Some Like It Charming - By Megan Bryce Page 0,55
mother was a sweetheart. The biggest mark I’d ever seen, and she believed every word I ever told her. I’m lucky I got a hold of you when I did or you would have turned out just like her.”
It took all her concentration to keep her breathing even. To keep from leaping across the table and tearing off his smug, confident face.
He watched her, then murmured, “You’ve gotten good. If I didn’t know better, I’d say you’d forgiven me about that.”
“I haven’t. You can rest assured.”
He nodded, winking at the woman who was still trying not to stare at him. He said to Mackenzie, “Are you playing this one?”
“No.”
“Good. Because you won’t win.”
She raised her eyebrows. “You don’t know anything about the O’Connors.”
“No. I know you. And you think it’s cheating to use your gifts to steal from someone.”
“Yes, that sounds exactly like cheating to me.”
“And so you take their money ethically?” He shook his head, laughing. “You sell investments.”
“It’s a step up from eternal life.”
He nodded his head graciously. “Of course. And now you’ve moved on to marrying for money.”
Mackenzie said, “You know nothing about it.”
“I know it sounds like a con. So I’ve come to see if my daughter has joined the game.” Luke watched her a moment. “Now I’m wondering about him.”
“It’s not a con.”
“So says the mark.”
“It’s a favor.”
He sighed heavily, shaking his head. “It gets worse and worse.”
She laughed, a bitter edge to it. “What do you think he’s trying to get from me?”
“What does any man want from a woman? Everything.”
“I know exactly what he wants from me. He’s not a con man.” She paused. “Okay, he is. But not one like you.”
Luke’s eyes flicked behind her. “Maybe he’s better than me.”
Mackenzie turned to find Ethan bearing down on them, anger plain on his face. Her shoulders relaxed. Ethan wasn’t better than her father. He wasn’t playing her. She had no doubts where he was concerned.
Ethan took her hand in his, pulling her up and trying to stare down her father. “Don’t bother her.”
“She can take care of herself.”
“But she doesn’t have to. I’m right here, and if she says she doesn’t want to see you, then I will make sure she doesn’t.”
Her father looked between the two of them, his brows furrowed in thought, and then he barked out a laugh. “Oh, you two. No one’s running this thing, I see.”
He stood, nodded at Ethan and smiled at his daughter. “When you two work this out, remember your old dad. Come and meet your sister, my wife. We’ll get to know each other again.”
Mackenzie couldn’t help it, the words popped out of her mouth. “I already know everything I need to about you. People don’t change.”
Luke nodded. “True. But they get older and slower and wiser. People sometimes get tweaked. And sometimes that’s enough.”
He smiled at her, and his smiled widened when he saw her hackles rising.
He laughed, a crystal clear boom that not even his daughter could see through. “And sometimes it’s too little, too late.” He shook his head. “Too much of me and not enough of your mother. I did too good a job.”
“My mother was a beautiful mark. You never wanted me to be like her.”
“No. And I still don’t. But she would have forgiven me, and you won’t.”
Mackenzie took a deep breath. “She wouldn’t have forgiven you. She wouldn’t have realized there was anything to forgive. But you’re right that I won’t. Don’t come back. There’s nothing for you here.”
She waited, staring him in the eye. Letting him see everything he had done to her, everything he’d taken from her. Letting him see that he could never make her believe he cared for her.
Luke finally nodded at her, a smile still on his face. He looked at Ethan. “You know what I’ll do if you’re playing her.”
Mackenzie snorted. “You should have threatened yourself.”
He turned to her, his eyes suddenly cold and hard. “I should have. But I was too stupid then. So I will threaten him.” He looked at Ethan again. “Your deepest, darkest fears will become reality. I might even talk her into helping if she finds she’s fallen to another con man.”
Ethan didn’t falter under her father’s gaze. “She hasn’t.”
Mackenzie turned, leaving her father standing there, knowing she should have left long ago. But she’d thought he would have given a hint at what he wanted. How much it was going to cost to get rid of him.
Oh, she wouldn’t have paid. But she wanted to