"She doesn't seem as stuffy as I was led to believe," Alice's mother said, and Alice could only nod her agreement. When Lakota had been locked away with his father, Alice had taken the time to get to know the older woman.
"No, she isn't really. I was so hoping that Lakota would let them get involved. She shouldn't have done what she did, but I can understand why she did it. She loves Lord Langton with all her heart, but she knew he married her under duress. He'd needed the money for his business, and her father supplied the cash on the condition that Ashleigh married her, and dropped all association with Lakota's mum. From what I can gather Wichipa was the love of his life, but he knew his father would never agree to him marrying a commoner, let alone a Native American one. How dare he dilute the blood lines and all that? When push came to shove, he had no real choice. Money talks, as they say."
"It does, but it's not the be all and end all of everything." Alice leant into her mum's comforting hug. "What's this all about? You've been melancholy all day. Have you and Lakota had a row or something?"
"No, nothing like that. It's just…."
Alice squirmed under the intense scrutiny of her mother's close regard.
"I'm fine, really, it’s nothing."
"It's far from nothing, young lady. I know that look. Something is bothering you, and if you can’t tell your mum about it then who can you tell? You're not letting those silly little rumors about Selina get to you, are you?"
Alice took a step back in surprise.
"How do you know?"
"I read the papers, and I've developed a liking for gossip mags having been stuck in hospital waiting rooms for far longer than I ever care to repeat. Pay them no heed. She may have got her rich daddy to get her a into a position where Lakota has to deal with her on a daily basis, but that doesn't mean that she will succeed in getting to him. He only has eyes for you, or he would have if he ever got off that damn phone."
Sure enough Lakota was once again scowling down the phone. He stopped briefly to drop a kiss on Beth's forehead and then disappeared into the garden without as much of a glance in Alice's direction. Were it not for the fact that he made love to her every night, Alice would have felt quite neglected.
She gave herself a mental shake and threw herself back into the party. By the time the last guests had left, little Beth was exhausted. Lakota carried her up the stairs to her bedroom, and Alice had to smile when Beth shooed her away.
"Lakota can read me a story. Go away, Alice."
"Now that's not very nice, Beth. I'm sure Alice can read stories far better than I," Lakota said.
Beth was having none of it.
"No, she can't. Want you to read to me. Your voice gives me little bubbles in my tummy, and your scruff tickles. I like that."
Lakota laughed and winked at Alice, and she made to leave— only she hadn't. Stood on the landing outside Beth's room she had listened to his deep baritone telling the story of The Gruffalo over and over with infinite patience, and she'd bitten her lip to stop herself from crying.
Lakota would make a brilliant father one day, but she highly doubted that she would be the mother of those children. It took more than fantastic sex to make a marriage work, and theirs was on a collision course to disaster. With Lakota re-united with his father and in charge of the company there was only the arrangement to bind them together, and he would tire of her soon enough.
Selina had been at great pains to point out that someone as inexperienced as Alice would never be able to hold Lakota's interest for long. Alice had gone to surprise him with a picnic lunch, and had encountered Selina in the corridor first.
"Oh, it's the little wife. Come with homemade goodies, have we? How very quaint. Too bad for you that we're booked in for lunch at Chez Pierre's. It's a business lunch, of course, so you can't tag along. Lance is on the phone, and he's ever so busy. We're already running late, so why don't you take your little basket and go feed the needy or something. You'll fit right in, after all."
She'd tapped her fire engine red nail on her matching, painted lips, and smiled a saccharin sweet smile that had turned Alice's stomach.
"That's okay. I will stay right here and wait for him to tell me that."
"Aw, so obedient. It won't work, you know. A man with his tastes. You'll never hold onto him."
Alice had drawn herself up to her full height and glared at the smaller woman.
"I'm sure I don't know what you mean."
"Oh don't play the innocent, and if you really don't know what I'm talking about, then you really do not know your husband at all, do you?"
Before Alice had been able to challenge her on those words, the door had opened, and Lakota had stepped through. He'd looked annoyed and even though he'd recovered quickly and had drawn Alice in for kiss—sadly only a quick peck on the cheek—a sour taste had remained in Alice's mouth at Selina's poisonous words.
"I'm sorry, baby, I'd love to have lunch with you, but we're running late for a meeting. You should have called."
"I would if I could get hold of you these days. I thought we could discuss Beth's birthday plans, that's all, but if you're busy…"
Selina had smirked behind his back, and Alice had had a devil of a job to not give in to her instinct to throw the picnic basket into her heavily made up visage.
"I haven't forgotten, and the arrangements are all in place. Don't worry. She'll have a great birthday." He'd glanced at his watch, and Alice had taken the hint.
"Okay, I get it, you're busy. It just would have been nice to get involved, and to have some say in it all. She's my niece after all." He'd frowned at her then, and Alice had known that she'd sounded like a petulant child.
"We'll discuss this tonight when I get home, little Alice."
With Selina listening to every word in the back ground, the endearment she'd grown to love had grated, and she'd stomped her foot in annoyance.
"I'm not little, dammit, will you stop calling me that, Lance."
Lakota had reared back in shock, and she had regretted that outburst instantly, but when she'd put a hand on his chest, he'd shaken it off with an annoyed growl and turned toward Selina.
"Let's go, we’re late enough as it is. Alice here was just leaving, weren't you?"
He'd given her a polite nod, and she had followed them meekly to the lifts. Once on the ground floor they had gone their separate ways. Lakota had not come home on time that evening, and she'd eaten a miserable meal on her own in their vast suite. He'd left a message with Forrester, for her not to stay up. Have been detained at work. Go to sleep. I'll see you at Beth's party.
It had taken her ages to fall asleep without him, only for her to wake up with a start, when he'd finally come home. He'd gone straight to the shower, and her overactive imagination had gone into overdrive. She'd feigned sleep when he'd gotten into bed, and for the first time in their married life they'd not had sex that night. She must have fallen asleep eventually, because when she woke up in the morning he was gone.
The papers a reluctant Forrester had been unwilling to give to her were full of pictures of him and Selina at a night club. They weren’t the only ones in the pictures by any means, but Alice had felt like burning them anyways.
So much for business keeping him away. It hadn't helped one iota when she'd found his discarded clothes from the night before. Not only did they reek of Selina's expensive perfume, his shirt collar also carried the unmistakable evidence of her fire red lipstick.
Alice pulled the door of the deserted dining room shut behind herself now and groaned. No, she couldn't tell any of this to her mum, but she would have to have it out with Lakota soon.
Her gaze fell on the picture on the mantel piece. It had been taken on Beth's birthday two years prior, just before she had been diagnosed with Neuroblastoma, and it showed Beth looking up at her mum, Mary. Those had been happy times when Daddy was still alive, and Alice had been in the final year of her studies, oblivious to what was to come, and that she would one day be married to a man
from the tribe whose history she'd been researching. Alice traced the smiling faces of her sister and niece until the picture blurred, and she burst into tears.
****
Lakota kissed the sleeping little angel and disentangled himself out of her embrace. Beth stirred but stayed asleep, and he went in search of his little Alice. She'd been off with him all day, ever since he'd come across her in his office in conversation with Selina. He ground his teeth in annoyance remembering that scene.
Selina had clearly said something to Alice, because she hadn't looked happy, and he was well aware that he hadn't handled that situation well at all. In fact he was pretty sure right now, Alice would nominate him for worst husband of the year award.
"Okay, that's it. Now you're looking as though you carry the weight of the world on your shoulders. What is going on between you two?"
Alice's mother stood scowling at him in the hallway, and Lakota suppressed a sigh. He knew that look only too well. Elizabeth Wanderlund had a bee in her bonnet, and he wouldn't get a minute's peace until she'd found out the truth.
"And don't tell me it's nothing. I got that spiel off Alice already, and I didn't believe her either. So, you," she pointed at him and gestured down the hall to the kitchen. "In there and tell me why my daughter is miserable with you. And I warn you now, if you're indeed playing around like she seems to think you are, I'll be the one cutting off your goolies."
"She's thinking what?" Lakota growled the words in annoyance, and Elizabeth rolled her eyes.
"Keep your voice down. I don't want her to hear this. In there—now!"
Lakota swallowed his angry retort and followed his mother-in-law into the tiny kitchen at the back of the house. It just about had enough room for a bench seat squashed into one corner, and he perched his large frame on the edge of it, and accepted the mug of steaming black coffee with a muttered "thanks".
He squirmed under Elizabeth's intense gaze.
"For the record I do not believe for one minute that there is any truth to the rumors, and I told Alice that, but she's young and she's in love, and—"
"She's what?" Lakota had a hard time drawing air into his lungs, and he couldn't hear what Alice's mum was saying over the roaring in his ears and the rising panic threatening to overwhelm him. By the time he had himself back under control, Elizabeth was stood in front of him.
"Jesus, boy. Does that thought scare you that much? I thought you were actually going to pass out on me there for a second."
"I'm fine. I don't pass out. Ever." He ground the words out through gritted teeth and forced himself to relax the tight grip he had on the delicate mug. Somehow he didn't think Elizabeth would appreciate him breaking it. "And I'm not scared."
"Uhuh, sure you're not. Alice loves you, though I doubt she'll tell you that, when you act as though you're issued with a death sentence at the mere mention of the word. Most men would be pleased their wife was in love with them." She paused to regard him thoughtfully, and Lakota got the distinct impression that she was once again seeing far more than he wanted her to. "I don't even want to hazard a guess at the demons that drive you, but I've seen the way you look at my girl when you don't think anyone is watching you, so, you go and sort it. And get rid of that Selina bird. She's trouble waiting to happen."
"Don't you think I know that?" Lakota chose to ignore the first half of that speech. He couldn't be in love with Alice any more than she was in love with him. In lust, yes, sure, but love, no. He refused to put such a definition on whatever he was feeling for his little Alice. All he did know that she was his, and the thought that she was unhappy cut him to ribbons inside. When she'd called him Lance in front of Selina it had hurt so fucking much he hadn't known what to do, other than shut down. She never called him Lance. That person was his business self, not the man he had become around her, the man he'd allowed himself to be, the man he had thought lost forever.
"Selina is complicated. I need her for this merger. Her father has set this up, and it's beyond fucking ironic that the fact that I've decided to save Langton Enterprises now means it's driving a wedge between Alice and me. She was the one who urged me to reconsider in the first fucking place."
"If you don’t stop swearing, I will make you eat the washing up liquid, boy. I will not have that language in this house."
Lakota smiled grimly and inclined his head.
"I'd like to see you try."
"Oh no, you really wouldn't." Elizabeth sat back down and sipped her own coffee. "Ask Alice! In fact, you need to go and find her. Beth's birthdays are always hard for her since Mary upped and left like she did. She blames herself, you see, though why she should is beyond me. We certainly never blamed her, but she doted on her baby sister from the minute Mary was born, and when it all went so wrong, she thought she'd failed her. So the last thing she needs right now is to add worries over you to the pot."
Elizabeth wiped a tear off her face, and Lakota grasped her hand.
"Do you have any idea where she might be?"
His mother-in-law sighed and looked incredibly frail all of a sudden.
"We did all we could at the time. Even employed a private investigator until we ran out of money. He didn't find anything noteworthy, and we had to give up. Mary has always been difficult. Brian, Lord rest his soul, always hoped she would come home. It was his dying wish to see her, but of course there was no way she could have known, so she never did make it home."
"Have you got the name of that investigator you used?"
"Yes, I have the whole file. Why?"
"Would you like me to try to find her? For you, and Beth, and Alice?"
This time Elizabeth didn't bother to try and hide her tears.
"Lakota, if you could do that … I can't even begin to tell you how much that would mean to all of us. And most especially to Alice." She hugged him close, and he shut his eyes for a minute, savoring the motherly affection he hadn't felt in years. "You've done so much for us all already."
He snorted and disentangled himself out of Elizabeth's embrace.
"Hardly. Anyone can throw cash at a problem, that's all I did here." He stood up, ignoring her frown, and looked around the kitchen. "I do wish you'd let me buy you a bigger house though. This place is not big enough to swing a cat around in."
"As I'm not planning on swinging any cats it will not be an issue, will it? And besides, this is my home. I've lived here for nigh on thirty years. There is no power on God's earth that will persuade me to move. Some things your money can't fix, Lakota—think on that."
It was his turn to frown.
"Now you sound like Alice. She said you would respond like that, and I wasn't to keep on harassing you."
Elizabeth laughed.
"You should listen to your wife more." She gave him a hard shove to get him moving. "Now shoo, go sort things with Alice and think on what I said. Stop fighting your feelings, and you two will be just fine."
He found Alice in the dining room and fuck it, she was crying. She didn't hear his approach, her hand clutched around a picture of a younger Beth, and what must be her mum Mary. The family resemblance was there for all to see. Seeing Alice this upset darkened his mood further and tightened an invisible vise round his heart. Somehow he had to make this all right, but he was fucked if he knew how.
He drew Alice against him, relieved beyond measure when she didn't fight his touch like he had been half expecting her to. Instead she turned round in his arms and snuggled into his chest. His shirt grew wet with her tears, and he found he didn't care one bit. When she had herself back under control, she drew away and accepted the tissue he handed her with a watery smile.
"Sorry, I'll be okay in a minute. Are you ready to go home? Is Beth asleep?"
He smiled at her and wiped the last few remaining tears off her face. With her eyes all red and her skin blotchy from crying she still looked utterly beautiful to him, and he shifted his weight to ease the ache in his groin, as his cock showed its eagerness, but sex was not what Alice neede
d right now.
"Beth is fine. But you look exhausted. Let's get you home, and we discuss all this in the morning."
Chapter Thirteen
Alice woke up with a start at the sound of smashing crockery. What on earth was going on?
"Sir, if I might suggest that—" Whatever Forrester was going to say was lost in Lakota's angry retort.
"Get the fuck out, Forrester. The day I need the advice of a butler, is the day I slit my fucking wrists. Out."
Another piece of something smashed against the wall, and Alice winced. It seemed Lakota wasn't in any better mood than he had been in last night.
They'd had their chat, which had quickly turned into an argument over Selina.
"Selina is business, that's all, Alice. I need her on my side until this merger is over and done with. I thought you'd be pleased I am turning my father's company around. You're the one who kept on and on at me that I need to make my piece with him. Now that I am, you're moaning at the time I spend doing it. Jesus, I can't win here. What the fuck do you want me to do, Alice? What do you want from me?"
He'd looked exasperated with her, running his hands through his hair until it had all stood up at far too sexy angles and her hands had itched to untangle his raven tresses. She hadn't acted on that impulse though. Instead she had wrapped her arms around her middle and swallowed her angry tears back down.
"The mere fact that you have to ask shows how hopeless this all is."
"Oh for fuck's sake, Alice. Stop talking in riddles and give me a clue here. You went into this … this marriage with your eyes wide open. I didn't force you into anything, and I never promised you the happily ever after. If you've now decided to change the parameters, then … then … fuck it, I can't do this sober." He'd stalked away from her and had poured himself an over generous measure of Scotch, which he'd downed in one angry swallow.
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