family like you give a shit. I want you to leave. Now.” It was too much. He was tromping all over her personal boundaries and if he didn’t leave soon she was going to lose it. She wasn’t ready to let him in.
He was relentless. “Is she going to die, Lorelei?”
It was all suddenly way too much. Michelle, Logan, Mark.
She lost it.
Tears sprang up and spilled down her cheeks. When he tried to reach for her she slapped out blindly against his hands. Something close to hatred flooded her. His life was so perfect. He was so fucking perfect. “I said leave! Go back to Denver and leave me and my family the hell alone.”
His hands grabbed hers and he pulled her roughly into his arms as she fought him. He grunted when she elbowed him and said against her hair, “No. I’ve already told you that. Damn it, Lorelei, calm down and talk to me.”
That was rich. “Talk to you? Why should I when you don’t say a single thing to me?” She gave up on struggling when she realized the futility. His strong arms held her effortlessly. Her gaze lifted to his and she glared at him instead.
He stared down at her with confusion in his eyes. “What are you talking about? You know how I feel about you.”
Did she? She knew he wanted her, found her desirable. Even that he found her funny. But, no, she didn’t know how he really felt.
But that wasn’t what she was talking about now. “What about you, Mark? Your secrets?”
A hard glint came into his eyes. “This isn’t about me. This is about you finally telling me the truth about why you stole from me. It’s because Michelle needs help or she’s going to die, isn’t it? And you and Logan don’t have the money to get her the help. That’s why you needed the money my necklace would bring so bad, isn’t it?” He gave her a gentle shake. “Isn’t it?”
She snapped like a wishbone. “Yes! She’s going to die because I couldn’t do it! I couldn’t sell your cross. I couldn’t do it because of how I feel about you. And I hate myself for it!”
Mark sucked in a breath. “Don’t say that, honey. You don’t mean it.”
She wasn’t so sure.
Blood roared in her ears and a hard ball was lodged deep in the pit of her stomach. She shoved out of his arms, leveled her gaze on him, and sent him away. “I do mean it when I say I want you to leave.”
He let her go and she walked to the house. She refused to look back when she opened the screen door and stepped inside. She didn’t stop until she was in her room. And she didn’t give in to the feelings tearing at her until she heard a door slam and the sound of wheels crunching gravel as his car pulled away and sped down the drive.
Then she gave in and let the flood take her.
MARK PUNCHED THE gas pedal and the Ferrari responded. It rocketed down the gravel road. A turn came up and he took the corner at sixty, sent the car into a slide to make the Duke boys proud and grinned over the quick rush.
It was about frigging time he’d finally got some answers.
Man, had he got them. Lorelei had folded like a deck of cards. He supposed he should feel guilty for what he’d just done, and a big part of him did. He felt bad for pushing at her, bullying her for answers until she’d snapped. But it had been necessary. It was way past time for her to come clean, and he’d realized that for her to do it she’d need some serious prompting.
See, he was learning how she worked, what made Lorelei Littleton tick. He’d reached a point of near desperation that night the guys had invited him out to the strip club. Ten times he’d picked up the phone to call her. Ten times he’d dialed Lorelei’s number and hung up before it rang. And that was when he’d had to admit the truth, admit the guys were right.
He was totally whipped.
He wasn’t ready to call it love, but it was way more than he’d felt for a woman in a long, long time. It was more. Stronger. Deeper.
So he’d sat there after hanging up the phone for the last time wondering when he’d become such a sissy. And that’s when it had hit him. Just