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She couldn’t believe she’d said them.
But she had.
She had to come clean.
She glanced away, blushing. “That’s why I slept with you that night, Garrett. And that’s why I’m leaving. I want to be loved back.”
He stared at her as though flabbergasted, motionless and unmoving.
“We need to go. Dinner is about to be served,” she murmured and went inside.
He didn’t follow her for minutes, and from inside, she saw him leaning on the balustrade with his face in his hands, breathing hard.
Her insides knotted with pain for him. Maybe she shouldn’t have confessed it. But Beth was right. Kate was a coward, afraid he’d hurt her. She’d had to at least let him know that all the time they’d spent together had meant everything to Kate, even when she knew he had not ever been emotionally available to love her like she wanted him to.
Garrett was a fair man. He was a man who recognized his own flaws, maybe even to the extreme extent that he saw flaws where none existed. She knew he felt...unworthy. That he believed a man had died because of him. But he was also generous and giving, and he wouldn’t be able to stand the idea of causing Kate any pain.
He’d let her go so she could find what she was looking for, especially once he recognized that he wouldn’t be able to give it to her himself. And he’d marry his heiress, for whom he wouldn’t need to feel anything. But at least Kate had stopped lying to him and to herself about not loving him anymore. At least she’d told him her real reasons for leaving.
Baby or not, she would still go.
Once they were seated at the tables in the formal dining room, she felt him stare at her as intently as ever from across the floral centerpiece.
Waiters brought over the salads first—arugula, organic pear, goat cheese and candied pecans, topped with a soft vinaigrette dressing with a hint of pomegranate. That was followed by an assortment of lamb, duck, beef tenderloins and chicken medallions, accompanied by the most deliciously spiced vegetables Kate had ever tasted.
She ate whatever she was served and almost still felt a little hungry. But most of all, she was conscious of everything Garrett did on the opposite side of the table. Under the table, she held her hands over her stomach, where she could feel and sense her baby, feeling almost nostalgic that the father was so close, and didn’t even know what he’d just given her.
She stole peeks at him throughout the night as idle conversation abounded. When their eyes met, emotions and confusion flooded her.
Once they were enjoying a variety of sorbet, cheese, and sweet desserts, Landon pushed his chair back and stood. “Cheers! To Julian and Molly,” Landon said, and glanced at Garrett.
Kate saw the manner in which Garrett nodded somberly at Landon, almost as though saying, “You’re next,” and Kate jerked her eyes down at her plate, the nausea suddenly coming back with a vengeance.
But no matter how fervently she wished it, there was no taking back her I love you.
* * *
The next morning, all three Gage brothers sat across the conference table from their half brother. Garrett noticed how Landon and Julian were taking stock of their brother. Emerson was beastly in size, very large and muscled. As president of his personal security business, it seemed fitting, but today Emerson was also proving to be a very moody man. He’d seemed impatient to leave from the moment he arrived.
It seemed truly unjust to Garrett that his father had treated Emerson and his mother the way he had. And when he’d died, he’d ended up hurting everyone, for the truth easily had come to light. Their lawyers had had to explain to the Gages, once they took over all the financial accounts, why there were so many transfers and payments made to an unknown woman.
When they’d learned it was because this woman had borne a Gage son, Garrett’s mother had entered a wild depression for years, and he didn’t even want to think of how it had been for Emerson and his mother. It had hurt the Gages to lose their father to death, but the pain of losing him while he was living might possibly be even worse.
Now every bit of pain and resentment marked Emerson’s hard, unyielding features. Garrett couldn’t know the true extent of his resentments, but he’d bet they ran deeper than the man let on. His energy was too controlled, and his eyes were too ruthless and sharp to reveal his emotions.
Garrett knew it would hardly matter to Cassandra which man she married as long as she got out of her brother’s clutches, and he and his brothers would be happy to compensate Emerson for the task.
If, that was, they could convince the stubborn man to agree to this whole scenario.
With a bleak, tight-lipped smile, Emerson finally spoke after Landon explained the situation. “If this chick is as hot as you all say, why don’t you marry her?” he asked, silver eyes trained on Garrett.
“Garrett’s not inclined to marry,” Landon answered. He sat calmly in his leather chair on the opposite side of the conference table.
“Well, that makes two of us,” Emerson said with a growl. “I’m never marrying, especially no damn heiress.”
“You might like to reconsider with what we’re offering,” Landon said, signaling at the open folder sitting before him on the table. “You’ll be a very rich man, Emerson, if you agree to this.”
“I’m already very rich without needing to deal with any of you.”
