Texan's Wedding-Night Wager / The Oilman's Baby Bargain. Charlene Sands

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СКАЧАТЬ guys turned around and Kevin spoke into the receiver. “Cara?”

      “Hello, Kevin.”

      So formal.

      God, he hadn’t heard her voice in four years. Not once. Not since she’d left him high and dry and made a new life for herself in Dallas. He’d kept up on her through friends and what little he’d read in the newspapers about her successful dance studios.

      She sounded the same—sassy if not a little stiff. There was an awkward moment of silence.

      “I guess it’s time for us to end it,” she said.

      Images of Cara getting remarried immediately entered his mind. After four years, why else would she call? Had she fallen in love with another man?

      Kevin didn’t know how he’d feel about that. She’d walked out on him and their marriage. She’d tried to file for divorce but Kevin had sent the papers back to her. He’d given her an ultimatum—if she wanted out, she would have to come back and face him.

      “I’m coming to Somerset. I’d like to make an appointment with you to discuss the…divorce.”

      “Fine.” Kevin’s lips tightened.

      “It’s business, Kevin. You should understand that. I need an expansion loan for my studios. The bank recommends…Well, let’s face it. We both need to get on with our lives.”

       It’s business.

      How many times had he said that to her when he couldn’t make it home for dinner? When he’d come in so late that he’d plopped into bed beside her and held her tight until they’d fallen asleep? She’d wanted children and Kevin had asked for her patience. His business had come first, but only because he’d wanted to provide a good life for her. He’d made his millions, but she never understood that he’d done it all for her. And how had she showed him her undying love? She’d packed up in the middle of the night and left him. Just like that. After five years of marriage.

      Damn her.

      “I’m good with that,” he said. “When are you coming in?”

      “Tomorrow?”

      Kevin turned to find all four of his friends silently watching him. “Tomorrow is good. Meet me at the office at five.”

      Kevin hung up the phone and contemplated his next move. Cara wasn’t going to get away with breezing into his life for a day to get her divorce. No, he wouldn’t make it so easy for her.

      A plan began to formulate in his head and his lips lifted. “Cara’s coming to town tomorrow,” he said needlessly. “She wants to finalize the divorce.”

      “I’ve seen that expression on your face before,” Darius said. “What’s got you looking so damn smug?”

      “Nothing,” he replied innocently.

      “Like the nothing that nearly got us expelled from UT? Remember when we stole Professor Turner’s prized Shakespeare bust from his classroom?” Lance asked, narrowing his eyes. “That kind of nothing?”

      Kevin shrugged.

      “I don’t like it,” Lance said. “You looked fit to be tied when she called, and now you’re looking like a fat cat who just lapped up a pint of milk.”

      Kevin only smiled and finished his beer. “I’d better get going.”

      “I feel for Cara already. That girl won’t know what hit her,” Darius added.

      Kevin walked to the door of the game room, shaking his head. “That girl is my wife. And she deserves everything she gets.”

      Darius shot him a warning look. “I always liked Cara.”

      “Yeah,” Kevin said on a deep breath, before exiting the room. “So did I.”

      As the elevator closed to take Cara up to Kevin’s office, she caught sight of herself in the doors’ reflective surface. She must have glanced in the mirror a dozen times before leaving her Houston hotel room, making sure she looked just right for her meeting with Kevin. On any given day she wore her curly blond hair pulled back in a clip, but today she let the curls fall to her shoulders freely, glossed her lips with a light berry shade and made sure she wore a soft sapphire dress that accented her figure and her blue eyes.

      Because it wasn’t any given day.

      Today, she’d see her husband for the first time in four years.

      And a small part of her wanted him to see what he’d thrown away. She hadn’t wilted like a delicate flower when they’d separated. She’d been broken but not beaten by his betrayal of trust. He hadn’t cheated on her in the classic way, but he had shattered his vows by abandoning their love.

      Cara had grown from that experience. Through her pain, she’d managed to create a successful business in a field she loved. She’d come here for Dancing Lights and that expansion loan she needed from the bank, but she’d also come for her own personal reasons.

      She drew oxygen in as she exited the elevator and glanced around Kevin’s new office space. He’d certainly come up in the world, from his smaller office on the outskirts of Houston to this impressive space on the tenth floor of a downtown high-rise building.

      She walked to the reception desk and waited for the receptionist to finish her phone call.

      “May I help you?” she asked.

      “Yes, I’m Mrs. Novak. I have an appointment…with my husband.”

      The young woman’s eyebrows shot up, surprise evident on her face. Kevin had replaced a great many things since she’d left and apparently sweet, aging Margie Windmeyer, his loyal secretary, hadn’t fit in with the new decor.

      Looking baffled, the receptionist paged through her appointment book.

      “He’s expecting me.” Cara’s nerves jumped at the edginess in her tone. She wanted to get this over with.

      “Yes, Mrs. Novak.” The receptionist gave up looking for her name on the books and pointed toward a set of double doors. “Right through there.”

      Cara nodded and stared at the doors for a second. Then, with her slim briefcase tucked under her arm, she entered the office.

      Kevin stood with his back to her, staring out the arched window behind his desk. Both hands tucked into his suit pants, she was treated to a captivating view of his tight backside. His physique hadn’t suffered through the years—that much she could determine right away.

      As he angled toward her, his profile and the sharp, handsome lines of his face struck her with force. He turned fully around and stared at her, his gorgeous, piercing-blue eyes not giving anything away.

      He cast her a half smile. “Cara.”

      She stood in the middle of the large office, refusing to let her nerves go raw. It was a shock to see him. She couldn’t possibly have anticipated this moment—how she’d react to seeing СКАЧАТЬ