Men of Power
Get a grip, Kenzie, she told herself firmly; there would be plenty of time to think of the enormity of what was happening to her once she was alone later tonight.
‘How is your father now?’ Dominick asked lightly.
‘Much better,’ she answered a little impatiently. ‘Dominick, if you want to start hurling out those accusations now, it’s okay. I’m feeling less—stunned, than I was a few minutes ago,’ she assured him wryly.
‘I don’t—’ He shook his head, his face slightly pale beneath his tan. ‘I have no idea what to say,’ he finally acknowledged.
He knew that whatever he said in the next few minutes it was sure to be wrong!
‘That has to be a first,’ Kenzie murmured ruefully.
He shrugged. ‘All of this is a first for me.’
‘But you do want to know whether or not the baby is yours?’ Kenzie questioned.
Did he?
He wasn’t sure what he wanted. If Kenzie told him the baby definitely wasn’t his, then there would be no going back from that. Carlton was sure to want his baby, as well as Kenzie, and Dominick would have lost her for ever.
Whatever else their time together five weeks ago, and seeing her this evening had shown him, it was that he could no longer stand the thought of losing her. He couldn’t bear the thought of never being able to hold her, to talk to her, to laugh with her, ever again!
‘Don’t look so worried, Dominick,’ Kenzie derided as she saw his expression. ‘Whether or not this baby is yours, it isn’t going to affect you in the slightest—’
‘Don’t be so damned stupid, Kenzie!’ he rasped impatiently, thrusting his hands into his trouser pockets as he began to pace the room. ‘Of course it will affect me. It would be my son or daughter, for God’s sake!’ He frowned darkly.
She raised her dark brows. ‘And that would bother you?’
‘Of course it would bother me!’ He paused to glare at her. ‘Admittedly fatherhood isn’t something I ever thought about—’
‘Or wanted,’ Kenzie put in quietly, remembering just how badly he hadn’t wanted it—enough for it to end their marriage!
‘Or wanted,’ he accepted harshly. ‘But there is a distinct difference between talking about a mythical baby and being presented with a fait accompli!’
A fait accompli…
Was that how Dominick thought of the child she carried?
Her mouth tightened angrily. ‘Well, just put your mind completely at rest, Dominick, because this baby isn’t yours!’ In her mind it wasn’t, because knowing as she did how Dominick felt about the prospect of fatherhood, this baby was hers. Hers, and no one else’s.
Dominick felt as if all the air had been knocked out of his lungs and closed his eyes to block Kenzie out of his sight for the time it took him to regain his breath and fight down the nausea that rose up in his throat.
It wasn’t his baby!
He wanted to shout, to rage, to hit out at someone, anyone, as the disappointment and pain threatened to overwhelm him.
How he had wanted Kenzie’s baby to be his, how he had wanted Kenzie to come back to him.
And after the last five agonizing weeks of knowing he hated his life without her in it, he wouldn’t have cared if it had only been the existence of the baby that made her come back.
But now he had lost her for ever. There was no way she would ever want to come back to him when she was expecting another man’s baby.
He straightened, forcing himself back under control as he looked at her. ‘How do you think Carlton will feel about the baby?’ he asked through gritted teeth.
Kenzie gave a dismissive laugh. ‘I don’t really think that’s any of your business, Dominick.’
Maybe it wasn’t, but he wanted to know anyway!
Carlton was shallow and selfish, and at forty-two had so far managed to avoid making a long-term commitment to any woman. And if Carlton didn’t want Kenzie—
What was he thinking now?
That if Carlton didn’t want her or the baby, maybe he could persuade Kenzie into coming back to him?
Kenzie decided she had had enough for one night, and needed to get away from Dominick, as far away as possible, in order to consider what she was going to do next.
‘I think—’ She broke off as a loud knocking sounded on the outer door.
‘Masters, open the damn door!’ Jerome shouted to accompany the knock. ‘I know Kenzie is still in there and I want to talk to her!’ he added as he rapped on the door again.
‘No, don’t bother to answer,’ Kenzie told Dominick as he turned grimly to reach for the handle. ‘I’m going back downstairs, anyway,’ she announced lightly.
‘Kenzie…?’ Dominick questioned in surprise.
She stopped to give him a derisive smile. ‘I told you not to worry about it, Dominick,’ she said softly. ‘I’m a big girl now, and more than capable of looking after myself and my baby, if the need arises.’
His mouth tightened. ‘I’ll kill him if he doesn’t accept his responsibility—’
‘And what would that achieve?’ she asked.
‘It would make me feel a whole lot better!’ he snapped.
‘I have no idea why.’ Kenzie still smiled. ‘Haven’t you forgotten that you left Caroline on her own downstairs?’ she reminded him ruefully.
‘Caroline definitely is a big girl who can take care of herself!’ he dismissed without concern.
‘Kenzie, are you in there?’ Jerome was rattling the door handle now.
‘I really do have to go,’ Kenzie told Dominick firmly. ‘I—thank you for all your help earlier this evening,’ she added briskly.
‘You still haven’t had anything to eat,’ Dominick pressed impatiently.
‘I’ll order something downstairs,’ she assured him. ‘I—goodbye, Dominick.’ She gave him one last shaky smile before leaving.
Just as if he were a stranger she had to offer polite thanks to, Dominick fumed once left on his own.
Was that what he was going to become to her in future? Would she marry Carlton once their own divorce was final, and so be lost to him for ever?
Could he really just stand by and let that happen?
Did he have a choice?
Yes, of course he had a choice. Kenzie had loved him once, maybe it wasn’t too late for her to feel that way again.
Unlike five and a half months ago, he wasn’t going to give her up without a fight…!
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
‘WHAT are you doing here, Dominick?’ Kenzie stared at him in amazement the next morning when she answered the doorbell of the apartment she rented while working in New York, and found him standing outside in the hallway. ‘More to the point,’ she added with a frown, ‘how did you know where I was staying?’
Dominick looked less than his sartorially elegant self this morning, she thought, taking in his appearance. His dark hair was brushed back carelessly, his face was unshaven, and the shirt and jeans he wore looked as if he might have slept in them. If he had slept at all; the dark shadows beneath his eyes cast doubts upon that assumption.
He shrugged his broad shoulders. ‘I asked Caroline—’
‘And she just told you my New York address, did she?’ Kenzie snapped sarcastically.
He smiled slightly. ‘Along with a few words of abuse, yes!’
That wasn’t too difficult to imagine considering the ridiculous accusation Caroline had made to Kenzie in the powder room the evening before about Dominick still being enthralled with her!
‘What do you want, Dominick?’ she queried guardedly, aware that Jerome was due to arrive any minute—probably to finish the argument they had begun once all the other guests had gone the evening before.
Dominick hadn’t come back downstairs to the party the previous evening, and Kenzie could only conclude that was because he had had no wish to see her again after learning of her pregnancy.
Considering her own state of bemusement, Kenzie had just felt thankful that she didn’t have to face him again, making sure she ate some food before renewing her role as the Carlton Cosmetics face, cheerfully brushing off the other guests’ curiosity about her earlier collapse with the explanation that she ‘must be getting a cold’. It was a lame excuse, but it was the best she had been able to come up with at the time!
Although Jerome had had plenty to say about it once all the guests had left…
Her mouth tightened as she remembered the argument that had ensued.
‘Dominick?’ she prompted sharply.
He shrugged, not really sure what he was doing here, except that he had wanted to see how Kenzie was this morning. After she had spoken to Carlton last night…‘I had a breakfast meeting, so I thought I would call to see how you are…?’
‘I’m fine,’ Kenzie answered warily, still eyeing his appearance with knit brows.
Dominick’s mouth twisted wryly as he easily guessed the reason for that, but he hadn’t been too concerned with impressing the person he had met for breakfast, hence his casual appearance.
He grimaced. ‘I was also curious to know how Carlton took your news—Kenzie? You haven’t told him yet, have you?’ he realized slowly as she suddenly avoided meeting his gaze.
She sighed. ‘Not yet, no,’ she confirmed quietly. ‘It wasn’t exactly the right time last night,’ she defended.
Dominick continued to stare at her. ‘And what would you consider the right time to inform a man he’s going to be a father?’ He winced inwardly, thinking how just saying the words out loud felt as if he were beating himself with a stick!
Maybe if he kept saying it he would finally come to believe it was true!
He had spent a sleepless night pacing up and down his hotel suite trying to decide what to do next. One thing he was certain of was that he had to do something, and he knew that he couldn’t just walk away from Kenzie without telling her how he felt. He owed her that much, at least.
She looked beautiful this morning, with her face bare of make-up, and her long hair pulled back in a pony-tail, wearing a bright pink tee shirt and faded figure-hugging jeans.
‘Can I come in?’ he prompted at her lack of reply. ‘I could use a cup of coffee.’
Kenzie didn’t want to invite him in; she didn’t see the point of doing that. They had nothing left to say to each other.
Besides, Jerome was due to arrive at any moment, and the last thing she needed was for the two men to meet at her apartment. She was as unsure of Dominick’s mood this morning as she had been last night, but one thing she was certain of was if the two men met Dominick was sure to challenge the other man over Kenzie’s pregnancy.
And Jerome knew he couldn’t be the father of her baby!
‘There isn’t any point in your coming in, Dominick,’ she told him firmly, making no effort to relax her grip on the door as she kept him standing outside her apartment. ‘I’m—going out later, anyway,’ she added dismissively, not lying about that. She was flying back to England later on today…
‘To talk to Carlton?’ he probed.
She sighed her impatience. ‘Again, that isn’t any of your business, Dominick—’
‘I’m making it my business,’ he told her determinedly, easily pushing his way past her, into the apartment. ‘You may not like it, Kenzie, but the fact is, you’re still my wife, and—’
‘If that’s all that’s bothering you, then sign the damn divorce papers and let’s finish this once and for all!’ she came back angrily, aware of the minutes ticking away.
If Dominick did challenge the other man over her pregnancy, then there was no way it wouldn’t come out that Jerome couldn’t possibly be the father of her baby!
Leaving only Dominick as a possible candidate…the man who had made it only too plain last night that he considered any child, his or anyone else’s, as a ‘responsibility’.
‘And so leaving you free to marry Carlton!’ Dominick snarled.
‘This conversation is becoming extremely tiresome, Dominick.’ She sighed impatiently.
‘Don’t you think he’ll ask you?’ Dominick felt goaded into challenging.
‘Perhaps it doesn’t really matter whether he asks me or not!’
Kenzie snapped back.
‘And what the hell does that mean?’ Dominick frowned darkly.
She shrugged. ‘I’m rich, I’m independent, and having a baby on my own at this stage in my life really isn’t going to be that much of a problem for me!’
No, Dominick had already worked that much out for himself during those hours of pacing his hotel suite the night before.
No doubt her family, her extremely loving close-knit family, would form ranks about her too.
‘Look, Kenzie—’ he ran an agitated hand through the dark thickness of his already tousled hair ‘—I didn’t come here to argue with you—’
‘No? Then what did you come here for?’ she snapped. ‘Because hard as I try, Dominick, I really can’t see what any of this has to do with you!’ She glared at him, twin wings of colour in her cheeks.
God, she was so beautiful it almost brought him to his knees, Dominick realized, feeling a deep ache within his body.
She looked even more slender today, emphasizing the fragility he had sensed in her last night, and without any make-up and her hair pulled back she appeared to be incredibly vulnerable.
He couldn’t bear the thought of her trying to bring a child up on her own. Even if that child wasn’t his.
‘I came—’ He broke off, swallowing hard. ‘I came because I just can’t stay away from you!’ he finally managed to get out, knowing by the confusion on Kenzie’s face that she was as puzzled by the admission as he had been at about three o’clock this morning when he had acknowledged the painful fact to himself.
He really had been a fool five and a half months ago when he had let Kenzie walk away from him. And he didn’t care if she was pregnant with Carlton’s baby—he would be a fool all over again if he just let her go out of his life a second time!
Kenzie shook her head. ‘I don’t understand you, Dominick…’
‘No,’ he accepted ruefully, ‘I don’t suppose you do. I’ve been having a little trouble understanding myself lately. But—’ he drew in a ragged breath before continuing ‘—Kenzie, if things don’t work out between you and Carlton I want you to know—’ The strident ringing of the doorbell interrupted him.
‘That will be Jerome,’ Kenzie told him hurriedly, feeling more confused than ever this morning by Dominick’s lack of anger and derision. ‘Dominick—’
‘I’m not leaving, Kenzie,’ he told her firmly. ‘If you would prefer to talk to Carlton in private, then I’ll go through to the kitchen or something, but I—I haven’t finished talking to you myself yet. I’m not leaving,’ he repeated decisively, the stubborn look on his face telling her that he meant what he said.
Dominick was different today, she realized, frowning as she had a sudden insight into what that difference was.
That ‘ice man’ that had been such a part of their argument five and a half months ago wasn’t there…
The cold implacability of five weeks ago wasn’t there…
Quite what that meant she wasn’t sure, but surely it did mean something?
And what did he want her to know if things didn’t work out between Jerome and herself…?
‘Jerome isn’t going to like your being here.’ She sighed, knowing that didn’t bother her unduly; Jerome had been less than his charming self last night as he had berated her for disappearing with Dominick in the way that she had—as if she had had any choice in the matter!—and she could only expect more of the same from him this morning.
‘I don’t give a—’ Dominick broke off, drawing in a deeply controlling breath before continuing, ‘Jerome Carlton’s likes or dislikes are of absolutely no interest to me,’ he dismissed derisively.
‘You’re the one that’s important, Kenzie,’ he added intently. ‘You, and what you really want.’
He had reasoned last night that the Kenzie he knew couldn’t have made love with him at Bedforth Manor in the way that she had if she was in love with another man. But did that mean that she had been in love with him then?
Kenzie continued to look at him for several searching seconds, giving an impatient groan as the doorbell shrilled out for a second time. ‘Okay, Dominick, stay,’ she accepted as she moved towards the door. ‘But—oh, never mind!’ she dismissed as she gave up on the idea of requesting that there not be any more arguments.
Dominick and Jerome argued every time they met, so why should today be any different?
‘Kenzie!’
‘Yes?’ She turned back wearily, her eyes widening as Dominick strode forcefully across the room, his hands gentle as they moved up to cradle each side of her face as he looked down at her intently.
‘Do you want to marry Carlton?’ he asked huskily.
Kenzie closed her eyes to avoid the intensity of his gaze, knowing that she had misled him last night when she had told Dominick the baby she carried wasn’t his.
‘Kenzie, please!’ he encouraged gruffly. ‘Baby or not, do you want to marry Carlton?’
‘Baby or not’…?
What did Dominick mean?
‘Kenzie, for God’s sake open your eyes and look at me!’ he encouraged emotionally.
She raised her lids at last, looking deep into his eyes, searching, seeing—seeing—
What did she see…?
Something she didn’t recognize. Something she had thought she would never see in Dominick’s eyes. Something that made her breath catch in her throat.
‘No,’ she breathed shakily. ‘No, I don’t want to marry Jerome,’ she admitted softly.
Dominick continued to examine her for several long seconds, just touching her like this making his hands tremble. ‘Good,’ he finally murmured. ‘Because there is another alternative to marrying Carlton or bringing the baby up on your own.’
‘There is…?’ She frowned in confusion, still staring at him.
Dominick gave a rueful smile. ‘It may not be one you want to take, but—I want you to know it’s there nonetheless.’ He drew in a ragged breath before continuing. ‘You could stay married to me.’
Her eyes widened. ‘But—’
‘I should go and let Carlton in before he breaks the door down,’ he encouraged, releasing her from his grip as Jerome thundered on the door again.
Kenzie was stunned, moving to answer the door as if in a daze, not absolutely sure what Dominick was saying to her, or why he was saying it.
Just as she wasn’t certain what emotion she had seen in Dominick’s eyes a few minutes ago, only knowing what her first instinct had been.
Love.
Bright.
Shining.
Intense.
Love…?
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
SHE must have been mistaken, Kenzie had convinced herself by the time she got to the door. Dominick didn’t love anyone; he wouldn’t allow himself to love anyone. Least of all her.
But if he didn’t love her then why had he told her, when he believed she was expecting another man’s baby, that she had the option of staying married to him…?
‘About time,’ Jerome snapped as she finally opened the door. He looked his usual suave self this morning in a dark suit and pale blue shirt with a neatly knotted blue and navy striped tie. ‘What the hell do you mean by—’
‘Would you come through to the sitting room, Jerome?’ Kenzie made the request an order. ‘I’m not accustomed to having conversations out in the hallway for everyone to hear.’
He scowled his displeasure. ‘Maybe if you hadn’t kept me waiting outside for ten minutes—’
‘It was hardly ten minutes—’
‘You—’
‘I should accept Kenzie’s invitation if I were you, Carlton,’ Dominick growled from the doorway into the sitting room. ‘My own would be far less polite!’
Jerome turned sharply to look at the other man, his gaze narrowing. ‘I should have known! Spent the night, did you, Masters?’ he taunted before giving Kenzie a derisive smile.
Kenzie felt her cheeks pale, having seen Jerome in a very different light last night.
‘Whether or not I spent the night with my own wife is none of your damned business!’ Dominick told Jerome harshly as he moved protectively to Kenzie’s side, touching her arm lightly as he did so. ‘Why don’t we all go through to the other room and try to be civilized about this?’ he prompted softly as he felt Kenzie tremble.
This sort of scene couldn’t be good for her in her condition, he realized crossly. His presence here was probably making the situation worse, he acknowledged regretfully, at the same time knowing that he couldn’t be anywhere else, that wherever Kenzie was in future was where he wanted to be too…
‘Civilized?’ Jerome Carlton repeated scornfully as he strode forcefully into the adjoining room. ‘You made sure there was no possibility of that when you bought control of my company!’
‘Of the family-controlled company,’ Dominick corrected pointedly, at the same time maintaining his hold on Kenzie’s arm.
‘Yes, my family,’ the other man said. ‘And now you’re the one calling the shots!’
Kenzie looked at the two men in frustration before moving away from Dominick to sit down in one of the armchairs.
All she had wanted to do this morning was smooth things over with Jerome before leaving New York to go back to England, away from both men. Instead the two of them were having an argument in her apartment, like stags clashing antlers!
An inevitable argument, she accepted. But she wished they could have chosen somewhere else to have it!
Dominick thrust his hands into his jeans pockets. ‘And what if I’m not?’ he challenged softly.
‘Not what?’ Jerome came retorted.
‘The one calling the shots,’ Dominick said mildly.
Kenzie looked at him in confusion, not understanding him any more than Jerome obviously did as he gave a disbelieving snort.
‘Are you telling me that although you’re now the major shareholder of Carlton Cosmetics you have no intention of interfering with my running of the company?’ he said sceptically.
Dominick looked at the other man with mocking eyes. ‘No, I’m not saying that at all—’
‘I didn’t think so!’ Jerome Carlton snapped.
‘Carlton, if you were any good at running the company then it would never have got into the difficulties it did a couple of years ago—’
‘We got through that,’ the other man defended.
‘Only because you sold off forty-nine per cent of the shares and then contracted Kenzie to be your new face,’ Dominick said provocatively. ‘Your father built up the company, but since he retired five years ago and left it to your management it’s been going steadily downhill—’
‘That’s a lie!’ the older man came back angrily.
‘It’s the truth,’ Dominick insisted quietly. ‘You may be the eldest son and heir, but of Jack Carlton’s two sons you aren’t the one who should have been running Carlton Cosmetics the last five years.’
Jerome snorted. ‘You think my little brother Adrian could have done better?’
‘From the enquiries I’ve made, I know he could,’ Dominick assured him grimly. ‘I take it you haven’t spoken to your brother this morning?’ he added mildly.
‘To Adrian?’ the other man questioned in surprise. ‘Why would I have?’
Yes, why would he? Kenzie wondered, mesmerized by this conversation in spite of herself.
Until the last few weeks she had only ever known Jerome as the charming sophisticate he chose to show, but having witnessed his behaviour last night and this morning she knew he was anything but that. Now he seemed to be nothing but a blustering bully who was completely outclassed by the calmly controlled Dominick.
The two men were so different in looks too, Jerome with all his golden boyish good looks, and Dominick so dark and brooding, but of the two Kenzie knew which one she had always preferred. There was simply no contest!
Although Dominick had always refused to believe that.
Did he still believe that…?
Their conversation before she had answered the door to Jerome seemed to imply otherwise.
‘I had breakfast with Adrian this morning,’ Dominick informed them both. ‘We had a very interesting meeting, and I believe when you next speak to him you will find that he is in possession of an extra fifty-one per cent of Carlton Cosmetics shares and as the major shareholder is now completely empowered to run the company as he sees fit.’