What Belongs to Her (Harlequin Superromance) (23 page)

John shook his head. “And you think whatever you are about to tell me will make up for two decades of absence?”

Color darkened Kyle’s cheeks as he slowly closed his eyes and tipped his head back.

John glared at his father’s leathery neck. “Well? We haven’t got much time, and I refuse to let Sasha leave here without knowing what happened between you and her mother.” He slapped his open palm on the table and clenched his teeth. “I won’t leave here not knowing why you have a picture of the man who molested her in that damn file you gave me.”

Kyle flicked his gaze back and forth between him and Sasha once more before exhaling a heavy breath. “Before I answer that, I want you to know I’ve made some dire mistakes in my life...taking the fair from Sasha’s grandfather comes second only to leaving you alone after your mother was killed.”

John’s heart kicked painfully as perspiration burst out on his forehead. In all their years of estrangement, these were the words he’d waited for. Regret. Ownership. Apology. Tension ached along John’s shoulders and neck as he stared at Kyle, studying him for an indication, no matter how small, that he was toying with him. That he was being insincere before he’d even really begun to explain himself and his actions.

Their eyes locked. Only an idiot would deny the genuine pain in his father’s eyes. “I’m sorry, John. I’m more sorry than I ever thought possible.”

John swallowed as words and accusations pricked like needles on his tongue. It was too soon to forgive. Too soon to acknowledge the lost years—but Kyle was dying. How long did they really have to lay the demons to rest?

He lifted his chin as pride and fear skittered over him. He stared at his father. “How do you know the man who hurt Sasha?”

Kyle’s gaze lingered a moment longer on John’s before he faced Sasha. “Your mother told me what Matt Davidson did to you and God knows how many other kids that came to the fair that summer.”

John glanced at Sasha. Her body was rigid, but her eyes were alert and interested as she stared at Kyle.

“Tell me,” she said as she straightened her spine. “Tell me what happened between you and my mother. Tell me what happened between you and...Granddad.”

Kyle ran a hand over the back of his neck and leaned forward, his face a mask of suppressed fury. “Your mother came to me out of desperation. She was fuming with anger and frustration. Davidson had disappeared and she couldn’t stand the thought he could live the rest of his life without paying for what he’d done....” Coldness streamed into Kyle’s gaze. “For what he could still be doing.”

“So you used that to con my grandfather? You used what happened to me to break an old man’s heart?”

The skin at Kyle’s neck shifted. “I didn’t owe you or your family anything. I wanted the fair and was prepared to do anything to get it.”

“You bastard.”

Kyle’s eyes flashed with annoyance. “That was then, this is now.”

She glared, and John drew in a long breath through flared nostrils. “Where’s Davidson now? Do you know?”

Kyle snapped his gaze to John. “No, but if I did, he likely wouldn’t be breathing. The man deserves to die for what he did. You don’t mess about with kids. Period.” He faced Sasha. “Your mother told me if your grandfather knew what had happened, and that you seemed determined to stay at Funland no matter how much it hurt you to do so, your grandfather would want the fair out of your life. You might hate me, but I don’t regret doing something that might have gotten you out of that place. Maybe one day, you’ll open your eyes and realize your mother was doing what she thought best.”

“Well, it didn’t work, did it? Funland belongs to me. It’s mine.” Her voice cracked. “I won’t let
him
make it a place I hate instead of love. It was my future, everything Granddad had planned for me. Why should I walk away and let that animal rip my destiny from me as well as everything else he’s taken?”

Unable to stand watching her tremble, John reached across and closed his hand over hers. He held tight and looked to Kyle. His father’s gaze stayed on their joined hands for a long moment before he looked up. Sadness, or maybe loss, lit his eyes, and John pushed his unexpected regret for a life his father no longer had from his heart. “So, you told her grandfather and then what? He agreed on a price? Any price just to get Sasha out of there?”

Kyle nodded. “Yes, and I’m pissed off I never found Davidson and made sure he didn’t get the opportunity to hurt another little girl.” He faced Sasha. “I’m sorry for what happened to you.”

Chairs scraped and voices murmured all around them as they sat frozen in their seats. Nothing else needed to be said. Kyle coughed, a harsh racking that seemed to reverberate through him and rattle his bones.

John clenched his jaw, hating the instinct to move around the table and rub his father on the back and tell him he’d be okay. He didn’t owe his father that—yet the overwhelming urge to thank him for at least trying to rid the world of evil danced on his tongue. He pursed his lips, trapping the traitorous words.

There was nothing he could do to stop Sasha when she stood and walked around the table.

She stole her hand over Kyle’s back as he doubled over in his chair. Tears slipped over her cheeks as she smoothed circles over his father’s back. All John wanted to do was go to her and offer some comfort after the truth Kyle had so easily delivered.

After what felt like forever, Kyle’s coughing eased, and he raised his hand. “I’m all right. I’ll always be all right.”

Sasha looked into his eyes, a strained smile at her lips. “Thank you.”

He smiled. “Thanking me is the last thing you should be doing. I still told John, no matter what, he wasn’t to give you the fair.”

Her hand slipped from his back and she walked around the table to her seat. She took John’s hand and gripped it between both of hers. “I understand why you did that now. You were trying to look out for me the same way my mother and grandfather were.”

John snapped his gaze to his father’s and Kyle stared directly back. “I’m dying and the decisions I’ve made as far as you’re concerned have been stupid at best. I know it’s too much to ask that you forgive me or even to stop hating me, but I did what I thought best at the time. I loved your mother more than anything or anyone.” He shook his head, his eyes turning steely, yet glassy with tears. “I couldn’t stand by and let the man who killed her live. I don’t regret that, but I do regret the repercussions.”

John shook his head. “I can’t forgive you. Not yet.”

Kyle closed his eyes, nodding softly. “I understand. The time I had without you can never be gotten back. Maybe I was wrong to think you were better off away from me, safe and educated with a good future, but I came out of prison the first time a different man.” He opened his eyes. “I wasn’t capable of loving and caring for you. Prison changes a man. I didn’t want anything else but to live a life where I was in control of what happened next, without fear of something happening to you. I figured if you were away from me, with good people who cared for you...”

John glared. “They cared for me because you paid them to. An eleven-, twelve-, thirteen-year-old boy who lives without his parents is never going to be all right. He’s never going to be okay. How could you not know that?” Anger hummed through his blood, making him tremble.

Kyle nodded. “I can’t turn back time any more than you can. I killed for love. I killed because of the rage inside me. How could you not know
that?
” His father’s face darkened and his eyes bulged. “I only had you left. What the hell would I do if anyone hurt you, huh? You were better off on your own.”

A bell sounded and they all started. Kyle immediately pushed to his feet and held out his hand to John. “Take care of her. Do what you have to in order to keep her safe. Do what you want with my money, the houses....” He glanced at Sasha. “Do what you want with the fair. Be happy. Both of you.”

John’s heart thumped harder and harder as he forced himself to take Kyle’s hand. For the first time in twenty years, he felt his father’s skin against his own. Time stood still as he stared into Kyle’s dark blue eyes. “When I think of anyone hurting Sasha...I don’t forgive you, but I understand.”

Kyle smiled. “Then I’ll die a happy man.”

Slowly, their hands slipped apart and Kyle turned to Sasha. “Take care of him, too.”

John slipped his fingers into Sasha’s, his chin lifted as his father turned and disappeared into the throng of prisoners making their way from the room.

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

T
HE
RIDE
BACK
from the prison was a difficult one. Time and again, Sasha tried to find the words to fill the heavy silence between her and John, but nothing seemed right or appropriate to alleviate the sense of anguish and shock surrounding them. She glanced at him for the twentieth time during the past forty minutes since they’d walked, hand in hand, through the prison gates.

They had so much to discuss, so much to absorb and come to terms with. Where did they start? Did they start together or apart? She longed to hold him and have him hold her, yet her head screamed to instill some distance so they had time to think rationally without emotional influence or distortion.

“Where shall I drop you?” John’s voice was low and somber.

The harsh insinuation that he wanted to be alone slashed through her heart and she drew in a sharp breath. “Home. I think I need to be at home.”

He huffed out a dry laugh. “Funny, that’s exactly where I want to be right now.”

“Mine or yours?”

His jaw tightened. “Mine. I need some thinking time.”

“Well, Kyle’s place offers more modern comforts than most, I suppose.” She pushed his rejection aside and wrapped another invisible and protective layer around her heart.

He shook his head. “I’m not talking about Kyle’s house, Sasha.”

Her forced smile dissolved as her tardy comprehension hit hard in the center of her chest. “Oh. You mean your home. In Bridgewater.”

“It’s time I left Templeton.” He glanced at her.

Their eyes briefly locked before he looked through the windshield once more. Words abandoned her, leaving her flailing and helpless in a pool of loneliness so much bigger than she’d ever felt before she met him. “I see.”

“Do you?”

She turned to look out the window, tears blurring the passing houses as John drove them ever closer to the Cove. “Of course. You came to Templeton to understand Kyle better and now you do.” She swallowed. “Your work is done and now you can go back to your life.”

“Funland is yours...if you want it.”

She snapped her head around. “What?”

He smiled wryly. “The clause is obsolete. Liam confirmed it yesterday. I can give it to you, along with the money to pay the inheritance tax that will undoubtedly be due, without repercussions. If you still want it, that is.”

“I don’t know what to say.” Sasha stared, waiting for the rush of euphoria to overtake her. Instead, panic erupted around her heart as she fought the alien and horrible need for another human being. More than anything, more than the fair, she wanted John to stay.

“Then don’t say anything.” He pressed harder on the accelerator, his expression creating an unreadable mask.

Words escaped her as she desperately fought the god-awful pain squeezing tighter and tighter around her heart. He had his life and she had hers. They’d barely known each other more than a few weeks. He wouldn’t ask her to change anything in her life, any more than she would ask the same of him. This was it. This was the end of whatever it was that had begun between them against a backdrop of their parents’ lies, betrayal and deceit.

The purr of the car’s engine grew louder in the ensuing silence. The interior of the car grew smaller and smaller. She pressed on the button to lower the window and gulped in the rush of cold sea air, blinking back the tears burning hot in her eyes.

The car slowed and Sasha’s heart picked up speed when John pulled into a lay-by at the side of the road and cut the engine.

Don’t stop. Keep going. Don’t look at me. Don’t talk to me. Just go. Please.

He stole his hand over hers, and Sasha forced herself to face him.

She turned and her breath caught in her throat to see such deep sadness in his gaze. “John—”

“I want you to have Funland.” His gaze bored into hers. “But only if you can really say it’s what you need to make you happy.”

She swallowed. “It has to be.”

“Why? I truly believe that place will bring you nothing but misery.” He lifted his free hand and brushed the hair from her face. “Running the fair isn’t the answer, Sasha. It won’t put an end to what Davidson did to you.”

She faced the windshield as her stomach knotted with determination. “You still don’t understand.”

“I don’t think I ever will. That’s why I have to go. It’s why I want to get away from here and everything Kyle has touched, influenced and controlled. I know you love Templeton, but it’s not where I’m meant to be. It...it feels wrong being here now.”

Sasha stared ahead. How could she argue for Templeton’s beauty when all he’d experienced was corruption and conspiracy? It didn’t matter that their time together was so precious to her, it was clear it hadn’t lessened his bitterness toward Kyle or his abandonment. It was clear being in the Cove hadn’t given him a single day of happiness.

“Then you should go.” She faced him. “I want to make Funland good again. I have to.”

He slipped his hand from hers and shook his head, frustration seeping into his gaze and obliterating the tenderness that burned there a moment before. “Doing that won’t undo what’s happened. No matter what you do, or change, or paint, or pull down. It won’t change what happened there.”

Grief for the little girl she once was, for the little girl forced to grow up overnight, pressed down on her chest. “It will.”

“It won’t.” He lifted his hand to her jaw. “Your happiness is out there for the taking. It’s not in Funland. It’s anywhere but there. Why won’t you see that?”

Tears gathered and fell, slipping down her cheeks. “I’m scared. I don’t really know anything but the fair. It’s all I have.”

He brushed the tears from her cheeks and leaned closer. He looked deep into her eyes before pressing a firm kiss to her mouth. “You have so much more. You have your liberty now. You know the truth. You know that staying at Funland is the last thing your grandfather wanted for you....” He kissed her again. “You have me.”

Her heart hitched. “You?”

“If you want me.” He smiled and pressed a kiss to her lips, her jaw and lower to her neck.

Sasha closed her eyes as a myriad of emotions whipped through her. She stole her hands onto the strong, muscular plane of his shoulders and held on. She tipped her head back and relished the pain and pleasure of his teeth nipping at her skin. How could she consider a relationship with him, when the real passion burning like fire inside her was to right the wrongs that happened that fateful summer? What did she really have to give such a wonderfully strong and determined man, when she continued to live so steadfastly in the past? He deserved a woman whose heart was filled with him, adored him and made his needs as high a priority as hers.

She eased him back and drew his hands from her face. “I need to know if I’m wrong about making the fair good again. I have to know if it’s possible to stand true to what you love and not turn away when something evil threatens its very existence. Tell me you understand that.” She kissed his mouth. “Please.”

Sasha’s heart pounded in her ears. She wanted him to say he’d stay in Templeton, stay with her and wait for her as they returned Funland to its former glory together, but she had no right. No right to smear her pain over what she hoped would soon be a bright and happy life for him.

He raised her knuckles to his lips and pressed a lingering kiss there. “I don’t understand, but I won’t stand in your way.” He lowered her hands into her lap and shifted in his seat to face front. He slipped his hands from hers and gripped the steering wheel. “The fair is yours, but I’m leaving.” He met her eyes. “You’re a stronger person than me because I can’t stand true to somebody I love when something evil threatens her very existence, and I’m truly sorry about that.”

He turned the ignition and the powerful engine roared to life. Sasha stared at his hardened profile as he rejoined the traffic, her heart splintering a little more with each mile they covered on their way back into the Cove.

* * *

J
OHN
JABBED
THE
end call button on his cell and tossed it onto the sofa cushion beside him. He dropped his head back and pushed his hands into his hair. Three days. Three days since he’d dropped Sasha at home and they’d spoken their last words to each other. He’d lost count how many messages he’d left on her cell and her home phone. Lost count how many times he’d “dropped by” her apartment in the hope of changing her mind about pursuing her need to put Funland back the way it was before her abuse.

She never once opened the door to him.

How could she not see it was impossible to change the past? How could she not understand she would continue to hurt unless she made the decision to move on? He’d finally done it and was ready to live the life he should have been living before his father sent for him and made him pursue further ghosts, further hurt.

John stared toward the huge doors opening onto Kyle’s back garden. In the distance, the For Sale sign glinted in the midafternoon sun, lit up like a beacon for anyone rich enough to be passing the back of Kyle’s mansion by boat.

His other properties were now up for sale, too. John smiled. Best of all, it was time to go and deliver the news to the husband-and-wife team he’d learned got things done in Templeton. The man who owned most of Templeton and the woman who protected it. If there were any two people who could ensure Kyle’s money was used in the best way possible, it was Mr. and Mrs. Jay Garrett.

Unable to sit still or waste another moment brooding over the impossible dream Sasha might leave Templeton with him, John pushed to his feet. With adrenaline rushing through him, he snatched his keys from the kitchen counter and headed for the front door.

He drove through town and toward Clover Point, purposely avoiding looking at the picturesque views, the promenade, Marian’s bakery and every place he’d grown fond of. It would serve no purpose to linger on the good stuff in Templeton. He’d store it in a box in his memory along with Sasha—firmly locked and marked Do Not Open.

Gritting his teeth, he pressed on the gas and ate up the steep incline toward the Garretts’ home. A few minutes later, he drew the car to a halt outside their golden-brown cabin and let out a low whistle from between his teeth. “What a beauty.”

The cabin was amazing. Enormous but not ostentatious. Grand, yet homey. He got out of the car and as soon as he stepped onto the gravel driveway, the front door swung open and a man John assumed was Jay Garrett came down the steps toward him...closely followed by his wife, DI Garrett.

John took a few steps closer, forcing a smile on his face despite the apprehension that this meeting might not go as he hoped. He offered his hand. “Jay?”

“Yes, indeed. Nice to meet you, John.” A broad smile split Jay Garrett’s face as he firmly clasped John’s hand. “Cat’s told me a lot about you.”

John slid his gaze to DI Garrett and raised an eyebrow. “All good I hope?”

A soft smile played at her lips, her intelligent green eyes neutral in their welcome. “Good and bad, Mr. Jordon. Good and bad.”

John laughed. “I didn’t know I’d done anything bad in the short time I’ve been here.”

“You just being here is enough for Marian to poison our minds.” She smiled. “
If
anyone chose to take her seriously, of course.”

The soft teasing in her eyes told John the inspector made up her own mind one way or another. He shrugged and shook her hand. “Well, I won’t be arguing with the formidable Marian anytime soon.”

“Intelligent man.” She dropped his hand and gestured toward the cabin. “Why don’t we go inside? I’ve been looking forward to your arrival.”

She turned and led the way toward the cabin. John glanced at Jay, who smiled. “She likes to think she’s the boss at home as well as the station.”

John grinned. “Isn’t she?”

He clapped John on the shoulder. “That’s between me and her. If I told you the truth, she’d damn well kill me.”

Laughing, John walked toward the cabin. The welcome he’d received had knocked him off-kilter, and he had a sneaking suspicion that since his phone call yesterday, DI Garrett had most likely spoken to Sasha as well as Liam Browne. Even though Sasha wouldn’t talk to John directly, he couldn’t imagine she would have she said anything negative about him.

He drew in a long breath and shoved away the pain that shot like a bullet into his heart. God, he longed to see her and talk to her, to convince her to leave Templeton and come with him. Deep inside, he knew there was nothing he could do or say to make her believe it was time for her to let Funland go. The determination in her dark and beautiful eyes left no room for argument. He could only pray she came looking for him if his belief that her mission would only bring further trouble was ever proven right.

The rich aroma of freshly brewed coffee greeted him as John stepped inside the cabin. As the coffee scent hit his nostrils, his eyes feasted on pure, unadulterated luxury. The cabin was probably worth equally as much as Kyle’s place, but that was where the similarity ended. Rich, oak beams crisscrossed the enormous living room; huge sofas and bookshelves lined every wall.

He shook his head. “Wow, this is my idea of a house.”

Jay smiled. “Ours, too. Why don’t you take a seat? Do you want coffee?”

“Great. Thank you.” John chose to sit on the armchair opposite the sofa where DI Garrett sat perched on the arm.

When he met her eyes, she was steadily studying him, the smile that had curved her lips when they’d been outside was somewhat diminished. She coughed. “So, we’ve read the papers Mr. Browne dropped here last night and we understand your proposition.” She frowned. “A proposition that, if I’m perfectly honest, I’m more than a little wary of, considering who your father is. Plus, it’s only been days since we found Freddy Campton guilty of planting class A drugs on property owned by you. What on earth could you have to say to me—”

“Us,” Jay interrupted and raised his eyebrows. “Mr. Jordon wanted to speak to
us,
Cat.”

She shot her husband a glare. “Fine. Us.” She faced John, a faint blush darkening her cheeks. “That could make
us
consider what you’re proposing.”