Chain of Title

by Robyn Roze

  “It’s a minority interest so don’t get too excited over there,” he chuckled with enthusiasm, “but it is my little piece of heaven.”

  “Scotty, I’m so happy for you,” she said warmly. Shayna felt like she was going to boil over with excitement. For the man who had never committed to anything or anyone, this was a monumental step.

  “Thanks, sis.” He reached across and patted her knee. “I know you’re going to be happy here, too.” The low knowing tone in his voice and the peculiar expression on his face caused her stomach to flutter, but she didn’t know why.

  “The owner is here now and I told him I’d introduce you. He actually lives on the estate next to the vineyards. That’s where we’re heading now.”

  “Oh.” Shayna’s eyes creased in concentration as she processed Scotty’s words through the filter of her intuitions. Suddenly, she felt panic knocking. “Scott Andrew Montgomery, tell me this is not a set up. You know I’m not interested.” The sheepish look on his whiskered face said it all. “No! Oh, hell no! Scott! Why would you do that?”

  “I really think you two are going to hit it off. Just give it a chance.”

  Shayna planted her elbow on the door and began flicking her thumb across her front teeth. She was fuming mad. “So tell me, am I some kind of pawn here?” Scott looked hurt by the insinuation. “Is this your way of getting a bigger share in the winery?”

  Scott busted out laughing. “You’re not that hot, sis,” he said, holding his arm up to protect himself from her incoming punch.

  “Is he a geezer then?”

  Now he looked truly offended. “Hell, no! Once was enough for you.”

  Her shoulders slumped. “Jesus, Scott. Really?” She tilted her head at him with disappointment shading her face.

  “Dead or not, I never liked the guy, sis. Sorry. I always thought you deserved better.”

  She sighed loudly, leaned her blonde head back against the headrest, and returned her gaze to the mountains and the descending sun. If she didn’t kill her rogue of a brother before this trip was over, it would be a miracle.

  As they rounded a corner, the buttery colored villa sitting atop a hill came into view, surrounded by cypress trees that lined the long pathway leading to the three-story structure. Something about the picture before her seemed familiar, but she couldn’t place it.

  “It has all the modern conveniences, sis. He completely renovated it over the last five years or so.”

  “I’m not going to be here long enough to care, Scott,” Shayna replied coolly.

  Scott sighed in frustration. “Okay, get the stick out of your ass and just enjoy yourself. I’m doing this because I love you and want you happy again. Like you were before everything went to hell last year.”

  Shayna shook her head. “That’s not possible, Scotty. We’ve talked about this. You, of all people, should know better.” She continued staring out the window, not meeting his gaze.

  The rest of the journey continued in silence. Shayna had reasoned with herself that she would be cordial, since this man was Scotty’s business partner, but then she was getting out of here as quickly as possible. Her arm fell away when her door opened. Scotty was staring down expectantly at her. She hadn’t even realized they had stopped, too lost in her thoughts.

  “Come on, sis. Let’s go inside. And be nice—for me, please.” She nodded with a smirk, getting out of the car and smoothing out her pale yellow sundress. Great. Her dress matched the house color. Hopefully, Scotty’s partner wouldn’t think it was a sign of interest on her part. Not to worry though, because she intended to make it clear that she wasn’t interested.

  “Are you talking to yourself, sis?” Shayna waved him off in aggravation.

  Walking up to the villa, she felt a warmth and coziness from the lush fertile landscape all around them, the trickling fountain and the vibrant hanging baskets dotting the home. It calmed her, and she took a deep breath and relaxed. She would be just fine.

  When they arrived at the front door, Scott let himself in without even knocking, as if he owned the place. It surprised Shayna, but she guessed they must be good friends and not just cold business partners.

  “Just wait here. I’ll go get him,” Scott said, with barely restrained excitement, leaving her alone in the living room.

  Shayna circled around the expansive area running her gray eyes over every detail. The living room was composed of two adjacent spaces connected by a wide arched opening with twisted columns at each side. In the center of one room, there was a comfortable sitting area with sofas in neutral upholstered tones and leather armchairs anchored by a stone fireplace. The other side of the room was a long enclosed veranda with stunning views of the hillsides.

  Shayna moved closer to the bank of windows and glimpsed an orange sliver of the Tyrrhenian Sea glinting brightly in the dipping sun. The beautiful multicolored gardens popped to life when the landscape lighting flicked on, bathing everything in warm glowing waves. Then she caught sight of the pool further down and the potted plants and loungers shadowed by indirect lighting. Everything about this place was so soothing and relaxing. She turned slowly, her eyes cataloging every detail, and looked back at the warm interior. Whoever designed and decorated this big open space did an excellent job of making it inviting and intimate with the ambient lighting and calming color palette.

  The sound of a car driving away interrupted her musings and she moved quickly to glance out a front window. Her mouth fell open. What the hell? Scotty was driving away! He had just left her without a word in a strange house with a man she hadn’t even met yet. She huffed indignantly and immediately reached into her bag, muttering expletives and digging for her cell phone. When she got her hands on him, Scott Montgomery would never meddle in her life again. Suddenly, she froze as a heated charge skittered across her skin, lifting goose bumps across her body.

  “Hello, gorgeous.”

  Then she heard the crash of her phone on the travertine tile followed by the heavy thud of her bag.

  CHAPTER 31

  How long was she going to stand like a statue with her back to him? “Breathe, Shay. It’s real.” He pushed off the doorframe where he had been leaning, watching her search for her phone and cursing Scotty. A small grin tugged at one corner of his mouth. Here he was telling her this was real when it felt like a dream to him. One he’d had over and over. He inched closer, as if she was a scared animal, not wanting to frighten her off. “Please turn around, Shay. I need to see you.”

  His eyes traced her form from head to toe, coveting her, worshipping her. Since watching her from an upstairs window when she stepped out of the car, his heart had been tattooing his chest. She just got to him. Did it for him like no other woman ever had. Her hair was longer, still layered, and her dress hugged the wonderland underneath it—a body the gods surely made for him alone. She looked thinner. Scotty had warned him that she had been having a rough time, had nose-dived, but seemed to be coming back around. As she started to pivot toward him, he held his breath.

  What would he see in her eyes?

  Sean inhaled sharply when her large, stormy gray eyes locked with his. The mixture of elation, confusion, and anger played precariously across her gorgeous face, but the connection was still there. It hit him the instant their eyes met, and gave him hope.

  She watched him warily, scanning him from head to toe, clearly trying to piece the puzzle together. Then she slapped him hard across the face, snapping his head to the side. The burning sting was instant and unexpected, but he kept his hands in his front pockets, jaw flexing and tensing. Lifting his lids, he slowly and deliberately brought his face and eyes back to hers. If she thought he was going to back down, she was sadly mistaken. There was only one possible ending and he wasn’t settling for anything else. He would let her say what she needed to say, do what she needed to do, and then it was his turn.

  “Why did you do this to me?” Tears swelled in her eyes but she pulled them back. “Why did you call my brother instead of m
e?” She huffed and shook her head in disbelief. “You left me and then let me believe you were dead! All this time! You knew I’d find out what happened in Mexico,” she said angrily, fisting her hand to her heart. Shayna’s face twisted in anguish as she stepped closer to him and narrowed her eyes. “You’re the reason Scotty was coming back to see me. Right? He was reporting to you. You knew exactly what I was going through, didn’t you?” Sean nodded faintly. “Why didn’t you come back? Huh? Were you too busy running your fucking winery!”

  “I had to heal, Shay. I wasn’t that far from dead when they evac-ed us out.”

  Her pink lips twitched. “There were other survivors?” He nodded solemnly. “Were you in a coma?”

  He hesitated. “No.”

  “Hands broken?”

  His brow furrowed. “No.”

  “Vocal chords damaged?”

  He swallowed the irritation. “No.”

  “But you never tried to contact me. Ease my mind. Stop the grief, stop the pain.” Shayna looked at him incredulously. “And yet, you spent all kinds of time with my brother, getting to know him. Well enough to let him buy into your business.” She closed her eyes and sighed sadly. He felt his insides shred when she lifted her sad, broken eyes up to his.

  “Am I really that easy to leave? It’s not like it’s the first time someone who supposedly loved me walked away...and stayed away. Of course, you know all about that, and yet you still left me behind.”

  “I had to leave, Shay. You know that.”

  “You didn’t have to stay away! How could you do that?”

  He just wanted to touch her, show her how he felt. But it was obvious that would be a bad idea right now. “Leaving you was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.”

  “Good! I hope it hurt like hell! I hope it felt like you were pulled inside out and stomped on,” she said through clenched teeth, pausing and holding his gaze. “Just like me,” she hissed through the tears threatening to fall. She backed away from him, composing herself, looking at him as if he were a stranger.

  “How long have you been healed, Sean? How long have you been here,” she passed her eyes around the room, “befriending my brother, and forgetting about me—until now. How long have you knowingly let me suffer?”

  His chest felt like it was in a vice grip. “I thought you were better off without me,” he said soberly.

  “Answer my question,” she said undeterred.

  He exhaled in frustration knowing that he had been an idiot not to expect her fury. “Almost six months.” Her eyes widened, nostrils flared. “I was in a hospital for six weeks. Part of it was rehab. When it was over, I came back here. This is where my mother was from. This was her family’s estate and vineyards.” He paused. “My legacy.”

  One tear slipped free and raced down her cheek as she nodded in apparent understanding. “The fresco at Gaetano’s.”

  “Yes. My parents had a local artist paint it at the restaurant, using an old photo.”

  Shayna closed her eyes again, inhaling deeply, before turning solemnly to pick up her phone and bag from the floor.

  A slice of panic cut through Sean. “What are you doing, Shay?” he asked with more confidence than he felt.

  “I’m calling my brother to pick me up. I’m leaving,” she said despondently.

  Before she could put the call through, Sean swiped the phone from her hand and threw it across the room, shattering it against a plaster wall. That might’ve been over the top, but he was operating on instinct right now. Then he tossed her bag on a nearby bench. “You’re not going anywhere. There’s too much to say.” He looked longingly at her. “And we’re not over.”

  Shayna’s brows raised and she spat out hot air. “You think you get to decide that? You really think you get to decide when to leave and when to come back? I’m just supposed to be available when you say? When it suits you? Is that how it works in your world, Sean?” She stepped closer to him, her stare fierce. “Do you have any idea what it was like for me? Huh? Dealing with the aftermath of Frank’s choices—and yours: burying Danielle’s father; the media scrutiny. Pretending to the authorities and everyone else that I didn’t know who killed Frank. Pretending that I didn’t have a clue who rescued my daughter from those animals! Not to mention, believing you were dead!” She gulped air and expelled it quickly. Her eyes narrowed and she shook her head deliberately as she stepped back. “No. You don’t get to decide whether we’re over or not. I do,” she said indignantly, her palm landing squarely on her chest.

  He remained silent for a few moments, searching her eyes, reading her body language. He could see and feel her anguish, anger, and fear. Fear that he would leave her again. She was in fight or flight mode right now, and he needed to keep her fighting—for them. This moment could easily fork either way with drastically different consequences, and he needed to take her back in time so they could work their way forward.

  “Why me?” he asked quietly, hands back in his pockets.

  The question clearly threw her off course, as intended. Her lashes fluttered, her eyes creased and she stammered as she processed the simple question. Sean could see Shayna struggling to hold her impenetrable stance while trying to grasp what he was asking.

  “What are you asking me?” she questioned warily.

  He inched closer to her and she didn’t back away. “Why did you forgive me?” he said simply, without pretense. She exhaled sharply. “Why me and no one else?” She ran her fingers through her silky blonde hair, rubbing at the back of her neck and looking away. “Why, Shay?” he whispered, moving closer to her.

  She stood still for a few moments, appearing to be deep in thought and then she lifted her eyes to his only to look away once again. “Because you’re the only reason I still have Danielle.” Her voice was strong, but her body betrayed her.

  He pressed closer. “Why else?”

  After a few moments, she finally focused her tormented eyes on his. “Because I loved you too much to lose you,” she said pointedly. Before he could respond, she uttered with a sigh, “But I lost you anyway.” Shayna locked her arms tightly around herself and stepped away, staring dejectedly out a window that overlooked a lush garden.

  Sean swallowed the urge to take her in his arms and instead said, “If you feel any guilt about what I did, you shouldn’t. It was my choice, right or wrong.”

  “It was wrong,” she said quickly and decisively. “You should have made a different choice. You could have made a different choice. But you didn’t. And now you have to live with that.” She shook her head regretfully. “What you did hurt so many people, Sean. My daughter doesn’t have a father anymore. I know that Frank’s choices put Danielle in that horrifying situation, but I also know he would never have intentionally done anything that would harm her. He loved her more than anything.” Shayna breathed deeply before releasing her burden. “The guilt I feel isn’t what you think it is. Not anymore.”

  She fell silent, as she appeared to be watching the past in front of her. Sean moved in closer, standing behind her. “What could you possibly have to feel guilty about, Shay?”

  She remained silent for a few beats.

  “I don’t want to say it out loud. It’s bad enough that I think it,” she said weakly.

  “You need to get rid of it, Shay. You need to say it.” He decided it was time to take a chance and he slipped his arms around hers, wrapping her loosely against him. She didn’t fight him and he could feel her body relax a bit. He whispered next to her ear, “You can tell me.” Then he lightly brushed his lips across the shell of her ear, noticing the slow rise and fall of her lashes along with the subtle hitch in her breath. However, he could still feel the tension and internal struggle in her body.

  “I feel like,” she chewed anxiously at her lip and then sighed, “he deserved it,” she said with a whisper, closing her eyes and dragging in a pained, ragged breath. “Not because of what he did to me, but because of what almost happened to Danielle and,” she paused, “for draggin
g you into it and causing you to leave, for killing you—almost killing you in Mexico. I blame him for so much.” She shuddered. “And I can’t get what you said out of my head. If we’d never met...I wouldn’t have my daughter right now. It makes me sick every time I think about how different the ending would’ve been, if not for you, and your friends.” Tears streamed down her face, and Sean gently wiped them away. When he felt the fight leave her body and she leaned into him, he turned her, pressing her against his chest. Shayna burrowed against him, arms gliding around his back, squeezing him so tightly he smiled in relief and gratitude.

  Nuzzling against her sweet-smelling hair, he said tenderly, “If you can forgive me,” he held her tighter, “then you have to be able to forgive yourself, Shay. They’re just thoughts. You’re not even the one who did anything wrong.”

  He caressed her arms and back. She felt so good—like home. He sighed contentedly, cradling her head and tugging her even closer. When her body completely relaxed against his, he began.

  “I didn’t come back because I believed you were better off without me. I didn’t really think you could forgive me, that you should forgive me.” He paused, inhaling her sweet scent. “I got Scotty here on false pretenses in the beginning—a job opening, that ultimately worked into a real opportunity—for both of us. I liked him the moment I met him at Jack’s that time. Remember?” Shayna nodded against his chest and he kissed the top of her head. “Sometimes you meet people and there’s an instant connection. You just know it’s going to work.” His thumb skimmed across her cheek. “We know something about that, don’t we?” They snuggled closer to one another. “I was vague but explained what I could to Scotty. He was really pissed at first, but eventually came around and agreed to be my stand-in, to visit you every month. Even though I didn’t think I deserved you, I had to be a part of your life somehow. Scotty did that for me.”

  “What changed your mind? Why am I here now?”

  He sighed and squeezed his arms tighter around her. “I’m selfish. I didn’t want to do it anymore.”