His Long-Lost Family Read online

  “Hell, no.” His failed marriage might be in the past, but it wasn’t so distant that he’d forgotten. And how could he when he spent almost every day in meetings and motions with husbands and wives who had once promised to love, honor, and cherish their spouses and were now hating, dishonoring, and spurning them?

  His friend chuckled. “Are you sure you don’t want a minute to consider your response?”

  Jack shook his head. “I was married once,” he confided. “When I was young and stupid.”

  “Was it that girl you were with in Chicago?”

  Jack paused with his bottle halfway to his lips. He’d forgotten that Gord had been at the same law conference he’d attended more than a dozen years earlier in Chicago. “No,” he said now. “That wasn’t her.”

  “So who was she?” Gord asked curiously. “Because I seem to recall that you had some pretty intense chemistry with her.”

  He frowned, as if trying to recall the details of those three glorious days that were still indelibly imprinted on his mind, then shook his head. “I don’t remember.”

  His friend snorted. “Yeah, and I took a job in the district attorney’s office for the extravagant salary.”

  “Why did you leave private practice?” Jack asked, because it seemed like an opportune moment to shift the topic of conversation.

  “Because when Sheila and I got married, she understood that I wanted to get my practice off the ground before I took any time off for a vacation. On our third anniversary, she reminded me that we still hadn’t had a honeymoon.”

  “And yet, you’re still married,” he mused.

  “Because I was smart enough to realize that I needed to balance my personal life and my professional life. Five years and two kids later, it was the smartest move I ever made—even if it means that my kids will have to go to public school.”

  “Thankfully not something I have to worry about.”

  “Never say never,” Gord warned.

  But Jack wasn’t worried. He was thirty-seven years old and happy to be on his own. And while he dated—albeit a lot less frequently than he had in the past—he always said goodbye without any regrets. The sole exception was the one unforgettable weekend he’d spent in Chicago with Kelly Cooper.

  Yeah, he had a boatload of regrets where she was concerned. He regretted walking into The Four Brothers pub for a drink—and not walking right back out again when he realized the gorgeous bartender who’d snared his attention was none other than the girl who’d lived next door when they were kids.

  He regretted giving in to the irresistible urge to taste the sassy mouth that had tormented him for more years than he wanted to admit; he regretted succumbing to the need to explore every inch of her soft, silky skin with his hands and his lips; he regretted losing himself—over and over again—in her warm, willing body. Mostly he regretted ever letting her go.

  “Speaking of family,” Gord said, drawing Jack’s attention back to the present, “I should get home to Sheila and the boys.”

  He started to call for the waitress, but Jack shook his head. “You go ahead. I’ve got the bill.”

  “Thanks.” Gord slid out of the booth, offered his hand. “I’ll bring your client’s case forward for a plea on Wednesday, when Judge Parrish is sitting.”

  “I appreciate it,” he said, confident in the knowledge that Judge Parrish had never overruled a joint recommendation.

  After his colleague was gone, Jack sat alone, nursing a second beer. He was grateful for Gord’s cooperation with Travis’s case—and annoyed that just the mention of Chicago had brought memories of Kelly Cooper to the forefront of his mind.

  Not that those memories were ever very far away, especially not since his brother had informed him that she was coming home.

  He didn’t understand why she was the one woman he couldn’t forget. They’d spent one unforgettable weekend together, but neither of them had mentioned the possibility of anything more. So when Kelly called a few months later—shortly after Sara had decided she’d been too hasty in ending their engagement—he’d been completely caught off guard. Just the sound of her voice had the memories flooding back and desire stirring. Then Sara had walked into the room and pointed to her watch, and he’d admitted to Kelly that he had an appointment with a wedding planner. After a brief moment of awkward silence, Kelly had offered a quick congratulations and an even quicker goodbye.

  Six months later, he’d married Sara. About two years after that, Kelly married some guy out in Seattle. Now they were both divorced, and despite all the years that had passed, he hadn’t forgotten about her. For some inexplicable reason, memories of one long ago weekend still stirred his blood more effectively than most of the flesh-and-blood women he’d dated in recent years.

  Maybe it was because he still felt guilty about the fact that he’d slept with the girl who had been his brother’s best friend since childhood. Yeah, it was the guilt, he assured himself.

  Because Jack refused to consider that he might have had feelings for Kelly that ever went any deeper than that.

  * * *

  The knots in Kelly’s stomach tightened as the plane touched down on the runway.

  This was it—there was definitely no going back now.

  Not that she wanted to go back. Although she’d made the decision to move back to Pinehurst quickly, it hadn’t been impulsively. Which made her realize she’d been thinking about it for a lot longer than she’d been ready to acknowledge. Because no matter where else she might have lived, Pinehurst was still home.

  She’d had such grand plans when she’d moved to Seattle. A new city, a new job, a new husband. Even when she and Malcolm had gone their separate ways, she hadn’t wanted to leave Seattle. Of course, Malcolm’s mom—the only grandmother Ava had ever known—had still been a big part of their lives. Kelly knew she wouldn’t have made it through those first few years without her former mother-in-law, and when Beverley Scott had passed away, she’d been at a loss. Not only because Bev had willingly stepped in whenever Kelly needed someone to watch her little girl, but because the older woman had been Kelly’s best friend in Washington.

  Now it was time for a fresh start again. After more than a dozen years on the West Coast, she had no regrets about leaving. But she wasn’t entirely sure she wouldn’t regret coming home.

  The plane pulled up at the gate, and the knots multiplied.

  Okay, she was more than a little nervous, but she reminded herself that she was doing this for Ava. This decision, like every other decision she’d made since she’d learned that she was pregnant, had been focused on what was best for her daughter. Even if Ava didn’t agree.

  And the words she spoke, as they made their way off the plane, confirmed that she didn’t. “I can’t believe you made me leave Seattle to come here,” Ava grumbled.

  Kelly hadn’t expected that her daughter would be overjoyed by her decision, but she had hoped that she would have accepted it by now. “You know, if you weren’t so determined to hate it, you might actually like it here,” she told her.

  “I doubt it.”

  She didn’t argue. The choice had been made and their new life was about to begin, so all she said was “Grab your suitcase.”

  They’d packed only what they needed for a few days, with the rest of their clothes and household items being shipped.

  Ava hauled the bag off of the conveyor belt. “How are we getting to Pinecone?”

  “Pinehurst,” she corrected automatically. “And Uncle Luke said he would pick us up and take us to our new place.”

  “When are we getting a car?”

  “Before August fifteenth,” Kelly assured her, because that was the date she was scheduled to start her new job as an in-house accountant at Richmond Pharmaceuticals.

  Ava rolled her eyes. With the purple streaks she’d adde
d to her hair during her last sleepover at Rachel’s house and the gloomy expression on her face, she looked too much like a typical sullen teenager—and she was still only twelve. As much as Kelly desperately hoped this move would help turn things around with Ava, she knew that any change would take time.

  “I’ll probably start looking tomorrow,” she said, hoping to appease her daughter. “I just wasn’t keen on picking up a rental and then driving to Pinehurst after spending all day on airplanes.”

  “How far is Pinetree?”

  “About an hour from here,” she said, not bothering to correct her on the name of the town again. Instead, she grabbed the handle of her own suitcase. “Let’s go find Uncle Luke.”

  Kelly headed out of the baggage claim area, then stopped so abruptly Ava plowed right into the back of her.

  “Geez, Mom,” her daughter grumbled.

  Kelly didn’t—couldn’t—respond.

  Because standing at the car rental counter, where Lukas said he would be waiting, was his brother, Jackson, instead.

  “Mom?” Ava prompted, sounding genuinely concerned. “What’s wrong?”

  Kelly had to remind herself to breathe, and she exhaled slowly. “Nothing’s wrong,” she lied, not wanting to alarm her daughter. “I just lost my train of thought for a moment.”

  “Well, put brake lights on next time,” Ava suggested. Then, after looking around, “I don’t see Uncle Luke anywhere.”

  “Apparently there’s been a change of plans,” Kelly noted, trying to keep her tone light while she inwardly cursed Lukas Garrett all the way to hell and back.

  “Does that mean we’re going to rent a car?” Ava asked.

  “No, it means you’re going to meet Uncle Luke’s brother.”

  A lot sooner than I had planned.

  She stood for another minute, still rooted to the spot, and just looked at Jackson. She hadn’t seen him in thirteen years, but she’d recognized him immediately. But it was more than the dark brown hair that was always immaculately trimmed, more than the exquisitely shaped mouth that had inspired so many of her teenage fantasies, and more than the green eyes that were as dark and clear as emeralds. It was even more than the fact that he was six feet of solidly built male, with broad shoulders and strong arms that ensured any woman would feel secure and protected in his embrace. It was, more than anything else, the way Kelly felt when she looked at him—all hot and tingly and tongue-tied.

  Sternly reminding herself that she wasn’t still sixteen years old—or even twenty-one—she took a step toward him.

  He glanced up from the book he was reading—a legal journal of some kind—as if he sensed her approach. She’d noticed that the book was in his left hand, and that the third finger was bare. But the fact that he’d been divorced for quite a few years now didn’t make him any less off-limits.

  As he closed the cover of the journal, his gaze skimmed over her, from the top of her head to her toes in a quick, cursory perusal that nevertheless caused heat to flare low in her belly and spread through her veins. She hadn’t counted on this, and that was a definite miscalculation on her part.

  But how could she have known that, after so many years, he would still have this effect on her? Because even from a distance, even after so much time, she couldn’t deny her body’s instinctive response to him. Or the ache in her heart.

  She pushed her bangs away from her face and silently reprimanded herself for even noticing that her hair was as flat and tired as the rest of her. She’d dressed comfortably for travel in a pair of faded jeans and an ancient University of Chicago sweatshirt and had put on the barest touch of makeup before heading out to the airport more than ten hours earlier. As a result, she felt not just unprepared but ill-equipped to come face-to-face with Jackson now.

  When she’d decided to return to Pinehurst, she’d known it was inevitable that she would see him. But she hadn’t planned on seeing him when she was looking like this. She knew it shouldn’t matter, but when a woman was facing an ex-lover, she wanted to look her best. Unfortunately, she wasn’t even close.

  Those green eyes lifted to her face again. “Hello, Kelly.”

  Two simple words, but after so many years of silence, the achingly familiar voice was like a warm caress.

  Her heart was pounding inside of her chest, but she inclined her head and responded in a similarly casual tone. “Jackson.”

  His lips curved, just a little, and she suddenly remembered that no one else, aside from his mother, had ever called him “Jackson.” At least not more than once. But he’d never been Jack to Kelly—that name was too common, and Jackson was anything but. She had, occasionally, shortened his name to Jacks, but that seemed too familiar now.

  He shifted his attention to her daughter again. “You must be Ava.”

  The girl nodded, her gaze darting from her mother to Jackson and back again, as if she sensed the strange undercurrents between them.

  Kelly held her breath, waiting for any sign of recognition. But there wasn’t any. And why would there be? Unless Lukas had shared the occasional photos that she’d sent to him, Jackson had never seen her daughter before. But she’d thought he might see some of the familial resemblance that Kelly saw whenever she looked at her little girl.

  “I’m Jack Garrett, Luke’s brother.” He offered his hand.

  Kelly fought an almost irresistible urge to cry as she watched them shake hands. It broke her heart to see the distance between them, but what had she expected? It was her fault that neither of them knew the truth of their connection.

  Thirteen years ago, Jackson had been focused on his career above all else. He’d been clear that he had no interest in having a family, at least not any time in the near future. That was one of the reasons why Kelly had honestly believed she’d made the right decision. But she didn’t know what was right for any of them now.

  She wanted Ava to know her father, but only if Jackson was prepared to be a father. And she was afraid to finally reveal the secret she’d kept for so long because she knew that when she did, it was quite possible he would hate her—either for keeping his child from him for so many years...or for bringing her into his life now.

  “You seem surprised to see me,” Jackson said, speaking to Kelly again as they made their way toward the exit.

  Surprised was barely the tip of her emotional iceberg, so she only said, “I was expecting Lukas.”

  “He said he’d let you know that I’d be meeting you instead.”

  “Maybe he tried,” she admitted, taking her cell out of her purse. “I turned off my phone when we boarded the plane.”

  She powered it up now and heard the familiar chime that indicated a text message. But since it was written in Luke’s unique form of shorthand and without any punctuation, she had to read it twice before she figured out what it said.

  Srry kel ER at clinic cant meet u sending j instead will stop by ur plc if not 2 late

  Gee, thanks for the warning, Lukas.

  “I’m guessing that’s his message,” Jackson said, his voice tinged with humor as he popped the trunk of his car to load their suitcases.

  Of course he would find this amusing. He wasn’t the one who’d been blindsided by the change of plans.

  “You guessed right,” she agreed lightly, then slid into the soft leather passenger seat of his luxury sedan.

  Ava was already in the backseat with her mp3 player plugged in, leaving her mother to make conversation with Jackson. But Kelly didn’t know what to say. She’d known that she would see him again—but she hadn’t expected that he would be the first person she saw at the airport, and she mentally cursed Lukas again.

  Of course, he couldn’t know what he’d done. After all, he didn’t know that his brother was the only man she’d ever really loved.

  * * *

  Well, this is m
ore than a little awkward, Jack thought, as he pulled out onto the highway heading toward Pinehurst. He’d suspected that it would be, considering that the last time he’d seen Kelly, they’d both been naked. Which was definitely not something he should be thinking about right now—not under any circumstances and certainly not with her daughter in the backseat.

  He tightened his grip on the steering wheel, but the smooth, warm leather beneath his palms made him itch to feel the much softer, warmer texture of Kelly’s skin. Not that he really knew what her skin felt like—it was ridiculous to think that he could recall those kind of details after so much time had passed. So why was he convinced that her skin was softer than silk? Why did he remember that her body had responded not just willingly but eagerly to his touch? And why couldn’t he forget that, throughout that one weekend they’d spent together, he’d wished it would never end?

  Of course it had ended, and they’d gone their separate ways. Since then, they’d both married and divorced other people. The main difference being that Kelly had come out of her marriage with a child. He frowned, trying to remember the age of her daughter. For some reason, he couldn’t recall Luke ever mentioning that she was pregnant or that she’d had a baby. He’d just one day mentioned Kelly’s daughter as if the little girl had always existed.

  He glanced in his rearview mirror, confirming that Ava was tuned in to her music and tuned out to everything else.

  “She’s tall for her age, isn’t she?”

  Kelly seemed surprised by the comment—and a little wary. “How old do you think she is?”

  “Well, considering that you got married just over eleven years ago, I figured she couldn’t be more than ten.”

  “That’s a reasonable guess,” Kelly agreed, without actually confirming the accuracy of it. But before he could question her further, she spoke again. “Lukas said that the house I’m renting is next door to Matthew’s new place.”

  Jack nodded. “In fact, the house is owned by his mother-in-law, Charlotte Something-Something Branston.”

  “Something-Something?”