If I Trust You (If You Come Back To Me #4) (14 page)

“I know you said we shouldn’t do anything until we get the results of the paternity test, but I’d feel a lot more comfortable having Abel Warren contact you in regard to Lincoln’s will. He can advise you. I’ll pay his fee. It’s a fairly complicated document, and you could use someone in your corner.”

Deidre studied her scarf as she tied it. “Actually...Marc suggested someone he knows who specializes in estate law take a look at it.”

“Who did he recommend?” Nick asked.

Deidre swallowed and met his stare. What was he thinking? His cool, impassive professional expression was back in place. She hesitated. “A man by the name of Mike Bonella.”

Something shifted on his face.

“You know who he is?” Deidre asked.

“Yeah. He handled a case a few years back that was right out of the pages of that old soap opera,
Dynasty
—the spoiled children of Howard Ernst versus Howard’s very young bride of nine months. Bonella won. So did the young wife.” His eyebrows quirked up. “Sounds like your brother is looking out for you.”

Deidre closed her eyes briefly as mortification flashed through her. “I haven’t called him yet, Nick. I hope I don’t have to. Marc just gave me Bonella’s name.”

“I’m glad he gave it to you.”

She started. “You are?”

Nick nodded. “The more sound advice you get, the better. But Abel was loyal to the bone to Lincoln, and he’ll be loyal to you, in turn. He knows Lincoln’s estate like no other. You can trust him. It wouldn’t hurt to at least talk to Abel and get his insight on the whole thing. I can tell you what I know, but because of the circumstances, there are those who would think the information I give you is skewed to my benefit. I’d rather you didn’t have to worry about that.”

Dread settled like lead in the pit of her stomach. She wasn’t sure how she was supposed to feel about Nick thinking it was a good idea to have so many legal guns on her side. “Why would you recommend I have someone in my corner? Have you decided to contest the will?”

“No. I know now you didn’t have any part in coercing Lincoln in any way. I’m just saying you should get good legal counsel because I don’t want anyone making ugly accusations about me influencing you unduly. If you want access to your funds before we get the results of the paternity test, just tell Abel. You are free to do that now, Deidre. I wouldn’t stop you.”

Heat warmed her cheeks. Talk about an awkward situation.

“I told you—I don’t want to do anything like that until I get the official word as to whether or not I’m Lincoln’s child. If I took any money without knowing that, if I did
anything
without knowing that first, I’d feel like a...”

“What?”

“Fraud,” she whispered.

He frowned and glanced toward the hallway behind them. Deidre turned to see her mother approaching, a smile on her face. The loaded conversation with Nick would just have to wait.

After they’d dropped her mother off on Sycamore Avenue, Deidre asked if they could stop at the Shop and Save. They were getting out of the car when Nick got a call.

“I should take this,” he said, glancing up from his phone. “Do you mind if I just stay in the car?”

“No, of course not,” Deidre assured.

By the time she returned, he was still on the call. He hung up and got out of the car, but she’d already tossed the two light bags into the backseat.

“Is that all you got?” he asked as they got back in the sedan.

“It’s just dessert. I thought we might want something later,” she explained as she put on her seat belt. “What?” she asked when she saw his frown.

“I have to fly to San Francisco for a few days. There was a chemical fire at one of our pharmaceutical companies.”

“Was anyone hurt?”

“One man has been hospitalized with significant burns, but he’s stable,” he said as he drove through the parking lot. “All the other employees were treated for minor injuries at the local emergency room and discharged. I’m thankful no one was killed. The fire was extensive though.

“I’m sorry about having to leave,” he told her when he pulled into the driveway a few minutes later and put the car into park. “I make it a habit to go and inspect our facilities immediately following accidents. I don’t like to hear things second- and thirdhand about something so crucial.”

She swallowed, struck by the way he kept saying “our.”

“There’s nothing to be sorry for,” she assured him. “You’re absolutely right. Please—go and do whatever is necessary to make sure everyone there is safe.”

He glanced into the backseat. “Come on. I’ll help you with the bags.”

“No,” she insisted. “There are just a couple items. You have more important things to think about.”

He frowned. “You’re important.”

She smiled. “Well, I’m not going anywhere.”

He gave a quick bark of laughter. “Good,” he said. “Because I’ll be back to Harbor Town before you know it.” He leaned over and kissed her.

A minute later, she got out of the car with her bags in tow and waved as he backed out of the drive. She trudged up the squeaking, frozen front stairs to the dark cottage. Nick’s goodbye kisses were always delicious, but they only seemed to highlight the empty, heavy feeling that inevitably settled in her belly when he was gone.

Chapter Nine

D
eidre spent the following morning at the Family Center helping Colleen paint a new playroom for clients’ children. It was the perfect opportunity for Colleen to pump Deidre about information in regard to her date with Nick and the outing with their mother. She’d forgotten to mention Addy’s comments about Brigit to Colleen. Colleen was just as stunned as Deidre had been to learn their mother had been horseback riding in secret all this time.

“Liam was right,” Colleen said as she rolled bright yellow paint onto the wall. “Mom has been eaten away by guilt all these years. She wanted to keep Lincoln and her love of horses and that part of her life...
all
of it separate from us.”

Deidre said nothing, just resumed doing some corner work with a brush. Unfortunately, the “all of it” that Brigit had kept separate from Deidre was half of her family.

That afternoon, she purchased a box of assorted cookies from Celino’s and drove it out to the McGraw Stables. Addy gave her a huge toothy grin and a hug for her gift. She sat with the friendly woman for a half hour at her kitchen table, sipping coffee and listening to Addy reminisce about her mother.

It struck Deidre how strange it was, the different faces an individual showed the people in their life. Addy found Brigit Kavanaugh to be an unfailingly kind, courageous, talented horsewoman, and a loyal friend. Derry had always respected his wife’s strength of character and her role as a mother. As an adult looking back in time, Deidre realized Derry had certainly found Brigit attractive...alluring. Her mother had a certain elusive quality about her, as though part of her would always remain a mystery. Lincoln, too, had been captivated by Brigit, idealizing her, putting her up on a pedestal, never entirely getting over his love for her.

As a child, Deidre had lived in the secure cocoon of her mother’s warmth and love, never doubting it would be there any more than she doubted air would enter her lungs on her next inhale. When she’d learned what Brigit had done, it’d been like having the breath knocked clean out of her.

“Your mama is a great lady,” Addy concluded fondly, drawing Deidre out of her reflections. “All that charity work she does, and she visits a lot of the older ladies in town, people in need, cheering them up, taking them to their doctor’s appointments and such. They don’t make them like your mother anymore.”

Deidre smiled and patted Addy’s weathered hand. “Thank you for talking with me about my mom.”

Addy’s expression softened. “You come out here anytime to talk about anything you like, you hear?”

Deidre returned to Cedar Cottage, feeling thoughtful. She wrapped Christmas presents and placed them under the tree, admiring the way the colored lights struck the festive paper.

The sound of ringing jarred her. For a few seconds, she just stared at her cell phone. What if this was it—the call from GenLabs she’d been both dreading and anticipating for weeks on end?

She took courage and glanced at the number. She exhaled in relief.

“Hi,” she said, smiling as sat back on the cushions.

“Hi. What are you up to?” Nick asked, his deep, quiet voice causing a thrill of awareness to go through her.

“Really important stuff—wrapping Christmas presents and staring at the Christmas tree. How are things there?”

“As good as can be expected,” Nick replied evenly enough, but she heard the grim edge to his tone. “We inspected the plant this morning and I met with the safety director and manager.”

“How is the man who was injured?”

“His name’s Edgar Grant. He’s obviously not the most comfortable with third degree burns on his legs and hip, but he’ll be out of the hospital in a few days. His sense of humor is intact, anyway.”

“Did you actually visit him in the hospital?” Deidre asked.

“Yeah, just briefly. The nurse was about to dress his burns. What else did you do today?”

She’d been about to express her amazement that the CEO of an enormous conglomerate had taken the time to visit an injured employee of a small subsidiary plant but she ceased when he changed the topic. Nick obviously didn’t think his actions were noteworthy, even if she did. “Oh, I helped Colleen paint a playroom at the Family Center and I took some cookies out to Addy McGraw. Addy talked a lot about my mom.”

“She’s a real fan of your mom, that’s for sure.” He paused. “I hope it’s okay for me to say, but I like your mother, too. She reminds me a little of Lily DuBois.”

“Really?” Deidre asked, taken aback.

“Not in looks, but in manner. She’s a sharp, classy lady. I can see why Linc was so taken with her for all those years. You haven’t really had the opportunity to let me have it for asking her to go up in the plane with us, by the way,” he added. Deidre could perfectly picture the half amused, half wary tilt of his mouth.

“You’re lucky. The outing went so well, I lost the urge.”

“Really?”

She sighed and lay on her back on the couch. “Really,” she said, hearing all of the doubt, hurt and hope she felt in regard to her mother infused into the one word.

A pregnant pause ensued. Even though neither of them spoke, Deidre felt strangely connected to Nick in that moment, despite the thousands of miles that separated them. She had a sudden, vivid image of him sitting in a chair with his back to a desk and facing a floor-to-ceiling window. His tie was loosened and his hair had fallen onto his forehead. She doubted it was anything but her imagination, but her heart throbbed in her breast as if she’d truly seen him.

“Life sure can be crazy at times,” he murmured, his voice sounding so close he might have been right next to her.

“Yeah...but it can be nice, too,” she replied quietly.

“Deidre...”

“Hmm?”

“Maybe I liked your mother because she looked so much like you.”

She smiled. She had the distinct impression that wasn’t what he’d planned to say just seconds before. “I think it’s the other way around. I look like her.”

“Either way, my point is the same.”

She chuckled and turned on her side, drawing up her knees. She felt lulled and content, lying there and listening to the sound of Nick’s low, gruff voice in her ear.

“Where are you at?” she asked.

“At the San Francisco office. I thought I’d get a little work done while I was here. I miss you.”

Deidre blinked in amazement at the unexpected declaration. “I miss you, too.”

She heard a rustle and the sound of his chair squeaking. “I better go. I’ll be back in Harbor Town the day after tomorrow.”

“Okay. Nick?”

“Yeah?”

“Sleep well,” she said feelingly.

There was a stretched pause. “You, too.”

* * *

Nick hit the disconnect button on his phone and set it on the desk.

“I didn’t hear you knock,” he said, leveling a stare at John Kellerman, DuBois Enterprises’s chief legal officer. He stood several feet in front of Nick’s desk. John was a formidable figure with iron-gray hair and an unparalleled knowledge of corporate law.

“I just came in to have a word with you. I knocked but you were obviously too wrapped up in your conversation to notice.”

Nick didn’t reply. He sincerely doubted John had knocked. He’d overheard Nick talking to Deidre. Nick waited patiently in order to see the direction of John’s attack. John suddenly smiled and shook his head.

“There must be some explanation. I know you too well to think this anything other than brilliant maneuvering. You know precisely what you’re doing, I suppose, sleeping with the enemy?” he asked with a bark of mirthless laughter, waving at Nick’s cell phone. “Not that I’m arguing with your choice—she’s a tasty one, there’s never been any argument in that direction.”

“Shut up, John.”

John flinched back at his quiet words.

“You’re playing too close to the flame, Nick. I understand getting closer to Deidre Kavanaugh will only help you to manipulate this nightmare of a situation with Lincoln’s will, but be careful of getting burned. We only have to look at Lincoln as evidence for the fact that Deidre has the power to thoroughly befuddle a man.”

“Speaking of someone flying dangerously close to the flame,” Nick said, his voice cold.

John’s expression flattened at Nick’s obvious warning that he was treading too close to personal territory. “I see,” he said stiffly. “You’re telling me that you can handle this on your own. I suppose you’re right. I have every reason to trust your opinion on how to get things done. You’ve never failed DuBois Enterprises before.”

Nick watched silently as John sat down in the one of the leather chairs in front of his desk.

“At least I can say one thing for you, Nick—you’re willing to go to any extreme to make sure our interests are protected. I think it’s time we start to firm up our plan of action if we should receive the news from GenLabs that Deidre Kavanaugh is, indeed, Lincoln DuBois’s biological child, don’t you?” John asked.

* * *

The next morning, Deidre did some shopping and unloaded the groceries at Cedar Cottage, watered the plants at Liam and Natalie’s house and met Colleen for lunch. Afterward, she went over to the Harbor Town Public Library and found some references on DuBois Enterprises infrastructure and product lines. She read for three and a half hours straight before her back started to ache. She returned the material to the librarian, amazed to realize she’d barely scratched the surface in regard to learning about the company.

By the time she returned home, the sun was dipping into a frigid-looking Lake Michigan and Cedar Cottage was draped in shadow. Her fingers felt chilled once she’d removed her coat. Without turning on any lights, she went into the living room and turned on the gas fireplace, warming her hands. She went completely still when she heard a door squeak down the hallway.

Someone is in the house.

She spun around in alarm, only to see a tall shadow enter the living room. For a few seconds, she just stared, sure she must be dreaming.

“Deidre?”

“Nick?” she managed in a thin, amazed whisper.

He came closer, the light from the flames making his familiar features resolve out of shadow. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you. I just got here before you did. I was just checking to make sure you weren’t around. Your car wasn’t here, but the front door was unlocked.”

“It was?” she whispered. She’d inserted her key and twisted when she’d entered just now, not noticing the lock hadn’t been fastened. Nick stepped closer. She stood transfixed, studying every nuance of his face as if she hadn’t seen him in years. His expression was sober and tense. “I must have left it unlocked when I brought the groceries home earlier. What are you doing here? Is something wrong?”

“Yeah,” he said gruffly, stepping toward her.

“What?” she asked in confusion and rising alarm, only recognizing the telltale heat in his eyes after he grasped her shoulders and drew her against him. “Nick—”

He silenced her with his mouth.

He kissed her, a little rough...a lot sweet.

His taste had a drugging effect on her senses. His hands moved over her shoulders and down her sides, cupping her breasts in his palms before he wrapped his hands gently around her ribs, rubbing her back muscles with his fingertips. He leaned over her, deepening their already voracious kiss. His grasp lowered onto her hips, where he massaged her flesh hungrily. Deidre had the strangest impression he was detailing the sensation of her just like she’d been hungrily searching his features just moments ago, wondrous at his presence.

She pressed tighter against him, seeking his male heat. He groaned in sudden dissatisfaction and lifted her so that their mouths, bellies and groins sealed tight. Deidre wrapped her legs around his hips. He rocked her against him, her softness against his hardness.

She groaned roughly at the same moment desire clenched tight at her core.

The next thing she knew, she was falling against the couch cushions. Nick came down over her, straddling her hips. She watched his rigid features cast in firelight as he rapidly unfastened her blouse and opened it. He stroked along the sides of her waist and ribs. She once again had the impression it wasn’t a casual touch, but that he was absorbing the very sensation of her. Her eyes moistened and she blinked, wanting to see him clearly in that electrical moment. He slid his fingers beneath the front clasp of her bra and gave his wrist a flick. He peeled the cups off her skin.

A stab of thwarted desire went through her when instead of touching her breasts, he began to unfasten her jeans with quick, nimble fingers. His gaze remained fixed where she wanted him to caress, however, making her nipples tighten. He drew her jeans and panties off her, then unfastened and lowered his own pants.

His eyelids squeezed tight and his nostrils flared when he was fully sheathed inside her. Deidre felt so full of him in that moment; she was inundated...possessed. She murmured his name between pants for air and he opened his eyes. They seemed to glow silver in the firelight as he stared down at her.

“Another emergency came up,” he said.

“What?”

“I had to see you. At all costs,” he grated out between a clenched jaw. He withdrew and sunk back into her. Deidre gasped and furrowed her fingers into his hair. It was hard to form words with him pulsing high and hard inside of her.

She drew him down toward her mouth and managed in a whisper, “I’m so glad you did.”

* * *

A while later, Nick lay with his weight partially on Deidre and partially on the couch. Both of them gasped for air, their muscles limp in the aftermath of a lightning strike of passion and need.

“What’s so funny?” Nick wondered, lifting his head to see her face when he heard her soft laughter.

“You’re still wearing your coat,” Deidre said.

He gave a grunt of amusement and shucked off the coat, tossing it over the back of the couch. He let his forehead drop to the cushion again. “You just now noticed?”

She nuzzled his chin and he turned toward her, their lips a mere inch apart. “I didn’t see anything but you.”

He didn’t say anything, but she saw his eyes glint in the firelight. His mouth settled on hers, and there was more than just the residue of passion in his kiss.