The Owner of His Heart

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN





LAYLA grew increasingly anxious the longer Andrew’s society blond wife, Diana Sinclair, stayed gone. Maybe she shouldn’t have introduced herself as an ex-girlfriend of Andrew’s. But if she hadn’t, she ran the risk of Diana finding out later, and it seemed disrespectful to not only show up at the woman’s house out of the blue, but also to lie about who she was—especially if they were having marital problems like Jessica had said.

Diana responded to her introduction with a slightly nonplussed blink and she’d invited Layla in and even offered her a cup of tea.

“You have a lovely home,” Layla said, following her into the receiving room, which was done up in tasteful French country decor, with a butter yellow and dark blue color scheme.

Layla though about Nathan’s loft. The weekend before they’d gone shopping in the nearby Southside Works, and she’d convinced Nathan to buy some bright yellow accent pieces and a few electric blue end-tables to break up all the black and grey going on in his converted warehouse loft. The insertion of a few pops of color had transformed the apartment, and even Nathan admitted it made his home look a lot more welcoming and a lot less industrial. She had been hoping to convince him to paint the kitchen cabinets red before she left, but now she wasn’t even sure Nathan and she would still be talking after the terrible weekend they’d had.


“Thank you,” Diana said. “We inherited the house from Andrew’s parents, but I’ve tried to make it our own over the years. I’ll be right back with that tea.”

Layla had been a little surprised she hadn’t called a servant to bring it to them. The mansion had looked huge from the outside, like the kind of place that took an entire staff to run it. And something told her there should be servants lurking around somewhere. Perhaps it was instinct, or maybe it was even a memory trying to work its way to the surface.

Either way, Layla felt vaguely unsettled as she waited for Diana to return. Was Andrew here? Would she finally get the answers she’d been seeking? Did she even want to know, she wondered. The fact that Nathan had done so much to keep her from finding out what happened back then scared her.

At the opera fundraiser, she’d nearly had to restrain Jessica from going after Nathan herself. “He tricked you into dating him?” she’d said. “He used your lost memory to get you into his bed?!”

“No,” Layla said, still trying to wrap her head around the fact that she had dated Andrew and not Nathan. “That’s not exactly how it went down.”

As furious as Layla was with Nathan, she knew a few things Jessica didn’t. First of all, she didn’t hate anybody. She might have deeply disliked Nathan back in the day, but she couldn’t see herself openly hating on anyone. However, when they’d met, his hate for her had seemed real.

New scenarios began to play out in her head: Had Andrew been the man in her window seat dream/possible memory? Maybe Nathan hadn’t approved of their relationship. Was that why he wanted her to leave town, to keep her away from his brother? Maybe his plan had been to get rid of her from the start, but he hadn’t counted on their insane sexual chemistry.

In any case, one point shined bright and clear. She couldn’t trust Nathan at all. If he could keep this much from her, for all she knew, he really was the person who had been threatening her about leaving town. She hadn’t received any more threats since signing the contract with Nathan, so it made sense.

No, she thought. She couldn’t let Jessica go out there and tell Nathan off. She couldn’t even let him know she now knew what he’d hidden from her. What she needed to do now was find Andrew before her two weeks were up, and get the answers for herself. She’d somehow convinced Jessica not to say anything to Nathan.

“I need to talk to Andrew first, and then I’ll have it out with Nathan. I don’t suppose you know where Andrew lives or could get me his address?”

“Yes, same place he lived when you were dating him—at his parents’ house. After his father died, his mother moved to Florida, and now Andrew and his wife live there. Nathan used to live there, too, when we were in college, in the guest house out back. But that was a long time ago, and I’m not remembering the exact address off the top of my head.

“Do you think you can find out? I’d really appreciate it,” Layla said.

“Sure. It’s probably just a matter of making a few phone calls.”

They’d exchanged numbers and Layla, not wanting to tip Nathan off, had faked a migraine.

But Jessica hadn’t called with the address until late Sunday night, which had forced the argument with Nathan.

It was too soon to confront him with what he had done, since she still didn’t know exactly what was going on, and knew he wouldn’t tell her himself. But her emotions were warring inside of her. On one hand, she felt deeply betrayed. Apparently, she hadn’t been good enough for his brother, but she’d do in pinch when it came to warming his bed for two months. On the other hand, she had gotten used to being with him every night. And even though she really, really didn’t like him at that moment, her body still ached for him. She couldn’t let him touch her again until she figured out his true intentions. But she also couldn’t bear to be apart from him.

When he hadn’t budged on her staying at her own apartment, it had almost been a relief to return to his bed, even if they were emotionally miles apart. She thanked the heavens when Jessica finally called with the address Sunday night.

On Monday, she took off from work and drove out to Fox Chapel, a swanky suburb of Pittsburgh proper, dotted by houses that sat on acres of land. She knew she couldn’t just sit around and wait for Nathan to give her answers whenever he saw fit. But still, she felt somewhat guilty about going behind his back to find his brother. It didn’t make any kind of sense to feel this guilt, but she did, and she couldn’t shake the feeling that coming to this place where they’d both lived when she met them for the first time was a bad idea.

And as the time passed, fifteen minutes by her count, she became more and more rattled to the point that she got up and started walking around just to shake off the tension. That’s when she saw it: the long, winding, white marble staircase, sitting just beyond an entrance opposite from the one she’d come in. She walked to the stairs, entranced by their cold beauty, and knew them immediately for what they were: the ones she’d fallen down.

They were housed within a much grander foyer than the one near the door. This one was so large, it could easily have doubled for a ballroom. In fact, it probably would be where they’d throw the Sinclair Ball in less than two weeks. Nathan mentioned it would take place at his family home, but back then she hadn’t realized his brother lived there.

The stairs led to a landing, which she somehow knew led to a section of the house where Andrew and his parents had lived in large suites. Suddenly an image of her running across that landing flashed into her mind. Why? Was she running from someone? She couldn’t remember. Only the sensation of falling through the air as she realized she’d miscalculated. She saw herself rolling down the stairs, her body hitting the unforgiving marble steps with sick, hard thuds until everything mercifully faded to black.

“Ms. Matthews?” a voice said behind her.

Startled out of her memory, Layla turned to see Diana standing in the entrance of the receiving room with a large cup of tea in her hands.

Layla frowned. It had taken Andrew’s wife almost twenty minutes, just to make a cup of tea?

“Are you all right?” Diana asked, her brow furrowed.

Layla shook off the chilling memory of falling down the stairs and arranged her face into a pleasant smile. “Yes, I was just looking at your staircase. It’s really, um…nice.”

“Italian marble,” Diana said. “Andrew’s parents had it shipped in from Tuscany.”

“Yes, about Andrew,” Layla said. “Is he here? I know it’s not polite to show up unannounced like this, but I really need to talk to him.”

Diana’s lips thinned. “Are you having an affair with my husband?”

Layla’s eyes widened. “No! Oh, gosh, no. I didn’t even know he existed until I mistook Nathan for him.”

Diana’s eyes narrowed. “You said you used to date him.”

“I did. I think. I mean this woman I met at a fundraiser told me we dated for almost a year.” Now that Layla was explaining this out loud, she realized how crazy she must sound. “You see I had an accident, and I went into a coma, and I lost almost the entire year leading up to it. Nathan, Andrew—I don’t remember them or anything that happened during the time I apparently dated Andrew. That’s why I came back to Pittsburgh, to find out what happened that year. And that’s the only reason I’m looking for Andrew right now. He’s the only one who can give me the answers I need.”


Diana set the tea mug down on a nearby end table. “Well, isn’t this ironic, then, because I also have a few questions for Andrew, but unfortunately he’s disappeared.”

“Disappeared?” Layla said. “Since when?”

“Since the beginning of the summer. Supposedly he’s called Nathan to check in, but I haven’t seen him myself in almost three months.”

Diana rubbed her wrist. It obviously agitated her to have to say this out loud.

“I’m sorry,” Layla said.

Diana gave her a sharp look. “We were high school sweethearts, you know. When we met, he was a senior and I was freshman. Then he went to Carnegie Mellon, and we continued to date. I was very in love with him, our families got along, and I was sure we’d get married. I even applied for early admission to Chatham, a local all-women’s college, so I could stay near him. But then the night before my first day of college, he broke up with me. He said he didn’t think it was right we had only ever dated each other and he wanted to explore other options.”

She looked Layla up and down with frank disapproval. “I’d heard he started dating some freshman at his school soon after that. I’m guessing that was you. How long were you two together?”

Layla bit her lip. “I guess it was me, but I’m not sure how long we were together. Jessica thinks the entire school year. But I fell late that spring and there was some confusion after the accident. Then I moved to another state.”

Diana’s mouth twisted into a bitter smile. “He called me early that summer. I thought he had finally come to see reason, that we were meant to be together, but I guess, he called because you were no longer available.”

Layla really didn’t want that to be true. “I’m sure he loved you. And he probably still does,” she said. “Maybe he’s just going through a mid-life crisis. Maybe— ”

The doorbell rang, and Diana turned to look toward it. “Excuse me,” she said. “Our house staff is off on Mondays.”

Layla waited in the receiving room, kicking herself. Not only had she gotten exactly zero of the answers she’d come for, but she’d also upset Andrew’s wife. She could kill Nathan for having put her in this position.

But then as if conjured by her murderous thoughts of him, he came striding into receiving room, his face a thunder cloud of dark fury.

And Layla realized the woman she had just been feeling so sorry for had not only ratted her out to Nathan, but had also deliberately stalled her with tea to keep her there.