of him. Fighting an inner battle between what she wanted and what she thought she should do, she shifted away.
“We’re going to drink hot chocolate, remember?” she said breathlessly, placing her hand against his chest.
He still held her. “Sophia, you’re important to me.
I know we haven’t known each other long, but that really doesn’t matter. You’re essential and I want you in my life.”
While her heart drummed, his words held her enthralled. “Saturday night wouldn’t have happened if you hadn’t been very important to me.”
“I’m glad. Don’t forget what I’ve said.”
“Garrett, you’ve said that to me before. What am I missing?”
“Before we sit to drink our hot chocolate, I want to talk to you and I hope you’ll listen to everything I have to say.”
She looked at him and realized that whatever it was he was about to tell her, it wasn’t good. “What is it, Garrett? Go ahead and tell me what’s troubling you,” she said, puzzled, wondering what he wanted to talk about.
“We’ve become friends, haven’t we?”
“Yes, of course. But more than friends, Garrett. Lovers.”
“Good. I want to keep it that way.”
“What are you getting at?” she asked, growing chilled. What had he been keeping from her that might change her feelings for him? “What do you want to talk about?”
“I want you to promise me you’ll listen and keep an open mind.”
“I’ll listen and I’ll try to keep an open mind unless you’re going to tell me you’re married with a family,” she said stiffly. Suddenly, all her fears about rushing into intimacy with him came back to her. All her life she had been cautious, but she threw caution to the wind when Garrett came into her life. And she had a feeling she was about to find out that she’d made a terrible mistake.
He shook his head. “Nothing like that.”
Relief was slight because whatever he intended to tell her, it was serious. “I’ll try to keep an open mind,” she said, though she could already feel the walls closing down around her heart. “But I can’t make any promises.”
Garrett framed her face with his hands and she watched as he took a deep breath. “I was asked to meet you and get to know you. I was hired to do so, actually, but I’ve told them I won’t take the money. I swear I never expected it to turn out this way at all. I didn’t dream I would get any closer to you than I had to in order to talk to you.”
“You were hired? To meet me? I don’t understand,” she said, confusion flooding her. Garrett was struggling with his words, and he wasn’t giving her information fast enough. “Answer me, Garrett! Who hired—” She stopped speaking and stared at him, her confusion changing to burning fury. There was only one group of people in the world who would have to hire someone to try to get her to meet with them. “No! It’s the Delaneys, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it’s the Delaneys. Please, Sophia, you have to believe me. I never thought I, we would—”
“Damn you, Garrett,” she said, astounded at his pretense and the advantage he had taken of her. She was furious with herself for letting down her guard. “I promised to listen and keep an open mind, but I’m not going to now. Everything you’ve done has been a sham. You’ve been conniving and false from the start,” she accused. “All that asking about my family, listening while I told you about my father—you’re as bad as he was,” she said, shaking with rage. “You knew! You knew all the time who Argus was and what he had done! You knew how I grew up. You knew everything when you met me and passed yourself off as a Houston businessman.”
“I am a Houston businessman. I own that business.”
“How are you connected with the Delaneys?” she blurted, startled to hear he actually had the Houston business.
“I’m the CFO of Delaney Enterprises.”
She felt as if he had delivered a blow to her. “So the best friend you talked about, the family obligations—that’s all the Delaneys, isn’t it?” She clenched her fists. “I’m not going to listen to you. Everything you’ve done has been underhanded and low. How could you?” she cried.
“Sophia, by denying your heritage and your inheritance, you’re hurting innocent people and you’re hurting yourself.”
“You can’t possibly justify your actions.” She thought of what had happened between them in Colorado, devastation washing over her like a crushing wave. “How you must have laughed after this weekend. You seduced me for the Delaneys,” she said, grinding out the words, tears of anger and hurt threatening, adding to her fury.
“No, I did not. I meant what I’ve said to you, Sophia. I swear. I meant what I said about how special this weekend was for me—about how special you are to me.”
“Oh, please,” she snapped, hating him for what he’d done and angry with herself for tossing aside all caution where Garrett had been concerned. She was shaking and hurting all over, and she wanted nothing more than to get rid of him and make sure she never had to lay eyes on him again. “You can get out, Garrett. Out of my house and out of my life.”
“I’m not going until you listen to me and hear my side of the story.”
“Get out of here,” she cried. “I don’t want to see you or talk to you. I want you out of my life.” She tried to slip the bracelet off her wrist, her hands shaking as she fumbled. She finally succeeded, throwing it at him. He caught it and slowly put it into his pocket, never taking his eyes off her.
“I just want you to listen for a moment,” he said, speaking quietly. “You’re harming yourself as much as you’re hurting them and they haven’t done any more than you have. All they did was end up with Argus Delaney as their father. You can’t select your parents, and neither could they. So why are you doing this to them, Sophia?”
“I already told you. I don’t want anything from Argus Delaney. He never gave me love or attention or even acknowledgment that I was his daughter. Never,” she declared bitterly, tears over Garrett’s betrayal blinding her eyes as they spilled faster than she could wipe them away. “My father gave us money as a man gives cash to a prostitute. I’m not turning down the money to hurt my half brothers. I’m refusing it because it’s the only way I can reject Argus Delaney. He gave it out of guilt at the end of his life, and I will do nothing to exonerate the way he treated me or my mother.”
Garrett reached out to touch her and she jerked away from him as if he had scalded her with his touch.
“This isn’t about them,” she said. “It’s about him. All those years from the time I was born until I was in my twenties, he treated me as if I was nothing. I’m not trying to hurt them.”
“But you are hurting them. Can’t you see? And not
