If she’d had any hopes about him wanting her in that way, they’d been shattered when he’d broken their embrace like she’d tried to eat him alive and he had one chance for escape. She’d gone for more than two decades without a man before Charles, and over a year since their night together. Maybe that’s why her need for him seemed to overpower her.
Although she was rarely alone, with Flynn to look after, motherhood added a level of isolation to her already quiet life that she hadn’t expected. Still, she had no intention ruining the fragile bond Charles had with Flynn just because she was the modern day equivalent of a dried-up spinster.
With that in mind, public outings with Charles seemed the most prudent course of action. But they still needed to maintain some level of anonymity. According to Charles, most people believed he’d gone to Horseback Hollow, as was his original plan. That gave them some time, but although Austin wasn’t as overtly overrun with cowboys as Dallas or Houston, Charles didn’t exactly blend in as a local. Alice hoped to remedy that today.
“Tell me again where we’re going,” Charles said as he approached her on the sidewalk. He wore a fitted black sweater, even though the temperature was hovering in the midseventies, and dark, tapered trousers. Even before he uttered a word, anyone within a block could tell he wasn’t American.
“To the mall,” she said. She held Flynn’s infant seat between them, needing every bit of physical distance she could manage.
“As in a shopping mall?”
Alice almost laughed at the words rolling off his tongue in that crisp accent. “Barton Creek Square isn’t far from here, and you need a new wardrobe.”
He ran a hand over the front of his sweater and arched an eyebrow. “Is there something wrong with my clothes?”
“Not if you want to constantly be recognized while you’re in Austin,” she told him. “You dress like you’re British.”
“I am British.”
“Which is why we’re going to turn you into an American for a few weeks.” She smiled and stepped away from the building. “Trust me, Charles.”
“I’m not wearing Wranglers,” he mumbled, and she did laugh.
“No Wranglers,” she agreed. “But at least one ten-gallon hat.”
He shot her a horrified glance.
“I’m kidding.” Alice found that she enjoyed teasing Charles. “Austin’s fashion style is fairly casual and, because of the college and the music scene, it’s less ‘cowboy’ than a lot of places in Texas. You’ll be fine.” She started for the walkway next to her building. “My car’s in the lot around back.”
“We can take mine.”
“You don’t have a car seat base.”
He flashed her a proud smile. “I do, and I had it installed at the fire station the hotel concierge recommended.”
She sucked in a breath, trying not to let her heart be influenced by the thoughtfulness of that gesture. He lifted the car seat out of her hands, their fingers brushing.
“Hullo there, little man,” he said to Flynn as he tipped back the sunshade. Flynn gurgled in response.
“I need to grab his stroller from the trunk of my car.” She shrugged at Charles’s questioning glance. “There’s not a lot of room in the apartment, so I keep it in the car when I’m not using it.”
He considered that for a moment. “A boy needs a yard to romp in, Alice.”
“Flynn has a while to go before the ‘romping’ stage begins.”
“If you’d let me—”
“My apartment is fine.” She held up a hand. “One step at a time. Please.”
“One step at a time. Let’s drive around back to your car.” He hit the remote start on the key fob and then clicked the infant carrier into the base waiting in his back seat. This was the first time she’d gotten in a car with her son and not been driving since her father brought her home from the hospital after Flynn’s birth.
Charles held open the door and she slipped into the buttery leather seat, stowing the diaper bag at her feet.
“Do you always wear heels?” he asked, leaning over the top of the door.
“Whenever possible,” she admitted. “These are low for me.” Today she’d gone casual with a pair of polka-dot espadrilles with a stacked one-inch heel.
“I like them,” he said simply, but the intensity in his eyes as they raked over her body made awareness whisper across her skin.
“Thanks,” she murmured as he shut the door.
She concentrated on breathing as he came around the front of the car, but that didn’t help her muddled senses. The Mercedes was new, but the barest hint of Charles’s scent lingered in the air. It wound around her brain until she felt like she might lose control, a feeling that only intensified when he climbed in and curled his long fingers around the steering wheel.
“Are you hot?” he asked, reaching forward to adjust the temperature control on the dash.
Alice almost choked on her own tongue. Was she hot? If he knew what she was feeling right now, he’d dump her and Flynn on the sidewalk in a minute. “Fine,” she managed to reply in a normal tone.
They pulled around back and retrieved the stroller before heading toward Barton Creek Square. The upscale shopping center was only about ten minutes from her apartment.
“Of all the times I’ve visited the States,” Charles said with a wry grin, “I’ve managed to avoid stepping into an American mall.”
“Until now.”
He winked at her. “Only for you, Alice.”
She actually laughed at the absurdity of that statement. Now that she was becoming used to Charles being in close proximity, she began to relax. Driving to a mall was far less intimate than sitting together in her small apartment, even if it gave her the mistaken sense that somehow the three of them were a real family. Putting those dangerous thoughts aside, she pointed the edge of the mall out to Charles. “There’s an underground parking garage near Nordstrom. That’s a central starting point.”
He nodded. “Even I’ve heard of Nordstrom.”
“What do you normally do during your visits?”
“I see friends and my family. Texas is relatively new for me. Before my mother discovered she was a Fortune, I’d spent most of my time on the coasts.”
“Was being part of the Fortunes a big adjustment?”
“In some ways.” Charles steered the sedan down the ramp of the multilevel parking structure. “But we’ve always been a big family, so having more cousins has been nice. None of us enjoy the additional notoriety that comes with the Fortune name, but we can deal with it.”
“I heard that Kate Fortune is still in Austin. I saw a picture of her on the local news last week. She certainly is a walking advertisement for her youth serum.”
His gaze was hooded as he glanced over. “I haven’t met her yet.”
“It’s probably just a matter of time,” Alice offered, wondering why she felt the need to placate Charles on the subject of Kate Fortune.
“We’ll see.” He pulled into an empty spot near the elevator on the second level and shifted the car into Park. “My sister Lucie told me Kate has been meeting with members of the Fortune extended family because she’s looking for the right person to take over her company when she retires.”
“That makes you a candidate?”
He shook his head. “Not yet. I’ve been in Austin almost a week and I’ve heard nothing from her. Not that I want to run a cosmetics company...”
“But you want the chance to say no.”
One side of his mouth curved. “I’ll admit, it pricks my ego not to be considered. Foolish, right?”
“Not at all.” Alice understood how it felt to be overlooked, and as hard as it was to believe she had that in common with this handsome, dashing man, she knew that the pain of Kate Fortune’s disregard went deeper than simple ego. “You’d be an excellent choice.”
“Honestly, I have no desire to work with Fortune Cosmetics.” He paused, tapped one hand on the steering wheel, then turned to her. �
��But what makes you think I could do it?”
She gave him a genuine smile. “You’re smart and great with people. You have sharp instincts and I think you’d be a good manager.”
He snorted. “I can barely manage my social calendar.”
“That’s what you want people to believe,” Alice answered, shaking her head. “Because it’s easier than admitting that you care. But you do, Charles. I watched you at the conference last year.”
“I watched you, too, Alice.” His voice was pitched low and she realized he was trying to distract her.
“Stop,” she said, poking him in the arm. “This is serious.”
He blinked at her. “I try to avoid being serious whenever possible. Everyone knows that about me.”
“That’s your mask, but there’s more to you. No one can be as carefree as you act and still be successful without working very hard at it. You knew exactly what to say at the conference to put people at ease. You listened to what they wanted in a vacation and understood how to talk about England in a way that made it personal to each of them.”
She hefted the diaper bag onto her lap, needing a distraction to stop thinking how personal she’d gotten with Charles after the conference. “Those were tourism professionals,” she couldn’t help but add. “They’re practically immune to a sales pitch, even a very good one. But no one is immune to you, Charles.”
He stared at her for several long moments and the nonchalance so often in his eyes dropped away for a moment, revealing a different man than the one the public knew. A man Alice could easily fall for if she wasn’t careful.
“Not even you?” he asked.
She gave a startled laugh. “I’m a mother now. I don’t count.” Before he could weigh in on that pronouncement, she opened her door and climbed out. “We should get moving. Flynn will need to eat in about an hour and he usually gets fussy before that.”
The air in the parking garage was sticky and stifling, and Alice quickly unfastened the car seat as Charles pulled the stroller out of the trunk. He didn’t say anything as they walked toward the entrance of the mall, a burst of cool air greeting them when the automatic doors opened. Alice babbled on about the layout of the stores, the best options in the food court and the wonder that was the Nordstrom shoe department.
Charles listened but most of his attention was focused on maneuvering Flynn’s stroller through the clusters of shoppers. Sunday afternoon was prime shopping time, and Alice wanted to find him some new clothes before he was spotted. The last thing she needed splashed across the local paper was a picture of Charles pushing Flynn’s stroller.
“Here we are,” she said as they came to a small storefront.
Charles squinted up at the sign. “This isn’t Nordstrom.”
“It’s better if we start here. Marc & Cross is a Texas chain. They have stores in Austin, Dallas and San Antonio.”
He glanced at the burly mannequins in the window, dressed as if they were going on some kind of hip cattle drive, then back at Alice. “You do a lot of shopping here?”
“No,” she said around a giggle. “But I have friends who do.”
“Boyfriends?” Charles’s eyes narrowed.
She shook her head. “Friends who are guys.”
“What’s the difference?”
“I never... We didn’t...you know.” She wrapped her fingers around his upper arm and immediately regretted it. His biceps was hard and she could feel the warmth radiating from his skin.
“I’m certain they wanted to,” Charles said, stubbornly staying right where he was. She tugged again. “I bet you had men lined up around the block.”
“Hardly.” She let go of his arm to walk into the store. He followed with the stroller. “I was such a late bloomer, I may have missed my chance entirely.” She thought about her miserable love life before Charles and the condom that had languished in her purse for almost two years. The whole reason she now had Flynn. “We’re not here to talk about me. We’re getting clothes for you.” She started for a rack near the front of the store, but Charles grabbed her wrist, sliding his fingers down her hand until they laced with hers.
“If that’s the case, the men in Austin are complete prats.” He grinned when she squinted. “Fools. They are complete fools, Alice.”
“All of them but you,” she whispered, then clasped a hand over her mouth. She hadn’t meant to say the words out loud.
Charles’s grin widened. “All of them but me,” he agreed. “Now what would you pick out that doesn’t make me look like a prat?”
She started with a couple pairs of jeans, one a dark wash and another more faded. Both were boot cut, which Charles thought was ridiculous since he didn’t own boots.
“Next stop is the Nordstrom shoe department,” she informed him.
“My credit card is trembling with anticipation,” he retorted.
She also picked out several shirts, both long and short sleeved, and a few pairs of shorts, since the temperature was going to only get hotter as spring progressed. One of the salesclerks took the clothes to a dressing room, and Alice couldn’t help but notice the way the woman’s eyes lingered on Charles. He seemed oblivious, and Alice figured basking in female attention was a daily occurrence for this far-too-attractive Fortune.
He shuddered as she handed him a baseball cap. “You can’t possibly expect me to put that on my head.”
“It’s better than a cowboy hat, and it’s good cover.” She stepped toward him. Despite her height, she needed to stretch onto her tiptoes to place the hat on his head. She adjusted it, then brushed back the hair that curled at his neck.
His blue eyes darkened and he bent his head toward hers. So much for being safe in public. The bill of that baseball cap bumped her forehead at the same time Flynn let out a hungry squawk from his stroller.
Alice jumped away from Charles, knocking into a display of logo T-shirts. “You need shirts,” she said, and blindly grabbed a few, shoving them toward him. “And Flynn needs to eat.”
Charles took the shirts but watched her as she unstrapped the baby and lifted him from his carrier. “Do you need help?”
“I’ve got instant formula in the diaper bag.” She hefted the sack in one arm, balancing Flynn in the other. “You try on everything. The food court is just across the way. We’ll wait for you there.”
Charles moved in front of her, lifted the diaper bag off her shoulder. “I’ll get you settled first,” he said, dropping a gentle kiss on the top of Flynn’s head. It was a sweet gesture but also brought him close enough to whisper into her ear, “Unless you’d like to join me in the fitting room?”
“I...no,” she blurted, and squeezed Flynn tighter. The boy let out a cry and the corners of his mouth turned down in a trembling pout that Alice knew indicated a full-blown wail wasn’t far behind.
“Someday,” Charles said smoothly, and turned for the back of the store.
* * *
Two weeks ago it would have seemed impossible to Charles that he could spend a thoroughly enjoyable afternoon in a temperature-controlled, fluorescent-lit shopping mall. But everything about being with Alice and Flynn shifted his preconceived notions about life. He had a suspicion that any activity done in the beautiful blonde’s company would make for a better time than he’d had in years. Of course, the activities Charles most wanted to partake in with Alice weren’t fit to even think about while he was bouncing his son on his knee, but he couldn’t seem to stop his mind from wandering to thoughts of kissing her again.
After the first store, she’d convinced him to change into a pair of jeans and the Texas Longhorns T-shirt he’d purchased. The baggy denim and soft cotton felt foreign against his skin, but he had to admit he blended in better with the other men being led around the mall by their wives and girlfriends. He’d even gotten a pair of round-toed Western boots at Alice’s beloved Nordstrom. He actually liked the weight of the shoes and was tempted to take a picture of himself to send to his siblings in Horseback Hollow. They wouldn’t
believe Charles dressed as an American.
His reward had been buying a pair of the sexiest shoes on the planet for Alice. She’d refused at first, but as soon as he saw the pair of strappy heels he’d wanted to see Alice in them. The more time he spent with her, the better he understood how men for so long had overlooked her.
Her pale blond hair and delicate features were gorgeous, but she had the ability to almost become invisible when other people were around. Her natural reserve and shyness made her shrink in on herself to the point that no one noticed her. Charles would have found it difficult to believe, since he could barely take his eyes off her, but in every store today the salespeople looked past her to him. She seemed to expect it, and the more it happened, the more Alice retreated.
The juxtaposition of the timid woman and the overtly sensual heels drove Charles crazy. The fact that he was the only man on the planet who knew that, underneath her shy exterior, Alice was just as passionate as the shoes would suggest just about sent him over the edge. He’d insisted she try on the red satin heels. The straps that wound around her ankles gave the impression that her feet were a tantalizing gift to be opened. Even with her wearing a crisp white T-shirt, and jeans rolled to her calves, her legs in those shoes were the most arousing thing he’d ever seen.
“They’re too much,” she argued, glancing at the price on the box.
“You’re getting them.” He jiggled Flynn on his knee, both hands supporting the baby, for Flynn’s sake as well as to ensure that Charles didn’t grab Alice and ravish her in the middle of the department store.
“I don’t have an occasion to wear them.” She sighed. “Since Flynn, my minuscule social life has become downright nonexistent.”
“We’ll find a place.” Charles smiled at the salesclerk. “I’ll take the heels and the boots,” he told her, and handed over his credit card. When the woman walked away, he pointed at Alice. “Admit it, you love them.”
She wrinkled her nose but grinned. “I do. I may just walk around the house tonight in my pajamas and heels because I love them that much.”
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