Mr Destiny (11 page)

Harold snapped his cell phone shut.

Silly woman.

Let her stew the rest of the evening.

She'd never risk losing him and his money.

What sane woman would?

He headed across the room and locked his wallet, his Rolex, and his sacred 18 carat gold Harvard Law School ring that his
father had custom made for him in the safe in the wall. His money clip he kept in his pocket, with more than sufficient cash
to see him through the evening. Then he walked across the room and grabbed his suit jacket from the back of the chair on his
way out.

Thanks to his suddenly irrational fiancée and her bitch of a best friend, he'd not only lost his temper, but there would be
no possibility of a hot shower. There was also a good possibility there would be no brunette or redhead for his nightly entertainment,
either.

That thought threw Harold into a full-blown rage.

He stomped down the hotel corridor to the elevator and pounded the elevator button with the ball of his fist. As he waited,
he took his memo-mate from his inside jacket pocket. “Have Morgan pick up two dozen long-stemmed red roses to give to Kate
when he arrives at her apartment to pick her up tomorrow night.” He spoke into the microphone, then jammed the gadget back
into his suit pocket.

Damage control had always been his expertise.

Tomorrow, I'll worry about pleasing Kate.

Tonight, dammit, I'm going to please myself.

Kate remained staring at her cell phone so long, Alex finally said, “Kate? Are you okay?”

Kate was too dumbstruck to answer.

“Kate, I'm really sorry,” Alex said. “I never should have pushed you into calling Harold back. I'll call him back myself and
tell him it was all my fault.”

Kate never looked up.

She kept staring at her cell phone.

“I'm a total ass, and I admit it,” Alex said. “I promise, I'll never say another mean thing about Harold again. I'll even
come to the wedding. That's how sorry I am that I've caused trouble between you.”

Kate finally looked up. “I owe you the apology, Alex. Harold's every bit the total ass you've always said he was. You knew
it the first night he invited you and Eve to have dinner with us. You told me that night that anyone who is nice to you but
treats the waitstaff like shit isn't a nice person. I just wouldn't let myself believe it until now.”

Kate tried to laugh.

The laugh turned into a full-blown sob.

Alex was on her feet in a second.

“Kate, please don't cry. I'm so sorry about everything.”

Kate sobbed even harder. “You're only saying that,” she blubbered, “because you know I've never been able to cry quietly.”

“True,” Alex said, still patting Kate's back supportively. “Those donkey-braying sounds you're making are going to get us
thrown out of here. Everyone in the restaurant is already looking at us.”

Alex was only trying to lighten her mood.

But, dammit, she wasn't ready for her mood to be lightened yet.

“Let them look. I don't care,” Kate said between her donkey-braying sobs. But she did take the linen napkin Eve handed over
and wiped at her eyes.

“Better now?” Alex asked, handing Kate her water glass.

Kate nodded. “I just can't believe Harold talked to me like that.” She took a small sip from the glass. “I swear, he turned
into this Dr. Jekyll/Mr. Hyde person without any warning. You should have heard the vicious tone in his voice. He said he
was sure I was smart enough to realize a five-minute quickie with some dim-witted cop couldn't compare to the type of life
he could give me.”

“That bastard!” Alex swore.

“So much for you never saying another mean thing about Harold,” Eve mumbled as she brought her martini glass to her lips.

Alex's eyes narrowed at Eve for a moment, but she sat down in the chair beside Kate. “It would serve Harold right if you do
screw Tony's brains out tomorrow night.”

“I'll drink to that,” Eve said from the other side of the table. She drained her glass quickly and signaled for the waiter
again.

“A five-minute quickie with a dim-witted cop,” Alex repeated. “If he got a good look at your dim-witted cop, I doubt Harold
would be so cocky.”

“But, but,” Eve stammered, obviously having a hard time following the conversation. “Why are you guys so upset? Harold gave
Kate his permission. Right? A five-minute quickie counts as hot sex. Doesn't it?”

“Eve,” Kate said patiently. “I am
not
going to have hot sex with Tony, or anyone else.”

“Especially poor Harold,” Eve said, covering her mouth when she hiccuped. “Because of his pitiful penis problem, I mean.”
She smiled happily when the waiter placed another round of drinks on the table.

“It's more than just the argument over Tony, anyway,” Kate said. “I've known things weren't right between Harold and me from
the beginning. I just believed we could work it out because he really cared about me. Now, I know he doesn't.”

“Now, Kate,” Alex began.

Kate shook her head. “I'm not kidding, Alex. You should have heard him when I called him back. He acted like I was some naughty
little girl breaking the sacred don't-disturb-Harold rule. I just couldn't take his superior attitude tonight.”

Eve pushed a fresh apple martini in Kate's direction. She did the same to Alex. “I say we drink to naughty
big
girls.” She lifted her glass and took a long sip.

Alex looked at Kate. “We need to order food.”

“And ruin my buzz?” Eve shook her auburn head, sending her springy curls in every direction. She wiped her mouth with the
back of her hand. “No way. Eve Thornton will
not
drink to that suggestion.”

Alex motioned for the waiter. She asked him to bring menus on the double. Then she turned back to Kate. “Listen, Kate, you
know I don't like Harold, but for what it's worth, you guys just had your first real fight. People say things they don't necessarily
mean when they're angry, and…”

Kate's mouth dropped open. “Don't you dare take up for him! Not when you've been begging me for months to wake up before I
made the worst mistake of my life.”

“I'm just saying Harold was obviously caught up in the heat of the moment, and…”

“No,” Kate said, shaking her head. “My big charade with Harold is over, Alex. For good. There isn't going to be a wedding.”

Alex let out a long breath. “So the leopard finally slipped up and showed you his true spots, huh?”

“And not a moment too soon,” Kate said. She slipped off her engagement ring and dropped it into her purse. “I've always hated
that ring, anyway. It's so over the top it looks fake. Just like Harold.”

Eve looked as if she were about to cry. “Oh, Kate. Are you sure you know what you're doing?”

“Yes,” Kate said, blinking back another round of tears. “I just can't believe I really have been such a big pushover. Even
the night he proposed, Harold had the stage set so perfectly he knew I wouldn't have the heart to turn him down. Like the
wimp I am, I didn't. And since that night I've been trying to convince myself I could be happy with Harold and a marginally
comfortable marriage.”

Alex hugged her. “Hey, stop beating yourself up. Only a heartless bitch would turn a guy down when he's a making a big production
of proposing in front of
his
mother and
her
grandmother. And everyone knows if there's one thing you could never be, Kate, it's a heartless bitch.”

“No, I'm just a stupid one,” Kate said.

Alex hugged her again. “But look on the bright side. At least you don't have any big wedding to cancel.”

“No, but I do hate disappointing Gram and Margaret.”

“Better to disappoint them now than later, with a nasty divorce,” Alex pointed out. “You have to know the marriage never would
have worked long-term, Kate.”

Kate sniffed again, but nodded in agreement.

“However,” Alex said, “there could be another perfectly logical reason why you've suddenly had a change of heart about marrying
someone you don't love.”

Eve raised her hand like a schoolgirl. “I know the answer to that one.” She grinned a goofy lopsided grin. “Destiny,” she
said, and hiccuped again. “Destiny stepped in and changed Kate's mind.”

“Destiny doesn't have anything to do with this,” Kate grumbled.

Nor did Tony Petrocelli.

In fact, she had no intention of telling Tony when she saw him for the last time that her relationship with Harold was over.
The last thing she needed was another man messing with her head right now.

What she needed was some time to herself.

She needed time to make sense out of why she'd almost settled for a comfortable marriage to a man she didn't love.

Harold obviously assumed his money could buy her.

Big mistake.

She was
not
for sale, thank you very much.

W
hen Kate rounded the corner the next evening and saw the sleek black sedan sitting in front of her apartment building, she
set her jaw determinedly and marched straight in its direction. She'd called Harold's driver first thing that morning to say
she wouldn't be needing his services to take her to Queens. She would go to Queens on her own. She didn't need Harold
or
his money to get her there.

Morgan was out of his seat and waiting for her by the time she reached the car. “I know you called and said you didn't need
my services tonight, Miss Anderson,” he said quickly. “I'm here on other business for Mr. Wellington.”

He opened the passenger-side door of the car, leaned in, and came out with a long flower box that he promptly handed out for
Kate to take. “Mr. Wellington wanted you to have these roses,” he said, “and I was also instructed to tell you that I'm at
your disposal for the entire evening to take you and your friends anywhere you want to go. Is there anywhere else you'd like
to go this evening, Miss Anderson?”

So, that was Harold's take on the situation, was it?

He truly didn't believe she had broken their engagement. He'd also automatically assumed that when she called Morgan to cancel
she'd decided to be a good little girl and stay home.

Well, she had news for Harold.

Roses didn't change a thing.

It had been over for her the minute he suggested she could sleep with another man as long as she didn't tell him about it.

Kate looked down at the box, trying to keep the anger from burning its way up to her cheeks. She didn't want Morgan reporting
back to Harold that she'd been anything other than indifferent about his pitiful excuse for a peace offering. “I have no intention
of accepting the roses,” she said, refusing to take them. “And I still won't be needing your services tonight, Morgan. I'm
sorry you've made the trip for no reason.”

Let Harold think what he wanted.

What she did or what she didn't do was no longer any of Harold's business. He'd sent his spy to gather information for him,
but Morgan wasn't getting any information from her.

As if he sensed as much, Morgan tipped the brim of his hat and returned to the driver's side of the car. As he sped away,
Kate was still mumbling unkind things about her now-ex-fiancé under her breath as she walked through the door that Mr. Womack
was happy to hold open for her.

“Anything wrong, Katie?” the old man quizzed.

Kate knew he'd watched the entire scene with Morgan from the front door.

“No, nothing's wrong, Mr. Womack,” Kate said as she headed toward the elevator.

What she didn't say was that she'd been a complete basket case all day. She kept telling herself one minute that seeing Tony
again was the last thing she needed on the heels of breaking her engagement to Harold. Yet, the next minute she kept reminding
herself she'd given Tony her word, and she should stick to her agreement to help him out with the problem he was having with
his mother.

She'd also spent a good portion of her day coming close to hyperventilating every time she thought about how close she'd come
to truly making the biggest mistake of her life. But she was angry mostly with herself, not Harold. Harold had been able to
string her along, sure, but only because she'd been stupid enough to let him.