McKettrick's Heart Read Online Free PDF Page B

words.
    â€œSomething good came out of their affair, Keegan,” Psyche said, desperate to make him understand. Lucas would need him in the years to come. Her boy would need a man to help him grow, and Keegan McKettrick was the best one she knew.
    She saw the realization dawn in his eyes. They widened, then narrowed.
    â€œShe’s his biological mother,” he rasped.
    Psyche nodded. “Thayer came to me only a few hours after Lucas was born and told me everything. He begged me not to divorce him—said we could raise Lucas together, as our son, that Molly was willing to give him up. The simple truth is I wanted a child so badly that I agreed.”
    â€œOh, my God,” Keegan said on a long breath.
    â€œI loved Lucas with all my heart from the first moment I saw him,” Psyche went on, because she was almost out of strength. “I’ve never regretted what I did, not for a moment. I want him to have a good life, Keegan, and you and I both know, that takes more than money. Please —tell me you’ll look after him….”
    Keegan slid out of his chair, crouched beside Psyche, took both her hands in his, held them with a gentleness that tore her heart like paper.
    â€œI give you my word, Psyche,” he said, looking up at her.
    She smiled through her tears. Pulled a hand free to stroke his sleek chestnut hair lightly. “McKettrick-true?” she asked.
    â€œMcKettrick-true,” he promised.
    She sagged with relief and exhaustion, let herself cry against his strong shoulder. “I should have married you,” she said again.
    He held her. “Let’s pretend you did,” he replied gruffly. “I’ll take care of your boy, Psyche—just as if we’d made him together.”
    Psyche gave a shuddering sob. “Thank you,” she murmured.
    As surely as if she’d had the room wired for sound, Florence appeared. “You’re all done in, Miss Psyche,” she said. “Time you rested for a spell.”
    Psyche nodded, her head still resting on Keegan’s shoulder.
    He stood, lifted Psyche into his arms again. Carried her—not to the elevator, but up the winding staircase at the front of the house. The one she’d come down, in a prom dress, so long ago. He’d been waiting shyly at the bottom that night, in a tuxedo, with a white peony corsage in his hand.
    He mounted the second staircase, too, without so much as breathing hard. Florence followed at a slower pace.
    When they reached the third floor Molly was standing in the corridor, watching with sad, enormous eyes.
    Psyche felt Keegan tense.
    Molly stepped aside.
    â€œThis way,” Florence said grimly.
    Keegan carried Psyche into her room, laid her gently on the bed. Bent to kiss her forehead.
    â€œDon’t forget your promise,” Psyche told him.
    â€œMcKettrick-true,” he reminded her. He curved a little finger, and Psyche hooked it with her own.
    Then she smiled, closed her eyes and gave herself up to sleep.
    Â 
    M OLLY WAITED in the hallway outside Psyche’s room, longing to disappear but too stubborn to run.
    After a few minutes Keegan came out. Stopped when he saw her standing there. Narrowed his gaze.
    â€œIs she—is Psyche all right?” she asked.
    He hesitated, took a step toward her, stopped again.
    Molly stood her ground.
    â€œBad news for you,” Keegan said in a scathing undertone. “She’s still alive.”
    Fury surged through Molly; trembling violently, she clenched her fists at her sides. If it hadn’t been for Lucas, and for poor Psyche, she might have launched herself at him, kicking and slugging.
    Psyche’s door was closed from inside with an eloquent little snap.
    Molly advanced, looked right up into Keegan’s outraged face. “Of all the reprehensible things to say!” she whispered.
    He grasped her elbow and shuffled her down the hall, well away from Psyche’s door—and