Authors: Shirley Wine
"They're made for each other."
The deep voice so close to her ear startled Victoria. Lips parted in surprise, she glanced up into Caine Donovan’s shrewd eyes. "Keir intimated as much."
"You don't like my son?" The blunt question made her heart buck in her chest. How was she meant to answer?
Caine signaled a waiter and relieved her of her empty glass. "Another wine?"
"Juice this time, thank you." Victoria knew she needed to keep a clear head. One wine was more than enough.
"So what's Keir done to earn your dislike?"
Dislike?
Startled, she replied without thinking. "I don't dislike him? What gave you that idea?"
Five years spent bearing and nurturing Keir's son had cemented very different emotions, emotions as hopeless now as they ever were.
Caine just shook his head, dark eyes twinkling with amusement. "Could be that watching you meet him gave off more negative vibes than a buyer duped after parting with megabucks for a stud stallion that fails to perform."
The shrewd observation increased her discomfort. "I don't know him. He's your only child?"
A flash of emotion crossed Caine's face. His brows drew together in a heavy frown.
"Mine, yes. My ex-wife has three daughters, Keir's half-sisters."
Bad feelings there,
she thought uneasily.
"When will Keir marry his iceberg?" As soon as the caustic comment left her lips she regretted it.
Caine gripped her arm, forcing her to meet his eyes. "Keir told me Logan had imported a keg of dynamite. Are you set to blow my family apart, Victoria Scanlan?"
Knowing Keir had discussed her with his father unsettled her further. She shook her head. "I’m sorry. Who Keir marries is not my concern."
"And Logan?" he asked harshly.
"Logan’s my friend. If he's implied otherwise he's deceiving himself. I've told him so many times I won't marry him." She met his gaze steadily, refusing to squirm under his unforgiving look.
"Well, that's honest enough."
"Thank you." Victoria sipped her orange juice.
How would this man react if he knew she was the mother of his grandson? Caine didn’t know it, but they shared an irrevocable bond.
And she was caught in the middle of a very messy situation, and none of it her making. Now, because of Keir’s lies, she was trapped, her hands firmly tied.
As Keir kept court with his ice queen, a slow burning anger grew.
Connor needed his father and his grandfather and she could never deny her son these ties of blood.
Keir was more correct than he knew.
Only the dynamite was an endearing little boy with his father’s sable hair and his grandfather’s chocolate brown eyes.
"You've known Logan long?"
Caine’s question brought her attention back to him.
"It’s been a while now." Logan’s friendship had enriched her life. After Connor’s birth, her circle of friends had seriously diminished. "We met in A&E when he broke his leg. And my—," with a swiftly indrawn breath, she corrected herself, "—a…a friend broke his arm."
And that quickly, Victoria knew she couldn't afford to relax her guard. Every word, every move was fraught with risk.
Caine chuckled, the sound drawing curious eyes. "That the time young Logan came a cropper off his water skis? Dented his pride, big time."
"It did." She smiled at the memory.
"He was out of action for the rest of the summer."
And that was when Logan had begun ringing her. Tied to the house with Connor, she'd spent a lot of time on the phone with him. And during those conversations, they'd become close friends.
It was Logan she'd turned to when Connor had become irritable as only a toddler can when they're recovering from injury.
At her wit's end, she'd rung Logan in the middle of the night. With no close female relations, and after the showdown with her father over her baby, Victoria had no one else to turn to.
Inexperienced with children, Logan had kept her company, listened to her guilt-ridden angst at not preventing Connor's injury in the first place, made her coffee and kept her from succumbing to panic.
"Where did you go?" Caine's humorous question had her jerking her gaze upwards.
"Logan was a very good friend to me, when I desperately needed a friend."
Caine's expression softened. "He's always been a good lad and he's grown into a fine young man."
"You love him?"
Caine chuckled. "You do believe in going for the jugular, don't you, Victoria?"
Heat seeped up her neck and face but she held her companion's steady gaze.
"It grieves me to admit it, but I'm closer to Logan than I've ever been to my own son."
Whatever she'd expected, it wasn't this. "Why?"
The desperate need to understand the disturbing undercurrents in this family caught Victoria by surprise.
Before, she'd never been concerned about Logan's family.
But now she knew this same family was her
Seth Donahue's
family, her curiosity knew no bounds.
It was Caine's turn to look away in discomfort, but she waited him out.
He met her eyes, his expression very sober and intense. "Even as a small boy, Keir had an uncompromising honesty, a way of looking at you, judging you and most times finding you wanting. It's a trait that's intensified as he's matured."
The observation shook Victoria. It was the very last thing she'd expect any father to admit.
Caine thought his son honest?
That she was a single mother proved otherwise. Keir had deceived her. Big time.
Why had Keir found his father wanting? Was it about his mother? Or his stepmother?
Across the room she caught Keir’s gaze, and saw the speculative glint in his eyes.
Fire ignited in her belly and fizzed crazily along her veins, exhilarating and liberating. Caught in the moment, she was gripped by the sensation of finally stepping out of the shadows into the sunlight.
Alive in a way she hadn't been for years.
In that moment, she was fiercely glad Logan had brought her to Darkhaven
.
"Take care, my dear," Caine warned softly. "Keir has many faults, but I’ve never known him to break a promise."
Heat crawled up her cheeks and despair tightened the knot in her belly. In her dreams Keir belonged to her, not Davina. Jealousy and desolation clawed her raw.
Wilkins announcing dinner was served saved Victoria having to answer.
At dinner Keir and Davina were seated directly opposite, Logan to her left, Uncle Dan on her right. During the first course, the convivial buzz of conversation was general.
Victoria’s attention strayed. Keir was so different from the man she remembered, yet disturbingly familiar, his mannerisms so like Connor’s as to be uncanny.
"My fiancé fascinates you, Ms. Scanlan."
Davina's perfectly modulated voice jerked Victoria to attention, and succeeded in capturing everyone's attention.
Betraying heat surged up her neck and cheeks. For one insane moment she considered telling the snooty woman how much
her
son resembled his father.
And wouldn’t this family relish that bombshell.
She curbed the impulse but wasn’t about to let Davina embarrass her further.
"He's quite amazing." She tilted her head on one side, conscious of titters of amusement.
"I'm still the same man, Victoria," Keir mocked in swift appreciation of her amusement. "I never wear jean shorts at my father's table."
"And never without the suntan, designer sunglasses, and—" she paused.
"And?"
"—a fawning blonde on your arm. I see you’re still enamored with the species,
Keir.
"
Dark eyes narrowed.
Davina gasped, her startled gaze swinging from Keir to Victoria. "You two know each other?"
"We met years ago," Victoria said ever so sweetly.
"When we shared a holiday in Thames."
Keir’s expression sent her heartbeat into overdrive. Tension vibrated in the air.
"We never
shared
a holiday did we, Tori?" He asked with a quiet restraint she had to admire. "I stayed with friends at her uncle’s motor camp."
The use of the pet diminutive wasn't lost on Davina. Her mouth pinched in an unattractive pout. "Let me guess, she was visiting her family and developed a juvenile crush on you."
Heat crawled up Victoria's face and neck, almost stunned by the other woman's audacity.
Hot impetuous words hovered on the tip of Victoria's tongue. She'd like nothing more than to fling the truth at this uppity woman, and watch her reaction.
Logan gripped her thigh under the table in silent warning.
"You have to be joking?" Victoria lifted her chin. "Why waste energy obsessing over a man with a simpering blonde on his arm?"
Keir’s chuckle broke the tense moment. He held up his hand. "
Touché
. The blonde was my pal’s girl and for all my faults, I never poach another man’s woman."
Victoria caught the warning. And his subtle admission soothed one ache.
"And yet she's still salivating over you?"
"Give it over, Davina," Uncle Dan said testily. "Jealousy makes you about as subtle as a cat on heat. Don't you trust Keir? He's no randy alley cat."
Scarlet raced up under Davina's fair skin as laughter broke out around the table.
"Dan," Muriel said, with a splutter. "Your crude humor may be suitable for the barn. Not at my dinner table."
"Then why don't you get your bitchy sidekick to reign in the snotty sarcasm." Dan was unperturbed. "The gal’s only looking.
Where’s the harm in that?"
Caine burst out laughing and Victoria wanted nothing more than to crawl under the table and hide.
Keir laughed softly, saluting Dan with his glass.
"No harm at all," Caine adroitly changed the subject. "The scuttlebutt says Mystic Miss is shaping up to be the most promising filly on the track, Dan. You reckon she’ll take out The Breeders two year old stakes this season?"
And that quickly the talk turned to racing, everyone eager to voice their opinion.
Victoria's surreptitious glance at Muriel was met with such a venomous glare, goose bumps cascaded across her skin.
After dinner when everyone was mixing informally, Victoria approached Piper.
"That was so embarrassing," she said as she reached the other woman’s side.
"Davina's the one who's left with egg on her face. She was out of line." Piper gave her a shrewd glance. "What’s with you and Keir? I’ve never seen him so rattled."
Victoria managed a shaky breath. "Nothing. There’s nothing between us."
If I say it often enough perhaps I'll believe it.
"No? And now Davina’s has focused her attention on you both." Piper shook her head, red curls bouncing. "You’d best be careful. She won’t easily relinquish her claim on Keir."
"And that's a warning you would do well to heed, Ms. Scanlan," Davina drawled from behind them. "Keir is mine."
Victoria turned to look at the other woman, staring at her in amazement. Davina Strathmore regarded Keir as some weak lapdog? Ready to dance to her bidding?
The woman was delusional.
"You're the fool, Ms. Strathmore, if you imagine Keir Donovan belongs to anyone except himself. It's not me you need be afraid of."
"Nothing about you that worries me." Davina gave her a bored once over, and nodded. "Your type is good enough for a summer fling, but Donovan men don't marry outside their class."
Victoria inhaled a sharp breath. This woman’s conceit knew no bounds. Who did she think she was? Victoria had never taken insults with equanimity and refused to start now.
"They're probably not faithful either. The man I knew will struggle to melt your ice, Ms. Strathmore. So he'll probably be very receptive to a bit of fun on the side."
"You are disgusting." Color bloomed in Davina’s cheeks, her blue eyes grew chillier. "But I give you fair warning, Ms. Scanlan. Take care, you're well out of your depth."
Victoria's spine stiffened. "Am I? Time will tell, Ms. Strathmore."
"Something pongs around here," Piper spoke louder than necessary. "Let's go find some unpolluted air, Tori."
The redhead looped her arm through Victoria's and they walked away but the blonde's expensive perfume lingered in the air.
"That woman is an out and out bitch," Piper said beneath her breath, shaking her head, red-gold curls bouncing. "What does Keir see in her?"