Winter Interlude (50 page)

His mood soared higher
.
Since he’d gotten behind on work, he planned to accomplish as much as he could before driving to Tahoe this afternoon
.
He’d confront them together and see what was what
.
Of course, there was always the possibility that somehow his thought processes were still screwed up
.

What if she really did love James
?

“Nah,” he said, shaking his head
.

He grinned and focused on eating his breakfast, eager to begin the day
.

~

“
M
aybe next time,” James said, mildly disappointed that
Kate
was bailing on the trip to Tahoe
.
“Okay
.
Don’t be a stranger.” He hung up, leaned back in his chair, and swiveled to take in the view
out
the spacious wall of windows
.

In the two days since she’d broken up with him, he’d waited for the pain to hit
.
Since
all he’d felt was a sense of relief
—
once the shock had worn off and the bruise to his ego had eased somewhat
—
he couldn’t dismiss her claims
.
True,
Kate
had her faults, but he should have made more of an attempt to talk things out rather than hide his head in the sand.
No one deserved that, especially
Kate
.
H
e
ha
d
been a tad selfish and self-absorbed for not putting her needs in front of his own
.
The thought brought him pretty low
,
and suddenly he wanted to help
.
But how
?

He
focused on
the busy street below
and a few pedestrians who were waiting at the light
.

Kate ha
d been evasive when he’d asked a second time about last weekend
with Paul, claiming to have met someone
who changed her life
.
Somehow,
he sensed that was a smoke screen
.
Was she not going because of
this new guy
or some other reason
?
Like Paul’s presence?
Maybe he was
the
someone
who changed her life. As crazy as it sounded,
the possibility
did fit with Paul’s actions.

He’d
called earlier to inform
James
that he’d be joining them
.

Interesting way of wording it
…j
oining
them
.
Paul had obviously known that
Kate
was invited
.
Of course, she was friends with Judith, who was friends with Paul, so he saw the connection
.
But there’d been something in his voice, a steely resolve that said he was gearing up for a fight
.

Even more intriguing
.
Why is Paul gearing up for a fight
?

No reason, unless there was more to their weekend than both let on
.
Yep!
There was something up between his brother and
Kate
and he planned to find out exactly what
.

Had they slept together
?
No
!
He couldn’t see either doing that
.
But what if they’d wanted to sleep together
?
He shook his head at the absurdity of that thought
.
They were always at each other’s throats
.
Still
,
it had to be something
.

He stood and moved to his drafting table
, shoving the problem aside for now
.
Designing
the entrance to Kirkland’s of
fice building was a priority.

T
wenty minutes
later,
James swore under his breath and tossed his pencil aside
.
He rubbed his eyes, giving up all pretense of work, as one thought that tenaciously kept creeping back into his consciousness wouldn’t allow him to concentrate
.
Kate
and Paul had feelings for each other.

He had to admit the idea explain
ed
a lot, mainly
Kate
’s sudden decision to break up
.
A total
reversal
on her earlier stance
.
Since her sister’s engagement, she’d been
determined to receive
a marriage proposal
.

There was
also
Paul’s attitude during those phone conversations over the past week, which
piqued his curiosity
in the first place
.
One thing he knew for sure
.
If those two were suddenly attracted to each other, something
—
or rather
,
someone
—
was keeping them apart
.

Judith Reid
—
the ice queen
—
an apt nickname earned in college
.
She had
a
cool demeanor and more than one good man felt her chill while trying to melt some of the frost coating her heart.

They shared a family connection, yet he rarely came into contact with her
. When
he did, mutual dislike aided his avoidance
.
In other words, she’d always kept her distance, which had been fine by him
.

Thinking of her brought back memories from college
—
one in particular
.
A party during his last week in
g
rad
s
chool when Judith’s icy glare had frozen Devon McAllister on the spot
.
His good friend and fraternity brother swore it was a forgettable incident, but James had always wondered what had happened that night
.
Mac was a man women flocked to and gushed over
.
Few ever turned him away
.
But Judith did, and he suspected Mac had
never
really forgotten it
.

Paul had been after Judith
, too,
for
years
with no real success
.

James never understood either man’s attraction to her
.
Maybe the desire for something unattainable was the lure. It really didn’t matter
.
Besides, how could he judge someone else’s life, when his own was such a mess
?
H
e was no hypocrite
, but he had
always wondered if Paul really loved Judith
.
P
erhaps
he was in love with the idea of being in love
,
just as
Kate
had been
.

How in the hell had all their love lives gotten so messed up
?

He shook
his head
and
picked up his pencil
.
Well, he planned to do something about it
.
I
n the meantime, he could have a little fun with Paul.

Smiling at the thought, he was finally able to focus on work.

P
aul arrived at the house in Tahoe first, after stopping at the store along the way
.
He quickly turned on both the water and the heat, then went back to unload the car.

D
one unpacking and emptying the groceries, he noted the clock on the stove
.

Close to six
.

He opened a bottle of water and downed half, wondering when
Kate
and James would be arriving.

He headed for the master bedroom, intending to light a fire
.
As he positioned the logs into place, memories of
Kate
and their shared time together sprang forth and in response, an intense longing engulfed him
.
Damn
,
he missed her
.

A fire suddenly didn’t seem such a great idea
.

He wandered to the living room and sat on the sofa
, then
grabbed his laptop
.
Adjusting the Wicks portfolio would keep him occupied until he could confront his brother and
Kate
.

Absorbed in reading a stock report, Paul didn’t realize anyone had arrived until the front door opened
.
He glanced up to see James saunter inside
,
carrying his bags
.
Alone
.

“Hey
,
Paul
.”
James slowed, a big grin settling over his face
.
“How long have you been here
?”