LITMIR.BIZ

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she said for the third time.

      He let it go. Later, when he got back, they could discuss this again. He’d get her to see this his way—the right way. “I’ll be gone two days. Three at the most.”

      “You said that.”

      “No, I said I’d be back Thursday or Friday. On second thought, I should be able to make it sooner. Wednesday, I hope.”

      “All right. Wednesday, then. Is that all?”

      He hated to hang up with all this…tension between them. He should say something tender, he supposed. But nothing tender occurred to him. “We’ll work this out. You can count on me.”

      “I know that.”

      “Don’t worry.”

      “I…won’t,” she said softly after a moment. Then, almost in a whisper, “Good night, Marcus.” Then a click.

      He put the device back on the night table and laced his hands behind his head. A kid. It still didn’t seem possible. A child had never been part of his plans.

      But plans changed. And sometimes allowances had to be made.

      “His assistant called me at work an hour ago,” Hayley told Kelly when the sisters met for lunch the next day. “Her name is Joyce. She sounds very…efficient.”

      “That’s good, right?” Kelly forked up a bite of Caesar salad.

      Hayley turned her glass of Perrier in a slow circle. “I mean, not young, you know?”

      Kelly swallowed and frowned, puzzled. “Not young…like you?”

      Hayley turned her glass some more. “It shouldn’t matter, that he hired someone older to replace me.”

      “But you’re glad he did.”

      Hayley tried to deny it—and couldn’t. “I suppose I am. Even though, since I left, he’s been going out with a bunch of beautiful women.”

      “Oh, really?”

      “Oh, yeah.”

      “How do you know that?”

      “I still get Seattle magazine. I saw a picture of him in a tux.” She gazed wistfully down into her überpricey glass of bubbly French water. “He looks amazing in a tux. It was some opening of something. He had a drop-dead gorgeous blonde on his arm. He looked so…severe. And dangerous. And handsome—did I mention handsome?”

      “Often.”

      “Practically broke my poor little heart all over again.”

      “Jerk.”

      “No. He’s not a jerk. He’s…just Marcus, that’s all. He was true to me when we were together. As a matter of fact, he’s not real big on the bachelor lifestyle. But then, when we broke up, well, he would have considered it a point of honor, to prove to himself that he was over me.”

      Kelly shook her head. “Did I already say the word jerk?”

      “You did. And I said he’s not. He’s just…well, you’d have to know him.”

      Her sister wisely withheld comment. They ate in silence for a few minutes. Finally, Kelly spoke. “So the two of you got together…?”

      “Six months after he hired me, when his divorce became final.”

      “He was married?”

      “To his childhood sweetheart. But she dumped him and ran off with some European guy. I was just burning hot for him. And I was lying in wait for those final divorce papers to come in the mail. Then I seduced him. It’s a plain, shameless fact.”

      Kelly chuckled, “My bad baby sister.”

      “Oh, yeah. I was so sure I could show him what real, true love could be.” Hayley shook her head. “So much for that.” She bit into her grilled chipotle chicken sandwich and chewed slowly. The last month or two, with the baby taking up so much space in there, eating fast meant heartburn later.

      “So what did his new, older assistant have to say?” Kelly buttered a sourdough roll.

      “She was just telling me a platinum card was on the way, wanting to know where I banked so she could arrange for a giant-sized wire transfer of funds.”

      “Money,” Kelly said thoughtfully. “Well, it comes in handy, you gotta admit.”

      “It sure does. I suppose I should be more grateful, huh?”

      Kelly chuckled. “Oh, hell no. He should be grateful, to have a beautiful, smart, capable, loving woman like you as the mother of his child.”

      “I’ll tell him you said that.”

      “Do.”

      “He’s just a little messed over, that’s all. From the awful childhood he had, from his marriage that didn’t last forever, after all. I should embroider myself a sampler and hang it on the wall….”

      “Saying?”

      “‘There’s no saving a messed-over guy, so you’re better off not to even try.’” Hayley chuckled, a sound devoid of humor. “Hey. It rhymes.”

      “Pure poetry.”

      “Kelly?”

      “Umm?”

      “Do you think I’m messed over? You know, from the way I grew up?”

      Kelly shrugged. “Maybe a little. But we all are, I’m sure. You, me, big brother Tanner—and all the other poor, lost souls who had crazy, bad Blake Bravo for a dad. Think about it.” Blake had married a lot of women. And given them children. Each woman had thought she was the only one. And they all found out much later, after the notorious Blake finally died and it was all over the national news, that there were other wives. Several. Some no doubt were yet to be found—along with the children they’d borne him. “None of us ever knew our father,” Kelly continued, “even the ones who saw him now and then. Because he wasn’t the kind that anybody really knows. And then, we all had mothers with emotional issues. That’s a given. Remember Mom.”

      “God. Mom. Yeah.” Lia Wells Bravo had been frail both physically and emotionally, the perfect target for Blake Bravo’s dangerous brand of charm. One by one, she put the children he gave her during his infrequent visits into foster homes. Lia told all three they had no siblings. And though she wouldn’t take care of them herself, she refused to give them up for adoption.

      “It’s just a sad fact,” Kelly said. “Anybody who’d fall in love with a man like Blake Bravo would have had to be at least a little bit out of her mind.”

      “You’re not exactly reassuring me, you know.” Hayley sipped her Perrier.

      “Sorry…”

      “It’s so depressing, just thinking about Mom. I hate that I never understood her. And now she’s gone, I probably never will.” She looked down at her sandwich and knew she ought to eat more of it. “Did I mention that Marcus’s childhood was terrible, too?”

      “You did. Have you met his parents?”

      “They’re both long dead. His mother died when he was a kid, some kind of accident. Marcus was never really clear on what happened to her, exactly. His father was a drunk and Marcus despised him. He got millions when his dad died. Marcus put it all away, hasn’t touched a penny of it. He has it set up so it funds a bunch of charities. The whole Kaffe Central thing? He built that himself. Starting from a corner coffee shop in Tacoma where he went to work as a manager straight out of college.”

      “Kaffe Central. You said it’s like Starbucks, right?”

      Hayley leaned across the table. “Never,” she commanded darkly, “compare

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