Sound of Secrets (21 page)

She thought of the way Mandy had eyed Tyler and said a rare prayer. It wouldn't do any good. The God she knew would probably arrange it so Mandy’s man problems turned out to be with Tyler.

Karen didn’t want Tyler, not by a long shot. She also didn’t want to listen to Mandy if she did want him.

She got out of the car and tottered a moment on her outrageously high candy-apple-red heels before catching her balance. She tossed her head and affected a suggestive wiggle that went perfectly with the tight red mini dress she’d treated herself to for her birthday.

She might be dateless on what should have been one of the most notable Saturday nights of the year, but she was damned if she would look like it bothered her. Besides, opportunity had a knack of knocking when you least expected it.

Her heart banging against her ribs at the thought of who might be inside the bar. It was a hangout of Tyler’s and on weekend nights he was more often there than not.

Of course, Gray was the one she really wanted to see.

She flung open the door, pausing long enough to cock a hip and position one long leg in front of the other, in case anyone interesting was looking. Her gaze immediately connected with Tyler’s, who raised a long, tall glass of beer and an appreciative eyebrow. His grin was slow and that much sexier because of it. Warmth kindled low in her belly traveled all the way up to her rouge-stained cheeks.

Damn the man! She was blushing like a schoolgirl, just because a tousled-haired boy she had known since childhood had grown into an insolent hunk who made no secret that he wanted her.

It was downright embarrassing. It was—

"Surprise!"

The shout came not from a single patron but from nearly every one in the establishment. Except her. She managed to stop looking at Tyler and saw that her friends filled the Dew Drop Inn. Most of them were employees of the Sun and they broke into a spirited, off-key rendition of the happy birthday song.

Karen’s eyes welled with quick, unexpected tears, and a few of them trickled down her cheeks. She wiped at them as they sang, wondering what in the world she had done to deserve such a surprise.

When the last discordant note trailed off, Mandy broke off from the group and rushed forward. She clapped her hands and grinned hugely, her eyes glittering with pleasure.

"You’re surprised, aren’t you, Karen? I don’t really have a problem. I just wanted to get you down here.”

"But..." Karen could barely speak. She couldn’t remember anybody doing anything like this for her before, not even her parents. "But why?"

"Why?" Mandy laughed. "Because you’re a wonderful boss and we love you. C’mon. Let’s sidle on up to the bar and get Gene to pour you a drink."

Some of her friends and employees closed around her. Karen included all of them in her smile, but it was Tyler she focused on. He still sat on his bar stool, his long legs crossed at the ankles and his posture relaxed.

This time, when he smiled at her, she smiled back. Later, she’d work out how she'd get it through his thick skull that she wasn’t interested. For now, she'd enjoy his admiration and the unexpected joy of being honored on a day she’d thought everyone had forgotten.

From across the bar, Gray watched the unrestrained smile Karen sent Tyler and hoped his friend was making progress.

Even if not for Tyler, Gray wouldn’t have gotten involved with Karen. A relationship would surely wreck their friendship, and his feelings toward Karen had always been more brotherly than sexual. He couldn't say the same about the woman sitting next to him.

Since he’d picked Cara up a half-hour ago, the citrusy scent that clung to her had been driving him crazy. She smelled like orange blossoms and he wanted to taste her in the worst way. He was going to, too, before the night was over. He didn’t give a damn about what Richard Lansford would have to say about that. Richard wasn’t here.

From across the room Karen let out a great peal of laughter so infectious that Gray smiled, too. "She’s happy about the surprise party, don’t you think?" he asked Cara.

"That’s because she hasn’t seen me yet." Cara crossed her arms over her chest. "You said we were going to a newspaper party. You didn’t say we were going to Karen Rhett’s birthday party. She doesn’t like me."

"Karen doesn’t know what she likes," Gray said. As he watched Tyler approach her, Karen deliberately turned to talk to someone else. Gray grinned as he watched his friend expertly insinuate himself into the conversation so that he stood between Karen and the other person.

"Who’s that?" Cara asked.

Somebody had set the jukebox to a raucous, rock-and-roll song, which gave him an excuse to move closer to her. He raised his voice. "Who are you talking about?"

Cara inclined her head. Her hair smelled so good he wondered if she sprinkled perfume on her comb.

"The tall, good-looking guy talking to Karen," she answered. "Who is he?"

"Tyler Shaw." Gray looked at his friend in a new light. So Cara thought Tyler was good-looking, did she? He wasn’t so sure he liked that. "We’ve been friends since kindergarten."

"That’s what growing up in a small town is all about, isn’t it? Long-time friendships. Loyalty. Ties to the community." She paused. "Confidences you think you can’t break."

Gray took a long drink from his beer and considered his answer. If she were a reporter, she’d make a good one.

Curtis had been sitting across the bar from him for the last ten minutes, determinedly averting his gaze. Gray had already driven a wedge into his relationship with his former father-in-law by airing his suspicions. He couldn’t destroy what was left of it by revealing them to anyone else.

"That’s the definition of a confidence, Cara," he said finally. "Trusting somebody else not to betray your word."

"Oh, there you are, Gray. I’ve been looking all over for you." Karen suddenly appeared beside him, standing much closer than he would have liked. Her perfume was heavier than Cara’s and probably three times as expensive. All it did was make him want to sneeze. After he’d wished her a happy birthday, she laid a hand that featured cherry-red fingernails on his arm and sent a smile toward Cara. "Hello, Sarah."

This time, neither he nor Cara bothered to correct her. Cara was right. Karen didn’t like her.

"You won’t mind if I steal Gray away for a minute, would you? I made a bet and the only one who can settle it is the police chief of Secret Sound."

"Why would I mind?" Cara asked.

Gray stopped short of providing her with an answer. He wanted her to mind, damn it.

He rose and let Karen lead him through the mass of humanity that seemed to represent half the citizenry of Secret Sound. When they passed Tyler, he sent his friend an apologetic shrug. Karen made a point of giving him a taunting smile.

Oh, great. Just what he needed. Karen using him to make Tyler jealous. He wouldn't have any part of it. He’d settle her bet and head right back over to Cara.

She stopped in a far corner of the bar between a pool table and pin-ball machine. Nobody was within six feet of them.

"I don’t get it," Gray said. "Where’s the person you made the bet with?"

Karen laughed up at him and stroked his cheek. Gray was uncomfortably aware that in all likelihood Tyler still watched them.

"The bet’s already settled," she said. "I bet myself I could get you away from that Connelly woman. So I win."

"Karen—"

"Want me to tell you about the next bet I made with myself?" She moved closer until her body pressed against his. Gray hoped like hell Tyler wasn’t watching this. Then he had another, worse thought. What if Cara were watching? "I bet I could get you to kiss me."

She wasn’t tall enough to reach his mouth unless he dipped his head, but she tried. Her ruby-red lips landed on his chin, and Gray gave up on tact. He very gently, but very firmly, placed his hands on her shoulders and moved her back from him.

"Karen, stop," he said. "I don’t want this, and neither do you."

Her eyes flashed, hurt and anger mingling in them. Exactly the expression a little girl who doesn’t get her way might wear. Her body, so soft and welcoming a moment before, went rigid. "It’s because of Tyler, isn’t it? That’s why you won’t come near me."

"It’s not because of Tyler." Gray ran a hand through his hair. "I mean, yes, it is. But it’s not, too. I’ve known you all my life, Karen. You’re like a sister to me."

"So was Suzy," Karen snapped, "and you married her."

"Things with Suzy were..." Gray paused, searching for the right word. "...different."
"You mean because she was pregnant? Is that what it takes, Gray. Is that the only way you’ll commit to a woman?" She shook her head. "No wonder Suzy did what she did."

He frowned. "Did what she did? I don’t understand."

"Of course you don’t," Karen hissed. "You men can be so obtuse. Suzy was in love with you, but you hardly paid her any attention. So she set out to seduce you so she could trap you into doing what she wanted."

"What are you saying?" Gray whispered. In the background, a sad-voiced singer on the jukebox crooned about unrequited love.

"I’m saying you’re a sucker. Sweet little Suzy didn’t get pregnant by accident. She lied, Gray. She lied because she wanted you to marry her.

"She never had a miscarriage, either, because she was never pregnant."

Something was troubling Karen. After a lifetime of watching her, Tyler knew the nuances of her expressions, from the way she played with her jewelry when she was nervous to how she bit her lower lip when something wasn’t right in her world.

Her pretty white teeth had been gnawing at her lip for the better part of the hour, wearing off most of her red lipstick. Her smile, so full of warmth earlier in the evening, had turned brittle. Her energy seemed low, as though she no longer had the stamina to keep avoiding him.

She sat in a booth talking to Freddie Long, a perfectly nice middle-aged man who would have inspired tremendous jealousy in Tyler if he hadn’t been happily married with three kids. Tyler waited until Freddie had said goodnight and left the bar before slipping into the bench seat across from Karen.

She glared at him. "What do you want?"

She was trying to put him off by being rude and unpleasant. The slight trembling of her lower lip gave her away, though.

"To know if you want to talk about it," he said.

"Talk about what?"

"What’s bothering you."

"That’s rich, Tyler. What are you now, a mind reader? It’s not enough to tell me you’re going to be my lover and send me flowers and ask me to dinner and then ignore me for days, now you have to read my mind, too?"

"Whoa. Back up there. I plead guilty to most of that. What do you mean by saying I ignored you?"

"Oh, never mind." Karen raised a hand and swiped at the air. "Even if something was wrong, and I’m not saying it is, what makes you think I’d talk to
you
about it?"

He shrugged and tried not to smile. Even when she was distraught, she had spunk. He rested his elbows on the table and his chin on his hands. "Maybe because I’m interested in whatever you have to say."

She lifted her chin and shook her head violently. "But why? Why are you interested in me? My God, we grew up together. You know what I’m like, Tyler. You know I can’t stick to a job, much less a man. Why are you bothering with me?"

"You’ve stuck with your job at the Sun for almost a year now," he said, "and no one can fault you for divorcing a jerk like Wes Summerfield."

"How can you possibly know the divorce wasn’t my fault? How do you know I wasn’t having affairs behind his back? How do you know I wasn’t the jerk instead of him?"

"I know you, Karen," he said with as much sincerity as he could muster. "You’re tough and vulnerable and funny and big-hearted and loyal. You probably realized fairly soon after the wedding that marrying Summerfield was a mistake, but you didn’t cheat on him."

She cursed. "So what? Managing not to cheat on somebody for five years isn’t that big of an accomplishment. I’m tired of hearing Wes wasn’t good enough for me. Maybe I wasn’t good enough for him."

"Well, ain't that a darn foolish thing to say."

"Maybe I’ve never been good enough," Karen went on as if she hadn’t heard him. "Do you know Gray and that reporter who’s been tailing around after him came to talk to me today about my brother."

"They came to talk to you about Skippy?" He couldn’t keep the surprise out of his voice.

"They asked what I remembered about him, and I told them what I could. But I didn’t tell them I don’t have clear memories of my brother being alive. All I can remember is him being dead. It’s funny. I know my parents love me. I
know
that. If they didn’t, I wouldn’t have had to grow up with those infernal bodyguards. But I also know nothing I ever do is good enough, because I’m not Skippy. I’m not the one they can never get back."
"You’re being too hard on yourself." Tyler reached across the table and covered one of her hands. She was so distraught that she let it stay there. "You’re not giving yourself enough credit for the kind of person you are."

"Want to hear what kind of person I am, Tyler. Tonight I told Gray, who’s never done anything to hurt me, that Suzy lied about being pregnant so he’d marry her. And you know why I did that? I did it because I was piqued that he wasn’t paying enough attention to me."

The news traveled through Tyler and jarred. Tyler had suspected as much about Suzy; he’d never expected to have it confirmed. "How could you have told him that?"

"I told him," she said, "because I’m a bitch."

Tyler frowned at her. She’d been wrong to tell Gray about Suzy’s deception, but he still wanted to lessen her burden. Besides, Gray had been beating himself up for years over the disservice he’d done Suzy. Maybe it would do him good to realize Suzy was the one who had done him wrong.

"Maybe it’s not such a bad thing," Tyler said. "Now that Gray knows the truth, he might be able to let go of all the guilt he feels for never being able to love her."

"Oh, for God’s sake. What do I have to say to convince you?" As if she had just realized he was holding her hand, Karen yanked it out from under his. "Okay, here’s another one. You know that reporter?”