Claiming Colleen (Home to Harbor Town 3) - Page 63

when I started this thing, I considered it…I considered you…as sort of a…challenge,” he said abruptly. He averted his gaze when she just stared at him. “I’d always wanted you, and I never could think of a way to make it happen.”

“A challenge,” she muttered through lips that had suddenly gone numb. Her hands and feet began to tingle uncomfortably. She couldn’t believe this was happening. She couldn’t believe he was saying these things when she’d taken such a risk in letting down her guard. “Oh my God,” she whispered.

“What?” he asked, looking over at her sharply.

“You called me a princess that day on Sunset Beach. You made it seem like you always considered me a…a…stuck-up witch. Is that the challenge you wanted?” she asked incredulously. “To put me in my place once and for all? Bed the bitch and show her who was really boss?”

It was like the past few months had never occurred. They might have been standing alone on Sunset Beach all over again, Colleen vibrating with anger and angst over the fact that Eric Reyes had trumped her yet again. The silence rang in her ears. He looked stricken.

“No! Of course not. Don’t jump to ridiculous conclusions.”

“Ridiculous? You’re the one who just told me you maneuvered the circumstances…took advantage of me in order to get me into bed.”

“I was trying to be honest and admit my intentions in the beginning. There’s nothing criminal about me wanting you, Colleen.”

“You manipulated me,” she said in a low, shaking voice. Her whole body seemed to throb in pain. “You engineered all that stuff about us working together to convince Natalie and Liam they were being so impulsive and irrational about falling so fast for each other. The whole time you were probably sitting back and laughing over the fact that I was falling in love with you just as hard, just as rashly…just as stupidly.”

His furious expression softened. “You were falling in love with me?”

Her eyes went wide. She couldn’t believe she’d just said that. Talk about letting down her armor at the moment when the blows were raining down the hardest. Frustration overwhelmed her. It was so unfair, how he always managed to get under her skin…weaken her.

“Don’t worry,” she grated out. “I’ve come to my senses. Thanks for helping me to see things again in such a rational light, Reyes.”

“Colleen, wait,” he ordered, grabbing her hand, trying to halt her exit. “You’re completely misinterpreting what I’m trying to say. Let me finish, for God’s sake—”

But she’d had enough. Enough of this hurt, enough of this risk…enough of her immense stupidity and naïveté for allowing herself to fall hopelessly in love with Eric Reyes.

He’d done it all because she’d been a challenge. He’d dared himself to do the impossible…to melt the ice princess. Well, he’d succeeded.

She shook off his hold, grabbed her bag and stumbled out of the SUV. The frigid outdoor air struck her face like a much-needed slap of reality.

Three days later, Colleen found herself knocking on the front door of the most grand and elegant mansion she’d ever seen. Crisp, cool alpine air, tall, majestic pine trees and snow-capped High Sierra Mountains surrounded her. Her trip to Reno and then Lake Tahoe had started last night, when Deidre had called with the sad news that her newly found father, Lincoln DuBois, had died. Colleen had prepared with a plan for the circumstances. She had plenty of vacation time she could take at work. She’d told her sister she’d be in Lake Tahoe by the next afternoon.

It had done her good to be able to focus on something and someone other than herself. She still felt rattled by what had happened with Eric over the weekend, wounded by the realization of how her life had changed in such a short period of time. She’d fallen in love without ever giving herself permission to do so, and it was perhaps that realization that had left her reeling most of all.

The trip to be with Deidre gave her something solid to focus on; something tangible and worthwhile, unlike her misguided love affair with Eric.

She’d been glad to have the kids home and to return to her normal schedule. Unfortunately, Eric had called her on the same evening he’d dropped her off. She hadn’t answered it, since it was impossible to ignore the anger, hurt and bewilderment she was feeling at what had occurred between them.

The next day, she was again forced to face the music when Brendan reminded her on the way to school that they were all going to be working on Lucy that evening. Since Colleen had granted permission for it last week, she couldn’t easily back out on her promise without calling attention to the fact that her and Eric’s relationship had altered over the weekend. So instead of letting the kids down, she called her mother and left a message explaining she’d have to work late that evening. She’d added that her mother should check with Eric about the plans, just to make sure he was still interested in having them. She’d stayed late at The Family Center, working on paperwork, feeling lonely and heartsore the whole time.

She’d continued to avoid Eric’s phone calls, but knew she’d have to face seeing him on Wednesday, when he came for his weekly volunteer hours at The Family Center. She’d been both relieved and disappointed that Lincoln DuBois’s death and her subsequent trip to Lake Tahoe had prevented her from ever seeing him at work.

Now two thousand miles separated her and Eric. Before she could experience a stab of pain over that thought, the heavy front door swung open and she was staring at her sister standing in the opening, wearing jeans and a tight dark blue T-shirt.

They say that you always admire what you don’t have when it comes to looks, and for Colleen that was especially true about how she felt about Deidre. Only their coloring was similar. Colleen was taller and more curvy than her sister. She’d always envied Deidre’s coltish long legs, slim hips and toned, shapely figure. Deidre looked even more slender than she’d been the last time Colleen had seen her in Chicago, on a mutual visit with Marc and Liam. Her recent anguish had seemed to hollow out her cheeks and make her exceptional bluish gray eyes look even larger and more striking than usual.

They flew into each other’s arms.

“Oh my God, I’m so happy to see you. You couldn’t have come at a better time. Better time for me that is,” Deidre said, leaning back and inspecting her sister. “I know it couldn’t have been easy for you to pick up and leave, given the kids and work…and Eric,” Deidre finished softly.

Something about seeing Deidre after such a long absence and hearing her say Eric’s name caused emotion to swell in Colleen’s chest. She and Deidre had spoken frequently on the phone in the past week. Colleen had eventually broken down and spilled the story to Deidre’s sympathetic ear.

She ruffled Deidre’s silky, glossy blond hair. The short style emphasized both Deidre’s strong, unique character and her delicate features to perfection. She didn’t wear a smudge of makeup. Deidre had been gifted with move-star-quality beauty, but as always, she seemed sublimely unaware of it. It’d been so hard to be separated from her sister by half the planet for so long. Colleen vowed then and there to do whatever she could to convince Deidre to come back to Michigan with her.

“I wouldn’t be anyplace in the world right now but by your side,” Colleen assured, glancing around her. In the distance, she glimpsed a spectacular great room and enormous picture window overlooking a stunning view of a sapphire-blue Lake Tahoe. “You’d do the same for me in similar circumstances. A man can’t come between sisters.”

She was glad to see the mischievous sparkle return to Deidre’s eyes. “Even a tall, dark, devilishly handsome doctor?”

Tags: Beth Kery Home to Harbor Town Billionaire Romance
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