Love by Design
“Where are you?” Natalie asked.
Logan snapped out of it. “I’m here.”
“No, you were far away.”
“Sorry, Nat. I just…it’s a lot to process. I’ve been beating myself up for so long about her that it’s second nature to me. Everything is always my fault, something that I have to fix. It’s tiring, you know? And then I found out another thing she neglected to tell me. I just…I don’t know how I’m supposed to react to this—how much more I can take.”
“In my experience, your heart usually governs how you’ll handle a thing. Sure, your mind tries to offer input, but it’s your emotions that run the show.” She leaned toward him and took his hand in hers. “At least for women.”
“Clearly,” he said drily.
“So what are they both saying to you, Logan?”
He pondered Natalie’s question.
“Hey,” a man’s voice boomed from the house.
“Yes, my love?” Natalie called back.
“We’ve got company.”
Logan turned to Natalie. “You two were expecting company?” He stood up. “I’m so sorry to intrude. I had no idea—”
“Nonsense,” she told him. “You’ll stay right here.” She stood up, linked her arm in his and started walking to the house.
When Logan saw who it was, he stopped. Natalie turned to him in question.
“What’s the matter, Logan?”
“It appears that the object of my desire has materialized.”
Natalie grinned. “This is her? Oh, honey, she’s beautiful.”
His expression was grim. “Yes, she is.”
“Look who I found,” Nigel Russo said. “Dakota Carson, may I present my wife, Natalie.”
Dakota walked forward and shook her hostess’s hand.
“A pleasure, Dakota,” Natalie said. “I see you’ve met my amazing husband.”
“Yes, I have. I’m sorry to intrude.”
Natalie went over and linked arms with her husband. “Apologies seem to be the order of the day, but definitely not needed.”
Nigel kissed his wife on the cheek, and then she nuzzled his neck.
“Excuse us,” Logan said, before latching on to Dakota’s elbow and turning back the way he and Natalie had just come.
He walked them farther into the lush gardens. When they were out of earshot, he turned to Dakota. “What are you doing here?”
“I…I came because I wanted to talk to you…about last night.”
“I didn’t want to talk, Dakota. That’s why I left. It appears someone on my staff has taken it upon themselves to play referee.”
He knew his voice held a tone of annoyance that could not be mistaken.
“Please don’t be mad at anyone at Belle Cove. I begged them to tell me where you were. I was determined to find you, and they thought it better for me if I had a driver bring me.”
“Well, now that you’ve seen me, you can make your excuses to my friends and go back to Belle Cove, Dakota.”
“Logan, I realize you’re upset and—”
“Oh, you do? That’s great. I’m so glad that you’re aware of someone’s feelings besides your own.”
She frowned. “That’s a bit harsh, isn’t it?”
“Keeping the truth from me was harsh, Dakota. My tone is just a manifestation of your convenient amnesia. Go ahead, tell me you simply forgot to mention it. Let’s hear how your coming to visit me at college, walking into my bedroom and seeing me with another woman slipped your mind.”
“I…I was hurt, Logan. And embarrassed. When I came to see you, I was going to tell you how much I cared about you, and how upset I was about us not being close anymore. And then seeing you with that girl made me realize how much I cared about you. I loved and lost you all in the same day.”
Logan digested everything she said, but his own hurt and upset would not let it go. He threw up his hands. “I don’t know why Curt didn’t mention you were there?”
“I asked him not to. I said I’d changed my mind, and you didn’t know I was there.”
“Great. More subterfuge. What else is there, Dakota? What other truths haven’t you told me? Have you ever been married before?”
“No.”
“Do you have a child I don’t know about?”
She blanched. “Of course not.”
“Don’t say it like you keeping secrets from me is far-fetched, Dakota. What it boils down to is you still don’t trust me.”
“That’s not true.”
“Think about it for a minute before you discard the notion as fictitious. You don’t trust me not to hurt you again. Everything I have said, and done, to prove myself to you since I got back doesn’t mean squat because you’re just sitting around waiting for the other shoe to drop. You’re waiting for me to mess up so you can say, ‘See, I knew you’d screw me over.’”