What Belongs to Her (Harlequin Superromance) (7 page)

Sasha raised her eyebrow as Leah downed a hefty gulp and set the glass down with a satisfied smile. “Ahh, better. Much better.”

“Good day?” Sasha grinned.

Leah pinned Sasha with a glare, her huge hazel eyes glinting with a trace of potential violence. “Just peachy. I had to sew up a kid whose father decided he didn’t like the way his son was taking up so much of his mother’s time. He thumped him and split his eyebrow wide open to prove his point.”

Sasha’s smile dissolved and she gritted her teeth. “You deserve a medal working in the E.R. I’d be more likely to inflict further injury than fix them up.”

“Yeah, well, they train us to fight the urge to exact justice.” Leah took another gulp of wine. “So, what’s up? I love that we get to have a drink on a Saturday night.” She smiled and shifted forward on her seat. “It’s great you’re actually doing something with your night off rather than working.”

Sasha laughed. “You’re not really the person to tell me off for the hours I work.”

Leah grimaced. “Fair enough. So? What’s going on?”

“On? Or wrong?”

“Ah.”

Sasha inhaled a shaky breath and released it. “I’ve got a new boss.”

“What are you talking about?” Leah frowned. “I thought you were going to give Kyle your offer this week. What happened?”

“His son turned up.”

Leah’s eyes widened. “You’re kidding me.”

“I wish I was.”

“Kyle has a son?”

“Yep.”

“Well, what’s he like? Kyle in a younger, uglier form? If that’s possible.”

Sasha sighed. “I wish.”

“Meaning?”

“Meaning, he’s the handsomest man I’ve ever seen. All dark hair, blue eyes, built like a freaking model and about seven feet tall. He makes me feel...” Sasha shook her head. “Like a girl.”

Leah’s glass halted at her lips and she slowly returned it to the table. “Uh-oh.”

Sasha closed her eyes, her shoulders slumping under the impending doom of any man stripping her off her tough, tomboy persona. “Exactly.”

“What are you going to do?”

“I don’t know.” She opened her eyes. “He’s barely said a word to me since yesterday morning and I’ve no idea what his intentions are. I was so close. So damn close to at least getting Kyle’s attention back on my offer for the fair. Now this happens.”

“What’s his son’s name? Have you told him about the offer?”

Sasha lifted her wine and took a sip. “John. And he knows about the offer. I told him. He also knows Mum hates the place and that I want it.” She stared at her friend. “He asked me why Funland means so much to me. He said it can’t be all about family if Mum wants nothing to do with it.”

Leah’s intense gaze softened with concern. “Your reasons are none of his damn business. All he should be asking about is the money.”

“I know that.”

Leah eased her hand across the table and grasped Sasha’s. She squeezed her fingers. “He doesn’t need to know what happened to you there. Your reasons for wanting Funland have nothing to do with anyone else. You’ve never felt you could even trust your mother to understand what happened and why you want to make it yours, let alone some bloke who’s clearly shaken you up.”

Sasha squeezed Leah’s fingers in return before removing her hand to brush the hair from her face. “Do you think I’m mad?”

“Mad?”

“For wanting Funland. For wanting to make it good again. I know it’s probably completely irrational but, for me, it’s the only way to erase
him
for good.”

“Hey...” Leah leaned across the table, her gaze intense and full of conviction. “That, my girl, is all that matters. If you owning Funland is the only way for you to deal with what happened to you, so be it. Don’t let anyone tell you you’re wrong. The animal who hurt you was one individual. One bastard who got away with hurting kids and then disappeared off the face of the earth. I believe you can make Funland an amazing place again. Don’t give up, okay?”

Sasha smiled as relief she wasn’t insane shuddered through her. “I’m so glad I’ve got you on my side, you know.”

Leah grinned. “And I’m glad I’ve got you on mine. Between us, we’ve got enough baggage to fill an airport lost-property department, but who cares as long as we’ve got each other’s backs, right?”

“Cheers to that.” Sasha clinked her glass to Leah’s and they each took a sip. She lowered her glass to the table and sighed. “It’s weird. He almost frightens me.”

She frowned. “Who? This John guy?”

Sasha nodded.

“You don’t think he’s dangerous, do you?” Leah’s gaze darkened. “I don’t want you working there if for one minute you think—”

“No. Not in the way you mean. I’ve never...” She swallowed. “I’ve never felt such an instant pull to someone in my life. You know what I’m like with men, what I’ve
made
myself like with them. He’s...different.” She smiled softly. “I kind of like him.”

Leah raised her eyebrows and leaned back. “Wow.”

“I know. No idea why I should.” Sasha shook her head. “He should be on my hit list, for crying out loud, but there’s something about him. I don’t think he likes Kyle any more than I do. I think he’s hurting, Leah. Really hurting...like me.”

“You mean...”

“I’m not saying he’s been sexually abused. I’m saying he knows hurt, real hurt. He’s got that...thing. That anger, that open wound, and it comes off him in waves.”

For a long moment, Leah said nothing, and Sasha tried not to squirm under her friend’s scrutiny. Eventually, Leah smiled. “I think this guy is here for a reason, but be careful. Just because he stirs something inside you, doesn’t mean he’s not his father.”

Sasha released her held breath as unease quivered up her spine. “I know.” She drained her glass. “Drink up. Tonight we’ll have some fun and come Monday morning, I’ll feel better. I’ll be back to normal and ready to find out for sure what John Jordon’s plans are.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

M
ONDAY
MORNING
WAS
an early start for John and he couldn’t deny there was something about waking up in Templeton Cove rather than in the inner city that instantly cleared the senses. He breathed in the sea air as he walked through the empty fair and into the office. It was barely eight and everything was eerily quiet.

The quietness, the faraway sound of seagulls and the roll of the ocean should have felt alien to him. It was far too soon for him to be feeling the appeal of life in this small seaside town, yet still it inched over his shoulders.

Had his father felt the same thing when he first came to Templeton years before?

God, he didn’t want to even have
that
in common with the man. He wanted to continue to hate him as much as he always had. Time and again, he kicked himself for not ripping up Kyle’s letter asking him to come here. Yet, here he was. Still in Templeton.

More than once, John had left Kyle’s Templeton Cove mansion over the weekend, suitcase in hand, and headed for his car. He’d gotten as far as sitting in the driver’s seat before getting out and going back inside.

He unlocked the office door and entered, tossing his jacket onto the back of his chair and sitting down. He slid the file box he carried onto the desk before lifting his feet onto the desk to rest next to the box, crossing his legs at the ankles. John leaned back and closed his eyes.

Somehow, he had to find the tenacity to stay and see his intentions through. He had to know who his father was now, and who he’d been when he shot and killed the man who murdered his wife—John’s mother—nineteen years before. Once he found whatever the hell it was he was searching for to release the bitter resentment eating him from the inside out, he’d leave Templeton and never again have to think about the man who had abandoned him.

He opened his eyes and looked toward Sasha’s desk at the opposite side of the room. His stomach instantly knotted. If he frittered away or gave away Kyle’s earnings, would that extinguish the fire in his belly? Make John happier than he was now? Or did the annihilation lie
within
someone else...or maybe within himself? He’d be a liar if he said his draw to stay longer in the Cove hadn’t been perpetuated by the exotic-looking and passionate Sasha Todd.

Time and again, he’d pondered how it would be to make love to her.

Yet, it wasn’t just his attraction to her that drove his desire. It was how she made him look at himself through her eyes. It was unnerving. He thought he could do this. Thought his anger would keep his drive to ruin Kyle alive and strong throughout his mission...but she’d barely left his mind all weekend and with that, she made him think about how ugly a person this mission made him. The openness of her dark and beautiful gaze was more telling than that of any woman he’d ever met. Her thinly disguised emotions ripped at his heart and he hated it. One minute angry, the next sad, he felt as though he knew her and it entirely confused him.

His mother’s soft, knowing laughter whispered in his ear. Her comforting presence seemed stronger than ever when Sasha smiled at him and unleashed a whirlwind of terrifying emotions. What the hell was he supposed to do with this new and sudden need to hold Sasha’s hand? Ask her where she grew up and what her parents were like? What was that? A life alone was his destiny. He’d almost, but not quite, been comfortable with it. He didn’t ever want to take the risk of letting his children down as his father had him.

Snatching his legs from the desk, John shook his head to rid his mind of Sasha and yanked Kyle’s file box closer. The majority of his weekend had been spent studying the documents. Paper after paper provided the names of Kyle’s friends and foes, business associates, paid police officers and tax bureau contacts, plus at least twenty people Kyle had guaranteed John he could rely on for support should he decide to keep the “businesses” going.

John scowled. Like he’d have anything to do with Kyle’s illegal activities. The man wasn’t going to know what hit him when his only son was done.

The click of the office door opening shook him from his intense contemplation. He snapped his head up as Sasha came in. He stared at her and when she met his eyes, his heart kicked.

Their eyes locked for a lingering moment before her cheeks flushed, and she headed for the coat stand. She shrugged out of her lightweight jacket and when she reached up to hang it, he tried and failed to drag his eyes from the inch of bare back that flashed into view. She turned and he feigned interest in the fairground rides outside the window.

She cleared her throat. “So, what’s the plan for today?”

He faced her. “To continue where we left off on Friday.”

“You want to go back to Marian’s?” She stuck out her bottom lip. “You must be a lot less intelligent than you look.”

He smiled. “Not Marian’s. The Cove. I want to know Templeton. I want to know why Kyle decided to live here.”

She came toward him and stopped a few feet away. She crossed her arms, her gaze curious. “You don’t know that?”

“Why? Do you?”

She shook her head. “Not a clue, but considering you’re his family, I thought—”

“I know very little about Kyle’s decision making but intend to learn a lot.” His gaze dropped to her full and ridiculously sensual mouth. “Will you show me around?”

“That depends.”

Fighting his smile, he quirked an eyebrow. “On what?”

“Whether you’ve given any more thought to my offer over the weekend.”

“Ah.”

“What does
ah
mean?”

“It means I have, yes.”

“And?”

“And we’ll talk while you show me around.”

The atmosphere chilled as the soft appraisal in her gaze turned steely. She waved toward the window. “Well, it’s a nice day for sightseeing. Shall we go now before the fair opens this afternoon?”

“Why not?” He picked up the file box from his desk. “Ready?”

She glanced at the box before heading for the door. “As I’ll ever be. How about I take you to the place where you’ll see the best view of the entire town?”

“Sounds good.”

She tossed him a smile over her shoulder, grabbed her jacket and led the way out the door. His gaze fixed firmly on her tanned and shapely legs showing beneath the hem of her short black skirt. He sucked in a breath through his teeth. He couldn’t help thinking she’d be hard-pushed to find him a better view than his current one.

* * *

T
WENTY
MINUTES
LATER
, Sasha drew in a long breath as Clover Point came into view. It was the highest point above Templeton and, ironically, where Inspector Garrett and her millionaire husband lived. They owned the cabin at its apex, but smaller cabins littered its circumference with strategically placed benches at optimum vantage points. Sasha had escaped here for years whenever she needed to get away to think...or brood...or cry.

They’d left the car in the designated parking area farther down the hill and now as they climbed its incline, the tension in her shoulders eased a little. She smiled, drawing satisfaction from John’s heavy breathing behind her. The gradient wasn’t particularly bad, but apparently enough for even six-foot men with shoulders the width of Goliath’s to catch a breath or two.

“How’re you doing back there?” She couldn’t resist teasing him. The man deserved it. He shouldn’t have touched her face outside Marian’s last week. The heat of his fingers still lingered, no matter how much she wanted it to disappear.

He blew out a breath. “I’m doing just fine and dandy. How about you?”

Her smile stretched to a grin. “Almost there.”

“Where? Heaven?”

She laughed. She couldn’t deny in another world, another place and under entirely different circumstances, she would’ve made her attraction known to John. Extraordinarily good-looking, exceptionally built with a sense of humor that kept up easily with hers, he seemed like the nicest man she’d met in a
long
time. If ever.

Her smile slipped. The circumstances weren’t different, so there was little point of dwelling on something that would never happen. The pressure surrounding them, pressing down and practically squeezing her heart from her body, meant she’d keep her attraction hidden beneath a steel plate. She had to keep her head—and heart—intact if she stood any chance of getting Funland flying under the Todd flag again.

Her granddad’s memorial bench came into view, and she headed straight for it. “Let’s take a seat here.”

The vista was breathtaking. The clouds felt within touching distance. In one direction, the cliff face sank hundreds of feet toward the beach and in the other, a huge mass of blackened forest dominated the view. Sasha pointedly faced the sea as the memory of the murdered woman found in the forest two years before skittered over her skin. She shivered.

“Are you cold?”

She turned and squinted at him. He stood beside the bench, his face shadowed by the sun burning brightly behind him. He shrugged out of his jacket and held it open. “Here.”

Her heart stuttered at yet another act of old-fashioned gallantry. She faced the beach, silently urging him to sit down. How did he manage to keep hiding his eyes from her? “I’m fine. Whenever I look at the forest over there, it reminds me Templeton has flaws the same as any other place.”

John glanced toward the forest. “Did something happen?”

“A woman’s body was found there a while ago. She’d been strangled. The whole town was shaken to its core by it.”

His jaw tightened. “Did they find who killed her?”

“Yes.” She drew in a long breath. “Can we talk about something else?”

He glanced again toward the forest before he sat beside her. The smell of him, the vicinity of his body next to hers caused attraction to pull at her insides, blurring her thoughts and skewing her rationale. How was her sexual pull to this man supposed to be sated when he possessed rugged good looks, combined with the age-old fantasy of a handsome, young and virile British prince?

He turned. She sensed his gaze on the small gold plaque on the seat behind them and held her breath.

“Your grandfather liked this spot, too.” His voice was soft, careful.

Drawing a breath, Sasha shimmied forward and drew the folded letter to Kyle from her back pocket. No personal stuff. Business only. She stared at the paper in her hand and swallowed hard. “We need to talk about my offer.”

Silence.

The seconds passed but Sasha refused to look at him. This was the way he wanted things to be, too. Hadn’t he said they were to talk business and nothing else? He sat beside her and from the corner of her eye, she watched him lift his ankle to the knee of his other leg. Another second, and she was aware of his arm across the back of the seat behind her—the same as she’d been aware of it on the fairground ride a few days before.

Nerves leaped in her belly, and she breathed deep, letting her granddad’s spirit bolster the determination John had managed to crack. Only a little, but still far too much. “I’m convinced Kyle took advantage of my granddad’s age, increasing memory loss and emotional state to get the fair from him at a rock-bottom price.”

She forced her eyes to his. The intense blue of his gaze bored into hers yet told her nothing of what he thought. She lifted her chin. “His once-agile mind was weakening. The fair was slipping into disrepair. It’s likely he had no choice but to sell, especially when Kyle put on the pressure. He even signed the contract with a clause to say Kyle was never to resell it back to one of my family.” She shook her head, sadness squeezing at her heart. “He would never have agreed to such a thing. Someone or something forced his hand, and I want Funland back. I was hoping with Kyle in prison for the next few years, he might be open to some reasonable negotiation.... Now I have to turn to you instead.”

He continued to stare, his eyes roaming steadily over her face and hair.

Frustration simmered in her stomach, and Sasha thrust the paper toward him. “This is the best I can do.”

With his eyes still on hers, he drew the paper from her fingers and finally broke eye contact. He opened the letter, and Sasha’s nerves stretched as he read her words. Eventually, he slowly refolded the paper and stared out toward the ocean. “It’s a fair offer.”

She stiffened as a flicker of hope twisted inside her. “You’re not going to dismiss it out of hand?”

“No.”

Relief pushed the air from her lungs. “Good.” She fell back against the seat. “That’s a start, I suppose.”

“But I won’t consider it until you tell me everything you know about Kyle’s dealings.”

She snapped her head around. His jaw was sharp enough to cut diamonds and his lips were drawn into such a tight line, they were barely visible. “I told you. I don’t know anything.”

“I don’t believe you.”

She opened her mouth to respond; to tell him to go to hell. Yet, how could she when what he implied was true? Shame seared hot at her cheeks and she fisted her hands in her lap. “Why did you have to turn up here?”

“What do you know about my father’s businesses, Sasha?”

Self-hatred smeared the inside of her mouth with a bitter tang. “Nothing. Why don’t you ask Freddy? He’s your father’s confidant, not me.”

“You’ve never left the place. Even when you believe Kyle practically stole it from your family. Why?”

“I told you—”

“Funland is your heart and soul. I’m starting to see that. Freddy is my father’s lapdog, nothing more. You care about the fair. It clearly runs through your blood, and I won’t dismiss that, as Kyle’s done, but I need you to tell me the truth. About everything.”

She trembled as her heart filled with a sense of intense validation. No one but her granddad had ever understood her passion for the fair and now this man, this
stranger,
seemed to understand. Part of her wanted to scream at him not to toy with her emotions, but how could she when nothing but sincerity showed in his eyes? She dragged her gaze from his to stare at the ocean. “If I knew anything, I’d tell you, but I don’t.”