Three days later, Colleen found herself knocking on the front door of the most grand and elegant mansion she’d ever seen. Crisp, cool alpine air, tall, majestic pine trees and snow-capped High Sierra Mountains surrounded her. Her trip to Reno and then Lake Tahoe had started last night, when Deidre had called with the sad news that her newly found father, Lincoln DuBois, had died. Colleen had prepared with a plan for the circumstances. She had plenty of vacation time she could take at work. She’d told her sister she’d be in Lake Tahoe by the next afternoon.
It had done her good to be able to focus on something and someone other than herself. She still felt rattled by what had happened with Eric over the weekend, wounded by the realization of how her life had changed in such a short period of time. She’d fallen in love without ever giving herself permission to do so, and it was perhaps that realization that had left her reeling most of all.
The trip to be with Deidre gave her something solid to focus on; something tangible and worthwhile, unlike her misguided love affair with Eric.
She’d been glad to have the kids home and to return to her normal schedule. Unfortunately, Eric had called her on the same evening he’d dropped her off. She hadn’t answered it, since it was impossible to ignore the anger, hurt and bewilderment she was feeling at what had occurred between them.
The next day, she was again forced to face the music when Brendan reminded her on the way to school that they were all going to be working on Lucy that evening. Since Colleen had granted permission for it last week, she couldn’t easily back out on her promise without calling attention to the fact that her and Eric’s relationship had altered over the weekend. So instead of letting the kids down, she called her mother and left a message explaining she’d have to work late that evening. She’d added that her mother should check with Eric about the plans, just to make sure he was still interested in having them. She’d stayed late at The Family Center, working on paperwork, feeling lonely and heartsore the whole time.
She’d continued to avoid Eric’s phone calls, but knew she’d have to face seeing him on Wednesday, when he came for his weekly volunteer hours at The Family Center. She’d been both relieved and disappointed that Lincoln DuBois’s death and her subsequent trip to Lake Tahoe had prevented her from ever seeing him at work.
Now two thousand miles separated her and Eric. Before she could experience a stab of pain over that thought, the heavy front door swung open and she was staring at her sister standing in the opening, wearing jeans and a tight dark blue T-shirt.
They say that you always admire what you don’t have when it comes to looks, and for Colleen that was especially true about how she felt about Deidre. Only their coloring was similar. Colleen was taller and more curvy than her sister. She’d always envied Deidre’s coltish long legs, slim hips and toned, shapely figure. Deidre looked even more slender than she’d been the last time Colleen had seen her in Chicago, on a mutual visit with Marc and Liam. Her recent anguish had seemed to hollow out her cheeks and make her exceptional bluish gray eyes look even larger and more striking than usual.
They flew into each other’s arms.
“Oh my God, I’m so happy to see you. You couldn’t have come at a better time. Better time for me that is,” Deidre said, leaning back and inspecting her sister. “I know it couldn’t have been easy for you to pick up and leave, given the kids and work…and Eric,” Deidre finished softly.
Something about seeing Deidre after such a long absence and hearing her say Eric’s name caused emotion to swell in Colleen’s chest. She and Deidre had spoken frequently on the phone in the past week. Colleen had eventually broken down and spilled the story to Deidre’s sympathetic ear.
She ruffled Deidre’s silky, glossy blond hair. The short style emphasized both Deidre’s strong, unique character and her delicate features to perfection. She didn’t wear a smudge of makeup. Deidre had been gifted with move-star-quality beauty, but as always, she seemed sublimely unaware of it. It’d been so hard to be separated from her sister by half the planet for so long. Colleen vowed then and there to do whatever she could to convince Deidre to come back to Michigan with her.
“I wouldn’t be anyplace in the world right now but by your side,” Colleen assured, glancing around her. In the distance, she glimpsed a spectacular great room and enormous picture window overlooking a stunning view of a sapphire-blue Lake Tahoe. “You’d do the same for me in similar circumstances. A man can’t come between sisters.”
She was glad to see the mischievous sparkle return to Deidre’s eyes. “Even a tall, dark, devilishly handsome doctor?”
“Especially a dark, devilish doctor,” Colleen stated with more confidence than she felt.
Deidre smiled and gave her another hug. “I’m so glad you’re here,” she whispered near Colleen’s ear. Colleen closed her eyes, sadness and worry filling her when she felt how desperately Deidre clung on to her…how much of her typically indomitable sister’s rib cage she could feel through the cotton of her T-shirt.
“I can see the first thing I need to do is cook you a decent meal,” Colleen told her when they broke apart, still holding hands.
Deidre waved her hand dismissively. “Linc’s chef, Sasha, is terrific. My appetite has been off a bit since I came from Germany.”
“Her appetite has been nonexistent,” someone said in a blunt tone.
Colleen started when a tall man with chestnut-colored hair suddenly stepped into the foyer. He had a bold, handsome face and a powerful, rangy build. She noticed the way his gray-eyed, cool gaze landed on her sister’s face. Deidre’s back straightened, her chin went up and her eyes turned every bit as flinty as the man’s.
“Nick Malone, I presume?” Colleen murmured wryly under her breath. Neither the man nor Deidre corrected her—just continued their staring duel—so Colleen knew she’d been right in her guess that the man was Lincoln DuBois’s right-hand man and CEO of DuBois Enterprises—not to mention the man who made it clear he was suspicious of Deidre’s motives in claiming to be Lincoln’s daughter. Malone was younger and a heck of a lot better looking than she’d expected, but Deidre’s haughty stance said loud and clear they were in the presence of the enemy.
“That’s right,” Deidre said. “Nick, I’d like you to meet my sister Colleen. Colleen, Nick Malone. She’s come for the funeral.” Deidre gave Colleen a bland glance. “Knowing Nick, he thinks you came to help me steal the silver, so I just thought I’d clarify.”
Colleen suppressed a snort of laughter, but Nick’s expression grew even harder at Deidre’s jibe. Despite his jeans and Western-style shirt, Malone reminded Colleen more of a soldier than a cowboy or executive.
As usual, Deidre was fearless in the face of potential danger. She grabbed Colleen’s free hand and pulled.
“Come on. We’d better get moving. Nick is likely to go into interrogation mode any second.”
Colleen glanced at Nick bemusedly as they passed, but his gaze was glued to Deidre. Was that concern she saw on his face, mingling with annoyance? For some reason, the way he looked as he followed Deidre’s retreating figure reminded her of the way Eric glared at her sometimes when she was being stubborn.
Chapter Thirteen
A painful stitch stabbed at Colleen’s side as she and Deidre raced through the Holy Name parking lot, both of them wearing heels and holding hands to improve their balance. Their flight from Reno to Detroit had been delayed four hours because of weather, and now they were running late for Liam’s and Natalie’s dress rehearsal. Brigit had gone ahead and brought the kids with her to the wedding rehearsal, while Deidre and Colleen hurried to get ready.
Everything in the past twenty-four hours had happened so suddenly, it still felt a little surreal to her. She couldn’t believe she was rushing to Liam’s rehearsal dinner with Deidre in tow. They’d decided to surprise Brigit, Liam and Marc with Deidre’s presence. Colleen didn’t like to think about how either her mother or Deidre would act when they saw each other.
All of that was nerve-racking enough. But Colleen had to admit to herself that she was nervous and edgy because she was about to see Eric again. Would he be irritated at her for avoiding him all this time? Or would he be relieved? He’d stopped attempting to call her in the past week. Had he given up on trying to apologize for his intentions in seducing her? Was he ready to move on from the whole affair?