Some Like It Charming

Nine

When Ethan came home, Mackenzie was pacing around the living room. He walked in and she nearly shouted, “Here’s why I’m sleeping with you. Because I like it.”

“Sounds good to me.”

“And because I can.”

“Yes. Absolutely.”

“And it’s not for your goddamn money.”

“That’s not really what I’m paying you for. That’s illegal.” She stopped her pacing and looked at him. He said, “Besides, I think you should be paying me.”

Her mouth fell open, and then she snapped it shut. “You’re not that good, O’Connor.”

He smiled slightly and took a step forward, sensing the danger was over. “No?”

“I’ve had better.”

He shook his head. “No, you haven’t.”

She sniffed and put her nose in the air. “How do you know?”

He took another step closer, reaching for her hand. “Because I’ve never had better. And I’ve had more experience than you.”

“Maybe it’s just me. Maybe it’s always like that for whoever I’m with.”

The thought made him a little light-headed. “Is it?”

She didn’t answer him and he started breathing again. He nodded to the new hole in the wall. “Redecorating? Or did I interrupt you hiding your stash?” He pulled her toward him. “I’m not going to be able to find it in the walls.”

“I threw the screwdriver after your mother paid me a visit.”

He murmured, “The screwdriver. Should have got rid of that as well.”

He’d known his mother had visited; the doorman had informed him on the way in. Ethan had tipped him handsomely for the heads-up.

Mackenzie said, “Why don’t you get rid of your mother? Send her on a cruise for the next week.”

“I don’t really mind you two fighting. There are some side effects that work in my favor.”

“I mind.”

“You’re just trying to get out of dinner.”

She blew out a breath. “I’m not going to dinner with that woman ever again.”

“I’ll let you bring the screwdriver.”

She pursed her lips and scowled at him. “Don’t make me laugh. I’m mad.”

“No. You were mad. Now you’re a little bit horny. And wanting to get back at my mother.”

“Oh, is that what I am?”

Ethan nodded. “All that energy needs to go somewhere. I’d prefer it go into my bed and not my walls.”

She shook her head. “I’ve wised up. I’m not getting into your bed again because of your mother.”

“So when I get you into bed tonight, it will be because you want to be there?”

She cocked her head. “I can admit that. You’re pretty good in bed.”

It was the first he was hearing about it, but he kissed her lightly. “Be sure and let the Enquirer know that in your exit interview.”

She laughed, missing the droop in his face, in his body. She said, “That won’t help keep women away from you. Isn’t that what you’re paying me for?”

“I’ve honestly forgotten what I’m paying you for. I thought it was the sex.”

She groaned. “That’s what your mother thinks.”

“And we’re back to my mother.” He pulled her toward the door and took a large manila envelope out of his briefcase. “Let’s move away from her and on to your intrusive relations.”

She sucked in a breath. “Has he been bothering you?” She looked at the lacerations on his hand. “Did you hit him?”

“Haven’t heard a peep from him. I had him looked into.” He looked at his hand, wiggling his fingers slowly, and grimaced. “And my hand met with an unfortunate accident this morning at the gym.”

She grabbed his hand, pulling it up and inspecting it. “What happened?”

“Just a deal gone bad. I got angry.”

“Not WestCon? Does that mean I can buy some now?”

He glared at her. “Not WestCon, and no you can’t buy any.”

“Then what could have possibly made you so angry? You’re a lover, not a fighter.”

“Was that an insult?”

“No. It was. . . the truth. You wouldn’t ever hit anybody. I didn’t even think you would imagine hitting somebody.”

He smiled coldly. Remembering how he’d imagined beating her father’s face into a pulp.

He said, “I will admit it’s never happened before.”

“Maybe you do need a vacation. Violence isn’t like you. You might love someone to death to get your way, but you wouldn’t get violent.” She pursed her lips. “You’re not mature enough to realize you can’t always have what you want.”

She was right. He wasn’t that mature. At all. He smiled at her, charmingly, and she narrowed her eyes.

He said, “It was just a moment, I won’t do it again.”

He could see she was going to want to know all about the deal gone bad so he said, “It was probably just low blood sugar. You should hide some chocolate in my gym bag.” He slid the envelope between them. “Here’s what my investigator found out about your father.”

She took a step back. “I don’t want to know.”

He nodded but said, “He’s left New York. And he wasn’t lying about your sister.”

“He left New York?”

She took the envelope from him. Took out a couple of large pictures of her father and a dark-haired, extremely pregnant woman. She was holding a little girl’s hand and scowling up at Luke’s face. He looked amused, and Ethan’s hand clenched into a fist.

Mackenzie murmured, “Pregnant. He didn’t mention that.”

Ethan breathed in through his nose. He would be the voice of reason if it killed him. “Maybe he didn’t want to throw it at you all at once.”

Mackenzie snorted. “He just didn’t think it would get me where he wants me to go.”

She looked at the little girl with honey-colored hair and tawny eyes, and whispered, “Shit.”

He’d had the same reaction. The little girl looked like a miniature Mackenzie.

He said, “These were taken in Spain.”

She looked up in surprise. “Spain?”

He nodded. “That’s where they’ve lived for the last five years. A little village on the coast.”

She looked down again at the little girl, clearly worried that Luke Holden had another daughter.

Ethan said, “She has her mother.”

Mackenzie nodded, running a finger along the scowl on the woman’s face. “Luke said his wife didn’t believe a word he said. Maybe her daughter won’t believe him either.” She put the pictures back in the envelope. “I’m not going to bite. Whatever game he’s playing, I don’t care.”

“You think he’s trying to get something from you? By leaving you alone?”

She dropped the envelope back into Ethan’s briefcase. “I don’t know. But he usually is. It’s not the risk.”

“What if it is? He’s your family. What if he’s ready for a daughter?”

She looked at him as if she couldn’t believe he’d said that. He couldn’t believe it himself.

“Are you trying to reconcile me to my father?”

“No. I’m trying to make you happy.”

Mackenzie smiled at him and he realized it was the truth. Ethan wanted her happy, even if that meant throwing her towards a man who had nearly destroyed her.

She said, “I tell you, it’s a disease.”

“He’s your father. Your sister. Are you really telling me you don’t want that?”

“I’d rather have no family than him.”

Ethan shook his head and she said, “It’s not a coincidence that he found me after I got engaged to you. I don’t think he’s stupid enough to think he’d ever get anything from me, but if he can get back in my good graces, he can get access to a lot of people who just might be.”

Ethan narrowed his eyes at her. “I assume you are not referring to me.”

“He might even get you.” She shook her head. “You don’t understand what he’s like. He’ll strip everything from you and you’ll thank him when he’s done.”

He looked down his nose at her. “He wouldn’t get me.”

She conceded. “Probably not. It was more a hope that he’d go after your mother.”

“She must have really pissed you off.”

Her face clouded over. “She thinks I’m some money-grubbing whore.”

“She said that?”

“She implied it.” Mackenzie thought about it. “She looks at me like she thinks that.”

“I think you’re seeing what’s not there.”

She pointed her finger at him. “You know she doesn’t like me.”

“You’re not imagining that. But I think it’s because she’s scared of you. For me. Physically.” He looked at the hole in the wall. “I don’t know why.”

“Yeah, she does think that. I told her I would gut you and leave you bleeding on the floor.”

He tried not to think what his mother’s reaction had been to that. “Why would you say that? She doesn’t get your sense of humor.”

Ethan loosened his tie and she followed him into the bedroom, saying, “She brought up a hypothetical situation. I wasn’t joking.”

“I hesitate to ask.”

“If you faltered.” Mackenzie laughed. “If this was real, you and me, and you cheated on me. If I loved you and you betrayed me.”

He stopped unbuttoning his shirt. “I wouldn’t.”

And he realized, he really wouldn’t. Wasn’t even a little worried about it, because he could never do that to her. Could never bear to see her look at him like she’d looked at her father. He couldn’t even imagine looking at another woman, but if he ever did he knew she would do exactly as she’d told his mother.

She said, “That’s what I told her. I don’t think she needs to worry about it. But she thinks you need a woman who would forgive you, just in case.”

He turned around and looked at her. “You told my mother I would never cheat on you?”

Mackenzie said, “Not me. But, you know. . . the one.”

He took a big step towards her, cupped her face in his hands, and kissed her. Long and slow. He pulled back and said, “How come you don’t doubt me? Women throw themselves at me every day. I have ample opportunity.”

She blinked. “Because. . . you wouldn’t.”

“Go on.” He couldn’t help the smile blooming on his face.

“You know you wouldn’t.”

“I don’t know that.”

“Have you ever faltered on any of your girlfriends?”

He didn’t have to think about it, of course he hadn’t, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t wanted to. He’d feared that want.

She said, “And why haven’t you? You’ve probably had women throwing themselves at you since you were eighteen.”

“Sixteen.”

She rolled her eyes, but undid the last button of his shirt and slid her arms inside. “Okay, sixteen. Why haven’t you ever taken advantage of your many opportunities?”

“Because that would hurt someone I cared about.”

“And that’s not the kind of person you are. You’re the kind of person who makes people happy.”

“If that really mattered I would still be with my very first girlfriend.”

She shook her head. “No. My guess is that you break things off when you start feeling the itch. Because you know it hurts less and for a shorter amount of time to break things off cleanly.”

“Maybe that’s why I was afraid of marriage. Afraid to find my devotion fading without being able to get out of it.”

He smiled at her, his hands still cupping her face. He’d known that if he’d just found that one, right woman his fears of marriage would seem silly. Powerless.

He’d been right. He’d just never expected that when he found her, she would want nothing to do with him. Never expected to find that she might like him just fine, but hated everything that made him him.

Hated his money, hated his family, hated his charming face.

He’d been looking for a woman who could see past all that since he was sixteen.

The woman he’d been looking for for nearly two decades said, “I’ve already said you’ve got issues. It’s like you’ve never heard the word divorce before.”

“It’s like budgeting. Just because I’ve heard the word before doesn’t mean I believe in it.”

She smiled up at him and started to undo his belt. He grinned at her and she said, “I’ve had a bad day. I thought we could stay in tonight.”

“What about dinner?”

“I thought I already got out of that.”

“You’re just going to let my mother win?”

She unzipped his pants. “I don’t think this is your mother winning.”

He backed her towards the bed. “I could tell them you came down with something.”

She smiled evilly. “Tell them I have to repair the hole I put in your wall.”

“You don’t want my mother dropping by again. And she’d come running if I told her that.”

She laughed. “Maybe I could just torture your mother for the next week. I might just make it then.”

He pulled her shirt over her head. “Or we could extend this for a few more weeks and really torture her.”

She said, “You can’t afford to pay me overtime.”

He popped the button on her jeans. “Oh, I probably could.”

“No. We already agreed on six weeks.”

“But if you’re not going back to work, there’s no rush. You can spend a million dollars just as easily in New York as you can in Los Angeles. And you still haven’t got that half out of me yet.”

“I really thought I was going to, too.”

“So stick around. Stop trying to do nothing, come to work with me, and stay a little bit longer.”

He sat on the bed and pulled her down on to his lap.

She shook her head and he said, “Stay. I like living with you.”

“Why?”

He squeezed her butt. “Guess.”

“Oh, please. You don’t need to live with a woman to sleep with her.”

“It’s nice knowing you’ll be here when I get home. We don’t have to coordinate.”

“It’s a scheduling issue?”

He rolled his eyes up to his head. “A scheduling issue. You do that on purpose. Kill all my moves just for the fun of it.”

She pointed to her backside. “You sneaked a butt squeeze past me. I didn’t see that one coming in time.”

“You saw it coming.”

She pinched his nipple and said, “Did you see that coming?”

“Ow!” He grabbed her hands, trapping them against his chest. “Vicious. No wonder my mother doesn’t like you. Just think of her head exploding when I tell her you’re staying a little bit longer.”

“I’m not staying any longer. I’ve got a new life to figure out.”

“You mean a non-life. I’ve got to be better than that.”

She shook her head, wriggling her hands free.

He said, “You know I’ll talk you into it.”

“Not this time. I’ve learned all your tricks now.”

He rolled her onto her back and held her hand to his heart. “Not all my tricks.”

He bent his head and she said, “You’re going to love me to death, aren’t you?”

“No, I’m going to love you into staying.”

“You can try,” she said and his heart thumped. He knew with Mackenzie that success was never guaranteed.

Luckily, he liked a good challenge. Dammit.



Mackenzie woke with a gasp, her heart trying to beat its way out of her chest.

Ethan murmured, “Okay?”

She slipped out of the covers, telling him to go back to sleep, and went into the bathroom.

She sat down on the rim of the tub, put her head in her hands, and stared down at the tile. Afraid to close her eyes.

Because Ethan had looked at her. He’d held her hands, and kissed her, and made love to her. And looked at her.

Is this what he did to his girlfriends? Looked at them like that? Like. . . like. . .

Like he loved her.

Like she was everything he had ever wanted. Like she was the most important thing in the world to him.

Mackenzie’s stomach heaved and she breathed in through her nose and out her mouth.

She knew he didn’t mean it. And she knew he wasn’t conning her.

This is what he’d paid her a million dollars for. To look into his eyes, to see love there, and to not believe it. To protect both of them. Because he couldn’t help it and he couldn’t stand to hurt anyone else.

A quiet knock on the door made her jump.

“Mackenzie? Honey?”

Her stomach clenched and she rubbed her face.

She opened the door slowly, bracing herself. His green eyes were filled with concern and she said, “I was just. . . I had a bad dream.”

He took her hand, leading her back to bed, and wrapping his arms around her.

She put her head on his chest, right on the spot that had become her unofficial pillow. Right where she could hear his lying heart beating. She lay there in Ethan’s arms and knew that a million dollars hadn’t been enough.

But at least she knew he couldn’t help himself. That it wasn’t real.

Not her fault that she’d fallen for it. Every woman did.



One week and three days later, Mackenzie woke early and rolled quietly out of bed. She’d packed her bags yesterday while Ethan was at work. Had bought a plane ticket. And hadn’t told him.

He’d spent the last week trying to get her to say she would stay. But she couldn’t. And she already knew he could talk her into uprooting her life when she should run screaming.

It wouldn’t be hard for him to do it this time since she liked being with him. Liked living with him. Loved New York.

But their contract was up, which meant if she stayed it would be real. She would really be living with him. Really be sleeping with him. Really be in love with him.

She couldn’t really be in love with Ethan Howell O’Connor. Women who fell in love with him fell hard when he moved on.

He would break her and this time there would be nothing left to start over with. Nothing left but a bitter woman. With an intense desire to give an interview to the National Enquirer.

She didn’t want to be that kind of woman.

She wasn’t that kind of woman.

She stared down at him, memorizing his face. The sunlight streamed through the window, shrouding him in a golden halo. His long fingers lay loose on the sheets. She loved his fingers. Loved feeling them, holding them, touching them.

She closed her eyes and turned away.

She didn’t say goodbye, but she left anyway. She left a copy of their engagement pre-nup, her cell phone, and her ring lying on the kitchen counter.

Their time was up.



When she arrived home, the phone was ringing. It rang and it rang. She thought about unplugging it but knew he’d just show up on her door. She took a deep breath and answered the phone. She didn’t say anything, just listened to him breathe. Imagined him looking out at the buildings, his shirt half-buttoned, his bare feet sinking into the plush carpet. Her heart hurt thinking she’d never see him again. But she said, “Did I forget something?”

There was a pause and then he said, “Oh yeah, you forgot something. You’re fired.”

“What exactly are you firing me from? As of this morning I no longer work for O’Connor Capital. And as of last night I am no longer your hired fiancé. There’s nothing left.”

“There’s nothing left. . .” He said it slowly, not quite a question. More like he was tasting the words, seeing how they felt in his mouth.

Obviously, he didn’t like it very much because he nearly shouted, “Goddammit, Mackenzie. There’s nothing left, my ass.”

She couldn’t help her half-laugh, half-sob. And there was the Mr. Charming she knew.

“Ethan. I wish you the best. I know the OC will continue on well without me, although of course you’ll have to hire three people to replace my sales. And I know that you will find that woman who is worth half your fortune. Probably. Maybe. I really think you should abandon that tradition.”

“Mackenz–”

“Good-bye, Ethan.” She hung up and sat down on her couch.

She let herself cry this one time, just for a little while. Then wiped her tears and started packing up her house. Time to start her new non-life.



Ethan’s grandmother answered the door with her eyebrows furrowed. “Why the hell aren’t you in L.A.?”

Ethan pushed his way in. “She doesn’t love me.”

Ellen slammed the door shut behind him. “Coward. I never thought I’d say that to my own grandson. But that’s what you are. A coward. And a chicken. A lily-livered chicken.” She flung her hands into the air. “A spineless, yellow-bellied coward.”

He started laughing, his shoulders shaking silently. He headed to the kitchen, grabbing two beers and handing one to her, a smile still on his face.

He said, “It’s karma, that’s what it is. How many women have fallen hopelessly in love with me? It was my turn.”

“What you’re telling me is that you’re not a coward. You’re just stupid.” She shook her head. “I don’t know what’s worse.”

“I am everything she doesn’t want.”

“But she wants you anyway? I don’t know what you think love is supposed to feel like but that’s as good a description as any.”

“She’s too smart to fall for me.”

Ellen snorted. “If those good looks you were cursed with, along with that charm you constantly deploy, and a copious amount of cash at your disposal can’t get the woman you love to lose her mind long enough to get a ring on her finger, I don’t know what the point was.”

“You do know all that is why she doesn’t want me, right?”

“She wants you. She just wishes she didn’t.” Ellen watched him take a swig of beer and shook her head. “Go get her, numnuts.”

“Grandma!” He shook his head, laughing. “I haven’t heard that word since grandfather died.”

“Your grandfather was high and mighty and born with a silver spoon up his backside, just like you. Who do you think taught him that word?”

He laughed again. “Then how come I’ve never heard you say it until now?”

“Because it reminds me of him.”

He looked at her carefully, seeing the sorrow in her words. “You still miss him?”

“Of course I do.”

He said, “So some love is forever.”

She eyed him. “Some love is.”

“Mackenzie doesn’t think so. She thinks forever love is luck.”

Ellen smiled. “It is. It’s luck and guts and not being dumb. Right now you’re one out of three.” She patted his knee. “But your grandfather only had one out of three at one point, too.”

He raised his eyebrow. “You’re saying grandfather didn’t have any guts? Grandfather?” His grandfather had been a terror. Balls of steel when markets were crashing and others were cracking.

She leaned back, a far away look in her eye. “When it came to love. He’d seen his parents’ unhappy marriage and thought there wasn’t anything else in life. And even if there was, it wasn’t worth searching for. He just wanted a pretty decoration for his arm and a woman waiting at home for him.” She snorted. “Luckily, he wised up and realized before too late that there was something more than that.”

She looked at Ethan and poked him in the chest so he was paying attention. “There’s more than that.”

He took a swig. “I think I’ve realized that.”

“So now it’s time to go win her over.”

“Did Grandfather have to win you over?”

“You bet your balls he did. You think I’d just swoon as soon as he started chasing me?”

Ethan looked down into the beer bottle. “How did he win you?”

Ellen sat next to him and put her hand on his arm. “He gave me what I needed.”

He looked up. “What did you need?”

She laughed. “Oh, I needed proof that he respected me as an equal. Now, that won’t work for Mackenzie because that’s not what she needs.”

“What does she need?”

“How am I supposed to know?”

“You’re a lot of help.”

She patted his arm. “You know. You’re in love with her, aren’t you?”

He shook his head. “I don’t know what she needs, except maybe change everything about myself.”

She shook her head. “She already loves you. You don’t need to change anything about yourself.”

He blinked. “You think she loves me?”

Ellen barked out a laugh. “Looks like we’re still working on dumb.” She shook her head. “Come at this as if she already loved you. What else does she need?”

“She needs someone who doesn’t remind her of her father.”

“Mmm. But she already loves you, so that’s not what she needs.” She pushed herself up. “You think on it, numnuts. It’ll come to you.”

She picked up the phone, punching in a number.

He said, “What are you doing?”

“Getting the plane ready. You’re not going to give her what she needs wallowing on my couch and drinking my beer.”

He looked down into the amber liquid. What did Mackenzie Wyatt need?

He had no idea. But he was pretty certain she’d say it wasn’t him.

He looked up at his grandmother. “You really think she loves me?”

She patted his head. “Poor clueless boy.”

She tried to pull him up and he helped her by rising. She started pushing him toward the door.

He said, “I still don’t know what she needs.”

She took his bottle and pushed him out the door. “It’s a long flight. You’ll figure it out.”



Ethan knocked on Mackenzie’s door six hours later. He knocked and he knocked and she answered by finally whipping the door open and shouting, “What!”

He said, “I was going to break a window to get in but I thought you wouldn’t appreciate it.”

“I don’t appreciate you trying to knock my door down, either.”

“I have something to say to you. I don’t want to say it. You probably don’t want to hear it.”

“Sounds like a win-win.”

“But if I don’t say it I will regret it. Maybe not today, maybe not tomo–”

She rolled her eyes and started to close the door. He stuck his shoe in the doorway and said, “I knew you would never fall for me. I knew I could trust you. . . I just didn’t realize I couldn’t trust myself. I didn’t realize that I would fall in love with you.”

She sighed and closed her eyes. “Ethan. How many women have you fallen in love with since you were sixteen?”

“None.”

She opened her eyes, the disbelief clear.

He said, “I’ve loved them all. Still love them all. And have been in love with none of them.”

She waved away the distinction. “And how many of them didn’t fall in love with you?”

He didn’t say it. Knew she would think he’d fallen in love with her only because she hadn’t fallen in love with him.

She said it for him. “None. You don’t love me. You just don’t know what to do with a woman who doesn’t fall all over you.”

He took her hand. “But you pass my test. I’d give you half of O’Connor Capital without even blinking. If you wanted it.”

She looked at him, so sad, and he dropped her hand. He said softly, “But you don’t want it. Because you don’t believe me. And won’t ever let yourself love me if you don’t believe it first.”

He pushed something into her hand and she looked down. He said, “Don’t get excited. It’s not that half mil.”

She took the envelope from him, opening it and finding a plane ticket inside. She looked up.

He said, “He won’t trick you again. You’re not a green kid anymore. And you can tell when someone really loves you.”

Her eyes widened.

He said, “But you deserve to see if he’ll choose you this time. I think you need that.”

She stood speechless as he reached out and pushed her hair off her face. “Thank you, Mackenzie. For helping me with the press. For letting me fall in love with you. A man should do it at least once in his life.”

She was still staring at him when he walked away. When he got in his car and drove away.



Cassandra found her crying into a pint of ice cream. “That bad, huh?”

Mackenzie nodded.

“He said he loves you.”

Mackenzie nodded and scrunched up her face again.

“And you love him.”

Noisy sobs answered her and Cassandra let Mackenzie cry for a few minutes before she said, “I’m not seeing the problem here.”

“He’s Ethan Howell O’Connor. That’s the problem.”

Cassandra nodded. “Yep, yep. Ethan Howell O’Connor. Handsome, rich, charming. Oh yeah, and he’s already said that he loves you. God, what an ass.”

Mackenzie took a big bite of ice cream.

Cassandra said, “He’s rich. Is that the dealbreaker?”

Mackenzie sniffed. “That sounds stupid to say.”

“Yes, it does. It sounds very stupid. He’s handsome. Is that the dealbreaker?”

“Well, it’s not ideal. I mean I don’t want him looking like a dog, but he’s. . . He walks into a room and women orgasm. They throw themselves at him. Every day I watch women stare at him with a little look on their face that says ‘I just came. Just a little bit.’ I had to throw some chick out of the elevator. Some cougar was waiting for him outside the restroom.”

“So, that’s the dealbreaker.”

Mackenzie growled. “No.”

“‘Cause you can handle that, right?”

“Yes.”

“So? What else?”

“His mother hates me.”

Cassandra snorted. “Oh, yeah. Because that hasn’t happened to millions of women over the centuries. I’m not even going to ask because that’s not a dealbreaker. Move to a different city. What else?”

Mackenzie shrugged her shoulders.

“So what you’re telling me is that there are things you don’t like, but no dealbreakers.”

“He’s not the dealbreaker. I am.”

“I know dealbreakers and you aren’t it.” Cassandra took her hand and held it. “Trust me when I say there is not always a happy ending. I have lots of experience in unhappy endings. Lots of experience in hopeless endings. And I know this: when there’s a chance at finding the real deal, you have to grab for it. You have to walk to the end of the pier and jump off, knowing full well that you may end up broken on the rocks below. That’s a life well lived. Ending up broken on the rocks because you tried. Not still standing on the pier, afraid.”

Mackenzie whispered, “I’ve crawled off those rocks before. I don’t think I can do it again.”

“You won’t have to. He’ll catch you.”

“And if he doesn’t?”

“I will pick you up, dust you off, and help you beat his beautiful face to smithereens.”

Mackenzie sniffed. “You’d do that for me?”

Cassandra nodded. “It would hurt, but I’d do it.”

Mackenzie looked at the plane ticket. “He said I would know when someone really loved me.”

“Do you think he really loves you?”

Mackenzie took a deep breath, remembering when he’d said it, the hopeless light in his eyes because he knew she wouldn’t say it back. He’d been right. She couldn’t believe him, wouldn’t let herself love him for real. Wouldn’t play with everything she had.

She looked up at Cassandra with a terrified look on her face and Cassandra smiled. “I don’t look good in purple. Remember that for the bridesmaid’s dress. It makes me look like a zombie bride.”

“Is that a thing?”

“It is. And trust me, you don’t want to see it.”



Two days later, Mackenzie stood outside an old villa on the outskirts of an old village in Spain. Vines crept up the side of the house and a pink tricycle was parked forgotten on a patch of grass. She stared at the house for a long time until the door was opened by an extremely pregnant woman. The woman stared at her, not smiling, and finally said, “Are you going to stand there all day or are you going to come in?”

“I’m thinking about it.”

The woman snorted, shutting the door behind her, and waddled out to stand beside her.

“Think quickly. You’ve got about two minutes before he comes out here yelling at me to get back inside and sit down.”

Mackenzie looked at her in surprise. “Yell at you?”

The woman nodded her head. “It’s kind of funny.”

Mackenzie couldn’t remember one time, one time, that her father had ever yelled at anybody. He was cool and unruffleable. Cold and heartless.

The front door opened back up and her father looked at Mackenzie, expressionless. Then glared at his wife.

Rachel said, “I’m going inside. I don’t want to hear another lecture today. Come in when you’re ready.” She looked at Mackenzie and rubbed her belly. “Try to make it today.”

Mackenzie followed hesitantly, watching her father as he came and took Rachel’s arm to help her inside. He said, “I told you I would get her.”

“I was getting bored waiting. I’m on a time crunch.”

He escorted them to the kitchen table, waiting patiently for Rachel to sit. He gestured Mackenzie into a chair and brought her a cup of steaming coffee and a chocolate-covered palmera.

Rachel made a face at the water he gave her, although she snatched up the flaky pastry and took a big bite. She said, “The doctor says another week. I don’t think he knows what he’s talking about.”

Luke said, “You’re only hoping he doesn’t know.”

She nodded decisively, then said to Mackenzie, “I’ll be forty next year. I’ve already told your father that this is the last time I will do this. If he wants more children, he’ll have to trade in for a younger model.”

Luke smiled, bending down to kiss his wife’s hair before sitting down beside her. “And I’ve told her that this is my last one as well.”

Rachel said, “And for some reason I don’t believe you. Every man wants a son.”

“Three girls.” He smiled. “Three girls who could take over the world by sneaking up behind it. That is no poor legacy.” He cocked his head, thinking. “Maybe that’s what I’ll name this one. Legacy.”

Rachel snorted. “Over my dead body.”

“Oh, my dear. That could be arranged,” he said and Rachel laughed.

“Are you still plucking that tired old string?” She shook her head and patted his knee. “Old dogs.”

His eyes twinkled over the rim of his cup as he took a sip.

Rachel looked longingly at his cup before sighing and saying to Mackenzie, “Your father stole my inheritance from my mother and then, I thought, killed her. Turns out he didn’t. But he would have had he needed to.”

Luke shook his head. “I didn’t steal her money. She gave it to me.”

Rachel looked at him, her temper peeking out. “I didn’t say you stole it from her. You stole it from me.”

He chuckled. “But look what you got in return.”

“Hmm.” She turned back to Mackenzie. “Your father was a scary man. Even scarier that no one else seemed to see it.”

Mackenzie didn’t look at her father. “I know what he was.”

Rachel watched her silently, then nodded. “Yes, I see you do. Do you know what he is now?”

Mackenzie glanced at her father, at the amusement clear in his eyes as his wife and daughter dissected him.

Mackenzie said, “People don’t change.”

Rachel sat back in her chair. “Well, that’s true. Except when they do.”

A little girl with honey-colored hair and tawny eyes peeked around the corner behind Rachel’s chair. The little girl looked at Mackenzie, her eyes wide and round, and Mackenzie looked back. Up close she could see the differences between them. In the photo, the little girl had looked like a carbon copy of Mackenzie. But the shape of her eyes was slightly different, the bow in her top lip definitely from her mother.

The little girl smiled at her and Mackenzie’s gut clenched. The smile was all Luke Holden.

Rachel said, “Come say hello, Laura,” and the little girl ran around the corner and hid her face into her mother’s side.

Laura peeked at Mackenzie, then noticed the palmera. She stopped being shy and grabbed the edge of the table, pulling herself up on her tiptoes and reaching for Mackenzie’s plate. She grinned a toothy grin at Mackenzie and babbled something utterly unintelligible. Rachel pulled her back and pushed her to Luke. “Ask Daddy if he’ll share.”

Mackenzie watched the little girl climb onto Luke’s lap as if she did it a hundred times a day. Laura grinned at her father, pointing and babbling until he nodded at her. She reached for the chocolate-covered pastry with a large grin for her mother.

Mackenzie met her father eyes. “Definitely your daughter.”

He frowned. “Please. I am never so uncouth as to bask in front of my mark. That is her mother’s fault entirely. Rachel likes to rub it in when she gets the better of someone.” He shook his head. “She has no subtlety.”

And Mackenzie could see real love in his eyes when he talked of his wife, when he looked at Laura. Pride was there, yes. But there was love, too. Mackenzie felt a twinge for the little girl she’d been. But she couldn’t be anything but happy that Laura had a father who saw more than a dollar sign when he looked at her.

Luke hadn’t loved her. Still didn’t. And maybe she should’ve seen it sooner. But maybe she could finally forgive that young girl. Forgive her for being a mark.

Mackenzie watched Laura stuff the pasty into her mouth, chocolate smearing across her face, and listened to her babble. Rachel put her hand on Luke’s knee and he took a deep breath. “I didn’t know how to love back then.” Mackenzie looked up into his eyes. “You’ll see. When you have a kid, it doesn’t change anything about you. Still the same person you always were, but now there’s a little someone who takes everything you say, everything you do as Truth. I couldn’t love you. And it had nothing to do with you.”

Mackenzie stayed silent.

He said, “I’m not excusing what I did. I don’t expect you to ever forget. To forgive.”

Rachel said, “She’s here, isn’t she?”

He looked at his wife. “Would you have forgiven your mother?”

Rachel pinched her lips. “I don’t know. Maybe. If she was sincere.”

He wiped crumbs from Laura’s dress. “Liar.”

Rachel looked at Mackenzie. “Tell him why you flew across an ocean today.”

“I’m getting married.” Maybe Ethan hadn’t said those exact words, but he’d offered her half his company. If she wanted it.

She didn’t. But she’d take all his pecker.

Luke nodded. “And you came to invite me to the wedding in person?”

Mackenzie smiled at him and it wasn’t a nice smile. “No. I don’t want you anywhere near the O’Connors.”

Rachel laughed and inhaled her water. She coughed and Luke thumped her on the back. She finally said, “Sorry. He was right on the money with that one. Said you’d never let him near your new family.”

Her new family. She blinked, thinking of Christine hearing her described as that. Then she smiled.

Mackenzie looked at Luke. “You squandered your chance at father with me. But I wanted to see. . . I wanted to see how you looked at me.”

“And what do you see?”

“I don’t see love.” He closed his eyes and she said, “But I do see regret.”

He kept his eyes closed and nodded.

Mackenzie said, “Why did you track me down in New York?”

He opened his eyes. “Because I have a family now that I couldn’t live without. And I wanted to see the family I threw away.”

“You expect me to believe your timing was coincidence? I get engaged to Ethan O’Connor and a few weeks later you show up?”

He looked at his wife out of the corner of his eye. “Let’s say I was pressured into going when I did. I wasn’t pressured into wanting to.”

Mackenzie looked down into her coffee cup– the cream rich, the sugar sweet. Just like she liked it. In ten years, he hadn’t forgotten. Maybe that was a horribly weak basis for a relationship. But she’d seen real love in Ethan’s eyes. She had someone to fall back on this time, if her father failed her again.

Mackenzie said, “Do you remember how my mother liked her coffee?”

Luke was silent as he stared at her. He opened his mouth and Rachel interrupted. “Don’t bullshit her. Just tell the truth.”

He sunk back in his chair and shook his head. “I’m sorry.”

Mackenzie looked at Laura’s chocolate-covered face and listened to her babble. The child only stopped to take a bite, and sometimes not even then. Mackenzie looked at Rachel, her huge belly looking uncomfortable and imminent. And she looked at her father. Older, slower, and somehow tweaked. Maybe just enough.

She said, “Maybe we can be some kind of other family. Not father-daughter. But something else.”

Her father took his wife’s hand and squeezed. He nodded at Mackenzie. “I’d like that.”