“I plead guilty to that one,” Mitchell said with an absent smile, because it was finally sinking in that the delightful, irate redhead who was confronting him now was the same Irish girl who’d spilled a Bloody Mary down his shirt, drugged his senses, and stolen his heart. And borne his child. From the very beginning, they’d been meant for each other. They still were. It was so obvious that he had simultaneous impulses to laugh and to pull her into his arms so he could start proving it to her. He wisely decided against doing either when he realized she now looked extremely unhappy with him.
“It doesn’t really matter that you can’t explain about Zack Benedict,” she said, twisting around and trying to pick up his glass from the table.
“I can explain,” Mitchell said quickly, touching her arm. She hesitated and then straightened. “As I recall, I experienced a twinge of something that made me not want to tell you right then, but I intended to take you aboard the Julie the next day.”
“‘A twinge of something’?” she repeated, her eyes lighting up with reluctant laughter.
“I think it was jealousy. It felt like jealousy.”
Her lips trembled with laughter, and Mitchell grinned. “I hadn’t felt it since I was a grown man, but I remembered it.” Since she was smiling at him and relaxed now, Mitchell tried to make her understand what had really happened the day they were supposed to meet at the wharf, but the more he told her, the more she seemed to recoil. “Right after you left for the Island Club, my nephew called me and told me my brother’s body had been found. I checked out of the hotel, because I had to leave for Chicago, but I made arrangements with Zack for you to cruise the islands on his yacht during the day. I intended to fly back and forth every night to wherever the yacht was docked so we could spend the nights together. I waited for you at the wharf in Philipsburg until it got dark; then I called the vet and he told me that you and another man had picked Max up hours before. I couldn’t believe you’d left me waiting there. When I saw you at the fund-raiser, I felt exactly like the heartbroken, jealous lover I announced to you that I wasn’t. How do you think that description happened to come out of my mouth?”
“Mitchell, it doesn’t matter anymore really—”
“You don’t believe me, do you?”
“Let’s just say that I find it much easier to forgive you than believe you. And let’s leave it at that.”
Mitchell was dumbstruck, but not angry. “Would you rather believe that Evan told you the truth than believe what I’m telling you?”
Kate turned her face away, unable to look at him. The picture he’d painted of what happened that day was too unbearable to fathom. The possibility that he’d actually planned to fly back and forth every night to join her on that boat made her stomach ache; the possibility that he’d loved her as much as she’d loved him while he waited for her at the wharf made her cringe inside; the thought of how he would have felt at that fund-raiser when she showed off her engagement ring to him was unendurable.
Her overburdened emotions sent her reeling precariously close to hysteria. In the last twelve hours, she’d already endured the torment of Danny’s kidnapping and the turmoil of Mitchell’s reentry into her life. The idea that, by trusting Evan, she had been the cause of all the misery and missed opportunities for Mitchell and her was just too much bear.
Mitchell watched the color drain from her cheeks, saw the tears sparkling on her lashes, and realized exactly why she was reacting that way.
He tipped her chin up and said with a grin, “You’re exhausted; so let’s just step back from this conundrum and then move around it.”
“What did you just say after ‘you’re exhausted’?”
“I’m suggesting that you get some sleep and we deal with the other things tomorrow. In the meantime, we need to arrange for you and Danny to stay somewhere with limited access.”
Dealing with mundane details was a welcome reprieve from other thoughts, and Kate rose to the occasion. “My friend Holly lives in a high-rise that has a guard at a security desk in the lobby.”
That was not the solution Mitchell had in mind, so he threw in as many complications as he could think of. “Does she have room for Calli and Danny’s nanny, too? You may need to stay there for weeks until Billy is captured.”
“She only has one spare bedroom.”
“Good,” Mitchell said before he could catch himself. “I’ll make all the arrangements. All you have to do is pack what you need and be ready to leave with Calli by ten in the morning.”
“All right,” she said with a weary, grateful smile.
“Let’s find something to write on,” he continued, taking her arm and pointing her toward the bar. He wrote down his cell phone number and the Farrells’ home number on a cocktail napkin for her, and then he wrote down the numbers she gave him.
“What about your meal?” Kate said, her brain snapping into focus now that she understood that he was about to leave. “I can’t imagine what happened. Let me go see—”
“The waiter brought it and left when he saw us. I’ll get something to eat at the Farrells’.”
“I feel really badly about this—your food, I mean.”
“Don’t worry about it,” Mitchell said as he picked up his jacket and shrugged it on. She followed him, watching, her expression anxious because he hadn’t eaten.
“Will you give Danny a good-night kiss for me?” he asked, turning around and smiling into her eyes.
She nodded unhesitatingly.
“Good,” he said. Curving his hands around her shoulders, he pressed a light kiss to her smooth cheek. “That one’s for Danny …” His arms slid around her, drawing her against his full length, and Kate braced herself for what was coming next. “This one …” he whispered, holding her gaze and very slowly bending his head, “is for … me.”
Kate had expected him to say the kiss was for her, and she giggled an instant before his lips touched hers. His warm mouth brushed over hers softly and slowly, and then possessively, and Kate yielded to the sweetness of the moment, sliding her arms around him and holding him close. He ended the kiss rather abruptly, gazing down at her with heavy-lidded eyes and a warm, thoughtful smile. “Why don’t I take you upstairs and tell you a bedtime story?”
Kate smiled helplessly but shook her head. “No thank you.”
“I’ll tell you the story of my life,” he joked.
“I already know the story of your life.”
“But you haven’t heard it in French. It’s much better in French.”
He was so sexy and so endearing when he teased her that she leaned up and kissed his hard cheek. “No.”
Completely satisfied with the outcome of the evening, Mitchell picked up the scrapbooks and his briefcase, then turned to her. “I’ll have a car here to pick you up at ten.”
Kate watched him stride out of the room; then she leaned weakly against the back of a chair, filled with happiness and doubt and disbelief.
Chapter Fifty-three
“HE IS HANDSOME AS SIN,” HOLLY CONCLUDED IMPARTIALLY, watching a rerun of Mitchell’s statement to the press the night before when he left the restaurant. The television stations were running that newsclip adjacent to the police bulletin involving the search for Billy Wyatt, positioning the two news items adjacent to each other to make certain that a mere kidnapping was elevated into a titillating scandal for their viewers. “He also has presence. And I liked the statement he gave.”
“I’ll take a little credit for the last part,” Kate said, walking into the living room of her apartment, carrying a duffel filled with additional articles for Danny and a few for herself. Holly had arrived at Donovan’s a few minutes after Mitchell had left the night before, and she’d gone upstairs with Kate to see Danny, but exhaustion overcame Kate before they could talk about Mitchell. Holly’d returned a few minutes ago, hoping to have some time to talk, but it was five P.M., and Kate was anxious to get back to the hotel and find out how Danny and Mitchell had fared together.
&
nbsp; “Would you like to know what worries me about him?” Holly added quietly.
“I guess so.”
“For a start, I can’t forget how vicious he was to you the last time you saw him. I can’t forget how despondent you were until you found a photograph of him at the wharf and were able to fantasize that he cared about you at least a little. However, right now, there are two things that worry me more than all that. Can I tell you what they are?”
Holly had supported Kate through the awful aftermath of Mitchell three years before, and Kate knew Holly wanted only the best for her. She also knew Holly was intuitive, loyal, and fair. “All right, tell me.”
“Not in the order of importance, here are my concerns: I’m worried because he installed himself in the same hotel where you and Danny are staying.”
Kate nodded and tucked two of Danny’s toys into the duffel. That morning, Mitchell had arranged for a limousine to pick Kate, Danny, and Calli up at the restaurant, and bring them to the Barclay Tower, a luxurious high rise hotel on Lake Shore Drive. The manager greeted them in the lobby and escorted the small entourage to the elevators, with Calli carrying Danny, who was napping on his shoulder. “No one can get up to the penthouse floor without first inserting this key into the elevator panel,” he’d assured Kate as he demonstrated how to use the key. “Our staff has been given Billy Wyatt’s photograph, and we will be on the lookout, although I’m sure he’d never be able to get past the security personnel that Mr. Wyatt has stationed in the lobby.”
He ushered her off the elevator into an elegant foyer with wide hallways leading in four directions, each one terminating with a set of double doors bearing the name of the suite. “If there’s anything at all you need,” the manager continued as he slid a keycard into the slot on the door of the Lakeview Suite, “our staff is entirely at your service. We’re honored that Mr. Wyatt is entrusting us with your comfort and safety during this difficult transitional time.”
He swung open the door with a flourish and stepped aside, allowing Kate the full impact of a mammoth living room with a wall of glass that offered a gorgeous view of Lake Michigan and an unnerving view of Mitchell, standing with his back to her, his hands in his pockets, contemplating the waves far below. He turned at the sound of their arrival, and strode forward, looking amused and pleased. “It just occurred to me,” he said, lifting Danny out of Calli’s arms, “that you and I have spent our entire acquaintance in hotel suites, except for a few hours.”
Kate rolled her eyes in exasperation. “Thank you for sharing that tidbit with the hotel manager,” she whispered.
“I’m sorry,” Mitchell lied, grinning, and lowering his voice very slightly. “I forgot how prim you are when we’re in hotels together.”
Biting back a helpless laugh, Kate said sternly, “Stop talking about hotel rooms.” Another concern struck her then, dislodging and outweighing that one, and she narrowed her eyes at him. “You aren’t thinking about staying in this suite with me, are you?”
“I’ve thought of little else since I walked into it,” Mitchell replied meaningfully, and Kate felt her face heat. “However, to put your mind at rest, I’m staying in the Boulevard Suite at the end of the hall.”
“Good,” Kate said, glancing quickly around just in time to see Calli grinning at his own reflection in a mirror over the sofa. “I have to go to work,” she said regretfully, glancing at her watch.
“What time will you be back?”
“Seven o’clock,” Kate had replied. “I’m going to let my manager handle the Saturday night crowd, but I need to be sure everything is in order before I leave.”
Eager to see Danny and to find out how Mitchell and he had gotten along all day, Kate had decided to leave work early, but now Holly was there, and she owed it to Holly to listen to her fears: “I’m worried that he’s going to insinuate himself into your life, and then take it over, before you’ve had time to keep him at a distance and evaluate what kind of man he really is.”
“I’m not going to let that happen.”
“Good, because I was worried that you planned to break your date with Doug tonight.”
“Oh, my God,” Kate said. “I forgot about it.”
“He’s been trying to take you out for a month, and you’ve canceled on him three times—all with good reasons,” Holly put in before Kate needed to. “He’s my partner, and my friend, and if you break your date with him tonight, I’m going to be really embarrassed. I work with him—”
“I know. I understand,” Kate said miserably.
“I’ll call Doug and tell him to pick you up at the hotel instead of here, so you don’t have to bother making the call. Look at you,” Holly said gently. “You’re overwrought at the prospect of dating a handsome vet who thinks you are very, very cool. Mitchell Wyatt—”
“Holly, Mitchell didn’t spoil dating for me three years ago, if that’s what you’re getting at. I was pregnant, and then I had a little baby and a restaurant to run, but I’ve gone out with several men in the last year.”
“You’ve had several first dates,” Holly pointed out, heading toward the kitchen counter, where she’d left her purse. “How many second dates have you had?”
“Point taken,” Kate said, shoving her hair back off her forehead, feeling thoroughly beleaguered. “I have to leave. Call Doug for me.” She zipped the duffel closed, looked around the room to see if she’d forgotten anything, and Holly walked to the door with her.
“Do you know what worries me most of all right now?” Holly said as they started down the stairs with Kate in the lead.
“I don’t think I want to know that one,” Kate joked with a quick smile over her shoulder.
“You’re already glowing as if life is filled with promise.” After a moment’s thought, Holly added jokingly, “I’ve just realized there is a cheering possibility that, after spending an entire day taking care of Danny, Mitchell Wyatt will look ten years older and be too exhausted to look at you with bloodshot eyes, and fall back asleep.”
Kate knocked on the door to Mitchell’s suite, and Calli let her in, smiled, and pointed toward a hallway off the living room. A few steps down the hall, Kate heard Danny’s gleeful voice and she followed the sound. “Where is everyone?” she called.
“Mommy!” Danny yelled excitedly.
“We’re in here,” Mitchell called at almost the same time. Kate crossed the master bedroom to the adjoining bath and stopped dead in the doorway, caught between laughter and poignant tears. Mitchell was standing at the sink with a white bath towel around his waist, a razor in his hand, and shaving cream on his face. Danny was standing on the sink beside him, with a small hand towel around his waist, shaving cream on his face, and what Kate assumed was a bladeless razor in his hand. “Hi,” Kate said, trying to steady her voice.
“I shaving!” Danny cried.
“I see that,” Kate said; then she met Mitchell’s gaze in the mirror and lifted her brows for some input from him.
“I exhausted,” he announced.
Kate grabbed for the doorframe and laughed so hard her eyes filled with tears.
Mitchell watched her, smiling at the musical sound of her laughter.
“What did you guys do today?” she asked when she could speak.
“Danny and I went to the park that you suggested,” Mitchell replied, drying off his face. “Danny has lots of friends there, and their mommies were very happy to see him,” he said, carefully communicating to Kate that the scene had been filled with relieved mothers who knew about the kidnapping.
“Did you have a good time?” Kate asked Danny, and he nodded emphatically, rubbing his face in a towel in imitation of what Mitchell had just done.
Kate switched her gaze to Mitchell’s, aware of the warmth in his eyes and unable to look away from it. “And did you have a good time?” she asked him in the same tone she’d used to ask Danny that question.
“I had a very good time—” he began, but Danny’s protest said otherwise.
&nb
sp; “No,” he told Mitchell. “You hot!”
“Except for that,” Mitchell qualified lightly. “Danny was convinced I should take my shirt off, and he was determined to help me.”
“Daddy hot!”
Kate dismissed that as an unsolvable puzzle and asked if he’d seen his friends Caperton and Trent. When he gave an emphatic nod and declared that he had, Kate said, “I’ll bet Caperton’s mommy and Trent’s mommy were extra happy to see you, weren’t they?” He nodded, and in an automatic effort to encourage him to speak, Kate said, “What did they say when they saw you?”
“They say, ‘Danny! Hi!’” Danny replied, grabbing for the can of shaving cream, “They say—Daddy Hot! Mommies all say—Daddy Hot!”
Mitchell’s expression didn’t change, but Kate giggled helplessly. “You are so busted,” she teased him in the mirror, and then she realized that a flush had crept up his neck. Wordlessly, he leaned over the sink and splashed water on his face; then he picked up a fresh towel. “Assuming I still have the strength to stand up tonight,” he said as if Danny’s words hadn’t been spoken, “we’re entertaining tonight.”
Kate looked at him in surprised dismay, thinking of the date she’d promised to keep with Doug Ferris that night. “Entertaining? You didn’t mention anything about that to me earlier.”
He nodded and dried off his face. “I know. I wasn’t sure I could get everyone together tonight, but it worked out.”
“Who’s coming?”
“I invited my aunt, Olivia Hebert, Matt and Meredith Farrell, and another couple over to meet Danny and to get to know you a little better. They won’t be here long, because the other couple is on their way to California, and my aunt rarely stays up past nine o’clock.”
“What time is this supposed to happen?”
Mitchell finally caught the hesitation in her voice and turned around to face her. “Seven o’clock. Is there a problem?”
Kate wanted more than anything to spend the evening with him, but he should have checked with her first. Holly’s words came back to her and so did Danny’s words, and she realized that in a world of women who thought he was “hot,” Mitchell was probably accustomed to having women fall in with any plan. She felt uneasy, and the insecurity she’d suppressed when Danny reported that all the mothers thought Mitchell was hot surfaced with force.