“I don’t know. But he wants to see you. Please come see him. P-please.” Her tearful plea came through the phone lines.
A tightness squeezed Dex’s chest and instead of his anger intensifying, he found his heart losing some of its hardness with her plea. He loathed himself for allowing her to get next to him after all this time—after she had turned her back on him and his love. But something was happening to him he hadn’t counted on, something he didn’t understand. Even after four years of hurt, she could still arouse a degree of protectiveness in him.
A natural instinct to protect her from any type of pain kept his bitterness in check. Her words penetrated his mind. Her father was dying? Then he could just imagine the depth of her agony. He, of all people, knew just how much the old man meant to her. He hesitated briefly before answering. “Where is he?”
“Baptist Memorial Hospital, the eighth floor.”
Dex took a deep breath. “I’m on my way.”
After hanging up the phone he let his head fall back against the pillow. He stared at the ceiling. Could he handle seeing Caitlin again? He didn’t love her anymore, but the pain she’d caused him was like a wound that wouldn’t heal. Her decision to end their marriage before giving it a chance was an act he could never forgive her for.
His heart felt like it was ready to explode in his chest. In a short space of time she had become his life, his very reason for existing.
He should never have let it get to that point. After all, he had seen firsthand what falling head-over-heels in love with a woman could do. His best friend, Greg, had taken his own life over a woman while they were in college at Morehouse. Dex had vowed never to become a victim of love to that extreme. And he had kept his vow—until he had met Caitlin.
His mind reflected on their first meeting. He’d fallen in love with her the first time he’d seen her that day in the restaurant. Her beauty had nearly taken his breath away. She had eyes the color of dark coffee. Her face, burnished bronze in color, had sharp, high cheekbones, a perfectly shaped mouth and a flawlessly aligned nose. Silken strands of jet-black hair had fallen in soft curls around her shoulders. Each attribute had added radiance to her warm unblemished features.
The timing had been awful. He was to leave the country within three weeks. Besides, she was young—eleven years his junior. But those things hadn’t kept him from wanting her, from loving her.
In the beginning, for the first couple of days after she’d come to work at his uncle Jake’s ranch, he’d kept his distance. Then Clayton had arrived and had immediately set his sights on their uncle’s newest employee.
Convincing himself he was saving Caitlin from the clutches of his womanizing younger brother, Dex began pursuing her himself. It was only later that he’d discovered Clayton had somehow picked up on his intense but unacknowledged attraction for Caitlin, and had played devil’s advocate, propelling Dex into action. What followed had been a whirlwind romance between him and Caitlin.
After spending time with her, he had felt that although she was eleven years younger than him, she was a young woman who knew her mind. She had acted more mature than her twenty-one years. The more time he had spent with her, the more he became sure that he wanted her as the woman in his life—forever. He couldn’t handle the thought of going to Australia and leaving her behind. There were a number of good universities in Australia where she could obtain the additional education she wanted to pursue. When he had asked her to marry him, she had readily accepted.
Within two weeks they were married in a rushed ceremony at Whispering Pines ranch with just his uncle and Clayton present. It was only when they were on their way to meet each other’s families, that he had an opportunity to dwell on her reluctance to notify her father about their marriage.
Although surprised by his unexpected marriage, his parents and siblings accepted Caitlin into the family with open arms. But nothing, Dex thought, could have prepared him for the horrible scene they’d encountered upon arriving at Caitlin’s home and announcing their marriage and her plans to accompany him to Australia.
Halston Parker had gone into a rage, which subsequently doubled him over clutching his chest. After he was rushed to the hospital, Caitlin had been told he’d suffered a mild heart attack.
She had been upset and besieged with guilt. Dex had spent his last day in the States pacing the waiting room of the hospital with her. He’d somehow managed to convince her to come back to the hotel with him. Once there, she had found comfort in his arms. He’d made love to her to erase her fears. The next morning he had felt her withdraw from him, and wondered if their newfound love could withstand the external pressures.
Before catching a cab for the airport, he had literally begged her to join him in Australia as soon as her father recovered. She had promised him she would.
As the weeks passed and she’d begun avoiding his nightly phone calls, he’d made arrangements to return to the States on an emergency leave. The day he was to depart, he received the divorce papers and Caitlin’s wedding ring. She wanted out of their marriage.
According to the brief letter she’d enclosed with her ring, she claimed she loved him, but her father needed her more and she couldn’t leave him. She thought it best they end their marriage.
The impact of her decision had hurt deeply. Deeper than any pain was supposed to hurt. He had always known and understood the internal war he had fought since Greg’s suicide. He had waged such a fierce battle against ever falling in love that when it happened, he had been totally consumed by it. Caitlin had been everything he had ever wanted and desired in a woman. And when he had fallen for her, he’d fallen hard. No one, and that included his family, had understood the depth of his bitterness after his breakup with Caitlin. Considering her age when they had married, and the brief period of time they had known each other, Caitlin’s actions, as far as his family were concerned, had not been surprising.
Unfortunately he did not share their reasoning. The way he saw it, Caitlin had said her vows and had made promises, and neither was meant to be broken.
Sighing deeply, Dex reached for the phone and began dialing.
“Hello?”
“Clayton, I’m leaving tonight for San Antonio.”
Chapter 2
T he antiseptic smell of the sterilized facility stung Dex’s nostrils the minute he walked into the hospital’s lobby. Stepping into the elevator, he punched the button for the eighth floor.
It seemed like an eternity before the elevator door finally opened. Stepping out, he dismissed the interested looks he received from a couple of nurses and walked over to the nurses’ station. A middle-aged woman stood behind the counter with her head bowed, reading a patient’s chart.
“Excuse me. I’m here to see Halston Parker.”
The woman lifted her head and smiled at him kindly. “Are you a member of the family?”
The question was a common one to ask, but Dex couldn’t help but flinch. “No,” he answered curtly. “I’m not, but I was asked to come here by Caitlin Parker.”
The woman gave him a bemused glance although her smile continued to be friendly. She glanced down at the chart she pulled from a nearby rack. “Caitlin Parker?” she questioned.
“Yeah. Caitlin Parker. Halston Parker’s daughter,” he replied, glancing around the nurses’ station.
“You must mean Caitlin Madaris.”
Dex’s head whipped around sharply. “What did you say?”
“I said Mr. Parker’s daughter is Caitlin Madaris.”
“I’ll take care of this, Diane,” a deep voice said behind Dex.
Dex