Ready-Made Bride

He lifted a questioning brow.

“There’s something I want to ask you.” Her velvet blue gaze remained steady on his. “Something personal.”

Something she obviously didn’t want Andy to overhear. “Fine, but you might want to put this on.” He grabbed an extra jacket and tossed it at her. “It’s cool outside.”

She slipped on the sheepskin-lined jacket and zipped it, then cuffed the sleeves to her wrist. He knew her scent would cling to the fleece lining. He knew he’d never be able to wear that jacket-his favorite in the winter-without thinking of her.

He flipped on the porch light and ushered her onto the wide veranda. She sat on the swing he’d made for Cathy as a wedding gift. The chain creaked from her slight weight and years of inactivity. He didn’t join her. He didn’t plan on sticking around long enough to get cozy.

“Is there a problem?” he asked.

“I heard a rumor today.” Her voice was a soft, hushed whisper.

His body tensed, and he had to force himself to relax. Bracing his back against the porch post by the stairs, he strove for a flippant attitude. “Let’s see, which one might that be? That I’m a horrible father and neglect my son? Or maybe the one about me being a recluse? Then there’s the one about how I’m on the verge of bankruptcy-”

“What about the one about you killing your wife?” she asked calmly, though her fingers curled tightly around the swing’s intricately carved wooden armrest.

His heart slammed against his chest, then resumed at a frantic pace. Sweet Lord, he could have dealt with any one of them but that one. He could have coped with anything but the tenderness and understanding in her gaze. She was waiting, hoping he’d deny the accusation.

“It isn’t a rumor.” He forced the words out, his voice rough and raspy.

Fear flashed across her features, then just as quickly anger took its place. “I’d appreciate it if you didn’t ridicule me.”

She thought he was joking. Bitter laughter spilled out of him. “You don’t know the first thing about me, Megan, except for what Andy has told you. And what you don’t know you won’t like. So, like the situation with the Lindens, I suggest you leave it alone.”

“No.” She came out of her seat and toward him, fiery determination etching her features. “I want to know why people would say such a horrible thing.”

He glared at her, giving in to the masochistic urge to scare her. “Because maybe there’s a bit of truth to it.”

“I don’t believe it,” she said softly and with so much certainty he almost believed her.

He compressed his mouth into a thin line and clenched his hands to keep from reaching out to touch her. “Then you’re a fool.”

A faint, challenging smile lifted her mouth. “They’re the fools if they believe you’re capable of hurting anyone.”

But he had hurt Cathy, if not physically, then emotionally. The fear that he could do it again to another woman kept him from caving in to Megan’s gentleness. “Believe it, Megan,” he said harshly, and turned to go.

She grabbed a fistful of his jacket sleeve and pulled him back around with more strength than he would have thought her capable of. “Damn you, quit hiding! You might be able to fool the entire town, but you don’t fool me. Whatever happened to Cathy, you weren’t responsible. She drowned, Kane. You told me so yourself.”

“I drove her to it,” he said furiously.

“Did you hold her under the water?” she countered heatedly.

Her sarcastic question hit too close to the truth. The fight went out of him, draining away his burning anger. “I might as well have.”

She frowned, her eyes brimming with confusion. Letting go of his arm, she stepped back, her gaze searching his face for answers. “I…I don’t understand.”

Dragging a hand roughly through his hair, Kane turned away. Megan didn’t deserve his anger, no matter how long the emotions had been pent up without a release. Finally, someone cared enough to listen to him instead of theorizing about what happened between him and Cathy. The truth squeezed like a vise around his lungs, the pressure nearly unbearable. God, he wanted to tell his side of the story so badly, purge all the bitterness, resentment and guilt eating him up inside.

Blowing out a long, steady breath, he gathered strength. “I met Cathy when I was twenty-three, and she was twenty,” he began, moving across the porch away from Megan. If he was going to do this, he had to detach himself from her as much as possible. “Cathy actually pursued me, and despite knowing that her parents expected a better catch than me for their only child, I fell hard for her. She was young, pretty, and fun to be with.” And he’d had so little excitement, growing up so quickly. Cathy’s vivacity had brightened his dull life and made him feel a little reckless. “Six months after we started dating she got pregnant.”

The swing creaked as Megan settled herself onto the bench seat. “I take it the Lindens weren’t too happy about that.”

He glanced at her, his mouth twisting into a parody of a smile. “Hardly.” Being pregnant had come as a shock to Cathy, too, who’d feared her parents’ reaction. She’d been so upset, she’d suggested having an abortion. Kane’s stomach pitched at the memory. He’d been furious that she would even consider such a heartless alternative. “I wasn’t about to give up my child or neglect my responsibility to Cathy. I did love her, and I wanted to marry her.”

And for the first six months of their marriage he believed they could be happy together. But after the novelty of being a housewife wore off, Cathy had grown bored and decided she wanted more than Kane’s little house, an old truck and living on a budget She wanted all the luxuries her parents had showered on her, but Kane couldn’t afford them on his wages from the sawmill.

Thrusting the tips of his fingers into the front pockets of his jeans, he stared at the moon. “After Andrew was born, Cathy’s father, who’s the president of the Linden Trust and Loan bank in town, offered me the position of vice president of operations, with a hefty salary that was more than triple my yearly wages at the sawmill. Cathy asked him to give me the job.” He couldn’t help his sharp tone.

“Regardless, that’s quite an offer.”

“I couldn’t…” His jaw clenched and he bit back his words. “I didn’t want the job.”

Her voice softened with empathy. “Pride got in the way?”

“Yeah, that was part of it.”

“And the other part?”

The other part was too humiliating to reveal. “I hate wearing a suit and tie,” he said in answer to her prompting.

She smiled at his smart remark. “That would definitely be a problem, but not something you couldn’t adjust to.”

This woman sensed too much and was relentless in her pursuit. “Not only did I not want to depend on the Lindens for the rest of my life, or be indebted to them, my experience is limited to scaling trees, cutting footboards and working in the bush. I know nothing about banking or holding an executive position.”

“You could have learned,” she said, pushing the swing into motion with the toe of her sneaker.

That’s what he and Cathy had argued about until he’d finally made her understand that he’d never be able to take the fancy banker job or be a successful businessman like her father. “I was more than capable of supporting my family working at the sawmill,” he said, repeating the adamant words he’d told Cathy that fateful day.

“But not in the way she was accustomed,” she guessed.

“No, but we weren’t living in poverty, either,” he argued. “I could take care of my own family without the Lindens’ help.”

“And Cathy resented that.”

She’d resented that he’d never be anything more than a blue-collar worker. And she’d been so humiliated she never told her father the real reason Kane had refused the executive position, just let Harold believe his son-in-law snubbed a golden opportunity.