Love's Deception (3 page)

“I see.”

Carissa turned to face her. “You do?”

“No, but finish the story.”

“That’s it. This all happened in the past twenty-four hours. I figured I’d go back to the hospital later today and check on him.”

“Which one—the father or the son?”

“The father, of course. I think it’s in my best interest to avoid the son. There’s something unsettling about him.”

Helena’s brows shot up. “Really? How’s that?”

“I don’t know. He seems dark and jaded somehow.”

Her aunt crossed her arms. “Sounds to me like you two have a few things in common.”

“What do you mean?”

“Dark? Jaded? Have you looked in the mirror lately?”

Carissa rolled her eyes.

“All right. I’ll shut up—for now. You’ve already been through a lot dealing with this situation. So why don’t you go and get some rest? You look exhausted. I’ll unpack, and when you wake up, I’ll have a nice little lunch prepared for us.”

“I have to admit that sounds tempting, but I probably should just grab a quick nap and rush on over to the office. I can probably make it in by noon.”

“You’ll do no such thing. You’ll sleep, then pretend to be a gracious hostess and have lunch with your aging aunt.”

Carissa opened her mouth.

“And I won’t hear another word about it. Now off to bed.” Helena waved her away.

“Fine. I give up.” Sighing, Carissa headed out of the room, feeling as though she were six years old again.

Helena smiled. “I think this little visit is just what we both needed.”

Carissa groaned.

N
athan wanted to, but he couldn’t force himself to leave the hospital. What in the hell was wrong with him? He’d performed his duty as a son, despite being unprepared to fight the ghosts of the past. It was time to return to his life, time to forget what he’d seen here—and what he was feeling.

In his mind’s eye, he remembered the last time he’d seen his father. It was days after he’d returned home from Vietnam. Nathan shook his head at his crazy effort to search for a lost father. Was he insane?

But what if he had lost him yesterday?
No sooner had the question crossed his mind did he regret asking it. An unexpected rush of tears blurred his vision. “Hell, I never had him,” he muttered under his breath.
In the back of his mind, he knew that wasn’t true. Throughout his childhood and even as an adult, he’d thought of his father. However, he’d never been able to forgive him.

Nathan found a pay phone, then cursed at his inability to find change in his pockets. Gina’s constant nagging for him to purchase a cell phone echoed in his head. Grudgingly, he called the operator to place a collect call.

“I accept,” Gina told the operator, then launched a series of questions at her employer. “How are you? Have you seen him yet? Do you need me to come to Atlanta?”

“Fine, yes, and that won’t be necessary,” he answered, then allowed an awkward moment of silence to elapse.

“I’m a great listener,” she suggested.

“That’s the reason I called.” A much-needed smile lifted the corners of his lips. “I don’t know how long I’m going to hang out down here.”

“You take as much time as you need. Aria has already called and she completely understands the situation. She wanted me to remind you that she’ll be in Atlanta next week for that promotional party.”

“I doubt that I’ll be here that long.”

“I have to admit we were a little bewildered yesterday.”

Nathan nodded against the phone. Most people believed his real father had been dead for years. So no doubt his father’s miraculous materialization sur
prised everyone. But he’d deal with that later. “I was wondering if I could ask you a favor?”

“Anything. If you want me to go over and feed George, I’ve already taken care of it.”

He smiled at the thought of his loyal German shepherd. “You’re a doll.”

“I’m glad you’ve noticed.”

“I know I can always count on you.”

“You just deal with your father and call me if you need anything.”

“Will do.” Nathan hung up, then placed another call.

“Hello.”

“Guess who happens to be in the neighborhood?”

“Well, I’ll be damned, Nate. What are you doing in town?”

“I guess there’s no way for you to know this, but Travis is in the hospital.” As he expected, a long silence trailed his announcement.

“So you came to see him?” His stepfather’s voice lowered.

“I know. I’m not quite sure how I feel about being here, either. Hell, to be honest with you, I’m surprised I came.”

“So am I.”

Nathan shook his head. What did he expect? A thirty-year-old rivalry still existed between the two men. And without his stepfather actually saying anything, Nathan sensed that his own loyalty was in question.

It was a feud he’d understood at times, then had been completely mystified by at others. However,
before the war, the men had actually been the best of friends.
We would have died for one another
, his stepfather had quoted numerous times in the past. But circumstances change, and everyone’s lives traveled different roads.

“Are you game for getting together later on?” Nathan asked.

“Would you rather I come there?”

The offer rendered Nathan speechless. “I can’t ask you to do that, but thanks anyway.”

“Well, I just want you to know that I’m here for you.”

Nathan smiled. “Of course. I know that.”

“Good.” His stepfather’s voice perked.

“Back to the reason I called. I thought that since I was going to be in town for a little while that maybe we can get together for dinner or something.”

“Well, now, that would be nice. Do you still have that apartment in town?”

“Yeah, lucky for me. Last month I was thinking about selling the place.”

“You know you’re always welcome to crash here. In fact, it would be a great chance for us to play catch-up. Are you still seeing that anthropologist?”

Nathan rolled his eyes heavenward. “You mean India?”

“Ah, yes. A beautiful name for a beautiful woman.”

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. We broke up a while back.”

“Anything you want to talk about? I know a thing or two about women.”

“Is that all, a thing or two?”

“Son, that’s all a man can hope to achieve on the subject in one lifetime.”

They laughed.

“Nate, how about you call me around three on my cell phone and we’ll compare schedules then?”

“Sounds like a plan.”

By the time the call ended, Nathan’s spirits had lifted.

Hanging up, he exhaled a long, tired sigh and retraced his steps back to the ICU. Once there, his nerves had calmed and a certain type of peace settled within him as he stared down at his father. As he watched, he couldn’t help but wonder where his father’s mind traveled…

Chicago. April 2, 1966

Captain Travis Edwards of the United States Army rapped on the Plexiglas in the nursery, trying in vain to grab his newborn son’s attention. Pride expanded the young officer’s chest while he waved and mouthed the words, “Hello, fella.”

Nathan returned a lopsided grin, which Travis took as a sign of exceptional intelligence. A world of future possibilities floated in Travis’s head.

A heavy hand slapped across his back. “Congratulations, Captain. I see you finally did something right for a change.”

Travis shook his head and answered his best friend,
Smokey, without a backward glance. “Jealousy’s a bitch, ain’t it?”

His friend’s boisterous laugh stole another smile from Travis. “I really did do something right this time, didn’t I?”

“Yeah. I’d say by the way that li’l guy’s beaming at you, you got yourself a fan for life.”

“Trust me, buddy. I have no plans on screwing this assignment up.”

“Well, good luck to ya. The worst you can do is turn out to be like my old man. Congratulations again. I got to head on over to the club. I’ll catch you later?”

“Yeah, sure thing. I’ll tell Val you stopped by.” Travis continued to watch his son in the nursery, enjoying the strength of the newly formed bond.

For months, he and Val had been preparing for a little girl. They’d even picked out the name Natalie, named after his eccentric grandmother. Now the name had been modified to Nathan. Visions of baseball and football games materialized in Travis’s head, and a double dose of testosterone pumped through his veins.

Later, Travis peeked in on his wife and smiled at her sleeping form. “I’m a lucky man,” he declared and eased inside the door. She was even more beautiful now than the day he met her.

As if sensing his presence, her eyes fluttered open. “Hi there.” She smiled.

He loved her husky vibrato, the gentle curl of her hair and the warmth of her eyes. “Hi there yourself.”
He rested a hip against the bed, then leaned down and kissed her.

“Have you seen him?” Pride made her smile wider and even more beautiful.

“Yeah. He’s something, ain’t he?”

“Isn’t he,” she corrected playfully. Her few years as an English teacher made correcting everyone’s grammar a habit.

“
He sure is
.”

They laughed, then just gazed at each other. A pool of love deepened within their hearts, making words unnecessary to express how they felt.

Travis reached for her hand and kissed her wedding band. “Our little family is growing.”

“I think this is the happiest day of my life.”

“What about our wedding day?”

“It’s a close second.”

“I think they both tie for first place.” He laughed.

“I love you,” she whispered.

“I love you more.” He kissed the ring again. “You’re going to make a wonderful mother.”

“And you’re going to make an excellent father.”

N
athan reached into his pocket and pulled out a crumpled piece of paper he’d received from Gina and stared at the name Elizabeth Townsend, administrative assistant of Cartel Enterprises.

From what he understood from Gina, this was the woman who’d called about his father. Nathan contemplated contacting her to find out what happened yesterday. As the thought crossed his mind, a contradicting thought questioned why he even cared.

“I’m going to drive myself crazy with this.” He balled the paper back in his fist and swore under his breath. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a familiar outfit. His mind raced back to the beautiful woman he’d clashed with that morning.

Despite the shame of his earlier behavior, he raced after the figure. When he rounded the corner, he stopped in his tracks. It wasn’t her.

He took a calming breath to slow his accelerated heartbeat. A strange reaction, he thought as he turned and went in search of the cafeteria. In retrospect, he had to admit that the woman he’d discovered by his father’s side was gorgeous. So much so, he realized his harsh words were more out of jealousy than anger.

When he remembered that the nurse had identified her as his father’s fiancée, he shook his head. The woman was too young for Travis.

A few minutes later, Nathan sat relishing his first jolt of caffeine for the day while worrying over Travis’s condition. In the back of his mind, he wondered if there was something he should do. Anything would be better than this waiting game.

He warmed to the thought. Maybe he could use this time to learn more about what had happened. He remembered the slip of paper and retrieved it from his pocket. The first place he would try to get some answers would be Cartel Enterprises.

“You murdered my father!” Fire simmered in Nathan Edwards’s gaze and burned a hole through Carissa.

She stepped back and mouthed the word
no.
The accusation rumbled in her head like a freight train, rendering her powerless against the field of guilt it left in its wake.

He matched her movement, bearing down on her as if preparing to attack. “I should give you a taste of your own medicine. Maybe you’d like it if I stripped you of everything—robbed you of your dignity. I’d love nothing more than to wipe that ‘holier than thou’ smirk off that smug face of yours. Maybe afterward, I’d discard you like a piece of trash.”

Backed against the wall, she shook her head, still unable to voice any protest.

His head lowered, his hot breath rushed against her face.

“You like playing God, don’t you?”

Unshed tears stung her eyes. His anger broke her heart. He
had
stripped her—with his words and disgust. She’d never felt this vulnerable—this ashamed
.

“It’s only business. It’s not personal.” She managed to whisper. Tears of remorse crested and splashed over the rims of her eyes.

“It sure as hell doesn’t
feel
like business
.”

Carissa turned her head, drenching the pillow. “No,” she cried out, then bolted upright in bed, stunned and disoriented by her surroundings. “Christ,” she mumbled and rubbed an open palm across her face. “It was only a dream.”

She glanced over at the clock, not surprised that she’d slept well into the afternoon.

Shape up, girl
, her father’s voice demanded inside her head. She groaned in response.

Jumping out of bed, she rushed to get dressed. A list
of things to do scrolled through her head. When she bolted out of her room, a waft of smoke stung her eyes and the stench of something burning assaulted her nose.

“What in the hell?” She headed toward the kitchen.

“Good, you’re finally up,” her aunt said with a quick glance over her shoulder. “I hope I didn’t wake you up with all of this.” She waved her hands frantically trying to dissipate the billowing smoke.

“Why didn’t the alarm go off?”

“Oh, that. Well, I always unhook that before I start cooking.”

“Cooking? Since when do you cook?” Carissa turned on the fan over the stove.

“Actually, I just started taking lessons six weeks ago. And I’ve been having a wonderful time. I have this one partner who makes the most wonderful meatballs.”

Carissa could only manage to stare at her aunt.

“Well, maybe we can talk about it another time.” Helena dusted the flour from her hands, then removed her apron. “I see you’re not up to it right now.”

Carissa made a sign of the cross before shaking her head.

“Please stop that. You’re not Catholic. I swear I don’t know why your father sent you to that school.”

“To get me out of his hair, if I remember correctly. Come on. Help me get some of these windows open in here before we pass out from smoke inhalation.”

“All right. But I don’t think it’s really that bad.”

“Speak for yourself, Auntie.” Carissa laughed. “By the way, what on earth made you want to start taking lessons now?”

“Well, to quote my fourth husband, it’s never too late to teach an old dog new tricks.”

“If you ask me, this seems to be a very dangerous trick.”

“That’s why I didn’t bother to ask you. I probably shouldn’t have tried such a complicated dish, but I was trying to impress you.”

“What were you trying to make?”

“Meat loaf.”

It took everything Carissa had not to laugh, but it didn’t help. Her aunt saw straight through her.

“Fine. You’ll know the next time I try to do something nice for you.”

Carissa pulled her aunt into her embrace and laughed. “You know I’m so happy you’re here.”

Helena smiled. “Well, of course you are, dear. We’re going to have a great time.”

“I’m sure we are. But right now I need to run over to the office.”

“Why? It’s three in the afternoon. The workday is practically over.”

“I know. But I’m just going to run over and pick up a few things. I promise I won’t stay long.”

“Is this a promise from Carissa or from C. J. Cartel?”

“What difference does that make?”

“The difference is C.J. is infamous for going back on his word.”

“I object.”

“Overruled. If I know anything, I know the reputation of the figure you’re trying to emulate.”

“What are you talking about? Carissa and C.J. are one and the same.”

“Now
I
object. I don’t think you’ve completely sold your soul. But if you have, I’m here to help you get it back.”

“My hero.” Carissa smiled. “Now I have to go. Are you going to be able to entertain yourself while I’m gone?”

“You’re joking, right?”

“Good. I’ll call you when I’m on my way back home.” She kissed her and rushed to get dressed.

Liz was living a nightmare. The phone continually rang off the hook, while she tried to coordinate her daily duties. She was used to a busy office, but today was ridiculous.

“Cartel Enterprises.”

“Yes. I’d like to speak with an Elizabeth Townsend.”

Her brows lifted with curiosity at the deep bass vibrating over the line. “This is Ms. Townsend. How can I help you?”

“Actually, I’m not quite sure,” he responded soberly. “You called me yesterday. My name is Nathan Edwards.”

Liz’s grip tightened on the receiver. “Oh, Mr. Edwards. I’m happy you returned my call. When I spoke with your assistant yesterday, I thought—”

“A lot has happened since then.”

His voice was layered with such raw emotions, it tugged at Liz’s heartstrings. “I’m sorry, Mr. Edwards. I know this is a very hard time for you.”

Silence trailed her apology. For an instant, she thought the call had somehow disconnected.

“Thank you,” he finally said. “I was wondering if perhaps I could come by your office and talk about what happened yesterday.”

Her mouth gaped open. “You want to talk to me?”

“Will that be a problem?”

Wide-eyed, she glanced around the office. “Well, I don’t know.”

“You don’t know?”

“I mean, I guess not.” Dread seeped into her veins. She had a bad feeling about this. But what was she supposed to do?

“Good,” Nathan exclaimed. “Where is your office located?”