Mission: Seduction by Candace Havens

Author:Candace Havens
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Publisher: Harlequin
Published: 2013-03-26T16:00:00+00:00

14

KELLY LET RAFE hold her to his chest, absorbing the inner strength he gave her. He didn’t even sway with the breeze that tugged at her hair and whipped her skirt around her legs. “The shrinks always say it’s better to talk about it,” Rafe said as he caressed her cheek. “I’m not sure I always agree with that, but, in this instance, it may be the right idea.”

Kelly still couldn’t believe he wanted to be with her after what he’d just witnessed. Her parents were difficult to accept.

“I don’t want to burden you with their theatrics,” she explained. “You’ve heard enough.”

Rafe kissed her forehead. “You need to vent, though you were doing a pretty decent job of it in there.” He frowned when she started to speak, so she stopped. “They got exactly what they deserved, Kelly, after the way they treated you in your own home. You had every right to say what you did.”

Kelly tightened her arms around his waist. He’d become her anchor in a rather choppy sea. “You really are the best,” she said. “If I were you, I’d be running for the airport.”

“I’m a marine. We face the enemy head-on. Now, tell me what set them off.”

“There was a story in the tabloids about Mom and this male model. They’d been photographed while they were on a shoot. But the pictures were all grainy and low-grade quality. The speculation ran for weeks that the two were having an affair. My dad was livid. He hired a private investigator. He did everything to find out what was going on, and the P.I. always reported to him when we were at the beach. The guy could never find anything on her. She was flirty, but there were no sordid meetings in hotels or anywhere else for that matter. Dad spent a fortune trying to find something that wasn’t there. In a weird way, Dr. Ego didn’t think he was enough for her.”

“Maybe you should be a therapist.” Rafe pushed a stray hair out of her eyes. The wind whipped around them, but it was welcome after the stuffy atmosphere at the house.

“The waves are my therapy,” she said, and laughed. “I don’t think I’ve ever told anyone that.”

“Hey, I’m the last one to knock therapy. As I said before, I’ve got my own issues. But tell me more about the beginning of all this. You said your dad couldn’t find anything. Why didn’t it end back then?”

That had happened the first year after Kelly started competing. It all tumbled into place. Why she stopped caring if her dad was there. Tears clogged her voice. “Mom wasn’t having an affair, but she wouldn’t tell Dad that. She liked that he was jealous. She thought it was good for him because he did have a surgeon’s ego, but never when it came to her. She didn’t figure it out that it was because he thought he couldn’t cut it when it came to her glamour and expectations and—”

“They obviously made it through that rough patch.

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