Jackie Braun - The Heir's Unexpected Return

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Kellen might refer to it as such, but for Brigit that truly was the case. It was here she’d come after her nasty divorce. Pride battered, feeling like an epic failure. The sea air, the sense of purpose, both had played a key role in ushering her back from the brink of despair.

Her gaze skimmed the balconies that stretched out from every room to maximize the view. Even though it was early afternoon, the lights burned brightly in the windows, beacons of welcome to any guests who had braved the worsening weather and boarded the last ferry from the mainland before the storm halted service. Once travelers reached the island, of course, they would still have to navigate the winding roads over the hilly center of Hadley Island to the eastern shore where the resort was situated. But even accounting for the slow going, those guests would be arriving soon.

With a sigh, Brigit headed back. She had a job to do and she would do it. Right now, her priority was to see that all new arrivals were comfortably settled in their rooms. Once that task was accomplished, she would work on figuring out her own accommodations for the duration of Kellen’s stay.

By the time she reached the resort, any part of her body not covered by the slicker was drenched. She had hoped to have enough time to change into dry clothes and do something with her hair before the first guests arrived, but a full-size black SUV was pulling up under the covered portico at the main entrance as she came around the dune.

The driver hopped out, as did another man, who came around from the vehicle’s passenger side. Both were big and burly. Bodyguards? It wasn’t a surprise. A lot of the inn’s guests were important people—Hollywood A-listers, business magnates, politicians. Before either man could reach for the handle, however, the rear passenger door swung open.

Brigit covered her mouth, but a gasp still escaped.

Kellen Faust. The heir was early.

She’d never met Kellen in person. They exchanged emails and texts a couple times a month, and occasionally a phone call. But he’d never come for a visit. Now here he was. In the flesh. And he wasn’t at all what Brigit had expected.

Every photograph she had seen of him—and the guy turned up in print and online media reports with as much regularity as the tide—showed a handsome young man with sun-lightened brown hair, deep-set hazel eyes, a carefree smile and a body honed to perfection under what had to be the capable tutelage of a well-paid personal trainer.

Meanwhile, the man trying to exit the SUV’s rear seat was thin, borderline gaunt, muscles withered away from long hours spent still and sedated. The dark smudges under his eyes made it plain he hadn’t been getting much sleep as of late. He remained good-looking, but if his rigid posture and pinched features were any indication, he was far from carefree.

Vital, healthy, fit? None of the descriptions she’d seen in press clippings applied to the man now.

“I’ll get the wheelchair, Mr. Faust,” said the man who’d come around from the front passenger side.

“No! I’ll walk,” he bit out in an angry rasp that carried to Brigit despite the howling wind.

“But, Mr. Faust—” the driver began, only to be shouted down.

“I said I’ll walk, Lou! I’m not a freaking invalid!”

Kellen swung his left leg out the door without too much effort, but when it came to the right one, he had to use his hands to manipulate the limb over the threshold. Then, lowering himself to the running board first, he eased to the ground. He held a cane in one hand. He used the other hand to grip the door frame. Unfortunately, neither support was enough to save him. A mere second after both of his feet hit the driveway, his right knee buckled. The man he’d called Lou caught Kellen under his arms before he hit the pavement. Ripe cursing followed. The other man rushed forward, as did Brigit, determined to help.

“Who in the hell are you?” Kellen bellowed, shaking off the hand she placed on his arm.

She pushed back her hood and offered what she hoped was a professional smile. Wouldn’t it just figure that she looked her absolute worst for the occasion? Despite the rain slicker’s hood, her hair was damp, and the bangs that she was three months into growing out were plastered against her forehead. As for makeup, she doubted the little bit she’d applied that morning lingered on her eyelashes and cheeks now. Her feet were bare, her calves spattered with wet sand. It was hardly the professional image she’d planned to portray when she first made his acquaintance.

“I’m Brigit Wright.” When he continued to stare as if she were something to be studied on a slide under a microscope, she added, “We’ve spoken on the phone and via email for, well, several years. I manage Faust Haven.”

That news elicited not a polite smile, but a snort that bordered on derisive.

“Of course you do.” His gaze flickered down in seeming dismissal. Although he said it half under his breath, she heard him well enough when he added, “I had you pegged right.”

So, the man had preconceived notions of her, did he? That didn’t come as much of a surprise. And to be fair, she entertained plenty of her own where he was concerned. Still, it irked her that, after a mere glance, he could so easily marginalize her—both professionally and, she didn’t doubt, personally.

Brigit cleared her throat and drew herself up to her full height of five foot six. Since he was hunched over, it put them nearly at eye level. When their gazes connected she didn’t so much as blink. Using her most practiced “boss” tone, she told him, “I wasn’t expecting you. Your email, which I received only this morning, said you wouldn’t arrive until the day after tomorrow.”

“I changed my mind.”

“Obviously.”

“I was in Charleston visiting...” His words trailed off and his expression hardened. “I’m here now. I trust that’s not a problem, Miss Wright.”

“None whatsoever,” she assured him with a stiff smile. “I just wanted to explain that your quarters, well, they are not ready at the moment.”

“Am I expected to wait out here until they are?” he demanded irritably.

Standing under the portico, they were protected from the worst of the rain, but the wind pushed enough of it sideways that it splattered them every now and again.

“Of course not,” she replied as heat crept into her cheeks. What was she thinking, keeping a guest of his position, much less his current condition, out in the elements? She turned on her heel and marched toward the lobby entrance, calling over her shoulder, “Right this way, gentlemen.”

* * *

Kellen didn’t follow the ever-efficient Miss Wright inside to the elevator. Rather, he allowed Lou and Joe to half drag, half carry him in the direction of the door. He’d ticked her off but good. No surprise that, since he’d been so rude. Another time, he would have felt bad about the way he’d treated her. Unfortunately for her, both his usual good humor and his abundant charm had gone the way of his right leg. That was to say, fractured beyond repair. Or so the doctors claimed. They were wrong. They had to be. He couldn’t spend the rest of his life like this...barely able to walk. A mere shadow of the healthy, active man he used to be.

The elevator doors opened after a bell dinged, announcing their arrival. The lobby looked different than he remembered from the last time he’d been to Faust Haven. Gone were the deep green, gold and maroon that had always struck him as more suited to a Rocky Mountains cabin than an ocean-side resort. Varying shades of blue and turquoise dominated the color scheme now, accentuated with weathered white and a pale yellow that reminded Kellen of sand. Overhead lights, along with the glow of table lamps, gave the lobby a warm, welcoming ambiance despite the storm that raged outside.