Sheltered by the Millionaire Read online

  “There’s nothing wrong with enjoying yourself. You work hard and deserve a break. I think even the people who are struggling take comfort from seeing life returning to normal around them. It’s good to do regular things. Support local businesses.” He rested his hand on top of the steering wheel. “I know a perfect diner Evie will love when you two move in with me—I guess I should say, ‘What if you and Megan moved in with me?’”

  Wait, that wasn’t what he’d meant to say. He was going to propose, then ask her to move in while they were engaged. But damn it, the words were already out there, so he held his peace as he stopped at a red light and waited for her response.

  “What did you say?” she asked carefully.

  “I have plenty of space.” The light changed and he accelerated, weighing his words. “It’s a gated community, so you two would have more security. And Evie would enjoy the Pine Valley community stables and pool. I’m thinking she could use some jodhpurs. Maybe for Christmas?”

  “Maybe,” Megan said noncommittally. To the riding clothes or moving in?

  He needed to shift into damage control ASAP.

  “Is that a no to moving in?” If so, that didn’t bode well for his plans to propose.

  “You’ve sprung this on me rather quickly. Can we talk more about it, please?” Her fingers clenched and tangled together in her lap. “I have a lot to consider with Evie. She’s only just stopped wearing costumes—thank you again for bringing the therapy dog to her school. You were right about that.”

  Did that mean she trusted him more? “I did it for all the kids. And for the animals too. I’m glad Ms. Baker was able to take two off your hands.”

  “You and me both.” She twisted in the seat toward him. “I didn’t mean to be short about moving in together. You just caught me unaware.”

  He glanced at her beautiful face, full of worry. “It’s okay. Like you said, we can talk more later. We have time.”

  They had time and he had plans. He knew the right opportunity would present itself for the proposal. And he’d even chosen a gift for her he thought would let her know just how much he cared about her as a person and accepted their differences.

  She smiled, and it damn near took his breath away. “Taking our time. I like the sound of that.”

  * * *

  Megan had barely tasted a bite of the appetizer, soup, salad or main course. Her mind was still on Whit’s surprise suggestion that they live together. Things were moving so fast, she felt as if she was still stuck in the tornado sometimes.

  But with each minute that passed, she found herself considering the possibility more seriously.

  They were all but spending every waking hour outside of work together. Evie didn’t even question his presence. If anything, her daughter questioned when he would arrive. She’d even asked if he could pick her up from day care. He was everything Megan could have hoped for in a man, on so many levels. So much so, it scared her sometimes how well things were going. Maybe that’s why she was nervous about moving in together. It was like tempting fate.

  The waiter cleared away their dinner plates and brought dessert. “Mr. Daltry,” the waiter said, “just as you ordered, our chef made this especially for your celebration. A dark chocolate and orange tart with toasted almonds. I hope it is to your satisfaction.”

  Orange and chocolate? Surely not a coincidence?

  The twinkle in Whit’s eyes confirmed he’d intended the treat as a reminder of their time together in the greenhouse.

  “I’m sure it will be perfect,” Whit answered smoothly. “Please pass along my thanks.”

  Megan pressed a hand to her mouth to stop a laugh as the waiter left them alone again. “You’re wicked.”

  “Just reminding you of all the wonderful times we can have together in the future.” His hand gravitated to his suit coat, smoothing his lapel as he’d done a number of times throughout the dinner.

  Was he as nervous as she over this? In a strange way she found it comforting, more of a sign he took this big step seriously.

  “About what you said in the car regarding moving in together, I’m still not ready to say yes outright, but I want to think about it. And for me that’s huge.”

  His hand fell away from his jacket and she linked fingers with him.

  “Whit, we have something wonderful started. Let’s not rush.”

  “Sure, of course,” he agreed, but the tight lines of his mouth indicated that she’d let him down.

  Couldn’t he see how hard she was trying by letting herself be swept into his world so fast? She thought they’d really made progress. And it wasn’t as if she just had herself to consider. A move would be a lot of upheaval for Evie at a time when she was just settling back into school and enjoying herself.

  Megan tried to think of a better way to help Whit understand—to ease that tense expression on his face—when a cleared throat from behind him drew her attention upward.

  Colby Richardson stood there with his hands shoved in his pockets. His resemblance to his late brother Craig was shocking. The man had a closed-off air emotionally, but that was understandable given what he must be going through. “Sorry to interrupt your dinner, but I wanted to congratulate you.”

  Megan looked up in confusion. Whit couldn’t have already told people of his plans to move in together, could he? Whit stood, as if to quiet the man, which only fueled her concerns—and confusion.

  “Thanks, Colby. I appreciate that. Could I treat your table to another round of drinks?” Whit asked, clearly trying to divert him.

  “Of course. I see you have a bottle of champagne on its way over. I should leave you both to celebrate your big purchase.”

  Megan frowned. “Big purchase?”

  “Yes,” Colby said. “Whit managed quite a coup this week in scooping up the stretch of wetlands on the edge of town.”

  Her insides chilled faster than that bottle of bubbly in the ice bucket. “You bought up the wetlands?”

  “Yes,” Whit shuffled his feet, “but it’s not exactly what you’re thinking.”

  Colby backed away. “Sorry to have spilled the beans prematurely. I’ll just leave the two of you to talk. Good evening.”

  The clean-cut real estate mogul turned and made a beeline to his table, leaving Megan alone with Whit again.

  She restrained the urge to snap at Whit. He was a businessman, first and foremost. She knew that. She shouldn’t be surprised that he’d proceeded as planned. He’d never misled her about who he was.

  Still, she couldn’t stem the deep well of disappointment pooling in her stomach.

  “Megan? Do you want to hear what I have to say?”

  She shook her head. “It doesn’t matter.” She folded her napkin in her lap, wishing she could sweep this disagreement away along with the breadcrumbs. “I understand we’re different people. I’m not angry.”

  It cost her, but she would make peace. Try harder. Damn it, she was trying harder.

  “But you’re upset with me.” Tension threaded through his shoulders, his jaw flexing.

  She met his eyes and answered honestly. “Disappointed.”

  “Megan, our careers are separate. I respect your professionalism and I expect you to respect mine.”

  “Okay,” she answered carefully, “but that doesn’t mean I’m going to compromise my principles.”

  “You’re calling me unprincipled?”

  She struggled for a way to wind back out of this discussion that was playing out like too many confrontations they’d had over the years. Had the past couple of weeks just been a fluke, with reality now intruding once again? “We’ve had this disagreement for years. Did you think I was magically going to change because we...”

  She couldn’t even push the last words free without her voice cracking. She snatched up her water g
lass, her hand trembling with emotion.

  He held her eyes without speaking for what felt like an eternity. Dishes and silverware clanked. The candles flickered between them, the dim chandelier above casting more shadows than light.

  Finally, he shook his head. “You’ve already made up your mind about me. It’s clear we have nothing left to say to each other.”

  How dare he act disillusioned with her? In the span of a couple of weeks, she’d done an about-face on so many of her stances to be with him. She was even willing to overlook this land purchase, as much as it galled her, and accept that they were different.

  But now she suspected in spite of all his words to the contrary, he didn’t want to be with her after all. Because it wasn’t good enough for him that she would compromise on this issue. He needed her to be on his side. Think like him. Cheer on his plan to destroy wetlands she felt passionately about.

  Why couldn’t they just leave it be? Like so many men she’d seen in the past, he was okay to let their relationship self-destruct. He’d found an out and taken it. The knowledge burned all the way down her throat. She shot up from her chair before she did something humiliating like burst into tears.

  Or worse yet, accept anything he said as truth just to stay with him.

  * * *

  Anger and frustration making his blood boil, Whit strode through the restaurant after Megan. He angled past the Richardson family at one table, the sheriff and his wife at another, and barely registered that they spoke to him because his focus was fully on Megan.

  He charged past a Christmas tree covered in golden lone stars and white twinkling lights. Whit pushed through the door and stopped beside Megan, who was standing under the restaurant awning. “Megan—”

  “The doorman is calling a cab for me.” Her arms were crossed tight over her chest as her teeth chattered, her face every bit as chilly as her body language.

  He held up a hand to stop the doorman from hailing a taxi. “Damn it, that’s not necessary. I brought you here. I’ll drive you home.”

  “That would be awkward.” She squeezed her eyes closed and then nodded to the doorman, silently signaling him to flag down a ride. “Please, just let me go. You already made it clear we have nothing left to say to one another.”

  Her struggle to hold back tears tugged at him. Damn it all, the last thing he wanted was to hurt her. But pride held him back from telling her the truth about that land. He needed her to believe in him. “You’re upset. I get that.” He took her arm and gently guided her away from the restaurant’s main entrance. “But this isn’t the place.”

  She let him steer her a few steps to the side. “The facts won’t change if we’re in your car.”

  “The facts?” He bit back a weary sigh. “You don’t understand—”

  “How about this for facts?” Her arms slid to her side, her hands clenched in tight fists. “You’ve been buying up land since the tornado. Taking advantage of people’s pain. So fine. Tell me how I’m wrong,” she finished defiantly.

  “Taking advantage?” He searched for the words to make her understand, for the words to keep her in his life. “I’ve been buying property from people who needed to cut their losses. If I wasn’t there to buy from them, they would lose everything rather than walking away with the money to start over. We’ve discussed this before.”

  He’d spent his childhood seeing his family’s life repossessed. He wasn’t lying when he told her he tried to help people in his town as best he could. He swallowed back the past and focused on the present, on Megan.

  She shook her head. “And destroying the wetlands? How is that ‘helping’ people? Sounds like you’re making excuses. You can justify it however you want, but I don’t see it the same way.”

  The sound system hummed with a symphonic version of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas,” as if mocking him with memories of a holiday spent in a homeless shelter until his dad landed on his feet again. Granted, they had all gotten gifts that year, courtesy of a local church group.

  Even if he told her his real reason for buying the wetlands, that wouldn’t change who he was. “You’re employed by a non-profit organization and get paid a salary. I own a business where people only get paid if I make a profit. That’s how life works.”

  She held up a finger, her hand shaking with restrained emotion. “Don’t speak to me like I’m a child. There are plenty of people who make a profit without compromising their values.”

  “I follow the letter of the law in my business practices.” He wasn’t like his father, damn it.

  “Just because something is legal doesn’t mean it’s morally right.”

  Okay, now she was stepping over the line.

  “And what makes you the authority on right and wrong? There can be a middle ground if you’ll stop being judgmental and—”

  Gasping, she backed up a step. “Is that what you think of me? That I’m uptight and judgmental just because I live my life by a moral code that isn’t identical to yours?”

  He looked into her eyes and didn’t see any room for changing her mind. She’d dug in her heels deeply. He recognized the look from the three years he’d known her. These past few weeks had been an anomaly. She wasn’t interested in a real relationship with him.

  “I think you’re just looking for a reason to break it off with me. I think you’re so locked onto the past that you’re convinced every man is like your dad or Evie’s dad. So much so, that you never really gave me a chance. Not three and a half years ago and not now.”

  “That’s not fair,” she whispered.

  “None of this is.” His hand gravitated to the ring box in his pocket again by habit, but he left it inside. He met her gaze and willed her to see the love in his eyes, to understand how he felt. To trust him.

  To trust in him.

  For an instant, he could have sworn he saw her stance softening and he reached to caress her arm.

  The taxi rolled to a stop at the front entrance.

  She pulled her hands in tight again, closing herself off from him, from what they could have had together. “Goodnight, Whit. I just...I can’t do this.”

  Looking so damn beautiful that she took his breath away and broke his heart, Megan rushed past him and slid into the cab.

  The taxi’s taillights disappeared into the night like fading Christmas lights. His big night with Megan was over and he’d botched it from the start. He’d been so busy making plans for them, looking for angles to persuade her and win her over. All the while missing the most important thing of all.

  This wasn’t about winning a deal like some business merger. This was about having Megan in his life forever. This was about being in love with her. Somehow, he’d never once used that all-important word and because of that, he’d lost her.

  Twelve

  After a sleepless night, Megan took out her frustration by trying to restore order to some part of her world. She grabbed the bottle of disinfectant and moved on to spritz the next cat kennel. Her gloved hands scrubbed with a vengeance.

  She’d spent most of the night crying and second-guessing herself. Today was supposed to be a day off. She should have been spending it with Whit. Evie had even asked to go to a friend’s house to play, her costumes and fears fading. Which left Megan alone in her too quiet house. So she’d come to the shelter to get her mind off things, but it wasn’t working.

  Somehow she and Whit had shifted from considering moving in together to broken up in the span of one dinner, and all because of a land purchase.

  A land purchase they had been at odds over for months.

  She should have seen the signs, but she’d been so blinded by how much she enjoyed being with him. Her eyes watered again. She sniffled and rubbed her wrist under her nose.

  Footsteps echoed in the corridor and she blinked faster to clear
her eyes—as if that would make any difference given how puffy they were. God, she hoped whoever it was wouldn’t stop and talk. She just wanted to clean and clean until she dropped into an exhausted sleep and didn’t have to think.

  The footsteps stopped right outside the doorway.

  “Soooo?” Beth’s voice called. “How did your big date with Whit go last night?”

  Megan could have diverted an employee or regular volunteer. But there would be no escaping Beth.

  Eyes stinging from the sharp scent of bleach, she spoke over her shoulder, keeping her face averted. “The meal was five-star quality.”

  “Everyone knows the place is great.” Beth pulled up alongside her. “It’s one of those restaurants where guys take women to propose. Megan? Sweetie? Are you okay?” Beth dipped her head to make eye contact.

  Megan flinched and scrubbed harder. “Would you like to help me here? I’m expecting a call from a grant writer any minute.” Her words tumbled over each other as she sought to distract. “The guy’s going to donate his services to help us put in a proposal to help fund a voucher spay/neuter program.”

  Beth grabbed a second bottle of antiseptic spray and tore off some paper towels. “Abigail and I can finish up here. On one condition.”

  She tucked her head into the steel kennel. “What’s that?”

  Her friend rested a hand on her shoulder. “Can you take off the glove so I can see the ring?”

  Is that what her friend thought? This day just got worse.

  Megan knew the moment had come. She couldn’t hide anymore. “There’s no ring.”

  She couldn’t even begin to think about all that didn’t happen between them last night. All her hopes...up in flames.

  “Oh. Really? I could have sworn that he planned to...” Genuine confusion was stamped on Beth’s face. “I mean...”

  Seeing her friend’s certainty was bittersweet. “Just because he takes me out to eat doesn’t mean he planned to propose.”