A Woman Worth Loving Read online

  Still glancing about hopefully, she walked past the queue of cars waiting to board the ferry for its return trip to the mainland. In her heart, though, she knew Ali hadn’t come to meet her. Audra had called ahead last night and left voice mail messages for her sister both at home and at the resort where she worked. Ali knew Audra was here.

  Oh, well. She hadn’t expected this to be easy.

  The walk to the resort wasn’t that long, but it was mostly uphill. Despite the fact that she smoked—or had until a week ago—Audra prided herself on being in shape. She routinely did five miles on her treadmill and twenty minutes on her StairMaster. Two miles, even uphill, wouldn’t be a big deal, she decided. Half a mile later, she revised her opinion.

  And cursed her designer heels.

  The temperature hovered in the low-sixties, but it felt cooler thanks to the lake. Even so, Audra shucked off the pricey black leather boots, casting a rueful glance at their lethal four-inch heels. In her stocking feet, she set out again, careful to dodge the rocks that dotted the surface of the asphalt.

  Seth saw the gorgeous blonde limping along the side of the road as he rounded the curve. He was already pulling the feisty little Pontiac he’d rented to the shoulder when he realized who she was. Audra Conlan Howard Stover Winfield, in the flesh. He could hardly believe his luck.

  He had scoured the island looking for her for the past few days, making discreet inquiries that had yielded very little information from the island’s tight-lipped locals. He’d come close to thinking he had been wrong about her destination. Now he was only too happy to offer his assistance—again.

  Audra flashed a relieved smile when he pulled up alongside her and Seth felt as if a mule had landed a rear hoof on his solar plexus. At that moment he thought he understood perfectly why three wealthy, smart and established men had rushed her to the altar, two of them without the benefit of a prenuptial agreement.

  Her looks were downright lethal, especially now. Gone was the Marilyn-blond hair she’d sported back in California. It was several shades darker, closer to honey than platinum. It still fell past her shoulders, but instead of being stick-straight it was now a windblown tumble of curls that made a man’s hands itch just to touch it. He tightened his grip on the steering wheel.

  Other things were different, too. Her makeup was toned down, eye shadow and lipstick in hues far more neutral than vivid. Even her choice in clothing seemed reserved if fashionable. No hint of cleavage was allowed to spill from the almost prim neckline of the blouse she wore beneath a short fitted jacket. A carelessly knotted scarf hid the marks on her neck. As for her pants, they weren’t made of eel-skin or suede or the faux leopard fur she’d sported to a Kid Rock concert the previous fall. They were simple denim cuffed at mid-calf. Of course, the pointy-toed black boots she held in her hand were vintage Audra: Impractical, sassy with their dangerously high heels and sexy as hell.

  “Can I give you a lift?” he asked when he recovered the power of speech.

  “Oh God, yes.” She sank into the passenger seat with a low moan of relief. “You’re an angel.”

  “Actually, I’m Seth. Seth Ridley.” He settled on his real name, since he had little doubt she was familiar with the assumed one under which he worked.

  “I’m Audra…Jones.”

  Interesting, Seth thought. Trying to cover her tracks to keep his fellow vultures at bay, no doubt. Seth appreciated her efforts. He wanted an exclusive, and the stars seemed aligned in his favor. He had not seen any paparazzi since arriving on the island.

  “And you are an angel,” Audra added, holding out a hand once she’d fastened the belt.

  Her hand was slim and fine-boned, and Seth remembered only too well how neatly it had fit within his much larger one when he’d held it the other night. As he shook it now it was warm and, like the other one, devoid of all jewelry. He realized something else then, as well. She was no longer sporting the long, blood-red nails that had been as much her trademark as the platinum-blond hair. All in all, she didn’t look much like the woman whose image he’d captured and preserved in several hundred digital photographs over the past two years. For some reason, that bothered him.

  Seth cleared his throat. “It’s nice to meet you.”

  She tilted her head to one side. Neatly arched eyebrows pulled into a frown. “You look…Have we met before?”

  “Can’t say that we have.”

  It wasn’t a lie, exactly. They’d never met. They’d never come into direct contact with one another before the other night when Seth had held her in his arms, stroked her hair and dropped that foolish kiss on her temple in a moment of regrettable weakness.

  “Hmm. You seem familiar.”

  “Guess I just have one of those faces,” he replied with a shrug. “Where are you headed?”

  “The resort.”

  He’d already learned that on this island there was no need to be more specific. Assorted cottages, cabins and small mom-and-pop motels dotted its eighty-five miles of shoreline. But there was only one resort: Saybrook’s. It took up three hundred and fifty acres of prime land, including several hundred yards of lake frontage.

  He smiled. “Me, too.”

  “Are you staying at the resort?” she asked.

  “Yes. You?”

  She shook her head. “Actually, I’m staying at a hotel back on the mainland. I’m just here to see…someone.”

  He didn’t like either part of her answer. He wanted her close at hand and he wanted her alone.

  “You’ll break my heart if you say it’s a man.” He added a wink, recalling that flirting was an art form at which Audra excelled.

  She laughed, but surprised him by not flirting back.

  “Family,” she murmured softly.

  “Oh, are they staying at the resort?”

  “No. She…she’s not.”

  He couldn’t help but be intrigued by these cryptic answers from a woman who used to bare more than her soul for the paparazzi.

  Audra turned her head, and he caught a glimpse of the little scar on her temple. Secrets. Let her try to keep them. He planned to expose every last one.

  Saybrook’s Resort sat at the top of a hill facing Lake Michigan and the mainland three miles beyond it. The hotel was three stories tall, with thick columns spaced along the front, and every inch of it was painted a pristine white. A wooden porch ran the length of it, dotted with comfortable wicker rockers that swayed in the crisp morning breeze.

  The main hotel had nearly a hundred rooms and dated to 1910. Back then it had drawn wealthy families from Detroit, Chicago, New York and even abroad. Old-money families that preferred not to mingle with the new rich, let alone the lower classes.

  A small lodge and several cottages had been tucked into the nearby woods in the 1940s and 1950s. By then, Cary Grant, Marilyn Monroe, Clark Gable and other megawatt stars had made it their own Midwest oasis, adding a generous helping of glamour to its already gilded image.

  Audra’s parents had worked at the resort. It was the main artery of the island’s economy, providing jobs for many local families. While growing up, Audra and Ali had often sneaked into the rose garden just outside the main dining room so they could catch glimpses of celebrities. Audra had had stars in her eyes from grade school on. Then she’d gone to Hollywood and realized that even good looks and a fair amount of talent didn’t necessarily translate into a lucrative career in front of the camera.

  Seth pulled his car into the inconspicuous lot just beyond the hotel. Not many cars were parked there, but then peak season wouldn’t begin until Memorial Day weekend, which was still a few weeks off.

  “Here we are,” he said.

  Audra slipped back into her boots, grimacing at the blisters that had already formed on her heels.

  “Thanks again for the ride.”

  “My pleasure.” He hesitated a moment. “Are you free for dinner?”

  The invitation had her smiling. He didn’t look like the sort to read the tabloids, so she doubte
d he was up on her escapades or even her latest run-in with infamy. He apparently didn’t know who she was or her net worth. It might have been nice to spend an evening with someone who didn’t harbor any preconceived notions about her. Someone who wouldn’t expect her to act a certain way: Outrageous.

  Still, she turned him down. “I don’t think so.”

  She planned to steer clear of men for the foreseeable future. They’d brought her nothing but grief. Her first husband had broken her heart. The second one had broken her spirit. Her relationship with actor Trent Kane had been a disaster from its rocky start to its deadly car-crash finish. As for Henry, he’d seemed so safe, a calm harbor in which to ride out the self-made storms of her life. He’d been kind and considerate and yes, she could admit now, a father figure. Theirs hadn’t been a love match, but she had respected him, liked him. Even so, she hadn’t expected him to rewrite his will in her favor and to the exclusion of his son.

  “You’re frowning. Does that mean you’re reconsidering?” Seth asked.

  “No. I’m sorry.”

  He dug a piece of paper out of the car’s console, glanced at it and, apparently satisfied that it wasn’t anything important, scribbled something on the back.

  “Just in case it turns out that you are free.” He winked as he handed it to her.

  His room number. Oh, he was a slick one, Audra thought, tucking the paper into the pocket of her jacket. And gorgeous. Tawny hair, eyes an intriguing combination of gray and blue, a straight nose that went along nicely with his strong jaw and wide mouth.

  She guessed him to be just over six feet tall and not an inch of it appeared to be wasted. He wasn’t overly muscled, but gauging from the way his jeans fit snug across the thigh, she would bet he was plenty toned.

  Seth Ridley was the complete opposite of the slick business types and designer-duds-wearing men she had dated in the past, and yet she couldn’t say she didn’t find him appealing. Again, something about him seemed familiar.

  When he coughed, she realized that nearly a full minute must have ticked by as she had searched his face for that elusive puzzle piece.

  “Sorry,” she murmured, embarrassed, and glanced away briefly before adding. “Well, goodbye.”

  She opened the door and got out. Then she heard his door slam shut and realized he had fallen into step beside her. Of course. He’d told her he was staying at the resort.

  She offered a polite smile, which he returned when he held open the door that led to the resort’s main lobby. Then she stopped, stared and let the memories come. They flooded over her, a warm river of hope.

  The inside of Saybrook’s was just as she recalled it, until she took a closer look. Because of its gorgeous architecture, generous beveled-glass windows and the graceful brass and crystal chandeliers that hung from the sixteen-foot ceiling of the main lobby, it still oozed class and style. But it was showing its age. The deep green carpeting was worn thin in the high traffic areas. The massive mahogany reception desk had scuffs and scrapes near the floor from being bumped by luggage. The windows were smudged and almost filmy in the bright morning light.

  “Quite a place,” Seth said. Wrapped in the past, she had nearly forgotten he still stood beside her.

  “It used to be even better,” she replied, feeling somewhat disappointed. Corners were being cut, apparently starting with the cleaning staff. Audra intended to give the manager a piece of her mind. But then she caught sight of Ali and remembered the real reason she was here.

  “Excuse me,” she said to Seth. Without waiting for a reply, she walked to where her sister stood near the old-fashioned elevator, talking to a bellhop.

  Ali wore a crisp white blouse, buttoned primly at the collar and topped off with one of those silly little necktie things that apparently were intended to scream “professional woman.” A neat navy skirt fell to just below her knees, and on her feet were a pair of blunt-toed leather shoes that could only be described as sensible. They did absolutely nothing for her sister’s long, slender legs.

  Clearly, in the decade since they’d last seen one another, her sister’s fashion sense had not improved. Nor had Ali changed her hairstyle, if that was what it could be called. She still insisted on tugging that gorgeous mahogany mane into a no-nonsense ponytail. Audra’s fingers itched to pull it free and then push her sister into the nearest stylist’s chair. A clip here, a clip there and Ali’s face would be framed most attractively.

  The bellhop moved away and Ali turned slightly, then. Her posture became rigid when she spied Audra, who swallowed hard before forcing a bright smile onto her lips.

  “Hello, Ali.”

  She crossed the distance that separated them since she doubted Ali would. Audra didn’t intend to shout during the first face-to-face conversation she’d had with her sister in more than a decade.

  Ali scowled at her. “Audra.”

  “I’d hoped you would meet me at the ferry. Maybe you didn’t get my messages.”

  “I got them.”

  She absorbed the hit, nodded once in acceptance. “Oh. I see.”

  “Look, I’m kind of busy right now—too busy for whatever little family reunion you have in mind,” Ali said stiffly.

  Audra glanced at the name tag pinned to her sister’s shirt: Ali Conlan, Manager.

  She thought of the dusty windows and battered reception desk. It seemed so out of character for her perfectionist sister to allow such transgressions when she had the power to do something about them. Audra couldn’t help but recall the many battles they had engaged in as kids over the state of their shared bedroom. Even the socks in Ali’s drawers had been folded, sorted by color and then lined up in neat little rows. The drawers in Audra’s bureau, by contrast, would barely close, and even then bits of their unfolded contents sprouted out like weeds.

  “You’re the manager? In the Christmas card I got from Dane he said you had just made assistant.”

  “I was promoted to manager after…last month,” she finished.

  Perhaps that explained it, Audra thought. Her sister wouldn’t have had time to whip everyone and everything into shape in a mere thirty days. Then she reminded herself that the state of the resort was not the reason she’d come back. The woman before her was.

  “When do you get off work? I…I’d really like to talk to you.”

  “There’s nothing you have to say that I want to hear,” Ali replied firmly, crossing her arms in a pose that said no quarter would be given.

  And still Audra persisted. “Please.”

  She laid a hand on her sister’s crossed arms. It was promptly shrugged off. Anger flashed in Ali’s dark eyes, cutting to Audra’s soul, even more painful than her stepson’s strangling hold had been.

  “You haven’t wanted to talk for ten years, Audra. You fell off the face of the earth after you took off with Luke.”

  “I didn’t actually take off with Luke. We—”

  “Spare me the details,” Ali interrupted.

  “You knew where I was.”

  “Oh, yes, how could I not. Even your private life was lived out in public. We read all about your weddings—after the fact.”

  “I invited you to the first one,” Audra reminded her. Dane had come, as had her parents. But not Ali.

  “I was busy.”

  Audra hadn’t invited any of them to her subsequent weddings. At the time she’d told herself it was because the nuptials had been so hastily arranged that there simply wasn’t time. Now she realized it had more likely been because she’d known she was making a mistake and preferred not to have anyone from her family present as witnesses.

  Well, that was all in the past.

  “I’ve changed.”

  “Developed a conscience after your recent near-death experience?”

  Audra sucked in a breath. “So you heard.”

  “Again, how could I not? We get the news even here in the sticks.”

  “Are you sorry he didn’t succeed?” She asked the question with a casual lift of on
e brow, even as her heart pounded like a sledgehammer in her chest. It terrified her to think that her sister might actually wish her dead.

  Ali didn’t answer. Instead, she asked a question of her own.

  “Why are you here, Audra? The island was never good enough for you when we were growing up.”

  “That’s not true.”

  Ali merely arched an eyebrow. “Why?” she asked again.

  “It’s home,” Audra said quietly.

  Something in her sister’s countenance seemed to soften, but then she shook her head.

  “Don’t expect me to roll out the welcome mat. Dane might do that. But then our brother was always one to try to keep the peace.” She cocked her head to one side. “He just got back from L.A., by the way. He flew out to see you right after watching CNN’s account of the attack. By the time he got to the hospital, though, you had checked out and disappeared.”

  It warmed her heart that her big brother still cared so much after all of the hurt she had caused, and it hardened her resolve.

  “I’ll apologize to Dane when I see him,” Audra replied. “I’m not going anywhere. I want to apologize to you, too. I’ll be here when you’re ready to listen.”

  “Just let it go.”

  Ali turned and walked away, leaving Audra to wonder if she meant let go of the need to explain or let go of her sister. Neither was an option.

  Seth watched what appeared to be a heated exchange between the two women with interest. What’s the story there? he wondered, as the brunette stalked away. He told himself that it was only because he couldn’t curb his curiosity that he crossed the lobby to where Audra still stood. It wasn’t the fact that she looked so alone or so utterly dejected.

  “Is that the family you said you were coming here to meet?” he asked.

  She started at his voice, and when she turned he swore tears glittered in her blue eyes, but then she blinked and they were gone. Or maybe they’d never really been there. A trick of the light.