One Night with His Rival

by Robyn Grady

  “Is he dead?”

  The doctor’s onyx eyes smiled as he reassured her. “Your father is very much alive. Apparently a deer leaped out and collided with his vehicle. No fractures, although we want to keep an eye on a minor head injury. A graze and bump on his head. He’s a lucky man to have gotten off so lightly.”

  Ajax asked, “When can Veda see him?”

  The doctor’s mouth pressed into a harder line before he replied. “Ms. Darnel, your father has asked that he not be disturbed at this time.”

  Veda blinked, shook her head. “But does he know that I’m here?”

  “He gave your name as next of kin.” The doctor paused. “But I’m afraid he doesn’t want visitors.”

  Veda was ready to ask that someone look into that again. But then the nurse’s expression a moment ago began to make sense. She’d been reacting to the situation of a daughter rushing to an injured father who didn’t want to see her. It was sad. Awkward.

  The doctor tried to rationalize. “Oftentimes, people are embarrassed at having lost control of a vehicle. They might need time to overcome feelings of having let others down, as they perceive it.” He offered a reassuring smile. “I’m certain he’ll come around.”

  As the doctor left, Ajax looped his arms around her and Veda leaned in. He felt real when, at this moment, nothing else did.

  “We’ll hang around,” Ajax said, stroking her arm as she nestled against him. “You can be here when he comes to his senses.”

  “And if that doesn’t happen?”

  “Like the doctor said...he’s got issues with having screwed up.”

  “So he shuts me out. Typical.” She stepped back. “Well, I’m not going to give him the satisfaction of being pathetic enough to wait.”

  Ajax’s gaze softened further. “Maybe just a few minutes. He knows you’re here. Let that sink in. He’s obviously not thinking straight.”

  “He’s thinking like he always does. About himself.”

  After their argument this morning, had Drake purposely wrecked his car for a sympathy vote? To snap his recalcitrant daughter back into line? Hell, she’d dropped everything to race here, hadn’t she?

  “Sorry,” she told Ajax, heading off. “I’ve got to go.”

  “You can’t drive back to Jersey,” he said, catching up. “You shouldn’t be driving anywhere right now. Your father might be acting like a dick, but you’re smarter than that.”

  Stabbing the elevator call button, she tried to settle her emotions.

  “You’re right. I’ll take a cab. Go back to Dad’s place...catch my breath.”

  “I’ll drive. And sit with you for a while.”

  She darted him a look. “You mean actually come into enemy territory?”

  The corners of his mouth twitched. “Boy, wouldn’t that piss him off.”

  Veda hesitated. Then she smiled. Finally she laughed because, hell, what else could she do.

  As the elevator doors slid open, she linked her arm through Ajax’s and, after this crazy, stress-filled morning, announced to the world, “Let’s really tick Drake off. My God, let’s make him howl!”

  * * *

  Veda had gotten her spark back before they’d left the hospital, but she’d gone quiet while he’d driven her car back to Darnel Manor. Obviously she was still dwelling on the accident, as well as Drake’s latest dick move. He had manipulated a highly emotionally charged situation by refusing to see, and comfort, his own daughter.

  Ajax didn’t buy into the doctor’s explanation about her father feeling embarrassed over totaling his car. Something major was up between father and daughter, and Ajax had the feeling it centered on him.

  Passing through the open Darnel gates, he took note of the endless stream of soaring pines lining the drive. At the top of the first hill stood a massive stone-and-shingle structure that captured the essence of an over-the-top bygone era. After parking the SUV out front, he escorted Veda to the colossal cherrywood double entry doors. Looking around, Ajax couldn’t make out any sign of the stables, arenas, paddocks—no horses or people were anywhere to be seen.

  Then they stepped inside and Ajax almost lost his breakfast.

  This place was the Gilded Age on steroids. The foyer was three stories of imported marble, gold trimmings and hardwood parquet flooring and had enough classical sculptures to man a football team.

  He realized Veda was studying him and snapped his hanging jaw shut. “A wood shack this is not.”

  She hugged herself as if battling a chill. “It feels like a huge, creepy mausoleum, right?”

  “I wasn’t going to say that.” Out loud.

  “Mom never felt comfortable here. But that wasn’t totally the house’s fault.”

  “Must take an army of people to keep up appearances,” he said, blowing imaginary dust off a Greek goddess’s head.

  “My father gets someone in three times a year to give everything a resounding polish. Other than that, I can’t tell you whether anyone walks through those front doors anymore. Aside from me on occasion. And, I guess, someone to drop off groceries.”

  So Drake didn’t allow his trainers, grooms, riders, farriers and other employees to enter his sanctuary. He preferred to conduct business at the stable office. A little Howard Hughes, but sure. Okay.

  “Doesn’t he at least have a cook?”

  “Far too intrusive,” she said with a manufactured air. “And he is the world’s best chef. Just ask him.” She cocked her head. “Ajax, are you hungry?”

  Come to think of it. “I could squeeze in a little something.”

  She led him into a kitchen that continued the lavish theme, with an exclamation point. Compared to Susan’s kitchen, this room looked so big. And lonely. The word haunted also came to mind.

  Veda opened the refrigerator door and cobbled together ingredients for sandwiches. While he slapped mayo on the bread and she cut lettuce, tomato and cheese, he tried to picture her growing up in this place. He felt ill just thinking about it. But the stark formality fit with everything he knew about Drake Darnel, including his rebuff of Veda today.

  He thought he was pretty darn special.

  “I never felt like this was a home,” she said, laying fillings on the bread. “I don’t know how my mother suffered it for so long.”

  “What was the tipping point?”

  “In the marriage? Drake accused her of having an affair with one of the stable hands. My father isn’t much of a conversationalist at the best of times. After that, it was the silent treatment every night.” Veda sliced the sandwiches, and while Ajax put them onto a plate, she found a chilled bottle of juice. “I challenge anyone to live in this kind of environment for any length of time,” she said, leading the way through a door that connected with a colossal-sized sun room. “Slowly but surely, let me tell you, it drains the soul.”

  The hexagonal room was surrounded by soaring floor-to-ceiling French windows. Ajax could admit that the view of the hills was pretty—similar, of course, to a view from his home.

  They sat together on an ornate red velvet couch and dug in while looking out over the vista. On his second bite, Ajax’s phone rang. After checking the ID, he put the phone away.

  “You can take it,” Veda said. “Don’t mind me.”

  “It was Hux.”

  “You didn’t want to lie about where you were?”

  “I don’t give a crap whether he knows or not.”

  She lowered her sandwich. “That doesn’t sound good.”

  Recalling their argument earlier that day was almost enough to put him off his food. “I love that man. He’s a great father and mentor. But sometimes...he just doesn’t get it.”

  “This is about that doping allegation.”

  “Yes. And no.”

  Ajax explained how he’d gotten home that morning to find Hux riffling through his
office files, and then shared the news that a meeting regarding those allegations was scheduled for the end of the week, and some clients had decided to take their horses elsewhere.

  “Hux and I have never had an argument like that before, and I’m over it. I love what I do, but sometimes, like today... He doesn’t know how much I give.”

  Veda looked taken aback. “Sorry. I thought everything was hunky-dory in the Rawson camp.”

  “Ask the others and they’d agree. Griff, Lanie, Jacob...he supports and encourages them without a second thought. But me? I feel like I have to earn his approval every day.”

  “Have you always felt that way?”

  “Since Mom passed. You know about me putting that ad up and finding Susan.”

  “That was so brave.”

  Ajax didn’t see it as courageous but simply as necessity. “Everyone was so down. Someone had to get things moving again. I had to at least try to make people smile and forget.” He flinched. “I sound like I’m whining, don’t I?”

  “No. Not at all.” She smiled softly. “Ajax, you found a way to save your family. I think that is the noblest thing anyone can do.”

  His throat was suddenly thick. No one would ever know, and he would never forget, how desperate he’d felt at the time. He had wanted to save his family. What was left of it, at least.

  “I felt so stifled living under my dad’s say-so,” Veda said, and then clarified, “I know Hux isn’t anything like my father... Just saying.”

  “When did you leave?”

  “Freshman year of college. Never looked back.”

  “I didn’t do college. Too much to do at home.”

  “Did you want to go?”

  “When I was young, I wanted to be a vet.”

  “Well, there you go!”

  “That was a long time ago.”

  “Hey, there’s nothing wrong with starting a little late.” She thought a moment before squeezing his arm then getting to her feet. “I’d like to show you something. I mean if you’re not in a hurry to get back or anything.”

  Ready to shake all the bad feelings out, he jumped up. “Veda, I’m all yours.”

  * * *

  Seeing the tree house again brought back a flood of memories and emotions. Perched in a rambling old oak ten feet above the ground, the timber hideaway was the size of a modest bedroom and had once been home to Veda’s favorite dolls and games. Here she had felt totally happy. Truly safe.

  “I had a little dog growing up,” Veda said as she and Ajax drew closer to the tree house. “Gus was my best friend. I used to climb up this ladder and he’d jump in that.” She crossed over to a faded blue plastic bucket with a hairy old rope tied to its handle. “Then I’d pull him up.”

  “Gus... I’m thinking a beagle.”

  “A cream teacup poodle. He had apricot smudges on his cheeks like an old lady had done his makeup. Dad brought him home for me on my fifth birthday. I even caught Gus snuggled up on Drake’s lap a few times.”

  Looking up at the tree house, Ajax grabbed a ladder rung. It snapped, rotten all the way through.

  He winced. “I’ll fix it for you.”

  “Don’t worry. This must be fifty or sixty years old. An employee from the stables used to patch it up for me.”

  “Sounds like you had a friend.”

  She arched a brow. “It was Paul Booshang.”

  His head kicked back. “Get outta here.”

  “And he was a friend. Mom’s, too. I don’t think he liked the way Drake ignored my mother and me.”

  “I don’t suppose you knew anything about him doping horses back then.”

  She shook her head. “And neither did my father, or Paul would’ve found a boot up his backside. In case you haven’t noticed, my father is not a tolerant man, even where family is concerned. I’m sure Paul wasn’t the only staff member to feel sorry for me and Mom. It got worse after she said we would leave if things didn’t change. Once it got so heated, he slapped her.”

  She kicked the bucket and the old plastic split into brittle pieces at the same time Ajax drew up to his full intimidating height.

  “Did he ever touch you?”

  “Never. In fact, the night we packed up to leave, he asked me to stay.” Remembering how torn she had felt...how lost... Veda shuddered. “Believe it or not, I cried walking out the door.”

  Ajax stepped closer. “I’m sorry you had such a hard time growing up. It must seem like a long time ago now.”

  Actually, it didn’t feel that long ago at all.

  “Dad came by to see me earlier,” she said.

  “You mean in New Jersey? Today?”

  “We argued. And yes, it was about us.”

  He blinked as he put it together. “Veda, if you feel guilty over your father’s accident because he might’ve been upset—”

  “I don’t feel guilty.” She fought down a shiver. “I absolutely don’t.”

  Anyway, that was enough about Drake. Enough about the past.

  “When I stay over now, I use the guesthouse.” She nodded toward the beautiful old stone building. “It was here before the main house was built.”

  Following her gaze, Ajax’s eyebrows shot up. “The Rawson original has a long way to go before it looks anywhere near as good as that.” He brought out his phone and pulled up a few photos.

  “Oh, it’s sweet,” she said, taking in the Cape Cod with its steep pitched roof and big front door centered below a massive chimney.

  “I should show you around sometime,” he said, slotting the phone away.

  “My turn first,” she said, grabbing his hand and heading toward the guesthouse.

  “We’ll need keys.”

  “Got them in my pocket.”

  He grinned. “I like how you think.”

  “I like how you feel...” Turning back and into his arms, she nuzzled his warm, salty neck. “How you taste.”

  When he kissed her, Veda felt her world shift that much more toward a new way of thinking and feeling. Once she had been happiest here alone, just her and little Gus. Now she was happiest when she was with Ajax. Right now, she felt safe.

  Maybe even loved.

  Twelve

  When Ajax drove his truck up to the house early the next morning, an unfamiliar vehicle was parked in the guest area.

  If Hux had company, Ajax was happy to take a coffee on the back porch and wait until his father was free. He’d been mad as hell after their argument. Since talking it through and spending the night with Veda, however, he had calmed down.

  Not that his opinion had changed on anything, Ajax thought, taking the front steps two at a time. He hated the doping allegation hanging over his head. He was sorry that some clients had opted out. But he wasn’t unhappy that this episode had brought to the fore his growing concerns regarding his standing here at Rawson’s. He had felt like the hired help for too long.

  So now it was crunch time, Ajax reaffirmed as he headed for the kitchen and the coffeepot. He and Hux would have a conversation today highlighting the fact that fair was fair. He wanted a partnership agreement drawn up by the end of the week or he would need to consider his other options.

  When he pushed through the swing doors, he found Susan standing by the center counter. Her eyes widened before her usual welcoming smile took over.

  “Ajax. What good timing.”

  That’s when he noticed their company. Five foot one. A hundred and ten pounds. Thick shoulder-length blond hair that she usually wore in a ponytail but was loose today. He was used to seeing her in training gear or jockey silks, not a dress. But her smile was the same. Big. Contagious.

  He headed over and gave their guest a big, warm hug. She didn’t smell a bit like leather and horse sweat. In fact, her scent brought to mind a summer garden.

  “Fallon Kelly.” Pulling back,
he took his friend in again. “This is a surprise.”

  Fallon’s chocolate-brown eyes were dancing. “I was driving through on my way to Vermont. I hoped y’all wouldn’t mind if I dropped in.”

  Susan set a cup of coffee on the counter beside Ajax. “She looks well, doesn’t she?”

  “She looks amazing,” Ajax replied.

  Susan was headed for the swing doors. “You two get caught up while I tell Huxley you’re here, Fallon. And I’ll let him know you’re home, Jax.”

  Susan and Hux didn’t have secrets; she would know all about yesterday’s blowup. Not that she ever inserted herself into family matters, which was nuts given she was family.

  Ajax led Fallon out back and they took seats that offered a magic view of the hills. Dew was still glistening on everything green. The sky was a dome of early heaven-sent blue. If he squinted, he could even see the roof of the original house from here.

  “It must be a year since we saw you last,” he said. “Just after you gave up riding.”

  “Doesn’t seem that long ago.”

  He thought about his own situation—about weighing up his choices—and asked, “Do you miss the racing scene?”

  “I miss the special bond I have with a horse. I don’t miss those early mornings and worrying about every little thing I put in my mouth.”

  Ajax hooked an arm over the back of the bench as he turned more toward her. “I’ll never forget our big win at Belmont Park.”

  “I had a great ride. Kudos to the wonderful trainer.” She tipped toward him, grinning.

  And then, for just a second, her gaze dropped from his eyes to his lips, which prompted a whole other line of recollection. After that win and celebratory drinks, he and Fallon had gotten together—a single night that hadn’t developed into anything more. Her career was her main focus. Or so he had thought. He’d been blindsided when she’d said that she wanted to pursue other goals.

  “So what are you up to now?” he asked.

  “I’ve been in Kentucky with family, thinking about starting a riding school. Nothing snooty. I’m more interested in being laid-back. In having fun.”