by Sandra Kitt
Someone called his name, and he glanced up to find Kyra Dixon looking down from the balcony of the dance floor above. Behind Kyra was standing a man whom Kevin didn’t immediately recognize. Kyra had her hair done up in lustrous curls, and she was wearing a gold, curve-fitting strapless dress, and leather stiletto pumps with ankle straps. The girl was hot!
But glancing around once again Kevin located Terrence, who was a standout in a three-button suit with a blue vest underneath, and matching fedora tilted dangerously to the side. Diamond stud earrings sparkled from both earlobes.
Everything and everyone was in place. Except for Chloe.
Justice Kane began his performance and commanded the attention of everyone in the club.
Anxious when she wasn’t there for the start of Justice Kane’s appearance, Kevin called Chloe’s cell phone and was directed to voice mail. This had been the response each time he’d tried to reach her.
“Chloe, this is important. I need you on the stage at ten o’clock. Call me back.”
Instinctively CB again appeared at his side. Kevin clamped his hand down on his shoulder.
“Okay, we go into special forces Plan B. I’ll cover the upper two floors. You do the rest. We have to be back here in fifteen minutes.”
“I hear you.”
“Okay, let’s do it.”
“Is she going to be okay? Do I need to get her to a hospital?”
Chloe, standing outside the club, leaned against the side of the building, one finger in her ear so that she could better hear and understand the information on the other end. She caught the admiring open stares of any number of men walking by, who appreciated her lithe figure sexily attired in a Ralph Lauren drop-shoulder dress in pomegranate red with a wide V-neck and cap sleeves. She never noticed. She’d been following the progress on the case of one of the weekend guests who’d apparently suffered a mild allergic reaction to peanuts she’d ingested at some point either during the tailgate party or in the first half of the game earlier in the day.
Chloe had gotten the call as she and Kevin were leaving the stadium and the halftime performance had gotten under way.
“Kevin, I have to take care of this. I have to see to it that someone gets medical attention.”
“Call me if you need me. If all else falls I’ll see you at the club?”
“Yes, I’ll be there.”
“I want the first and last dance,” he’d shouted after her, making her laugh.
“Well, I’m glad to hear that. Make sure there’s someone to stay with her. I’ll check in with her myself in the morning. But call me whenever you need to if things get worse, okay?”
Chloe sighed deeply as she ended the call. She absently rubbed her ear. It was tender and sore from the constant use of her phone and the pressure of it pinching her earring.
The unseemly growling in her stomach reminded her that she’d not had anything to eat since having a cold and overcooked hamburger thrust into her hand at some point during the tailgate party. She had only taken a bite or two. Kevin, passing her as she rushed off to find out why they were two tents short for the lawn brunch on Sunday, had given her his half-finished soda to take with her. It had been that kind of day.
She’d wisely brought a change of clothes for the dance party with her that morning. The plan had been to meet Kevin at Bollito where she would have access to his office there and could change. Chloe smiled at that memory. She realized that Kevin’s generous offer had an ulterior motive. That they might finally have a little time together before heading back into the field of action.
But it hadn’t worked out that way. She’d ended up having to change in the ladies’ room at the campus library just before the building was closing and then dashing like mad to get downtown.
Chloe knew she would have welcomed a tryst with him. She would have loved to let herself go and let Kevin hold and kiss her and take care of everything. A little love in the afternoon would have gone a long way toward easing her tension. They were already in the homestretch of the weekend, and there had been no serious mishaps.
And then her cell phone rang again.
“Hello…I’m at Bollito for the dance party. What’s up…Well, yes, I have the key for the office. Can’t this wait until the morning?”
She glanced at her watch. It was almost nine-thirty. She was missing Justice Kane’s performance. She hadn’t seen Kevin since the midafternoon, and she knew he’d been trying to call her.
“Look, that was not the plan, and I can’t drive back over to the campus to help you. I can meet you in the morning before brunch…”
By the time Chloe finished that call it was nine forty-five. Kevin had said something about an announcement after the performance. She rushed back inside and into the exuberant response to the singing of the Black recording star. Someone grabbed her hand.
Chloe turned and found Kevin behind her.
“Kevin.” She sighed in relief.
“Thank God I found you,” he said, his voice strained. “Why didn’t you call me back?”
“Kevin, there was so much going on. I’m sorry. I was being pulled in all directions, and…”
“Okay, doesn’t matter,” he said, giving her a strained smile. “I found you and I’m not letting you go. Come on, Justice is on his last song. We need to get to the stage.”
“Why do I need to be there?” she asked, nonetheless following as he attempted to get them through the press of people and down the stairs. “You’re not going to introduce me again, are you?”
“I think everyone knows who you are by now.”
Suddenly, Chloe realized that someone was pulling on her other hand. Looking over her shoulder she saw Beverly Turner. Chloe began to feel like a piñata that was about to be pulled apart.
“I’ve got to talk to you,” Beverly said urgently.
“But, Kevin wants me…”
“I really need to talk to you. It’s about tomorrow.”
Chloe saw the distress in Beverly’s beautiful eyes. It was stark fear. She turned back to Kevin, who’d had to stop when she did. She released his hand and the crowd closed in between them.
“Chloe!” he shouted.
“I’m coming. I’ll be right there,” Chloe shouted as he disappeared in the crowd. Then she began to retrace her way back up the stairs and to Beverly.
Beverly had moved away from the stairs and stood near the quiet corridor that led to the restrooms. There was no traffic for the moment.
She stood gnawing on her lower lip and shifted back and forth from one black-heeled foot to the other. She was a gorgeous towering Amazon, tastefully dressed in a black sheath dress that was sheer across the shoulders. Chloe detected uncertainty and insecurity.
Beverly grabbed her hand as soon as they were together.
“Are you all right? What’s wrong?”
“Chloe, I’m so sorry to do this, but I can’t be in the parade tomorrow.”
Chloe stared at her, open-mouthed. Even as she tried to get her mind around what she was just told, there was a roar of screaming and whistles as she sensed that Justice Kane had just ended his last song and left the stage.
“Wha—What did you say. You’re not…”
“I can’t. I know I said I’d do it, and I really hate to put you on the spot like this, but I can’t.”
“But why, Beverly? I mean, you don’t even have to do anything. You ride on the float and smile and wave. You don’t have to say anything.”
“I know that but…I’m afraid I’m going to fall apart. I’ll embarrass myself. I can’t do it,” Beverly said, her voice trembling.
Chloe’s head began to swim. What was she going to do?
She heard someone talking from the stage. It was Micah. Something about Justice Kane’s future with the Red Ross label in L.A., Micah’s company. His words faded as Chloe stared at Beverly, trying to formulate a response that wouldn’t scare the obviously skittish woman.
“Maybe you could think about it overnight? You can ca
ll me in the morning. But please don’t say no right now.”
Beverly shook her head.
The voice had changed downstairs. It was Kevin at the mike now. Chloe gasped. She was supposed to be with him downstairs. Her gaze went to the stairwell and then back to Beverly.
Suddenly, out of nowhere, a man grabbed Beverly’s arm and forcibly pulled her away. Again Chloe gasped, staring at his effrontery, not sure who he was. She was about to intercede, or call someone for help, when someone spoke behind her.
“Ms. Chloe.”
She whirled around. “CB…”
“You gotta come downstairs. Right now.”
“I know. I told Kevin I would but…”
“Sorry. He really needs you.”
With that CB swept Chloe up into his powerful arms and marched off, smoothly and purposefully, to head down the stairs. Heads turned as he descended, people breaking out into murmurs and giggles, and parting the way for them.
Chloe was too stunned to say anything. Kevin was still talking. She could catch only a word or two.
“…Classmate…amazing person…captured my heart…my life…”
It didn’t make any sense to her. But then CB, unceremoniously, set her on her feet, turned and headed back up the stairs, having done his job. Chloe stood bewildered, realizing that everyone was staring at her, even Kevin. But it was hard to read his expression. At first she thought it was disappointment, almost sadness. And then a light began to appear again. He held out his hand to her.
Very conscious of being watched, and of an undercurrent of anticipation, she walked forward. She gave Kevin what she hoped was a stern look of caution, trying to remind him of where they were, who was around them and the agreement to keep their relationship off the table. But all he did was smile at her. And there was so much love in his eyes that Chloe faltered and averted his gaze.
Everyone was going to see!
“You had me worried,” Kevin whispered as he pulled her to his side. “I thought you’d skipped out on me.”
In a much louder and more normal voice as he used the mike Kevin addressed the crowds. “And, here she is!”
She was speechless when everyone cheered wildly. She looked around, only recognizing a few folks. Tamara, still looking mostly uncomfortable and unlike her usual friendly self, Kyra and Terrence. Micah, standing right opposite her with his arms crossed over his chest and a Cheshire cat grin on his face.
“Kevin, what’s going on?” she hissed in an aside, but snickering next to her indicated that others heard the question.
“I am delighted, thrilled, relieved and proud to introduce Chloe Jackson to everyone.”
The reaction was so over the top that Chloe winced and grimaced.
“…As my future wife.”
Chloe, programmed for Kevin’s habit and way of introducing her unexpectedly, before a room filled with mostly strangers, was prepared. She took the mike and waited until everyone had quieted down.
“I know you’re sick of hearing my name by now. I apologize for Kevin being such a bore about it…”
Someone laughed out loud. More laughter followed. She was momentarily confused and thrown by the tittering as she talked.
“I appreciate Kevin’s…his…eh…”
Chloe stopped and blinked. The laughter grew. Her stomach churned. Confused, she turned to Kevin and found him regarding her patiently, smiling. Her mind shifted gears suddenly, from what she thought he was going to say to what he actually had. Her eyes widened.
“Did you…what did you say?”
She’d forgotten all about the mike in her hands, the audience and the laughter now, which only grew because, apparently, they were in on the secret.
Kevin took the mike back, put his arm around her waist and pulled her close.
“I said, Chloe Jackson, will you marry me?”
The crowd went wild. Chloe couldn’t take her gaze from Kevin’s face, from the heart-stopping tenderness in his smile to the look of hope and love in his eyes.
A chant began on one side of the stage. It picked up on the other, and suddenly began a wave around the room.
“Chlo-e, Chlo-e, Chlo-e…”
“Say yeessssss!” a woman yelled. Everyone laughed.
Chloe turned to Kevin, her vision blurred with tears.
“Yes,” she choked, almost inaudibly.
It was only meant that Kevin hear her. He had, and the relief and joy spread over his face.
“Yes, I will,” she said a little louder, nodding.
“Ke-vin, Ke-vin, Ke-vin!”
Chloe reached for the mike and spoke clearly into it. “Yes, I’ll marry you, Kevin Stayton.”
The room erupted into wild cheers and whistling and applause.
Kevin kissed her in a way that made up for all their control over the last few days. They had become an unexpected sideshow for homecoming weekend. As Chloe had wanted from the beginning, a weekend that would be remembered above all others. She’d finally met the love of her life, and he in turn, had publicly declared his love for her.
It had all come to pass.
Life was good.
ISBN: 978-1-4268-3927-6
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Copyright © 2009 by Harlequin Books S.A.
Special thanks and acknowledgment to Sandra Kitt for her contribution to the Hollington Homecoming miniseries.
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