Way different than his family, boy. With the Kings, there were almost never secrets because no one shut up long enough to keep one. It was much easier to just argue about what was bugging you, get it out in the open, maybe punch your brother in the face and then let it all go.
Of course, Sean thought, he had been keeping a secret from his brothers for years. His first marriage. And suddenly, he wondered why the hell he hadn’t told them. To save himself embarrassment? To avoid the shouting? Stupid to keep things from family. Especially his family.
“No disrespect intended, Walter,” Sean said carefully. “But lying to her? Not the best idea.”
“Ah,” the older man said with a wink. “Soon, there will be no reason for lies of any kind. The sale of that land to your family will take care of the problem. I’ll be remodeling the hotel—can’t have your cousin getting all of the new guests—and there’ll be nothing to tell Melinda.”
“I sort of thought you might want to retire,” Sean said, surprised at the old man’s willingness to stay in the hotel game and battle the Kings for guests.
“Retire?” His eyes widened in surprise. “That’s for old people. What would I do all day? No. You’ll see. My way is better. Melinda will get her trust fund, the hotel will be remodeled and everyone will live happily ever after.”
“Here in Brigadoon,” Sean muttered.
“What was that?”
“Nothing,” Sean said and listened as Walter talked about his plans for the remodel. But even as the old man spoke, Sean’s mind was upstairs with Melinda.
These last couple of weeks with her had been great. And today…put a whole new spin on the word amazing. But this marriage had an expiration date and it was fast coming up.
Which left him to wonder what the hell he was going to do when their time together was over and he was still on the island taking care of business. Were they just supposed to nod and smile at each other as they passed on the street? Was he supposed to pretend he didn’t want her?
Walter’s voice became nothing more than a buzz in Sean’s mind. Background noise for the thoughts tumbling through his brain. He was getting wound up tighter and tighter in Melinda’s life. Her world.
This hadn’t been part of the plan. He didn’t belong here on Tesoro. His life was back in California. His home was there. His family. This tiny tropical island wasn’t the real world. Not for him. Melinda wasn’t for him either. He knew that.
And yet…
This was getting more and more complicated, and the worst part was, his brothers had been right. He never should have gone along with Melinda’s scheme.
Because now that he was in, he wasn’t sure he wanted out.
Ten
Sean left Walter a half hour later and took the elevator to the penthouse. His insides were twisted into knots and he couldn’t form a single, coherent thought, but one thing came through loud and clear.
He wanted to see Melinda. Be with her.
For as long as he could.
Upstairs, Sean looked forward to finally getting off that damned sofa and sleeping in a bed. With Melinda. It had been a hell of a long day, and he should be beat. But the truth was, he felt charged. Just being around her made him feel more…alive than he ever had before. And if he was smart, he’d be worried about that, he thought. Instead, he looked forward to touching her again.
He heard her sobs the moment he opened the door. Panic grabbed the base of his throat. He slammed the door and followed the heartbreaking sounds of her crying. He’d never been in her bedroom and hardly noticed it now. All he saw was moonlight sliding through the open curtains and Melinda, sitting on the floor. Back against the bed, knees drawn up to her chest, she was staring at a framed photograph and crying as if her heart was broken.
Everything in him tightened into a hot ball of protective instinct that flashed inside him like lightning. Her tears were like a knife in his chest, pain ripped at him. In the space of a split second, he’d gone from a self-satisfied male about to get lucky to a man desperate to find whoever was making Melinda cry and beat the crap out of him.
Sean stalked across the room in a few long strides, went down on one knee beside her and said, “What is it? What’s wrong, Melinda?”
She shook her head violently. Tears still poured from her beautiful eyes and her mouth was screwed up tight as if she were biting back the urge to wail.
He cupped her face in his palms and turned it up to him. “Talk to me. Tell me what’s happened.”
“I shouldn’t have,” she said and gulped in a breath. “I didn’t mean to. But I did and now…”
“What’re you talking about?” He looked at the photo she held so tightly and guessed instantly what was going on. The smiling face of a handsome man with too many teeth looked back at him, and Sean knew without a doubt that this was Steven.
Frustrated by his inability to fix this, he blew out a breath and muttered, “Damn it, Melinda, don’t do this to yourself.”
“How can I not? I was going to marry him,” she said, her voice a painful hush that scraped at his heart. “I loved him and today I—”
“Melinda—”
“No,” she shook her head again, clearly furious with herself. “It’s like I cheated on him. Not just because of the sex but because I enjoyed it.”
Those protective instincts that had sent him racing to her side reared up inside him, stronger than ever, and put a stranglehold on the frustration pumping through him. He hated seeing her like this. Hated knowing that he’d pushed her here. That his plan to seduce her had left her feeling such misery.
Guilt was an ugly emotion. No one knew that better than Sean, he thought grimly. But this wasn’t about him. This was about Melinda, and damned if he’d let her regret what had happened between them.
“It’s okay to feel, Melinda,” he said softly, shifting to sit beside her. “You’re alive. You’re supposed to live.”
She sighed heavily. “You don’t understand.”
“Oh, I understand plenty. I know all about guilt,” he said softly, dropping one arm around her shoulders and pulling her close to his side. She resisted at first, then slowly crumpled into him. He rubbed her upper arm in slow, comforting strokes. “Guilt will kill you an inch at a time until there’s nothing left of you, Melinda. It’s not worth it.”
“Tell me.” Her voice was a whisper against the curve of his neck. She cuddled closer as if needing the contact, and if Sean was going to tell this story, then he figured he’d need it too.