Mr Destiny (27 page)

There was something serious on Kate's mind.

Tony had known it the second he'd walked onto the deck.

There wasn't much of a mystery, of course, about what that something was.

Kate was going back to Manhattan that morning. If she'd decided she was also going back to Harold, it was the time for her
to tell him.

But am I ready to hear what she has to say?

Tony took a cup from the overhead cabinet and poured himself a hot cup of coffee. He remained standing at the kitchen counter
for a second, trying to pull himself together.

If she told him it had been fun, but that now she was ready to go back to the real world and her corporate attorney, his only
consolation would be that the last five days had been the happiest time in his life. He never would have believed he could
have fallen in love so deeply and so completely in such a short time.

But that was exactly what had happened.

With every look.

With every touch.

With every moment they'd spent together, Tony knew he loved Kate.

It was just that simple.

If the Saints in Heaven above really had brought them together, and if Harold really was history, he had no doubt the rest
of his life could turn out to be even happier than the last five days.

A high-stakes crapshoot.

That's what he was facing.

But whatever Kate told him, one thing would remain constant. He loved this woman. And unless she looked him in the eye and
told him she didn't feel the same way, their fate was sealed.

At least as far as he was concerned.

Tony took a deep breath and walked outside.

She was staring out over the lake, a melancholy look on her face. “Thank you for having me here this week,” she said, looking
over at him. “I really do love this place.”

“It isn't the Hamptons,” Tony said, “but I like it.”

She flinched.

And Tony instantly hated himself.

Damn.

Harold obviously did have a place in the Hamptons.

“I'm sorry, Kate,” he said. “That comment was un-called for.”

She looked back in his direction. “No, your comment was pretty appropriate, actually. I have something I need to tell you.”

He started walking in her direction.

She pointed to a deck chair several feet away from her instead.

“Please, Tony, sit down for a second and let me say what I need to say.”

Not a good sign.

Tony reluctantly lowered himself onto the chair.

The last thing he wanted to hear was what he expected Kate to tell him.

She looked directly at him. “It's about Harold.”

Shit! Here it comes.

“Even though I told him the wedding was off, Harold doesn't think I'm serious.”

So? To hell with Harold!

But Tony forced himself to stay calm.

He'd seen more than his share of egotistical assholes like Harold on Wall Street. Climbing over everyone else to get what
they wanted. Assuming the size of their bank accounts meant they could have whomever and whatever they wanted whenever they
wanted it. Harold didn't know it yet, but there was one dim-witted cop who wouldn't think twice about kicking his rich arrogant
ass!

Then Kate got to the surprise-wedding attack.

As soon as he heard that missing piece of the puzzle, any doubt Tony had whatsoever about personally getting up in Harold's
snotty grill disappeared completely.

“I hope you understand that I have to go to the Waldorf next week and tell Harold face-to-face that it is officially over
between us,” she said. “And I'm sorry I wasn't completely honest with you from the start. It was selfish of me, and I know
that. But I simply refused to let Harold consume even one second of our time together.”

Tony was only half listening.

His mind was still stuck on that jackass Harold.

He finally said, “I understand why you have to go to the Waldorf, Kate. I even understand why you postponed telling me about
the jerk's surprise wedding. Just as I hope you understand that I'll definitely be going to the Waldorf with you next Thursday.”

She paled.

Then she jumped up from the lawn chair.

“Absolutely not!”

Kate hadn't meant to act so horrified when Tony suggested going to the Waldorf. Nor had she meant to snap at him like that.
It just never crossed her mind that he would want to attend her final meeting with Harold, much less assume it would be okay
with her if he tagged along.

The angry look on his face said he didn't care for her over-the-top reaction, either.

“I'm sorry,” Kate said, “What I meant to say is, no, your coming with me isn't necessary.” She spoke while she frantically
wiped at the coffee she'd just spilled down the front of his NYPD sweatshirt when she jumped up from the lawn chair.

He didn't look appeased.

She tried again. “I need to face Harold by myself, for myself, Tony. After everything I've told you this week, surely you
can understand why I need to do this alone.”

The way he was gripping the arms of the deck chair said that he didn't.

“What I understand, Kate, is that this guy has bullied you from the first day he met you. He won't get that chance when I
go with you.”

When?

What had happened to the Tony she loved?

The Tony who didn't try to steamroll over her?

The Tony who let her be her own person?

I do want to be my own person.

If she let Tony push over her now, Kate knew she never would be.

She repeated slowly, “You are not going with me, Tony. I'm sorry, but you're not.”

A muscle in his jaw twitched.

“Harold already has the cards stacked against you, Kate. It's going to be three against one when you get to the Waldorf. Harold.
His mother. And your grandmother. Let me even the odds a little.”

Kate shook her head. “I said no.”

He got up from the deck chair and turned his back on her, leaning on the deck railing as he looked out over the lake.

Kate walked up and stood beside him.

He turned his head to look at her.

“I guess I am nothing but a dim-witted cop,” he said. “It took me a few seconds, but I think I'm finally beginning to see
the big picture.”

“And what's that supposed to mean?” Kate said, reaching out to touch his arm.

He moved out of her reach. “You tell me, Kate. Where does this leave us
after
next Thursday? Is this the part where you tell me we need to keep our relationship under wraps for a while? See each other
on the sly now and then if you can sneak away? Wait six months, even a year maybe before you do get around to taking the dim-witted
cop home and formally introduce him to your high-society grandmother?”

Kate blanched.

But she intended to set him straight about Grace.

“Since you brought it up, yes, my grandmother is one of the main reasons I don't want you to go with me next Thursday.”

“You're contradicting yourself, Kate,” he said. “You say you can stand up to Harold now. But you still can't stand up to your
grandmother? What happened to the new Kate you were telling me about? The Kate who's decided it's time to start making her
own decisions?”

Kate was astonished.

“Ex-cuse me?” she shouted. “That's exactly what I'm doing, Tony. I'm making my
own
decision. And no, I'm not interested in handing Harold his ring, then turning to my grandmother and asking her if she'd like
to meet the man I've been sleeping with for the last five days while Harold was away in Chicago.”

“And I'm not interested in being your dirty little secret,” Tony shouted right back.

Kate flew mad.

“Well, thank you so much for clearing that up for me!”

She turned around and stomped inside the cabin.

“Dammit, Kate, come back here.”

Tony stomped inside right behind her.

She went up the spiral staircase.

He came up the spiral staircase.

Kate turned around and glared at him.

“Do you mind? I'd like to get dressed so I can do you a huge favor and get out of your cabin and out of your life.”

“I'd prefer that you stayed
in
my life,” he said. “You're the one who almost passed out at the thought of having to introduce a reject like me to your grandmother.”

Kate grabbed her overnight case from the floor and pushed him out of the way.

She marched back down the stairs.

He followed right behind her.

She stomped into the bathroom.

He stopped at the door.

“I. Did. Not. Almost. Pass. Out,” she said, each word emphasizing the personal items she was slamming into her case. “If you'd
turn off the damn testosterone clouding your brain at the moment, you'd realize I wanted my grandmother to like you for yourself,
rather than forever think of you as the man who stole me away from
her
idea of the perfect husband! Of course, that was what I wanted five minutes ago when I thought we had a future together.”

Tony exploded. “So that's your decision, Kate? You're saying we don't have a future together?”

“No, you said that,” Kate said. “A
dirty
little future is how I think you put it.”

A vein popped out on his forehead.

Kate didn't care.

She stormed back up to the loft.

He was smart enough not to follow.

She had her clothes on and her things packed in five minutes flat. When she came back downstairs, he was standing with his
arm propped against the mantel of the fireplace. The same fireplace they never got to snuggle up in front of, and now probably
never would.

His expression was stern when he said, “Don't do this, Kate. Don't walk out of here like the last five days haven't meant
anything to you.”

“You know how much these last five days have meant to me, Tony,” Kate said.

He said, “I thought I did. Now, I'm not so sure.”

Kate's heart sank.

“Remember what you told me? About your first thought when you saw me standing in the park that day?”

Tony said, “I thought—this woman is my destiny.”

“What's it going to take for you to believe that, Tony? Me standing in the park beside the Blessed Virgin again? Do you even
want me wearing the wedding dress you bought me, too?”

They looked at each other for a long time.

When he still didn't answer, Kate walked out the door.

Stop me. God, please stop me!

He didn't.

Kate was crying by the time she made it to the SUV.

She tossed her things in the back, slid behind the wheel, put the car
in reverse, and turned the SUV around. She kept looking in the rearview mirror as she drove out of the clearing.

He never even came to the door.

By the time she made it to the end of the gravel road, she was making those obnoxious donkey-braying sounds Alex always hated.
Kate glanced at the gate as she turned onto the main road.

The sign broke her heart.

Her trail with Tony had definitely come to an end.

Sadly, a final and bitter end.

Tony wasn't sure how long he remained standing at the fireplace. Ten minutes? Maybe even longer. He'd been too numb to move.

Maybe his testosterone
had
kicked into high gear, clouding his judgment about the situation. But how did Kate expect him to react? The thought of her
facing Harold's potential wrath alone, not to mention the scorn of the two women who were in favor of the wedding, made Tony's
blood boil.

His job was to protect and serve, dammit!

What kind of man would he be, if he didn't want to protect the woman he loved?

Love.

One hundred percent proof that misery loves company.

They'd spent five wonderful uninterrupted days together with no one else
to consider and no decisions to make.

That was the problem.

He'd been caught up in the fantasy that an uptown girl like her would settle for a dim-witted cop from Queens.

Stupid. Stupid. Stupid.

Or was it?

Hope grabbed Tony by the seat of his pants and sent him hurrying to the door at the sound of tires crunching to a stop in
the gravel driveway. Despair kicked him in the groin when he walked out on the front deck and saw who it was.