Stranger in my Arms

by Rochelle Alers

  Smiling, she quickened her step. Gabriel met her and swung her up off her feet. “What’s with the mustache?” she asked, kissing his cheek. Pulling back, she stared into a pair of large gold-brown eyes, the only feature they’d inherited from Serena Morris-Cole. His long, thin nose, high cheekbones, olive coloring and wolfish dimpled smile were David Cole’s. He’d pierced both ears, and tiny gold hoops were suspended from each.

  “I thought I’d try it out for a while.”

  “Are you trying to look older?” Alex teased as he put her down. Gabriel, the eldest of David and Serena’s four children, had recently celebrated his thirty-fourth birthday.

  Smiling his wolfish, lopsided grin, Gabriel shook his head, his long, wavy, prematurely gray–streaked hair secured in a ponytail at the base of his neck, swaying with the motion. “No, Alex. The gray hair is enough.”

  Most of the men in her family who were direct descendants of her grandfather, Samuel Cole, had inherited his gene for graying prematurely, and her brother was no different.

  Looping an arm around his waist, she hugged him. “Why don’t you dye it?”

  Gabriel ruffled her short hair, then reached for her hand. “I’ll admit to being a little arrogant, but vain is not in my vocabulary.”

  Alex fell in step with her brother as he led her out of the airport to where he’d parked his car. “You’re arrogant and vain, Gabriel Morris Cole.”

  At six-three, Gabriel slowed his stride to accommodate his sister’s shorter legs. “Dad was sorry about the short notice, but it couldn’t be helped.”

  “I thought Timothy was going to stay at least through the summer.”

  “Apparently, he changed his mind. Timothy says that Diego is more than prepared to take over as CEO.”

  She gave Gabriel a sidelong glance. “What do you think?”

  Gabriel lifted a shoulder. “I wouldn’t know one way or the other. I promised myself a long time ago that I’d never get involved in the family business. Aunt Nancy and Josephine’s children eat, sleep and breathe the stuff. I’m a musician, so that lets me off the hook.”

  “So was Dad, but he was still CEO of ColeDiz for nine years before he met and married Mom.”

  “That’s true, but he couldn’t wait to transfer the responsibility to Timothy.”

  “Dad gave up ColeDiz and then set up Serenity Records,” Alex argued softly. “Musician or not, he was still a businessman.”

  David Cole had set up his own record company to showcase new and upcoming talent in all music genres. Although his company was small when compared to the larger ones, he’d earned two Grammys for Producer of the Year and his recording artists had earned and garnered more than a dozen nominations.

  “Dad knows I don’t want to become involved with Serenity. That’s why he turned it over to Ana and Jason.”

  Gabriel led Alex over to a Porsche GT2. Pressing a button on a remote device, he unlocked the low-slung, silver sports car. Opening the passenger-side door, he waited until Alex was seated before he closed it and came around to sit beside her.

  “When did you get this?” she asked. “It smells brand-new.”

  Starting the engine, Gabriel shifted into gear and pulled out of the parking space. “I’ve had it for about a month. It is my birthday present to myself.”

  “It’s about time you came out of your pocket and got a decent ride,” Alex mumbled. Gabriel had become the brunt of family jokes because when he wasn’t touring with his band he drove a clunker that had seen better days. “What else are you holding out on me?”

  Gabriel smiled. “I’m buying a house.”

  Shifting on her seat, Alex stared at him and asked, “Where?”

  “Cotuit. It’s on Cape Cod.”

  “What or who is in Cape Cod?”

  Gabriel had to remember that he hadn’t seen his sister since the beginning of the year. “I’ve been accepted as an artist-in-residence at a high school in a Boston suburb.”

  “Wouldn’t it be better if you rented a place?”

  “No, because I’ve found the perfect little house.”

  “How little, Gabe?”

  “It’s a restored two-story farmhouse set on six acres of beautifully landscaped waterfront property. I plan to renovate it by raising the ceilings in the second-floor bedrooms and expand both floors by at least a thousand square feet on either side.”

  “It sounds as if your little house is going to become a big house.”

  “I’m used to having a lot of space.”

  Alex nodded. They’d grown up in a house with nearly ten thousand square feet of living space, and they each had their own bedroom suites.

  “How did Mom and Dad react when you told them you were moving to Massachusetts?”

  Gabriel’s teeth showed whitely under his trim mustache. “They had the nerve to open a bottle of champagne and toast each other.”

  “That’s cold, Gabe.”

  “You think? After Dad downed two glasses he said, ‘It’s about time. The next piece of good news should be that you’re getting married.’”

  Alex shook her head. “What’s up with our folks trying to marry us off?”

  Gabriel maneuvered off a four-lane road and onto the interstate in the direction of Boca Raton. “They want grandchildren, Alex.”

  “Well, they’re not going to get one out of me for a long time,” she said.

  “Same here,” he concurred.

  Eyelids drooping, Alex relaxed against the back of her seat. “Wake me when we get home.” Although she’d lived in Virginia for two years, she still thought of Boca Raton as home.

  Alex woke up late the next morning to knocking on her bedroom door. Bright Florida sunshine poured through the many windows. “Come in,” she called out.

  The door opened and Ana walked in wearing a sundress over her bathing suit. “Rise and shine, sleepyhead! We’re leaving for West Palm in half an hour.”

  Pulling a sheet over her head, Alex moaned, “Please tone it down, Ana.”

  “What time did you get in?”

  She lowered the sheet and pushed herself into a sitting position as Ana flopped down on the side of the bed. “The plane landed around two-thirty, and we didn’t get here until four.” Combing her fingers through her short hair, she smiled at her younger sister. “Who’s here?”

  “Everyone came except Chris. Emily said he’s involved in a federal racketeering case that just went to the jury.” Their first cousin’s husband, Christopher Delgado, a former governor of New Mexico, was now a judge.

  Pushing back the sheet, Alex swung her legs over the side of the bed, undoing the tiny pearl buttons on the front of her cotton nightgown as she headed for an adjoining bathroom.

  “Did Mom make coffee?” she asked.

  “I think Dad made it this morning, because it was strong enough to grow hair on my chest.”

  “I need it strong. Can you please bring me a cup?”

  Ana moved off the bed to do her bidding while Alex stepped out of her nightgown, leaving it on a low bench in the corner of the expansive bathroom. She was tired—no, the fact was she was exhausted. The late flight and not enough sleep had her out of sorts. Opening the door to the shower stall, she stepped in, turned on the faucets and adjusted the water temperature. The cool water was the antidote. It revived her and by the time Ana returned with a steaming mug of coffee Alex was wide awake.

  Five generations of Coles had gathered on the lawn at the family West Palm Beach compound to salute Timothy Cole-Thomas’s undaunted dedication to running a business empire that included coffee plantations in Mexico, Jamaica, Puerto Rico, and several banana plantations in Belize. At sixty, Timothy had successfully shepherded ColeDiz International, Ltd., through recessions and economic instability to realize a profit every year in his thirty-year term.

  Alex sat next to Dana Nichols-Cole, whose three-month-old daughter had fallen asleep in her arms. “May I hold her?” Dana put the infant in Alex’s outstretched arms.

  Dana and
Tyler were seeking to legalize the adoption of the baby they’d named Astra. Tyler Cole had delivered the infant, but couldn’t save her fifteen-year-old mother who’d been abandoned by her own mother at the age of seven. Unfortunately, the pregnant teenager had spent most of her short-lived life in foster and group homes.

  Gabriel leaned over Alex’s shoulder. “Hey, Mama,” he teased, winking and flashing his trademark dimpled smile.

  “I’m going to hurt you, Gabriel Cole.”

  He leaned closer. “I’ll let you hurt me after you get pregnant.”

  Dana stared at her husband’s cousin. “Are you pregnant?”

  Alex swatted at her brother. “Get the hell outta here, Gabriel!” she hissed through clenched teeth.

  “Who’s pregnant now?” Tyler Cole asked as he sat down beside his wife. Tyler had become the family resident ob-gyn.

  Alex rolled her eyes at Tyler. “Don’t look at me.”

  Gabriel rested an arm on Tyler’s broad shoulder. The first cousins looked enough alike to pass for brothers. “Unlike your sisters, mine have struck out in the romance department because they can’t seem to tell the difference between a winner and a loser.”

  Alex opened her mouth to announce that she’d fallen in love with a winner but caught herself in time. What she had with Merrick would remain her secret—for now.

  “Speak for yourself, Gabriel. Why is it I don’t see a woman hanging on your arm?”

  “That’s because I’m not one to advertise my business.”

  Alex’s retort was thwarted when Diego stood and tapped the handle of a knife against a water goblet. All gazes were focused on the tall, powerfully built man in a white guayabera and jeans. “May I please have everyone’s attention?”

  “I want to e-e-e-at n-o-o-w!” wailed a young child before being hushed by his mother.

  Diego lowered his chin and bit back a smile. “I believe that’s my cue to make this quick.” His head came up, black eyes smoldering with a lazy seductiveness that fired the imaginations of the few women who’d come to know him intimately.

  “As most of you know, my father is a man of few words, preferring instead to let his actions speak for him. If it worked for him over the past three decades, then why should I try to fix what isn’t broken?” He raised his goblet in a mock salute. “To my uncles, Martin and David, and my father, Timothy Cole-Thomas, I salute you and pray for your blessings as the next CEO of ColeDiz International, Ltd.” He turned and extended the glass to his fretful nephew. “Now we can eat.”

  All of the young children stood up and cheered while their parents and grandparents shook their heads. Collectively, the descendants of Samuel and Marguerite-Josefina Cole were boisterous, and at times bodacious, but they were also protective of and fiercely loyal to anyone who claimed Cole blood. And there was an unspoken rule that if you threaten one, the threat extends to all.

  Gabriel patted Alex’s back. “Don’t get up. I’ll bring you something to eat.”

  She rolled her eyes at him, still smarting about his remark that she’d picked up losers. “Don’t try to placate me, big brother.”

  A smile slipped through her impassive expression as her brother walked toward the table where servers were filling plates with mounds of hot and cold dishes. It was on a rare occasion that one saw an adult Cole woman standing in line waiting to be served. The tradition, which had begun when Martin Cole became CEO, was that the women rule and their men serve. The result was all females were protected, pampered and adored.

  Dana held out her arms for her daughter. “Let me take her into the house and put her to bed.”

  At the exact moment she relinquished the sleeping infant, a chorus of screams sliced through the undercurrent of voices raised in conversation and laughter. Four preteen boys and one girl had jumped into the Olympic-size pool—fully dressed. It was another tradition that had survived several generations.

  Alex laughed when she heard the colorful language of their parents chastising them for their unruly behavior. She’d lost count of the number of times she’d jumped into her grandparents’ pool, or into her own, much to the dismay of her parents, who couldn’t understand why their children would want to sit around in wet street clothes when they could’ve worn a swimsuit. What the adults failed to understand was that it was an open act of rebellion in order to flaunt their independent spirit.

  Her smile faded when she recalled a few occurrences when as an adolescent she’d challenged her mother’s authority. Alex had learned to get over on David Cole, but Serena was another matter. It’d taken only two confrontations with her mother to come to the conclusion that she’d better get her act together or spend her teenage years in lockdown.

  A faraway expression filled her eyes when she tried imagining what kind of mother she would become if or when she opted for motherhood. Would she be indulgent and tolerant like her grandmother Marguerite-Josefina, or straightforward and practical like her own mother?

  There was never a question of not understanding what Serena said or meant. However, Alex had lost count of the number of times she’d gone to her father to enlist his support to soften her mother’s stance. That all changed when David Cole called a rare family meeting, explaining that he would not tolerate his children’s attempt to undermine their mother’s authority, and that put an end to Alex’s clandestine meetings with her father.

  Prerecorded music blared from speakers as the noise level escalated. Alex lifted her eyebrows when she saw an attractive young woman with stylishly-cut, shoulder-length hair talking to Diego. Even from this distance, he appeared to be equally enthralled as he moved closer to listen to what she was saying.

  “Now, that looks serious,” whispered a familiar voice.

  Alex turned to find Ana taking a chair next to her. “Who is she?”

  “She’s a weather girl with one of the television networks. If she believes she’s going to become Mrs. Diego Cole-Thomas, then she’s in for a world of hurt.”

  Alex nodded. “He told me that he’s not ready to settle down.”

  Ana emitted a delicate snort. “Now, if the woman was named ColeDiz, then she’d at least have a fighting chance.”

  The sisters discussed their marriage-shy cousin until their brothers returned carrying plates of food. Jason served his twin while Gabriel placed Alex’s on the table in front of her.

  Ana gave Jason a forlorn look. “Can you please bring me something to drink?”

  “Me, too,” Alex said, chiming in.

  “Damn, Ana,” Jason snarled. “You should’ve told me when I was up there.”

  Gabriel wrapped an arm around Jason’s neck, pulling him close. “Don’t let them stress you out, little brother. I’ll get the drinks while you fix me a plate.”

  Alex squinted at her younger sister as Ana dipped a piece of calamari into a small cup of piquant sauce. “Sometimes you ride Jason a little too hard.”

  The seafood dangled from the tines of Ana’s fork as she hesitated putting it into her mouth. “Jason’s a good sport.”

  “He’s a good sport because you’re his twin sister. But you overdo it.”

  Ana affected a pout. “You have Gabriel and I have Jason.”

  “But I don’t take advantage of him, Ana.”

  Taking a bite of the calamari, Ana chewed it thoughtfully. “All right, Alex. I’ll ease up on him.”

  As fraternal twins, she and Jason were inseparable, existing in a private world where one was able to finish the other’s sentences. Older by eight minutes, Jason had always protected his twin although her stronger personality overshadowed his more laid-back, quiet one.

  Alex spent the rest of the afternoon eating, drinking, dancing, swimming and interacting with her many relatives. The sun had set, the caterers were gone and those who’d planned to spend the remainder of the weekend in West Palm Beach claimed bedrooms in the twenty-four-room mansion.

  Michael and a very pregnant Jolene decided to stay with his parents at their Palm Beach condominium. With
his wife in her eighth month of confinement, Michael had opted to drive to Florida in lieu of flying.

  Alex returned to Boca Raton with her parents while her siblings stayed behind to hang out with their many cousins. There was talk of them going to a popular West Palm Beach dance club.

  She was scheduled to fly back to Mexico Sunday morning along with Emily Kirkland, her three children and her cousin’s sister and brother-in-law, Sara and Salem Lassiter, and their children. The Kirklands and Lassisters would deplane in Las Cruces, New Mexico, before the jet continued on to Mexico City.

  She checked her cell phone and realized she’d missed Merrick’s call. Pressing a button, Alex listened for a break in the connection. She smiled when hearing his signature “Hey, baby.”

  “Hey, yourself,” she whispered. “What are you doing up so late?” The glowing numbers on the clock on the bedside table read 1:10 a.m.

  “I couldn’t sleep.”

  Vertical lines appeared between Alex’s eyes. “I’ve never known you to have insomnia.”

  A deep sensual chuckle came through the earpiece. “That’s because whenever we’re together I don’t have a sleep problem. You’re like morphine.”

  “What do you know about morphine?” she teased.

  There was a moment of silence, and Merrick said, “Forget I mentioned it. Even though it’s a little after midnight where you are I’ll let you go. I’d planned to call earlier, but thought perhaps you’d gone out with your friends.”

  “I’m not in Mexico City, Merrick.”

  “Where are you?”

  “I’m in Florida. I came early this morning and I’m leaving later on today. The family got together to celebrate my cousin Diego taking over as CEO of ColeDiz. I wanted to call you and ask if you wanted to meet me here, but there wasn’t enough time.”

  There came another pause from Merrick. “Have you told anyone—your family, about us?”

  “No. And I don’t like keeping secrets from them.”