“Good luck with that,” Jason added, coming in. Jason wore a seersucker suit with a yellow pocket square in his jacket. “I’m going to be named the president, CEO and whatever goes along with it.”
Caden pinched the bridge of his nose to cover up the way his upper lip curled with the idea of either one of them taking charge. “None of you have any business experience,” he pointed out to them.
EJ, the oldest Archibald brother and therefore named after their father, came in through the back door, just as Caden had. Wearing a pair of sweats and a torn-up shirt, EJ preferred his life as a fisherman. Caden knew for a fact the eldest wanted nothing to do with the pageant. But that didn’t stop him from making a comment. “That’s fresh,” teased EJ, “coming from a man who can’t work with women.”
“What?” Caden laughed sarcastically. “I can work with women. I hired Ebony, didn’t I?”
“I have a deboning knife that can cut your throat if you touch her,” EJ warned, miming from ear to ear.
Obviously not wanting anyone else issuing threats in her kitchen, Helen bounced the roller in her hand. “All right now, enough of this. Caden, you go clean up, and the rest of you behave. Your mama’s been under enough stress thinking about this meeting.”
If his mama had waited until Saturday to have this meeting, she might not be so stressed. Helen turned her back on the boys and went back to snapping beans. The Archibald men, all bearing the same square jaw, long Grecian nose and devilishly handsome good looks, as their grandma would say, turned to face one another and silently offered each other a mutual one-finger salute before heading off to their various corners.
Caden hadn’t bothered heading back to his hotel room to change before leaving Southwood, nor did he head to his house. On his conference call on the ride down here, Kofi had informed him their frat brothers and the women were still hanging out at the house. For some strange reason, he didn’t want to go home. The idea of the weekend-long bachelor party now bored him. The closet in the bedroom he grew up in still contained plenty of suits to wear.
Since Kit had already started entertaining, Caden decided to take the back hallway to keep out of sight before becoming presentable. The narrow space was once used as the servants’ hall. The Archibald boys deemed it the save-my-ass hall when they broke curfew and needed to bypass their father waiting in the cigar room by the front door. The bypass however, led into a squeaky wooden staircase, which alerted those nearby on the first floor. So in order to not let his mom know he was here and not dressed, he needed to take the front steps. The problem was running into anyone coming out of his father’s cigar room or even the bathroom—which happened to catch Caden in a pickle right now. His mother’s voice rounded the other side of the wall, and someone closed the door to the guest lavatory. Caden started to take three steps at a time to get out of view, but the top of a familiar red head caught his eye.
“Maggie?”
Now standing by the bottom step, Maggie shrugged her shoulders and smiled. She wore her hair smoothed back in a bun to the side and a flowery yellow dress. Everyone seemed to have gotten the memo about his mother’s favorite color. A single strand of pearls adorned Maggie’s neck, matched by pearls at her ears. She wore a pair of spiky heels the same color as her dress. Her lips were painted a red color that complimented her hair. Caden’s heart raced.
“What are you doing here?”
“There you are,” Kit said, coming around the corner. A woman with similar red hair as Maggie’s but who appeared older than his mother pushed Kit’s wheelchair. “Oh honey, why aren’t you dressed?”
“I was about to,” Caden said, pointing over his shoulder with his thumb, “but something caught my eye.”
“Something or someone,” the woman asked.
Now Caden remembered her from the shower. She’d pinched him on the ass when she thought he was a stripper. Caden cleared his throat. “What’s going on?”
“I decided I needed to move my announcement for today. Everyone else I wanted to come said they could be here today.”
Caden cut his eyes toward Maggie. He raised a brow in question. “Is that so?”
“Yes, Miss Brenda is getting married in New Orleans this Saturday, and understandably there’d be no way for Maggie to come here.” Kit patted Brenda’s hand. “I would have known about the wedding had I been given an invitation.”
Brenda patted Kit’s hand back. “I told you, I did send you one—there are a lot of people not invited because it’s a location wedding.”
“New Orleans is still in the United States, right?” Kit quipped back.
“Well I...”
“We’ll just pretend the invitation got lost in the mail and forget about it,” said Kit. Caden knew that tone and knew no matter what, his mother was going to bring this up again later. “But either way, you all are here now. So go get ready, Caden. I was about to show my friends the garden.”
Kit, pushed by her friend, exited out the front door. Maggie attempted to follow, but Caden pulled her back by her wrists. He let his mother know they’d be right with them, then closed the door. Without thinking, he pressed her against the door and pulled her face to his with his hands.
“You’re here,” he said before kissing her. Caden felt her body melt against his just before she wedged her hands against his chest. He touched his lips to wipe away any trace of lipstick but there was none.
“What are you doing?” Maggie asked him.
Caden raised his brow again. “I believe we were kissing. You were fast asleep when I left you this morning.”
“Are you sure?”
It dawned on him that he’d never stepped foot in her bedroom, just poked his head in and saw her body on the queen-size mattress. How quickly he forgot her coding skills. Wagging his finger at her face, Caden laughed. “You’re cute.”
“This,” she said in return and wagged her hand between them, “stops.”
Confused, Caden shook his head. “I don’t get it.”
“We’re not going for a three-peat.”
Getting what she meant, he offered a lazy smile. “Technically it would be more like a four-peat.”
“That’s not what I meant, Caden.”
“Okay, quad-peat? It’s semantics. I’m glad you’re here. Do you know what this means?”
Maggie squared her shoulders. “Yes, it means I’m placing myself in position to be named Kit’s successor.”
If Maggie’s bombshell didn’t irritate him to his core, the collective expletive comment from his eavesdropping brothers would have pissed him off. Caden turned around and, without thinking, placed Maggie behind him, holding her back with one hand. Maggie’s body tensed.
“Jesus,” Chase laughed and elbowed Jason in the ribs, “it’s the redhead.”
Jason closed the gap between them and, with his head cocked to the side, tried to study Maggie. “Wow, you didn’t age at all,” he said to her. “Guess I lost that bet, huh?”
Caden glanced over his shoulder in time to spy the daggers Maggie tossed with her glare. The once hazel-green orbs turned almost a deep hunter’s green, and she set her weapons on his brothers. Obviously there was a history, and he damn well planned on finding out what it was.
“I’m going to warn you three now,” Caden said with an even tone.
“Three?” Heath shook his head and waved his arms back and forth. “I’ve done my share of inappropriate behavior, but I never said anything.”
While Caden held Maggie back with his right arm, his left arm grabbed Heath by the collar of his shirt. “Somebody better start talking. Maggie, you know my brothers?”
“I don’t know them,” Maggie snarled, “and they don’t know me. But that didn’t stop them from trashing me behind my back to the judges.”
The soles of his shoes squeaked against the floor as Caden spun around to face her. “Hold up, did the
y do something to you?”
“They wish,” Maggie snorted.
As brothers, all stairstepped in age, there’d been fights between them, in and out of schools. And the Archibald boys gave each and every one of the teachers a run for their money. The other boys might have been older than Caden, but he went toe to toe with them each time.
Today was no different than any other. Jason made a leap toward Caden. Heath pushed Caden into Chase and prepared to square up with Jason. EJ, of course, broke up the scuffle with a loud whistle.
“You guys cut it out,” EJ barked. “Mama’s got a lot of people lurking around.”
“Get your brothers,” Caden warned before taking hold of Maggie’s hand once more. One way or another, he was getting some damn answers.
* * *
The phone call Maggie had eavesdropped on last night had gotten her blood boiling. She’d feigned an illness and gone to bed. She never expected Caden to spend the night, not even on the couch. But he did, and she had to pull out her old bag of tricks to blow him off. Fortunately for her, after setting up the hologram, Maggie knew exactly where to find Auntie Bren this morning. It took a few phone calls, and by dawn’s early light they were on their way to Savannah. Auntie Bren filled the car ride with the dos and don’ts while at the Archibalds’. What Maggie knew of the family was very little other than Auntie Bren’s warning that if the Swaynes and the Hairstons were royalty in Southwood, the Archibalds were the kings and queens around here.
Despite the royal reputation, this generation of Archibalds behaved like cannibals in the foyer of their home. Maggie teetered in her heels into what seemed like a library off to the right of the entryway and immediately let out a sigh of relief. In high-testosterone arguments such as the one Caden and his brothers just had, she knew it was best to stay quiet. But it killed her to keep quiet.
Family portraits rested on the marble mantel framing the massive fireplace. While all five of the Archibald men favored each other in looks, Maggie picked out Caden immediately. She hadn’t known he was the baby of the family, but the photo of him on Kit’s lap was unmistakable. If she weren’t mad as hell right now, she might just coo.
“What’s going on, Maggie?” Caden asked, catching his breath. “Why are you here?”
“Same as you,” she answered with a shrug. “If Kit is planning on retiring—and my auntie Bren is sure about it—I want her to know I’m interested.”
“Cute.” Caden clasped his hands behind his back and paced the length of the floor.
Maggie took a moment to admire the crown molding rather than his backside. She needed to remind herself that Caden was the enemy—although not as bad as Chase and Jason. On the other hand, at least the others hadn’t seduced Maggie at any point. They wouldn’t understand the art of talking to a woman.
“The pageant isn’t a joke, Maggie.” Caden stopped pacing long enough to face her. “We don’t even know if Kit’s going to retire.”
Maggie folded her arms across her chest and cocked her left eyebrow. “Do I hear a wager?”
“I’m not wagering on my mother’s retirement.”
“Oh,” she snorted, “so what about the ride at the fair?”
“That was to get you to have dinner with me,” Caden said with a wink before he started pacing again.
The skip in her heart confused her. Why should her libido kick in from his charm? She focused on the mantel of photos. Caden was a sports fanatic, something she hadn’t realized the first time they hooked up. He’d just been hot and she’d been fast. “Why would you want to run the pageant? You don’t even work with women.”
“I’m still a better choice than my brothers.”
Maggie nodded in agreement. “I can’t deny that.”
Caden turned to face her again. “So on your good authority, do you think Kit will retire today?”
In truth, Maggie had no idea. She shrugged her shoulders. “I can’t say. When did you get the feeling she was going to retire?”
“My partner, Kofi, put it together when Kit called us for a conference last week. She gave assignments for people to bring to her fiftieth pageant.”
A flash of panic froze Maggie’s veins. “Does she know about us?”
“No,” he answered. Caden’s lips flattened and seriousness filled his dark eyes.
“So she just randomly chose you to ask me?”
“Well,” Caden admitted with his signature devilish smile returning.
The space between them became too close. Heat rose from Maggie’s body. Nothing she could tell herself cooled her heels, not even trying to remind herself that he was using her so he could have the job—the job she deserved. Maggie focused on the objects in the room, like the oversize family photos of generations of Archibalds. She moved closer to the wall to admire the years of similarity. “You know,” she said over her shoulder, “as a recovering socialite, I would think the pageant would be an ideal time to announce my retirement.”
“Then why call people in town for a meeting?” Caden joined Maggie at the black-and-white picture of a man and woman in tattered clothing. The picture, smaller than the rest, spoke volumes and sent a shiver down her spine. Despite their clothing, their smiles said everything. “Those are the earliest Archibalds,” Caden explained, pointing at the wall. “We believe it was before the Civil War.”
“I think you favor him,” Maggie said quietly.
Caden bumped his shoulder against hers. “Wait until you see me in uniform.”
While the military was not an organization Maggie thought Caden would ever join, she still imagined him looking sharp in a pair of dress blues. “Boarding school uniforms?”
“I—” he began puffing out his chest “—am a proud product of the public school system, thank you very much.”
“Ah yes,” said Maggie with a droll eye roll, “in the mean streets of affluent Isle of Hope.”
“Whatever.” Caden playfully pushed her arm. “But to answer your question, there were occasions during the summer when I was in high school where you’d find me in my Union blues at Fort Pulaski or Fort Jackson.”
Somehow Maggie had a hard time believing him. The man was GQ ready every time, meaning he always looked like he stepped off the cover of a magazine, not a Civil War reenactment battlefield. Kenzie, the history buff of the family, would get a kick out of this.
Whatever, she thought, shaking her head. She and Caden were not on the same side of the pageant. Did he really think he was the better person for the job? This invisible rift grew between them, even though neither of them knew Kit was ready to step down.
“Look,” said Caden, breaking Maggie out of her train of thought. “I had no idea you were interested in the pageant. I thought you were done with pageants.”
An array of emotions flooded Maggie’s senses. The first one she recognized was anger, because her blood boiled right now. Seeing the jerks who laughed and joked about her future in the beauty queen world reenergized her desire to take over the pageant. Because of Caden’s brothers, she’d allowed their comments to affect her choices in life. After being crossed off the path of becoming the next Miss USA, she refused to settle down behind a desk or a dead-end job and most certainly never became someone’s trophy wife.
“You’ve been a party girl, a blogger and a cupcake decorator,” said Caden. “What in your résumé says you can run a pageant?”
“Have you ever been a beauty queen?” Maggie countered. “Do you know how to relate to any of the women? You can’t even work with women. You’ve admitted that.”
“I worked with you this weekend,” he reminded her once again.
Outside, Auntie Bren pushed Ms. Kit around the gardens. Cars began lining the street. Maggie knew Kit had clout, but she didn’t realize this much. “Regardless of how dumb you think I am—”
“Don’t put words in my mouth.”
�
��—I am still the perfect person to take over. There’s a reason your mother wants me here.” Maggie squared her shoulders and faced him. “I promise once I’m named her successor, there will still be a place for you on the board. I can’t say as much for your brothers, though.”
* * *
Like with most things, Kit made a spectacle about her dinner party. She invited the press to her backyard for a luncheon and music provided by a young violist. The summer weather held up beautifully, and the breeze from the rivers cooled any seasonal heat.
All the media coverage this afternoon reminded Caden of college signing day for high school students, an event A&O did not participate because they represented professionals. But just like when the college signee sat penned their name to their letter of intent, a social media swarm stood around to watch. Today wasn’t any different.
Caden sat to his mother’s left. Auntie Em sat to her right. The rest of the children fanned out from youngest to oldest. Because of the placement of everyone, Caden placed his guesses that his mother planned on naming someone from the family. Too bad for Maggie. She looked so lovely sitting with her aunt. Kofi even sat at Maggie’s table. Kofi had brought Michele, who leaned in, probably to give Maggie an earful. And somehow, while Kit gave her speech about her legacy with the Southern Style Glitz Beauty Pageant, the only thing Caden thought about was Maggie. Well, he corrected himself. He thought about the way Michele looked at Kofi when he spoke. It was as if Kofi walked on the moon. His best friend was great, but Caden didn’t know if he was that great. Nonetheless, for the first time in Caden’s life, he wanted something like what Kofi had, and somehow he knew the key to it was Maggie.
When he was named the successor to the pageant, Caden realized he was going to have to bring Maggie on board for consultation. This way they’d still see each other. Satisfied with his future, Caden went back to giving his mother his undivided attention.
“...and so I thank you all for coming out here to break bread with me and my family,” Kit was saying. She placed a hand on Aunt Em’s shoulder. “My sister has been by my side since the beginning of time. Some people tease us about marrying the Archibald boys just so we could stay together.” The comment sparked a round of laughter from the guests. “But we’re coming to the end of our journey here with the Southern Style Glitz Beauty Pageant. We would love to see it stay in the family, but we both know with this crew we have here—”
Southern Seduction ; Pleasure in His Arms Page 9