“I want us to work together. I meant what I said about cross-promotion.”
“My father warned us about you.”
Caleb had no good comeback for that, since Roland Parker had every reason to distrust the Watfords. He bought himself some time by taking another drink.
He set down his glass. “All I can say is that I’m not my father. And I get the feeling you’re not your sister.”
Her gaze narrowed in obvious suspicion.
He kept on talking. “I think you can see the benefits of working together. My guess is that you’re very rational, and you can clearly see the downsides of a fight. It hurts us both. It’ll cost a whole lot of money. And no matter who wins, we’ll both be weaker and poorer for the effort.”
Melissa didn’t answer. She traced her fingertip down the condensation on her glass.
Caleb sat still while Blake Shelton crooned. He didn’t want to make a wrong move.
She finally looked up. “You can’t divide and conquer. It won’t work.”
He wasn’t about to admit that was his strategy. “I don’t want to conquer anyone. But I’m a million dollars into this project.”
She seemed to think about that. “So you have a lot to lose.”
“I have a lot to lose.”
“Yet another reason why we shouldn’t trust you.”
“I understand.” He did. “Tell me what I can do to—”
There was a sharp rap on the door.
Melissa jumped in her chair and her head turned sharply toward the sound.
“Expecting someone?” Caleb asked.
“No.” A flush had come up on her cheeks, and her hand went to her hair. “Maybe.”
The knock came again.
“You want me to get it?” he asked, seeing she was anxious.
“Melissa?” called a voice that Caleb recognized. It was Noah.
“What’s he doing here?” Caleb had learned some worrying things about Noah today. Things he’d planned to share with Jules and Melissa.
Melissa started to rise, but Caleb jumped up.
“There’s something I need to say to him.”
Before she could respond, he rounded the corner to the foyer and opened the door.
Noah was clearly taken aback by the sight of him.
“Yeah,” Caleb responded to the man’s unspoken question. “I’m here. What are you doing here?”
“Business,” Noah said, his tone even.
“I mean what are you doing in Whiskey Bay?”
Noah’s eyes became guarded.
“Been in town long?” Caleb pressed.
“It’s obvious you know I haven’t.”
“It wasn’t hard to find out.”
“I wasn’t hiding it.”
“Caleb?” Melissa called out.
“Give me a second.” Caleb had learned today that Noah was recently released from jail. “What did you do?” he asked Noah.
“About what?” Noah came back without flinching, clearly ignoring the unspoken implication.
“To get thrown in jail.”
Noah paused for less than a heartbeat. “I killed a guy.”
Caleb’s jaw went lax.
Noah didn’t elaborate.
“On purpose?” It was the first question that popped into Caleb’s mind.
“Not really.”
“And you expect me to let you anywhere near Jules and Melissa?”
“I don’t think it has anything to do with you.” Noah’s gaze was level, his manner straightforward. He didn’t seem to have the slightest inclination to cover up or apologize.
The attitude gave Caleb pause. He supposed there were a lot of ways to accidentally kill someone—from a car accident to a hunting accident to a fistfight gone bad.
Noah had gotten off with two years less a day in the county jail. And he’d been paroled for good behavior after only nine months. Upon reflection, the sentence strongly suggested mitigating circumstances.
“Are we going to have a problem?” Noah asked Caleb in an undertone.
“Was it a car accident?”
“No.”
“Was there a weapon involved?”
Noah curled his fists. “No.”
Seeing the unconscious gesture, Caleb was going with a fistfight gone bad.
“What did he do?” Caleb asked Noah.
A muscle twitched next to Noah’s left eye. “Something unforgivable.”
Caleb found he was inclined to accept the vague explanation. He had no cause to throw Noah out of the house. And that meant his time alone with Melissa was up, and he hadn’t made any meaningful progress.
* * *
It was late. But Jules wasn’t letting this one slide.
She pressed hard on the doorbell next to Caleb’s tall cedar door. The Watford mansion was made of stone and reclaimed wood, with huge panes of glass soaring two stories high. The roof was a peak on the ocean side, and a four-car garage stretched out the back. Soft orange light shone through the windows.
Caleb opened the door.
“I can’t believe you would sink that low.” She didn’t wait for an invitation, but marched passed him into the interior.
“How low did I sink?”
“Melissa is barely out of surgery.”
“That was five days ago.” He closed the door behind him.
“That’s your excuse?”
“My excuse for what?”
“To badger her.” Jules struggled to ignore the magnificence around her.
Caleb’s house was something out of a magazine. The entry room was open and soaring. The finishing was finely polished redwood. The sconce lights gleamed as if they were plated in real gold. And she didn’t dare speculate on the price of the abstract oil paintings along the stairway or the jade sculptures on the console table.
Caleb folded his arms over his chest, looking completely at home in the opulence. “That wasn’t badgering. There was no badgering.”
“You tried to get her to change her mind.”
“No.”
She couldn’t believe he’d said it. “You’re going to lie to me?”
“I tried to get her to change your mind.”
His answer momentarily threw her.
He moved closer to her. “I haven’t made any secret of intending to convince you we should work together.”
“She’s in pain.” Her initial anger wearing off, Jules noticed the inlaid maple floor.
Crown molding accented a swooping ceiling, and the hallway led to a great room furnished with smooth leather and more fine wood. She didn’t know what she’d expected, but it wasn’t this.
“She told me she was fine,” he said.
“She’s not fine.” Jules returned her attention to Caleb. “You took advantage of an injured woman for your own selfish desires.”
“When you say it like that, it sounds creepy.”
“It was creepy. Don’t go to her. You want a fight? Pick me.”
“I tried. You weren’t home. She was. Did she talk to you about Noah?”
“Don’t change the subject.”
“I’m serious. Did she tell you he stopped by earlier?”
“Yes,” Jules lied. This was the first she was hearing about Noah. But she didn’t want Caleb to get the impression she and Melissa kept things from each other.
“You want a drink?”
“No, I don’t want a drink. This is not a social call.”
“Well, do you want to come in?” He gestured down the hallway to the living room. “Or would you rather stand here and fight in the foyer?”
Jules hated it, but her curiosity was piqued. She was curious about the rest of the house. She was
curious about the view, and about the kitchen. His kitchen had to be so much better than hers.
She was also inappropriately curious about the rooms upstairs and, for a split second, she glanced that way.
“I can give you a tour of the house,” he said.
“Not necessary.”
His gestured down the hall again. “I’m guessing you have more to say?”
“I always have more to say.”
He cracked a smile. “I’ve definitely noticed that.”
“This isn’t funny.”
“You don’t get to dictate my emotions. Shall we at least sit down?”
She agreed and started down the hall, trying hard not to be bowled over by the surroundings. It got better and better. The furnishings were gorgeous, but looked comfortable. The artistic touches were understated and classy, while the great room’s high-peaked ceiling was breathtaking.
“Hi, Jules,” came a man’s voice.
She nearly stumbled into the sofa.
“I’m Matt,” he said, rolling to his feet from an armchair. “I was with Caleb when your sister got hurt.”
Jules was momentarily speechless. This man had overheard her tirade? What had she said? She scrambled to remember.
Caleb entered the room behind her. “You sure you don’t want a drink? We’re having beer, but I can open a bottle of wine.”
She turned to glare at him, transmitting her irritation. “You have company?”
“Matt’s a neighbor. He owns the house above the marina.”
“You could have said something.”
“It was hard to get a word in.”
“Don’t mind me,” Matt said, a trace of laughter in his tone.
Jules turned back, embarrassed and annoyed. She wasn’t here for their entertainment. “I obviously didn’t know you were here.”
“You didn’t say anything embarrassing,” Matt said. “In fact, I’m on your side. Caleb shouldn’t have taken advantage of your sister in her moment of weakness.”
“I didn’t,” Caleb protested. “And she’s not in a moment of weakness. She said it herself that she was feeling fine.”
“She’s probably high on painkillers,” Matt said. “She only thinks she feels fine.”
“Shut up,” Caleb said.
Jules couldn’t help but appreciate Matt’s support. “See? Even Matt agrees with me. It’s very nice to meet you, Matt.”
“Care for a beer?” Matt asked her.
“Sounds good,” she said.
“Seriously?” Caleb grumbled. “To him you say yes?”
“I’m a lot more appealing than you.” Matt started across the room. “Women like me.”
“You’ve been divorced a single month, and you’re already a gift to women?”
Matt held his arms wide. “What can I say?”
“He does seem very nice,” Jules said in a clear tone.
“Not to mention handsome.” Matt had reached a wet bar tucked in the corner of the room and bent over to open a hidden fridge.
“He is rather handsome,” Jules said, content to keep the conversation two against one. “And, I bet he’s not trying to undermine or destroy any of the women in his life.”
Caleb’s expression tightened for a second.
“She’s got you there,” Matt said.
“I’m not trying to destroy anyone,” Caleb said.
“Glad to hear it.” Jules made a show of reaching into her handbag. “If you could just sign these papers to guarantee my easement.”
“Melissa said you saw a lawyer.”
“I did see a lawyer.”
Caleb took a couple of steps and lifted a manila envelope from a side table. “So did I. If you could just sign these papers removing the noncompete clause.”
Jules paused. “Do you actually have those papers at the ready?”
He didn’t respond, and she couldn’t tell anything from his expression.
“Because I was bluffing,” she said. She didn’t have papers of any kind in her handbag.
He held up the envelope. “This is a charitable donation to the new health clinic.”
She opened her bag and made a show of peering inside. “I can’t even come that close. All I have are text messages on my phone.”
Matt chuckled as he twisted open a bottle of beer and pushed the fridge shut with his thigh.
“You can’t win,” Caleb said to her.
“Neither can you.”
“So, we should compromise.”
“You don’t want to compromise. You want me gone.”
“I don’t want you gone.” He tossed down the envelope and moved to stand next to an armchair. “Why don’t you sit down?”
Matt arrived and handed her the beer.
She glanced from one man to the other and decided she might as well sit down. If she hoped to reason with Caleb, they’d have to have a conversation. She lowered herself onto the sofa.
Caleb sat, as well.
“He’s not a bad guy,” Matt said.
“Sure he is. He comes from a long line of bad guys who can’t stand the Parker family.”
“I’ve got nothing against the Parker family,” Caleb said.
“Then give me my easement.”
“You’re like a broken record.”
“I only want one thing.”
“I agree.” Caleb lifted a half-full beer that was sitting on a coaster on the table next to him. “But it’s not an easement.”
“It’s not?”
“What you want is for the Crab Shack to succeed.”
Jules couldn’t disagree with the statement, so she elaborated instead. “And for the Crab Shack to succeed, customers need to get to the parking lot.”
“I’ll give you the easement,” he said.
“Thank you.”
“As soon as you remove the noncompete clause.”
“Thereby guaranteeing the annihilation of the Crab Shack. Do you think I turned stupid over the past three days?”
“I hoped you’d turned reasonable. You have no other move.”
“I can fight you in court,” she said.
“I can out-lawyer you a hundred times over.”
“Whoa,” Matt said from the sidelines.
“Care to reassess your opinion of him?” she asked Matt.
Caleb frowned at his friend.
“This is where I tap out,” Matt said, finishing his beer and making to leave.
“So much for being on my side,” Jules muttered.
“You should listen to him,” Matt said.
“Exactly as I thought.” She shouldn’t be disappointed. There was absolutely no chance that Matt was going to back her against Caleb. But she’d liked Matt. She wanted him to turn out to be a good guy.
“See you later,” Caleb said to Matt.
Matt gave him a nod as he exited the room.
“I guess it’s just you and me,” Jules said.
“Just you and me,” Caleb agreed.
* * *
The door shut behind Matt.
Caleb knew it was time to change the conversation with Jules. They’d been going round and round for days now, and it had become obvious they were going to end up in court.
He hated that it would come to that. Going to court would hurt Jules the most. It would slow him down, and he’d lose money, but she’d lose everything.
She seemed to realize it, too, a dispirited expression taking over her face as she sipped the beer.
Even looking so sad, she was extraordinarily beautiful. And despite the circumstances, he liked having her in his house. She did something to it, seemed to bring it alive. He realized it was likely the last time she’d be here
, and it made him feel almost as despondent as she looked.
“Did Melissa tell you what Noah said?” he asked.
If these were their final moments before the court battle began, he felt a duty to let her know about Noah’s past.
“Not exactly.” She hesitated. “I do know he has an idea for—” She seemed to change her mind and pressed her lips together.
“I’m not going to steal your restaurant plans, Jules.”
“You want them to die on the page.”
Restless, Caleb came to his feet. “It doesn’t have to be this way.”
“Yes it does.”
“Even Melissa understands my position.”
“Did she say that?” Jules asked sharply. “What did she say? What exactly happened between the two of you?”
“Nothing happened between us.”
Could she be asking what Caleb thought she was asking?
“Noah showed up,” he finished.
“And that stopped what?” She was asking that.
“Me trying to reason with her.” He waited to see how far Jules would take her wild accusations. Caleb had no romantic interest in Melissa. He was nuts about Jules.
“Reason with her?” Jules voice went up. “Is that a euphemism for romance her?”
Before he could answer, she abandoned her beer and came to her feet.
“Is that your master plan, Caleb? Cozy up to my sister and turn her against me?”
He started to deny it, but then he stopped himself, seeing a whole new angle of attack. He guessed Jules would do almost anything to protect her sister.
“What if I am?” he asked.
“Then you’re a complete and reprehensible jerk.”
“I think you’ve already decided that.”
“I’ll just tell her what you’re up to. That’ll shut you down.”
“Will it?” he asked softly. “We both know she wants to trust me.” He watched the uncertainty cross Jules’s face and pressed his advantage. “She wants to find a solution. She’s a very beautiful woman.”
“I can’t believe you’d sink that low.”
“I’d sink very low,” he bluffed. “There’s a whole lot of money at stake here.”
“You stay away from my sister.” Jules cheeks were glowing pink. Her blue eyes flashed with anger.
He held himself steady against the guilt he was feeling. This bluff was for her own good.
From Temptation to Twins Page 7