An Irresistible Bachelor(111)

Her voice cracked.

"Callie." He walked over and he was relieved when she let him wrap his arms around her. He wanted to do something more to ease her pain and he felt helpless.


Whatever he had expected, the truth was harder than he had imagined.

He heard a sniffle and then she stepped back sharply, lifted her head, and looked him straight in the eye. Her voice was completely unwavering.

"So I didn't come here to tell you that I loved you. I came here to tell you that my father's name is," she took a deep breath, "Cornelius Woodward Hall."



Jack felt his chest contract, convinced for a moment that he couldn't possibly have heard her right.

She cleared her throat again and repeated, "My father was Cornelius Woodward-Hall."

As if she was getting used to saying the words out loud.

"Oh, my God." Jack scanned her face and her red hair. He hadn't noticed the resemblance before, but having known the man rather well, he could see it now.

"Grace is my half sister. As far as I'm aware, she and I are the only ones who know the truth. Well, and her fiancé knows, too." She let out a long breath. "She's all the family I have left, really. I was afraid... I don't know. I assumed she'd be upset if I told you, even though you were a friend of hers. It has always been a secret, Jack. My father never wanted anything to be said about me. I only approached Grace after he was gone out of desperation. Loneliness."

Jack's mind started spinning. He'd known Hall, had respected the man, but all that went out the window as he imagined everything Callie had been through.

"How the hell could he do such a thing?"

"I've decided to stop asking that question."

He reached for her again, drawing her against his body, thinking that he was never, ever going to let her go.

He pictured Hall, swarming around the Congress Club in New York, all smiles with his wife and his daughter. The man had always spoken of his family in such glowing terms, with such conviction. And it had been lies. All of it.

That bastard.



Jack felt like kicking over the man's gravestone.

Callie spoke against his chest. "Last night, I finally realized that Grace wasn't the only one I was protecting. I decided I was going to tell you everything. But then the announcement came out and I lost sight of... everything. Who you really are, what you promised me. I wish I could go back and unlock that door, Jack. I really do."

"It's okay."

The forgiveness, he thought, was so easy. So simple. So complete.

"This morning, when I learned you'd kicked out your mother, I suddenly realized I'd read the situation completely wrong. And I spoke with Grace." She pulled back. "But I want to be clear. I did not ask her permission to tell you. I told her I was going to explain everything to you, because I had to or I was going to lose the man I love. And nothing would be worth that."

He gently took her face into his hands. As their lips met, he would have done anything to avenge her if he could have, but that time had long passed. Now, he could only protect her. And that meant his candidacy was off.

She was absolutely right. A reporter would find out about Hall somehow and blow the story up into an expose that would rob Callie of the privacy she held so dear.

She took a deep breath. "And I can't get Anne out of my mind—”

Jack frowned. "Anne?"

"Last night I found a letter from General Rowe to Nathaniel. We were right. It was Anne in the mirror. And her father would have supported a marriage between the two of them after all." She shook her head. "Anne lost her last chance to see the man she loved. Last night, I was determined not to have that happen to us, but then I thought everything had changed. I thought we were over."

As he bent his head down to her shoulder, he thought they were lucky. Lucky to have found each other. Lucky to get past the obstacles even if it hurt.

We cut it so close, he thought, and then laughed.

"You're timing is good," he said. "I was about to formally announce my candidacy, but obviously I'm not—”

"No. Don't call it off!"

He pulled back and shook his head; "Good God, how can I run now?"

"I’m not going to hide anymore. I'm not going to protect him and neither will Grace. If you don't think I'll hurt your chances too much, I want to stand beside you when you run. I don't want you or me or Grace sacrificing anything for that man. He didn't deserve it when he was alive. And now—I just refuse to believe it matters anymore."