Harlequin Superromance November 2014 - Box Set 2 of 2: Christmas at the Cove\Navy Christmas\Until She Met Daniel (5 page)

Marian cleared her throat. “I’m not sure what’s crawled into Nick’s backside and turned him into a Neanderthal, Carrie, but please don’t hurry off on account of his lack of manners. If anyone should be leaving my bakery right now, it’s him.”

Carrie turned as Nick’s words reverberated in her mind. Trepidation gnawed at her stomach. Scott could have a wife. He could be a father to other children. Why had she not thought about that? Why hadn’t she thought about his life, period?

She looked at Nick and his anger permeated the air between them. She clutched the strap of her bag to hide her trembling. “I don’t want anything from Scott. You can think what you want, but I came to Templeton to tell him something important and then I’m leaving. Why don’t you do me a favor and tell him that, okay?” Carrie looked to Marian who glared at Nick’s profile. “It was nice meeting you, Marian.”

“You too, sweetheart.”

“Where are you going now?” he demanded.

“None of your business.” Carrie faced Marian once more and smiled. “Thanks for the coffee. Maybe I’ll see you again before I leave.”

She nodded, still glaring at Nick. “Make sure you do.”

Carrie snatched her umbrella from the stand and threw open the door. She walked out into the rain, her heart racing and her chin high. Nick Carson’s animosity had done her more good than he could imagine. It had made her more prepared and given her prior warning of Scott’s life now.

The biggest worry was, if he had other children, would he want Belle more than she could have anticipated...or would he completely reject her? He might not want another child. Carrie’s stomach dropped. What if he was married when they spent those crazy, lust-fuelled days together? Was his wife away on business? Is that why they never left her hotel room?

“Oh, God.” Heat burned her face and in her chest. Had she slept with another woman’s husband? Partner?

Sickness rolled through her. She might have kept Belle a secret from Scott for longer than she should have, but infidelity? Being the other woman? No, no, no.

She exhaled a shaky breath as further shame engulfed her. Before the possibility of Scott already being a father came to the table, a father who was present in his children’s lives, things had been laced with a romantic ideal in her mind. She had to face the truth that she had come back to the Cove as much to find out about her feelings for him as she had for Belle’s sake.

She would tell him about Belle then leave. If he loved and provided for his existing children, the chances were he’d want to love Belle, too. Carrie worried her bottom lip. Would she have to deal with a wife who’d lived in marital bliss, only to now find out her husband had created a baby with a past lover?

Carrie vehemently shook her head. She had to believe Scott was single when he slept with her. She had to or everything had just gotten a whole lot messier. She strode along the street, her head spinning. What confused her was Scott’s intensity seemed no different today than when she’d met him years before, and wouldn’t children soothe him? Belle had certainly softened Carrie’s need to work twenty-four-seven. Carrie now preferred instead to spend time at home doing close to nothing as long as she was with her daughter.

What was going on with Scott that his children hadn’t healed the hurt she had sensed when they lay side-by-side, skin-to-skin in a hotel room?

Carrie narrowed her eyes. She wouldn’t go there. The reasons behind his state of mind weren’t her problem. Since losing Gerard, her resolve had strengthened more than any stranger would detect on the surface. Any man worth their salt should learn and learn quickly, never mess with a mother protecting her child. Ever.

* * *

S
TANDING
TOE
-
TO
-
TOE
with Nick in the garage office, Scott’s anger poured into his blood, making his chest constrict with the overwhelming need to punch Nick clean in the face for the first time in their twenty-year friendship. “What the hell do you mean you faced her off? What did you think you were doing?”

Nick planted his hands on hips. “I was looking out for you, that’s what. She’s trouble. I saw it in her eyes. Whatever it is she wants from you, she won’t be going anywhere until she’s got it. Why would you even want to find out what that is? Just use some common sense and stay the hell away from her. If she finds you, shut the door in her face.”

“You had no damn right.”

“I had every right. I’m your friend and it was you who called me, remember? You asked for my help, and I’m not going to sit back and let her walk all over you a second time.”

“I asked you to help me find her, not find her and get in her face.”

“She was there. I did what I had to do.”

“God damn it, Nick.” Scott shoved his hand into his hair as he scrambled for the right words. “The woman meant something to me.”

“Yeah? You never went after her though, did you?”

Scott glared, words failing him. He hadn’t gone after Carrie for fear of the unknown. He didn’t want commitment...and after their amazing time together, he couldn’t risk hurting her. He’d let her go because he couldn’t promise her anything. A woman like Carrie deserved to be promised the world.

Nick’s shoulders slumped. “Look, she might be back...but this time she’s wearing a wedding band. I’m sorry, man. I’m trying to do the right thing here.”

Shock struck Scott’s chest.
She’s married and come back looking for me? What the hell does she think she’s doing?
He shrugged as he struggled to maintain some semblance of nonchalance. “Well, if she’s married, this isn’t about us hooking up again then, is it? At the end of the day, this is between me and her, not you.” Scott moved to walk past him but Nick gripped his arm. Scott scowled. “What?”

“If she isn’t here to hook up with you, what the hell is she here for?”

“How the hell should I know?”

“Then I did the right thing by sending her on her way. Whichever way you look at this, her turning up can only mean grief.”

Scott pulled his arm from Nick’s grasp. “Whatever... You still shouldn’t have gone off at her.”

Nick glared. “So we don’t watch each other’s backs anymore? Will you listen to yourself? She clearly gave you a better time than any other woman has in months. What’s going on with you?”

Scott screwed his eyes shut. “I have to see her.”

“Didn’t you hear what I just said? She’s married.”

Scott opened his eyes and clenched his jaw as he searched for the reason why he battled the overwhelming urge to sprint from the garage and track Carrie down. It was an answer he didn’t have. All he knew was as soon as she stood in front of him, he wanted to kiss her, touch her, make love to her and have her smile at him in the same soft, sexy way she had when she was in bed with him before.

He shook his head, snatched his keys off his desk and pointed them toward the door. “You need to go.”

“What?”

Their gazes locked as Scott’s blood roared in his ears. “If you think she walked all over me last time, we’ve nothing else to say to each other. How could she have walked all over me when we were barely together more than a few days, huh? What happened after she left has nothing to do with her. Don’t you get that? It was me who hit bottom. It wasn’t her fault.”

Nick’s eyes widened. “So you’re going back for more of the same?”

“I have to know why she’s back.”

“No, you don’t. You want to. What is it about this girl? Sure, she’s pretty but God, man, it’s like she’s got hold of your damn dick.”

Frustration coursed through Scott on a vibrating wave. He had no clue what it was that burned like an inferno between him and Carrie Jameson. The only thing he was sure of was the same shock mixed with desire had gleamed in her gaze at the garage as it had when she took his hand and led him from The Coast Inn straight to her hotel room.

Scott brushed past Nick. “I don’t know what it is, but it’s up to me to deal with, not you.” He pulled open the office door and waved. “After you.”

“You’re going to see her right now, aren’t you?”

“Yes.”

“Fine.” Nick raised his hands in surrender. “Do what you have to do. I’ll be at the bar when you need a drink. Something tells me that will be sooner rather than later.”

Nick marched out the door, his feet banging down the iron steps and through the garage. Scott refused to allow his friend’s judgment to seep into his blood and make him resent Carrie when she’d done nothing wrong. She’d promised him nothing. He had to see her.

Locking the door behind him, Scott hurried down the steps and through the garage. He drew together the two iron doors and padlocked them before pocketing the keys in his jeans. Taking a deep breath, he lifted the collar of his leather jacket and, with his head bent against the wind and rain, jogged toward town.

The townspeople were out in their numbers as Christmas Day approached with a rapidity Scott couldn’t think about right then. Some faces etched with happiness, others with stress—there was no avoiding the holidays would soon be here and Scott was far from prepared. He passed the temporary ice rink that was set up in the town square every year.

The sound of the kids’ laughter and their joyful expressions as they whizzed around the rink did nothing to appease Scott’s trepidation. It seemed a lifetime ago when he was carefree enough at Christmastime to spend it at the rink.

Forcing his gaze ahead, he pounded the distance and, with each hundred yards, his adrenaline slowed and his mind leveled. The gold-and-bronze canopy of the Christie Hotel came into view. Slowing to a walk, he nodded to the doorman and passed through the revolving door into the hotel’s lobby. It was a fancy, old-fashioned place. Not necessarily to his taste, but that didn’t prevent the image of Carrie, dressed in a column of sapphire silk and killer heels, from filtering through his mind.

Once again, his dick twitched awake and his blood heated. Even the knowledge she was married didn’t cool his physical need to make love to her again. Her hair, her eyes...those damn, sexy legs covered with sheer black stockings. Never before had a woman held him so quickly and so strongly in her snare. Thoughts of her with another man, and married, caused a lash of inexplicable pain in his chest—a pain so much worse than the surges of jealousy that had torn through him for months after she left whenever he imagined her with another man.

He lifted his chin and shoved his thoughts into submission. He glanced around the hotel lobby and smiled wryly. Yep, the place suited her perfectly. Carrie had that whole Hollywood golden age thing going on. A woman with good curves in all the right places. Rita Hayworth, Jane Russell...He breathed deep and smiled. Real women.

He approached the front desk. The stout, English butler–type manager wore the air of a king overseeing his subjects. He met Scott’s eyes with casual indifference. “Good afternoon, sir. May I help you?”

Scott cleared his throat. “Good afternoon. I believe a Carrie Jameson is staying here. Could you please phone her room and ask her to meet me in the lobby?”

“Your name, sir?”

“Walker. Scott Walker.”

“One moment, please.”

The desk manager picked up the phone and Scott turned, his nerves jumping and his shoulders tense. He looked to his left at a group of suited businessman and grimaced. His idea of hell would be having to wake up each morning and get trussed up in a suit and tie to work behind a damn desk all day. He looked to his right...

Carrie stood watching him. Her shoulders and chest rose as she took a deep breath and strode toward him. He pushed away from the desk. “Don’t worry. I found her.”

“Sorry, sir?” The desk manager coughed behind him.

“She’s here. No need to try her room.” Scott moved away from the desk, and he and Carrie came to a stop in the middle of the lobby. He stared, his gaze roaming over her hair to her face, lower to exquisite collarbones and smooth skin above breasts concealed beneath a red shirt—and, God help him, the revealed edge of a red satin bra.

“You came.” Her words whispered from between scarlet-painted lips. “Thank you.”

He met her eyes. “I’m sorry about Nick.”

She smiled softly. “You know about that?”

“He came to me straight afterward.” Unable to resist, he glanced at her hands clenched together in front of her. Her wedding band glinted. He met her eyes, his heart beating fast. “The man can be an ass, but he’s only trying to look out for me.”

“I got that.” She broke eye contact and waved toward some seats to the side of them. “Shall we—”

“Why are you here, Carrie?”

A faint stain colored her cheeks. “Why don’t we sit down?” She glanced around. “I don’t want to do this standing up with everyone watching.”

“Why does it matter?” He clenched his jaw. “Does your husband know you’ve come to Templeton? That you’re here now? With me?”

Her color darkened and her gaze blazed with anger. “My husband has nothing to do with this. I’m sitting down. You can either join me or go. I’m not talking about this for everyone else’s entertainment.”

Scott glared after her as she stormed away. He hesitated as his gut churned with indecision. Whatever she had to tell him couldn’t be good, but how the hell could he walk away without knowing what brought her back to Templeton? Not knowing would haunt him for the rest of his damn life.

Cursing, he pulled back his shoulders and strode across the lobby to where she sat at a low table, smoothing her hands up and down the length of her denim-clad thighs. He slid into the seat opposite her, his gaze once again flitting to the shiny gold wedding band on her ring finger. God, he was grateful for the table between them. A table that acted as a boulder. A boulder he deemed necessary if his urge to touch another man’s wife was anything to go by.

He met her eyes. “Okay, I’m listening.”

Her gaze bored into his before she dropped her attention to her lap. Her hands were clamped so tightly together, her knuckles showed white. Scott shifted in his seat. No part of him was used to making women uncomfortable or fearful. He wasn’t a monster and he refused to let Carrie make him feel that way.