“You told me to come live here, Riley. You told me to do whatever Shane said.”
“He’s trying to steal you from me.”
“No, he’s not. He’s already got my sister.”
“Not like that.”
“Then, like what?”
“He can’t stand me.”
“Well, you are trying to steal all his customers.”
“It’s more than that. He can’t stand the fact that I’m breathing.”
Kalissa set down the wine bottle.
“Grab the beer,” she told him, reaching for the top button on her blouse.
“What are you—”
“Bring the pizza,” she said, popping another button and another.
Riley glanced down the hall, worried about Garrison reappearing.
“Let’s go be ordinary.” She shrugged out of her blouse and let it drop to the floor.
“Stop it.” He rushed forward.
She reached back to unclip her bra.
He grabbed her hand. “Seriously. Stop it.”
“You want to fight with me?”
“No.”
“Then bring the beer and the pizza.” She tugged her hand away and sauntered down the hall to the first door. She opened it, slipped off her bra, and dropped the lacy garment on the hall floor, turning into the room.
Riley couldn’t decide whether to be angry or amused. He was definitely aroused. Wasting no time, he balanced the beer and pizza in one hand, scooped up her blouse, then grabbed her bra and closed the bedroom door behind him.
“It locks,” she told him, standing there in nothing but her panties.
“That’s good.” He quickly emptied his hands.
“This whole thing is confusing for me.” She looked incredibly vulnerable standing nearly naked in the soft light.
“It must be,” he said, moving instinctively toward her.
“I don’t know how I’m supposed to act, what I’m supposed to feel.”
“I want to help,” he told her honestly.
“It’s funny,” she said, half to herself. “Right now, you’re the most normal thing in my world.”
He unbuttoned his shirt, tossing it away as he drew to a stop in front of her. “You’re the most precious thing in mine.”
She gave him a little smile. “You still want pizza?”
He kicked off his shoes. “Pizza can wait.”
“It’ll get cold.”
“I’m getting hot.”
Her smile grew. “I’m hot, too.”
“You are definitely that.” He reached out to cradle her head, stepping in.
“Riley?”
“Yeah?”
Their bodies met, meshing together as if they belonged like that.
“I didn’t realize I was yours to steal.”
“Surprised me, too.” He leaned down to kiss her. “But I know that you are.”
Twelve
Kalissa was slowly accepting that her life no longer had a normal.
“I’m clipping the transmitter to the back of your dress,” the female technician told her. “It’ll feel a bit clunky, but we’ll keep it out of the camera angles.”
“Have you ever done this before?” Kalissa asked Darci.
“Once,” said Darci. “Under much more stressful circumstances.”
“You don’t find this stressful?”
They’d spent an hour in hair and makeup, had their black dresses fussed over by wardrobe, and now at least a dozen sound technicians, camera operators and assorted television crew were rushing around them on the stage.
Marion Ward, the local talk show anchor had briefly introduced herself, and then rushed off for her own preparations. Shane was standing in the wings, while Garrison and his cohorts were prowling around the studio, presumably checking for hidden dangers. The only thing frightening Kalissa at the moment was the idea of live television.
“It’s better doing it live,” said Darci. “That way, they can’t selectively edit and make you sound stupid.”
“I was hoping they could selectively edit to make me sound smart.”
The technician smiled as she attached the mic to Kalissa’s neckline.
“You’re going to do fine,” she told her.
“I’m going to freeze up.”
“Then I’ll do the talking,” said Darci.
“Maybe we should have dressed exactly the same,” said Kalissa. “That way, you could play both parts.”
The technician chuckled.
Kalissa was wearing a form fitting black dress with cap sleeves and a sweetheart neckline. Darci had also gone with black, but hers had spaghetti straps, beading on the bodice, and a short, pleated crepe skirt. Kalissa’s hair was swirled up in a casual, messy knot, while Darci’s was neatly braided above her forehead, flowing long down her back.
“Two minutes,” called the producer.
Marion Ward rushed in, taking the high seat in between the two women. She sat straight, squared her shoulders, shifted at a slight angle to the camera, braced one foot on the cross bar and crossed her legs.
Kalissa watched carefully, emulating the pose, trying desperately to look relaxed.
“Let your shoulders drop,” the sound tech whispered.
Then someone from hair and makeup rushed across the stage, fixing the hair at Kalissa’s temple.
“Sixty seconds.”
“First question is about your father,” Marion said to Darci.
Darci nodded. She looked poised and confident.
Kalissa was starting to sweat.
The producer counted down, and everyone on the stage went still and quiet. The red lights came on for each of the three cameras.
“Three, two, one.”
“Good evening, Chicago,” Marion sang out. “And Welcome to City Shore Beat. With me tonight is Colborn Aerospace billionaire, Darci Colborn.”
Kalissa’s mouth twitched for a second. She felt an urge to correct the statement and say that Darci was now only a quarter billionaire.
“You’ll remember her from this summer’s grand wedding to Shane Colborn.” Marion turned to Darci. “Welcome to the show.”
“Happy to be here,” Darci said with an easy smile.
“And joining us, to the shock and surprise of everyone in Chicago, including Darci Colborn, is Darci’s identical twin sister, Kalissa Smith.”
Two of the cameras swung to Kalissa. She fixed a smile on her face.
“Welcome to the show, Kalissa.”
“Thank you,” Kalissa managed.
“This is a tale of scandal, betrayal and long-lost sisters reunited.”
Kalissa glanced to Shane while she struggled to keep her expression neutral. This didn’t sound promising.
He gave her a thumb’s up.
Marion canted her body toward Darci. “Darci, I understand you were raised by your father.”
“I was. Ian Rivers was a brilliant if underappreciated engineer and innovator.”
Marion turned to Kalissa. “You were separated at birth. Put up for adoption. You never knew your parents or your twin sister.”
Kalissa wasn’t sure there was a question in there. “Yes,” she said.
“As far as we can tell,” Darci jumped in. “Our parents separated, each planning to raise one of us. Unfortunately, our birth mother passed away when Kalissa was just a toddler.”
Marion returned to Darci, obviously deciding she was going to be the better guest.
Kalissa wanted to apologize. But more than that, she wanted to run off the stage. Instead, she did her best to smile, knowing one of the cameras had stayed focused on her.
“But Kalissa wasn’t returned to her father?”
“We don’t know all the details,” Darci said smoothly. “We do know our father was a business partner with Dalton Colborn. That’s how Shane and I met. We’ve also learned, unbeknownst to my husband, that our father, Ian Rivers, was pivotal in creating the technology used by Colborn Aerospace today as a leading producer of commercial jets.”
Kalissa cracked her first real smile. Shane had bet Darci she wouldn’t find a way to plug the company.
“Shane and I were thrilled to meet Kalissa. She only learned of my existence because of our recent wedding. As I’m sure has happened with many families, we were reunited because of pictures broadcast on the Internet.”
Marion turned back to Kalissa. “What was your first reaction? How did you feel when you saw Darci for the first time?”
“I thought it was a joke,” Kalissa answered honestly. “I thought somebody had photoshopped my face into her wedding pictures.”
“And when you found out it was true? That your birth sister was one of the richest people in the country?”
Kalissa hesitated again. There was a calculating look in Marion’s eyes. She was definitely setting up for the gold-digger angle, and Kalissa didn’t know how to deflect it.
Darci spoke up. “My sister did the most honorable and unexpected thing.”
A fleeting look of frustration crossed Marion’s face. But then she smiled, and switched to Darci. “Which was?”
“She came to warn me. She had a date that night, and she was afraid people would mistake her for me, and that I’d be embarrassed by it. Shane and I were grateful.”
“Grateful in a monetary sense?” asked Marion.
Kalissa was getting concerned. This was supposed to be a friendly interview.
“Are you asking if I’ve taken any of their money?” asked Kalissa.
Marion swung toward her. “Have you?”
“We’ve tried very hard to support Kalissa,” said Darci. “But she’s incredibly independent. The important thing for us is that we’ve found each other again and reunited as a family.”
“That’s the important thing,” agreed Kalissa.
“But it’s vastly changed your circumstances in life,” Marion prompted, gesturing toward Kalissa.
“Vastly,” Kalissa admitted. “But I imagine that’s the case for everyone who finds a long lost relative, whether they’re rich or not. I want people to know that I’m not Darci, and Darci’s not me. There are two of us, and we look alike.” Kalissa stared directly into the camera. “So, if you come across one of us, and we’re doing something undignified or inappropriate, assume that it’s me. As you can probably tell from this interview, my sister is much more sophisticated than I am. I’m about five minutes out of thrift stores and burger joints.”
“Did I mention she has a terrific sense of humor?” asked Darci. Then she unexpectedly came out of her chair, crossing the stage in front of Marion.
Her move seemed to cause a flurry of activity behind the cameras, and Marion appeared quite horrified.
But, Darci kept walking, opening her arms to Kalissa. “Thank goodness you found us.” Then she pulled her into a tight hug.
Ducking around Darci, Marion found a new camera angle. “And, uh, we’ll be right back.”
Darci drew back and gave Marion a withering look. “We’re done.” She unclipped her mic.
Shane was with them in seconds, followed by the security team.
“Clear the stage,” ordered the producer.
A sound technician helped Darci scramble out of the microphone set up, and she quickly followed Shane and Darci out of the studio. Garrison walked beside her.
“What happened?” she asked. She realized it hadn’t gone as they’d expected, but she wasn’t sure why Darci was angry.
“You didn’t need to say all that about yourself,” said Garrison.
Kalissa didn’t see it that way. “I just told the truth. That woman wasn’t letting us say what we came to say.”
“There was nothing in particular you needed to say. You only needed to be seen together. That host boxed you into a corner. It made Darci mad.”
“I want the world to know it’s me and not Darci out there making mistakes.”
“You’re not making mistakes, ma’am.”
“You can call me Kalissa, you know.”
“Not on the job.”
“You call Megan by her first name.”
There was a split second’s hesitation before he spoke. “I’m not assigned to protect Megan.”
They passed through the exterior door into the studio parking lot. Kalissa’s eyes adjusted to the sunlight, and she immediately spotted Riley. He was thirty yards away, leaning against his sports car.
“Riley?” she said out loud. “What is he—” She stepped away from the group, walking toward him.
He straightened to meet her and smiled.
“What are you doing here?” she asked.
“I wanted to make sure it went okay.”
“Why didn’t you come inside?”
His gaze moved beyond her to Darci and the rest of the group. “It seemed like a family thing.”
“It didn’t go so well,” she told him.
“I saw. I watched the broadcast on-line.”
Kalissa nodded. “Garrison says I should have kept my mouth shut and just sat there.”
“In those exact words?” Riley asked.
“Not exactly. But Darci cut it off because I was blowing it.”
He took her hand. “You want to walk?” He nodded toward a walkway and an open green space along the curve of the river.
Kalissa glanced back at the group. “Garrison will have to come with us.”
“Don’t worry about Garrison. It’s his job to worry about you.”
“I don’t want to make his job harder.”
“You won’t. It’s not. Stop worrying about everyone else.” He called out to the others. “We’ll meet you back at the penthouse.”
Kalissa decided some fresh air would do her good. She’d been cooped up in the apartment for four days now, and she needed to clear her head.
She walked beside Riley, putting the interview from her mind, forgetting about Garrison and everyone else. Trains and traffic echoed against skyscrapers across the water, boats chugged past, and they joined the steady stream of pedestrians taking in the afternoon.
Part of her wanted to tell him about her father and the inheritance. But another part wanted to keep the secret inside. It felt like, once she told him, the last barrier to her new reality would be gone. She wasn’t ready yet.
They turned to walk along the black railing. A breeze swirled up from the water, chilling the air.
Riley shrugged out of his jacket and draped it around her shoulders.
“I’ve been thinking,” she said.
“That’s good.”
“About taking Shane up on his offer.”
“What offer is that?” She could hear the hesitation in Riley’s words.
“Landscaping the mansion. Me and Megan. It would keep us working, keep our regular crews busy, but it would keep me out of the public eye.”
Once it became known she was a shareholder in Colborn Aerospace, Kalissa knew her days of wheeling bark mulch and azalea shrubs would have to end. But she couldn’t imagine being qualified to do anything for Colborn Aerospace.
“I’m sure Shane would like that.” There was an edge to Riley’s voice. “The place is a fortress.”
“Garrison would like that,” Kalissa joked, not wanting the conversation to get negative.
She glanced behind them to see where he was.
“I told you not to worry about Garrison. He knows his job. He seems good at it. You just have to live your life.”
Kalissa couldn’t help but laugh at that statement. She didn’t even understand her life, never mind know how to live it anymore. She stopped walking, turning to lean on the rail and gaze out.
“What do you like about me?” she asked him.
He linked his arm with hers. “Everything.”
“I mean specifically.”
“Specifically, I like everything about you.”
She sighed. “I feel like I’m caught between two worlds. One I know, and in it I’m doing okay. The other is unfamiliar and kind of scary, and I don’t know if I can succeed.”
“You’ll be fine,” he said, but she knew he didn’t understand the magnitude of the problem.
“I’m going to change. I’ll have to change. But I was thinking. If I knew the best parts of me, I could make sure I kept them.”
He faced her and smiled. “You’re not going to lose the best parts of you. They’re you. They’ll go anywhere and everywhere you go.”
“I can’t do my job anymore. I can’t dig up people’s front yards, lay stone and push wheelbarrow loads of manure.”
“You can still do the planning. That’s mostly your part anyway. Have you ever actually laid any stone? And when’s the last time you dumped manure?”
“You know what I mean.”
“I do,” he said, putting his hand over hers. “Tell me what I can do to help?”
“This,” she said. “Today. One more day. Can we go back to the pier, buy ourselves a corndog and be incredibly ordinary for a while?”
He brought her hand to his lips and gave her knuckles a tender kiss. “We can do anything you want.”
* * *
To Riley, the Colborn mansion felt like the lion’s den.
He followed a butler through what he knew to be the grand hall. Used mostly for entertaining, it had soaring, twenty foot ceilings, marble pillars and gleaming white archways. Around the perimeter were antique style lampposts, with an ostentatious wrought iron chandelier hanging in the center of the room.
Riley could only imagine who they were trying to impress. In the center of the room, a bronze stallion statue was perched on a massive, hewn wood table. Oil paintings hung on the walls, Dalton, Shane’s mother, Shane himself.
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