by Brenda Joyce
“It’s true,” Sam said defiantly, her face covered with tears.
“How could you do this?” Trev asked. “How, Sam? I mean, you were such a good, sweet kid and then...” He stopped.
“And then you married Lana and forgot all about me,” Sam cried.
“I’ve never forgotten about you,” Trev said. Gabe was now shrugging on an oversized button-down shirt. Trev glanced at him. “Freeze. I’m calling the cops.”
“Trev, don’t,” Kait whispered.
“I hate you so much!” Sam shouted. New tears fell.
“It will be all right,” Gabe told her.
“Like hell it will be,” Trev spat. He crossed the room to use Sam’s phone. Kait walked over to Sam and tried to take her hand, but she wouldn’t release the sheet and she wouldn’t look at her—she stared at her father’s back with sheer hostility.
“Is he calling the cops or Rafe?” she asked fearfully.
Kait realized there was a difference. “I don’t know. Honey, he’ll calm down. He’s in shock and upset.” She hesitated. “Are you guys using condoms?”
Sam flushed. Gabe moved over to them. “Of course we are. I’d never be so stupid to get her pregnant.”
Kait turned to look at him. He was wary now, and still frightened, but more in control of himself than he had been when Trev had had him up against the wall. “Condoms break, Gabe,” she said quietly. “Accidents happen. It only takes one time. I happen to think that unless you’re at that stage of life where you are ready to marry and have children, you shouldn’t be sleeping around.”
“I’d marry Sam in a heartbeat,” Gabe said. Then he looked at Sam.
Kait watched them share a deep glance and she realized that they were deeply in love, never mind that they were kids going through life’s roughest time—adolescence.
Trev slammed down the phone. “Rafe’s on his way,” he said, pointing at Gabe. “I never want you near my daughter again.”
“Dad!” Sam cried. She leapt from the bed, sheet and all. Her face had turned spectacularly white.
“I mean it,” Trev said. “Because if he comes around again, I’m pressing charges.”
Gabe also turned white.
Kait winced, horrified. She knew Trev meant well. She knew he loved his daughter. And it wasn’t exactly her place, but it seemed to her that he was doing everything wrong.
“You can’t tell me who I can see and who I can’t,” Sam cried. “I’m sixteen, not six.”
“And that makes you a minor living under my roof, so I can damn well tell you anything I want,” Trev said harshly.
Gabe touched Sam. She glanced at him. Kait didn’t know what the silent communication meant, but then Sam said, “Dad, if you send him to jail, I’m leaving. And you’ll never see me again.”
Trev paled.
To Kait, the waffles tasted like cardboard.
But Marni was clearly enjoying them. Kait had allowed her to cover them not just with syrup but with gobs of whipped cream and maraschino cherries. Fortunately, Elizabeth had left for church, so Kait didn’t have to deal with her disapproval.
Trev pushed back his chair. His waffles were basically untouched. “Thanks,” he said to Kait. “I’m going to school Charm today.”
Kait happened to know that Charm was a young new stallion that he had recently purchased. “Okay.” She shoved a piece of waffle around in the gooey maple syrup. Sam hadn’t come downstairs. Kait had wanted to peek in on her, but her door was locked. She suspected that the teen was soundly asleep.
Last night, Rafe had taken Gabe home. Apparently, there would be no charges pressed—the brothers had had a long and heated argument, with Rafe clearly winning the day—but he had promised Gabe that next time he would not be so lenient.
“Daddy, you never school on Sundays! You didn’t read your newspaper!” Marni wailed.
Trev said, his tone affectionate in spite of the heavy and grim set of his mouth, “I know. But today’s different. Do you mind, sweetheart? You can stay with Mommy.”
Marni pouted.
Kait understood—Trev was more than upset, and he needed to work in order to distract himself. “Honey, why don’t you help me do the dishes? I’ll wash, you dry,” Kait said.
A week ago, Trev would have stared at her in disbelief, as they both knew Lana did not do dishes. But that was a week ago—now, he smiled at her before grabbing a jacket from a wall peg and walking out. He had completely accepted the new and improved Lana.
Kait and Marni began clearing the table. Kait hesitated. “Marni? Do you think you could run up and see if Sam needs anything? I could bring her waffles in bed.”
Marni beamed, agreed, and raced off. Kait was grim as she finished clearing the kitchen table. This was the last thing that anyone needed right now, a terrible teen situation. She felt terribly for Trev, for Sam, and even for Gabe Jenkins. She was incredibly relieved that Rafe had talked Trev out of pressing charges against him.
Marni came downstairs at a trot. “She said she’s starving and if you bring her waffles, she’d eat them,” she announced.
“Really?” Kait was thrilled. Ten minutes later she was carrying a tray upstairs. Sam’s door was ajar. Kait glanced in. “Knock, knock,” she said.
Sam sat in bed with two magazines, her headphones on, in jeans and a sweatshirt. She removed the headphones and looked at Kait, not smiling.
Her eyes were swollen and red.
Kait asked, “Can I come in?”
Sam nodded. “At least you ask,” she said.
Kait walked in and laid the tray down on a cluttered bedside table. “Did you cry all night?”
Sam nodded.
“Your father isn’t pressing charges,” she said softly.
“He isn’t?” Briefly, her face lit up. Then it fell. “That’s only because of Uncle Rafe! My father sucks!”
“Actually, he’s a wonderful man,” Kait said. “Can I sit down?”
Sam nodded.
Kait sat down at the foot of her bed.
“You’re only saying that because you’re in love with him. You wouldn’t say that if you were me.”
“No, probably not, not now, not at your age. But Sam, remember the story I told you? You are so lucky to have a father who loves you and cares so much that he went berserk when he found you with your boyfriend.”
Sam blinked. “I can’t give up Gabe.”
Kait sighed. “You had better cool it until Trev calms down. Look, we were planning to have Gabe and his mom for dinner tonight—until this happened.”
Sam gaped. “You were? That must have been your idea!”
“It was. I thought it high time your dad meet Gabe—and see for himself who he is.”
Sam almost smiled. She said, “You are a really nice lady. I don’t know who you are and where that bitch is, but I hope she never comes back. Are you going to stay?”
Kait stared.
Kait had gone back to the kitchen, and was almost through with the dishes when she heard the front doorbell. She was tremendously preoccupied now. She could insist until she was blue that she was Lana, but she didn’t even want to. She had merely told Sam that she was wrong, and she had promptly fled the room.
But Sam wasn’t wrong—and how long would it be before she said something? Kait had no idea; because teenagers were simply too unpredictable and she didn’t dare try to assume how Sam would think or act.
Marni was still in Sam’s room, regaling her with the details of a story that had been read in her kindergarten class on Friday. Kait dried her hands on the daisy-dotted apron she was wearing and went to the front door. She opened it, and there was a grinning Colin Farrell.
She wanted to slam it closed in his face. Instead, she stared in dis-belief. “You!”
His grin vanished. He took in every inch of her appearance—her bare feet with their sheer pink toenails, her low-rise jeans, the daisy-sprinkled apron, the lemon-yellow T-shirt, and the fact that she wore not one stitch of makeup, not even masca
ra.
Kait felt panic. “What are you doing here?” If Trev saw him, he would never believe that he and Lana were through. But did it matter? Because this was the end of the game; they had come to the end of the road.
With no sign of the abundant amusement Kait had witnessed the night before, he said, “Do relax. Coleman just drove off to town. And you’re not her,” he stated flatly. “You are not Lana, now, are you, love?”
Kait felt the floor tilt wildly beneath her feet. “Are you insane?” she gasped.
“Lana would never, ever, be caught dead in jeans and an apron and without her face on. Not ever,” he stressed, his gray eyes wide and riveted upon her.
“Just get out,” Kait said. Then she changed her mind and grabbed his arm, dragging him inside. “No—we have to talk!” She slammed the door and lowered her voice. “I want you to return that ring!”
“Like bloody hell,” he said. He slowly circled her, studying every inch of her. Then he stopped short. “Good God—she told me so long ago that I’d completely forgotten. You’re her twin!”
Kait inhaled. There was no escape hatch now.
His hands were on his hips. Today, he wore a navy blue sports jacket over tan slacks with a paler blue polo shirt beneath. “She told me once, shortly after we moved in together, that she had a twin. A physically identical carbon copy of herself.”
Her lips had turned into wood. “She told you?” Lana had told this man, but no one else. She had told Colin Farrell, but not her husband, Trev.
“She told me once, in passing. I do believe she mentioned you were as different as night and day and that you spoke rarely. And that was the end of that conversation.” He was suddenly reflective. “What the bloody hell is going on? What is she up to?” Now he was grim and concerned. “Where is she?”
In that moment, Kait instinctively knew she had an ally in her quest for the truth, never mind that he was a thief. “I don’t know where she is,” she said.
He gave her a long look. “You must tell me what’s going on,” he said warningly.
Did she dare bargain? “Will you return the ring?”
He nodded.
“Lana asked me to cover for her so she could borrow or raise the money she owes,” she began.
He grabbed her arm. “Hold right there. The money she owes?” He was incredulous.
Kait stared. But she had known since discovering that her sister was a thief and a pro that her story was a lie.
“I’m going to throttle her,” he said with a disbelieving shake of his head.
Kait wondered if he meant it. He wasn’t all that angry, and he seemed somewhat amused. “So then why did she ask me to come here and switch places with her?”
“You’re a fool,” he said with a laugh that wasn’t humorous. His gray gaze was direct. “Believing that rot. But what I cannot believe is that she did not tell me what she was doing.” He was finally annoyed. But he still didn’t seem angry, and Kait couldn’t decide if he were a cool, cool cucumber or a very good actor. It was probably a combination of both.
“What is going on?” Kait asked grimly. “Please, Colin. Please. I have been going crazy pretending to be her—not to mention that someone shot at me—her—and also drove me off the road.”
He studied her for a long moment. “She’s conned you. Quite thoroughly, it seems.” And he did smile, suddenly amused.
Kait felt like smacking the smile right off his handsome face. “It’s hardly funny.”
He gave her a look she could not decipher. “I find it rather amusing—she’s even conned me. Not for the first time, I might add.”
Kait stared. “So then why are you with her?” Her previous thoughts assailed her. “Did you guys break up when she married Trev?”
He eyed her. “Romantic, eh, love?”
“Yes,” she said, and the single word hissed out on her breath.
“We’ve never broken up. I’m with her because she is the most exciting woman I have ever met. And we are partners. Neither one of us could survive without the other one.”
Kait walked away to sit down. Her worst suspicions were right. “She never loved Trev.” It wasn’t a question.
“No. Although I do think he amused her for a while. You are romantic.”
Kait didn’t look up. “But what about Marni?” she whispered, finally meeting Farrell’s gray eyes.
For the first time, Farrell hesitated. “Some women are better mothers than others,” he said.
That was an understatement. “I need to know the whole...” She hesitated.
“Scam?” he supplied.
She nodded. “So she married him for his money?”
“My, you are a bit of a terrier.” His white teeth flashed. “We were looking for a mark. A nice, rich chap with nice rich friends—and then Lana learned about Trev Coleman. She came to me one day extremely excited, because he was old money, recently widowed, with a daughter, and lots of old-world friends. We both felt that he’d be vulnerable and easy to manage. We were right. He fell for her like a sack of rocks.”
Kait couldn’t move. Her earlier suspicions returned. “How did she find out about Trev?” she managed.
“I have no idea. But she knew he’d be at a certain restaurant for a business meeting, and she intercepted him there.” His expression changed. “What is it?”
And suddenly, Kait knew the truth.
“Tell me,” Farrell said.
Kait looked up. “Lana had dinner with me. I was working on a charity event and I told her I wanted to hold it at Fox Hollow. I had a lunch meeting scheduled with Trev two weeks after. But he didn’t show. When did they meet, Farrell?”
“May of ninety-seven. They were married the following September—Labor Day weekend, in fact.”
“He was supposed to meet me. She fixed it so that she met him instead.”
Both of Farrell’s brows lifted. Then, “She’s very good,” he said suavely.
“She’s horrible,” Kait cried, standing.
“I begin to see. You are the moral sort, aren’t you?”
Kait could imagine what Lana had done—call Trev, pretend to be Kait, change the time and place of their meeting, then waltz in and attract his attention. Kait London had never showed up. Lana had been there to pick up all the pieces.
Kait was furious.
“Oh, come, Kait. It’s hardly the end of the world that Lana messed up your business meeting with Coleman. Oh, wait! I begin to see.” He was wide-eyed now.
“There’s nothing to see,” Kait snapped. She hurried out of Trev Coleman’s office with Farrell at her side.
“No? You’ve fallen hard for the fellow and you’re thinking that if Lana hadn’t interfered, right now, you’d be the proper mistress of Fox Hollow.”
“That’s not what I’m thinking,” Kait lied. But it was exactly what she was thinking.
In the living room, Kait faced him, her arms folded across her chest. “I still don’t understand why. Why con me into covering for her?”
Colin Farrell smiled. “Isn’t it obvious? She wanted to pull off a job without me. Either that, or she’s setting one up.” He didn’t seem angry, but he was no longer very amused. “She’s never cut me out before. Where is she?”
“I have no idea.”
“When did you last hear from her?”
Kait told him. “She intends to return on Monday. That’s tomorrow,” she added.
His gaze narrowed as he absorbed that. Suddenly he held out his hand. “I’ll take that ring now,” he said.
Kait couldn’t wait to get rid of it. But she still had questions—lots of questions. “Not yet. What about Rafe Coleman? He knows, doesn’t he, what Lana really is?” Now, his hostility and threats made sense. “And is Zara an undercover cop?”
Farrell laughed, but not with mirth. “Zara’s a PI working for Trev.”
“What?” Kait gasped, completely surprised.
“That’s right—he’s gathering dirt on Lana so he can divorce her without han
ding over the keys to the kingdom. As if she gives a damn about this place.”
Kait sat down, in shock. How much did Trev know?
How long would it take for a good private investigator to discover that Lana had an identical twin?
“What does Rafe know?” she managed then.
“We don’t know. I think he despises Lana for the obvious reasons, but she started worrying a few months ago that he was on to her—to us.”
“He knows she’s a thief,” she said. “I’m certain of it.” She stopped herself from adding a warning that he was pursuing Lana with a vengeance.
Kait stiffened. Which side was she now on?
She couldn’t be on her sister’s side, but Lana faced a serious indictment if caught, and hard jail time if convicted.
“Well, if that is so, this is the perfect time for Lana’s divorce—and our departure from the area.” He was impatient now. Clearly he was interested in leaving. “It was nice meeting you, Kait.”
He was about to leave. “I’ll get the ring,” Kait cried.
His hand clamped down on her shoulder before she could rush for the stairs. “No need.”
“What?” she gasped, meeting his eyes with a sinking sensation.
His smile was wide, his eyes sparkled. He leaned close. “Tell me. You just stole your first bauble, Kait. How does it feel?”
“I didn’t steal anything!” she cried in a frantic whisper. “Now let me go so I can get that damn thing!”
He didn’t release her. “No rush? No high?” He was now amused. “There is a rush, love. It’s almost better than sex.”
“Let go!”
He obeyed. “You are taking the ring.”
“No, actually, I’m not.” He turned to leave.
She ran after him. “Are you nuts? I can’t keep it! It needs to be returned. Immediately—Rafe saw us, Farrell!”
He paused at the front door. “You’re keeping it. It’s called insurance, love.”
Kait felt her mouth drop open and hang there.
He flashed his brilliant smile and walked out.
CHAPTER 17
Kait stood in the doorway, staring after Farrell, when Marni came dashing out of the house. “Colin!” she squealed with delight.