One Season And Dynasties Collection

She willed herself not to fall apart now. Overall, Ethan had been kind and generous to her. She had to hold her end up. That much she owed him. Despite the fact that she was crumbling inside.

Love was awful.

“Louise, you look wonderful tonight.” Holly greeted the older woman with a kiss on the cheek.

The style magicians had worked wonders. None of the scrapes and bruises from her fall were visible. No one would guess she wore a wig that was thicker and more lustrous than her own thinning hair. Shiny baubles complemented her black gown.

Holly nodded hello to Fernando who, in return, lifted his nose and looked away.

Fernando sat on one side of Louise and Ethan the other. Holly sat next to Ethan. Rounding out their table were company VIPs whom she’d been introduced to earlier today but couldn’t remember their names.

As the ballroom’s lights were slightly dimmed a spotlight was aimed on Louise, and a waiter brought her a microphone. Louise stood, subtly using the table for leverage and balance. Holly saw a grimace pass quickly across her face.

“Good evening, Benton Worldwide extended family,” Louise greeted the guests. “It’s been another profitable and productive year for us, which you’ll hear about in my report later. As you know my late husband, Melvin Benton, and his brother, Joseph Benton, began this company with the purchase of a one-bedroom apartment in South Boston. And look where we are today.”

The ballroom filled with the sound of applause.

“Together we have made this happen. Melvin taught me many things. The most important of which is that money in our wallets means nothing without love in our hearts.”

Louise smiled at Ethan and Holly.

“And so,” she continued, “if you’ll indulge an old woman before we get on to pie charts and growth projections, I’d like to share something personal with you.”

A hush swept the room.

“Many of you have watched my nephew Ethan grow up over the decades. I hope you share in my pride at the man he’s become. He’s a leader who drives himself hard, a savvy negotiator who insists on fairness, and a shrewd businessman with a philanthropic spirit.”

The guests applauded again.

Ethan bowed his head, clearly embarrassed by the accolades. Holly touched his arm. He turned his head slightly toward her.

“Yet there’s been one thing missing. It has always been my greatest wish for Ethan that he would find a partner to share his life with. To rejoice with in triumph and to weep with in sorrow. To have a home. To have children. To know a love like Mel and I had. And it’s with great joy tonight that I announce that Ethan has found that soul mate. And, although it’s asking a lot of her to meet her extended family of one thousand all in one evening, I’d like to introduce you to Ethan’s fiancée: Miss Holly Motta.”

Ethan and Holly looked at each other, both knowing this was their moment. They rose from their chairs in unison and turned to face the crowd. Holly’s chest crackled at the irony of the moment.

Applause and good wishes flooded the room.

“Bravo!”

“Bravo!”

“It’s about time!”

“Holly!”

“Ethan!”

They smiled and waved on cue—as if they were a royal couple on a palace balcony. Guests began tapping their knives against their water glasses in a signal for a couple to kiss.

Without hesitation, Ethan leaned in to Holly’s lips. Thankfully not with a passionate kiss that would have thrown her off balance. But it wasn’t a quick peck either. Perhaps he was incapable of a kiss that didn’t stir her up inside.

She felt herself blushing. When she giggled a little the guests cheered.

As planned, the chandeliers were dimmed further and the dance floor became bathed in a golden light. Ethan took Holly’s hand and brought her to the center of the dance floor, this time as two thousand eyes fixed on them.

The love song from their practice session boomed out of the sound system.

Holly lifted one hand to Ethan’s shoulder. One of his fastened around her waist. Their other hands met palm to palm.

They floated across the dance floor, bodies locked, legs in sync. The moment was so perfect Holly wanted to cry.

It was a moment she would never forget. Yet, in time she must learn to forget, if she was ever to love someone who could return her love.

With the gleam of lights beaming down on the dance floor and the rest of the ballroom darker, it was hard to see. Yet Holly’s eyes landed on the table where they had been seated. Ethan turned her as they danced, but she kept craning her neck to focus on a strange sight.

Louise was chatting with a couple who had come over to the table. Meanwhile Fernando finished his drink and stood up. He reached into his tuxedo jacket’s pocket and pulled out two pieces of paper. He placed one on the chair where Holly was sitting and the other on Ethan’s seat. Then he smirked with a satisfied nod.

Holly was so spectacularly beautiful Ethan couldn’t help glancing down at her as they danced. She was really just as fetching—if not more so—casual and barefoot in a tee shirt and jeans, having breakfast at the apartment. But tonight... The dance floor lights cast an incandescent glow on her face. The baby pink of her lipstick emphasized the sensual plumpness of her mouth.

It made him want to brand her with kiss after kiss, until he had to hold her up to keep her from falling to the ground. His body reacted—in fact overreacted—to the intimate feel of her breasts, belly and hips pressed to him as he held her close.

Every now and then the sobering fact that Holly wasn’t really his fiancée would flit across his mind. There wasn’t ever going to be the wedding, home and children that Aunt Louise had spoken of during her toast. He batted away the reality of those thoughts every time they came near. If only for tonight, he actually did want to believe the masquerade was real.

He could risk that much.

Yet a voice in his gut pleaded with him to stop. Told him that he knew better. That his mission had been to guard and defend. That dangerous fantasies would confuse his intentions and lead to irrevocably bad decisions.

Opposing forces argued within him. So his rational mind welcomed the distraction when he followed Holly’s eyes to the table where they’d been sitting. He watched with curiosity as Fernando placed a piece of paper on his and Holly’s chairs.

As soon as the dance was over Ethan nodded politely at the applauding guests to the left and to the right. When the next song began he gestured for others to join in the dancing. Couples stood and approached. Once the rhythm was underway, and the dance floor was well populated, he gestured to Holly to return to their table.

Ethan slipped the piece of paper on his chair into his jacket pocket and sat down, trying not to draw any attention to the action. When everyone was occupied with their first-course salads and dinner conversation, he’d discreetly look at it.

Holly held her piece of paper in her lap. She looked downward to read it.

Her face changed instantly. The rosy blush of her cheeks turned ashen white. The blue in her eyes darkened to a flat gray. She blinked back tears.

Trancelike, she slowly stood.

Her murmur was barely audible, and directed to no one in particular. “Excuse me...”

Fortunately, with the dance floor in full swing and one of the video presentations playing on several screens throughout the room, Holly’s exit from the table didn’t appear too dramatic.

Ethan watched her cross the ballroom as if she was headed to the ladies’ lounge.

Instead she opened a sliver of one of the French doors that led to the ballroom’s terrace. She slipped through and closed it behind her.

At the table, Ethan caught Fernando’s eye. He grinned at Ethan like a Cheshire cat. Ethan’s blood began to boil. But he kept his cool as he rose. He moved slowly toward the terrace. And slid out through the same door Holly had.

The frigid and windy evening slapped across his face and straight under the fabric of his tuxedo. Holly stood across the large plaza of the terrace with her back to him. He figured she must be chilled to the bone.

What was it that had upset her so much that she’d had to leave the ballroom and retreat to this empty space that was not in use during the winter months?

With dread in his heart, Ethan pulled the paper from his pocket.

His temples pulsated louder with each word he read.

Fax to Ethan Benton from Chip Foley, Head of Security, Benton Worldwide Properties.

Regarding Holly Motta.

Per your request, I have gathered the following intelligence.

Holly Motta, age twenty-nine, last known residence Fort Pierce, Florida.

Internet and social media presence significant only as it relates to her occupation as an artist.

No criminal record.

Sometimes known as Holly Dowd.

Married until two years ago to a Ricky Dowd, age twenty-eight, also of Fort Pierce.

Married and divorced.

“Holly!” he spat.

Her shoulders arched at the sound of his voice.

She spun around and they marched toward each other. Meeting in the middle of the grand stone terrace.

“You had me investigated?” she accused, rather than questioned.

“You were married?” he fired back.

“Without telling me?”

“Without telling me?”

“That must simply be business as usual for you, Mr. Benton. Background checks on the hired help and all that.”

“As a matter of fact, it is. My family has spent two generations building our empire. We had better damn well protect it with every tool we have.”

“You might have let me know.”

The hammering at Ethan’s temples threatened to crack open his skull as he read the fax aloud.

“‘Ricky Dowd, also known as Rick Dowd and Riff Dowd, indicted for armed robbery at age nineteen. Served twenty-two months in prison, released early due to penitentiary overcrowding. Indicted six months ago, again for armed robbery. Currently serving a sentence at Hansen Correctional Facility in central Florida.’”

Ethan broke away from the page to glare at Holly.

“Twice indicted for armed robbery?”

He felt heat rise through his body in a fury that, for once, he might not be able to contain.

Holly’s face was lifeless. Her eyes downcast. She didn’t even seem to be breathing.

Finally she muttered softly, “I didn’t know Ricky was in prison again.”

“But you knew who you married.” Ethan’s jaw locked.

“The first robbery was before we were married. This new incident happened after our divorce. I haven’t seen or talked to him in two years.”

“Yet you married a convicted criminal? And deliberately withheld that from me? How will that look to my shareholders? Do you not understand the importance of an impeccable reputation?”

Ethan was approaching cruelty. Rubbing salt into her wounds. But he couldn’t stop himself.

Women were never who they seemed! Once again a female had betrayed him. Had not been honest. The same as every other woman he had known. The same as his mother.

This was exactly what he’d been warning himself of, despite his growing attachment to Holly. Why would she turn out to be any different from the others? How dense was he still not to have learned his lesson?

They’d spent so much time together this week. Yet all along she’d withheld the information that not only had she been married, but to someone convicted of serious crimes. She obviously didn’t understand how, if that information was to be revealed publicly, it would become an integral part of people’s perception of her. Of them.

What else was she hiding? Omission was its own form of lying. And he’d always known that if this engagement façade was to work, they’d have to be straightforward with each other. He’d told her about his future plans for Benton Worldwide. She knew about his aunt’s health problems. He’d even let her witness Louise being wheeled out on a stretcher by the paramedics. Without measuring the risks of his actions, he had, in fact, trusted Holly.

Trust. Every year, at every shareholders’ gala at this hotel, Ethan got a reminder that trust was a dirty word. One that he should never factor into an equation. After all, a boy whose father had just died should have been able to trust that his mother had his best interests at heart.

To read this background information about Holly, to confirm that he didn’t know her at all, was an unbearable confusion. Just like the one he’d suffered as a boy, never really knowing his mother, or what could make a woman betray her only child.

A familiar fist pummeled his gut more viciously than ever. He wanted to scream. For the nine-year-old boy who’d lost both his parents within a few months of each other. One in a horrifying car accident.

To complicate matters even more, he was also seething with jealousy that Holly had given her hand in marriage to another man. Any other man! Irrationally, he wanted her only for himself.

Ethan clenched his teeth and read on while Holly clutched her own copy of the fax.

Brother Vincent Motta, age twenty-six.

Well-regarded employee at Benton Miami office.

Mother Sally Motta, age forty-eight.

Dozens of jobs, ranging from waitress to telemarketer to factory employee. No position held longer than six months. Never married. Motta appears to be maiden name.

Father of Holly Motta—unknown.

Father of Vincent Motta—unknown.

Unknown whether Holly and Vincent have the same father.

It was hard to say whose story was sadder—his or Holly’s.

Her lower lip trembled uncontrollably until a sob erupted from her throat. “So now you know everything, Mr. Benton!” she cried. “Do you want to share my humiliating past with everyone in the ballroom?”

As tears rolled down her face she shivered in the cold and used both hands to rub at her bare arms.

“I do not know what I want to do!” Ethan shouted—uncharacteristically.

He yanked off his tuxedo jacket and wrapped it around her shoulders. “If you had given me all this information at the outset I could have discussed it with my team.”

“Discussed it with your team?” She pulled the jacket closer around her. “What would you have done? Created a new identity for me? Erased the past? You masters of the world think of everything, don’t you?”

“That is exactly what we have been doing, is it not? We have dressed you up and presented you as a suitable bride for me. Which is what we agreed upon in the beginning.”

“Yes. Playing dress-up. Pretending someone like me could be suitable for someone like you. My mistake, Ethan. I thought we had become more than our contract. I thought we had...” She eyed the ground again. “I thought we had become friends.”

He blamed himself for this predicament. It had been insanity to hire someone he’d only just met for this charade. In fact the whole ruse had been preposterous. Paying someone to pose as his fiancée in order to get Aunt Louise to retire. His heart had been in the right place, but he’d had a temporary lapse in judgment.

In fact he’d been deceitful to Aunt Louise. The one and only woman in his life who had always been truthful with him. Although he knew that no matter how big a mess he’d made of everything his aunt would still love him. That he could depend on.

For one of the only times in his life Ethan didn’t know what to do. Didn’t know how to reckon with all the events of the past few days. Just as he didn’t know where to put the decades of shame that had mixed with the years of phenomenal successes.

And he surely didn’t know how to make sense of his feelings for Holly. For once he was out of his league.

After a stare-down with her that had them both turning blue with cold, logic set in.

He wondered aloud, “How did Fernando get this fax from Chip Foley?”

Holly explained how she had seen Fernando take a fax from the machine when they’d had him and Louise over for dinner. Because Fernando used the apartment during his trips to New York, she hadn’t thought it unusual that he’d receive a fax there.

“That weasel...” Ethan scowled with disgust.

All along Fernando had been conjuring up ways to ruin Ethan’s engagement because he didn’t want to move to Barbados with Aunt Louise. He no doubt planned to use Holly’s history as a way to prove her an unbefitting bride.

“I will deal with him later. We will sort all this out later. For now, we will go back inside and finish the evening as planned.”

“Okay,” Holly whispered, but it wasn’t convincing. She looked utterly shell-shocked with his jacket grasped tightly around her. The rims of her eyes were red and her makeup had smeared.

“I will slip back into the ballroom. You will go up to the suite and pull yourself together. I will meet you back at the table.”

“Yes,” she consented.

Ethan only hoped she’d be able to get through the rest of the night.

Once inside, Holly handed him his jacket and ducked toward the exit. Ethan soon got roped into a conversation with a Swedish architect. He returned to the table just as the wait staff cleared the salad plates. His and Holly’s were untouched.

Ethan made small talk with his tablemates as the main course was served. Over and over again the information in the fax repeated itself in his brain. And he kept glancing in the direction Holly should be returning from. It seemed to be taking her an inordinate amount of time.

Guests were enjoying their surf-and-turf entrées of lobster and filet mignon. A pleasant buzz filled the ballroom.

Still no Holly.

Maybe she’d fallen and hurt herself.

Maybe she’d been taken ill.

Maybe she’d been so upset by the fax that she was crying her eyes out.

Ethan had to go find her. But just as he was about to get up the president of the board of shareholders, Denny Wheton, stood from his seat at the next table. A spotlight landed on him. A waiter gave him a microphone.

“Ladies and gentlemen...” Denny began.

Ethan scanned the whole ballroom for Holly, his insides filling with fear that Denny was going to make a toast to them.

“On behalf of the shareholders’ board,” Denny continued, confirming Ethan’s worry, “I want to express our delight at the news of Ethan’s engagement. As Louise said earlier, we’ve watched Ethan become the driving force of Benton Worldwide. His father and uncle would be proud. As to his bride...we haven’t had a chance to get to know her yet, but we’re sure Ethan has chosen her with the same diligence and discernment he puts into all his endeavors. To Holly and Ethan! Congratulations!”

Guests at the other tables lifted their glasses.

“Congratulations!”

Voices came from every corner of the room.

Ethan froze as a second spotlight beamed onto him. Hadn’t Denny stopped to notice that Holly was not in her seat? He’d probably had too much to drink.

“Holly?” Denny called into his microphone.

The congratulations ceased. The room became silent.

“Holly?”

A microphone was handed to Ethan.

Who had to think fast.

“Thank you for your good wishes,” Ethan stated robotically.

He’d kill himself if something bad had happened to her.

“I apologize that Holly is not present for this toast. She is feeling a bit under the weather.”

“Under the weather?” Denny boomed into his microphone. “Under the weather? Will Benton Worldwide be introducing the next generation’s CEO nine months from now?”

The ballroom exploded with applause and cheers.

CHAPTER TWELVE

HOLLY HAD NEVER been so relieved to be home in her entire life. She toed the apartment door closed and leaned back against it. With a deep sigh she dropped the couple of bags she had retrieved from the hotel suite before catching a taxi.

She closed her eyes for a few breaths, hoping to shut out all that had happened.

When she opened them again everything was still the same.

Only she had made matters worse by running away from Ethan and the gala.

En route to the bedroom, she heard her crystal gown swish audibly in the quiet of the apartment. A sound that hadn’t been heard under all the activity at the gala. The sky-high heels were killing her, so they were quickly nudged off.

It was a struggle to reach the zipper of her dress. Much nicer earlier tonight, when Ethan had zipped her in. Eventually she was carefully able to wriggle out of the dress. Her impulse was to leave it pooled on the floor, but the adult in her at least managed to put it on the bed.

This gown wasn’t her life.

Her jeans and tee shirt were familiar friends.

This wasn’t her home.

It was time to go.

Time to cut her losses.

Holly had too much experience with that. Her marriage. Her mother. False hopes and grand promises that hadn’t panned out. This was simply another.

With her tail between her legs, it was time to take two steps backward and keep striving for that next step ahead.

Sure, memories of New York would sting. Memories of Ethan would slice deeper than any wounds she’d ever endured before. But she was no stranger to pain.

Besides, she was supposed to be working on herself. Not getting mixed up in someone else’s priorities. Not falling in love. This was the wrong road. Time to change direction.

Packing her clothes took less time than she’d thought it would. It was still the middle of the night. With plans to leave in the morning, she paced the apartment.

In the living room, the paper ring Ethan had made from his beer bottle label still sat on the coffee table. The one he’d used to propose to her with. When he had asked her to embark on a business venture that was not to become a matter of the heart. For the moment she still wore the enormous diamond that had been on and off her finger all week.

Holly rolled the ring round and round on her finger. She thought about the symbolism of rings—how the circle could never be broken. It had no beginning and it had no end. Continuous. Lasting. Eternal.

Undying love was not her and Ethan’s story.

Their tale was of two people who had crossed paths in a New York City apartment. Now they both needed to continue on their separate journeys. Ethan built skyscrapers, but was determined not to build love. Holly had a past she could never escape.

His investigation into her hadn’t even uncovered all her dirty laundry. He hadn’t found out that she wasn’t sure if the man who’d shown up every few years while she was growing up was really her father. Despite her mother’s insistence that he was.

Wayne had been nice enough to her and Vince when he’d pass through town. He’d take them to get some cheap clothes that he’d pay for with a short fold of twenty-dollar bills he’d pull from his front pants pocket. Then they’d be shuffled off to a neighbor’s house so that he could spend time alone with their mother.

Neither Holly nor Vince looked like him. But nor did they look like each other. It wasn’t something they talked about much. They couldn’t be any closer than they already were. What difference did it make? They could have DNA testing, but it wouldn’t matter.

So she had never known whether she and her brother were half or full siblings. Or who their father—or fathers—were. They shared the same eyes as their mother. That was all Holly could be sure of.

Sally’s blue eyes had been cloudy and bloodshot the last time Holly had seen her, five years ago.

Vince! Sorrow rained down on her. Her actions—lashing out at Ethan about the investigation and then abruptly leaving the gala without a word to him or to Louise—would cast an unprofessional shadow on Vince.

Her knees buckled and she sank down to the edge of a chair, vowing never to forgive herself if she had ruined her brother’s chances at the promotion he’d worked so hard for.