Taking Catie: The Temptation Saga: Book Three

by Hardt, Helen;

  “Cal Tucker was hardly the man of Angie’s dreams, little bit.”

  “Oh, I don’t know.”

  “She was never the woman of his dreams, that’s for sure. He was after anything in a skirt back in high school.”

  She batted her eyes. Big brown doe eyes. His breath caught.

  “You’re one to talk.”

  He couldn’t help a chuckle. “Never claimed to be a saint, little bit.”

  She sauntered toward him, her narrow hips swaying just enough to drive him crazy.

  “Tell me, Chad.” She licked her ruby lips. “Do I look eighteen to you? Do I look like a woman? Or do you still see a little girl?”

  Chad closed his eyes. “Why are you doing this, Catie?”

  A whisper of skin grazed his chin. Her fingertips.

  “Open your eyes, Chad McCray. Open them and look at me.”

  He obeyed and gripped her wrist, removing her hand from his face. “You’re playing a dangerous game.”

  “That’s a start.”

  Catie placed her hand in his forearm. His pulse raced at her delicate caress.

  “Seems you know what I’m after.”

  “Yeah. I know what you’re after,” he said, “and you’re not gonna get it.”

  “Don’t you think I’m pretty?” Catie curled her lips into a pout and entwined her arms around Chad’s neck.

  “Aw, damn.” He pushed her away. “You have no idea what you’re doing to me. This is really dangerous.”

  “It’s what I want, Chad. What I’ve always wanted.”

  “Catie—”

  “I never dated in high school. Did you know that? I’ve never even kissed a boy. I wanted you to be the first one to kiss my lips. Do it, Chad. Please.” She closed her eyes.

  He groaned. How easy it would be to lower his mouth to hers, to taste those succulent lips. He inhaled, and then unclamped her arms from around his neck.

  “This isn’t what you want,” he said.

  “I’m eighteen. I know damn well what I want, Chad. I know you want me, too. I can see it in your eyes. Your body language.”

  “You don’t know the first thing about body language, Catie.” He stomped across the gazebo, away from her, the loss of her body heat a deprivation he hadn’t expected.

  “I do. I feel that you want me.”

  “Fine.” He gritted his teeth, clenched his fists. “You’re not wrong. I want you. I want to rip your dress off and take you right here on the gazebo. And if Harper or your dad should walk by, to hell with them. I want to shove my tongue into your mouth, down your throat. I want to kiss your soft skin, your pretty nipples. I know they’re pretty, Catie. I can see ’em through that damn dress you’re wearing. I want to taste every inch of you. Kiss you between your legs until you can’t see straight. I want to shove myself deep inside you. So deep you scream with the invasion.”

  Sweat trickled down his brow, tickling him. God, he wanted her. She stood before him, her cheeks glowing with redness, goose bumps on her bare arms.

  “See? You’re quivering. I scared you, didn’t I? You’re arousing a man’s feeling in a grown man. And you’re still a little girl. God, you have no idea what you’re doing to me.”

  “No, Chad. You didn’t scare me.”

  But he had. Her cracking voice gave her away.

  “You’re not ready for this. Not ready for me. Some day you’ll thank me for not takin’ what you think you’re so ready to give.” He banged one of his clenched fists against the railing of the gazebo. “Damn!”

  Her hands curled into fists and she inched toward him. “I do know what I want, Chad. It’s always been you. Always.”

  He held up his hand in a stop motion. “Don’t come any closer, or I swear I won’t be able to resist those cherry lips.”

  “That’s okay.” She smiled and closed her eyes, lifted her chin. “I’m legal now. You can have me. All of me.”

  Sweet temptation…but no, her body betrayed her words. She wanted him, but fear still gripped her.

  He walked away while her eyes were still shut, and he didn’t look back.

  The white haze of sleep engulfed him. Catie came to him then, wearing a flight attendant outfit.

  “May I fluff your pillow, sir?” she asked, smiling.

  He longed to touch her pretty face. He extended his hand, but she smacked him away.

  “No,” she said. “Don’t touch me. You did this to me. You. You.”

  What? Tears streamed down her soft cheeks. He yearned to offer comfort, but she pushed him away again.

  “Look at me. You did this. You did this.”

  Chad’s eyes traveled down her body, to the juncture between her legs. Bright red blood stained her white capri pants.

  The miscarriage.

  “Baby, I’m sorry.” His heart ached with despair as he reached for her.

  But his hand touched only air. She was gone.

  Chad awoke, sweat dribbling down his forehead.

  Ms. Flirty approached. “Do you need anything, sir?”

  “Yeah,” he said. “I need to get to Paris.”

  “We’ll be there in about three more hours, sir.”

  “Not soon enough,” he grumbled and turned into his pillow.

  No more sleep came. Only anguish. He loved Catie. More than anything. More than his own life. He loved her so much he thought it might hurt less to rip his heart right out of his chest than to live without her.

  He’d been her first, and he’d give anything in the world, his entire fortune, to be her last.

  * * *

  “Oh, Dom, you are such a sight for sore eyes!” Catie ran into the Frenchman’s arms.

  “Chérie, we need to get you home,” Dominic said. “You look like you have been run over by a train. Mon Dieu.”

  “I feel like I’ve been run over by a train. And a truck. And a herd of stampeding buffalo,” Catie said. “I’m just glad to be here. It was a long flight.”

  “Not one you thought you’d be making so soon.”

  “Right.” She sighed. Good old Dom. He’d take care of her.

  Back at Dominic’s Paris flat, Catie relaxed with a glass of Bordeaux and a crisp baguette.

  “I’ve missed the wine,” she said, “though the first thing I drank when I got to Colorado was a good old margarita.”

  “That lime monstrosity?”

  “Yeah, and it was damn good.” She closed her eyes, remembering that night. When Chad had danced with her, had kissed her on the dance floor. Was it possible only a little over a month had passed since then?

  “Chérie, we need to get you to bed.”

  “I don’t want to put you out.”

  “Do not be absurd. You need some rest. I can deal with the couch for one night. Tomorrow we will get you a futon.”

  “You don’t have to.”

  “I know I don’t have to. I want to. Now go take a shower.” He picked up her small bag. “I’ll put this in your room for you. It doesn’t look like you brought much.”

  She sighed again. “I got out of town quickly.”

  “No matter. Tomorrow you can shop for whatever you need.”

  “Don’t you have to work tomorrow?”

  “I’m taking the day off.”

  “Not for me.”

  “Yes, for you. You’re one of my dearest friends, Caitlyn. I’ll be here for you.”

  Catie smiled. Dominic was such a savior. She could always count on him. If only she could count on her husband that same way.

  She hadn’t heard word one from him. Of course, her cell phone was dead. Still, if he cared…

  Visions of their baby, now dead, tormented her. A little boy who looked like Chad. The image of his other baby, Linda’s son, stole into her mind. Why had Chad abandoned his son?

  She fell on the bed and closed her eyes. She’d shower in the morning.

  * * *

  “Rise and shine, lady of the manor!”

  Catie opened her eyes to Dominic strolling about the roo
m, opening the shades. Morning sunshine flowed into the room, hurting Catie’s eyes.

  “Goodness. What time is it?”

  “Eight a.m., chérie.”

  “Oh, my.” Catie sat up and stretched. Her body itched with grease and grime. She so needed a shower.

  “Take care of yourself, chérie. I will have café au lait for you in the kitchen in half an hour.”

  “You’re a gem, Dom.”

  Dominic’s steam shower soothed her aching bones. She disconnected the showerhead and let the water pulse over her abdomen, relieving some of the residual cramping. She was still bleeding, and probably would for a few days, the doctor had said.

  She dressed in some of Dom’s sweats she found in the room. They hung on her, but they were soft and comfortable. She ambled out to the kitchen, sat down at the table, and fingered a flaky croissant.

  “Here you go, just like you like it.” Dominic set a cup of steaming café au lait in front of her. She inhaled the smoky aroma. Mmmm. She had missed this. She’d missed Dominic.

  A knock interrupted her thoughts.

  “That is Christian,” Dominic said. “You sit tight.”

  “Caitlyn!” Christian pulled her up into a bear hug. “When Dom said you were returning, I was so happy.”

  She melted into the handsome blond’s embrace. Oh, she had missed her friends. She inhaled the aroma of his jacket—stale cloves and smoke—Indonesian cigarettes. She’d never been able to convince either Dom or Chris to quit smoking. Right now, his scent was the sweetest thing she’d smelled in a long time. She inhaled again and closed her eyes.

  Until a deep-timbre cut into her thoughts.

  “Get your filthy French hands off my wife.”

  Chapter Nineteen

  Chad’s possessive voice trickled over Catie like warm honey. She turned in Christian’s arms and gazed into her husband’s smoking dark eyes. They were sunken, a little wet.

  Had he been worried?

  “Chad. What are you doing here?”

  “I came for my wife.”

  “But—”

  “Get your hands off her.” Chad stalked forward, his eyes glittering with rage. “I mean it, friend, or you’ll wish you had.”

  “Chad, you don’t understand.”

  “I understand plenty, sugar. You left me.” He yanked her out of Christian’s embrace. “How could you leave me? Without a word? I didn’t know where you were, where you’d gone. You wouldn’t answer your cell.” He shook his head, his eyes boring into her. “Do you hate me that much?”

  “I… I never hated you, Chad.”

  “She has been through a lot. Give her a break,” Dominic said.

  “When I want your opinion I’ll ask for it,” Chad said. “This is between my wife and me.”

  “But you don’t understand—”

  “I understand plenty. I come in here and I see one of you with your hands all over my wife. She’s not yours, and she never will be. She’s mine. Mine and mine alone. Let’s go, Catie.”

  “Chad”—Catie broke away—“I’m not going with you.”

  “The hell you’re not.”

  “You don’t want me.”

  “I tracked you all the way across the world! For God’s sake, of course I want you. I thought we had a deal.”

  “Chad, we never had any kind of deal. You and I…were not meant to be. You never wanted to be married. I never should have agreed to it. In fact, I’m not sure I did. I was in a haze about the pregnancy, and I just did whatever you told me. It was a mistake. A huge one. We’ll get an annulment. Or worst case scenario, a divorce. I don’t want anything from you.”

  The baby. She had to tell him the baby was gone. Then he’d understand. She turned to Christian and Dominic. “Would you guys excuse us? I need to talk to him. Alone.”

  “Of course,” Dominic said, “but this is not a big flat.”

  “No,” Catie said. “I meant we’ll leave. Come on, Chad. Let’s take a walk.”

  Despite the sunshine and the beauty of Paris, Catie’s mood was gray. How could she tell him the baby was gone? He’d be so angry. Worse, he’d leave her.

  “Have you ever been here before, Chad?” She stalled. “Is there anything you want to see? The Eiffel Tower? The Louvre?”

  “Damn it, Catie, I didn’t come here as a tourist. I came for you. Now tell me what the hell’s going on.”

  She sighed. “Yeah. I owe you that much.”

  They reached a small café, and Catie took a seat at one of the outside tables. Chad sat next to her.

  “Café au lait, s’il vous plait,” she told the waiter, “et deux croissants.”

  “What did you say?”

  “I ordered coffee and croissants. Did you want something else?”

  “Bacon, eggs, and hash browns would be good. Maybe a Denver omelet.”

  “This is Paris, Chad, not Colorado. You’d be hard pressed to find that kind of breakfast here.”

  “I can’t eat this fancy-schmancy food.”

  “That’s okay. My guess is you won’t be here long.”

  “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

  Catie’s pulse quickened. She let out a breath. “It means… Well, I’ll just come right out and say it.” She cleared her throat and stared at her lap. “I lost the baby, Chad.”

  “I know.”

  Catie whipped her head up. “You know? Then why did you come here? I don’t understand.”

  Chad took her hand. “I came here for you, Catie. I love you.”

  A tear trickled down Catie’s cheek, warming her. He wanted her? “I don’t understand.”

  He smiled. “What’s not to understand? I’ve been an idiot, little bit. I love you. It just took me a while to figure it out. First, I thought you were too young. I couldn’t get it out of my mind that I knew you when you were four and I was fifteen.”

  “Chad—”

  “No. Let me finish. I’m so sorry I wasn’t with you when you miscarried. I should have been. I should have been there through all of this. I should have treated you like the wife you deserve to be, instead of a call girl available only for my pleasure. Can you ever forgive me?”

  Catie fought the warmth that threatened to glow within her. Chad had a lot to answer for.

  “I want to forgive you. I truly do.” More tears threatened to fall, but she held them back. “But there’s so much I need to understand. I went to see Linda.”

  “I know.”

  “You should have told me, Chad.”

  “There’s nothing to tell.”

  Had she heard right? “Uh, having a child by another woman is definitely something your wife should know.”

  Chad’s dark eyes widened. “What? You mean Linda didn’t tell you?”

  “Tell me what? We met briefly. She seemed like a perfectly nice person. I met Jack. He’s a beautiful little boy, though he doesn’t look anything like you.”

  “There’s a good reason for that.”

  “Which would be?”

  “He’s not mine, Catie.”

  “What? I saw the DNA results in your file.”

  “So you did a little snooping?”

  “Yes. Yes, I did. But only after I got a phone call from Linda, and I intercepted some IMs on your computer.”

  “I’m sure sorry about that, sugar. I wish you’d have come to me.”

  “How could I? You were treating me like a common whore. You ignored me during the day, screwed me during the night. I should have…”

  “You should have what?”

  “I should have turned you away at night. I wanted to. I just couldn’t.”

  “Because you wanted me as much as I wanted you.”

  “I’ve always wanted you, Chad. I don’t seem to have any control where you’re concerned. Yes, it started as puppy love, but it never went away.” She sighed. “Four years in France, and it still didn’t go away.”

  “Aw, sugar.”

  “Don’t start sweet-talkin’ me. You still have a lot
of explaining to do about Linda.”

  “Frankly, sugar, I’m a little insulted.”

  “Why on earth should you be insulted?”

  “Because, if Jack were truly my child, do you really think I’d let him live in that little cow town with Linda and her crazy parents? Don’t you think I’d have him on the ranch with me, giving him the best of everything? Everything my pa gave me? God, sugar.”

  “Crazy parents? I don’t know anything about that. And I didn’t think about…the other stuff.”

  “No, you didn’t really think, did you?”

  “Can you blame me?”

  “No,” he said sheepishly, “I can’t.”

  “Now, the truth about Linda and Jack, please.”

  “Well, I want to know why you didn’t just ask me about it?”

  “Because you hardly spoke to me, Chad. And I wasn’t sure how you’d take it if you knew I’d been…lurking around your office trying to figure out…oh, you know. Of course I couldn’t ask you.”

  “You could have asked Annie. You and she are close, and she knows the truth.”

  “No, Chad, I couldn’t ask her. It was too hard to talk about. Plus, she had assured me you’d had women come around claiming you fathered their children before and that you’d had them checked out. I assumed she didn’t know about Jack.” She touched his forearm, offering an olive branch. “Would you please tell me?”

  He took her hand from his arm and covered it with his own. “Linda Rhine is a woman I had a…well, I’m not proud of this, but you no doubt know how I was when I was younger.”

  Catie scoffed. “When you were younger?”

  “Yeah, okay. She was a one-night stand. Five or so years ago, during the stock show in Denver. That’s the time Dusty and Zach hooked up. She was a friend of this champion barrel racer, Sydney something or other, who hooked up with Dusty’s brother, Sam. After dinner, we ended up back at my hotel room.”

  “And?”

  “And nothing. We had sex. I used a condom. I have always used a condom. But as you and I proved, condoms aren’t always foolproof.”

  Catie shook her head. “No, they’re not.”

  “So anyway, about a year ago, right after Ma died, Linda shows up at my doorstep, holding little Jack’s hand. Tells me he’s mine. That she can prove it.