“All the more reason to keep him distracted for me.” Devin wasn’t sure she’d call Byron devious. But she’d definitely bet he was more intelligent than he let on. And he seemed intensely loyal to Lucas.
He’d talked yesterday about heading home to Texas. But he was still here. And Devin couldn’t afford to wait.
Lexi squared her shoulders. “Where is he now?”
Devin tilted her head. “Over at the pool. Put on your turquoise bathing suit and go out on the floatie again. He seemed to like that.”
“Are you my pimp?”
“Do it for Amelia,” Devin cajoled.
Lexi drew a breath. “Okay. Fine. For the sake of our baby princess, I’ll let the man ogle me for a while.” She rose to her knees. “I just hope that ostentatious belt buckle of his doesn’t catch the sunlight and blind me forever.”
“Drama queen,” breathed Devin.
“Hey, you’re not the one who’ll be using sex to…” Lexi paused. “Wait a minute—”
“Shut up,” said Devin.
Lexi laughed at Devin’s outrage. Then she sobered. “Okay.” She smoothed back her hair. “I’ll vamp the tall cowboy. You snoop around inside the house. Someday, this is going to make a funny story for Amelia.”
With Amelia safely down for her nap, and Lexi running interference with Byron down at the pool, and Lucas gone to the office, Devin crept into Konrad’s silent bedroom.
It was an opulent suite on the north wing of the second floor, down the hall from Lucas. Elaborate gold and cream ceilings blended into crown molding that outlined the L-shaped room. A huge, four-poster bed was set into the alcove. A sitting area was formed by four brown leather, overstuffed armchairs that surrounded a marble fireplace and two antique, glass-topped tables. Three bay windows brought sunshine in from the ocean side, while a boxed window above the king-size bed overlooked the pool.
The thick carpet was soft under her canvas runners, and she found her gaze drawn to three massive seascapes hanging on the pale yellow walls. The scenes were calm and soothing, with whispery grasses and delicate wildflowers blooming along the shores. It wasn’t what she would have expected of Konrad.
Taking a bracing breath, and telling herself she had no choice but to snoop, she started with a small desk in one corner, carefully and quietly pulling open the three drawers. The contents were impersonal—a pad of paper, a few gold pens, a phone book and a calculator.
Next, she moved to one of the dressers, wiping her damp palms across her blue jeans before flipping up the iron handles and pulling open the top drawer. It was Konrad’s underwear. Though she herself kept many precious bits and pieces in her underwear drawer, she wasn’t going there. There might be a signed confession hidden beneath his boxers, but she wasn’t willing to dig it out.
The remaining dresser drawers mostly held T-shirts, sweatpants and pajamas. She closed them up and moved to the closet.
There she was shocked to find some of Monica’s clothes still hanging in neat rows and folded on banks of shelves. At least Devin assumed they were Monica’s clothes. They were about the right size, and it was definitely Monica’s wedding dress hanging in the far corner, covered in plastic film.
For a moment, Devin’s throat closed up with loneliness. She took a few steps closer and reached out to touch the dress.
It had been such a blissful wedding, full of excitement and promise. It was the most elegant event Devin had ever attended and, at the time, she’d fully expected Monica to live happily ever after.
Monica had been radiant, and Devin herself had felt incredibly beautiful that night. She’d worn a floor-length, violet silk dress, with a spray of flowers in her hair, and a delicate diamond pendant that Monica had given her as a bridesmaid gift. She’d danced with other guests until her feet were blistered, toasted the bride with expensive champagne, nibbled on crab puffs and ate two pieces of cake.
Later, when Monica walked out on Konrad, they’d trashed her bridesmaid dress and thrown out the pictures. But Devin hadn’t had the heart to get rid of the pendant.
Her sister’s veil hung next to the white silk dress. The shoes on a bottom shelf. And above the shoes…
Devin crouched down. She stared intently before running her fingertips over the smooth white cover of their wedding photo album.
It had been a year since she’d seen any of the wedding pictures. After only a moment’s hesitation, she slipped the album from the shelf and sat fully down on the thick carpet. With a deep breath, she opened the cover.
Monica was on the first page, standing alone in her wedding dress, silhouetted against the arched oak door of the stone church building. The dress was a masterpiece, several thousand seed pearls sewn into a strapless bodice with a sweetheart neckline and a full skirt, all accented with antique lace. They’d ordered it from a famous designer in Italy. Monica had balked at the price, but Konrad had insisted.
A tear slipped from Devin’s eye as she turned the page. There, she saw Konrad, looking sharp in his tux. She struggled to work up some anger toward him, but all she could remember was how she and Monica laughed over a groom who owned not one, but half a dozen tuxedos. What kind of a man required half a dozen tuxes?
The next page showed Monica, Devin and the other bridesmaids—two of Monica’s college roommates. They were laughing as they displayed their bouquets of irises and white roses. The photo had been taken moments before they moved from the anteroom to the foyer of the church. On the way down the narrow hallway, Monica had nearly caused a disaster, tripping on the hem of her elaborate dress and stumbling into Devin.
Fortunately, Devin caught Monica, the bouquets survived and the wedding guests hadn’t heard their burst of laughter.
Devin swiped another tear from her cheek.
Next, she came to a picture of the wedding cake. It was a decadently rich, lemon-butter pound cake, six round tiers with white Belgian chocolate ganache. A pale gold luster adorned the icing, while a colorful waterfall of fresh flowers swirled diagonally down from a top bouquet. Devin got hungry just looking at it.
She flipped another page and came to Lucas.
“What are you doing in here?” his voice demanded.
Devin nearly dropped the album in shock. Her gaze flew to the closet entrance to see him looming over her, dressed in a business suit instead of a tux, frowning and furious instead of smiling for the camera.
“Don’t do that,” she cried. “You scared me half to death.”
“What are you doing in here?” he repeated, eyes narrowing in suspicion.
Guilt and alarm invaded her system. “I…uh…” She swallowed over a sandpaper throat. What could she say? How could she possibly explain the fact that she was sitting on the floor of Konrad’s closet?
“I got lost,” she told him in a small voice, sticking to the only story she’d crafted. Then she glanced at the album, holding it up as if it proved something. “I happened to spot this, and then…well, I started looking, and remembering.” She made a show of swiping her cheek with the back of her hand, hoping for the sympathy vote she supposed, since her excuse was transparently lame.
Lucas took a couple of steps into the closet.
“You got lost?” he challenged, the skepticism all but dripping from his tone.
“I, uh, took a wrong turn.” She couldn’t quite meet his eyes. “Out there in the hall. This is a really big house.”
She told herself to shut up.
His answering silence was unnerving.
After a long moment, he crouched down beside her. He cocked his head to peer at the picture on the open page.
“You looked very handsome at the wedding,” she offered, pointing to his image. Truth was, he’d looked amazing that night and every other time she’d seen him, including now.
She’d tried, but she hadn’t come close to banishing her memories of last night in the pool house. He’d looked amazing then, too.
“Are you trying to distract me?” he asked.
“Of cou
rse not,” she lied.
He reached out and tucked her hair behind one ear, letting his hand rest there. “Then you’re saying you find me attractive?”
“Yeess,” she offered slowly, beginning to worry where he thought this might be leading.
He ran the pad of his thumb from her cheekbone to the shell of her ear, and along her jawbone.
Her pulse jumped at the intimacy of the touch. But she forced herself to keep still, torn between trepidation and arousal, with only one tiny, sane part of her brain reminding her she had to put a stop to this.
She reached up and grasped his wrist, attempting to tug his hand away.
She failed.
A lazy smile grew on his face, and his breath puffed sweetly against her cheek, even as his thumb meandered to the curve of her neck. “I can’t help wondering.” He paused. “Just how far you’d be willing to go to keep me distracted.”
She swallowed again, her heart thudding deep in her tightening chest. “Why…” Her voice was a rasp. “Why would I need to keep you distracted?”
He leaned closer. “Because you’re up to no good.”
She bristled. “I told you. I got lost.” But the lie sounded even worse this time around.
“And you accidentally wandered into Konrad’s closet?”
“That’s right.” It could have happened.
“You’re damn lucky I have a forgiving nature.”
“Ha,” she managed to scoff.
He sat down on the carpet beside her and lifted the album from her hands. “I’ve already forgiven you.”
“I didn’t do anything.”
“Then why is your neck going all red and splotchy?”
Devin’s hand automatically rose to cover it up, and Lucas grinned at the telltale action.
Then he shook his head. “I just hope I never need you to lie for me.”
“That seems unlikely,” she sniffed.
Instead of pressing further, he turned a page of the album. “You were very beautiful,” he told her.
Devin turned her attention to a photo of her and Monica. “We threw out our pictures,” she admitted. “Yeah?”
She nodded. “We chucked my bridesmaid dress, too.”
“She must have been pretty mad.” He turned to a page that showed the bride and groom cutting the cake. Their smiles seemed so sincere.
“Can you blame her?” Devin asked.
“She made a terrible mistake.”
“By marrying Konrad.”
Lucas butted Devin with his shoulder. “Yeah, that’s what I meant.”
Devin gave a shrug. “You might have decided to finally be honest.”
He shook his head in disbelief, folding the album shut and replacing it on the shelf.
Then, to her surprise, his hand slipped around to the back of her neck. His palm was warm, his gaze intent, and his voice sent a predictable quiver through the pit of her stomach. “You have got to be the most exasperating woman on the planet.”
She struggled to hold on to her equilibrium, keeping her tone tart. “What? The women you know don’t usually talk back?”
His lips relaxed to a half smile, and he leaned meaningfully toward her. “At this point, they usually stop talking altogether.”
“Is that how you like it?”
“It makes the kissing easier.”
“Don’t you dare.”
He grinned. “Why not?”
“Because you promised.”
“I didn’t promise a thing.”
She ordered herself to stay strong. “Have a little respect.”
“For what?”
“For this—” she gestured around them, hushing her voice in reverence “—for where we are.”
“We’re in my brother’s closet.”
“Exactly.”
“You’ve never made love in a closet?” He was moving closer.
Of course she hadn’t. She put her palm flat against his chest to hold him off. “Have you?”
“Not that I recall.”
“You’re joking, right?” How could a person not recall something like that?
“It’s a pretty roomy closet,” he pointed out, ignoring her question and making a show of testing the softness of the carpet.
“The truce is over,” she reminded him, eyeing the closet door. She was sure she could make an escape. And she was positive it was the right thing to do.
“I’m willing to renegotiate,” he told her.
“Lucas, be serious.”
“What makes you think I’m joking?”
“I’m saying no.”
He clamped his jaw. But he let his hand fall away. And he rose to his feet, holding out a hand. “Then, let’s go.”
She was glad he’d back off. She really was.
She stuck her hand in his and let him pull her to her feet. He kept hold of it, tugging her out of the closet and across Konrad’s bedroom, through the open door to the hallway.
“Just so you know,” he warned her as he pulled it shut behind them, “this room will have a lock on it from now on.”
Eight
Devin couldn’t pick locks, so Konrad’s room was out of the question. But, she figured there were two people involved in this conspiracy. And if Lucas felt it necessary to lock Konrad’s door, that meant there was something for Devin to find. If there was something to find in Konrad’s room, there might also be something to find in Lucas’s room the next day. So, the next day she set another plan in motion.
There were only a couple of weeks until the custody hearing, and she hadn’t found anything in the rest of the house. Staff were either loyal to Konrad, or they had genuinely loved the man. Nobody had a bad word to say, and they all seemed to think Monica had been happy back then.
Devin waited until Lucas had left the mansion, and until Lexi, her stalwart partner in crime, had Byron’s attention again at the pool. He’d put on a bathing suit today and joined her in the water. Devin was sure she’d get an earful about that from Lexi later tonight.
But, for now, she had Lucas’s room in her crosshairs. Teresa turned out to be a godsend. She’d offered to take Amelia out in her stroller, up to the stable area where they could watch the horses. Amelia seemed fascinated by anything that moved.
The hallway was quiet outside Lucas’s room.
Devin gingerly grasped the door handle, holding her breath as she gave it a turn. But the mechanism clicked, and the latch gave way. The wide door swung open in front of her.
She gazed inside his inner sanctum, squelching the surge of guilt that washed through her stomach. This was even harder than it had been yesterday in Konrad’s room. But there might be evidence in here that could help Amelia.
She forced herself to take a giant step inside. She pushed the door firmly shut, hearing the latch click back into place. Then she leaned back against the cool, solid wood while she gazed around the room.
It was rectangular. The ceiling was high, and the windows numerous, giving the room a light, airy feel. Leafy, dark green plants bracketed a set of glass doors that led to a balcony. A cream-colored sofa provided a centerpiece to a sitting area. The floor was polished maple, while the curtains and bedding shimmered with gold and emerald-green threads.
Devin was surprised to find the pale green wall panels lined with family portraits. For a few minutes, her attention was distracted as she peered at an old photo of a couple who were obviously Lucas and Konrad’s parents. There were photos of Lucas and Konrad as young boys, and one of an older man that she strongly suspected was the grandfather who’d willed Amelia his shares in the company.
There was a portrait of Konrad and Monica that Devin had never seen. Monica was sitting in an elegant chair, wearing a low-cut, frosted pink, satin evening gown. Konrad stood behind her, a hand on her shoulder. He wore a tux with a pocket kerchief that matched the dress. It took a confident man to pull off pink satin.
Devin couldn’t help wondering why they’d dressed up. Was it a party? One of the charity balls
? Had Konrad written a large check that night to a worthy cause? Monica would have liked that about the Demarco family.
Devin found her fingertips going to the picture. They did look happy in this. It occurred to her for the first time that Konrad might have fooled Lucas along with everyone else.
But then she remembered the conversation her sister had overheard. There’d been no doubt that Lucas was aware of Konrad’s plot to get Monica pregnant. He’d called it brilliant, laughed at how they’d thwarted their cousin Steve. Not that Devin blamed them for wanting to thwart cousin Steve. But they didn’t get to do it at the expense of Monica or any other unsuspecting woman.
Her gaze caught a photo of Konrad and Amelia. He was dressed casually, in jeans and T-shirt and, unlike the posed pictures, he was obviously unaware of the camera. Baby Amelia was asleep in her father’s arms, her little hand wrapped around his index finger, mouth pursed and eyes closed. The expression of reverence on Konrad’s face told Devin that he’d loved Amelia. Dearly.
Devin armed herself against the unexpected onslaught of emotion. Konrad loving Amelia didn’t change the current circumstances.
Next to the picture, in a bay-windowed alcove, she spotted a computer sitting on a small desk and immediately she realized the potential. The brothers could easily have communicated by email. And, here in his bedroom, Lucas might not have protected his computer with a password.
If the messages went back far enough, she might find exactly what she was looking for.
She quickly sat down at the desk, swiveled the chair and pressed a key.
The screen came to life, and it was already on Lucas’s email account.
Devin’s heart thudded in excitement, and she rubbed her hands together. She scrolled down his folder list, easily finding a directory called Konrad. She clicked it and found hundreds of messages. It was a gold mine.
All she had to do was find the right date range, the time when Konrad first met Monica. Once there, she found a message labeled “date.” It seemed promising, so she double-clicked to open it.
Remember that girl? the text read. I’ll be late tonight. You’re going to love her.
Billionaire Baby Dilemma Page 12