Summer Secrets - Barbara Freethy [96]
"What are you doing here?" Caroline demanded.
Kate was so stunned by her sister's appearance she could barely speak. "I -- I wanted to talk to Mike. I didn't know you were here."
"About me? You wanted to talk to him about me?"
"Get dressed. I'm taking you home." Kate glared at Mike, daring him to try and stop her, but he didn't say a word.
"I'm not twelve, Kate. I'll go home when I want to," Caroline snapped. "And I'd like you to leave."
"What?" Kate asked in shock.
"You heard me. I want you to leave."
"Not without you. I'm not leaving you here with him."
"I'm fine."
"You don't look fine. You look like someone who knocked back a liquor store last night."
Caroline uttered a bitter laugh. "You don't know anything."
"I know this is not a good place for you to be."
"Mike is my friend."
"She's too young for you. What are you doing with her?" Kate demanded of Mike.
"That's her business and mine," he said quietly but firmly.
"I know what I'm doing, Kate. You have to trust me."
"It's him I don't trust," Kate said, tipping her head in Mike's direction.
"He won't hurt me."
"He already has. Look at your arms."
"I told you I banged my arm. For God's sake, Kate, would you just leave? I'll call you later, or I'll come by the bookstore, just go now. Go," Caroline added, with a pleading smile. "Trust me to take care of myself."
Kate did not want to leave without her sister, but what could she do? "You better not hurt her," Kate said fiercely. "Because if you do, I will come after you."
Mike didn't reply, just tipped his head in acknowledgment. Kate hesitated, then turned and ran up the stairs. Once on the dock, she stopped, debating her options. If she stayed nearby, she could hear Caroline if she called for help. Would she even call for help? Caroline certainly didn't want her interference. But, if she left, she'd be worrying the rest of the day.
As she paced back and forth on the narrow dock, she saw a man approaching her -- K.C. Just when she thought her day couldn't get any worse.
"If you wanted to take a closer look, why didn't you just ask?" K.C. said as he stopped in front of her.
"What are you talking about?"
"I'd be happy to give you a tour, Katie. I'm sure you're curious."
It was then that Kate realized the Moon Dancer was just a few slips down. She'd been so preoccupied with following Mike that she hadn't noticed until now. "I didn't come here to see you or the Moon Dancer." Although, now that she was here, maybe she should find out what K.C. was up to.
"Have it your way," he said, walking past her.
"Wait. I did want to ask you something."
K.C. smiled as he turned back to face her. "I thought as much."
"Why are you really here? Why did you buy our boat and have the sails remade in exactly the same design? I'm sure that wasn't a coincidence."
"I bought the Moon Dancer because I wanted it, because your mother and I designed that boat in our heads long before she and Duncan decided to have it built. It was always meant to be mine -- like so many other things that Duncan stole from me."
She drew in a shaky breath. "I assume you mean my mother."
"Nora belonged to me. He knew that."
"My mother went where she wanted to go," Kate countered. "And the three of you were friends. I remember you being at every important occasion in our family until my mother died. Why would you have been there if you hated my father so much?"
K.C. sent her a steady, assessing look. "That was because of you, Katie."
Her heart stopped. He couldn't mean what he was implying.
"I thought you were my daughter," he added, confirming her worst fear.
"But it wasn't true." She made sure the words were a statement and not a question, but she was still holding her breath as she waited for his answer.
"No, it wasn't true," he said finally and seemingly with regret. "Nora had told me that all along. But I had reasonable doubt. We'd both slept with her within the same critical