Winning Wyatt (The Billionaire Brotherhood Book 1) (27 page)

“Where
would you like Ms. Kara’s luggage, Mr. Wyatt?” Jonah asked.

“Ask
Izzy what room she wants to put her in,” he said over his shoulder as he led
Kara up the stairs. “Someplace close to me, please.”

“I
want to stay with Sean.”

“Okay,”
Wyatt agreed, “but he’s been sleeping in my room, so it might be a tad
crowded.” She stiffened beside him and he regretted teasing her.

“Why
aren’t you with him now?”

“Do
you normally sit by his side when he’s sleeping?” Even she didn’t go that far
in her vigilance.

“I
do when he’s sick,” she shot back. “What if he wakes up, disoriented and
scared, and doesn’t know where he is?”

He
let her words and sharp tone float past him and focused instead on the concern
from which they sprang. Reaching his bedroom, he paused. “Then Izzy would send
for me.”

“Oh.”Her
indignation deflated like a leaky balloon. “He’s not alone?”

“No.”
Wyatt gave her a reassuring hug. “And neither are you.”

Kara
reached for the doorknob, but he stopped her. The kiss he had taken in the
foyer had been all too brief, and he wanted to distract her before she
communicated her fears to Sean.

Before
her next breath, his mouth descended on hers with single-minded determination.
Soothing her quickly turned into wooing her, and then he forgot everything else
as he gathered her into his arms. He held her against him, conveying his passion,
his desire, and his love, not stopping until he had won a response.

When
he broke the kiss, they sagged against one another, and Wyatt rocked her back
and forth in his arms. Both of their hearts thumped erratically. “Calmer now?”

Pressing
her hand to her chest, she smiled.“Not hardly.”

Later
that evening, Kara sat in a pool of light by Sean’s bed with an open book. The
pages may as well have been blank for as much attention as she paid them. Her
rueful thoughts settled on her sleeping child. He’s fine. He’s fine. She’d been
repeating the words like a mantra all day. The knowledge made her almost weak
with relief. He would have been fine without her. Neither he nor Wyatt had
needed her... But they had seemed happy to see her.

Hovering
at yet a second bedside in as many days brought back the conversation she’d had
with her father. Love was worth any amount of risk he’d said. By trying to
contain her feelings and control every event, she blocked herself from more
pleasure than pain. Her parents had always known that secret. She and Mike had
known it once, but until Wyatt had returned to her life, she had purposely
denied it.

Did
the two of them have a future together? Did Wyatt even want one? He’d implied
as much. She wasn’t sure what he intended, but she was ready to go wherever her
heart might lead. She wouldn’t turn away from him again.

The
door eased open and her heart skipped a beat as Wyatt entered. “Has he been
asleep long?” He placed a tray on a table before going over to press his palm
on Sean’s forehead.

“About
an hour.” Why had Wyatt returned earlier than expected? “How was the dinner
party?”

“Elegant.
Boring. The usual.” He took the book from her and pulled her toward the table.
“Izzy said you didn’t eat. Don’t let worry about Sean and your mother ruin your
appetite.”

Taking
the seat he held for her, she peeked up at him as he stood by her side. His
hand lingered for a moment on her shoulder. “Trying to think of a good way to
apologize is more likely the culprit.”

He
shrugged out of his suit jacket and pulled his tie loose. His features above
his white dress shirt were inscrutable shadows in the dim light. “Who do you
need to apologize to?”

“You.”

Dropping
into a chair opposite her, he smiled and leaned his chin on his hand. “Well,
this is an odd turn of events. I half thought you’d want a strip off my hide
for letting Sean get sick.”

“I
overreacted and shouldn’t have blamed you. It wasn’t your fault.” Rather than
look him in the eye, she let her gaze wander. His love of literature was
revealed in this room that had been his as a child. A wide assortment of books
shared space with other mementos and trophies. She’d felt very much at home
here today. More so than anywhere else in the house.

“Fault
is not an issue.” He picked up a spoon, seemingly more interested in the peach
cobbler he’d brought than in her apology. “Some things aren’t preventable.”

“Chicken
pox is.” She kept her voice low so Sean wouldn’t be disturbed.

 
Her comment stopped Wyatt with a spoonful of
cobbler suspended above his bowl. “What?”

“There’s
a vaccine for chicken pox now.”

“I
wondered about that.” He continued with his task of devouring the dessert
unfazed by what she considered her big confession. “Danielle asked me if he’d
been immunized, but I didn’t see anything about it in the reams of medical
records you sent with him.”

Still
too ashamed to face him, she shook her head and hunched her shoulders. “Not
every pediatrician recommends it. There’s a chance a child could break out with
a rash or run a fever, and I wouldn’t take the risk until I looked into it
more. So it was my fault. I should have let him have the shot.”

“Kara,
it was no one’s fault.”

“It
was my job to keep Sean safe, and I didn’t.” The failure continued to eat away
at her.

Wyatt
reached out and encircled her with his arm. “I don’t mean to criticize, but
sometimes your protectiveness goes beyond safety. And sometimes,” he continued
when she would have broken in defensively, “being overly cautious is more
detrimental than normal prudence.”

She
much preferred to flay herself over her own mistakes than to have them pointed
out by others. Especially by Wyatt. She straightened her shoulders and pulled
away from him. “I think I’ve been making progress.”

“You
have,” he agreed, ignoring her indignation. “And I’ve played a big role in
that.”

“You’ve
played a role?”

“Yes,
and I have some ideas about ways to continue the improvement.” Clearly, he
didn’t recognize the dangerous ground he tread or he would have resorted to
some caution and prudence of his own. “We both want what’s best for Sean even
though our methods vary.”

Okay,
she’d give him that much. And truly, hadn’t she been thinking the same thing
herself? “I know. It isn’t fair to smother Sean because I can’t deal with my
past. I haven’t even tried to deal with it.” She bit her lip, nervous about
putting into words the decision she’d made. “I’m going to look into grief
therapy when I get back home. I should have a long time ago.”

“That
should be helpful.” He nodded his approval. “And I think Sean would also
benefit from having a more consistent balance between the two of us, between
the amounts of time we spend with him. You know, sharing the responsibility
more.”

She
eyed him skeptically. “How could we be more balanced?”

“We
could share custody. We could live together.” He gave her a look she couldn’t
really interpret in their darkened corner. Was this a solution rooted in hope
or practicality?

She
stared, uncertain how to react to the very unlover-like suggestion. “It may
sound hypocritical after we’ve already lived together once, and I’m not ruling
it out, but is that the example we want to set for him?”

He
winced. “Even if we got married first?”

“Married?”
If he had started speaking Swahili, she wouldn’t have been more surprised. “You
want to get married?”

“Sure.”
Rather than look at Kara, he sliced a geometric pattern through a peach slice.
“Don’t you think that would be good for Sean?”

Her
heart jolted to a stop with his first answer and tripped over itself in anger
over the second. Clutching her hands in front of her, she forced herself to
remain outwardly calm. “I think it’s good for Sean to know both of his parents
love him and want what’s best for him, but I would never marry just for his
sake. Marriage is difficult enough when the people involved love one another.
I’m afraid it would be impossible if they don’t.”

He
stopped playing with his dessert and fixed her with a sharp look. “Who says I
don’t love you?”

To
Kara’s way of thinking, this conversation had gotten out of hand. She had the
urge to dab her napkin in her water and press it against her flushed cheeks.
“You didn’t say you did.”

Ready
to run, hide, or take a flying leap out of the window, she restricted her
movements to standing up with all the dignity she could muster. “In the past
three months you’ve proposed an affair, dating, getting to know one another
better, living together, and now marriage with never a word about love.”

As
her volume rose, Wyatt stood. He glanced over to check on Sean and then opened
an exterior door. Afraid he’d read her mind about taking a flying leap, she
breathed a sigh of relief when he merely led her onto a verandah. The fresh air
cooled her cheeks. Lifting her face to catch the breeze, she noticed the moon
had bloomed in full circle above them. A million stars decorated the sky like
sparkles on a party hat.

He
caught her chin and shifted the angle of her face until their gazes locked.
“‘Doubt that the stars are fire; Doubt that the sun doth move; Doubt truth to
be a liar; But never doubt I love.’”

She
relaxed her stance, but wouldn’t let herself believe his easy flow of words.
“Who said that?” She turned her face away from him a second before his lips
touched hers.

He
kissed her cheek and trailed his lips down the curve of her jaw to the weak
spot below her ear. “Shakespeare.”

“Why
should I believe him? It’s not his ability to make a commitment that I’m
worried about. Although from all reports, he failed spectacularly in that
area.”

Incredulous,
he pressed his fingertips to his chest. “You’re worried about my ability to
make a commitment?”

“Despite
your impressive vocabulary and intelligence, I don’t think you know the meaning
of the word.” She moved a step away from him. “You’ve never made a full
commitment to anything in your life. You use teaching as an excuse to distance
yourself from your family. You play with the family business like it’s a
custom-designed Monopoly game that bores you. You make up arbitrary rules with
escape clauses to define what does and does not constitute a relationship just
so you can walk away at will.”

He
pushed his hair off his forehead with both hands, then inhaled and exhaled
deeply. “Maybe what you say has been true in the past, but I’m doing my best to
change that. Would it interest you to know that Mother and I have called a
cease-fire?

“Maybe.”

“Now
that we aren’t laboring under cross purposes, we’ve agreed on a new position
for me in the company. One that has my whole-hearted interest as well as her
endorsement.”

“How
did that happen?”

“Being
a parent has helped me see her side a little better. Being with you again made
me realize what’s important in my life and that the constant battle of wills
with my family was pointless. And I wanted to prove to you and Mother, and even
myself, that I’m not quite as aimless as I seem.” Looking out across the
sculpted garden, he crossed his arms. “I’ve gone about this all wrong. But I do
want us to get married, for the three of us to be together.”

After
a moment, he took her hands in his. The depth of emotion she saw in his eyes,
the expression on his face, and the curve of his lips foretold his feelings
before he spoke of them. “No one else appeals to me the way you do or fills my
soul, enhances my days, enlivens my nights, or haunts my thoughts. If you want
poetry, I’ll write sonnets. If you want flowers, I’ll grow a rose garden. If
you want commitment, I’ll get married. I promise to dedicate my life to chasing
the shadows out of yours, making you laugh, and keeping you happy for as long
as you let me stay by your side.”

As
he paused for breath, she saw the self-doubt, the rare insecurity that sprang
from the unfamiliarity of revealing himself through words of his own.