Connor crossed the room in a flash and was into Carrie’s face. “What about your life, Carrie? Do you honestly think your brothers will blame you for what happened all those years ago?”
“Of course they won’t blame me, but that’s beside the point. It did happen, whether I was an innocent victim or not. If a newspaper reporter gets wind of this, it won’t matter to them that I was only eight years old. They will see a story, and it will be a story that could possibly destroy my family’s lives.”
Connor stuffed his hands into his pockets or else he was tempted to shake some sense into Carrie. “Don’t you see that you’re playing right into her hands? If you pay her that won’t be the end of it. She’ll demand more money out of you. And who’s to say she won’t post the photos anyway, even if you were to pay her off? Don’t you think it’s time to face your past. . . along with your brothers and father? Don’t let anyone make you a victim again.”
Carrie ground her teeth. “No, Connor, I will handle this my way. It doesn’t concern you.”
“Like hell it doesn’t.”
At that moment, Carrie’s emotions were frazzled, and the last thing she needed was Connor on her case. “Dammit it, Connor, it doesn’t concern you. My mother is my problem. I paid you to do a job—to find out who was blackmailing me—and you did it. I’ll handle things from here. Your services are no longer needed.”
Her words cut into Connor. He stood there staring at her, not believing that the one time he had finally fallen in love, the woman was dismissing him like he was yesterday’s trash. “Is that the way you want it, Carrie?”
She lifted her chin. “Yes. That’s the way I want it.”
He took a step back. “Fine. I’m going to give you what you want. I plan to stay here for a couple more days, hang out with Miller. Have a safe trip back to Indiana. I’ll see you around.” He grabbed his jacket off the back of the chair. “On second thought, maybe it’s best if I don’t see you around.”
As soon as the door closed shut behind him, Carrie fell on the bed and cried.
32
The Montgomerys
Connor stood outside Carrie’s father’s house. For the past two weeks, he had tried putting her out of his mind, getting on with his life, but had discovered he couldn’t do that. He loved her and had learned a painstaking lesson—you didn’t give up on those you loved. He refused to walk away like she wanted him to do and let her handle things, and he refused to let her be any person’s victim again. The woman he loved had spent the majority of her life trying to get over a bad episode in her life and now of all people, her own mother was keeping the past looming over her head. Connor wasn’t having any of it. One thing a man did was protect his woman and he intended to do just that whether Carrie wanted him to or not.
Connor raised a hand to knock on the door.
A jubilant Jeremiah Montgomery made his way to the front door when he heard someone knocking. This was a very happy Christmas Day with his three sons and daughter here, and what made it even more special was that the one son he thought would never settle down and fall in love had done just that. Lance had brought a girl home and introduced her to everyone as the woman he planned to marry.
Jeremiah thought that Asia was such a pretty thing and was just what Lance needed. Now if only Logan and Lyle would follow in their younger brother’s footsteps and find good women.
The older man sighed when he thought about his daughter. Something was bothering her, but until she told them what it was there was nothing they could do about it. But his heart ached for her, and he could tell from the bags under her eyes that she wasn’t getting much sleep. She had announced to everyone that she would be leaving right after New Year’s to go back to Tampa and start back working. No one knew or understood why she had taken nearly a month and a half off work anyway. That was still a mystery.
He opened the door to find a young man standing there. “Yes, may I help you?”
“Merry Christmas, sir, and sorry to bother you but I was wondering if I could see Carrie?”
Jeremiah hadn’t known Carrie to have any male friends in Gary, although a couple of nights she had stayed out all night. He studied the man, deciding he looked decent enough. “Merry Christmas to you, too, and it’s no bother, and yes, you can see her. Come on in. She’s in there with her brothers opening presents.”
As soon as the man walked over the threshold, Jeremiah offered his hand in a warm handshake. “I’m Jeremiah Montgomery, Carrie’s father.”
“How do you do, sir? And I’m Connor Hargrove, a friend of Carrie’s.”
Jeremiah was just about to ask the man how he had met Car rie when Logan’s voice stopped him. “Who was it at the door, Pop?”
Jeremiah glanced over his shoulder when Logan entered the room. “Someone for Carrie.”
“Oh?” Logan frowned as he came to stand beside his father. He looked Connor up and down. “I wasn’t aware that Carrie had any close friends here in Gary.”
Connor returned Carrie’s brother’s curious stare. “Well, she has,” he decided to speak up and say. “And I’d like to see her if I can.”
The sound of voices made the three men turn around. Lyle and Lance, with Asia and Carrie trailing behind, entered the room. “We were all wondering who was at the door,” Lance said, seeing the stranger standing there and sensing Logan’s tense stance. “Hey, what’s going on?”
“This guy came to see Carrie.”
Carrie glanced up from her conversation with Asia. She looked past her brothers to see Connor standing in the middle of her father’s foyer. She rushed by them to stand in front of him.
“Connor? What are you doing here?” she asked surprised. She hadn’t seen or talked to him since leaving California. That didn’t mean she hadn’t thought about him though. She suddenly felt nervous about his unexpected visit and didn’t have to look around to know everyone’s eyes were on them.
“We need to talk, Carrie.”
“No, there’s nothing we need to say.”
“I care to differ.”
Logan made a move forward. So did Lance and Lyle. “Hey, we don’t know who you are, but if our sister says the two of you don’t have any business to discuss, then that settles it,” Logan said.
Connor’s gaze moved from the worried look on Carrie’s face to that of the man he knew to be her oldest brother. “No disrespect, but Carrie and I do have something to discuss, and I’m not leaving until we do.”
He shifted his attention back to Carrie. “Don’t do it, Carrie. Don’t let her use you this way.”
It was Lyle who came to stand next to Logan. A dark frown had settled on his face. “What is he talking about Carrie? Who’s trying to use you?”
Carrie’s gaze slid from Connor to Lyle. “It’s nothing that concerns any of you.”
“Again I care to differ,” Connor said, as he leaned against the closed front door with an angry expression on his face. He met Carrie’s hostile glare. “And as your brothers, they have a right to know.”
Lance spoke up. “We have a right to know what?”
Biting back a curse, Carrie glared at Connor. “You’ve said enough, Connor. Please leave. You have no right coming here.”
“No, I’m not leaving. Either you tell them or I will, Carrie.”
Carrie took a step toward him. “Connor, no! Please don’t. I hired you to do a job and you did it. Whatever happened to client confidentiality? You have no right discussing my business with anyone.” Then in a softer pleading voice she said, “Please don’t do this.”
Connor took a step forward, which placed him standing in front of her. He lifted his hand and ran his thumb along her cheek. “Any such client confidentiality between us ended the day you became my woman, Carrie. I love you, and I refuse to let her hurt you again.”
“I think someone should tell us what is going on here.”
Those words, spoken in Jeremiah Montgomery’s deep voice, demanded that someone comply. Connor’s gaze moved from Car
rie to glance over at her father and brothers. When he looked back at Carrie, he saw the tears in her eyes. “I do love you, Carrie, and you’re not alone in this. Trust me to know what’s the right thing to do in this situation. You have to trust me, sweetheart.”
He then pulled a crying Carrie into his arms and as her family looked on questioningly, he held her while she sobbed into his chest.
“You okay, baby girl?” Jeremiah asked his daughter after they had all gathered in the living room to sit down.
“Yes, Pop, I’m fine,” Carrie said wiping her eyes on the handkerchief he had given her earlier. “And Connor is right. I should tell all of you what’s going on.”
She was sitting on the sofa beside Connor and he was holding her hand, giving her the support she needed. His support and his love. Even now she had a hard time believing what he’d said earlier in front of her father and brothers. He loved her. The man she loved had announced to everyone that he loved her back.
She sighed deeply and glanced around the room at her brothers. They were sitting in various chairs, all facing her. Lance’s fiancee, Asia Fowler, who Carrie had just met last week, was also there. Asia had volunteered to leave, but Carrie had stopped her, wanting her there although they would be discussing family business—as ugly as it could get. But she liked Asia. She also knew how much Lance loved her and since Carrie figured that Asia would soon be a part of their family anyway, Carrie saw no reason for her not to be included in this private family discussion.
“Now will you tell us what’s going on, Carrie?” her brother Logan asked.
She met his gaze and nodded. “I don’t know where to start,” she said, refusing to cry anymore. She felt Connor’s hand tighten on hers, and then he said, “Just start at the beginning, sweetheart.”
The room got quiet while Carrie inhaled deeply. She glanced over at Connor, saw the love in his eyes. She then began talking. “It all started when I received this huge envelope at the office . . . “
After hearing Carrie’s story, the Montgomerys were furious.
Connor was still holding Carrie’s hand. He knew her telling her brothers what their mother was doing had been hard, as well as admitting to them what Simon Anderson had done to her all those years ago. He had watched her father’s and brothers’ faces and had seen the moment their anger had reached boiling point. Connor had been a police officer on the streets for a long time, he was used to seeing anger, but what knocked him back was seeing the kind of rage that flared between the men when Carrie had told them about Anderson and what he’d done to her all those years ago. It was only after Connor had spoken up, assuring them that in Anderson’s present condition he wouldn’t be able to hurt Carrie or another child again did they decide not to catch the next plane to California.
“You would think Edwina had learned her lesson from the last time she tried getting money out the Montgomery’s,” Jeremiah said in an angry tone. He thought what she was doing was so horribly low, he was ashamed to admit she’d ever been his wife.
“Has she tried doing something like this before?” Connor asked after hearing Jeremiah’s comment.
Logan was the one who answered. “She showed up years ago—before we knew Carrie had been taken from her and placed in a foster home—and our mother offered to tell us where Carrie was if we were to pay her money. We told her we wouldn’t give her a dime and instead we hired our own private investigator to find her. We knew then what sort of person she had become.”
Logan switched his gaze from Connor to Carrie. “And Connor is right, Carrie. You can’t let her manipulate you into paying her money. Once she starts getting it out of you, she’ll never let up.”
“But I can’t let her go to the newspapers and—”
“Damn the newspapers!” Lyle said, coming to stand in front of his sister. “Do you think we care about her threats? You are our sister. We love you. Nothing that has happened in your past will ever embarrass us, Carrie. You were an innocent child. Let her take it to the newspapers. I will gladly see her rot in jail.”
“And so will I,” Lance said, sitting beside Asia on the sofa. “And I agree with Logan and Connor. If you start paying her off, she will only come back. I say let’s call in the authorities and let them handle her.”
“I’d like to make a suggestion,” Connor said, glad Carrie’s brothers were rallying behind her and giving their support like he’d known they would do. “The only reason she is pushing Carrie is because she knows how much Carrie loves all of you, and she’s banking on it. She’s using Carrie’s love for all of you as a weapon. But if Edwina knew all of you were behind Carrie and that you wouldn’t hesitate for Edwina to serve jail time, I believe she would pull back and leave Carrie alone . . . with a little convincing.”
Lyle smiled. “Sounds like you might have a plan.”
Connor chuckled. “I do. Do you want to hear it?”
Logan leaned forward in his chair. “Hell, yeah, We’re all ears.”
“Thanks for coming home with me. With it being Christmas night I’m sure you’d made plans to spend time with your family,” Connor said, closing the door and locking it.
“Thank you for inviting me over.”
They stared at each other for a long time. This was the first opportunity they’d had to be alone since Connor had shared his feelings with her. Even now he fought the urge, his most fervent desire, to pull her into his arms and kiss her and let her know things were going to be all right. Together with her brothers they had come up with a pretty good plan, and hopefully it would end this nightmare she’d endured for the past months.
“Your brothers are pretty nice guys,” he said to break the silence.
“Yes, they are. And just think that Lance knows your cousin Marcus Lowery. This is a small world isn’t it?”
“Yeah, small.”
And speaking of small, Connor was ready to dispense with the small talk, and without another thought he closed the distance between them, took Carrie’s face in his hands, and kissed her.
There was nothing like kissing the woman you loved, Connor quickly concluded as his tongue made a thorough exploration of Carrie’s mouth. His mouth was demanding and she was clinging to it, giving him what he wanted, what he needed.
When he finally drew away, he looked down into her face and whispered the words he had told her earlier that day: “I love you.”
His stomach clenched at the tiny smile that curled her lips as she gazed back at him and said, “And I love you, too, Connor. I think I fell in love with you that day when I walked into your office. I was so attracted to you that it was downright scary. I’d never felt that sort of chemistry with a man before.”
“Yeah, I know the feeling. I was right there with you, since I was attracted to you off the bat, as well. I’d always considered myself a playa, but now I’m seeing things differently. I want forever with a woman, something I thought I’d never want. But I do now with you.”
His words made a shiver move all the way down Carrie’s spine. And even now with him standing so close, the scent of his cologne was teasing her nostrils, making her aware of him even more. Today had been perfect, but she didn’t look forward to what lay ahead with her mother. Connor had come up with a pretty good plan; she just hoped it worked.
“Promise that you won’t worry about anything.”
She met Connor’s gaze again. He’d known what she was thinking. “I didn’t want my brothers to know, but now I’m glad they do. It’s like a huge weight has been lifted off me, and I can breathe again.”
“I wanted that for you. I didn’t want you to continue to go through life blaming yourself for what happened. No matter what your mother believes, you were an innocent victim.”
At that very moment, Carrie suddenly felt drawn to Connor, filled with desire to a degree she hadn’t before. This man, this beautiful man, had decided that she, even with her complicated past, was worthy of his love, and she knew that no matter what the future held for them, she would always lo
ve everything about him. He was assaulting her senses, propelling her into a need she had never before experienced to this degree. And at that moment, a fierce craving took over her and she wanted him—inside of her. “Connor?”
“What, sweetheart?”
Her lips trembled when she said, “Make love to me.”
Not intending for her to ask twice, Connor picked her up into his arms and carried her into the bedroom, determined that they would both experience the greatest explosion ever.
33
Connor wasn’t surprised when he got a call from Miller the following day to let him know Edwina was packing to move out of the house she was living in. The good news was that, unknown to her, Miller would know of any change in her residence. The plan was in place, and the Montgomerys were ready to get Edwina out of their lives once and for all.
It was decided that the best course of action was for Carrie to revisit her mother, seemingly in an attempt to talk her out of her blackmail scheme. Unbeknownst to Edwina, Carrie would be taping their entire conversation on a mini-recorder. Logan, Lyle, Lance, along with Connor and an agent for the FBI, who was a good friend of Miller’s, would be in a van two doors down, and would be recording Edwina’s and Carrie’s entire conversation. Jeremiah had wanted to come along, but his sons had felt that they were the ones who should deal with Edwina and had convinced him to stay in Gary.
After Carrie had knocked several times, Edwina yanked the door open and when she saw Carrie standing there, an angry scowl appeared on her face. “What the hell are you doing here?”
Carrie walked past her inside the house. “We need to talk.”
Edwina slammed the door shut. “The only thing we need to do is get an understanding about the money you’re giving me. You evidently didn’t understand the terms I laid out. I said not to get anyone else involved. You broke the rule with your boyfriend, so it’s going to cost you another five grand per photo.”
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