The Mysterious Stranger (Triple Trouble) (18 page)

“Weren’t you close with your sister?”

He shrugged. “Not really. Tracy was older. We grew up in a big house. It was too big. We were in separate wings and didn’t spend much time together. Looking back, I wish it had been different. We didn’t have much in common. Maybe if we’d tried we might have been more a part of each other’s lives.”

“Would you have liked that?”

His gaze never left her sisters. “A month ago I would have said no. Now I’m not so sure. I’m beginning to see what I missed.”

Without thinking, she squeezed his fingers. The action was fraught with peril. After all, she’d just reminded him they were still holding hands. But instead of pulling back, he returned the pressure of her touch and drew her a little closer.

Their shoulders brushed. She felt his heat and wanted to be closer still. But this time it wasn’t about sex. Although she wanted him, her desire for nearness was more about caring and comfort than passion.

“She must have been great,” Fallon said softly. “Look at Anna Jane. She’s a terrific kid.”

“How much of that was Tracy and how much Nana B.?” he asked. “My sister had many good qualities, but she wasn’t much of a hands-on mother. Her relationship with her husband consumed her. It was as if they were the only two people in the world.”

“Is that bad?” she asked, wondering what it must be like to be loved that much. She’d had a few boyfriends, but never true love.

“I think so,” he said. “They loved each other to the exclusion of their child. I would think the best kind of love would make room for other people.” He grimaced. “But then, I’m not an expert.”

She thought about what he’d said. “You’re right,” she told him. “My sisters are like that. They adore their husbands, but there is room in each of their lives for other people. They’ll both make great mothers.”

Jarrett released her hand. Before she had a chance to protest or feel lonely, he touched her cheek. “You will, too. You already have all the best qualities. Affection, patience, a great sense of timing. You fell into my world right when I needed you most. I hate to think how Anna Jane would have spent this Christmas if you hadn’t showed up.”

His sweet touch made her ache. She wanted him to think she was special. “You two would have muddled through.”

“She needs more than muddling right now.” He lowered his hand to his side and glanced out the window. “Have you ever been in love?” he asked. “Not like my sister and her husband, but just in love?”

“No. You?”

An odd expression flickered across his face, then was gone. She remembered the hints about a mysterious romantic past from the magazine articles.

“You don’t have to answer that,” she told him. “I didn’t mean to pry. It’s not important.”

“It’s not that,” he said. “I generally don’t talk about the past with many people. But it might explain some things about me. Like why I acted the way I did when you were found on the beach. Did I ever apologize for that?”

She shook her head.

“I’m sorry, Fallon. I should have believed you.”

“No, you shouldn’t have. Because of who you are and what you’ve accomplished, there are a lot of people trying to get a piece of you. You had no way of knowing I was any different. I completely understand.”

He leaned against the window frame and crossed his arms over his chest. “If I were in your position, I don’t think I’d be anywhere near this forgiving.”

She smiled. “Yes, you would be. I’m sure of it.”

“Do you trust the entire world?”

“Pretty much. I try not to be stupid, but I don’t assume everyone is lying or out to get me.”

His amusement faded. “Must be nice.” He motioned to the bed. “It’s a long story. You might want to have a seat.”

She did as he requested and perched on the edge of the bed. Instead of joining her, or sitting on the stool, he continued to lean against the window. His gaze seemed to focus on a past she couldn’t see.

“I think I already mentioned that my parents were killed when I was eighteen.”

She nodded.

“My sister wasn’t interested in running the empire. By that time she’d already found Donald, and nothing else mattered. So it fell on my shoulders.”

“That’s a lot for a kid to handle,” she said, wondering what it must have been like to have inherited so much responsibility.

“Tell me about it. I wanted to make the family business a success. I figured the best way to do that was to go to college and learn as much as I could. I worked hard and got through in three years. Then I took over the hotel chain.” He seemed to lose himself in the memories.

“I worked eighteen-hour days, seven days a week,” he said. “I was too young and inexperienced to be scared, so I just plunged in with both feet. Sometimes I made mistakes, and sometimes I scored big. At the end of a couple of years I’d done more right than wrong and we were in the black. Four years later I’d created an empire.”

“I’m trying to picture what it must have been like and I can’t,” she said. “While I admire what you accomplished, I wonder at the cost. Did you ever have any fun?”

One eyebrow rosé slightly. “Are you talking about fun or women?”

She smiled. “Both.”

“I got away on occasion, and I found out I was considered an eligible bachelor. Women were easy to get but hard to get rid of. Because I didn’t have time to socialize very much, I was pretty inept.”

“I can’t believe that.”

He looked at her and gave her a slow, sexy grin that made her toes curl. “Trust me.”

“Did you get your heart broken?”

“A couple of times. I thought they cared, but they only wanted money. So I pulled back. That fanned the fire. Women were everywhere. I was all of twenty-six or twenty-seven. I didn’t want to make another mistake, but I wanted a woman in my life. So I started an affair with Charlotte, my personal secretary.”

Fallon was surprised at the flash of fire she felt rip through her. It took her a second to realize the heat didn’t come from passion but was instead about jealousy.

Jarrett shook his head. “I had it all planned. She was a few years older, divorced and seemed as uninterested in an emotional commitment as I was. She made it easy. I could show up at the functions I had to attend, be the center of attention and leave alone. The affair lasted nearly two years.”

“Did she continue to work for you?”

He nodded. “Like I said, I was pretty inept. But she was too good at her job. I didn’t want to think about replacing her. Then one day I decided I wanted a real relationship. I wanted to date someone I could have a future with.”

He paused. “I cared about Charlotte, but I never loved her. Sometimes having rules isn’t enough.”

“She’d fallen in love with you?” Fallon guessed.

“I don’t know what it was. If that was love, I don’t want any part of it. When I tried to break it off, she made things impossible around the office. I was forced to fire her. I tried to give her money, but she only wanted to be with me. She began stalking me.” He shifted and shoved his hands into his shorts pockets. “I had to get a restraining order, but that wasn’t enough. I moved twice, and each time she found me. She tried to destroy a couple of hotel deals. When she finally realized I wasn’t going to take her back, she broke in to my house and set it on fire. She was caught in the blaze and died.”

Fallon stared at him, not sure what to think. She’d expected some kind of tragedy in his past. A love affair gone wrong. But never this.

“How horrible,” she said slowly.

“It was. I blamed myself for a long time, although except for not starting the affair, I’m not sure what I could have done differently. I lost lots of personal things in that fire. Pictures of my parents, a couple of collections that had meant a lot to me. Yet none of that mattered. In the end, I’d grown to hate Charlotte, yet I never wished her ill. I would have done anything to bring her back.”

“That’s when you moved here, isn’t it?” she asked. “This is your refuge. They can’t get to you here.”

“Exactly. We’d just finished construction on the resort. It wasn’t difficult to keep the workers around and build this house. They had it done in a couple of months. I’ve been here ever since.”

“Do you ever go back to the States?”

“A few times a year. On business. I don’t want to move back, though.”

“I guess there are all those unhappy memories to deal with.” She thought about what she’d heard. “There was very little in the articles. Did you deliberately keep the story from the press?”

“Yes. Charlotte had family. They’d tried to stop her, too. I didn’t want to make it more difficult for them. My house was out in the country, so it’s not as if she set Fifth Avenue on fire. I paid off a couple of reporters and that took care of it.”

The woman had stalked Jarrett and made his life miserable, yet after her death he went out of his way to make sure her family wasn’t haunted by the media. “No wonder she loved you,” Fallon murmured.

“What?”

She shook her head. “Nothing. I was just thinking you were kind to her family.”

“They hadn’t done anything wrong. Why should they suffer, too?” He looked uncomfortable. “I didn’t tell you this to get the sympathy vote, just to explain why I was a little paranoid when you first showed up.”

She gazed at him, at the strength in his face, and the pain. For the first time since she’d met him, she could see the stark misery in his expression. It wasn’t obvious, but its shadow lurked on the edges of his life.

“It does make sense, Jarrett. I appreciate you trusting me with this information. You have my word I won’t share it with anyone. Not even my sisters. I’m glad we cleared everything up and can be friends now.”

“Are we friends?”

The question surprised her. “I hope so.”

“Me, too. Imagine my chagrin when you’re not only not a gold digger, but you have an inheritance all your own.”

She smiled. “I think comparing my trust fund to your fortune is like comparing the acorn to the mighty oak, but it’s enough for me.”

“What are you going to do when you leave here after Christmas?”

She hadn’t thought that far ahead. Her first choice would be not to leave. Unfortunately, that wasn’t one of the options. “I’d planned to travel. I’m on a year’s sabbatical from teaching. When I finally go home I want to have made some plans for my future. Do I go back to teaching, do I get a higher degree, do I open my own business?”

“I know your sisters are heading back to the States on the thirtieth. Would you consider sticking around for another week or so? I’d like to pick your brain about Anna Jane, plus you’re a fun houseguest.”

His casual invitation made her palms sweat. He actually wanted her to stay longer? She pressed her knees together to keep from jumping up and screaming “Yes!” at the top of her lungs.

“I don’t have to be anywhere specific,” she said. “I would be happy to stay.” Forever.

She pushed that last thought away. What did she know about forever? Jarrett was a relative stranger in her life. Just because he was charming, good-hearted, funny and handsome as sin didn’t mean she could afford to lose her head. She needed to be rational about the whole thing. Which was hard to do when every cell in her body had broken into the “Hallelujah Chorus.”

“Great,” he responded simply.

Hoping her pleasure didn’t show on her face, she said, “You’d better be careful, Jarrett. You continue to issue invitations, I might not want to leave.”

“Would it be so bad if you got used to being around here?” he asked, then winked and walked out before she could catch her breath enough to answer.

* * *

Jarrett walked down the stairs toward his office. He half expected to be embarrassed by the fact that Fallon knew the worst about him, but instead he felt relieved. Oddly, he trusted her to understand. Maybe because she was basically a compassionate person. Look at how she acted with Anna Jane.

Is that why he’d asked her to stay after the holidays? The invitation had been impulsive, although he didn’t regret it. If anything, he was pleased that she was going to be around. But shouldn’t he want her gone? Shouldn’t he be worried about her getting under his skin? After all, he knew better than most the price of getting involved.

He knew that love meant pain. Look at what had happened with Tracy when she’d lost Donald, and Anna Jane when she’d lost both her mother and her nanny. And what about Charlotte? Hadn’t she paid the ultimate price for love?

He knew better than to risk caring and losing. Better to be alone. Better not to feel.

But not feeling had ceased to be an option in his life. While he had Fallon to blame for that, she wasn’t the one he thought of. Instead, as he heard familiar footsteps in the foyer, he turned toward his niece and smiled.

She raced toward him. “Uncle Jarrett, I walked on the beach with Kayla and Elissa and we talked and I’m having the best time.”

She launched herself at him. He caught her in midair and spun her around. “You’re happy?”

She nodded and grinned. “Oh, yes. Very. This is going to be a wonderful Christmas.” She leaned her head close to his ear. “You know, I was afraid you were gonna forget, but you didn’t, did you?”

A sharp pain stabbed his heart. He very well might have forgotten, or at least not paid attention. If not for Fallon. Thank God she’d come into his life when she had.

He held Anna Jane next to him, feeling her small body. She would be a beautiful young woman in a few years, but for now she was still little enough to want hugs. He would make sure he gave her plenty.

She rested her head on his shoulder. “The nasty creatures are gone,” she said as he sat on the bottom stair and settled her on his lap.

“What nasty creatures?”

“The ones that used to live down here. I could feel them watching me when I climbed the stairs alone. They scared me. I was afraid they were going to come after me, so I ran really fast to the top. Fallon said it was okay to have scary creatures, but to understand they couldn’t really hurt me.”

He looked down at her. “I wish you’d told me about them.”

“I wanted to, but you were busy with your empire.”

“Promise me the next time there’s something scary, you come tell me no matter what. And the hell with my empire.”