by Unknown
Shane wanted to smash Russell’s gloating face, but the coward jumped into his car and sped away. Vowing they’d cross paths again, Shane closed the front door and reached for Paige.
Her body trembling, she stepped back. “What did Russell mean?”
His heart clenched. “It’s complicated.”
“The truth is only complicated when people want to twist it for their own benefit.” She wrapped her arms protectively around her midriff. “What is your connection to Blade Navarone?”
Shane hesitated. To admit he worked for Blade would lead to questions he couldn’t answer. “You have to trust me.”
“Why do people always ask you to trust them when they’re hiding something?” She shook her head. “If you know Blade, then the chances are good you know Trent Masters.”
Shane watched helplessly as his silence condemned him. “You’ll know everything in time.”
Her arms dropped to her sides. Her fists clenched. Her laughter was strained. “I must be the biggest fool in the world and the worst judge of character. First Mother, then Russell, and now you.”
His gut twisted. “Don’t compare us to him.”
“Why?” She swatted at the tears forming on her lashes. “All of you obviously deceived me. What’s the difference?”
He gave her the only truth he could. “The difference is that we love you.”
She gasped. Tears flowed down her cheeks. “Don’t you dare tell me that now! Don’t you dare!”
“Paige.” He crossed to her in two long strides, taking her into his arms, ignoring her feeble attempts to be free. His mouth covered hers. She resisted for a brief moment, then she opened for him, allowing him entrance, and kissing him back with all the passion he knew she was capable of.
Reluctantly he lifted his head and stared down into her tear-drenched eyes. The sight tore at his heart. “I love you, Paige. Trust me. Trust what you feel.”
Her lips trembled. “More than anything, I want to, but why can’t you tell me what I want to know?”
“Because I won’t let him.”
With Paige still in his arms, Shane turned to see Mrs. Albright a short distance away. His arms tightened around Paige’s waist. He wondered if she realized she had stepped closer to him.
“Perhaps it’s time,” Mrs. Albright said softly.
“Why don’t we go into the living room and sit down?” Shane suggested, crossing to Mrs. Albright and leading both women to the sofa. He moved a short distance away to give them more privacy, but he had no intention of leaving unless one of them asked him to.
Mrs. Albright’s hands clenched and unclenched in her lap. She bit her lower lip.
“I’ll get you some water.” Paige made a motion to stand, but her mother grabbed her hands.
“No. This is just difficult,” Mrs. Albright said, still clutching her daughter’s hands. “I’m just not sure where to start.”
“Why do you disappear at times?” Paige asked and felt her mother’s hands tremble. A thread of fear swept through her. “Just tell me.”
“I never meant to hurt you or Zach. Please try to remember that.” Mrs. Albright swallowed. Swallowed again. Her gaze locked on Paige. “There are no excuses for what I’m about to tell you, but it wasn’t done lightly or selfishly.”
Paige trembled as much as her mother. “This is about Trent Masters, isn’t it?”
Her mother’s hand jerked, but she kept eye contact. “Yes. A month before I was to marry your father I fell in love for the first time. I—I gave in to those feelings, and as a result, Trent was conceived.”
Paige stiffened in shock, then jerked to her feet. “How could you betray Father in such a way?”
“Paige—”
“No!” Paige cried, cutting her mother off, her own tears falling. “I thought I knew you. I was wrong.” Stepping around her mother, Paige headed for the kitchen and the spare set of keys Shane insisted they keep there in case they needed to leave the house in a hurry.
Shane. She swiped the tears from her cheeks. He’d lied to her as well.
Opening the drawer, she snatched the keys up and turned to find Shane, grim-faced, arms folded, standing in front of the kitchen door. She didn’t care that he looked ready to break someone into little pieces. “Get out of my way.”
“Your mother doesn’t deserve this.”
“Neither did my father,” she retorted, brushing her hand ineffectively at the tears she couldn’t seem to control.
“And what is it that she did to your father besides be the best wife possible, deferring to him even when it meant letting people take a swipe at the children she loved?” he asked her. “If you’d just stop and think, you’d realize that she was in an impossible situation. Do you think for one second her parents would have called off the wedding? Would your father have let her?”
Paige knew the answer instantly. Her grandparents loved her mother, but they were also very old-fashioned and abhorred any hint of a scandal or gossip attached to the Wilder family name. Her father had been driven to succeed and had been unbendingly proud. He wouldn’t have liked being jilted. The wedding would have gone on regardless of what her mother wanted. “No,” she finally answered.
“Right the first time.” Shane closed the distance between them. “Trent’s father was an honorable man. If I thought I couldn’t have the woman I loved, I would have used every dirty trick to have her. I wouldn’t have left town and let another man marry her, knowing he could never love her as much as I did, knowing she’d be in his bed instead of mine.”
Inexplicably her body stirred at the intensity in his voice, his eyes. “It shouldn’t have happened.”
He stepped closer, bringing with him the heat and temptation of his body. “Do you think for one second that, if I thought you were lost to me, I wouldn’t have made love to you, binding you to me any way possible?” his voice low and husky.
She shivered. “You always stopped.”
“Because we weren’t racing against a clock,” he told her. “I’d never let the woman I love, the woman who loved me, marry another man.” His gaze sharpened. “But I guess that’s the difference. I can be a selfish bastard. Neither your mother nor Trent’s father was. They loved with everything. He died without ever marrying, but there are plenty of stories about how he helped any woman who needed it, no questions asked. He celebrated his love for your mother every day of his life. How much do you think it hurt her to give their child away? She lost the man and the child.”
Tears streamed down Paige’s cheeks. This time for her mother and what she had gone through. She couldn’t begin to imagine what that must have felt like. “I can’t think of anything more painful.”
“And the pain hasn’t stopped. She can never openly claim Trent because of what people might say, not about her, but about you and Zachary. She wants to be able to enjoy and love all of her children. I say it’s about time.”
Shame and misery swept through Paige. Closing her eyes, she bowed her head. “I hurt her.”
“Yes, you did.” His fingers beneath her chin lifted her head. “But you can fix things. Loving someone isn’t always easy, as I’m finding out. But without love, you’re only half living.”
“You’re just like Mother,” she said softly. “You always try to find the best in me.”
“We both love you.” His arms circled her waist. “And no matter how long you live or where you go, you’ll never find anyone who loves you as much.”
“Shane.” Pleasure spiraled through her. Flinging her arms around his neck, she pressed her mouth to his, clung. The kiss was as sweet as it was gentle, then it changed. Crushing her to him, his mouth became hungry and demanding. She answered, savoring the taste of him, rejoicing that they still had a future. Slowly she lifted her head. “I love you.”
His arms tightened. “I know, but it’s good hearing you finally say the words.”
She smiled, then sobered and grabbed his hand. “Let’s go see Mother. I have to apologize.” They qu
ickly went to the living room to find Mrs. Albright unmoved from the sofa, her head bowed, her hands in her lap. The sight tore at Paige’s heart. “Mother, I’m sorry.”
Mrs. Albright’s head abruptly lifted. She came to her feet. Her face was tear-stained. Joy replaced the desolation in her eyes. The women met in the middle of the room. “Paige, I’m sor—”
“No.” Paige shook her head and stepped back. “I understand. You don’t owe me any explanation.”
“I don’t want to find one child and lose another.” Mrs. Albright’s voice trembled.
“You won’t,” Paige promised. “I admit it was a shock, but I understand now.”
“Come on and let’s sit down. I want to tell you everything.” Mrs. Albright retraced her steps.
“I guess the brother we thought died is actually Trent,” Paige said when they were seated.
“Yes. I didn’t know until Trent was born that he wasn’t your father’s. His complexion and eyes were dark, unlike anyone in our families. Your father knew he wasn’t his. Shortly after I brought Trent home from the hospital, I made the decision to give him up for adoption and faked his death so no one would know. He was raised in foster care.”
Stunned, Paige stared at her mother. She might have wrestled with her own insecurities at times, but she couldn’t have asked for a better mother growing up—or now. Giving up her child must have almost killed her. “I’m not sure I could have been as strong as you were.”
“At the time I saw it as the only way, but not a day has gone by that I don’t regret the decision.” Joann swiped at the lingering tears in her eyes. “I hoped, prayed he’d be adopted, for someone to love him as I couldn’t.”
Paige ached for her mother. She loved fiercely. Unfortunately, she couldn’t say that about her father.
Paige had to admit what she often forgot—that her father could be hard and unforgiving. No power on earth would have made him accept a child who wasn’t his. Even with his own children, he had issues. Paige couldn’t please him when she was young; Zachary couldn’t please him as an adult. “Working with the foster program must have been a constant reminder.”
“Not always,” Mrs. Albright said. “I wanted to believe someone was helping him just as I helped others. I can’t believe he has accepted me and doesn’t hate me. I couldn’t bear it if I lost you.”
Once Paige might not have understood the kind of passion that consumed you until nothing else mattered, but loving Shane had made her a believer. “You’re stuck with me. I’m sorry for what I said earlier.”
“It’s all right. I just ask one thing, that you let me tell Zach when it’s time,” Mrs. Albright said. “I want my children to be close, but I know it will take time to accept Trent.”
Paige had another brother. She’d refused to believe that Trent asking her mother had any validity because his age hadn’t added up, and because her father had said it was a hoax and to forget it. Desperate for her father’s love and approval, even as an adult, she had done just that . . . until her mother started disappearing. “What about his father?”
“We never saw each other again,” her mother said, regret and pain in her voice. “He died before Trent found me with the help of his wife’s family.”
“The Falcons.”
“And Dominique’s in-laws, the Taggarts. They’re a close-knit family.” Some of the strain left her mother’s mouth. “He now has a family that loves and cares about him.”
“I don’t know how I feel about this,” Paige said honestly.
“I understand, but please don’t take it out on Shane. I hired him to find out all he could on Russell,” her mother said. “I didn’t fight for what I wanted when I was young, and, although I regret it, if I hadn’t married your father, I wouldn’t have had you and Zach.” Her mother squeezed Paige’s hands. “You two made life worth living.”
Paige couldn’t condemn her mother. In a way she admired her more than ever. She’d walked away from the man she loved and honored her marriage vows. As Shane had pointed out, she’d sacrificed so much. Paige knew she wasn’t that strong. “Thank you for telling me. You did love Father, didn’t you?”
“Just as much as he loved me,” her mother answered, then looked at Shane, who was standing by the doorway to give them privacy. “Shane wanted to tell you long ago. He cares about you.”
Paige glanced across the room to Shane, who gazed at her with love and approval. “I know. I’m a very lucky woman.”
“If you love him, don’t let pride or anything stand in your way.”
“I won’t.” Paige kissed her mother on the cheek, then went to Shane. “Last night you said you had something to ask me today.”
He took her hand. “Let’s go outside.” He didn’t speak until they were sitting on a stone bench in front of the rose garden room. “You need to know something first.”
“I have a feeling I’m not going to like this,” she told him.
His thumb swept across the top of her hand in a soothing motion. “Months back you went to Trent Masters’s house to find the connection between him and your mother.”
A frown darted across her brow. “How did—” Her eyes widened. She surged to her feet. “You!”
Shane came to his feet as well. “I was chief of security and communications for Blade, both private and for his resorts,” Shane explained. “He and Sierra were visiting Trent and Dominique that night.”
Paige’s eyes narrowed. “I hated that man for humiliating me, for making me feel foolish and helpless.”
He never broke eye contact. “Not any more than I’ve hated myself.”
She stared at him for a long moment. “I wanted to sock you.”
“You paid me back in other ways,” he said. “My memory of you that night haunted me. I couldn’t get the softness of your body, the smell of your perfume, your eyes wide with fear, out of my mind. Not many days went by that I didn’t think about you.”
“Is that why you came here?”
He took a chance and settled his hands on her waist. “Yes. I told myself it was to repay you for frightening you so badly, to help your mother once I found out Russell wasn’t what he seemed.”
Her eyes widened, she pushed against his chest. “You knew about that woman and you didn’t tell me.”
“You needed to learn on your own what a sleaze he was,” he told her. “You needed to know you can take care of yourself.”
“What if I hadn’t found out? What if, when he came back, I forgave him?” she asked, watching him closely.
His eyes darkened, fury swirling in the black depths. “You belong to me. There is no way in hell I would allow another man to touch you.”
Her brow arched. “Don’t I have any say in the matter?”
“Since you love me, and you’re my woman, no.”
“It’s a good thing or I’d show you the door.” Her arms wrapped around him. “I guess I forgive you. I was trespassing.”
Relief rushed through him. He pulled her flush against his body. “Why didn’t you hire someone to get the information for you?”
“I felt bad enough that I had hired a private investigator to follow Mother. I didn’t want to risk him finding out anything that could get her into trouble or embarrass her.”
He kissed her on the forehead. “Even conflicted, you loved your mother and were smart enough to want to find out on your own.”
“And I completely bungled it,” she admitted with a wry twist of her mouth.
“But because you decided to investigate, I found a woman I couldn’t forget.”
“I’m glad I haunted you.” Her smile turned into a frown. She glanced away. When her eyes met his again they were filled with sadness. “I guess you’re flying back to wherever Blade is?”
“That depends on you.” Taking her hand, he kissed her fingertips. “I’m not sure how a Black Knight would do this, but I can only say what is in my heart.”
Her heart beat so fiercely she felt light-headed.
“Pa
ige Albright, I’ll love you with everything that is within me. Will you marry me?”
Tears streamed down her cheek.
His hand clenched on hers. “I hope those are happy tears.”
She nodded. “Yes.”
He pulled her into his arms, kissing her until both of them were breathless. “I want to be there for you in good and bad times. To see you wake up in the morning. Hold you as you fall asleep.”
“I love you so much, Shane.”
His hands palmed her face. “I love you, too. It just took a while for my brain to catch up with my heart. I realize there are still things for us to work out, that you probably have a lot of questions to ask, but there’s one more I have to ask first.”
“What?”
“What date would you like to become Mrs. Shane Elliott?”
Epilogue
It took six seamstresses three months to create the exquisite one-of-a-kind stark white French reembroidered lace ball gown hand-sewn with pearls and Swarovski crystals. The gown weighed twenty-eight pounds. The seamstresses finished the dress and the matching twelve-foot train the day before the wedding and earned a sizable bonus.
Trumpets sounded as Paige appeared at the top of the double staircase at the Carrington Estate on the arm of her brother, Zachary. She was breathtaking. A hush fell over the three-hundred-plus assembled guests.
Paige and Shane’s gazes touched, held, promised to love forever. Shane felt his chest swell with pride and thankfulness that above all men, she loved him. His life might have started with nothing, but today and all the tomorrows to come he was the richest and luckiest man alive. He had Paige and her love.
The moment her white satin shoe—embroidered with Swarovski crystals and pearls to match the dress—touched the stairs, the bridal march began. Her head high, her bearing regal, Paige came down the flower entwined staircase to him. Emotions clogged his throat. He hadn’t known he could love so completely.
His heart couldn’t have picked better.
When Paige and Zachary were even with her mother, they stopped. Paige bent to kiss her mother’s cheek. Lifting her head, Paige’s gaze flickered to her half brother, Trent, sitting with Dominique and Sierra with her mother, Ruth. Mrs. Albright had mentioned in passing that she owed Ruth for her help.