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She looked him in the eye. “Yes—to me.”
He shrugged. “You let your mother force you into leaving, and that pretty much said how you felt about me and the future we’d planned. What can you add to that?”
“Have you ever wondered how she forced me?”
“From what you said about her, she wielded immense power over you and your life. When she showed up, you caved and went home like the dutiful daughter.”
Marisa shook her head. “No, it didn’t happen like that. I refused to go with her.”
His eyes narrowed. “But you went.”
“She didn’t leave me much choice. When I refused, she said she’d have you charged with statutory rape.”
“What!”
“There was a policeman waiting outside, and I knew she meant what she’d said.”
“You were twenty-one.”
She locked her fingers together. “I lied. I was only seventeen, a month from my eighteenth birthday.”
He stood and jammed both hands through his hair. “Seventeen? I was ten years older than you. You were seventeen?”
“Yes. My friend Stacy had a friend who knew someone who made fake IDs. We just wanted to have some fun, and that was the only way we could get into the casinos.”
“You never said anything.”
“You never asked.”
“I just assumed— God, you were seventeen.”
“Yes.” A flush of guilt stained her cheeks. “I couldn’t let you go to jail, so I went with my mother. As soon as I reached New York, I called the motel, but you’d checked out. I was devastated. You didn’t give me an address or a phone number, and I didn’t know how to get in touch. I kept trying for weeks, then I hired a private investigator.”
Colter’s gaze sharpened. “Evidently he didn’t find me.”
“I made the mistake of writing him a check. My mother had access to my account, and she contacted him. She was furious at what I’d done and we had a big scene. In the end she gave me the information the investigator had found out—that you’d already married someone else.”
“I wasn’t married then,” he said in a controlled voice.
The fire crackled behind her, and daylight peeped through the blinds, but she was only aware of his words. They didn’t make sense. “What?”
“I married Shannon after Ellie was born.”
“Oh.”
His eyes flared. “Your mother lied to you.”
It took a moment to assimilate this, to believe her mother would do that to her. But then, her mother would’ve done anything to keep her away from Colter. That little lie was supposed to make Marisa forget all about him. It had done just the opposite. Every day she’d carried their son she had thought about Colter constantly, and over the years he’d never been far from her mind.
“Let’s stop playing games, Marisa. The decision you made years ago, under whatever circumstances, is final. The past is over and it’s been over for so long that I don’t even care anymore. Ellie’s birth may not have been the way I wanted it, but that’s something I’m honest about. I don’t think you even know what the word means.” He swallowed visibly. “As soon as the ice melts, I want you out of here.”
She paled at the cruelty of his words. The anger was back, and his eyes blazed as hot as the fire. Before she could retaliate, someone rang the doorbell, then knocked loudly at the front door.
“What the hell?” Colter hurried to answer it.
Marisa got to her feet and realized she was shaking. She wrapped her arms around her waist to still that reaction. After a moment, she heard raised voices and moved toward the foyer, surprised the racket hadn’t awakened Ellie.
“I’m sorry, Colter. I have orders,” a man was saying. “I have a warrant to search your house. Richard Preston says you kidnapped his daughter, and he has the Dallas Police Department in an uproar. The sheriff wants me to check it out before they call in the FBI.”
“Search away,” Colter replied. “But you might want to ask the woman herself what she’s doing here.”
Marisa stood in the doorway, her eyes big and troubled.
“Ms. Marisa Preston?” the man asked.
“Yes,” she answered in a weak voice.
The man stepped forward. “I’m Deputy Jimmy Walsh. Are you being held against your will?”
“Of course not! Why on earth would you think that?”
“Your family believes Mr. Kincaid kidnapped you and they’re very worried.”
Mother. She wasn’t going to stop…until Marisa stopped her. The only person who’d ever kidnapped her was her mother. She’d taken away her childhood and now she was trying to destroy what little peace Marisa had managed to find. A white rage filled her.
“Mr. Kincaid doesn’t even want me here. I came of my own free will, and you can tell my mother—”
The deputy held up his hand. “I’ve only spoken with your father, so if you’ll get your things, I’ll take you back to Dallas and your family.”
Her mother could manipulate her father into doing anything. This time she wasn’t giving in. She was fighting back.
“Are the roads passable?” she asked.
“The highway department’s been working all night and I managed to get here without too much of a problem.”
“Then I’ll follow you in my car.”
“It’d be better if you came with me.”
“Am I under arrest?”
His face turned slightly red. “No, ma’am.”
“Good. Then it’s settled. I’ll drive my own car.” She whirled toward the den.
“Sorry for the intrusion, Colter,” she heard the deputy say.
She sank onto the pallet, where she found the corduroy jacket and slipped it on. Ellie stirred and sat up, rubbing her eyes.
“The lights are on,” she said.
“Yes,” Marisa answered, looking around for her shoes.
“Are you leaving?” Ellie asked.
“Yes. I have to go.”
“Then Santa didn’t send you.” The forlorn voice bothered Marisa.
“No. Santa didn’t send me, but here’s an early Christmas present.” She handed her the high heels.
“Cool.”
Marisa stood. “Goodbye, Ellie.”
“‘Bye. You sure you don’t need your shoes? It’s cold.”
“I have wool socks on, so don’t worry about it.”
“Okay.” She stroked Sooner. “Can I still come and see Santa?”
Marisa could feel Colter’s eyes boring into her, but she wasn’t going to disappoint Ellie. She didn’t care how angry he got. “Sure. Anytime you want.”
Ellie smiled. “Thanks.”
Marisa picked up her purse and walked toward the back door. Tulley was in the kitchen drinking coffee. “’Bye, Tulley,” she said, but didn’t stop. She had to get away.
Colter caught her at the door. “Let’s be clear about one thing.”
She’d had all she could take from him. “No,” she snapped. “I’m not listening to any more of your nastiness or your insults. I made some bad choices—very bad choices—but I had my reasons. Reasons I thought were valid at the time. If you could stop thinking about your pride for one tiny second, you might want to hear those reasons. Until then, I have nothing to say to you.”
Chapter Five
Colter walked into the kitchen and flopped down into a chair. Tulley placed a cup of coffee in front of him, but he barely saw it. All he could see was Marisa’s angry face.
Ellie tottered in on the high heels.
“Take those shoes off,” he said, more sharply than he’d intended. “We’re sending them back to Ms. Preston.”
Ellie stuck out her lip. “She gave them to me.”
“They’re going back.”
Ellie stepped out of the shoes, picked them up and ran to her room, slamming the door. Sooner barked. The door opened and then slammed again.
Tulley sat down. “You were a bit rough on her.”
“I’ll apologize in a minute—after I cool off.” He looked at Tulley. “She lied to me.”
“About what?”
“She said she was seventeen in Vegas, not twenty-one.”
“Yep, that’s a whopper, but I told you she looked too young and inexperienced for Vegas. Back then you weren’t listening to much I had to say.”
“I wore rose-colored glasses where she was concerned, but they were brutally ripped away and I can see her for the woman she really is.”
“Are you sure?”
“What do you mean?”
“The young Marisa was weak, but this Marisa seems strong. Remember the time you scratched your arm riding Diablo at the rodeo in Vegas? She almost passed out when I changed the bandage. But yesterday she climbed over the fence, with the horse running wild, to get to you. She even stopped the bleeding. The young Marisa wouldn’t have gone anywhere near that horse and she certainly couldn’t have attended to your leg.”
“So she’s matured. That doesn’t change anything.”
“Guess not.”
“What does she expect from me?”
“Forgiveness.”
“No.” He shook his head. “I can’t ever forgive her—yet last night, when she fell on the ice, I ran to her without thinking. I could feel her pulling me in with those soft eyes and that sweet smile—just like in Vegas. She was sitting with all those people and the only one I could see was her. That connection was there, and it wouldn’t have mattered if she was seventeen or twenty-one.”
“Nope. Probably not.”
Colter took a gulp of coffee, hearing the truth of his words but not wanting to face it. “I can’t believe any of this. Her parents sending the cops out here was the last straw, and it seemed to be for her, too. She was furious when she left, but I hope they convince her to stay away.”
“That would be best.”
Colter got to his feet. “I’d better go soothe Ellie’s ruffled feathers.”
“What would it hurt if she kept the shoes?” Tulley asked. “She’s a little girl, but she’s starting to like big-girl things.”
“Yeah.” Colter glanced toward Ellie’s room. “She’s growing up too fast and I’m lost when it comes to this girl stuff.”
“Yep. Ellie’s reminded you of that on more than one occasion.”
“I thought I could be everything to my daughter, and it hurts that I can’t. She still keeps asking for a mother….”
“Then let her keep the shoes.” Tulley stood and grabbed his hat. “She’ll feel like a big girl. What harm can it do? That’s my two cents. I’ll check on the horses and be back to fix breakfast.”
Colter watched him go with a bitter taste in his mouth. He didn’t want any reminders of Marisa in his house—not even a pair of damaged shoes. But it was a little late for such thinking. Marisa had invaded his carefully built world in more ways than he cared to think about.
AS MARISA FOLLOWED the deputy, her anger mounted. How dare her parents treat her like a child! That was what she’d always been to them—a child who needed protection, guidance and supervision. When her parents separated, the agreement had been that her father would raise Reed and her mother agreed to raise Marisa, and they would do so without interference from each other.
It had worked, more or less, until her father had come to New York for a visit and found her an emotional wreck. She’d just lost her son and she couldn’t bring herself back from that dark place of grief and intolerable sadness. When her father learned what had happened, he and Vanessa had argued bitterly, but he had ignored Vanessa’s threats and brought Marisa home to Texas to heal.
She’d had a strained relationship with her mother after that, but they’d reached a degree of understanding. Vanessa was not to meddle again. But Marisa had never been in control of her own life; one or both of her parents had. That was going to change. She’d been thinking about this earlier and now she had to put it into action.
