Walter turned and fixed a hard look on him.
“You’re letting her suffer by feeling she’s betraying that son-of-a-bitch’s memory.”
“And you think it would be better if I tell her that he never cared for her? That he wanted her only for the money?” Walter snapped the words out in another burst of rage, but a moment later, he looked defeated again. “There is no right answer here,” he whispered. “If I don’t tell her, she’ll torture herself, and if I do tell her, she’ll be crushed. How can I know what to do?”
Sean could see the old man’s problem. After all, he’d asked himself pretty much the same questions after he had talked to Garrett. But at the same time, it irritated the hell out of him to remember Melinda’s tears over the thief who’d died before he could be prosecuted. Still, how could he argue with the man’s need to protect his family? Hadn’t Sean lost everything at sixteen trying to do the same thing for his mother?
“Could you look into her eyes and tell her?” Walter asked quietly.
He wanted to say yes. Damn it, he didn’t want her grieving over Steven one more damn minute. But as he thought about it, the truth was… “No.”
At the end, no matter what else was at stake, Sean simply didn’t want to be the one to hurt her.
Two days later, Melinda was nervous.
The Kings were arriving to check out the island—and her—she thought.
“Relax,” he told her as they stood at the dock waiting for the boat from St. Thomas to arrive. “You’ll like them all, I promise.”
“But they know about our deal, right? So they know we’re not your average married couple.”
“They know, but it won’t matter to them. They’re going to love you. So relax.”
She nodded and kept staring out at the water. The launch should be here any second. “Tell me again.”
He smiled and draped one arm around her shoulder. “Rafe is married to Katie.”
“The cookie queen,” Melinda added.
“Yep. And Lucas is married to Rose.”
“The great cook,” she provided. Honestly, she’d heard so much about his brothers and their wives, Melinda had quite the confidence crisis going on. Sean’s sisters-in-law sounded brilliant, successful and, most importantly, loved.
“And I’m married to the artist,” Sean said, dropping a kiss on top of her head.
He said that so lightly. As if they were really married and just for a moment, she let herself wonder what that would be like. She glanced up at him and briefly studied his profile as he watched for the approaching boat. His features were sharp and clean. His hair windblown, as she liked it best, and his eyes were hidden behind a pair of dark glasses. He wore a dark red, collared knit shirt and a pair of tan cargoes with his scuffed and battered boots. An anticipatory smile curved his mouth.
And she knew. In a blink. In a heart-stopping, souljarring instant, that she loved Sean King.
Melinda swayed with the impact of that knowledge and waited for an accompanying stab of guilt to jolt her. But it didn’t come. Had she finally, and at last, let Steven’s memory go? Was she ready now to love someone else, just in time to say goodbye to him?
“Hey?” Sean tipped his sunglasses down and looked at her over the edge. “You okay? You look a little pale all of a sudden.”
Not surprising, she thought, but didn’t say. Taking a deep breath she nodded and forced a smile. “I’m fine. Just a little nervous I guess.”
Nervous?
Terrified.
He hugged her, drawing her in and giving her a hard squeeze. Then he bent his head, claimed a quick kiss and said, “Don’t be. It’ll be great. We’ll show them the hotel site, go to dinner, have some laughs and they’ll go home.”
“Right. Back to California,” she said, thinking that in just a few more weeks, Sean would be gone too. He’d be back there with his family and she would be here. On Tesoro.
Alone.
“No more time for nerves. They’re here.”
It was only then that Melinda heard the roar of an engine headed their way. She looked out and saw the Tesoro launch headed into dock.
“Oh, please,” Katie said, “my kitchen was perfect. I paid you to remodel it and then what did you do?” She didn’t wait for an answer, just turned to Melinda and said, “The minute we got married, he decided to renovate the whole house, so he took out the wall!”
“It’ll be bigger and feed right into the new family room,” Rafe argued with a grin.
“Told you,” Sean whispered to Melinda.
“With a home theatre surround sound system,” Rafe put in, a gleam in his eye.
“Oh God,” Sean said, horrified. “He’s not going to make us watch those outer space movies he loves on a big screen, is he?”
“Not me, he’s not,” Lucas said and jiggled his infant son on his shoulder. “I’m home nights on diaper duty.”
Melinda watched them all as the banter flew around the table. They were in a private dining room at the Stanford hotel and the conversation hadn’t lagged once since the Kings’ arrival two hours before.
Sitting beside Sean on the red leather booth seat, she watched the interaction of the family and found herself envious of the easy solidarity they shared. Seeing Sean with his brothers and their wives showed her yet another side to the man she’d married. There was real affection beneath the teasing, and the warmth she felt from all of them was welcoming.
She really liked Katie and Rose, too. She had been prepared to be intimidated or even feel like a stranger around them. But both women were warm and friendly and seemed to have their King husbands wrapped around their fingers. It was amazing to watch, really. They were all so…connected.
“Oh wow,” Katie said suddenly, reaching out to lift Melinda’s left hand for a better look. “That’s a gorgeous ring!” She flashed Sean a smile. “Nice job on picking it out. Where did you get it? I think Rose and I need to go shopping.”
“Actually,” Sean said, giving Melinda’s shoulders a squeeze, “My clever wife made it.”
“She made her own wedding ring?” Rose said, sounding appalled.
“Damn, you’re cheap,” Rafe muttered with a shake of his head.
“Funny,” Sean told him. “No, I bought the ring at a jewelry store in town. Later on I found out that Melinda designed and made it herself.”