She couldn’t spend Harper money on a design she knew Sadie would hate. Her laugh sounded more like a cry.
“Katie?” Lindsay was up and rounding the breakfast bar.
“I’m fine,” Kaitlin sniffed. But she wasn’t fine. She was about to give up her career and her future for a family that wasn’t even hers.
“Don’t you love it when you know you’ve been a jerk?” Dylan asked, cupping his hands behind his head and stretching back in the padded chair next to Zach’s office window.
Zach was standing, too restless to sit down while his mind struggled to settle on a course of action.
“I mean,” Dylan continued, “sometimes you’re not sure. But other times, like this, you’re positive you’ve been a complete ass.”
Zach folded his arms across his chest, watching the clouds streak across the sky far away over the Jersey shore. “Are you talking about me or you?”
“I’m talking about both of us.”
Zach turned. He didn’t know about Dylan’s behavior, but he maintained that he’d been put in an untenable position. He never set out to hurt anyone. He was only trying to do right by his company and his family.
“And what should I have done differently?” he demanded.
Dylan grinned at Zach’s upset. “I don’t know. Maybe you shouldn’t have pretended you were married.”
“I
“I’m guessing not for long.”
Zach shook his head. “She’s not going to divorce me. It’s her leverage.”
At least he hoped Kaitlin wasn’t going to divorce him yet. He wasn’t ready for that.
Dylan crossed an ankle over one knee. “Conning her into scaling back the renovation was one thing. But you’re not a heartless bastard, Zach. Why’d you mess with her emotions like that?”
Zach felt his anger rise. What he’d done with Kaitlin was none of Dylan’s business. It was between him and Kaitlin. It was… They were…
“And what about you?” he queried, deflecting the question. “You slept with Lindsay.”
“That was a simple fling.”
“And what do you think I had?”
Dylan sat up straight. “I don’t know, Zach. You tell me.” His gaze moved meaningfully to the package of papers on the table between them.
“That’s nothing,” Zach denied. That was simply him being a decent human being, something which Dylan didn’t seem to believe was possible.
“You put nine private investigators on the case.”
“So?” Zach had wanted something fast. More men, better speed.
“So how did that benefit you?”
“It wasn’t supposed to benefit me.” It was meant to benefit Kaitlin, to put a smile on her face, to banish the haunted look that came into her eyes every time the subject of his family came up, which was nearly every second they were on Serenity Island.
But the effort had pretty much been a failure. Despite the high-end manpower, all he’d found of Kaitlin’s heritage was a grainy old newspaper photo showing her grandparents and her mother as a young girl. The family home had burned down, killing the grandparents and destroying all of the family possessions when Kaitlin’s mother was sixteen, two years before Kaitlin was born.
The picture, two names and a gravesite were all Zach had turned up.
“You still going to give them to her?” asked Dylan.
“Sure,” said Zach, with a shrug, pretending it was no big deal. “Maybe I’ll mail them over.”
“Mail them?”
“Mail them.”
“You don’t want to see her in person?”
Zach bristled. “To do what? To say what? To let her yell at me again?” Truth was, he’d give anything to see Kaitlin again, even if it was only to hear her yell. But what was the point? He’d chewed up her trust and spit it out, over and over again.
“You could tell her you sold the ship.”
“Big deal.” So Zach had come up with seventy-five million dollars. It wasn’t as if he had a choice. Kaitlin would be full steam ahead on the renovation again, and the only way he was going to get his company back was to give her the carte blanche she’d demanded. The only way to do that was to sell an asset. So he’d sold an asset. She wouldn’t give him brownie points for doing that. “You think an old newspaper photo and money I had to give her all along are going to make a difference?”
“You gotta try, Zach.”
“No, I don’t.”
“You’re in love with her.”
“No, I’m not.”
Dylan coughed out a cold laugh and came to his feet. “You sorry son-of-a-”
“I am not in love with Kaitlin.”
He liked Kaitlin. Sure, he liked Kaitlin. What was not to like?
And, yeah, he’d have stayed with her for the foreseeable future. He’d have woken up next to her for as long as she’d let him. And maybe for a few days there he’d entertained fantasies about what could happen between them long term.
But those were just fantasies. They had nothing to do with the real world.
In the real world, he and Kaitlin were adversaries. She’d wanted to save her career, and he’d wanted to keep his company intact. She’d won. He’d lost. Nothing to be done about it now but mop up after the fallout.
“I saw your face when she walked out,” Dylan offered. “I’ve known you your whole life, Zach.”
Zach turned on him. “You know
“You’re going to lie to me? That’s your next big plan?”
“I don’t have a next big plan.”
“Well, you’d better come up with one. Or you’re going to lose Kaitlin forever.”
The words felt like a stake in Zach’s heart.
He didn’t love Kaitlin. He couldn’t love Kaitlin. It would be a disaster to love Kaitlin.
He swallowed.
“What about you?” he asked Dylan.
“I already have a plan,” Dylan stated with smug satisfaction. “And I don’t even love Lindsay. I’m just not ready to let her go yet.”
“That’s how it starts,” said Zach.
Dylan’s brows shot up. “And you know this because…?”
“What’s your plan?” Zach countered.
Okay, maybe he did love Kaitlin just a little bit. But he’d get over it.
“I’m kidnapping Lindsay. She wanted a pirate, she’s getting a pirate. Can I borrow your yacht?”
“You can’t kidnap her.”
“Watch me.”
Zach took in the determination in Dylan’s eyes. And for a second there, he wished he could simply kidnap Kaitlin. If he could get her on board his yacht, he could probably keep her there for a few days, maybe even a few weeks. By the end of it, like Lyndall, he might be able to win her over.
On the other hand, she might have him arrested. Or she might throw him overboard. Or she might decide the Harper building needed to be a hundred stories high and truly bankrupt him.
Kidnapping was not a real option.
Instead, he’d give her the money. He’d give her the news clipping and the photo. Then, like the gentleman he’d once been, he’d step out of her life forever.
Three margaritas later, Kaitlin splashed cold water on her face in the small bathroom of her apartment. She
