A Heart Revealed (10 page)

Clearing his throat, he returned to his seat and sat back, forearms flat on the armrests and eyes fixed on her tearstained face. “So . . . how can I help you, Rose?”

She fished a handkerchief from her purse and dabbed at her face. “You must think I’m crazy,” she whispered, avoiding his eyes. “Coming to see you like this, your employer’s daughter, engaged to another.” She drew in a shaky breath and looked up, a mix of fear and pain in her face. “But I had to, Sean. You see, I’ll be a married woman in less than two months and I . . .” A lump shifted in her throat. “I needed to know . . . something.”

A hint of alarm curled in his stomach, and he eased farther back in his chair, desperate to distance himself. “What?” he asked, his voice little more than a croak.

She chewed on the edge of her lip, drawing his eyes to the fullness of her mouth, and heat tracked up the back of his neck. He forced his gaze back to hers and shifted, uneasy with the conversation.

“I guess it’s no secret that I’ve had . . . eyes for you since I was a young girl—”

Jolting up in the chair, he pressed his palms to his desk. “Rose—”

“No, Sean, please . . . hear me out?”

He swallowed hard and sat back, sucking in a deep breath that stalled in his throat.

“I know I’ve made a fool of myself, especially when I kissed you in the storeroom that time.” She looked away, a rise of color in her cheeks. “So I’m here to apologize for that.”

A reedy breath slowly seeped from his lips. “Apology accepted.”

“And to find something out . . .”

His stomach clutched.

“You see, I’ve done my best to love Chester, really I have. Father’s crazy about him, you know . . . or at least crazy about his money, but I . . .” A faint shiver emanated from her petite frame as she glanced up, her eyes naked with longing before she quickly looked away. “Father’s forcing me to marry him, but I don’t love him, hard as I’ve tried.” Her shoulders sagged and she slumped in the chair, her gaze pinned to the front of his desk and lost in a vacant stare. “Mother says I will eventually, that most marriages start out without love. She says true love is only a fairy tale, but I . . .” She gnawed at her lip again while twisting the diamond on her left hand. “I don’t believe that . . . not when I still may have feelings for someone else.” Her eyelids flicked up then, revealing the heart of her statement. “Feelings for you . . .”

She rose from her chair before he could open his mouth to speak, and when she rounded his desk, he shot to his feet. “Rose—no! You don’t have feelings for me.”

“But how will I know, Sean, I mean really know?” She placed a trembling hand on the edge of his desk and moved forward, a quiver lacing her voice. “Soon I’ll be walking down the aisle to spend my life with a man I don’t love, and I need to put these feelings to rest.”

He stood his ground, resisting the urge to step back. “I agree, and the best way to do that is to go home—
now
—to your fiancé.”

“No! I’m sorry, Sean, but I can’t.” The frantic volume of her words underscored the trembling lift of her chin. “Not until I know if these feelings are gone. I was willing to marry Chester, truly I was . . . until last month. You see, I had a dream about you. You kissed me in that dream, and I haven’t been able to think of anything else.”

“It was only a dream, Rose, a figment of your imagination.”

She bent forward, a thread of challenge in her tone despite the wounded look in her face. “Was it a figment of my imagination when you kissed me in the storeroom?”

His jaw dropped. “You kissed me, as I recall, although ambush might be a better word.”

“But you responded!” Moisture welled in her eyes as desperation strangled her tone. “Can you deny it?”

Heat crawled up his face, tapping into a well-hidden temper. He leaned in, hands low on his hips. “I’m a man, Miss Kelly—that’s liable to happen when a woman throws herself at me.”

Two doleful brown eyes blinked back, dribbling more tears. “I don’t believe that. A man doesn’t just return a woman’s kiss unless he wants to . . .” A lump bobbed in her throat. “Unless he has some kind of feelings for her.”

“Rose, I
don’t
have feelings for you—”

“You said that in my dream too, Sean, but it wasn’t true. I kissed you and you responded just like in the storeroom that time, and suddenly I knew—knew that underneath all your denial, you actually care. Don’t you see? I
have
to do this! I have to find out for sure, before I walk down that aisle.” Her gaze flitted to his lips and held, skyrocketing his pulse.

He stepped back as shock coursed through his veins. “For pity’s sake, Rose, you’re engaged to another man—what kind of woman are you?”

She stepped close and poked a finger to his chest despite tears brimming her eyes. “A woman who wants to make good and sure she’s not attracted to one man before she marries another. And there’s only one way to find out. So you may as well kiss me, Sean O’Connor, because I’m not leaving till you do.”

He crossed his arms, certain he’d never met a more stubborn woman—outside of Charity, that is. His jaw shifted as he steeled his voice. “Go home, Rose, there’ll be no—”

Her lunge took him by complete surprise, causing a gasp to choke in his throat. She was maybe five foot three, but the force of her petite frame sent him sprawling back in the chair so hard that she rendered him speechless. A condition that suited Miss Kelly just fine, apparently, as she clung to his neck while parked in his lap, lips fused to his. He could smell the rose scent of her hair and feel the press of her hands as she clutched him close, and for several paralyzing seconds, heat infused his body like a blast from the wood-burning stove at the back of the store. All reason fled, and with a slam of his heart, he found himself responding with a fervor that stunned him so much, he jerked back in the chair.

“No!” he said, chest heaving as he tried to shove her away.

“I knew it!” she cried, water welling once again. “You care for me—you do!”

Shame stung his cheeks as he attempted to rise. “Not in that way . . .”

She clutched him tightly. “Yes, you do—I knew it!”

“Rose!” He pushed her back, fingers pinched hard on her arms and no recourse but the truth. “I may be attracted to you, but I don’t want you—ever!”

The brutal impact of his words appeared to deplete her completely, and with a painful shudder, she crumpled in his hold, body quivering with sobs.

The sight of his own sisters’ tears had always unnerved him, and it was no different now. Fraternal instinct kicked in, and he pulled her to his chest, stroking her hair to calm her down. “Rose—you’re only twenty-two and I’m thirty-four, almost thirty-five. That’s twelve years difference, and the truth is, I have no plans to marry anyone—
ever
—not just you.” His words set off another round of weeping, and his heart constricted. “Trust me, Chester is perfect for you—he’s young, wealthy, and he’s in love with you, I’m sure—”

“B-but I don’t love him . . .”

Her pitiful wail increased in volume, and Sean closed his eyes, his lips sporting the seeds of a smile. “You will in time, if you just give it a—”

“For the love of Jezebel, what in tarnation is going on here?”

Sean’s eyes flipped open, glazed in shock as Mr. Kelly loomed in the door, slack-jawed over the sight of Rose in his lap. With a harsh gasp of air, Sean bolted to his feet in a knee-jerk reaction, plunking Rose to the wood floor in a noisy flail of arms.

“Dash it, man, are you crazed?” Mr. Kelly plucked her up in mere seconds, clasping her to his chest as she sobbed in his arms. “What the devil is going on here?”

“Mr. Kelly—I was just consoling her, I swear—”

“
In your lap?
” The man’s voice cracked on a high note, and Sean felt the blood drain from his face.

“Sir, it’s not as it appears . . .”

“Oh, really?” His eyes were slits of rage as he patted the back of his wailing daughter. “For the love of all that’s good and decent, O’Connor, the woman’s engaged. So help me, if you took advantage of her—”

“No, sir, I swear—”

Mr. Kelly shook his daughter with a white-knuckled grip. “Did he, Rose? Tell me now—did he kiss you?”

Rose quivered as she stared, first at her father, and then at Sean. She turned away and gave a shaky nod, eyes rimmed raw with weeping.

“Rose—no, tell him the truth, please!”

“Are you calling my daughter a liar on top of everything else?”

“No, sir, I swear, but things are not as they seem. Rose, please—”

She seemed to sway on her feet as she closed her eyes with a shift in her throat. “I can’t marry Chester,” she whispered.

Sean’s body went numb.

“What?” Her father rattled her small frame until the silk tie bobbed on her chest. “What do you mean you can’t marry Chester?”

“I mean,” she whispered, lips parted to draw in a shaky breath, “that I refuse. I don’t love Chester. I’m in love with . . .”

The air seized in Sean’s lungs.

Rose jerked free of her father’s hold. Pained eyes flicked toward Sean for a brief moment before returning to her father’s scarlet face with a rigid rise of her shoulders. Her arm rose like a guillotine before her quivering finger condemned him to death. “. . . 
him
.”

Sean stared, unable to blink, the whites of his eyes as dry as the tongue pasted to the roof of his mouth.

Mr. Kelly gasped, followed by a series of wheezes that suggested he was choking.

“You need water.” Sean was midstride when his employer’s glare singed him to the spot.

“No, Mr. O’Connor,” Mr. Kelly rasped, the twitch of his bulbous nose a deadly sign. “I need vindication.” He turned to his daughter, foul temper oozing from every pore. “You . . . ,” he said with an ominous stab of a meaty finger, “I will deal with at home.”

“But, Father—”

His grip drew a faint cry from her lips, leaving no room for rebuttal. “Leave now or I will truly embarrass you in front of the man that you ‘love.’”

Sean winced.

Casting a watery look at Sean, Rose fled, weeping. The door slammed behind her.

“Mr. Kelly, I’m sorry about this, but I can explain—”

“Sorry doesn’t even begin to cover what you will be, Mr. O’Connor, when I’m done with you. Do you have any idea what you’ve done?” He stepped forward, beady eyes as hard as the knot in Sean’s chest. “I trusted you with my store, my money, my livelihood. And how do you repay me? By seducing my daughter—”

“No! That’s not true—” Sean clenched his fists at his sides, fighting to contain his anger.

“And a woman engaged to another man, for pity’s sake—”

“Let me explain—”

One bushy gray brow lifted in scorn. “Explain? Yes, I’m sure that would be rich, your tale as to how my daughter suddenly found herself in your lap.” He crossed burly arms and blistered Sean with a glare. “But spare me the details, please. The only explanation I want is why you would stab me in the back after I’ve supported you all these years?”

“Mr. Kelly, my loyalty to you has been unquestioned.”

“Yes, until now.” He gave a sharp nod at the ledger on Sean’s desk. “Tell me, Mr. O’Connor, have we made our numbers this month?”

Icy prickles nicked at his skin. He looked away. “No.”

“I see. Or in the last six months?”

He closed his eyes while the truth bled the air from his lungs. “No.”

“And you speak to me of loyalty?”

Sean’s head jerked up, eyes burning his sockets. “For the love of God, there’s a depression—”

“Yes . . . there is. A terrible time that can squeeze the loyalty out of any man.” He drew in a deep breath and leveled a hard gaze. A nerve flickered in the heavy flesh of his cheek. “Are you skimming the coffers?”

“What?” Blood leeched from Sean’s face.

“You know—stealing. Cooking the books. Robbing me blind. You get my drift.”

Fury swelled in his chest till he thought he would choke. “How dare you accuse me of that!” he said, fists clenched at his sides. “I have done nothing but give you my all these last seventeen years, earning you a profit by the sweat of my brow.”

“Your all? You mean like you were trying to give my daughter just now, stealing her heart like you’ve stolen my money?” A sneer lifted the corner of his employer’s mouth. “Lester’s had his suspicions of you for a long time, and now I see it’s all true. A profit, indeed—no doubt by marrying Rose to secure your job at this store.
And
her money.”

Shock paralyzed him for several seconds before white-hot anger seared through him like a high-voltage wire. “No, Mr. Kelly,” he said, his breathing lethal with rage. He slammed the chair into the desk with such violence, his cold cup of coffee teetered on his desk, sloshing liquid all over the books. A spasm leapt in his neck as he seized the ledger and hurled it across the room. “That would be your nephew, and I’m not Lester.”

His employer’s eyes glittered as if he had won. “No, you’re not,” he said, his voice as slick as the sweat on his brow. “You see,
he
has a job. You have one week’s notice beginning today, and so help me, if you don’t honor it, neither you nor your staff will receive this month’s pay.”

Sean’s rage siphoned out with the slam of the door, leaving only the sound of his own ragged breathing as he stared, unable to move. His eyelids flickered shut, heavy with the realization that his life as he knew it was over. He had been one of the lucky ones—a man who stood in authority while others stood in soup lines. Happy, carefree, unfettered by poverty or the need for a woman. But in the blink of an eye—or the brand of a stolen kiss—everything had changed, leaving him with a future as bleak and cheerless as the front page of the
Herald
.

As if in a stupor, he moved to his chair and slumped in the seat, his mind weighted with thoughts of impending doom. His body felt limp and lifeless, not unlike his future at the moment, and with an involuntary shudder, he lay his head on the back of the chair. Out of nowhere, the memory of Rose’s kiss assailed his brain, unleashing a roll of heat that stunned him to the core. His harsh gasp hung in the air, prompted by a realization so sinister, it shivered his spine. Not only had he been stripped of his job today, but apparently his immunity to women as well. And with the combination of the two, Sean suddenly knew—as sure as the endless breadlines that trailed past Mr. Kelly’s door—that when it came to bad news, the
Herald
had nothing on him.