Mac didn't need to ask the old man whether he'd been the one to inform Samantha. Contrary to what she believed, Mac understood loyalty. He knew Zee hadn't betrayed him.
Just as he'd known the minute he slammed the door behind Samantha he'd overreacted. But it wasn't every day a guy saw the woman he wanted forever with another man's ring on her finger.
Considering Mac had planned her ultimate fantasy-the fairytale proposal and the happily ever after-then to discover the truth the way he had was humiliating in the extreme.
"And you think she set you up," Zee said.
"No." Mac spoke emphatically. "Not anymore." When he first heard the news, he'd reacted with his heart and not his head. Now, having had time to think, he knew better. Hadn't he lied, too? Yet he hadn't given an inch when dealing with Samantha.
"But you thought so at first." They both knew the unspoken answer to that question. "Just don't tell me you told her."
"Fine. I won't tell you, so pour me a damn drink. Real liquor or I'm not having this conversation." Because although he'd felt like a fool, he'd acted like a jackass. He'd damn near called the woman he loved a whore. How the hell could he live with that?
Accepting the glass, Mac swallowed what looked like whiskey in one gulp. The raw liquid burned on its way down. "Good choice," he muttered. "Now keep them coming." Because only then could he forget the shock and the pain that flashed across her face with each cutting word he'd spoken.
"You had your reasons. Don't you suppose she had hers?"
Reaching for the bottle, Mac poured another shot glass full and drank before answering. "I'm sure she did."
"And the signs must have been there all along."
"That she was trying not to get too close? Yes. That she belonged to another man? Hell, no."
"Then focus on those reasons. And you can't do that if I let you get stinking drunk." Zee grabbed the bottle and shoved it beneath the bar. "Consider it payback for the watered-down crap you and Bear make me drink every night." He turned and headed for the back.
"Where are you going?" Mac hadn't come here to be left by himself.
"I figure if I leave you alone with yourself for company, you'll get smart and go after her." With that parting shot, Zee rounded the corner and disappeared.
Mac knew without being told that he'd been wrong. He knew his Samantha could not deliberately set out to entrap and hurt him. She just didn't have it in her.
"Think explanations," Zee called from the back room. "And then get the hell out of here." Explanations. The woman had arrived straight out of the desert. What else did he know? She came from back East and had violet eyes he could drown in. Her mother died three years ago and she rambled when she was nervous. She was a financial planner and made love like she couldn't get enough of him. Her only family was an aging father whose love she sought, who was in debt up to his…
That was it. The father who needed money. What was it Samantha had said about the engagement? "Not that it ever was anything to begin with, but it was… necessary."
And Zee was right. There had been signs. She'd promised her dying mother she'd take care of her father. "Besides, I've always done the right thing." And because she wanted them to love her.
"Dammit." She was marrying the rich old man to help out her father. Mac was sure of it. He was also sure she hadn't baited him to take the first guy's place. She'd gathered her courage and turned her back on her father's predicament and her word even when she'd believed him nothing more than a bartender. He may not know who told her, but he had a damn good idea of when she'd learned the news. And it was sometime after she'd left him at Bear's.
Mac knew this because he knew Samantha. Too bad he realized it so late.
"Good going, Mackenzie," he muttered. She'd spent the week breaking with old habits and insecurities. Hadn't he sensed the contradictions and watched her grow more confident with him and with herself? And just when she'd needed him the most, he'd hit her with lack of faith and trust. He'd rewarded her courage with accusations to burn her ears and singe her heart. She'd been searching for love and he'd probably convinced her she'd never have his. He'd acted low enough to lose her for good.
Mac muttered a curse and headed for his car, making it back to The Resort in record time. He had to find Samantha. Sucking up was the least he could do.
He didn't know where they could go from there. Hell, after his performance, he didn't know if there was anywhere to go, but at least he'd see her one more time. Now that the blinding rage had passed and understanding had taken its place, Mac needed that most of all.
When he reached the suite of rooms, he didn't knock, just inserted the card in the door and walked inside.
Honey, I'm home didn't seem like an appropriate line, so he just called her name. "Sam?"
Silence.
He knew she was gone.
A call to the front desk confirmed she'd checked out. He'd stood in this very room, had everything he wanted in his grasp, and he'd thrown it all away. His head started to pound, and he walked into the bedroom and sat down on the bed. His own stupidity overwhelmed him. If his accusations weren't enough, he'd gone and told Samantha to go back to her first choice.
Her parting shot came back to him with gut-wrenching clarity. "Maybe I…" Mac hadn't stuck around, but he knew how that particular phrase ended. Which meant she might still be in the hotel with the other guy.
He reached for the phone and realized that Joe, the only other person who could identify the fiancé, had clocked out for the night. Mac's gaze lit on the pillow.
His stomach constricted as he reached for the note left for him beside the flower. "Mac, I would have liked 'forever', even in a little apartment over a bar." She couldn't have been more clear. She loved the man she'd believed him to be, not The Resort owner and jackass he'd become.
"You don't look well, Mr. Mackenzie. That is, I mean you look tired this morning."
Mac raised an eyebrow at his still-eager but now flustered employee. "Lack of sleep will do that to you, Joe." So will restless dreams and erotic memories, Mac thought.
"Oh."
"Have you seen the older guy from last night? The one with Ms. Reed?" Mac asked.
"This morning on the way to breakfast."
He waited. Joe remained silent. What a great time for the kid to clam up and speak only when spoken to. Mac would have to pry the information out of him. "And was he alone?"
"No, sir. He had a stunning young woman on his arm."
Stunning blonde? Stunning brunette? Stunning Samantha? What? Mac wanted to throttle him for learning discretion in such a short time.
"They're still in the dining room if you'd like to… er, check things out."
Mac walked away from Joe and toward the restaurant, his heart pounding hard in his chest. Before he could pass the hostess desk, a voice paged him over the loud speaker.
Mac picked up the nearest phone. "Mackenzie."
"Hi, Mac."
"What's up, Kate?" Even as Mac spoke to his sister, his gaze strayed toward the hallway. His sister was merely checking up on him since he'd cancelled their weekend plans, and Mac attempted to reassure her… in between keeping an eye out for Samantha and the other man.
Seconds after he hung up, he found what he was looking for. The guy was coming out of the restaurant with a stunning… Mac craned to catch a glimpse. When he did, his breath hissed out in a rush. A redhead. A gorgeous, young redhead was on his arm. Relief swelled inside him because it wasn't Samantha.
But that meant he had no idea where the hell she'd gone. Home, probably, not that he blamed her.
Mac made it back to the front desk in record time. For all its headaches, being the owner had its privileges. And as he pulled the weekend's reservation cards, he thanked his lucky stars for each and every one.