Lovers' Lies (33 page)

"Why her?"

His frantic pacing stopped. And the look he gave her made her breath backup in her chest.

"Davina was a mistake."

Talk about stating the obvious.
 

"Who did this to you, Keir?" she asked quietly, determined to discover the cause. She willed him to open up.

Intuitively, she knew only someone or something he’d cared deeply about could have the power to inflict such hurt.

"Who was the woman who played you for a fool?"

She watched Keir struggle with his entrenched reserve silently willing him to break that barrier. She deserved and needed total honesty if they were to salvage anything from this mess.

"My ex-wife," he said on a rough sigh.

Jealousy jarred her as he spoke of the woman he’d loved and asked to share his life.

Victoria couldn’t shake her resentment.
 

A resentment born from knowing he’d left her and moved on. While her life had narrowed as she supported and cared for their child. She’d sacrificed so much for this man.

From here on in, she demanded equality.

Do I really want to know about the woman he’d loved and married? The woman who’d hurt him beyond bearing
.
The woman whose sins I was asked to pay for today?
 

Victoria wanted to strangle that inner voice before it completely destroyed her self-confidence.
 

He crossed to the window and stood staring out. His posture rigid, hands thrust deep in his pockets. This was obviously very painful territory. When he finally turned to face her, she was shocked by his pallor.

"Who was she?" She struggled to get the question past dry lips.

"Katrina D’Audley." He shrugged meeting her eyes steadily. "She was a junior prosecutor in the Seattle District Attorney’s office." He rubbed an agitated hand along his jaw. "She was beautiful and ambitious. But then so was I."
 

His ex was a professional woman?
Victoria digested that unwelcome information watching Keir for any betraying subtle nuances. Does he still love her?

"Her father was a Judge and she made no bones about her ambition to join him on the bench one day."
 

A Judge! And I'm merely a humble florist.
Victoria
struggled under the weight of the unfavorable comparison.

"She was offered promotion to senior prosecutor." He raked an unsteady hand through already disheveled hair.

"I was pleased for her but—" he broke off swallowing hard.

The glitter of tears in his dark eyes shocked her. Keir wasn’t a man to wear his heart on his sleeve. "What happened?"

"Her promotion coincided with her pregnancy."

The bald statement hit Victoria hard.

He'd made another woman pregnant—and then left her?
 

"I was delighted at the prospect of being a father." The words seemed to be torn from him.

"You have another child?" Icy dread coalesced in her chest. Had he abandoned a child along with his wife?

The glance he cast her way was tortured. "No."

It took every ounce of self-control she possessed not to go to him and offer comfort. "What happened?"

"All charm, Katrina asked me for money. To equip the nursery she said. But—" his voice faltered.

Victoria remained silent, willing him to continue. She sensed this was akin to tearing his heart out.

He heaved a burdened sigh then said bitterly, "She flew to Mexico for a late term abortion, a procedure illegal in America unless the pregnancy is life threatening."

Horror clawed at Victoria. "How late?"
 

"The end of her second trimester."

A pregnancy that far along was almost viable. Bile gushed up her throat. Unconsciously her hand splayed across her abdomen as she grappled with nausea.
 

Small wonder he’d had such an extreme reaction to her request for money. Unwittingly, she’d struck a vicious blow to a very painful wound.

"She returned, unburdened by an inconvenient pregnancy, and unrepentant," he said his expression grim. "She claimed there would be plenty of time for another baby, her promotion couldn’t wait."

"I’m so sorry, Keir." Compassion swamped Victoria and she crossed to his side and gripped his arm in silent support.

Intuitively, she knew he still grieved for his unborn baby.
 

"I’ll regret being unable to protect my daughter to my dying day. But I’ll never regret ending my marriage."
 

Victoria watched him, her heart aching. That he knew the sex of his baby made it very real and his ex-wife’s actions, more incomprehensible.

He’d been so protective of her and Connor during the press siege and she just she knew his inability to protect a defenseless unborn baby girl from the ultimate type of child abuse would've dealt a terrible blow to his honor and pride.

And Keir was not short on either.

"Was that why you returned home?"

He gave her a strained smile. "Not immediately. I transferred to New York. I needed a hell of a lot of distance between me and Katrina."

Having faced his blind rage, Victoria could well imagine his need. It also explained his recent engagement.

"And I’m sorry." He gripped her hands tightly. "I expended some of that rage on you today. You didn’t deserve it."
 

She glanced up at him through her lashes.

The memory of that encounter in his office sent a shiver of desire ghosting through her.

Driven and angry as he’d been, his fierce lovemaking had also been the most incredibly exciting experience she’d ever known. Just thinking about it had heat pooling in the pit of her stomach.

A tiny smile quirked at the corner of his mouth, as he shook his head, his expression tinged with amusement.

"What’s so funny?"
 

"I’ll never be able to view my desk as just a work space again," he said ruefully.

Heat surged up her neck and into her cheeks.

Something intense and vulnerable flashed through his eyes and with a soft imprecation he hauled her into his arms crushing her close.

"God Victoria! I’ve been so stupid and I love you so much. Please say you’ll forgive me." He held her away and looked into her eyes. "I need you. I need your love, your passion, your compassion."

Joy trembled as burgeoning hope spread its luminous tentacles. These were the words she’d craved to hear. Did he mean it or were they an expedient necessity?
 

Did she dare take them at face value? Or was she setting herself up for more heartbreak?

"I love you, Keir, I always have," she said quietly not quite ready to drown in euphoria. "But you knew that didn’t you?"

Guilt flashed through his expressive eyes and he nodded.

Of course he’d known she loved him. And she was as incapable of disseminating now as she had been that long ago summer. Keir had ruthlessly played on that knowledge.

Victoria refused to give in. She needed answers.

"Davina?"

He grimaced and ran a finger around inside his collar as if it was suddenly too tight. He was clearly uncomfortable.
 

"We did a deal," he admitted. "She’d be my hostess and give me an heir. I would make no further demands on her. Neither of us wanted love or commitment. After Katrina I wanted nothing to do with love or any other messy emotion." He gave her a strange look. "Then Logan brought you to Darkhaven."

She looked at him through the veil of her lashes as nerves skittered up and down her spine.
 

Did he know Logan had bribed her to visit Darkhaven with the sole intention of smashing Keir's engagement to Davina?

"I was shocked rigid," he admitted gruffly. "You were the one woman I’d never forgotten and it seemed to me you were set to marry my brother."

"That was never going to happen. Logan guessed you were Connor’s father and engineered that meeting."

"I’ve since realized that was what he was about."

"Why did you never seek me out?" It was the one question she burned to have answered.
 

He looked at her his expression sober. "You were so young. I should not have touched you that summer, but the temptation proved impossible to resist. I left that letter for you in case you needed to contact me. When you never did, I thought it wiser to leave you alone and give you time to enjoy blossoming into adulthood."

Victoria watched him, head on one side, as she weighed his words.

"Look," he said impatiently gripping her hands. "Your father was right. I was too old and hard for a gentle girl like you then."

"And now?"

"I’m still too old and hard for you."

Victoria couldn’t help it. A trill of laughter escaped. He frowned blackly, and she laughed harder. He looked so put out and so like Connor in a sulky mood, she couldn’t help it.

So he thought he was too old?
 

"What’s so damn funny?"

"You are." Her hands slid up his chest and she buried them in his sable hair whispering provocatively, "Granddad."

"You little wretch," he crushed her close, burying his face in her cropped hair. "I’ll never let you go."

"I’m counting on it." She traced his lower lip with a trembling finger.

It was all the invitation he needed. He kissed her and the incandescent passion they generated flared between them.
 

At last Keir tore his mouth hers and looked into her eyes. "Can you forgive me for what happened earlier?"
 

"On one condition," she whispered softly.

His obvious apprehension made her smile. "What?"

"Don’t wait too long to do it again. It was so exciting and you did promise me more."

"Witch," he muttered on a fierce predatory growl.

He crushed her close and her response was instantaneous as she surrendered to the tumultuous passion only Keir ever evoked.

Afterwards, entwined in his arms, the dew of passion cooling on her skin, she stirred and tried to pull out of his embrace. "Your mother, I forgot—"

Keir curved his arm around her and tugged her back against his chest. He lifted a hand and stroked it down her cheek; the tender gesture set her heart fluttering.

"I’m sure she’s figured out we’re otherwise engaged," he said grinning mischievously.

He looked so like Connor her resistance dissolved.

"She’s very astute. But I guess we should go downstairs."

With great reluctance, Victoria sat up and reached for her discarded clothes and began dressing.

Keir gathered up his clothes and began to dress. He looked across as Victoria his expression sober. "I’ve just come from Darkhaven."

Victoria refused to look at him afraid of revealing something she’d vowed to keep secret.
 

"How did you learn about Muriel and Davina?"

Startled, she looked at him dumbfounded. Surely, she’d heard him wrong. She met his laser sharp glance, unsure what to say. "You know?"

"Dad told me," he admitted quietly, watching her intently. "Muriel and Davina have been lovers for years. She’s finally left him and gone to live with Davina."

"You’re kidding?" This was the last thing she’d expected. "How’s your father coping with that?"
 

"God knows." He picked up a comb and ran it through his hair. "We were both taken as dupes. But how the blazes did you find out?"

Shaken, Victoria knew it was time for total honesty. "Dan Smales found out."

Keir’s curse was low and succinct, "That treacherous little weasel."

Victoria gnawed on her lower lip. The metallic taste of blood filled her mouth. If Keir knew this much she knew she had to tell him the rest and dreaded his reaction.

"It’s not all his fault. I asked him to find something to shut Davina and her father up. I just never expected what he did uncover."

An explosive silence greeted this disclosure. "Why him?"

Victoria exhaled the sound loud in the brooding silence. "He’s a friend of my father’s."

Keir just raised one patrician brow at that admission. And she couldn’t really blame him. Dan Smales was as shady as they come. So what did that say about her father? Not a lot.

Haltingly she explained her past association with Dan Smales and then her present predicament. His expression became even grimmer.
 

"The press will have a field day."

"No. I’ve spiked their guns."

 
He shrugged into his shirt and began doing up the buttons. "How did you manage that?"

"I couldn’t think of anyone else I could implicitly trust so I rang your mother," she said in a rush. "I couldn’t involve Logan or Caine and I’m not sure it’s safe to trust my father."