Despite her intention to remain guarded and cynical, Angelica was touched by the sincerity in her grandmother’s voice, by the warmth in her eyes and smile. She didn’t doubt for a moment that Kate’s offer was genuine. “Thank you,” she said quietly.
“The whole family is eager to meet you, but I persuaded them not to come over tonight,” continued Kate. “After all, it’s late and you’ve had a busy day, including the long flight here. I’m sure you would prefer to simply relax, without any further demands tonight.”
Angelica breathed a sigh of relief. “I am tired.”
Taking on the entire Fortune tribe tonight would’ve consumed an excess abundance of energy and confidence, and she was already reeling from the events of this monumental day. She needed time to process what she’d experienced tonight, from making love with Flynt to acknowledging her love for him.
And then there was the perplexing, monumental question of where did they go from here? What happened to people in love? A chill ran through her. She’d always believed she knew the answer to that one: a couple inevitably parted because love was an illusion that didn’t last. But what she felt for Flynt was no illusion; it was real, and she couldn’t imagine herself changing her mind about loving him.
She remembered what Flynt had said about love—that he didn’t believe in it, either. His mother and father had stopped loving each other after they had suffered the unbearable tragedy of losing their small son and had pushed each other away, choosing to grieve alone.
But when she and Flynt were hurting, they had come together, not pushed each other away, Angelica mused. She thought of her many years with her mother, through all the men and the babies and the abandonments. She and Mama had chosen to stick together; she and her brother Danny had never turned on each other when things got hard, either.
Mama said it was because they were blood kin, that blood was the strongest bond, but Angelica knew that wasn’t always true. Her own grandparents were a case in point. One set had turned their backs on their teenage daughter forever; her Fortune grandfather had betrayed his wife and given away their child. Hardly sterling examples of blood kin loyalty!
With her lifelong tenets turned inside out, Angelica allowed herself to consider the most radical concept of all. Wasn’t it possible that a man and a woman could choose to stay together instead of going their separate ways when trouble struck, just as some blood kin chose family loyalty in adversity? That loving and not loving were choices that couples made. What if she and Flynt were to choose to keep on loving each other?
The insight resonated within her. She could do it, she decided, she could choose to keep loving Flynt, just as she’d chosen to love her mom even through the most exasperating times. The big question was this: would Flynt choose to keep loving her? She remembered what he had said the first time he’d told her about his parents’ reaction to the loss of poor little Mark, that they’d split because the couple reminded each other of pain and loss. Angelica winced.
“Would you like to see the house or go directly to your room, dear?” asked Kate.
Angelica saw her grandmother studying her intently, almost knowingly. It was oddly comforting and somehow made her feel accepted.
Quite suddenly she revived, her curiosity trumping her confusion and fatigue. “I can’t be in such an amazing place without seeing it. I would like to take the tour, please.”
“The tour?” Kate laughed. “Gracious, that sounds like we’re on a visit to Mount Vernon.”
“I’ve been to Mount Vernon,” said Flynt. “George Washington aside, this place is nicer.”
Still clutching Flynt’s hand, Angelica followed Kate through the wide hall, gazing around her. She’d seen historical mansions on TV that paled in comparison to this place. Antique furniture, Oriental rugs, beautiful paintings, vases that were works of art themselves, filled with fresh flowers in every room. Some rooms were devoted to special interests: the sizable library, the music room, the billiard room, among others.
“This could be a setting for a real-life game of Clue,” Angelica whispered giddily to Flynt. “Can’t you see Colonel Mustard whacking Professor Plum over the head with the candlestick in the study?”
“In the Fortune version of the game, the culprit could be Sheila Fortune, your uncle Nate’s ex-wife, using a poisoned jeweled dagger at a costume ball in the ballroom. I only met the woman once, but she had a real flair for drama and vindictiveness,” Flynt murmured dryly.
Angelica was overwhelmed by it all. “I just can’t imagine living in a place like this.”
“Well, unless you plan to move in with your grandmother, you won’t be, Angelica. You’re still Romina’s daughter who lives and works in Birmingham, Alabama.”
Flynt glanced at Kate, saw her attention was directed to adjusting the blooms in a flower arrangement, and seized the moment to kiss the delicate underside of Angelica’s wrist.
Arousal and affection surged through her. Flynt had said exactly what she needed to hear. He understood her in a way nobody else ever had, and she loved him for it. Really loved him.
The tour completed, Kate looped her arm through her granddaughter’s. “Before I take you to your room, you must meet Sterling.”
Kate led the way up the grand staircase to the master bedroom suite where Sterling Foster sat smoking his pipe and reading.
Introductions were polite and swift, then Kate took Angelica to a well-appointed bedroom with an adjoining bathroom. The room was a veritable garden of violets and ivy, the wallpaper perfectly coordinated with the quilt and pillow shams, the curtains and armchair-and-ottoman set. Long-stemmed fresh flowers in a decorative vase scented the room with their subtle fragrance.
Angelica stared around admiringly. Despite the decorator perfection, the room had a homey feel. She felt comfortable rather than intimidated in it. Her luggage had already been placed in the room, and she noticed Flynt’s bag among hers.
She was still holding tightly onto his hand. She didn’t want him to leave her, Angelica acknowledged achingly. Not only because he was a comfortably familiar presence in the alien Fortune mansion, but because he belonged with her.
They were a team. And after their intimacy on the plane earlier, she couldn’t imagine spending tonight alone in that big king-size bed. The prospect was simply intolerable. She knew what she would be missing without Flynt. Beside her, inside her.
Angelica blushed at her own lusty imagination. But it inspired her to blurt out, “Uh, Grandmother, would you mind if Flynt stayed a little while to—to explain the home security system my mother is thinking of buying for her house?”
Her blush deepened. “We were discussing the pros and cons of the different systems on the plane but didn’t have a chance to, um, well, go into specific details. You and Sterling don’t have to wait up or anything. Flynt can let himself out. Can’t you, Flynt?”
Flynt glanced from Angelica who appeared embarrassed but determined, to Kate who looked ready to burst into laughter.
Kate spoke up before he could reply. “Of course Flynt can let himself out. Yes, you must certainly finish your discussion. And now Sterling and I shall retire for the night. Our suite is on the other side of the house, so Flynt needn’t worry about disturbing us. We can’t hear a thing over there.” Her eyes danced.
She patted Flynt’s arm and leaned over to kiss Angelica’s cheek. “I’m so glad you are here, my darling. And thank you for calling me Grandmother. It means more to me than you’ll ever know. I’ll leave you to your discussion now.”
Kate left the room, closing the door behind her.
“Did I call her Grandmother?” Angelica looked quizzical.
“Yes, you did. In the same sentence that you demoted me to security alarm salesman. Tell me, do I sell my product door-to-door or do I rely on telemarketing to make a sale?”
Angelica tilted her chin and held it high. “You don’t have to stay if you don’t want to.”
“Do you really think I’d pass up a chance to
discuss home alarm systems with you? Especially after our stimulating discussion on the plane?” Flynt scooped her up in his arms.
Angelica gasped, then laughed and linked her arms around his neck.
He carried her to the bed and placed her on top of it. “Now where were we?”
She was already unbuttoning his shirt. “I don’t remember. We’ll have to start all over again.”
“With pleasure, my Angel.” He kissed her deeply, intimately and primitively, as if she belonged to him.
Her every feminine instinct gloried in his strength, and her submission was sensuous and sweet and totally fulfilling.
Immediately after saying good-night to Angelica, Kate returned to the master bedroom suite and called her son.
“Angelica has arrived safely, Brandon. She’s such a lovely girl. You must be very proud of your daughter.”
“I am.”
Romina’s voice sounded over the phone. “Hi, Kate, I’m on the upstairs extension.”
“Hello, Romina dear,” Kate greeted her. “I simply can’t say enough wonderful things about the darling daughter you’ve raised.”
Sterling dropped the paperback he’d been reading and gaped at Kate. He mouthed the name “Romina?” but Kate merely gave him a small wave and continued singing Angelica’s praises over the phone.
“I’ve noticed that Angelica is…quite close to Flynt Corrigan,” Kate said, directing a meaningful look Sterling’s way.
“That has me worried,” said Romina. “They’ve been inseparable since he came to town. Angelica’s never been like that with any man. If he dares to hurt my Angel—”
“He’d better not!” Brandon chimed in. “What if he does, Mom?” he added, his certainty dimming somewhat.
“I don’t know why Flynt would want to hurt Angelica,” said Kate, attempting to reassure the pair on the other end of the line. “He seems equally besotted with her.”
“So that’s what they’re calling it these days?” Brandon laughed, but it was his cynical, jaded, seen-and-done-it-all laugh, the one that depressed Kate because it underscored the corrupt life-style Brandon had been raised to lead.
“My Angel doesn’t sleep around,” Romina snapped, instantly defensive.
“Romina, my dear, nobody was insinuating such a thing,” Kate reassured her.
“Brandon was!” gritted Romina.
“Angelica is my kid, too,” Brandon said, a bit more forcefully. “So I decided I’d better look out for her like a dad should. And she is sleeping with Flynt, if that’s what you want to call it. ’Course, neither of them got any sleep on that flight tonight.”
There was a speaking silence from both Kate and Romina.
“I know for sure that Angelica and Flynt are, er, sleeping together because the steward told me about the evidence he found in the bedroom on the plane.” Brandon’s voice rang with triumph as he told them what the steward had found while tidying up after the flight. “A box of condoms under the bed.”
“That creep called you and told tales about my baby?” Romina was incensed.
“I’m appalled by such indiscretion!” Kate said, coldly disapproving. “The steward shall be fired immediately. I am going to personally place the call the moment we hang up.”
“No, no, don’t do that!” cried Brandon. “It’s not his fault, Mother. I gave him a big tip in advance to check up on Angelica and Flynt, to tell me—you know, whatever he could about them. Romina and I both know how unreliable men can be, and if Corrigan’s messing with my kid, I wanna know about it so I can—I can—”
“So you can what, Brandon?” Kate demanded.
“Can’t I get his legs broken or something like that?” Brandon muttered sheepishly.
“Of course not!” Romina shouted. “And you didn’t tip that steward, you bribed him! You bribed him to spy on our own daughter, Brandon Malone!”
“Romina is right, Brandon,” Kate interjected. “It was a reprehensible invasion of Angelica’s privacy.”
“I am Brandon Fortune now, Romina,” Brandon said, an unaccustomed note of dignity in his voice. “And I’m trying to get the father bit down right. You said not to force my company on Angel, and I didn’t. I hardly ever saw her! And I’ve been good with Casper, you said so yourself. Remember, Romi?”
“Well, yeah,” agreed Romina, suddenly, head-spinningly amiable. “Kate, he’s been great with my twelve-year-old. In fact, I don’t know what I’d’ve done without him because Angel’s been so busy, and I really couldn’t tell her, anyway, because what he did was so awful that I was just sick about it. Thank God, he was here. And thank you too, Kate, for sending him down to me.”
“I wasn’t any use to my own kid, but I could relate to Casper, Mom,” said Brandon. “If anybody knows what it’s like to be messed up and twelve, it’s me. I think I’ve been acting messed up and twelve for twenty years.”
“I’m afraid I’m not following, my dears,” Kate said gamely. “When you reach my age, you need to have things clearly spelled out for you. It is so very tedious. So, if you wouldn’t mind telling me everything, from the beginning, and—not use any pronouns?”
“We’ll be glad, too, Kate,” Romina said eagerly. “And then, maybe you could sort of help us figure out what to do?”
“I’ll do anything I possibly can to help,” Kate promised.
“‘When you reach your age, you have to have things clearly spelled out for you’?” Sterling repeated later, after the phone call had ended. “Your mental acuity is as sharp as ever, Kate. On the other hand, a linguistics scholar would have difficulty deciphering Brandon at times. And am I suffering from a spell of dementia or did I hear you having a conversation with Romina, while you were on the phone with Brandon?”
“You are not suffering from dementia any more than I have to have things clearly spelled out for me—that is, unless it’s a conversation with Brandon and Romina.” Kate smiled. “It’s true, Sterling, Romina and I have established a rapport over the telephone. Brandon has been spending almost all of his time with her, and during one of his phone calls to me, he asked if I would like to talk to Romina. Naturally, I said yes.”
“You’ve always been inordinately brave, Kate,” Sterling said drolly. “On the proverbial scale from one to ten, just how bad is she?”
“Romina can be…volatile…and opinionated, but she’s tried to be a good mother. Actually, she’s quite concerned with all children, which led to her controversial involvement in that fugitive underground in the first place.”
“Controversial? Kate, my love, when one interferes with custody laws, the word to use is criminal. And she’s dragged us into the mire of liability along with her. Our legal team is hard at work filing motions to dismiss that excessive civil suit brought against us by the vengeful Mr. Carson. Keep in mind it was Romina’s tie to Brandon that made the Fortune Corporation a target in the first place.”
“You must keep in mind that Romina’s tie to Brandon happens to be their daughter, my precious grandchild. Besides, I think that Romina is good for Brandon.”
Kate gazed thoughtfully out the window, staring at the now-tranquil waters of Lake Travis. “Brandon is thinking of someone other than himself. I believe he genuinely cares for her and her children.”
“Are you sure Brandon went to Alabama and not Lourdes? That’s supposed to be the place for miracles.” Sterling chuckled at his own joke.
Kate did not. “Unfortunately, there is also some…less pleasant news.” She turned to face her husband. “You see, Brandon has run into something of a problem while—”
“Forget a miracle personality change, Brandon remains the same, after all.” Sighing, Sterling closed his book and stood up. “That’s what all the whispering at the end of your call was about, am I right, Kate? Well, what’s Brandon done this time?”
“Calm down, darling. It’s not what Brandon has done. This time the problem involves Romina’s youngest son, Casper. He’s something of a troubled child who—”
“
Now Brandon is bringing a troubled child into our midst? His former girlfriend’s troubled child?” Sterling searched for his antacid tablets. “Wait until Jake and Nate and the others hear this. The squawking will be unparalleled.” He quickly chewed two tablets and offered some to Kate.
She accepted.
Sunlight filtered into the violet and ivy bedroom through a small gap in the curtains. It was angled in such a way as to bathe Angelica’s face in light bright enough to wake her up.
Her eyes snapped open, and she was instantly alert. She never hovered in the groggy realm between sleep and wakefulness, and this morning was no exception. She knew where she was—and who she was with—the moment she awakened.
She was lying in Flynt’s arms in the middle of the king-size bed in her grandmother’s house. Kate Fortune’s mansion, Angelica quickly corrected herself.
A glance at the bedside clock caused her to bolt upright and gasp aloud. “It’s nine o’clock! I never sleep this late.”
Flynt’s eyes flew open. “Uh-oh!”
He threw back the covers and sprang from the bed, snatching up his clothes that had been strewn around the room last night when he and Angelica had playfully, lovingly, undressed each other.
“I can’t believe it!” He heaved a groan, pulling on his shirt, a sock, shoving one leg into his jeans. “We were just lying there talking, we must’ve fallen asleep.”
Angelica watched him. He was upset enough for both of them, freeing her to view the situation—and his frantic attempts to get dressed—with humor.
“That’s just what we can tell my grandmother—that we fell asleep during our home security alarm system discussion. It sounds plausible, the subject is boring enough to induce a coma. And then we can add, ‘much to our surprise, when we woke up it was morning’.”
“I’d only planned to stay until you fell asleep last night.” Flynt was dressed now, albeit rather sloppily put together. “Then I was going to call a taxi and leave.”
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