She drank in the sight of him, dressed in a black suit, with the collar opened at the throat. She remembered nibbling on that throat and gaining his undivided attention. She couldn’t keep a wide smile from emerging. “What are you doing here?”
“I came to see you.”
“But how did you know where to find me?”
He smiled slowly as he approached. She stepped away from the desk to stand a few feet from him, her heart racing. She stared into his eyes. And he stared back. That familiar gleam was there, the one that told her he appreciated what was before his eyes. “I’ll explain that later. How are you?”
“I’m…I’m…stunned, actually. I never thought I’d see you again.”
Ty nodded and closed the gap between them. He took her hand. His touch sent tingles from her palm clear up her arm. He closed his fingers around hers, drew her close and brushed a soft, exquisite kiss on her lips.
Laney responded instantly, savoring his warm lips on her, the familiar scent that could heat her instantly. She kissed him back with full abandon and was left breathless when their mouths broke apart. But when he looked into her eyes, regret marred his expression. “I didn’t really plan on it happening this way. I heard about your father.”
Laney’s eyebrows shot straight up. “You know my father? How?”
“I’m sorry, Elena.” Her secretary barged in. “I stepped away from my desk for a moment.”
“No, no. It’s okay, Ally.” She took her eyes off Ty to give a direct order to her secretary. “Hold my calls. And please tell my ten o’clock appointment I’m running a little late.”
“But, he is your ten o’clock appointment.” Ally glanced at Ty, puzzled.
“Don’t be silly,” she said. “He doesn’t have a…” Then she walked over to the appointment book sitting on her desk, just to double-check. She’d known about her ten o’clock, dreading the meeting. She’d seen his name on the schedule this morning and immediately her stomach had clenched. “Just tell Evan Tyler to wait.”
She’d like to keep that man waiting until hell froze over. He’d been a thorn in the Royals’ side and had added to her father’s stress level over the months, advocating a buyout of the chain. When she found out he’d been the last appointment on the books before her father’s fatal heart attack, Laney knew she’d have to face him one day.
Today, was the day.
And she’d wished that she’d asked Preston to stay for that appointment. Laney had suspected the man capable of aggravating her father enough to send him into cardiac arrest. But thankfully, she’d gotten a short reprieve when Ty entered the room.
“Uh, Elena?”
“Ally, what is it?”
“I’ll straighten this out.” Ty turned to face her secretary. “You can go back to your desk now, Ally. Miss Royal doesn’t need you at the moment.”
Ally peered over Ty’s shoulder, her eyes wide with desperate concern.
“It’s…fine,” Laney said, trying to ease Ally’s alarm, but Ty had already ushered her secretary out of the room. Laney had never heard that tone in Ty’s voice before, or seen this commanding side of him.
“Ty?”
Then it struck her. Like a giant oak toppling onto her head. Or should she say, a tall palm tree, from the island. Ty…Tyler? Ty, her mystery man, was of course, Evan Tyler. They were one and the same! Laney closed her eyes as impending dread crept in. “Oh, no! Tell me it’s not true.”
She opened her eyes. Ty stared at her. “I’m your ten o’clock appointment, babe.”
Laney backed up, shaking her head, her body trembling. “Babe,” she repeated, quietly stunned. “Babe? Are you kidding me? You’re Evan Tyler! You’re…you’re… Oh, God!”
He just stood there, watching her meltdown. She shook so violently now, she had to brace herself against her desk. Then she gave up trying to stand on legs that would surely buckle under her. She plopped into her chair, the desk protecting her from Evan Tyler, the man responsible for her father’s heart attack. She was certain of it now.
“You coldhearted bastard.”
“Laney, listen—”
“You took advantage of me. Of my situation. And I played right into your hands, didn’t I?”
As the shock wore off, fury filled her. Fueled with anger she rose from the chair, refusing to submit to the scoundrel another second. She faced him head-on. “You used me in the worst possible way! You did, didn’t you? Tell me the truth, if you have it in you. You knew who I was the whole time at the Wind Breeze, didn’t you?”
Evan Tyler’s lips hardened into thin lines. “I knew.”
Laney wanted to throw the Waterford vase on the desk at him. She wanted to knock him out and drag him from her office from the pain he caused her. Everything inside burned with humiliation. She’d been duped, fooled by an unfeeling, hard-nosed deceiver. And what really ticked her off, aside from having slept with the enemy, was that he’d destroyed the only true good memory she’d had to hold on to during her time of mourning. “Damn you. I’d heard of your ruthless reputation, but this has to be one that would make it into the Guinness book.”
Evan Tyler didn’t argue the point. He didn’t apologize for anything, either.
“I came here to offer my condolences.”
Laney jammed her arms across her middle, holding her temper hostage for a moment. “You do know that you were the last person to see my father alive.”
“That’s debatable, Laney.”
“You caused his heart attack!”
“Like hell I did. When I walked out of his office, he was smiling. He’d blown me off in a matter of ten minutes and he was glad to do it.”
“You’re lying. Don’t try to deny it. You told him about sleeping with me, didn’t you? That was part of the plan, wasn’t it? You wanted to buy him out and you’d stoop to hitting below the belt to do it. You’d use any means to get what you wanted.”
“Your father wasn’t a saint, Laney. He cheated me out of a deal I’d worked on for two years. I wasn’t feeling overly generous toward any Royal when I saw you at the Wind Breeze bar, drinking away your sorrows. When you didn’t recognize me, I figured, what the hell. You were beautiful and lonely and looking at me like I was the last man on earth.”
“You’re modest, too, I see.” Laney blinked away that vivid memory. It was true. She must have looked like a little lost lamb, just waiting to be slaughtered by the big bad wolf, and Evan Tyler charged in for the kill, right on schedule. Oh, she’d been such a fool.
He ignored her gibe. “My original plan was to rub Nolan’s nose in the fact we’d been together on the island. But, no, he never knew. I didn’t tell him.”
“And
