Million Dollar Mistake

Let me disappear like a puff of smoke so I don’t have to face him, Raven
prayed as she felt his gaze on the back of her head. However, she knew she
couldn’t take the coward’s way out, so she might as well do it with people
around to act as buffers. But she’d do it on her own terms. She’d never let him
see how he’d hurt her the night before.
“Well you’ve found her, darling.” Throwing a light, sophisticated glance over
her shoulder, Raven’s eyes met Nicholas’s wary ones long enough to realize that
he seemed uncomfortable. Immediately, she felt a bit better. Maybe last night
had been as hard on him as it had on her? Turning back around, she helped
herself to an unwanted cup of coffee.
“So I have,” Nicholas said, surprising her when he gripped her shoulder.
“Nicholas,” Lorianne said, her expression a perfect model for a teenager with
a huge crush on the most popular boy in school. “Do you remember that thing
we were discussing late last night?”
Raven felt Nicholas’s fingers tighten briefly then relax. “Yes, I do.”
“Well,” Lorianne continued, “it needs work but I think it could be successful.”
Unable to resist, Raven glanced up at Nicholas and then over to Lorianne.
“Care to share?”
With a smile and a sorrowful headshake, Lorianne said, “Sorry, Raven, it’s
private. Just between me and Nicholas.”
“Private, darling?” Raven tried to keep her voice light, but knew she was
glaring at Nicholas when he grinned. “Should you be sharing private things with
another woman when you’re engaged to me?”
He threw her a snappy smile. “Not any more than you should be sharing your
private things with another man, I’d say.”
“I haven’t shared any of my private—”
He lifted his brow. “Yes?”
She hunched a shoulder. “Nothing.”
“Raven,” Jackson called as he came into the room. “I thought I’d find you still
in bed.”
“What the hell was he doing in your bedroom?” Nicholas muttered.

---

Raven looked up, starting to answer, “He wasn’t…” -
“Your father wants you to call him, ASAP,” Jackson continued.
Raven gave Nicholas a curious glance as he snapped to attention at Jackson’s
comment. She placed her coffee cup on a side table and stood up. “I’ll call him
now.”
“You can use the phone in the library,” Jackson said, leading her into the
hallway.
Twenty minutes later Raven hung up the phone, staring blankly at the wall of
books facing her. For once she’d had her father’s complete and undivided
attention. Given the topic of conversation, she wasn’t sure how she felt about
that.
“You look serious.”
Raven jumped, whirling around to see Jackson hovering near the doorway.
“What?” Had he been there all along?
“Anything I can do?”
“Uh, no, no,” she said, still too stunned by her father’s words to make much
sense. His news had hit her like a freight train.
Jackson smiled as he crossed the room. “Your father seemed pleased when I
told him I was introducing you to my family.”
“Yes.”
He continued, studying his hands for a moment. “He didn’t seem happy to
hear Nicholas was part of the group.”
She winced. “No. He mentioned that.”
“Did you tell him about your surprise engagement?”
Raven looked at Jackson for a long moment before shifting away. “It didn’t
seem appropriate.”
“That’s never stopped you before.”
Raven recognized the bitter tone that Jackson was trying to cover. She
couldn’t blame him. Unconsciously or not, she’d led him on. Still, it hurt.
However, a lifetime of trying to hide what she was feeling made her pretend to
shrug it off. “I’m often a creature of impulse.”
“Don’t you want him to know?” Jackson persisted.
“Of course I do. But Daddy was asking me all these questions about your
parents and,” she hesitated, “sharing some other family concerns. It didn’t seem
like the right time.”
“He asked if I’d popped the question yet.”
“What?” Raven gasped. “He didn’t? What did you say?”

---

“I told him I’ve been thinking about it since we got here.”
“Jackson…”
He held up his hand. “Don’t say anything, okay? Just do me a favor.”
Eyes wary, Raven considered him. “What kind of favor?”
“What if we try to start again? We got along great in Colorado.”
“Oh, Jackson—” She sighed.
“Look, I know I rushed you with this visit. I’ve been trying to take my time
since we’d first met. But then we got here and something pushed me to ask—”
Frowning, he paused for a moment before his brow cleared. “Anyway, I moved
way too fast and I’ve been kicking myself for it.”
“Forget it.”
“I can’t. Last night we were connecting again, don’t you think?”
Color rushed to her cheeks. Not as well as Nicholas and I did.
“Maybe if we start fresh—”
“That won’t change anything.”
“You don’t know that.”
“Yes, I do. Look, Jackson, at the moment you think you want this. Deep down,
I might have thought it might be a good thing too.” He looked hopeful, so she
rushed to regain her playful bad-girl image. “After all, you are different from my
usual type. You’re steadfast, respectable and possess impeccable credentials.”
“You make me sound like a pedigreed Saint Bernard.”
Raven smiled. “I like Saint Bernards.”
“Well then?”
“Jackson, it couldn’t work. We’re two different types of people. I think we
want different things from life.”
He spread his hands. “So what?”
“Plus, I’m in lo…en—engaged.” She seized on the word, knowing she
sounded almost desperate, but it was the one anchor in a suddenly rocky sea. She
didn’t feel up to dealing with a stubborn Jackson any more. She needed time to
think.
“Uh-huh. I remember.”
“I’m engaged to Nicholas,” she repeated more firmly, extending her hand. “I
am. See.”
Jackson glanced at the ring on her finger. “Yes, I noticed it last night, but I
didn’t put much stock in it because it’s really not your style.”
“What do you mean?”
Jackson shrugged. “I would have thought he’d have given you something
more suited to your personality, like a solitaire or a ruby. This looks subdued and
old-fashioned.” He smiled and stroked her hand. “Are you sure he meant this for

---

you?”
Raven jerked away from him. She stared at him, clasping her hands
protectively, feeling the band press into her fingers before gathering her wits to
answer him. “It’s temporary.”
“Well,” Jackson murmured, cupping her cheek, “in that case…”
“Stop it, Jackson.”
“But last night you were—”
“Teasing.”
“Teasing?” Jackson seemed taken aback.
Raven gave an airy wave. “The strip-poker suggestion was just something one
says.”
Jackson shook his head. “I don’t know anyone who just says that.”
“Then you know a boring group of people, darling.” She had tried for
lightness, but still floored by her phone conversation, realized she sounded more
impatient than she’d intended.
“But—”
“Besides, you were involved elsewhere, remember? Or wasn’t that you who
cuddled Lorianne and almost carried her to her room?”
“That didn’t mean anything,” he said with a fierce headshake. “And I wasn’t
cuddling her.”
He looked so like a guilty little boy that Raven couldn’t resist teasing him. “It
looked like cuddling.”
“No. No, you’re wrong. Lorianne and I are like…like….” He stopped,
completely confused. “Maybe brother and sister.”
“I have to admit, you two fight like you’re related. But are you sure that down
deep you don’t feel something stronger? Something you haven’t realized because
you’re so used to having her around?”
Raven had no idea why she was pursuing this line of conversation. It was in
her own best interest to have Jackson focus on her, not Lorianne. Her father had
made that clear. In more ways than one. Too bad she couldn’t go through with it.
Jackson was quiet for a moment, then his face brightened as if the sun had just
come out from behind a cloud. “Are you jealous?”
“What?”
“Is that what all this is about? Why you’re pretending to be involved with
Nicholas. Were you afraid I wasn’t becoming serious about our relationship?
Afraid I’ll question it because my family isn’t happy about it?”
“Where on earth did you get such an idiotic idea?”
He looked away, searching for inspiration, but finding none, faced her square
on. “I spoke with your father earlier.”

---

“You said that.”
“What I didn’t say is we talked for quite a while. I needed some advice. God
knows my father isn’t going to give it to me.”
“You asked my father for advice?”
“Sure. He’s your father. He knows you better than anyone.”
If only it were the truth, Raven thought. She’d just realized how little he did
know her. Or she him.
“I told him about what’s been going on here. About your engagement to
Nicholas—”
Now her father’s conversation made more sense to Raven. “Let me guess. He
said I was using Nicholas because of you? To make you commit?”
“Yes.” He stroked his cheek. “I was a bit surprised, though. I’ve dropped
enough hints so I didn’t see why you—”
Raven sank into a chair. “Oh God, this is all such a mess. It was supposed to
be fun and now…”
Jackson went down on one knee beside her. “Don’t worry, darling—”
“Well, well, isn’t this a cozy little scene,” Nicholas said, entering as silent as a
jaguar, closing the door behind him. “You’re not proposing too, are you,
Jackson?”
Raven could only stare at him as Jackson bristled and rose to his feet. “Raven
is upset.”
Nicholas sent Raven a probing stare. “I’ll take over from here, Exeter.”
“The hell you will.”
Nicholas stalked over to Jackson. “Find your own woman.”
“I have.”
Rising to her feet, Raven demanded, “Stop it, stop it. I’ve had enough.” She
poked Jackson in the chest then drilled a look at Nicholas. “Between you, and
you, and my father, I’ve had my fill of men today.”
Both men looked as if the carpet had jumped up and bit them in the butt when
Raven swept to the door.
“Wait a minute, Raven,” Nicholas said, “I want to—”
She turned to face them both. “I don’t care what you want. Or you either,
Jackson. I’m tired of it. I’m tired of all of it. I have feelings, you know. I’m not a
bit of fluff to be bargained over—no matter what anyone thinks.” She punctuated
her exit by stepping into the hall and slamming the door.
Raven left silence behind her in the library.
Nicholas couldn’t get her final comment or her expression out of his mind.
Jackson exhaled, “Whew, I didn’t mean to—”

---

Thrusting his hand through his hair, Nicholas turned to face him. “It wasn’t
your fault. There’s a lot here you don’t understand.”
“And you do, I suppose?”
Nicholas stared at the door. “Yes, I think I do.”
“I care about her, you know.”
“I know you do, Jackson.”
“She’s like an exotic flower I found by accident and I…must have it.”
For the first time since he’d come into the room, Nicholas smiled, saying
gently, “Exotic flowers don’t always flourish when you replant them, no matter
how much TLC you give them. You’d be better off with a sweet-smelling garden
rose.”
Jackson’s lips thinned. “Christ, you sound like my father. Let me guess. Like
Lorianne?”
“Maybe. She’s both hardy and sweet enough.”
His glance heated as he faced Nicholas. “How do you know that? What have
you—”
Nicholas laughed. “You know, you’d better make up your mind which woman
you really want. The way I see it, your eyes are bigger than your stomach.”
“Lorianne is the closest thing to a sister I have. I want to be sure no one takes
advantage of her.”
“Jackson, I think Lorianne is perfectly capable of looking after herself.”
“No,” Jackson denied with a sharp shake, “she’s always relied on me to—”
Nicholas clasped Jackson’s shoulder. “It’s time you wake up, before someone
forces your eyes open. You might not like the results.”
“What results?”
Nicholas glanced toward the doorway through which Raven had exited. “It’s
pretty damn easy to lose something when you’re careless and not aware it’s what
you want more than anything in the world.”
“What would you know about that? You seem to have it all.”
Nicholas glanced at him. “You think so? Then you’re even more blind than I
thought. Are you sure you’re not hanging on to Raven to settle a score with your
father?”
Jackson stiffened. “What makes you think that?”
“Oh, I don’t know.” Nicholas rolled his eyes. “Maybe it’s the way your backs
arch like two alley cats every time you have a conversation.”
“You don’t have conversations with my father. Instead you get—” He caught
himself.
“Get what? Orders?”
Jackson waved off the question. “Forget it. What would you know about it

---

anyway?”
“Plenty. You think you’re the only one who’s had a problem? Time was I’d
have given anything for the opportunity to rub my father’s nose in it.” For a
moment Nicholas was silent, his inner vision dark with bad memories. He
blinked hard before staring again at Jackson. “Trust me, there are other more
satisfying ways to assert your independence. You just have to step up, then take
the risk.”
“I have to step up? That’s real good, Nick,” Jackson flashed back. “What
about you? Any idiot can see you’ve got something big going with my father.
Isn’t that why you’re here?”
Nicholas felt the guilty arrow hit the bull’s-eye. He tried to keep it from
showing. “I’m here for Raven.”
“For what purpose? Love or business?” Jackson narrowed his eyes, his gaze
too knowing to suit Nicholas.
“What do you think?”
“My father loves to make money. You’ve got the same reputation.”
It might have started that way, Nicholas thought, but somewhere along the
line… He set his jaw, adopting a “don’t mess with me tone”. “Nothing is what it
seems.”
Jackson smiled as if he knew he’d found a weak spot. “What do you think will
happen if Raven finds out?”
“There’s nothing to find out.” Nicholas prayed he could tell Raven the truth
before she found out another way.
Jackson’s expression hardened, revealing the man he could become rather
than the one he seemed at the moment. “Each of us is playing both ends of the
rope, don’t you think?”
Nicholas winced. And Raven’s caught in the middle.
“So, the question before us is—” Jackson rocked back on his heels as if he
was already addressing a session of congress, “how strong is the rope and who’s
going to get hurt when it breaks?”
Lips thinning as he met Jackson’s stare, Nicholas commented, “Like it or not,
your father’s right, Jackson. You could make an excellent politician someday.”
“Or a ruthless businessman like you and dear old Dad,” he zinged right back.
“Touché.” With that reality grinding into his brain, Nicholas spun on his heel
and left to find Raven, leaving a grim Jackson behind him.
Bundled in her coat and mittens, Raven escaped from the house. She had no
idea where she was going, just knew she needed space and solitude.
Her father’s voice replayed in her ear. “I’m having some financial difficulties

---

and Nicholas has refused to offer the family’s help.”
Raven shivered and pulled her coat closer as she walked over the hard-packed
snow on the driveway with phrases of the conversation replaying—”may lose
our home, your mother and sisters in hysterics.” Her father’s conversation was
topped off by an ultimatum, followed by his voice softening to a soft stroke as he
said, “Jackson said he hopes to marry you. That would make me so happy, Little
Bird.”