Authors: Tamara Larson
“Well, I thought she’d never leave. Honestly, some people are so rude. Imagine insulting you like that in our own home,” Kerry said, smiling widely at him over her shoulder as she walked to the couch.
Duncan
opened his eyes to slits and watched her sit down and cross her legs provocatively, showing a lot of long, lean thigh through the slit in her skirt. She patted the cushion next to her and beckoned him to her. “Why don’t you bring those tight buns over here, so we can get down to business.” She licked her cherry red lips coyly and ran the nails of one hand down the deep vee of her neckline.
“You can’t be serious,”
Duncan
choked out, his eyes flashing in anger. “If you think I’m even remotely interested, you are even more messed up than even I ever suspected.” He remained leaning against the door but crossed his arms over his chest, feeling slightly exposed by his naked torso. The way she was looking at him was disturbing, like he was a Big Mac and she was Jenny Craig graduate looking to go on a bender.
“Oh
Duncan
, do you actually think I’m here to seduce you?” Kerry laughed and fell back against the cushions in her mirth. “You are full of yourself, aren’t you? One little redhead falls for your meager charms and now you think you’re Don Juan? I hardly think so, darling. I meant what I said. I’m here to get down to business, though I do hate to disappoint you. Maybe we can celebrate if things go well.”
“No thanks,”
Duncan
said, his teeth clenched and his hands fisted tightly in an effort to stem his irritation. How did she do that? Make him feel like an idiot all the time? “Can we just cut to the chase here? I have to work tomorrow and you need to get back to your cauldron, I’m sure, so why don’t you just tell me why you’re here.” He pushed away from the door and reached into the foyer closet for something to cover up with. Gratefully, he zipped up a heather gray hooded sweatshirt and stepped into the living room, watching his wife expectantly.
“Darling. Isn’t it obvious? I’m here to reconcile. I’ve missed you terribly these past three years. When I received your email it hit me. I want you back.” She looked up at him innocently, but couldn’t quite hide the mocking twist to her thin lips.
Unmoved,
Duncan
stared at her. How had he ever thought he cared about this woman? She was a monster. Had she always been this way and he’d been too stupid to see it, or was her current scary personality a new development? Woodenly, he said, “No, you don’t. You’re not capable of missing anyone. Just cut the crap and give me the bottom line.”
“Oh, all right. You’re no fun at all,” she said, throwing up her arms in frustration. She looked up at him coolly and folded her hands in her lap. “It’s very simple: if you want to get yourself unattached, then it’s going to cost you. A lot. You give me what I want and you’ll be free to pursue any mousy little slut with low self-esteem you want.”
“Just name it. But why the charade? Why even attempt to convince me this was about anything between us?”
Kerry shrugged and put her feet up on the table. “Curiosity, I guess. I wanted to see if I could get you back after everything that's happened between us. I knew there had to be a woman involved if you were finally putting the pressure on to sign the divorce papers. I wanted to see who you’d choose,” she said unapologetically.
Duncan
was having a difficult time holding onto his temper. He grabbed a cushion off the couch and hurled it at the wall. “God, you are so twisted,” he said angrily. “You came here just to cause trouble, didn’t you?”
She watched him, amusement sparkling in her dark eyes. “No, that was just an added bonus. I came here to talk about a settlement.”
“Why not just go through a lawyer?”
“Now that wouldn’t be very entertaining, would it? This way I get to meet the competition and make you squirm a bit. All for the cost of one very expensive plane ticket. Money well-spent, I’d say.”
Duncan
couldn’t take anymore. He gripped another pillow tightly in both hands, trying to control himself, despite his desire to shake the truth out of her, once and for all. His voice sharp and on edge, he asked her, “Why do you hate me? I gave you everything, and yet you spent the past ten years trying to make me miserable. Just tell me why.”
“Oh God. This is getting boring. You take everything so seriously,” Kerry said wearily, rolling her eyes up to the ceiling. “You need to loosen up. You’ve always been such a tight ass, spouting on and on about what’s right and wrong. I don’t know how I lasted as long as I did,” she sneered.
“Well, I’m sure the money helped,” he said bitterly.
“You’re right. It did.” Her lips lifted in a parody of a smile that sent chills down
Duncan
’s spine. “Now just think how much it will take to console me through the break-up of our marriage. I’m sure the judge will be very interested in that romantic little bedroom scene I walked in on.” She winked suggestively and placed her arms behind her head.
“You’d love to take this to court and play the wronged wife on the stand, wouldn’t you? But like I said, that won’t be necessary. I’ll pay you whatever you want. Just quit dicking around and tell me what you want. Whatever you say it’ll be worth it.” He didn’t say what he was thinking—to get rid of you—but the words were still there, practically audible, hanging in the air between them.
Kerry wasn’t offended. She had nothing to lose at this point. “Hmmm…let me think. How much should I ask for?” She tapped her chin thoughtfully. “Seems to me the stock on Corinthian Condoms is way up. I’ll bet your grandmother is very pleased. How is the old girl, anyway?”
“I have no idea. Just name it and get out,”
Duncan
said briskly and sat down on the arm of the couch furthest from her. She probably already had a figure in mind, but wanted to torture him a bit more. But she was wrong if she thought the money mattered to him. He really didn’t care how much it cost to buy him his freedom.
“Ten million ought to do it,” she said, smiling at him like the Cheshire cat. She knew he had no choice in this matter and relished the shocked look on his face.
“You’re crazy,” he said, practically laughing at the ridiculousness of her request. She might as well have said a trillion dollars. “You’re positively certifiable. I don’t have that kind of money. Do I even look remotely like Bill Gates?”
“I’m sure you don’t have it buried in Kevin’s backyard, or stuffed into a mattress, but you could get it. Just like that,” she said, snapping her fingers to demonstrate. “All it would take would be a phone call to that old bitch and a promise to take your place in the family business and you’d be set. And I’d be gone.” She finished softly, sitting up and leaning forward to watch him more closely.
“Who are you? Satan?” He asked, only half-joking. She didn’t actually think he would return to the life he’d abandoned ten years ago, did she? “I’m not going back there. I belong here.”
“Fine,” she said, sharply. “Then we’re still married and you can forget about that girl. Shouldn’t take to long to find someone else. After all, it took you three years to find her. The next Miss Perfect is right around the corner, I’m sure,” she said with acid in her voice.
Duncan
sighed in exasperation. This couldn’t really be happening. “Kerry, just name a reasonable amount and I’ll agree to it. We’ll never have to see each other again.”
Kerry gave him a pitying look. “Sorry, but why would I be content with a reasonable amount when I can have a completely unreasonable amount.” Her eyes gleamed with avarice, imagining all that money at her disposal. “You have no idea how expensive my lifestyle is. Whatever your ‘reasonable’ amount is, it probably wouldn’t even keep me in shoes,” she said with an resentful sniff.
“No one needs ten million dollars,”
Duncan
said in disbelief.
“I do. I was married to you for ten years which makes me entitled to it.”
“You make it sound like being married to me was some kind of hardship. Like you deserve danger pay, or something.”
“Well, compared to what I expected, it was a hardship.”
“What do you mean?” Was she finally going to be truthful and admit she was a gold-digger? It didn’t seem possible. She liked to keep her options open, and admitting that she had scammed him would positively ruin any chance at ever squeezing another cent out of him.
“Very simple. I married you because I wanted something better.” She shrugged her shoulders and looked at him without even a glimmer of guilt. “You really should have figured this out by now. Don’t you remember what it was like for me before you agreed to marry me? I lived in a trailer with my four brothers, while my mom worked as a waitress. You were my ticket out of there. Until you decided to be a cop.” She said in disgust. “I mean, who decides they want to be a cop when they’re from one of the wealthiest families in
Canada
? Why did you have to be such a loser?”
“I told you before we got married that I wanted to be a cop,”
Duncan
said stiffly.
“Yeah, but how was I supposed to know you were serious? No one with all that gorgeous money at their disposal decides to give it up to go to the police academy. I thought you’d come to your senses when we got married. Man, was I stupid.”
“And the baby?”
“Oh my God. You have got to be kidding.” Kerry looked at him in shocked disbelief. “No, there wasn’t a baby.”
“You lied about everything. Kev was right.”
“Kevin? Yeah, he probably had it all figured out. I can’t believe he never told you.”
“He hinted, but I didn’t believe him.” Didn’t want to believe him,
Duncan
thought. “At least not until he brought it up again this week.”
“You still talk to him? Man, did I ever miss the boat on that one. He’s an author now, isn’t he?”
“Yeah, but he doesn’t make enough for you.”
“I didn’t say I wanted to marry him. Besides I’ll have your money, I won’t need his. The Kevster and I had some good times in high school.” She looked away from
Duncan
dreamily. “He might be interested in comforting me through my divorce,” she ended nastily.
“Trust me. He wouldn’t throw a bucket on you if you were on fire.”
“We’ll see about that,” she said with a knowing smile. “Now, are you going to call your grandmother or what?”
“Absolutely not.”
“Well, then I guess I’m here for the duration,” she said getting up and slinking past him. She pointed to her suitcase. “Can you bring this in?” She asked, walking briskly toward his bedroom. “This place isn’t exactly up to my standards, but it’s really too late to find a hotel. Be a dear and bring me some fresh sheets will you? The smell of cheap perfume gives me a headache.”
“Jessie doesn’t wear perfume.”
“Well, something smells like an Avon factory exploded in here,” she said, waving her hand in front of her face as if to fan away an offensive odor.
Duncan
followed her to the bedroom and put his hand on the jamb to prevent her from opening the door. There was no way this thing was sleeping in his bed, or his house. She looked up at him resentfully, opening her mouth to protest. He gave her a sharp look and her mouth closed, the lips tightening to an even thinner line. “Not so fast.”
Duncan
said evenly. “I’m not a bellhop or a maid. And I never invited you to stay. You can just toddle your ten million dollar ass back downstairs and catch a cab to whatever overpriced, unscented hotel will take you in this time of night. Because you are not sleeping here.”
Kerry gaped at him and began to sputter, but
Duncan
cut her off. “I mean it, get out.” None too gently, he grabbed her by the arm and dragged her toward the front door. He paused long enough to pick her purse up off the couch and drape it over her head. He opened the door wide and pushed her out into the hallway, nudging her suitcase after her with one bare toe. “Now, I’m gonna call a cab for you, and it should be there waiting for you soon. Don’t leave the lobby until you see it, okay?”
She nodded mutely as he began to close the door. Just as it was about to shut completely, she put out her arm to stop its progress.
Duncan
was tempted to just push it closed, but didn’t want to hurt her, so he allowed her to block his efforts to shut the door in her face. “You can’t seriously think I’d allow you to treat me like this,” she hissed, regaining her voice after the shock of
Duncan
actually standing up to her. “Just wait. I’ll have my money. You’ll give in. You always do.”
“Not this time,” he said, quietly. “Call me tomorrow with a better offer and I’ll see what I can do. Until then, don’t come near me or this place.” He pushed on the door gently and Kerry’s furious face was gone. But her curses rang through the door for several minutes. Once or twice, she kicked the door with her pointy-toed shoes. Glad that his nearest neighbor was away in
Boca Raton
,
Duncan
firmly slid the chain on the door and walked out to the patio. Him and Hannibal had a long night ahead of them, figuring out what to do about the various women in their lives.
Chapter
23