Suite Embrace (21 page)

“O
h, Mark!” Skylar said, startled to see him approaching from the opposite side of the ice rink. She shifted over, making room for him to sit beside her on the bench, positioning herself so that she could see his face. Skylar could tell that he was winded, as if he'd been running. His parka was unzipped and he wasn't wearing a hat or gloves. “Is something wrong?” she asked, thinking there might be an emergency at the ski school or the lodge.

“No, but I've been looking for you. We need to talk.”

“I know, and I'm glad you came,” she told him, a surge of nervous relief filling her chest as she realized it was time to have the conversation she had dreaded for so long. “I've been sitting here, thinking about you…about us. I've missed being with you, Mark.”

“Really? You gave me the impression that you wanted to be left alone. That's why I haven't bothered you.”

Skylar lowered her eyes, hurt by the hard edge to Mark's words, but knowing he spoke the truth. “You're right. I did want to be alone for a while. I had a few things I needed to sort out.”

“Were you successful?” he quipped, a bit sarcastically as he sat down beside her.

“I…don't know.” She hesitated, sensing a definite tone of hostility in his voice.

“Want to talk about it?” he prompted.

Again, she paused, but then nodded. “Yes, I do.”

Mark crossed his arms, slipped low on his spine and stuck out his booted feet, as if settling in to listen. “Shoot. I'm all ears.”

Skylar reached for his hand, wanting to hold on to it while she talked, but he pulled it away and stuck it in his pocket. Alarmed by his reaction, she summoned the strength to plunge ahead with her confession.

“Mark, I need to tell you something about me that you don't know.”

“Just one thing?”

“Well…two very important things,” she began, inhaling slowly. “Remember the accident I told you about?”

“Dorchester Elevator, wasn't it?”

Skylar flinched. She had never told him the name of the company that had awarded her the settlement and wondered how he had found out. Had he been checking on her? Had Deena slipped and told him? And if so, how long had he known the truth? “Why, yes. Dorchester. How did you know?”

“That's not important. Go on, please.”

Realizing that he was not going to reveal his source and that he wanted to hear it from her, she continued, eyes lowered, afraid to watch his expression. “Dorchester did more than just cover my medical expenses. They settled out of court with me for a very large sum of money.”

“About four million dollars?” Mark added.

With a jerk, Skylar looked up at Mark, eyes narrowed, her heart pounding very fast. He had a smug look on his face, as if he were enjoying watching her squirm and his expression told her all she needed to know. He had known all along. He knew she had been playing a game with him. But why hadn't he said anything before now? “So, you know all about my settlement?”

He nodded, eyes locked with hers. “Enough, but not everything, I'm sure.”

“And?” she ventured, fearful of his reaction.

“It makes me want to know what else you're hiding.” He flexed his jaw, making the muscles in his neck move back and forth while he stared stonily ahead.

“All right. Here it is. I was seriously hurt when the elevator crashed. I wound up with a shattered right elbow and a fractured pelvis. My bones healed, but my body didn't.”

He glanced over at her, now paying attention. “What does that mean?”

“It means that my chances of carrying a child to term are very slim, nearly impossible. You see, a piece of bone punctured my womb. It was a serious tear. The doctors stitched me up, but they aren't sure how the injury will affect a pregnancy in the future. Every specialist I consulted told me the same thing.”

“What?”

“Better not count on ever having a successful pregnancy.”

A long pause. “I see.” A bitter sigh slipped from between his slightly parted lips. “No children for you, huh?”

“Probably not,” Skylar continued. “Mark, I wanted to tell you, but after you began talking about how much you want children and how important a family is to you, I knew I couldn't just blurt this out. I didn't plan on falling in love with you, Mark. When I met you, I was hurting, and you made the pain of my past disappear. I forgot about Lewis, the accident, his betrayal. Finally, I was happy again. I didn't think about the consequences of holding on to my secrets. I wanted to tell you, but I didn't know how, so I stepped back to take time to decide what to do. During this time apart, I've realized how much you mean to me. I've missed you so much, and I know it's selfish of me to believe that we could ever…”

“Yes, it is selfish of you,” Mark interrupted, his voice brittle with anger.

Timidly, Skylar reached out and touched the sleeve of Mark's jacket, trying to get his attention. “Mark. Please, don't hate me.”

Standing, he shook her off and threw back his head, shaking snowflakes from his hair. “Hate you? No, I can't say that, but I'm very disappointed that you felt you couldn't trust me with the truth. I had to hear it from my mother, and you'd better believe she loved rubbing it in my face. And you know what? I have to admit that I'm glad she butted into my business this time. I needed to hear the truth and she delivered. Why couldn't you at least have been honest with me?”

Skylar had no reply. What could she say that she hadn't already told him? There was nothing left to do to regain his trust. She'd hurt him too badly to hope for a second chance.

Mark hunched his shoulders and looked down at his boots, a miserable scowl on his face. “How could you let me talk to you about marriage, children and a future, knowing you were playing games with me? What a pathetically childish thing to do.” He laughed now, a bitter chuckle of defeat. “And I thought you needed your job and enjoyed it. I envied the way you threw yourself into your work. And to think that I used to ask you to do special things for me just so I could give you a big tip.” He lowered his voice and shook his head. “I wanted to help you, Skylar. I thought you needed the extra money. I guess you were laughing at me behind my back, huh?”

Skylar stood abruptly and moved closer to Mark. “No, that's not true. Mark, I never laughed at you. I made a huge mistake when I asked Deena to keep my settlement a secret. I wasn't thinking about anyone but myself at that time. I wanted to fit in when I got here and I wanted my coworkers to think of me as a regular member of the staff. It was bad enough that I was the sister of the owner, and then to add the fact that I didn't really need the job…well, it would have been a lot for the staff to accept. If everyone had known about my money, it would have become a distraction. But then I met you. My lie was already in place and, unfortunately, I just let it slide. I was going to tell you the truth tomorrow. I knew I had to. Can't we try to…” She let her words drift off into the snow-filled air, fearing it was useless to try and salvage anything from the mess she had made of their love.

“No, I don't think we can try again. I feel as if I've been duped. I thought you were an honest person, grateful to your sister for giving you a job. And I thought we had something special going on. But now I see that my mother was right all along. You're not who I thought you were.” He pulled in a big gulp of air. “I'm sorry it's turned out like this, Skylar. Really sorry.”

“Me, too,” Skylar whispered, watching his face, which had become hard and unreadable. “See you around?” she ventured, still hopeful.

Mark shrugged and walked away.

The tears that fell from Skylar's eyes mingled with the snowflakes that settled on her cheeks. She sat on the hard wooden bench for a long time after Mark disappeared, not moving, not feeling the cold or the wind or the rapidly falling snow. All she could feel was the pain that was ripping her heart in two.

F
rom the fourth floor balcony window of her apartment, Deena watched as Mark and his mother drove away from Scenic Ridge. The early morning sunlight glinted off the roof of Mark's Range Rover, sparking back at Deena until the vehicle passed beyond the stand of pines that marked the end of the two lane road. A great sense of loss washed through her, leaving a bitter taste in her mouth. Brushing aside a few stray hairs that had slipped from her ponytail, she let out a sigh that emptied her lungs.

She hated to see him go. He was such an excellent ski instructor and she had come to think of him as a member of her family, as she did with all of the staff at the resort. Sure, his Olympic championship status had been a bonus, but he had been more than simply a celebrity draw. He was a professional who took his work seriously, while passing on his passion for the sport. What was she going to do without him?

Turning from the window, Deena returned to the kitchen to pour herself a third cup of coffee, hoping it might give her a much needed boost of energy. A weakness that seemed to start in her feet and make its way through her entire body filled her with fatigue. She had gotten up at six o'clock that morning to finish some paperwork and had been deep into reviewing invoices related to the Slide and Glide Gala when Mark telephoned and asked if he could come up to see her.

When he arrived at her apartment, she could tell from the expression on his face that whatever he wanted to discuss with her was not going to be good news. She had not been wrong. He had nervously informed her that he had decided it would be best for him to leave Scenic Ridge due to personal reasons that he did not want to go into at that time. When Deena asked if there was anything she could do to help him with his problem he'd told her, “No. I don't think anyone can solve this but me, and it's going to take some time. Time away from Scenic Ridge.”

And Skylar, too,
Deena had thought, certain that his decision had something to do with her sister. For the past few weeks, Skylar had refused to discuss her budding relationship with Mark by turning the conversation to other subjects whenever Deena had brought it up. That was until last night, when everything fell apart.

Mark had told Deena that he and Virina were moving to the St. Regis hotel in Aspen, where he was going to work as a private ski instructor for the wealthy guests staying at the luxury hotel. The position paid extremely well, he had said, and now that the Black Winter Sports Reunion was over, and things had slowed down enough at Scenic Ridge for John to handle the classes, it was time to go. Again, Deena had tried to persuade him to stay, but he had held firm with his decision to quit.

Though hurt by the news, Mark's abrupt decision had not caught Deena completely by surprise. He had been subdued and distant for quite some time and Deena knew that he and Skylar were going through a pretty rough time.

Last night, Skylar had filled Deena in on what happened at the ice rink, between sobs and tears of regret. Skylar had been devastated, and blamed herself for messing up her relationship with Mark, confessing everything to Deena, who had not known about her sister's inability to carry a child to term. The money was not the issue: Mark's longing for a family and Skylar's medical condition would be difficult obstacles to overcome.

While digesting Mark's news about leaving, Deena had thought that things couldn't have gotten worse, but they did when he brought up the subject of Richard Nobel's film.

“My mother's investors decided not to commit to the project because it focuses too much on the ski school,” Mark had told her.

“Really? That's terrible,” Deena had replied.

“Well, it leaves Richard in debt with a half-finished film,” Mark had commented, going on to admit to feeling partly responsible for not cautioning Richard about his impulsive mother, who had a tendency to exaggerate everything. “I never dreamed she'd fall through on her commitment—not after bragging about her easy access to people with money. I don't know what happened, but as far as I'm concerned the documentary is dead, and it's just as well. The whole thing has become a distraction.” Then he had given Deena an awkward hug and left.

This never should have happened,
Deena thought, her eyes riveted on the bright, red coffee cup in her hand.
I'm partly to blame. I never should have agreed to keep Skylar's secret. And I never should have encouraged Richard to include so much about Jerome and our family in the documentary. How did everything get so mixed up, so quickly?
She worried, wondering how Skylar was doing this morning.

 

The painfully hollow sensation that had gripped Skylar last night remained with her in the morning, even more intense and insistent. Her limbs were numb, her stomach was growling and her head was spinning with bits and pieces of Mark's final words. Skylar turned onto her side, pulled the quilt up to her chin, and stared at the alarm clock on her dresser. Seven-twenty-five. On a normal day, she would have been up, dressed and gulping down a quick bowl of oatmeal before rushing into her office to start her day. But today was not normal. It was the worst day of her life, even worse than when she found out that Lewis was cheating on her. Back then, her anger at Lewis had overshadowed her sense of loss, but now, nothing stood between the raw ache in her heart and her longing to make things right with Mark.

I should have known better than to think that I could hold on to him very long. He comes from a different world, where I don't fit in, and his mother has been working overtime to make sure I never will. Mark was just a winter fling. A sexy guy who came along to help me move on with my life. We never had a future. Not really. I took a risk with him and I lost. And all the money in the world can't fix what's wrong with me or make it possible to have a life with Mark. Enough of this pretense and stress. It's not worth it. Deena better get herself a new concierge right away because I'm going back to Tampa.

A knock on her door interrupted Skylar's pity-party. Groaning, she slid out of bed, pulled on her robe and went to peek through the peephole. “Deena,” she said, not particularly happy to see her sister. She wasn't up for a pep talk or sisterly advice about how to salvage her love life. All she wanted to do was get back in bed and hide under the covers until the trauma of losing Mark went away. However, Skylar knew that was going to take a long, long time and she couldn't hide forever. Pasting a fake smile on her face, she opened the door.

“Just getting up?” Deena started, coming right in.

“Nope, not really. In fact, I was trying to go back to sleep.”

“No time for that,” Deena said in a disgustingly perky voice. “I've got news.”

Skylar stuck her feet into her Big Bird slippers and headed into her kitchenette. “Yeah? So, talk while I make coffee. Want some?”

“No thanks,” Deena said, following Skylar over to the counter that separated the kitchen from the living area. “I've already gone over my quota. Got an early start.”

Skylar poured water into her coffeemaker and snapped it on. “So, what's going on?” she casually asked Deena, hoping she had come to tell her that one of the guests needed some extra-special attention, and not to rehash what Skylar had revealed last night. Her failed love affair with Mark was old news now and she couldn't go there again.

“Mark is gone.”

Skylar glanced over at Deena and blinked several times. “Gone? Where?”

“To work at the St. Regis. He quit! He and Virina moved out this morning. Vacated their cabins and drove away.”

“You're kidding!”

“I wish. John will have to handle things at the school until I can hire some help.”

Leaving the coffee to brew, Skylar went to sit on a bar stool next to Deena's. “He really left?” she breathed the words. “That doesn't sound like him. He's so…so responsible. I can't believe he'd do that to you. When did he tell you?”

“He came to see me this morning. Said his mother had arranged everything at the St. Regis. Seems she knows the manager and she got Mark a job giving private lessons to their guests. I got the impression that he wasn't that thrilled by what Virina had done, but he sure as hell didn't turn down the job.”

“Did you try to get him to stay?”

“Of course, I tried to talk him out of going, but I guess Mom won out.”

“Deena. I'm sorry. He quit because of what happened between us, didn't he? Oh, God, what a mess. He must really hate me to give up teaching here. He loved this place, loved his job.”

“Well, he didn't say why he was leaving and he didn't say that he hates you, but I could tell that he's sad…disappointed. I've never seen him so low. Very somber. I guess he thought he had no choice but to go, so he wouldn't have to worry about running into you. I'm sure it would've been awkward if he'd stayed. For both of you.”

“He shouldn't have to leave. I'm the one who should go. Deena, get a hold of Mark at the St. Regis and tell him to come back. Tell him that I'm returning to Tampa and I won't be here, so he won't have to worry about avoiding me.”

“I doubt he'd return, not after leaving the way he did, and besides
you
definitely can't leave now.”

“Oh, yes I can, and I will. You can get a new concierge easier than you can get another Olympic gold medal winner to run your ski school!” Sliding off the stool, Skylar poured coffee into a cup and took a short gulp. “Be real, Deena. You need Mark Jorgen on staff more than you need me. Things have slowed down. Kathy can handle guest relations until you hire someone else. There's no reason for me to stick around.”

“Yes, there is. Here's the clincher to my day. I thought Mark's resignation was about the worst thing that could happen and then, Jerome called. His father died during the night.”

“Oh, no.”

“Yeah,” Deena softly replied. “I think I've been expecting this, but still, it's hard to take. Anyway, Jerome is going to stay in Oregon to take care of the funeral arrangements and settle the estate.”

“Right. Of course, he has to.” Skylar assessed Deena through half-closed eyes, trying to read her sister's emotions. She could see that Deena was trying hard not to cry, but even though she was a strong, resourceful woman, at a time like this she needed to let go. “I'm so sorry.” Skylar reached out and gave Deena a firm hug, and then stood back and said, “I know Jerome is devastated.”

“He's holding up pretty well, but I can tell he's feeling low.”

“I'm sure he is. Then you need to get going,” Skylar urged in a calm, respectful tone. “He needs you with him, Deena.”

“Yes, I'm going. And I might be gone a few weeks. Maybe a month. I'd like to leave this afternoon and I want you to be in charge while I'm gone.”

“Me?” Skylar asked, astonished. “What makes you think I can run this place?”

“You can do anything you set your mind to, Skylar. I have complete faith in your ability to make sure the staff and the guests are happy and the place doesn't burn down while I'm gone. All of the employees like and respect you. You won't have any trouble.”

Scowling at her sister, Skylar wished she could tell Deena to forget about
her
sticking around to oversee the resort. All of a sudden she wanted to get far away from Colorado, the mountains, the cold weather, the demanding guests—and memories of Mark. She was more than ready to return to warm, familiar Florida, but how could she do such a thing to her sister? This was a family emergency and Deena had to be with her husband.

“You're right, Deena. I can do anything I set my mind to,” Skylar concurred with sudden conviction.
Even prove to Mark Jorgen—and his controlling mother—that I am not the selfish, dishonest woman they think I am
.