Brave Enough (Tall, Dark, and Dangerous #3)(53)

But right now, I can’t see that day arriving. I can’t imagine how I’ll be able to look at Chiara the same way again. I can’t imagine how I’ll be able to go there without seeing his face, feeling his touch. I also can’t imagine how I’ll ever get over falling in love with Tag Barton.

What began as a hideaway became my burial ground. And the man who felt like my biggest blessing had now become my biggest curse.





TWENTY-EIGHT


Tag

One of the benefits of being the surprise heir to a Fortune 500 company is the breadth of resources available. Money can buy the best when it comes to that. I had to make but a single call and fifteen minutes later I had Weatherly’s well-hidden address on my phone. Information has always been valuable—in life, in the Army, in personal affairs. Never has it been so welcomed, though. I feel relief, as though I’m back in control, knowing that Weatherly can’t escape me. Can’t hide from me. If I couldn’t find her, couldn’t get to her . . . that would be a problem.

I slow to a stop in front of the beautifully landscaped high-end patio homes. They look like Craftsman bungalows in an exotic rainforest or something. The surroundings are exquisite and lush, totally befitting of a woman like Weatherly. I can picture her here just as clearly as I can picture her covered in mud, lying beneath me between the rows of grapevines at Chiara. I’ll probably never be able to get that out of my mind—her creamy skin covered with my muddy handprints, her delectable body coming to life at my touch.

I get out and walk purposefully to the door that should belong to Weatherly. I’m not letting her go so easily. Whatever it is that her father is up to, she needs to know that I’m not going away without a fight.

I ring the doorbell and knock twice on the door, anxious to get this straightened out and head back home. I couldn’t be more surprised when William O’Neal answers the door, thunder on his face.

“What the hell are you doing here, Randolph?” he spits venomously.

For the first time, my pulse stutters. He just called me Randolph.

He knows. And if he knows, Weatherly knows.

Shit!

That’s what this is all about.





TWENTY-NINE


Weatherly

I watch Tag’s face as my father’s words sink in. I see the guilt wash in like a pale, frothy wave. If there was ever a teeny tiny part of me that thought maybe he had intentions of coming clean eventually, that teeny tiny part just died a teeny tiny, miserable death. It’s clear that Tag didn’t want me to know.

“Jesus, Weatherly,” he begins, pushing past my father. I stop him in his tracks.

“Don’t. Just don’t. Whatever you came here to say, it doesn’t matter.” I didn’t imagine that it would be so hard to say those words. My throat constricts as though it’s trying to close in around them, to stifle them. To keep me from uttering them. To keep me from ending things. Forever. “This is over. And you need to leave.”

“Weatherly, whatever you think—”

“It’s not a matter of what she thinks, you son of a bitch! It’s a matter of what she knows.

“Listen, O’Neal,” he says, whirling angrily toward Dad. “I get that you’re her father and all, but she’s a grown woman. This is between Weatherly and me. It’s none of your business.”

“None of my business? None of my business?” Dad hisses through gritted teeth. “You’ve been trying to take everything from me and my family, you marry my daughter for her vineyard, and you think that is none of my business? You couldn’t be more wrong.”

“I didn’t . . . It’s not what . . . This is all a big misunderstanding. If you’ll give me a few minutes with Weatherly—”

“She doesn’t want a few minutes with you, or didn’t you hear that? She’s done with you. And when I get done with you, you’ll wish you’d never met the O’Neals.”

“Look, do what you want. Think what you want. I don’t give a shit. She’s the one I care about. She’s the one I need to talk to. I need to tell her that I tried to buy Chiara so that my mother would always have a home. So that she wouldn’t be uprooted in her condition. She’s dying, for chrissake. I didn’t want her to have to move when you found out she could no longer be your housekeeper and your cook.”

“I would never have—”

“Don’t give me that load of crap! You’re a ruthless businessman who sees only bottom lines. You don’t see people or lives or futures. You see dollar signs. And she would be a liability in your eyes. Don’t pretend to be someone you’re not, O’Neal!”

“However you try to paint this, you’re still the bad guy here. You lied to my daughter. You tricked her into marrying you so that you could get your hands on her property. Well, I’ve got news for you, smart guy. Chiara is protected. It doesn’t convey through marriage. It—”

“You think I don’t know that? You think I didn’t do my homework? That I can’t afford to hire a fleet of lawyers to research this, to find a loophole? I knew exactly what I was doing when I married your daughter. I knew what I was doing when my company donated five million dollars to her charity, too.”

My heart flutters at his words. “That was you?”