out of nowhere when she told Rand that Carter wanted to talk to him. No, that wasn’t quite right. The fury had come when Rand realized she’d had lunch with Carter.

  "Yes. I don’t see what the big deal is."

  Rand’s eyes narrowed to angry slits, his big body vibrating with an anger she would never have thought she could ignite. "That’s precisely it. Our deal."

  Tension seeped into her at the mention of their arrangement. "What do you mean?"

  "You wanted one week in my bed as my woman."

  Pain contracted her heart with vice-like intensity. He was still thinking in terms of a one-week time limit. She hadn’t expected anything different, but oh, she had hoped. Even if he couldn’t love her, they could have maintained their relationship, but apparently Rand didn’t want to.

  "So?" was all she could force past the lump of emotion in her throat.

  "My woman doesn’t have lunch with my damn brother."

  "Stop calling him that. He’s not damned."

  Rand stepped forward until he was towering over her with intimidating ferocity. "He’s not your fiancé anymore either. If you belong to me, you stay away from him."

  She swallowed nervously, but refused to back down. This was too important. Rand needed Carter, even if he didn’t realize it, or was just too stubborn and proud to admit it. Besides, his anger was probably because he thought she was considering reneging on the deal that was now ripping her heart to shreds.

  "I promised you the deed to Luna Island. I don’t break my promises and you don’t have to worry I’m going to sell it to Carter."

  Rand’s big hands cupped her shoulders. Despite the fury on his face, the hold was gentle. "This isn’t about the island."

  "Then what is it about?" she choked out, finding it difficult to talk as she always did when in such close proximity to the man she loved.

  "You having lunch with Carter." He said his brother’s name like it was a curse.

  "He’s not your enemy, Rand."

  "He sure as hell isn’t my friend."

  She licked lips gone dry from stress. "He’s your brother and he could be your friend. If you’d let him."

  "Is that what he told you? He wants to be my friend? This isn’t Mr. Roger’s neighborhood, Phoebe. Carter’s a businessman and the only interest he has in me is your promise to give me deed to an island rich with lithium."

  She shook her head, trying to stay focused on the conversation when all she wanted was the oblivion of Rand’s arms. Only it was a temporary oblivion and she now knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that it was also a false oblivion. There was nothing between them but sex. There couldn’t be, with him still be so focused on the terms of their deal.

  "That’s not true. He wants to talk to you. Is that really so much to ask?"

  Rand’s big body moved closer to hers, his expression changing from anger to something else. "I’ll think about it, but you stay away from him."

  She’d about had it with his bossiness. "You can’t dictate who I talk to."

  "Our deal says I can," he bit out, the anger returning in a flash.

  "I don’t think—"

  "If you want to have lunch with him in three days time," he said, his words overriding hers, "hell, if you want to have sex with him, I’ll have nothing to say about it, but until then, you’re my woman."

  She couldn’t believe he’d said that. Did he really not care if she went from his bed to Carter’s? She shook her head in denial of that truth.

  Rand’s expression turned feral. "In your own words, Phoebe, a deal is a deal. Are you going to stick by the terms, or not?"

  Right now all she wanted was to curl up in a hole and cry her heart out. She didn’t care about the deal’s terms. She didn’t even care if Rand and Carter ever found their way to being a family. She just wanted to get away.

  She yanked herself from his loose hold and stumbled backward.

  She’d been an idiot to think for even a second that a real relationship could evolve from a week of uncommitted sex. Oh, damn it! She was not going to cry. Not in front of him.

  She gritted her teeth against the sobs that wanted to tear out of her throat and spun on her heel, heading toward the bedroom. She started throwing clothes into her suitcase even as Rand came storming into the room after her.

  "What the hell are you doing?"

  She wasn’t answering such a stupid question.

  He grabbed the suitcase and yanked it out of her reach. "We still have three days left."

  She spun to face him. "Don’t worry, I’ll see my lawyer in the morning. You’ll get your deed, but this part of the deal is over." She
swept her hand in an arc that encompassed the bed and the rest of the room where she’d given him her virginity and he’d given her so much pleasure.

  Rand went gray. "You want to go to Carter now?"

  "I don’t want to go to Carter at all! But I don’t want to stay with you either." The words hurt her to say, but only a true masochist would continue building memories that would torment her in the empty loneliness to come, she now realized.

  "You wanted a week with me."

  "I changed my mind."

  "Because I won’t talk to Carter?" Rand’s hands fisted at his sides. "If it’s that important to you, I’ll talk to him, all right?"

  He acted like he really cared if she left early, but she couldn’t let herself be deceived by her hopes again.

  "I truly hope you’ll give Carter a chance to be your brother, but I can’t stay here anymore." She lost her battle with the tears and they spilled over, burning a path down her cheeks. She reached for the suitcase. "I’ve got to go."

  Strong fingers peeled hers away from the suitcase and sent it tumbling to the floor. Then familiar arms wrapped around her, his face nuzzling into hers. "I can’t let you go, baby."

  She turned her face from his kisses. "I can’t stay for three more days." But he was making it almost impossible to leave.

  The insistent peal of the bell broke through the carnage going on between her and Rand. "You’d better get that."

  "No. We need to talk. Whoever it is can go away."

  "It might be Carter."

  "If it is, the doorman knows better than to key up to the penthouse level again."

  But the ding of the elevator coming from the other room indicated the doorman had done just that. "Maybe a different one is on duty."

  From the expression on Rand’s face, she was glad she wasn’t the hapless soul in the lobby, no matter who it was. In fact, she could feel gratitude not to be in Carter’s shoes at the moment. Rand looked ready to do murder.

  He turned to go, but stopped at the door. "No more packing. You aren’t going anywhere."