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“I dialed his number on my cell and left it on the table.”

“Which I appreciate.”Ry still wanted to go after that man and beat the crap out of him, but he’d wait.

“Who was the guy?”Jed asked.

“Walter, my ex-boyfriend.”

“And he’s here because?”Ry asked even though he knew the answer.Jed needed to be aware.

“Because he and my father cannot accept reality.I’m not going back to New York City.”

When she said the words, the constriction in Ry’s chest loosened.

“Do you want to tell us why he thinks you would?”Jed asked.

“Because he thinks he’s God’s gift to women.”

Laughter filled the room, and Katie’s hand relaxed in his.

“I know my father isn’t anyone’s favorite topic, but I think it’s time you understood why I did what I did when I was eighteen.”

“I know we’ve discussed it a little bit; you said we didn’t scare you off, so I’ve always assumed it had something to do with your father,” Jed said.

“I was scared, yes, but not of the two of you.Maybe of the lifestyle you led, but never of you as men.”She squeezed each of their hands.“I was chasing a dream.You both know my father left my mother when I was eight.Mom did her best to raise me.When she died, Randall couldn’t be bothered with me.Gran raised me from the time I was fourteen.”

Ry stiffened, and Jed’s fingers tightened around hers.“Katie,” Ry started.

“Let me get this out, Ry.Please.”She stared at him until he nodded.

Having Walter show up on her doorstep had her determined not to lose the two men she loved.Calling them had been an automatic response.

“Randall approached me a few days before my eighteenth birthday.He offered me a job in New York City and everything.I thought maybe he was ready to be a father to me.”She pushed back the disappointment.“He came back the day after my eighteenth birthday, right after you two had left, with Peggy Morris in tow.”

Both men swore, and Katie smiled sadly.

“I told you about what she had said.My father pushed me into making a decision right then and there.He gave an ultimatum—either I go with him, or I become a play toy for the two of you.”She let out a sigh.“I was confused.I so wanted a relationship with my father.But he never really cared about me, only what he thought he could get from me.”

“And what did he want?”Jed asked.

“Someone who could take suspicion away from him and Walter.”She shook her head.“I guess I wasn’t really paying attention.I missed Felton’s Creek, and I missed both of you.Even if I didn’t realize it at the time.”

“Did he hurt you?”Ry’s voice was low, and she squeezed his hand.

“No.He never touched me.”

“There are other ways to hurt, Kitty Kat,” Jed said.

“I know.”She smiled.Her fear of not being enough of a woman for the two of them was fading.“Anyway, I went with him.About a three years ago, Randall introduced me to Walter.We went out, but I knew he wasn’t right for me.I liked him, but there was no spark.My father kept inviting Walter to events he insisted I be at.Things like that.”Looking back now, she realized she hadn’t put up much of a fight, either, and that had been her mistake.“After a while, I just didn’t care enough to argue with Walter or my father.About a year after I started working for Randall’s company, I began to notice things.”

“Right, you said you worked at another company until your father bought it out,” Jed commented.

“Like what?”Ry asked.

“Discrepancies in some of the accounts I managed.Small but they were still there.I talked with my boss, who talked to his boss, and I was told they were aware of them and not to worry about them.”

“But that wasn’t the end of it,” Jed said.

“Nope.They kept getting bigger and bolder, so I did some backtracking on my own.”