LITMIR.BIZ

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we’ll fly out this afternoon to take Sterling to his new family in South Carolina.”

      “I’m almost afraid to ask who your grandmother lined up next. The president?”

      “Just a former secretary of state.”

      She coughed a mouthful of coffee. “I was joking.”

      “I’m not.” His grandmother moved in influential circles. He hadn’t given a second thought to the families she had chosen. They were longtime friends. But he hadn’t thought of how visiting these high-profile people would go over with Johanna. How many times had he tossed her into the middle of unfamiliar, perhaps even intimidating gatherings with no warning? Hell, he hadn’t even given her any direction on how to pack, just offering to buy what she needed.

      He’d hoped to use this time together to find peace for his grandmother—but also to find closure with Johanna. Okay, and also to have lots of sex with Johanna until they both were too exhausted to argue about the past. Then they could move on.

      Clearly, his plan wasn’t working out because he was falling into an old pattern of charging ahead and expecting her to follow. She didn’t trust him and if she didn’t trust him, there wasn’t a chance in hell they could sleep together again.

      He couldn’t change the past, and he’d accepted they couldn’t have a future together.

      Although he could damn well do something about the present. For starters, he could share the details about their travel plans. But he would have to dig a lot deeper than that to fully regain her trust.

      He sat beside her on the fat sectional sofa, trying to start right now, by including her in the plan for the week. “We’ll be visiting the Landis-Renshaw family in Hilton Head. They’ve vacationed at the ranch before. As a matter of fact, they rented the whole place once for a family reunion.”

      “That would be quite a who’s who of family reunions.”

      And he hadn’t even told her their third stop would be to meet with a deposed European king.

      * * *

      Johanna welcomed the bustle of their travel day to Hilton Head, South Carolina. Stone had arranged for accommodations in a pet-friendly beach cottage with plenty of space for the dogs to run. They would meet with the Landis-Renshaw family in the morning.

      Other cottages dotted the shoreline, but with an exclusivity that brought privacy. One other couple and a small family played in the surf, but otherwise she and Stone were on their own. She’d sensed a change in him earlier as he’d shared his plans for the South Carolina portion of their trip. He was genuinely attempting to include her, rather than simply taking charge.

      So far, the truce they’d declared had held, due in large part to how he’d included her. That helped her relax, taking away a layer of tension she hadn’t even realized existed. She’d been worrying about the unknown.

      She sat cross-legged on the wooden deck, a dozen steps away from him. The dogs curled up around her and she checked over each of them, making sure they hadn’t picked up ticks in Vermont or sand spurs from their run along the beach earlier. She finished with Pearl, the search more extensive given the cairn terrier’s longer fur.

      Stone walked out of the surf like Poseidon emerging from the depths of the ocean. Big. Powerful. The hazy glow of the ending day cast him in shadows, his dark hair even blacker slicked with water. She’d always known Stone the cowboy entranced her more than Stone the CEO.

      But Stone nearly naked absolutely melted her.

      She forced her attention back to Pearl to keep from drooling over Stone in swim trunks. Her skin prickled with awareness as he opened the porch gate and walked past her. She heard the rattle of ice as he poured a glass of sweet tea before he dropped into one of the Adirondack loungers.

      “How was the water?” She released Pearl to play with the other two dogs on the fenced deck.

      “Good, good.” He set his glass aside. “Everything okay with the dogs?”

      They sounded like any other couple catching up at the end of the day, except there was this aching tension between them. “They all checked out fine. Just a couple of sandspurs on Pearl. I trimmed their nails, and I’ll want to bathe them all after they run on the beach again. Otherwise, they’re all set to meet their new families.”

      He swung his feet around, elbows on his knees. “You’re a nurturer. It’s in your blood.”

      Her hands clenched into fists to resist the urge to sweep sand from the hair on his legs. “Are you trying to needle me with the nurturer comment?”

      “I’m just stating a fact. You’ll make a great mother someday.”

      The humid night air grew thicker, her chest constricting. “You’re good with children. The natural way you held little T.J....I just don’t understand you.”

      “I’m good with horses, too. That doesn’t mean I’m supposed to be a jockey,” he said wryly.

      “I wasn’t insinuating you should be a father. You’ve been honest about your feelings on that subject. It just took me a while to stop thinking I could change your mind.” Hugging her knees, she studied him in the fading light.

      “I’ve always tried to be careful that women didn’t get the wrong idea about me and wedding bells...until you.”

      That should have meant something, but it only served to increase the ache. “You’re a playboy married to your work.” She exhaled hard. “I get that. Totally.”

      Stone went quiet again for so long she thought they might be returning to the silent truce again. Awkward and painful.

      Then Stone stood, walking to the rail and staring out at the ocean. “My father.”

      Rising, she moved to stand beside him, wind pulling at the whispery cover-up over her bikini. “What do you mean?”

      His father had been an off-limits topic for as long as she’d known him. Not even Mariah brought up the subject. Stone had always said that according to his mom, his paternity was a mystery. Was he opening up to her on a deeper level, including her in more than a few travel plans?

      “I found out.” His voice came out hoarse and a little harsh as he continued to look out at the foaming waves.

      She rested a hand on his arm tentatively, not sure how he would react but unable to deny him some comfort during what had to be a difficult revelation. “I wish you would have told me.”

      “I’ve never told anyone.”

      “I was supposed to be more than just ‘anyone’ to you,” she reminded him softly.

      He glanced sideways at her. “Touché.”

      “Did you hire a private investigator?”

      “Don’t you think my grandmother already tried that hoping to find someone who actually wanted me around?”

      His words snapped her upright in shock. “Your grandmother loves you.”

      “I know that. I do,” he said with certainty. “But she’d already brought up her kids. She was supposed to be my grandmother. Not my parent.”

      “Did she tell you that?” She knew full well Mariah never would have said anything of the sort to Stone. Johanna just wanted to remind him of how very much his grandmother loved him.

      “She didn’t have to say it.” He went silent for the length of two rolling waves crashing to the shore. “When I was eleven, I found the private detective’s report of her search for my biological father.”

      “Of course she would want to know everything about you. Perhaps she was worried that he might try to take you away. Did you ever consider that?” When he didn’t answer, she continued, “You said she didn’t find him. So how did you locate him?”

      “The report

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