by Helen Lacey
Still, he couldn’t help but sometimes wonder what would have happened if he’d changed course after college, maybe focused on the photography that he’d loved in his teens. But it was all rather moot now... He ran the hotel and the O’Sullivan portfolio and had a responsibility to his family and the many employees who relied on O’Sullivan’s for their livelihood.
“Liam?”
His mother’s voice got his mind back on track. “Yes?”
“What about Annie Jamison or—”
“Enough,” he said gently and held his palm up. “Okay, Mom, I get the drift. You want me to get married and then have a few sons so we can carry on the great O’Sullivan name.” He got to his feet and pushed in the chair. “I’ll do my best not to disappoint you or Dad.”
“You never disappoint us. Not ever.”
He tried not to, although he knew that when the truth about his relationship with Kayla came out, there would be disappointment on both sides. It was inevitable. But something had to give. At the very least Kayla needed to meet him halfway. With his mother trying to marry him off, it wouldn’t be long before Gwen O’Sullivan worked out why he was reluctant to date anyone, let alone anything more.
Liam stood, grabbed his jacket and keys, said goodbye to his mother and left. He needed to talk to his wife. Right now. It couldn’t wait.
* * *
By the time Kayla got to her apartment that afternoon it was after five o’clock. She pulled up outside the old Victorian that she’d called home for nearly a year. The big house had been renovated into four apartments and Kayla’s was on the second floor.
She loved the house, with its textured cladding, shuttered windows and wide-front veranda. The home had been carefully restored by the owner, an IT guru who’d inherited the place a few years earlier from an elderly relative he’d never met. Dane was something of a geeky recluse, but he was a good landlord and neighbor. Even though he was a couple of years younger than Kayla they had formed a solid friendship over the past year, and with the married couple in their midforties sharing one of the downstairs apartments and the other occupied by a seventysomething widow, she was grateful to have such caring neighbors and friends.
When Ash arrived just after five thirty, still in her police officer’s uniform, Kayla offered her tea and within ten minutes they were sitting on the sofa, the flyers for the upcoming hospital benefit spread on the coffee table between them.
“They look great,” Kayla said and nodded. “Thank you for doing this. I know how busy you are. But this is exactly what I was envisioning.”
“The kids had fun with the design,” Ash said and smiled. “They incorporated the hospital logo, but still made them fun and colorful.”
Kayla looked at her friend. Not only was Ash a single mother and a police officer, she was also a foster parent. She was probably the most generous and giving person that Kayla knew. On her small ranch just out of town, she took in teens who needed a helping hand, sometimes several at the same time. She lived on the ranch with her mother, Nancy, and her twelve-year-old son, Jaye.
“Thank you,” Kayla said again and sighed. “I really appreciate your help.”
“That’s what friends are for,” Ash reminded her. “Right?”
Kayla dropped her gaze. Ash was astute. And she knew her friend sensed something wasn’t quite right with her. “Yes...absolutely.”
“Does that mean you want to talk about you know who?”
Her friends had all been nagging her about her relationship with Liam since the night she’d plowed into his truck, but none of them knew for certain they were involved. When they suggested it, Kayla generally laughed it off. But tonight, she wasn’t in the mood for laughing. When they discovered she was Liam’s wife she would have a lot of explaining to do.
Liam’s wife.
Sometimes she could barely get her head around it. They’d met up in Vegas the day her conference had ended and spent three days together. The most amazing three days of her life. And they’d returned as husband and wife. It had been a foolish, spur-of-the-moment decision. A monumental decision. If she’d had any sense she would have had the marriage annulled. But she was all out of sense when it came to Liam. And since the idea of ending their relationship hurt her through to her bones, she felt as though she was in an impossible position. Hurt herself and Liam and the child she was possibly carrying...or hurt her parents and grandmother.
Either way, it was a disaster waiting to happen.
And although she didn’t like the way they’d ended their telephone call earlier that afternoon, she was too tired to ring him back and go over the same old ground. She knew what he wanted...and on one level she agreed with him. She simply didn’t know how to give it to him without hurting the people who loved her most in the world.
Of course a baby would change everything. Her child would come first, there was no question about that. She simply wasn’t going to be in some great hurry to tell everyone.
“No,” Kayla said to her friend. “I’m not up for that...not just yet.”
Ash sighed and offered a gentle smile. “I know what it is to feel trapped by...” Her friend’s words trailed off before she spoke again. “By obligation. But when you’re ready, you know I’m on hand to listen.”
Ash was a good friend and had been through a lot over the years, particularly when it came to her young son and ex-fiancé. And Kayla knew her friend understood loyalty and family commitment. If she was going to unburden herself, she would be exactly who Kayla would talk to. With Lucy and Brooke so blissfully in love these days, Ash was the only one of her friends who would understand what she was feeling.
There was a knock on the door, so Kayla excused herself, got to her feet and headed down the short hallway. Thinking it might be Lucy or Brooke or even Dane stopping by for a chat, she swung the door back on its hinges and smiled. But it wasn’t one of her friends on her doorstep.
It was her husband.
Her gaze was instinctively drawn to his broad shoulders. How many times had she rested her head there? How many times had she gripped his arms and back and every other part of him. Countless. For the past five months they had shared a bed and she’d been privy to the real Liam O’Sullivan. Not the arrogant and indifferent man he was thought to be. She’d seen his other side...the tender and passionate man who always talked to her softly after they’d made love. The man who was generous and kind and adored his nieces. The man who teased her about her bad cooking. The man who made her mindless and breathless with just the barest kiss.
“Liam,” she whispered the word as though it was her last. “What are you doing here?”
He still wore his suit, so he had obviously come directly from the hotel. “You didn’t text me,” he said flatly. “And I wanted to see you.”
Kayla glanced over her shoulder. “Ash is here,” she said quietly. “So it’s not a good time to have a—”
“Ash is just leaving,” her friend’s mellow voice announced as she made her way up the hall. “Hi there, Liam,” Ash then said cheerfully. “Good to see you. I’ll talk with you soon,” the other woman said and gave Kayla a brief hug. “About everything,” Ash whispered close to her ear before she brushed past Liam and headed through the door.
Once her friend had disappeared down the stairs, Kayla turned her attention to Liam. “Really?”
He half shrugged. “What?”
She glared at him. “Since when do you turn up here unannounced?”
“Beats waiting for an invitation,” he said as he crossed the threshold and walked down the hall.
Annoyance snaked up her spine as she followed him into the living room. “We talked about this, Liam. I told you Ash was going to be—”
“We talked about a lot of things,” he said, terser than usual, his blue eyes so dark they were almost black. He stood by the sofa, hitc
hed his hands on his hips and stared at her. “And yet, here we are...no closer to sorting it out.”
“Did you come here just to rehash the same old argument?”
He stilled, his jaw clenched and then he exhaled heavily. “I came here to see you. To talk to you. To be with you.”
Shame pressed down on her shoulders. Of course he’d want to talk. And she did, too. “I’m sorry... I know this must be hard for you, too. But we both know this situation can’t be resolved easily. At least not without a whole lot of people getting hurt.”
He met her gaze. “People get hurt, Kayla. Sometimes there’s nothing you can do to stop that.”
She swallowed hard. “I can. I have to try... I can’t simply—”
“Please come home with me tonight,” he said, cutting her off, his voice raw. “You’ve spent the last five nights at your apartment. You spent three nights here last week. It’s becoming something of a habit. And I...I miss you.”
She blinked at his honest admission. “I miss you, too. But...”
He let out an impatient sigh. “But obviously not enough to come home?”
Home?
His home. Technically her home, too...but she could never quite bring herself to say it out loud. “With Ash stopping by to show me the flyers for the benefit it was just easier to stay at the apartment to avoid too many questions.”
He shrugged loosely. “I know how much the museum means to you Kayla...and I support your work and all you do and how passionate you are about the hospital benefit. But I don’t want to get used to sleeping alone.”
Her back straightened. “So this is about sex?”
His gaze narrowed instantly. “What?”
“Sex,” she said again. “You know, that thing we do when we’re together.”
“This isn’t about sex,” he assured her, his voice so husky it warmed her through to her bones. “It’s about you and me. It’s about our relationship...our marriage. And we can’t have a marriage if you’re holed up here in your old apartment every chance you get.”
It was the same old song. Her apartment. His house by the river. Kayla had been dividing herself between the two places for months. More so since their spur-of-the-moment wedding. “We’ve been through this before, Liam. You know how I feel and I can’t simply switch myself off from the rest of my life.” Emotion thickened her throat. “I know what you want from me, but I can’t break my father’s heart because it suits me to do so.”
“Are you so sure that you will?”
“Yes,” she shot back quickly. “I know my father. And I know he will have trouble accepting this...accepting you...accepting us. You’re J.D. O’Sullivan’s son and I’m Derek Rickard’s daughter. In his eyes it will be...impossible.”
He frowned a little. “Nonetheless, it’s a fact. One that can’t be avoided forever.”
“I can’t do it,” she insisted. “Not yet. I know I said I would...but I need more time, especially now that I’m possibly pregnant. You know my grandmother hasn’t been well and I don’t want to make things worse for my parents. Not right now. Please try to understand.”
Thinking about her ailing grandmother made her ache inside. She loved her family dearly. But she loved Liam, too. And to her parents it would be seen as the worst kind of betrayal.
But if there is a baby...
She would have to tell them. She would have to choose. Liam and her child, or her parents and her child. It was untenable. Unthinkable.
“Then, when?” he asked, clearly stuck on the idea. “When our kid is twenty-one?”
Kayla met his eyes and watched as his expression shifted. She recognized the way his strong jaw was suddenly tense and his shoulders twitched. He was mad. With her. At her. And obviously in spite of himself because Liam rarely let anyone witness his moods.
“You’re being impossible,” she said hotly and then shrugged, knowing it would inflame him, but she wasn’t about to start appeasing his moods.
“Once you start showing you won’t have anything to hide behind,” he shot back. “Unless you plan on saying the baby is someone else’s.”
Irritation curled up her spine. “Of course I don’t. And I’m not hiding,” she refuted. “Frankly, I don’t understand this sudden need to announce our relationship to the world,” she said and raised both brows. “Unless you want to deliberately stick it to your father, because let’s be honest—he won’t be any happier about this than my dad will be.”
He stayed perfectly still. “My father has nothing to do with this. Neither should yours.”
That was where they differed, she thought hotly. “Perhaps I’m not as good at trampling over people’s feelings as you are.”
“Really?” he fired back, his blue eyes glittering. “Because you seem to do a damned fine job of trampling over mine!”
There it was. Out in the open. Exactly what he believed.
Emotion clutched at her throat. Kayla hadn’t planned on crying, but tears filled her eyes just the same. She blinked, forcing back the heat behind her eyes, and then swallowed hard. He saw it all and within seconds was in front of her. He reached out to touch her, but she stepped back, her legs colliding with the edge of the sofa as she folded her arms tightly.
“Kayla...” He said her name, quieter now, his anger quickly defused. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to shout at you. I’m just so...” His words trailed off as he ran a hand through his hair. “I’m just really...”
Kayla knew exactly what he was. Frustrated. Annoyed. And impatient.
With good reason...
Logically, she knew he had every right to be angry. But when it came to hurting her parents, logic flew out the window. “You should go,” she said flatly. “I’ll see you in the morning.”
He sighed heavily. “Is this really how you want to leave things tonight?”
She shrugged. “I don’t have the energy for another argument.”
He winced, like she’d struck a nerve. Then he reached out to cup her cheek. Kayla pulled back instinctively and he frowned as he dropped his hand. “Okay, I’ll leave you alone. Good night, Kayla.”
“Good night.”
Any other time he would have passionately kissed her good-night. Held her and touched her a while before he left. And she would have let him. But tonight felt different. There was more tension than usual between them. More unsaid words. More distance.
Then he was gone. Out of the apartment. Out of the building. And Kayla didn’t take a breath until she heard his footsteps going down the stairs.
Chapter Three
Alone in his bed hours after he walked out of Kayla’s apartment, Liam spent most of the night staring at the ceiling and twisting in sheets, longing for Kayla’s body beside him. The scent of her perfume seemed to haunt him like a ghost, reminding him that it had been close to a week since they’d spent the night under the same roof.
The huge, Western red cedar house seemed unusually quiet and all he could hear was the familiar sound of the river nearby and the rhythmic chorus of insects in the trees. He had the house built a couple of years ago on a three-acre block that was mostly forest and very private, with a long gravel driveway that was plowed regularly in the snow season. There was a stone path leading to the river and a jetty where he kept his pair of Jet Skis; the boat he was rebuilding was in the boathouse.
He sighed, opening his eyes, and then looked directly out the open window. The moonlight filtered light across the river and the water was eerily luminescent. From the roomy loft-style main bedroom he had a great view of the river. On warm summer nights he mostly left the window open and enjoyed the breeze that swept through the upper level. Liam inhaled deeply and the scent of jasmine in the air reminded him of Kayla.
Everything reminded him of Kayla.
The air, the sheets...every damned
thing.
His gut was in knots. Today they would find out if she was pregnant. The idea intensified his love for her tenfold. He wanted children and he wanted them with her. He knew what this would do to her family and perhaps his own. But with the idea that they were going to be parents now firmly etched into his mind, Liam didn’t care. They would have to deal with it, or deal out. Kayla and the baby she might be carrying were the only things that mattered.
He closed his eyes and imagined her belly round with his child. Her beauty would be amplified, her skin would glow, her breasts would be fuller. Then he remembered her pale, smooth skin and her perfect breasts and how they’d fit in his hands, and immediately his palms itched and his groin ached.
Liam groaned, sat up and swung his legs off the side of the big bed. He checked the clock on the bedside table. Three fifteen. He grabbed his phone and stood, pulling on a pair of sweats and a T-shirt, and then headed downstairs.
The cat, a scruffy-looking black-and-white stray he’d randomly named Peanuts, which had turned up on his doorstep the week after he’d moved in, began meowing the moment he was spotted on the stairs. The cat always slept in a basket by the big fireplace, summer or winter. Liam had no real feelings about the feline one way or another. But he kept it fed and housed and had even installed a cat flap in the back door so it could come and go as it pleased. It did seem to stay more than leave, no doubt due to the comfy bed and endless supply of kibble.
He flicked on a couple of lights and headed for the huge galley-style kitchen. The Shaker-style cupboards were crafted from local ponderosa pine and the countertops were dark gray marble. The double ceramic sink and stainless-steel appliances were all top-of-the-line and mostly imported. Like with everything in the home, no expense was spared. From the cedar floorboards, Spanish-glass light fittings and handcrafted furniture, it was a showpiece. But Liam had no illusions—it was a house, not a home.
It needed a family in it. When Kayla was there it felt full, complete and real. When she wasn’t, there was only him, using the bare minimum of the rooms, just the kitchen and den, main bedroom and bathroom. There were three other bedrooms downstairs and a media room and a small home office. He’d built a house for a family he didn’t have, imagining that one day he’d fill it with a wife and a few children. That had been his plan a year ago... He’d intended to find a suitable woman and settle down. And then a certain blonde had crashed into his car and completely derailed his life.