New and…Improved? & Andrew in Excess Read online

  “No. I know he cares about me, but that’s not the same thing as love. And I don’t want him to feel obligated to keep a wife and child he doesn’t want.”

  “Kat girl, maybe I’m not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but he did marry you, and it was specifically so you could make a baby.”

  “Exactly. Making a baby and keeping a baby-there’s just a tad of a difference between the two. Remember the contract you helped draft? Both Andrew and I were so up-front about everything up until now. I feel I’m not holding up my end of the bargain. I feel deceitful.”

  “Are you pregnant?”

  “Too soon to tell.”

  Jackson passed a weary hand over his eyes. “Perhaps he’s not as eager to give up this child as you think.”

  “What makes you say that?” It wasn’t as if Andrew and Jackson were confidants.

  “Just talk to Andrew about it.” Guilt washed his face.

  Suspicion unfurled and spread through her. “No, I think you and I will talk right now.”

  “What the hell. I knew this day would come, I just thought it’d be a lot later than sooner.”

  Kat had the same queasiness in the pit of her stomach coupled with calm dread that she’d experienced when the FBI had raided her home looking for Nick.

  “Spit it out, Jackson.”

  “There’s a clause in your contract that gives Andrew the right to name the baby as his heir. You know how Andrew feels about family heritage. I thought it was in your and the baby’s best interest.”

  Betrayal slapped her in the face.

  “Are men genetically incapable of trustworthiness? Or have I just managed to surround myself with jerks? Since you obviously have all the answers, maybe you can tell me.”

  “Kat-”

  “It doesn’t matter.” She yanked money out of her purse and threw it on the table. “I’ve lost my appetite.”

  She jumped up, cutting him off. If she could just reach the sanctuary of her car before the threatening tears flooded.

  “Kat, let’s talk about this-” Jackson trailed her out of the restaurant.

  “I don’t want to talk to you, Jackson. Not for a long time.” She threw off his restraining hand. “But I can’t wait to get my hands on that low-down, conniving, back-stabbing husband of mine.”

  She slammed the door and threw the car into reverse. Jackson jumped out of the way.

  Andrew, the vegetarian, would be dead meat when she got through with him.

  ANDREW TURNED INTO his driveway. After his meeting with A.W., he’d instructed Gloria to clear his calendar for the rest of the day. A drive out to the beach house and miles of walking the shoreline of the gray Atlantic hadn’t come close to clearing his head.

  Logically, there should be no choice. He either went with a lifelong goal-his heritage-or a woman he’d known for the span of less than a month.

  He parked Gertrude in the garage-hell, he was even calling his car by that ridiculous name these days-and noticed Kat’s station wagon packed with boxes. Probably that summer art program she’d been planning.

  He let himself into the house. Something felt different. His in-laws had left. Perhaps that accounted for the odd atmosphere he sensed.

  He started down the tiled hallway, loosening his tie, and called out, “Kat?”

  A noise in the den caught his attention. Sheer instinct guided him to duck to the right as something flew past his head. Glass crashed against the wall behind him. “What the…?”

  Another Waterford tumbler sailed past his head. Thank God she had terrible aim.

  “Kat? What’s wrong?”

  She looked like absolute hell. Her eyes were red and swollen, and she could have doubled for Rudolph in a Christmas play. She’d either indulged in a crying jag or developed a severe allergy.

  “You double-crossing, belly-crawling snake.” His allergy theory flew past with another piece of crystal.

  “Can you stop throwing glass long enough to talk?” Surely today would go down in his personal history as the worst day of his life.

  “Talk? You want to talk?” Kat stalked around him like a prizefighter biding time on a punch. “That would be an exercise in futility, considering I can’t believe a word that comes out of your mouth.”

  Andrew slumped onto the sofa, tasting bitter regret. His day of reckoning had arrived. How she’d found out didn’t matter. “The contract. I’m sorry, Kat. I wanted to talk to you about it. I’d planned to last night.”

  Stubborn hurt etched her face as she sneered, “How convenient my mother and stepfather dropped in. But what about before? I trusted you. I thought if there was one thing this ridiculous marriage had going for it, it was that we’d been totally honest with each other. I can’t believe that, once again, I’ve allowed myself to be played for a fool.”

  “It was never my intent to play you for a fool. I’m sorry. And I don’t think our marriage is ridiculous. We can work through this.”

  “There’s nothing to work through. And don’t worry, I know you’re still waiting on your partnership. I’ll uphold my end of the bargain until it comes through. We should know within a week whether I’m pregnant. If I am, I’ll fight you on that contract. If not, well…that’s the end of that.”

  “Where are you going?”

  “I’m not sure yet. And it’s really none of your business.”

  Desperation swelled at the thought of not knowing where she was or how to get in touch with her. She was already so angry with him, he’d go one step further if it meant keeping her nearby. “Go to the beach house.” As her mouth opened in sure protest, he continued, “It’s hardly ever used. At least I can tell everyone you wanted to spend the week at the beach instead of that you left me. Don’t forget your end of the bargain on my partnership.” And you may very well be carrying our child. Her lips tightened, but she didn’t throw anything else, thank God.

  “Okay. But I don’t want to see you.”

  “I won’t bother you there.”

  “That doesn’t mean squat. I just found out today how much your word can be trusted.”

  Andrew didn’t try to defend himself. He could try to build a case for his deception, but there was no way around it. Motive aside, he had deceived her. He took the beach-house key off his key ring and placed it on the coffee table.

  “The freezer’s fairly well stocked, but you’ll need to pick up some fresh things.” He squared his shoulders against the onslaught of loneliness that her leaving would precipitate. Hadn’t this been inevitable from the start? When had he begun to hope that it might be different? “Do you need any help with loading anything in your car?”

  “No. I’ll send for the big stuff in a few weeks. I’ll clean up the glass and then I’m gone.”

  “Don’t worry about it. I’ll clean it up.” He felt so goddamned guilty about her red swollen eyes he’d walk barefoot through the pieces if it would atone for his deception.

  “Okay.” She scooped Toto up from his perch on the love seat and swept past Andrew.

  “Kat.”

  She slowly faced him, bitter hurt behind the anger sparking her eyes.

  “Take care of yourself.”

  Without a word she turned and walked out of the room. Moments later, he heard the door slam.

  Had she just walked out of his life as well?

  10

  STUPID. STUPID. STUPID.

  Kat loaded a mass of peanut butter onto a slice of whole wheat bread and slapped it on another piece laden with jelly. She bit into the sandwich and stared out the window at the waves beating against the shore. Life was at a low ebb when a PBJ brought no joy.

  Who was she kidding? All the flipping misery and public humiliation meted out by Nick’s embezzlement and defection had been child’s play compared to finding out she couldn’t trust Andrew.

  And then to turn around and agree to spend a week at the beach house-of all the idiotic things to do. Everywhere she looked, memories assaulted her. She’d proposed to Andrew in this very r