She couldn’t help wringing her hands. “So what do we do?”
“Deny it. If you love John, it’s your only choice.”
“And these notes? Should I go to Robert, tell him it’s not true?”
“No. If it’s not him, and he finds out there’s someone else who suspects the same thing, it’ll give him even more power.”
“What if whoever it is won’t stop? John could stumble on one of the notes, and then…” She didn’t need to explain what would happen “then.” They both knew.
“You’d have to do everything you could to convince him it’s a lie.”
Karen wished there was another way. She wanted to be honest, to confess her big sin and be forgiven, especially by John. Hiding the truth made her feel like such a hypocrite. But John would be hurt right along with them, and he didn’t deserve that.
“I’m so sorry I caused this,” she murmured.
“My best advice is to forget it.” Cain started for the door, but she stopped him with a question.
“Are you in love with her, Cain?”
Karen knew she had no right to ask. But she had to wonder if someone had finally captured the uncapturable. And she wanted Cain to be happy. She thought it might be easier to forgive herself if she knew he’d settled down.
“Who?”
She smiled and shook her head. “You know who.”
“I’m not sure I know what love is,” he said. But it was merely an evasion. He knew what love was. He’d just never been consumed with it himself.
Karen had a feeling Sheridan was about to change all that.
He opened the door, but she stopped him again. “I’d like to be a friend to you, Cain. If we can ever get to the point where…where we can forget. I don’t want to come between you and your family. I’d like to…to facilitate a better relationship between you and John, if I can.”
She expected him to continue walking out and shut the door without a response. Or say something cynical like, “You’ve done enough already.” But Cain proved himself more generous than that. Turning, he gave her a half grin. “Marry John and be happy,” he said. Then he took her hands and pulled her toward him just long enough to peck her on the cheek. And she stood at the window crying with relief as she watched him leave.
Sick to his stomach, John hid in the bushes as Cain drove away. Karen’s porch light winked off, but he didn’t move. He remained crouched in the shadows of her yard, listening to his heart thud in his chest. He hadn’t been able to see anything, but he’d heard Karen’s soft “goodbye” before the door closed. It had been filled with emotion—positive emotion.
What the hell was going on? John couldn’t think of a single good reason for Cain to visit Karen’s house in the middle of the night.
Anger, now a living, breathing monster inside him, drove him to the door. The two of them had to be up to something. What was it? Were they sleeping together?
That thought made John want to throw up. If Karen was playing him for a fool, laughing behind his back while he handed her his heart on a silver platter, he’d make her pay. She’d be sorry.
He didn’t bother to knock the way he usually did. He had a key. Letting himself in, he moved as quietly as possible to her bedroom door, where he could see the outline of her body in the bed. She was asleep. Already.
“Karen?”
She rolled over as if he’d startled her. “John?”
“Surprised?” he said.
She didn’t reply, and that made him angrier still.
He stepped to the side of her bed. “Aren’t you excited to see me? I’m the man you love, remember? Your new fiancé?”
“I wasn’t expecting you. What…what’re you doing here?”
He could feel her fear. “A better question might be what was Cain doing here?”
Silence. “He, uh, stopped by.”
“Does he do that often, Karen? In the middle of the night?”
“No.” She sat up and shook her head. She seemed frantic to make him believe her, but she wasn’t explaining. Why wasn’t she explaining?
“Are you going to tell me why? Or would you rather leave that up to my imagination?” Say something, damn it. Say something I can believe, before I beat it out of you.
“It’s not what you think. He…he wanted to wish us well. That’s all.”
The breathless quality of her voice caused a muscle spasm in John’s cheek. “He drove over here to wish us well,” he repeated. What a lousy liar she was. What had he seen in her, anyway? If she cared about him, she wouldn’t be lying to him. She wouldn’t be entertaining the one person he hated more than any other at three o’clock in the morning. Where was her loyalty?
“I—I called him earlier,” she said.
John sat on the bed next to her. “Because…”
“To tell him about our engagement, of course.” She laughed, but it came off as unbelievable as all the rest.
“Somehow, I find it odd that you’d want him to be the first to know. We decided I should talk to Robert and Owen before telling anyone, remember?”
She was weeping now, but John felt no sympathy. She didn’t deserve his love, didn’t deserve the life he’d envisioned for them. “Shh…” he admonished. “Calm down. I’m just asking you to tell me what’s going on.”
“Please, John.” She sniffed and gulped for air. “Try to understand. I—I feel sorry for Cain, that’s all.”
He laughed. “Then you’re one in a million, Karen, because he doesn’t inspire pity in too many people.”
“Listen to me.” Her fingers curled around his forearm. “He loved his mother so much, and…and he lost her.”
He stared down at the ring he’d given her. “I’m not asking you to recite his history, Karen. I only want a reason.” He looked into her eyes and enunciated very carefully. “Just one reason explaining why he was here tonight.”
She released his arm and wiped her tears, his diamond sparkling as she moved. “The only thing he ever wanted from you was a little love and approval.”
“He came over here to tell you that?”
“No, I—I called him to…to tell him about the wedding. I didn’t want him to think he’d have any less of a chance to…to have a relationship with you…because you were marrying me.”