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Sawyer knew exactly how she felt.
Leaning against one of the aluminum posts that held up the gigantic tent, Sawyer had watched over the two of them—Kat in particular—for quite a while. He’d argued with himself about why he was keeping such close tabs on his brother’s lover. Of course, he told himself that he was waiting for the truth to come out about her and her motives. If anyone could get to the bottom of Kat and what she was after, it would be Grandmother. And yet the two of them were chatting, laughing and nibbling on tea cakes like old friends.
In that case, Kat was either an incredibly skilled con artist or she was telling him the truth. Despite his suspicious nature, he hadn’t found out anything about Kat that would raise a red flag. Jade’s fiancé, Harley Dalton, owned a security and investigations firm and had personally done a background check on her. She came back squeaky clean. Probably even cleaner than Sawyer would.
She’d been orphaned in her late teens when her parents were killed in a car accident. She’d inherited a tidy sum from her parents’ estates and insurance policies. From what he could tell, she’d left most of it invested and lived on the interest after buying her house. No police record. No bad debts. They couldn’t even find an off-color social media post that could come back to haunt her.
Unless she’d suddenly decided to better her position by seducing and getting impregnated by the richest guy she could find, it was probably truly an accident, as she’d said. He hated to admit it, but all the evidence pointed to that outcome. Even Finn had mentioned that Kat was reluctant to accept any of the things his lawyers had offered her. If she was a scam artist, she was either terrible at it or positively diabolical.
Deep down, Sawyer knew she was innocent of the things he’d accused her of. Of course, once he stopped looking at her with suspicion, he couldn’t help but look at her in a way that could only cause trouble for everyone involved.
“If I didn’t know better, I’d say you were checking out that hot redhead with Grandmother.”
Sawyer turned at the sound of his sister’s voice. “That’s just what Morgan would say if she were here, instead of on her honeymoon, gallivanting about.”
Jade laughed. “Today, the role of the Steele daughter will be played by the understudy, Jade Nolan.”
Sawyer wrapped his arm around her and tugged her close. “You’re not an understudy. You originated the part for a short run before leaving the production for a gritty indie role.”
“Cute. But don’t change the subject.” Jade tilted her chin in the direction of Ingrid and Kat. “Why are you over in a corner leering at Finn’s baby mama?”
“I am not leering.” Sawyer pulled away and crossed his arms over his chest. “I told Finn I would handle things for him and keep an eye on her until he got back from China.”
“I don’t think he intended for you to keep that good a watch on her. I suppose you can’t help it, though. If you built a woman in a computer to your precise specifications it would come out Kat McIntyre.”
Sawyer turned toward his sister with an irritated scowl. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
Jade arched an eyebrow and nodded. “If you say so.”
“Besides,” he argued, “she’s not available even if she was my type. She’s with Finn.”
“Do you really think so?” Jade looked over at Kat and narrowed her gaze in intense study. “I never pegged him for the settling-down type. Even with a baby in the mix. I don’t imagine those two are going to ride off into the sunset together when he gets back from China.”
Finn wasn’t the settling-down type. But in this family people didn’t always get to do what they wanted to. If they did, Morgan wouldn’t have had to marry her husband, River, twice. “You never know what will happen. Something brought them together once, so it could happen again. And even if they just end up as co-parents or whatever...that doesn’t mean there’s a blank space in her life ready for me to occupy.”
“Why don’t you let her be the one to make that decision?” Jade asked. “I’ve seen her look at you a few times this afternoon when you were distracted.”
“What does that mean? I look exactly like Finn. She was probably just glancing at me and thinking about him. Or wondering if their baby will look like her or Finn. Even if she was staring me in the face, it’d be like she was looking at him.”
“But she wasn’t looking at him. She was looking at you. And appearances and birthdays aside, there’s very little in common between the two of you.”
Sawyer sighed heavily. “What’s your point, baby sister?”
“My point is that if Kat had to choose between the two of you to be her husband and father to her child, the rebellious, irresponsible playboy probably wouldn’t be her first choice. That’s all.” Jade gave Sawyer a pointed look and slowly strolled off in the direction of her fiancé.
Sawyer watched her head over to where Harley was standing and slip com
fortably into his strong embrace. The man was huge, ex-navy, and intimidating enough to get a confession out of the toughest insurgent. And yet with Jade, he was like a big teddy bear. If she could turn a bad boy like that into marriage material, there might be hope for Finn and Kat.
That’s what he should want, right? For things to work out between them? That was what Kat seemed to want. And it was best for the child to be with its father, after all.
But that wasn’t what Sawyer wanted when he looked at Kat. When he saw her, all he could think about was kissing her again. That afternoon in her studio had haunted him. Her soft mouth against his, the curves of her body pressed into him, the taste of her lingering on his lips long after he’d left the District... He’d lived the moment over and over in his mind.
She’d pulled away, but he wasn’t sure she’d really wanted to. Maybe Jade was right and Kat was interested in him, but she had a guilty conscience. Or the desire to do the right thing for her child outweighed everything else.
Sawyer knew about trying to do the right thing. Sometimes he thought he was the only one in his family who even attempted to do what was right. For all the good it did him. It didn’t garner him any additional praise from his parents. No additional promotions or important assignments at work. It was almost like it was taken for granted that Sawyer would do the right thing, and he was ignored because of it.
Glancing back at Kat and his grandmother, he found Kat looking at him. Jade had been right about that, at least. When she realized she was caught, she smiled softly and wiggled her fingers at him in greeting.
