Her sister flicked a look back at him, a complete lack of recognition on her face. “Hello...?”
“Rafe. Rafe McCawley.” Uncertainty and unease crawled across his face. When Mimi continued to stare at him blankly, he sighed. “Don’t be that way. I’m sorry it didn’t work out for us, but I did try to get a hold of you after I got here.”
“What are you talking about?” Now it was Mimi’s turn to frown.
Kelly winced. “How about we go inside and get Mimi settled, and then we can sort this out.”
Five more minutes, Mimi. Just five more minutes.
If she could separate them, she could spill her guts to Rafe about the lie. Why she ever thought not telling him when he’d arrived was a good idea, she couldn’t begin to fathom. Sweat slipped down her spine and her heart raced.
“No, I want to know what he’s talking about. Have we met?” Mimi put a manicured hand on her hip, her chin going up in the same stubborn manner as their mother’s.
“‘Have we met?’” Rafe blinked, a profusion of emotions running riot through his blue eyes before they hardened. “New York fashion show? I walked you home? We’ve been writing for months. Does this not ring a bell with you?”
“No.” Mimi shrugged a shoulder and Kelly gritted her teeth. This couldn’t get any worse.
“Mimi, darling!” Her mother’s voice sliced through the tension and Kelly decided she’d discovered the social equivalent of a wipeout. She’d miscalculated the wave and now she was hanging ten off a board that was going to slam her fast and hard into the water.
“Rafe, you have to understand, Mimi’s been traveling and she gets a little tired. She doesn’t always know what she’s saying.” Her mother swooped in and embraced Mimi. Her father trailed behind her.
“Of course I know what I’m saying. Do you know how many shows I’ve done in New York? I’ve been to Paris, Milan, and Saõ Paulo all in the last three weeks. I’m sorry I don’t remember you, and I certainly haven’t been writing you any letters.” Irritation flamed in Mimi’s face, but Kelly stopped looking at her. Instead, she forced herself to meet Rafe’s gaze and the anger that blazed in them.
“If you’ll excuse us, I need to talk to Rafe.” Kelly reached for his hand and tried not to be hurt when he didn’t take it. He motioned for her to go ahead of him and she led him away from her family and her mother’s hushed and hurried explanations to Mimi.
She and Rafe made for the beach in absolute silence. It wasn’t until they got there that she finally had to say something. “I’m sorry.”
“For what, exactly?” His ice-cold tone matched his frigid posture. He thrust his hands in his pockets and stared at her, his sexy smile hidden.
“I lied to you. It didn’t start out as a big lie, it started out as one person reaching out to another....”
Rafe exhaled slowly. “Cut to the chase, Kelly. Please.” He seemed to tack the last word on as an afterthought. The warm sunshine and golden beach were a stark contrast to the darkness brewing between them.
“I wrote the letters. I pretended to be Mimi and I wrote the letters to you.” Pain flickered across his expression before he shuttered it away and she rushed on. “I read the notes you sent her and they were sweet and thoughtful and caring. I think I started falling for you just in what you said to Mimi, and then you were hurt and you sounded so lonely. I had Mimi’s email password and I checked it every day after that first note.”
Tears clogged her throat, but she pressed on. “I wanted her to answer you, but when it didn’t look like she would, I did. Then you wrote back. So I answered it and one thing led to another...”
“And you had a great time at my expense. Romancing your sister’s half-forgotten and completely discarded date. What was the plan? Lead me on? Bring me out here because you felt sorry for me?” Every sentence was like a lash against her soul. She deserved it. Kelly had lied to him, but not for the reasons he listed.
“No. I liked you. In fact, I thought you were wonderful, and I wanted to get to know you better.” Though it was the truth, her words sounded trite and hollow.
“Because I wrote some sappy story to your sister? Really?” It was as if he were a stranger to her now. He simply stood there, glaring. “So why didn’t you tell me the truth when I got here? After I’d flown halfway around the world to meet a lie?”
“Because I didn’t want you to go. I didn’t know I would fall for you or that we would get involved. And then you left that message for Mimi....” She swallowed and Rafe’s anger seemed about to boil up to the surface.
“You listened to the message?”
She couldn’t lie anymore. It was all or nothing. “Yes. The number I sent you was directed to my cell phone. It wasn’t Mimi’s.”
Rafe nodded slowly, his lips whitening into a hard line. “Well played, Miss Callahan. Well played. If you’ll excuse me, I have some arrangements to make and some packing to do. Thank you for the vacation. I’m afraid you’re going to have to find yourself another manager.”
“Rafe, wait.” She grabbed at his arm, the necklace falling down into the sand between them.
“Let go, Kelly,” he said through gritted teeth.
“I need you to understand.”
“I do.” He spoke in a gentle tone. “I get it. You wanted attention. You wanted to feel useful. You wanted someone to need you. I can appreciate that. I was broken, and you patched me up. Thanks for that. But I don’t like head games, and this is the super championship of all head games. I’ll be gone before nightfall.”
He strode away.
Kelly pressed a hand against her mouth, fighting the scream crawling up the back of her throat. Sound rushed in again, the call of birds, the pounding of the surf and the shattering of her heart.
* * *
IT TOOK RAFE less than ten minutes to throw his gear into his bag. It wasn’t as if he’d brought that much with him. In the bathroom he grabbed his toiletries and froze at the sight of her red-and-white bikini hanging off the shower rod.
Hurt speared him, but he shuttled it aside. Everything he knew about her, everything he’d told himself since he’d arrived—her honesty, her freshness and her open attitude—seemed somehow tainted by the lie.
She saw my face when I heard Mimi wasn’t here. She even tried to comfort me when I saw Mimi and her playboy boyfriend on television. What the hell was she thinking?
In the bedroom, he moved the sheets and a pair of her panties landed on the floor. His heart squeezed. She’d teased him just last night, “dressing” for dinner in lingerie only, since he suggested she skip the dress.
They’d laughed so hard.
Get a grip, man. He needed to get away from this place. Everywhere he turned, he saw some souvenir of their time together.
Hell, her pink surfboard was resting in the corner. Her bottle of nail polish sat on the table by his bed and he knew her damp dress still lay in a tangled pile with his towels in the hamper.
Grabbing his phone, he called the local airport. No one answered, but he didn’t care. He had to get off the island.
I’m a damn fool. I’m sitting here mooning over a woman who lied to get me here. Of course, she hadn’t lied to seduce him. Or maybe she had.
He thought he knew her. But what did he really know? She gave a great massage, surfed like the professional she was and was the most generous lover he’d ever met. Pain spiked through him again.
This was why he didn’t do relationships. Never had he dated a girl more than two or three times. And he should have kept it that way.
She made him think about plans, about a future. He was ready to walk away from the Marines, retire and travel the world with her.
And she had lied. Not once, but multiple times. The truth was something that was important to him. He couldn’t stand it when people lied to him. And he’d bel
ieved in her. Believed in what they could have been.
Dammit. He picked up the bag and slammed his way out of the bungalow, heading for the driveway. Even if he couldn’t get a ride into town, he could be at the airport in an hour at a fast march. As much as his left leg ached, it didn’t match what was happening to his heart.
Kelly stood at the end of the driveway, a cab idling behind her, her red-rimmed eyes betraying her.
“You’re really going?”
“Yeah...I need some space. I’m sure there’s a flight in a couple of hours.”
She nodded slowly. “There’s another storm coming. It might be difficult to get away.”
“I’ll take my chances,” he said as he tried to hold his temper.
“I wish—well, never mind what I wish. I asked the driver to wait for you. I’ve already paid the fee. Be careful, long plane rides can’t be good for the leg. Make sure you get up and walk around when you can.” She held out a small bag. “This is the ointment we used on your leg.”
How well he remembered those first few days when she’d used her gentle hands to ease his muscles. He’d been an aching mess when he’d arrived. She was the reason his leg hardly bothered him, why he slept so soundly and had serenity back in his life.
She’s also the reason you’re standing here like an open wound. Get in the cab.
“You deserve better,” she said so quietly that he had to strain to hear it. “A lot better and I hope you find it. You made me believe in me again, you—you helped me believe that a person can have more than one dream and it’s okay to give up or let go of the ones that don’t make you happy. Thank you for that.”
He wanted to sweep her into his arms and kiss away the hurt in her eyes, but she’d made him look like a fool. It was such a stupid lie, and she’d ruined what had been the best thing in his life.
He nodded and quickly climbed into the cab. As the driver put the car in gear, he could see Kelly staring after him, her tears spilling again.
Guilt assailed him. She looked so lonely and lost. She’ll be okay. She has the resort. Her parents are here. Mimi. He grunted at the last. The driver picked up speed as they left the gravel road and bounced up onto the surfaced one.
His thigh and hip protested, but he ignored them until the driver swore and the cab squealed to a halt. Mimi was standing in front of the taxi, waving frantically at them. She circled around the cab and jumped in beside him. “You don’t mind if I ride with you to the airport.”
She rapped the glass and the driver grumbled, but the car started moving again.
“Can I help you?” Rafe stared at the model warily. Her failure to remember him was bad enough, but she really didn’t match up to the picture he had of her in his mind. Not anymore.
Once he’d met Kelly, there wasn’t another woman in the world who would compare. She was beautiful, kind...
“Nope. I did want to tell you, though, that I’m sorry for my sister. My family seems to have some real boundary issues and they don’t communicate well.” Her red-painted lips drew back into a practiced grimace. “But what can you do? Her heart was in the right place. She just forgets that you can’t think with your heart, you know? That, and she acts so impulsively. For what it’s worth, Rafe, I do remember you and I’m sorry I didn’t answer your email. Okay? But hey, it was a fun night.”
She pressed her hand to his shoulder and he shifted away from her.
He couldn’t stand this a second longer—he had to defend his surfer girl. “Kelly’s heart is what makes her special, Mimi. She doesn’t confuse prestige and fame for genuine affection, and she doesn’t treat people badly because she’s in a position to do so. She bends over backward to accommodate the people she loves.”
Mimi shrugged. “Being a martyr doesn’t make you special, Rafe. It just makes you sad and lonely while the people you love leave and do whatever they want. Kelly would be better off if she remembered that instead of giving her heart so freely to people who will toss it aside the first time she makes a mistake.”
“It was more than a mistake. She lied to me for months. And she’s had plenty of opportunity here to tell me the truth.”
“You know, people think I’m shallow, and they’re right, except when it comes to my family. Let me tell you something, Mr. Marine. I’m sure you’ve never made a mistake or had a white lie turn into a mess that seemed impossible to clean up. You’re probably perfect. But the rest of us, we screw up all the time. It’s called being human. Look, you can find girls like me all over Manhattan and L.A. But girls like Kelly...she’s the kindest, most loving person I’ve ever known. She’s too trusting, and her record with awful men is appalling. Turns out you’re no different than the rest of them.”
“She lied to me over and over again.”
Mimi pursed her lips as if she were concentrating. “My guess is, it wasn’t so much to protect herself, but you. She was worried about your health and didn’t want to cause you any undue pain. Knowing her, she probably thought you’d hang around a few weeks, she’d nurse you back to health, and you’d be on your way never the wiser. But then she fell for you, and she found herself in a quandary.”
“How do you know?” Rafe asked, skeptical.
“What?”
“That she really fell for me. It was all a lie.”
Mimi shook her head in disgust. “Did you see her face when you left? I’ve just discovered that over the last couple of weeks she’d left me five million messages asking me what she should do about you. She told me about the subterfuge and that she wasn’t sure how to tell you the truth. And she was right—you did lose your cool and run away. As far as I’m concerned, she’s an idiot for falling for you in the first place.”
Eyes narrowing, he glared at her sister. It wasn’t that she was shallow, but her casual dismissal of her sister’s pain seemed callous. What had he ever found so attractive about her?
“Well, here you are.” Mimi pointed out the window to the airport. “When you do figure out what a moron you’ve been, don’t bother writing. I’m going to make sure my sister never has to see or hear from you again. You don’t deserve her. She’s way too good for you.”
The driver opened the door and Rafe eased himself out of the vehicle. Before he knew it, the taxi was gone.
This was it.
In a few hours, he would be thousands of miles away from the island and Kelly’s lies.
He had to leave, to sort out his own life, make the right choices for him without worrying about anyone else.
The memory of her beautiful face stained with tears haunted him.
No. He would do this. He needed a clean break.
That’s what he wanted, right?
19
“HE’S GONE,” KELLY told her parents.
Her father went to her right away and put his arm around her shoulder.
“This is what happens when you aren’t honest with the people you love. I’m no better than you and Mom.”
Her father harrumphed but just squeezed her tighter.
Her mother touched her back affectionately. “That man will realize how much he loves you and return on his knees. Men can be a bit slow sometimes.”
Ignoring his wife, her father guided her to the couch.
“Do you love him?” he asked.
“Dad, that’s personal.”
Her mother handed her a tissue and she held it to her nose.
“Yes, it is,” he said, “but you need to say it out loud.”
“I love him, more than anything. But he left. The thing is, I was surprised that he left. Some small part of me hoped he would understand. That what I did wasn’t as selfish as it seemed. I never meant to hurt him.”
“You did, though,” Mimi countered as she strutted into the room. “He’s mad. I tried to talk to him, but he wouldn
’t listen.”
“Mimi, you probably made it worse.” Kelly closed her eyes. Why couldn’t they just leave her alone?
Her sister thumped her on the head. “It couldn’t get much worse.”
“Mimi! This isn’t the time,” her mother admonished.
Kelly was ready to scream about the insensitivity of her sister, but she remembered this had all started because she’d pretended to be her.
“He was furious, which means he cares—a lot. Really, you think you’d know something about men by now.” She rolled her eyes. Then she sat down next to Kelly. “Listen to your big sister for once. He’ll be back.”
“Mimi, I can’t believe you interfered. Things are bad enough without you nosing into my private life. That goes for all of you. None of you ever cared about who I was dating before. Why now?”
Mimi pulled on her pigtail. “Behave, brat. We love you. The man you love has strolled out the door, that’s why we care. He’ll remember why he adores you even more than you do him. He’d be a fool to walk away from the best thing that ever happened to him. Now, how fast that happens, I couldn’t say. He’s pretty hardheaded.”
She had a point. “Do you really think he’ll forgive me?”
Mimi scrunched up her nose. “From what I saw, once he realizes what he’s missing, he’ll be running back so fast it’ll be like one of your tropical storms blew in.”
“Speaking of which, that storm will probably be here in a couple of hours. We need to make sure all the beach chairs and things are collected and put in the shed.” Work. She needed to work.
Her father kissed her forehead. “Don’t worry, Kelly. We will take care of everything. Your staff is incredibly adept and most of it is already done.”
Kelly jumped up. “It’s a small front, it won’t be that bad, but—Adrien!”
“Ma petite, what did I tell you about yelling? I am not deaf. What did you need?” He stopped short when he saw Mimi.
Mimi, in turn, frowned, her brow creasing.
Kelly and her mother stared back and forth from Mimi to Adrien and back again to Mimi.
Mission: Seduction Page 16