The Owner of His Heart

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR





“SO YOU’RE really planning to choose Nathan over me?” Andrew said as they pulled into the valet service line outside of his Fox Chapel mansion. Since it was technically his house, he could have parked in the separate garage structure. But Andrew, being the chivalrous type, had opted for the valet line since Layla was wearing heels.

Layla winced. “It sounds like I already chose Nathan a long time ago. It just took a while for me to get back to him.”

“But he’s not like you,” Andrew said. “He’s not a good person. Half the time, he’s not even a decent person. You and I make sense, but you and he don’t.”

Layla turned to face him. “You know how you were describing your relationship with Diana as a puppet show? I think that’s how I’d feel if I chose you. Logically we make sense, but no matter what, my heart belongs to Nathan.”

Andrew gripped the wheel, his face the picture of bitterness. “Wow, leave it to Nathan to take the one girl I’ve ever really loved.”

“He didn’t take me,” Layla said. “I chose him, too. We chose each other. And just let me point out, neither of you have been particularly honorable throughout this whole ordeal. You could have told him, but instead you let him spend years thinking I’d chosen you over him.”

Andrew’s jaw set just like Nathan’s often did. For two people who claimed to be exact opposites, they had an awful lot in common, Layla thought.

“It’s not like he really loved you back then or now. He’s probably just using you to get under my skin. He likes doing that, you know.”

A certain serenity stole over Layla after Andrew accused Nathan of pretending to care about her just to get a rise out of his brother. Suddenly, she didn’t just hope, she knew down to her very core this wasn’t the case. “No, he loves me. He might not have said the words yet, but I know he loves me. I mean, he was so petrified you were going to steal me away, that he had a provision for it in the marriage contract he offered me.”

“Wait a minute,” Andrew said. “He asked you to marry him? Just to keep you away from me? And how is he not a bastard again?”

Layla reached across the space between them and cupped his face in her hand. “Don’t be like this, Andrew.”

“Like what,” he asked, his jaw still clenched tight.

“Don’t let my choosing Nathan make you bitter. There’s a woman out there who truly is perfect for you, who will love you the way you deserve to be loved. Meanwhile, Nathan is your brother, the only one you have. Do you know how much I’ve always longed for a sibling? I won’t come between you two, so you either need to give Nathan and me your blessing, or you need to tell me to leave town, so you two can get back to being brothers again. Whatever you decide, I’ll do it.”

The valet knocked on the window. Yes, it was Nathan’s house, but they were holding up the valet line.

“Just a moment, please,” Layla said through the closed window. Then she turned back to Andrew and waited for his answer.

***



Nathan changed into his tux and drove himself to the party after sending the car that came to pick up Layla away. But even with those delays, he arrived before she and Andrew did. Kate found him soon after he entered the ballroom, which was already crowded with the city’s most powerful movers and shakers. The Sinclair Ball had been the exclusive event that marked that end of summer since before he was born. And making the guest list was considered an informal invitation to the local “It” list for up-and-coming business, political, and media stars alike.

“I’ve set everything up,” Kate told him, covertly slipping the box with the emerald engagement ring they’d picked out inside into his tux pocket. “But where’s Layla?”

“With my brother,” Nathan answered between gritted teeth.

Kate’s eyes went wide with surprise and sympathy. “So he’s back?”

“Yes, and it doesn’t look like there will be a proposal.”

“Are you sure? Because Layla really did seem to sincerely like you…”

“I’m sure,” Nathan said, his voice clipped. “I’m also sure I no longer want to talk about this particular subject. Thank you for setting everything up, now please undo it.”

“Of course, Mr. Sinclair. Right away.”

Kate rushed away to do his bidding. And he found himself wondering if he should have been a little more polite after all the work she’d done to make his proposal to Layla special. But then he caught himself, realizing he wouldn’t even be thinking such a thing if Layla hadn’t barged into his life and changed it so irrevocably.

He knew he should focus on the business of the party. Seek out Matsuda and see if it was yea or nay for the factory deal, but he couldn’t get the picture of Andrew’s smug smirk out of his mind.

Were they kissing now? Is that why they hadn’t arrived yet? Maybe they had decided to skip the party altogether and finish their reunion     in a hotel room. He could just hear Layla fretting over him seeing them together and suggesting she and Andrew not come so as to spare his feelings. It made him want to storm out of the party, track them down, and drag Layla back to his bed like a caveman.

But before he could act on that impulse, Kate reappeared at his side. “Would you like me to tell the movers to take Ms. Matthews things to Savannah after all?”

His first instinct was to say yes and congratulate himself for making her sign that contract before Andrew returned to town. But then he thought about the way Layla had glared at him when she defended Jessica’s contacting Andrew. “By sweet, I mean she did what you were unwilling to do—help me get answers.”

The fact was, Andrew had been right about him. Nathan had been angry at Layla for choosing Andrew ten years ago, but he’d also taken advantage of her memory loss, manipulated her into both signing that contract and staying in his bed, and now he was going to make it very difficult for her to be with his brother, a man who everyone would agree was probably much better suited to her, a man he’d stolen her from in the first place.

“No,” he said out loud. “This stops now. Call Layla and tell her I’m cancelling the contract she signed. If she wants to stay in Pittsburgh, I won’t stop her. Tell her…” The words caught in his throat, but it didn’t make them any less true. “Tell her I just want her to be happy.”

He could barely believe it, but it was true. For once, Nathan Sinclair cared about someone else’s happiness more than his own.

***



Despite the valet’s presence outside of the window, it still took Andrew a while to answer her ultimatum. But eventually he said, “Fine, if you’re really that in love with him, I’m not going to get in your way. Go be with him.”

Layla gasped and clapped her hands together. “Really?”

He rolled his eyes, looking both amused and aggrieved. “Yes, really Layla. Now get out of the car before I change my mind.”


She didn’t have to be told twice. She jumped out and dashed into the party. There was a long queue at the door, but Layla spotted Kate talking to the woman with a clipboard at the front of the line—probably the party planner Andrew had mentioned earlier. She ran over to them.

“Hi, Kate, I hate to skip the line, but I really need to find Nathan.”

Kate’s face lit up when Layla said this, and to Layla’s surprise the older woman pulled her into a tight hug. “Oh, I knew you would pick Nathan. I never should have doubted you.”

But then something else seemed to occur to Kate. She drew back with a worried look on her face. “Oh that means, I’ll still need to…” She cut her eyes to Layla, but didn’t finish that sentence. “Yes, go right on in, dear. I’ll take care of everything else.”

Layla wondered what the “everything else” was all about, but her urgent need to find Nathan and say yes to his marriage proposal overpowered her curiosity. After giving Kate’s a quick arm squeeze in thanks, she ran inside. However, before she could make it from the receiving foyer to the main foyer where the ball was being held, a small hand grabbed her arm.

Layla turned around to see Diana. The blond was dressed appropriately in a tasteful black silk gown, but she wore no makeup and her long hair hung in a tangled mess.

“Oh, Diana, hi,” Layla said. “I thought you weren’t going to attend the ball this year.”

“No, I wasn’t, but I decided to rally,” Diana said, her voice quivering. “Could you join me in the library? It’s right over here.”

Worried about Diana’s obviously fragile state, Layla followed her into a large room right off the foyer, and closed the door behind them. She took a moment to note the window seat against the far wall. That must have been where she and Nathan first made love.

But then she turned her attention back to Diana, who had moved to a position behind a large heavy oak desk. There was something off about her eyes. She looked to be on the verge of tears but also on the edge of a scream.

Layla’s heart went out to Andrew’s obviously distraught, soon-to-be ex-wife. “I know you’re trying to rally, but it’s probably not good for you to be here emotionally. Maybe you should let me take you to a hotel. If you give me a moment, I can borrow Nathan’s car.”

Diana opened a drawer. “I saw you and Andrew outside. You had your hand on his cheek. Are you getting back together then?” she asked.

“Oh, that,” Layla said. “No, that wasn’t anything. I was just saying good-bye.”

“I don’t believe you,” Diana said, her voice suddenly going from quivering to hard as stone.

“It’s true. There’s nothing between Andrew and me. In fact, I’m in love with…”

She stopped when Diana pulled a gun out of the desk drawer and pointed it straight at her.

Fear sent her heart into her stomach with a metallic thud, and she took a step back. “Diana, what are you doing?”

Diana set her mouth in a grim line, before saying, “I told you to leave Pittsburgh. But you didn’t listen to me, did you? So now, I’m going to have to kill you.”