Her eyes opened and she glared at him. “It can’t happen again.”
“Why not?” he shot back.
“Because I’ll never allow a man to control my life again.”
“Marriage is not about control. It’s about loving, sharing, and give and take. No one person is right all of the time, and no one person is wrong all of the time.”
The bitterness she’d always directed at Tom was transferred to Logan, and at that moment Logan Prescott became Thomas Duff. “You’re a fine one to talk. If you know so much, then why did you call off your wedding a week before you were to be married?”
Without warning, he released her fingers and stood up. His chair clattered noisily to the floor behind him. “Wouldn’t you if you caught your future husband in bed with your maid-of-honor?”
She gasped loudly, covering her mouth with her hand. “Oh no, Logan,” she mumbled through her fingers.
“Oh yes, Caryn,” he countered angrily, picking up the chair and stalking out of the kitchen.
Chapter Nine
Caryn stared at the place where Logan had sat, debating whether to go after him. She knew he was entitled to his privacy, but it wasn’t as if he hadn’t told her what she knew he hadn’t told anyone else—not even his parents.
Rising from her chair, she walked out of the kitchen to the place where she was certain to find him. He stood on the porch, hands at his sides, fingers curled into tight fists, staring out at the falling rain.
Wouldn’t you if you caught your future husband in bed with your maid-of-honor? She replayed Logan’s query, feeling his pain as surely as if it were her own; and whatever she thought of her ex-husband, there was one thing she knew Tom hadn’t been and that was unfaithful.
Pushing open the screen door, Caryn stepped out onto the porch and stood behind Logan. She was less than a foot away, and she knew he had to know she was there even though he hadn’t moved. Taking another tentative step, she curved her arms around his waist, offering comfort and understanding.
“You did the right thing, calling off the wedding,” she whispered. She felt him stiffen slightly before he relaxed enough to unclench his fingers.
Logan drew in a deep breath, holding it until he felt his lungs burn. He wanted to punish himself for not acknowledging what he should’ve known sooner. How could he have been so blinded by beauty and sophistication that he was unable to see the real Nina Smith? There were times when he second-guessed himself and said it wasn’t her beauty that blinded him as much as it was her passion—a passion that always left him wanting more. She offered herself to him, but he never got enough of her, and that was when he surmised he couldn’t exist without her. But he had survived and would continue to exist without her in his life. The past two weeks had verified that.
Logan grasped the slender arms circling his waist, feeding on their delicate softness. He had yet to figure out what it was about Caryn Edwards that prompted him to bare the secret he hadn’t revealed to anyone, not even his parents. Jace and Maeve Prescott deserved more than the explanation he’d offered. He owed them more than I’ve decided not to marry Nina.
Caryn moved closer, the pressure of her firm breasts burned his flesh through the T-shirt. He held his breath again, this time not to punish himself but to counter the shock of his body’s response to her womanly heat. Closing his eyes, he felt her relax as she laid her cheek against his back. They held the position a full minute before he unclasped her hands and turned to face her.
Holding her hands, his penetrating gaze searched her face, lingering on her tempting mouth. Lowering his head, he brushed his mouth over hers repeatedly with soft, nibbling kisses. Her moist breath mingled with his, her lips parting slightly.
He gathered her closer and buried his face in her fragrant-smelling hair. “Thank you for helping me unburden myself,” he whispered against her ear. “Just saying the words has helped me let go of some of my anger and guilt.”
Caryn snuggled closer, unconsciously seeking Logan’s protection. It had been a long time, too long, since she’d experienced a man’s protection. “Why should you feel guilty about ending a relationship based on infidelity?”
“It’s not about Nina, but my parents. I don’t know whether it was the first time Nina and Wayne slept together or the hundredth. The fact remains, he’s a lifelong friend and she was to become my wife. I don’t owe either of them an explanation. But on the other hand, my mother and father deserve more than my trite statement that I was calling off the wedding.”
Pulling back, Caryn smiled up at him. “It’s not too late to explain, Logan. Call and tell them what happened.” He hesitated, giving no indication whether he would follow through on her suggestion. “Do it,” she urged in a quiet tone. “It’s time you put some of your demons to rest.”
His hands fell away and he took a step backward. “You think I have demons tormenting me?”
She detected a hint of censure in his tone. “Yes, I do. Otherwise why would someone as young as you be, as my students would say, ‘such a tight-ass.’ ”
Logan stared at Caryn with complete surprise on his face. “Is that how you see me? You think I’m uptight?”
“Very.”
Crossing his arms over his chest, he regarded her with a disapproving look. “I suppose I’ll have to prove you wrong, won’t I?”
“Don’t challenge me, Mr. Prescott, because you’ll only come up a loser.”
“We’ll have to see about that.” His frown vanished, replaced by a bright smile.
Caryn returned his smile. “Yes, we will.” Turning, she opened the screen door and walked back into the house, leaving him on the porch staring at her retreating figure.
Logan’s smile was still in place as he folded his long frame down to a cushioned chair. The wind had died down, and the rain had slacked off to a steady drizzle. A little scrap of a woman with near-waist-length hair and gold-green eyes had challenged him. He had to admit he was a bit too serious at times, but certainly not a tight-ass, as Caryn had referred to him. She was wrong, and he would prove her wrong, but first he would call his mother and explain why she would never claim Nina Smith as her daughter-in-law.
He went into the house and up the stairs to his bedroom. He retrieved the cellular phone and dialed his parents’ residence.
“Good morning.”
Logan smiled when he heard the soft, drawling greeting of Maeve Prescott’s. “Good morning, Mama.”
“Oh! My baby!”
“Mama,” he said softly, “I stopped being your baby years ago.”
“Don’t you dare lecture me, Logan Prescott. As your mother I can call you anything I please.”
Rolling his eyes upward, he shook his head. He’d always thought of Maeve as a motherhood zealot.
“Yes, ma’am.”
“That’s better. How are you, sweetheart?
“Wonderful. I just settled in, and I must say the house and Marble Island are the perfect places for an impromptu vacation.”
“Have you decided how long you’ll be down there?”
“Probably until the end of the month.” He paused. “I’m calling because I have to tell you something.”
“And what is that?”
“You deserve to know why I decided not to marry Nina.”
“You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want to, Logan.”
“I need to tell you.” He paused, closing his eyes and reliving the scene in Nina’s bedroom. “I walked in on Nina and found her in bed with Wayne Singleton.”
A gasp came through the line before Maeve responded. “Oh, sweet heaven, no!”
He opened his eyes. “They didn’t know I saw them.”
“Oh, baby, I’m sorry.”
“So am I, Mama.”
“I never thought she would be such a—a trollop. And with your best friend, no less.” Logan forced back a smile at Maeve’s description of Nina’s morals. “And she has the nerve to come here every day asking for you,” Maeve continued. “Of cou
rse, Jace and I haven’t told her where you are. But don’t worry your heart, baby. I know you’ll find someone who’ll be faithful to you. And I’m certain she’ll love you as much as you deserve to be loved.”
“I’m not looking for anyone right now. I need a lot of time to unload some emotional baggage.”
“Don’t take too long. I’d like to claim grandmother status before I turn eighty.”
“You’re only sixty-six. What’s the rush?”
“The rush is that all of the women in my social club are grandmothers. Some of the more catty ladies always manage to give me pitying looks when they pull out updated pictures of their grandchildren.”
Logan shook his head. “If that’s the case, then why do you socialize with them?”
“Why? Because they’re my friends.”
He wanted to suggest that she select a new set of friends, but didn’t. “Tell Dad I should complete the preliminary draft for the zoning board on the Fairview project next week.” J. Prescott and Associates had to have the zoning board’s approval before they could secure the necessary financing for construction.
“I’ll tell him to call you.”
“Remind him not to give out this phone number for any reason. I promise to call you in a couple of days.”
“Thank you, sweetheart. I love you, Logan.”
“And I love you.”
He rang off, feeling as if most of his problems had vanished like a puff of smoke. Caryn was right. His confession made him feel less uptight. “But I’m still not a tight-ass,” he mumbled as he made his way down the staircase.
He found Caryn in the kitchen, stacking dishes in the dishwasher. Moving behind her, he pulled her back against his chest. “Thanks, friend,” he whispered close to her ear.
Turning in his loose embrace, she smiled up at him. “Anytime, friend.”
“I want to thank you twice: for the advice and for a wonderful breakfast.” He kissed the right side of her mouth, then the left, feeling her stiffen in his arms. “Relax.”
“I am,” she countered, wiggling and trying to free herself. “Please let me go, Logan. I have work to do.”
Instead of releasing her, he tightened his hold on her waist. “Now, who’s uptight?”
She frowned up at him. “I’m not uptight.”
“Then relax. I’m not going to bite you.”
He increased his grip on her body, pulling her closer and allowing her to feel the hard planes of his muscular physique. Caryn ceased struggling, realizing it was useless against his superior strength. Her arms moved tentatively up and around his waist as she laid her cheek against his chest, listening to the calm, steady pumping of his heart. Closing her eyes, she counted the beats of his heart and was amazed when her own slowed to a matching rhythm.
He emitted a low sigh of satisfaction when she went completely pliant in his embrace. Now that she was in his arms, she had no desire to pull away. The crush of his body was so warm, so male. Her mind told her to resist and reject Logan Prescott, but her body refused to follow the dictates of her head. This is not supposed to happen, a secret voice whispered to her.
Caryn lost track of time as they offered each other healing, she floating to another dimension and marveling at the sense of fulfillment she felt in Logan’s arms. When she’d first arrived on Marble Island, she thought she wanted to be totally alone. But with him holding her, she knew she’d lied to herself.
“What did he do to you to make you leave him?”
She jumped, the sound of his voice startling her more than his question. She gave him a questioning look. He’d bared his soul and his innermost secrets, and he expected her to do the same. He’d had secrets, and so did she; secrets she would never tell anyone.
Composing her thoughts, she began very quietly, “Thomas Duff did everything for me except breathe. He planned our lives by the clock. At first I welcomed it because I’m also pedantic, but he took it to an extreme. We ate dinner every night at the same time, not a minute before or a minute after. We went to the supermarket every second and fourth Saturday at exactly 10:00 A.M. And he washed our cars every Sunday morning at nine, rain or shine. He claimed the car wash didn’t clean them the way he wanted them cleaned. I finally realized no one could meet his standards.
“His dogmatic behavior didn’t begin to bother me until he began complaining about my style of dress, how I wore my hair or my makeup. We’d make a date to have dinner at a restaurant, but if I showed up wearing something he didn’t approve of, he would cancel the reservation and walk out.
“Then we began arguing about everything: which movies to see, where to go on vacation, who to invite for dinner parties, when to make love, when I should get pregnant, and on and on.
“The final straw came when he wanted me to give up my teaching position to become a full-time housewife. He claimed I couldn’t handle working outside the home and tend to his needs at the same time. What he actually believed was that I was having an affair with one of the male teachers. One day I woke up and decided it was over. I moved out of my perfect little house, left my very perfect husband with only my personal possessions, and filed for a divorce. The divorce proceedings were less than amicable because Tom contested everything. My leaving him indicated that he’d failed as a husband.
“I wanted nothing from the union except my maiden name, while he missed court appearances because of undocumented catastrophic illnesses. What helped Tom was that as a very popular attorney he knew all of the judges in Asheville, who occasionally overlooked his blatant attempt to postpone the final decree.”
Logan shifted an eyebrow. “The man sounds as if he needs professional counseling.”
“Tell that to his second wife.”
“He remarried?”
She nodded slowly. “There was no reason for him to remain single for any appreciable length of time. He presents a very attractive package: intellect, good looks, and excellent resources.”
Lowering his head, Logan pressed a comforting kiss on her forehead. “You’re lucky you got out without becoming a basket case yourself.”
Caryn nodded again, but what she didn’t say was that she hadn’t escaped unscathed. She had scars. Invisible scars.
Loathing to leave the protective warmth of Logan’s arms, she pushed gently against his chest. “I really have work to do.”
He released her, a frown creasing his smooth forehead. “I hope that work doesn’t include house cleaning because the Sheltons are due back today. And they’ll have their work cut out for them because I’m going to make my barbecue sauce.”
“You make it from scratch?”
“Yes. Do you want to help me?”
“You don’t mind giving away the secret ingredients?”
“That depends on who’s on the receiving end.” He winked at her. “Consider yourself one of the privileged few.”
She wondered if Nina Smith had also been one of the privileged few, but didn’t voice her thoughts aloud.
They spent the entire morning in the kitchen. Caryn’s yeast dough had doubled in size, and she punched one down and rolled strips into six long ropes, using three of each for two loaves of cheese and chive bread; she then rolled another thirty-six ropes from the other mixture for three dozen leek and bacon knots. She showed Logan how to form the knots, and with his assistance she completed everything in half the time it normally would have taken her. The bread and knots rose a second time. She placed everything in plastic bags, storing them in the freezer.
He stopped to feed and walk Domino before he returned to the house to begin the preparation of his celebrated sauce. Caryn sat on a tall stool and watched carefully as he pureed several cans of crushed tomatoes in a blender before transferring them to a large Dutch oven. He added precisely measured portions of cider vinegar, firmly packed brown sugar, molasses, dried mustard, cloves of garlic, onion, ginger, and Worcestershire sauce. Hours later, the aroma of the simmering sauce still lingered when Steven and Stephanie Shelton arrived with their cl
eaning supplies, both commenting about how wonderful the kitchen smelled.
Caryn and Logan shared a late lunch of a mixed green salad and a fruit platter before she retreated to the family room to read and Logan to the second-floor library to begin his preliminary proposal for the Raleigh zoning board. It was after eight when he walked into the family room and asked if she was willing to watch several videos he had found in the Crawfords’ library.
“I will if it’s not blood and gore.”
“I suppose that means no Rambo,” he teased.
“And no war films, please.”
“How about Schwarzenegger?”
Her eyes brightened. “The Terminator?”
He nodded, visually admiring the delicate dewiness of her skin under the flattering glow of a table lamp. “I found both Terminators, True Lies, and Eraser. It appears either Marcia or Terrence really like Arnold.”
Unfolding her legs, Caryn closed the book and stood up. “It’s Marcia,” she confirmed.
He gave her the smile she’d come to look for. She hadn’t meant to call him a tight-ass, but she had to admit that their initial meeting was anything but amicable. It was now their third day together, and she found the more time she spent with him the more time she wanted to spend with him.
He was easy to talk to and a remarkable listener. She was beginning to feel comfortable sharing the house with him because his presence offered her a sense of security she would not have had if she’d been alone.
Logan placed the videos on a side table. “You make the selection while I make the popcorn.”
She picked up one and read the jacket cover. “This one.”
He took the video from her, smiling. “Good. True Lies would have been my choice.”
Caryn placed the video atop the VCR, turned on the television, then sat down and waited for Logan to return with the promised popcorn. She tried imagining sitting at home on a rainy night watching a movie with Tom and failed miserably. Their home had been professionally decorated expressly for entertaining purposes. Tom always seemed to grow an extra inch whenever someone commented on the elegance of the carefully chosen furnishings. And she had walked away from it all—the opulence and her very successful husband. She hadn’t realized she was a prized, caged bird until after she’d attained her freedom.
Summer Magic Page 10