“My brother is a slave driver.”
“He is many things,” Rose said diplomatically. “Have fun, you two.”
She escaped down the hall to her temporary office and closed the door behind her. And that’s when she got the final blow. On the desk was a big official-looking packet from Mason Archer. It had been opened so Linc obviously knew what was inside.
Their divorce papers.
A feeling of déjà vu crushed her heart. The marriage was over and this time he hadn’t even had the guts to face her before he left. If only she could fault him for taking advantage of her but he’d told her straight out he didn’t want commitment and she hadn’t asked for one. He even tried to talk her out of sleeping with him, but she’d pushed.
And now he was gone. At least he’d kept his word and stayed around until the divorce papers came. Then he’d reverted to his default behavior and disappeared without an explanation.
She couldn’t continue this job and it was going to cost her everything—her business and her heart. And she had no one to blame but herself.
Chapter Fourteen
Linc decided to take his mother’s advice and get some questions answered. He’d left Rose sleeping because after she said she’d never stopped loving him he had no fricking idea what to say to her. After taking the private jet back to Dallas, now he was going to talk to the only person who could give him the answers he was looking for.
It was nearing traditional quitting time when he walked into the offices of Pierce and Associates, Attorneys at Law, LLC. The lobby was a combination of rich, dark wood, glass, mirrors and plants. Tasteful elegance that signified wealth and prosperity.
He stopped at a desk where a young man was typing at a computer. The nameplate read Brandon Riggs. He wore a dark suit and blue silk tie, and had his brown hair slicked back off his forehead.
Brandon looked up from the monitor. “May I help you?”
“I’d like to see Robert Pierce.”
“Do you have an appointment?”
“No. But I’m pretty sure he’ll see me. Would you let him know that Lincoln Hart is here?”
The young man’s eyebrows went up as he grabbed the phone and relayed the message. He listened for a few moments, then met Linc’s gaze and finally said, “Okay, I’ll send him right up.”
“Thanks,” Linc said.
“His office is on the top floor.”
“I know.” And not because that’s where Linc’s would be. The need to do that might be a hereditary thing, but he knew where the office was by gathering all the information available on this guy. Although that was all just facts. None of the data could tell him whether or not he had the DNA of a son of a bitch.
Linc took the elevator to the tenth floor and it opened to a thickly carpeted reception area with a desk in the center. A middle-aged woman was standing behind it.
“Mr. Pierce said to go right in, Mr. Hart. May I get you something? Coffee? Sparkling water? Scotch?”
“No, thanks.” He’d had more than enough coffee and another cup might just make his head explode. And a drink? Not a good idea.
“All right then. I’ll say good night.” She slid the strap of her purse over her shoulder. “Have a good evening.”
“You, too.” He’d have an evening but whether or not it was good remained to be seen.
There were double, dark-wood doors straight ahead and an ornate nameplate proclaiming, in large letters, Robert Pierce.
“Here goes nothing.”
He walked over and took a deep breath before knocking once and opening the door. The man who had loomed large in his mind for ten years sat behind a big desk covered with files and papers. His tie was loosened and the sleeves of his white dress shirt were rolled to midforearm. Linc studied him for several moments—the strong chin, brown hair liberally shot with silver, blue eyes—looking for a resemblance to himself. He wasn’t very good at seeing that sort of thing, but wondered if he had any feature that was unmistakably from Robert Pierce.
The man stood and came around the desk, stopping several feet from him. “Hello, Linc. I’m glad you came to see me.”
“I didn’t do it for you.”
“You look like your mother.”
“Maybe that’s why no one ever questioned my paternity all those years I thought I was a Hart. I never once suspected I had a bio-dad.”
“You make me sound like a science experiment.”
“Welcome to my world,” Linc growled.
The man looked down for a moment, then met his gaze. “You’re pissed off about being deceived.”
“Hell, yes. Wouldn’t you be?” It was so much deeper than anger. “Can you blame me?”
“And you want to know why I broke my word and approached you.”
“Yeah, I do. Because you look pretty healthy to me and unless you needed a kidney or bone-marrow transplant from your only living relative, there’s no good reason for doing that to me.”
“You’re right.” He held out his arms, showing he was trim, fit all these years later. “I’m a selfish bastard. That’s all I’ve got.”
“Are you serious?” The admission enraged Linc. “You turned my life upside down and cost me my wife. And it was all about you? I have the DNA of a selfish, self-absorbed ass?”
“Not just mine. There’s hope for you because your mother is in there, too.” No anger surfaced in the man’s voice, just sadness and the absence of hope.
That made Linc wonder. “Did you make it a habit to sleep with clients who were separated from their husbands?”
“I don’t expect you to believe this.” His mouth pulled tight for a moment. “But I never did that before her and I haven’t done it since.”
“Really? Why should I accept that as true?”
“Because I’ve never met another woman before or since like Katherine.”
There was such abject misery and longing in the man’s face that Linc figured either he was a very good actor or it was the truth. If he was right about the latter, he felt sorry for this guy. “You’re in love with her?”
“Yes.”
“But that was thirty-four years ago. You weren’t even together that long.”
Robert put his hands in the pockets of his slacks. “Do you believe in love at first sight?”
An image of Rose popped into his mind. She was walking toward him down a hallway at Hart Industries and smiled at him for the first time. He felt as if she’d just ripped his heart out of his chest, in the best way possible. From that moment, Linc had been determined to make her his.
“Yes,” he finally said.
“Then you know how it feels to put someone else’s happiness before your own.”
“I do.” It’s why he’d walked away from Rose, to keep the ugliness of his life from infecting hers.
“Katherine told me she was pregnant and for just a few moments I was on top of the world. Then she said her husband knew about the baby and me. In spite of what she’d done they were reconciling. She said they were willing to work out a visitation agreement if I wanted.”
“So it was your idea to pretend I didn’t exist?” His mother hadn’t lied.
“Yes.” There was regret in his blue eyes. “I’d just joined the firm. As you might imagine it’s frowned on for an attorney to take advantage of a client and sleep with her.”
Linc winced. He’d had the taking-advantage conversation with Rose before sleeping with her. Then she kissed him and he just had nothing left to fight the wanting her. Hurting her
was the last thing he’d ever intended but when sanity returned, so had the guilt.
“You bowed out,” Linc said.
Robert nodded. “I promised her I would never see you or make a claim on you. Because I knew it would be easier on her that way.”
That was a new perspective.
“That doesn’t bode well for my positive DNA profile since we both know you didn’t keep that promise.” Linc dragged his fingers through his hair. “If I inherited your traits, I can expect to be a lying weasel and an egocentric bastard.”
The other man didn’t even blink. “That’s one way of looking at it.”
“How would you suggest I look at what you just told me?”
“Let me frame this for you—”
Anger rolled through Linc at the man’s absolute composure. “Don’t lawyer your way out of this.”
“Hard not to when my career is all I have. I’ve been married four times and number four is about to implode. I’m alone and have no one to carry on my name.”
“So you have commitment problems.” This was exactly the reason Linc refused to let anyone in.
“It’s not about commitment. I kept looking for a woman to be the love of my life. The problem was I’d already met her and there was no way to replace that since she’s one of a kind.” He sighed. “I never had a chance with her because she left Hastings but didn’t stop loving him.”
“How did he reconcile what she did?” Linc wondered.
“You’d have to ask him.”
Suddenly Linc’s anger evaporated and he felt nothing but sorry for this man. “I guess it’s safe to say I didn’t inherit your way with words because I have no idea what to say to that.”
“There isn’t anything to say.” Robert rested a hip on the corner of his desk. “I, on the other hand, need to apologize for blowing up your life the way I did. I really am sorry and there’s no defense for my actions.”
Linc knew what loneliness felt like and was magnanimous enough to admit it could make any man a little crazy. “I believe you and accept your apology.”
“If I can make it up to you... If there’s anything I can do, just let me know.”
The man was a divorce lawyer, but the paperwork was already done. He remembered the packet he’d left on the desk at Ellie’s. He’d never forget the lonely, empty feeling that rolled through him when he saw them. “My divorce is already taken care of.”
Robert looked puzzled. “Did you get married again?”
“No. Same woman.” He explained what happened and found himself telling this man about hiring Rose to decorate his condo.
“So, you’re still married to the woman you fell in love with at first sight?”
“Yes.”
“Do you still love her?” Robert met his gaze for several moments. “Look, I know I’m the last person you’d ever want to confide in, but I have to say this. Just chalk it up to the voice of experience.”
“What?”
“If you’re lucky enough to find love, don’t walk away from it.”
Linc nodded, feeling lighter somehow, as if the rock sitting on his chest had just been lifted. Animosity went poof, too. Robert Pierce wasn’t a bad guy, just a tragic one. He fell in love and it hadn’t worked out for him.
“Thanks for seeing me,” he said.
“Anytime.” Robert shook the hand he held out. “My door is always open if you need anything. A kidney or bone-marrow transplant.”
“That might explain where my smart-ass streak comes from.” Linc smiled sheepishly. “Should I apologize?”
“Not on my account.”
“Okay, then. I’ll get out of here and let you get back to it.”
A feeling of peace settled over him as he left the office and took the elevator to the first floor. His biological father wasn’t anything like what he’d been picturing all this time. He seemed a decent, honest man—one he would like to know better. Rose was right. There was room in his life for two dads. Just as he stepped onto the street the cell phone in his pocket vibrated. He checked the caller ID and saw that it was Ellie. Again. He’d been dodging her calls and no longer felt the need to do that.
He hit talk. “Hey, sis. I have something to tell you—”
“Me first.” That was her mom voice and put the fear of God into anyone who heard it. “You did it again, moron. Are you really that clueless? Or did you deliberately shoot yourself in the foot?”
“What are you talking about?”
“The lone wolf lives.” There was a mother lode, no pun intended, of angry sarcasm in her voice. “You get divorce papers, then walk out on Rose without a word. Again. What the heck is wrong with you?”
The meaning of what she said hit him like a brick to the head. Apparently along with the smart-ass gene he’d inherited the selfish one from bio-dad. He’d only been thinking about what he needed. Oh, God... “I have to talk to her.”
“Good luck with that. I don’t think there’s anything you can say that she wants to hear. For the record? That goes for me, too.”
“Ellie, wait—” There was a click and he knew she’d just hung up on him.
Crap and double crap. Apparently he was in the lead for the “jackass of the year” award.
* * *
“I can’t believe he walked out like that.” Rose was back in Texas and a whole week had gone by since Linc left without a word.
Her friend Vicki had come over to her apartment for a trash-talking marathon. She’d been in the kitchen pouring two glasses of wine and set one down in front of Rose. “I’m sorry, honey. It was a no-win situation. Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.”
“Now I’m double damned.” Because he broke her heart again. She added, “I quit his stinkin’ job.”
“You know you signed a contract.” Her friend was also her lawyer.
“He can just sue me.” She scooted forward on the couch and took her long-stemmed glass, then sipped some wine. “You can’t get blood from a turnip. I’m not even worth his trouble.”
“If he gets mad enough you might be.” Vicki was sitting at the other end of the couch. “Have you heard from him?”
“He’s called every day. Multiple times.”
“So you’ve talked to him.”
Rose shook her head. “I don’t pick up.”
“See, that’s where the ‘not ticking him off’ part comes in. He’s really holding all the cards.”
Not to mention the grip he had on her heart, Rose thought. She knew how this process was going to go, having been through it with Linc once before. Right now anger sustained her. She was mad as hell and calling him every nasty name she knew helped to stoke her fury. But sooner or later it would subside because maintaining this elevated level of resentment took an awful lot of energy.
When it faded, the pain would come rushing in and threaten to overwhelm her. This time it just might and she’d never recover. The satisfaction of getting over him before had kept her going. Now she knew getting over him was nothing more than a pipe dream.
“He’s a pig.” Rose refused to give up her “stoking the anger” strategy. “Only a pig would throw around his weight like that and hassle a penniless, hardworking interior designer who’s just trying to earn an honest living.”
“He really hurt you, didn’t he?” Vicki’s brown eyes brimmed with sympathy.
“I won’t let that be true.”
“You slept with him.” It wasn’t a question.
Rose had not revealed that information to her friend. “You don’t know that.”
“Yeah, I do. You wouldn’t have had sex with him if you didn’t love him.” Vicki shrugged. “This is me. I know you.”
She didn’t want to talk about that. “His family is incredibly down-to-earth and nice. I met his parents, his brother and his sister, Ellie. You’d like her, Vee. The three of us could have been really good friends if her brother wasn’t such a... I’ve officially run out of words bad enough to call him.”
“Just as I thought. You’re in love with him.”
“Stop saying that. What difference does it make anyway?”
“Well...” Vicki thought for a moment. “There could be a reason he left suddenly. A situation you are not aware of. Mitigating circumstances.”
“You’re such a lawyer.” Rose drained the wine in her glass. “He left without a word to anyone. Not even his sister. If possible, I think she’s more upset with him than I am.”
“Still, maybe you should hear his side of the story.”
“Again with the lawyer point of view,” Rose said. “This isn’t a court of law and I don’t have to listen to anything he has to say. One time walking out and disappearing for a couple of years is something maybe you could shrug off. But twice is a pattern. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. If I listen to anything he has to say now, it makes me too stupid to live.”
Vicki sighed. “I get where you’re coming from. But, and this is me being your lawyer, you might want to have a conversation with the man. In my experience, not talking is a good way to get sued. Lack of conversation ratchets up tension and animosity. It doesn’t have to be personal. Smooth over the breach of contract.”
“As much as I hate to admit it, you make a good point.” Rose saluted the other woman with her empty wineglass even as every part of her rejected the idea of discussing anything with Lincoln Hart.
“So, return his call. While I’m here to legally advise you.”
Rose both craved and dreaded hearing Linc’s voice. It was bad enough listening to the voice-mail messages. The sound of his words in deep, husky tones broke her heart a little more every time. She would rather bury her head in the sand and leave her backside exposed.
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