The Playboy (31 page)

“No excuse that’ll stand up in court,” Roman said wryly. “I was wrapped up in being happy. And I figured a few more weeks of keeping quiet wouldn’t hurt anyone. Hell, I even deluded myself into thinking maybe Mom would succeed and hook you up with someone as great as Charlotte. That you’d be as happy as I ended up being. Despite Mom’s meddling.”

Rick raised his eyebrows, ignoring the pain ripping through his skull. “You should be shot.”

Roman shrugged. “You’re probably right.”

“What happened after you got back to the States? What stopped you from spilling Mom’s secret then?”

Roman winced, then with a groan, leaned back in his seat but still held on to Charlotte’s hand. He probably needed her support since he was damn wrong and cornered. How he’d justify his actions, Rick hadn’t a clue.

“Well, you have to remember we were away for a good month,” Roman continued. “I didn’t want to give her much leeway but Charlotte and I were busy setting up the apartment in D.C. I was getting used to the new job. And you have to admit, at first you seemed fairly amused by her attempt to find the right woman for you.” He shrugged. “So I let things go. For longer than I should have.”

“Damn right.” Rick tipped his head to one side, a mistake he regretted immediately when the brass band began playing again. “
Then
what stopped you from coming clean?”

“You and I both know part of Mom’s reason for playing this charade was because she wanted us happily settled, but she also wanted—”

“Grandchildren,” Rick said, stating the obvious. After all, Raina had drilled the idea into their heads for ages now.

“Right. And I didn’t think after faking her illness that she deserved to have her heart’s desire—grandchildren— come so easily. I wanted her to sweat a little. If I told her Charlotte was pregnant, I figured she’d . . . ”

“Back off of myself and Chase?” Rick asked. “That would be the obvious assumption, right? So why not tell her she got what she wanted, that Charlotte was pregnant? Then blow the whistle on her scheme and give Chase and me some peace?”

“Because Raina isn’t most mothers and you can’t make obvious assumptions when dealing with her. I happen to know for a fact that she wants us
all
settled and happy. Not just one of us. If she knew Charlotte was pregnant, she’d just be more certain she knew what was best for us all and go after you and Chase even harder.”

Recalling Lisa’s dominatrix outfit, inspired by his mother’s words of encouragement no doubt, Rick shook his head hard. He saw stars. Damn, he had to stop doing that. “I’m not sure Mom could have gone any harder,” he muttered. “And if you’d been living here, you’d know that.”

Roman’s gaze darted away from Rick’s. “Well, I didn’t know how bad it had gotten. So I told Mom that Charlotte and I wanted time alone together before we started working on a family. So I wanted to make her sweat a little.”

If Rick’s head was spinning before this explanation, things were even worse now. But one thing finally jumped out in his mind. Charlotte was pregnant with the first Chandler grandchild. Pride and pleasure for his baby brother suffused him along with a fair amount of envy he figured was normal and he refused to analyze. Instead he glanced at his sister-in-law. Other than the beautiful glow in her cheeks, he never would have known. He started to rise, to wrap her in a huge hug and congratulate her but his head refused to cooperate.

She came to his side and placed a stern hand on his shoulder, chuckling as she said, “Congratulate me later. Get better first.” Then she settled in beside him. “Rick, there was more to our silence than just making your mother pay for manipulating us. I know we should have told you. But once we got home, I realized that my mother’s mental health was still shaky. Her depression . . . ” She shook her head. “The medication wasn’t working yet. And I wanted to wait a few months to reveal the pregnancy. Until she could appreciate the news. So then
I
asked Roman to wait before telling anyone about Raina’s health. Or my pregnancy.”

Rick turned to this woman who’d made his brother’s life complete. She stared at him with wide green eyes, apology and regret etching her features. How could he remain angry at her? He exhaled a groan and put a comforting hand on Charlotte’s shoulder. “I don’t blame you.”

She shot him a grateful smile. “We were still wrong.” Roman nodded in agreement. “And by the time we were ready to tell you everything, you’d met Kendall. There was no way in hell I was going to tell you that Mom had been faking her heart condition.”

“Why the hell not?”

Roman rolled his eyes as if the reason were obvious. As if anything about this situation could be obvious, Rick thought with no small amount of frustration.

“I couldn’t tell you once you met Kendall because she was the first woman you’d trusted since Jillian. The first one who really interested you. You seemed to have a shot at what we have.” Roman gestured back and forth between himself and Charlotte. “And I wasn’t going to be the one to give you an easy excuse to claim distrust in women and back off from Kendall. Not when it was so obvious you were already head over heels. So when Mom wanted to tell you the truth, I put a stop to it.”

Rick shook his head in disbelief. “Mom wanted to come clean?”

Roman raised his hands in the air. “What can I say? She’s had it with pretending to be sick because it’s putting a crimp in her social life. So I told her to keep her mouth shut. I figured making her keep up the charade of being sick was damn good punishment for meddling in our lives.”

Rick pinched the bridge of his nose. Thank God the aspirin had begun to kick in and the pounding had lessened enough for him to relax and think more clearly. “I don’t believe this. You played psychologist and match-maker.” He wanted to throttle Roman.

But as brothers, they’d always understood one another and thinking about the whole messed-up situation, Rick supposed his younger sibling’s reasoning made sense. In an ass-backward sort of way. “You do realize this makes you no better than our mother?”

Roman actually flushed red. “Hindsight is twenty-twenty,” he muttered.

Charlotte sighed, placing a hand on Rick’s shoulder. “So here we are.”

Rick groaned. “Yeah. Here we are. Did you know you two could give a sober man a headache?”

Roman laughed and though Rick glared, he joined his brother. Putting all the pieces and reasoning together, he couldn’t hold Roman responsible for a situation Raina had created and one he’d believed he had no choice but to perpetuate. After all, Chandler brothers stuck together when they could. Nothing would change that—except a woman. In Roman’s case that was Charlotte and knowing what Rick would do for Kendall, he wasn’t about to pass judgment on his younger sibling.

“I take it the family feud is over?” Charlotte asked, staring at Rick until he was forced to meet her bright-eyed gaze.

“I’ll think about it.” Let Roman wallow a little while longer, Rick thought. For as long as his hangover lasted seemed a fair exchange to Rick considering his head still hurt like a son of a bitch. “Scratch that. No thinking today.”

Roman laughed, obviously reading Rick and knowing things between the brothers were fine once more. “I need to do some errands in town before Charlotte and I head back to D.C. tomorrow. Finish your soda, take your aspirin, and I’ll drop you off at home.”

Rick picked up the glass and polished off the entire drink in almost one gulp, aspirin along with it. “That’s better.” He stepped toward the front door when realization bypassed the mugginess in his brain. “We need to tell Chase about Mom.”

Together Roman and Charlotte winced. Rick understood. When his oldest brother discovered the extent of their mother’s games, things wouldn’t be pretty. He wasn’t thrilled himself, but exhaustion, body aches, and other hangover-related ailments prevented him from focusing too much on Raina’s antics. Besides, if he was capable of concerning himself with anything at this particular moment, it would be Kendall.

Twenty minutes later, feeling just as crappy as when he awoke, Rick climbed out of Roman’s car and headed around the side of the building to his apartment.

To his surprise, when he arrived he had a visitor waiting. Hannah sat, head bent, her hair hanging over her face. He paused on the step below her. “What’s wrong?” he asked, concerned that she’d show up out of the blue and wait for him to come home.

She raised a tear-stained face to his, pain etched in her expression. “Kendall’s going to sell the house and leave town.” Her voice cracked on the last word.

Rick hadn’t realized he was still holding out any real hope for a future with Kendall until he heard the finality in Hannah’s tone. And though the heartache was great, her words weren’t a surprise. Instead of shock, he felt let down instead. Disappointed in Kendall and her decision not to stay and fight her demons, not to fight for them.

Rick had spent last night drowning his emotions and this morning learning about his family situation. He hadn’t dealt with anything yet, but it could wait. Right now Hannah needed him more. He knelt beside the young girl, wishing he could offer comfort when he knew there was none to be had.

Not for Hannah and not for him. After wrapping an arm around her, he pulled her close. “Your sister loves you, you know.”

“Yeah right.” She snorted in his ear and ended with a sniffle.

Despite his disappointment in Kendall, Rick knew it was in Hannah’s best interest that he put a positive spin on a hopeless situation. Normally Rick didn’t give up without a fight but Kendall had left him with no alternative. He’d done his best to show her the life they could have together. She was the one walking away. And though he thought he’d been preparing for this moment since Kendall’s arrival, the burning in his gut told him he was wrong.

Regardless of how she felt about him, Rick was certain Kendall did adore her sister. But before he could begin to make Hannah see the truth, he needed to know what Kendall planned. “Well, where did your sister say
you’d
be going when she takes off?” His stomach churned as he used words that put an end to their time in Yorkshire Falls.

Hannah sighed. “Kendall said she’d take me with her but I don’t want to go anywhere.” Her voice trailed off in a long sigh.

Clearly she wanted more than Kendall was willing to give. Join the club, Rick thought silently. But knowing Kendall was doing right by Hannah filled Rick with relief and eased the vise gripping his heart. If Kendall was giving up her solitary roaming, then she’d begun to face her fear of commitment and stability. She was fighting harder than he’d given her credit for, but he didn’t delude himself into thinking she’d take that next step and do right by herself. At least she’d opened her heart and her life to her sister at the moment the young girl needed her most. That counted for a lot in Rick’s book.

He glanced at Hannah out of the corner of his eye. “You know your sister’s way of thinking. She doesn’t know anything other than a transient kind of life. For her even to take you with her is a huge leap. You need to go. To bond with her. Get to understand her.”

He drew a deep breath, forcing himself to make a bleak situation look great to a teenager. “Besides, I hear Arizona has amazing weather, no humidity, and you’ll be able to learn horseback riding,” he said, figuring Kendall planned to head west as she’d told him a while back. He put his hand beneath her chin. “Look at me.”

She glanced up but instead of excitement he saw desperation in her young eyes. “You have to try and stop her,” she said, pleading with no shame.

He’d grown to love Hannah like he loved his own family and he’d do anything for this kid. Anything he could, Rick amended. Unfortunately that excluded what she wanted from him most of all. “I can’t.”

She blinked and turned away, that mutinous, stubborn tilt to her chin returning. “Because you don’t care if we stay or go either.” Her stubborn bravado faltered when her voice caught on her words.

“Untrue and you know it.” He still held her tight, no matter that she tried to pull away and put distance between them. She obviously wanted to blame him, force him to share the brunt of her anger.

“Then why won’t you help me get Kendall to stay?” Because Rick refused to shoulder the burden for Kendall’s impulsive actions. She obviously wasn’t facing her feelings and Rick wouldn’t be the one to make her life any easier. She didn’t deserve it. If her pint-sized, hellion sister wanted to torture her a little, maybe she’d be forced to take a good look at her decisions and their consequences.

“Because Kendall’s a grown woman,” he explained, gentle in tone but firm in his intention. “She knows her own mind. I can’t make your sister do something she doesn’t want to do, Hannah.”

“Yeah, yeah. Thanks for nothing.” She jerked out of his grasp and rose to her feet.

Rick followed, standing on the step above hers. “Promise me something?”

“Maybe.”

He loved this kid despite her wise-guy mouth. He shook his head and stifled a laugh. “Just think about what I said and give your sister a chance. She loves you.”

“Says you.” She turned and started to bound down the stairs.

“Hannah, wait.”

The young girl pivoted back to face him. “Yeah?”

“I just want to know where you’re going.” He couldn’t help looking out for her.

“To Norman’s for a soda. Jeannie’s there and since I don’t know when Kendall will decide to take off, I want to hang out with her as much as I can.”

Rick nodded. He’d felt the same about Kendall. “Need money?”

Hannah shook her head. “I earned some yesterday. But thanks anyway.”

His cell phone rang, disturbing their exchange. “Hang on a sec.” He unclipped the phone from his belt and answered on the second ring. “Chandler.”

“Hi, Rick.” There was no mistaking the soft voice on the other end.

“Kendall.” His heart picked up rhythm, kicking into high gear, and his mind began a steady whirl of questions. Had she changed her mind? Decided to stay? Did she need a friendly ear?

Did she need him?

All of those things, he hoped. “What’s up?” he asked her.

“Have you seen Hannah?”