But the following morning, with the first feeble rays of sunrise creeping over the sky, Penny had opened her eyes to find Colt standing beside the bed. He was dressed and packed and the expression on his face was grim. Her heart sank and then shattered when he spoke.
“I’m not the marrying kind, Penny.” He pushed one hand through his hair, huffed out an exasperated breath and continued. “Last night was...a mistake. I don’t want a wife. I don’t want kids. Picket fences and the family dog give me hives. This week was nice and the sex was great, but that’s all we share.”
When she tried to speak, he cut her off with a negligent wave of his hand. “I’ll have my lawyer take care of the divorce.”
Finally, one word slipped past the tight knot in her throat. “Divorce?”
“It’s best. For both of us.” He slung his duffel bag over his shoulder, gave her one last look and said, “I’ll have the papers sent to you. Goodbye, Penny.”
And he was gone.
As if their incredible week together had never happened. As if he hadn’t spent every waking moment learning every square inch of her body. As if it was all...nothing.
She could hardly be expected to have warm, fuzzy feelings for him after that, right? And the hot, undulating need she felt was not the same thing at all.
“Oh, this is so not good.”
“Ready to go?” A nurse she’d never seen before popped into the room pushing an empty wheelchair and Penny should have been delighted. But her short trip down memory lane had sort of put a damper on her emotions. Now the time was here. She was leaving the expensive-but-slightly-safer atmosphere of the hospital for her home, where Colton would be showing up, and there was no time left to hide. Nowhere she could run.
But as that thought rose up in her mind, she remembered that scene in the Vegas hotel room again and instinctively stiffened her shoulders. Why should she run? She’d done nothing wrong. She’d only protected her kids from the same heartache she had experienced. She wouldn’t stand by and see their little hearts break when their daddy walked away from them without a backward glance.
“Yes,” she said, lifting her chin, already preparing for the battle she knew was coming. “I’m ready.”
Or as ready as she would ever be.
The efficient nurse pushed her down the hall to the elevator and from there down a long hall headed for the lobby and the wide front doors. As they passed the billing office, Penny turned her head to look up at the nurse. “I’m sorry, but I still have to make financial arrangements and—”
“Oh, sweetie, that’s been taken care of.”
“What?”
The nurse smiled down at her, clearly not registering the look of shock carved into Penny’s features.
“Your husband took care of all of that this morning. He didn’t want you to worry about a thing. Gotta say, you picked a good one there.”
“A good one—my husband—” Dread coiled in the pit of her stomach and sent spindly threads swimming through her veins. Colt had paid her hospital bill. Colt had walked in and taken over and everyone at the hospital had simply fallen into line.
Why that should surprise her she didn’t know. He had the ability to make people jump whether they wanted to or not. Colton King expected to get his own way and knew just how to maneuver people into giving it to him. He’d probably never once considered that she might not want his help. He’d simply done as he always did—steamroller over everything in his path to get what he wanted.
She fumed silently in her wheelchair. It wouldn’t do the slightest bit of good to argue with the hospital. Of course they’d appreciate her bill being paid in full rather than the monthly payments she was going to arrange. Why wouldn’t they take a lump sum? It wasn’t as if they were going to be indebted to the man. But for Penny, this was just one more link to Colt. A link she didn’t want. She hadn’t asked him to ride to the rescue, had she? No. And now, if she wanted to hang on to her pride, she’d have to find a way to pay him back.
The nurse wheeled her outside and the first breath of fresh, salt air lightened Penny’s mood dramatically. Until she saw him.
Colt lounged against a black luxury SUV, his arms folded over his chest, his long legs crossed at the ankle. He looked relaxed, casual, in his boots, blue jeans and dark red shirt. He wore dark glasses over his ice-blue eyes and the wind ruffled his black hair. She thought she heard the nurse behind her give a soft sigh of pure female appreciation, and Penny completely understood.
Just looking at the man was enough to send most women into orgasmic shock. And she was in a better position than most to know that no matter how good a fantasy a woman could spin around him, reality with Colt was so much better.
And in spite of her churning thoughts and suddenly heated, throbbing body, her first instinct was to ask the nurse to turn around. To take her back inside. To run and hide, she was ashamed to admit, even to herself. So she swallowed her nerves, plastered a fake smile on her face and prepared to give the performance of a lifetime.
“Here she is, all ready to go home,” the nurse cooed as Colt pushed off the car and walked closer.
“Right. Thanks.” He slipped one hand under Penny’s arm and helped her stand. Since her knees were feeling a little weak at the moment, she was grateful for the assistance. Even though it was his fault her knees were weak in the first place.
“You okay?” he asked, his voice a husky whisper close to her ear.
She closed her eyes and held her breath. If she had one whiff of his scent, it might just finish her off. “I’m fine. Thanks for picking me up.”
He smirked as if he knew she hadn’t meant a word of that and Penny ground her teeth together. The man was irritating on so many levels. Not the least of which was his apparent ability to read her mind.
She busied herself with the seat belt, only wincing once or twice as she settled herself into the wide, extremely comfortable leather seats. An unwanted comparison to her worn-out four-door sedan jumped into her mind, but she pushed it away again. Her car might not be shiny, with leather seats—and ooh, a minitelevision in the dashboard—but it got her where she was going. So far.
Colt climbed into the driver’s seat, tossed her bag of personal items into the back, then fired up the engine. He hooked his seat belt, checked the mirrors—in fact, did everything but look directly at her. Finally, Penny couldn’t stand it.
“Why are you here?”