Kristin rose and was already headed down the hall when Bella said, “I don’t want to take Felicity away from you, Ms. Lassiter. I only want to help you and my granddaughter.”
Kristin marched back into the waiting room and confronted the older woman. “Why should you help me? What is it you want, really?”
“Happiness for my son with the woman he loves.”
Kristin snorted. “You’re barking up the wrong tree.”
“By that, I presume you mean that my son isn’t attracted to you.”
“How about I’m not attracted to him,” Kristin countered.
“I can see I’m ahead of myself again,” the duchess murmured. “Will you sit down, please? This might take a while.”
“Spit it out,” Kristin said. “What is it you want?”
“I want you to marry my son.”
Kristin would have laughed if she hadn’t felt so near to tears. It seemed the Mean Witch was matchmaking. As crazy as it seemed, she’d apparently picked out Kristin for her youngest son.
Once upon a time, Kristin had loved—and trusted— Max Benedict enough to give him her virginity. He’d repaid her by treating what had been the most beautiful night of her life as though it were nothing. The next time she’d seen him, he’d been kissing her Wimbledon opponent—Elena Tarakova—a few moments before the start of their championship match.
Was it any wonder she’d lost? Kristin had been lucky she’d had enough composure to play at all.
Now fate had thrown the four of them—Max, Max’s boyhood friend Steffan, Kristin and the woman who’d stolen Max away—back together for an exhibition match. With Max as her prize. Kristin wanted no part of it. Except…the duchess was right about one thing. She needed the woman’s money. Kristin sat back down. “All right. I’m listening. How can you help me?”
“I’m ready and willing to pay all your debts and expenses. All I’m asking in return is that you play this exhibition match with my son.”
“That’s all?” Kristin said sarcastically. “That’s plenty.”
“I don’t know what separated the two of you ten years ago, but I do know Max thought the world of you once upon a time.”
Kristin didn’t comment. In light of the events of the next morning, their one night of love felt more like a night of conquest, where Max took what was most precious from her and walked away. Kristin wasn’t about to let Max back into her life, where he could break his daughter’s heart by abandoning Flick the way he’d abandoned her mother.
“I’ll never trust your son with my heart again.”
“I’m not asking you to do that.”
“You’re not?” Kristin said. “I’m confused.”
“I’m only asking that you play this exhibition match with Max. If you make up and he should propose marriage, well, whether you say yes is up to you.”
Kristin laughed. “You want me to marry Max, but if he proposes, I don’t have to say yes? Do I have that right?”
“That’s right,” the duchess said. “I’ll give you all the financial support you require simply for going to England and playing the exhibition match.”
“That’s crazy.”
“The two of you will need to spend a lot of time together on the tennis court to get ready for that match. Which will give you time to work out whatever issues separated you ten years ago. That doesn’t sound so crazy to me.”
“I’m not the least bit tempted by anything you’ve said so far.”
“Maybe I have something that will tempt you,” Bella said. The duchess took a black velvet bag from her purse. When she opened it, a waterfall of rubies and diamonds tumbled into her hands.
Kristin gasped when she recognized the beautiful stones. The duchess held out a ruby-and-diamond necklace, a ring, a bracelet and a pair of pendant earrings. Kristin could barely speak. “Are those…? I mean, I’ve heard of them, and I’ve seen pictures of you wearing them, but I never thought I’d see them in person. In a place like this. Are those…?”
“Yes, my dear,” Bella confirmed as she held out the necklace, diamonds and rubies dripping over her fingertips. She held out the pendant earrings in her other hand. “These are the infamous Blackthorne Rubies.
“The largest ruby, the centerpiece of the necklace, was given to the first Duke of Blackthorne by Henry II in 1154, when Henry was crowned King of England and created the dukedom. It was a reward to Sir Philip Wharton for saving the king’s life during one of his early battles to win control of the kingdom.”
“They’re…” Words deserted Kristin as she reached out to touch the breathtaking rubies.
“There’s a legend attached to the rubies, that they bring the wearer courage. My husband gave the jewels to me as a love gift on the day my eldest son was born.”
Kristin wondered if the duchess realized she’d said my eldest son, rather than our eldest son. She’d heard the rumors that Oliver wasn’t Bull Benedict’s son.
The duchess continued, “The jewels are yours if you play the exhibition match with Max.”
The ruby-and-diamond jewelry the duchess had offered her was priceless. Kristin was suspicious. She sensed a trap. The duchess wasn’t going to give away something so valuable without expecting something in return. “Why would you agree to part with something so precious in exchange for so little?”
“I want my son to be happy. Whatever the cost.”
Kristin laughed. It wasn’t a pleasant sound. “I don’t believe you. You forget, I was Max’s friend. I know how little time you spent with him when he was growing up. I know how little you really care.”
She watched the duchess flinch at her accusations.
“It’s true I sent my children away to school. And I didn’t spend enough time with them when they were younger. But not because I didn’t love them.”
She didn’t explain her reasons for keeping her children at a distance and Kristin didn’t ask.
“You’ve wasted your time coming here,” Kristin said, anxious to end the interview before Flick showed up. “You must know it’s unlikely a playboy like Max would propose to anyone, let alone a woman who rejected him ten years ago. And even if, by some miracle, he did propose, I would refuse him.”
“Then you have nothing to lose by agreeing to go to London,” the duchess persisted.
Kristin tried to imagine what the duchess hoped to get in exchange for the priceless stones—especially if she didn’t agree to marry Max. Maybe the duchess only wanted to provide for her granddaughter. But she’d chosen a strange way of doing it.
Kristin had just about decided she should go to London to participate in Max’s investigation to uncover a potential assassin. So why not combine that logical reason for going with the duchess’s illogical request?
All she had to do was play the exhibition match.
It was little enough for the reward she’d been promised. The truth was, she needed the financial assistance the duchess had offered. The Blackthorne Rubies… The rubies would provide security for her and her daughter until Flick was grown.
“All right,” Kristin said at last. “I’ll go to London. But Flick stays here.”
“No!”
Kristin turned and saw her daughter leap up and out from her place of concealment at the entrance to the hallway.
“How long have you been hiding there?” Kristin demanded as she rose.
“Long enough to hear that my father isn’t dead! Why did you lie to me, Mom?” she wailed.
“Sweetheart, I…” Kristin didn’t know what to say. She felt her heart squeeze at the look of betrayal in her daughter’s Benedict-blue eyes.
“I can’t believe I have a grandmother.” Flick stared at the duchess. “You are my grandmother, aren’t you?”
The duchess glanced at Kristin, who nodded, then turned to Flick and said, “Yes, my dear, I am.”
Flick crossed the room until she stood face-to-face with the duchess. “What am I supposed to call you?”
“Grandmother?” the duches
s proposed.
Flick made a face. “How about Gram?”
“Gram sounds fine,” the duchess replied with a smile.
“Flick stays here,” Kristin said emphatically.
“No.” Flick turned to her mother and shook her head, her chin tilted mulishly. “I want to meet my father. Especially now that I know I have one.” She crossed to the chair where Kristin was sitting and said, “You shouldn’t have lied, Mom. You shouldn’t have said he was dead, when he isn’t.”
He was dead to me. I thought you were better off without him. He couldn’t abandon you if he was already dead.
She reached out for Flick’s hand, but Flick jerked it away. “I know what’s best, Flick. Staying here is best for you.”
“If you leave me behind, I’ll find a way to get to London on my own,” Flick said, meeting her mother’s gaze.
Kristin knew she shouldn’t give in to her daughter’s threat. The problem was, there was no one to take care of Flick if she left her behind. Her father needed to focus on his recovery. And Flick was resourceful enough to make good on her threat to find a way to get to London on her own.
“Felicity could stay with me at Blackthorne Abbey while you’re in London,” the duchess offered. “I could bring in a tutor so she doesn’t get behind in her school work.”
“What about Max? I want your assurance he doesn’t see Flick—he doesn’t even find out about Flick—until I say so.”
She turned to Flick and said, “Do you understand what I’m saying, Flick. If you come to London, you don’t have any contact with your father until I say so.” She moved her gaze between the two, grandmother and granddaughter, and said, “That’s the deal. Take it or leave it.”
“I’ll take it,” the duchess and Flick said together.
“If it’s any comfort to you,” the duchess said, “Max never comes to the Abbey without prior notice. I suspect he’s going to be too busy to come visit while you’re in London.”
“I don’t want her ‘accidentally’ meeting Max,” Kristin warned.
“I won’t let that happen,” the duchess promised.
“Then I can go?” Flick asked hopefully.
“You can go,” Kristin replied. “I want your word you won’t contact your father until I say it’s all right.”
Flick chewed on a hangnail a moment before she stuck out her hand to be shaken. “It’s a deal.”
The moment Flick let go of Kristin’s hand, she said, “I can’t believe I’m going to meet my father!”
Kristin closed her eyes and pressed her lips tight. In her daughter’s mind, meeting her father was a foregone conclusion. Kristin wasn’t at all sure she was going to allow it. She’d promised herself, from the moment she’d laid eyes on her daughter at birth, that she would never let Max hurt Flick. She had never imagined what she would do if Flick found out about her father and wanted to meet him.
The damage was done. She would take Flick to London now. And figure out whether to let Max into her daughter’s life later.
9
“This meeting of the Castle Foundation is called to order. Good to see all of you.”
“Good to see you, too, Oliver.” Max wasn’t crazy about Skype, but having a video computer conference from London with his siblings allowed him to see their faces every three months or so, no matter where in the world they were. He’d done his best not to miss any meetings, because it was just about the only contact he had these days with his siblings.
The Castle Foundation had been created by the four Benedict brothers with the money from their trust funds. It met once quarterly to decide how to invest and distribute the fortune they’d each received from their parents when they reached twenty-five.
It was impossible, when all his siblings were pictured on a computer screen at the same time, not to notice how different Oliver looked from the rest of them. His dark brown eyes and wavy chestnut hair were a far cry from everyone else’s blue or gray eyes and straight black hair. Oliver was broader in the shoulders than his brothers, his nose thinner, his cheekbones sharper, his lips more full.
Their father had to have known from the first that Oliver wasn’t his own flesh and blood. Max shuddered at the weight Oliver had borne his whole life of knowing he was technically—if not legally—a bastard. Max had never spoken to his brother about it. Oliver wouldn’t have allowed it.
But it was Oliver he’d gone to when Kristin disappeared. Oliver who’d told him to forget about her and move on with his life. Oliver who’d first steered him toward the CIA, which had given his life the meaning it had now.
He’d never confirmed to Oliver, or to any of his siblings, that he was engaged in espionage. He’d been afraid his older brothers might laugh at him. And he couldn’t trust Lydia to keep her mouth shut about it.
Interesting—fascinating?—that he’d told K exactly what he did for a living two minutes after he’d met her again. Especially when he continued to play the role of footloose playboy with his family. Of course, it had been necessary to tell K the truth, because they were going to be working together. But he could have made sure she was going to take the assignment before he’d peeled off his thin disguise.
The truth was, he’d wanted her to know he’d done something useful with his life. He’d wanted to impress her. He’d wanted her to regret throwing their friendship away. At one time she’d been closer to him than anyone else in his life, a substitute for the siblings from whom he was separated.
Because his middle brothers, Riley and Payne were close in age, they’d always been each other’s best friends. Riley was older than Payne by a year and taller by an inch. Payne had a scar through his eyebrow where he’d had stitches after Riley had hit him in a teenage fight over a girl. They’d never gone after the same girl since.
Riley had light gray eyes. Payne’s were sky blue, like their father’s. Riley’s straight black hair was shaggy. Payne kept his cropped. It was impossible to tell which of the two had a more cynical view of life in general and women in particular.
Max glanced at their younger sister’s image and realized how stunningly beautiful their mother must have been when their father met her. Lydia’s blue eyes looked almost as violet as their mother’s. She had flawless ivory skin and long, silky hair, dark and shiny as an Egyptian scarab. No wonder Bull had forgiven the duchess’s infidelity. No wonder he’d turned a blind eye to his eldest son’s looks.
Lydia had recently turned twenty-five and thrown her trust fund into the pot. This was her first Castle Foundation meeting.
“Where are you, Lydia?” Max asked his sister.
“Venice,” she replied. “What do we do at these meetings?”
“Mostly we listen to Oliver tell us what cause we’re supporting with our money,” Max said. “Well, Oliver?”
Oliver was president of the foundation and made the recommendations for which charitable organizations received their contributions and how their money was invested so it could grow. “We’re giving a substantial amount for relief in Haiti, if that meets with your approval.”
Max checked the actual amount on the documentation he’d received prior to the meeting. He whistled. “Nice.”
“We need a vote,” Oliver said. “All in favor.”
They all cast their votes in the affirmative. Oliver would ultimately decide through which organization the money would be dispensed. When they’d finished their financial discussion, and confirmed the allowance each of them would receive for the coming quarter, Max said, “I couldn’t get away to the States last week. I presume we all got the same invitation. Did any of you go see Mother on Mother’s Day?”
“I was busy,” Lydia said defensively. “I couldn’t go.”
“Hell no, I didn’t go,” Riley retorted. “I sent a card and a gift because that’s the polite thing to do. Mother can never say I lack manners. Not that she ever notices one way or the other.”
“I sent a gift but no card,” Payne said. “It seemed easier to pretend I care than to
make the point that I don’t.”
“I couldn’t be there,” Oliver said, making no explanation and giving no excuse. “But the fact that she summoned us at all was strange.”
Trust Oliver to hit on the issue that had worried Max.
He’d been called in to meet with Scotland Yard at the last minute and hadn’t been able to make the trip. He’d been disappointed only because it meant he hadn’t been able to slip down to Miami to see K. “Why do you suppose Mother invited us?” Max asked. “And to The Seasons, of all places?”
“It was Mother’s Day,” Lydia pointed out. “She wanted to see her children. Is that so strange?”
“It is for Mother,” Oliver said bluntly.
“It’s a little late for her to start pretending to be a loving parent,” Riley said.
“Or for us to start pretending that we care,” Payne added.
Max had always sided with his older siblings in their undeclared war against their mother, but he’d never been able to stop loving her. Even when she continued to disappoint him time after time. He was intrigued that she’d invited them. Especially when she might have expected the response—or rather, non-response—she’d gotten. “Why don’t I try to find out what she had in mind?” he suggested.
“What’s the point?” Riley asked. “I thought we gave up on her a long time ago.”
“I’ll tell you something you may not know,” Oliver said. “None of us went, but Dad showed up. And Mother made an emergency trip to the hospital in Richmond.”
“Is she okay?” Max felt a spurt of anxiety that he hid from his brothers. He wondered if his parents had gotten into another verbal fistfight that had left his mother reeling.
“According to Dad, it was only a panic attack,” Oliver said.
“Panic over what?” Lydia asked.
“Probably over facing the husband she cheated on in a home that belongs to him but which she still has the right to enjoy,” Payne muttered.
“More likely she was pissed off because nobody showed up,” Riley said.
“Why don’t I ask her?” Max said. “I have some engagements that will keep me in London for the next month or so.”
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