“I don’t think you can fix this,” she said, but she said it gently because she did believe him when he said he cared about Kait. But hell, he was Landon James. Maybe he could. She hesitated for a minute, and then said, “It was a guest chef named Basil Hampton. That’s who she saw the night you drove her home.”
Landon’s eyes darkened. “What did he do?”
Marjorie shrugged. “Nothing, exactly. Or, that’s what it looked like from the outside. She went on one date with him after his stint at Le Fontaine ended. She’d liked him at the restaurant, but outside of it, he was a little pushy. And then she found out he was married. She stopped taking his calls after that.”
Landon waited. “Is that all?” He didn’t want to sound insensitive, but Kait wasn’t a delicate flower. There had to be more.
“He didn’t stop calling,” Marjorie said, chewing on her thumb nail again. Talking about it stressed her out. Not just because Kait would kill her, but because talking about it was like reliving it. “And then he got her address from the La Fontaine accountant, and he started showing up at her door.” She gave him a look.
“Like some other pushy guys you know,” Landon said for her. “I get the comparison. Keep going.”
“He just wouldn’t leave her alone.” Marjorie tried to explain it in a way that would make Landon understand. “It doesn’t sound scary, but it’s unnatural, you know? You don’t go on one date with someone and then start showing up everywhere they are. She started sleeping at my place because she swore she heard him outside her door at night.”
“I know,” Landon said grimly. He’d had his share of women who didn’t take the hint, who kept calling, who just happened to run into him at his favorite coffee shop. But he had a security team and 6-8 inches on most of them. He couldn’t imagine being Kait with no defenses, not even a brother who lived nearby. “What happened after that?”
Marjorie shrugged. “She moved. He got her new address from the accountant even though Kait had told the restaurant management what was going on. I guess they didn’t believe her. His wife was—is,” she corrected herself, “—gorgeous.”
“That’s not what it’s about for men like that though,” Landon said. “He could be married to the most beautiful woman in the world and be screwing her twin sister on the side. It wouldn’t matter. It’s about power. He wanted her, and he couldn’t have her.”
Marjorie nodded slowly. “Exactly. And as long as she was at La Fontaine, he had it over her. She tried to go to another restaurant, but everyone in the city knew him. He spread the word that she was obsessed with him. They brought her in for interviews just to check out the lunatic stalking Basil Hampton. She finally found out about it through some of her friends.”
Landon’s hands had curled into fists as Marjorie spoke. “So she left the kitchen for good,” he finished grimly. “And she stayed the fuck away from men after that, too.”
“Except Paul,” Marjorie said fondly. “But I don’t think he was exactly pressuring her, if you know what I mean.” Paul had been the perfect safe place to land after the fallout from Basil Hampton. Sensitive, beautiful, and terrified of who he really was.
“Just so you know,” Landon said, “I’m not Basil Hampton. This isn’t one sided, this thing between us. I won’t pretend like I haven’t pushed her, but she feels it, too.”
“I know,” Marjorie said, her forehead wrinkling. “But if you push her too hard, it’s not going to happen. Be patient. Let her come to you.”
“Patience isn’t my strong suit, and I’m not sure she will.”
“Did you come to me for advice or not?” Marjorie demanded. “You may have known her longer, but I know her now. If you let her, she’ll come to you. If you push her, she won’t.”
“Fine,” Landon loosed his fingers from the tight clench they’d been in since Marjorie told him about Le Fontaine and Basil Hampton. “I’ll give her space, if that’s what you think she needs.” He stood up, his mind on the next step.
“And one more thing,” Marjorie said, and Landon looked down impatiently. “You have to send Simone back to New York before Kait gets back to New Canton. I get what you were doing, and I’m not saying it didn’t make Kait come to terms with how she really feels, but now she’s just going to be an obstacle.”
Landon nodded, “Already done.”
“I’m sure her wife appreciates it,” Marjorie said, and Landon gave her a crooked smile.
“You knew all along?”
“I thought she looked familiar. I looked her up later. You’re lucky Kait is oblivious to celebrity culture.”
Landon looked down at her, and understanding flowed between them. And then he left, his face set in the hard lines of a man on a mission.
Landon had never deliberately set out to destroy a man before. A business, sure, but not an individual. So he called up the only person he knew who likely had.
“It’s exactly the same as going after a business,” Carter said easily. “And he’s a chef? Landon, he is his business. Ruin his reputation, take down his restaurant, and drive him out of town.” Even through the phone, Landon heard the dry swish of Carter dusting his hands together as though to brush off the remains of Basil Hampton.
Landon was uncomfortably reminded of what had happened to the LeClarks fifteen years ago. This isn’t the same, he told himself. The LeClarks had been innocent. This man was the furthest thing from it.
“What did he do anyway?” Carter asked.
Landon hesitated, considered telling him but thought better of it. “He cut me off on Lexington Avenue.”
“Destroy him.”
And so Landon did.
It wasn’t as easy as Carter made it sound. Simone, to whom he did tell the truth, helped to smear his reputation among
