by Shirley Wine
‘That’s dreadful.’
‘By the time I met you I’d become adept at protecting my identity.’
‘Why would you need to do that?’
‘Donovan money garners attention, and not in a good way.’
‘You thought I was attracted to your money?’
‘After seeing that floozy of a cousin of yours—’
Heat flooded Victoria’s entire body in searing humiliation as another memory leaped out of the closet.
Mortified, she watched Susan cross the gravel in a skimpy bikini, just short of indecent.
Victoria cringed with shame. Her father would have a stroke if she wore anything as revealing as Susan’s outfit. A tiny square of cloth over her front and bottom was held by a narrow cord at the sides, and her top barely covered her nipples.
When Susan laid a hand on Seth’s arm, jealousy, hot and painful, sat like a lead ball in Victoria’s gut.
‘You gorgeous hunk,’ Susan’s shrill voice turned heads from every direction. ‘You have my country cousin panting with desire.’
When Seth looked in her direction, Victoria wished for nothing more than the ground to open up and swallow her.
Whole.
What could she say? Susan had acted the trollop, and suddenly Victoria fully understood Keir’s reticence. How could he know in the beginning that she was any different?
‘You’re not responsible for your cousin. What’s the voluptuous Susan doing now?’
‘She’s married with three pre-schoolers, is the perfect wife and mother, and a veritable paragon. I’m now the family pariah.’
This role reversal still jarred Victoria. It was Susan who’d acted the trollop, but it was Victoria who’d ended up pregnant. It was so very clichéd.
‘So what have you done to put you on the out with your family?’ he asked, his expression laser sharp.
Oops!
Too late, Victoria saw the trap. With a dismissive shrug, she turned away, her mind racing. Any conversation with Keir was filled with potholes. She was afraid she’d step in one, and when she did—
Keir caught her arm and gently turned her to face him. ‘What’s happened in your life?’
‘Apart from leaving home and starting my own business,’ she said, weighing her words carefully, ‘not a lot.’
If I don’t take into account raising this man’s son, alone.
‘You own Victorian Grace?’
‘My mother left me some money and I used it as seed money to start my business.’
‘Yet you had such big plans—a lucrative scholarship, university, get your degree in finance, and then you planned to travel overseas.’
She was embarrassed to be reminded about how she’d shot her mouth off. Big time.
Now, she needed to mentally sift the past and edit out any revealing details. Of one thing she was absolutely certain: Keir Donovan was no fool. The last thing she wanted to do was raise his suspicions about her life, hell, about anything.
Then why am I walking with him this early in the morning, hand in hand? Talk about sending mixed messages.
Guilt had her pulling her hand free of Keir’s and pushing both her hands deep in the pockets of the borrowed jacket. ‘Plans and people change. I can’t imagine doing anything else. Working with flowers gives me such joy.’
While not her first choice, floristry satisfied a creative urge that she didn’t know she possessed. It provided a home for her and Connor and enabled her to schedule her work around his care, but most of all it gave her the means to escape her father’s censure and domination.
She shivered. The fierce battle she’d waged with her father over Connor still held the power to wound. When he flat out demanded she give up her baby for adoption and resume her university scholarship, Andrew Scanlan had underestimated Victoria and her determination. Nothing and no-one could coerce her into relinquishing her child, but again, this wasn’t something she could explain to Keir.
‘Your plans changed too, Keir. You went to America. What happened to your ambition to take over the family firm?’
His glance roved across her face and Victoria felt heat seep into her cheeks.
‘I needed to escape,’ Keir said, an undercurrent of hostility in his voice. ‘The family pressure at Donovans was killing me. An overseas post and the chance of gaining wider experience was by far the easiest way out.’
‘And yet, here you are back at the helm of the family company.’
‘Yes, here I am, older and infinitely wiser.’
Startled by his harsh tone, Victoria glanced upwards and caught his expression. For a moment she saw on his face an emotion so raw it hurt to see and she averted her eyes.
In a moment of clear-sighted perception, Victoria knew that some shattering event had brought Keir back to New Zealand, and home to a family he clearly held in contempt. Something—or was it someone—had changed and hardened him. Was this why he was prepared to settle for marriage to a woman as cold as Davina Strathmore?
He looked so—she searched for the right word—alone.
A state of aloneness wasn’t usually associated with a man on the brink of marriage.
Loneliness was something with which she was well acquainted. Caring for her child without the support of a mate or her family was a very lonely task. She often thought that just living was the most difficult undertaking of all.
They continued walking, each engrossed in their own thoughts. Victoria was surprised at the ease with which they’d slipped back into the comfortable rhythm of conversation and easy silences. But the burgeoning sense of intimacy was enough to make her nervous.
From the moment Connor was born, Victoria had decided she was never going to lie to her son. Now, after listening to Keir, she was thankful that she’d refused to go along with her father’s suggestion that she tell Connor his father was dead.
Had I done so I’d look pretty silly right about now.
Victoria snorted and the sound caught Keir’s attention.
‘What is it?’ He tilted his head and looked at her, one eyebrow quirked.
She smiled and shook her head at this further trait he shared with his son. Had Logan guessed the connection? Was that why he’d badgered her into this weekend visit?
Uncomfortable under Keir’s scrutiny, she grasped at the thought uppermost in her mind. ‘Caine probably thought he was acting for the best.’
‘Whose best?’ He turned, catching her shoulder with one hand. ‘Certainly not the best for a grieving child.’
That was unanswerable.
‘How did you learn your mother was still alive?’ she asked, now very curious.
As he struggled to frame an answer, a thrush serenaded the morning from high in the treetops. Fingers of sunlight crept over the hills, turning the floating mist into a moving cottonwool shroud as they walked. The crunch of Keir’s boots on the gravel and rotting leaves was strangely soothing.
‘I met my mother quite by accident,’ he said at last.
Victoria sensed the words cost him an enormous effort. ‘Where?’
After one quick glance in her direction, he concentrated his attention on the path beneath their feet. ‘I was staying with a mate for the school holidays and one afternoon his girlfriend arrived at his place, accompanied by her mother.’
Victoria stopped and stared at him. ‘Your mother?’
He never answered, and when she looked up at him, she realised there was no need as his expression said it all.
‘How did you know the woman was your mother after all those years?’
Keir stopped. His black brows were drawn together in a heavy frown, his clenched fists bulging in his trouser pockets, but his eyes betrayed him.
Victoria grappled with the uncomfortable knowledge that this memory was still powerful enough to hurt, something she was sure Keir would deny with his dying breath. In a moment of clear insight, she understood that the lies he’d been fed as a child had undermined his ability to trust and explained his lack of fa
ith in women. Victoria ached to cradle him in her arms and soothe away this long-ago hurt.
‘Would you believe I remembered the smell of her perfume, of all things?’ Keir gave a bark of scornful laughter.
She laid a soothing hand on his arm and felt his tension. ‘Not so strange. The sense of smell is one of the strongest triggers of memory. So what did she do?’
‘After I confronted her, she tried to explain.’
‘Explain?’ The word exploded from Victoria and she stopped, staring at him in stunned disbelief. ‘How could anyone even try to explain such a wicked lie?’
‘Precisely.’ He rocked back on his heels, looking down at her. ‘And believe me, I was not in any mood to listen, and to my everlasting regret, I took my anger out on my friend’s home.’
‘I’m sure they understood.’
Such a discovery would throw anyone, let alone a teen already chock-full of testosterone-ridden angst just waiting for someone to light the fuse, and this was one hell of a fuse to ignite.
She shook her head. ‘Do you visit your mother and sisters?’
‘My sisters, yes. My mother, Elizabeth, not if I can help it.’ His lips twisted in a humourless smile. ‘Elizabeth is wary of me and my temper, but my friend’s family, the Courtneys, forgave me a long time ago.’
‘You were staying with them at Orere that summer?’
Keir surprised her by laughing. ‘My sister Beth married Rafe Courtney.’
Victoria stopped and stared at him, her eyes wide and her heart suddenly hammering like a wild thing. ‘Beth Ellison is your sister?’
‘She’s Beth Courtney now.’ His smile was one of pure, wicked devilment. ‘She was highly amused at my fascination with a golden-eyed witch so tiny I could have carried her off to my lair in one hand.’
Victoria scuffed a sneaker in the gravel. His words eased an ache in her heart that she hadn’t even realised was there. Knowing she hadn’t been mistaken, and that the explosive attraction they generated hadn’t been all one-sided, brought her a small measure of comfort. ‘Why didn’t you say something last night?’
‘Mention my sisters here? You have to be joking. Muriel would throw a fit. As for Dad—’ He broke off and spread his hands.
‘You don’t get on with Caine?’
‘We do okay as long as we stick to our own interests.’
Victoria caught a disturbing undercurrent in Keir’s voice. Would she ever make sense of or understand the dynamics of this family, her son’s family? There were so many strange, contradictory vibes that she was thoroughly confused.
‘So why come back?’
He gave her a scorching look. ‘Unlike my father, I have some respect for tradition. Donovans has been a family concern for four generations and it was set to disappear. The CEO was stepping down and Dad wanted out.’
‘I get the impression he’d sooner have his horses.’
‘You’re not wrong.’ He aimed a kick at an inoffensive clump of grass. ‘And Donovans was no longer his cash cow.’
His hostility and bitterness was enough to worry Victoria. Would knowing this family damage Connor?
Keir looked up at her and gave a rueful smile. ‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to bore you by dumping all that on you.’
‘You didn’t. I take it Caine has never run the family firm?’
‘He fell out with Grandpa early on. Until Grandpa’s death there was always a Donovan at the helm. I couldn’t stand by and watch my father destroy such a longstanding family heritage.’
‘And that mattered?’
‘More than I realised.’
It was a surprising admission. She’d never picked Keir as a man to be swayed by sentiment or family loyalty, but there was no way she could mistake this comment for anything else. ‘So you came home to save Donovans? The prodigal son.’
He glanced at her, and his brooding expression made Victoria suspect that something other than Donovans weighed heavily on Keir’s mind. ‘Why not? There was nothing holding me in the States. My marriage was over and I was tired of the madness that was New York.’
The words slipped between her ribs as sharp as any knife.
‘Married?’ Stunned, she stared at him, her breath hitching in her throat. ‘You’ve been married?’
‘Why are you surprised?’ he asked with a decided bite. ‘I’m a normal heterosexual male.’
How could she answer? Jealousy and disillusionment fought for supremacy in her heart. While her life had become very circumscribed, Keir obviously had few qualms at getting on with his.
‘What happened? Why did your marriage end?’
His silence lasted so long she thought he wasn’t going to answer. He rocked back on his heels and looked at her. ‘It’s not important.’
And she knew he’d lied.
Again.
Chapter Five
Keir led the way past twin towering oaks, down another path that veered from the paved one that led to the stables, and they entered a grove of trees. Mist swirled among the trees and shrubs, shimmering when it was caught in a shaft of light as the sun tried to break through the gloom.
Unable to master her disillusionment, Victoria turned to Keir. ‘So, you were not only married, but I take it you’re also divorced.’
Keir’s lips thinned. ‘Obviously, as I’m now engaged to Davina.’
Suddenly, the other woman’s presence was tangible and dispelled any sense of intimacy. ‘And you’ve been home how long?’
‘Just over a month.’
‘My, my, that was quick work.’
‘The board of Donovans insists their CEO be a married man.’
Victoria stared at him, shaking her head. ‘So you obediently fell in love with an iceberg, how very accommodating of you. I take it the Donovans board is duly impressed.’
Colour flared in his cheeks as he gave her a look of acute distaste. ‘In my position, I need an accomplished hostess.’
‘Ah, well, your hasty engagement now makes perfect sense.’
Keir stopped walking and stared at her, eyebrows drawn together in a ferocious frown. ‘What do you mean by that?’
‘Why, nothing,’ she said with exaggerated innocence.
‘I’ve never broken a promise, and I have no intention of doing so anytime soon.’
She looked at him, eyebrows raised. ‘Really? Then why are you out walking with me?’
He made an explosive sound, then strode across the small clearing, angry tension radiating from him in waves. He stepped onto a woodland path before he halted, turned and walked back. ‘Why are you here, Victoria? What do you want from me?’
‘Why do you imagine I want anything?’
His reaction to the reckless challenge was swift and she found herself pinned against a tree trunk. Suddenly very wary, she looked at him, moistening dry lips with the tip of her tongue.
‘Not so brave now?’ he mocked softly, his hands on the trunk either side of her, effectively caging her. ‘You claim Logan wasn’t the attraction that brought you to Darkhaven, which only leaves me.’
‘God, you’re so conceited. Doesn’t your ego weigh you down?’
‘Not that I’ve noticed.’
His breath was warm against her cheek, his nearness arousing a heady jolt of desire. Afraid of weakening, she came out fighting. ‘Know this, Keir. I will never take another woman’s man as my lover.’
‘No?’ He traced a finger along her lower lip. ‘Tell me, Tori, how did you discover my relationship to Logan?’
‘I didn’t know.’ She silently cursed the guilty colour that heated her cheeks. ‘That’s the honest truth.’
While she hadn’t known that Keir was Logan’s stepbrother, she was equally certain that Logan had guessed Keir was Connor’s father.
‘The truth? Really?’ Keir looked down at her, his dark eyebrows almost reaching the lock of hair falling over his forehead. ‘Are you like every other woman and colour the truth to suit the situation? Do you deal in lies, half-truths and deception?’
A lie by omission is still a lie.
In that moment, she realised that after being lied to all his life, Keir had to have zero tolerance for lies. As she met his mocking gaze, she also knew she’d left it too late to reveal that he was the father of her young son. Anything she said now would only serve to convince him that she was no better than every other woman who had deceived him. Why hadn’t she revealed the truth in the privacy of her bedroom?
‘What is it?’ Keir lifted her chin with a finger.
She shook her head, refusing to look at him, sure he’d see the sick guilt she couldn’t hide.
With a sharp imprecation he caught her arms, lifting her slightly. She gasped. He laughed, the soft sound seeming to reverberate through her. He looked down at her as his arms moved between her and the tree.
She gasped again, and clutched wildly at him, striving for balance instead of pushing him away as she knew she should. His steely grip tightened until only her toes touched the ground. She dragged in a breath—one too shallow to steady her whirling senses. Her lungs seized as her wits skittered wildly, informing her, in vivid detail, that she was being held hard against the body of the man she’d never stopped loving.
‘Put me down.’ Her breathless words lacked conviction.
He heard them, angled his head, one black brow rising, and then a slow smile curved his lips. ‘In a minute.’
Victoria heard the intent in his deep voice, and her eyes opened wide.
‘But first—’
Unable to think, to protest, she shivered at the intimate way his gaze caressed her face, distracting her. His lips completed her defeat—arrogantly confident, his mouth settled over hers. The initial chill of his lips gave way to heat, a heat so intense it stunned even as it burned through her defences. She ceased to breathe and soon breathing became unimportant.
She stirred in his encircling arm.
It locked tight, denying her half-hearted attempt at escape. His heat surrounded her, even through the thickness of their clothes. It reached her, enveloped her, warming the place inside her that had been so cold and lonely for what seemed like forever. The passion between them grew, built.