don’t believe you,” she stated boldly.
Kane didn’t believe it himself, but he knew he couldn’t let her walk away so easily again. Desperate times called for desperate measures, and all that. “It wouldn’t be a decision I made lightly. But I’m not going to allow you to dismiss me from your life.”
“Kane, please.”
He’d heard those words from her so many different times. In the bedroom when she was begging him to touch her breasts. In that run-down flat in Paris that she’d fled to when he’d gotten engaged. And now when he was blackmailing her. He fought to keep focused on the end result: helping Mary and winning back a place in her life.
“I’m a different person now.”
“I can see that,” he said, catching a strand of her dark hair between his fingers. Her hair was still softer than silk, but now it was cut to her shoulders and straight, with none of the wild curls she used to have. It was one more thing about Mary that was so foreign to him, that he had to figure out what had caused the change.
“I want to get to know the new Mary. I’m a different man, too.”
“You still seem arrogant to me.”
“I am.”
He wanted her. He’d been in a constant state of semiarousal since he’d read her name in the newspaper. Seeing her had brought all the lust to life in him.
“So what’s it to be?” he asked.
She wrapped her arms around her waist and glanced down at the ground. After a few moments she looked up at him. “I guess you can help me.”
He felt a surge of triumph and absolutely no guilt. He wasn’t about to let anything harm Mary again. As it was, she looked a little pale and her face was drawn. He knew that the process of grieving was a hard one, and Mary didn’t seem to be taking care of herself. She was thinner than he’d ever seen her.
“Have you had lunch?”
“Um…what?” she asked, narrowing her eyes at him.
“Have you eaten?” He carefully enunciated each word.
He was rewarded for his silliness with a tiny smile.
“No, I haven’t.”
“Then we’ll discuss the details of how to get started on your trust over lunch.”
“Didn’t you already eat?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll be fine. We can go back to Grandfather’s—I mean, my house—and I’ll grab a salad there.”
“You’re the boss.”
“I wish. You aren’t the type to let a woman tell you what to do,” she said, walking across the park toward the parking lot.
“You’re right,” he said, falling into step beside her. “But I do always consider your desires.”
She flushed. He knew her well enough to know the look on her face meant she was thinking of sex. His personality was dominant in the bedroom and out. He remembered building her to the edge of climax time and again, then waiting for her sweet cries of frustration before he finally plunged deep into her body and brought them both the relief they desperately needed.
He wrapped his arm around her waist, causing her to stop. She tipped her head back to look at him, and he noted that her pupils were dilated and her breathing was a little heavier than it had been earlier. “Do you want me, Mary-Belle?”
She opened her mouth, her small pink tongue darting out to wet her lips. “Yes.”
That one little word washed over him like a satin glove on his naked skin. His blood pumped harder, his erection stirred, and his entire body longed for her. It had been too long since he’d last sated himself in her curvy body, and he wanted—no, needed—to do so again.
He lowered his head to taste her, to make up for the hurt he’d caused earlier when he’d threatened her. He’d never have the words she wanted to hear, but he would always show her with his actions what he really felt.
Their lips barely brushed. He rubbed his over hers, building the moment between them, knowing that they couldn’t go much further than this one little kiss. But later, after she’d eaten and they’d discussed business…then he’d deliver on the promise of this one small kiss. Vaguely he registered the sound of footsteps behind them.
“Third time, Mary.”
Kane pulled back from her ready to deck her cousin. She turned in Kane’s arms—not pulling away from him—to face her cousin.
“I thought you had a company to run, Channing. I know that your inheritance is tied to the profit of Duvall-Moorehead Manufacturing. Aren’t you afraid that skulking around after me is going to distract you?”
“I can handle my job and keep an eye on you.”
“That’s not your job, Moorehead,” Kane said.
“Is it yours?”
“That’s irrelevant. Anyone who threatens Mary will have to go through me first.”
Mary led the way into the kitchen, very aware of Kane’s heavy footsteps behind her. She felt so out of control, and for the first time since she’d come back to Eastwick she was glad of Grandfather’s lessons in composure. The old Mary would have skipped lunch, grabbed Kane’s hand and led him to her bedroom.
But now she thought about the consequences of her rash actions, what would be lost and what would be gained. So instead she was heading toward her sunny kitchen, intent on the mundane task of eating a salad.
She’d simmered all the way home thinking of the way that Channing and Kane had reacted to each other. She really was sick of the men in her life thinking she needed them to fight her battles.
Carmen, the Duvall family housekeeper, was in the kitchen when Mary entered. “Good afternoon, Carmen.”
“Good afternoon, Miss Mary. Can I help you with something?”
“I’d like a salad and some tea brought into the study. Kane, do you want anything?”
“Perrier, please.”
“I’ll bring it in.”
Mary waited until they were in the study with the door closed before she addressed Kane again.
“I don’t want you fighting my battles.”
“Too bad.”
“Kane, I’m serious about this. Channing is going to be around the rest of my life and, when you’re gone, that kind of macho display is going to come back to haunt me.”
“What makes you think I’ll be gone?”
She didn’t let herself dwell on those words. She ignored him, turning away and seating herself behind the desk. Her life was in flux right now. She’d experienced this type of soul-changing, life-altering event twice before. Each time it had involved a complete upheaval of everything she knew about herself and the world around her.
And each time Kane had somehow come into her life. But he never stayed. No matter how content or happy they were together, he always had one foot out the door. She’d come to accept that she was meant to spend her life alone. Not like the women in the Debs Club, who were pairing up like animals on Noah’s ark. Mary had always been a little different, and her life’s path was, too.
“Ignoring me won’t make me go away.”
“I’m not ignoring you,” she said, tossing her head and gathering her thoughts. She could never completely ignore Kane. His blatant masculinity dominated whatever space he occupied. He tempted her to forget about trusts and cousins and family and…to act like a fool again?
“You’re