King’s Million-Dollar Secret (11 page)

He smiled and that simply infuriated her. Cordell King had bruised her heart so badly, she'd completely lost sight of who and what she was. He'd shattered her confidence and made her question her own ability to judge a person's character.

“All I'm saying is—” he started.

But Katie cut him off with a single wave of her hand. She was through. She didn't want to hear his lame excuses. He'd hurt her and now he behaved as though it had never happened. Well, maybe most of the Kings were able to skate through life without ever once having to face up to what they'd done, but Cordell was going to get a piece of her mind. At last.

“Don't bother. I'm not interested in what you have to say. Do you really think I would go out with you again after how you treated me? Seriously? Does that sweet smile and charm really work for you?”

“Usually,” he admitted, taking a long step back as if finally understanding that she wasn't thrilled to see him. He took a quick look around as if to assure himself that they were alone.

They were. But it wouldn't have mattered to Katie either way.

“Amazing,” she said, “that there are so many women out there allowing themselves to be dazzled by good looks and empty promises.”

“Now just a minute,” he countered in his own defense. “I didn't make you any promises.”

“Oh, no,” she acknowledged. “Just the unspoken
promise of one human being to treat another with a bit of respect.”

“It was a good time, okay? That's all. As for tonight, I saw you and thought—”

“I know exactly what you thought, Cordell, and I can tell you it's never going to happen.”

He shook his head, blew out a breath and said, “Okay, I can see that this was a mistake, so—”

The sound of a rumbling engine came to her and Katie glanced at the parking lot. Rafe was driving his truck around to the front to pick her up and as he approached, she pointed at him.

“You see that truck? Driving it is a better man than you'll ever be, Cordell. He's a carpenter. He's not rich, but he's got more class than you could hope to have. He's honest and kind and sweet and—”

“Okay!” Cordell took another step away from her and his features clearly said that he wished he were anywhere but there. “I get the picture.”

“Good.” She set her hands at her hips and took a deep, calming breath of the cool, fresh air. Katie felt better than she had in months. Being given the chance to face Cordell and tell him exactly what she thought of him had been…liberating.

She was still watching him with a gleam of triumph in her eyes when she heard the truck stop and the driver's side door open and slam shut.

“Cordell?” Rafe shouted as he came closer.

Katie slowly swiveled her head to stare at him. How did he know Cordell?

“Rafe?” Cordell said his name on a laugh. “
You're
the poor but honest carpenter? The paragon of virtue Katie just slapped me upside the head with?
You?
”

Rafe didn't say another word. He bunched his fist
and threw a punch to Cordell's jaw that had the man sprawled out on the cement before he could take his next breath. Then Rafe stood over him, glaring in fury. “You son of a bitch.”

“You
know
each other?” Katie asked, her voice hitching higher on every word.

Rubbing his jaw, Cordell scrambled to his feet, his glare burning into Rafe as if he could set fire to him with only the power of his will. “You could say that. Rafe's my cousin.”

Katie staggered back a step or two, her gaze locked on the man turning to face her now. “Rafe
King?
”

“I can explain,” he said.

She noticed he wasn't denying it.

“So much for the poor but proud carpenter, huh?” Cordell muttered, his gaze snapping from his cousin to the woman staring at both of them as if they'd just crawled out from under the same rock. “Katie, I admit it. I treated you badly and I'm sorry for it. But at least I never lied to you, which is more than I can say for my cousin.”

“Shut up, Cordell.”

“You want to try another shot at me, Rafe?” he offered. “Go for it.”

“Both of you stop it,” Katie demanded, suddenly feeling like a bone being tugged between two snarling dogs.

Fury tangled with hurt and mixed into a knot of emotions in the pit of her stomach. She was so shaken she could hardly stand, but still, she had to look at Rafe. She read regret in his eyes, though that didn't do a thing toward assuaging what she was going through.

Tears stung her eyes, but she refused to let them fall. Damned if she'd give her tears to the Kings. Again. No,
instead, she went with the fury, letting her anger pulse inside her until she could hardly breathe for the fire churning inside her.

“Was this a game?” she demanded, ignoring Cordell, giving her attention only to the man she had thought she knew so well. “Did you have a good time? Are you going to run off to your country club now with lots of fun stories about how you wormed your way into the cookie queen's bed?”

“You slept with her?” Cordell said.

Rafe sent him a death glare, then focused on Katie. “It wasn't a game. Damn it, Katie, you're…
important
to me.”

“Oh, sure,” she said, sarcasm dripping from her tone, “I can sense that. Lies are always an indicator of a real depth of feeling.”

“I was going to tell you the truth.”

“What stopped you?” she asked tightly. “Could it be shame?”

“Katie, if you'll just listen for a second…” He took a step closer and she skipped back in reaction.

“Stay away from me,” she muttered, shaking her head as if she could wipe away the memory of these last few minutes. “I can't believe this is happening.”

“Katie let me explain,” Rafe said.

“This should be good,” Cordell murmured.

“Don't you have somewhere to go?” Rafe challenged.

“I'm not going anywhere,” his cousin said.

“Then I will,” Katie told both of them. She couldn't stand here listening to either one of them.

“Not before you hear me out,” Rafe said, grabbing her arm to hold her still when she would have sailed past him.

Katie pulled free, ignoring the instinct to stay within the grip of his warmth. “Fine. Talk.”

He shot another look at his cousin, then focused on her as if she were the only person in the world. “I made a bet with Joe. The contractor.”

“A
bet?
You bet on me?” Oh, she thought grimly, this just got better and better. Now it wasn't just Rafe lying to her, but Joe, too. And probably Steve and Arturo, as well. They must have had some fun lunchtime conversations talking about how stupid she was. “I can't believe you did that.”

“No,” he snapped, then ran one hand through his hair. “It wasn't about you. I lost a bet and had to work a job site. Your job site. Then I met you and found out you hated all the Kings because of what this moron did to you—”

“Hey!”

“—so I didn't tell you who I was. I wanted you to get to know me. To like me. Then I was going to tell you the truth, I swear it.”

“
That
was your plan?” Cordell asked. “And you call me a moron.”

“Be quiet, Cordell.” Katie shook her head in disbelief and gave her full attention to Rafe again. His eyes were flashing with emotion, but she couldn't read them and wouldn't have bothered if she could. She was beyond caring what he was feeling. Her own emotions were too wild. Too tangled and twisted to be able to make sense of them. All she knew was that she was hurting and, once again, a
King
was at the center of her pain. “You were going to show me that I was wrong about your family by
lying
to me?”

He scrubbed one hand across his jaw and muttered
something she didn't quite catch. Then he said, “Katie, let me take you home so we can talk this out.”

Cordell snorted a short laugh.

Neither of them so much as glanced at him.

“I'm not going anywhere with you, Rafe,” she said quietly. Looking up into his beautiful blue eyes for the last time, she silently said goodbye to her hopes, her dreams and the love she had so recently discovered. How could she love a man she didn't even know? And that knowledge made the pain in her heart much more fierce. “Just leave me alone.”

She started walking and only paused when he called out, “You need a ride home.”

“I'll call a cab,” she said without even looking at him.

Katie couldn't bear it for another minute. Couldn't look at him one more time, knowing that he'd lied to her every day they were together. None of it had been real. None of it had meant a thing.

She had fallen in love with a stranger.

And now she was alone again.

As the restaurant valet called for a taxi, she realized that she had been right earlier. Tonight
was
a night she would always remember.

 

“So,” Cordell asked, “you want to get a drink?”

“Sure,” Rafe grumbled, “why not?”

The two cousins headed for the restaurant bar and Rafe didn't miss the fact that Katie's gaze locked on them both as they walked past her. He could almost feel the fury radiating off her and damned if he could blame her for it.

Amazing, he thought, just how fast a perfect night
could go to hell. As they stepped into the restaurant, Cordell shivered.

“Did you feel those icicles she was shooting at us?”

“Felt more like knives to me,” Rafe said and led the way into the wood-paneled bar. A dozen or more people were scattered around the glass-walled room at tiny round tables boasting flickering candlelight. Rafe ignored everyone else and headed directly for the bartender. He took a seat, ordered two beers, then turned to look at his cousin as Cordell took the stool beside him. “This wasn't how I saw tonight ending up.”

“Guess not,” Cordell said amiably. “So how long have you been seeing Katie?”

“A few weeks.” Rafe picked up his beer and took a long swallow.

“A few weeks? Hell, I dated her for three months and never got past her front door.”

Rafe smiled to himself. That was good to hear. If Cordell had said something about sleeping with Katie, then Rafe would have had to kill him and there would have been hell to pay from the rest of the family.

As it was, he was fighting down an urge to hit Cordell again just for the heck of it. But what would be the point? Katie had made it all too clear that it wasn't just Cordell she was angry at anymore. Seemed there was plenty of outraged fury to spread over the whole King family.

And he'd brought it all on himself.

Rafe rubbed the back of his neck and gritted his teeth against the urge to howl in frustration. Ironic that just when he'd decided to come clean and confess all, he'd lost everything before he had the chance. He should have told her sooner, he knew. But he hadn't wanted to risk what they had.

Now, it no longer mattered because what they had was gone.

His cousin nudged him with an elbow. “So why'd you lie to Katie?”

“Why were you a jerk to her?”

Cordell shrugged. “According to most of the women I go out with, that's what I'm best at.”

“That's just great,” Rafe said, nodding grimly.

“You're avoiding the question,” his cousin said. “Why'd you lie to Katie?”

“You heard me explain it to her,” Rafe said, studying his own sorry reflection in the mirror across from him.

“Yeah,” Cordell agreed. “But I'm thinking it was more than that.”

Listening to his cousin was making Rafe bunch his fists again. He didn't want to be here with Cordell. He wanted to be with Katie. Wanted to make her understand…
what?
What could he possibly say now that wouldn't paint him as the same kind of ass as Cordell?

She had lumped all the Kings into one bad basket and as it turned out, he told himself, she was right.

“What're you talking about, Cordell?”

“Only that you really liked her. And once you found out she hated all Kings—”

“Thanks to you,” Rafe added.

Cordell shrugged and nodded. “Thanks to me, then you decided that you didn't want to blow it by telling her the truth.”

“Wrong. I had a plan. I was going to tell her.”

“Sure you were,” his cousin said on a snort of laughter.

“If there's something funny about this,” Rafe muttered, “I wish you'd share it. Because I just don't see it.”

“I know.” Cordell took a long pull of his beer and looked into the mirror, meeting Rafe's gaze with a smile. “And that's the funniest part. Man, if your brothers could see you now.”

“You want to step outside and finish that fight?”

“Nope,” Cordell said, “and hitting me won't change a thing for you anyway.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning, you're in love with her.” Cordell laughed, took another drink of his beer and shook his head. “Another King bites the dust.”

“You're wrong.” Rafe looked into the mirror, met his own gaze and assured himself that Cordell couldn't have been more wildly off base. He wasn't in love. Had no wish to be in love.

Which was a good thing, he decided grimly. Since the only woman who might have changed his mind about that now wanted nothing to do with him.

K
atie spent the next few days buried in work.

There was simply nothing better for taking your mind off your problems then diving into baking. She devoted herself to building cookie cakes, decorating birthday cookies and churning out dozens of her clients' favorites.

The scents of cinnamon, vanilla and chocolate surrounded her, giving her a sense of peace that actually went nowhere toward calming her. Inside, her heart was torn and her mind was still buzzing with indignation and hurt. In her dreams, she saw Rafe's face, over and over again, as he looked at her and said, “I can explain.” She saw Cordell laughing, Rafe furious and herself, shattered.

He'd said she was “important” to him. As what? A means to winning a bet? As a personal challenge to change her mind about the Kings? And if she was so
important to him, why hadn't he tried to talk to her since that night? Why had he been able to let her go so easily?

God, she wasn't making sense. She didn't want him back, did she? So why should she care that he wasn't calling? Wasn't coming over?

Again and again, she relived that night and each time the images danced through her brain, the pain she felt ratcheted up another notch. Her own fault, she knew. She had trusted. Big mistake. She had known going in that she should keep her distance from Rafe. Instead though, she'd followed her heart again, choosing to forget that that particular part of her anatomy was fairly unreliable.

“How many times are you going to go over this anyway, Katie?” she murmured. Shaking her head grimly, she boxed up a dozen chocolate-chip cookies and tied the pink and white striped container with a cotton-candy-colored ribbon.

No matter what else was happening in her life, at least her business was surviving. Thriving, even. The stacks of boxes waiting to be delivered gave her a sense of accomplishment and pride. And that was exactly what she needed at the moment.

This temporary kitchen was her solace. Here she could remember who and what she was. Remind herself that she was building a future for herself. And if that future didn't involve Rafe Cole—she frowned and mentally corrected, Rafe
King
—she would find a way to deal with it.

While the latest batch of cream-cheese cookies baked, Katie wandered to the windows and looked out at the backyard. It was slowly returning to what it had once been. The piles of discarded flooring and plasterboard
were gone. Blue tarps covering the grass had been folded and stored away in the crew's trailer, with only squares of dried grass to mark where they had been. The crew was nearing the end of the job and Katie's heart ached at the thought. Her last connection to Rafe was quickly dissolving.

Despite her determination to be strong and self-sufficient, a small, whiny part of her wanted to see Rafe again. Didn't seem to care that he had lied to her. Repeatedly. There was still a dull pain wrapped around her heart and she knew instinctively that it wouldn't stop hurting any time soon.

She hadn't seen Rafe since that night at the restaurant. Apparently his “bet” with Joe had ended the moment she discovered the truth. Rafe had simply walked away without a backward glance, as far as she knew, and it didn't look as though he'd be back. Really, it was as if he had never been here at all, she thought, watching Steve and Arturo carry in the last of the newly refinished cabinet doors.

Katie had walked through her kitchen only that morning in the pre-dawn silence. The pleasure she would have taken in the remodel was muted by the absence of the man who was taking up far too many of her thoughts.

The kitchen was exactly as she had pictured it. The tile floors and granite countertops were in place. All that was left was the finishing work. A few more doors, installing the new drawer pulls and light fixtures, and then her house would be hers again. The crew would leave and she would be alone, with no more contact with King Construction.

Or Rafe.

That twinge of pain twisted in her chest again and
she wondered if it would always be a part of her. She sighed and so didn't hear a thing when Joe entered the patio kitchen.

“Katie?”

She whirled around, startled, to face the man who had been a part of what she now thought of as the Great Lie. He looked uncomfortable, as he had since discovering that she now knew the truth.

Her voice was cool, but polite. “Hello, Joe.”

She actually saw him flinch. Though Rafe hadn't been around, she knew that he had been in contact with Joe to tell him that the jig, so to speak, was up.

He shifted position as if he were nervous. “Just wanted to let you know your new stove will be delivered and installed tomorrow morning.”

“That's good, thanks.”

“The inspector's signed off on everything so we'll move the refrigerator back into the kitchen this afternoon.”

“All right.” It was almost over, she thought. She wouldn't spend another day cooking in her temporary kitchen. The batch of cookies in the oven now would be the last she baked in her old stove.

“And,” he continued, “the guys will be here to help the installers. Then they'll do the last of the finishing jobs and we'll be out of your hair by tomorrow afternoon.”

“Okay.”

Katie tucked her hands into the pockets of her jeans and as she stood there watching Joe in his misery, she almost felt sorry for him. None of this was his fault. The morning after that scene at the restaurant Joe had explained what had happened and all about the bet Rafe had lost to him.

He'd apologized for going along with Rafe's lies,
but Katie knew he also hadn't had much choice in the matter, either. As an employee, he could hardly argue with the boss. With that thought in mind, she managed to give the man a small smile.

“I have to admit, I'm looking forward to getting my life back,” she said. She wouldn't confess to missing Rafe. Not to Joe. Not to anyone.

“Yeah,” he muttered, voice still gloomy. “I'll bet.”

She noticed he was crumpling an invoice in one tight fist and asked, “Is that the last one?”

He looked down at the paper as if surprised to see it. Then he smoothed it out before holding it out to her. “Your last payment includes the little extras you asked for along the way that were off contract.”

Katie nodded and walked over to take it. She didn't even glance at the total. “I'll have a check for you tomorrow.”

“That'll be fine.” He turned to leave, then stopped and looked at her again. “I'm really sorry, Katie. About everything.”

She flushed and now it was her turn to be uncomfortable. Blast Rafe King for putting her in this position. “It wasn't your doing.”

“It was, in a way,” he insisted, apparently unwilling to let it go that easily. “You know, Rafe's actually a good guy.”

“Of course you'd say that,” she told him with a sad smile. “You work for him.”

“I do,” Joe argued, animation coming into his face at last as he tried to defend his employer. “And that's why I'm in a position to know just what kind of man he is. You can tell a lot about a person in the way they treat the people around them. Rafe's not an easy man, but he's a fair one.”

“To whom?” Only moments ago, she'd been feeling sympathetic toward Joe since Rafe had put him in such an awkward position. But now, outrage began to bristle inside her. “Was it fair to lie to me? To force you to go along with the lie?”

Joe scowled and scrubbed one hand over his jaw. “No, it wasn't. But he was paying off his bet to me, so I think we should cut him some slack. Not all employers would have had the spine to honor the debt like that.”

“Honor?” A burst of laughter shot from Katie's throat.

“Yeah,” he said flatly. “Honor. I don't know what happened between you two and I don't want to know. But I can tell you that Rafe's not a man who goes out of his way to treat people badly.”

“Just a happy accident, then?” she sniped and instantly regretted it when Joe winced. Honestly, why was she taking her anger and hurt out on him? He hadn't done anything to her beyond supporting Rafe's lies. It was Rafe who had set everything in motion. Rafe who had slept with her and
still
lied to her. Rafe who had let her believe that something amazing was coming to life between them, all the time knowing that it was a sham.

Katie struggled for control and found it. Forcing a smile she didn't feel, she said, “Joe, why don't we just call this a draw and agree not to talk about Rafe King?”

A moment or two passed when it looked as though he might argue with her. But at last, Joe nodded in surrender. “That's fine, then. I'll just let you get back to work and go see if I can help the boys finish up any faster.”

She watched him go, then took a deep breath and tried to push Rafe from her mind. Again.

Naturally, it didn't work.

 

It had been almost a week since he'd last seen Katie Charles.

Rafe felt like a caged man. He was trapped in his own memories of her no matter what he did to try to shake them loose. Her image haunted his dreams, and awake, he couldn't seem to keep thoughts of her at bay. Didn't matter where he was or what he did, Katie was never more than a thought away.

Hell, he'd even considered calling one of the women he knew, to dive back into his life. Get back in the normal swing of things. But damned if he'd been able to make himself do it. No, he had a charity event he had to go to in a few days, but until then, he wasn't going out.

Didn't have the patience to put up with any of the women he knew and wasn't interested in finding someone new.

He just wanted to be alone. But not by himself. Which didn't make sense even to him.

He had tried holing up in his suite at the hotel, locking himself away with only his racing brain to keep him company. But the hotel rooms felt sterile, impersonal, and the echoing emptiness had pounded on him until he thought he might lose what was left of his mind.

So here he sat, trying to focus on inventory and supply sheets while images of Katie taunted him. To make matters worse, there was Sean. The problem with coming into King Construction offices, Rafe told himself, was that he couldn't really avoid his brothers.

“What is your problem?” Sean asked.

“I'm fine,” Rafe insisted, keeping his head down, his gaze on the paperwork scattered across his desk. “Just get off my back, all right?”

Sean laughed. “Trust me when I say, I'd love to. But you're making everyone around here nuts. When Janice was doing some phone work for me, she
begged
me to get you out of the office.”

That's great,
he thought. Always before, Rafe had kept his personal and business lives separate. Now though, it seemed his lousy attitude was bleeding into the office. Hell, maybe he should take some time off. But if he did that, his mind would have far too much time to think about Katie. So whether his assistant was happy about it or not, he wasn't going anywhere.

Rafe scowled and looked up to watch his brother stroll around the perimeter of his office. When Sean stopped at a shelf and plucked a signed baseball off its pedestal, Rafe grumbled, “Put that down.” When he complied, Rafe demanded, “Why is
my
assistant doing work for you anyway? Don't you have your own? What happened to Kelly?”

Sighing, Sean walked over and perched on the edge of Rafe's desk. “She eloped last weekend.”

“That's the third assistant you've lost this year, isn't it?”

“Yeah. I've got to stop hiring the pretty ones,” Sean mused. “Inevitably, they run off and get married and leave me swinging in the wind.”

“Well, call the temp agency and get someone in here. Just leave Janice alone.”

“Funny,” Sean said, his eyes narrowing as he watched Rafe thoughtfully, “she'd rather work for me these days.”

Disgusted, Rafe muttered, “Yeah, well, she doesn't.”

“Better she work for me than quit. And until you lighten up, nobody wants anything to do with you. So why don't you just tell me what's going on?”

“Work,” Rafe said flatly, his gaze giving nothing away as he glared at his brother. “You should try it.”

“Just so you know? The whole ‘King Glare' thing doesn't work on me. I can do it too, remember?”

Rafe tossed his pen to the desktop and, giving into the irritation flooding his system, jumped out of his chair as if he couldn't bear to sit still any longer. Turning his back on his brother, he stared out the window at the spread of sunlit ocean before him. There were a few sailboats out on the water today and in the distance, fishermen lined the pier. Gray clouds gathered on the horizon and the wind whipped the waves into choppy whitecaps.

“So,” Sean asked again, “what's going on?”

He glanced back over his shoulder. He knew his younger brother wouldn't go away until he got some answers. And a part of Rafe wanted to say it all out loud anyway, so he blurted, “Found out which King hurt Katie.”

“Yeah? Who?”

“Cordell.”

“Should have thought of him,” Sean mused with a nod. “He goes through women faster than Jesse used to.”

At mention of their now-married cousin, Rafe almost smiled. As a former professional surfer, Jesse King's reputation with the ladies had been staggering. Of course, that was before he married Bella and became a father.

“How'd you find out who it was?”

Rafe muttered an oath and looked at Sean. “Ran into Cordell when I took Katie to dinner.”

“Ouch.” Sean nodded thoughtfully, clearly understanding the situation.

“Yeah. That about covers it.” Pushing one hand through his hair, Rafe looked back at the ocean and said, “It all happened pretty fast. I punched him. Then he told Katie who I was. Then she left.”

“And you let her go.”

Swiveling his head around, he glared at Sean again. “What was I supposed to do? Hold her captive?”