Luscious(30)

He stood up, dropping his napkin, but his wife reached for his hand. He leaned over and she whispered something in his ear. Grace Taggart handed over their toddler girl. She’d been sitting in her mother’s lap, but she seemed content to go with her father.

“I’ll handle this,” Grace said. She stood up, smoothing out her skirt and nodding Ally’s way. “Let’s talk in the office.”

She was surprised but followed behind the gorgeous redhead. Did she not want Ally alone with her husband? What exactly had Macon said when he left? She shouldn’t be surprised that he’d talked bad about her, but she was. Somehow, even though she knew she’d hurt him, she hadn’t expected him to lash out. She’d come to know such gentleness from the big bear of a man, but she supposed that was only for the women who were worthy.

Grace closed the door behind her and the world got eerily quiet.

It was best to get it over with so she could get her things and leave. She wasn’t going to take him up on his offer to stay in the guesthouse. No way. She would pick a road and drive all night, and sometime tomorrow she would be somewhere else. Hell, maybe she’d be someone else. “Mrs. Taggart, I’m afraid I need this to be my last day. I’m sorry I can’t give you two weeks’ notice.”

“Unacceptable.” Grace sat down in her husband’s chair. The very one she’d so recently made love to Macon in. “You did a good job cleaning this place. It smells like citrus. You’ll have to tell me what you use. I can never get the sex smell out of Ian’s office. Sean thinks it’s funny to play on Ian’s desk when Ian’s out of town. I’ve told Charlotte I’ll give her the keys to the castle, but the twins don’t like to sleep much so she hasn’t had a chance for revenge yet.”

Grace gestured to one of the two seats in front of the desk, but Ally stayed on her feet. “I’m sorry about using the office. We really did clean it and well, it certainly won’t ever happen again.”

“It won’t with that attitude.” Grace frowned. “Please have a seat, Allyson. Or do you prefer Sarah? I was sorry to hear about your mother and your brother. This must be a very difficult time for you.”

She thought she’d gotten over the shock of having people know her secret. “Macon told you everything.”

“No, Macon didn’t say a word. He walked out without speaking to anyone. I’ve known that your name was Sarah Allyson Jones of Ashwick, Georgia, since Ian did a background check on you a few weeks into your employment. We made the connection between you and Macon a long time ago.”

Now she took the seat, her knees too weak to stand. “Why didn’t you tell him?”

Grace considered her for a moment. “I argued that we should. Sean and Ian wanted to watch you. They wanted to see what you would do. That’s why they didn’t tell Adam. He would have blown your cover. He did, in the end, of course. Sean thought that if we’d told Macon in the beginning, he simply would have left. It’s not hard to figure out that man was hiding some kind of secret. I thought you were investigating him.”

“I was,” she admitted.

“You did a horrible job, hon.” Grace pointed to the bookshelf. It was filled with cookbooks. “There’s a nice security camera hidden up there. Don’t worry, it’s only turned on after hours. It’s aimed at the safe where he keeps the cash. It was definitely turned off this afternoon. Sean did have it on one night a few months back. He wanted to know why you were really here.”

She searched her memory. “I don’t remember anything that would have been interesting on camera.”

“That’s my point. Sean’s trap didn’t work on you,” Grace explained. “It was turned on a night when Sean asked you to stay late. He then took a very long phone call out in the alley. He left his door wide open and the personal files of every employee were sitting right on his desk. He had to ask you to grab him a notepad off his desk to get you to go inside.”

Now she remembered. “He said he was arguing with a vendor. He was outside for a long time. I saw the files.”

“And you looked down at them and pulled Macon’s file. And then you replaced it and walked away without ever glancing inside. Why?”

“Because it didn’t matter by then. I knew what I needed to know about him. I knew he was a good man.” Those damn tears were back and she wondered how long it would be before she stopped crying over him. “I came here because I wanted to ask him about my brother’s death, but then I got to know him and I couldn’t.”

Grace stood up and moved around the desk, sitting in the chair beside her. “Why didn’t you tell him?”

“I was scared. I didn’t want to lose him.” But she had and she already felt the loss like a hole had opened in her lungs and she couldn’t breathe anymore.

“You had to know someone would find out.”

“Why? There weren’t any legal ties to my mom or brother. Why couldn’t I call myself Ally and start over?” It had been a good plan that had gone so very wrong.

“How many times have you started over?”

She shrugged. “A couple.”

“I think you’ve made a habit out of running away,” Grace said softly. “But sometimes you have to stand your ground to start over. Sometimes running away isn’t the answer. Do you love him?”

Ally nodded, unable to speak.

“Then leaving is the worst thing you can do.”

“It’s my fault.”

A look of determination set in Grace’s hazel eyes. “Then be woman enough to stand up and admit it. Take responsibility and then atone. You don’t have to leave, but you need to figure something out. You need to decide if you’re good for him. You can’t be good for him if you’re hundreds of miles away. I’ve seen that man come alive since he started dating you. He was happy and he can be happy again. He needs time and patience from you. But the last thing he needs is distance and your self-doubt. Do you believe in your heart that you’re good for him?”

She believed that she loved him. She knew she’d do anything it took to help him achieve his dreams. She was his natural partner, a lover who fit his needs. She’d spent a lifetime thinking she wasn’t good enough. It would be simple to fall into that familiar pattern again, but it wasn’t what Macon needed. She’d seen the way his shoulders had slumped, how his hand had unconsciously gone to his damaged leg as if he could hide it. He didn’t think she’d ever loved him. When he’d thought she loved him, he’d stood taller, walked with more pride. She’d given that to him.

She had to find a way to give it to him again. “I am good for him.”

“If you love him, you fight for him.”

There was only one problem. “I don’t think he wants me anymore.”

Grace sighed and for a moment it looked like she was lost in some memory. “He doesn’t know what he wants right now, honey. He’s hurt and angry and willing to burn everything down because of it. I should know. I’ve been there. Do you know why I married Sean?”

“Because you love him.”

“Yes, obviously. But Sean hurt me in the beginning. I’m with him today because he was patient and he apologized and he never stopped telling me he loved me. He kept saying it until I believed it. I think Macon needs to hear that. He needs to know that you won’t leave. Even when it gets ugly. He needs to know that your love isn’t a currency. You’re not trying to buy something from him.”

That was all Macon had known. “His wife wanted money and a place in their society.”

“And what do you want?”

She searched her heart. There was an easy answer, but it wasn’t the truest one. She wanted Macon, but there was something she wanted even more. When she really went deep she discovered what she wanted beyond everything else. “I want Macon to be happy. I want him to have a good life.”

Grace put her hand over Ally’s. “Oh, honey. That means you’re really in love and that is worth fighting for. You made a mistake. A big one. That’s not going to go away easy, but it’s time to stop running. It’s time to stand. It’s time to say this is my home and I won’t leave.”

“And if he still hates me?”

“Then at least you found a home.” Grace stood. “Now let’s go and eat and we’ll talk this out. That’s what families do.”

She was crying again, but it was all right. It was better than all right.

It was time to fight.



Late in the night she locked the door behind her. She looked around the guesthouse and knew she was alone. There was no Macon in the kitchen puttering around with some new experiment. He wasn’t in the shower or out jogging. He was gone and she knew it before she checked his closet.

She moved through the house, reliving every moment with him.

How could she prove that she loved him? How could she make him believe?

When she got to the kitchen she nearly broke down again. This was where he’d first really kissed her, where they’d decided to move forward. Where she’d lied to him. Where she’d learned to love him.