Grayson Brothers Series Boxed Set (4 books in 1) (29 page)

The knock at her private entrance startled Amelia. The board members always entered through the front door of the schoolhouse for their meetings, and Amelia left her connecting door open so she would hear them arrive. They had never breached her privacy by coming to her personal entrance.

Maybe it was Eva coming to warn Amelia that she was in for an hour of chastising because of the scene with Richard at the bank. Amelia sighed and opened the door, just wanting the meeting over with so she could figure out how to support her mother without succumbing to Richard’s proposition.

To her shock, Kyle Grayson planted his hands against the doorframe and angled his powerful body toward her. “We have to talk,” he said, in his straightforward manner.

Amelia blinked, unable to believe he was really standing in her doorway when he knew perfectly well his presence at her apartment would be viewed as the ultimate sin. Concerned for both of them, she peered over his shoulder to see if Eva and Philmore Bentley were leaving their house yet. “You can’t be seen here, Kyle.”

“I know. I’m sorry for putting you at risk, but we have a problem to discuss. Did you know that your father’s mill is nearly bankrupt?”

She honestly hadn’t until a few hours ago. Believing Kyle had come to rescind his offer on the mill, Amelia opened her mouth to beg him not to do it, but the rattle of carriage wheels sounded in the street. Knowing Kyle could be seen from the road, and that she would end up losing the only income she had, she grabbed his arm and tugged him inside. Despite his surprise, she shut the door behind him then tried to calm her pounding heart.

He towered over her, standing so close that she could see the dark flecks in his eyes. She could smell fresh-cut wood and evening air emanating from his clothing along with a hint of aftershave. Whiskers speckled his jaw, and his thick hair was swept off his forehead as though he’d repeatedly shoved it back with his fingers. Even tired and work-worn, Kyle Grayson was disgustingly attractive. Amelia lowered her lashes, appalled that she would notice something so trite during such a catastrophic crisis. To her further dismay, her gaze riveted on the hair peeking from his open collar. The queer thrill in her stomach stoked her frustration as much as his news had.

“My brothers are ready to kill me for making such a bad investment, Miss Drake.” His quiet statement spelled doom. He stared directly into her eyes. “If one of them had done this, I would fire them. I’m sorry, but in their interest, I have to cancel our agreement. The mill is debt-ridden. It could drag my own business into bankruptcy. I can’t ask my brothers to take that risk.”

“But I already used your draft to pay off the mortgage on Mama’s house.”

“Your father mortgaged the house, too?” Kyle pinched the bridge of his perfect, proud nose and shook his head. “There isn’t any hope of saving the mill.” He sighed and looked away, his gaze perusing the stark little box she lived in. “Jeb doesn’t know what’s going on, either. Do you think your father might have talked to your mother about his debt?”

Amelia shook her head and braced herself against the solid bulk of the table. Her father would have never worried her mother with his financial troubles. She wouldn’t, either. Her mother was suffering enough heartache and worry without knowing the precarious state of their security.

“Do you have any relatives who can help you?” Kyle asked, oblivious to the panic drowning her.

“No.”

“There isn’t anyone anywhere that you and your mother can depend on?”

“My mother has a widowed sister in Georgia, who’s as poor as a church mouse. She’s our only living relative that I’m aware of.”

“You’re serious?” She nodded and his gaze darted through the room as if searching for something to punch his fist through. “What was your father thinking?”

“If you don’t know the circumstances, don’t blame him for this.”

Kyle stared in disbelief. “Who do you think is responsible for this mess?”

She shrugged. “There could be a million reasons for Papa’s financial problems. It may not be his fault at all.”

“It most certainly is his fault! His bad decisions drove his mill into debt, and it could drag mine with it.” Kyle grabbed her wrist and tugged her away from the table. “If you need proof of that we can take a trip to his mill right now and I’ll show you the mess he has made.”

The absurdity of her situation washed over her, and Amelia’s emotions spiraled out of control. It would be so easy to sink to the floor in a laughing, weeping mess, but something stronger burned inside her and shoved aside self-pity. She’d had enough. She refused to be a victim any longer.

Every man in her life had manipulated her or let her down. From the moment of her birth, she’d lived her life under someone else’s rules. She’d adored her father and appreciated his support, but she’d lived by his standards, not her own. After her affair with Richard she traded her freedom for a minuscule monthly stipend and a pristine reputation as a teacher. Now, because of a mistake in her past, one man’s arrogance, and another man’s bad decisions, her reputation and security were on the verge of destruction.

She tried to jerk her arm free, but Kyle kept her wrist captive. “Leave my apartment!” she demanded, refusing to be pushed or manhandled ever again. When Kyle still didn’t release her wrist, she swung her foot straight into his shin.

Air whistled in between his clenched teeth and a sickly expression washed over his face as he swayed on his feet, but it was the low groan of pain and his hand clutching for the bedpost that made Amelia realize what she’d done.

“Your leg! Oh, Kyle... I’m sorry.”

His entire body trembled and perspiration covered his face as she guided him onto her bed, but he didn’t say a word. He clenched his fists in his lap until his knuckles turned white. His chest heaved and he squeezed his eyes shut, but the suspicious sparkle of moisture on his dark lashes rent Amelia’s heart.

“Kyle,” she said softly, touching his taut, damp cheek. “I’m so sorry. I forgot about your injury.” He didn’t respond and Amelia wasn’t sure if it was because he was so angry or because he was in too much pain to do so.

She grabbed a freshly laundered towel off her linen stand and soaked it in the bucket of water she’d just drawn from the well. When she turned toward the bed, Kyle was sitting with his head tipped back against the wall, his eyes tightly closed. “I’ll need to lift your pants leg.”

He didn’t respond.

Amelia raised the lightweight denim as gently as possible. When she saw Kyle’s shin covered with black tissue and swollen to the point of deformity, she nearly wept with remorse for her rash behavior. How stupid she’d been. Swallowing back her nausea, she applied the cold, dripping cloth and apologized for the discomfort when he flinched. Her eyes blurred with tears and she cursed herself again for her inconsiderate act. It wasn’t his fault her father was in debt, that her life was falling apart.

He let out a shaky breath. “Do you have another wet cloth?”

His voice came out graveled and slow, and it was apparent he was in no condition to lean over and hold the compress to his leg. She glanced around the room, but there was nothing to use to pin the cloth in place. She plucked a pin from her hair and slipped it over the area where the two ends of the fabric crossed. With the reinforcement of four more hairpins the rag stayed in place. She crossed to her linen stand, unmindful of her hair trailing down her back.

She wet a fresh towel, wrung the excess into her potted plant, the only living thing allowed to share her tiny apartment with her, and then returned to Kyle’s side. After folding the towel, she pressed it to his forehead.

“Thank you,” he said, his voice strained.

She didn’t answer for lack of an appropriate response. No matter how many times she apologized, it would not lessen the pain she’d caused him or the guilt she was suffering for kicking him.

Minutes passed while he sat stiff and silent. Unable to offer comfort, she knelt before him and removed the cloth from his leg. She soaked it with cold water then pinned it back in place. When she stood to freshen the towel on his face, Kyle captured her wrist. Startled, she glanced down and found herself gazing into a pair of hurting, earth-colored eyes.

“I’m sorry I acted like a fool,” he said quietly.

She couldn’t have been more shocked by his apology if he’d said he would pay off her debts and marry her to boot. “You’re sorry? I kicked
you
, remember?”

“Vividly. But I prompted the action, and for that, I apologize.”

It disconcerted her to stand so close while he shrewdly assessed her from beneath those long, dark lashes. “Why are you looking at me like that?”

“I’m waiting to see if you’re going to faint on me again.” Despite his obvious pain, his lips quirked and made her heart ache.

“I thought you might do the same a moment ago.” Her shoulders sagged. “Your leg looks awful. Shouldn’t you see the doctor again, just to make sure it’s all right?”

“Is that concern from the lady who just kicked me?”

Amelia lowered her lashes and leaned over to change the cloth on his forehead. “I forgot about your shin.”

“I shouldn’t have grabbed you.” He gently lifted her wrist to inspect it. “I’m sorry I hurt you.” Her eyes met his. “And I’m sorry I offended you the day I said I wasn’t interested in marriage. It wasn’t meant as a reflection on you, Miss Drake.”

She flushed over his unexpected apology. “The way I dress, I wouldn’t expect any man to be interested in me.”

He looked at her as if she were crazy. “You could be dressed in rags and men would still be interested.”

Unable to speak past the thrilling sensation in her chest, she ducked her head. Her hair slipped forward over her shoulder and she reached up to brush it back, but Kyle stopped her hand. Their eyes met, his gaze intimate and heated as he drew her forward and kissed her.

Kyle knew the moment his lips touched Amelia’s that he’d made a colossal mistake. Every cell in his body exploded with unadulterated lust. He hadn’t meant to kiss her, didn’t even know how or why it had happened. He’d tried to warn himself of the disastrous results in that split second before their lips met, but no force on earth could have kept him from responding to the answering touch of her tongue upon his own.

She sank onto his lap and draped her arms around his neck, drawing him deeper into the kiss.

Kyle was lost. He lingered, savored, floated in the euphoric thrill that shot through his body. Like the one and only time he’d ever kissed Amelia, nothing existed but her. Her mouth. The feel of her hands in his hair. As if the rest of his world had gone black, Amelia became that pinpoint of light that drew him forward, that beckoned him to reach, to touch, to bask in the warmth of her soft yellow glow.

He began to lay her back on the bed and lose himself in her touch, but streaks of pain ripped up his leg and made his fists clench. Reluctantly, he ended the kiss and sucked in a mind-clearing gulp of air.

Her eyes opened, lazy and dazed as she stared up at him.

Kyle struggled to control the combination of pain and lust ravaging his body. As the sharp ache in his leg slowly abated, he stared at Amelia, wondering how a schoolteacher had learned to kiss a man like she’d been making love with him for years. He eased his hand off her hip. “My shin isn’t appreciating our position.”

A quizzical expression crossed her face then her eyes widened with understanding. “Oh!” Her palms hit his chest and she shoved herself off his lap. In a flurry of embarrassed fumbling, she straightened her skirt and pushed her hair off her red face. “I didn’t realize, I mean, I’m sorry.”

* * *

Thoroughly flustered, Amelia backed against the table and steadied herself against its solid bulk. Her legs trembled and she felt flushed from her ears to her ankles as she stared at Kyle. Even with a few feet separating them, she felt overwhelmed by his presence. His dark gaze beckoned her back into his arms, but she wasn’t going near him. Despite the thrill of his touch, losing control of her mind and body had scared the life out of her. That had never happened with Richard.

Kyle leaned forward and braced his elbows on his knees. “We’ve got to figure out what to do about the lumberyard.”

The what? She’d just experienced an emotional earthquake and Kyle was thinking about money? She gripped the table for support. If she had the strength, she would cross the floor and kick him in the shin again. Had he felt nothing at all during the kiss?

The abrupt clearing of a throat yanked Amelia’s attention toward the connecting door of the schoolroom where, to her horror, Eva and Phil Bentley stood with Judith Morton and Clara Bortwick. “I’m afraid that discussion will have to wait, Mr. Grayson. We have a board meeting scheduled that Miss Drake has apparently forgotten about.” The reddish hue of Eva’s face clearly expressed the depth of her outrage. Judith Morton and Clara Bortwick glanced at each other with such stricken expressions Amelia thought their hearts had stopped beating. But it was the suspicion in Kyle’s eyes, as if he knew Amelia had purposely trapped him that made her heart thud.

Her stomach slammed into her ribs and her knees weakened. She leaned against the edge of the table and braced her hand on the smooth maple surface. There wasn’t a single suitable excuse that would explain Kyle’s presence in her apartment, nor could she convince Kyle that she hadn’t planned this, because in the back of her mind, she had considered this very thing the instant she had pulled him into her apartment.

Kyle lunged to his feet and grabbed at the bedpost to steady himself. He dwarfed the room as he faced the gawking board members. “This isn’t what you’re thinking.”

“Then what is it, exactly?” Eva’s accusing gaze told Amelia her time as a teacher was over.

Fearing the repercussions from both Kyle and the board, Amelia struggled to speak, to correct their misinterpretation of the liaison they thought they were witnessing, but not a word of explanation would squeak from her tight throat. Spurts of panic raced through her body, making her legs quake and her heart pound. She couldn’t fix this.

Mortified by her own disheveled appearance, Amelia scooped her loose hair behind her shoulders with trembling hands.

“Phil, are you aware that I just bought Tom’s lumberyard?” Kyle asked.

Phil nodded, his forehead creased as though trying to figure out what that had to do with Kyle lounging on Amelia’s bed.

“I came by to discuss a problem we’re having there, but I barked my shin on that stool.” He pointed to a hard wooden chair sitting cockeyed beside the table. “If you remember what my leg looked like at the funeral then you’ll know I couldn’t have walked back out that door to save my life. I was resting my leg and trying to get my breath back when you arrived.”

Eva glanced at the rumpled bed and their disheveled clothing and raised a censuring eyebrow. “I hardly believe it matters what circumstances caused you to be in Miss Drake’s bed. The fact is, you were.” With a pointed stare at Amelia’s unbound hair, she said, “You are well aware of what is considered respectable behavior and why we must enforce the rules with unbiased diligence. Two weeks ago we made an exception in light of your father’s passing. We will not bend our rules a second time to accommodate your behavior, especially after that incident at the bank this afternoon.”

“This is ludicrous!” Kyle said, his hard voice demanding their attention.

Eva straightened as if Kyle had spit in her face. Amelia clutched her stomach and feared her supper would soon be on the floor.

“I understand that you all have a responsibility to enforce proper protocol for this teaching position,” Kyle said, “and I respect that, but your unwarranted suspicions are humiliating Miss Drake and insulting my reputation.”

“Unwarranted!” Eva pressed her palm to the scarred wood doorframe as she thrust out her jaw. “This young woman rode off with you in the night without a chaperone not two weeks ago! Now we find you in her apartment lounging on her bed! I would say our concern is warranted, Mr. Grayson.”

“Miss Drake’s virtue has not been compromised.”

“I beg to differ with you.”

Amelia had to agree with Mrs. Bentley. She would be ruined when the gossips got hold of this.

Kyle faced the board members, and one by one they looked away from his quelling stare. “Phil, do you have reason to doubt my integrity?”

“Of course not.”

Kyle looked at Eva. “Do you have personal reservations about my character, Mrs. Bentley?”

Eva’s nostrils flared and she glared at him without speaking.

“Would you mind answering my question?”

“Yes, I do mind! You are insinuating yourself where you don’t belong, and I’m asking you to leave the school grounds this instant.”

“I’m standing here because you are rudely speculating about my character, which I’m entitled to defend.”

“Your integrity isn’t at issue, Mr. Grayson.”

“The devil it isn’t!” Kyle banged his fist down on the table with a crack that made everyone jerk back a step. “Your concern for Miss Drake’s reputation may be valid, Mrs. Bentley, but to imply I have damaged her after I gave you a logical explanation for my visit is not only absurd it’s insulting.”

“There is no suitable explanation for you being found on Miss Drake’s bed.” Mrs. Bentley pointed toward the door. “Now, I’m asking you for the last time to leave.”

Kyle closed his eyes and pinched the bridge of his nose. Amelia suspected he was fighting the urge to choke the old nag glaring at him and feared he was about to do something drastic. Or worse yet, maybe he was considering walking out the door and leaving Amelia’s job and her reputation in ruins.

“Wait a minute,” she blurted. Everyone turned surprised expressions in her direction. Her heart pounded, but she refused to let another man ruin her and walk away. “Kyle came here to ask me to marry him.”

Kyle’s eyes widened. How he kept his jaw from dropping she would never know, but he stared at her as if she’d lost her mind.

Despite her churning stomach and quaking legs, Amelia kept her chin high as she faced Eva’s glacial stare. Everyone seemed to be waiting for her to go on, including Kyle. “Kyle refused to leave without a positive answer.”

Judith Morton sighed as if she were reliving the first time she’d ever fallen in love. Phil glanced at Kyle as if to corroborate her story, but Kyle didn’t move a muscle.

Amelia looked at him and immediately wished she hadn’t when she saw the storm brewing in his eyes. Evelyn had said Kyle was hard-edged and too aggressive for his own good, and Amelia believed it. But Evelyn had also said on several occasions that Kyle was a good man deserving of a woman who could truly appreciate him. He was the sort of man her father would have chosen for her. He was the only man with the drive and intelligence to resurrect her father’s business, and he’d wanted the lumberyard enough to buy it. If Amelia let Kyle walk out, she would be ruined. If he backed out on his agreement to buy the mill, her father’s business would die and so would his memory. The bank would sell everything, including their house. Any physical reminder of her beloved father would be carted off or left to rot. And she would have no choice but to become Richard’s mistress until he tired of her.

Despite Kyle’s aversion to marriage, the kiss he’d just given her said he was attracted to her. Respect and attraction would make a perfectly suitable foundation for marriage. That would be enough to start with.

Amelia faced Kyle, her chin high despite her churning emotions. “I accept your proposal.”

His jaw clenched.

She silently beseeched him to understand and forgive, but he stood like a mountain, hard and unyielding. His rigid sense of honor wouldn’t allow him to rebuff her. He would marry her because his own actions had put her in this predicament, but Amelia’s heart ached knowing he would never forgive her for trapping him.

Eva turned to the trio behind her. “I believe our board meeting is unnecessary.” She turned back to Amelia. “As you are well aware, teachers are not allowed to marry while under contract. Judith will take over your duties in the morning.” Without a single word of well wishes or farewell, she led the board members out of the schoolhouse.

Amelia bit her tongue to keep from pleading with them not to leave her alone with Kyle. His dark eyes burned with anger. His fists were clenched at his sides.

“Am I to assume that you knew about your father’s debt?”

“Richard told me this afternoon. I was as shocked as you are.”

“But you still used my draft to pay off your mother’s mortgage?”

Shame filled Amelia, but she’d had to do it. “It was the only way I could guarantee that Mama would have a place to live.” She laced her fingers in front of her to keep her hands from shaking. “What would Mama and I have done with the mill, Kyle? You’re experienced enough to save it. We aren’t. I needed to protect Mama’s security and that was the only way I could do it.”

He was silent for so long that Amelia could hear the pounding of her own heart.

“Did you honestly forget about the board meeting?” he asked.

Her heart skipped and she shook her head. “No. Only when you kissed me.”

His nostrils flared and the anger returned to his eyes. “Do you realize that you’ve just committed us both to a marriage we can’t escape?”

Outrage swept through her. She hadn’t done anything but answer the door! Angry and humiliated, she clenched her fists. “
You
did that, Mr. Grayson, when you knocked on my door.”