Vanessa’s dark hair was cut into a sharp shoulder-length bob that moved with each elegant step she took. The deep, rich brown skin of her face reminded him of spun silk: shiny, making you want to feel its smoothness against your own flesh. Her full lips were covered in a vampy matte burgundy color that highlighted her reddish undertones and made him wonder how long it had been since she’d allowed a man to worship them with kisses.
If he was honest, it wasn’t the lipstick alone that had him wondering that. The way she’d been pressed against him when she lost her balance on her porch step did enough to put that tantalizing question in his head. He’d been this close to leaning in and attempting to find out when he thought about how his actions might affect his sister.
Cindy was young and too trusting for her own good. She had no idea what being an adult was about, and if Michael didn’t take care of this situation immediately, she’d come to irrevocable harm.
Their family had suffered enough to last a lifetime. If he’d been there to take matters into his own hands ten years ago, they might never have known the ache of loss particular to tragically losing parents.
Determined to push that pain back into its designated box, heforced himself to focus on Vanessa and those luscious lips of hers again. He’d wanted to know what they tasted like, and her near-tumble had provided him the opportunity. That wasn’t in the cards, though. Like always, his duty to his sister won out and he did the honorable thing instead, setting Vanessa on her feet before things could go too far.
Being honorable really blew chunks, because watching her in her fitted sweater dress that hugged her high-sitting, full bosom, and rounded hips that led into the thickest set of thighs he’d ever seen on a woman, made him wish he didn’t have as much integrity as he did.
He continued to watch her. She was probably of average height. He’d put her at about five foot eight. But wearing those tall boots—the kind that put those curvy legs on display and would tempt a man beyond his limits—she was maybe an inch shorter than his just-over-six-foot frame.
Get it together, Michael. This is about Cindy, not your lackluster libido.
She sat her cup on the table and slid into the seat opposite him, and he was suddenly bothered that he’d chosen a booth for privacy instead of a table near the center of the seating area where chairs were pushed close together.
“So, I’m here. How am I supposed to help save your sister?”
He took another sip of his coffee so he wouldn’t seem like a weirdo when he didn’t respond. He knew the answer to her question. He just didn’t answer immediately because he was still trying to get his head in the right space, where he wasn’t thinking about how good she smelled, or how much he wanted to touch her. “The only thing I really want is for you to agree to meet her, talk to her about life with your ex.”
“You’re assuming my life with Karl was bad.”
“I’m not assuming. I read the transcript for your divorce. Even on paper I can tell what a slimeball he was, how he treated you poorly. Am I wrong?”
She raised an eyebrow and shook her head. “No. He was pretty much a scammer from the day I encountered him. We met in college. I was a freshman; he was a junior. He trained me from then to always worry about his needs and support his dreams no matter what. It wasn’t until twenty years later that I realized my wants and desires didn’t factor into the equation. Once I did, Karl lost interest in me and in our marriage. He’d probably always been a cheater. When I refused to play by his rules, though, he didn’t care to hide his dalliances any longer.”
Michael felt himself physically flinch as he listened to Vanessa break down her marriage to Scott. No one should be treated that way, least of all the person you vowed to love and cherish for the rest of your life. He reached across the table and rested a tentative hand over hers when sadness seemed to cloud her dark brown eyes. “You deserved better than what he gave you. My sister does too.”
She snatched her hand away, and the softness Michael had seen in her while she described her marriage to Scott was gone. With her shoulders pulled back in a stiff line, she narrowed her eyes. “I don’t know your sister. She could be the person he was cheating on me with for the last few years of our marriage. Why should I help her?”
Her accusation could be the truth. He didn’t know because his sister had been so secretive about their relationship; she had given no details about the when, where, and why of how they became involved. There was one thing he was crystal clear on. Even if Cindy was involved with that liar, she wasn’t a home-wrecker. Not a willing one, anyway.
“I don’t know when she started seeing him. She introduced him and announced their engagement a month ago. I may be short on the details, but I can tell you for certain my sister didn’t know Scott had a wife.”
Her neatly arched eyebrow seemed to lift even higher as a disbelieving smirk hitched the corner of her sexy mouth up. She folded her arms over her ample chest and cocked her head to the side. “Letme guess, you believe she didn’t know about me because she’s just not that type of person?”
He knew how silly it sounded. The impracticality of it didn’t make it any less true, though. Cindy was too sweet to knowingly destroy someone else’s marriage. She’d grown up sheltered, never stepping foot outside their small town to know how the big world worked. Determined to set the record straight, he pulled a newspaper clipping from inside the billfold of his wallet. He opened it up and slid it across the table to her. “She didn’t, and I can prove it.”
Vanessa looked down at the picture and her insides churned. It was a full-color display in theMonroe Hills Herald. Karl’s piercing blue eyes, even in print, made her feel scrutinized. He was impeccable as always. Blond and gray hair mixing perfectly together in a tapered style, making him look a little too much like the actor John Snyder. Next to him was the woman she assumed was Michael’s sister, Cindy.
She was thin, with her dark sable hair pulled back into a bun. The style looked so severe on her. Vanessa wondered if Karl had insisted on Cindy wearing it the way he had when they were married. “Subtle elegance” was what Karl called it, and she could see its influence all over Cindy. She looked like a little girl playing dress-up. Not because she was young—well, that wasn’t the only reason, anyway. It was because this dowdy look was what Karl required of all the women he brought into the daylight.
She slid her gaze down the photo until she saw the caption below the handsome couple in the picture and nearly choked on the air that went down the wrong pipe as a result. “Widower Karl Scott to wed local beauty, Cindy Park.”
“Widower?”
Michael nodded his head as she pulled her focus from the newspaper clipping. “He’s telling people I’m dead?”
Michael shrugged. “I don’t know what he’s telling people, onlywhat he’s telling Cindy. Cindy placed that announcement in the paper. It’s something we locals do. It’s a small town, news like this makes everyone happy. That’s how I found out about him. She wouldn’t give me very many details other than they’d met when he came to town to meet with the medical boards at our two hospitals. He’d hired a local florist to create floral arrangements for his event.”
Vanessa shook her head. “Just when I thought he couldn’t get any sleazier. I don’t get why he’d lie about that. Why not just tell her he’s divorced?”
“My guess is being divorced doesn’t get you the same amount of sympathy as having a dead wife.”
“What does he gain from worming his way into your sister’s life like this? Karl is a wealthy, attractive man who can get anyone he wants. Why does he have to lie to get your sister?”
Michael shook his head. “He’s not as wealthy as he used to be. You took half his personal assets in the divorce. His business has taken some serious hits after a regulation scandal. He’s barely breaking even right now. At least that’s how it appears from the public records I could find.”
