“No problem, I’ll go get our glasses,” he said, easing out of bed. He smiled at her as he slid into his slacks. “Miss me while I’m gone, babe.”
She chuckled. “My apartment is so small, you’ll be back before I can blink. However, I will miss you anyway.”
He was grinning as he left the room. He was headed in to the living room when he passed by the second bedroom she used as an office. He took a look inside and froze when a framed photo sitting on her desk caught his attention. Walking into the room, he went straight over to the desk, picked the frame up, and studied the group in the photograph.
What the hell!
“Did you get lost, Skylar?”
He glanced up as Haven walked into the room wearing his shirt. He looked down at the framed photo again, certain the man standing not far from where Haven and her grandmother were standing in the picture was Logan. His brother.
“Skylar?”
He drew in a deep breath, not understanding what was going on. “I thought I recognized someone in this picture.”
Smiling,she came to stand beside him. “It’s probably Lance.”
He swallowed. “Lance?”
“Yes, Lance Montgomery. After he wroteThe Playa’s Handbook,which became a national bestseller, he became pretty popular.” She chuckled and added, “Or unpopular, since the majority of the women in America hated him. His photo was plastered on almost every magazine cover. You probably remember him from that.”
He nodded as a whisper of unease disturbed his senses. “You and your grandmother are included in this group photo. How do you know Lance and these other people?”
“They’re my cousins.”
He was glad he was leaning against her desk. “Your cousins?”
“Yes. Gramma Dora and I attended her cousin Jeremiah’s wedding on Christmas Day. She died two months later.”
She came to stand closer. “That’s Jeremiah and his wife, Thea,” she said, leaning over him to point them out. “That’s his oldest son, Logan; his other two sons, Lance and Lyle. The women standing beside Lance and Lyle are their wives. The woman standing beside Logan was his fiancée at the time. They have since married.”
Haven grinned. “Jeremiah’s daughter Carrie is the pregnant woman who looks like she’s about to have twins. She actually did have them a few months later--two boys. That’s Carrie’s husband standing next to her.”
He needed to make sure he had fully understood what she’d said. “You are related to Jeremiah because he and your grandmother were cousins?”
“Yes. First cousins. Jeremiah’s father and Gramma Dora’s mother were sister and brother.”
Skylar nodded as every tense nerve in his body began relaxing. “I assume this is Jeremiah’s second marriage. What happened to his first wife?”
“I heard she ran off with another man when Logan and his brothers were small. I never met her, since all of this happened before I was born. Nobody talks about her much, but I understand she did some pretty horrible things. When I asked Gramma Dora about it, she said the woman broke Jeremiah’s heart when she ran off with another man. She even took Carrie with her, and she wasn’t even six weeks old.”
“I take it you’re close to this family.”
She smiled. “Yes. They’re the reason I moved to this area after Gramma Dora died. The Montgomerys are the only family I have left.”
He placed the framed photo back on the desk. “Is this the family you’re going to be with on Thanksgiving?”
“Yes, and if you decide to join me for Thanksgiving, you’ll get to meet them too, as well as Thea’s daughters and their husbands and significant other. There will be plenty of food. Please say you’ll come.”
An hour or so later, after finishing their wine, Haven was asleep in Skylar’s arms. He, on the other hand, was wide awake, his mind whirling with what he had discovered. Haven’s cousins were his siblings, and she had no clue. How could the woman he had fallen for be a part of a family he hadn’t yet decided to accept? He’d heard of coincidences, but this one was really stretching it. Although he had told Logan he would like to meet them, he hadn’t said that he would.And he hadn’t officially accepted Logan’s invitation for Thanksgiving, which was less than a week away. Now, he’d received two Thanksgiving invitations—and they were for the same dinner!
When Haven stirred in his arms, he glanced down at her. Although she didn’t know of the connection, he was certain Dante did. He was too skilled a security expert not to be aware of Haven’s relationship with the Montgomerys. Why hadn’t his friend told him?
Slipping out of bed, he pulled his phone from his pants pocket as he slid them on. Going into Haven’s office, he closed the door and sat behind the desk, gazing at the framed photo again. Skylar didn’t care if it was close to three in the morning. Using the special number, he called Dante.
He picked up on the first ring. “What’s wrong, Sky?”
Skylar frowned. How could someone sound groggy and alert at the same time? “I’ll be in Chicago with Haven until Sunday, but I will see you at your office first thing Monday morning. You have a lot of explaining to do, Dante.”
