10 Ways to Steal Your Lover (14 page)

 
      
She understood that. She’d wanted to love
him, too. “Life would have been a lot easier if we could just decide to be
happy, wouldn’t it?” Her mother would have the banker son she’d always wanted,
her father wouldn’t be constantly trying to correct her mistakes. He certainly
wouldn’t be trying to cut her husband’s favorite parts off with a laser glare
anyway. And she’d be satisfied with a life where she wasn’t the most important
part of her husband’s heart.

 
      
Craig shook his head. “Actually, I think
that’s exactly what you did. You just didn’t do it with me.” Leaning forward
slowly, he pressed a kiss to her forehead.

 
      
“Keep him happy, okay? The both of you
deserve it.”

 
      
Before he could pull away, she pulled on
his collar and dragged him back in for a hug. The familiar feel of him, his
cologne and his warmth, enveloped her. But it didn’t make her feel anything but
grateful. “You’ll find the right woman, Craig. She may not be what you’re
expecting, but you’ll find her. You deserve to be happy too.”

 
      
“Especially after this. Holy shit, I had
no idea I was so magnanimous.” Craig patted her back while she laughed into his
shoulder. “For now, how about I drag your family back to their hotel before
your Dad decides your grandmother deserves a federal execution.”

 
      
“Oh, God, would you please?”

 
      
Craig laughed and headed back out to the
group sitting too quietly in the living area. If thought she heard him mutter,
“I swear, I deserve a goddamn medal,” she decided she didn’t need to ask about
it. She had more important things to figure out.

 
      
Like what she planned to do about her
husband.

***

       
Kane
stayed in his spot, perched on the arm of the couch, his gaze locked with his
possible-future father in law. Peripherally, he was aware of Jesse—who was doing
his best to get up and back into his cool-eyed, untouchable rocker persona.
Yeah, Kane wished him luck with that. In fact, he hoped the bastard had ripped
his tight leather pants wide open from this.

 
      
The Colonel finally sighed. “You’re dead
set on her, aren’t you? Even if she chooses not to stay with you.”

 
      
Kane didn’t want to dignify that question
with an answer. The second part just had his fists tightening and his teeth
grinding.

 
      
McGavin shook his head, settling next to
his wife with a crisp hike of his slacks. “So it doesn’t bother you at all that
she was about to marry your best friend when you two took off together?”

 
      
Kane shook his head. “It only bothered me
when she was going through with it. Even then, if marrying Craig would have
made her happy, she would never have found out how I felt.”

 
      
The Colonel’s gaze was frank and
assessing. Kane never heard what conclusion the man came to other than, “You
forget that I saw the two of you together before the wedding, son. Believe me,
she knew. Anyone with half a brain knew. Why do you think the Nutty Professor
over here doped her up? Even she could tell Delilah and Craig didn’t belong
together.”

 
      
“Why thank you, Heath,” Rainbow said
through a smirk, folding her hands on her lap. “Nice to see you giving credit
where credit is due.”

 
      
The Colonel’s expression of exasperation
was tempered only by the clear exhaustion on his face. “I don’t know if I’d call
it credit, but you’re welcome to it, Rainbow. Fact is, I’m tired of keeping up
with the insanity the women in this family seem to enjoy piling on my lap.
Welcome to the family, kid. Hope you brought your own Prozac.”

 
      
“Heath,” Dinah chided, a note of clear
embarrassment giving her the slightest warble.

 
      
Her husband wasn’t in the mood for it,
though. Maybe he’d just been pushed too far. Maybe relief that his daughter was
safe had given way to a volcano of anger.

 
      
Kane wasn’t sure, but it wasn’t good.
None of it.

 
      
“Don’t Heath me, Dinah. The three of you
are insane. Your mother’s a danger to society, you’re so caught up in who you
think you’re supposed to be I almost don’t know you anymore and you’ve turned
our daughter into an over-educated ornament going from one man to another
like—”

 
      
Kane jumped to his feet. “Don’t even
think about finishing that sentence, Colonel.”

 
      
The older man still had his mouth open,
as if he were thinking about pushing just that little bit further.

 
      
“You can say whatever you want about me.
Cal me whatever you want for moving in on your daughter the second I had the
chance, but I won’t sit here and let you hurl insults at her because of it. She
didn’t do anything wrong except wake up with the wrong husband. Marrying me was
a choice she didn’t even know she made. What we do about that choice is our
business. Father or not, you don’t get to judge her for following her heart. No
one does.”

 
      
Not wanting to be drawn into any more
discussion about it, Kane turned and took up Craig’s position by the big glass
window. It was actually a pretty good spot.

 
      
Nice view, some separation from the
group, but he could still hear everything going on behind him. Like the furious
whispers going back and forth between Dinah and The Colonel. By the sound of
it, Dinah was digging into her husband pretty good. Good for her.

 
      
But that still left him here, staring out
into a city he didn’t really know, clinging to a marriage born of confusion.
No, worse than that, a stolen marriage. With a stolen bride. If he held onto
it, onto her, he’d be stealing only heartache.

 
      
“Enough. You listen to me, son. You’re
crazy if you think this will work.” The Colonel insisted suddenly, his tone
snide. “I know my daughter. This is just one more of her reckless stunts. She
thinks she’s doing the right thing or the best thing or whatever she wants to
call getting her own way, but all that ever happens is that she gets hurt.
Other people get hurt. And nothing good ever comes of it. Following her heart?
You can’t possibly expect her to trust a decision this big to something like
that.”

 
      
Kane gave the man the respect of turning
to face him. “Of course I do, sir. It’s the only reason I’d want her to.”

 
      
“It’s a bullshit reason!” McGavin was up
again, looking like he was working himself into a good, old-fashioned rage.
“The girl has no discipline whatsoever. She’s incapable of making the smart
choice even when you paint an arrow on the goddamn ground. If she had her way,
she’d wander her way through her life like a gypsy, making no decisions at all and
never doing anything that makes any difference to anyone. Her heart, young man,
is stupid.”

 
      
“Then so is mine,” Kane answered, not
caring how fierce he sounded. “Because I love her. I love her heart and her
soul and her ability to find joy and wonder in things I never even looked at.
Never had the courage to reach for. She is everything I have ever wanted to be,
exactly the way she is and if you can’t understand that she’s the most
incredible person you have ever known, Colonel, then maybe you don’t deserve to
be her father.”

 
      
“Kane?” Delilah’s voice, soft and
stunned, almost echoed in the silent room.

 
      
He turned, catching the stricken
expression on her face before it smoothed and her eyes turned cold. Craig stood
right behind her, his brows furrowed and his hands in his pockets.

 
      
No question they’d heard some part of
that exchange, but how much was anyone’s guess.

 
      
Worse, now all eyes were on her, some
pitying, some apologetic, and one still belligerent.

 
      
“I think it’s time all of you went back
to your hotels,” Delilah said quietly.

 
      
“If you think we’re going to let you
just—” The Colonel blustered.

 
      
Delilah cut him off with a raised hand.
“I’m well aware that I’ve embarrassed you, Dad. That I’ve always embarrassed
you. I’m sorry that I never knew where I belonged or what I was meant to do
with my life. But I’m not sorry that I never stopped searching for either of
those things. If you can’t be proud of that, then there’s nothing I can say
that will make you feel better about any of this. So you’d better go, before
you say something else you should regret but probably never will.”

 
      
A flush rose at the top of the Colonel’s
cheeks, but he didn’t answer her. He simply stood, reached for his wife’s hand
and pulled her to her feet. Dinah extricated herself from his grip as soon as
she was up. Delilah reached for her mother’s hand, but suddenly Dinah’s arms
were around her, whispering something in her daughter’s ear before kissing her
cheek and rushing to leave in front of her husband. Jesse held the door open
for the two McGavins with as close to a look of bashfulness on his face as Kane
had ever seen.

 
      
Rainbow finally stood with a sigh, pulling
Delilah into a far more natural embrace. “Your father’s a pretentious asshole,
honey. He always has been, you know that.

 
      
Plus, he’s never taken not getting his
way very well. But one thing no one has ever been able to argue is how much he
loves you. Why do you think he blew his top like this? Mr. Dignified only ever
loses his temper when it comes to you. His idea of showing how he feels just
happens to be making all your decisions and deciding all your emotions.” She
pressed a hard kiss to Delilah’s forehead. “The best thing he ever gave you was
a will of solid steel, even if it took this long for you to find it. You’ll
find your way on your own now, I guarantee it.”

 
      
Pulling away from Delilah, Rainbow’s
surprisingly sharp gaze fixed on Kane. She reached for a handshake and oddly
enough, he gave it to her. Her grip was strong and firm. “It takes a brave man
to stand up to my son-in-law. But it takes a good one to say what you said.
Never stop being either one of those things, Kane. No matter what happens. It’s
why she loves you.”

 
      
His eyes widened but Rainbow was
apparently ready to move on. She stepped back, looking to Craig, then over to
Jesse. “Well, boys, there’s a frail old woman over here needing an escort to
the elevator. Hop to.”

 
      
Craig shook his head and stepped forward,
bringing him right next to Kane. They stared at each other, for the first time
in twenty years, awkwardness setting them apart.

 
      
The knot in his gut that Kane had thought
gone returned two-fold and ten times as sharp. How could he explain any of
this? Craig was his best, most loyal friend and he’d returned that loyalty with
betrayal of the worst kind. Worse, he couldn’t bring himself to regret a second
of loving Delilah. Being with her, even for just a day, had filed the emptiness
in him the way nothing else ever had. Talking to her, holding her, just knowing
she was with him… A man didn’t find that kind of satisfaction often. If ever.

 
      
It was painful honesty to know that, even
for Craig, he couldn’t give her up.

 
      
Taking a page from Rainbow, he thrust out
his hand. His jaw was tight, his teeth clenched so hard they ached, but he met
Craig’s gaze and hoped his friend would understand. Prayed.

 
      
Craig didn’t look away, his own face
shadowed with a haggard sadness…but not anger. It wasn’t enough for Kane to let
go of the breath trapped in his lungs, but he did stretch out his hand to
shake.

 
      
The corner of Craig’s mouth curled and he
rolled his eyes before reaching for Kane’s nape and pulling him into a rough
embrace. “Asshole,” Craig grumbled.

 
      
Maybe it wasn’t manly, but Kane held him
tight anyway. “Never meant to hurt you, man.”