Page 5 of Falling For The Enemy (The Gilbert Curse)

Did you find the sister?

Kit thumbs-upped her question. He wasn’t sure what else to say. He really didn’t have any news for her. And he certainly wasn’t going to text Aunt Mal that he’d changed his mind about using Rory. He sucked in a breath. And was he even sure that he had?

Yes.

Kit and Aunt Mal had reformed the company using his middle name Palmer into Palmer Industries and they were thriving. It was only as Gilbert Corners was being revitalized and new industry was coming back to the town that he and his aunt had thought about what the Gilbert family had taken from them once again. They were interested in buying into the old factory that Declan had been meant to run before his death, and wanted to put in their own manufacturing plant there.

But they both knew that they were going to have to be careful about how they approached the deal. Hence him coming to town to figure out how to get some leverage with Dash Gilbert.

His aunt texted again.

Call me when you’re leaving GC.

He replied:I might be a while. I’m having a look around town for potential investment properties.

The girl won’t work?

Not sure yet.

Aunt Mal ended the conversation withTalk later. He pocketed his phone. Mal was his last living blood relative. Although he had distant cousins, he wasn’t close to any of them. He and Mal had had each other’s back for longer than Kit could remember. As much as he wanted to think that he could figure out something that would benefit both him and his aunt, while hurting the Gilbert family in the process, nothing in his past dealings with them had proven fruitful to that end.

He knew that part of his reluctance to involve Rory in his plans was that he didn’t want to use Rory the way that the Gilbert family had used his brother. Yet wouldn’t that be the perfect revenge?

Sitting in his car, waiting and watching the town that was somehow cheerier than he could remember from his childhood, just served to remind him of all that he had lost. Sure, Rory hadn’t really been responsible for those actions, but she was a part of the family. She had, according to his father, led his brother on and then accused him of misreading her advances and had him thrown out of the party after Conrad had punched him.

Kit shook his head. When he’d seen her earlier, he’d been catapulted back to his childhood and the innocent girl Rory had been before she’d grown into a Gilbert woman. He had to remember that.

He saw her walking toward the coffee shop with her cane and got out of his car. His breath caught in his chest as her long blond hair, stirred by the wind, flew around her face and shoulders. She tipped her head back toward the breeze, a smile playing around her lips. As he glanced at the scoop-necked dress she wore and noticed the gentle curves of her breasts, he remembered how she’d felt in his arms.

Now that she wasn’t in distress, he recalled how perfectly she’d fit against him. Her head on his chest and her arms wound tight around him. He remembered the floral scent of her hair and the way she’d exhaled softly, the warmth of her breath brushing against his neck and stirring him.

He wanted her.

She was his enemy’s sister.

She was also his long-lost crush.

Kit shoved a hand through his hair and exhaled a frustrated breath. She wascomplicatedand, honestly, he knew the smart thing to do would be to turn around and leave and let Aunt Mal come back and figure out a way to use her to get to Dash.

But she noticed him, lifted her hand and waved at him, and it was too late to resort to plan B. So instead, he found himself locking his car and heading across the green, well-manicured park toward her. As he got closer, he realized that everyone was watching her and then began noticing her watching him.

Rory had said she was trying to find her way back to living outside the mansion and he could see the struggle it would be for her. Again he wanted to help her. Wanted to be the hero that she’d been to him when they’d been children. But could he really be that for her, and was she truly deserving of it?

He sighed. All he knew for sure was that he had to come clean and tell her his name. He didn’t want to deceive her the way her family had his brother. He needed to know that when he and Aunt Mal were finally in a position of power over the Gilbert family, they could be satisfied that they had done it aboveboard.

Which meant no sneaking and deceiving the way that Lance Gilbert had been with them. And while he suspected that earlier he might have been swayed by lust and nostalgia, he couldn’t afford to be now. It was time to remember who was responsible for all of the destruction that had happened the night of the ball.

Kit smiled at her as he got closer. “If I knew you were walking to town, I would have joined you.”

Yeah, so now she had to tell him she didn’t drive. But she could be vague as to the reason why. She didn’t have to say that she still freaked out a bit every time she was in a car. That being around people made her uneasy.

On the other hand, the ability to be outside and walk was something...Magicalwasn’t quite the right word because she’d worked damned hard at physical therapy to get to this point, but it did feel special to be able to walk.

She sort of smiled and then realized that Kit was awaiting her response.

“Oh, that’s okay. I don’t drive yet,” she said.

“You don’t?”

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