Her Unexpected Admirer Page 0,60

more tears fell from her beautiful eyes. Davis remembered his brother Dylan’s hot pursuit of the woman that was now his wife. Georgette had left Ireland when Dylan had proposed. She’d been afraid of Dylan, afraid of being in love with him. The thought flashed through his mind. “You love me!” he said, and as soon as he said it, everything made sense.

Kate gasped, her body cringing at his discovery. “I don’t!” she lied.

Davis saw the falsehood in her eyes and threw back his head, laughing with relief. “This is all about you falling in love with me and being scared of what might happen!” He saw the truth once again in her eyes and he stood up, pulling her into his arms. “Oh, Kate! I can’t believe you.” He squeezed her gently when he felt her arms wrap around him as well. “I love you too, you crazy woman.”

Kate hiccupped as she pulled back. “You don’t really know me,” she said, thinking of her painting.

He wouldn’t let her go but gave her more room. “I know that you have secrets,” he said. “And I know that you’re vulnerable because of your past relationship with your father. But Kate,” he held her hands firmly, looking into her eyes, “I love you. I love you and whatever your secrets are, we’ll figure out how to fix them.”

She laughed unsteadily, her head bowing to hide her pain from his all-seeing eyes. “I don’t want to fix this.”

He watched the top of her dark head, his mind trying to sift through the details of what he knew about her. And then something occurred to him. The paint! It was mixed in with her clothes and he hadn’t understood it initially but…

Something flashed in his mind. The dots all connected suddenly. “Kate, the painting in the Denver hotel, it was yours, wasn’t it?” he asked gently.

He immediately felt her stiffen and he knew that he’d hit on exactly what her horrible secret was.

“I don’t paint,” she told him, unable to look him in the eyes.

He put a hand under her chin, lifting her head so that he could see her. “Kate, if you want to paint, then I think it would be amazing!” he said, not sure if she had any talent at all, but positive that he wanted her in his life forever. “I’ll build you a painting studio so you can paint or draw or create until your fingers are numb if that will make you happy.”

His words were shocking. So shocking that she couldn’t believe him at first. “You don’t think it’s stupid? And a waste of time?”

He laughed, relieved that she was finally opening up. “If it makes you happy and fills a need inside of you, I’m all for it.”

She bit her lip, still not sure. “You’re only the second person, besides my art teachers, who know about this.”

Davis couldn’t believe that she’d hidden something like that from him. “Kate, I love you. I love all of you. And if painting makes you whole, then I’m going to buy you all the paints that I can find.”

A tentative smile started to form on her pale face. “Actually, I can afford my own paint. I just sold a bunch of paintings in New York two months ago. So I have…”

Something else occurred to him. “In New York?” he interrupted. “Was the showing on August twenty-fifth?” he asked, suddenly praying that what he suspected was true.

That was certainly an odd comment to make. “Yes. How did you know that?” she asked.

Davis threw back his head and laughed, holding her close so that she couldn’t get away from him again. “You’re going to have to come with me,” he said and grabbed her hand, pulling her along behind him. He quickly dialed his pilot to get a status.

An hour later, they were in the air and Davis was watching her as she carefully nibbled at breakfast.

“We’re getting married, you know.” He made that announcement and then popped a raspberry into his mouth.

She coughed as the freshly squeezed orange juice went down the wrong way with his statement. “We are?” she asked when she could finally breathe.

He nodded, relieved when she didn’t immediately reject the idea. “Absolutely. And there’s no way in hell your father is coming to the wedding.”

Kate didn’t argue again. She wasn’t sure she could face her father again. Not after what he’d pulled.

Davis continued. “I live in Atlanta but fly up to Virginia often to see my family. They’re