Evidently, he thought she wouldn’t have the correct clothes for whatever he had in mind. And he was right. She had packed her luggage with a honeymoon with Spencer in mind . . . and that most definitely did not include jeans.
She grinned, wondering what Chaz had planned. Whatever it was, she was pretty sure it would be nothing like yesterday’s outing with Spencer.
She showered and dressed in the clothes Chaz had sent. To his credit, he’d gotten her sizes right. And he’d even bought the down vest in her favorite shade of red. He got points for paying attention, at least.
But did he realize that she wore red to make a statement? That it symbolized the new Kelly, her new life? She doubted it, or he would have never chosen it.
She grimaced. This is Chaz, remember? The color was probably just coincidence.
As she waited, the phone rang several times but she ignored it. The only person she cared to talk to right now was Scott, and he knew where she was.
After one such phone call, the message light flashed. Kelly retrieved the voice mail, frowning when she heard her mother’s cultured tones. “It’s your mother,” Grace Richmond said with a hint of steel in her voice. “I’ve been calling you for hours. Where are you? Call me immediately.”
Kelly shook her head. These two days with Spencer and Chaz belonged to her and she wasn’t about to spoil them by talking to her mother. Mother could just wait.
To keep her mind off her problems and her upcoming date with Chaz, Kelly filled in the time until he picked her up with a little reading and a little television. At precisely eleven o’clock, a knock came at the door. Chaz was there as promised, dressed much like she was.
“You ready?” he asked.
She nodded, then saw the crowd of people behind him. It appeared Spencer, Candace, Scott, and Amalia were going along on this date as well. Chaz rolled his eyes in their direction, but Kelly could only laugh. “It serves you right after what you did yesterday.”
He shrugged. “Let’s see if they can keep up.”
She wondered what he meant until she realized the others hadn’t received the dress code. The women were in heels and the men were dressed for a nice party. They glanced doubtfully at her outfit and some looked as though they’d like to change clothes, but Chaz wasn’t about to give them the opportunity.
“Let’s go,” he said.
Placing a hand possessively at the small of her back, he steered her toward the elevator. And his glare kept the others from sharing their elevator. Backing off, they played it safe and waited for the next one.
Once they were alone, Kelly gestured down at her jeans. “So, what’s up for today?”
He smiled down at her and placed an arm around her shoulders. “You’ll see.”
She stood still within his embrace, trying not to let him sense how much his nearness affected her, how the very scent of him brought back memories she’d thought long forgotten. “I see. You don’t want me telling anyone else where we’re going, huh?”
“Something like that,” he said with an unapologetic shrug. “It’s a surprise.”
And when the elevator opened, he led her to a waiting cab, then opened the door for her to get in. “I thought you rented a car,” she said in surprise.
“I did, but it’s in Scott’s name, and my driver’s license expired a few years back.”
That left the others free to follow them in the rental car. Which they did, Kelly noted with a smile. Spencer drove, obviously not trusting Scott to keep up with them.
The arrangement also left Chaz free to snuggle with her in the back seat of the cab as the driver took off, apparently having already received instructions about where to go.
“How . . . resourceful of you,” she said with a smile as Chaz cuddled close.
“I thought so.”
But he wisely confined his amorous advances to just holding her close against his side. When she realized he wasn’t going to try to make love to her in the back of the taxi, she relaxed and even began to enjoy it. It had been a long time since she had allowed a man to put his arms around her, to let herself relax into the warmth of his presence. It was really rather nice.
But all too short. She had expected him to take her to the Garden of the Gods, but they bypassed that and went to Palmer Park, almost in the middle of Colorado Springs. “A park?” she asked in confusion.
“It’s not the type of park you’re thinking of,” he said with confidence. Grabbing a backpack from the trunk, he paid off the driver and said, “You ready to go?”
“Sure.” And so was everyone else, it seemed. The other four piled out of the rental car and didn’t even make a pretense at not following them.
But Chaz didn’t seem worried. “Then, let’s do it.”
He was right—it wasn’t the kind of park she’d expected. Instead of wide expanses of green grass dotted with trees and ponds, this park looked like it should be up in the mountains, with lots of huge red rocks and plenty of wild shrubbery and trees set in a small mountain of its own.
Several trails were marked and, after consulting a map, Chaz headed for one of them.
So, they were going to hike, were they? Okay, that sounded different. She’d enjoyed hiking with Chaz in the past. Why not now? The air was a little chilly, but not unbearable, and most of the snow had melted, so if they kept moving, they’d probably be warm enough.
Kelly followed Chaz as he set a brisk pace. The trail started out fairly level but soon snaked its way up the mountainside, weaving a narrow path around scrubby trees and over large rocks.
The others tried to maintain the same pace, but when Kelly glanced back, she saw that Candace and Amalia had fallen behind, hampered by their high heels. Scott and Spencer were helping them solicitously, but Spencer looked very frustrated. He also looked uncomfortable in his sports jacket and stiff, polished shoes. He certainly wouldn’t be able to keep up at this rate.
Chaz glanced back to see what she was looking at. “Don’t worry,” he said. “They’ll give up soon.” Holding his hand out to help her over a rock, he grinned. “Besides, we have a date with a picnic basket.”
Unaccustomed as she was to climbing, Kelly had to save all her breath for the hike, so she just nodded and kept on following him. The exercise was strangely exhilarating, though she knew she’d be sore tomorrow—this climb was using muscles she hadn’t tested in years.
After about half an hour, they emerged into a picnic area. Chaz glanced behind her and smiled. “I think we lost them over that last set of rocks. You ready for lunch?”
Kelly nodded, not trusting herself not to gasp for breath if she tried to speak. Sinking gratefully onto a bench, she stretched her legs out in front of her and winced at the soreness in her calves. She would regret this tomorrow.
“Good,” Chaz said, looking as if the climb had been nothing more than a leisurely stroll.
He unzipped the backpack and pulled out a veritable feast. Then again, anything would seem like a feast about now. She was so hungry that the fried chicken, pasta salad with mixed vegetables, fresh fruit, and a cold soda tasted like the ambrosia of the gods.
“This is wonderful,” she said after swallowing a bite of delicious fried chicken. “You certainly came prepared.”
He shrugged. “I just asked the kitchen to make up a lunch for two.”
“So you knew no one else would make it this far?”
Grinning around a chicken leg, he said, “Well, I hoped not, anyway. I wanted you all to myself today.”
Once they finished eating, Chaz helped her up and continued to hold her hand as they took off on another trail, this one a little easier than the one before. With no one behind them to spur him on, Chaz set a more leisurely pace.
Continuing to keep his fingers laced with hers, he kept her close and pointed out shy rabbits, unusual rock formations, and the occasional tree decked out in autumn colors. It was surprisingly relaxing.
And, just when she was about to beg for a break, they came to the top of
the trail. Here, high above Colorado Springs, the city was spread out before them, from snow-capped Pikes Peak and the Rocky Mountains to the west, all the way to the plains to the east. She stared around, amazed. Who knew this spot of wilderness could exist in the center of the city?
They rested there companionably for a few minutes as they took in the panoramic view, Chaz’s arm comfortably around Kelly’s waist.
“Does this remind you of anything?” he asked.
“Not really.”
“Hmm. Add in a thunderstorm and a mud puddle . . .”
“Oh. Of course.” He had tried to recreate that day in the rain, the day he said he had fallen in love with her. Kelly’s heart clenched. First the breakfast and now this. Damn, he was being so sweet, so romantic. She didn’t remember seeing this side of Chaz before. Had it been there all along, or had this competition brought out the best in him?
She didn’t know, but she was sure enjoying it, no matter what the cause.
After she felt rested, Chaz asked, “You ready to go now?”
Kelly couldn’t help but moan. “I don’t know if I can walk all that way down again and still be alive tomorrow. Besides, you know they’ll only be waiting for us at the bottom.”
He grinned. “Not quite. And don’t worry about walking all the way down—you won’t have to. Come on, I’ll show you.”
There was a parking lot at the top of the mountain, and Kelly watched in disbelief as Chaz headed purposefully toward one of the cars parked there—a Lexus. “You’re not going to steal a car, are you?”
He gave a bark of laughter. “No, someone loaned me this one. I brought it up here this morning before I got you.”
Impressed by his forethought, Kelly sank gratefully into the luxurious front seat. The winding drive down the small mountain was a lot faster than their walk up, and Chaz managed to totally bypass the parking lot where they had originally been dropped off to come out a different exit.
“Wait a minute,” Kelly said. “Hasn’t your license expired?” Not to mention the fact that he hadn’t driven in many years.
He shrugged and grinned. “Hey, why not live dangerously?”
But he was anything but dangerous as he drove leisurely through the streets of Colorado Springs.
The interior of the car suddenly seemed familiar. “This is Candace’s car, isn’t it?” Kelly asked.
“Yes.”
“And she loaned it to you?”
“Sure, why not?”
“But she was following us up the mountain like she wanted to stop us.”
“No,” Chaz corrected gently. “She wasn’t following us.”
“Oh.” The light dawned. Of course. Kelly knew her boss had nursed a crush on Spencer for a long time.
Hmm. If Candace had loaned Chaz her car and been willing to sacrifice expensive pumps just to keep Spencer from following Kelly, perhaps Candace’s feelings were more serious than Kelly had realized.
* * *
Candace leaned against the rental car in the parking lot at the park, wishing she was back in her room so she could soak her aching feet and get something to eat. Scott and Amalia were resting in the car, and Spencer was pacing the length of parking lot impatiently. Unfortunately, none of them had had the foresight to bring any food.
But even though Candace was tired and hungry and had ruined her best pumps, it was worth it. She was just glad Chaz had advised her of the day’s activities ahead of time so she could be of some assistance.
Though Spencer had obviously been irritated by his inability to keep up with Chaz, he had proven to be a perfect gentleman. Hiding his frustration, he had considerately helped Candace climb as far as she was able in her shoes. At least until she convinced him to give it up.
But now they had been waiting for hours, and everyone was bored. Having a pretty good suspicion that Kelly and Chaz were long gone by now, Candace said, “I don’t think they’re coming back this way.”
Spencer stopped pacing to regard her with a frown. “Is there another way out of here?”
“There must be,” she said. Or she would have seen her car by now. But she certainly wasn’t going to explain that to Spencer.
“I’ll ask,” Scott said, and got out of the car to approach some hikers. After a short discussion, he came back. “She’s right. There are several other exits from the park. How much you want to bet they took one of them already?”
Frustration crossed Spencer’s face, but he managed to control his temper like the gentleman he was. “Where have they gone?”
Scott shrugged. “They could be anywhere.”
Amalia stuck her face out of the open window of the car. “This is estúpido. They are gone. We must go back to the hotel.”
“She’s right,” Candace said, feeling sorry for Spencer’s obvious disappointment. But not too sorry. “They’re obviously not coming back here.”
Spencer sighed. “Yes, I suppose you’re right.” Then he muttered, “But I hate to let him win this way.”
Candace patted his arm. “Well, there’s nothing you can do about it, so you might as well concede this small skirmish to him.” And the whole war, too, if she had any say in it. “Come on, let’s go.”
With amazingly good grace, Spencer agreed and they headed back to the hotel.
* * *
After a leisurely drive in the mountains, Chaz drove back to town. Kelly looked around in interest as Chaz pulled the car to a stop in front of a restaurant downtown.
“You in the mood to eat?” he asked.
Surprisingly, she was famished. She nodded, and he helped her out of the car and into a Moroccan restaurant. Rich, unfamiliar spices filled her senses as exotic Mediterranean music played softly in the background. Kelly glanced around in delight. This was certainly different.
The hostess encouraged them to take off their shoes and seated them on cushions around a low table in a secluded alcove. Ah, it seemed they were expected here, too.
Kelly was unfamiliar with the cuisine, so she let Chaz order for her, then he showed her how to eat the couscous appetizer “properly”—with their fingers.
“It’s a good thing the others aren’t here,” Kelly said. At the surprised flicker in Chaz’s eyes, she clarified, “I can’t see Candace or Spencer sitting on the floor or eating with their fingers, can you?”
It was so different from her meal the evening before, it was almost as if she were in a different world. An earthier, more colorful world. Chaz’s world.
He grinned and shook his head. “Or Garcia either. Not unless she has to.”
Why did he have to bring her up? “Scott would have liked it, though.”
Chaz trailed one finger along her arm with a lazy, sexy look. “Ah, yes, but then, Scott is willing to try just about anything. I’m glad his sister is just as open-minded.”
Kelly flushed and looked away, unwilling to let Chaz ruin this wonderful day by deepening their rapport into further intimacy.
He took the hint and removed his hand, changing the subject to tell a humorous story about one of his colleagues. The rest of the evening, he kept up the light banter, trying to amuse her instead of seducing her.
She appreciated it greatly, and so she was very pleased with him as they returned to the hotel. They rode up in the elevator and Chaz leaned close to ask, “Am I going to get a goodnight kiss, too?”
Flush with wine and a good meal, Kelly felt very mellow. And she couldn’t deny Chaz the same privilege she had bestowed on Spencer the night before. “Of course,” she said, and wondered why she felt so shy all of a sudden.
Maybe it was the fact that she hadn’t really seen Chaz in five years. Or because she suddenly wanted more, much more, than a kiss from him. Maybe if no one was lying in wait for her in the hall, she could allow him to stay a little longer. . . .
Amazingly enough, no one was around, so Kelly quickly let Chaz into her room, unable to believe their good fortune.
But Chaz came to an abrupt stop, muttering, “Ah, hell.
”
Following him in, Kelly felt like uttering the same sentiments. Instead, she controlled the urge and murmured, “Hello, Mother.”
Chaz groaned inwardly. Gee, great timing, Grace. Why couldn’t she have waited until after he’d said goodnight to Kelly before showing up to ruin everything? No wonder no one else was around—no one else was willing to face Grace’s disdain.
Chaz would rather have wrestled a river full of piranhas than stay in the same room with Kelly’s mother, but his protective instincts surged to the fore.
This was the woman who had given Kelly such insecurities, who had never let her feel good enough, who had constantly criticized her daughter and tried to make Kelly into a carbon copy of herself.
Hell, Grace even had Scott cowed. Or he avoided her, which amounted to the same thing. Well, she didn’t intimidate Chaz, and he wasn’t going to let her bully Kelly now that he was back. He crossed his arms belligerently and gave her a hard smile, putting her on notice that he wouldn’t be so easy to intimidate. “Hello, Grace.”
Ignoring Chaz, she said to Kelly, “I would like to speak to you alone.”
It figured. No how are you, son-in-law? What happened? Glad to see you’re not dead. . . . Obviously, this woman was not on his side. It just strengthened his resolve to protect Kelly from her.
Kelly glanced at him, pleading for him to stay. Chaz nodded—nothing would tear him from her side now.
Sighing, Kelly sank down on to the bed. “Sorry, Mother. Whatever you have to say to me, you can say in front of Chaz.” Then, in a more sarcastic tone, “You remember Chaz, don’t you? My first husband? Perhaps you hadn’t noticed he’s come back from the dead?”
From the expression on her face, Grace had one hell of a mad on—and it was all directed at her daughter. “Don’t be ridiculous. Of course I noticed. And I’m perfectly aware he is alive, though my own daughter didn’t see fit to tell me. I had to learn it from the press.”
“I’m sorry about that, but—”
“Imagine how I felt. All my friends, calling me for the grubby little details. And I knew absolutely nothing. I couldn’t even make something up.”
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