Читать книгу Bachelor Unforgiving - Brenda Jackson - Страница 14

Chapter 4

“Well, he certainly said a mouthful,” Virgil said moments later, breaking the silence in the room.

“And I can understand his concern.” Kara pushed back her chair and stood. “But I’m sure you and I will handle ourselves as the professionals that we are. What happened to end our relationship was unfortunate. It was a mistake on my part. I apologized. You didn’t accept my apology. There’s nothing I can do about that but move on and not worry about it. And I have.”

She saw Virgil’s body tighten as he gazed up at her. “Did you really expect me to accept your apology?”

She shrugged. “Don’t know why you wouldn’t. It was made in all sincerity. I admitted I was wrong. My conscience is clear.”

He frowned as he stood, as well. “Your conscience is clear? I don’t see how it can be,” he said in a gruff voice.

Kara couldn’t help but study the features of the man standing before her. He was handsome to the point where the word eye candy just wouldn’t do him justice. But as she stared into his brown eyes, she saw something that made her swallow hard. His inability to forgive. It was there in the dark depths of the eyes gazing back at her, letting her know he was barely tolerating her presence.

“Well, let me tell you how that can be, Virgil,” Kara said, staring him down. Frankly, she was sick and tired of his attitude. He acted as if he was the only one who’d suffered from Marti’s lie.

“I am human. I make mistakes. Big and small. We all do. We also trust and believe in people that we should not. I did. I took Marti’s word over yours. Something I will regret doing for the rest of my life. I loved you and—”

“No,” Virgil said angrily. “There’s no way in hell you can convince me that you loved me. No woman could love a man one minute and then assume the worse of him the next. You only thought you loved me.”

She stared at him, knowing it would be a waste of her time to try to convince him otherwise. In his eyes, a woman who loved a man would not have believed the worst of him. But regardless of what he thought, she had loved him.

“I apologized to you, Virgil. But you didn’t accept it. Great. Fine. That’s your prerogative. Mine is to keep moving and keep living. I can’t let your inability to forgive hang over my head. There’s more to life than living in the past.”

She paused a moment and then in a calmer voice said, “I’ll start work immediately on a plan of action for your image makeover. I’ll call you once it’s completed so we can meet to discuss it.”

With nothing else to say, she turned and walked out of the office.

* * *

Virgil’s body stiffened in anger when the door clicked shut behind Kara. She had a lot of nerve. That was all fine and dandy that she could keep moving and keep living; he could make the same claim. But what she failed to take into account was what her belief in her sister’s lie had done to him. Had done to them. And he couldn’t help noticing she hadn’t refuted his words when he said she’d only assumed she loved him. In not doing so, she’d all but admitted he’d been merely an infatuation. That thought angered him even more.

There’s more to life than living in the past. Upon remembering Kara’s words, it took every ounce of control he had not to go after her and let her know that although he wasn’t living in the past, it was the past he’d shared with her that had shaped him into the man he was today. A man determined not to let any woman get close to his heart again. A man who’d been taught there was no such thing as the perfect love. A man who enjoyed being physically involved but emotionally detached from women.

She would never know how she’d nearly destroyed him four years ago. For months he hadn’t been able to eat, sleep or function like a sane person. It was only when his godbrothers had talked him into taking one of those singles cruises with them that he’d returned to the land of the living. It had taken him almost a full year to get over Kara, put her behind him. And in doing so, he’d developed an entirely new agenda and game plan when it came to women. He refused to love one, and he lusted for plenty.

And she thought she could wipe the slate clean with just an apology?

Virgil shoved his hands into his pockets as he walked over to the window and looked out. And now they would be working together to improve his image. How crazy was that? He rubbed his hand down his face. There’s more to life than living in the past.

He forced his mind to rethink Kara’s words, this time with deeper meaning and clarity. Maybe by carrying all this bitterness inside of him the way he had, he was living in the past, not letting go of what she had done.

Forgiving didn’t mean forgetting. Nor did it mean reconciliation. What they once shared could never be regained. She was totally and completely out of his heart now, so wasn’t it time he acted like it? There was no reason why they could not deal with each other on the professional level his father had alluded to. It wasn’t about him or her but all about Bougard Enterprises.

Virgil figured one day he would eventually marry, especially since he needed heirs to continue the Bougard legacy. And when he did, it wouldn’t be for love. Thanks to Kara Goshay he would know better the next time.

* * *

“Your father is on line one, Ms. Goshay.”

Kara released a frustrated sigh but couldn’t stop the smile that touched her lips. She figured since her mother’s attempt to bring an end to her strained relationship with Marti had failed, Lydia had called in the big guns. Namely Byron Goshay. Kara had always been a daddy’s girl and proud of it. Her father adored both of his daughters, but there had always been a special bond between the two of them.

“Put him through, please.”

Leaning back in her chair, she waited for the connection while recalling her conversation with her mother when she returned her call yesterday. It was a discussion that hadn’t gone over well. Lydia tried shifting the blame to Kara, saying she was allowing a man to come between her and her sister. She felt Kara should make up with Marti now that her sister was under a doctor’s care for stress and anxiety attacks.

Kara had gotten royally pissed. She sympathized with whatever Marti was going through, but what about those four years Kara had suffered, thinking the man she loved had betrayed her? What about the stress she’d gone through? The heartbreak? The pain? How could one sister do that to another?

“Kara? How’s my girl?”

The sound of her father’s voice chased away the anger. She smiled. “I’m fine, Dad. What about you?”

“I’m doing okay. Looking forward to retirement in a few years. Just waiting for my daughters to pay off their student loans so they can take care of their old man.”

Kara shook her head. “Our student loans are paid off. Besides, you wouldn’t accept a handout from me or Marti even if your life depended on it.”

She heard her father’s chuckle. “True.”

He then paused, and she knew what was coming when she detected him shifting to a more serious mode. “Your mom talked to me last night about the ongoing situation between you and Marti.”

“And?”

“And I think we need to have a family powwow. A sort of bonding session. I’d like to fly both you and Marti home for the weekend.”

As if flying out to San Francisco would magically make things better. “It won’t do any good, Dad.”

“Sweetheart, Marti’s your sister.”

So now her father was taking that approach? She couldn’t stop the flare of anger. “Yes, and my sister deliberately sabotaged my relationship with the man I loved.”

There was another pause. “I just want my daughters back together. I feel our family is breaking apart.”

“Don’t blame me, Dad.”

“Of course I don’t blame you.”

Kara was glad to hear that. “Mom did.”

“Lydia should not have said that. I told her we needed to stay out of it and let you and Marti handle things. But I guess she saw that wasn’t happening and figured she needed to step in. But that’s no reason to blame you. You didn’t ask for what Marti did. Have you seen Virgil and told him the truth?”

“Yes, for what good that did. I apologized but he didn’t accept my apology. I can’t blame him to be honest with you. I said some mean things to him back then. I think now he hates me more than ever.”

“Sorry to hear that. I tried calling him to apologize, as well. He’s changed his number from the one I had.”

Kara lifted a brow. “Why would you need to apologize?”

“Because after the two of you broke up and Marti told me what he did, I called him and said a lot of not-so-nice things to him.”

Kara’s eyes closed for a minute. Her sister’s lie had caused more damage than Kara had realized. “I didn’t know,” she said softly. Her father had liked Virgil a lot, and vice versa. Getting such a call from her father had probably only added to Virgil’s anger. “Why didn’t you tell me?”

“At the time I felt there was no reason to tell you. I thought he had hurt you and that was all I needed to know. Now I feel bad about what I said.”

Welcome to the club. “That’s okay, Dad. Like I said, Virgil is not in a forgiving mood right now anyway.”

“So there’s no chance the two of you can patch things up and get back together?”

Kara shook her head as she recalled Virgil’s words. Without trust, love is nothing and you proved what we shared was nothing.

“No, Dad. There’s no way Virgil and I will ever get back together.”

The finality of what she’d just said overwhelmed her and she knew she had to end the call with her father before he detected anything. “I’ve got a ton of things to do,” she said softly. “Goodbye, Dad. I love you.”

“I love you, too, cupcake.”

It was only after he clicked off his phone and she clicked off hers that she gave in to her tears.