Kingsley Baby Trilogy: The Hero's Son\The Brother's Wife\The Long-Lost Heir (54 page)

Colter glanced around, then leaned forward. “Granted, this isn’t much of a life, but we all cling to what we’ve got left, don’t we?”

“Are you saying you’re afraid to talk?”

Colter’s features hardened. His eyes grew cold, deadly—the look of a man who’d learned the hard way how to survive. “You’re Adam Kingsley, boy. You’re one rich son of a bitch, now. People are going to be gunning for you just because of who you are and what you’ve got. If I were you, I wouldn’t go looking for trouble.”

He stood and the guard came over to take him back to his cell. At the door, Colter paused and turned back to say something. He wasn’t near the speaker now so David couldn’t hear the words. But he thought what Raymond Colter said was, “Watch your back, boy.”

David stood and headed for the door on his side of the partition. He suddenly couldn’t wait to get outside into the sunshine.

By the end of the week, the awkwardness in the Kingsley household was beginning to tell on everyone. Jeremy stayed away as much as possible, Edward had taken to drinking again, and Pamela grew even colder and angrier. Only Iris seemed to thrive under the pressure. She became stronger every day until she was both physically and mentally back to normal.

On Friday night, she announced at dinner that she planned to have a party to introduce David to their close friends and business associates.

“The news is bound to get out sooner or later,” she said. “It’s already common knowledge that you’ve been found, but they don’t yet know you’ve come back home. If we make the announcement ourselves, we can invite only those reporters who we know won’t try to sensationalize the story.”

“I hardly think a party is appropriate,” Jeremy muttered. “Considering he thinks we’re all a pack of criminals.” He glowered across the table at David.

“Not at all,” David said smoothly. “I believe Raymond Colter had only one accomplice, and since you were eight years old at the time, you’re the one person here who’s pretty much in the clear.”

Jeremy started to retort, but Iris stopped him with a look. “I’ll hear no more about it,” she said. “It’s ridiculous to think that anyone in this house or anyone connected to this family might have conspired to kidnap one of my grandsons.” Her gaze hardened as she glanced around the table. “They would not have dared.”

“A party might be a good idea,” Edward murmured, studying his drink. “God knows, there hasn’t been anything in this house worth celebrating in years.”

“And whose fault is that?” Pamela demanded. She addressed her question to Edward, but her gaze slid to Iris.

“I remember when Edward and Carolyn were married,” Iris reminisced, her words uncharacteristically wistful. “The ceremony was beautiful and the reception magnificent. It was a celebration in the Kingsley tradition. And then, of course, when the twins were born, we had even more cause to rejoice….” Her words trailed off, her expression spiteful as she glanced at her daughter-
in-
law. “Since then, however, one disaster after another has befallen this family.”

Her point couldn’t have been clearer. She was including Pamela’s marriage to Edward in those disasters. It took a moment to sink in for Pamela, and then she pushed back her chair and stood. Throwing down her napkin, she left the room without a word.

Iris continued to eat as though nothing were amiss. After a few minutes, Jeremy excused himself and also left the room.

“She certainly knows how to clear a table,” David said under his breath. “I’ll give her that.”

Bradlee picked up her glass and sipped her wine. When she realized Iris was now addressing her, she nearly choked. “I beg your pardon?”

Iris smiled. “I said I wonder if your mother would want to fly in for the party. I haven’t seen her in ages.”

Bradlee’s mother and father under the same roof again? If Iris was looking for another disaster, she was headed in the right direction.

“I wouldn’t count on that,” Bradlee said. “Mother hates to fly, you know.”

“It was just a thought.” Iris turned to David. “Is there anyone you’d like to invite? Any close friends or business associates?”

His gaze lifted briefly to meet Bradlee’s. “As a matter of fact, there are a number of people I’d like to be here when the announcement is made.”

“Then you must put together a list for me.” Iris dabbed her lips delicately with her napkin.

“Actually, I may need your help with the list,” David said. “I’d like to invite everyone who was here the night I was kidnapped.”

Iris froze with the napkin to her lips. Edward, who appeared to have drifted off, raised his head with a jerk, his expression one of horror. “That’s impossible.”

David stared back at him. “Why?”

“Because…” He looked to his mother for help.

“Because that was thirty-
two years ago, my dear. Many of those people are dead.”

“Well, that would narrow the guest list somewhat,” David agreed. “But I would still like to have as many here as possible. Maybe we could go over the list together. If you can’t find your copy, I’m sure I’ll be able to come up with one from somewhere.”

Iris’s mouth thinned. Her blue eyes glinted dangerously. She was not used to being bested at her own game, and she didn’t like it. “I’ll see what I can do,” she said coolly.

“Thank you.” David stood. “Now, if you’ll excuse us, Bradlee and I are going to take a walk in the gardens.”

Bradlee looked up at him in surprise, then nodded, playing along. “It’s a beautiful night and the gardens are lovely this time of year….”

* * *

T
HE GARDENS
WERE
LOVELY
. A full moon rose majestically over the treetops, lighting the deepest corners of the grounds with a soft, milky glow. The roses were still in bloom, and the sweet, heady scent drifted on the night wind. A moth fluttered past Bradlee’s cheek, and she watched it for a moment, arrowing toward the brightly-
lit terrace.

But where she and David stood, the light was filtered. Shadows slanted across his face, making him seem mysterious and exciting and more than a little dangerous.

“If you were aiming for shock value, I think you got your money’s worth back there,” she said. Although she had on a pale yellow sweater set with her soft, flowing skirt, she shivered in the cool evening air. Her hair tangled in the breeze, and she absently swept it behind her ears.

David shrugged. “I guess I just wanted to shake things up a little. See how they’d react.”

“Did you really mean what you said? About having the same people who were here that night come to your party?”

“Can you think of a better way to draw out Colter’s accomplice?”

“You’re setting yourself up as bait,” Bradlee said accusingly. “I don’t think it’s such a good idea.”

“Why not?”

“You said yourself, the person we’re looking for could be dangerous.”

She saw him smile in the darkness. “So can I, if it comes to that.”

Her chill deepened, but it wasn’t just from the breeze. Bradlee realized again how very little she knew about David. He was a stranger and yet she’d been waiting all her life for him to come home.

They fell silent for a few minutes, then David nodded toward the mansion. “Are they always like that?”

“Like what?”

His tone was grim. “At each other’s throats.”

Bradlee grimaced. Dinner had been extremely uncomfortable for her, too. “It was better when Andrew was alive. Iris adored him. He could always make her laugh.”

“Somehow I can’t imagine ever doing that,” David murmured.

“And Andrew’s wife was a doll,” Bradlee said. “Iris was devoted to her.”

David turned to her. “What was she like?”

“Hope? Very sweet, very quiet, very elegant.” Bradlee paused. “Actually, you’ve met her husband. Her
new
husband.”

“She’s married again?” He gave a short laugh, one without humor. “That didn’t take long.”

“Long enough. She and Andrew’s marriage was rocky for a long time, and she and Jake go back a long way.”

“Jake?”

“Jake McClain. The private detective who found you.”

Bradlee sensed rather than saw his surprise. “Jake McClain is married to my brother’s widow?”

“They were high-
school sweethearts. When they broke up, Hope married Andrew. She stayed here for a while after he died, to be with Iris, and then later, she hired Jake to investigate the man claiming to be you.” Bradlee paused. “During the course of the investigation, I guess they found their way back to each other.”

“How romantic.”

“Don’t be cynical,” she scolded. “I think it would be wonderful to have a love like that. A love that never dies, no matter what.”

“I don’t think there is such a thing.”

Bradlee stared up at him in reproach. “You don’t think there’s one special person out there for each of us? You don’t think it takes fate and maybe a little luck for us to find that person?” She drew a long breath. “Oh, but when we do…”

“When we do, what?” She couldn’t see his expression, but she could imagine one dark brow rising in skepticism. “Fireworks? Explosions? The earth moves?”

“Yes,” Bradlee agreed. “All of that.”

“So what happens if we
don’t
find that person?” he asked. “What if the fates are against us or our luck runs out?”

She thought about that for a second. “Then I think we can love someone else. Maybe we can even be happy with someone else. But there’s only one person out there who can be the love of our life.”

He was still staring down at her in the darkness. Bradlee sensed that something was different about him. Something had changed for him—an awareness that had caught him by surprise.

There was a touch of regret in his voice when he spoke. “Love rarely works out the way we want it to, Bradlee. Real life is not a storybook fantasy.”

“But why can’t it be?” she asked. “Why can’t we have the fairy tale?”

“I think you’re asking the wrong person that question.”

“I don’t think so,” she said softly. “If anyone deserves a happy ending, it’s you.”

There was suddenly an electric pause. Bradlee shivered as she stared up at him. He reached out and touched her hair. “I don’t think I’ve ever known anyone like you.”

She tilted her head to gaze up at him, and for a moment, they remained that way, no more than a heartbeat apart. And then slowly, David’s head lowered and he touched his lips to hers.

It was hardly a kiss at all. No more than a feathery caress, but Bradlee felt it all the way to her soul. When he lifted his head, she murmured, “Don’t stop.” When he would have pulled away, she wrapped her arms around his neck and drew him back to her. Rising on tiptoe, she pressed her mouth to his, letting her tongue slip inside, grazing the edges of his teeth and beyond.

His reaction was immediate. He groaned against her lips, and his arms came around her, lifting her, holding her so close their bodies were almost one. In another minute, Bradlee hoped they would be.

She’d never experienced anything like this. His arms around her. His mouth on hers. His body against hers. It was almost a spiritual awareness of each other—a rightness that spiraled through every nerve-
ending inside Bradlee. She wanted him and he wanted her. After all these years, after all they’d been through, what could be more perfect? What could be more destined?

Abruptly he broke the kiss, and Bradlee felt herself sliding back down to earth. He forced their bodies apart, holding her at arm’s length as he stared down at her, his expression serious.

“There’s something I have to tell you.”

Bradlee tried to calm her racing heart, tried to appear as though she experienced mind-
blowing kisses every day. “What is it?”

He hesitated, then his hands dropped from her arms. Bradlee felt as if they were suddenly a million miles apart. “I don’t have a right to kiss you like that.”

“You do if I give you that right.”

“You don’t understand.” He ran a hand through his dark hair, glanced away from her. “There’s someone else.”

Bradlee couldn’t have heard him right. She thought he’d said there was someone else, but he couldn’t have, because…

“Someone else?” she murmured.

“I’m engaged.”

The bottom dropped out of Bradlee’s world. She struggled for breath. “Engaged?”

“Her name is Rachel. She’s an attorney. We met at a charity function a few months ago. We started seeing each other and…got engaged.”

“Engaged.”

He rubbed the back of his neck, looking distinctly uncomfortable. “Look, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to give you the wrong impression. I shouldn’t have kissed you like that.”

“Oh, well…” was about all Bradlee could muster. She shrugged.

He glanced down at her. “From now on, maybe it would be best if we…you know, keep our distance.”

Bradlee’s gaze flew to his. Keep their distance? That was the last thing she wanted. Didn’t he know that? Couldn’t he see that?

I’m thirty-
five years old. I can’t wait for you forever!
she wanted to scream.

But instead she said calmly, “If we’re going to find out who was in the nursery that night, we’ll have to see each other occasionally. We’ll have to talk.”

“Not if you leave all this to me.” He turned back to her in the darkness. For a moment, Bradlee thought he was going to take her in his arms again, but he didn’t touch her, and she suddenly felt bereft. “I never wanted you involved in this in the first place. It’s too dangerous.”

“It’s more dangerous for you than for me,” she reminded him. “No one except you and Dr. Scott know I’ve been having the nightmares again. There’s no reason for anyone to suspect I know anything.”

His tone hardened. “And I’d like to keep it that way. From now on, let me handle this in my own way.”

“But I have an appointment with Dr. Scott on Monday,” Bradlee said. “You don’t want to go with me?”

“I don’t want
you
to go. Whatever secrets you have locked inside your head are probably best left there.”

She gazed up at him accusingly. “You don’t believe that.”

He shrugged. “I don’t know what I believe anymore. All I know is that my life has changed so much in the last six weeks, I hardly recognize myself. Sometimes I wonder if David Powers even exists anymore.”