Exposed to You (One Night of Passion 2)

“You knew? Did she come in here and talk to you before she left this morning?”

“No. She told me she planned to leave last night.”

Everett realized he was gawking. His heartbeat started to pound in his ears. How could this be possible? How could Joy have told Seth that she planned to break things off with Everett this morning, then return here and share such a soulful, intimate night with him?

“What the hell is going on here?” Everett demanded.

Seth blinked. Everett realized the question had cracked out of his throat like a blistering whip.

“What did Joy say in the letter?” Seth asked, nodding toward it.

“That she doesn’t think things would work out between us.” He lifted the piece of paper and read a portion word for word. “‘In the end, our lives are just too different. I would disappear in the largeness of your world, and you’d be suffocated by the smallness of mine. I think after I go away, you’ll see the truth of that quickly enough.’” Everett dropped the letter abruptly, where it crumpled next to his thigh. “Well?” he prodded Seth.

Seth shrugged, his expression unmoving. “Isn’t your answer right there?” A frown flickered across his stoic features when he saw Everett’s disbelief. “I’m sorry, Everett. If it helps any to know it, I told Joy that I thought you really cared about her. But it’s her choice, in the end. I can’t stop her from doing what she wants. I never could,” he added quietly under his breath.

Everett glanced, aghast, from Seth to a somber-looking Katie. They didn’t understand. They didn’t know what had passed between Joy and him last night. They had no idea how singular their initial attraction was, how unique their growing feelings toward each other were.

Sadness crossed Katie’s face. Or was it pity? He felt a twisting sensation, like someone had just reached into his gut and rung his intestines. He’d been kidding himself. Deluding himself. This intense attraction he had for Joy . . . this incredible, swelling feeling . . . this growing love . . .

It was all on his part. Or mostly, anyway.

Christ. He really was cursed when it came to this business.

“Everett,” Katie said in a strained voice, but he could tell by her hopeless tone she didn’t really expect him to halt in his exit out the front door.

* * *

“Shit,” Katie cursed succinctly when the door shut after Everett with a thud.

For a few seconds, Seth and she stared at each other. Did he feel as helpless as she did?

“He’s never really fallen for a woman before like he has Joy,” she said. She examined her daughter, whose energetic sucking had slowed as her delicate eyelids started to close. She sighed and removed the bottle, setting it on the table.

“Do you really believe that?”

Katie looked up at the stark question. Seth stood on the other side of the table.

“I don’t believe it. I know it. Everett and I are very close. He hasn’t been all that . . . lucky in the romance department.”

Seth gave a small derisive grunt.

“Shame on you,” Katie said.

“What?” Seth asked, incredulous.

She frowned and studied her daughter’s peaceful face. “You seem like a smart man. You work in the land of make-believe, just like Rill and Everett. Surely you aren’t silly enough to fall for all the smoke and shadows. You’re one of the people responsible for making the fantasy. Surely you know there are real people behind the screen of illusion.”

“But Everett—Everett Hughes”—Seth specified, waving toward the door—“has never fallen for a woman like he has my niece?”

“I don’t understand why that’s so shocking,” said Katie, firing up. “Lots of people don’t fall in love until they’re in their thirties or forties. Have y

ou found the woman you’d sacrifice just about anything for?” She studied his stunned, blank expression. “I didn’t think so. Why should Everett be any different from you? And by the way, you sound awfully cynical in regard to your niece. If you haven’t noticed, Joy’s gorgeous and kind and amazingly modest, considering all her talent and gifts. To be honest, I’m not surprised at all Everett has fallen for her. He hates artifice, even though he thrives in the midst of it. Joy is fresh and understated and . . . and . . .”

“What?” Seth prompted, no longer looking taken aback by her outburst, but interested.

“Well, sort of haunted, to be honest,” Katie said regretfully. “It’s the kind of combination a man like my brother would find irresistible.”

“He would think her being haunted was irresistible?” Seth asked, sounding mildly offended.