Jennifer Snow – Tempting Kate (страница 7)

“I admit, the lashes were a dumb idea, okay? Now, not another word about them. Your father’s been relentless enough,” she muttered.

“How is Dad?” His father was a retired carpenter who now worked part-time at a ski rental shop at the base of Bear Mountain. Lee Dillon liked to stay busy despite his weakened health in recent years. Three heart attacks would be enough to make most people retire, but not Scott’s father.

“I just told you how he is—annoying.”

He laughed. His parents had always had a passionate relationship. Their arguments were fiery and their love for one another just as intense. And now that they were both semiretired, they drove one another crazy.

Scott didn’t have the desire to have what his parents had. Or rather, he had no desire to search for that kind of connection. Not anymore. Casual, fun, no commitments suited him just fine. He cherished his independence. Love and long-term relationships were Derek’s MO. His brother wanted the career and wife and kids. He fell in love hard and often and had had his heart broken over and over. Still, he bounced back the instant another pretty face caught his eye.

Scott had been hurt once, and that was enough. One and done.

“Anyway, I’m calling because—”

He cut her off. “I know why you’re calling, and the answer is still no.” Did Derek really think siccing their mother on him would work? They weren’t children anymore. This was his resort and he didn’t have to agree to a single thing, especially since Derek was probably only pushing the situation because he thought he was doing Scott a favor. Sure, the resort could use the reservations and the high-end guests that his brother’s wedding would bring, but he wasn’t that desperate.

“You’re just being stubborn.”

“No, I’m not.”

“Yes, you are. We all know you don’t like Liz...but she’s marrying your brother whether you want to accept it or not.”

If only his mother knew the real reason. He didn’t want to see his brother make the biggest decision of his life without hearing the truth about the woman he was intent on spending his life with. Scott knew Liz. Women like her were never happy for long, always looking for the next adventure, the next thrill...that was his type, not Derek’s. Derek had always been a hopeless romantic, a serial monogamist. The kind of man who fell prey to women like Liz.

The woman made movie trailers because she couldn’t commit to working on longer projects, getting bored too fast, too easily. She’d admitted as much to him...three vodka shots in, somewhere between removing his shirt and her underwear.

Of all the bad coincidences. To have shared a near-death experience with his brother’s girlfriend. The plane crash that had ended his career as a commercial pilot had cost him much more than his pilot’s wings. If only Liz hadn’t been on that flight to Mexico. He sighed. When he’d found out that she was dating his brother, he’d assumed the relationship wouldn’t last long enough for a confession to be worthwhile. No need to upset Derek for something short-term.

But the relationship had continued to grow, and then, six months ago, his brother had proposed. Scott had immediately confronted Liz about telling Derek, and she’d promised she would.

And of course she hadn’t. Cheating women didn’t come clean, he thought bitterly. He should have said something at that point, but too much time had passed and he’d lacked the balls. He kept waiting, on edge, for Liz to man up, but of course she wasn’t willing to risk her relationship with the truth.

“Look, Mom, if Derek thinks he’s happy, in love with Liz, that’s great, but I don’t have to watch him making what I believe is a mistake.”

“Yes, you do. It’s not up to us to decide for him. No one comments on your life choices.”

They didn’t need to. Her tone said it all. They disapproved of his playboy ways, but he didn’t care. He knew his mother was desperate for grandkids and she was putting her hope in Derek, knowing kids were not in Scott’s future. Therefore, she wouldn’t care if Derek were marrying Medusa, just as long as she had a grandbaby within the year. He thought his mother was in for disappointment. Liz Sheffield didn’t exactly have the nurturing, maternal gene. Her company was her baby. “Mom, you’ve only met the woman twice. Don’t you think you and Dad should get to know her better before giving your blessing on this marriage?”

“She’s a living, breathing woman, capable of giving me grandbabies, Scott. What more is there to know?” she said, confirming his thoughts.

Grandkids—the only thing she cared about.

“If you guys are all happy about this, then great. But I’m not on board.”

“Derek is your brother. Have you forgotten that?”

No. But damn, he wished he could. The guilt he experienced each day might be easier to handle if he’d slept with some random stranger’s fiancée and not someone his brother was head over heels in love with, someone who would be there for Christmas mornings and birthdays and family events. Good Lord, things would be awkward.

“The same brother who put you through college and flight school,” she continued. “The same brother who helped fund your new businesses...”

Guilt was a favorite negotiation tactic for his mom, but this time it wouldn’t work. “I’ve paid him back every cent.” It had been the first debt he’d repaid when he’d received the two-million-dollar settlement from Airways Travel two years before, after they’d lost their case in court. Thankfully, he’d been able to prove that it was a malfunction in the operating system that had caused the plane to go down and not pilot error. The money had been appreciated, of course, but mainly he’d been happy to clear his name from fault. No one had died in the crash, but people had been injured. Another thing he felt guilty about. He’d had to give up his career because of that crash. Adding lawsuits from families if he’d lost his case would have destroyed him completely. “I don’t owe Derek anything,” he said.

His mother huffed and was silent for a long moment.

He waited. The battles of wills with women today were exhausting him.

“Think about your father,” she said finally, a tearful note in her voice.

Oh, come on. “You just said Dad’s fine.”

“He’s fine as in he’s still breathing, yes. But Scott, you know that he can’t travel. If the wedding doesn’t happen here, he won’t be able to attend. That would crush both him and Derek. He would be devastated to miss the most important day in his oldest son’s life.”

Shit, shit, shit. He should have known she’d play that card. Closing his eyes, he rested his head against the back of his chair and rotated slowly. How the hell could he allow this without seeming to be on board with the event? This was not something he supported. At all.

If only he’d told his brother the truth before, they wouldn’t be in this situation. There was no way even Derek would marry a woman who’d cheated on him.

Unfortunately, Scott knew all too well the pain of realizing that he’d put his trust in the wrong person. His one and only real relationship had ended when he’d discovered the woman he’d been falling in love with was married. Married with two small children.

They’d met in the airport when Amy, a flight attendant, was on his Bahamas-bound flight. She’d invited him to spend his days off with her at the five-star beachside hotel, and next, they were taking their vacation time in two-day stints, falling in love in different tourist destinations. For eight months, they kept the affair going, enjoying luxury treatment in resort suites, massages on the beach, snorkeling and boating their days away, and making love every night. Her only rule was that they never saw one another back in California. She’d claimed their relationship was so much more exciting on exotic soil. He’d been too caught up in their whirlwind passion to argue.

Then one day the real reason was waiting at the airport to surprise her. A man and two kids were at arrivals to welcome her home, while Scott had watched her look of desperation and anxiety from a distance, feeling his heart break apart. She’d reached out to him in apology, telling him that she had fallen in love with him and that if things were different...but he’d wanted nothing to do with her. He hadn’t wanted to hear her excuses for almost ruining her family and using him to do it. And he’d made sure she wasn’t assigned to any more of his flights.

He never wanted to feel that pain again.

He didn’t want his brother to feel that devastating betrayal, either.

“Scott, please,” his mother said, interrupting his thoughts.

He released a deep breath. If he agreed, there was still time to convince Liz to tell Derek the truth...or he would. He could go along with this for now, but ultimately, he refused to let his brother get married without knowing the truth. Then if he still wanted to marry Liz? Fine.

Damn. He was already regretting this. “They can use the resort for the wedding, but I won’t be his best man.”

* * *

KATE, WEARING A BIKINI she’d purchased from the gift shop, removed the white terry-cloth robe provided by the resort and shivered in the cold mountain air before she submerged herself in the outdoor hot tub. She’d seen it on the wraparound deck from her third-floor window, and she’d waited for a nauseating couple to vacate so she could enjoy it without watching the two make out in front of her. Despite her “I believe in happy-ever-after” facade, the sight of a new couple made her cringe.