“Of course she’s all right,” Patrice said. “I knew she’d just run off somewhere with Bobby Jack.”
“She’s not with that vile man,” Edward said. “Mr. Shea says that she is quite alone, that she seems well and…happy.”
“Why shouldn’t she be happy? She’s spending your money and living the high life.” When Patrice’s gaze connected with Edward’s, she shrank away from him, as if she feared he might hit her again.
“Where is she?” Cara repeated her original question.
“West Palm Beach.” Edward rose from his leather chair behind the massive desk. “I asked Mr. Shea to tell her to call me, to let me hear her voice.”
“How did he find her so quickly?” Grayson asked.
“The Dundee agency was able to track her through her credit card use,” Edward said.
“What hotel? I want to fly down there immediately and bring her home.” Grayson confronted his father-in law, a determined expression on his handsome face.
“No, Gray, don’t run after her,” Cara pleaded. “Not again. Not this time.”
“Cara’s right.” Edward clutched Grayson’s shoulder tightly. “None of us are going to chase her down this time. We’ve all jumped through hoops for that girl. It’s high time we step back and let her do whatever she wants to do.”
Cara couldn’t believe her ears, couldn’t believe that her father was actually going to allow Audrey the freedom to live her own life. If only Gray would do the same, if only he would let Audrey go. How could he love a woman who had treated him so badly, a woman who had wanted a divorce for years?
“But Audrey needs—” Grayson said.
“Listen to Daddy.” Cara interrupted him mid-sentence as she held out her hands to him in a beseeching manner. “Don’t go to Palm Beach. Don’t chase after her. It’s time for you to accept the fact that Audrey doesn’t want to be your wife.”
But I do, Cara thought. Stop loving my sister. She’s never been worthy of you. Just once, look my way and see what’s right before you—a woman who worships the ground you walk on.
“I LIKE THIS ,” Audrey said, the evening breeze gently caressing her face and tousling her hair.
“You like what?” Dom asked as he stopped walking, turned her in his arms and gazed down into her eyes.
Tilting her chin, she looked up at him. “Everything. The beach, the starry sky, the ocean waves, the feel of the sand under my feet.” She stood on tiptoe and wound her arms around his neck. “Strolling along the beach, just the two of us, not talking, just…being.”
He pulled her closer. “You know what, Audrey Perkins, you’re an enigma to me. I can’t figure you out.”
She sighed heavily. “I’m not all that complicated.”
He chuckled. “The hell you’re not. Honey, you’ve got to be the most complicated woman I’ve ever met.”
“How can you say that when you just met me? We don’t really know anything about each other, do we?”
“I know that your father is one of the richest men in America, that you’re a married woman, that for some reason you’re here in Palm Beach all alone.”
She eased her hands from around his neck, then turned away from him. “Since I find you very attractive and I’d really like for you to kiss me, that has to mean you’re absolutely no good, that if I give in to temptation, you’ll just wind up using me, and—”
Dom grabbed her upper arms and whirled her around to face him. “I’m not the kind of man who uses women.” He released his tenacious hold on her, reached out and tenderly stroked her cheek. “I’m one of the good guys. I would never hurt you.”
“I’d like to believe that, but I’m afraid my track record speaks for itself.” She clasped his hand. “I seem to attract the rotten apples. The users, the takers, the…” She sucked in air, released his hand and blew out an exasperated breath.
They stared at each other, moonlight, sandy beach and scenic ocean view fading into a blurred background so that all Dom saw was Audrey, and all she saw was Dom.
“I’m going to tell you the truth,” Dom said. “I want you. I’d like to take you upstairs to your suite, strip you naked and make love to you all night.”
Her gaze locked with his. Her breathing grew heavy, her breasts rising and falling rapidly. Her lips parted on an indrawn breath.
“If I let that happen, how do I know—”
He laid his index finger over her lips, momentarily silencing her.
“I didn’t say it had to happen. I just said it’s what I’d like to happen.” He lifted his finger from her lips and trailed it over her chin and down her throat, stopping just short of inserting his finger inside the low-cut neckline of her dress. “We’re both experienced adults. We’ve both had one-night-stands before this. Sex without commitment. No promises. No binding ties.”
“Just sex.” She spoke so softly that he barely heard her.
“It’s your call, Audrey.”
She went rigid, then broke eye contact.
“What’s wrong?” he asked.
“Nothing. I—I…Why don’t we just walk for a while longer, then go back to the hotel and get drinks in the bar, maybe talk and dance and…”
“Whatever you want.”
“You really mean that, don’t you?”
He took her hand in his and squeezed tenderly. “I came to Palm Beach on an assignment that I’ve completed. I’ll be flying back to Atlanta tomorrow, but tonight I’m all yours. If you want to walk and talk and dance, then that’s what we’ll do.”
“Tell me something.”
“What?”
“Are you married?”
He shook his head. “No.”
“Ever been married?”
“No.”
“Ever been in love?”
“Yeah, a couple of times. Or at least I thought I was.”
“What happened?” she asked.
“The first time, I was seventeen and she preferred my older brother.” Dom hadn’t thought about Lori Kaye in years, didn’t even know what had happened to her after she married and moved off to San Antonio. “The second time I was older, smarter. We were actually engaged for six months before we realized it just wouldn’t work. We wanted different things from life.”
“I’ve been in love twice,” she told him.
“Your husband and—”
“Uh-uh.” Once again, her entire body stiffened, as if any reminder of who she was, of the fact she had a husband, disturbed her in a way Dom didn’t understand. “Both times I made a huge mistake and paid dearly for it. I don’t intend to ever fall in love again. No one is ever going to use me or hurt me.”
Was it his imagination or had he actually heard genuine pain in her voice?
He tugged on her hand. “Come on. Let’s walk, then we’ll get a drink and afterward go dancing. If not here, then we’ll find some other place.”
When she clung to his