Harlequin Desire June 2021--Box Set 1 of 2

by Katherine Garbera

  “I’m here to speak to your boss,” Ethan said, comfortable with his assumption that the busy real estate mogul wouldn’t stop working even while away from New York.

  “He’s—”

  “Let him in,” a voice called from inside the suite, the laconic tones rich with amusement.

  Ethan found his quarry idling on the sofa, a tumbler of amber liquid dangling from his long fingers. The New Yorker made no move to rise and greet his guest, prompting Ethan to set aside his southern politeness and charm.

  “So you’re my anonymous friend?” Ethan twisted the last word into an insult as he surveyed the tall man. “Declan Scott, is it?”

  The other man inclined his head. “Sorry we’re meeting under such difficult circumstances.”

  “Difficult circumstances?” Ethan fumed at Scott’s utter lack of sincerity. He so obviously didn’t give a damn that his meddling had ripped apart Ethan’s world. “You caused this mess.”

  “I didn’t.” Scott’s calm fanned Ethan’s temper, making it flare even hotter. “All I did was warn you about Teagan. You chose how to use the information.”

  Was this the sort of reckless game they played in New York? If that was the case then maybe he was glad that Sienna was gone.

  A dagger-thrust of pain in his chest said otherwise.

  “What exactly was your purpose in contacting me?” Ethan demanded, making no attempt to disguise his disgust.

  “I didn’t think you were up to the challenge of dealing with Teagan on your own. She can be quite a handful.” Scott assessed him with a pointed look. “Was I wrong?”

  Ethan ignored the question. “So what’s your interest in all of this?”

  “Teagan refuses to let me have something I want.” Scott tugged at his shirt cuff. “I decided to show her how that feels.”

  Whoa. Ethan mentally reviewed the additional information Paul had uncovered about Teagan and her connection to Declan Scott. The pair had been sworn enemies since the beginning. Although the reason why escaped him. Had they rubbed each other wrong from the start? Had they once been close and had a falling out? Or had they loved each other at first sight?

  Ethan recalled his own reaction when he’d glimpsed Sienna on the driveway outside his grandfather’s home. And the hurt in her eyes the day she left. Pain he’d caused.

  Rather than face his guilt, Ethan attacked the man before him. “But it wasn’t just Teagan you harmed with your games.”

  “My games?” Lazy amusement curved Scott’s lips. “You’re one to talk You’ve been playing games of your own with Sienna.”

  The accusation hit home, but Ethan countered hotly, “You fed me misleading information.”

  “Seems to me,” Scott began, his level of detachment impossibly high, “that you are blaming me for your failure to trust the woman you love.”

  Love.

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I’m not in love.”

  What did Ethan know about that emotion? He knew how he felt about the parents who’d raised him and the grandfather who believed in him. He would do anything for the Shaw twins and his brother, Paul. Yet he’d been holding back his heart for a long time. Not believing they could possibly love him because he wasn’t one of them, he’d gone through the motions of being a good son, brother, friend and ally. He’d spread his charm around, but hadn’t truly given of himself.

  With Sienna it had been different.

  He’d opened up to her about his feelings of isolation and let her glimpse his fear of not being loved. She in turn shared what it was like to grow up feeling unworthy and unloved. He felt closer to her than anyone he’d ever known. So, of course, he’d messed it up.

  Unable to believe that her friendship and affection had come without strings, he’d asked her to choose him over her sister. She’d refused and he’d used that as proof that she was against him. He hadn’t trusted that her feelings for him could possibly be real. The sting of betrayal had been a loud screech in his brain, drowning out all rational thought.

  “So you’re perfectly fine since Sienna returned to New York?”

  “How did you—?”

  Ethan never finished the question. It didn’t matter how Declan knew so much. What consumed him was Sienna’s absence. He was definitely not fine. Being without her these last few days was proof that the joy she’d brought into his life was addictive and made everything brighter and clear.

  “You don’t wish things had turned out differently?” Declan Scott continued. “Like perhaps if you’d given her the benefit of the doubt that you might still be together?”

  The way the man asked the question—as if he already knew the answer—irritated Ethan. The level of the New Yorker’s insight into Ethan’s private thoughts spooked him. It was almost as if Scott had an inside track to the hell Ethan had been going through. A hell the other man had been partially responsible for creating with his misleading emails about Sienna.

  “Look,” Ethan said, realizing that his initial reason for confronting Scott no longer mattered. Sienna had been the victim in the feud between her sister and this man. Criticizing her for being loyal to her sister hadn’t been fair. “I don’t give a damn what sort of twisted games you and Teagan play, but going forward, leave Sienna alone.”

  “Or?”

  “You’ll find out, if you ever bother Sienna again.” Without waiting for Scott’s comeback, Ethan turned and strode from the suite.

  The confrontation with Scott had given Ethan’s perceptions a much-needed reset. Before leaving Charleston, Sienna had confessed to caring for him, but he’d been too angry and stubborn to believe her. Now, with the New Yorker’s words compelling Ethan to confront his feelings for Sienna, memories of their time together ran on a loop in his brain. Too late, he was grasping that the reason he’d been so drawn to her was that they both felt like outsiders around the people they loved. Yet with her, he’d known a sense of belonging that made everything better.

  And instead of sharing his heart with her, he’d let her board a plane and fly away.

  Could he fix it? Would she give him the chance? One thing was certain: he couldn’t win her heart from here in Charleston. He needed a boots-on-the-ground approach and that meant flying to New York City.

  And if in his absence Teagan got the toehold she was after at Watts Shipping?

  Ethan brushed aside the question. No career was more important than being with the woman of his dreams.

  * * *

  Following the art auction in Salzburg, Sienna took a few extra days in Europe to reach out to some of her contacts and pursue leads on new clients. Throwing herself into work offered a temporary reprieve from heartache, but she couldn’t run herself ragged indefinitely and after ten days, she returned to New York.

  While the plane taxied to the terminal, Sienna checked her messages and spotted a text from Gia. Worn out by endless, sleepless nights trying not to think about Ethan[, Sienna had neglected to organize a car to pick her up. To her delight, Gia had taken matters into her own hands and a driver would be waiting in the baggage claim area to drive her into Manhattan.

  But when Sienna stepped off the escalator, the man holding a sign with her name on it was the last person she expected to see. With her heart in her throat and her mind struggling to adjust to seeing Ethan in New York, she shuffled toward him.

  “What are you doing here?” she demanded, wishing she wasn’t quite so overjoyed.

  “I came to see you.”

  How dare he spring this surprise visit on her and embroil her friend in the scheme. Sienna would have to have a stern chat with Gia. “I really wish you hadn’t.”

  “I don’t believe you mean that.”

  “Believe it.” With a rude snort, she turned her back on him and marched toward the carousel, hoping to spot her luggage and get the hell away from Ethan. She wasn’t surprised wh
en he followed her.

  “I’m sorry how I handled things with you about the whole Teagan-wanting-to-be-CEO thing.”

  She shot him a sidelong glance. “Neither one of us deserves stellar marks for what we did.”

  “I shouldn’t have gotten angry because you wanted to help your sister.”

  Sienna held firm against her longing to have everything be all right between them. He’d hurt her and she wasn’t going to let a few pretty words lead her astray again.

  Conscious that they were in a crowded airport, she lowered her voice. “But you do realize that I didn’t help her by sleeping with you to get information?”

  “Yes.” He dropped his volume to match hers. “Deep down I knew better than to believe something like that.”

  A familiar piece of luggage was gliding in their direction and Sienna began moving to intercept it. Ethan was there before her, his strong arm reaching past her to snag the handle and lift it off the silver belt as if it weighed significantly less than its forty-six pounds. If she’d hoped to secure her suitcase and escape Ethan in a taxi, she was doomed to be frustrated. Instead, she ended up chasing after him as he moved purposefully toward the exit that would take them to the helicopter shuttle leaving for Manhattan.

  Sienna withdrew into herself and maintained radio silence as they switched from shuttle to helicopter to taxi. She grappled with the conflict between her instincts and her brain. One wanted to believe that everything would be okay now that he recognized he’d been wrong. The other insisted that misunderstanding hadn’t created the problems between them, but Ethan’s lack of trust and her failure to be up-front with him had.

  When it became obvious outside her building that she wasn’t going to shake Ethan until they cleared the air, Sienna invited him up. As the elevator ascended, she turned to face him.

  “Look, if you want to be friendly because my sister is your cousin, then I can do that.” She noticed his whole manner brighten and didn’t know what to make of it. “But really, this could’ve been resolved over the phone. You didn’t have to come all the way to New York.”

  “But if I called, you might’ve avoided answering and I wanted to make sure you knew just how serious I am about making things right between us.”

  While she wasn’t immune to his enticing half smile and earnest puppy-dog eyes, her weeks apart from him had sharpened her need for self-preservation.

  Making herself sound as prickly and forbidding as possible, she said, “We could’ve video chatted.”

  “We could’ve,” he murmured, his voice whiskey smooth. “But don’t they say make-up sex is the best?”

  Sienna would give anything to stop the way her body electrified at the thought of being in his arms once more. Heat flooded her cheeks despite her best effort to remain aloof and immune. She shoved her hands into her pockets to avoid snatching his lapels and yanking him toward her. As much as she wanted to give in to her longing, she didn’t know if she was strong enough to have sex with him one last time, and then say goodbye.

  “I think what happened in Savannah should stay in Savannah, don’t you?”

  This didn’t crush him the way she hoped. Fortunately, the elevator doors opened and she was able to make a break for it. Once again, she realized escaping Ethan was impossible.

  “Not at all.” His long stride eliminated her brief lead, and he matched her pace as they drew near her apartment door. “I refuse to believe that we’re done.”

  Pausing outside her apartment, she gaped at him. After they’d spent their time together lying to each other about what was going on with Teagan and the CEO position at Watts Shipping, how could he possibly think they had any chance in hell of making something work? Yet her skin prickled as joy rushed through her. Did he want to put the past behind them and start fresh?

  No. Impossible.

  “Done?” She drew in a shaky breath before continuing. “I don’t think we ever got started.”

  “I disagree.”

  “You were so busy suspecting me of conspiring against you that we never had a chance to develop real feelings for each other.” She paused and smiled through her pain. “Besides, from the moment we met, I knew that it was only a matter of time before you’d move onto someone new.”

  “So, I was just a fling for you?”

  Was that actual disappointment in his dark brown eyes? Sienna badly wanted to believe that she’d meant something to him.

  “It started that way,” she admitted, biting her lip to keep from confessing more. “Whatever. Look, none of this matters now.”

  “It matters to me.”

  “Why?” She wished he’d stop tormenting her with possibilities. “Can you honestly say that after what happened we can put the past behind us?”

  “I can and I will.” Ethan took her hands in his and squeezed until she met his gaze. “Asking you to come with me to meet my family had nothing to do with your sister or her schemes. I wanted you with me. I didn’t understand at the time why I valued your companionship and your support, but now I do.”

  Although Sienna dropped her gaze from his beguiling expression, she was already too susceptible to hope. Could she trust that he’d had a change of heart?

  “I’ve had a lot of time to put things in perspective these last few weeks,” Sienna began, tears stinging her eyes as she forced herself to be rational. “What stands out to me is that you and Teagan both want everyone to admire you. It’s all showmanship and sparkle. And I fall for it every time.”

  “You fell for me?” A wicked smile kicked up one corner of his lips.

  “This isn’t a good thing.” Sienna scowled at him, edging ever closer to despair. “I realize that I have a type and that type is charming and manipulative.”

  Tears blurred her vision as she shoved her key into the lock. She got it in on the first try, stunned that her shaking hands hadn’t made this impossible. Twisting the doorknob, she then threw the door open.

  “But you did fall.” When she refused to repeat her confession, he seized her by the shoulders and gave her a little shake. “I fell for you, as well.”

  “I’m over it now.” She broke free of his grip and shoved her suitcase ahead of her into the apartment.

  “Well, I’m not,” Ethan called after her. “I fell hard. Harder than I imagined possible.”

  Five half-stumbling steps later, she burst into the living room and gaped at the extravagant bouquets that filled the space with scent and color. Multiple surfaces held gigantic flower arrangements but the centerpiece was a massive display of red roses.

  “I love you, Sienna.”

  She whipped around and spotted him standing four feet away. Everything seemed to freeze. Her heart. Her lungs. Ethan’s earnest expression. It was as if his words had hit the pause button on her life, allowing her thoughts and feelings to process every moment they’d spent together and make sense of the rush of data.

  “You love me?” she repeated, experimenting with the words. “You can’t.”

  “I can and I do.” His teeth flashed, amusement brightening his whole appearance. He came toward her with his hands outstretched, but even though her whole body ached for his embrace, she backed away.

  “But how? I mean, after everything with Teagan... You hate me.” This last came out as a ragged whisper.

  “Never.” He seized her hands and raised them to his lips. “I was angry and scared, but never, ever did I hate you.” Ethan wrapped one arm around her waist and brought her tight against him. “For a long time I felt like I was on the outside looking in. And then you came along and that feeling stopped. Being with you makes me feel like I’m a part of something. The whole thing about being adopted wasn’t what was eating at me. It was that I’d closed myself off to everyone I loved. You changed that.”

  “I love you,” Sienna blurted out, the words exploding from her in a gush of relief. “I thou
ght I was crazy to feel such a strong connection to you so fast, but every moment with you makes me so happy.”

  “And I want you to continue to feel that way. Whatever it takes. If it means I give up Watts Shipping so there’s peace between us and Teagan...”

  “I can’t ask you to do that for me.” While Sienna appreciated that he was ready to make sacrifices for her, their relationship would only work if both of them were happy. “You asked me to side with you against Teagan and I’m willing to do that. You are my family now. My loyalty is yours no matter what.”

  Sienna wrapped her arms around Ethan’s neck and brought her lips into contact with his. The kiss held both passion and promise. Loving him made her world better and she was beyond blissful that they’d found a way past their mistakes.

  “You’re the most fascinating and genuine woman I know,” Ethan said, his eyes soft with affection and joy. “I love that you’re brilliant and funny, not to mention obsessed with learning interesting facts about everywhere you go. You knew exactly what to say when I grappled with finding my birth mother and how to give me the space to process my feelings. Your curves go on for days and sex with you is the best I’ve ever had.” He grew serious. “I’ve never been comfortable being myself around anyone the way I can be with you. It’s peaceful and feels like home.”

  “That’s how I feel when I’m with you.”

  “Then I hope that means you see us having a future.”

  “Of course. In fact, I’d already given some thought to moving to Charleston.”

  “You don’t say,” he teased, dropping a kiss on her nose. “Well, I’m glad to hear that, because I want to marry you, Sienna Burns.”

  Sienna smiled as she realized the future she’d dreamed about while in Savannah with Ethan was about to become a reality. “I love you and want to spend the rest of my life with you as Mrs. Ethan Watts.”

  They sealed the moment with a long, hungry kiss that left them out of breath and grinning.

  “Now, I’ll be wanting to put this on your finger.” Ethan produced a gorgeous solitaire diamond ring. “So you can’t take back your promise to be with me always.”