Then he’d met Lori.
His relationships with women had always soured and he’d never been able to figure out where he’d gone wrong. But it was definitely a pattern; he’d meet someone, things would be great for a while and then it was over. He didn’t understand it. Mary Jo claimed he was too “bossy” and “controlling” but she wasn’t exactly a relationship expert, so he ignored her opinion—and the cycle of ever-shorter romances had continued. But all of that changed the night he’d stopped to help when Lori’s car had broken down.
He’d nearly driven past. He’d already put in a long day and he was still annoyed by the heated argument he’d had with his sister. But he’d stopped, because if it was Mary Jo stranded there on the highway Linc would want someone like him to help. So he’d pulled over. Lori’s car had run out of gas and he’d taken her to a service station. They’d ended up having dinner together, and then spent hours talking during the next few days.
Linc had learned that Lori had recently come out of a broken engagement—to a man who’d gone to prison for theft. Not surprisingly, it had left her disillusioned. Linc knew the feeling well. She was an old-fashioned kind of woman who expected a man to behave honorably. He was an old-fashioned kind of guy who demanded honor from himself and others. On impulse, before they could talk themselves out of it, they decided to get married.
It was crazy. It was wonderful. Linc had never in his life felt this happy and carefree.
“Why are you smiling?” Lori asked, rising up on one elbow to study his face.
Just looking at his wife made his chest tighten. “I never in a million years thought I’d sleep in a canopy bed under pink sheets and be okay with it.” He paused. “More than okay.”
Now it was Lori’s turn to smile. “I told you it wouldn’t be so bad, didn’t I?”
“Not that I remember. What I recall is the promise you made when you lured me to your bed.”
“Lured you?” She raised her eyebrows. “As I recall, you hauled me into your arms, slammed my bedroom door and carried me across the room caveman-style.”
“Caveman? Please.”
“He-man, then.”
He-man, he could live with. “After that, I didn’t even notice the canopy, which was what you intended all along.”
“Do you mind it now?” she asked.
Linc shrugged. He’d lived with his brothers for so many years, he didn’t pay attention to all the froufrou stuff women had. Mary Jo probably had it, too, but she was his baby sister, so that was different.
Everything about Lori had his attention from the moment she’d stepped out of her car that first evening. And when she’d emerged from the bedroom in that black silk piece-of-nothing on their wedding night… The memory still excited him.
“I’ll make coffee,” she volunteered again when he didn’t respond.
“Not so soon,” he said, kissing her until they were both breathless. He watched as her eyes widened and she realized what he wanted. “Linc! I have to get ready for work!”
“You won’t be late,” he promised as he urged her onto her back and brought his mouth to hers.
Ah, yes, marriage had a lot to recommend it, and Linc was going to enjoy every minute.
A half hour later, having forgone coffee, Lori was rushing to get dressed when Linc stepped out of the shower. Her makeup—not that he felt she needed it—was done. She wore a business skirt and was pulling on a soft blue sweater. “What are you doing today?” she asked as she adjusted the neckline.
“I’m signing the closing papers on the garage.”
She looked surprised. “The deal went through already?”
Linc stood in the doorway to the tiny bathroom, a towel wrapped around his waist. “It sat empty for two years and the owner really wanted to sell.” Linc planned to open a branch of the family business, Wyse Men Auto and Body Shop—formerly Three Wyse Men—in Cedar Cove. His brothers were competent enough to handle everything in Seattle. By starting a second shop, he was giving them an opportunity to succeed on their own. Besides, one of the three needed to be close at hand to keep an eye on Mary Jo, although he had to admit that was more of an excuse than a reason. Linc liked living in Cedar Cove.
Okay, to be honest, he liked living with Lori.
“I only work until three this afternoon,” Lori said, moving about the room. She slipped her arms into a black jacket that didn’t match the skirt but looked good with it, then pinned a cameo to the lapel. Even Linc, most comfortable in a T-shirt and jeans, recognized that Lori had a real sense of style. He supposed it was why she worked in a high-end dress shop in Silverdale. She dabbled in designing, too, and knew how to sew.
“I’ll get groceries on the way home.” She brushed her hair, slung her purse over her shoulder and was about to leave.
Linc grabbed her hand. “Aren’t you going to kiss me goodbye?”
A smile made her eyes sparkle mischievously. “No, kissing leads to other things and I’m already late.”
“One kiss,” he begged. “Please?”
“Linc,” she groaned, but then complied.
Her kiss left him weak in the knees. He had to clear his throat before he could speak again. “I’ll be back from the title company around four.”
“Great. I’ll pick up a bottle of wine so we can celebrate.”
“Good idea.”
“See you later,” she said, and kissed him again, letting her mouth linger over his. She was well aware of what she was doing to him, and he nearly staggered backward when she abruptly broke away.
“You’re an evil woman, Lori Wyse,” he called after her.
Linc headed out fifteen minutes after Lori. He had several stops to make, plus he needed to drive into Seattle and meet with his brothers about the business there. By the time he returned to Cedar Cove, he had to sign the papers for the garage. That all took longer than he’d expected and it was almost five when he’d finished.
Linc collected the keys to the garage and went home, hoping to pick up Lori and take her down to see the garage. He had a notebook filled with ideas on how to build the business. He wanted to tell her about them, and above all, he wanted to share this moment with her. They’d take the wine over to the property and toast there.
When Linc arrived home, he saw a black Town Car parked in the very spot where he normally left his truck. Even before he reached their apartment, he heard raised voices.
“Don’t say that, Daddy!” Lori cried. She sounded close to tears.
Oh, boy. Lori hadn’t told her family yet that they were married. Linc didn’t understand why she’d delayed, but the decision was hers. When he’d asked her about it, Linc could see how uncomfortable the subject made her, so he’d dropped it.
Now her father was upset, and frankly, Linc didn’t blame him. He’d do his best to set things straight.
Squaring his shoulders, Linc opened the door and walked into the living room. Lori stood next to the fireplace, her father—a balding, heavyset man—no more than a foot away. One of his hands was raised, as if he’d been wagging his finger at her. The other was clenched at his side. At Linc’s entrance, they both turned to stare at him.
“Hello,” Linc said, hoping he sounded calm and composed. “You must be Lori’s father. A pleasure to meet you, Mr. Bellamy.” He thrust out his hand, which the older man ignored.
Instead, Leonard Bellamy turned back to his daughter. “Is that the man?”
“Daddy, this is my husband, Lincoln Wyse. Linc…this is my father.”
Linc walked over to Lori’s side and placed his arm protectively around her shoulders.
Bellamy continued to ignore him. “You’ve pulled some stupid stunts in your life, but this takes the cake.”
“Mr. Bellamy, I realize—”
“If I want to hear from you, I’ll say so,” the older man shouted. “Don’t you have any sense, Lori Marie? You married this man and you don’t even know him? What about his family? Who are his people?”
“If you’d
allow me—”
“You,” Leonard said, pointing an accusing finger at Linc, “mind your own business. This is between me and my daughter.”
Lori squeezed his arm, indicating that Linc should do as her father said. He didn’t like it, but he clenched his jaw and waited impatiently for the other man to get to the end of his rant.
“First, you were engaged to that…that felon.”
“Geoff was a mistake.”
“A mistake!” Leonard shouted. “So that’s what you’re calling him. He was a major embarrassment to the whole family. How do you think your mother and I felt when we had to cancel the wedding? We couldn’t even say it was wedding-day jitters or make up a decent excuse. Oh, no. Geoff’s name was plastered across the front page of every newspaper on the Kitsap Peninsula. Everyone in the entire county knew why the wedding was canceled.”
“I…I didn’t know what kind of man Geoff was,” Lori said, defending herself. Her voice quavered with mortification. “I agree I misjudged Geoff, but you liked him, too, remember?”
Her father brushed off her comment. “What makes you think you have better judgment this time?” he demanded. “How long did you two know each other, anyway?”
“Long enough,” Linc said, unable to remain silent.
“I asked you to stay out of this,” Bellamy shouted. He started pacing, then stopped and glared at Lori. “What were you thinking?” Briefly he closed his eyes. “What on earth possessed you to marry a stranger?”
“Daddy…”
“Can you imagine how your mother felt to have a friend—mind you, a friend—announce that you’d recently married?”
“Daddy, please…”
“You couldn’t have told us yourself?” he bellowed, refusing to let Lori explain.
“Mr. Bellamy,” Linc said, trying again.
Lori covered her face with both hands and began to sob.
“You’ve really done it this time,” Leonard said. “You’ve consistently shown poor judgment, and worse, you never seem to learn from your mistakes.”
Frowning, Linc took a step forward. He understood why Lori’s father was upset, but the man was crossing the line now.
“No one in the family has ever done anything like this. Your mother’s beside herself.”
“I’m sorry,” Lori sobbed.
“As you should be. You made one stupid mistake and then you immediately followed that up with another.” He whirled around and studied Linc through narrowed eyes. “A mechanic, Lori? For heaven’s sake, why would you marry a mechanic? It isn’t embarrassing enough that our daughter elopes without a word to her family, but then you have to marry a man with oil under his fingernails, an uncouth, uneducated…mechanic? What’s the matter with you, girl? Don’t you have a brain in your head?”
“Mr. Bellamy,” Linc said, his voice hard. It was one thing to belittle him, but Linc wasn’t going to stand idly by while Lori’s father chastised her as if she were a child. “I can see why you’re upset. I’ll be the first to admit that we rushed into this marriage, but that doesn’t give you the right to come to our home and ridicule my wife.”
“Your home?” The other man’s face reddened.
Lori’s hand tightened around Linc’s forearm and she squeezed hard. “This building belongs to my parents,” she whispered. “I don’t pay rent.”
Linc hadn’t known that—and wished she’d told him. “If you want us to move, we’ll be out by the end of the month,” he offered.
“I want you out, all right,” Bellamy raged, jerking one thumb at the door. “Out of my daughter’s life.”
That wasn’t going to happen. Rather than argue, Linc shook his head. “Lori and I are married.”
Her father snorted contemptuously. “You saw a good thing, didn’t you? Lori was easy prey. She was at a low point in her life and you decided to take advantage of her because of her name.”
The name meant nothing to Linc. “Bellamy?”
“Lori comes from a wealthy family and you were trying to—”
“Now, just a minute here!” Despite his efforts, Linc was fast losing his temper. “I don’t need your money or your name.”
Bellamy scowled back at him, his expression filled with disbelief and disdain. “We’ll see about that.” His threat hung heavy in the air.
Linc wouldn’t allow Bellamy to intimidate him. “You might own this building, but you don’t own your daughter. I suggest you leave now, before we both say or do something we’ll regret.”
Bellamy jabbed his index finger at Linc several times, then whirled around and stormed out the door. He slammed it so hard the windows rattled.
The room seemed to vibrate with tension. Lori burst into tears, and Linc put his arms around her. He held her tight against him, his shirt absorbing her tears as he gently stroked her hair.
“My mother’s friend Brenda owns the dress shop and…she must’ve told Mom. She promised she wouldn’t say anything until I’d spoken to my parents but…”
“It’s okay, Lori,” Linc whispered into her hair. “We should’ve told them sooner.”
“I know…I know—but I was afraid of what my father would say, what he might do….”
“He’ll get used to the idea soon enough.” Linc said, hoping that was true.
“You don’t know my father.”
“We’ll give him time,” Linc said. “I’ll do everything I can to prove to your family that I’m going to be a good husband.”
“It won’t matter,” she whispered. “Daddy will never forgive me…. He was still angry about Geoff and—and then I married you.”
“Do you want to end the marriage?” he felt obliged to ask.
“No, never,” she said, her arms tightening around him.
“Me, neither,” Linc murmured, and he thought he felt her smile against his shoulder. “Come on,” he said, easing her out of his arms. “We have some celebrating to do.”
She looked up at him blankly.
“I signed the final papers for the garage this afternoon, remember?”
Lori smiled weakly, then slipped her arms around him again. “I don’t care what my family thinks. I’m grateful I married you.”
Linc was grateful, too. Swinging her into his arms, he moved toward the bedroom.
“Will it always be like this?” she asked, sighing as she kissed his jaw.
“I hope not,” he said with a chuckle. “This much happiness just might kill me.”
Three
Staring at the phone on his desk, Will Jefferson mentally prepared to call Shirley Bliss—again. Twice now she’d come up with a convenient excuse to turn down his invitations. Either the woman had an incredibly active social life or she wasn’t interested. Without being vain, he found that difficult to believe. Okay, he was a little vain. He knew he was a good-looking charmer—smooth but not too smooth. Smart, successful and sexy, the latter according to more than one woman.
He was also persistent. He hadn’t come this far in life without a healthy dose of good old-fashioned grit. He’d returned to his hometown, purchased a failing art gallery and was determined to make a fresh start.
Admittedly he’d made his share of mistakes. If he had it to do over again, he would’ve done certain things differently. For one, he would’ve paid a lot more attention to his kid sister’s best friend, Grace.
Years later Grace did attract his notice, but by then it was too late. They’d reconnected shortly after Will learned of Dan Sherman’s death. He’d sent her a sympathy card and, on a whim, added his email address. Not long after that, they’d begun a friendly correspondence.
Will hadn’t known about the crush Grace had on him while they were in high school. That information had soothed his ego. His marriage was deteriorating; he and Georgia were just going through the motions. About five years into the marriage he’d stumbled into an affair with one of the women from his office. Naturally he regretted it and begged Georgia to forgive him. She did, and he was grateful. Yet his indiscretion had alw
ays been there between them, like a bad break that had never totally healed. A broken limb could remain weak forever after, unable to tolerate pressure or stress.
Her forgiveness hadn’t been complete, he realized now. It was as if she’d been waiting for him to do it again.
And he had.
But Will didn’t blame Georgia. After all, he was the one who’d strayed. Still, his wife had given him the cold shoulder for so long that when a friendly young waitress flirted with him, he’d been flattered and receptive. Sally was young, attractive and impressionable, and he’d responded.
Georgia knew about it. She had to have known, but she didn’t say a word and neither did he. Sally wanted him to leave Georgia and he might have if not for the fact that Georgia was diagnosed with breast cancer. He couldn’t walk out on his wife when she needed him most. After two years Sally ended the relationship.
Thankfully Georgia recovered and for a while he thought they might be able to have a successful marriage. He’d tried to make her happy, to recapture what they’d shared in the early days. Each week he brought home flowers and gifts; he’d suggested date nights and made a genuine effort to win back his wife. Yet nothing he did seemed to bring the light of love and affection to her eyes. Apparently it was too late; he’d cheated not once but twice, and she never trusted him again.
At that point, he was only in his late forties and, except for convenience and companionship, his marriage was dead. In the years that followed he had several other affairs. Georgia no longer seemed to mind and after a while these little flings didn’t bother his conscience, either. As it was, he and Georgia lived more like siblings than husband and wife. And yet they stayed together. He supposed it was easier for both of them than not staying together, particularly since their business and social lives were intertwined.
He’d misled Grace into thinking he was divorcing Georgia. He didn’t want to lose her the same way he had Sally. He’d fully intended to explain his situation…when the time felt right. Grace was everything he wanted, but Will had blown it. Before he could explain the whole complicated mess, she was out of his life. Nothing he said or did afterward changed her resolve. What she never knew, what he’d never had a chance to tell her, was that if she’d asked he would’ve left Georgia. Not right away but soon. As soon as he’d made the necessary arrangements.