Meant to Be (32 page)

Lucas had never pushed him to leave the island. Never talked down about his choices. “No.”

“Then why do you hold his choices against him? Not wanting to spend his life on Anchor isn’t some human flaw. It’s just not his thing.”

Joe had never thought of it that way. He was so focused on defending his own choices, pushing his own beliefs, he’d forgotten that Lucas had every right to choose his own path.

“You’re right. Further proof I’m a dumb-ass who can’t see beyond his own ego.”

“I wouldn’t go that far,” Beth said, smiling. “So in Cassie’s mind, you chose this island over her. That explains her need for revenge.” Pulling her legs under her, Beth turned in the chair to face him. “But that doesn’t explain why she gave up. She set out to hurt you by attacking the thing most important to you. Now she’s walked away. Why?”

He considered the talk they’d had at Dempsey’s. “Maybe she’s moving on. We talked Saturday night. I wasn’t sure I got through to her, but maybe I did.”

“You talked to Cassie Saturday night?”

“At Dempsey’s. I was bussing tables, and she was in for dinner. The bottom line is I was just a means to an end for her. Marrying me was a way to piss off her daddy and save her from the yuppie ass-kissers chasing her for the money.” Dozer propped his head on Joe’s knee and he gave him a scratch behind the ear. “I could have been any fisherman she met down here and she knew it.”

“You told her all this?”

“Sure. Why?”

“Did you tell her you never loved her?”

Joe thought back. “No, but I made it clear I’d moved on and she needed to do the same.” Beth made an odd noise and bit her bottom lip. “What?” he asked.

“You told a woman who’s used to getting what she wants, who was so mad at you that she was willing to spend millions of her daddy’s money to buy an island out from under you, that you were over her and she needed to move on.”

When she put it that way…“I wasn’t mean about it.”

“Does anything you know about Cassandra Wheeler tell you she’s the type to let something like this go?” Beth leaned farther over the arm of the chair. “Think about it.”

“You’re right.”

Beth sat back. “The letters were all dated for Tuesday, but at the marina Monday night she was still claiming she’d get the island. Something changed during or right after that encounter.”

Joe ran the conversation back through his mind. All he remembered was enjoying watching Beth spar with Cassie and how hot she looked doing it. That probably wasn’t what Beth wanted to hear right now.

“I don’t know what it could be.”

“Phil Mohler was there. Could he have told her something she could use against you?”

“Shit.” He should have known. “This isn’t good.”

Beth’s feet hit the deck. “What isn’t good?”

Elbows on his knees, Joe leaned forward, dropping his head into his hands. “Mohler caught me at the fuel dock last week. Kept dropping hints about you and me.”

“What do you mean about you and me? What about you and me?”

“That we’re having an affair.”

Beth gasped. “Why would he say that?”

Bolting out of his chair, Joe paced the porch, hands balled at his sides. “I thought he was just trying to get a rise out of me. I warned him if he repeated that bullshit to anyone else I’d kick his ass.” Fury burned his gut. “And I will. He must have told Cassie.”

“But then why did she leave? That would put a target on me, and I’m here.”

Joe stopped pacing. “You don’t live here. You live in Richmond. Where your fiancé is.”

“What does that have to do with anything? I already know she’ll try to get me fired, but that wouldn’t hurt you.”

“No.” He leaned against the porch railing, knowing exactly what Cassie meant to do. “But telling Lucas we’re having an affair would.”

Beth jumped out of her chair. “He wouldn’t believe her.”

“Cassie can be convincing when she wants something. She sure as hell put on a good act of loving me and this island for four months.”

“Joe,” Beth said, grabbing his arm and turning him to face her. Heat sparked at the touch. “We haven’t done anything wrong. We can convince him.”

“Convince him of what? That I don’t want you? How am I supposed to do that when I do?” She wasn’t the only one who could spit out surprise declarations. “I’ve wanted you since that day on the ferry. Maybe it happened when you called me an asshole.” He tucked a curl behind her ear. “Sometimes I wish I hadn’t been on that damn ferry, but
then I realize I’d have fallen for you anyway. Some things are just meant to be, I guess.”

She stared up at him, her head shaking back and forth. And then she collapsed into him, grasping his shirt, her forehead against his chest. Nothing had ever felt so right. “I never meant for this to happen. I’ve made a mess of everything.”

He pulled her closer, resting his arms around her hips. “
We’ve
made a mess of everything. But we can’t hurt him, Beth. I have to let you go.” Doing so would kill him, but there was no other way.

This time she nodded yes, her head still on his chest. “I’ll pack my things tonight and leave for Richmond in the morning.” Joe’s gut clenched and he fought the urge to pull her closer. He’d never let her go if he did that. “I can’t stay with Lucas, though. I can’t marry him and pretend for the rest of my life.”

Guilt added to the pain. Guilt brought on by the relief of knowing she wouldn’t marry Lucas.

Dropping a kiss on the top of her head, he gave in and pulled her against him. Her arms slid around his back. “I’m sorry,” he said, feeling useless. “I don’t know how to fix this.”

They stood together, holding on as they let go. Clinging to one last moment together. Too late. Joe heard the footsteps coming around the house.

“That’s my fiancée, you son of a bitch.”

“O
h my God,” Beth said, jerking away from Joe. “Lucas, what are you doing here?”

“I’m the one who gets to ask the questions.” Lucas stopped at the base of the stairs, arms crossed, eyes shifting from one to the other. “What the fuck’s going on here?”

The words flew out before Beth could stop them. “It’s not what you think.” Such a cliché thing to say. “I mean, there’s nothing going on here.”

“That embrace didn’t look like nothing. Cassandra Wheeler was right. Goddamn it, how could you do this to me?”

Beth was about to answer when she realized Lucas had directed the question to Joe.

“She’s telling you the truth. Nothing’s going on here.” Lucas made it two steps before Joe’s words stopped him. “Don’t do it, Lucas. Throwing a punch isn’t going to solve anything.”

“Maybe not,” Lucas said, bracing on the middle step, “but it’ll feel damn good.”

“You two are not going to fight over this.”

“The hell we aren’t.” Lucas took another step.

“Lucas, look at me,” Beth pleaded. “Joe hasn’t done anything wrong. He did what you asked him to do. Entertain me. Maybe if you’d been here yourself instead of playing big-time lawyer, he wouldn’t have had to.”

Spurred by anger and growing confidence, her true feelings poured through. “This was supposed to be our vacation. Yours and mine. Instead you left me here without a second thought. I should have been more important than that case.”

He climbed another step, moving toward her. She held her ground in the face of his anger, her own gaining strength. “Elizabeth, you know I’m trying to make partner. We’ve talked about how important my career is to us.”

“Not to us,” she said, feeling a weight lift from her shoulders. “To you. And we haven’t talked, you talked. I listened, nodding and agreeing because that’s what I’ve always done. You’ve never asked what’s important to me.” Looking to Joe, she drew strength from his steady gaze. “Maybe I didn’t know myself before, but I know now.”

“Beth, calm down,” Joe said, taking a step toward her.

Lucas turned on him. “What did you call her?”

“He called me Beth because that’s the name I gave him. That’s the name that suits me. Short. Simple. Small-town Beth.” She switched her attention to Joe. “And don’t tell me to calm down. I don’t want to calm down. Joe, tell him this isn’t what it looks like. Help me make him understand.”

He shook his head and kept silent. Why wasn’t he helping her?

“I don’t understand any of this. Where’s Elizabeth? My Elizabeth? The woman I was going to marry?” Lucas made the final step and shoved Joe in the chest. “She was perfect until I left her with you.”

Dozer growled. “Easy, boy,” Joe said, holding his hand in front of the dog, palm down. “I didn’t do anything, Lucas. She figured this all out on her own.”

“Don’t talk about me like I’m not here!” Beth yelled, tired of being dismissed. “You fell for Elizabeth because she was the dutiful wife who would nod and follow wherever you led. That’s my fault, because that’s who I was.”

“Well, I want her back,” Lucas said, more angry than she’d ever seen him. A clear sign of how much he cared about her.

“I’m sorry, Lucas. She’s not coming back.”

Her words seem to take the wind out of him, but they felt good crossing her lips. Then a muted shade of red crept up Lucas’s neck. He turned abruptly, shoving Joe again, who had to jerk to the left to halt Dozer’s attack. “I’m not doing this, Lucas.”

“Wait a minute,” Beth said, remembering Lucas’s words. “Cassandra Wheeler was right about what? What did she tell you, Lucas?”

“What do you think she told me? That you two were fucking around behind my back. Making a fool of me,” he growled, punching the railing.

“And you believed her? Knowing how she feels about Joe? Knowing she was here trying to buy up the island?” She poked him in the chest. “Something you should have been here fighting with us. Knowing all that, you doubted your fiancée and your brother but believed Cassandra Wheeler?”

Lucas stuttered. “Well…but…what does it matter what I believed? It’s true.”

“No, it isn’t,” she said, walking down the steps. “But you’re right, it doesn’t matter. None of this matters.”

Beth kept walking, anger keeping the tears at bay. She didn’t want Lucas, but she still couldn’t have Joe. Not that he’d done anything just now to show he wanted her. He wouldn’t even help her explain to Lucas.

“Where are you going?” Lucas yelled after her.

“To pack my things,” she said, never breaking stride. “I’m going home. Tonight.”

Lucas watched his fiancée walk away. Though from what had just happened, Joe figured she wasn’t his fiancée anymore. Another clusterfuck to add to his growing collection.

Silence loomed, broken by the occasional cricket chirp and Dozer’s questioning whine. He knew what Dozer was asking. Is everything all right?

Things wouldn’t be all right for a long time.

“Are you going after her?” Joe asked, struggling not to do so himself.

“Go after her? I don’t even know her.” Lucas turned to face Joe, leaning against the porch post. He may have been shooting for relaxed but his body remained coiled for a fight. Joe couldn’t blame him.

“Until tonight, I’m not sure she knew herself,” Joe said. She definitely knew now. A flicker of pride filled his chest. His Beth had come alive.

Though she wasn’t
his
anything. A muscle twitched along his jaw, and he again fought the urge to go after her. But there was Lucas.

Snagging his beer from the floor, Joe dropped into a rocker. In a voice more controlled than he felt, he said, “Have a seat.”

Lucas stood his ground, opening and closing his fists at his sides. Joe ignored him, waiting for the adrenaline to drop. The silent treatment worked, and Lucas sat.

“What happened here?” Lucas asked.

“A woman handed us our asses.”

Lucas growled. “I don’t mean just now. Ten days ago I had a sweet, mild-mannered fiancée. Something happened to change that.” Driving a knuckle into the chair arm, he drilled Joe with a glare. “That something is you.”

Joe couldn’t take all the credit. The fire had always been in her, she just needed someone to light the fuse. He’d lit the fuse all right.

Maintaining his casual act, Joe said, “The woman was tangled up in knots. I tugged and pushed, with her fighting all the way. I guess tonight she got herself untangled.”

“Did you tug her into bed along the way?”

Joe stopped rocking and locked his jaw, reminding himself Lucas had every right to be pissed. He’d feel the same way. “No. And if you think she’d do that, then you really don’t know her. Or me.”

Lucas leapt from the chair to pace the porch. “What am I supposed to believe? I get a call that you two are screwing around behind my back, drive down here telling myself the whole way that it can’t be true, then find you two standing
on this porch in each other’s arms.” He stopped pacing and pointed a finger at Joe’s chest. “Say what you want, but that wasn’t a brotherly hug you were giving her.”

“No, it wasn’t.” He could still feel the heat where her head had rested on his chest. He had to be the unluckiest son of a bitch he knew. At least when it came to women. “I’m not her brother, I’m yours. That’s why we were saying good-bye.”

Lucas stopped. “She wasn’t supposed to leave until Saturday.”

Joe leaned forward in his chair and looked Lucas in the eye. “She decided to leave tomorrow. You want to know why, talk to her.” Done talking, Joe rose from his chair. His gut was on fire with more pain than he knew what to do with.