The Mating(41)

‘But,’ a nasty little voice asked, ‘what if he says they used to be lovers?’ Elise paused, the pillow clutched to her chest. What would she do then? Well, she’d just straighten her shoulders and ask if it was definitely in the past. He’d say it was all over, and that would solve the problem. She fluffed the pillow and then dealt with its twin. The nasty voice returned. ‘How will you know if he’s telling the truth? What man is going to admit to his mate that he’s having an affair with someone else?’

Elise growled in frustration and pulled up the bedspread with more vigour than strictly needed. This was getting her nowhere. Possibly, she should start by telling Kane her side of the story. How Marla had insinuated that she knew Kane sexually and that Elise wouldn’t be able to handle him. Oh, that would be a fun conversation! Her face burned in anticipated embarrassment as she pictured that talk going in all sorts of uncomfortable directions.

By the time Kane exited the bathroom, Elise was still trying to sort things out. His hair was slicked to his head and little drops of water decorated his back where the towel hadn’t reached. Elise boldly decided to start a conversation about Marla and see where it went. As he walked past her to the closet, he pressed a quick kiss to her forehead. “I’m done in the bathroom, if you want to use it.”

Nodding, Elise took a deep breath. Kane was a good man. He wouldn’t be cheating on her, even if he had, at one time, harboured feelings for Marla. Gathering her resolve, she decided to explain her side of what happened with the other woman. Then Kane would understand why she didn’t want to spend time with her and he’d realize that Marla had twisted everything around to her own advantage. “Kane?”

“Hmm?” His voice drifted out of the closet, where he was gathering a shirt and pants.

“I wanted to explain to you—” Just then the phone rang. Kane tossed a smile her way, raised a finger to indicate she should wait a minute, and answered the phone.

“Kane here ... Yes? ... Uh, huh ... I see ... Well, if you feel that’s necessary ... All right ... I’ll meet you there in about half an hour ... Right, I’ll see you then.” Kane hung up and stood pinching the bridge of his nose, stress radiating from his very pores.

“Kane? What’s wrong?” Elise stepped closer and laid her hand on his arm.

“What?” He looked at her as if he’d forgotten she was even there. “Oh, that was the lab that tested our water after the oil spill. They want to take another sample and also do testing on the surrounding soil for possible contaminants. If it leached very deep into the ground, we’ll have to do a major clean up that would involve digging down deep enough until we reach ‘clean’ dirt, removing all the contaminated soil and taking it to a toxic waste facility, then replacing the soil and plants... It would be a massive undertaking and extremely costly, not to mention having people traipsing all over our land.” Kane rubbed his hands over his face. “This is not the news I wanted to hear this morning.” He sighed heavily before looking over at Elise. “You wanted to tell me something?”

“Uh—nothing important.” Elise decided her problem with Marla was insignificant in comparison to what Kane already had on his plate. She squeezed his arm and kissed his shoulder. “I’ll just go take a shower. I hope your day doesn’t go too badly.”

“Thanks. And thanks for helping out with Marla, too. I really do appreciate it.”

Elise smiled and headed for the shower.





Chapter 12





Over breakfast preparations, Elise confided to Helen that Kane thought Marla needed a friend. Helen snorted and shook her head.

“That girl can put on the best act around the males and they buy it every time, hook, line and sinker! I can only imagine the tale she spun for Kane. ‘I was just trying to be friendly. Everyone misunderstands me. And I’m still so broken up over Ryne.’ Bull! She’s mad because Ryne lost the challenge and now she isn’t lady of the house.” Helen was getting rather worked up and beating the eggs faster and faster as she spoke, the sticky mixture threatening to fly over the edge of the bowl. “Kane, of course, won’t hear anything against her. He’s still too caught up in misplaced guilt over her father—which was not his fault, no matter what he says! And then, when you throw in the incident with Ryne—well, we all know how that messed with his head!”

As Helen paused for breath, Elise interrupted, not understanding one of Helen’s earlier comments. “Wait. Back up. What happened with Marla’s father?”