Just Kate: His Only Wife (Bestselling Author Collection) (6 page)

He pulled out into traffic and headed in the general direction of the hospital mentioned on the newscast. When he arrived, there were news vans everywhere, along with a small contingent of reporters. He pushed his way through and strode up to the admissions desk.

“I’m Senator Blake’s son-in-law,” he told the clerk.

The young woman gave him a look of mingled appreciation and skepticism. “I’ll just check that out, if you don’t mind. Your name, sir?”

“Sean Harris,” he answered, watching the woman press a sequence of numbers with a long manicured finger. That told him all he needed to know, but he waited politely while she relayed his name to someone on the other end of the line.

“That was Ms. Blake,” the receptionist said. “She says it’s all right for you to come up. It’s suite 4102. We have to be very careful, you understand...”

Sean nodded impatiently and walked to the elevators.

Kate was waiting for him when he got off. She was dressed in jeans and a yellow cotton shirt, and her dark hair fell free around her shoulders. Her beautiful blue eyes were swollen from crying, and she kept running her palms down the legs of her jeans.

Wordlessly Sean held out his arms, and she flew into them.

“How is he?” Sean asked after a few moments, still holding her tightly.

She looked up at him and sniffled. “The doctors think he’ll be okay,” she said. “If only I hadn’t—”

Sean laid a finger to her lips. “Don’t say it, Kate. Don’t even think it. The senator’s heart attack wasn’t your fault.”

She drew back from him, but caught his hand in hers. “I wish I could be so sure of that,” she said.

Sean wanted to take her home with him, to shelter and spoil her, to make love to her endlessly. She’d done what a long line of models, businesswomen and stewardesses hadn’t been able to manage—she’d won his heart. A fraction of a moment before she’d swung her purse at that mugger’s head, before Sean had realized who she was, he’d fallen in love.

He took Kate by the arm and ushered her to a plastic sofa, where they both sat down. Mrs. Blake was probably in the room with her husband, and no one else was around except for a couple of members of the senator’s staff.

Kate was studying Sean’s face. “You have to go back to Australia,” she remembered with a note of resignation in her voice.

He nodded. Gil would be expecting him back, and the other members of Austra-Air’s board of directors were anxious to hear his report on the new jet. He’d spent two nights on Kate’s couch already, and he couldn’t protect her forever, even though he wanted that more than anything.

“Did you have the locks changed?” he asked, worried about Brad Wilshire and his temper.

Despite everything, a grin formed on Kate’s pale, fine-boned face. “I didn’t need to,” she confessed in a mischievous whisper. “Brad never had a key. I just wanted you to stay.”

The knowledge made Sean happy, though he tried to hide it. It wasn’t proper to jump up in the air and shout for joy when somebody was suffering from a heart attack just a few walls away. “Let’s have a promise that you’ll come and see us,” he said softly, curving one finger under her chin.

She ran her tongue over her lips. “That’ll depend on how Daddy is,” she answered.

“He’s made of iron, love,” Sean assured her. “He’ll be mean as ever in a few days.”

Kate lowered her eyes, and Sean hoped devoutly that she wasn’t retreating back into that one-dimensional identity she’d cultivated. “Maybe,” she said.

Sean kissed her lightly on the forehead, and then they sat in companionable silence, holding hands and waiting.

An hour later a doctor came out and told them the senator was conscious and asking for his daughter. There was every reason to believe he’d recover.

With a small cry of relief, Kate flung her arms around Sean and squeezed. The embrace ended too soon, for she was anxious to see her father.

Sean glanced at his watch. If he hurried, he could still catch his plane. He would have to stop at Kate’s to pick up the rest of his things, but that wouldn’t take long since he’d never really unpacked.

“Goodbye, love,” he said gently, touching her cheek.

“Your things—you’ll need a key—” She rushed to find her purse and gave him her spare set.

A feeling of immense loneliness swept over Sean as he walked to the elevators. He made a point of not looking back; he knew she wouldn’t be there.

* * *

Two weeks after the senator’s heart attack, he was at home, preparing to return to Washington, where one of his aides had been voting as his proxy. Although things were better between Kate and her father, she still had no intention of going back to work on his staff. She didn’t know exactly what she was going to do with the rest of her life but, for once, she planned to be the one who made the decisions.

Her passport and Australian tourist visa were in the mailbox when she arrived home from visiting her parents one afternoon. She was really going to do it. She was going to pack her bags, buy an airline ticket and fly to Australia to see Gil.

As for what had happened—or
almost
happened—between her and Sean, well, that had been nothing more than a momentary lapse. A reaction to her disappointment over the breaking of her engagement. Whenever she thought about that night, she was grateful that Sean had been too much of a gentleman to take advantage of her pain and confusion.

“Bring the boy back with you,” her father instructed her the next morning when she stopped by the house on her way to the airport.

Kate sighed. “I can’t just grab him and throw him on an airplane,” she pointed out. “I promise to take lots of pictures, though, and if Sean will let me, maybe I can bring Gil here for a visit.”

“Just get him here. There’s an election coming up in November, and I want to be seen as a family man.”

Kate bent to kiss her father’s wan forehead. “Don’t get your hopes up,” she warned. “Sean doesn’t trust you, and he’s not likely to do you any favors.”

“He has a lot of gall, keeping a man from his own grandson. This wouldn’t be happening if my Abby were still alive, that’s for sure. She wouldn’t stand for it.”

The senator’s words seemed to imply some lack in Kate. “Abby is dead,” she reminded him gently.

She saw the old pain move in his keenly intelligent eyes. “Yes. And as far as I’m concerned, we have Sean Harris to blame for it.”

Kate knew there would be no point in arguing in Sean’s defense. To the senator, it would be like trying to vindicate the devil. “I’ll see you when I get back. Don’t overdo.”

The senator was already reaching for the telephone. Kate gave him a fond half smile and left the room.

Her mother was waiting in the hallway.

“I know I told you you should get away,” she began immediately, “but I really wasn’t thinking of any place so far off!”

Kate squeezed her mother’s perfectly manicured, lotion-scented hand. “I’ll be fine, Mother.”

“That’s what Abby said,” Irene fretted, “and look what happened to her.”

Kate sighed. She had known her older sister better than anyone except, perhaps, for Sean. While Abby had certainly looked like an angel, she’d been spoiled and selfish, too, and her temper had been quick. Kate kissed her mother’s cheek. “Goodbye, Mother,” she said.

Irene caught at her arm when she started toward the door. “When will you be back?”

“I don’t know,” Kate answered honestly.

Hastily Irene embraced her daughter. She was not an effusive woman, and the gesture was decidedly awkward. “There’ll be another man along soon, dear,” she promised, completely misreading Kate’s emotions as usual. “You mustn’t let breaking up with Brad get you down.”

Kate let the comment pass. “I’ll see you soon, Mother,” she said, and then she was outside and the warm June sun was on her face.

It was winter in Australia, but she didn’t care. She would be far away from old entanglements there; she would be able to think clearly and decide what to do with the rest of her life.

* * *

The night breeze was cool and fragrant as Kate stood on the balcony outside her hotel room, watching the dark ocean reach out to the pale sand and then slowly fall away. She would spend just this one night in Honolulu before traveling on to Fiji, Auckland, New Zealand, and, finally, Sydney.

She thought about Gil. Judging by the picture Sean had given her parents, the boy was a handsome blonde with his mother’s wide brown eyes. She hoped he was more like Sean than Abby.

Below, the hotel pool sparkled like a huge aquamarine, and island music wafted up from the open doors of the lounge. On impulse, Kate decided to go for a swim. Quickly she changed out of her white cotton nightgown and into her sleek new one-piece swimsuit. Then, wearing a blue eyelet cover-up and carrying a towel, she took an elevator downstairs.

The sound of friendly laughter came from inside the lounge as Kate approached the shimmering pool. She looked up at the tropical moon, and for a single moment, her loneliness almost overwhelmed her. She plunged into the water to escape it, and when she surfaced, she felt more hopeful. After a short swim, she climbed out of the pool, dried off and ordered a mai tai to carry back to her room.

Four tractor salesmen from Iowa were in the elevator with Kate, and they invited her to their party. She declined politely and got off two floors below her own.

When she finally arrived in her room, the message light on her telephone was blinking. For a moment she was afraid. Suppose her father had had another heart attack? Suppose this time he’d died?

Kate forced herself to call the main desk. “This is Kate Blake in room 403,” she said evenly. “Do you have a message for me?”

The operator asked her to wait for a moment, and Kate heard paper shuffling.

“Yes, Ms. Blake,” came the answer. “You had a call from Mr. Wilshire in room 708. He’d like you to contact him immediately.”

Kate felt cold all over, as though she’d just plunged into the pool again. She managed a strangled thank-you and slammed down the receiver.

Brad was here, in this very hotel. Obviously he’d followed her, and he’d jumped bail to do it.

Kate peeled off her suit, showered and put on a sundress and sandals. When she’d combed her hair, she hurled the few things she’d unpacked back into her suitcase, called the desk and asked that her bill be prepared. She would spend the night at the airport.

When Kate opened the door to leave, however, Brad was standing in the hallway, smiling at her. “Maybe we can still have a honeymoon,” he said.

Chapter 4

K
ate resisted an urge to flee back into her room and slam the door. Brad would be delighted to see that he’d intimidated her. “I thought you weren’t supposed to leave the state,” she said evenly.

Brad was dressed for the tropics in white pants and a lightweight sport shirt to match. He folded his arms and smiled ingratiatingly. “The charges against me have been dropped because of insufficient evidence. The person who turned me in wasn’t—” he paused, searching his mind for the right word “—reliable.”

Kate’s opinion of the judicial system plummeted. She indicated her suitcase and said, “Well, congratulations to you and apologies to society in general. I was just leaving. Sorry there’s no time to talk.”

Brad’s gaze swept over her. “I’m not going to give you another chance after this, Kate,” he warned. “Either you marry me right away, or we’re through.”

“Don’t look now,” Kate answered, “but our relationship has been over since the night of the opera. So, if you’ll excuse me—”

Brad shook his head, as though amazed that any woman could turn down a prize like him, and turned to walk away. Kate stepped back inside her room and bolted the door.

She slept fitfully that night, half expecting Brad to break into her room. Early in the morning she showered, dressed and set out for the airport. After breakfast in one of the coffee shops there, she boarded Flight 187, bound for Fiji, New Zealand and Australia.

The trip was incredibly long, with layovers at each stop, and Kate lost a full day of her life when they crossed the international dateline. By the time she arrived in Sydney, she was rumpled, cranky and exhausted.

She took a cab to the hotel where her travel agent had made reservations and, after checking in and taking a shower, she collapsed into bed. When she awakened, it was nighttime, and the bridge stretching across Sydney Harbour glowed in the rainy darkness. Seeing the dense traffic still filling the lanes, she guessed it was still evening.

She was wildly hungry. She called room service, then, sitting cross-legged on the bed, she dialed Sean’s number.

A housekeeper answered. “Harris residence.”

For a fraction of a moment, Kate didn’t know what to say. Should she introduce herself as Abby’s sister, Gil’s aunt or Sean’s friend? “This is Kate Blake,” she finally said. “Is Mr. Harris there, please?”

“I’m sorry, miss,” the housekeeper replied, “but he’s out with friends tonight.”

Kate felt a pang of jealousy, imagining Sean on a date with some other woman, but she quickly suppressed that unworthy emotion. She wanted to see Gil; his father’s social life had nothing to do with anything. “Will you tell him I called, please?” she asked.

The housekeeper promised that she would and rang off.

Kate’s dinner arrived, and she sat on the edge of her bed to eat, feeling strange and far from home. She’d forgotten the keen sense of isolation Australia could give a person—especially when that person was traveling alone.

After wheeling the service cart out into the hall, Kate read for a while and then went back to sleep. A knock at her door awakened her early the next morning.

Never at her best at that hour, Kate scrambled awkwardly out of bed, stumbled over to the door and tried to focus one eye on the peephole. She couldn’t see anyone, and was just about to turn around and stagger back to bed when another knock sounded and a young voice called, “Auntie Kate? Are you in there?”

Kate’s heart hammered against her rib cage. She wrenched the door open and there stood seven-year-old Gil, looking up at her with Abby’s eyes. He had his mother’s hair, too, and Sean’s infectious grin.