by Lori Foster
“There were…other expenses, too.”
Dean noticed that Lorna kept herself silent, and he wondered at it. She didn’t strike him as the type to hold back invective.
Don’t ask, he told himself. Stay out of their finances. No good will come of it. But despite the orders he gave himself, he said, “I’m not following you. What other expenses?”
No one answered him. And that nettled. Maybe they didn’t want him involved any more than he wanted to be.
“Forget I asked. It’s none of my business.”
“No,” Lorna agreed. “It isn’t.”
Cam jerked around to glare at Lorna over the seat. Neither said a word, but Cam’s expression clearly told Lorna that she didn’t like her behavior.
Dean marveled at his sister. One minute she seemed like the head of the household and the peacemaker. But once or twice, she’d looked far too vulnerable and too alone.
Cam settled back in her seat, all business. “You’re my brother, Dean. I don’t want to keep anything from you. It’s just that some things are complicated, so it seems best to save them for later, after we’ve talked more.”
In other words, she wasn’t going to explain. “Right. No problem.” He sure as hell wouldn’t coerce her into sharing secrets, especially since they all three seemed to have a boatload.
They finished the ride to the restaurant in an uneasy silence. By the time they arrived, the sun had retreated behind darkening clouds and a brisk wind stirred the humid air.
“Looks like rain,” Cam noted in a pathetic attempt to lighten the mood.
Dean didn’t reply. He got out and walked around to open the passenger side doors. Cam stepped out first, and as Jacki left the car, a gust of damp wind blasted them. Dean’s shirtsleeve blew up, revealing the edge of a tattoo circling his biceps.
“Aha!” Jacki lifted the short sleeve further. “So you’re into tattoos, too?”
“Tattoo. Singular.” He held the door for Lorna, who took the time to tie a scarf around her hair. “You have more than one?”
“Not yet, but I’m considering another.”
Dean eyed her. “They aren’t cheap.” And she’d just been involved in a discussion about tight finances.
The moment he said it, he regretted the words. Jacki slicked on a smile. Touching her hipbone, she said, “This was a birthday present from a friend.”
“Some friend.”
She propped her hands on her hips. “Oh, good Lord. Are you going to start playing concerned big brother, now?”
“Hell no.” He was not that kind of brother. “I was just making an observation.”
“We’re going to get drenched if you two don’t stop standing here discussing idiotic things.” Lorna hustled past them for the restaurant entrance, and Jacki fell into step behind her.
He looked at Cam, who scowled at him.
“She’s not had an easy time of it, Dean.”
“You don’t say.” Wearing his own insincere smile, Dean nodded. “But that’s probably one of those complicated things better saved for later.” He gestured for Cam to precede him to the entrance.
Instead she put her shoulders back. “Look, anything you want to know, I’ll tell you. But not out of order and not at inappropriate times.”
“Meaning?”
She inhaled a deep breath. “Give me a little time, please.”
Dean felt like an ass. “Take all the time you need.” And, again, he gestured for her to get a move on.
She remained tight-lipped until they were seated, given menus, and had ordered drinks. Then, after a fleeting look around the table, she visibly girded herself. “Okay, here’s the thing.”
Jacki groaned. “Don’t tell me you’re going to start spilling your guts before dinner.”
“She brought him here,” Lorna said, with venom. “Against my wishes, all for the purpose of telling him things that are none of his business. What you or I think doesn’t matter to her. Of course she’s not going to change her mind now.”
“Hey.” Jacki held up her hands in a show of denial. “Don’t group me with you, Auntie. I don’t give a damn what she tells him; I just don’t think he’ll care. But if she wants to lay it all out, that’s her business.”
Bristling with irritation, Cam shot out of her seat. “Both of you will be quiet.”
Other patrons glanced up. Lorna and Jacki stared at her. After a few seconds of silence, Dean couldn’t help but grin. He lifted his water glass in a toast and said with facetious good humor, “So nice to be welcomed into such a warm and loving family. Thank you.”
Cam sank back into her seat, held her head in her hands, and let out a long wearisome sigh.
Looking from Dean to Cam and back again, Jacki tried to make amends. “Hey, sorry, Dean. I didn’t mean—”
Lorna snapped, “Don’t you dare apologize to him, Jacqueline Conor. You owe him nothing. Nothing.”
Dropping one hand while keeping her head propped on the other, Cam addressed her aunt. “Now that’s where you’re wrong, Aunt Lorna, and you damn well know it.”
Lorna said, “Do not—”
“Too late.” With all the poise of a woman facing the gallows, Cam straightened and turned toward Dean. “I didn’t plan to do this right now, but there’s no time like the present, and I’m tired of dreading it.” She stared right at him and said, “We’re probably going to have to sell the house.”
Detesting all the theatrics, Dean narrowed his eyes at her. “Yeah, so?” He agreed with Lorna: It had nothing to do with him. Unless…did she expect him to bail her out? Had she invited him here to take care of her financial woes? Like hell.
“So it’s part yours.”
An eerie dread crawled up his spine. “How do you figure that?”
Jacki laughed. “This is great.” When Dean glanced at her, she laughed some more. “Hate to tell you, Cam, but he’s not only untouched by the gesture, he almost looks offended.”
Touched? What was there to be touched about? More annoyed by the second, Dean said, “Forget it. I’ve got my own house. Make that plural: houses. I don’t want or need yours.”
Impressed, Jacki asked, “You’ve got property? Cool. Where at?”
Before he could answer, Lorna huffed.
Cam sent her an evil look that silenced her. She turned back to Dean. “Whether you need the house or not isn’t the point. It’s as much yours as it is ours. One third of the monetary value belongs to you. The thing is, there’s not any equity in it.”
Dean didn’t want anything from her, but the businessman in him had to know. “Why’s that?”
She cleared her throat. “It had to be used to keep us afloat. I’m afraid that, even after the sale, I won’t be able to give you your share of the house’s value.”
Teeth locked, Dean said, “I wouldn’t have taken a dime anyway.”
“So you said.” Cam’s fleeting smile went flat. “Still, it didn’t seem right to even consider selling it without contacting you first. Legally and morally, it’s your inheritance, too.”
Dean started to speak, but she quickly cut him off.
“However, I now realize that you don’t want anything from the sale.” She reached out to touch his forearm. “I’ll accept that—for now. But that still leaves some memorabilia. Perhaps something of sentimental value that you’d like? I’ve decided, and Jacki agreed with me—”
Jacki laughed. “Like I had a choice.”
Ignoring her, Cam continued, “—that you should have anything from the house that you want.”
Dean closed his eyes. God, this was getting worse and worse. He could feel the cut of Lorna’s glare. Her dislike of him was almost as strong as Cam’s warped need for justice.
He had no intention of accepting a single thing from the house—but he wasn’t quite heartless enough to tell Cam that.
“Not that there’s much,” Jacki suddenly pointed out. “Some of mom’s jewelry. Dad’s coin collection. A bedroom set. Some knickknacks.” She shrugged
. “Anything really valuable is already gone.”
Lorna slammed down her napkin. “It’s obscene that you’re airing our private business to him.”
Oh, he understood Lorna’s objections. Because somewhere along the way, she’d squandered a lot of money. Dean couldn’t put the responsibility of fucked finances on Cam or Jacki. He doubted they even knew how much had been left to Lorna for their care.
Certainly there’d been enough to send both his sisters through college. Had Lorna blown it all? And if so, on what?
Fed up with the intrigue of it all, Dean waved the table to silence. “Business can wait. Are we ready to order? I’m starved.” He raised his hand for a waiter, who hurried to the table. “Lorna, would you like to start?”
CHAPTER 5
CAM watched Dean devour his food. The awful silence at the table didn’t bother his appetite at all. Whereas he’d already eaten a plateful of pasta and two garnished chicken breasts with a salad and breadsticks, she’d barely touched her salad at all. She envied his confidence, his bearing.
His independence.
Her brother was an amazing man, and she was so proud of him. Nothing rattled him. He’d walked into the unknown with them and presented himself admirably.
She, on the other hand, tended to chatter, fret, or lose her temper. There was so much to explain to him, but how could she when all she really wanted to do was hug him and tell him she’d missed him, when she hadn’t even known about him? Truth be told, she wanted to lean on him.
She had no one else.
But that’d be grossly unfair to him. Dean hadn’t asked for any of this. And now she knew how badly he’d been cheated. Rejected from his own home. God, it hurt her to even think of it. She and Jacki had been young enough that they’d quickly adjusted to the life-altering changes. She’d never known anything else and hadn’t understood the difference in what she had compared to other kids until she was older.
But Dean had been at an age to suffer each loss and rejection.
And still, despite that, he’d grown into a man so strong and kind, she wanted to tell everyone about him. Her brother.
Already she loved him. But then she’d started loving him the second she found out about him. Somewhere deep inside her was a kernel of memory, a hint of closeness that had never died.
More than once she’d heard Lorna talk about their uncle Grover. By all accounts, the man was crude, irresponsible, and without concern for others.
Yet he’d raised Dean.
Had his life been horrible? Had he thought of her, of Jacki, and missed them? Had he wished to come home, but known he wasn’t welcome?
The questions ate her up, and finally, she couldn’t take it anymore. “Dean?”
“Hmm?” He looked up from his plate. “Would you like dessert?”
“No.” She wanted, needed, to talk. She had to explain the inexplicable. If Aunt Lorna had deliberately kept them apart, she wanted to know and somehow apologize.
“I’m going to order tiramisu.” He laid his fork on his plate and folded his hands over his hard abdomen. “Love the stuff, and what the hell, tonight is special, right? I can indulge. Jacki, how about you?”
To Cam’s surprise, Jacki nodded. “I’m partial to the zabaglione, but it’s pricey so we can’t usually afford it.”
He flashed her a fat smile. “I can afford it.”
She laughed. “Hey, if you’re buying, I’m eating.”
“Knock yourself out.” He winked at her, then turned to Lorna. “What about you, Lorna? You up for something sweet?”
“Thank you, no.”
“Watching the figure, huh?”
Lorna looked ready to leap across the table to cut out Dean’s heart. Why was there so much animosity there? Okay, so Cam knew Lorna was a man-hater. Early disappointments in romantic involvements had left her very bitter. She and Grover had never gotten along because their personalities were too dissimilar. But that shouldn’t include Dean. He’d done nothing to her.
Knowing things had gotten way out of hand, Cam gave him a light kick under the table.
Incredulous at her audacity, he said, “Was that to get my attention?”
“Yes.” Cam could feel her face heating, but she wouldn’t let him rile her. She sat a little straighter. “We have more to talk about, and it’ll be better accomplished if you aren’t baiting Aunt Lorna.”
“Why don’t I just cut to the chase?”
Uh-oh. Had he been stewing the whole time he ate? It looked like it. “Okay.”
“I don’t want your house. Do whatever you want with it; it’s not my concern. I don’t want anything in the house. Divide it up, sell it, throw it in the trash.”
Jacki said, “Well, that’s harsh.”
“Sentiment clutters the closets. Who needs it?”
“I’ll take his share.”
Cam glared at her and Jacki said, “What? You’re not seriously going to trash it, right?”
Dean paid no attention to her. “It’s just one more thing to store, to move when I move—and I move a lot. Believe me when I tell you, there’s absolutely nothing of the past or the present that I want. Let it go.”
He couldn’t mean that, Cam thought.
But he looked like he did.
“Now, with that settled, you sure you don’t want dessert?”
Jacki elbowed her. “Come on, Cam. Eat the dessert.”
Head pounding, Cam declined. If she put a single bite in her mouth, she’d gag. “No, thank you. I’ll take a coffee though.”
“You got it.”
The waiter had just departed with their orders when Dean looked up—and his gaze became fixed on something across the room.
Seeing him so enrapt, Cam turned in her seat to look, too, and found Eve and a man at the bar. They were both dressed nicely, shoulders touching, in close conversation.
Oops.
Gone was Dean’s expression of careless disregard. He looked…She didn’t know. Not happy. But then, she hadn’t seen him look happy, yet. Distant, that she’d seen. Polite, amused, even a little wary once or twice. But excesses of emotion were not his forte.
“Probably a client,” Cam told him.
He narrowed his eyes but didn’t look away. And when Cam twisted around again, she saw Eve suddenly stiffen and slowly pivot on the stool to look in their direction. Her gaze locked on Dean’s and even from the distance separating them, Cam could have sworn she saw sparks snapping in the air.
Interesting.
The seconds ticked by and they continued to eye each other. Never before had Cam seen her friend so instantly enamored with a man. Eve was the original free spirit. She did not get infatuations and she couldn’t be charmed. She spoke her mind and disregarded polite flattery or practiced come-ons.
But even so, Cam could see the flush climbing Eve’s face. Embarrassment?
Cam didn’t think so.
Eve turned to say one last thing to her companion. All smiles, they shook hands, apparently sealing a deal, and the man took his leave. After watching him go, Eve knocked back the rest of a mixed drink and left her stool. Dressed in a satiny white camisole with a black skirt and very high heels, Eve started toward their table.
Dean didn’t so much as blink. He tracked Eve’s every step. Right before she reached them, he pushed back his chair and stood.
In static silence, they stared at each other.
Taking up the challenge, Cam smiled. “Eve, hello. I didn’t realize you were here tonight.”
Watching Dean, Eve said, “A business meeting, that’s all.” She finally drew her gaze away from him to greet everyone else. “This is nice. A family outing. Wish I had my camera.”
Jacki snickered.
“Since your meeting is over, why don’t you join us?” Cam looked at Dean with encouragement. “You could get another chair.”
“She has plans.”
Smile tight, Eve agreed with Dean. “Yes, I do. My family’s waiting dinner on me. I only wanted to stop by a
nd say hello.”
Dean murmured, “Hello,” and he sounded dark and sinful as he looked down at Eve.
Eve’s color increased. “Hi.”
With so much sexual chemistry clogging the room, Cam wanted to fan herself.
Tucking in her chin, Jacki said, “Jesus. Turn it down a little, Dean. I’m too young to see this.”
Lorna swatted at her with her napkin. “You have absolutely no decorum at all.”
“Me? Dean’s the one seducing Eve right at the dinner table. Why aren’t you bludgeoning him with your linens?”
Eve smirked. “Trust me, Jacki, I’m not seduced. But I am late, so I’ll be on my way. Enjoy yourselves.”
As Eve started to turn away, Dean caught her hand, drew her back, and planted a soft, quick, oh-so-familiar kiss right on her open mouth. “See ya in a bit.”
Again flushed, Eve nodded. “Right.” She licked her lips. “See ya.”
She was barely out of hearing range when Lorna started in on her. “As usual, that girl has shown disgusting behavior.”
Jacki propped both elbows on the table and stared toward Dean as he reseated himself. “I’d have called it educational.”
“It was a lewd public display likely brought on by too many drinks.” Lorna was so pinched, she looked in pain. “Eve is a bad influence on you and your sister.”
Praying Dean wouldn’t feel the need to defend Eve, Cam nodded. “So you’ve often said, Aunt Lorna.” To the point that Cam was sick of hearing it. Lorna disliked anyone and everyone who wasn’t of her own choosing. Sure, Eve was different. She was free. That’s what Cam loved most about her.
Rather than get defensive, Dean pointed out, “She’s hardly a girl. She’s what? Midtwenties?”
“Twenty-five,” Jacki told him. “And good thing or you’d be labeled a perv for thinking what you’re thinking.”
Exasperated, Lorna tossed her napkin into her plate. “That’s it. I’ve had enough. There’s no controlling you these days.”
“What?” Jacki asked. “What’d I do now?”