on your hands that not even you will be able to handle. I’ve been running Larimar for the past year but beyond that, I own the gift shop downstairs and Larimar doesn’t have enough money to pay me off.”
She stared, shock in her eyes. “What are you talking about?”
He shook his head. “Why don’t you take a moment to really look at Larimar and see all the changes that have been made since you’ve been gone. Someone had to do something to start making some money because the one with the marketing degree…well, she was unavailable.”
With that, he stalked past her. He was done with her for the day. If he stood another minute in her presence he’d choke on his own frustration—or choke her.
CHAPTER FOUR
LORA©DIDN’T©KNOW©WHY but the weight of Heath’s judgment sat heavily on her shoulders. Why should she care what Heath thought of her relationship with her sister? Clearly, Lilah had Heath believing she was helpless, just like everyone else. Lora refused to feel guilty over her decision to make Lilah take on more responsibility for once. So what if Lilah had no real business sense, was it so hard to write a check and pay some bills? Lora silenced the ongoing argument in her head, annoyed that Heath had managed to make her feel culpable and wrong in the same breath.
She sat in Pops’s chair with a huff and started shuffling papers, looking for some semblance of order. She didn’t know where to start. She looked in the files and found folders with marked headings written in a clearly masculine hand. She knew Lilah’s handwriting was flowery and her Pops’s handwriting was an illegible scrawl that only her Grams could decipher, which meant Heath had sorted these papers and put them in order. She pushed away that acknowledgment, not ready to make amends with Heath just yet. It was childish and worse, she knew it, but she couldn’t quite deal with the feelings that rose when she thought of Heath’s honest admission.
He said he loved her family. Obviously, she was not lumped up in that admission. Lora sniffed. Who cared? She didn’t need nor want to be included in Heath’s affections. She had enough family, she didn’t need more. She paused. And what did he mean that he owned the gift shop? She put aside the tax file for the moment and started sifting through the other files. She found the gift shop and pulled it.
After she finished reading the paperwork pertaining to the business arrangement between Pops and Heath, she leaned back in the chair and stared at the ceiling. She’d found the reason Heath had been so involved in her family’s affairs and it wasn’t so much altruistic as it was self-serving.
It shouldn’t surprise her. In the corporate environment, no one did anything without a reason—and it was usually because they served to benefit from the action. Why was she surprised Heath was no different?
Maybe because a part of her—locked away deep inside—hoped the man Heath had become had remained that trustworthy island boy who had watched her with furtive glances and rare smiles.
This paperwork showed that he was just a man—like any other—looking out for himself.
And for reasons she wasn’t interested in pursuing—it hurt.
* * *
HEATH©CAUGHT LILAH©AS©SHE was leaving, her eyes red but otherwise dry. She stopped and gave Heath a look of apology but shrugged. “I guess I knew that wasn’t going to go well,” she said, her voice scratchy yet soft. “I let her down. I knew it was coming.”
“You didn’t let anyone down,” he disagreed, still hot. “She put you in a position where you were doomed to fail. Don’t let her off the hook so easily. She has to shoulder some of the responsibility, too. It’s not right for her to make you assume the role you were never groomed to take. Pops always made it pretty clear that he thought Lora would take over the running of Larimar, which is why she’s on the estate paperwork.”
Lilah nodded, but she was plainly still miserable. His heart broke for the young woman and even though she was an adult and clearly not a little girl anymore, he gathered her in his arms and hugged her tight. “Don’t let her get to you. She’s all bark and no bite,” he assured Lilah, and she shuddered against him, clinging to him like a spider monkey. “She has a tendency to lash out when she’s backed into a corner. She’ll come to her senses and realize what a royal—well, for lack of a better word—bitch she’s been and maybe if an apology isn’t in her vocabulary she’ll at least show with her actions that she’s sorry.”
At that Lilah lifted her head and gave him a wry look. “My sister? Show that she’s sorry? I don’t think she knows how.”
“Well, one can hope there’s some shred of humanity left in her, right?” he joked, coaxing a smile from Lilah. “It’s going to be okay. I promise.”
He could tell she wanted to believe him but Lilah knew the score. She knew Larimar was in trouble and she knew he was doing everything he could to fix it but if Lora worked against him instead of with him—they might lose Larimar all together. And if that happened, Pops would lose whatever bit of sanity he had left.
And that would kill them all.
“Thanks, Heath,” Lilah said, pulling away. “Maybe you’re right. She’ll come around.”
As soon as she said it, they both realized how ludicrous the statement was and burst into rueful laughter just in time for Lora to round the corner.
Lora took in the two of them sharing an easy familiarity with one another and stiffened. A warning tingle went up his back and he realized a moment too late that she’d taken the situation and spun it in a completely different direction in her head. And to prove his fear, she observed in an icy tone, “I see you’re not only preying on an old man but a naive young woman, too. Tell me, Heath, are there no boundaries you won’t cross?”
Lilah looked shocked and simultaneously grossed out at Lora’s implication but before Lilah could defend his actions, he simply waved away her attempt with a snort of disgust Lora’s way, saying, “Don’t waste your breath, Lilah. Your sister is not only blind…she’s an idiot.”
And he stalked from the room.
* * *
LILAH©FELT©CAUGHT©BETWEEN two opposing forces and while her loyalty ought to be with her sister, she had to admit Lora seemed to be acting deliberately difficult.
“Why are you doing this?” she cried, angry. “Can’t you see that he’s been nothing but helpful through this whole ordeal? When you weren’t here, he stepped up and did everything he could to save Larimar.”
“Do you know about the deal he struck with Pops on the gift shop?” Lora asked.
Lilah winced, knowing how her sister would interpret the deal. “Yes. But you have to know that he would never do anything that would hurt Pops or the resort. This place and our family has been his family since he was a kid. You know this better than anyone and yet, you’re so willing to throw him under the bus. For what? So you can feel justified in your anger, or so you don’t have to deal with the fact that when we needed you the most, you didn’t come?”
Lora appeared shocked at Lilah’s impassioned speech, but no one was more surprised than Lilah. She wasn’t the one who took stands and got involved beyond the superficial. She hated confrontation and always sought to avoid it, but she’d reached her limit with Lora’s cold and cruel attitude and since Lindy
