King’s Million-Dollar Secret (9 page)

However it had ended between them, Rafe knew he couldn't ignore Leslie's request for help. Maybe he was finally letting the past go—along with the regrets and the stinging sense of failure memories of his marriage inevitably dredged up.

“Call my assistant Janice tomorrow,” he told her. “She'll give you however much you need.”

She let out a relieved breath and gave him a grateful smile. “Thanks. To tell the truth, I didn't really think you'd help.”

“But you asked anyway.”

“Had to,” she said, her gaze steady and honest. “I can't stand seeing John worried and upset.”

Rafe studied her. “You really love him.”

“I really do,” she said simply.

That should at least sting, he thought, but it didn't. Not anymore. And, if he was honest with himself, Rafe could admit that when Leslie had walked out, it had been his pride, more than his heart, that had been affected. What did that say about him? Was Leslie right when she told him that he simply wasn't capable of love?

“Les, when we were married,” he asked quietly, studying the label on his beer bottle as if looking for the right words, “did you feel that way about me? Would you have protected me if I needed it?”

“You didn't need me, Rafe,” she said softly. “You never really did.”

“I loved you.”

She smiled and shook her head. “No, you didn't.”

Irritation spiked. “I guess I know what I felt.”

“Don't be so insulted,” she said, giving him a patient smile. “I know you cared, but you didn't
love
me, Rafe. I finally got tired of trying to get through to you.”

He straightened up, set his beer down and stuffed both hands into his jeans pockets. “I seem to recall you telling me I was incapable of love.”

She blinked at him, stunned. “No, I didn't.”

“Yeah, you did,” he argued.

“For heaven's sake, Rafe,” she countered, “why would I say that?”

“Funny, I asked myself that a few times.”

“Honestly, Rafe, this is one of the reasons we didn't work out,” she told him with a shake of her head. “You never
listened
to me. I never said you were
incapable
of love. I said you were incapable of loving
me.
”

He shifted his gaze from Leslie to the view beyond his windows. The sun was sliding into the ocean, dazzling the waves in a brilliant crimson light. A cool breeze danced in through the open balcony doors and he turned his face into it. “Either way, you were right.”

“No,” Leslie said. “I wasn't.”

She reached out and laid one hand on his arm. “Rafe, don't you get it? You didn't love me and that hurt. So I wanted to hurt you back.”

She hadn't hurt him, he realized now. She had just driven home the point he'd learned long before her. That love was something you had to be taught when you were growing up. And that was one course Rafe had never gotten.

Leslie tipped her head to one side and looked up at him. “Who is she?”

“What?” He stiffened, instantly retreating into privacy mode, shuttering his eyes, closing down his expression. He took a long, metaphorical step back and distanced himself as much as possible from the curiosity in Leslie's eyes.

“Wow,” she murmured, staring at him as if he'd just performed a magic trick, “you still do that so easily.”

“Do what?”

“Lock yourself away the instant anybody gets close. Used to make me crazy,” she admitted. “It was as if you were on a constant red alert—just waiting for a sneak attack on your heart so you could defend against it.”

He resented the description, but Rafe really couldn't deny it, either.

Shaking her head again, she said, “Don't do it, Rafe. I mean, with her, whoever she is, don't do this. Let her in. Risk it.”

“Yeah, because my track record is so good.”

“You don't need a track record to love someone,” she told him. “All it takes is the
right
someone.”

“Like John?” he asked.

“For me, yes. Exactly like John.” She let her hand fall from his arm and added, “You know, John misses your friendship. You didn't have to cut him loose because of what happened between us, Rafe.”

Yes, he did. Because he couldn't look at his friend without knowing that somehow, John had been able to do something Rafe had failed at. He'd made Leslie happy when Rafe couldn't. Kings didn't like losing, probably because they weren't very good at it. Thankfully, the Kings didn't have to deal with that situation often, since they rarely accepted failure.

But in these last few minutes with Leslie, Rafe could admit that whatever he had once felt at losing her was
now gone. She was married, happy and a mother. Leslie had moved on, just as his brothers had said. Maybe it was time he did the same thing. Should he really allow one failure to dictate the rest of his life?

“I've missed John, too,” he admitted finally. And since that statement didn't leave a bitter taste in his mouth, he heard himself ask, “How are the kids?”

Her face brightened instantly and her smile went wide and heartfelt. “They're terrific. Want to see some pictures?”

“Sure.” It only took her a moment to get her purse and pull out her wallet. Then she was flipping through pictures of two beautiful kids, each of them with her hair and John's eyes. He looked at those shining faces and felt the slightest ping of envy at the proof of his ex-wife's current life. “Nice-looking kids.”

“They're great,” Leslie said. “And John's a wonderful father.”

“I'm glad for you,” he told her and surprisingly enough, he meant it. Odd, Rafe thought. Before, when he'd thought about Leslie, there had always been a thread of sadness sliding through him. His failure. His mistake. Now, he felt nothing like that. Instead, his thoughts were filled with images of Katie Charles. Her smile. Her laugh. The feel of her skin beneath his hands.

Leslie was the past.

Was Katie the future?

“Are you okay?”

“What?”

Leslie studied him. “You looked worried there for a second.”

Worried? Him? Rafe frowned slightly. He didn't
worry. He acted. “No. Not worried. Everything's fine.” He paused and then surprised himself by adding, “I'm glad you stopped by today, Leslie.”

“Yeah?” She grinned. “Now there's something you wouldn't have said even a year ago.”

“True,” he admitted ruefully. “But I can say it now.”

“She must really be something, your mystery woman.”

“You know,” he said thoughtfully, as the last of his baggage from his failed marriage fell away, “she really is.”

“Then don't blow it, Rafe,” Leslie told him. “For your own sake, let her in.”

He already had, he realized now. Hadn't meant to. Hadn't even been aware of it. But somehow Katie had gotten past his defenses and now he had to figure out what that meant for him. For them.

“I should be going,” Leslie said. She picked up her bag and walked over to slip into her heels. “Thank you again for doing this, Rafe, and I will pay you back.”

“I know. Just…call Janice tomorrow.”

“I will. Oh, and don't be mad at Declan for letting me into your place. I won't do it again.”

He nodded, watching her prepare to return to her own life and world.

“There's one more thing,” she said softly. “I'm sorry about how we ended.”

He snapped her a look and noted that her smile was genuine and the tears were gone. For the first time, Rafe could look at her and see beyond his own failures and disappointments. He realized that there weren't hard feelings anymore. He didn't need to continue to avoid Leslie or even John. The past was done. It didn't matter to him now and with that realization came a sort of
peace. So when another thought popped into his mind, he went with it.

“We could always use another legal shark at King Construction,” he offered. “Tell John to call me.”

Her smile was quick and bright. “He'd love to talk to you again, Rafe. Even without a job offer.”

“Yeah,” he admitted. “Me, too.”

When Leslie left a moment later, Rafe took a second or two to enjoy the unusual sensation he felt. For years, he'd been holding on to the failure of his marriage like a damn battle flag. Internally, he'd waved it any time a woman even remotely seemed to be getting too close. That stamp of failure was enough to ensure he'd never try marriage again. Never allow someone to matter too much. As a King, he didn't fail.

But now, he was beginning to realize that maybe his marriage to Leslie hadn't had a chance from the beginning. He'd never had a shot at making it work because he had married Leslie for all the wrong reasons.

They had both been too young to know what they wanted. Too stupid to see that getting married wasn't the natural end result of dating for a year. He had blindly pushed forward even though a part of him had known going in that it wasn't right.

The problem was, he didn't feel like that about Katie. Being with her felt absolutely right. But would it still feel that way when she knew the truth?

A
fter a long nap, Katie felt energized and a little nervous about her upcoming date. So she took moral support along when she went shopping.

“Seriously?” Nicole asked, shaking her head and grimacing. “You're not fifty years old, Katie.”

Katie looked down at the dress she had tried on and frowned to herself. It was a lovely beige silk with a high neck, long sleeves and a full skirt that swirled around her knees when she did a quick turn in front of the mirror. “It's pretty.”

“It's dowdy,” Nicole argued and handed Connor a bottle of juice.

The little boy kicked his heels against the stroller bottom and cried out, “Pretty!”

“Connor likes it,” Katie argued.

“He won't when he's thirty.” Nicole shook her head again, leaned over to a nearby rack and plucked a dress free. “Try this one. It's your size.”

“It's black.”

“And…?”

Katie blew out a breath and said, “Fine. Be right back.”

They were in a tiny boutique on Second Street. She might have had better luck in a mall, but this was closer and Katie preferred supporting the small businesses around her. After all, she was determined to be one of them someday soon and besides, the big mega stores already had a huge customer base.

She took off the beige and hung it up carefully, giving it one last wistful glance. “Are you sure?” she called out from the dressing room. “The beige one looks so elegant.”

“Try the black,” Nicole ordered from just outside the door. “Trust me on this.”

Sighing, Katie did, dragging the black dress over her head and positioning it just right. When she closed the side zipper, she looked into the mirror and instantly thought about buying a sweater.

“I can't wear this,” she complained, still staring at her reflection as if seeing a stranger. “This is so not me.”

“Let's see it.”

Katie opened the door a scant inch, barely giving Nicole a peek. But her friend wasn't satisfied with that and pushed the door open completely. Her eyes went wide and a slow grin curved her mouth. “Wow.”

Uncomfortable, Katie looked back into the mirror. Miles of skin were exposed. She'd never worn anything like this before. And what did that say about her sad, quiet little life?

Two thin black straps snaked over her bare shoulders and the bodice was cut low enough to give an excellent view of the tops of her breasts. The material was slick
and clingy and molded to every inch of her body, defining curves even she hadn't been aware of. The hem of the dress hit mid-thigh—another inch or two higher and it would've been illegal.

As it was, it was only embarrassing.

“You look amazing,” Nicole said, staring into the mirror to catch her eye.

“I can't wear this.”

“Why not?”

“It's just not me,” Katie said, fighting the urge to tug the bodice up a little higher.

“That's exactly why you should wear it,” Nicole told her, scooping Connor out of the stroller to prop him on her hip. Swinging her blond hair back behind her shoulder, she met Katie's gaze in the mirror and said, “Cordell shot your confidence out from under you.”

“True.” But she was the one who had allowed it to happen. Katie ran one hand over the front of the dress, smoothing the fabric. She studied her own reflection while her friend continued talking.

“If you keep hiding away, you're letting
him
decide your life for you. Don't you get it?”

Katie's gaze shifted to Nicole's in the mirror. “Yes, but—”

“No buts.” Nicole shook her head firmly and ran the palm of her hand across the top of her son's head. “Trust me, I know what it's like to have your self-assurance shaken. Let's pause to remember that my husband walked out on me when I was pregnant.”

“Nicole…”

“Not a bid for sympathy,” she said firmly. “I'm so over him. My point is, you should be over Cordell, too.”

“I am really,” Katie told her and realized that she had been “over” Cordell for some time. She'd been nursing
her own hurt feelings for too long, but that had stopped when she met Rafe.

Just one of his kisses was enough to sear anyone else from her mind. Her heart. Her breath caught and twisted in her lungs until she was almost light-headed as she thought about the gleam that would appear in Rafe's eyes when he saw her in this dress.

“Then what're you waiting for?” Nicole came up behind her. In the glass, the two women stood side by side, with a toddler boy grinning between them. “If you're really over that creep, then wear this dress tonight. Knock Rafe's socks off.”

Katie sent her own reflection a thoughtful smile. Slowly, she straightened up, threw her shoulders back and let the initial embarrassment she'd felt slide away. She did look good. She really liked Rafe and hiding away from what she was feeling wouldn't change that any.

“Atta girl,” Nicole whispered as if she could hear what Katie was thinking.

Katie's mind raced. Cordell King hadn't even been a part of her life for very long. Truthfully, she thought now, she had probably built what they'd so briefly shared into something it had never been. Meeting him had been so far out of her orbit that she had taken it as some sort of sign—that he was the one. She had been willingly blinded by the fairy tale, Katie told herself hollowly. Rich, handsome man sweeps poor but honest shopkeeper off her feet and whisks her off to his palatial estate.

She gave her reflection a rueful smile.

When her fantasy ended, she'd crawled back into her narrow routine and pulled it in after her, essentially cutting herself off from everything just so that she couldn't make a foolish mistake again. And who was
that
decision hurting? she demanded silently.

Cordell had gone on his merry way, leaving a diamond token in his wake, no doubt never once thinking about Katie. While she, on the other hand, had not only buried herself in work, but continued to hold off on another relationship just because she'd made one bad judgment call.

Straightening up slowly, she looked her reflection in the eye and asked,
Are you going to be alone for the rest of your life, Katie?

God no. She didn't want that. She had never wanted that. Ever since she was a little girl, she'd dreamed about having a family of her own. She had heard all the stories from her grandmother and her mother, talking about the great loves of their lives and how they wouldn't have traded a minute of it—even to spare themselves the pain of losing those special men.

What, she wondered, would she look back on one day? A great cookie recipe?

“So just when exactly did I become such a coward?” she whispered.

“What?”

She shifted her gaze to Nicole's reflection and asked, “Why didn't I see this before? Why am I hiding away? I didn't do anything wrong. I just picked a lemon in the garden of love.”

Nicole laughed and the baby's giggle echoed her. “Nice way of putting it, but yeah.”

Every passing moment filled Katie with more strength. More confidence. Right there in the tiny dressing room, she had the epiphany of all epiphanies. She had closed herself off to life to punish herself for being wrong. It didn't even make sense. Was pain so great that you couldn't risk being happy on the off chance you might get hurt again?

It was as if she could feel her old self clawing her way to the surface, brushing past the hesitant, meek Katie and tamping her down, she hoped, never to rise again.

“Who doesn't pick the wrong guy occasionally?” she demanded.

“Preaching to the choir, girl,” Nicole said ruefully.

“That's right!” Katie swung around and draped one arm around Nicole's shoulders. “
Your
guy was a jerk, too!”

Laughing, Nicole said, “Do you have to sound so excited by that?”

Katie shook her head and said, “Sorry, but I'm having a moment here. The problem's not me. It never was me. So I picked the wrong guy? So what? Doesn't mean I'll pick the wrong one again, does it?”

“Nope.”

Swinging back around to face her reflection, Katie dismissed the dowdy beige dress from her mind and instead admired the sexy black one she wore. She turned and checked herself out from every angle and finally gave a sharp nod. “You were right, Nicole. This dress
is
perfect. It's going to knock Rafe's socks off.”

“Hopefully,” Nicole added with a sly grin, “it'll knock off a lot more than his socks.”

Katie felt a flush of heat rush through her just thinking about the possibilities. Then she tugged at the zipper and said, “As soon as I'm dressed again, we're headed for the shoe department. I need some sky-high heels, too.”

“Now you're talking,” Nicole said and took her son out of the dressing room.

Katie thought about what Rafe's reaction to her might be and she smiled to herself. She was through pretending she didn't care about him. Finished trying to protect herself at the cost of her own happiness. Tonight was
going to be a turning point for her and Rafe. She was opening herself up to the possibilities.

Katie gave her reflection one last, approving glance. Nana would be so proud.

 

The restaurant sat high on the cliffs at Dana Point.

There was patio dining and then there were the booths inside, safely tucked behind a glass wall, protecting diners from the cool wind. He'd left their choice of table up to Katie and was pleased when she'd opted for the patio. From here, they could not only see the ocean, but hear the pulse of it as the water met the cliffs.

With the stars overhead and the waves crashing into the rocks below, it was probably one of the most romantic places on the coast. Rafe hadn't been there in years—but he had known it was the perfect spot for the romantic evening he wanted to have with Katie.

Looking at her now, across the table from him, with the ocean breeze ruffling her dark red hair into a tumble of curls, his breath caught in his chest. Her green eyes shone in the soft candlelight burning from behind the safety of hurricane lamps in the center of their table. Her smile was infectious as she admired her surroundings, and the urge to reach out and touch her was damn near overpowering.

He'd never forget his first sight of her when she opened her door to him. That black dress clung to her body in all the right ways. Her creamy skin was displayed to perfection and the heels she wore made her already great legs look amazing.

Everything in him went hard and tight. His heartbeat was crashing in his chest and his mind filled with sensual images of just how he hoped this evening would end.

“This place is gorgeous,” she said, shifting her gaze
back to him before turning her head to take in the restaurant behind them and the people sitting behind the glass wall. “I can't believe anyone would choose to be inside instead of out here.”

“Me either,” he said and reached for his glass of wine. He took a sip, admired the taste of it and silently toasted his cousin Travis, who owned and operated King Vineyards. The bottle of King Cabernet was perfect. As it should be. “But most women prefer to be inside where their hair doesn't get messed up by the wind.”

She turned to grin at him, flipping her hair back over her shoulder. “Not me. I love the feel of the wind.”

“It looks good on you,” he said softly.

Katie took a sip of her wine and smiled. “The wine's good, too, even if it
is
from the King winery.”

Frowning a bit, Rafe told himself he should have ordered a different wine, if only to keep her mind off the King family and her resentments toward them. Clearly, tonight would not be the night when he'd make a full confession. He would soon, though. He just had to find the right words. The right way to explain to her who he was and why he'd lied to her.

Just as he was about to change the subject, he thought better of it and decided to plunge in and try to subtly alter her opinion of the Kings.

“They can't all be bad,” he said diffidently.

“Maybe not,” she allowed and he felt a small stirring of hope that was dashed a moment later. “But people that rich are so removed from everyday life they tend to look at the world differently than we do.”

One of his eyebrows lifted. “You know many rich people, do you?”

She smiled. “No. Just the one. But he left an impression.”

“Obviously,” Rafe murmured, still wishing he knew which member of his family had hurt her so badly.

Reaching across the table, Katie covered Rafe's hand with her own and his fingers trapped hers instantly, holding on to her when she would have pulled back. She tipped her head to one side and said, “The difference between you and a rich guy is that you brought me here because you thought I'd love it. He would have brought me here to impress me. That's a big difference, Rafe.”

He shifted a bit in his chair, uncomfortable with her explanation. The truth was, he'd brought her here because he
had
wanted to impress her—but he'd also known that she would love this place. So that was sort of a compromise, wasn't it?

Still holding on to her hand, he stroked the pad of his thumb across her fingers and said quietly, “What if the rich guy really did bring you here because he thought you'd like it?”

She smiled and briefly gave his hand a squeeze. “It still wouldn't have been as special as you bringing me here, because I know that for a working guy, this place is so expensive, you wouldn't come here normally.”

The frown he felt earlier came back as he studied her. “You know something? You're a snob, Katie Charles.”

“What?” She tugged her hand free and sat up straight in her chair. “No, I'm not.”

“Sure you are,” he countered, suddenly feeling more relaxed. If he could make her see that she was being prejudiced, maybe she'd take the truth, when he finally told it, a little better. “On the strength of meeting one rich creep, you've decided that all rich guys aren't worth your time. So you're a reverse snob. As far as you're concerned, only poor guys need apply.”