’m not sure what the answer to that is, but I promise to give it serious thought once I understand what you’re getting at. Whatare you getting at?” he added curtly.
Sickened, Kate decided to tell him what he evidently needed to hear. , Mitchell, here’s the way it went: The day I left you at the Enclave in St. Maarten, I went straight to the villa and packed my suitcases like a good little fool, then I waited for Evan. When he arrived, I told him I’d met you and that I thought we had something special.”
he said what?” Mitchell bit out.
trying to list the revelations in the order of their heartbreaking effect, Evan told me that he’d met you at Cecil Wyatt’s party, that he’d told you my name and that I was going to be at the Island Club with him. He also told me about your childhood and the reasons you hate his father and him. Then he asked me if I knew you were staying on Zack Benedict’s yacht, building a house on Anguilla, and living in Chicago with Caroline Wyatt.” Shaking her head at her stupidity, she finished, was so insane about you that none of that mattered, except for the one thing that I couldn’t invent an excuse for.”
was that?” he asked tautly.
Kate paused to center a candle on the table and then said, one thing I couldn’t ignore was that you’d let me talk about Chicago while you acted as if you’d never been here. You even asked me how long it takes to fly from Chicago to St. Maarten. As far as I know, there are only two reasons why a man hides from a woman the fact that he lives in the same city she does: either he’s married, or he has no intention of seeing her again when they’re both back in that city. I wanted to believe that you might have a third reason, so do you know what I did?”
He put his hands on her shoulders to stop her from sitting down and drew her back against his chest. did you do?” he asked, his lips against her hair. Refusing to struggle, Kate stood there, looking straight ahead. “I called you at the Enclave to ask you why. They told me you’d checked out. I thought that had to be a mistake, because I remembered the way you stood on the balcony and told me to ‘Hurry back.’ ” Trying unsuccessfully to keep her voice steady, Kate went on, there I was, with my suitcases all packed, standing in the villa, facing the ugly truth: You seduced me to get even with Evan, then you sent me back to the villa to break up with him, reminding me to hurry back to you. And then you checked out of the hotel.” Drawing a shaky breath, Kate said, “I cried my heart out on Evan’s shoulder. I cried so hard that I finally fell asleep, and when I woke up the engagement ring Evan had brought to St. Maarten was on my finger.”
Mitchell’s hands tightened, turning her around almost roughly and pulling her tightly against him. after you left for the Island Club, Billy called me and told me my brother’s body had been found. I checked out of the hotel, then I made arrangements with Zack for you to cruise the islands on his yacht during the day.” He laid his jaw against the top of her head, his hand drifting soothingly up and down her spine as he continued, “I have my own plane, and I intended to fly back and forth every night to wherever the yacht was docked so we could spend the nights together. I waited for you at the wharf in Philipsburg until it got dark, then I called the vet and he told me that you and another man had picked up Max hours before. I couldn’t believe you’d left me waiting there.”
I was four months pregnant, I went to Gray Elliott’s office and saw pictures of you waiting for me,” Kate said. meant everything to me to see that. At least I knew you’d never intended for me to go back to the hotel and learn that you’d checked out.”
His hand pressed her cheek to his chest as he asked, did you find out you were pregnant?”
couple of weeks after I saw you at the Children’s Hospital benefit. You must be wondering how I got pregnant—”
know how you got pregnant,” he said huskily. even know, to the minute,when it happened.”
was on the pill, but I’d taken some migraine medicine that interfered with it,” Kate added, taking shameless pleasure in being held in his arms even if he was only telling her half-truths. “Why did you treat me the way you did when I saw you at the benefit?”
His laugh was short and grim. told you exactly why that night, without meaning to. I felt like a jilted, heartbroken lover. I had no idea until a moment before you walked up to me that Evan Bartlett was your boyfriend.” His hand curved around her nape, his thumb forcing her chin up, and he looked at her with tender solemnity. “We lay in bed and watched the sun come up though we could hardly hold our eyes open, because neither of us wanted to miss out on a minute of being together.”
Lowering his head, he touched his mouth to the corner of hers. missed you so much, for so long,” he whispered. missed our magic.”
Kate was lost.
Chapter Forty-nine
HOLLY REACHED INTOKate’s refrigerator, took out two bottles of water, and held out one to Calli. you like one?” she asked.
Calli looked at her, smiled politely, shook his head no, and said in Italian, are very beautiful. I would rather have you.”
Understanding only the negative shake of his head, Holly said, ’ll take that to mean no,” and put one bottle back into the refrigerator.
She glanced over her shoulder as Kate came out of the bedroom wearing her third possible outfit for dinner with Mitchell that night. The other two choices were draped over the sofa in the living room. He’d taken Danny shopping, and they’d been gone since eleven that morning. dressy?” Kate asked, pirouetting in front of Holly as Calli looked on from beside the kitchen island.
, but I like the blue wool better.”
Frustrated and uncertain, Kate decided to ask the opinion of a man who knew Mitchell’s taste. Reaching over to the sofa, she collected the other two dresses and held them up one at a time while she looked questioningly at Calli. Mitchell?” she asked.
Calli grinned, pointed confidently at the black sheath, and said in Italian, will be in a hurry to get it off you tonight, so wear the one with the zipper instead of the buttons.”
, the black sheath it is,” Kate said. ,” she added with a warm smile, using one of the two Italian words she knew.
Calli nodded and said, have a mouth made for kissing, but Mitchell is like a brother to me. Also, he would cut out my heart if he thought I noticed.”
must take a lot more words to say something in Italian,” Holly observed. Then she added solemnly, , please be careful with your heart. Mitchell broke it the last time, and it was scary to see what happened to you afterward. You’re falling in love with him all over again.”