A Man Like Morgan Kane (6 page)

"My God, Mother, will you stop babbling! Have you and Claudia forgotten just who Morgan Kane is?"

"How dare you speak to me in such a way?" Eileen sighed dramatically. "Everything I did, I did because I thought it was best for you. It wasn't my fault that Morgan deserted you just when you needed him most. Claudia and Henderson and I did our best to take care of the mess that ungrateful boy left behind."

Willing herself not to scream at her mother again,Bethanysaid calmly, "I'm sorry, Mother. You're right.

I'll call later and check on you."

"Are you going over to Claudia's?"

"Yes. I'm going to get my daughter and take her home."

"Perhaps—"

"Goodbye, Mother."

Bethanyended the conversation abruptly, knowing that there was no point in discussing the situation with her airheaded mother. Eileen might be beautiful and rich and charming, but she had little sense of reality.

She looked at life through rose-colored glasses. Always had. Probably always would. Even Jimmy's murder hadn't changed that aspect of her mother's personality.Bethanythanked God every day that she had inherited a modicum of common sense from her father.

She had no memory of her father, who had died in a plane crash when she was six months old. Anne Marie had no memory of Amery, who had died in a car crash when she was three. Over the years, when Anne Marie had questioned her about Amery, she had answered her questions as succinctly as possible.

She had never referred to him as "your father," only as Amery.

Once Anne Marie had asked, "Did you love my father?"

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And she had told her yes, that she had loved her father. And she had.Bethanyhad loved Morgan Kane with every fiber of her being. He had been as important to her as the air she breathed.

She supposed she should have objected when Claudia began telling Anne Marie her Morgan stories.

But somehow it had seemed right, giving Anne Marie a white knight hero to admire when there was no wayBethanycould have given her child an idealized account of Amery as a father.

Now only two people on earth, besides her, knew that Amery Wyndham hadn't been Anne Marie's biological father. Eileen and Claudia. Henderson, Morgan's father, had known. And of course, Amery.

Her husband, who had promised to cherish her, care for her and protect her. Her husband, who had married her to gain favorwith his aunt anduncle. To ensure himself a partnership in his uncle's law firm.

And to become the father of Claudia andHenderson's sole heir—their granddaughter Anne Marie.

But in the end, Amery had grown to hateBethanyand resent Morgan's child. The night she'd asked Amery for a divorce, he'd left the house drunk and angry. His car had skidded off a treacherous stretch of highway alongAltamont Roadand crashed into a tree, killing him instantly. Eaten alive with guilt, she had mourned Amery's death, and sworn that after two ill-fated relationships, she'd never love nor marry again.

She had been both mother and father to Anne Marie for the past twelve years, dedicating herself to the child she loved more than life itself. But what if she was convicted of Jimmy's murder and sent to prison?

There would be no one to take care of Anne Marie. No one to stand by her, to love her, to protect her.

She had thought that Anne Marie and Morgan would never meet. But at this very moment they probably were eating lunch together at Claudia's. What did Anne Marie think of him, Nana's son, whom she already considered a white knight? And what did Morgan think of her, the girl he thought was Amery's daughter? Would he notice her striking resemblance to himself? Or would he pass it off as simply an inheritance from the Morgan side of the family? Would he look into their daughter's blue-gray eyes, identical to his own, and know on some instinctive level that Anne Marie was his?

She had never thought the day would come when she would consider the possibility of telling Morgan about the child he had fathered. But if she were convicted of murder and sent away from Anne Marie…

* * *

Bethanyasked Ida Mae not to announce her, and the Kanes' housekeeper smiled sadly and nodded agreement. Did the old woman know or only suspect the truth?

Following the winding brick pathway,Bethanysoon found herself in sight of the gazebo. Slowing her gait as she drew nearer, she stared straight ahead and saw the three people inside the summerhouse. Claudia.

Anne Marie. And Morgan. For one brief moment her heart stopped. She'd thought she would never see him again. And she had convinced herself that she didn't care, that she no longer felt anything for him.

She hadn't realized seeing him again would be this hard. Sixteen years. A lifetime ago. She wasn't the same naive, lovesick girl. And he wasn't the same rebellious hell-raiser. They were two different people now. Strangers.

Strangers who just happened to share a child.

She could do this, she told herself. She could. She was a strong woman, wasn't she? She had survived a marriage to a man she didn't love. She had raised Anne Marie without a father. She had built a thriving
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business. And she had managed to keep her sanity after she'd been arrested for Jimmy Farraday's murder and spent a torturous weekend in theJeffersonCountyjail.

Meeting Morgan Kane again should be easy, shouldn't it? Squaring her shoulders, tilting her chin and taking a deep breath,Bethanywalked toward the gazebo. When she was close enough to hear her daughter's laughter, she halted.

The man who looked at and listened to Anne Marie suddenly turned his head and stared atBethany. She would have recognized him anywhere, despite the changes in his appearance. The last time she'd seen him, he'd been a twenty-two-year-old boy. Handsome to the point of being beautiful. Tall, lean and muscular. Now he was a thirty-eight-year-old man. Still handsome, but the edge of youthful beauty had been replaced with pure, gloriously rugged masculinity.

He glared at her with cold, intense blue-gray eyes. Eyes that had once, long ago, softened and warmed when he'd made love to her.

When Morgan shoved back his chair and stood, Claudia glanced toward the pathway whereBethany waited.

"Bethany, dear, please come join us," Claudia said. "We're finishing our dessert, but I'll have Ida Mae bring you a plate."

Anne Marie swirled around in her chair. "Mama! Guess what?" She shot up out of the chair, flew out of the gazebo and ran up the walkway. "Morgan has agreed to take the job. He's going to be your bodyguard. And he's going to find out who really murdered Jimmy."

Bethanyopened her arms to her daughter, who hugged her fiercely. Glancing around Anne Marie's shoulder, she stared at Morgan. Their gazes met for an instant, thenBethanyinspected him thoroughly. He was bigger, broader than he'd been, his body honed to perfection. His muscular frame appeared confined by the tailored brown slacks and pale yellow cotton pullover he wore.

When he stepped down and out of the summerhouse, his dark blond hair shimmered with natural gold and bronze highlights. He walked toward her, strutting almost, his bearing military trained

"Hello,Bethany." He held out his hand.

She gazed down at that big hand, then hesitantly accepted it for a brief, cordial shake. Once he touched her, her stomach tightened painfully. He held her hand securely within his. She jerked her hand away and stared up at him. Even with her heels on, she was still a good seven inches shorter than he was at six three.

"Hello, Morgan."

Anne Marie stared adoringly up at Morgan, then slipped her arm around her mother's waist. "Isn't it wonderful? Everything is going to be all right now that Morgan is here. He'll take care of everything. I knew the minute Nana said he'd finally come home, that it was meant to be. He came back just when we needed him." Anne Marie reached out, grabbed Morgan's arm and pulled him toward her. "Well, how does it feel seeing each other again after sixteen years?"

Morgan's jaw tightened. His eyes narrowed as he glanced around Anne Marie and glared atBethany.

She stared back at him, silently screaming for him not to look at her that way. With such cold,
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unemotional scrutiny.

How did she feel? Numb. That's how she felt. Totally numb. "I promised your daughter that I would stay inBirmingham, if you wanted me," Morgan said.

"Please, Mama, please tell him that you want him." Anne Marie tugged on her mother's arm.

Hesitantly, her insides quivering uncontrollably,Bethanylooked him square in the eye and said, "I want you … to stay inBirmingham."

Chapter 3

«^»

"
A
nne Marie?" Claudia called to her granddaughter. "Come here, dear." Lifting one long, slender arm, she held out her hand. "It's getting a bit too warm out here for me. Help me inside, please."

"I thought you wanted to stay out here and write your thank-you notes," Anne Marie said.

"I'll come back outside later this afternoon, when it's cooler." Claudia's gaze jumped quickly from Bethanyto Morgan and then to Anne Marie.

"Oo-oh. Yes, ma'am. Good idea. We'll go inside." Anne Marie glanced fromBethanyto Morgan. "You two work out all the details about Morgan taking the job." She gave her mother a hug, then turned to Morgan. "It's going to be so great having you live with us. Just think, you'll actually have to stay in our house. We've never had a man live with us before. Heck, we've never even had a man stay overnight, except for Seth. And he doesn't count."

Morgan's lips twitched, almost forming a smile. "And why doesn't this Seth count?"

"Because he's Mama's business partner, and he's old enough to be my grandfather and—"

"And you've said quite enough young lady,"Bethanytold her daughter.

"You're right. Sorry, Mama." Anne Marie smiled at Morgan, her strong, square-shaped face softening slightly. "You're the answer to my prayers, you know. Someone who can make everything right again."

Morgan had the strangest urge to put his arms around Anne Marie Wyndham and promise her that he would take care of her and her mother. That he could indeed make everything right again.

A lot of people's lives had depended upon him when he'd been a SEAL, and he'd never let anyone down. He'd been trained to rescue under fire and endure unbearable pain to accomplish a mission. In thirty years the Navy SEALs had never left a fellow SEAL behind in combat.

And after he'd joinedDundee's, he'd put his life on the line more than once in his duty as a bodyguard.

But never before had an assignment been personal. And never had anyone believed so much that he could make everything all right.

Bethany's daughter looked at him as if he were a god, capable of righting every wrong in her and her mother's life. Why the hell had Claudia filled the child's head with such nonsense about him, with her
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stupid Morgan stories?

"Anne Marie, I'm waiting for your assistance." Though Claudia's voice grew louder, her tone remained affectionate.

"I think this is Nana's subtle way of leaving you two alone," Anne Marie whispered. "I'm sure she thinks there are things y'all need to discuss that aren't appropriate for me to hear."

"She's probably right,"Bethanysaid. "Go spend some time with Nana before we leave. Morgan and I won't be long."

"Are you moving in with us today?" Anne Marie asked him.

"Maybe. But I need to talk to your mother before we make any decisions."

Anne Marie nodded agreement, then hurried to her nana's side. Arm in arm, the two walked past Bethany and Morgan on their trek up the pathway to the house.

"Would you like to sit down?" Morgan inclined his head toward the gazebo.

"No, thanks. I sat at the hospital for over twelve hours," she told him. "If you don't mind, let's walk and talk. I always enjoy a stroll around Claudia's garden."

A long-forgotten memory suddenly overwhelmed him. The memory of a warm summer night, a shy young girl and a first kiss. Morgan had known that evening at his mother's party why Eileen Dow and her daughter had been invited. His father had made it perfectly clear that he was supposed to be very nice to Bethany Dow.

He'd taken one look at the slightly plump, little brown wren with wire frame glasses and known it wouldn't take much to frighten her away. Hell, he hadn't been interested in a serious relationship with anyone, least of all some mousy daughter of a friend of his mother's. The women in his life were flashier, sexier and a lot more experienced.

But when he'd takenBethanyinto the garden with the intention of scaring her with a hot kiss, he'd gotten the surprise of his life. Sweet, innocent eighteen-year-old Bethany responded passionately.

He'd steered clear of her for months afterward, but finally succumbed to his mother's nagging insistence and invitedBethanyto his fraternity's Christmas party. He found he had little in common with the quiet, intellectual girl his parents hoped would be a good influence on him and turn their bad boy into the son they'd always wanted.

Over the next few months, he datedBethanyfrom time to time, in order to pacify his parents and keep them off his case for a while. But not once did he kiss her again.

Looking back later, he realized that their first kiss in his mother's garden had backfired on him. He'd been the one it had scared, notBethany.

"Is something wrong?"Bethanyasked. "You have an odd look on your face." Was he remembering, she wondered, the evening they'd met, the night he had kissed her the first time, here in this very garden?

"No. Nothing's wrong," he said. "I was trying to figure out why you agreed so readily to my taking the
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