SEALed With Love (DiCarlo Brides book 2) (The DiCarlo Brides)

by Heather Tullis

  The back corridors of the hotel were quiet, and Lana decided this had been a good idea, coming to work for a while. During the day there were so many people running around, phones ringing, faxes coming through, that she had trouble staying on task. As she tapped away at her computer, she admitted to herself that knowing Blake was in the next room during the day and could pop up at any moment wasn’t helpful either. She did better when he was on the road.

  She was getting into the swing of things when someone came to her office door and stood in the opening. Blake, she realized even before she lifted her head to look his way. She’d always been unnaturally aware of his presence in a room.

  He watched her, and they sat in silence for a long moment. Her throat ached as she thought about what they’d once shared. Their romance had been a whirlwind: quick, sweet and exciting. Forbidden—or at least they’d chosen to treat it as forbidden, as there were definitely strange angles and twisted relationships to consider—he had been her boss at the hotel, and she was the owner’s daughter. Not entirely unlike the current situation since her dad had died the previous spring and left the hotel to her and her sisters.

  She and Blake had married quietly on a whim within a month of their first date, and eleven days later it had been over. She tore her eyes away, staring back at the monitor. “Is there something I can do for you?”

  “I’ve spent the past hour trying to convince myself that I was justified in the way I acted tonight. I haven’t been able to do it.” Blake shut the door behind him and walked over to the desk. “It was knee-jerk—I want to be the one eating dinner with you, hearing bits about your day. I know you’d never date someone else while you were still married to me.”

  Hot tears stung her eyes as she stared at the screen. Her sight swam and she had to fight to keep the tears from falling. “And now you’re working the guilt angle.”

  “I’m not working an angle, Lana. It’s called an apology.”

  She looked up, met his blue eyes and saw sincerity. “Fine. Apology accepted.” A tear fell and he reached across the desk, wiping it away with his thumb. The tenderness nearly undid her. She pulled back. “I’m going to finish this up, then head home. When I come back tomorrow, I’ll pretend none of this happened and that we can get back to our usual professional relationship.”

  “I wish you’d reconsider. I thought the other night proved there’s still something between us.” His voice was low and a little sultry, winding through her system.

  She couldn’t meet his gaze, but her eyes strayed to his firm, expressive lips over the sexy cleft in his chin. “It was a mistake. I shouldn’t have let it happen.” The memories of their night together after the hotel’s opening gala still hit her at random moments, taking her by surprise. When she closed her eyes, she still tasted his kisses, the rush of rightness she’d always felt in his arms. It made keeping her distance harder than ever. She returned her gaze to the screen and began typing with the hope that he would take the hint.

  A moment later he left, the door standing open behind him. Though she stayed another hour, she couldn’t concentrate on work anymore.

  When Lana came into the house her father had bought for his daughters, she found Delphi sitting at the kitchen island, her laptop open and a stack of papers beside it. Delphi—short for Delphinium—was the fifth in line of the six daughters, and only six months Lana’s junior—the result of one of his many affairs.

  “That was a late dinner,” Delphi commented, peering over the glasses she only wore for reading. Her short-cropped blond hair created a halo against the light behind her.

  “I went back to the hotel to do some paperwork. It looks like you brought yours home.” Lana hung up her purse and jacket, then moved into the kitchen.

  “Kay Jones wants these numbers by tomorrow, but I have that crazy wedding this week and it’s taking up most of my time.” Delphi rubbed her neck. “Can’t wait until it’s over. Jill is the bride from Hades.”

  Lana smiled despite herself. Even though Jill was being a serious pain, she would leave the hotel never knowing that Delphi disliked her, or realizing all of the little tweaks the staff was doing in the background to make her wedding go smoothly. “It’s a good thing you’re so amazing at your job, then.”

  “Right.” Delphi folded up the glasses and set them on the stack of papers, then shut down the computer. “My brain is fried. Was the pizza any good?”

  “Yeah, it was great. It ended up just being the happy couple, me and Jeremy, though. Everyone else bailed. You should have come.” Maybe then Blake would have let her finish dinner.

  Delphi shook her head. “Too much going on. If Jeremy was there, all the more reason for me to stay away.”

  It was too bad Jeremy had started things off on the wrong foot with Delphi—they actually had quite a lot in common. Lana poked into the cupboards, but wasn’t hungry, so she finally grabbed a bottled water out of the fridge instead and headed for the stairs. “I guess I might as well get some sleep. I have a few more things to take care of before our morning meeting.”

  “You’re such a work-a-holic,” Delphi said as she cleared away her things.

  “And a work-a-holic like yourself would know.” She shared a grin with her half-sister before heading up the open stairway to her room.

  The house had really begun to feel like home since all of George DiCarlo’s daughters—two by his wife, and four others by four other women—had come to live there a few months earlier. Becoming the youngest general manager in history for the DiCarlo hotel chain had been Lana’s goal since she was still in elementary school, and she had worked toward it with single-minded determination since she was a teenager. Getting the shocking news after her father’s death that she had four half-sisters in addition to the one she’d grown up with, had put all of their worlds in a tailspin. She still wasn’t sure how she felt about the new siblings.

  Figuring out her feelings about the revelation and her father were far easier. Lana still thought her father could have found a nicer way to break the news to his daughters than leaving it for the reading of his will. And she couldn’t get over her fury with the way he’d played fast and loose with his marriage to her mom.

  Lana walked past Cami’s door—she was probably staying over at Vince’s tonight—and smiled when she heard the recording of rain sticks that Sage loved so much as she passed that room as well. Finally, she arrived at her own room, all done up in shades of blue with a huge picture of the ocean hanging on one wall.

  Her father had picked it out for her, chosen the color schemes and linens, selected furniture, decorations and the music that each of his daughters loved when he set up their rooms in Colorado. She supposed it was intended as an apology for everything he thrust upon them. Very few of the sisters had been happy when he virtually forced them to open up the newest hotel in the DiCarlo chain, and to cohabit ‘unless they were living with their husbands’ a phrase that had been placed there specifically for her, though the others didn’t know it.

  She was the only one with a husband—at least at the moment, though Cami’s wedding date had been set and things between Joel and Sage were getting interesting.

  After lining up her shoes in the bottom of the closet beside the others, she changed from her day clothes to a pair of pajamas and settled into bed.

  Tonight, after her run in with Blake, she wished she could speak to her dad and ask him what he was thinking. Instead, she pulled out the first letter he left for her.

  Dear Lantana,

  I know this must all be a major shock for you, though unlike Cami, you at least knew about my less-admirable tendencies. I know you’ll be an amazing general manager, and that you’re ready for it. You’ve been walking in my footsteps for all of your life in so many ways. You should be proud of your accomplishments—I certainly am.

  None of your half-sisters knew about the others. You’re all going to have a lot of adjusting to do as you get to know one another, but I know that if you can pull together, th
e six of you will accomplish something amazing. Sage will accept things, because fate is a real, living, breathing entity for her, but the rest of them are going to struggle with this news as much as you will, maybe more. They’re going to need a sure hand to guide them and bind them as a group. That’s you—just so you know. You’re the key to making everything work.

  But hey, no pressure.

  If you’re reading this, you’ve already heard the terms of the will, which means you know that I’m aware of your marriage to Blake. He’s a good man, sweetheart, devoted to you. I’m not telling you how to live, but don’t let your anger toward me stop you from finding happiness and a home of your own.

  Never doubt that I loved your mother, whatever else happened in my life. It wasn’t the kind of all-consuming love you read about in novels, but it was sweet and comfortable. It worked for us, but it wouldn’t work for you—if Blake gives you the fire and warmth that you crave, don’t let him get away. And if you find upon reflection that what you have really is only warm and comfortable, have the strength to let him go. If he’ll let you.

  I love you with everything I have.

  Dad

  It wasn’t long enough to say everything she wished to know—didn’t explain how he could love her mother so much, but constantly step out on her with other women. It didn’t explain how he could juggle his job, wife and six daughters sprinkled across the continent, and still find time for more affairs—but she knew from experience that he managed it.

  Had her mother always known about the other women and looked the other way? Remembering the grateful way she’d treated George as he doted on her in the months before her death, Lana couldn’t believe her mother hadn’t known.

  He was such a hateful jerk, and though she longed to rip up the letter and throw it away, to give his headstone a good, hard kick, and to damn him for not deserving her erstwhile hero worship, she folded the note and put it away instead.

  She missed him every day.

  She flipped off the light and slid down under the covers. Throwing a tantrum wouldn’t solve anything. And tomorrow was sure to be a long day.

  I can’t imagine trying to put out a book without the help of my friends, who do their best to ensure I don’t embarrass myself. Thanks to my first readers, Tamara Hart Heiner and Maria Hoagland, and to my second-round readers Danyelle Ferguson and Nichole Giles.

  And a big thanks to my hubby, Bill who puts up with my often crazy schedule, built my cover, and did my final round edits to catch all of the little punctuation and spelling mistakes that are so easy for writers to miss.

  Heather Tullis has been reading romance for as long as she can remember and has been publishing in the genre since 2009. When she’s not dreaming up new stories to write, she runs with the local volunteer ambulance, enjoys gardening, playing with her chickens, geese and ducks, cake decorating and working with her husband in their small business.

  Learn more about her at her website at http://heathertullis.blogspot.com/ or her Facebook fan page http://www.facebook.com/HeatherTullisBooks.