She loved him.
The idea energized him, but at the same time filled him with panic.
“Then what’s the problem?”
“She found Frank Lewis’s report.”
Rand whistled silently. “The guy is thorough and he doesn’t pull his punches.”
Rand would know. He’d dealt with Frank before moving to California. “No. He doesn’t.”
“And? C’mon, Mitch, don’t make me drag this out of you word by word.”
“I also had Frank investigate Marlene Corbin’s death. I was concerned that Dad might have had something to do with the hit-and-run that killed her.”
Rand swore. Viciously. “You think he did it?”
“Or paid someone to. I have no proof and no reason other than he was more pissed off at Marlene for having Rhett than I’ve ever seen him about anything before. Not even Nadia’s marr—” No need to bring that up. Not speaking about his sister’s early and tragic marriage had become a habit. “You know you didn’t cross our old man.”
“No. Not without repercussions.” Rand and their father had a serious load of issues. His brother’s part of the will requirement involved one of them. Rand had been forced to return from his self-imposed exile, take over as KCL’s CEO and work side by side with the woman their father had stolen from him. The only woman his brother had ever loved, in Mitch’s opinion.
He focused on his own problems. “If Dad was involved, I wanted to know before some reporter ambushed us with evidence and used it to take KCL down.”
“Understandable. What did Frank find?”
“Nothing to incriminate Dad. But the fact that I’d suspected him and had Carly investigated was enough to send her into orbit.”
“Understandable. Wouldn’t you have been pissed?”
“Why? I was dealing with facts, not slander.”
Rand stared at him with an odd look on his face.
“What?”
“The end justifies the means. You’ve become Dad.”
Mitch reeled back in disgust. “No, the hell I haven’t.”
Folding his arms, Rand remained silent.
“I didn’t break any laws,” Mitch defended.
“What about a violation of her privacy? Withholding evidence from the cops?”
“There is no evidence. That’s what I’m telling you. Whose side are you on? I’m trying to protect our inheritance and this company.”
“We all are, Mitch. But at what cost? Is Dad going to make us stoop to his level to keep what’s rightfully ours? And is holding on to Kincaid Cruise Lines worth sacrificing our self-respect?”
Carly had called him a conniving bastard who would intentionally hurt others. Cold, sobering realization crept over him. She was right, and so was Rand.
He’d become his father.
The idea horrified him. He staggered to the window and stared out at the bay thirty stories below. Everett Kincaid had been a mean, bitter SOB. Not openly. He was too clever for that. No, to your face he was charming, caring, and a benevolent CEO of a company voted best to work for five years in a row. He could charm confidential information out of you and you’d never even notice you were handing him the nails to your own coffin.
And then he’d stab you in the back and bury you without hesitation or second thought if it served his purpose.
Mitch did not want to be his father.
“Did she and the kid move out?”
Rand’s words yanked him out of an arctic well of discovery. “They’ve moved into the nursery.”
Yesterday afternoon she’d ordered his staff to move her and Rhett’s belongings, and afterward Carly and Rhett had gone out to dinner with her parents. Last night, his wing of the house had echoed with silence. Silence he’d once relished. Silence that had kept him up most of the night.
This morning, Mrs. Duncan had appointed herself their guard dog. She’d been cold and abrupt—the housekeeper he remembered from the pre-Carly days. He hadn’t even caught a glimpse of Carly and Rhett, and damn it, he’d missed the racket and the cereal bombs at breakfast.
“So we’re still in this fight to fulfill the terms of the will,” Rand said. “I hope to hell Nadia isn’t having as tough a time as we are.”
“Yeah.” Their father’s demands might have brought Rand home, but they’d also kicked Nadia out of the only home she’d ever known.
“What are you going to do?”
Mitch looked up and met his brother’s gaze. He didn’t have it in him to bluff. “I don’t know.”
Mutiny.There was no other word to describe the situation at Kincaid Manor this past week, Mitch decided. His entire staff had turned against him and sided with Carly. They spoke to him respectfully and followed his orders, but otherwise stayed out of his way. Mrs. Duncan served his meals in silence.
He’d become an outcast in his own damned home. And he had no one to blame but himself. He’d hurt someone every member of his staff cared about.
Carly and Rhett were within the walls each evening, but managed to completely avoid him. They ate and played in the nursery. If Carly went running, then it wasn’t in the gated community. The jogging stroller stayed in the back of her minivan, which led Mitch to believe if she ran she did so elsewhere.
If he wanted to see her, he’d have to hunt her down.
He hiked up the back stairs Thursday evening after dinner. He’d always avoided the nursery. Sealed off from the rest of the house by thick soundproof walls, the place had been his prison as a kid. He, Rand and Nadia had only been allowed out when they were clean and well-behaved. One screwup and back to prison he’d go. He’d learned early on to listen and not draw attention to himself.
The sound of Rhett’s squeals and laughter reached him as soon as his feet hit the landing and he caught himself smiling. His step lightened. He quickened his pace and pushed open the nursery door. Carly knelt on the floor beside Rhett in the large main room. Judging by the towel she held, his brother had just finished his bath. There were three bedrooms off this play area, four if you counted the nanny’s suite. Which had she chosen for Rhett? For herself?
“Mitt,” Rhett screeched. His nak*d little body streaked across the room.
Mitch dropped to his knees and held open his arms. The boy hit his chest like a torpedo, winding him, making him ache for what he’d thrown away. Mitch hugged him.
Over the top of the fuzzy dark hair, Mitch’s eyes sought Carly’s. She rose, clutching the towel in front of her. Her damp T-shirt and low-rider jeans clung in all the right places. His pulse drummed out an appreciative beat.
“You’d better diaper him fast unless you want to use a mop.” She tossed a disposable diaper in his direction. Mitch caught it, gently tumbled the boy onto the rug. Rhett rewarded him with cackles and wiggles as he taped the diaper on. And then he lifted his little brother and held him tight.
His fool of a father had missed this. And the boy’s mother would, too.
Mitch wasn’t going to. But how could he convince Carly to let him back into their lives? He stood, holding Rhett against his heart. “You’ve been avoiding me.”
“Rhett has been getting to know his grandparents. They’re talking about moving here to be near him.”
“They didn’t take the jet back to Arizona on Sunday.”
She shook her head and her ponytail swayed. “They preferred to get a commercial flight. They flew out this afternoon.”
She’d been with her parents all week. That explained why she hadn’t been here when he raced home from KCL each night to his silent, solo dinner. He stared at her and tried to prioritize the week’s worth of thoughts he’d saved up to tell to her, but settled for, “I’m glad you stayed.”
Her chin lifted. “I promised to see this year through for Rhett’s sake. He deserves to know his family and to have something from his father besides DNA.”
“I agree.” Rhett squirmed. Mitch set him down. The child bolted for Mitch’s old room and returned with a toy dump truck. He plopped down on the floor and vroomed the truck around the rug.
Carly watched him for a moment before turning back to Mitch. “I tried to return the wedding dress. The store wouldn’t take it.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
“It was expensive. I hate to see you waste your money. And it’s a beautiful dress. Someone needs to wear it.”
No, she definitely wasn’t mercenary like her sister. How could he have ever believed otherwise?
“I miss your company, Carly. Yours and Rhett’s.”
Her gasp filled the silence. She blinked and averted her gaze.
“Come back to the other side of the house.”
She shook her head again but didn’t look at him. “I can’t do that. I can’t lo—live with a man who’d try to hurt us.”
She walked away. The sight gutted him mainly because he knew his actions were the cause of the gulf between them. He wanted to call her back, to haul her back. Into his life. Into his arms. Into his bed. He’d settle for seeing her face across the breakfast table.
He loved her.
The realization crushed his chest and depleted the oxygen in the room. That’s why his life had sucked since Carly had returned his ring. The staff hadn’t mutinied. Their cold treatment was the same as it had been for years. Ditto the silent tomb of the house. Both were exactly the way he used to like them.
But that was before Carly and Rhett had shown him how different, how dynamic life at Kincaid Manor could be.
He missed the controlled chaos. He missed them.
The house and staff hadn’t changed. He had.
Because of Carly. Because of Rhett.
“Carly.” He waited until she cautiously looked at him. “I’m in love with you.”
The color drained from her face and her eyes turned guarded. Tense, silent seconds dragged past. She licked her lips and then swallowed as if gulping down nasty medicine. “You’re a man who says and does whatever it takes to get what he wants. But that was low, Mitch. Even for you.”
A bowie knife under the ribs would hurt less. “I’m not that man anymore.”
Disbelief twisted her mouth. “You’re not the man you were seven days ago?”
“No.”
“Forgive my skepticism. But no thanks to whatever you’re offering. We’re happy here.”
She didn’t look happy. She looked as if she wasn’t sleeping any better than he was.
“I’ll prove I’ve changed.”
A parody of a smile revealed straight, white teeth. It couldn’t distract him from the pain in her eyes. Pain he’d inflicted by acting like his father and taking what he wanted without regard to the casualties.
She picked up Rhett. “You do that, Mitch. Now please leave. I need to get Rhett into bed. Good night.”
He’d never been one to walk away from a fight, but he wouldn’t get anywhere with Carly tonight. And if he forced the issue, he might run her out of the house. Now that he knew he loved her, he had to come up with a winning strategy.