The Once-a-Mistress Wife. Katherine Garbera
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“Don’t say things like that.”
“Even if they are true?”
“Especially if they are true. My life is complicated now. I have family obligations.”
“To whom?”
“Grandfather’s estate.”
He rubbed the back of his neck. It was ironic that now that he was free of family responsibility, she wasn’t. “What kind of obligations?”
“It’s complicated. I want to use my inheritance to establish a foundation that will help lower-income families. I definitely want to create neonatal units for areas that can’t otherwise afford them. And I’d also like to sponsor art programs in schools. I was also thinking to use some property that Grandfather has near the Finger Lakes in New York for a summer camp.”
“That sounds ambitious. Where are you going to start?”
“I have no idea. I mean, I’m an artist, not a businessperson. Channing sits on the board of two foundations, so he knows how they operate, but I can’t bring myself to ask him to help.”
“Why not?”
“Because he and I don’t get along. He’s hoping I do something outrageous so the money will go to him and Lorette.”
“Your inheritance has stipulations?”
“More than you could imagine.”
“What kind?”
She made a face at him. “Let’s just say that I have to be a model of social behavior.”
“Not exactly the Mary I remember.”
She tipped her head to the side and gave him a genuine smile that affected his ability to breathe. He’d never forgotten how beautiful Mary was, but his attraction to her had been more than her physical appearance. It had been the zest she’d had for life. The way her laughter and smiles had filled the empty spaces in his life.
“Why are you staring at me, Kane?”
“Because I love your smile.”
“My smile?”
He traced his finger down the side of her face, cupping her jaw and rubbing his thumb over her lips. “It’s the first thing I noticed about you that day in Harrods.”
“My mouth?” she asked, licking her lips, and he almost groaned out loud.
“Yes. Your lips are perfect for kissing.”
She flushed a little, nibbling on her lower lip. “Yours are, too.”
“Men don’t have kissable lips.” No one had ever said the things to him that Mary did. She didn’t fear his reputation and wasn’t intimidated by his wealth and family connections. She’d always treated him as though he were just another guy. And part of him liked the fact that with Mary he could simply be himself.
“Well, you do. Or maybe it’s that you really know what you’re about when you kiss me.”
Her lips parted and her warm breath brushed over his fingers. He leaned down to capture her lips with his. At the contact, she sighed his name, opening her mouth for him. He moved to cradle her head between both of his hands.
He took his time with the kiss, relearning the taste of her and reacquainting her with his taste. He swept his tongue languidly into her mouth, pulling her more firmly into his arms and into his embrace. This was where she belonged.
Kane had always had the ability to transport her from the real world into one where only the two of them existed. In that world she’d do whatever he asked of her and never count the cost. But she couldn’t afford to be that cavalier. Not now.
She pulled away from him, easily reading the signs of arousal in the man who’d been her first and only lover.
“Why did you pull away from me?”
“I can’t be seen engaging in public displays of affection.”
“That suits me. Let’s go back to my hotel and engage in private displays of affection.”
She shook her head. “Not today. I’m meeting with Grandfather’s lawyer at ten. Then I’m interviewing financial planners to find someone to help me establish my trust.”
“Who are you meeting with?”
“Someone from Merrill Lynch and someone from A.G. Edwards. I got their names from the phone book,” she said. Truth was, she wasn’t good with money and she didn’t have any idea how to make her dream into reality.
“Would you consider letting me help you?”
Kane was brilliant with investments. He’d carefully invested the money he’d given her during their years together and turned it into a small fortune. She had used that money to support herself before returning to Eastwick. “Do you want to?”
“I wouldn’t have offered otherwise,” he said with a hint of a grin.
Her question had been inane. “You make it hard for me to think clearly.”
“That’s good to know.”
He stood, offering her his hand and tugging her to her feet. He linked their hands together and started leading her away from the shore, toward her home.
“Will you have breakfast with me?” he asked.
His thumb rubbed over the back of her knuckles, and tingles spread up her arm. Her nipples tightened in response to his touch and his mere proximity. She always reacted this way in his presence. If she had breakfast with him, she’d probably end up making love with him. “No.”
“Why not?” he asked, lifting her hand to his mouth and kissing the back of it.
She pulled her hand from his grasp. “I’m not getting involved with you again, Kane. Maybe you shouldn’t help me with my inheritance.”
“Why not? I’m probably more qualified than some stranger you rang up on the telephone.”
“I think working with you will complicate things.”
“Things? I’m not sure I understand.”
She wanted to punch him in the arm. He frustrated her sometimes and she knew he was doing it deliberately right now. She took a deep breath, remembered that she always had to appear composed.
“I really don’t want to give Channing or Lorette a reason to take me to court.”
He took her shoulder, pulling her toward his body, wrapping one arm around her waist. He tipped her head back with his other hand, forcing her to look up at him. “I’m not taking no for an answer. I’m back in your life, and we’ll take it slowly if that’s what you want, but there is no way I’m leaving you again.”
“Kane…don’t say things like that to me.”
“I mean them.”
She couldn’t reconcile what he was saying to what he’d said when they’d parted. His words still lingered in her mind, the emotional wounds he’d inflicted only half-healed.
“No, you don’t. You told me that I was never anything more to you than a mistress, and I believed you. We don’t have a great love affair to rekindle. Ours was a business-minded relationship. You paid for my living expenses and I took care of your sexual needs. That was it.”
He cursed under his breath but didn’t let go of her. “It was never a business arrangement. Passion like ours can’t be contained in something so tame.”
Passion…one of her downfalls, if her grandfather was to be believed. Passion had a place only at her easel, where she channeled all of her rebelliousness into her art.
“Passion isn’t part of my life now, Kane. You’d