“We have a lot to say and I can’t leave.”
She glared at him. “And why not?”
“The weather. The police asked drivers to get off the road. If I go back out in that I risk the chance of having an accident.”
Her glare hardened. “And you think I care?”
“Yes, because if there’s one thing I’ve discovered about you over the past few days, it’s that you are a caring person, Cassie, and no matter what kind of asshole you undoubtedly think I am, you would not send me to my death.”
She leaned closer and got right in his face. “Want to bet?”
From the look in her eyes, the answer was no. At that particular moment he didn’t want to bet, but he would take a chance. “Yes.”
She glared at him some more. “I suggest that you go sit in your car until the weather improves for you to leave. You’re not welcome in my home.”
“If I do that then I run the risk of catching pneumonia in these wet clothes.”
Evidently fed up with what she considered nonsense, she was about to slam the door in his face when he blocked it with his hand. “Look, Cassie, I’m not leaving until you hear me out, nor will I leave the island until you do. If you refuse to do so here today then whenever you go back to the hotel I’ll make a nuisance of myself until you do agree to see me.”
“Try it and I’ll call the police,” she snapped.
“Yes, you could do that, but imagine the bad publicity it will give the hotel. I’d think the last thing you’ll want for the Garrison Grand-Bahamas is that.” He knew what he’d said had hit a nerve. That would be the last thing she would want.
Except for the force of the rain falling, there was long silence as she stonily stared at him before angrily stepping aside. “Say what you have to say and leave.”
When he walked across the threshold he glanced around and saw what she’d been doing before she’d come to answer the door. She had been rolling the hurricane shutters down to cover the windows. “Where’s your staff?”
She glared at him. “Not that it’s any of your business but I sent them home before the weather broke. I didn’t want them caught out in it.”
“But you have no qualms sending me back out in it,” he said, meeting her gaze.
“No, I don’t, so what does that tell you?” she stormed.
He crossed his arms across his chest and gave her a glare of his own. “It tells me that we really do need to talk. But first I’ll help you get the shutters in place.”
Cassie blinked. Was he crazy? She had no intention of him helping her do anything. “Excuse me. I don’t recall asking for your help,” she said sharply.
“No, but I intend to help anyway,” he said, heading toward the window in the living room.
She raced after him. “I only let you in to talk, Brandon.”
“I know,” he agreed smoothly, over his shoulder. “But we can talk later. A hurricane might be headed this way and John would roll over in his grave if he thought I’d leave his daughter defenseless,” he said, taking hold of the lever to work the shutter into place.
A puzzled frown crossed Cassie’s brow and she stopped in her tracks. “You knew my father?”
He glanced over at her, knowing he would be completely honest with her from here on out and would tell her anything she wanted to know, provided it wasn’t privileged information between attorney and client. “Yes, I knew John. I’ve known him all my life. He and my father, Stan Washington, were close friends, and had been since college.”
He saw the surprised look in her eyes seconds before she asked, “Stan Washington was your father?”
“Yes. You’d met him?” he asked, moving to another window.
“I’ve known him all my life, as well,” she said. “But I never knew anything personal about him other than he and Dad were close friends. He was the person Mom knew to contact if an emergency ever came up and she needed to reach Dad.”
Brandon nodded. He figured his father had been. As close a friendship as the two men shared, Brandon had been certain his father had known about John’s affair with Ava. Besides that, Stan had been the one who’d drawn up John’s will and who had handled any legal matters dealing with the Garrison Grand-Bahamas exclusively. Once Cassie had taken ownership of the hotel she had retained her own attorneys.
“What about all the other windows?” he asked, after securing the shutters in place.
“I had my housekeeping staff help me with them before they left.”
“Good,” he murmured as he glanced over at her. She was still barefoot but had changed into a pair of capri pants and a blouse. And like everything else he’d ever seen on her body, she looked good. But then she looked rather good naked, too.
“Now you can have your say and leave.”
His eyes moved from her body to her face. He had been caught staring and she wasn’t happy about it, probably because she had an idea what thoughts had passed through his mind.
“I’d think my help just now has earned me a chance to get out of these clothes.”
Her back became ramrod straight. “You can think again!”
He suddenly realized how that might have sounded. “Calm down, Cassie,” he said, running his hand down his face. “That’s not what I meant. I was suggesting it would be nice to get out of these wet things so you can dry them for me. Otherwise, I might catch pneumonia.”
Cassie bit down on her lip to keep from telling him that when and if he caught pneumonia she hoped he died a slow, agonizing death, but then dished the thought from her mind. She wasn’t a heartless or cruel person, although he was the last human being on earth who deserved even a drop of her kindness.
“Fine,” she snapped. “The laundry room is this way,” she said, walking out of the room knowing he had to walk briskly to keep up with her. “And I suggest you stay in that room until your clothes are dry.”
“Why? Don’t you have a towel I could use while they’re drying?”
She shot a look at him that said he was skating on thin ice and it was getting thinner every minute. “I have plenty of towels but I prefer not seeing you parade around in one.”
“Okay.”
She abruptly stopped walking and turned to face him. “Look, Brandon. Apparently everything you’ve done in the last three days was nothing but a joke to you but I hope you don’t see me laughing. You don’t even see me smiling.”
The humor that had been in Brandon’s eyes immediately faded. When he spoke again his voice was barely audible. “No, I don’t think the last three days were a joke, Cassie. In fact I think they were the most precious I’ve ever spent in my entire life. The only thing I regret is coming to this island thinking you were someone you are not and because of it, I screwed up something awful. The only thing I can do is be honest with you now.”
She refused to let his words affect her in any way. There was no way she could trust him again. “It really doesn’t matter what you say when we talk, Brandon. I won’t be able to get beyond the fact that you deliberately deceived me.”
“Not all of it was based on deceit, Cassie. When I made love to you it was based on complete sincerity. Please don’t ever think that it wasn’t.”
“You used me,” she flung out with intense anger in her voice.
He reached out and gently touched the cleft in her chin and said in a low voice, “No, I made love to you, Cassie. I gave you more of myself than I’ve ever given another woman, freely, unselfishly