“Sure,” Logan answered with a smile. “If that’s what it takes.”
“Then I can make myself available,” she answered.
“Me too. But this better not give me indigestion,” Keaton said reluctantly.
“A few beers together and you’ll be right,” Logan said, slapping his brother on the back and earning a sharp glare in return.
“I won’t be drinking,” Keaton said firmly, before adding under his breath, “ever again.”
Logan laughed. “I know what that feels like.”
Kristin rolled her eyes as the two of them began to discuss hangover remedies.
“While you two good ol’ boys do your reminiscing together, I have work to do. What time tonight, Logan?”
“How about seven?” he suggested. “I saw a place over by Lake Union the other day.” He mentioned the name of the restaurant. “I’ll make a reservation and see you there.”
After they’d gone back to their offices, he felt a glimmer of hope that he might be able to build something of a friendship with his brother and sister after all. Which left one more problem on his horizon. Honor. Sharing an office with her was no longer an option. Yes, they may have to liaise with one another on a regular basis, but there was no real need for them to be within the same workspace, day in and day out, was there? He’d check if that office refit on the architectural design team’s floor was complete.
But a week later, he discovered it wasn’t as easy to relocate as he’d hoped. Plus, he began to see a different side to Honor here in the office. She was intensely focused and had some very strong and worthwhile opinions on his vision for the Portland contract.
“Look, I see where you’re going with this,” she said to him on the Friday morning the week before Christmas. “And while I applaud what you’re trying to do here, I think we’d be better if we went for a more industrial look for the interiors of the stores and restaurants. Not only would it shave costs, but it would add to the overall aesthetic of the entire courtyard precinct we’ll be developing.”
He nodded and leaned in a little closer to the concept drawings she had spread out on the table in front of them. It was dangerous ground. The nearer he got to Honor, the more tantalizing was her scent. He had to school himself not to want to nuzzle against the side of her neck and breathe in deep. Easier said than done, he acknowledged as she shifted slightly, giving him an all-too-enticing view of the lace of her bra peeking out from just inside the neckline of her top. Red. The color of passion.
Logan forced himself to train his eyes on the sketches and studied them as though his life depended on it. But it was no use. Her nearness, the warmth of her body as she leaned over the table and scribbled something on the drawing in front of them—all of it conspired to fry his brain and heat up other parts of his body that had no business getting heated in the workplace.
“Logan?”
He started a little and realized she’d been talking to him.
“Sorry, could you repeat that?”
She sighed a little, the action making the fabric of her top shift a little, and darn it if he didn’t catch another little peek of ruby-red lace.
“Look, maybe it’d be easier if I just took you out to a place about half an hour away that illustrates what I’m talking about.”
He stifled a groan. A half hour in a car with her there and then another back? It would be sheer torture.
“Sounds good to me,” he heard himself saying.
“Are you free to go now?”
“Sure.”
“You know, when you first came here and started espousing your ideas about preserving the history of a lot of these old buildings, I thought you were mad. I’d always adhered to Douglas’s policy of making a fresh start, especially when it came to housing. But I really love your ideas of creating homes for families and space for small businesses out of these old industrial buildings. You’re creating new community hubs and giving people an opportunity to connect on a personal level with family and friends that we don’t tend to see very often these days.”
She actually sounded really excited about what they were doing, and Logan felt a burst of pride that she’d come around to his way of thinking and without too much effort on his part. But underneath the excitement he heard a wistful note in her voice that made him curious. As if she had some hidden pain stuffed down deep inside. It was unusual for her to show a chink in her armor, and it made him all the more curious to know exactly what made her tick.
“Are you close to yours?” he asked.
“My what?”
“Your family.”
She stiffened and pulled a slight face. “Not at all. My father left us when I was about six or seven. And my mom is in a care facility now. Alcohol-related dementia.”
She said the words as if she was reciting a shopping list but Logan could hear the wealth of hurt behind them.
“I’m sorry.”
She shrugged as if it didn’t matter. “It is what it is. Shall we go?”
Subject firmly closed, he acknowledged silently as he followed her. With all she’d left unsaid, he knew her childhood couldn’t have been easy. But maybe it explained why he’d heard nothing yet about her breaking off her engagement. Had she changed her mind about that? Was her own past the reason why she was clinging to the security a future with Keaton would offer? After all, it wasn’t as if he could offer her the same. Or could he?
Eleven
Honor drooped with weariness when she let herself into her apartment that evening. She usually felt drained by Friday evening because she put so much into her work week. But this week had been especially taxing. Spending time with Logan challenged her on every level and left her feeling like a wound-up spring of tension by the end of each day. He was so...everything. It irritated her that he was really good at his job, even though Douglas hadn’t bestowed an official title on him yet. And he was always open to ideas, as today’s trip had proven. He’d been really impressed with the site she’d taken him to, and when they got back to the office he’d been excited about working her suggestions into the concepts for the Portland project. His enthusiasm had been infectious, and she’d even found herself enjoying his company in a way she’d never believed she’d be capable of with all that lay between them.
And what lay between them was just as strong as it had ever been. He was like a magnet for her, and she was little more than a metal filing inexorably drawn to him at every turn. She could only hope that in time she’d inure herself to the crazy way her body reacted to him. Surely frequent contact would eventually desensitize her, right?
She’d struggled to find the right time to have that talk with Keaton. And it wasn’t just because she was reluctant to have it. Pinning him down for the discussion had proven more difficult than she’d anticipated. He’d been away at a golfing tournament the previous weekend and then involved in negotiations with overseas suppliers all this week, which had, in turn, required him to wine and dine the suppliers’ representatives every night.
Honor kicked off her shoes and sank down onto her couch. She remembered just how vulnerable Keaton had appeared last week after Douglas’s announcement appointing Logan as his successor. It had been as though Keaton’s entire reason for being had been stripped from him. It would have been cruel of her to end their engagement on top of all of that. But now that he seemed to be coming to terms with Logan’s permanent place in the family, the time to discuss this with him had to be now and tonight he’d agreed to call in.
She had to release him from their engagement. She got up from the couch, went to her kitchen and poured herself a glass of wine.
She was just about to take a sip when her apartment door buzzed. Keaton. She felt a sudden sense of trepidation. Honor put down her glass and after pasting a smile on her face, swung open the door.
“Keaton, I was literally just thinking about you.”
“Thinking about me? Are you sure you didn’t confuse me with my brother? You two can’t seem to stop looking at one another. I thought it was just him, but you’re just as bad.”
She felt as shocked as if he’d slapped her. His voice was sharp with an edge of something cruel lingering under the surface that she’d never heard from him before.
“You’d better come in,” she said, stepping aside for him to enter.
“You don’t deny it, I see.”
“Please, sit down.”
She sat opposite him. Despite the fact his features were so very familiar to her, he had the air of a complete and utter stranger. His mouth was set in an implacable line, and his eyes were icy and unforgiving.
“Am I right?” he asked coldly. “Is there something between you and my brother?”
Her mouth went dry, and she felt nauseous that Keaton had guessed the truth. She’d wanted to spare him that. She’d wanted to end their engagement in as civilized a fashion as possible, without imparting just how foolish she’d been.
“I’m sorry, Keaton, I—”
“I’ll take that as a yes,” he ground out through clenched teeth.
Keaton closed his eyes briefly, and she saw his chest rise and fall as he drew in a deep breath, as if he was trying to steady himself. Twin spots of color stained his cheeks red, a sure sign it was one of those rare moments when his temper truly got away with him.
“I can explain,” she started, but Keaton put up one hand.
“Don’t insult me with your explanations. They’re too little, too late as far as I’m concerned. I can’t believe it took me this long to see you for what you really are.”
“What am I?”
Honor’s voice sounded thick and strained, even to her ears.
“I knew you were ambitious. I liked that about you, more fool me. But I never realized that you’d be prepared to play my brother and me. I imagine now that Logan’s set to take over from our father, you’ll shift your allegiance to him as he has by far the most to gain.”
“That’s not true. Not at all!” she protested. “Keaton, honestly, the first time—”
“There’s been more than one?” he asked, sounding shocked.
Honor swallowed the bitter taste in her mouth. He deserved the whole truth.
“Please, Keaton, hear me out. You need to know everything.”
“I’m not sure I do.”
“Look, the night of the awards dinner I was in the hotel bar and I was just about to go up to my room when I saw a man I believed was you come into the bar and take a seat.”
“But I told you I couldn’t make it to your award presentation. Why would you have thought he was me?”
“You’re identical twins. Honestly, I really thought that maybe you’d come into town to surprise me with some role play.”
“Role play,” he repeated, his voice now devoid of any emotion.
“You know we’d had a discussion about spicing things up. I thought maybe you’d taken that on board. Anyway—” she waved a hand in the air in front of her “—I thought he was you. I went over to him. Kissed him. Gave him my room number and key card and asked him to join me.”
“And he did.” Keaton’s face was stony.
Retelling the story just made it sound all the more sordid.
“So you slept with him that night, too? And Portland? The shared room? Was that something the two of you engineered?”
“No!” she cried. “Stella made the reservation thinking I was traveling with you, and when the hotel only had the one room left, we had no choice but to share it.”
“Even so, you didn’t have to have sex with him.”
She hung her head in shame. “I know. I couldn’t help it.”
Keaton made a sound halfway between grief and disgust and then rose abruptly.
“Well, I wish you luck. Obviously, I have no further interest in continuing our engagement.”
“I’ll get your ring.”
“You haven’t been wearing it?”
“I couldn’t. Not after Portland. It...it wasn’t right.”
“No, it wasn’t. None of this was.”
“Are you going to tell your parents and Kristin?”
“About you screwing my brother? I don’t think so. Life’s bad enough without them knowing that, too.”
Her chest felt as if it was being compressed in a vise. “Thank you,” she whispered.
Honor left him waiting in the sitting room while she went to retrieve the diamond solitaire she’d been so proud to accept. When she came back and handed it to him, she felt as if she was returning everything she’d ever strived for. Stability. Security. Structure. Acceptance. And with her own ridiculous carelessness, she’d thrown it all away.
Keaton took the ring, pocketed it and turned and left without saying another word. The moment the door closed behind him, Honor crumpled to the floor and began to cry. Great wrenching sobs shook her entire body and, when they eventually subsided, left her feeling broken and empty in a way she’d never felt before. She staggered to her feet and grabbed the glass of wine from her coffee table. She lifted it to her mouth with a shaking hand but then stopped herself.
How many times had she seen her mother turn to alcohol for comfort when life went wrong? She would not be like that. Honor walked to the kitchen and tipped the wine out in the sink before heading to her bedroom and lying down on her bed, in the dark and fully clothed.
She waited for sleep to come, but it was impossible. Her mind was full of all the things she and Keaton had done and planned together. All the times his family had included her as though she was one of them and had value and importance. She couldn’t expect to experience that again. She was a cheater. The worst kind. Just like her father and just like her mom.
Honor curled up on her side and let the tears fall again. This time she wept silently, feeling her heart break into a million pieces as she cried for all she’d destroyed. She cried for the little girl who’d had hopes and dreams of a better life and who’d wanted to be loved and accepted for herself. Who’d wanted to make a difference for others. Who’d wanted to be a part of something greater than who she was and where she’d been and what she’d done.
The girl who’d ruined everything.
By Monday morning, Honor still wasn’t certain she could face the others. She’d be a pariah once the news came out. There’d be no one in her corner, especially not Logan. He’d already made it clear that he wanted nothing to do with her on a personal level. And that was as it should be, too. His family situation was too fragile and new and precious. If she’d been in the same situation, she’d do the same.
Family was everything. If you had it.
She felt another wave of pain, and she gripped the edges of her vanity table so tightly her fingers began to hurt. She couldn’t face going in to work today. She’d just call in sick. And how long could she continue to do that, she silently asked her reflection. No, she had to go in and face the music.
How long would it be, she wondered, until she was asked to leave Richmond Developments? It was bound to happen eventually. The family was tight, even with their infighting, and eventually they’d discover that she’d overstepped the invisible boundaries that held a family together. She’d do the right thing and resign. Maybe then she might still be able to expect a reference. She’d been good at her job, had helped lift the company profile. Surely she’d have no difficulty finding work elsewhere. Her portfolio was impressive.
But her financial commitments were extensive, and she couldn’t take a hit right now. Not only was she still paying down her student loans, but the care facility where her mother now lived consumed most of her financial resources. Job security was vital for her to be able to make those payments for her mom. Sure, Honor could maybe move to a cheaper apartment, sell her car and take public transit. But
that wouldn’t make much difference for long.
She was going to have to take stock of her life, her new life, and make contingency plans like tightening her budget, creating a new résumé and registering with some employment agencies. Then she would have to wait and see what happened next.
* * *
Over the next two days at work, Honor felt as though she was perpetually walking on eggshells. It was the Tuesday before Christmas, and the atmosphere in the office should have been festive and joyful. Maybe for the rest of the staff it was, but between the Richmond siblings, and between herself and Logan, you could cut the tension with a knife.
Keaton barely spoke to anyone, and Kristin was so tightly wound she was like a bomb waiting to go off. And Logan? Well, he was very creative at finding ways not to be anywhere near her, until now as they exited the conference room after attending a department heads meeting. When he went to speak with Keaton, she was horrified to see his brother cut him dead in the hallway and turn and walk away without acknowledging him.
“What was that about?” Logan asked as he and Honor walked along the corridor.
“He hasn’t spoken to you?”
Logan made a helpless gesture with his hands. “As you can see, he isn’t talking to me. Not even to say good morning. Not sure what bug has crawled up his ass, but I thought we were making inroads into getting to know one another. Now this. Has he always been so moody?”
Honor shook her head. “It’s my fault. Well, our fault.”
“Ours?”
She watched as understanding dawned on his face.
“You told him?”
“I did.” Even as she said the words, she felt the now-familiar nausea from knowing she’d inflicted such humiliating pain on Keaton.
“He didn’t take it well, did he?” Logan cursed under his breath. “I’m so sorry you bore that alone. We should have told him together.”
She looked at him in surprise. “No, it was my responsibility.”
“Honor, we were both involved. I should have been there for you. I’m sorry.”
Seducing the Lost Heir Page 11