The Best Man Read online

  His syrupy tone made Kate’s stomach heave. She clamped her lips tight so she wouldn’t say words she would regret and turned to Luke.

  Laurel made a mewling sound like a wounded animal.

  Kate wished things were different, that she hadn’t hurt her former friend, but she had to make her position clear. “I came to reclaim my life. I thought you should know I’m alive.”

  ***

  Luke wanted to protect Kate as he’d protected her inheritance in her absence.

  “Kate, we need to get out of here.” Luke held his body stiff to keep from brushing against Kate. Seeing her standing there looking fragile as a weeping willow bough, but alive, seemed too good to be true.

  But he stared at the man it took all his strength not to hate.

  Joel flinched as if Luke’s words lashed his skin. He shrugged Laurel’s hold off his arm and stepped close as he growled. “Get her alone and talk her into taking your side, you mean?”

  Luke stared at the man who’d barged into his life with claims they had been fraternity brothers. “Get out of the church so you can continue with the wedd—”

  “Commitment ceremony!” Joel snarled.

  Luke’s breath hissed. “We’ll continue this later. Kate needs to leave.”

  Eyes hard, Joel turned to Kate. “No matter what he tells you, this doesn’t change a thing.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  Joel’s lips curled in a one-sided snarl. “You will soon enough. Luke can’t wait to fill in the details.”

  Kate stepped back. “I—”

  “Joel, what’s going on?” Laurel wailed.

  “Kate’s leaving and I’m going with her. Get someone else to act as your best man.”

  “I saw that coming.” Joel reached for Laurel’s hand. “Everything’s fine, sweetheart.”

  Two hundred guests gasped like a well-orchestrated movie sound track.

  Joel’s head whipped toward Luke. “Get her out of here.”

  “I’ll take care of Kate.” Luke stared his partner for long seconds, promising more than getting Kate out of the church. He hoped Joel understood the challenge. Kate’s return changed everything. Joel was on borrowed time.

  And suddenly, Luke’s future took on new meaning. Hope renewed in his chest. He’d loved and lost. He would not lose again.

  Muscles wound with tension sprang into action after holding his control. Blood zinged through his veins. He could breathe, for the first time in eighteen months, without feeling pain.

  Excitement surged through him. Kate’s return gave him hope.

  But Kate was alive!

  She was thinner, almost gaunt. Below the hem of the sick green dress, her knees looked knobby. Her hair was ragged as if hacked by a piece of bark or a shell. The dull sable strands hung by a face that was all cheekbones and hollows.

  Dark circles underlined her warm chocolate eyes. He’d loved the sparkle in Kate’s eyes when they first met. But a solemn stare replaced her lively charm.

  Luke had the urge to drop to his knees and offer a prayer of thanks for her survival.

  But he couldn’t expose his deep emotions in front of Joel or Kate. This was not the time. Joel would see his feelings as a weakness and turn it to his advantage in their battle over the law firm.

  And Kate...after all she’d been through, who knew how she would react. He didn’t want to scare her off.

  He didn’t have a clue to what she must be feeling.

  Was she devastated by Joel’s new marriage? That she appeared on this, of all days, left him wondering if she wanted Joel back in her life.

  Luke made a mistake by not acting on his emotions when Joel popped into their lives. He’d acted the gentleman and kept his mouth shut to Joel’s false claims. A decision he had regretted every day since Joel married Kate and made partner in the law firm.

  He didn’t dare reveal his feelings for Kate. There was no way of knowing how Joel would react. For Kate’s sake, Luke had to push his personal feelings aside.

  To protect Kate’s best interests, he had to put the firm’s success first. And pray he could follow up on his personal feeling later.

  Now wasn’t the time to tell Kate how much he regretted not fighting for her affections six years ago. Too much had happened. Too many things needed explaining. And Kate needed someone she could trust.

  Luke fought a strong surge of emotion. Gained control of the rage building inside him, and managed to smile at the woman he had thought was dead. Kate!

  Kate was alive.

  His heart pounded loud as a drum when he cupped her elbow. The warmth of her skin against his hand sent shock waves though every muscle in his body. Reality jarred through him hard as a knock up the side of his head. He had to break the news to her.

  Chapter 2

  Luke had to find a way to tell her all that had happened in her absence and stay neutral. For her sake, he had to shelve his personal feelings. Luke smiled into her brown eyes. “It’s so good to have you home, Kate.”

  Her lips tilted at one corner. “Thanks, Luke. It’s good to be back.”

  The musical tone of her familiar voice thawed the ice hiding the secret buried deep in his heart. The tilt of her chin sent a wave of relief through him. Kate’s gaze was shinning with determination. She was going to be okay.

  At least he could help her this time. He would make sure she didn’t suffer from Joel’s actions.

  Luke glanced over his shoulder at Joel as he urged Kate up the aisle. Joel stood like a man of marble, a weeping Laurel clutched in his arms. Questions exploded in Luke’s head. What would Joel do now? Did Kate’s return mean anything to the man who had left her behind?

  How could any man leave his wife for dead?

  Kate’s arm brushed against his. Relief rushed through him. Kate was alive. That’s all that mattered. Everything else he could handle. “We need to leave.”

  He would take care of Kate from this day forth. Having thoughts similar to the vows he had just heard should have alerted him to trouble, but Luke was lost in a sense of well being he hadn’t felt since the day Joel reported Kate as missing.

  Putting his arm around her to assure himself she was alive, he urged her out the front doors of the church. “Hurry. I want to get you out of sight from the guests.”

  “I feel like a cast member in a bad play.” Tension crackled in her voice.

  “It could have been worse.”

  Kate stopped, mid-step. “Thanks, for your help, Luke. But I can take care of myself.”

  “You have a car?”

  “I’ll call a taxi. Ummm...can I borrow your phone?”

  “You sound as stiff necked as your old man.” Luke gave a mental eye roll.

  Not now. She’s had enough shock for one day. But he couldn’t put it off much longer...

  “Forget your pride. We’re running out of time here.” Luke tucked her next to his side and walked faster. He’d thought he would never see her again, much less have a chance to hold her. He fought back emotions feeling her warmth caused.

  He wanted more than their easy friendship in the past. He had from day one, but he’d hidden his feelings, like her father had hidden his.

  He’d been too much like her father, as it turned out. While he kept his feelings buried, Joel had stolen her away. Now, her father...

  In hindsight, Luke could see that both of them cheated Kate of the love she deserved. It was too late for her father, but Luke had a chance to correct his mistakes.

  “How much worse could it get?” Kate stumbled, slipping out of shoes too loose on her slender feet. “Guests heard every word we said.”

  Luke kneeled to replace the shoe. “Where…” Tension blocked his throat as he stared at the bones showing in her foot. She had lost weight. “Where do you want to go? Home?”

  “Home?” Kate stumbled down the remaining steps. At the bottom, she turned and put her hands on hips bones showing under the mud-green dress. “I don’t have a home. My hus
band just married another woman.”

  “It wasn’t a real—” Luke clenched his teeth, mimicking the way his heart reacted when he looked at her. He’d nearly repeated Joel’s excuse for today’s events.

  “Wedding?” Kate looked from under arched brows. Her brown eyes clouded with dark emotions. “So I heard. But the intent is the same isn’t it?”

  “Does it bother you that Joel committed to another woman in public?”

  “After he left me for dead?” Kate’s squawk passed for a laugh. “Are you kidding?”

  “Right.” Luke stopped words he would regret. When he had a chance, he would tell Joel what he thought about his handling of this situation, but his concern was for Kate’s welfare. “I thought you might want to go home to get some of your clothes.”

  Kate’s eyes burned bright with emotion. “Joel replaced me with another woman. Do you think he kept my clothes around for eighteen months to remind him of me?”

  “Where do you want to go?” Anger clouded her eyes as she glanced back at the church. Luke put a hand on her arm and urged her forward. “In about a minute all those cell phone cameras will appear. We don’t want to be here, when they come out.”

  “I-I don’t want to go back to the way things were.”

  Her chin lifted in a move that reminded him of her father. Reminded him how much he owed her old man, even if he had lost all respect for the man.

  “I want my life back.” Her voice sounded harsh. Doubt flashed through her eyes as she stared at the white limousine parked in front of the church. Breath shuddered from her lips. “Just get me away from here.” Her shoulders sagged. “I’ll tell Joel what I think, later.”

  That makes two of us.

  Teeth clenched, Luke steered Kate toward his black BMW. Joel Sommers was lucky he was still in one piece. If he made one move to block Kate’s future, Luke would make him regret the day he came to town. Law partner or not, Joel had gone too far this time.

  Ushering Kate into the passenger seat, Luke closed the door. Pulling out his cell phone, he punched in the familiar number and walked around the car, settling in the driver’s seat. When Joel answered, Luke asked the question on both their minds.

  “Are Kate’s clothes at your house?”

  Joel’s scorching words blasted Luke’s ear. Keeping the phone plastered to his head so Kate wouldn’t hear the scornful response, Luke said. “I take that as a ‘No’?”

  Not waiting for the answer, he snapped the phone shut and tossed it in the cup holder at his side. Pain pounding his temples, he forced his attention away from what he wanted to do to Joel and glanced at woman by his side.

  Kate was alive.

  Relief chased all other emotions from his mind. He’d never expected to see Kate again. Yet, here she was, sitting in the passenger seat of his car. Against all odds, he had a second chance to win her heart.

  From the moment Joel returned home alone from that second honeymoon trip, amid all the media reports on the disaster, Luke feared he had lost Kate forever. The last eighteen months had been the longest of his life.

  And he still had to tell Kate about her father.

  How her father could start a successful law practice from scratch, and not see through Joel’s pretense and lack of character, Luke would never understand. He recalled Joel’s slick behavior in college, but alerting the senior partner of the law firm of Joel’s scheming ways had not been possible. By the time he realized what Joel was doing, saying anything to the boss would make Luke look like a sore loser. Everyone in the office, except for Kate, had noticed his fondness for her.

  Keeping quiet had seemed honorable. Kate blossomed under Joel’s attentions, and she’d made her choice. Luke would have to live with knowing he never revealed the extent of his feelings for her. Even when her father skipped over her, and gave the new partner position to Joel instead, Luke had kept quiet.

  He’d regretted that decision every day since. Worming his way into the firm and Kate’s good graces hadn’t been enough for Joel. His master manipulation had been to insist Luke be the best man.

  “He got rid of them, didn’t he?”

  Kate’s ragged voice jerked him back to the present. She looked at him from darkened eyes, and showing little resemblance to her former self. His frustration erupted in a disgusted sound.

  “Hell! Those clothes wouldn’t fit you now anyway.”

  “You think I look different?” Her smoldering brown eyes told Luke of her inner struggle. Her attempt to lighten her tone increased his admiration and cracked some of the ice encasing his heart.

  Stalling for the right words, he studied her for long seconds before dragging his eyes back to traffic on Wade Avenue. “Your hair is different. You have a tan. That’s a different look for you.”

  Kate threw her head back and laughed. And laughed some more. She laughed until her shoulders shook against the plush leather of the car seat. Laughed until her eyes watered, and still, she laughed.

  “Kate, I—”

  “You’re right. I spent over a year in one of the most beautiful spots on earth.” Her words sounded as if a giant fist choked them from her mouth. Her voice dropped to a whisper. “And all I brought back home with me was a tan.”

  Luke tore his gaze from her face and focused on the Saturday afternoon bumper-to-bumper traffic. His insides twisted. The sound of her sniffle caused him to jerk the steering wheel, almost sending the car off the road.

  Luke fought to control of the car and remain calm. It wasn’t easy. He wanted to stop on the side of the road and pull Kate in his arms. He wanted to promise he would keep her safe. That he’d never let anything hurt her, again.

  But he didn’t have that right. Kate was…free now, for the first time in her life.

  No more trying to live up to the image she thought her husband and father expected. No more spreading herself thin, trying to earn her father’s love. She no longer needed to impress the man who deserted her mother when she was born.

  Her father was dead. Her marriage...Joel was in the process having dissolved.

  “Joel arranged for a quickie divorce, you know.” Luke heard another sniffle and passed over the small square of folded fabric from his tuxedo pocket. When Kate giggled, he jerked his hand back. Or had he heard a sob? He glanced at her rigid profile, saw her twisted face, and offered the folded handkerchief again.

  Panic gnawed at his gut at the sound of her giggles. Was she losing…

  “I never cry,” Kate gulped between giggles. “But even I cry more than this handkerchief can take care of…” She waved the small silk square in his face like a flag, then, swiped the white fabric across her face. “I promised myself I wouldn’t cry.”

  A sob choked off her words. She sucked in a deep breath. “What’s to cry for, the husband who left me for dead after three days? My old life, when all I wanted was my father’s approval.” She clamped her lips on a sob and turned tear drenched eyes on him. “I married Joel to please my father. I can see that now. I needed him to be proud of me and Joel used me to gain a partnership in the firm.”

  Luke sent a worried look in her direction. Seeing the pain etched on her face, he whipped the wheel in a left turn that qualified him to drive for NASCAR. Horns tooted and brakes squealed, behind him, indicating how close he had come to having an accident.

  Pulling into a shopping center parking lot without incident, he brought the BMW to a stop, and gripped the wheel. “Do you think I should enter the racing circuit?”

  “Do you always drive like that, or is it because I haven’t been in a car in so long?”

  “This isn’t my normal driving style.” Luke sent her a guarded look, admiring her attempt at humor. He doubted he could be this calm if he’d just learned his spouse had discarded all his belongings.

  “Why did you stop here?”

  “It’s Saturday afternoon.” Luke lifted a hand indicating the shopping center. “Hair salons are open. While you’re getting a cut, I’ll pick up a couple of things for you to w
ear.” He motioned toward the discount store at the end of the parking lot.

  “They might be booked since it is Saturday.”

  Luke frowned. That possibility hadn’t occurred to him. But then, chauffeuring Kate around town, or needing the services of a hair stylist had been the last thing on his mind when he’d arrived at the church earlier today for Joel’s wedding…commitment ceremony.

  What else could you call it but a wedding?

  Joel’s latest vows betrayed Kate even more. He hadn’t stood by her in sickness or health. He left her for dead, halfway across the world.

  Luke could never forgive him for that.

  One thing Joel had done, which really irked Luke at the time, was leave the country to get a quick divorce. He thought Joel’s actions betrayed Kate. But now he was glad of Joel’s actions would soon free Kate.

  The delay caused the snag in today’s planned wedding. Laurel arranged things for the first possible date Joel would be a free man. But the official paperwork hadn’t arrived. Hence, the commitment ceremony, but it amounted to the same thing. Joel professed his love for another woman and Kate was alive.

  “Stay here,” Luke reached for the door handle, “I’ll check if they have a free appointment slot. I think we’re safe from reporters for a while.”

  “Won’t you attract attention?” Kate motioned to his tuxedo.

  Luke grunted and jerked at his tie. The vest and jacket followed. He shoved out of the car, paused to loosen a couple of buttons and rolled up the sleeves of his shirt, then entered the beauty salon.

  Minutes later Luke came back and urged Kate out of the car. “They have an opening.” He grinned down at her. He wasn’t about to tell her what he paid for that opening. For the first time in many long days, he felt carefree, ready to live. “I told them you wanted the works.”

  Luke rushed her inside, and into a stylist’s chair before Kate could ask what the works entailed. When she tried to object, a man with slicked back hair whipped a purple cape in front of her face and made a shooing sound at Luke. “Sweet cheeks, you can trust her with me. Now take a walk while I make her beautiful.”