The Coltons: Nick, Clay & Jericho. Marie Ferrarella

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СКАЧАТЬ to protect Cate had pushed her away, because she wanted a husband who would let her help him solve his problems, not pull away when troubles came.

      She sprang from a long line of Talbots who’d failed at marriage or any relationship close to that kind of commitment. She and Alan had tried to create the family they’d both craved in their childhoods. Instead, they’d created an emotional divide.

      She felt as if she’d already raised Dan on her own. She’d made up excuses for Alan’s absences, for his distraction when he showed up late at one family gathering after another. She couldn’t start that over again. This time, if she raised a child alone, it would be because she no longer lived with her baby’s father.

      A car passed her. She knew the driver. Another mom whose son was about to graduate from high school. Cate pasted a smile on her face. After today she wouldn’t have to pretend everything was normal.

      Wind from the car blew her hair across her face, and Cate brushed the strands out of her eyes. She refused to wait for Alan to tell her what was wrong with the business. Hurting from the pain of another betrayal cost her more than knowing the truth. She’d make him tell her.

      Squaring her shoulders, she marched across the street to the office. Her legs felt like jelly. She opened the frosted glass doors that were engraved with the company’s name.

      The moment she stepped inside, the temperature dropped. Even in mid-May, the South Georgia heat made air-conditioning a requirement. Cate swiped at perspiration on her forehead. Her hand trembled in front of her eyes.

      She’d offer Alan a chance to explain because she still didn’t want to leave him. When they were good, they were very, very good.

      Alan’s voice murmured from the office area. For a moment she hoped he had a late appointment with a client. Then she recognized a tone she always dreaded hearing. She couldn’t understand what he was saying, but he was in trouble.

      Her anger simmered as every excuse Alan had given her in the past few weeks repeated in her head. She wouldn’t have kept her own secret if she’d trusted him.

      Not that she could give him all the blame. She’d stayed. She hated feeling dependent, and her relationship with Alan made her feel dependent rather than stronger. When they were bad, they were unbearable.

      Striding past models of the buildings and homes the company was contracted to build or renovate, Cate tried to imagine why her husband had decided his success here meant more than their marriage.

      She passed empty offices. Her twin sister, Caroline, who worked as an interior designer for the company, had already gone home.

      Alan’s office lay at the end of the hall. The air conditioning’s whisper cushioned the sound of Cate’s feet on the Berber carpet. Suddenly, John Mabry, Leith’s chief of police, leaned into Cate’s view, his bulk bending the frame of his chair as he crossed his arms behind his head.

      “I know,” he said on a hefty sigh. “A trained cop had no business losing Jim Cooper in the men’s room, but I didn’t train the cops who work the Newark airport. Just chill, Alan. We’ll find him and your money before you have to shut your doors for good.”

      The carpet’s warp seemed to rise up and trip Cate. Jim Cooper was their CPA, an oily man who always stood too close, tried to talk too intimately. She stumbled to a halt, flexing her fingers against the creamy, patterned wallpaper. The truth came as no surprise, but hearing it in plain words felt like a near fatal wound.

      “What if we’re already too late?” Alan asked. “I’m working my creditors now as if I were the criminal.”

      “What?” Mabry said in a sharp tone.

      “With my banker’s help.” Alan placated the other man. “But I don’t do business this way, and I don’t like knowing my employees may be working on borrowed time.”

      The scream in Cate’s head must have translated to some kind of sound. John Mabry turned to her, surprise widening his eyes. She pulled her hand off the wall. Nearly twenty years of pretending her marriage was healthy had honed her skills. She’d pretend nothing was wrong. Next best thing to acting as if Alan had talked to her about the problem.

      “Hey, John.”

      “Evening, Cate.”

      Alan’s chair squeaked. After a few muffled steps, he came around the door, tall, dark and clueless. “Is something wrong with Dan?”

      Startled at his unexpected question, Cate searched tanned features that had thinned over the past weeks to an ascetic sharpness. His problems in this office had distracted him. He’d forgotten their meal and his promise to come home early. Naturally, he only expected her to show up if something was wrong with their son.

      “Dan’s fine.”

      A father’s fear haunted his eyes. Alan loved the idea of family. He truly loved their son—as much as she did.

      “I came because you’re late,” she said.

      He turned a wary gaze on the police chief. “John…”

      Mabry pried himself out of his chair. “I’ll get back to you later, Alan.”

      Cate watched the other man leave. With each step he took toward the front of the building, she braced herself to face the reason for her husband’s guilty expression.

      “Cate.” Taking her arm, Alan forced her to look at him before she was ready.

      She shook him off. “Don’t.” All she wanted was for him to tell her she was wrong. “Why was John here?”

      “Please believe I wanted to tell you.” He took her hands again. Heat throbbed from his callused palms.

      She splayed her fingers over the undersides of his wrists, where his pulse tapped an alarm. A measure of calm came to her despite confusion that had become familiar. “Something’s happened. Again.”

      He tightened his hands, but he couldn’t seem to answer her. She studied his face, intent on every nerve, every shadow of guilt that flitted behind eyes that knew her both too well and not at all.

      “This time was different, Cate.”

      “You always say it’s different, but it never is.” The future yawned in front of her like a hungry mouth. “You keep problems from me because you think I’ll leave if the business goes sour.”

      Sweat beaded on his upper lip. He didn’t look well, but she couldn’t spare him any more of her empathy.

      “I would have told you.” He released one of her hands so he could wipe the drops of moisture off his mouth. “I had to make sure I knew how much trouble we’re facing.”

      “I don’t trust you.” She flattened her free hand over her belly, tracing the mound she couldn’t hide much longer. She wouldn’t expose another child to a part-time father. “I can’t go on the way we are, and you can’t change. You never would have told me about Jim. You planned to clean up the mess by yourself.”

      “I haven’t told anyone except Mabry and the bank. Jim Cooper embezzled from the business accounts. He stole from every company he worked for. We’ve all lost money, and СКАЧАТЬ