Page 19 of Vows in Name Only
Would he? When Cain was younger, he’d dreamed about having brothers or sisters. Someone who would be in the trenches with him. Maybe he wouldn’t have felt so alone or isolated. But as he’d grown up, he’d stopped wishing for that. He wouldn’t have wished his existence with Barron on an enemy much less a sibling.
“Knowing about them now or ten years ago wouldn’t have changed anything,” he said.
Maybe it’d been a blessing that he hadn’t been aware of them. They would’ve been just two more people his father could’ve used against him. Like his mother.
“Barron had his own reasons for his actions. The least of them being manipulation and power,” he added, then immediately cursed himself for revealing too much. No way in hell was he getting into a discussion about his hellish childhood with her.
With anyone.
“You can’t mean that,” she protested.
“About Barron? I damn well can.”
“No.” She shook her head. “About your brothers. I wish I had siblings. It would’ve meant someone who had your back. No matter what. No questions asked. It would’ve meant not being alone. What I wouldn’t give to have that right now,” she said softly.
So softly he had to wonder if she’d meant to voice the words aloud.
“Why are you alone, Devon? You might not have siblings, but what about family other than your father? You told me you came from a big family. What about them?”
She blinked. “You remember that?”
“I remember everything,” he murmured.
About you. About that day.
He wished he didn’t.
“Yes, I do have a large family. Between my father’s and mother’s sides, I have six aunts and four uncles. And a ton of cousins. I haven’t seen them in years. Not since we moved from New Jersey.”
Cain frowned. “New Jersey isn’t across an ocean. It’s not even five hours away. Why?”
Pain flickered in her eyes before her lashes lowered. But he caught the shadows it left.
“Initially, Dad’s new firm demanded a lot of his time, so we didn’t return to visit often. And then I guess everyone became busy because the phone calls slowed, then stopped, and we just lost touch.” She shrugged a shoulder, but he didn’t accept or believe the nonchalant gesture. Not for a minute. She missed that big Italian family she’d spoken of so affectionately in the garden. And he suspected there was more to the story than she was admitting.
And he also suspected that “more” started and ended with Gregory Cole.
“Oh God.” Her low exclamation refocused his attention on her and not on his darkening thoughts. “That’s why you were in the garden the day of the funeral,” she breathed, eyes widening. “Your father is who you were damning.” Her full lips twisted. “Not only did you lose your father, but you discovered he’d been lying to you for years. No wonder you were furious. I’m so sorry. You should’ve been saying goodbye, grieving. Not having the rug pulled out from under you.”
“You were my saving grace that day,” he murmured.
He hadn’t intended to let that slip, either. Even if it was the truth.
“Until I wasn’t,” she said, voice as soft.
“Until you weren’t,” he agreed. “But I’m still thankful. You reminded me of one very important fact. If it seems too good to be true, then it is,” he drawled.
Satisfaction should’ve filled him at her barely concealed flinch. It didn’t. He hadn’t stated the obvious to hurt her so much as to drive home that she couldn’t be trusted. Those pretty green eyes and that disarming honesty had tricked him once. Now that he’d made the mistake of kissing her, he was even more susceptible to disregarding what he knew about her and her father for another taste.
At this point, when his body was in danger of launching a full-out rebellion, heneededher to be the woman capable of deception and blackmail, and not the soft, desirable woman who’d welcomed his mouth and domination.
“I have a meeting I need to prepare for,” he said, sliding his hands in his front pockets—and away from temptation.
If his blatant dismissal affected her, she didn’t reveal it. Nodding, she crossed the room for the purse she’d deposited on the visitors chair before the photographer arrived. She stood for several seconds, staring at him, lips parted as if words hovered there. But, after a moment, she gave her head a shake and exited the office without glancing backward. The soft snick of the lock reverberated in the room.
And he was glad she wasn’t there to witness his flinch.
Eight
