Riley took a step back. He was not falling for a woman to try to share with his brothers again. He couldn’t. She was Law’s. Dominic could flirt with sharing a corner of their sheets or whatever. Not his problem, and Riley knew he had to let this go. If the other two didn’t care about getting burned again, that was their call. They’d see the light when she used her charm to escape, this time for good. Kinley didn’t really want them, and the fairy tale complete with the picket fence Law was envisioning would never happen. The sooner he and Dom figured that out, the better.
With a sigh, Riley went back to work.
* * * *
Kinley took a long swallow of her wine and stared at the accounting books spread across the table in front of her. Hours and hours had gone by since she’d escaped, only to turn around and run back into her captor’s arms.
Moose shouldn’t be that big. Like huge. Enormous. And slobbery. That thing could seriously put out the mucous.
“You all right?” Riley Anders stood in the doorway, leaning negligently against it.
He was heartbreakingly gorgeous, and it was so obvious that he wanted nothing to do with her. He was the only one who never invaded her space, who stayed as far from her as possible.
She knew these men considered themselves so close that they were all for one and one for all. If Riley didn’t want her, she was screwed. Or not screwed.
“I’m okay.” Except that she was dumber than dirt, and the evidence in front of her proved it. The last six weeks showed a series of payouts that she couldn’t account for. And apparently her accountant wasn’t doing his job anymore for whatever reason. Someone had been keeping the books, but nothing like meticulous Steve.
And she was a fool because she just knew she was falling for the men who had kidnapped her.
Nothing in the world had felt so right as running toward Law this morning. Even as she’d crawled out the window, something inside her kept insisting she was making a huge mistake. But logic told her that she should want to escape her abductors, so she’d kept walking. Very quickly, Kinley had realized that she knew absolutely nothing about surviving in the woods. And obviously, they hadn’t lied about the whole Alaska thing. The sun didn’t stay down for very long. She’d managed to sleep a little, but the lack of darkness threw off her whole system.
So did they.
Riley stood in the doorway, almost staring a hole through her. “How about the rat thing?”
She wasn’t sure she liked them referring to her dog as a rat. “Gigi is fine now that’s she’s been fed.”
Riley frowned. “Is that what all the barking was about? For such a little thing, she can be awfully loud.”
Gigi was simply a dog who knew what she wanted. “She’s used to a certain feeding schedule. The whole kidnapping thing threw us off. If she starts up again, she’s likely hungry so if you want her to stop, feed her a little something. And she’s smart. She knows where the food is. She’ll come running into the kitchen at least twice a day barking up a storm now that she knows where the food bowls are kept.”
“Good to know,” Riley said. He looked back at the door as though he was contemplating walking back out, but then he seemed to come to a decision. That straight-line jaw of his firmed. “Are you going to run again?”
After the whole snot-nosed moose incident? “No. Now that I’ve seen what’s out there, I feel much safer here. You’re not going to murder me and leave my body in the woods, are you?”
“No.” He took a single step toward her. “We really are trying to help you. Your boyfriend meant to kill you.”
She’d just about accepted that fact. “He was never my boyfriend, just my fiancé. That may sound weird, but a boyfriend is someone who wants you. A fiancé can be bought. I should know.”
She’d bought Greg with her name, her connections, and apparently her charity.
Riley stared at the floor. “I wouldn’t know about that. I’ve never had enough money to buy one.”
She heard the bitter tone of his voice. “Yeah, well, I would tell you to hold out for someone you love. The whole sacrifice thing tends to go wrong.”
“Is that how you saw it? A sacrifice?”
She’d been sacrificing her whole life. She’d given up so much time, energy, and love. She’d always thought that, while her sister and father meant well, they struggled with self-discipline and showing affection. But now she knew they simply didn’t have any kind of a conscience.
“Yes. I was marrying Greg because I firmly believed my father had cancer and my charity was going under. The economy has been bad. Donations are way down. Hope House was the work of my mom’s heart. I couldn’t let it die. And the thought of my dad having cancer and no insurance nearly killed me. Mom was the one who worked. Dad, uhm…he didn’t think about practicalities like paying bills and stuff.”
“Or he was too busy gambling to send his check in.”
She started to protest and stopped. Because it was true. “Yeah.”
“So you were marrying Greg to save your dad and your charity?”
“And because I was lonely.” Her heart ached, and she was too tired to lie. “I’m twenty-five and I’ve never had a lover. I was lonely, and I wanted a family before it was too late.”
He was silent for a long moment. “You want a family? Like a husband and kids and a white picket fence?”
That had been the dream, but… “I think I would take love any way it came to me.”
He laughed, but it was a bitter thing. “I’ve never known a woman like you to care about love.”
“A woman like me?”
“Pampered. Rich.”
“Money doesn’t buy happiness, Riley. And we’ve already covered that it can’t buy love. At the end of the day, I’m just a woman. I can’t speak for all of them, but me? I just want to have a good life.”
“What would a good life be?”
That idea hadn’t changed in the years since she’d first understood what the word family meant. “Someone who loves me. Someone I could love back. Children. A purpose that’s meaningful. I’m not talking about fame. I don’t care if anyone knows who I am. I just want to make a difference. I want to make other people’s lives better because I walked the earth. I want to make the people who love me proud. Is that too much to ask? I guess it is, because I don’t seem to be able to do it.”
He stared, a long moment passing before he spoke. “I hope you find it. I came in here for a reason. Uhm, Jansen is on TV right now. Look, Law doesn’t want you to watch this, but I think you should. You’re strong enough to handle the truth. Greg is holding press conferences and telling people you were taken. He’s trying to make a case for you to return to him.”
“Why?”
“Well, for starters, if you married Jansen, you wouldn’t be compelled to testify against him.”
“Show me.” She wanted to see whatever Law sought to protect her from. It was sweet that he didn’t want her hurt or upset, but she needed to know. She was quickly realizing that she wanted what these men could give her. Law offered utter devotion. He would try to shield her with every ounce of his being. Dominic challenged her. He wanted her to be smarter, better than she thought she could be.
And Riley was an equal, who supposedly appreciated life and humor and the people he shared them with. Which was why it hurt so much that he wasn’t interested.
He turned on the TV hanging on the opposite wall and changed the channel to a twenty-four- hour news network. Greg’s face immediately came up. He was wearing a perfectly pressed suit as he spoke to the camera. It didn’t look like he’d missed any sleep.
“Someone took my fiancée. I can only pray they treat her well. She’s my heart. She’s the better half of me. I’m begging for Kinley’s swift return.”
A voice came from the audience. “How do you reply to Kellan Kent’s assertion that Kinley Kohl is a runaway bride who fled your wedding with her lover?”
She had a lover? Oh, this story was way more interesting than her actual life.
Greg frowned. “My bride isn’t interested in lovers. This is pure libel. She’s an innocent. Kinley is one of the world’s most true and pure souls.”
Meaning an idiot who couldn’t get a guy—or see when the one in front of her was trying to profit from her death.
Greg droned on. “Kinley would never abandon her family without a word. She values her loved ones and knows that her sister misses her. That her father needs her. I pray she’ll find a way to survive this because my everything depends on her coming home.”
He stared into the camera, giving her that same look he’d given her when he’d offered to save her charity. It made her feel dirty and selfish because she had to choose between throwing caution to the wind for what she wanted and whoring herself for the people who needed her.
Becks was in the background, her face shining in the sunlight as she stood behind Greg. She had on her best suit, the one that showed off the ten grand she’d spent on her boobs. She kept her left side to the camera because she’d always told Kinley that was her good side. It was so comforting to know her sister was concerned with how hot she looked on camera.
Kinley loved her niece and nephew. She’d never understood how Becks could send them off to boarding school, especially so young, but it was all there in her sister’s plastic face. The woman didn’t feel anything. Something was deeply and profoundly wrong with Becks. She was missing her heart, possessed an empty soul. She didn’t care about anyone but herself.
Same with her father.
Her mother had been so lovely, but she’d accepted less than she’d deserved. Would her mother have wanted her to do the same? What did Kinley want for herself? What was she willing to accept? How much was she willing to risk?
A plan started to germinate in her head. Law, Riley, and Dominic had kidnapped her…
“He sounds sympathetic.” Riley frowned at the screen.
“I’m not going to press charges.”
He turned his head. “What?”
She’d decided that before she made her one escape. When she’d been wrapped around Law’s body, his arms holding her close, she’d known she didn’t want freedom. Freedom had kind of sucked because it couldn’t love you back. “I’m not going to press charges. I’ll go along with what Kellan said. You were smart to involve him. He’s Annabelle’s employer. She cares about him. I’m not going to take him down any more than I would the three of you, so I’ll go along with his cover story.”
“You’re going to tell the press that you took medication for your nerves and were sleeping it off while you let Law whisk you away to a secluded lovers’ retreat?”
Why not? What did she have if she went home besides a life of taking care of people who would never thank her and always want more? And that was provided Greg didn’t kill her first. Here was a totally different tale. Nice accommodations, good food, sure. Law had actually asked her for her preferences before they’d cooked dinner. Dominic had even asked what kind of wine she’d like. Before these guys, no one had ever given a damn what she wanted. And now that she thought about it, she was pretty sure Riley had been the one to pick her warm clothes.
“Sure, why not. I’m just a bride gone wild. This sweater is a little scratchy.”
He narrowed his blue eyes. “It’s one hundred percent pure cashmere. It can’t be scratchy.”
Yes, Riley had picked her clothes with care, like she was important to him. Law carried her around like she didn’t weigh a thing. Dominic looked at her like he wanted to eat her up.
And her fiancé? The man she’d been ready to marry was sleeping with her sister and planning to murder her so he could take over her business.
She’d played by the rules for far too long. The rules hadn’t gotten her anywhere. These ridiculous ideals had left her a virgin, completely and utterly alone. They had placed her in a position where everyone lied to her. Getting kidnapped had brought her clarity, shown her a place where at least a couple of men wanted to bring her pleasure.
Pleasure was better than the nothing she’d had before.
“Could you call Law and Dominic in?” An idea had been brewing in her brain all day, a way for her to get something out of this. Determination had replaced mildness in the last several hours. She wanted something beyond just getting to live and keeping her charity. She wanted something for her.
“Why?” Riley asked.
“I want to talk to them.” She didn’t want to explain it to Riley. He wouldn’t understand. He would probably be horrified. But she hoped that Dominic and Law would grasp her meaning immediately. They had kissed her, held her, brought her pleasure. Dominic had gone cold only after she’d pulled away. And Law had just been hurt.
