All For You by Susan Mallery & Lori Foster & Gena Showalter & Bella Andre

Author:Susan Mallery & Lori Foster & Gena Showalter & Bella Andre
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
ISBN: 9781460380475
Publisher: HQN Books
Published: 2015-01-01T07:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER FOUR

DANE HAD BEEN called a lot of names in his life. Asshole, bastard, jerk, Ice Man. Most recently, asshat. Thanks, West. But he’d never felt they were accurate...until Kenna.

He’d nearly hired a P.I. to dig into her past—asshole. I’d beat anyone who dug into my past.

He’d judged her for a past he knew very little about—bastard. But I can guess she had a crappy childhood, same as me.

He’d judged her for sins he wasn’t even sure she’d committed—jerk. How many times have I had dinner with a female business associate and later found internet posts about our supposed affair?

He’d let her walk away without offering another apology—Ice Man.

Someone should take him out to pasture and shoot him.

He kept remembering the way she’d teased him before he’d insulted the very fabric of her character. The heartbreak of her quiet dignity. The resolve of her inner strength.

Just how deeply had he hurt her? His chest ached at all the possible answers. He kept remembering her dedication to her friends, how she’d stayed till the bitter end of the party to help the servers clean up.

He might not know every detail of her past, but he liked who she was now.

Have to make things right. It was the only reason he’d accepted his father’s invitation to dinner.

Dane led his date into his childhood home. His father and Roanne were waiting in the sitting room, where the engagement party had been held. Thomas had an arm wrapped around her waist, holding her close, as if she were a precious treasure.

Opinions were subjective.

Dane fought a wave of disappointment when he realized Kenna hadn’t yet arrived.

“Well, well,” Thomas said. “Look who decided to put his big-boy panties on and face his dear old dad.”

“There’s one problem with that statement,” Dane replied easily. “You aren’t dear to me.”

Thomas pursed his lips when Dane sat on the couch rather than closing the distance and extending a hand to shake. “You’re still blaming me for your unhappiness, I see.”

“If only that were all I blamed you for.” Dane used to idolize his father. Thomas had been the one to comfort him after Daniel’s death. But since the revelation of The Affair, Dane could barely stand the sight of him.

Blustering, his father snapped, “One day you’ll fall in love. You won’t be able to help yourself. You’ll sell your soul to be with her.”

Dane glanced at Roanne. She stared down at her feet. “You speak as if I actually have a soul. As if mine wasn’t ripped from me by lies and betrayal.”

They lapsed into silence, minute after minute ticking by, no one daring to speak. Roanne puttered around the sitting room, fiddling with the trays of hors d’oeuvres, smoothing the fabric of her form-fitting white dress. Dane’s date, Courtney, sat beside him on the couch, sipping wine. Thomas finally claimed the chair in front of the hearth and glared at everyone.

Then the doorbell rang.

Dane stood, every muscle in his body suddenly tense.

The housekeeper answered the door and a few seconds later, Kenna was stepping into the sitting room.

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