Any Man I Want (18 page)

“Thanks for sending the text. I'll see you at Madere's tomorrow,” I whispered in his ear. He hugged me back.

“Sorry you had to see this. Take care of my brother tonight?”

“No worries. Every night if he'll let me,” I'll promised.

Without a look back, Chris escaped.

Caleb turned to Carter. “Son?”

Carter hugged his grandfather and reached out a hand to me. “Thanks, Gramps. Bye, Caleb, Clara. Let's go, Kitty.”

We left the room and flashbulbs went off again. I took a step back. “I'm ready to get outta here.”

“Let's head home.” We signaled to Stavros that we were leaving. The valet brought the car around and we slid gratefully into it. As we drove off, he said, “I'm sorry you had to see that.”

“I'm kind of glad I did. It explains a lot. I wish I'd asked you about them sooner. I had no idea that they were so . . .”

“Mercenary?” he said sardonically.

“Disengaged,” I amended diplomatically.

“That's a polite way to say it.”

I turned in my seat to look at him. “Anyway, I think you're amazing.”

“How do you figure?” He flashed me a look.

“To have those parents and those experiences and still be the man you are? That's pretty awesome, Mr. Parks.” Carter could've chosen to play the victim. With the parental example he had, it would have been so easy for him to wallow and take shortcuts to get where he was today. He could've allowed his upbringing and circumstances to define him, but that was not who he was. Carter was the kind of man who rose above; who went above and beyond to be the best that he could be with no excuses. It was one of the many things that I admired about him. I wasn't sure that faced with the same set of circumstances I would've turned out as well. I was blessed. Not only in my family, but also the man who had chosen to love me.

I also understood why he waited so long to take our relationship beyond casual. The Montgomerys, myself included, were the only traditional family unit he had ever known. I knew in that moment that no matter what happened between us, I would never take that away from him. But I planned to work like hell to make sure it would never be an issue. Carter Parks was a keeper.

“Thank you, Katrina. That means a lot, coming from you. Now you see why I love your parents so damned much. As if I need any more reason than the fact that they gave me my best friend and the love of my life.”

I smiled at him. “You're sweet. I'd show you how sweet, but I'm exhausted.”

“My parents have that effect on people.”

“Why didn't you tell me how bad it was?”

“I don't like talking about it.”

“To me?”

“To anyone,” he said tersely.

“You're gonna have to change that behavior, CP. From here on out, we're a team. If it bothers you, it bothers me and I want to hear about it. Got it?” I said sternly.

“Yes, ma'am.”

“All right, then. I like Stavros, by the way.”

“Yeah, he's been great to me.”

“You may not have had the best parents in the world, but you managed to align yourself with really great people along the way.”

“I've been lucky,” he said modestly.

“Blessed.”

“That too,” he agreed. “You know one blessing I am thankful for?”

“I can think of several. Which one did you have in mind?”

“Specifically that big, new bed my hot new girlfriend purchased.”

“Ha! Your hot new girlfriend is useful.”

“I have to agree with you. The spirit is willing . . . but I'm exhausted too. All the sexy is gonna have to wait; sleep is about to happen.”

“You get no argument from me. I can't think of the last time we got eight straight hours.”

He grinned at me. “How about we go for six and see what the morning brings?”

I grinned back. “You've got yourself a deal, mister.” We drove the rest of the short distance home in comfortable, contented silence.

Carter—Sunday, July 18—2:39 p.m.

 

 

C
hris and Chase were playing video games, Madere was in the kitchen, Pops and Gramps were dueling over a chessboard in the sunroom. Belle, Beau, Roman, Jewel, Katrina, and I had finished eating brunch after church; we were reviewing the files left for us by Captain Calvin.

“I say we expose all of this the night of Katrina's party,” Belle said as we sat around one of the tables in Madere and Pops's family room.

Nodding, Roman flipped back through the information we had been given. Looked like Kevin Delancey and Renee Nightingale had quite a bit to answer for. “Did they really think we wouldn't figure it out?”

“The last straw was the anonymous offer to buy BellaRich,” Beau said.

Katrina smirked. “If they had covered their tracks a little better, maybe not pulled together financial backing that had ties to Greg's bank. Once we found that, it wasn't so hard to look at the proposed business plan they attached to the financial documents and see not only who was behind the offer, but also who they planned to put in charge once the sale went through.” She rolled her eyes.

“I'm actually a little insulted that Renee underestimated us like this,” Jewel said, grimacing.

Captain Calvin had put together a pretty clear trail of documents showing that Kevin had decided to buy BellaRich well over a year ago. He'd had a third party make an offer and it was rejected. The offer was rejected for the simple reason that BellaRich, much like Parks Properties, was a privately owned company. They were both family companies. It was my intention that Parks Properties stay in my family for at least the next generation. It was Belle's plan that either a Richards (her family) or a Montgomery would own and run BellaRich.

For some reason, Kevin took his offer being turned down as a challenge, so he decided he needed a way in with the Montgomerys. His first plan was to meet and marry Katrina. His backup plan was to disparage the company, hoping to drive the price down, maybe thinking they would want to get rid of it because of the bad publicity. He failed at both.

Somewhere along the way in his research on Katrina, Belle, and Beau, he must have come across the connection to Renee. Apparently, he reached out to her and together they planned the hidden cameras, the leaking of the photos, the release of the fake sex tape, and all the rest of the rumors and innuendos.

When we paired what the captain found with the video, e-mails, and phone calls from Renee's own laptop, we had all the evidence we needed to not only file civil and criminal charges, but also to turn all the negative publicity right back around on them.

It felt good to be able to tie this up in a bow. The sooner we got past this, the sooner we could get on with our future. I was ready to live the rest of my life with Katrina, no looking back. I spoke up. “Belle, you should let a few people know that you are interested in entertaining offers for the company. Get Danila to leak that we are planning on making a big announcement at Katrina's birthday party. That's just enough to get Kevin and Renee to relax their guard, start thinking things are going their way. Really, this party is perfect timing. We should make this event a big deal. I have a building downtown in what they're calling SoCo now, South of Colorado Street. We're converting it into life-work-play units that would be perfect. Let's invite all of Roman's customers, Jewel's customers, mine, BellaRich's, and the media. All of the press we can get there. We make a point of inviting Kevin. We invite that Royal Mahogany CEO, the other accusers. We definitely invite Renee.”

“You think she'll show?” Belle asked.

Jewel nodded emphatically. “She won't be able to pass up the opportunity.”

Beau rubbed his hands together. “Yes. I like this plan. We do cocktails, sit everybody down for dinner, act like we're going to roll a montage tape on Kit-Kat and—”

“Yep, we shut all the shit down in one fell swoop.” I nodded.

“Boom. Busted.” Roman grinned.

“Sounds great,” Jewel said. “I am beyond ready for this to be over. Now who is going to pull together this extravaganza in less than a week's time?”

Katrina was typing on her Galaxy tablet. “I'm e-mailing the admins, Shawn and Tara. Jewel, Suzanne is still with you?”

“Yep, and she knows a great event planner too.”

“Excellent,” Belle said, stifling a yawn.

“Someone keeping you up nights, Delaney Mirabella?” Katrina teased.

She smiled wearily. “Actually, I didn't sleep well and Pastor Moss got all long-winded this morning about the wages of sin. It was all I could do not to nap in the pew.”

“Denial is more than a river in Egypt,” Beau muttered.

“Girl, you still haven't taken that pregnancy test?” Jewel smothered a laugh. “Are you gonna wait until you're in the delivery room?”

“I'm not pregnant,” Belle responded with a sniff.

Beau, Roman, and I exchanged looks. We knew enough to keep our mouths shut.

Madere came out of the kitchen. “Enough business. I have lemon bars and strawberry shortcake. Anyone have a sweet tooth today?”

Every hand at the table went up. I pushed back my chair and stood up. “I'll come help you, Madere.”

“Suck up,” Beau whispered as I walked past. I smacked him on the side of the head and kept moving.

Pops looked up as I followed Madere and I tilted my head toward the kitchen to ask him to follow. He raised a brow, said a few words to Gramps, and joined me.

Opening the freezer, I handed Madere the whipped cream. I started slicing dessert as I decided how to say what I needed to say. This needed to be done right the first time. I only wanted to do this once.

“Son, we ain't gettin' no younger.” Pops crossed his arms and leaned back against the counter with a sly grin.

Madere rapped him on the hand with a wooden spoon. “Let the boy get his thoughts together.”

There was nothing to it, but to do it. “You both know I think of you as parents.”

They smiled and nodded. “And you're a son to us. Always have been, always will be.” Pops said gruffly, “You're a fine man. We couldn't be prouder.”

Clearing my throat, I pushed past the emotion and continued. “I want you to know that I love your daughter, Katrina, very much.”

“We know that,
mon fils
. We know. You really don't have a good poker face around her,” Alanna tittered.

“Then I would very much appreciate your blessing to marry your daughter.”

Alanna and Avery looked at each other and after a high five and a fist bump, they began laughing joyously. It might have been more of a delighted chortle. Madere raised her hands to the heavens dramatically and started shaking her hips and snapping her fingers. “Praise God.”

“All praises,” Pops said, bumping his booty with Madere. They did some sort of dip and a skip and a step-together-step dance around the kitchen.

“Hallelu! Last one down and we thought it would never happen.” Madere giggled.

I pursed my lips to keep from laughing at the two of them. “So I take it that's a yes?”

“That's a
hell yes
, boy.” Pops grinned from ear to ear. “Time's a-wastin'. How soon are you thinkin' you want to do this? Any chance you can do a twofer birthday party-slash-wedding?”

“Ease up a minute,” I scolded them. “All in good time. I've got to ask her first.”

Madere stopped dancing long enough to come over and kiss me on both cheeks. “No child of mine would be foolish enough to turn you down. We've always been so gratified to have you in our lives. This makes us so very, very happy.”

“Thanks Madere.” It meant a lot.

“Good job, boy. Damned good job.” Pops pulled me into a hug.

“All I did was fall in love with the woman you raised. So good job to both of you and thank you so much for everything you've done and been to me all these years.” I got a little choked up and Pops patted me comfortingly on the shoulder.

Madere teared up and ran out to the sunroom. She flung herself into Gramps's lap and kissed him on both cheeks. “You raised a good boy.”

“He raised two good boys!” Chris called out from in front of the TV. No one paid him any attention.

“What's all the hugging and happy dancing about?” Katrina asked.

“Just talking about the gift your man got you for your birthday,” Pops answered with a wink at me.

“Oooo!” She clapped. “I love gifts. Gimme a hint, it's got to be good if you two are reliving your disco days. Someone tell me!”

I pretended not to hear her and leaned down to Madere and Gramps. “You all wanna run an errand with me?”

“Right now?' Gramps asked, looking wistfully at the lemon bars that were disappearing from the platter.

Madere laughed at him. “Collin, you know I put some on the side for you.”

Gramps stood up with Madere in his arms. “Avery, you better watch yourself. I'm going to steal this filly from you yet.”

“Take your best shot, old-timer,” Avery responded with the confidence of a man who was happily married for four decades and counting.

“Madere, Gramps, and I are stepping out for a second,” I announced to the room. Heads swiveled in our direction.

“What's that about?” Beau asked.

Madere stared them all down. “Everybody just mind your business and try not to tear the house up while we're gone. Chase?”

Chase dropped his video controller and stood up. “Yes, ma'am?”

“You're in charge.”

“Don't worry ‘bout nuttin,' Madere,” he announced.

“There goes the neighborhood.” Pops sat, settling into his La-Z-Boy with his dessert and a spoon

The next generation of Montgomerys didn't fall far from the tree.

 

 

We sat in the back room of a discreet office tucked in an innocuous building in Uptown. In front of us sat an open briefcase with row upon row of diamond rings. I considered myself a connoisseur of fine things, but all of the rings looked exactly the same. Nothing stood out. “None of these look like Kit-Kat to me,” I groused before turning to Gramps and Madere. “What do you think?”

Madere shook her head. Gramps frowned. “She can buy her own regular diamonds. You need to get her something she wouldn't think to get herself.”

“
Exactement
.” Madere bobbed her head affirmatively.

I looked at Alton, the wholesale jeweler, and raised my hands. “We're gonna need to see something exotic.”
Exotic
probably meant expensive, but how often did one get engaged? My hope was just this once.

“Yup.” Gramps nodded. “That's the word I'm looking for: exotic.”

Alton closed the case and slid it to the floor before pulling out a different one. “Okay, then. How about these?” He opened a case where a lot of colored stones perched in a mixture of settings.

“Ooo. Now were talkin'.
Que c'est beau!
” Madere exclaimed and reached for the same ring that I was reaching for. It was a large pear-shaped pink stone set in a band of small, round stones in shades of green and blue. “What is this?” she asked, her eyes wide.

Alton grinned and I stifled a groan. A grin like that was guaranteed to cost me a mint. “You have a wonderful eye, Mrs. Montgomery. That is a flawless four-karat pink diamond. The band has sapphire, emerald, green amethyst, aquamarine, and tanzanite. That gives you a total of eight-and-a-half-karats' worth of stones set into a platinum band.”

Gramps laughed. “I don't even know what half of that is, but I can hear the
ca-ching
from here.”

Madere looked at the ring and then back at me. “Perhaps we could pick out something less ostentatious. A little more sedate, no?”

“Because your daughter is so toned down?” I teased. “Alton, how much is that?”

He named a figure that had my grandfather cackling while slapping his thigh. Madere gasped audibly and I just shook my head. Fancy woman, fancy ring.

I sighed dramatically. “No worries, we can dip into Chris's trust fund, Gramps can move in with me, and I'll sell the Benz.”

“Wait a minute!” Gramps protested worriedly.

“
Mais non
!” Madere looked appalled and set the ring down on the table quickly.

A bead of sweat popped out on Alton's brow as he sensed the sale slipping away. “I could take fifteen percent off since it's you, Carter.” Right. Like he was doing me a favor? Time to play hardball.

“Or you could cut twenty-five percent off, knowing I'll need the matching necklace and earrings. That way, you'll toss in the bracelet for old times' sake.” I stared him down.

He winced. “For old times' sake.”

With a wide smile, I handed him my credit card. “Have the ring sized down to a six. I'll be back for it later in the week. Wrap the rest up for me.”

Madere's mouth fell open and then closed again as Alton jumped up with a smile of his own. Madere leaned over to hug me and one more item caught my eye. I pointed at them and signaled to Alton that I would take those as well. He scurried to go run my card and get the packages together before I change my mind.

“So much money!” Madere exclaimed with a hand over her heart.

“I had to do it; that ring is Katrina all day.”

“It's one of a kind, just like Katrina,” Gramps agreed. “When I married your grandmother, I took out a three-hundred-and-fifty-dollar loan that I paid off in twenty-four months. I got her a bigger ring for our ten-year anniversary, but she never took off the first one. Wore it until the day cancer took her, God rest her soul.” I nodded sympathetically. I had never met my grandmother, but no one ever had a bad thing to say about her.

Madere held up her hand. “I've worn this beat-up gold band every day of my married life. Avery got me a big old diamond for our twenty-fifth anniversary, but I only wear that for special occasions.”