to know up front.”
“Okay.” She waited for the first bombshell to drop.
“I’m not in love with you, and I doubt I ever could be.”
She saw past his statement to his subconscious ploy. He was trying to secure those walls of his, erecting them like a steel fortress around his heart.
“Do you care about me?” she asked, tilting her head curiously.
A startled look passed over his features, immediately masked by a frown. “Yes, but don’t mistake it for love.”
She dismissed the warning in his words. Caring was a good enough start for her. “What else do you want me to know?”
“I’m no good at being married,” he said gruffly. “I already told you how disastrous my first marriage was.”
She glanced at her lap to conceal her smile. She was quickly learning that Kane tried to intimidate her whenever he was feeling vulnerable or threatened. She took it as a positive sign. “I’ll take my chances. What else?”
“The town has their own opinion of me, and my in-laws can’t stand me.” He rested his arm along the back of the swing, stretching his shirt taut across his chest. “By default of marriage, you’ll have to put up with your share of conjecture.
In time, she hoped to remedy the situation with the Lindens. “I already told you I can handle the town’s speculation. As for your in-laws, be grateful you only have one set to put up with.” She pushed the swing into action with the toe of her shoe. “Anything else I need to know?”
“I prefer being alone.” His tone was low but lacked the harshness he would have displayed less than a week ago.
“I don’t believe that.”
“Okay, the nights get cold and lonely,” he admitted, a brief, rakish smile lifting his lips. “Which brings me around to my next stipulation.”
“Which is?”
He fingered a strand of hair near the side of her neck, then gently tucked it behind her ear. “A marriage of convenience is out of the question.”
Her pulse tripped all over itself, and she dampened her suddenly dry lips with her tongue. “Meaning?”
His fingers fluttered along her neck to the pulse thrumming at the base of her throat. The soft, butterfly caress made her nerve endings tingle and the tips of her breasts tighten. He must have noticed her soft catch of breath, because his gaze darkened with a sensual hunger that matched her own.
“Meaning?” she prompted again, her voice husky.
“Meaning, you sleep in my bed, every night, and I want my husbandly rights.”
Those wonderful fingers of his continued their light, provocative dance up the side of her neck, making her shiver and nearly groan.
He smiled. “I want you, Megan. Considering the way you respond to my touch, I believe the feeling is mutual.”
Oh, it was, and her body was responding in ways that made her ache for a more intimate contact than the two feet separating them allowed. There was no way she’d refuse something she wanted so badly. He made her hot and restless, and feel more desirable than she had in years.
“Are you agreeable with my terms?”
She nodded, not trusting herself to speak.
“Any stipulations of your own?”
He arched a dark brow. “You want your wifely rights?”
Sensing him relaxing and growing comfortable with her, she took a gamble. “Kane, I don’t want any lies or secrets between us.”
His body visibly tensed. Dark shadows passed over his features, drawing him into his protective shell where no one could trespass. “Everyone has secrets,” he said roughly.
“And I shared mine with you, about my divorce and my past.”
His bitter laughter grated on her nerves. “You know that I killed my wife.”
She didn’t bother correcting him. “I think there’s more.”
As if she’d crossed a fine line, he narrowed his gaze. His eyes flared with emerald heat. He leaned toward her, his lips curling into a feral smile that should have sent her bolting into the house. It would have, if he hadn’t reminded her of a wounded animal trying to ward off an enemy. But she wasn’t the enemy, and that thought kept her rooted to her seat.
“They call them secrets for a reason, Megan-because they’re better left buried,” he said, his voice harsh.
“And sometimes you have to trust someone enough to share them.”
“Trust
She looked at him. Her heart sank at his grim expression. This certainly wasn’t the romantic proposal of her first marriage, but then Phillip hadn’t turned out to be the prince of her dreams, either, she reminded herself. “That’ll be fine. I’ll start settling my affairs in Seattle.”
He nodded curtly and opened the door, but paused on the threshold to glance at her. “Be sure about your decision, Megan,” he said in a flat tone. “Divorce isn’t something I’ll consider in the future.”
He walked into the house, leaving her feeling cold and lonely but not regretting her resolution to remain in Linden as Kane’s wife and Andrew’s new mother. Life and time, she’d learned, had a way of working out all the rough spots.
“I can’t believe you talked me into this,” Kane muttered as they walked up the cobblestone walkway to the Lindens’ elegant two-story Victorian home.
Megan smothered a smile. Kane would never admit it, but she knew he was nervous about attending the annual birthday party the Lindens threw in Andrew’s honor, especially since the Lindens didn’t know they were coming.
“If we’re going to be a family, we need to start acting like one.” Switching Andrew’s birthday present to her other arm, she hooked her hand through Kane’s elbow and gave him a light squeeze that did nothing to ease his rigid posture. “So smile and try to make the best of it.”
He glowered at her, trying to hide the dread in his gaze. It seemed to increase the closer they came to the Lindens’ front door. “Kinda hard to do when I’d rather be anywhere but here.”
She didn’t doubt that, but if Kane didn’t already realize it, she was relentless when it came to something she believed in. And more than anything, she wanted Kane and the Lindens to put the past aside and reconcile. “Look how happy you’ve made Andrew.”
Kane’s expression softened as he watched Andrew skip ahead of them. Since learning that morning before going to school that his father and Megan planned to get married, he’d been blissfully happy. After a boisterous “Yippee!”, he’d skipped around the living room proclaiming, “This is the best birthday present ever!”
Megan’s heart swelled at the memory, and at the warm way Kane had smiled at her. And for one perfect moment, she believed he truly could love her.
“Hurry up, Megan and Dad!” Andrew waited at the double oak doors with etched glass insets, fidgeting impatiently.
Megan grinned. “Don’t worry, the party can’t start without you.”
As soon as they climbed the porch stairs, Andrew flung open the front door without knocking and rushed inside. “Guess what, everyone!” he shouted gleefully.
As they stepped in, Megan kept a firm hold on Kane’s arm so he couldn’t retreat at the last moment. The house was packed with adults and children. Balloons and streamers decorated the entryway, and in the adjoining living room a clown was busy entertaining the kids with magic tricks.
