Susan Mallery - Seductive One

It was too little too late, she thought sadly. She’d been given control of the winery, been told the feud should end, and now neither could ease the ache inside her heart.

She started to head back to the house, only to realize she didn’t recognize where they were. At some point in their walk, they’d left Marcelli land and walked onto Wild Sea property.

“The fence is gone,” she said. “All of it.”

She turned in a slow circle, searching for the thick posts and lengths of wire, but they had disappeared.

“Nicholas came to see me.”

Her grandfather spoke matter-of-factly. As if a visit by Nic was no big deal.

Brenna gaped at him. “He what?”

“Came to see me. We talked.” The old man shrugged. “About the past, and the future. How anger and revenge destroyed so much. He wanted to apologize for his great-grandfather. To make up for what went before.”

Nic had visited her grandfather? When? Why hadn’t anyone told her?

“He gave me this to give to you.”

Her grandfather held out a piece of paper. Brenna took it and tried to read it, but the words blurred together. Her chest ached and her stomach felt as if it were test-driving a new roller coaster.

“I don’t…” She gave back the paper.

Her grandfather smiled. “The land, Brenna. He’s deeded you all the land where Salvatore had grafted in the European vines. He couldn’t give you back what his grandfather had killed, so he’s giving you what he has. Not to me. Not to the Marcelli family. Just to you.”

She didn’t know what to think, she couldn’t think. It was too much. It didn’t make sense. Terror and hope and confusion swirled together in her mind. Then suddenly she saw a silhouette in the distance. She was too far away to see his features, but she knew him.

Her grandfather gave her a gentle push on the back. “So go listen. You like what he says, then fine. You don’t like, we get your brother to flatten him.”

Brenna didn’t think it was possible to move, but suddenly she found herself walking. Nic hurried toward her from across the field. In less time than she would have thought, they were standing in front of each other.

He looked awful. Dark shadows stained the skin under his eyes, and his face was gaunt. For the first time in her life she saw uncertainty in his eyes. Uncertainty and pain.

She understood both feelings. She was delighted to be close to him and terrified of being involved in another emotional hit-and-run. She loved him. She despised him. She wanted to throw him in the grape crusher and grind his bones to dust.

“I had this great speech I’ve been working on,” he said. “It was all logical and detailed. I explained why everything happened the way it did.”

“In it did you remember to call yourself a lying weasel dog?”

“No. I settled on a shit-for-brains bastard.”

“Close enough.”

“You hate me.” He sounded resigned.

“Are you surprised?”

“I’d sort of hoped…” He shrugged. “Maggie warned me that some acts are unforgivable.”

“She’s right. You used me, Nic. You took advantage of my dreams. You let me think you believed in me, when all the while you were looking for angles. You weren’t ever going to give me a chance to make Four Sisters a success. You led me on, and when the timing was right, you were going to rip it all out from under me.”

She glared at him. “You know what’s the worst of it? All the time you were planning to destroy my life, I was falling for you. I trusted you with my future and my heart, and you tried to screw with them both.”

She turned to walk away, but he grabbed her arm and held her in place.

“You’re right,” he said loudly. “I did all that. You waltzed into my office, wanting a loan, and I saw it as a golden opportunity. I didn’t plan to use you, but when I got the chance, I took it. I gave you the money to get leverage with your grandfather and because I never thought you’d make Four Sisters work. I figured you’d fall on your ass.”

“What? You didn’t think I could do it?” Now he’d not only hurt her, he’d insulted her.

“Hell, no. You’d been away from the business for years. I gave you six months.” He narrowed his gaze. “But I was wrong. About all of it. I’d forgotten how good you were and how hard you were willing to work. I saw you there night after night, and I realized you had the guts and the skill to do it. You earned my respect.”

“Big fat hairy deal.” She ground her teeth together.

“You think I care about your respect?”

“Yes, I do.”

“I don’t.”

“You’re lying.”

She jerked her arm free. Damn him, she did care. Despite everything, Nic’s opinion mattered.

“So what?” She glared at him. “You respected me, but you still lied to me and made love with me knowing all the time you were trying to destroy everything that made my family special.”

She waited for Nic to yell something back at her, but instead he looked away.

“I told myself I wanted to be the biggest and the best, but it wasn’t about that at all,” he said quietly. “I wanted to be a part of what you had with them. If I couldn’t get it any other way, I would buy it. Maybe a little of it was to punish you for what you’d done.”

He turned back to her. “I offered you all I had, and it wasn’t enough. I wasn’t enough.”

Brenna’s anger crumbled. “It was never about you. It was about me. I was too afraid to follow my heart.”

“I get that now, but back then…” He shrugged. “I was a kid.”

“We both were.”

He reached up and touched the backs of his fingers to her cheek. The warm contact made her shiver.

“I’m not a kid anymore and there’s no excuse for what I’ve done,” he said. “I was wrong. If I wanted to buy the winery, I should have been up front about it. As for loaning you the money-you’re right. I took advantage of your dreams, and that’s the lowest thing I’ve ever done. I’m not proud of the man I’ve been.”

He dropped his hand. “I don’t blame you for hating me. I tell myself at least that’s better than you not caring at all.”

“Why did you give me the land?”

“Because it’s the right thing to do.” His dark eyes flashed with pain. “Because I love you and I don’t know how else to tell you I’m sorry.” He pulled a leaf off a nearby plant and pressed it into her palm. “Because we’ve always had this in common. Maybe, with time, it can mend what’s been broken.”

Brenna realized that Nic was just as stupid as every other man on the planet. In the middle of the most life-changing conversation they were ever likely to have, he’d given her a leaf?

“You want to pass that middle part by me again?” she said.

He frowned as he tried to remember. “I love you.”

“And?”

His expression turned cautious. “And I’m sorry?”

“Sorry? I put myself on the line for you, Nic. I threw my heart at your feet, and you trampled over it. An ‘I’m sorry’ and a leaf aren’t going to cut it.”

He swallowed hard. “Brenna, when you told me you loved me, it was the best and worst moment of my life. I wanted to be with you more than I wanted my next breath, but I knew what I’d done was going to destroy us. You talk about going back in time and changing your answer to my proposal. If I could go back, I wouldn’t listen when you said no. Even then I knew it was your fear talking. But I was young and proud and you’d hurt me. Given the chance to do it over, I would tell you that your fears weren’t bigger than both of us. I would stand in the back of the church where you were marrying Jeff and tell the world you loved me and that I loved you.”

He took her hands in his. “If I could change time, even go back just a few months, I would still offer you that loan. But this time I would do it because I wanted you to have your heart’s desire. I would spend every moment I could with you, convincing you that the magic was still there. I love you. I’ve loved you since the first moment I saw you sneaking tastes from that damn barrel.”