Kitabı oku: «The Heir's Unexpected Return»

For Mark, my real-life hero.

Contents

Cover

Introduction

Title Page

About the Author

Dedication

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

EXTRACT

Copyright

CHAPTER ONE

FAT THUNDERCLOUDS ROLLED overhead and spat rain like machine gun fire as wave after wave battered Hadley Island’s sandy beachfront. As it was on one of the barrier islands off the South Carolina coast, the sixteen-mile-long stretch of pristine shoreline was used to the abuse. Mother Nature’s fury, however, was no match for the emotions roiling inside Brigit Wright.

Unmindful of the worsening storm, she continued to walk. In the pocket of the yellow rain slicker she wore, she fisted her hand around the already-crumpled piece of paper. Printing out the email hadn’t changed its content.

Miss Wright, I will be arriving home the day after tomorrow for an extended stay. Please have my quarters on the main floor ready.

—KF

Two curt sentences that still had her blood boiling.

Kellen Faust, heir to the Faust fortune, was returning—coming “home” as he’d put it—to continue his recuperation after the skiing accident he’d suffered four months earlier in the Swiss Alps.

If the news reports she’d read about his fall were even remotely accurate, then Brigit supposed she should feel sorry for him. Along with a concussion, dislocated shoulder and broken wrist, he’d snapped his ankle, mangled his knee and shattered the femur in his right leg. Four months out and the man was still in the midst of a long and very painful recovery. Even so, she didn’t want him here while he did his mending, potentially meddling in the day-to-day minutia of running the exclusive Faust Haven resort. Brigit preferred to work without interference.

Kellen’s family had a large home outside Charleston, as well as an assortment of plush real estate holdings sprinkled around Europe. Why hadn’t he picked one of those places to do his recuperating? Surely they would be more accommodating to Kellen’s large entourage and the other assorted sycophants who enabled his Peter Pan–like existence.

Why choose Faust Haven? This wasn’t his home. It was hers, dammit! Just as Faust Haven was her resort, the name on the deed notwithstanding. While he’d spent the past five years hotfooting around Europe, living off what had to be a sizable trust fund and enjoying the life of the idle rich, Brigit had been hard at work turning a tired and nearly forgotten old-money retreat into a fashionable, five-star accommodation that offered excellent service and amenities and, above all else, discretion, in addition to its panoramic views. As such it was booked solid not only for the current calendar year, but for the next three. Brigit had made that happen. And she’d done so without Kellen’s help.

Now the heir was returning and he wanted his quarters readied. His quarters? During the time she’d managed the resort, Kellen had never set foot on the island. It was Brigit’s understanding that he hadn’t visited the island since he was a boy. So she’d made the owner’s private apartment on the main floor her own, and had turned the manager’s rooms into a luxury suite that commanded a handsome sum.

Where was she going to sleep now? She might go to bed after most of the guests were tucked in for the night and rise long before they awoke, but that didn’t mean she wanted to bunk on one of the overstuffed couches in the lobby or the big leather recliner in the library, no matter how comfy she found it to be for reading.

Muttering an oath that was swallowed by the wind, she stopped walking and looked back in the direction she had come. The cedar-shingled resort stood three stories tall—four, really, given the pilings that raised it another twelve feet above sea level to protect it from flooding. Natural sand dunes dotted with clumps of gangly grass buffered the structure from the worst of the Atlantic’s abuse.

Home.

Kellen might refer to it as such, but for Brigit that truly was the case. It was here she’d come after her nasty divorce. Pride battered, feeling like an epic failure. The sea air, the sense of purpose, both had played a key role in ushering her back from the brink of despair.

Her gaze skimmed the balconies that stretched out from every room to maximize the view. Even though it was early afternoon, the lights burned brightly in the windows, beacons of welcome to any guests who had braved the worsening weather and boarded the last ferry from the mainland before the storm halted service. Once travelers reached the island, of course, they would still have to navigate the winding roads over the hilly center of Hadley Island to the eastern shore where the resort was situated. But even accounting for the slow going, those guests would be arriving soon.

With a sigh, Brigit headed back. She had a job to do and she would do it. Right now, her priority was to see that all new arrivals were comfortably settled in their rooms. Once that task was accomplished, she would work on figuring out her own accommodations for the duration of Kellen’s stay.

By the time she reached the resort, any part of her body not covered by the slicker was drenched. She had hoped to have enough time to change into dry clothes and do something with her hair before the first guests arrived, but a full-size black SUV was pulling up under the covered portico at the main entrance as she came around the dune.

The driver hopped out, as did another man, who came around from the vehicle’s passenger side. Both were big and burly. Bodyguards? It wasn’t a surprise. A lot of the inn’s guests were important people—Hollywood A-listers, business magnates, politicians. Before either man could reach for the handle, however, the rear passenger door swung open.

Brigit covered her mouth, but a gasp still escaped.

Kellen Faust. The heir was early.

She’d never met Kellen in person. They exchanged emails and texts a couple times a month, and occasionally a phone call. But he’d never come for a visit. Now here he was. In the flesh. And he wasn’t at all what Brigit had expected.

Every photograph she had seen of him—and the guy turned up in print and online media reports with as much regularity as the tide—showed a handsome young man with sun-lightened brown hair, deep-set hazel eyes, a carefree smile and a body honed to perfection under what had to be the capable tutelage of a well-paid personal trainer.

Meanwhile, the man trying to exit the SUV’s rear seat was thin, borderline gaunt, muscles withered away from long hours spent still and sedated. The dark smudges under his eyes made it plain he hadn’t been getting much sleep as of late. He remained good-looking, but if his rigid posture and pinched features were any indication, he was far from carefree.

Vital, healthy, fit? None of the descriptions she’d seen in press clippings applied to the man now.

“I’ll get the wheelchair, Mr. Faust,” said the man who’d come around from the front passenger side.

“No! I’ll walk,” he bit out in an angry rasp that carried to Brigit despite the howling wind.

“But, Mr. Faust—” the driver began, only to be shouted down.

“I said I’ll walk, Lou! I’m not a freaking invalid!”

Kellen swung his left leg out the door without too much effort, but when it came to the right one, he had to use his hands to manipulate the limb over the threshold. Then, lowering himself to the running board first, he eased to the ground. He held a cane in one hand. He used the other hand to grip the door frame. Unfortunately, neither support was enough to save him. A mere second after both of his feet hit the driveway, his right knee buckled. The man he’d called Lou caught Kellen under his arms before he hit the pavement. Ripe cursing followed. The other man rushed forward, as did Brigit, determined to help.

“Who in the hell are you?” Kellen bellowed, shaking off the hand she placed on his arm.

She pushed back her hood and offered what she hoped was a professional smile. Wouldn’t it just figure that she looked her absolute worst for the occasion? Despite the rain slicker’s hood, her hair was damp, and the bangs that she was three months into growing out were plastered against her forehead. As for makeup, she doubted the little bit she’d applied that morning lingered on her eyelashes and cheeks now. Her feet were bare, her calves spattered with wet sand. It was hardly the professional image she’d planned to portray when she first made his acquaintance.

“I’m Brigit Wright.” When he continued to stare as if she were something to be studied on a slide under a microscope, she added, “We’ve spoken on the phone and via email for, well, several years. I manage Faust Haven.”

That news elicited not a polite smile, but a snort that bordered on derisive.

“Of course you do.” His gaze flickered down in seeming dismissal. Although he said it half under his breath, she heard him well enough when he added, “I had you pegged right.”

So, the man had preconceived notions of her, did he? That didn’t come as much of a surprise. And to be fair, she entertained plenty of her own where he was concerned. Still, it irked her that, after a mere glance, he could so easily marginalize her—both professionally and, she didn’t doubt, personally.

Brigit cleared her throat and drew herself up to her full height of five foot six. Since he was hunched over, it put them nearly at eye level. When their gazes connected she didn’t so much as blink. Using her most practiced “boss” tone, she told him, “I wasn’t expecting you. Your email, which I received only this morning, said you wouldn’t arrive until the day after tomorrow.”

“I changed my mind.”

“Obviously.”

“I was in Charleston visiting...” His words trailed off and his expression hardened. “I’m here now. I trust that’s not a problem, Miss Wright.”

“None whatsoever,” she assured him with a stiff smile. “I just wanted to explain that your quarters, well, they are not ready at the moment.”

“Am I expected to wait out here until they are?” he demanded irritably.

Standing under the portico, they were protected from the worst of the rain, but the wind pushed enough of it sideways that it splattered them every now and again.

“Of course not,” she replied as heat crept into her cheeks. What was she thinking, keeping a guest of his position, much less his current condition, out in the elements? She turned on her heel and marched toward the lobby entrance, calling over her shoulder, “Right this way, gentlemen.”

* * *

Kellen didn’t follow the ever-efficient Miss Wright inside to the elevator. Rather, he allowed Lou and Joe to half drag, half carry him in the direction of the door. He’d ticked her off but good. No surprise that, since he’d been so rude. Another time, he would have felt bad about the way he’d treated her. Unfortunately for her, both his usual good humor and his abundant charm had gone the way of his right leg. That was to say, fractured beyond repair. Or so the doctors claimed. They were wrong. They had to be. He couldn’t spend the rest of his life like this...barely able to walk. A mere shadow of the healthy, active man he used to be.

The elevator doors opened after a bell dinged, announcing their arrival. The lobby looked different than he remembered from the last time he’d been to Faust Haven. Gone were the deep green, gold and maroon that had always struck him as more suited to a Rocky Mountains cabin than an ocean-side resort. Varying shades of blue and turquoise dominated the color scheme now, accentuated with weathered white and a pale yellow that reminded Kellen of sand. Overhead lights, along with the glow of table lamps, gave the lobby a warm, welcoming ambiance despite the storm that raged outside.

He exhaled slowly, and some of the tension left his shoulders. He remained a long way from relaxed, but he knew one thing for certain. He’d been right to come here.

He’d been second-guessing the decision to leave Switzerland ever since his plane touched down in Raleigh and the only one to greet him at the airport had been his mother’s ancient butler holding a hand-lettered sign bearing Kellen’s name. Orley hadn’t changed much, but Kellen apparently had. The older man hadn’t recognized him. Of course, it had been nearly a dozen years since Kellen had set foot in his boyhood home in Charleston.

And it had been longer than that since he’d been to the island.

He glanced around again. “This is...this is nice,” he said to no one in particular.

“The remodeling was completed last fall. All of the guest rooms have been updated in a similar color scheme.” She cleared her throat. Her tone was just this side of defensive when she added, “I emailed you numerous photographs.”

He didn’t remember the photos. He probably hadn’t bothered to open the attachments. Too busy burning through his trust fund to care, he thought with a mental grimace. Well, he was done with that. In a way, the accident had forced his hand. He couldn’t ignore his responsibilities any longer. It was time to put his degree to use and start earning his keep.

“They didn’t do it justice,” he murmured.

Nor, Kellen admitted, had the image he’d had in his head done her justice, despite what he’d just said about having her pegged.

For the past five years, he’d signed her paychecks, given the reports she’d dutifully sent on the first of each month a quick skim and approved her capital improvements—all while offering minimal input. This had been accomplished remotely. He’d never laid eyes on the woman to whom he’d entrusted what was now all that was left of to his birthright...until now.

She’d shed the old-man-and-the-sea rain slicker and stood in front of the reception desk wearing an aqua-blue polo shirt adorned with the inn’s logo and a pair of white shorts that skimmed to mid-thigh. Nice legs—tanned, toned and surprisingly long for someone who probably topped out at five and a half feet. His gaze lifted to her waist, which was small, before rising to her breasts, which were just the right size to fill a man’s hands.

He tore his gaze away, surprised to find himself ogling the woman—his employee no less—as if he were some sort of sex-crazed frat boy on spring break. At the same time, he was a bit relieved by his reaction, as base as it was. He’d felt dead for so long...

“I need to get off my feet, Miss Wright. Sooner rather than later, if you don’t mind.” Pain turned his tone surly.

“Of course.” She gave a curt nod. “Follow me.”

Pride demanded that he do so under his own steam, as slow as that would make the going. He took his cane from his driver before turning to Joe.

“Help Lou with the bags.”

Officially, Joe was his physical therapist, but the younger man didn’t mind pitching in as an extra pair of hands when needed. He was being paid well enough, and it wasn’t as if he was kept particularly busy since Kellen regularly skipped his daily stretching and strengthening workouts.

He knew he needed to do them, of course. But knowing and doing were two different things. Hell, some days, Kellen was lucky to get out of bed at all, especially when specialist after specialist offered such a grim prognosis.

He shifted from his good leg to the bad one. Even using the cane to bear much of his weight, the pain was excruciating. He bit back a groan and wondered for the millionth time if it had been wise to swear off the narcotics his doctor prescribed, even if they had made him dizzy and brain-dead. Even if secretly he’d worried that the lure of oblivion might prove too much and he would wind up addicted.

His progress was slow, his gait uneven and lurching, although at least he was able to bear his weight. Brigit turned around once, concern obvious in her expression, but she didn’t offer any assistance. Even when he stumbled before catching his balance, she kept her distance and said nothing. Apparently, his rude dismissal of her help outside had done the trick. He was glad for that. Kellen hated the way people were always rushing to his aid, opening doors, clearing a path for him. For the invalid. Hell, he was surprised they didn’t try to wipe his mouth or other parts of his anatomy as if he were a damn baby.

Women had been among the worst offenders. That was one of the reasons he’d ditched the entourage of females that had routinely crashed at his chalet. As for his male friends, the number had dwindled to nil once it had become clear Kellen no longer would be throwing any of the parties for which he had become legend.

Users and hangers-on, every last one of them. What did it say about him, Kellen wondered, that the only loyalty he commanded was among people such as Joe and Lou and, yeah, Miss Wright, all of whom were on his payroll?

Behind the reception desk, a door led to a short hallway. To the left were the business office, supply room and laundry facility. Kellen remembered playing hide-and-seek in them as a boy during visits with his grandfather. The employee break room was new. He didn’t ask about it, though. No doubt she’d told him about its addition in one of those emails he’d barely skimmed.

The owner’s two-bedroom apartment was on the right. The door was closed, the word private stamped on a plaque affixed just below a peephole. After Brigit pulled a key from her pocket and opened it, Kellen stepped over the threshold, prepared to be assailed with memories of his grandfather, the one person in his life whose love had been complete and unconditional. But as in the lobby, nothing here was as he remembered. Given how emotional he already was feeling, he wasn’t sure whether he was grateful for that or not.

The last time Kellen had been inside, the decor had been far more masculine. It wasn’t only the pale, almost pastel shades of paint on the walls that made it seem feminine now. It was the furnishings: overstuffed white couch, patterned throw pillows, decorative lamps, fat candles in ornate holders, glass jars filled with an assortment of seashells that he’d bet Brigit had collected herself. The scent that lingered in the air was not that of his grandfather’s pipe tobacco. Rather, it was light, fresh and pretty. Her scent. He inhaled deeply, finding it oddly comforting and arousing at the same time. He shoved the unsettling thought aside, only to have another take its place.

“You live here.”

She frowned. “For the past few years, yes. Room and board are one of the perks of the job.”

“I know that. But this was my grandfather’s apartment. It’s for the owner... I didn’t realize.”

“You didn’t realize?” Her tone was as incredulous as her expression. “But I told you—”

He cut her off. “I thought there was an apartment on the other side of the lobby to accommodate the manager.”

Brigit’s mouth puckered at his response, drawing Kellen’s attention to a pair of lush lips that needed no added color to make them appealing, despite the agitation reflected in her eyes.

“There is, or rather, there was. But since this apartment was just sitting empty all the time, I...that is, we decided it made more sense to turn the manager’s apartment into a luxury suite that could accommodate four or more guests for an extended stay.”

“We did?”

Color rose in her cheeks. He was surprised he couldn’t see steam waft from her crown. “I sent you several reports listing the pros and cons. You said you agreed with the cost-benefit analysis that I supplied when I first made the suggestion.”

“Right. I remember now.” Kellen nodded, although he was damned if he could recall doing any such thing.

She’d taken excellent care of the inn. Every penny invested in capital improvements had paid off, he decided, thinking of the lobby. Whereas he had been reckless in the past, the risks Brigit took had been calculated and well thought out.

He might have approved her plans, but the decisions had been hers alone. Kellen had a business degree. One that he’d never earned a living from...although he planned to do so now. He’d be wise to pay attention, learn the ropes from what was obviously a very competent manager.

“It’s been full ever since,” she added.

Which meant it was full now.

Kellen appreciated her ability to turn previously unused space profitable, but it did make for a tricky situation. “Where are you going to sleep, Miss Wright?”

* * *

Where was she going to sleep?

Brigit gritted her teeth. That was the million-dollar question, but she shrugged and offered what she hoped passed for an unconcerned smile.

“I’ll figure out something for the duration of your stay.” As unspecified as that might be. And as short as she hoped it would turn out.

Kellen lumbered to the couch and dropped heavily onto the cushions, his face pinched with a grimace. Sheer will had kept him upright, of that much she was certain. She might have admired his tenacity if it weren’t accompanied by such a surly disposition.

“Well, there must be at least one guest room available, right?” For the first time, he sounded more uncertain than he did irascible.

“No. Full means full. And we’re full this week.”

“And next?”

She exhaled slowly. “Actually, for the rest of the season barring any last-minute cancellations.” When he just continued to gape at her, she added, “It’s been an excellent summer so far. Revenues are up by—”

He cut her off with a ripe oath. “Well, you can’t sleep in the damned lobby.”

Brigit already had made the same determination, but her options were limited. The only alternative was...

Her gaze cut to the hallway and the spare bedroom, where she exercised when the weather prevented her from getting outside for a run. It had a futon that pulled out into what her older sister claimed was a pretty comfortable bed. Robbie and her son, Will, were the only overnight guests Brigit had ever entertained. On a sigh, she recalled their upcoming visit. She’d have to let them know plans had changed. Yet another disruption in her otherwise well-organized schedule.

“I’ll have our bellboy set up a cot for me in the office,” she said at last.

“The office we just passed?” He snorted. “It’s barely big enough for the desk. You can’t get a bed in there, even if it is a damn cot.”

“It will be tight,” she admitted. Not to mention that she would need to figure out where to shower and stow her belongings, but at least it would afford her more privacy than the inn’s common areas.

“No.”

She blinked. “No?”

“No.” This time his tone made the single syllable sound even more final.

Brigit felt her blood pressure rise again. The man certainly knew how to push her buttons. She didn’t like being told what to do. Since her divorce, no man had dared, nor would she have stood for it. After her fiasco of a marriage, during which she had all but disappeared behind her husband’s overbearing and autocratic personality, she’d vowed never to become invisible or obsolete again. She had a brain and a voice. These days, she used both with impunity.

But just as she opened her mouth to protest, Kellen leaned his head back on the sofa and closed his eyes. Dressed in varying shades of gray and black—colors that mirrored his mood—she couldn’t help but notice how out of place he looked amid the array of cheerful throw pillows. Still, she might have argued with his edict. Firmly but politely, of course, since he was her employer and tact was in order. But his expression stopped her. The taut line of his mouth and the way his brow furrowed made it plain that he was hurting.

“When was the last time you took a painkiller?” she asked. She kept her tone neutral, careful to keep any concern from leaking into it lest she knick his pride. From the way he’d shrugged off her assistance earlier, she gathered he didn’t want any.

Men. It was all she could do not to roll her eyes. She’d thought she was done stroking their damned egos now that Scott was out of the picture. Well, apparently not.

“I quit those a few weeks ago,” he muttered. Just when she started to think his decision was rooted in some sort of macho tough-guy bull, he added, “They make me a zombie. It’s not all that unpleasant of a feeling, but the last thing I need is to wind up addicted to pain meds on top of everything else.”

His reasoning was sound, even if it meant his pain was left unmanaged.

The two men who’d accompanied Kellen strode into the apartment then. The driver was hauling a pair of suitcases that were large enough to hold Brigit’s entire wardrobe. The younger man pushed the wheelchair. A smaller piece of luggage was balanced on its seat with a garment bag draped over top of it. Brigit’s stomach dropped. Kellen had brought a lot of baggage—in more ways than one. And none of it boded well for how long she would be displaced from her home.

“Where do you want your things, boss?” the driver asked.

Without opening his eyes, Kellen motioned with one hand in the direction of the hall. “Put them in the master bedroom, Lou.”

“And mine?” the guy pushing the wheelchair asked.

Kellen did open his eyes now and he straightened in his seat. “Change of plans, Joe. Miss Wright will be bunking in the spare room. You’ll be out here on the couch.”

Brigit’s mouth fell open. Just like that, he’d turned them all into roommates.