McFarlane's Perfect Bride

by Christine Rimmer

  She swallowed a groan as the revelation came at her.

  She was in love with him. In love with Connor.

  How could that be? It was impossible. Falling in love with Connor was never the plan.

  But somehow, it had happened anyway.

  Chapter Eleven

  “Tori?” Connor’s voice broke through her thoughts.

  “Yes. What?”

  “Are you all right?”

  No. I’m not. Not all right in the least. And what were they talking about?

  She remembered. Breakfast. “Yes,” she said tightly into the phone. “I’ll be there.”

  “Terrific.”

  She had to get off the phone, to be alone with her misery. In love with Connor. It was impossible. And also true. She schooled her voice to a bland tone. “Eight o’clock?”

  “See you then.”

  And he was gone, just like that. Dead air on the other end of the line. Smart man, not to give her even a second to reconsider.

  She should be that smart. Or at least, smart enough not to fall for the local corporate shark. Smart enough not to pretend to be engaged to a man she could never have in any lasting way.

  She hung up the phone and pulled the covers close around her. Which was pointless, really. She loved Connor McFarlane. It was a disaster. No way was she going to be able to sleep.

  But she did sleep. And soundly, too. The next thing she knew, it was after seven and sunlight streamed in between a space in the curtains.

  At eight on the dot, Connor saw her coming up the walk and breathed a sigh of pure relief. He answered the door as she mounted the steps. “You’re here.”

  “I said I would be.”

  His damn heart felt constricted in his chest. “God. You’re so beautiful.”

  She looked angry, almost. Probably still ticked at him over last night. She said, “If you know what’s good for you, you won’t say a word about my freckles.”

  He didn’t care if she was angry. She would get over it. He was just so damn glad to see her. He didn’t even try to hide his slow grin. “You stopped me just in time.” He grabbed her hand and pulled her inside and into his arms where she fit perfectly.

  “I don’t know if I want to kiss you.” She scowled up at him as he lowered his head.

  “Kiss me anyway.”

  She didn’t argue further, so he claimed her sweet mouth. It was one of those kisses that made steam come out his ears and had him wanting only to take her straight to bed.

  But he’d promised her breakfast. He took her hand and led her to the kitchen. They had omelets and fresh fruit. Coffee for him, tea for her. And then he took her to bed.

  Later, they met Russ, Melanie and the boys in town, for the third of July street fair the merchants put together. They all had lunch at the Hitching Post, which had once been the town’s most notorious house of ill repute. Now it was a tavern, the neighborhood kind, where the kids could be included.

  Connor saw the blonde woman, Erin, the one he’d met at the summer kickoff barbecue. She was sitting with Haley Anderson, who wore the Hitching Post uniform, but appeared to be on a break.

  He also spotted Grant Clifton, with his pretty pregnant wife, at a table across the room. Their eyes met. Grant waved, but didn’t smile. Connor waved back and thought about the argument with Tori the night before.

  He shouldn’t have walked out on her, shouldn’t have let the things she said get to him so completely. But he really hated the situation, hated that he agreed with her. It sucked to know that he would be a fool to keep Grant on the payroll when the deal was done.

  Which was ridiculous. In business, a man did what he had to do. He tried to play fair, but he couldn’t afford to let sentimentality take over. He had to be practical, to make the necessary decisions, no matter how ruthless such decisions might seem to others.

  Sometimes, lately, Connor wondered what the hell kind of sap he was turning into. Yes, he’d set out to make a few changes in himself, to heal the rift he’d created with his sister, to have a real relationship with his son. To be a better man.

  But not too damn much better. It was getting so he hardly knew the man he saw when he looked in the mirror. It was not a comfortable feeling, to be a stranger inside his own skin.

  That evening, Tori made dinner at her house for him and for CJ. He took CJ home at a little after eight and he was back at Tori’s door at midnight.

  “I missed you,” he said when she opened the door.

  “You’ve only been gone a few hours,” she chided.

  “I know,” he whispered. “I missed you anyway.”

  She didn’t say anything more, only searched his face with shadowed eyes. Which was probably just as well. He came inside. She shut the door.

  And then she took his hand and led him to her bedroom.

  Sunday was the Fourth of July. There was an annual parade along Main Street and a rodeo afterward at the fairgrounds. Melanie had them all out to the Hopping H for dinner. Jerilyn and her dad came, too. They got a large table in the dining room. Since every room was booked, all the other tables were full, too.

  Connor went to Tori again that night. They made love for hours. And then they must have dropped off to sleep. He woke in the deepest part of the night, alone in the bed.

  Groggily, he dragged himself up against the pillow. “Tori?”

  “Right here.” She materialized out of the shadows as she rose from the corner chair.

  “Everything okay?”

  She didn’t answer right away. Instead, she came to the bed and dropped her lightweight robe from her shoulders. “Everything is fine.” Her pretty body tempted him, smooth and curvy. Her skin had an otherworldly glow in the darkness.

  He reached for her. She came down to him and kissed him. They made love again.

  Afterward, before he left, he held her. She felt perfect in his arms. He never wanted to let her go.

  But somehow, he felt that he was losing her. It was, just barely, the fifth of July. They were supposed to have weeks yet.

  But he couldn’t shake the feeling that it would all be over much sooner than that.

  The first thing Grant did Monday morning was to apologize.

  “I was wrong to blame you, Connor. It’s not your fault that we’re in trouble here, not your fault that we can’t go on as we have been.” He gave a rueful smile. “And, no, I didn’t get you up here to try to convince you that I should stay on when you take over. I can see how that would be a bad idea.”

  Connor offered his hand. “No hard feelings.”

  Grant took it. “None.”

  Connor studied the other man’s face. “What else?”

  “An hour of your time.”

  “For…?”

  “Let me take you around, introduce you to some of the staff.”

  “I’ve met a lot of the staff.”

  “Humor me. Hear my take on things. Can’t hurt.”

  “That’s true.”

  “And you never know. You might see the resort in a whole new light.”

  Connor almost smiled. “Now you’re scaring me.”

  “Yeah, well. These are scary times. What do you say?”

  “Lead the way.”

  The tour took longer than an hour. It started at the front desk, where Connor met Erika Rodriguez, who was young and pretty, polite and very professional.

  “She’s a great worker, smart. Efficient. And dependable,” Grant said after they moved on. “And she has a toddler she’s raising on her own.”

  “I get it,” said Connor. “You want me to keep her on, at least.”

  “Hell. I want you to keep everyone on. It’s no secret.”

  “That won’t be possible.”

  Grant’s lopsided smile was way too charming. “I know that. But you can’t blame a man for trying.”

  The rest of the tour was more of the same. Connor met housekeepers and bartenders, spa workers and grounds people. Grant made sure he understood why each and every one of them n
ot only needed the job, but deserved to stay on.

  After the tour, Grant convinced him to have lunch with him in the Gallatin Room. Nothing had changed there. Both the food and the service were top-notch. By the time Connor left the resort, he and Grant were on good terms.

  And he was even more ambivalent. About everything.

  The more time he spent at the resort, the more he second-guessed his decision to take it over. Maybe his father, in trying to manipulate Connor into returning early to Philadelphia, had made a valid point, after all: the resort didn’t fit the McFarlane House brand.

  Until lately, Connor had been going on the theory that this was a good thing, that McFarlane House needed to try something new, to expand on its own template, to re-create itself during the recession. But now he couldn’t help thinking that there were more ways than one to effect the change that was needed.

  That afternoon, when he went to Tori’s, she didn’t ask him how the meeting with Grant had gone. He kind of wished she had. He really wanted to talk with her about it.

  But he had suggested they not discuss the resort and she was only doing what he had asked of her. He should be happy with that. He would be happy with that.

  The summer days sped by. He cherished every moment with Tori. Sometimes he noticed a certain reserve in her manner—a certain watchful distance. But when he asked her if anything was wrong, she would smile and tell him there was nothing.

  CJ was doing really well with his studies, and he loved his job at the Hopping H. Twice in the week and a half following the engagement party, CJ broached the subject of staying in Thunder Canyon for the school year.

  Both times, Connor insisted that was never going to happen—while, at the same time, he was beginning to wonder why CJ shouldn’t go to school here. CJ loved his life here. He had his aunt and uncle, his cousin. He had family here. Going to the best prep school in the country wasn’t everything, after all. For a kid to feel part of a community, to feel loved and supported…that mattered, too.

  Connor dropped by the Hopping H often to see his sister and share a cup of coffee when she had a spare moment, or to have a beer with Russ. Once, when it was the three of them alone in the Hopping H kitchen, he even brought up the possibility of CJ staying in town for the school term.

  Both Melanie and Russ said CJ would be more than welcome to stay with them. That they loved him, and Ryan idolized him. It would be good for Ryan, to have his cousin around.

  “It’s not going to happen, of course,” Connor ended up insisting. “I was just talking hypothetically.”

  “Well, if it did,” his sister said, “we would be absolutely thrilled to have CJ with us whenever he needed a place to stay.”

  He got a report from his lawyers concerning the custody suit. His countersuit was officially filed, the legal battle set in motion. The process server had found Jennifer in Greece and laid the papers in her hand.

  Connor met with Caleb and Riley and Justin Caldwell again. Nothing was decided. But he knew it was time to call in the McFarlane House legal team, time to put the offer together and lay it on the table. His monthly trip to headquarters was coming up the nineteenth. He would set everything in motion then.

  And he kept thinking how quickly the end of the summer would be upon him. That CJ would go back to school. That he and Tori would break up, according to the plan. That he would go home to Philadelphia, buy another house…

  About there, he would finally stop himself. He would remind himself for the umpteenth time that it was only mid-July. He had more than a month left—with Tori, and with his son, in Thunder Canyon. He really needed to stop thinking it was over when so much time still remained.

  Then, on the fourteenth of July, he got a call from Jennifer.

  “I’d like to…meet you with tomorrow,” she said in a tone that was troubling in its hesitancy. “Is that possible? Could I come to your house at ten? And could you have CJ there when I arrive?”

  All those questions. The strange lack of hostility. What she was up to now?

  “Connor,” she said when he didn’t answer immediately. “Will that work for you?”

  It was very short notice. He could have refused.

  But why? He didn’t want to deny her contact with CJ. Not really. He just wanted the joint physical custody he should have demanded in the first place. He wanted to make certain CJ got the summer he was enjoying so much. Not to mention a father. For too many years, Connor had denied his son a dad. Not anymore. Never again.

  “Of course,” he said. “Ten a.m. CJ will be here.”

  As soon as he hung up, he went straight to Tori’s house and explained what was happening. He really wasn’t going to ask her to be there. It just wasn’t right to put that on her, to keep dragging her into it when he had to deal with his ex.

  But she said, “I’d be happy to be there—I mean, if that would be helpful to you.”

  He should have told her it wasn’t necessary. That in the end, he would have to deal with Jennifer on his own anyway. But he didn’t. “That would be terrific, if you could. Solidarity is a good thing, I think.”

  She agreed she would be there.

  So the next morning, CJ, looking a little grim, stayed home from work to see his mother. And Tori was there with Connor when the doorbell rang.

  Connor opened the door to discover Jennifer, dressed to the nines as always, and clutching the arm of her fiancé, Constantin Kronidis. Up until that moment, Connor had never met the man. But he’d seen pictures. Short, powerfully built and in his early fifties, Kronidis had curly black hair streaked with gray and piercing black eyes. He also possessed the considerable magnetism of a man who had made billions and loved living large.

  Kronidis stuck out his hand right there at the door. “Connor, hello. I am so pleased to make your acquaintance at last.”

  Connor managed to hide his surprise at the unexpected appearance of the other man. “Constantin. Good to meet you.” He nodded at Jennifer. “Jennifer.”

  She actually forced a smile. “Connor.”

  “Come on in…”

  CJ and Tori were waiting in the living room. Connor made the introductions. There were handshakes and greetings. Kronidis was courtly to Tori and warm toward CJ. Connor found himself thinking his ex-wife could have done a whole lot worse in her second husband.

  “How about some coffee?” Connor offered.

  Kronidis turned to Jennifer and she met his dark eyes. Connor, stunned, saw real affection in that shared glance. Kronidis said, “Yes. Coffee. Thank you.”

  So Connor went to the kitchen and gave Gerda the go-ahead. She had it all ready to serve.

  There was polite conversation while the coffee was poured and sweet rolls and muffins offered around. Kronidis had a sip or two, and then he rose.

  “Well. I know important issues are to be discussed here. I only wanted to meet you. I felt it was about time.” Jennifer stood and they shared a quick kiss. “I shall wait in the car.” Connor started to rise. “No. Please. I am perfectly capable of seeing myself out.”

  Kronidis took his leave.

  When the front door shut behind him, Jennifer spoke. “CJ, I wonder if we could have a few minutes alone.”

  Without a word, CJ rose and followed Jennifer down the hall.

  “Well,” said Tori softly as soon as they were out of sight, “this isn’t what I’d expected.”

  “I have to agree with you there.”

  “I wonder…should I stay?”

  He looked in those amazing hazel eyes. And knew he should let her go. But when he spoke, it was only to tell her, “I hope you will.”

  She said no more. He drank his coffee and she nibbled a muffin and they waited for whatever was happening in CJ’s room to end.

  The next ten minutes or so seemed like forever. But finally, CJ and his mother reentered the room. There was no mistaking the wide smile on CJ’s face. Something good had happened.

  The only question was what?

  They learned soon
enough. CJ bounced over and sat in the far chair.

  Jennifer sat next to him, across the coffee table from Connor and Tori. “I hope it’s all right that I brought Constantin in with me. He really did want to meet you.”

  “Of course,” said Connor, wishing she would hurry up and tell him what the hell was going on here.

  “He’s…a family man at heart, Constantin. And he has not been pleased with me lately.” She had her hands folded neatly in her lap. She glanced down at them, and then, with a slow breath, raised her head and straightened her shoulders. “He said I had to choose, between a life with him and a life battling my ex-husband. He said it wasn’t right, for me to try to—”

  She paused to swallow. And then continued. “To take CJ away from his father. That we should all be working together, so that everyone can have a better life. He said—” She looked directly at Connor then. And waved a hand. “Well. It doesn’t matter what he said, exactly. What matters is that I did listen. I did see that perhaps I’ve been…bitter. Angry. Thinking of getting back at you rather than doing the right thing.”

  Connor could hardly believe what he was hearing. Somehow, he managed to keep his expression composed, though he kept wanting to pinch himself. Could vindictive, cold-hearted Jennifer really be saying these reasonable things?

  And then Jennifer said, “So I’m going to drop the custody suit. If you will drop your countersuit, I think we can agree to share both legal and physical custody.”

  It was true. This was really happening. Jennifer, of all people, was changing—and in a good way. “I would be only too happy to do that,” he said with a slow nod. “I’ll get with my lawyers and tell them that we’ve come to an agreement on our own.”

  “That will be fine,” she said, sounding relieved. “Have them contact my lawyers. We’ll still need to settle it all legally.”

  “Yes, I know. I’ll do that.”

  Beside her, CJ was beaming.

  Jennifer rose. “Well, that’s all then.” She aimed a careful smile at Tori. “I’m sorry about last time.”