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“Yet you’re not bothered that I was with Sam?”
“No,” Michael insisted. “Had it been any other man? Yes. But it’s different with Sam. We have an understanding. We’re typically on the same page when it comes to a woman we’re both attracted to. I don’t really know how to explain it, except to say that from the first time we partnered up to satisfy one we learned how to share her beyond the physicality of the situation.”
“Were either of you in love with Misty or Pembroke?”
“No.”
Scarlet took a moment before posing her next question: “Have you ever been in love, Michael?”
“No.”
She sighed. “But Sam has.”
“Yes. Unfortunately, it ended tragically.”
“I do feel bad about that.”
Michael nodded in agreement, even though she couldn’t see the gesture. He asked, “What about you? Ever been in love?”
“Deep like a time or two. That’s about it. I guess since I was a kid coping with the sudden death of her parents, I sort of phased that out of my life plan. My philosophy has always been that I could do without the additional heartache if something goes awry.”
“And you automatically assume something will go awry?”
“Yes.”
He was interested in her position on this because Michael had always had a similar concern. His mother had passed away when he was sixteen. And his father had remarried less than six months later.
Less than six months.
That’d seemed outrageous to Michael back then and still did today. Made him wonder if his father had ever truly loved Michael’s mother. Whether Mitcham had been as broken up about her death as Michael had been. It was difficult to tell, because Mitcham hadn’t shown his emotions during that time. Or his face, in all honesty. He’d mostly spent his days and nights in the city, at the office, while Michael was at the estate.
Then, suddenly, Karina had arrived. The wedding ceremony and reception had been held at the mansion with a small gathering. At least that had provided a show of respect for Michael’s mother—that the newlyweds weren’t flaunting their relationship in an ostentatious way. Still, Michael couldn’t fathom how his father had moved on so damn quick, and it’d been a source of contention between the two men ever since.
Because Mitcham Vandenberg was not a man who had to explain himself. Plain and simple.
Oddly enough, though, the new union was one of the things that had bonded Michael and Sam. Sam got what Michael was going through. And Sam had been just as disturbed at how Mitcham could bury one wife and marry another one in such a short span of time; however, Michael’s stepbrother had expressed that what mattered most to him was that his own mother was happy. She was. Mitcham made sure of it.
Another conundrum: Michael’s usually tightfisted and uncompromising father would give Karina the moon and the stars if she asked for them. That Michael was aware of, she never did. Karina had not done anything in the fourteen years he’d known her to give him cause to label her a gold digger. From the start, she’d seemed genuinely, madly in love with Mitcham. Always did whatever she could to please him, without expecting anything in return. In fact, when he gifted her with jewelry or a car she appeared taken aback. And wholly appreciative.
Admittedly, Michael liked her. Would have cut her more slack when he was still living in the mansion had she not replaced his mother so hastily. So out of the blue.
Scarlet interrupted his errant ruminations by saying, “Thank you for being more amenable to my questioning.”
“About the theft?”
“About you.”
He said, “How else will we get to know each other better? And, Scarlet, I do want to know you better.”
“That means a lot to me, Michael.”
“I’ll let you go now. Don’t forget to send me your flight information.”
“I’ll see you on Saturday.”
She hung up. Michael grinned. He hadn’t missed the elation in her tone. And couldn’t wait for the weekend.
But he had one more call to make. He gathered his iPad and a thick file folder for his next meeting and hit the speed dial number for Sam on his cell as he left his office.
