Burned by Passion(2)

Kira looked after him a little worriedly. She’d have thought winning the deal would have put her boss in high spirits, but judging from his somewhat short demeanor that wasn’t the case. In fact, he looked a bit tired and drawn. Kira knew firsthand how hard he worked for a man in his fifties. And yet she guessed that his ill mood had much more to it, no matter how hard he might try to conceal it. Kira wondered if it had anything to do with the fact that his only son was arriving in the country that very day?

Kira knew most of the details, of course. Although she’d only been working as Mr. Carter’s secretary for a little over a year, the older man had come to trust and value her far more than an employee and more like the daughter he’d never had.

Kira walked into his office minutes later with a coffee tray and found him seated at his desk. At age fifty five he was still very handsome, with an impressively tall and fit build of a man fifteen years younger. He had touches of grey in his sleek dark brown hair and crow’s feet at the edges of his blue eyes which added more character and distinction to his clear-cut good looks. But right now he looked very much his age at the moment.

Did his son’s return bring back sad memories? Or was she simply reading it all wrong and it was just fatigue making her boss so uncharacteristically moody?

“I brought in some coffee,” Kira said softly as he looked up at her.

He broke out a grin. “You’re a lifesaver, Kira. Pour me a cup, will you? I could use a caffeine jolt.”

That’s more like it, Kira thought, handing him a cup of the dark brew. The old Carter charm was back, the kind that complemented his steel-like business judgment. She watched with almost maternal affection as he sipped gratefully.

Then as she turned to leave, he surprised her with his next words.

“Kira, you know my son’s flying into the country today, don’t you?”

Kira nodded, hiding her deep curiosity as she faced him once again.

He continued, “He’s probably now on his way to the villa. I sent Chase to pick him up from the airport. Wasn’t even sure which flight he’d be on. He also didn’t mention in his letter how long he intended to stay – nothing about his mother either.”

Her boss’s voice seemed to alter slightly on the last sentence, and Kira’s eyes were drawn to his face. Could he still be in love with his British ex-wife, even after so long?

Once, a few months ago, Mr. Carter had told her about how he’d met her, all those years ago when he’d been a university student in England. They’d bumped into each other in the school library, and he’d picked up her fallen books. He’d straightened and looked into her deep blue eyes – and they’d fallen in love.

For them it had been a whirlwind romance... they became study buddies, surfed together, played tennis on the university courts and went to pubs. Six months after the day they’d met, they were married in a chapel in the small town where they went to school. Two years later they had a son. The same year Bretton Carter finished college and it was then, despite Sophie’s family’s protests, that he brought them all home to the United States.

The first few years were tight because Bretton chose to fend for himself, without the help of his parents who ran their own thriving event planning business. When Blake, his son, turned five, Bretton had made his first million from a lucrative takeover deal. After that there was no turning back.

Kira didn’t wish to seem like she was prying, but asked softly, “Are you pleased about your son’s homecoming?”

Her boss was silent for a few moments, before he let out a deep sigh. “Yes. I believe I truly am. Now that he’s finally decided to return – permanently or otherwise – I realize how badly I’ve missed him.”

As well as his mother, Kira thought compassionately. It must have been hard letting go of one’s first love. Bretton Carter might be the picture of a strong-willed and driven, sometimes downright inflexible, corporate mastermind, but Kira saw beneath all that. He was a good man, even adorable. She looked up to him as a father, especially since hers had been nothing but a letdown for as long as she could remember.


“Do you...remember anything about him?” she asked. “I mean, really? I understand he was ten years old when your ex-wife took him with her.”

“Oh, I remember him all right,” Bretton said, a little twinkle in his blue eyes. “A troublemaker, but a cute one. He may not know it, but even though his mother never let me know where they were, she always sent information to keep me abreast of Blake’s progress. Over the years she also sent me a few photos of him. And I even have one here, from when he finished his Masters from Oxford. Always was a bright one.”

Kira watched as her boss reached into his top drawer, unearthing a beautifully framed photo. Placing down the tray she’d been taking out, Kira went behind his chair to look over his shoulder.

“She sent this photo three years ago. He’s got plenty of Sophie when it comes to the brains but I’d like to think he takes a lot after his father in looks,” Bretton said with a proud, humorous smile.

But Kira was barely even listening, her eyes fastened on the image of who could only be the sexiest man she’d ever seen. The photo did nothing to scale down the smoldering gorgeousness of each well-formed feature. He certainly had a strong resemblance to his father though his hair was much lighter in shade. His eyes were a startling grey, fringed by thickly meshed dark lashes a woman would kill to have. A square-edged face like a fashion model’s and just a hint of dimple in his chin, plus lips too edible looking to be borne. He was smiling into the camera, displaying a devastating smile that did things to Kira’s insides.