“Because I’m your brother. And because you’d never actually marry Lily. She’s not your type.” Brian held up his hand as Dylan’s mouth dropped open. “Don’t play dumb. I know Lily and the kids adore you. She’d marry you in an instant if you asked her.”
“I would never—”
“I’m glad to hear it. I’m your brother.” Brain waved his hand at the office. “And a partner here. But Lily and I need some space. Some time alone to work out how to be a family again.”
Barely able to speak, Dylan sat heavily in his chair. Brian thought Lily and he…
“I know you’ve held the company together. I never said sorry for dropping you and Mom in it when I left the first time. But like I said, I’m back. I need to reestablish myself in the company and sort things with my family. So take a break. Give Lily and me some space, and give yourself a holiday. You probably need one.”
I should leave him in charge, just like that? Unlikely. “What if I say no?”
“Why would you?” Brian scoffed. “When was the last time you had a holiday?”
Dylan shrugged. Never.
“It’s not like I can’t run the company. I did it for plenty of years before you took over.”
Before you ran away and then got distracted. “I’ll have to talk to Mom about it.”
“I already have, and she agrees. You need to leave. Just for three months or so, to let Lily and me make a real go of it.”
“Three months!”
“It’s not that long. Anything shorter and nothing will really change.”
“I should just do what you say? Get out of your way?”
“Pretty much.” The pain had left Brian’s face, but there was a stretched look about him that belied his assertive tone.
Dylan caught a glimpse of his reflection in the window. He looked tired. Hadn’t he just been thinking about how he needed a holiday before Lily’s appearance interrupted his meeting? It wasn’t as if Brian had embezzled company funds—he’d just been absent enough that Dylan had needed to head up all their accounts for fear that Brian wouldn’t be there for critical meetings. But he’d been back for four months now, living with Lily and the kids for two of those. It was the longest he’d been around for years. Perhaps he was serious this time. “What about the launch of the new credit scheme? You can’t roll that out without me. Clients will freak.”
“So you’ll go?”
“Maybe. I’ll talk to Mom about it.”
Brian’s face relaxed.
He thought I’d put up more of a fight. Maybe I should have.
Dylan stroked his jaw. He didn’t owe his brother anything. “I didn’t leave Lily alone because of you. And I wouldn’t even consider going if I didn’t think it could be good for her and the kids. You’re going to have to earn the right to be their father again.” He put up his hand as Brian began to protest. “I have a meeting to get back to. We’ll talk later.”
The meeting finished without further incident, and Dylan was buried in paperwork the rest of the day, but at the back of his mind, Brian’s words reverberated. Dylan did know what it was like to not have a father. Theirs had died when Dylan was young.
The fading sun cast a rosy glow over the city as Dylan packed up his notes. Looking down from his office window, he watched people strolling along the harborside. Not a bad idea. He dismissed his driver, hoping a walk would clear his head.
As the last warmth of the day bounced off the concrete footpath, he pondered the events of the previous few months. His brother was back. If his father had come back after being gone for ten years, would he have been pleased to see him? Without a doubt.
Dylan sighed. Lily’s kids needed their father. It still baffled him that Lily had taken his brother back, that she’d stuck by him all this time. Perhaps she simply wanted to believe love would conquer all.
Brian was right when he said Lily wasn’t Dylan’s type. Not that Dylan really had a type. It was more that he didn’t believe in marriage. Lily and Brian were an excellent reminder why. Someone always loved more, and someone always got hurt.
“It’s none of my business.” Dylan looked up to check that no one had heard him muttering and glanced at the window display he was passing. He did a double take. The image could have been a copy of one he had at home of his mother from her days as a professional dancer. A woman dressed in white struck a strong yet graceful pose, frozen in fluid motion.
Adventurer Cruises entertainment team. Open auditions this week.
A cruise, perhaps? He needed something to occupy himself for three months. Lying around doing nothing would drive him crazy.
No one he knew was likely to be cruising the Pacific. They all had their own yachts, so he’d be almost incognito.
“I could carry on another family tradition,” he said quietly. “Dance again. Mom might like that.”
The idea was appealing. Ten years ago, he’d been all signed up for dance school when Brian had disappeared with his lover and left Dylan scrambling to study business and help his mother run the company. His mother knew how disappointed he’d been, but she had also known she couldn’t run the business by herself. Neither of them had talked about his dancing again.
Dancing on a cruise ship would keep him busy, and it would provide a new challenge. He still took dance lessons every now and then just to keep himself in shape. The discipline of keeping his posture strong, of holding his muscles in perfect line, was intense—good practice for ensuring his mind was calm and precise in business. It would be interesting to find out whether he had what it took to dance on a cruise ship. Why not?
“How hard could it be?”
…
Her eyes flicked back to him again.
Michaela Western was trying her best to ignore the new crew member, but something kept drawing her eye, something more than his height and broad shoulders. He was a bit older than the dancers usually recruited for her team, but there was something else as well. Something she could almost taste.
Perhaps it was his square jaw and brilliant emerald eyes.
“Twenty bucks says that tall dancer you’re staring at is shacked up with the choreographer by the end of the week. The new guy from admin, however? I think he might just be mine.”
Michaela shook herself. Damn, had she really been staring?
“Felly!” she said to cover her embarrassment. “You wouldn’t be admitting to your cruise director that you’d start something with one of your direct reports?”