He’d made a promise to her father, years ago, the tragic night of his death. Kate and her little sister, Molly, had become orphans because of Garrett. They would always belong here, with the Gages. This was their home, and Garrett had done everything in his power so that they would feel comfortable, protected and cared for.
Molly was marrying his younger brother now. But Kate?
Garrett had always had a weakness for her. He respected her. Protected her. Even from things he himself sometimes felt.
His whole life he’d ignored the way Kate’s hair fell over her eyes. The way she said Garrett an octave lower than any other word she spoke. He’d ignored the way his chest cramped when she spoke of having a date, and he’d even done his best to try not to count all the freckles on the bridge of her pretty nose.
It wasn’t easy to force himself to be so damned ignorant. Of that. But he’d done it by force and that was exactly how it would remain.
Kate was like his sister and best friend. Except she was truly neither....
No matter.
He would still do all kinds of things to protect her—and this included making her see that moving to Florida was not a good option. Not an option, period.
Scowling, he snagged his mother by the elbow and pulled her closer, so that Cassandra didn’t overhear. But the woman took the cue and easily began to mingle—leaving him to talk to his mother in peace. “When did she say she was leaving?”
“The day after the wedding.”
“Eight weeks?” His brain almost ached as he tried to think of ways to keep her here. “Long enough to change her mind then.”
“My darling, if you manage to—” his mother gently patted him on the chest “—you’ll make me a very happy woman. I don’t want Katie anywhere in the world but here.”
Garrett bleakly agreed and snatched a wine goblet from a passing server. He almost downed the liquid in one gulp, wondering how in the hell one could change the mind of a stubborn little handful like Kate. She could teach old, grumpy men a thing or two about sticking to their guns, and Garrett wasn’t looking forward to being on the opposite end of the field from her. Or then again, maybe he was.
It was always fun to pick a fight with Kate.
It seemed the only way he could vent his frustrations sometimes.
Frustrations that seemed to grow by the minute as he stalked over to Cassandra, who was engaged in a conversation with two other women Garrett knew but couldn’t remember the names of.
He was interested in securing her family’s company to consolidate the Gages’ grip on Texas media, but he couldn’t even think about that now.
Kate was packing her bags and flying out of his life in eight weeks, and he was so determined to stop that from happening that, if he had to, he would run to Florida after her on his own two feet, and come back carrying her like a sack of potatoes on his back.
Which might even be more fun than fighting with her now.
“Something’s come up,” he apologized as he brought the blonde around to look at him. “I’m afraid I’ll need a rain check on our talk.”
He smiled down at her to ease the blow, marveling that he could, and he was glad to find there was no hostility in her eyes. She didn’t tell him to go take his apology and shove it where it hurt, but instead she said, sounding alarmed, “When can I see you again?”
“Soon,” he said with a nod, his mind already on Kate.
He spotted her out on the terrace, and his insides twisted painfully tight. Tall and slender, Kate leaned against the balcony railing outside of the French doors, peacefully gazing out at the gardens. Her dress dipped seductively in the back, exposing inches and inches of flawless bare flesh and the small, delicate little rises of her spine. Something feral and dangerous pummeled through him. She’s leaving me....
She’d been avoiding him tonight. And now he knew why.
He clenched his hands, hauled in a breath, then yanked the doors open and stepped outside.
A warm breeze flitted by as he approached her. A slice of moon hung in the sky above her, bathing her with its silvery light. It was the kind of night lovers waited for. A night for whispers, for promising forever...
“Why?”
She spun around in a whirl of silk and red hair, her lips slightly parted, her eyes wide and bright. “Don’t tell me,” she said with a disappointed shake of her head. “Your mother told you.”
“Why, Kate? Why am I always the last to know?”
For a moment, she didn’t seem to have an answer. She’s leaving you. She’s leaving you and won’t tell you. Won’t look at you.
Restlessly, she pulled at her small earring as she gazed out at the majestically lit lawns. “I...uh, planned to tell you.”
“From where? Florida?” he scoffed, unsure whether he was wounded, angry, amused or just plain damn confused.
“Okay, maybe yes, from Florida,” she admitted. “But you’ve been grumpy lately, Garrett. I can’t handle you right now. I’m too busy.”
His lips twisted into a cynical smile as he leaned on the balustrade next to her. He eyed the length of her glossy hair, wondering what it would smell like up close. Raspberries in the summer...? Peaches and cream? And why in the hell did he need to know? And what did she mean, he was grumpy? “I don’t need to be handled.”
With a pointed stare that told him that he really did, Kate studied him with mischievous blue eyes. “You haven’t exactly been easy to be around lately.”
“Come on, I can’t be that bad!”
She shot him a wry smile, and Garrett found himself responding to that captivating grin. He nudged her elbow up on the railing. “Kate. What did you think I’d do? Tie you to your kitchen to keep you here? Steal your damn plane ticket?”
“The fact that you’ve already thought of that makes me wonder about your sanity.”
“The fact that you’re leaving makes me want to check your head, too. You belong here.”
He sensed—rather than saw—the smile on her lips, but when she refused to look at him, Garrett wondered why Kate seemed so absorbed by the dark gardens it was as if she’d never seen them before—as if she’d never played outside in that yard when she was growing up. His heart jerked as an awful suspicion struck him.
“This is because of a man, isn’t it?”
“Excuse me?”
“You don’t just dump a life like yours and go away for nothing. So why are you running? Is it a man?”
“Does it matter?” she asked, thrusting her chin up a notch. “I’m leaving, Garrett, and I’m certain.”
The rebellious note that crept into her voice only confirmed to him that it was a man.
A toad Garrett wanted to kill with his own two hands.
Pushing away from the railing with sudden force, he plunged his hands into his pants pockets and paced in a circle on the terrace, lowering his voice when he stopped at her side again. “Who’s going to protect you?”
She scrunched her pretty nose with a little scoff. “I don’t need protecting anymore. I’m grown up, in case you missed it.”
He was struck by a memory of holding his jacket over Kate’s head while they rushed into the house, soaked and laughing. They’d both been just teens. His chest turned to lead as he wondered