Stormy Passion (51 page)

Brenna probably wasn't too happy with him
either since he'd run out on her. Odd ... he'd done to Brenna what
she'd done to him. God, he hoped she didn't hate him as much as
he'd hated her then.

At least he had a better excuse than she had.
Hadn't he? Brenna had left him suddenly after a death. Could she
have been as muddled and confused as he felt now? Taylor lowered
his chair and rubbed his chin. Brenna had lost two parents. Ironic
as it may seem, he saw things in a much different light.

Staring at the pen still in his hand, he
wondered how Brenna's image stayed on his mind. He had answered
some of the questions that had plagued him. She'd been in shock
after the funeral. Still it didn't explain why she hadn't contacted
him in the last three years. He clenched his jaw. That remained a
big
problem.
You don't shove
someone you love out
of your life
...
unless you don't love
them
.

A sharp knock on the door drew Taylor's gaze
from his ink pen. The door opened, and his secretary stuck her head
around the corner. “Peter Marshall is here to see you.”

“
Show him in,” Taylor
instructed. Good. Now he would be able to focus on work, and take
his mind off all those unanswered questions, and all the emptiness
he felt inside.

Tonight he would have dinner with Carol and
try to straighten out that part of his life, and then he'd
concentrate on Brenna. He'd lost something of real value a long
time ago, and he didn't intend to let it happen again.

Taylor glanced at his half-empty plate. Oddly
enough he didn't remember eating the half that was gone, and
usually with a T-bone steak he would have savored every bite.

But tonight was different.

His life was different.

He shifted his gaze at the vacant place
across from him. Carol had excused herself to go to the ladies
room. He had felt like a cad the entire night as he tried to make
small talk with her. First, he'd feed her, then tell her he didn't
love her anymore. Taylor flinched at the idea, knowing it made him
sound cold and unfeeling. He really liked Carol, and he didn't want
to hurt her. The problem was he didn't love her.

Over the past few days, he had examined his
love life and found he'd lied to himself and Carol. He hadn't
really loved her; he'd merely been substituting Carol when he'd
thought there was no hope of ever finding Brenna.

And then fate had stepped in.

Hadn't Carol told him that fate had sent them
to the Sleepy Hollow Inn? He'd laughed at the time. Now he wasn't
so sure she hadn't been correct. Had some mysterious force pushed
him to that little town, Hollow Ridge, so he could find what he'd
lost so long ago?

“
My, you're doing some
serious thinking,” Carol said as she slid into the seat across from
him.

Taylor jerked. He stared at her in
astonishment. It took him a minute to regain his composure, but
when he had, he said, “I guess I was.”

Carol sat down, but she didn't say anything
else. Instead she stared at him. The silence grew more
uncomfortable with each passing second. The clinking of silverware
from the other tables rang in his ears, and his eyes burned.
Finally, he had to swallow the lump in his throat. Carol was much
too nice a person, and she didn't deserve this. No, she didn't
deserve a cad like himself.

Taylor cleared his voice, “I think we need to
talk.”

Carol tilted her head to the side. “About
what?”

Damn, she wasn't making this any easier for
him. “About us.”

“
I think it’s about time.
I've something I need to tell you, too, but you go
ahead.”

Taylor wondered what she had to say to him,
but decided to plunge ahead. “I like you a lot, Carol.” He paused,
cursing himself and placing a finger in his collar to loosen the
rope--necktie around his throat. “I think we've made a mistake.
Perhaps I was a little too hasty in my proposal of marriage.”

“
Are you saying you'd like
to call everything off?” She asked the question very calmly. There
was no emotion on her face as she sat with her hands folded
properly on the table.

Hadn't she heard him?

“
I'm sorry if I hurt you,”
he paused then went on, “But yes, that's what I'm trying to say;
though, not very well.”

“
Good,” Carol said simply,
and then she did something that surprised him. She started
laughing.

Taylor stared at her, dumbfounded. This
wasn't the response he'd expected. She was laughing. Not crying. Of
course, he didn't want her upset, but she could at least look a
little sad. “Apparently, you're not upset?”

“
Of course not--not that I
want to deflate your male ego. Actually, I'm relieved,” Carol
admitted as a soft blush covered her face.

“
Well, if you're so happy
about it, why didn't you say something before now?” he asked, a
little disgruntled by her laughter.

“
I haven't exactly been
able to see you.” She pointed out as she picked up a glass of tea
and took a sip as if her mouth had gone dry. She placed the glass
back on the table. “If you remember correctly: first you were in
Hollow Ridge and then you were involved with a funeral. I didn’t
want to seem heartless.” She smiled.

“
I see,” he said
thoughtfully before looking back at her dancing eyes. Damn, she was
too happy. “Let me get this straight--you were going to dump me
tonight if I didn't dump you first.”

“
You got it.” She reached
over and placed her hand on his. “Let me tell you ... we both just
about had the scare of our lives. When I came home, I thought I was
pregnant--”

“
What!”

“
Let me finish, Taylor. So
I made an appointment with the doctor. I didn't trust any of those
home testing kits. I was really scared. And that's when I took a
long hard look at us.” She smiled in a significant kind of way. “I
know about Brenna.”

“
What about Brenna?” Taylor
asked interrupting her again.

Carol patted his hand then leaned back. “I'll
get to that in a minute. Anyway, the test came back negative, thank
God! I was relieved, and I knew right then we had to break this
thing off before one of us got stuck in something we didn't
want.”

The irony of all his worry suddenly hit him,
and he burst out laughing. After all the fretting he'd done ... the
lady was happy to be rid of him. Carol joined his laughter, too.
They drew a few stares from the other tables, but ignored them.
“Let me ask you something,” Taylor said when he'd calmed down.
“When did you know?”

“
When you asked me to marry
you, I wondered why I had said yes when I knew deep down I liked
you a lot, but I wasn't really in love with you. I guess I was just
flattered to be getting such a hunk. And then I met, Steve, the ski
instructor who I found myself liking more than I
should.”

Taylor raised a brow figuring Carol was
trying to boost his ego.

“
Then you started acting
strange, and I figured you had doubts, too. But the pieces to the
puzzle didn't fit until I spent the night with Brenna in the
hospital.” Carol folded her arms on the table and leaned toward
Taylor.

“
You see, Brenna talks in
her sleep, and she told me some very interesting things.” Carol
chuckled meaningfully and with a knowing smile said, “Like the two
of you were supposed to be married. A fact, I might add, you
neglected to tell me.”

Now it was Taylor's turn to blush, but he
wasn't about to comment just now. “Go on.”

“
Brenna never said what
exactly broke you apart, but she did mumble something about loving
you till the end of time. That's a pretty strong statement, and it
was so sweet that I cried. Imagine seeing the man you're in love
with engaged to another woman. I've been there before. I know how
it feels. She had to have some spirit not to fall apart when we
showed up on her doorsteps.

“
I think you love her,
too,” Carol told him. “Now that I think about it, that's probably
the reason you were so hateful to Brenna when we first arrived at
Sleepy Hollow.”

Taylor removed the napkin from his lap and
laid it on the table. “What makes you say that?”

Carol looked at him and smiled. “Like my
Grandmother used to say, there's a thin line between love and
hate.”

Brenna had worked like a mad woman pushing
herself to stay busy and not allowing herself to think.

Thinking hurt too much.

By the end of the second week, she'd given up
hope Taylor would call. Evidently he'd gotten scared and run. And
that fact made her angry. She should have known better than to ever
start a relationship with him again. She opened her checkbook and
started paying bills. Under one particular pile, she found her
expired subscription for her hometown paper. She picked up the
envelope by the corner and, holding it over the trash can, she let
it drop into the container. “Good riddance!” She was glad it had
expired. There would be no reminders of her old life. No reminders
of Taylor. She would move on no matter how painful. And she would
survive.

The loud ring of the phone made her jump.

“
Sleepy Hollow. May I help
you?” Brenna answered in her most professional tone.

“
I believe you can,” Taylor
responded. His voice as smooth as ever.”Brenna I--”

Brenna removed the receiver from her ear and
let it fall to the cradle with a loud clatter. So, he had called
after two and a half weeks. He had some nerve. Did he think he
could treat her just any way?

Not anymore.

Tears burned her eyes and she held her head,
wondering if he'd call back. But the contraption remained silent.
She'd spent weeks praying he'd call, wanting to talk to him so bad
it hurt. Then when she had the chance--What did she do? Hang up, of
course. Her shoulders shook with irony and sobs. She just couldn't
win.

Now she'd never know what he had been going
to say.

Taylor rubbed his ear. Well, that answered
one question .... Brenna was definitely angry. He wondered if she
knew about his mother? Evidently not, or she wouldn't have been so
rude.

Maybe he should call her back. He shook his
head. No, better to let her cool off. The next time he spoke to
Brenna Fox, it would be in person.

He only had one more thing to do.

His secretary knocked, but didn't wait for
him to answer before she came into his office followed by Andy
Hall, Clerk of Superior Court.

“
I'm sorry to see you under
such circumstances.” Mr. Hall extended his hand. Taylor came to his
feet, smiled, then returned Andy's firm handshake.

“
Thank you, Andy, but these
things have to be done.” Taylor looked at his secretary who was
waiting for his instructions. “Bring my mother's lockbox, so we can
inventory the contents.”

Taylor and Mr. Hall sat at a conference table
as Taylor took the key and opened the gray metal box. He removed a
handful of papers and stacked them in front of him. There were
several deeds, some stocks and bonds, her savings book, a few of
his baby pictures along with his birth certificate. Taylor called
out each one so the clerk could make a note of it. Then on the very
bottom he found another legal document encased in blue. He had no
idea what it could possibly be other than another deed.

He unfolded the crisp, thick paper and began
to read. Slowly, the blood left his face, and his hands turned
ice-cold. My God, what had his mother done? The black, bold letters
printed on the yellow-gold paper told him everything. If only he
had known. She'd bribed Brenna out of his life. But why? He stared
at the pen in his hand while he thought about his mother. And then
it dawned on him. She didn't think Brenna was good enough for him.
How could his mother have interfered in his life like this?

“
Is something wrong,
Taylor?”

Taylor stared at Andy in astonishment. “Let
me sign your court papers, so you can get back to city hall.”
Taylor quickly scribbled his name, and Mr. Hall signed under his.
“Thanks for coming,” Taylor stood as the clerk left his office.

Sinking back in his chair, Taylor picked up
the legal document again and read it for a second time. Still
clutching the sides, he lowered the paper and stared at nothing in
particular. Why hadn't Brenna just come to him? The agony and pain
from the past surfaced, and he sadly shook his head. As he lifted
the paper again, a folded letter slipped from between the last page
and the blue covering.

Taylor recognized his father's handwriting
when he unfolded the note written to his mother.

Vivian,

You'll be reading this note after I'm dead
and buried. I want you to know what I'm about to tell you is very
hard for me, but I think you should know the truth.

I've always loved you and Taylor, but
sometimes we all make mistakes and unfortunately, my dear, I made a
drastic one.

I kept it from you all this time for fear of
hurting you. A few years back, when you were out of town, I went to
a local bar for a few drinks. However, I didn't have the sense
enough to stop with a couple of Highballs. I struck up a
conversation with Lucy Fox and one thing led to another--you can
guess the rest.

I wouldn't tell you anything about my
indiscretion, but that one-night-stand led to Lucy's second
pregnancy.

Her husband never found out and I never had
anything to do with her after that one time, but I did promise that
if anything happened to Lucy, I'd make sure Lisa was taken care
of.