Katia's Promise (11 page)

With a lurch, Katia realized she’d said those exact words years ago, after she’d heard kids mocking Austin behind his back. She’d been fearless as a child. She’d forgotten that.

He laughed and set his cognac on the end table. “You would come to my defense? After how badly I treated you when we were younger?”

“You made up for those days, Austin. And anyway, I knew you wanted to impress your friends so you could fit in.”

“Only ten years old, and you were that astute.”

She stifled a pleased smile. “Well, maybe. But like I said, that was before—” Katia felt her heart trip and her breath clutch. It was happening again. The panic attack. Why did this always come over her when she started reliving the past or thinking about love? Or about Austin...

“Before what, Katia?” Austin asked. His voice was so warm now it could have melted the polar ice cap.

Katia felt her bones turn to butter. She swallowed hard. “Before we were in love.”

“And before we were inseparable. I taught you to play tennis and poker, which my parents never discovered.” He chuckled. “We took scuba lessons together from that crazy old guy my mother hired. Remember? He taught us in our pool.”

“I never did get to Bermuda,” she said wistfully.

“I did. The diving was glorious, but it would have been more fun if you’d been with me.”

She closed her eyes. Had he really just said that? “Being here with you right now, in this house, it’s as if the years never intervened. Everything seems so different and yet just the same. As though I’m in a time warp.”

“Yeah,” he replied. “I like that.”

Austin’s eyes filled with the same emotion and intensity she remembered from that last summer. Only this was now. He rose from his chair and stood over her. He took the mug from her hands and put it on the table. Then he pulled her swiftly to her feet. “You remember what it was like when we were together, don’t you, Katia?”

“I do.”

“But do you remember all of it?”

His lips were soft when they first met hers. His hands cupped her face and slowly his fingers moved up to her temples, then into her mounds of auburn hair. Her arms were around his neck in a split second, and everything she’d felt for him as at sixteen came whirling back to her with as much force as a tornado.

“Katia,” he whispered. “Tell me again why you came here tonight.”

Katia hesitated. She hadn’t come here for
this
. She had come here to save her job, but she couldn’t think anymore. All she could do was feel. She’d traveled to another dimension, one they’d inhabited years ago. She and Austin were alone there, and all they knew was love.

She didn’t know how to answer, so she kissed him again. Slowly, he pulled her hands from around his neck and held them each to his lips.

“Why, Katia?” His eyes probed hers so intensely she nearly buckled under their scrutiny.

“I... It was for business. Initially. But...”

Austin grinned wickedly and kissed her forehead, then the tip of her nose and then both her cheeks. “You are so much fun, Katia. That’s one thing I’ve never forgotten.” He pulled her to his chest.

“Really? No one has ever said that. They call me a steamroller at work.”

“Interesting.” He pulled away, but only slightly. “I’ll tell you what. I’ll look over your proposal if you make me a promise.”

She stiffened. It was a reflexive movement, she knew. She didn’t like making promises without knowing the details and conditions up front.

He scrunched his arm around her shoulders. “See that? You distrust me already. If you do that again, I’ll start kissing you, and you will have no defenses against me.”

“That’s pretty arrogant,” she quipped. She wasn’t about to tell him that he was completely accurate. Just like when they were teenagers, the minute his lips touched hers, she was hooked.
Not good, Katia
. Now he had far too much power over her, and he knew it. First it was her career. Now it was her heart. “So what’s the promise?”

“Tell your boss you have to spend all day with me tomorrow checking out the museum site and going over plans.”

“Okay...”

“If you’re serious about doing business with me, then it’s got to be my way. I know what I need, and I will be getting bids from other companies. If you win the bid, you win fair and square.”

“Fair and square? No kissing?”

He smiled. “You look disappointed. That’s good.”

Katia finally pulled herself together and moved out of his embrace. She picked up her briefcase and took out her proposal, placing it on the end table. She smiled and offered her hand. “If I win your account, believe me, it
will
be all fair and all square. And no, Austin, I’m not in the slightest disappointed.”

He shook her hand. “We’ll see about that.”

CHAPTER TWELVE

A
BLAST
OF
crisp Canadian air cleared away the dense fog that hung like ghosts around the fields of dried cornstalks surrounding Austin’s museum site. Bulldozers and excavators rumbled over the dark farm soil like lumbering, robotic aliens. Dump trucks stood at the ready, taking in tons of earth to be transported to the east side of the building. In the spring, landscapers would use Bobcats and spades to create magical gardens that Austin told Katia he would expand every year.

Katia shielded her eyes from the late-morning sun. The scarred earth was patterned with dozens of utility flags, stakes, strings, plumbing markers and spray-painted arrows and symbols. Austin stood beside her, his hands on his hips, blond hair blowing in the breeze. His smile radiated satisfaction.

Katia turned to get a better look at him. No, it was more than satisfaction; that was victory she saw in his face. Austin couldn’t have been more fulfilled if he’d just won Wimbledon.

“We have to get the basement and substructure in before Thanksgiving,” he explained. “The heavy rains should be over now, if my Farmer’s Almanac doesn’t fail me.”

She shot him a dubious glance. “You’re not serious.”

“No. But my prognosticators aren’t any more reliable, I’m afraid. Once the plumbing and the electrical base are in, we’ll just work around the weather to the best of our ability. At least that’s what the construction general tells me.”

“Makes sense. Freezes and snow won’t be half as bad as a flash flood would be. A cave-in could be costly.”

“But I’ll have insurance for that, won’t I?” Austin turned to her, his eyes demanding a guarantee.

Katia had indeed factored construction-site misfortunes, accidents and even theft into her proposal. She and Austin had not yet gone over the conditions of the contract or the cost of the package, but she took his question as a promise that she would soon be gaining his business. Normally, when she was about to land a large client, she couldn’t wait to text Jack and give him the good news. But today was different.

This wasn’t just another client. It was Austin. At this moment, gazing into his searching blue eyes, standing this close to him, all she could do was remember the feel of his lips against hers.

Had it only been last night that he’d demanded to know her real reason for breaking into his house? Even now, as she stood before him at his building site, she still couldn’t give him an answer.

She was pretty sure she’d lost her mind. When she’d taken his house key out of the little wooden box back in Chicago, had she intended to go to him and find out if there was anything left between them? Had she intuitively manipulated her own actions to serve an unconscious desire to bring back the feelings she’d once had for him?

Was it possible she’d been kidding herself all these years? Maybe she’d numbed her heart and mind with career narcotic like so many people she knew. Just how seriously lost was she?

It was the greatest irony, Katia thought, that she’d been so shattered, brokenhearted and ashamed when she’d left Indian Lake that she’d promised herself she would never be vulnerable again. She would do everything she could to protect her heart. Perhaps, in a twisted, self-protective move, she’d pursued a life in insurance naively believing that she could find safeguards. What she’d learned instead was that there were absolutely no guarantees in life. Nothing was safe. Especially not when it came to love.

Once Austin had kissed her and she’d kissed him back, a deluge of emotions had been unleashed. All these years, she would have bet everything she had that her feelings for Austin were only the memories of her youth. Sure, she’d dusted them off from time to time, but they’d always gone back in the vault on the far side of her heart.

She’d discovered last night that they were very real indeed; they’d only been sleeping. And now that her prince had come along to awaken her, she was afraid there was no going back. Even worse, she had no clue how to move forward.

Austin took a step closer, and when he did she could feel his warm breath on her cheek. The October air was cold, and if they stayed out here much longer, her black wool jacket wouldn’t be enough to stave off the plummeting temperatures. When Austin peered into her eyes, Katia felt a warmth rising inside her that she hadn’t felt in a long time. This wasn’t a memory. This was here and now.

He slipped his arm around the back of her waist. “I’ll be covered, right?” He pulled her ever so slightly toward him, just enough for their noses to touch.

“Absolutely, Austin,” she responded hoarsely. She cleared her throat. “I’ll take care of everything for you.”

* * *

A
USTIN
HELD
K
ATIA
a bit closer. Then he buried his face in her neck and inhaled the scent of her perfume. The wind whipped long red-gold strands of her hair around his head. For the moment, Austin didn’t care if she’d betrayed him or hurt him. She was here now, and for one second, he had her in his arms. It seemed like a dream come true, and as much as he told himself not to trust her, his better judgment dissolved like sugar in water. It didn’t matter how long this lasted, only that this moment existed. He knew it was too much to ask of the universe that Katia be his once again. Love didn’t work that way. Once you lost it, it was lost forever. Only fools believed otherwise.

Austin wasn’t a fool. He was simply reveling in the luxury of the moment, much like cruising down Maple Avenue in his Bentley or his Cornish. It was a glimpse of the fantasy some called heaven, but it wasn’t real.

“Austin,” Katia said, moving out of his embrace and folding her arms across her chest.

She gave him a warning shake of her head, just as he was contemplating putting a kiss on the side of her throat. He recognized censure when he saw it. She was shrugging him off. Any thoughts he had of intimacy between them shattered like delicate icicles.

She shivered.

“It’s getting cold,” he mumbled, feeling an inexplicable sadness overtake him.

He slid his eyes away from her and over to the construction site. “Since I haven’t even begun my building yet, I can’t take you inside, so how about I drive us back to town, and we go to lunch?”

“Lovely,” Katia answered much too quickly.

Austin couldn’t be sure, but Katia seemed to be relieved that they were leaving. When he put his hand on the small of her back as they walked to his Corvette, she wiggled away from his touch.

He had to be going nuts. There was no mistaking the wistful, nearly dew-eyed look she gave him when she thought he wasn’t paying attention. It was the same look he remembered from their youth. Yet outwardly, she appeared to disdain his embrace or even a simple touch. Perhaps she didn’t realize how much that hurt him. He might have been a near recluse since Katia had moved away from Indian Lake, but the real truth was, he’d sworn that if his arms couldn’t be filled with her, then he would embrace no one.

They had just reached the car when Hal, the construction supervisor, approached. He was wearing jeans, work boots, a down-filled vest and a hard hat. “Austin,” he said waving a rolled-up sheaf of blueprints. “We have a problem.”

“What is it, Hal?” Austin asked.

The man unfurled the blueprints on the hood of Austin’s Corvette. Austin didn’t say a word, but Katia raised her eyebrow. Austin remembered when she had teased him mercilessly by putting a butterfly on the hood of one of the McCrearys’ prized automobiles. He’d flown into rage because his father had scolded him many times for “ruining” the finish with some thoughtless, though minuscule, action. Her face had filled with pain, and instantly, Austin had known he’d hurt her. The last thing he’d wanted Katia to think was that his cars were more important to him than she was. He’d failed at that. She hadn’t spoken to him for days after that incident.

“My supervisor told me that you’re planning to have an elevator in this building.” Hal’s voice broke through Austin’s thoughts.

“Two elevators,” Austin corrected him. “One for the cars, which is quite large. One for the tourists.”

“These basement blueprints don’t call for a space for the mechanisms. Do the elevators go to the basement? They should, but there’s no indication of that anywhere here. I have to know the details before they dig tomorrow.”

Austin scoured the blueprint and jabbed his finger at the basement floor plan. “You’re right. No elevator. But I know I saw it on Chase’s drawing. I can only think that somehow you got something preliminary and not the final one. I have no idea how this happened, but you’d better believe I’m going to find out.” He was fuming as he took out his smartphone and placed a call.

“Charles. It’s Austin. I’m on the job site, and my guys are getting ready to dig tomorrow, and I’m looking at the wrong blueprints. You want to tell me how this happened?”

Austin paused for a minute as he listened to Charles’s explanation. Then he walked just far enough away from Katia and Hal so as not to be heard.

* * *

K
ATIA
CAUGHT
ENOUGH
of Austin’s phone conversation to understand that Hal’s courier was at fault. She shook her head. “If you want a job done—” she grumbled.

“Do it yourself,” Hal finished for her.

Austin walked back toward them.

“Please tell me that the rest of the measurements are right because otherwise everything we’ve done here is worthless. We’ll have to start over and that would mean ten days, even two weeks lost—at least,” he snapped into the phone. He ran his hand through his hair as he listened. “Okay. Send it now.”

Austin jogged back to Hal. “Do you have your cell phone with you?”

“Yeah,” Hal said pulling an antiquated flip phone out of his jeans’ pocket.

Austin rolled his eyes. “Not that thing. Honestly, Hal, how many times have I begged you to move into the current decade?”

“Look who’s talking!” Katia and Hal said in unison. Austin was the quintessential example of a throwback man. Katia had always known that Austin would have been much happier living in 1910.

Austin glared at Katia. “Where’s your phone?”

“In my purse. Why?”

“Give it to me,” he commanded. “Charles is texting me a photograph of the latest blueprints while one of his junior staff drives a new set of plans out here from Chicago. Now I’ll forward his text to Katia’s phone. Hal, you use her phone until you get the new blueprints.”

“Hey!” Katia protested. “I need my phone. My boss calls me all the time.”

Austin threw her a wicked grin. “Well, you won’t be able to answer in the next two hours anyway. You’ll be having lunch with me, and potential clients take priority over the boss.”

“Uh...” Katia looked at Austin and then at Hal, who shrugged. “Okay.”

Austin held open the passenger door for Katia and then shut it after she was settled. Hal slapped him on the back as he went around to the driver’s side.

Austin got into the car, but Katia continued watching Hal, who looked at Austin with obvious appreciation and respect. Of course Hal would treat his client with respect. But she saw something else, a kinship that told her more about Austin than any online background search.

“So where are we going to eat?” Katia asked when Austin pulled on to the road.

“Chez Daisy,” he said, smiling impishly. “I put in a special order for us. Your favorite.”

“As if you know,” she harrumphed.

“I figured on a cold autumn day you’d be in the mood for butternut-squash ravioli.” He glanced at her, and his blue eyes were filled with warmth.

“How in the world did you remember that?”

“Because it was my favorite, too. Although now I like it with a Courton-Charlemagne and maybe some grilled shrimp on the side.”

They turned onto Maple Avenue and cruised up the driveway to the back of the property, where Austin parked inside the closest carriage house. Katia got out of the car and looked around.

“By the way, Austin, when are you going to let me see the rest of your cars?”

“I was just waiting for you to ask,” he said, carefully closing the driver’s door. “I assumed you would need a full inventory for your price quote.”

She tapped her temple. “Most of them I remember from when we were kids. But I double-checked the list you gave out at the presentation. You’ve added a few to your father’s collection.”

He moved toward the door. “So how many did you include in the quote?”

“Twenty,” she answered. “Based on the architect’s drawings and figures, and what I could glean from our conversations.”

He opened the back door for her. “You’re right on the money. I might change it around a bit as time goes on.”

“I’ve made contingencies for that,” she assured him.

Daisy was at the oven and had just hoisted a large casserole dish on to the top of the stove. She closed the oven door with her foot, tossed her mitts on to the counter and said, “I set up in the breakfast alcove just like you asked.”

“Thanks, Daisy,” Austin replied, holding out his hand to usher Katia to the round table and mahogany Windsor chairs.

The table was set with the same blue-and-white-patterned china she remembered from her childhood. There were chunky blue water glasses, yellow linen napkins and Hanna McCreary’s beloved sterling silverware. In the middle of the table was a blue pitcher with sunflowers and bronze mums, and around it were miniature pumpkins. It was just the kind of thing Katia’s mother used to do for the family—for her—in this house.

A wave of nostalgia rippled through Katia, causing her to miss her mother more than she had in years. Katia reached out for the chair and used it to steady herself. “The table...is lovely, Daisy.”

“Austin got the little pumpkins. He says it’s tradition. We do that every October.”

Katia’s eyes flew to Austin, who was staring at her with so much emotion it nearly hurt her to look at him. She felt her heart flip over, but oddly, she didn’t hyperventilate. She felt incredibly calm and reassured, as if everything in the world was as it should be.

But it wasn’t. She knew that more than anyone else in this room.