Suddenly the idea that she hadn’t been waiting all nun-like and celibate for his majestic return rushed with bitterness into his brain. Goddess? Really? Was she somebody else’s goddess? Had she found someone to share her life with? Someone who was not him?
That bitterness turned into regret as bottomless as his soul when he remembered that’s exactly what he had thought would happen when he’d turned away from her years ago. He’d fed himself a steady diet of bullshit then and all through the long years that followed, believing that he’d acted on what was best for her. He’d imagined what he’d done had been noble or admirable when he brutally denied her any hope of his changing his mind so she could then move on with her life, without him. Find happiness. Always without him.
The silence that surrounded them as he held her injured foot and stared at that simple ankle chain was loud. If silence could be loud that is.
* * *
Beyond the muffled sounds of children’s laughter and adult chatter coming from the forgotten birthday event happening just a few hundred steps further down the path, Shannon could hear nothing but her own wildly thumping heartbeat and their mingled breathing.
If she weren’t in so much pain, she’d be thinking a lot clearer, she castigated herself. Only she really couldn’t clear her head, not with Nick so close, touching her so gently, awakening so many feelings and memories that she was swamped with emotion and confusion. That she was in over her head was in no doubt, and she didn’t mean from her injuries. This man was trouble for her, and she needed to make that her mantra lest she forget herself and succumb to her wildest fantasies. Her rapidly beating heart and the way her entire being seemed to be suddenly cranking on all cylinders in ever-deepening response to his nearness were shattering whatever composure she hoped to cling to.
He had just removed the ankle bracelet from her rapidly swelling foot before it cut into her flesh when she heard people approaching. “Oh my heavens, Shannon!” a shocked voice cried in alarm when the sound of approaching footsteps materialized into a confused Ned and Jules appearing at their side.
“What the hell happened?” Jules went on. “You look as pale as death. Nicky, tell me what’s going on!” Jules cried out sharply as she dropped down to her knees to look at Shannon’s injured leg, pushing Nick aside in the process.
“Oh, honey,” she groaned, clearly alarmed at what she was seeing. “That looks painful, Shannon.”
Despite being completely rattled and feeling as though she were operating from an out-of-body experience, Shannon tried to calm Jules down while the woman fluttered about her in signs of clear stress with frantic panic written all over her face while Nick stood nearby speaking with Ned.
That Jules knew Nick was evident in the familiar way she’d cried out to him a second earlier—at least that much was clear. Beyond that, Shannon couldn’t quite wrap her mind around what all this meant.
Struggling to regain some control, with a breathy, tight voice, Shannon tried to choke out, “I’m okay, Jules, just a little shook up. I’m worried about the party. I want Dom’s birthday to be perfect. Everything you and Ned dreamed of.”
“Please don’t worry about that, Shannon. Rory will have this all under control in five minutes. We have to get you some help. You’re injured, honey. Just relax and we’ll take care of everything.”
* * *
Straightening, Jules looked from the face of her very confused big brother now standing next to her equally confused husband and realized that when the time came she had some explaining to do. Whatever romantic fantasies she’d been harboring about her adored big brother rediscovering the only woman, as far as Jules could tell, that he’d ever been serious about were quickly dismissed by the scene before her.
Jules’s, panic when the text had come to her phone from Nick saying someone had gotten injured along the path propelled her toward the commotion fearing that one of the children had been hurt only to find Shannon instead down on the ground with Nick hovering over her. This was not quite the way she envisioned her matchmaking efforts to pan out. She’d imagined something much more foolishly romantic and joyful than the tearful, bloodied, and bruised scenario that greeted her as she and Ned had zoomed down the path in search of the reported incident. Damn.
With her hand on Shannon’s shoulder to offer reassurance, Jules’s head snapped around in search of her husband. He had moved a few yards up the path with her brother, who had a frozen, stunned expression on his face. His body language pretty much screamed of someone who was in deep and total shock as he just stood there, arms down by his side, looking completely lost while Ned was speaking to him. Whether he heard anything her husband said or not was in serious doubt, judging by what she was seeing.
“Ned, come over here and help us. Shannon’s hurt,” Jules quietly urged as she put out a hand in a clear summons for her husband to come to her side. Ned turned his attention from the uncharacteristically shocked Nick to look over his shoulder at Jules, who was attending to the still-prone Shannon.
Jules watched as Ned entered the address and GPS information necessary for Nick to find his way to the clinic where Shannon could be checked and pressed the cell phone back into his friend’s obviously numb hands. Ned then hurried back down the path to offer his assistance with Shannon.
Taking charge of the situation Ned, ever the lawyer, leaned down and said “Shannon, tell me exactly where you’re injured. Don’t leave anything out.”
While her husband attended her friend, Jules turned her attention back to her brother, who continued to remain standing nearby, impossibly still. She couldn’t understand why he remained removed from the unfolding drama. Couldn’t understand why he wasn’t helping, why he wasn’t moving. Then she looked a little closer and noticed he was so clearly in a state of shock that he couldn’t possibly move if he wanted to. Suddenly Jules worried that her grand plan had been woefully ill advised.
As if willing Nicky to get in the game, to get involved, to engage with what was going on, maybe even be the handsome hero swooping in to make the situation better, Jules stared with intense focus in his direction, a silent wishful prayer on the tip of her tongue.
* * *
Watching the scene unfold in front of him, Nick was numb, frozen to the spot. So knocked for a six was he at having run across Shannon that he had lost his self-assured and in-charge manner. He watched mutely as Ned took that role, leaning over her, quietly asking questions, comforting her as she sat up on a hay bale, rather than sprawled on the hard ground. She was in clear distress, and it was that realization that zapped his brain back into gear.
As if suddenly coming to his senses, Nick pocketed the cell phone and strode forward purposely. He needed to do something. He just couldn’t stand there anymore. As he approached and saw the look of enigmatic confusion on Jules’s face, he made a note to ask her about it later, but right now he needed to focus on Shannon.
As he came upon the scene, Nick could hear Ned reassuring Shannon that they were about to get help for her. Without hesitation, Nick reached down and scooped her up into his capable arms as if she weighed absolutely nothing, saying to Ned and Jules as he did, “I’ve got this.”
With that, he simply marched on down the hay-strewn path towards the parking area, his back ramrod straight, Shannon draped over his strong forearms, her injured bare foot and the other still booted in soft brown suede dangling down his frame while one arm had instinctively wrapped itself across his broad shoulders for safety. At least that’s what she told herself instead of admitting that her hold on him was more for security and reassurance than safety.
As he strode away with Shannon safely held in his arms, she looked back over Nick’s shoulder to see Ned comforting a very upset-looking Jules, who was wringing her hands in uncharacteristic dismay. Jules’s face was ashen, and the way she looked at them as they made their way along the scenic path gave Shannon pause. Her head and the steadily increasing staccato of drumbeats banging behind her eyes sent that thought to t
he side for now, but Shannon had a feeling something more was going on here than met the eye.
Who was Nick Temple? No, she corrected herself again, remembering to use his real name. Just who was Nicholas Barrett to Ned and Jules Stewart, and why had they all seemed so familiar with one another? She’d have to ask she supposed, but right now her voice seemed to have deserted her, and probably for the best. Instinct told her that silence was her best hand until she had more information and until the blasted thrumming that had begun in earnest in her head stopped.
To make matters worse, the feel of his rock-hard chest against her side was making her exquisitely aware of how small and feminine she felt cradled in his arms. She wasn’t exactly a petite woman and had some serious curves to boot, but he was just so large and so commanding that he made her feel no bigger than a pocket doll. She shivered slightly in delicious awareness of how turned on that thought made her feel, although she knew she shouldn’t.
Glancing up at his profile as he pounded out a steady rhythm with his boot-clad feet on the crunchy straw-covered path, Shannon noticed immediately that he seemed to be grinding his teeth, evidenced by his mouth locked in a tense line with noticeable tension all around his jawline.
Where her breast and side crushed up against his chest, she could make out the strong thump-thump-thump beating of his heart and wondered if he was aware how out of control her own heart rate was.
This close to him, she was surrounded by his unique scent, something spicy and bold that had permeated her senses once upon a time and which had washed over her in the ensuing years during times when her guard was down or she was feeling especially vulnerable.
She’d found his smell sexy and absorbing, just like the man himself, and here and now she allowed herself a second or five to drown in that intoxicatingly erotic tang, wishing she could lean in closer so she could press her face against his neck and simply breathe. He had a tiny, almost imperceptible scar on his slightly stubbled chin that seemed to call her tongue forth so it could touch that spot and make him shiver all over as she’d used to do in their most intimate and private of moments together.
But that time was gone, when she thought she knew this man better than anyone else on the planet, and she belatedly brought herself in check by recalling that he had chosen money and power over the promises of love she had foolishly thought they were making to each other.
His words came crashing down on her melting senses. A rich man’s folly was how he’d crudely described their time together in that awful final conversation when he’d crushed her dreams and told her in no uncertain terms that, while he’d had fun, he always knew he’d return to another life that could never include a young man’s fling. A short period of carefree enjoyment before his real life took over. She’d been a welcome distraction while he’d been off pretending to be something other than a spoiled, wealthy heir to millions if not billions of dollars.
As they approached the parking area, Rory, also decked out in full cowgirl regalia, appeared out of nowhere and exclaimed with alarm, “Shannon, what happened? Oh dear, are you alright?” This last said as she eyed Nick’s formidable take-charge presence with obvious alarm.
Before Shannon could get a single word out, Nick started barking commands in a voice that any reasonable person would recognize meant business and which had best not be ignored.
“She’s taken a fall and sprained her ankle,” Nick bit out, followed a second later by, “Who are you?” as he continued to stomp along like a most determined man on a mission.
Seeing her boss being carried away by a veritable giant dressed in black jeans, boots, and a crisp white cowboy-style shirt threw Rory for less than a second before answering his bark in a business-like and professional manner. “I’m Rory, Shannon’s assistant. What can I do?” she asked as she hurried toward them to help in any way she could.
“Have the valet bring the black SUV next to the garage over here, quickly,” he answered, “and help me get Shannon settled. I’m taking her to the clinic Mr. Stewart recommended.” With that Rory bolted off in the direction of the valet stand while Nick continued pounding his way along the path and into a clearing where his car would pull up.
Shannon tried to focus on this flurry of activity on her behalf, but the slight pulsing in her head that she at first thought was a result of having been whacked on the temple was now developing into an increasing migraine, thereby complicating her determination to retain her composure no matter what.
As his vehicle appeared on the scene and Shannon got a good look at what he was driving, she groaned inwardly. What was she getting herself in to? She’d known he was wealthy, but the size and luxuriousness of the massive hybrid SUV that pulled up was incontrovertible evidence of the world he lived in. Shannon thought of her own dependable car, a bland but reliable sedan with a couple of extras but certainly not the temperature-controlled seats and on-board satellite system she spied the minute she’d been eased into the front passenger seat. Best she remember the two completely opposite worlds they lived in and once again how he’d consciously chosen all this over her.
* * *
As Nick leaned into the car and reached across Shannon to buckle her seat belt, he knew he was being ridiculous, for she was a grown woman and capable of doing it herself. That her hands were all scraped up and probably painful was the excuse he used to whitewash over his need to get as close to her as possible.
From this vantage point, leaning in and reaching across her torso, he could see the rapidly intensifying rise and fall of her bosom as she took in lungfuls of air. He couldn’t stop himself from adjusting the shoulder belt so it didn’t cause any discomfort, and in doing so he felt the soft mounds of her lush breasts across the top of his hand as he slid it down the belt to ensure her safety and comfort.
She stopped breathing. So did he. With their faces only inches apart, he drew back from his ministrations and struggled with the need to slide his fingers inside her adorable cowgirl blouse to cup her breast with his big hand and stroke the puckering nipple he hoped would greet his caress.
Nick drew back remembering how she had recoiled from him in apparent disgust when she’d realized into whose arms she’d fallen. Well, that thought sobered him up right quick.
When he quickly backed away and went to shut her car door, the Rory person stepped forward to speak with his passenger, giving Nick his best retreat so he could scurry around the front of the car to reach the driver door being held open by the obviously concerned valet.
As he got in and belted himself, Nick reached for the GPS to enter the information he’d need to guide them to the private clinic where they were headed. He noted that Shannon spoke quietly to her assistant, although why she had an assistant and what she was doing here he did not know. Now that he thought about it, however, Ned had just told him, when he’d arrived on the scene after Nick had texted for help, that Shannon was their party planner. Looking around quickly at the cowboy tableau playing out all around them, Nick’s normally sharp brain finally started putting two and two together.
Shannon Reynolds. Shannon at his sister’s home. Shannon was a party planner and Dominic’s birthday was something she’d created. The spiky-haired, thin-as-a-rail person who’d identified herself as an assistant and who was presently determinedly tapping instructions into her smartphone was Shannon’s helper. Shannon. Shannon was hurt and they had to go, like now.
“We have to go,” Nick growled a second before Rory had the good sense to firmly shut Shannon’s passenger-side door. Putting the vehicle in gear, Nick carefully pulled away from the bustling parking area and headed for the main road. There seemed to be horses with costumed cowboys and children with laughing adults dressed in Wild West gear all over the place, and only then as they were leaving did Nick see with eyes fully aware how big and over-the-friggin’-top the party had actually been. Glancing toward his injured passenger and noting that she seemed stable and properly secured, Nick eased the behemoth vehicle onto the road and he
aded to the clinic as the voice-command GPS led the way.
Maybe he’d calm down a bit and get his senses under control once he got her some help and could be assured that the ugly bump on her head was not more serious than it looked and that her ankle had been properly attended to. Yeah, right. The way he felt, Nick doubted he’d ever calm down again. Hell, right now he doubted his grasp on reality.
CHAPTER THREE
In the confines of the closed car, Shannon continued to be assaulted by the shimmering awareness lighting up each and every one of her brain cells due to the presence of the only person who had ever made her feel alive but who had also carved out her heart one autumn afternoon and fed it back to her on a sterling silver tray.
With the blinding realization that even after all he’d done and said, after all the years of sadness and solitude, he still stole her breath and made her wish for things which could never be she had to ask herself, How stupid could one woman be?
When Nick abruptly stepped back after having awkwardly touched her while adjusting the seat belt, Shannon knew a blast of embarrassment at her pitiful response so profound as to make her blush from top to bottom. He’d obviously found it distasteful to be this close to her and probably resented having to come to her assistance.
A beautiful, sunny Southern California day moved past the tinted windows of his SUV as they slowly made their way through the normally intense traffic patterns around Los Angeles. She didn’t know where they were going, but she was sure it would be exclusive and world-class, something else to remind her of the distance that lay between her normal, middle-of-the-road life and the world of the super-wealthy who never had to worry about paying bills or whether they had the funds to cover an unexpected medical emergency.
She was being ridiculously critical, she admitted, for she could take care of herself and, if truth be told, would admit to a tidy savings that was nothing to sneeze at, and a hefty retirement plan. Shannon’s personal financial portfolio included well-thought-out and low-risk investments and even a top-drawer medical plan, which having been gifted with good health, she rarely made use of. Was she judging him and the advantages having money could bring when she herself wasn’t exactly living paycheck to paycheck? Well, probably, but he damn well deserved that discrimination and her harsh judgment.
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