“She’s your daughter.”

His mouth snapped shut, his face paled. “Why would you concoct such an outrageous story?”

“It’s not a story—it’s the truth.” Kelly should have known telling him would be a mistake. She stood up. “I thought you—and Ava—had a right to know. But I’d rather she didn’t know the identity of her father than know he doesn’t want her.”

Jackson pushed away from his desk as she reached for the handle of the door. “Wait.” He slapped his hand against the frame. “You can’t drop a bombshell like that and just walk out.”

He stood so close that he breathed in her hauntingly familiar scent. Memories of that long-ago weekend teased his mind, and something stirred low in his belly. Even now, when she was making accusations that could turn his life upside down, he couldn’t ignore the heat thrumming in his veins.

“We’re done here,” she said.

He moved closer. “We’re not even close to being done.”

About the Author

BRENDA HARLEN is a former family law attorney turned work-at-home mum and national bestselling author who has written more than twenty books for Mills & Boon. Her work has been validated by industry awards (including an RWA golden Heart Award and the RT Book Reviews reviewers’ Choice Award) and by the fact that her kids think it’s cool that she’s “a real author.”

Brenda lives in southern Ontario with her husband and two sons. When she isn’t at the computer working on her next book, she can probably be found at the arena watching a hockey game. Keep up-to-date with Brenda on Facebook or send her an email at brendaharlen@yahoo.com.

His Long-Lost Family
Brenda Harlen

www.millsandboon.co.uk

This second book in my series about brothers is dedicated to my brother, Jim, who was part of my inspiration for Jackson Garrett—and who will no doubt experience much of the same angst as this story’s hero when his beautiful daughters get to be Ava’s age…

With special thanks to Emily Baker for proofreading Ava’s scenes to ensure that I wasn’t completely out of touch with the current teen generation. Someday you will find a romantic hero worthy of you—in the meantime, enjoy the journey, YOLO

Prologue

Kelly Cooper glanced at her watch as she slipped her feet into a pair of navy blue pumps and bit back an exasperated sigh. Every day, it was the same. No matter what time she woke her daughter, it seemed they were always running behind schedule.

“Come on, Ava. We’re going to be late.”

The twelve-year-old raced down the hall, her backpack in one hand and a piece of paper in the other.

“Sorry, Mom. I forgot that I need you to sign something.”

Kelly dug into her bag for a pen. Her daughter was famous for holding on to trip permission and lunch order forms until the morning that they were due, usually when they were already late getting out the door.

Ava flattened the page out on the table by the door so that Kelly could scrawl her signature on the dotted line. But something about the way her daughter’s hand was splayed over the top of the page triggered Kelly’s maternal radar. She tugged the page out of Ava’s grasp, caught the headline at the top—CONSENT FOR BODY PIERCING OF A MINOR.

When she was sure that she could speak calmly, she turned to her daughter and said, “Nice try, Ava.”

“Come on, Mom. Please.”

“No.” She tore the paper in half, then in quarters, and opened the door. “Let’s go.”

Ava’s deep green eyes, the mirror image of her father’s, filled with tears. “It’s just my belly button.”

“It’s not just anything,” Kelly argued. “Which I told you last week when you came home raving about Rachel’s sister’s hips being pierced. I am not letting you permanently disfigure any part of your body with holes or ink.”

“Why not?”

“Because you’re twelve years old.” She locked the door and headed down the hall to the elevator.

“I’m almost thirteen,” Ava said.

Actually, she’d only celebrated her twelfth birthday a few months earlier, but that wasn’t the issue. “Still nowhere close to eighteen,” she pointed out. “If you want a belly button ring when you’re eighteen, I won’t be able to say no. But until then, that is the answer.”

“You’re so mean.”

“You’ve mentioned that once or twice before,” she acknowledged as they exited on the ground floor.

“Miranda and Corinne have belly button rings, and Rachel’s getting hers pierced on her birthday.” Ava climbed into the passenger side and latched her belt. “Because her mother’s cool, and because she believes it’s a way for Rachel to express her individuality.”

“How can it be an expression of her individuality if she’s having it done to be like everyone else?” Kelly countered.

Ava huffed out a breath. “Why do you always have to treat me like a baby?”

“Because you are my baby,” she reminded her.

Her daughter was silent for a long minute, but Kelly knew better than to think that she’d given up. It wasn’t in Ava’s nature to back down on anything. As she proved when she said, “I bet if I had a dad, he’d let me get my belly button pierced.”

It was a familiar argument. Whenever Kelly didn’t give her daughter what she wanted, Ava played the no-father card. And while Kelly didn’t let the arguments sway her, she couldn’t deny the guilt that inevitably swamped her. Because Ava did have a father, but she’d never met the man who had contributed to her DNA—and that man had no idea that he had a child.

She tried not to think about him, but she’d never forgotten him. Not since the night of her sixteenth birthday, when he’d kissed her. In that first moment that his lips touched hers, he’d also taken hold of her heart. It was several years later before their relationship progressed beyond that single kiss, before the one weekend they spent together changed her whole life.

He was the only man she’d ever really loved, and when he’d chosen to be with someone else, Kelly had taken her shattered heart and her unborn child and moved as far away as possible. But it turned out that halfway across the country still wasn’t far enough to outrun the memories, guilt and regrets.

“This isn’t negotiable,” she said firmly.

Ava fell silent again, pouting.

On her way to her daughter’s school, Kelly tried to remember what she’d been like as a twelve-year-old girl. She’d been shy and withdrawn through most of her childhood, cautiously trying to find her way in the world. Thankfully, she’d had Lukas Garrett to guide her. Maybe it was because her best friend was a boy, but she’d never thought too much about clothes or makeup. She’d never worried about keeping up with fashion trends or trying to attract boyfriends; she’d never dyed her hair or worn black nail polish. And she certainly hadn’t been thinking about body piercings or tattoos.

Of course, she’d grown up in a different time, and Pinehurst, New York, was definitely another world. Though fifteen years had passed since she’d first gone away to college and the population of the town had increased exponentially, she knew that not much else had changed. Pinehurst still was, and probably always would be, a small town at heart. It was a place where neighbors talked to one another on the street, where the residents baked cookies to welcome newcomers, and where traditional values continued to be revered. Recently Kelly had found herself thinking that it would be nice to raise her daughter in a town like that.

As she pulled up in front of the school to drop Ava off, her thoughts drifted back to the email Lukas had sent to her the previous day, and she cursed him for tempting her with the link to a job posting at Richmond Pharmaceuticals. Because she was tempted and she didn’t want to be; because going back to Pinehurst would inevitably mean revealing the secret she’d kept throughout her daughter’s entire life.

If she stayed in Seattle, on the other hand, everything would remain status quo. Unfortunately, the status quo was no longer as satisfying as it used to be. And while a cross-country move wouldn’t make Ava happy in the short term, Kelly believed it would be the best thing for her—maybe even for both of them—in the long term.

A new start in a new town, a new school, new friends…and maybe even a chance to finally meet her father.

Chapter One

Four months later—

“Sorry I’m late.” Jack Garrett slid into the vacant seat across from Gord Adamson, a former law school classmate and occasional courtroom adversary, at The Winking Judge, a small pub across the street from the courthouse.

“I was surprised to get your call,” Gord admitted. “I thought you’d given up criminal law.”

“So did I,” he agreed. “But every once in a while, there’s a client I can’t turn away.”

“Because you believe in his innocence?”

“Because I believe that he deserves a break.”

The waitress came over, momentarily disrupting their conversation. Gord ordered a scotch, neat, and Jack asked for a bottle of the locally brewed Millhouse beer.

“I reviewed the file, Jack. And I’m sorry, but I don’t see probation for Travis Hatcher.”

“Come on, Gord. He’s just a kid.”

“A kid who took a baseball bat to a Mercedes that is worth more than twice my annual salary,” his colleague pointed out.

“It was his father’s car,” Jack told him, though even he wasn’t sure if that was a mitigating or an aggravating factor.

“With incidental damage to two other vehicles.”

“Restitution has already been made to the owners.”

Gord sighed. “What’s your connection to this kid?”

“I handled his parents’ divorce a few years back,” Jack admitted.

“Rough one?”

“I don’t seem to get any other kind, but this one was particularly difficult. A ten-year marriage that fell apart because the husband couldn’t keep his pants zipped and the wife couldn’t keep looking the other way. They fought over each piece of artwork and every stick of furniture, but mostly over who was going to get stuck with their ten-year-old son.”

Gord, a father with two sons of his own, winced. “Damn, Jack. You’re yanking on my heartstrings here.”

“He isn’t a bad kid,” Jack insisted. “He just got caught in a bad situation.”

“Give me some background,” the prosecutor suggested.

“A few months back, Travis was invited to a weekend camp to try out for the national amateur all-star tournament. There wasn’t anyone at the camp who doubted he would make the team. But instead of being offered a roster spot, he was sent home.”

“I can understand that he would be disappointed and upset,” Gord acknowledged. “But that doesn’t justify his actions.”

“That’s not the end of the story,” Jack told him. “About two weeks before the tournament, the number-one center fielder breaks his collarbone. There’s no way he can play, so Travis calls the national team coach, asks him to give him another chance to prove that he can fill the vacancy. And the coach bluntly tells him, ‘You’re good enough, but you’re never going to play on any team that I’m coaching. If you want to know why—ask your father.’”

“The kid’s dad screwed the coach’s wife,” Gord guessed.

Jack nodded. “Which he finally admitted when Travis confronted him after baseball practice.”

“Jesus.” His friend lifted his glass, swallowed a mouthful of scotch.

“There was no premeditation—he had the bat in his hand, and he simply reacted,” he explained. “Under the circumstances, can you blame him?”

“Actions have consequences, and he has to be responsible for those consequences.”

“Absolutely. But the consequences should be commensurate with the action. He had a moment where he acted impulsively and recklessly, but a criminal record will stick with him for life.”

“You stay up late last night working on that spin?”

“The truth doesn’t need spin.”

Gord considered that for a moment. “Is he remorseful?”

“Very.” Jack passed a handwritten note across the table.

His colleague skimmed the page; he scrubbed a hand over his jaw. “Damn you, Jack.”

“You’re repeating yourself, Gord.” He passed over several more pages. “Character references from his teachers, guidance counselor, principal, high school baseball coach, his boss at the grocery store where he works part-time, and supervisor of the homework club where he volunteers twice a week.”

Gord sighed. “You really think you can get probation?”

“With a joint-sentencing recommendation, I do,” Jack said.

“I’ll go joint if anger management is one of the terms of probation, but the final decision is still up to the judge.”

“Of course,” he agreed.

Gord took another sip of his drink. “You still dating Angela from the registry office?”

Jack shook his head. “That was over a long time ago.”

“No thoughts about settling down and starting a family at this stage in your life?”

“Hell, no.” His failed marriage might be in the past, but it wasn’t so distant that he’d forgotten. And how could he when he spent almost every day in meetings and motions with husbands and wives who had once promised to love, honor, and cherish their spouses and were now hating, dishonoring, and spurning them?

His friend chuckled. “Are you sure you don’t want a minute to consider your response?”

Jack shook his head. “I was married once,” he confided. “When I was young and stupid.”

“Was it that girl you were with in Chicago?”

Jack paused with his bottle halfway to his lips. He’d forgotten that Gord had been at the same law conference he’d attended more than a dozen years earlier in Chicago. “No,” he said now. “That wasn’t her.”

“So who was she?” Gord asked curiously. “Because I seem to recall that you had some pretty intense chemistry with her.”

He frowned, as if trying to recall the details of those three glorious days that were still indelibly imprinted on his mind, then shook his head. “I don’t remember.”

His friend snorted. “Yeah, and I took a job in the district attorney’s office for the extravagant salary.”

“Why did you leave private practice?” Jack asked, because it seemed like an opportune moment to shift the topic of conversation.

“Because when Sheila and I got married, she understood that I wanted to get my practice off the ground before I took any time off for a vacation. On our third anniversary, she reminded me that we still hadn’t had a honeymoon.”

“And yet, you’re still married,” he mused.

“Because I was smart enough to realize that I needed to balance my personal life and my professional life. Five years and two kids later, it was the smartest move I ever made—even if it means that my kids will have to go to public school.”

“Thankfully not something I have to worry about.”

“Never say never,” Gord warned.

But Jack wasn’t worried. He was thirty-seven years old and happy to be on his own. And while he dated—albeit a lot less frequently than he had in the past—he always said goodbye without any regrets. The sole exception was the one unforgettable weekend he’d spent in Chicago with Kelly Cooper.

Yeah, he had a boatload of regrets where she was concerned. He regretted walking into The Four Brothers pub for a drink—and not walking right back out again when he realized the gorgeous bartender who’d snared his attention was none other than the girl who’d lived next door when they were kids.

He regretted giving in to the irresistible urge to taste the sassy mouth that had tormented him for more years than he wanted to admit; he regretted succumbing to the need to explore every inch of her soft, silky skin with his hands and his lips; he regretted losing himself—over and over again—in her warm, willing body. Mostly he regretted ever letting her go.

“Speaking of family,” Gord said, drawing Jack’s attention back to the present, “I should get home to Sheila and the boys.”

He started to call for the waitress, but Jack shook his head. “You go ahead. I’ve got the bill.”

“Thanks.” Gord slid out of the booth, offered his hand. “I’ll bring your client’s case forward for a plea on Wednesday, when Judge Parrish is sitting.”

“I appreciate it,” he said, confident in the knowledge that Judge Parrish had never overruled a joint recommendation.

After his colleague was gone, Jack sat alone, nursing a second beer. He was grateful for Gord’s cooperation with Travis’s case—and annoyed that just the mention of Chicago had brought memories of Kelly Cooper to the forefront of his mind.

Not that those memories were ever very far away, especially not since his brother had informed him that she was coming home.

He didn’t understand why she was the one woman he couldn’t forget. They’d spent one unforgettable weekend together, but neither of them had mentioned the possibility of anything more. So when Kelly called a few months later—shortly after Sara had decided she’d been too hasty in ending their engagement—he’d been completely caught off guard. Just the sound of her voice had the memories flooding back and desire stirring. Then Sara had walked into the room and pointed to her watch, and he’d admitted to Kelly that he had an appointment with a wedding planner. After a brief moment of awkward silence, Kelly had offered a quick congratulations and an even quicker goodbye.

Six months later, he’d married Sara. About two years after that, Kelly married some guy out in Seattle. Now they were both divorced, and despite all the years that had passed, he hadn’t forgotten about her. For some inexplicable reason, memories of one long ago weekend still stirred his blood more effectively than most of the flesh-and-blood women he’d dated in recent years.

Maybe it was because he still felt guilty about the fact that he’d slept with the girl who had been his brother’s best friend since childhood. Yeah, it was the guilt, he assured himself.

Because Jack refused to consider that he might have had feelings for Kelly that ever went any deeper than that.

The knots in Kelly’s stomach tightened as the plane touched down on the runway.

This was it—there was definitely no going back now.

Not that she wanted to go back. Although she’d made the decision to move back to Pinehurst quickly, it hadn’t been impulsively. Which made her realize she’d been thinking about it for a lot longer than she’d been ready to acknowledge. Because no matter where else she might have lived, Pinehurst was still home.

She’d had such grand plans when she’d moved to Seattle. A new city, a new job, a new husband. Even when she and Malcolm had gone their separate ways, she hadn’t wanted to leave Seattle. Of course, Malcolm’s mom—the only grandmother Ava had ever known—had still been a big part of their lives. Kelly knew she wouldn’t have made it through those first few years without her former mother-in-law, and when Beverley Scott had passed away, she’d been at a loss. Not only because Bev had willingly stepped in whenever Kelly needed someone to watch her little girl, but because the older woman had been Kelly’s best friend in Washington.

Now it was time for a fresh start again. After more than a dozen years on the West Coast, she had no regrets about leaving. But she wasn’t entirely sure she wouldn’t regret coming home.

The plane pulled up at the gate, and the knots multiplied.

Okay, she was more than a little nervous, but she reminded herself that she was doing this for Ava. This decision, like every other decision she’d made since she’d learned that she was pregnant, had been focused on what was best for her daughter. Even if Ava didn’t agree.

And the words she spoke, as they made their way off the plane, confirmed that she didn’t. “I can’t believe you made me leave Seattle to come here,” Ava grumbled.

Kelly hadn’t expected that her daughter would be overjoyed by her decision, but she had hoped that she would have accepted it by now. “You know, if you weren’t so determined to hate it, you might actually like it here,” she told her.

“I doubt it.”

She didn’t argue. The choice had been made and their new life was about to begin, so all she said was “Grab your suitcase.”

They’d packed only what they needed for a few days, with the rest of their clothes and household items being shipped.

Ava hauled the bag off of the conveyor belt. “How are we getting to Pinecone?”

“Pinehurst,” she corrected automatically. “And Uncle Luke said he would pick us up and take us to our new place.”

“When are we getting a car?”

“Before August fifteenth,” Kelly assured her, because that was the date she was scheduled to start her new job as an in-house accountant at Richmond Pharmaceuticals.

Ava rolled her eyes. With the purple streaks she’d added to her hair during her last sleepover at Rachel’s house and the gloomy expression on her face, she looked too much like a typical sullen teenager—and she was still only twelve. As much as Kelly desperately hoped this move would help turn things around with Ava, she knew that any change would take time.

“I’ll probably start looking tomorrow,” she said, hoping to appease her daughter. “I just wasn’t keen on picking up a rental and then driving to Pinehurst after spending all day on airplanes.”

“How far is Pinetree?”

“About an hour from here,” she said, not bothering to correct her on the name of the town again. Instead, she grabbed the handle of her own suitcase. “Let’s go find Uncle Luke.”

Kelly headed out of the baggage claim area, then stopped so abruptly Ava plowed right into the back of her.

“Geez, Mom,” her daughter grumbled.

Kelly didn’t—couldn’t—respond.

Because standing at the car rental counter, where Lukas said he would be waiting, was his brother, Jackson, instead.

“Mom?” Ava prompted, sounding genuinely concerned. “What’s wrong?”

Kelly had to remind herself to breathe, and she exhaled slowly. “Nothing’s wrong,” she lied, not wanting to alarm her daughter. “I just lost my train of thought for a moment.”

“Well, put brake lights on next time,” Ava suggested. Then, after looking around, “I don’t see Uncle Luke anywhere.”

“Apparently there’s been a change of plans,” Kelly noted, trying to keep her tone light while she inwardly cursed Lukas Garrett all the way to hell and back.

“Does that mean we’re going to rent a car?” Ava asked.

“No, it means you’re going to meet Uncle Luke’s brother.”

A lot sooner than I had planned.

She stood for another minute, still rooted to the spot, and just looked at Jackson. She hadn’t seen him in thirteen years, but she’d recognized him immediately. But it was more than the dark brown hair that was always immaculately trimmed, more than the exquisitely shaped mouth that had inspired so many of her teenage fantasies, and more than the green eyes that were as dark and clear as emeralds. It was even more than the fact that he was six feet of solidly built male, with broad shoulders and strong arms that ensured any woman would feel secure and protected in his embrace. It was, more than anything else, the way Kelly felt when she looked at him—all hot and tingly and tongue-tied.

Sternly reminding herself that she wasn’t still sixteen years old—or even twenty-one—she took a step toward him.

He glanced up from the book he was reading—a legal journal of some kind—as if he sensed her approach. She’d noticed that the book was in his left hand, and that the third finger was bare. But the fact that he’d been divorced for quite a few years now didn’t make him any less off-limits.

As he closed the cover of the journal, his gaze skimmed over her, from the top of her head to her toes in a quick, cursory perusal that nevertheless caused heat to flare low in her belly and spread through her veins. She hadn’t counted on this, and that was a definite miscalculation on her part.

But how could she have known that, after so many years, he would still have this effect on her? Because even from a distance, even after so much time, she couldn’t deny her body’s instinctive response to him. Or the ache in her heart.

She pushed her bangs away from her face and silently reprimanded herself for even noticing that her hair was as flat and tired as the rest of her. She’d dressed comfortably for travel in a pair of faded jeans and an ancient University of Chicago sweatshirt and had put on the barest touch of makeup before heading out to the airport more than ten hours earlier. As a result, she felt not just unprepared but ill-equipped to come face-to-face with Jackson now.

When she’d decided to return to Pinehurst, she’d known it was inevitable that she would see him. But she hadn’t planned on seeing him when she was looking like this. She knew it shouldn’t matter, but when a woman was facing an ex-lover, she wanted to look her best. Unfortunately, she wasn’t even close.

Those green eyes lifted to her face again. “Hello, Kelly.”

Two simple words, but after so many years of silence, the achingly familiar voice was like a warm caress.

Her heart was pounding inside of her chest, but she inclined her head and responded in a similarly casual tone. “Jackson.”

His lips curved, just a little, and she suddenly remembered that no one else, aside from his mother, had ever called him “Jackson.” At least not more than once. But he’d never been Jack to Kelly—that name was too common, and Jackson was anything but. She had, occasionally, shortened his name to Jacks, but that seemed too familiar now.

He shifted his attention to her daughter again. “You must be Ava.”

The girl nodded, her gaze darting from her mother to Jackson and back again, as if she sensed the strange undercurrents between them.

Kelly held her breath, waiting for any sign of recognition. But there wasn’t any. And why would there be? Unless Lukas had shared the occasional photos that she’d sent to him, Jackson had never seen her daughter before. But she’d thought he might see some of the familial resemblance that Kelly saw whenever she looked at her little girl.

“I’m Jack Garrett, Luke’s brother.” He offered his hand.

Kelly fought an almost irresistible urge to cry as she watched them shake hands. It broke her heart to see the distance between them, but what had she expected? It was her fault that neither of them knew the truth of their connection.

Thirteen years ago, Jackson had been focused on his career above all else. He’d been clear that he had no interest in having a family, at least not any time in the near future. That was one of the reasons why Kelly had honestly believed she’d made the right decision. But she didn’t know what was right for any of them now.

She wanted Ava to know her father, but only if Jackson was prepared to be a father. And she was afraid to finally reveal the secret she’d kept for so long because she knew that when she did, it was quite possible he would hate her—either for keeping his child from him for so many years…or for bringing her into his life now.

“You seem surprised to see me,” Jackson said, speaking to Kelly again as they made their way toward the exit.

Surprised was barely the tip of her emotional iceberg, so she only said, “I was expecting Lukas.”

“He said he’d let you know that I’d be meeting you instead.”

“Maybe he tried,” she admitted, taking her cell out of her purse. “I turned off my phone when we boarded the plane.”

She powered it up now and heard the familiar chime that indicated a text message. But since it was written in Luke’s unique form of shorthand and without any punctuation, she had to read it twice before she figured out what it said.

Srry kel ER at clinic cant meet u sending j instead will stop by ur plc if not 2 late

Gee, thanks for the warning, Lukas.

“I’m guessing that’s his message,” Jackson said, his voice tinged with humor as he popped the trunk of his car to load their suitcases.

Of course he would find this amusing. He wasn’t the one who’d been blindsided by the change of plans.

“You guessed right,” she agreed lightly, then slid into the soft leather passenger seat of his luxury sedan.

Ava was already in the backseat with her mp3 player plugged in, leaving her mother to make conversation with Jackson. But Kelly didn’t know what to say. She’d known that she would see him again—but she hadn’t expected that he would be the first person she saw at the airport, and she mentally cursed Lukas again.

Of course, he couldn’t know what he’d done. After all, he didn’t know that his brother was the only man she’d ever really loved.

Well, this is more than a little awkward, Jack thought, as he pulled out onto the highway heading toward Pinehurst. He’d suspected that it would be, considering that the last time he’d seen Kelly, they’d both been naked. Which was definitely not something he should be thinking about right now—not under any circumstances and certainly not with her daughter in the backseat.

He tightened his grip on the steering wheel, but the smooth, warm leather beneath his palms made him itch to feel the much softer, warmer texture of Kelly’s skin. Not that he really knew what her skin felt like—it was ridiculous to think that he could recall those kind of details after so much time had passed. So why was he convinced that her skin was softer than silk? Why did he remember that her body had responded not just willingly but eagerly to his touch? And why couldn’t he forget that, throughout that one weekend they’d spent together, he’d wished it would never end?

Of course it had ended, and they’d gone their separate ways. Since then, they’d both married and divorced other people. The main difference being that Kelly had come out of her marriage with a child. He frowned, trying to remember the age of her daughter. For some reason, he couldn’t recall Luke ever mentioning that she was pregnant or that she’d had a baby. He’d just one day mentioned Kelly’s daughter as if the little girl had always existed.

He glanced in his rearview mirror, confirming that Ava was tuned in to her music and tuned out to everything else.

“She’s tall for her age, isn’t she?”

Kelly seemed surprised by the comment—and a little wary. “How old do you think she is?”

“Well, considering that you got married just over eleven years ago, I figured she couldn’t be more than ten.”

“That’s a reasonable guess,” Kelly agreed, without actually confirming the accuracy of it. But before he could question her further, she spoke again. “Lukas said that the house I’m renting is next door to Matthew’s new place.”

Jack nodded. “In fact, the house is owned by his mother-in-law, Charlotte Something-Something Branston.”

“Something-Something?”

“There might be a few more ‘somethings,’” he told her. “She’s been married a few times.”

“Where does she live?”

“Montana.”

He smiled in response to her quizzical look. “Long story.”

“It’s a long drive,” she reminded him.

She was right, and since talking about Matt and Georgia was easier than trying to manufacture another topic of conversation, he filled her in on some of the details.

“Georgia had three-year-old twins and was pregnant with her third child when her husband died, so Charlotte suggested that she leave Manhattan and move to Pinehurst to live with her. A few months after Pippa was born, Charlotte headed off to Vegas for a couple of weeks with some friends, fell in love with a cowboy from Montana, and married him. So Georgia was in an unfamiliar town and on her own now with three kids, and then Matt moved in next door.”

“And the young mother suddenly had a white knight riding to her rescue,” Kelly guessed.

“Actually, he’s an orthopedic surgeon,” Jack reminded her teasingly.

“But no one does the white-knight routine better than your big brother.”

“True,” he agreed. “But in this case, I think it might actually have been Georgia and her kids who saved him. Matt had a really hard time after the divorce.”

Kelly’s nod confirmed that she was aware of those details. “Sounds like Matt and Georgia were lucky to find one another, that each was exactly what the other was looking for, even if neither of them realized it.”

“They do seem perfect for one another, and Matt absolutely dotes on her kids.” of course, Jack’s oldest brother had always wanted a family of his own.

“He would,” she agreed. “Although a lot of men wouldn’t want to take on the responsibility of someone else’s child.”

He didn’t miss that she’d said child and not children, and he suspected that she wasn’t thinking of Matt and Georgia now but of another situation—possibly even her own. And he wondered if she spoke from experience, if she’d been alone since her divorce, reluctant to get involved again for fear that another man wouldn’t accept her daughter.

But he didn’t ask, because it was none of his business. They’d had a brief fling that was ancient history—he had no right to pry into her personal life now.

Except that the history between them continued to haunt his dreams, even after thirteen years. And even more so since he’d learned of her intention to return to Pinehurst.

He still didn’t know what had precipitated the move, or what Kelly’s daughter thought about her decision. He couldn’t imagine that it was easy for a kid to be uprooted from everything that was familiar and moved clear across the country.

He glanced in the rearview mirror again. Kelly’s daughter was a beautiful girl, with long, dark hair just like her mother—aside from the purple streaks, of course. Her eyes were a similar shape, too, and fringed with long, sooty lashes. But the color of her eyes was different. Kelly’s eyes were the warm, golden color of aged whiskey; Ava’s were a clear, emerald green.

He stole another glance, trying to figure out what it was about the child that made him uneasy.

“I guess Ava will be attending Parkdale,” he said now.

“That’s the plan,” Kelly agreed. “I just hope she’s lucky enough to make the kind of friends that I made at school there.”

“It must have been difficult for her, leaving Seattle.”

“It would have been more difficult if we’d stayed.”

It was a surprising revelation from a woman who had previously volunteered no information about her reason for the move across the country. But she didn’t say anything else, and though he was curious, he didn’t press for any details.

Instead, as they passed the elementary school, he said, “You’ll be happy to know that Mrs. Vanderheide finally retired a couple years ago.”

She smiled. “That is good news—at least for Ava.”

“And for all future generations of seventh graders,” he agreed. “Which was proven by the fact that almost all of Pinehurst turned out for her retirement party at the school. She thought they were all there to celebrate her forty years of teaching, but I think everyone just wanted to make sure that she really was retiring.”

The sensuous sound of her soft chuckle heated his blood.

Ancient history, he reminded himself again.

He tightened his grip on the steering wheel and turned onto Larkspur Drive, grateful the journey was almost at its end.

“This is it,” he said, pulling into a wide asphalt driveway beside the two-story saltbox-style house. He noticed that there were lights on at both the front and back doors— no doubt Matt’s wife wanted the place to look warm and welcoming, and it did.

“Georgia said she would leave a key in the mailbox,” he told Kelly now. “She also wanted you to know that they had a cleaning company come in yesterday to give the whole house a thorough once-over and that she was in today to inspect and put clean sheets on the beds.”

“I’ll have to remember to thank her for that,” she said. “Because right now, I’m tired enough to fall face down on any horizontal surface.”

He shifted into park and glanced in the rearview mirror again. “Apparently your daughter doesn’t need to be horizontal.”

Kelly turned to look at Ava, who had fallen asleep with her head against the window. Since the days when she could carry her slumbering child were likely long gone, he wasn’t surprised when she reached back to tap the girl’s shoulder. “Wake up, Ava. We’re home.”

He was surprised by her use of the word home, and he frowned as it echoed in his head. It seemed strange to him that, after being gone for more than fifteen years, Kelly would still refer to Pinehurst as home. He hadn’t known if this was a temporary relocation or a permanent move, and he refused to admit that it mattered. He could have asked Luke, of course. No doubt his brother was privy to all of the details of her plans. But asking Luke anything about Kelly when he’d been so careful not to mention her name for so long would undoubtedly trigger more questions that Jack wasn’t prepared to answer.

There was little he didn’t share with his brothers, but the fact that he’d spent a wild weekend with Kelly Cooper was a secret he’d kept for thirteen years—and one that he had no intention of revealing now.

Chapter Two

While Kelly roused her daughter, Jack retrieved their luggage from the trunk. He took the suitcases upstairs, setting the one with Kelly’s name on it in the biggest room and her daughter’s in the room directly across the hall. A quick glance at the tag gave him pause.

He couldn’t remember the name of the guy Kelly had married, but regardless of whether or not she’d taken his name, he would have expected their child to have it. But the tag read Ava Cooper—and it made him think again about the reasons for Kelly’s divorce and her decision to move Ava so far away from Seattle.

Reminding himself that it was none of his business, he headed back down the stairs and, following the sound of voices, into the kitchen.

“You’re only asking for mushrooms because you know I don’t like them,” Kelly said.

“I’m asking for mushrooms because I do like them and that’s what I want on my pizza,” her daughter insisted.

“Well, no one else does, so we’re not getting them.”

He knew he shouldn’t get involved and he had no intention of staying, but Jack heard himself say, “I like mushrooms.”

Ava looked at her mother, her smile more than a little smug. Kelly didn’t look annoyed; she looked…unnerved. Which didn’t make any sense to him at all.

“And bacon?” Ava queried.

“And bacon,” he confirmed.

“Fine, I’ll get half with bacon and mushrooms,” Kelly relented. Then she looked at Jack. “Which means that you’re staying for pizza.”

“If you’d told me you were hungry, I could have stopped somewhere on the way from the airport,” he told her.

“I didn’t realize how hungry I was until now.”

“Then you should order from Marco’s—they deliver and they’re quick.”

He gave her the number, and while Kelly made the call, Ava ventured upstairs to check out her new room and start unpacking. After pizza was ordered, Kelly took a look around. She’d seen photos and even videos of the house before signing the lease, but she wanted to see everything up close. Jack opted to respond to some email messages on his BlackBerry while she explored.

She was back in less than ten minutes, and obviously pleased with everything she’d seen. “Lukas told me the place was furnished, but I didn’t expect it to be so well equipped. There are pots and pans and dishes and cutlery in the kitchen—and even toilet paper in each of the bathrooms. Something else I’ll have to thank Georgia for, because I didn’t think to pack any of that in my suitcase.”

“I’d be surprised if you had room,” Jack said. “Considering that you each only brought one suitcase and one carry-on.”

“I prefer to travel light, but there’s a lot more to come. It just seemed easier—and cheaper—to ship the rest rather than pay the airline fees for extra baggage.”

“Makes sense,” he agreed.

But he still had questions about her sudden decision to return to Pinehurst after so many years away. And he had an uneasy suspicion that nagged at the back of his mind. He hadn’t wanted to ask it while her daughter was in the backseat of his car—even if she had seemed oblivious to their discussion—but it was a question that needed an answer.

“I just hope it arrives on schedule,” Kelly continued her explanation about the luggage. “Because my work clothes are in that shipment and I start my new job on the fifteenth.”

“Was it the job that lured you back to Pinehurst?”

“It was the deciding factor, but I’ve been thinking about coming back for a while,” she admitted. “I wanted a fresh start for Ava and myself.”

Jack tipped her chin up, forcing her to meet his gaze.

The contact was casual, but he would have sworn that sparks flew at the brief touch of his fingertip against her skin. Judging by the way Kelly’s eyes widened, she’d felt them, too.

He dropped his hand, forced himself to remember the question he needed to ask. “Was he abusive?”

She blinked, clearly startled by the inquiry. “What? Who?”

“Your ex-husband,” he said. “Because I’ve been wracking my brain, and that’s the only reason I could imagine for taking a child three thousand miles away from her father.”

Kelly dropped her gaze and shook her head. “No, Malcolm wasn’t abusive.”

He wanted to feel relieved—he was relieved. And yet, he couldn’t let go of the suspicion that there was something more Kelly wasn’t telling him.

A suspicion that was confirmed when she looked up again and said, “And he wasn’t Ava’s father.”

Kelly held her breath, waiting for Jackson’s response to her revelation. But before he could say anything, the doorbell rang and Ava was racing down the stairs in response to the summons. “Pizza’s here!”

And that quickly, any chance of taking the conversation further was gone.

Her daughter flung open the door without first looking through the peephole to confirm that it was their food delivery. Of course, in Seattle no one could gain access to their door without first being buzzed into the building, so now that things were different they would have to have a discussion about basic safety precautions.

Or maybe not, considering that this was Pinehurst, where many of the residents didn’t even lock their doors during the day. And wasn’t that one of the reasons she’d brought her daughter here? To give her the benefits of living in a small, close-knit community. Of course, an even bigger reason stood right beside her.

As it turned out, it wasn’t their pizza at the door—it was Lukas with his arms full of grocery bags. Setting the bags down inside the door, he swept Ava up for a big hug. “There’s my favorite girl.”

The girl in question would have been absolutely mortified by such an overt display of affection from her mother, but her cherished “uncle” got away with a lot. And Kelly suspected that the prospect of living in close proximity to Lukas was the one reason that Ava hadn’t kicked harder and screamed louder about the move.

He ruffled her hair. “What’s with the purple streaks?”

“Mom wouldn’t let me have a belly button ring.”

“Makes perfect sense to me. And speaking of your mom…”

He turned to wrap his arms around Kelly, squeezing her so tight she could hardly breathe, but it felt so good—so right—to be in his arms that tears filled her eyes.

“I missed you,” she told him now. “I never realize how much I miss you until I see you again.”

“I’m just glad that you’re finally home.” He released her with obvious reluctance and looked at his brother. “Thanks for doing the airport run.”

“When have I ever objected to picking up a beautiful woman?” Jackson asked.

Lukas chuckled. “Never.”

The knots in Kelly’s stomach returned. Was Jackson’s comment just brotherly banter or a statement to her—a reminder that she’d never meant anything more to him than any other casual pickup? And why did she even care? She hadn’t come back to Pinehurst to rekindle her relationship with Jackson but for Ava to establish a relationship with her father.

Now his words gave Kelly pause. Was he still a relentless flirt and unrepentant playboy? Because that was hardly the type of male role model that she wanted for her impressionable daughter. Or was she just looking to find fault, to justify her own actions? Since that was a question she couldn’t answer right now, she shifted her attention to Lukas instead.

“I should have figured you’d be here in time for pizza,” she said, as the delivery car pulled up in front.

“Am I?” He turned to follow her gaze and grinned. “My timing is impeccable as usual.”

As Kelly dug in her purse for money to pay for their dinner, she couldn’t help thinking his timing would have been much better if he’d been able to meet them at the airport. But she could breathe a little easier now, confident that she’d survived her first face-to-face with Jackson relatively unscathed.

She knew they had to finish their interrupted conversation at some point, but not today. Not when her heart was already feeling battered and bruised by the callous remarks of a man who probably had no idea how much he could hurt her. Instead, she gestured for Jackson to follow Ava—and the pizza—into the kitchen.

He shook his head. “I need to get going.”

“I thought you were going to stay for pizza,” Kelly said.

“I’ve got files to review for court tomorrow.”

Lukas retrieved the bags he’d dropped. “The files will still be there in half an hour,” he pointed out to his brother.

“I’m sure you guys have lots to catch up on,” Jackson said. “You don’t need me hanging around.”

“Your choice—and more pizza for me,” Lukas said with a shrug and a grin as he headed toward the kitchen.

Kelly wished she could be so nonchalant, but she wasn’t sure if she was relieved or disappointed that Jackson was leaving. She followed him to the door. “Thanks again for meeting us at the airport.”

“It wasn’t a problem,” he assured her.

Her heart was pounding so hard and fast, she was surprised he couldn’t hear it, and she had to moisten her suddenly dry lips before she could speak. “What I started to say, when we were in the kitchen, about Ava’s father—”

“It’s not really any of my business,” he said.

Actually, it is, she wanted to respond. But aloud she only said, “I want to talk to you about it. There are some things you should know.”

He frowned. “Do you have legal questions about custody?”

She wondered how he could be so oblivious—or maybe she expected too much of him. After thirteen years, he had no reason to suspect that she had news that would turn his whole life—all of their lives—upside down. And instead of being exasperated, maybe she should be grateful that he had no clue, because it meant that she could keep her secret a little bit longer.

Except that coming face-to-face with her daughter’s father, she was forced to acknowledge that thirteen years was already too long. Jackson needed to know the truth, and she needed to deal with the consequences of that revelation—whatever they might be.

“It’s nothing like that,” she said to him now. “I don’t want to talk to you as a lawyer but as a…friend.”

“Okay,” he finally said. “Why don’t you give me a call when you’re ready to talk?”

If she waited until she was ready, she knew that the conversation might not happen for another thirteen years. But she nodded. “I will. Thanks.”

“Okay,” he said again, and then he was gone.

Kelly stood for a moment, staring at the back of the door and feeling much like she imagined Pandora had felt when she’d lifted the lid of a box that should never have been opened.

Lukas and Ava were both on their second slices of pizza by the time Kelly made her way to the kitchen. They also had cans of soda, which Lukas had obviously brought in one of the grocery bags. Beside Kelly’s plate was an open bottle and a glass of her favorite Shiraz.

“Okay, you’re forgiven for not meeting us at the airport.”

He smiled. “I figured you’d had a long day and might need some help to unwind.”

“Food and good company would have sufficed, but the wine is a definite bonus.” She picked up the glass and sipped.

“Eat.” He nudged her plate toward her. “If you drink that on an empty stomach, you’ll fall asleep at the table.”

Kelly dutifully picked up a slice of pizza and took a bite.

“I brought a few essentials for the morning, too,” Lukas told her. “Bread, milk, eggs, juice, coffee.”

“Coffee?” She nearly whimpered with gratitude. “Now you’re definitely forgiven.”

Ava polished off her third slice and wiped her fingers on a paper napkin. “Can I go now?”

“‘Thanks for dinner, Mom,’” Kelly said, mimicking her daughter’s voice. “‘You’re very welcome, honey.’ ‘May I be excused now?’ ‘Of course.’”

Lukas lifted his can of soda to hide his smile. Ava, predictably, rolled her eyes, before she dutifully intoned, “Thanks for dinner, Mom. May I be excused now?”

“Of course,” Kelly said agreeably. “After you put your plate in the dishwasher.”

Lukas reached for another slice as Ava clomped up the stairs. “So,” he said, when she was out of earshot. “How does it feel to be back?”

“I’m not sure,” she admitted. “It’s been such a long time. I don’t know if this is the right thing—for Ava or for me.”

“She’s not happy about the move?”

“That’s the understatement of the year.”

He shrugged. “She’s twelve. She’ll get over it.”

“I hope so.”

“So—belly button ring?” he prompted.

She just shook her head. “Can you believe it?”

“I’m having a little difficulty reconciling my memories of the cute little second-grader who clutched my hand so tightly with the brooding purple-haired preteen-ager who barely looked up from her plate.”

“The purple streaks aren’t so bad. You should have seen her a few months ago—her hair was Pepto-Bismol pink. Her best friend’s older sister put the color on for her one afternoon when I had to work late.” She sighed. “The first tangible evidence that my formerly docile angel had developed a rebellious streak.”

Lukas winced sympathetically. “How did you handle that?”

“I took a deep breath and reminded myself that hair color is easily undone—unlike a piercing or a tattoo. And I knew that it was, at least in part, my fault. I’d been so preoccupied with my job that I didn’t realize how much distance had grown between us,” she admitted.

“When rumors of cutbacks first started circulating around the lunchroom at work, I crossed my fingers and prayed that I wouldn’t lose my job. And when those cuts were made and I was spared, I was so grateful I didn’t balk at all the extra hours I had to work.

“And then I realized that I’d given up my life to keep my job. And I’d somehow lost the close connection I used to share with Ava.” Her daughter’s recent willful behavior was proof of that—and reminded Kelly uncomfortably of the impulsiveness that she herself had occasionally exhibited before motherhood had taught her to consider the consequences of her actions.

“And because I was working so many extra hours,” she continued her explanation, “Ava was hanging around with her friend Rachel—and Regan, Rachel’s sixteen-year-old sister—a lot.”

“Then I’d guess that you made this move at the right time.”

“I hope so,” she said again.

“What aren’t you telling me?”

Kelly lifted her glass and took another sip of wine as she considered how much she should say.

“Because I know there’s more to this cross-country move than that,” he prompted when she failed to respond.

She nodded. “I wanted a career change and a change of scenery for Ava, but I also hoped that coming back to Pinehurst might provide a chance for her to meet her father.”

His brows rose. “Then he does live in Pinehurst.”

“He does live in Pinehurst,” she confirmed.

“Someone I know?” he asked.

The undercurrents in his tone were exactly why she’d never revealed the identity of her daughter’s father to him. “Doesn’t everyone know almost everyone else in this town?” she countered.

“Who is it?”

She touched a hand to his arm. “Please—let me tell him before I tell you.”

He frowned. “Are you saying that this guy doesn’t know he has a twelve-year-old daughter?”

“I couldn’t tell him,” she reminded Lukas. “By the time I knew I was pregnant, he was already with someone else.”

She’d wanted to tell Jackson that she was going to have his baby. Although she’d had no expectations of a future for them together when he’d left Chicago, she’d hoped that the revelation of her pregnancy would make him want to be a father to their child. But as much as she didn’t want to do it alone, she’d had no doubt—even then—that she was going to keep her baby.

Except that when she’d finally gotten up the nerve to call, he’d told her that he was once again engaged to Sara Ross—the daughter of one of the senior partners at his firm. And while Kelly didn’t believe he would get married solely for the purpose of advancing his career, she didn’t doubt that dumping the boss’s daughter would jeopardize his future at the firm. And nothing had mattered to Jackson as much as his career. So she’d only offered congratulations and ended the call with her heart in pieces and the news of her pregnancy unrevealed.

“Yeah, you told me what happened,” Lukas admitted now. “But you didn’t tell me who the father was.”

“No, I didn’t,” she agreed. “And I’m not going to tell you now. Not until I’ve told him.”

She could tell by the muscle that clenched in his jaw that Lukas wasn’t finished with his interrogation, but she also knew he wouldn’t press for more details. At least not yet.

Jack was distracted, and he’d never been the type to let anything—or anyone—interfere with his concentration, especially when it came to his work. He was a well-respected and generously compensated family law attorney because he was diligent and focused. He paid attention to details and he made every client feel as if his or her case was the only one that mattered.

And yet, in the middle of a cross-examination during a custody hearing that morning, he’d actually lost his train of thought. Sure, he’d recovered fairly quickly, and it didn’t seem as if anyone else in the courtroom had even noticed that he’d faltered. But he’d noticed. And he knew that it was Kelly Cooper’s fault.

“Hello, Jackson.”

He blinked, half-suspecting that her appearance in the open doorway of his office was an illusion, and more than half-hoping that she would disappear again. But when he opened his eyes, she was still there—and looking even hotter than the woman who had starred in his dreams the night before. And the night before that. In fact, every one of the five nights that had passed since she’d come back to Pinehurst.

She made her way across the carpet, putting one sexy foot in front of the other in the way that women had perfected to make their hips sway and men drool. And as much as he wished it weren’t true, he was very close to drooling.

Damn, she looked spectacular. In the slim-fitting burgundy skirt, silky white V-neck blouse and peep-toe shoes that added close to three inches to her five-foot-seven-inch frame, she looked professional, confident—and dangerous.

He frowned at the thought, but he couldn’t deny it was true. For too many years, Kelly Cooper had threatened his peace of mind. It had been easy enough to ignore the girl next door when she was a kid. Then adolescence had turned her bony, sticklike figure into a woman’s body with subtle but undeniable curves. And he’d started to have very inappropriate fantasies about his little brother’s best friend. Thankfully, he’d gone away to school and had managed to put her out of his mind. Mostly.

“You told me to call you, but you haven’t returned any of my calls. I was beginning to think I would have to schedule an appointment to see you.”

“I’m not hard to find, but I am busy,” he said pointedly.

“I can appreciate that,” she said. “And I promise you, I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t important.”

“How did you get past my secretary?” Colleen was usually a pit bull when it came to protecting her boss’s time and space.

Kelly just smiled. “Your secretary was my eleventhgrade lab partner.”

Having lived in Pinehurst his whole life, he understood that personal connections frequently trumped protocol. “Okay, that answers the how,” he admitted. “But not the why.”

She settled into one of the client chairs on the other side of his desk, and crossed one long, shapely leg over the other. “I just wanted to talk to you without my daughter or your brother interrupting, so I asked Colleen if she could squeeze me into your appointment schedule.”

“Now you’ve stirred my curiosity,” he admitted. And certain other areas as well.

“Your brother was, and still is, my best friend,” she reminded him. “And while you and I were never close friends, we used to be friendly. And then, for one incredible weekend, we were a lot more.”

Whatever he’d expected when she’d walked through his door, it wasn’t a walk down memory lane. Not that he was unwilling to take the journey, but he knew it was unwise. His past with Kelly was the past—no way would he risk starting anything up again with his brother living in the same town. Luke had always been protective of his friend and if he ever suspected that Jack had been naked with Kelly—well, Jack didn’t even want to think about what he might do. It was smarter, and safer, to keep the past in the past. “Why are you bringing this up now?”

“Because I’m hoping, now that I’m living in Pinehurst again, that we can get back to being friendly.”

“Have I been unfriendly?”

“Not exactly,” she admitted. “You’ve been…distant.”

“I’ve been busy,” he said again.

“Your brother and sister-in-law invited Ava and I over for burgers last night and while we were there, one of Georgia’s sons asked Matthew why ‘Uncle Jack’ hasn’t been around to visit in so long. Matt told him you had a big court case coming up, but the way he looked at me before he responded made me think he was making excuses.”

“He wasn’t.”

“I don’t want you to feel uncomfortable visiting your brother and his family just because I’m living next door.”

“I don’t.”

She shifted forward in her chair, enough so that he could see the slightest hint of cleavage in the V-neck of her blouse. “You’re not worried that the chemistry that exploded between us thirteen years ago might still be simmering?”

“No,” he lied.

“Well, that’s good then,” she said, but her easy smile didn’t reach her eyes.

“Thirteen years is a long time,” he said, in an attempt to convince himself as much as her.

She nodded. “It always boggled my mind that I could be such good friends with Lukas, that I could snuggle up with him to watch a movie, hold his hand as a gesture of comfort or support, and never feel anything remotely like the zing that I felt whenever I was in the same room with you.”

“Chemistry is a personal thing,” he noted.

She tilted her head to look up at him. “Have you ever felt that zing with anyone else?”

“Too many times to count,” he lied.

She seemed disappointed—and maybe even a little hurt—by his casual response. But Kelly being Kelly, she didn’t try to deny her feelings or hide behind a flippant response. She was, as always, brutally and painfully honest.

“I haven’t,” she told him. “From the first time you kissed me, on my sixteenth birthday, I’ve never felt that zing with anyone else.”

“Not even your husband?” he challenged.

She shook her head. “No, not with anyone else.”

Knowing how incredibly passionate she was, he was surprised that she would settle for comfort and companionship. On the other hand, it might explain why her marriage had failed.

“I think you’re romanticizing the memory,” he told her.

“Maybe,” she allowed. “But it wasn’t my first kiss. And you weren’t my first lover—but you’re the one I’ve never forgotten.”

Even if what she was saying was true, he wouldn’t let it matter. Because rekindling a romantic relationship with Kelly wasn’t an option. Getting involved with a woman who was also his brother’s best friend could only lead to a whole lot of grief, not to mention the fact that she had a kid to think about.

So instead of admitting that he’d never forgotten her either, he only said, “Is there a purpose to this reminiscence?”

“I wanted you to know that I had some concerns about coming back to Pinehurst now.”

“Because of what happened between us so many years ago?” he asked skeptically.

Her smile was sad. “Is that so unbelievable?”

“Yes,” he said.

“Did you never think of me after that weekend?”

“Sure,” he said easily. “But I didn’t think that one weekend changed anything.”

“It changed everything—at least for me,” she told him. “But when I called, you were already back together with Sara.”

“It’s not like you called a few days later,” he felt compelled to point out in his own defense. “It was more like a few months.”

Actually, two months, three weeks and five days, and during that time, not a single day had gone by in which he hadn’t picked up the phone to call her. But he’d never actually dialed her number, because he knew it would be a mistake. Because after only three days with her, he’d known that he could fall fast and hard for Kelly Cooper, and that was a complication neither of them needed at that point in their lives.

She nodded in acknowledgment. “I know.”

“And Sara and I had a history together,” he continued. “So when she said she’d made a mistake in ending our engagement, I agreed that we should try to work things out.”

“Because you loved her,” she said softly. “And I was just the girl who helped you forget—for a few days—that she’d broken your heart.”

He heard the vulnerability in her tone and he knew that, even after so many years, his reconciliation had hurt her. But the truth was, he’d never thought about Sara—not once—throughout the weekend that he was with Kelly. So instead of nodding and letting her believe it was true, he said, “I wanted you to believe that.”

She frowned at his admission. “Why?”

“Because we’d both agreed, at the end of the weekend that we’d spent together, that it couldn’t ever happen again. And then you called, and I could hear in your voice that you’d changed your mind, that you wanted more.” And in that moment, as much as he’d wanted her, he knew there could be no future for them together. Not at that time and definitely not in light of the conversation he’d had with his brother.

“And you didn’t want more,” she guessed. “Not with me.”

“What I wanted didn’t matter,” he told her. “You were still in school and barely twenty-one years old.”

“You’re right—I was twenty-one years old.” She paused to draw in a deep breath before looking up at him. “And I was pregnant.”

Chapter Three

Jackson stared at her for a long moment, as if he couldn’t quite comprehend what she was telling him. When he finally spoke, his tone conveyed as much confusion as his words. “You were…pregnant?”

She nodded.

He frowned but didn’t say anything else.

“On the way from the airport, you asked how old Ava was. She turned twelve in February.”

“Are you saying…?” His question trailed off, as if he couldn’t bear to speak the words out loud and acknowledge the possibility.

But Kelly had been holding on to the secret for too many years and she wasn’t going to hide the truth for even a minute longer. “She’s your daughter.”

His mouth snapped shut; his face actually paled. But after another pause, which was probably only a few seconds but felt like hours, his gaze narrowed and he shook his head. “Nice try, Kelly.”

She felt her back go up. “What is it you think I’m trying to do?”

“Suck me into paying twelve years of child support.”

“Child support?”

“I know you came back here to work at Richmond Pharmaceuticals, but losing your job in Seattle must have—”

“I chose to leave my job in Seattle,” she interjected.

He shrugged. “Regardless of the reason for your financial difficulties—”

She couldn’t help but laugh at the absurdity of his allegation. Because the truth was, between the inheritance left to Kelly by her grandmother and the trust set up for Ava by her former step-grandmother, she had no immediate financial issues. “You really think this is about money?”

“I can’t imagine any other reason that you would concoct such an outrageous story.”

“Maybe it seems outrageous to you,” she acknowledged. “But it’s not a story—it’s the truth.”

He snorted derisively. “Are you willing to submit your daughter to DNA testing to prove it?”

“Absolutely.”

Her immediate and unequivocal response finally seemed to give him pause.

“Trust me, Jack, if I got to choose a father for my daughter, I wouldn’t have chosen someone who’s made it more than clear that he doesn’t want to be a father.”

He considered that for a moment, then asked, “You really do think I’m her father?”

“You really think I had so many lovers I don’t know who fathered my child?”

“I wasn’t your first,” he said, in an echo of her own statement.

“No,” she agreed. She hadn’t been innocent, but she had been inexperienced. “You were my second.”

He winced. “How the hell was I supposed to know something like that?”

“You weren’t,” she admitted. In fact, she’d done everything she could to ensure he didn’t know. Afraid that her naïveté might put him off, she’d tried to make up for her lack of experience with enthusiasm. She’d been in love with him for so long, nothing had mattered to Kelly except that she was finally going to be with him.

“You told me you were on the pill,” he said now.

“No.” She felt her cheeks flush at the memory of that awkward conversation. “When the condom broke, you asked if I was ‘safe’ and I said yes.”

“But you weren’t,” he said accusingly.

“I thought you were talking about the risk of sexually transmitted diseases.”

Jack scrubbed a hand over his face. “It would have been nice to have clarified that little misunderstanding thirteen years ago.”

“I was young and naive, but even if I could, I wouldn’t change anything that happened back then because it gave me my daughter.”

“Except that you’re now claiming she’s my daughter, too.”

She should have known this would be a mistake. She’d suspected that he would be shocked, and probably more than a little angry. But his disbelief cut her to the quick. She had never slept around and there was no possibility that anyone else was the father of her child.

Of course, Jack had no way of knowing that—especially considering that she’d had no direct contact with him over the past thirteen years. But that didn’t make his accusation hurt any less. She stood up. “I thought you had a right to know. I thought Ava had a right to know. But I’d rather she didn’t know the identity of her father than to know that he doesn’t want to be her father.”

“If I am her father—”

Kelly cut him off with a sharp expletive and turned away, but not before he saw her eyes fill with tears.

Jack tried to ignore the twist of guilt. He hadn’t barged into her place of work with outrageous accusations. Why should he feel guilty just because he wasn’t willing to accept her claim unequivocally? Well, he wasn’t. He had questions, and he damn well wanted answers to those questions.

And now she was just going to walk out?

The phone on his desk buzzed. “Donald Winter is here for his two-thirty appointment,” Colleen announced.

He pushed away from his desk as Kelly reached for the handle of the door. “Wait.”

“No.” She shook her head, refusing to look at him. “I’m done here.”

He slapped his hand against the frame. “You can’t drop a bombshell like that and just walk out.”

“You have a client waiting,” she reminded him.

But right now, Donald Winter and his legal issues were the least of Jack’s concerns. In fact, standing so close to Kelly, breathing in her hauntingly familiar scent, he could barely remember the client’s name. He tried to focus his thoughts on the here and now, on Kelly’s revelation and his response to it. But memories of that one long-ago weekend teased the back of his mind, and he felt something begin to stir low in his belly.

He dropped his hand from the door, curled his fingers into his palms so that he didn’t give in to the urge to touch her. Because he’d lied. When she’d asked if he’d ever felt the same zing with anyone else, he’d blatantly and unapologetically lied. It was true that he’d been attracted to other women—probably too many other women—but never had he experienced an attraction as compelling or intense as his desire for Kelly.

Even now, even when she was making wild accusations that could turn his entire life upside down, he couldn’t ignore the heat thrumming in his veins. And because he was standing so close to her, he could see the pulse point pounding at the base of her jaw, and he knew that she was feeling that zing, too.

“The client can wait,” he said to her now.

She finally looked at him, and he was relieved to see that her golden eyes were clear again, with no hint of the tears that had twisted knots in his belly. “There’s no reason to make him wait—we’re done here.”

“We’re not even close to being done.”

“I said everything I wanted to say and you’ve made your feelings on the subject more than clear.”

“Dammit, Kelly, I don’t know what I’m feeling,” he admitted. “But as an attorney, I’m finding it difficult to accept the word of a former lover without any concrete proof when I know there’s no way in hell I would let any client of mine do the same.”

“We used to be more than lovers, Jack. We used to be friends.”

“We used to be,” he agreed. “But I haven’t heard a single word from you in thirteen years.”

“Why would I lie about something that is as easy to disprove as it is to prove?” she challenged.

It was a good question, and one he probably should have considered. But his mind had been reeling since he’d heard her say “I was pregnant”—and frantically trying to reject the possibility that her child could be his.

Because kids weren’t anywhere in his plan. Sure, he’d considered the possibility when he was married, but when his marriage had fallen apart, so had the expectation that he would someday have a family. Now Kelly wanted him to believe that he was the father of her twelve-year-old child? His brain simply refused to wrap around the possibility.

“So you really want to do a DNA test?” he asked her now.

“No,” she said. “What I really want—and probably what you want, too—is to forget we ever had this conversation. Unfortunately, I know that’s not going to happen.”

He shook his head. “No, it’s not. And if—”

Her steely glare had him biting back the words and frantically seeking another direction for his thoughts.

“If you have some time tonight,” he said quickly, “I could stop by and we could discuss this in more detail.”

She shook her head. “I’m not talking about any of this around my daughter.”

“Don’t you mean our daughter?” he challenged.

“Make up your mind, Jackson. You can’t deny paternity in one breath and use it as a weapon in the next.”

“I just want the truth.”

“And you need a DNA test for that? Did you even look at her?”

“She looks like you,” he said dismissively.

And though it was undeniably true, there was something about the girl that had—even at a first glance—nagged at him. “If that’s all you saw, maybe that’s all anyone else will see,” she said.

“So you’re just going to walk away?”

“I told you, Jacks—I thought you had a right to know. But I have no desire to force you into a role you don’t want to fill.”

“You can’t blame me for being suspicious,” he said. “It’s my job to ask the tough questions.”

“And you’ve obviously done well enough at your job to get your name on the door,” she noted. “Or was that a wedding present?”

His gaze narrowed. “I don’t remember you having a nasty streak.”

“We spent three days together more than thirteen years ago—there were a lot of things you didn’t know, never mind remember.”

And then she yanked open the door and walked out.

Jack met with Donald Winter, but he cancelled the rest of his afternoon appointments after that. Actually, he told Colleen to cancel his appointments on account of a family emergency—a request that had her jaw falling open. Because Jack Garrett never cancelled appointments for any kind of personal reasons, because nothing had ever mattered more to him than his career. But right now, he couldn’t focus on anyone else’s legal problems. He couldn’t think at all with Kelly’s words still ringing in his ears.

She’s your daughter.

He still had trouble believing it could be true. And yet, as much as he wanted to continue to deny even the possibility, deep in his heart he knew Kelly wouldn’t lie about something so monumental. Nor would she have made the claim unless she was one-hundred-percent convinced that it was true.

Which meant—Lord help him!—that he was the father of Kelly’s daughter. He had a daughter. And not a chubbycheeked infant or even a wide-eyed toddler but a twelve-year-old. For God’s sake, the kid was practically a teenager!

And to Jack’s mind, that was definitely a family emergency.

When he left the office, he did so without any kind of plan. He only knew that he needed some time and space, so he got into his car and drove. Since the death of his parents, family had been himself and his two brothers. Now that Matt was married to Georgia, that family had grown to include his new sister-in-law and her three children. And considering that Luke was a lot like Matt with respect to his ideals about hearth and home, Jack figured his younger brother would also hook up with one woman and have a family of his own someday.

But that wasn’t Jack’s future. When his marriage ended, he figured any chance of someday having a family had ended with it. And truthfully, he hadn’t been too disappointed. The whole wife-and-kids thing had never been his life’s ambition. But now it seemed he had a kid, whether he wanted one or not. And right now, he was leaning in the direction of “not.” He wasn’t proud to admit it, and he knew it wasn’t what Kelly wanted to hear, but it was true. He was thirty-seven years old, content with his life. Adding a child to the mix now would turn everything upside down.

Not that it was his choice to make. The fact of Ava’s paternity wasn’t something that could be debated. A test would either prove that he was her father or—dammit, he knew there wasn’t any “or.” In his gut, he knew that Kelly was telling the truth. The fact that she hadn’t faltered or flinched when he’d demanded proof of paternity convinced him that she had absolutely no doubt that he was the father of her child. Which meant that he had to accept not just the possibility but the probability that her twelve-year-old daughter was also his daughter.

He knew his responsibilities, at least in so far as the law was concerned. Despite Kelly’s claim that she didn’t want financial support, he understood that a father had a legal obligation to contribute toward his child’s maintenance—to ensure that she had food, clothing and shelter. And he would do so.

It was his rights more than his responsibilities that gave him pause. He was more than willing to write checks, but did he want to play any more of a role in the child’s life beyond that?

His practice in the field of family law had demonstrated to him time and time again that some people instinctively knew what it took to be good parents, and some people didn’t. And he’d often wished that those who didn’t would realize it before they made the mistake of procreating.

His brother, Matt, had always wanted to be a father, and when his girlfriend of only a few weeks told him she was pregnant, he hadn’t hesitated to marry her. He’d been a doting husband, catering to Lindsay’s every want and need—and thrilled beyond belief when Liam was born. Three years later, Lindsay admitted that Liam wasn’t really Matt’s son, that she’d already been pregnant when she seduced him. She’d chosen Matt because she knew he would want to be a father to her child, but once Liam’s real father was back in the picture, she wanted to be with him. Considering his brother’s experience, was it any wonder Jack was skeptical of Kelly’s claim?

Not that the experience had sidetracked Matt from his ultimate goal of having a family of his own. Not for too long anyway. Once he got over Lindsay’s betrayal and the loss of his son, he’d jumped with both feet into a relationship with his beautiful neighbor—a widow with three kids. In fact, Jack had stood up for Matt at his wedding to Georgia only a few weeks earlier, and though Shane and Quinn and Pippa weren’t Matt’s biological children, Jack knew his brother couldn’t love those kids any more if they were.

Which only proved to Jack how different he was from his brother. When faced with the news that he was a father, he didn’t feel the least bit paternal, just panicked. After his divorce, he’d accepted that fatherhood wasn’t in the cards for him and moved on. And he’d felt no twinges of loss or regret. In fact, he’d been grateful that he and Sara hadn’t had any children to fight over during the divorce. Not that they’d fought over much of anything. By the time she’d filed for divorce, it was obvious to both of them that whatever passion they’d once shared had long since burned out. Neither of them cared enough to take issue over anything.

Конец ознакомительного фрагмента.

Текст предоставлен ООО «ЛитРес».

Прочитайте эту книгу целиком, купив полную легальную версию на ЛитРес.

Безопасно оплатить книгу можно банковской картой Visa, MasterCard, Maestro, со счета мобильного телефона, с платежного терминала, в салоне МТС или Связной, через PayPal, WebMoney, Яндекс.Деньги, QIWI Кошелек, бонусными картами или другим удобным Вам способом.