Free The Best Man by Carol Hutchens

then him leaving her for dead…Joel had defeated her three times. She couldn’t let him win again.
    Slamming the file drawer shut, Kate walked to the door, her steps shaky in the platform sandals. Hand on the doorknob, she froze. Luke had said he would take care of things. She trusted him.
    Funny, she had never questioned Luke’s actions, even after suffering betrayals from both her father and Joel. There was no doubt in her mind that he would try to make things easier for her.
    But she’d been taught by a mother who guarded her emotions. Never let people see you were hurting. Put on a happy face. If things look good, everyone will assume things are good .
    Her childhood had all been an act. As long as she could remember, her mother kept her anguish hidden from the world.
    Only Kate knew things were different behind closed doors. She learned to make the best of things. And that’s what she’d been doing with her tentative relationship with her father, accepting the attention her success in the firm brought from him.
    Then Joel appeared.
    He had swooped in, grabbed her father’s attention at that first meeting, when supposedly, he’d come by to congratulate Luke on his promotion. Now, Kate realized his visit hadn’t been innocent.
    Joel had arrived at the office, instead of seeking Luke on his personal time. Despite his friendly manner, Joel was the spoiled kid on the playground, always wanting toys the other kids played with.
    Kate tightened her grip around the door handle. She allowed Joel’s melting looks and easy charm to win her over when they first met. Actually, he’d won her over a second time when he convinced her to wait to have children.
    Pain slashed through her chest as she recalled the memories.
    Four times.
    Joel had defeated her four times, and denied her wish for a baby. She wouldn’t let him get away with it again. She left the office and walked down the hall.
    ***
    When she opened the door to her father’s old office, two faces turned toward her in surprise. Actually, she should say three. Laurel had almost fallen out of her chair when Kate flew past her desk. The blonde sputtered noise. Kate supposed it was to object to her entering Joel’s domain. But she turned a quick look in Laurel’s direction and watched her mouth snap shut.
    Joel’s response wasn’t as quick.
    His mouth hung open as he stared at her. Then he sent a furious glare toward his partner. Luke stood at one corner of the wide desk, his height dwarfing Joel in the chair behind the desk.
    Luke turned to Kate with a questioning glance, but his eyes held warmth, instead of the cold glare Joel turned on her.
    She took a breath, savoring the encouragement in Luke’s expression and squared her shoulders. “Luke suggested I wait,” she turned a cool glance on Joel, “but I want to take charge of my life. I need to do this for myself.”
    “Sweetheart—”
    Kate’s head jerked up at his syrupy tone. Her nostrils flared as she stared at the man she had called husband as if he were something stuck to her shoe. “ Sweetheart? ” She glanced around the room, making a point of staring at the door. “I think you must have me confused with your new wife.” She watched color flood Joel’s face and twisted the screw. “Because the last person you called Sweetheart was standing beside you at the altar Saturday.”
    Joel held up both hands in a defensive pose. “Kate, I’m sorry. This is an emotional time for all of us.” He sent a glare toward Luke. “Sit down, let’s discuss this rationally.”
    Kate absorbed the tastefully decorated office, the dark mahogany desk, burgundy leather sofa and chairs in the sitting area, and her blood boiled.
    Joel didn’t deserve her father’s office. He had taken over this space just as surely as he had taken her father’s attention from her struggling attempts to form a bond with the man who had deserted her as an infant.
    The only way to put Joel in his place was to keep her cool.
    Two