by Anna Durand
"Don't ask me. I think Evan's gone insane." She lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper. "Or perhaps he's simply insane for you."
Was it my fault he'd taken off? How long did it take a man to sort out his problems? And why did he need to get away from me to do it?
"Please let me know if you hear from him," I said. "I'll do the same for you."
"Of course."
We said goodbye, and I dialed Aileen MacTaggart's number. She answered with a cheerful greeting, and I said, "It's Keely O'Shea."
"Oh dearie, I'm so happy to hear from you. Evan talks about you every time he calls."
Then why the hell didn't he call me? I wouldn't ask his mother that. She'd been so kind to me since her son vanished from my life. "He's not there, I take it. I was hoping he might be since he's not at his office."
"No, he hasn't been home lately. He's not with his cousins either."
"Tamsen told me he's been out of the country a lot."
"Yes, he has," she said carefully. "Evan misses you, and I'm sure you'll hear from him soon."
We talked for a little longer about nothing of any importance. I asked about her flower garden, and she asked after my family. Eventually, we said goodbye.
I went to work and tried not to think about Evan.
Two weeks dragged by with me failing to not think about him. On the afternoon of the fifteenth day, Paige knocked on my office door. She'd brought today's mail for me to sort and handle as appropriate. I'd just begun to flip through the mail, setting each envelope on the correct pile for its category, when I discovered a pale-blue envelope with no address on it. Instead, handwritten letters spelled out "Keely."
The room swayed around me for a moment. I recognized the handwriting. It was Evan's.
How had he slipped this into the mail?
Paige had been smiling rather smugly when she'd handed me the mail. She might've helped Evan get this message to me.
I slapped the blue envelope down on my desk and tossed the rest of the mail aside. The envelopes scattered over the desktop. Why the hell wouldn't he just talk to me? Maybe I should ignore his letter the way he'd ignored all my emails, texts, and voicemails.
My pigheaded side kept me paralyzed for about five seconds.
Then I tore open the blue envelope and unfolded the handwritten note it contained. It consisted of two sentences: "Be at 1025 Main Street at 9:00 a.m. tomorrow. Someone will meet you at the gate."
He hadn't even signed the note. The man had some nerve, issuing a command after disappearing from my life for two months.
I tucked the note in my purse. Later, I would decide whether to obey.
The note made me queasy again, so I got out the package of saltines I'd started keeping in my desk. The stress of getting dumped or possibly not getting dumped but simply being abandoned had left my constitution in a tizzy. While I nibbled on a cracker, I thought about the words Evan had scrawled on a small sheet of blue paper. It had been so impersonal.
Except he'd written it himself. No laser-printed invitation. A handwritten note.
Would I obey his command to appear before the CEO?
I groaned. Of course I would. I wanted to see him if only to slug him and walk right back out the door. But it was more likely I'd throw my arms around him and kiss him.
A hopeless, pathetic romantic. That's what I was.
Chapter Thirty-Nine
Evan
The view out the window of my new office wasn't familiar to me yet, not like the view from my headquarters at Inverness. I knew that skyline by heart. I hadn't quite become that comfortable with Carrefour, but I would. I had one very good reason to get to know this place, and she was about to walk into my office any moment.
I wasn't sure if Keely would kiss me or punch me.
The intercom on my desk buzzed, and my new executive assistant said in her American accent, "Miss O'Shea is here, Mr. MacTaggart."
"Thank you, Serena. Please send her in."
I sat up straighter in my chair.
The door opened. Keely traipsed into the room and shut the door behind her. She wore the same clothes she'd had on the first time she'd walked into my Inverness office, the beige skirt suit that molded to her curves without seeming inappropriate. I knew if she leaned forward, her blouse would tighten over her breasts and the low, but not too low, neckline would give me a tantalizing glimpse of the inner slopes. She wore her raven hair pulled back in a crisp bun, just like before, and she carried the same leather binder.
She halted in front of my desk. "How is Serena your executive assistant? She's a nurse."
"Not anymore. She wanted a position with flexible hours. I was happy to accommodate her. She's good at her job and almost as clever as you."
"I see." Keely bent forward slightly, tilting her whole body so I was robbed of the chance to watch her blouse tighten. "Are you wearing a kilt?"
"Yes."
"It's not Monday."
"I've made an exception for you."
"Hm." She took a seat in the chair a few feet away, crossing her legs and setting the leather binder on her lap. "What business are we discussing today, Mr. MacTaggart?"
She was going to make me work for this. Well, I deserved it. And my pulse accelerated at the thought of flirting with her the way I had the first time she'd stepped into my office.
I'd be less of an eejit this time.
"You're even more beautiful," I said. "Can't describe the difference, but you seem to…glow. Not like a Times Square billboard, but like an angel disguised as a mortal."
"Times Square billboard? That's in New York. You've never been anywhere in America except Carrefour, Utah."
"Ah, that was true. It's not anymore."
Her brows cinched together, and she curled her fingers over the top edge of her binder. "I don't get it. Have you been on an American vacation all this time?"
"Not a vacation." I rocked my chair back a little, taking a moment to decide how to explain this to her. Bluntness seemed like the best option. "I met my father. He's in prison in New Jersey, not far from New York City. I spent time in the city talking to lawyers and investigators. It was not a holiday in any sense of the term."
"Oh." She slouched back in her chair. "How did it go? Meeting your father?"
"Well enough. He's not what I expected, but we're getting to know each other as well as we can while he's in prison."
"He's serving a life sentence without parole, right?"
"Yes." I leaned forward and rested my arms on the desk, studying the calendar that covered a large section of the desktop. "I'm sorry I didn't answer your calls."
"Or the emails, or the texts."
"Yes, I'm sorry for all of it." I traced the lines on the calendar with one finger. "I needed to sort myself, to come to terms with everything that happened and everything I learned about my family and myself. Working to get my father exonerated has helped me work through it all."
"Exonerate him? Can you do that after thirty years?"
"I've hired the best attorneys and private investigators. They've already found evidence the police and prosecutor ignored reports of another man who matched the sketch and who committed similar crimes in New York. They've also tracked down witnesses who saw the other man leaving the scene of the crime my father supposedly committed. The lawyers have filed an appeal to have the conviction reversed. The process will take considerable time. I will see him exonerated, no matter how long it takes or how much money it costs."
Keely slid forward in her chair, her attention riveted to me. "Do you think it will happen?"
"I'm certain of it." I looked into her brilliant green eyes and couldn't believe I'd stayed away from her for so long. "I've spent so much time in this country I've started to think in terms of inches and feet instead of meters. But all I want to learn about is you."
She set her leather binder on the floor and clasped her hands on her lap. "You already know all about me."
"Not the most important thing." I hesitated, swallowing because my mouth had suddenly gone dry as the Sahara Desert. I tugged at the collar of my shirt. "Can you forgive me for leaving you alone for so long?"
"I thought you dumped me."
"Why? I left you a note. Didn't you see it?"
"Yes, I saw it." Her lips puckered, and her eyes narrowed. "It said you had to leave me. Sounded to me like I was getting tossed overboard."
"I said I needed to leave you so I could sort things. I've done that. We can be together now."
"Just like that?" She sat stiff and straight, shaking her head. "You don't get off that easy. If you expected me to throw myself at you and praise heaven you came back to me, think again. I'm not a doormat anymore."
"I've never thought you were a doormat."
"The point is you left without even saying goodbye."
"My note said it."
She bowed her head and exhaled a gusty breath.
"I am sorry, Keely. I missed you, and I love you."
"Yes, I know." She pushed up out of the chair and walked to my desk, leaning her hip against it. "I understand you've never been in a relationship before. This is all new territory for you, and there's no map to show you the way."
"Are you forgiving me?"
She set her palm on the desktop and leaned toward me. "Yes, I forgive you."
I tried not to act like a giddy moron, but I couldn't stop myself from grinning. "I was afraid I'd need to do more groveling before you'd take me back."
"Haven't said I'm taking you back." She leaned in more. Her blouse stretched taut over her breasts, so taut it seemed like the buttons might pop free. "How did you get a building constructed so fast? Is it not up to code and it'll fall down in six months?"
"I never allow anything I do to be less than the best."
"My dad likes to say you can have any two of the following—good, cheap, fast."
"And I agree."
She studied me for several seconds, her expression unreadable. Then she smiled. "You got it done fast and good, but you paid an obscene amount of money to make that happen."
I slanted forward. Her breasts were inches from my face. "I would've given my entire fortune to get you back. The car didn't impress you, I imagine. The house wouldn't have either. I gave you those things because I want to make your life easier."
She twirled her finger to indicate the room around us. "What about this building? I hope you're not planning to pawn that off on me too."
"No, I need it for my new business venture."
"And what is your new business?"
"I'm buying Vic's Electronics Superstore and making it a subsidiary of Evanescent. We will not only design and manufacture the devices, we will also sell them in our own store. Soon it will be a chain of stores across the country."
"Vic would never sell. He loves the store."
"Aye, but he wants to spend more time with his family. He also worries about how hard you work. He will stay on as the president of the new company. You'll be vice president, and I expect you to hire people to help you so you won't be working such long hours."
"What about Tamsen? You've driven the poor woman bonkers with your extended absences."
"Tamsen is now sharing vice president responsibilities with Stewart Atkins. They will each work shorter hours so they can have more time with their families, but they will handle the bulk of the business matters. I'm taking a step back from the everyday operations of the company." I hooked my finger inside the neckline of her blouse, imagining giving it a yank to free those buttons. "I'll need to spend plenty of time with my bride."
She jerked backward. "Bride? You have to propose before you can call me that."
"You know I love heeding your commands." I grasped her hand. "Will you marry me, Keely?"
"I'll consider your offer and get back to you."
The sparkle in her eyes told me she was teasing.
"Maybe I need to tie you up again," I said, "to torture you into saying yes."
"Sounds like fun, but it's not necessary." She waved her a hand in a shooing gesture. "Sit back, Mr. MacTaggart."
"Ahhh, you know I how feel about your schoolteacher voice."
"Sit back," she said more sternly.
I sat back in my chair.
She crawled across my desk and onto my lap, latching her arms around my neck. "Yes, I will marry you."
"Good. But I still might tie your hands behind your back when I have my way with you on this desk."
She kicked off her shoes. "There is one thing I should tell you first."
"You can tell me anything."
"This could be a shocker." She laid a hand over her lower belly. "I, um, took one of those home tests this morning."
"Home test? For what?"
"Pregnancy. It was positive."
I was fair certain my jaw dropped to my chest.
She grimaced. "I know we never talked about kids, and honestly, this is a shock to me too. I'd assumed I was too old to get pregnant the old-fashioned way. But we, well, kind of forgot to use a condom that day when you ripped my clothes off and ordered me to get on my knees."
I muttered an oath. "My fault. I'm sorry."
"Are you upset about this?"
She watched me with a wary expression, clearly worried I might be angry.
"I am not upset," I said, pulling her closer. "This is the best news I've ever heard."
To prove I meant it, I thrust a hand into her hair and pulled her in for a deep kiss. When I finally broke away, her cheeks were pink and her lips were slightly swollen.
"Glad you're not upset," she said. "I hope becoming a daddy won't be too much stress on top of everything that's going on."
"It's not stress. It's a miracle." I ran my thumb across her lips. "You are a miracle, mo chridhe, and I can't wait till we have a bairn who's just like you."
"Bossy and polite at the same time?"
"Naturally." I hooked my finger inside the neckline of her blouse and gave it a sharp tug. The buttons broke free, exposing her lacy, front-clasp bra. "Tell me to behave in that voice."
She ran her fingers through my hair. "Behave, Evan."
I growled, unhooking her bra. Those bonnie breasts spilled out, and I caught one in my hand. "What will you do if I don't behave?"
"Tie you to the nearest bed and torture you for hours."
"Afraid the nearest bed is too far away." I stood and set her on the desk. "Ahm needing ye now."
Keely plucked my glasses off my nose and tucked them into my shirt pocket. She lay back on the desk, her arms stretched out above her head, lifting her breasts. "I'm yours to command."
I did just that for the next hour, ignoring the buzzing intercom and the ringing phone. I had people to handle the business for me. My job was handling Keely, something I meant to do for the rest of our lives.
Epilogue
Logan
Four months later
I lingered at the periphery of the great hall in Dùndubhan, watching my relatives dance and laugh and generally have a good time. I enjoyed a party as much as anyone, but I'd had my fill of conversation over the past two hours. The whole clan had gathered to celebrate my Aunt Aileen's birthday. Even the O'Sheas had made the trip to Scotland for this.
Evan, the cousin I'd least expected to walk down the aisle, had married Keely O'Shea three months ago. Today, Keely had a very round belly and Evan looked at her like she was the sun and the moon and Heaven itself all rolled up in one earthly body. I'd always dismissed marriage as an outdated concept, but I couldn't deny my married cousins seemed much happier since they found their soul mates.
There was another term I didn't like. My soul didn't have a mate, and I wasn't completely certain I had a soul, anyway. None of my family knew the things I'd done in the name of Her Majesty's Secret Intelligence Service. Evan had once thought he was a bad man for giving in to blackmailers.
I had killed men.
On the other side of the room, Keely and Evan were sharing some sort of joke with their friend Serena Carpenter. I'd first met Serena at Evan and Keely's wedding—a backyard affair without any of the outrageous things most weddings seemed to involve these days—and I'd seen Serena again when Evan invited me to visit him in America. He and Keely shared the house he'd bought for her back before he'd known if she even loved him.
Serena was laughing, her face alight.
The lass was beautiful. Her slim, sexy body made my cock stiffen. Since she was my cousin's friend, and his wife's best friend, I would never act on the lust she inspired. Besides, I didn't do well with relationships. My past life had a habit of reemerging at the most inopportune moments. Women didn't like to be interrupted during a date by a man carrying a gun under his suit jacket.
More importantly, Serena Carpenter was the most annoying woman I had ever met.
I wandered around the edge of the dance floor, moving closer to Evan, Keely, and Serena—and her son. The laddie was engrossed with the buffet table directly behind his mother. He shoved an entire Scotch egg into his mouth.
Children were disgusting.
I forgot about the boy when I saw Serena's dress. I'd seen it earlier, but now I had the chance to admire it fully. She wore a red dress that clung to her body and ended several inches above her knees. Her stiletto heels matched her dress. Straps held it up, but the neckline plunged very low. Her small but succulent breasts would've fit in my hands like apples.
She noticed me and frowned, then lifted her perfect little nose in the air and turned her head away.
The bloody woman had no manners at all. She behaved politely for everyone else, but whenever she saw me, she turned into a she-devil.
I strolled out of the great hall and down the spiral staircase to the vestibule, continuing into the main hallway of the ground floor. There, I paused to study the glass display cases. Keely had shattered one of the panes during Tulloch's siege, but it had been fixed months ago. Evan had found himself a feisty lass for sure. Lately, he'd started pestering me to "settle down" the way he had.
Not bloody likely.