But he liked Bailey best when she wasn’t wearing anything at all. When she lay in his bed naked, with her breasts full and perky, the nipples wet from his tongue, and her feminine mound, hot, moist and ready for—
He sucked in a sharp breath and abruptly put an end to those thoughts. “Can we sit and talk?”
She frowned. “I honestly don’t want to hear anything you have to say.”
“Please. Both times when you apologized to me, I accepted your apologies.”
“Good for you, but I have no intention of accepting yours.”
She was being difficult, he knew that. He also knew there was only one way to handle Bailey. And that was by not letting her think she had the upper hand. “We are going to talk whether you want to listen to what I say or not. I locked that door,” he said, removing his hat to place on a rack and then crossing the room to sit in one of the chairs. “And I don’t intend for it to be opened until I say so. I forgot to mention that the director of the TSA here is an old marine friend of mine.”
She glared at him. “You can’t hold me here like some kind of hostage. I will sue you both.”
“Go ahead and do that, if you desire. In the meantime you and I are staying in here until you agree to listen to what I have to say.”
“I won’t listen.”
“I have the time to wait for you to change your mind,” he said, leaning back in the chair so the front legs lifted off the floor. He closed his eyes. He heard her cross the room to the door and try it. It was locked. He didn’t reopen his eyes when he heard her banging on it, nor when he heard her kick it a few times.
He knew the exact moment when a frustrated and angry Bailey crossed the room to stand in front of him. “Wake up, you bastard. Wake up and let me out of here.”
He ignored her, but it wasn’t easy. Especially when she began using profanity the likes of which he’d never heard before. He’d heard from one of her cousins that she used to curse like a sailor—worse than a sailor—as a teen, and Walker had even heard her utter a few choice words that day in his bedroom when he’d pissed her off. But now, tonight, she was definitely on a roll.
He would let her have her say—no matter how vulgar it was—and then he would have his. He would tell her everything. Including the fact that he loved her. He didn’t expect her to love him back. It was too late for that, although he doubted it would have happened anyway. Bailey loved Westmoreland Country. She was married to it.
It seemed her filthy mouth wouldn’t run out of steam anytime soon, so he decided to put an end to it. He’d gotten the picture, heard loud and clear what she thought of him. He slowly opened his eyes and stared at her. “If you recall, Bailey, I once told you that you had too delicious a mouth to fill it with nasty words. Do I need to test it to make sure it’s still as delicious as the last time I tasted it?”
She threw her hair over her shoulder, fiery mad. “I’d like to see you try.”
“Okay.” He grabbed her around the waist and tumbled her into his lap. And then he kissed her.
She tried pushing him away, but just for a minute. Then, as if she had no control of her own tongue, it began tangling with his, sucking as hard as he was. And then suddenly, as if she realized what she was doing, she snatched her mouth away, but she didn’t try getting off his lap.
“I hate you, Walker.”
He nodded. “And I love you, Bailey.”
She’d opened her mouth, probably to spew more filthy words, but what he’d said had her mouth snapping closed. She stared at him, not saying anything, and then she frowned. “I heard what you told Garth.”
“Yes, but if you had hung around, you would have heard him say that I was talking bull because he knew how I felt about you. He’s been my friend long enough to know. And then I admitted to having fallen in love with you.”
She stared at him, studying his face. How long would it be before she said something? Finally she did. “You can’t love me.”
He shifted her in his lap, both to keep her there but also to bring some relief to the erection pressing painfully against his zipper. “And why can’t I love you?”
“Because you’re still in love with your wife. You’ve been grieving for her for ten years and you want me to believe I came along and changed that in less than a month?”
He knew he had to tell her the truth. All of it. He had to tell her what only he and Garth knew. Doing so would bring back memories. Painful memories. But he loved her. And he owed her the truth.
“Yes, I guess that would be hard to believe if I had been grieving for Kalyn for ten years. But I stopped loving my wife months before she died. I stopped loving her when I found out she was having an affair with another man.”
Bailey swallowed. Of all the things she’d expected him to say, that wasn’t it. “Your wife was unfaithful?” she asked, making sure she’d heard him correctly.
“Yes, among a number of other things.”
She lifted a brow. “What other things?”
Walker drew in a deep breath before lifting her from his lap to place her in the chair beside him. He paced the room a few times before finally leaning against the wall.
“I need to start at the beginning,” he said in a low, husky tone. But she’d been around Walker enough to detect the deep pain in his voice. “I was in the marines, stationed at Camp Pendleton. A few of the guys and I took a holiday to LA, preferring to tour the countryside. We came across a film crew making a movie. Intrigued, we stopped and, believe it or not, they asked us to be extras.”
He paused before continuing, “One of the women who had a small role caught my eye and I caught hers.”
“Kalyn?”
He looked over at Bailey. “Yes. That night she and I met at a restaurant and she told me her dream was to become an actress, that she was born in Los Angeles and loved the area. We slept together that night and a few times after that. I was smitten, but I thought that would be the end of it. It was only a few months before my time in the marines ended and I was looking forward to heading home. Both Garth and I were.”
He paused. “Dad had written and I knew the ranch was becoming a handful. He couldn’t wait for me to come home to help. I told him I would. Practically promised.”
He moved away from the wall to sit in the chair beside her. “I basically broke that promise. A few days before I was supposed to leave I got a call. Someone had viewed a clip of me as an extra and liked what they saw. They didn’t know whether I could act or not but thought I had what they termed ‘Hollywood looks.’ They called me to try out for a part in some movie. I didn’t get the part but they asked me to hang around for a week or two, certain they could find me work.”
He leaned back in the chair as he continued. “Kalyn said she was happy for me. She also told me she thought she was pregnant. I never questioned her about it, although Garth suggested I should. I didn’t listen to him. Nor did I listen when he tried to get me to leave California and return home, reminding me that my dad needed me. All I could think about was that Kalyn might be pregnant and I should do the honorable thing and marry her. So I did.”
“Was she pregnant?” Bailey asked curiously.
“No. She said it was a false alarm, but I was determined to make my marriage work regardless. I loved her. I suggested we leave LA and move to Kodiak Island, but she wouldn’t hear of it. She would cry every time I brought up the subject. She told me she hated a place she’d never seen and she never wanted to go there.”
Bailey couldn’t imagine anyone not liking Hemlock Row, especially before they’d seen it.
“I talked to my dad and he told me to stay with my wife and make my marriage work and that he would hire a couple more men to help out around the ranch,” Walker continued. “Although he didn’t say it, I knew he was disappointed that I wasn’t coming home with my wife.
“A few months later I got the chance at a big role and my career took off from there. Kalyn was happy. She loved being in the spotlight as my wife. But I missed home and when I told her I’d made up my mind to leave and return to Alaska, she told me she was pregnant.”
Bailey lifted a brow. “Was she really pregnant this time?” she asked in a skeptical voice. It sounded to her as though Kalyn’s claim that first time had been a trick just to get Walker to marry her.
“Yes, she was this time. I went with her to the doctor to confirm it. Things got better between us. I fell in love with Connor the moment I heard his heartbeat. And months later, when I felt him move in Kalyn’s stomach, I think my son and I connected in an unbreakable bond. I couldn’t wait for him to be born. When he finally arrived I thought he was perfect. I couldn’t wait to take him home for my parents to meet their grandson.”
“You took him home to Hemlock Row?”
“Yes, but not until he was almost a year old. Kalyn refused to let me take him any sooner than that. Connor loved it there with his grandparents. I took him everywhere and showed him everything. Kalyn didn’t go with us and told me I could only be gone with Connor for a week. I was upset about it but was grateful that my parents got to meet Connor and he got to meet them. A few months after I returned to LA I learned my mom was sick and the doctors couldn’t figure out why. I went home a few times and each time I did, Kalyn gave me hell.”