King’s Million-Dollar Secret

by Maureen Child

  This had all seemed like such a good idea at the time. Now though, she had to wonder if she’d been crazy. What if the new kitchen wasn’t as good as the old? What if her new stove didn’t cook as reliably? Where would she ever find another sink so wide and deep? What if her business went belly up and she’d spent her savings on a kitchen she wouldn’t be able to afford?

  “Oh, God…”

  “Too late for panic now,” a deep voice assured her from the doorway.

  She turned around to look at Rafe and caught the knowing gleam in his eyes. She forced a smile. “Not full-blown panic yet. Just a little…okay,” she admitted finally, “panic.”

  He laughed and she had a moment to think how devastating he really was before the smile on his face faded. He walked into the room and looked out at the view she’d been staring at. “It looks bad now, but it’s going to be great when it’s finished.”

  “Easy for you to say.”

  “Yeah, it is. This isn’t my first rodeo, you know. I’ve done a lot of remodels and the owners always have that wild-eyed look you have right now.” He lifted one shoulder in a shrug. “But they’re always happy when it’s over.”

  “Because it’s over or because they love what you did to their houses?”

  “A little of both, maybe,” he acknowledged. “Just wanted to let you know we found a leak in a hot-water pipe.”

  “A leak?” Katie instantly had mental images of a rising flood beneath the house.

  “Relax,” he said. “It’s just an old, slow leak. The joint on the pipes is bad. We’re going to replace it, we just need to show it to you first and get you to sign off on the work, since it’s extra to the contract.”

  She blew out a relieved breath. “Right. Okay then. Lead the way.”

  Katie followed Rafe out of the patio, across the yard and through the back door to the kitchen. She couldn’t even reach her favorite room in the old house by walking down the hallway. It was crowded with her refrigerator, tables holding all of her pantry items and towers of pots and pans.

  The sun was blazing down out of a clear blue sky and she was grateful for California weather. If she’d had to do this remodeling job in a place renowned for rain, it would have been far worse.

  Rafe held the door open for her and she walked inside to a room she barely recognized. The old subfloor was black and littered with dust. The skeletons of the cabinets stood out like picked over bones on the walls. The pipes looked forlorn somehow, as if they were embarrassed to be seen.

  Steve, the plumber, was crawling up out of a hole in the floor. Katie just managed to hide a shudder. You couldn’t pay her enough to crawl under the house where spiders and God knew what other kind of bug lived. When he was clear, Steve turned to flash her a smile. “If you come over here, I can show you the leak.”

  “Great. Leaks.” She picked her way across the floor, stepping over scattered tools and bits of old wood. She stopped alongside the long, narrow opening in the floor and squatted beside Steve. He held a flashlight pointed beneath the floorboards and said, “There it is. Probably been dripping like that for years. Hasn’t done any damage, so that’s good. But we should put in a new copper joint.”

  Katie nodded solemnly as if she understood exactly what he was talking about. But the truth was, she didn’t see a leak. All she noticed was a damp spot on the earth beneath the floor that probably shouldn’t be there. If she actually admitted she couldn’t see the leak, they might insist she go down there to see it up close and personal. So Steve’s word would be good enough for her. “Okay then. Do what you have to.”

  “Excellent.” Steve turned and said, “Hey, Rafe, why don’t you show her the new sink you brought in this morning.”

  “My new sink’s here? Already?” Now this she was interested in. As far as pipes went, all she cared about was that they carried water whichever way they were designed to carry it without leaks, thanks very much. She didn’t need to understand how they did it. Hard to get thrilled over copper piping.

  “I was at one of our suppliers and saw a sink I thought you’d like, so I picked it up. We’ll just store it in the trailer until it’s time to install.” Rafe led her out of the kitchen, down the back steps and across the lawn.

  Arturo had the cabinet doors spread across makeshift sawhorse work tables and was busily scraping off the old finish before sanding them. Everything was happening. Only a week and already she was seeing progress. Maybe they’d get it all done in two weeks, Katie thought, then smiled wryly to herself. And maybe she’d sprout wings and fly.

  “Here it is.” Rafe stopped at the trailer, reached in and drew out a huge sink, one side much deeper and bigger than the other.

  “Isn’t that heavy?” she asked, remembering the loud clunk her old cast-iron sink had made when tossed to the top of the junk pile.

  “Nope. It’s acrylic.” He held it in one hand to prove his point. “Tougher and won’t chip or rust.”

  She smoothed her fingers over the edge and sighed a little. It was perfect. Looking up at him, she said, “Thank you. It’s great.”

  “Glad you like it.” He tucked it back into the trailer and draped a protective work blanket over it.

  “I thought the contractor was supposed to pick up the supplies for the job,” she said.

  He turned back to look at her and shoved both hands into the pockets of his jeans. “Joe asked me to pick up a few things at the home store. I saw the sink and…”

  “How’d you know I’d like it?”

  “Took a shot,” he admitted.

  “It was a good one.”

  His blue eyes were shining and a cool wind tossed his black hair across his forehead. He was tall, broad-shouldered and looked great in those faded jeans, she thought, not for the first time. In fact, she had dreamed about him the night before. In her dream they were back in her kitchen, alone, as they had been yesterday. But in her fantasy, Rafe had kissed her until her toes curled and she had awakened so taut with desire and tension she hadn’t been able to go back to sleep.

  Even her unconscious mind was working against her.

  “So, Rafe Cole,” she asked, “how long have you been in construction?”

  She thought his features tightened briefly, but the expression was gone so quickly, she couldn’t be sure. Now why would that simple question get such a reaction?

  “My dad started me out in the business when I was a kid,” he said, staring off at the house, keeping his gaze deliberately away from hers. “I liked it and just sort of stuck with it.”

  “I get that,” she said, trying to put him at ease again, to regain the easiness they’d shared only a moment ago. “My grandmother started me out baking when I was a little girl, and, well, here I am.”

  He nodded and glanced at her. “How long have you lived here?”

  “I grew up here,” she said. “My dad died before I was born, and my mom and I moved in here with Nana.” Her gaze tracked across the familiar lines of the old bungalow. The windows were wide, the roof was shake and the paint was peeling in spots. But the house was home. It meant security. Comfort. “I moved out for college, then mom died and a year ago, I inherited the house from Nana.”

  “Oh,” he said softly. “I’m sorry.”

  It took her a second; then Katie laughed and told him, “No, she didn’t die. She just moved. Nana and her sister Grace decided to share an apartment at the Senior Living Center. They figure there are lots of lonely men over there looking for love!”

  He laughed at that and once again, Katie felt a rush of something hot and delicious spread through her. The man should smile more often, she thought and wondered why he didn’t. The other guys working here were forever laughing and joking around. But not Rafe.

  He was more quiet. More mysterious.

  Just…more.

  Rafe sat opposite his brother Sean at a local diner and waited for his burger. As for Sean, he was typing out a message or thirty on his cell phone. Okay, as far as Rafe was concerned. Gave him
more time to think about Katie Charles.

  The woman was haunting him.

  He couldn’t remember being so fixated on a single woman—not even Leslie, before he married her, had so completely captivated him. While that should have worried him, instead he was intrigued. What was it about Katie that was getting to him?

  She was beautiful, sure. But lots of women were. He wanted her, but he had wanted lots of women. There was something else about her that was reaching out to him on so many different levels, he couldn’t even name them all.

  “Hey,” Sean said with a laugh. “Where’d you go?”

  “What?” Rafe swiveled on the bench seat and looked at his younger brother.

  “I’ve been talking to you for five minutes and you haven’t heard a word. So I was wondering just what exactly had you thinking so hard.”

  Rafe scowled a little, irritated to have been caught daydreaming. Jeez. Thoughts of Katie were taking up way too much of his time. “Not surprising I was thinking of something else, since you were so busy texting.”

  “Nice try,” Sean said, still grinning. “Distract me with insults so I won’t ask if you’re still thinking about the cookie woman.”

  Rafe shot him a glare. “Her name’s Katie.”

  “Yeah, I know.”

  “Anyone ever tell you how irritating you are?”

  “Besides you, you mean?” Sean asked, giving their waitress a bright smile as she delivered their dinners. “You bet. All the time.”

  Rafe had to smile. Sean was absolutely the most laid-back King ever born. Most of them were type A’s, ruthlessly pushing through life, demanding and getting their own way. Not Sean. He had a way of slipping up on whatever he wanted until it just naturally fell into his hands.

  He was damn hard to annoy and almost never lost his temper. In the world of the King family, he was an original.

  Once the waitress was gone, the brothers dove into their meals. This hamburger joint on Ocean Avenue had been a popular spot since the forties. Rafe and Sean were on the outside patio, where they could watch traffic and pedestrians in a never-ending stream of motion. Kids, dogs, parents with digital cameras poking out of their pockets fought for space on the crowded sidewalk. Summer in a beach town brought out the tourists.

  “So,” Sean said, reaching for his beer, “let’s hear it.”

  “Hear what?”

  “About the cookie lady,” Sean countered, both of his eyebrows wiggling.

  Rafe sighed. Should have expected that his brother would be curious. After all, Rafe hadn’t talked about a woman since Leslie walked out. He remembered his ex-wife looking at him sadly and telling him that she felt “sorry” for him because he had no idea how to love someone. That he never should have married her and sentenced her to a cold, empty life.

  Then he thought about Katie and it was like a cool, soft breeze wafted through his mind. “She’s…different.”

  “This gets better and better.” Sean leaned back in his booth and waited.

  Frowning, Rafe took a sip of his beer. When he spoke, it was a warning not only to his brother, but to himself. “Don’t make more of this than there is. I just find her interesting.”

  “Interesting.” Sean nodded. “Right. Like a bug collection?”

  “What?”

  Laughing, his brother said, “Come off it, Rafe. There’s something there and you’re looking. And about time too, I want to say. Leslie was a long time ago, man.”

  “Not that long,” Rafe countered. Although, as he thought about it, he realized that he and Leslie had been divorced for more than five years. His ex-wife was now remarried to Rafe’s former best friend, with a set of toddler twins and a newborn, last he heard.

  “Long enough for her to move on. Why haven’t you?”

  Rafe shot Sean a glare that should have fried his ass on the spot. Typically enough though, Sean wasn’t bothered. “Who says I haven’t?”

  “Me. Lucas. Tanner. Mac. Grady…” Sean stopped, paused and asked, “Do I have to name all of our brothers or do you get the point?”

  “I get it, but you’re wrong.” Rafe took a bite of his truly excellent burger and after chewing, added, “I’m not carrying a torch for Leslie. It’s over. Done. She’s a mother, for God’s sake.” And if he was to be honest, he hadn’t really missed her when she left. So what did that say about him?

  “Yet, you’re still living in a hotel suite making do with the occasional date with a beautiful airhead.”

  “I like living in a hotel and they’re not all airheads.”

  “Good argument.”

  “Look,” Rafe said, reaching for his beer. “Katie’s a nice woman, but she’s off limits.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “Because she’s got white picket fence written all over her,” Rafe explained. “She’s the settle-down-and-get-married type and I’ve already proven I’m not.”

  Sean shook his head and sighed. “For a smart guy, you’re not real bright, are you?”

  “Thanks for the support.”

  “You want support?” Sean asked, digging into his burger. “Then stop being an idiot.”

  “Shut up. I tried the happily-ever-after thing and it blew up in my face. Not going to do it again.”

  “Did you ever consider that maybe the reason it didn’t work was because you married the wrong woman?”

  Rafe didn’t even bother answering that jibe. What would have been the point?

  Monday morning, the guys were still fighting with the pipes and Katie was ready for a week in Tahiti. She’d hardly slept all weekend. Though the peace and quiet were great, she’d been so busy filling cookie orders she hadn’t had time to appreciate it.

  Now she sipped at a cup of coffee and winced every time the whine of a drill shrieked into the air.

  “The noise is worst the first week,” someone from nearby said.

  She turned to look at Joe Hanna, the contractor. “You’re just saying that so I won’t run away.”

  He grinned. “Once the new pipes and drains are installed, the rest will be easier for you to live with. I promise.”

  He had no sooner made that vow when a shout came from the kitchen. “Arturo! Shut off the water! Off! Off!”

  “Crap.” Joe hustled across the yard just behind Rafe while Arturo sprinted for the water shutoff valve out front. Katie was hot on Joe’s heels and stepped into the kitchen in time to see Steve crouched over a pipe with water spraying out of it like a fountain in Vegas.

  Katie backed out of their way while the men grabbed towels. Then Arturo got the water off and the three men in the kitchen were left standing around as what looked like the incoming tide rolled across the floor and under the house.

  “That fitting wasn’t on there right, damn it,” Steve muttered and dropped through the hole in the floor.

  “Should have checked it out with the water on low,” Joe pointed out and got a glare from Rafe in response.

  “What happened?” Katie asked and both men turned to look at her.

  “Nothing huge,” Joe assured her. “Just got to tighten things up. Looks worse than it is.”

  Katie hoped so, because it looked like a lake was in her kitchen and she couldn’t think that was a good thing.

  Joe slapped one hand on Rafe’s shoulder and said, “I should have checked his work personally before we tested it. Rafe’s been out of the game for a while, so he may be rusty. But he’s got potential.”

  Katie saw the flicker of annoyance cross Rafe’s features and she shared it.

  “Isn’t Steve the plumber?” she asked pointedly.

  “Yeah,” Joe said, “but Rafe did the joint work on that pipe.”

  “It was fine,” Rafe said. “That shouldn’t have happened.”

  “Sure, sure,” Joe told him, then looked at Katie. “My fault. Like I said, I should have kept a closer eye on the new guy’s work.”

  Rafe was biting his tongue, no doubt worried about defending himself and maybe losing his job. Then she realize
d that he could be fired anyway, if Joe decided that his work was too sloppy. So before she could stop herself, she stepped in to defend him. “Rafe does excellent work. He set up my temporary kitchen, allowing me to keep my business going. He’s stayed late everyday cleaning up and making sure I’m inconvenienced as little as possible. I’m sure that whatever happened with that pipe was unavoidable.”

  “Yeah,” a voice came rumbling up from under the house. “Found the problem. The first joint worked itself loose, so the water had to go somewhere. My bad. I’ll get it fixed and we’ll be back in business.”

  Katie gave Joe a look that said quite clearly, See? You blamed the wrong man. She smiled at Rafe and left them to clean up the mess and get back to work.

  “What was that all about?” Joe wondered.

  Steve poked his head up from under the floorboards and smiled widely. “Sounds to me like the boss lady has a thing for Rafe. Lucky bastard.”

  “Shut up, Steve,” Rafe said, but his gaze was locked on the empty doorway where Katie had been standing only a moment before.

  Joe was riding him because he could and Rafe would take it because it was all part of the bet he’d lost. Good-natured teasing was all part of working a job. But Katie’s defense of him had surprised him. Hell, he couldn’t even remember the last time someone had stood up for him—not counting his half-brothers and cousins.

  Katie Charles was like no one he’d ever met before. She didn’t want anything from him. Wasn’t trying to get on his good side. But then, that was because she thought his name was Rafe Cole.

  It would be an entirely different story if she knew he was a King.

  Three

  Rafe was late getting to the job site.

  Despite the bet he was in the process of paying off, he had his regular job to do, too. And dealing with a supplier who wasn’t coming through for them was one of the tasks he enjoyed most.

  “Look Mike,” he said, tightening his grip on the phone. “You said we’d have the doors and windows on site at the medical complex by noon yesterday.”