Still, he wanted so much to kiss her that his chest ached and he couldn"t seem to overrule the instinct that was as much emotional as it was physical. He liked her. He just plain liked her. He liked being with her, being part of her life, having her in his life.
He lowered his head and touched his lips to hers, telling himself that if he slid them into a simple, uncomplicated romance with no expectation of grandeur, she wouldn"t be hurt. He wouldn"t be hurt. Both would get what they wanted.
His mouth slid across hers slowly at first, savoring every second of the physical connection that was a manifestation of the depth of his feelings for her. She answered, equally slowly, as if as hesitant as he was, but also as unable to resist the temptation. When the slight meeting of mouths wasn"t enough her lips blossomed to life under his, meeting him, matching him, then oh so slowly opening.
It was all the invitation Danny needed. He deepened the kiss, awash with the pleasure of being close to someone as wonderful as Grace. Happiness virtually sang through his veins. Need thrummed through him. For the first time since she"d brought Sarah to him, his thoughts didn"t automatically tumble back to their beach house weekend. They stayed in the present, on the moment, on the woman in his arms and the desire to make love. To touch her, to taste her, to cherish every wonderful second. To build a future.
But the second the future came into play, Danny knew he was only deluding himself. He"d tried this once and failed. He"d lost a child, broken his wife. Spent a year mourning his loss alone in the big house so hollow and empty it echoed around him. He knew the reality of loss. How it destroyed a person. Emptied a life. He couldn"t go through it again, but more than that, he wouldn"t force Grace to.
CHAPTER TEN.
DANNY broke the kiss, quickly rose from the floor and extended his hand to Grace. When she was on her feet, he spun away and Grace"s stomach knotted.
"Danny?"
He rubbed both hands down his face. "Grace, this is wrong."
"No, it isn"t." Glad for the opportunity to finally discuss their feelings instead of guessing, she walked over and grabbed him by the upper arm, turning him to face her. "This is us. We like each other. Naturally. We"re like toast and b.u.t.ter or salt and pepper. We fit."
He laughed harshly. "Fit? Are you sure you want to say you fit with me?"
She didn"t hesitate. "Yes."
He shook his head. "Grace, please. Please, don"t. Don"t fit with me. Don"t even want to fit with me. If you were smart you wouldn"t even want to be my friend."
At that her chin came up. If he was going to turn her away again, to deny her his love, or even the chance to be part of his life, this time she would make him explain. "Why?"
"Because I"m not good for you. I"m not good for anybody."
"Why?"
He raked his fingers through his short black hair. "Stop!"
"No. You say you"re not good for me. I say you are. And I will not stop pursuing you."
"Then I"ll leave."
"Great. Run. If that"s your answer to everything, then you run."
He groaned and walked away as if annoyed that she wouldn"t let him alone. "I"m not running. I"m saving you."
"I don"t think you are. I also don"t think you"re a coward who runs. So just tell me what"s wrong!"
He pivoted to face her so quickly that Grace flinched. "Tell you? Tell you what? That I failed at my marriage and hurt the woman I adored? Tell you that I don"t want to do it again?"
His obsidian eyes were bright with pain. His voice seemed to echo from a dark, sacred place. A place of scars and black memories and wounds. A place he rarely visited and never took another person. Still, broken marriages were common. And though she understood his had hurt him, she also suspected even he knew it was time to get beyond his.
Her heart breaking for him, Grace whispered, "How do you know that you"ll fail?"
Stiff with resistance, he angrily countered, "How do you know that I won"t?"
"Because you"re good. You may not know it but I see it every day in how you treat me and how you treat Sarah."
"Grace, you are wrong. I use people. Just ask my ex-wife. She"ll tell you I"m a workaholic. If you called her right now, she"d probably even accurately guess that I"m only here because I need to raise my daughter because I need an heir. Carson Services needs an heir."
"Well, she"d be wrong. If you only wanted to raise Sarah because Carson Services needs an heir you could take me to court."
"Unless I didn"t want you digging into my past."
That stopped her.
"What if this is all about me not wanting you to take me to court?" he asked, stepping close. "What if there is something so bad in my past that I know even you couldn"t forgive it?"
She swallowed. Possibilities overwhelmed her. Not only did having a hidden sin in his past explain why he agreed to live with her and their daughter when letting his lawyers handle their situation would have been much easier, but it also explained why he always stepped back, always denied himself and her.
Still, she couldn"t imagine what he could have done. He wasn"t gentle and retiring by any means. But he also wasn"t cruel or vindictive. He wasn"t the kind to take risks or live on the edge. She might have told herself to stop guessing, to quit ascribing characteristics to him he didn"t deserve, but she"d also lived with him for a week. Almost fifteen hours a day. She"d seen him choose to make breakfast, choose to bathe Sarah, choose to give Grace breaks. She didn"t believe he could be cruel or do something so horrible it couldn"t be forgiven.
She took a breath, then another. "I don"t think there is something in your past that can"t be forgiven."
"What if I told you that I killed my son?"
Her heart in her throat, more aware of the pain that would cause him than any sort of ramification it would have on their relationship, she said, "You couldn"t have killed your son."
"It was an accident, but the accident was my fault."
Grace squeezed her eyes shut. An accident that was his fault. Of course. That accounted for so many things in his life and how he had treated her that before this hadn"t added up.
But accidents were circ.u.mstances that somehow got out of someone"s control. He hadn"t deliberately killed his child. He couldn"t deliberately kill his child. That was why he was so tortured now.
"Danny, it wasn"t your fault."
His eyes blazed. "Don"t you forgive me! And don"t brush it off as if my son"s life was of no consequence. I was in charge of him that morning. I knew he was in the mood to push me. He wanted to remove the training wheels from his bike and I refused, but he kept arguing, begging, pleading. When my cell phone rang, I should have ignored it. But my natural reaction kicked in, I grabbed it, answered it and gave him the chance to prove to me how good he was on his bike by darting out into the street right into the path of an SUV."
He paused, raked his fingers through his hair again and his voice dropped to a feather-light whisper. "A neighbor hit him. She doesn"t come out of her house now. I ruined a lot of lives that morning."
The tick of the clock was the only sound in the room. Grace stood frozen, steeped in his pain, hurting for him.
"Not quite as sure of me now, are you?"
She swallowed. "It wasn"t your fault."
He ran his hands down his face. "It was my fault. And I live with it every day. And I miss my son and I remember the look on my wife"s face." Seeming to be getting his bearings, he blew his breath out on a long gust and faced her. "And I won"t do that to you."
He headed for the stairway. Panicked, knowing they were only at the tip of this discussion, Grace said, "What if I-"
He stopped at the bottom of the steps. His face bore the hard, cold expression she remembered from the day she told him she was pregnant.
"You don"t get a choice. You don"t get a say. This pain is mine."
He ran up the steps and Grace collapsed on her sofa. Bending forward, she lifted Sarah from the floor and squeezed her to her chest, suddenly understanding why he didn"t want her digging into his past. It could give her plenty of grounds to keep him from getting custody-even shared. But it also gave her a foot in the door to keep the baby away from him completely.
And she hated to admit she was considering it. Not because of what had happened with his son, but because he couldn"t seem to get beyond it. What did it mean for Sarah that her father wouldn"t let himself love again?
She took a breath, knowing her fears were premature because they had another week to live together, another week for him to recognize that though he didn"t want to forget his son, he also had a daughter who needed him. She shouldn"t jump to conclusions.
But twenty minutes later he came downstairs, suitcases in hand.
"We have another week to live together."
"Grace, I"m done." He shrugged into his jacket. "Besides, I never signed the agreement. This was a mistake anyway."
With that he opened the door, and stepped out, but he turned one final time and looked at Sarah, then his gaze slowly rose to catch Grace"s. She saw the regret, the pain, the need. Then she watched him quickly erase it as determination filled his dark eyes. He stepped out into the September afternoon, closing the door behind him with a soft click.
Danny walked into the empty foyer of his huge house and listened to the echo his suitcase made as he set it on the floor, knowing this was the rest of his life, and for the first time totally, honestly, unemotionally committed to accepting it. He wouldn"t risk hurting Grace. Telling his story that afternoon, he remembered in vivid detail how unworthy he was to drag another person into his life. Now that Grace knew his mistake, he didn"t expect to even get visitation with Sarah. He expected to live his life alone, the perfect candidate to serve Carson Services and pa.s.s on the family legacy.
To Sarah. A little girl who wouldn"t know him, probably wouldn"t know about Carson Services, but who shared his bloodline. When she came of age, Danny would offer her the chance to train to take over the family business, but would Grace let her? No mother would sentence her daughter to even a few hours a week with a cold, distant father.
Walking up the ornate curved stairway of the huge home that went to the next Carson, Danny had to wonder if that wasn"t a good thing.
CHAPTER ELEVEN.
A MONTH later, seated at the slim wooden table in the hearing room in the courthouse, Danny wasn"t entirely sure why he had come to this proceeding. Grace"s reasons for being here were a no-brainer. She"d had her lawyer set the hearing to make her case for Danny not getting custody. She could probably get enough reasons on the record to preclude him from even seeing their baby again.
But he knew she wouldn"t do that. After his confession to her, and a week of wallowing in misery in his lonely house, he"d pulled himself up by his bootstraps and gone back to work like the sharp CEO he was, and his life had fallen into a strong, comfortable routine. Once he"d gotten his bearings and stopped feeling sorry for himself, he"d recognized that all was not lost. Grace wouldn"t keep Sarah from him. She would be kind enough-or maybe fair enough to Sarah-to let him have visitation, even though she probably hated him.
Some days he hated himself. Blamed himself for the pain he"d caused both him and Grace by letting her believe in him-even if it was for one short week. Had he told Grace right from the beginning that his son was not only dead, but Danny himself was responsible for Cory"s accident, Grace would have happily kept her distance. She wouldn"t have mourned the loss of his love, as he"d pictured her doing. He wouldn"t have again felt the sting of living alone in his big, hollow house, torturously reminded of how it felt to be whole, to be wanted, to have people in his life and a purpose beyond perpetuating the family business.
But if nothing else had come from the week he"d spent with Grace and Sarah, Danny knew Grace would be fair. He thoroughly loved his daughter. He wanted to be part of her life, not just to a.s.sure she"d be ready to make a choice about Carson Services, but because he loved having her around. He loved being with her. And she was Danny"s last chance at a family. He might never have the good fortune to share his life with Sarah"s mother, but he could at least have a daughter.
So he supposed he"d come to this hearing as a show of good faith, proof that if Grace intended to let him have visitation, he wanted it. He suspected that any visitation she granted him would be supervised. He"d been the one in charge when Cory was killed. Grace"s lawyer would undoubtedly drop that fact into the proceeding as a way to demonstrate that Danny wasn"t a good dad. But he"d take even supervised visitation. At this point, he"d take anything he could get.
Grace entered the hearing room. Wearing an electric-blue suit, with her dark shoulder-length hair swaying around her and her s.e.xy violet eyes shining, she was pretty enough to stop his heart. Yet in spite of how gorgeous she was, Danny"s real reaction to her was emotional rather than physical. He"d missed her. They"d spent a total of nine days together. Three at his beach house and six at her house and he missed her. Ached for her. Longed for everything he knew darned well they could have had together, if he hadn"t looked away for one split second and changed his destiny.
Grace approached the table with her lawyer, young, handsome, Robby Malloy. The guy Danny"s lawyer called pretty boy Malloy. Danny could see why. He had the face of a movie star and carried himself like a billionaire. Danny experienced a surge of jealousy so intense he had to fight to keep himself from jumping from behind the table and yanking Grace away from the sleazy ambulance chaser.
But he didn"t jump and he didn"t yank. Because as a father his first concern had to be a.s.suring that he was part of his daughter"s life. He"d never had the right to care about Grace, about who she dated, or even if she dated.
So why was his blood pressure rising and his chest tightening from just looking at her with another man? Her lawyer no less? A man who may not even be romantically interested, only earning his hourly fee for representing her?
The judge entered the room, his dark robe billowing around him with his every step. Danny followed the lead of his attorney, Art Brown, and rose.
Having not yet taken his seat, Malloy extended his hand to the judge. "Judge Antanazzo."
"Good morning, Mr. Malloy," Charlie Antanazzo boomed. "How"s my favorite attorney today?"
Malloy laughed. "Well, I doubt that I"m your favorite attorney," he said, obviously charming the judge. "But I"m great, your honor. This is my client, Grace McCartney."
As Grace shook Judge Antanazzo"s hand, he smiled. "It"s a pleasure to meet you."
Danny would just bet it was. Not only did the judge smile like any man happy to meet a pretty girl, but also Danny hadn"t missed the way the judge took a quick inventory that started with Grace"s shiny sable hair and managed to skim her perfect figure and nice legs in under a second.
This time it was a bit harder to refrain from leaping over the desk and yanking her to him.
But that ship had sailed and Danny had to grow accustomed to watching men fawn over Grace. He"d had his chance and he"d blown it. Or maybe it wasn"t so much that Danny had had his chance, as much as it was that Danny had destroyed his own life long before he met Grace.
Danny"s lawyer finally spoke. "Good morning, your honor," Art said, then shook the judge"s hand. "This is my client, Danny Carson."
The judge quickly shook the hand Danny extended and frowned as he looked down at the brown case file he"d brought into the hearing room with him.
"Yes, I know. Danny Carson. CEO of Carson Services. Let"s see," he said, skimming the words in front of him. "Ms. McCartney was in your employ at one time." He continued reading. "She told you she was pregnant. You didn"t believe her. Circ.u.mstances, including her being sick during the pregnancy, kept her from pursuing the matter. Then she took the baby to you." He read some more. "There"s no record of child support." He looked at Danny. "Do you pay child support?"
Danny"s lawyer said, "No, your honor, but-"
The judge ignored him. "All right then. This case boils down to a few concise facts. Ms. McCartney told you she was pregnant, brought the child to you and you don"t pay child support." He glanced from Danny to Grace and held Grace"s gaze. "Am I up to speed?
"There"s a little more, your honor," Grace"s lawyer said. "Once the court reporter is ready, I"d like to go on the record."
Danny"s heart sank. Great. Just great. From the scant information the judge had read, it was pretty clear whose side he was on. Once Danny"s past came out, the judge might not even let him have supervised visitation. The urge to defend himself rose up in Danny and this time rather than fight it, he let it take root. All the facts that the judge had read had made him look bad. But he wasn"t. Everything he"d done wrong wasn"t really a deliberate misdeed. Every one of his "bad" things were explainable-defendable.
He"d misinterpreted Grace"s not answering the phone the night he"d flown home after his week of client hopping. As a result of that he broke off with her. So, when she came in to tell him she was pregnant, he"d thought it was a ruse to get him back, and he hadn"t believed her. And when she left his employ, Danny had thought it was because her scheme had been exposed. He wasn"t bad. He wasn"t a schmuck. He had made some mistakes. Very defendable mistakes. Technically he could even defend himself about Cory"s death.
He took a breath. That wasn"t at issue right now. Sarah"s custody was.
The lawyers and judge made preliminary statements for the record. Danny studiously avoided looking at Grace by tapping the eraser of his pencil on the desk. Eventually the judge said, "Mr. Malloy, ball"s in your court."
"Thank you, your honor. My client would like to testify first."
Danny"s lawyer had warned him that preliminary hearings could sometimes seem unofficial, but Danny shouldn"t take it lightly because a court reporter would be recording the proceedings. He sat up a little straighter.
Though Grace stayed in her seat at the table, she was sworn in.
Her lawyer said, "Okay, Ms. McCartney, there is no argument between you and Mr. Carson about paternity?"