by Mia Sheridan
“Just dinner,” he said softly.
“Okay, uh, that sounds good.”
His shoulders seemed to fall incrementally and he turned, grabbing the receiver off of his phone. “By the way, I got my pilot’s license three years back. We’ll take my plane to Colorado.”
Before I could answer, he brought the phone to his ear and punched in some numbers. He started giving orders to whomever was on the other line, presumably the people responsible for readying his plane for travel, from what my surprised mind grasped.
When he hung up and turned to me, I shook my head. “I already have a return ticket. That’s not necessary.”
“You can get a refund.”
I opened my mouth to speak but then shut it again. Getting a refund—even half—would be a relief. I bit at my lip for a second. A couple of hours at dinner, at the most, and a couple of hours on a plane with Dane where I could pretend to sleep, or read? I could handle that. Couldn’t I? I met his eyes. “Okay.”
“Good,” he murmured, those green eyes studying me in a way that suddenly made me regret the consent I’d given only seconds before. My instincts told me I’d put some vital part of myself in terrible danger.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Then . . .
Audra had never been in a house as grand as the Townsend estate. Not even close. She barely noticed Dane slipping her coat from her shoulders as she gazed in awe at the grand curved stairway sweeping upward from the marble foyer they were standing in. She craned her neck, looking up at a gorgeous mural painted on the ceiling. It was the sky, dotted with fluffy white clouds, ringed in pale pink. There were birds and angels and if she could have, she would have stood gaping at it for hours, trying to take in all the details from where she stood, too far below. But she was nervous too. On the one occasion she’d been in the same place as Dane’s family—at his sister Dalila’s seventeenth birthday party at their country club—Dane’s grandmother had been cold toward her, shooting her disdainful glares. It had made her feel small and ugly, painfully aware of her simple dress and cheap Payless shoes. She hadn’t mentioned it to Dane, and desperately hoped the older woman would warm to her once she had a chance to get to know her better.
“I thought you’d like that,” Dane whispered in her ear, his warm breath tickling her skin and causing her to shiver. Audra smiled, turning her head slightly so she could see him. “My little artist.”
She laughed softly, reaching up and placing her hand on his cheek then turning her neck a little more so she could kiss him quickly. “Anything I’ve ever done is a far cry from this masterpiece.” She turned around, craning her head once again as Dane nuzzled her neck. But when the click of heels met her ears, she dropped her hand and stepped away from Dane.
Dane’s grandmother cleared her throat and Audra met her eyes meekly, shy that she’d caught their public display of affection, innocent though it was. Mrs. Townsend raised her chin as she stepped forward. “Audra Kelley. It’s nice to see you again. Welcome to my home.” She extended her hand toward Audra and Audra took it in hers. Mrs. Townsend’s grip was firm, though her hand felt cold and bony. Audra pulled away as quickly as she could while still appearing polite. She hoped.
Audra smiled, praying it looked more steady than it felt. “Mrs. Townsend. Your home is gorgeous. Thank you for having me to dinner.”
Mrs. Townsend nodded once and Dane stepped forward, kissing her on her cheek. “Grandmother,” he said.
Her eyes warmed ever so slightly as she took in her grandson. “Dane.”
She turned and waved her hand, indicating, Audra assumed, that they should follow her. She glanced at Dane and he shot her a wink, his eyes amused. “She’s not as stern as she comes across.”
“I heard that, Dane Michael,” his grandmother said as she walked away, but it made Audra relax slightly. Maybe she did have a softer side to her, despite initial impressions.
They followed her into the dining room and Audra tried not to make it obvious that what she really wanted to do was stop every few steps and gaze at some architectural feature or design element in this luxurious house. If she could, she’d stop time and simply wander through it alone, exploring every nook and cranny, letting her eyes soak in all the impressive details. But she didn’t want to appear too stunned by the surroundings. She didn’t want to make it blatantly obvious that she lived in a house so small it could fit in one room of this mansion. The well-worn, mismatched furnishings probably didn’t cost a fraction of one of the paintings on the wall. She stopped suddenly. Was that a . . . Rembrandt? She couldn’t help it, she gaped.
“It is a Rembrandt.” Audra turned her head quickly from the painting to see Dalila Townsend approaching her, a smile on her face. “If that’s what you were wondering.”
Audra let out a breath, smiling back. “I was. It’s magnificent.”
A moment later, Dane’s sister, Dalila, came to stand in front of the painting with her and gazed at it. “I know. It’s what inspired me to take art lessons. Which, much to my great sadness, are making it clear to me that I have no natural talent.” She glanced at Audra. “Not like you.”
Audra shook her head. “That’s not true. I loved that flower you did a couple of weeks ago.”
“That was a self-portrait.”
She felt her heart drop. “Oh, um, well . . .”
Dalila burst out laughing, taking Audra’s arm in hers and leading her to the other side of the room where Dane had already gone. Dalila stopped. “I was kidding. It actually was a flower. But it was awful. It’s okay. I can admit my own shortcomings. No one can be amazing at everything.” She shot Audra a grin and she laughed. Audra had liked Dalila Townsend from the moment they met at the art class downtown. Despite her last name and social standing, she was down to earth and genuine, just like her brother.
Dane was talking to a boy who looked to be about fifteen, with the same brown hair and green eyes as he and Dalila. He must be their brother, Dustin. Dane grabbed Audra’s hand as she approached them. “Audra, this is my little brother, Dustin, the pain in the ass I told you about.” But he grabbed him with an arm around his neck and pulled him toward him in a mock wrestling move that made it obvious he was joking.
Audra laughed softly, shaking Dustin’s hand when he’d shaken Dane off. “Don’t listen to him. He’s just jealous because his little brother’s got more play with the ladies.”
Dane rolled his eyes but then smiled at Audra. “There’s only one lady I want any play with. You can take the rest.”
Audra’s heart squeezed with happiness and butterflies fluttered between her ribs. She still wondered at times how she’d found love in the arms of someone as handsome and wonderful as Dane.
“Gross,” Dustin muttered, and they both laughed.
“I’m sorry my mom’s not here tonight. She’ll be back from Europe next week.” Dane had talked well of his mother, saying she was a good mom, if a little bit flighty, with a great love for shopping and lunching with her friends—and exclusive resorts in Europe. Audra had met her briefly at Dalila’s party, but, truthfully, she was glad she could spend time with his family in small doses. It was nerve-wracking enough being around his grandmother. But before she could even nod, a bell sounded, and the chatter stopped. Dane’s grandmother reappeared in the room from wherever she’d briefly gone. They all took their seats and Audra glanced around nervously, her hands balled in her lap as the formal dinner began, two maids in black and white uniforms emerging from what she assumed was the kitchen with steaming platters of food. My God. She’d never dined like this before—not even in a restaurant. And this was the norm for them?
For the first part of the meal, she mostly listened to the chatter around her, smiling when appropriate, and trying to be engaged while also watching what the others did as far as table manners so she’d know she was doing the appropriate thing as well. She and her father didn’t exactly have five-course meals at their house—ever. Most often, Audra threw something in the microwave without
even bothering to dish it onto an actual plate.
When the soup arrived, she watched Dane pick up the round spoon on the right of his plate and followed suit, tuning back into what Dalila was saying. Something about a winter formal at their country club.
“Dane,” his grandmother said, wiping the corner of her mouth with her napkin. “I told Celeste Sinclair that you’d take Winnie to the formal. It’s important that our whole family be there since we’re being honored as Platinum members.”
Winnie Sinclair?
Audra’s heart stuttered and then resumed in a quickened beat. Dane was staring at his grandmother in confusion, his mouth working to finish the bite of food he’d just taken. “I’ll be taking Audra to the formal, Grandmother, not Winnie.”
The table had grown extremely quiet and Audra dared a glance around. Dalila’s eyes were wide, and when she caught her gaze, they filled with sympathy. Dustin simply looked confused. “I’m sorry, Dane, but that would never do.” Dane’s grandmother gave her a look that was both cold and condescending.
Dane placed his napkin down slowly. “And why not?” He lowered his hand, taking hers in his. He squeezed her hand tighter. No doubt he could feel how much she was trembling.
Audra felt as if his grandmother was a spider who’d lured her in with a few simple niceties, and then once she’d relaxed and his grandmother had her in her web, she’d pounced. Audra felt stunned, attacked. Heat crawled up her neck and she wanted to bolt out of there, but Dane’s touch anchored her. She sat frozen, gripping his hand in hers, waiting for what would come next.
“I don’t want to embarrass you, Audra dear, but the Townsends are expected to keep company with a certain . . . quality of people. Especially in public.”
“Grandmother,” Dalila squeaked and her voice sounded pained, incredulous.
Luella Townsend looked briefly at Dalila and then back to Audra, smiling tightly. “We certainly don’t have to discuss this over dinner. But I thought it important that Audra understand exactly the way things work when your last name is Townsend. Dane may do as he please in private and behind closed doors, but in public, such . . . things will not be tolerated.”
Things? Audra thought. I’m a . . . thing?
Dane threw his napkin on the table and stood slowly. His muscles were clenched tightly and he seemed to be radiating rage. Audra’s heart thundered in her ears, and when he pulled on her hand, she stood jerkily, her chair falling backward with her sudden movement and landing sideways on the plush white and pale blue oriental rug. She gasped in a strangled breath and let go of Dane’s hand to bring her own to her chest, but she hit the bowl of soup still in front of her and it flipped off the table onto the floor. The bowl simply bounced, but tomato bisque splattered the rug in large, ugly splotches of red. “Oh God, I’m so—”
“It’s okay, Audra.” Dane pulled her to him. “It doesn’t matter.” But it did matter. It would always matter. He pulled her hand, and she turned into him, refusing to meet anyone else’s eyes except his. His stride was quick, his long legs moving so swiftly that she had to run to keep up with him. And as they made their way toward the front door, tears spilled from her eyes and ran down her cheeks. Oh God, oh God, oh God.
**********
Dane was seeing red. How dare his grandmother make Audra feel that way? He gripped the steering wheel tightly, exhaling a long breath. She sat stiffly beside him, the look on her face bleak, slightly shell-shocked. His shoulders fell, and he pulled to the side of the road, shutting off the car and turning toward her. “Come here.” He opened his arms, and she fell into them immediately, laying her head on his shoulder as he kissed the side of her hair, making slow circles on her back. “I promise you that will never happen again.”
Audra shook her head against his coat. “You can’t promise that, Dane. She obviously doesn’t think I’m good enough for you.”
“She’s wrong. You’re too good for me.” She let out a small, soggy-sounding laugh and lifted her head. But he wasn’t smiling, and he hoped she could see the sincerity in his expression as he wiped the tears from her cheeks. He was leaving for Stanford in a couple of months, and it was killing him to know he’d be leaving her behind. But he also knew he wanted to make a good life for them, to graduate college, to step into the role at his family company, the one he’d been groomed for all his life. His friends all told him he was crazy to make a commitment to a girl right before he went off to college. They said he should be partying and dating as many college women as possible. But Audra was the only one he wanted, the only one who set his body and his soul on fire, who made him feel like the sun was rising inside him each time he looked at her. So he just laughed and ignored them.
He kissed her softly. “I love you,” he said. He’d never used the words with any other girl, because he’d never felt them. Not until now. “Forget everyone else, my sweet butterfly dancer. You were mine, even then. Before I ever met you.”
She drew in a sharp breath, gazing at him with those wide, trusting eyes. “I love you too,” she whispered.
He smiled, moving a piece of hair back from her face. “You and me,” he said, and she nodded before he kissed her.
CHAPTER TWELVE
Dane
Now . . .
Audra Kelley. My ex-wife. Holy fuck. I tipped the shot back, and the alcohol left a trail of fire as it slid down my throat. I grimaced and poured another, but simply stood holding it as I gazed unseeing out my office window. For a while my eyes lingered on the fountain, the bubbling water almost restoring some calm.
I still thought of her as Audra Kelley, though the last time I’d seen her, she’d been Audra Townsend. Briefly though. That time was so filled with pain despite the possessive joy I’d felt when I’d slipped my ring on her finger and knew she was mine forever. As it turned out, forever was a short thirteen months, seven days, and a handful of hours.
I knew she’d taken her name back because I’d checked in on her—without her knowing, of course—six years before when her father had died. It’d fucked me up for months afterward, so I hadn’t done it again until last year. That had been different, though . . . and of course, I’d asked Luella about Audra’s business when we began planning the industrial park. Luella had told me Audra was planning to move, and maybe I’d wanted to believe it. I certainly understood her wanting to. Why would she want to work every day in a building I’d given to her as a wedding gift? If she felt the way I did, she’d want to put any reminders of me in the past. They were too painful.
Goddammit, she still did something to me with that stubborn little chin and those big dark eyes. I could still feel her smooth, supple skin beneath my palms. She was still so fucking desirable to me, and I hated it because she wasn’t mine anymore. I didn’t want to be affected by her when she’d stood in my office and accused me of being cold-hearted and unethical.
Attraction could be a ruthless bitch. Sometimes you couldn’t get rid of her even if you wanted to.
The magnetism I felt toward Audra seemed rooted in my bones, threaded through the fabric of who I was. I responded to her on some primal level, and I had from the first moment I’d laid eyes on her. She was still slim, maybe too slim even, and it made it more obvious how delicate-boned she was. I’d loved that about her, loved how small and slight she’d always felt in my arms, and how she’d wrap those slender legs around my hips.
Why was I even thinking about that? Fuck.
It had seemed like she was hurt by the idea that I could be conspiring against her, and yet I couldn’t really tell what she’d been thinking. Then again, she’d only ever shared her secrets haltingly, secrets I’d cherished and held tightly to me like priceless treasures. Toward the end, she’d withheld her private thoughts completely, retreating inside herself. I’d had no earthly clue what she was thinking, cut off forever from that inner world of hers.
A light knock sounded at my door and I turned, but before I could even answer, it opened and my brother stepped inside. I watched him as
he took in the shot in my hand, his eyes moving to the mostly full bottle sitting on my desk. “A little early, isn’t it?”
I threw the second shot back, grimacing and setting the tumbler I was using as a shot glass on a pile of papers on my desk. “Want one?”
He walked toward me, his expression managing both amusement and concern. “What’s the occasion?”
“My ex-wife stopped by.”
He frowned. “Audra?”
“Do I have another ex-wife I’m unaware of?”
He rolled his eyes, walking to the bar cart near the corner where I kept a few bottles of alcohol so I could offer clients a drink if a meeting ran late. He took a glass before strolling back, uncapping the bottle, and pouring himself a generous shot. He held it up to me and then threw it back, shaking his head with the burn. “What the hell is Audra doing in California?” He held the bottle to me in question but I shook my head, then walked to the couches and sank down onto one.
After he’d poured himself another drink, he joined me in the sitting area, taking a seat on the couch across from me where Audra had sat only an hour before. I leaned back and staring at the ceiling, told him the gist of why she’d traveled from Colorado to California.
Dustin whistled long and low and I sat up. The two shots had hit my system so I was feeling warm and calm, though still not completely back to normal emotionally speaking. “Luella really knows how to hold a grudge, huh?”
“I don’t fucking know. She always had such a stick up her ass when it came to Audra, but why she’s doing this now, I really have no idea. Other than that the opportunity arose and she’s being a bitch because she can.”
Dustin frowned. “I know she never thought Audra was good enough for you. But I’d have thought after . . .” His eyes flew to mine and he blinked nervously.