by BETH KERY
“Welcome all of you,” Louise called out after they’d all entered and someone shut the front door. “Mr. Fall will be receiving you on the terrace. Follow me, please.”
She and Kuvi brought up the rear. Dozens of leather soles and high heels on the wood floors and oriental carpets created a hollow, hushed tramping sound that echoed off the walls and high arched ceiling. Once again, Alice had the strange, fanciful sensation that the beautiful house was alive. Watchful.
Waiting.
She repressed a shiver.
“Who do you think she is?” Alice whispered furtively to Kuvi.
“Who?” Kuvi whispered back, hazel eyes wide.
“That woman?” Kuvi blinked when she nodded in the direction of Louise.
“The cook or maid? Or a housekeeper maybe?” Kuvi replied with a dubious shrug.
“Oh,” Alice mumbled, feeling stupid for thinking Louise was somehow related to Fall. What did she know about this sort of world?
A gong sounded, the tone sweet and clear. Alice’s feet faltered, but Kuvi kept walking. The mass of men and women moved ahead of her. Something caught her eye to the right, a flash of jewel-colored light. She craned to see into the room off the hallway.
Had the sweet, mysterious gonging sound come from in there?
Her feet didn’t make a sound on the oriental carpet when she entered. She stared down the length of a silent, still room—the dining room, no doubt, given the highly polished fifteen-foot-long mahogany table surrounded by chairs and a massive china cabinet that looked to be filled with porcelain and silver treasures. She saw what had caught her eye: a circular-shaped alcove made entirely of glass that took up the entire end of the room. At the top of the clear windows were several stained glass panes. She caught a glimpse of the tops of lush trees and swaying flowers, and then the shimmering, sea-like Great Lake in the distance. The sun was setting, sending its rays through the stained glass. Translucent beams of ephemeral, jewel-colored light penetrated the thick shadows all the way at the back of the room.
Everything was hushed and still.
Alice held her breath so as not to break the spell.
She took another step into the stunning room, then another, drawn to the windows and how they changed light into elusive, slanting jewel bars she knew would slip right through her seeking fingers.
She held out her hand.
“Alice,” a man said sharply.
Alice froze, her eyes going wide in alarm, her limbs beginning to tingle. She’d recognized that deep, slightly rough voice.
She spun around. Dylan Fall stood in the entryway to the dining room, his face rigid as he pinned her with his stare.
“What the hell are you doing in here?” he demanded tensely.
“I heard a gong and wondered what it was, and then I saw the view and …” She faltered in her pressured explanation when she soaked in his appearance, the vivid, striking reality of him standing there in the entryway. He looked very tall and intimidating and just …
Plain amazing.
He wore a pair of tan summer-weight trousers that had been perfectly tailored for his long legs, trim hips, and flat abdomen. The first few buttons of his white shirt were left unfastened. His sport coat was a darker shade of brown with subtle tan striping woven in the fabric. The expensive, stylish clothing fit him with a careless, sexy ease. Dylan Fall wore the clothes, not the other way around. That much was crystal clear. She yanked her gaze off the appealing expanse of his broad chest—he looked like he could more than hold his own in a rugby match, despite the fashionable clothing. He was long and lean, but powerful.
She focused on his face. Unlike when she’d seen him for the interview, he was clean-shaven. She started when she noticed the blazing quality of his eyes.
“Alice?” he said again, this time very quietly, his gaze narrowing on her.
“The gong …” she muttered again stupidly.
“You couldn’t have heard a gong.”
His words struck her like a lash. It took a moment for his meaning to settle in.
“What did you think I was doing in here?” she asked in a choked voice, recognizing his cold anger at last. “That I snuck in to steal the silver?”
He blinked at her returned flash of anger. A hard, masklike expression stole over his face. “Of course not. I just saw you moving around in here while I passed. It took me off guard.” He stepped toward her. She searched his expression desperately, but saw no evidence of the fierce emotion she’d witnessed in his eyes just seconds ago. Here was the utterly in-control man she recalled from her interview.
“Would you like to see it?”
“See what?” she asked with flat-out suspicion.
His stern, sexy mouth flickered with amusement. He waved at the far end of the room. “The view you spoke of just now,” he replied calmly.
She glanced back and saw the windowed alcove, seeing the picturesque tableau as if for the first time.
Her mouth dropped open. What had she been thinking, leaving the group to wander around this house alone? His house. She felt a warm pressure on her bent elbow and suddenly she was walking next to Dylan Fall as he guided her, her numb legs seemingly moving of their own volition. Instead of leading her over to the windowed sunny alcove, he directed her to the far side of the room and a sideboard. Still touching her arm lightly, he used his other hand to remove the stopper from a decanter and pour a finger of amber-colored liquid into a crystal highball glass.
“Drink it,” he said.
She stared down at the glass, and then at him dubiously.
“I don’t drink hard liquor. That’ll kick my ass,” she said bluntly, considering for the first time the possibility that Dylan Fall was a tad off.
The thought didn’t diminish his blatant attractiveness in the slightest; especially when he gave a soft, hoarse bark of laughter. White teeth shone against his shadowed face. There it was, that flash of the dangerous marauder beneath his polished exterior, the sexy outcast transformed into the most confident of insiders.
Get a grip, she scolded herself, but she couldn’t prevent that squeeze of her heart in her chest.
He raised the glass and tipped a portion of the golden liquid between his lips. His strong throat convulsed as he swallowed.
“Good thing I do,” he muttered before he set down the unfinished drink on a silver tray with a muted crash. Then he was leading her down the length of the dining room. They came to a halt, standing side by side in the sun-filled alcove. He didn’t move his hand from her arm. It burned not only her skin, but her consciousness. She awkwardly straightened her elbow, and his fingers fell away. The air-conditioning in here must be cranked. His hand had been warm and steadying against her strangely chilled skin.
“Have you ever seen anything like that?” he asked quietly next to her.
She glanced dazedly up at him. His masculinity was so potent it was tangible. He eclipsed her entire vision. How tall was he? Six foot three, maybe? His bold male features and short sideburns created such a clean, striking profile. The dark irises, lashes, and lowered eyebrows looked especially defined next to the whites of his eyes as he peered out the window. She followed suit, staring blindly out the panes of glass.
Slowly, the vision in front of her resolved.
Her Camp Durand peers and Kehoe’s staff milled around a stone terrace featuring a splashing fountain. She and Fall were looking down on them from a higher floor. A colorful, meticulously maintained palette of gardens surrounded the terrace. Two formally dressed waiters were passing among the main group with flutes of champagne on trays. Everyone was admiring the gardens and view, talking and laughing. Over to the left, several white-jacketed caterers were setting up an elaborate serving table. Kuvi’s puzzled face leapt out at her from the others as she scanned the large terrace. Clearly, her roommate was the only one who had missed Alice.
There was a wide path that led through a vibrant green yard to a waist-high, pale stone wall in the distance. There would be
a drastic craggy drop-off to the lake on the other side of that boundary, Alice knew. She numbly recognized Thad, Brooke, and Tory standing at the wall.
“Alice?”
She blinked, belatedly recalling Fall’s question.
“No. I’ve never seen anything like it. You don’t see views like that in Little Paradise,” she replied through a sandpapery throat. Maybe she should have taken that drink after all.
“No,” he agreed. She sensed his stare on her cheek. “But Little Paradise hasn’t been your whole world, has it?”
“No. Thank God,” she mumbled under her breath. “Not since I went to college.”
“And before Little Paradise?”
She shrugged. “Nothing. I lived in that garbage dump until I escaped for college.”
“I see.” She looked over at him. He was watching her steadily. A strange feeling overcame her, like a door was opening in her chest. She had a bizarre yet shockingly strong urge to sink deeper into his dark gleaming eyes … to feel his arms close around her.
What the hell was wrong with her?
“Alice? Is everything okay?”
“Yeah,” she said through rubbery lips, forcing her gaze out the window again. Her heart began to roar so loud in her ears she wondered if he heard it.
“I was glad to hear you accepted the position at Camp Durand. I wasn’t entirely certain what to expect as far as an answer,” he said neutrally.
She grimaced slightly, grasping for steady mental footing. “Not too shocking, after that interview, I suppose.” He didn’t respond. “I was just as surprised to get the offer,” she admitted after a moment, feeling strangled by the oppressive silence of the house that surrounded them.
By the man.
It was all so strange.
“I did hear a gong sound,” she defended suddenly—stubbornly—as if to push back the haze encroaching on her, the strange, unnameable emotion that approached panic.
“Yes. I just realized what it was you must have heard. I think Marie was responsible. My cook is a bit of a tyrant. I mean that in the fondest sense of the word,” he assured dryly with a sideways glance at her. Alice gave him a shaky smile, relieved by the news. Maybe she wasn’t crazy after all? “Marie occasionally uses an antique gong she found here in the house to alert the catering staff she has something she wants done immediately. She has those poor people hopping around like nervous rabbits. I hadn’t realized you could hear it from here, but that must be the culprit.”
“Oh … it really did sound like it came from this room.”
“An old house like this can play tricks on the senses.”
“I’m sorry for—”
“There’s no harm done. I hope,” he added quietly. There it was again, that brief flash of a killer smile. “And I’m sorry. For snapping at you.”
She swallowed thickly. Through the window, she saw Kuvi cross the distance of the terrace and say something pointedly to Dave Epstein. Dave scanned the crowded terrace from his greater height and shook his head.
“I should get out there. I think my roommate is wondering where I went,” Alice said, starting to back away.
“Wait a moment.”
She blinked in surprise at his low, clipped command. Goose bumps rose on her arms. He looked a little embarrassed by his tense declaration. It was strange, to see him off balance—Dylan Fall. He cleared his throat.
“Have you spent a good summer thus far?” he asked.
“Spiffing.” She was confused as to why Dylan Fall was singling her out for garden-party talk before they even got to the garden. Perversely, she didn’t want to play along.
He gave her a dark glance. “Do you always have to be sarcastic?”
“I wasn’t being sarcastic,” she lied.
His gaze scored her. He wasn’t going to be sidetracked. She sighed and began ticking off her boring, very unsophisticated activities this summer. “I signed on with a temporary maid service to help pay the bills now that my student loans are due. Maggie was on sabbatical in Mexico, so I babysat her Irish setter, Doby. He had a bad case of fleas and threw a huge fit when I dragged him to the vet. He nearly broke my wrist, he freaked out so bad in the waiting room.”
She gave him a “well, are you satisfied?” glance, but he was impervious.
“You and Maggie are close, then?”
“Yeah. I live in an apartment over her garage,” Alice replied stiffly, suddenly thinking of an issue that had been niggling at her. “I asked Maggie why she told you about me growing up in Little Paradise. She swore she never did.”
He had the decency to look vaguely embarrassed.
“Why did you say that? And how did you know where I’d grown up?” she demanded.
He frowned as he stared out at the Great Lake. He looked hard and intimidating, and for a second, she couldn’t believe her cockiness in berating him.
“We did a basic security screening on some of the more desirable candidates for Camp Durand,” he said after a pause. He glanced at her and saw her offended expression. “It helps us to narrow down the contestant pool. You can’t really blame us, can you? You’ll be working with children, after all.”
Her defiance flickered out. “I guess not,” she said. “Still, no one likes having someone pry into their private life without permission. Would you?”
“You gave permission in the original paperwork you signed when you applied for the position.” He scowled slightly. “And no. I didn’t like it when it happened to me, either. One of the consequences of the job, I suppose.”
A smile curved her mouth at a thought. “Did you have anything to hide?”
“Plenty.”
She glanced at him in surprise. She hadn’t expected him to say that. Movement and color caught her eye out on the terrace. A Durand manager’s peach-colored skirt billowed in a gust of wind.
“Aren’t you worried you should be out there?” she asked.
“Not particularly,” he said, his gravelly voice causing the skin of her cheek and ear to tingle in awareness. “I just received an unpublished quarterly report for Durand. I got caught up in looking at it just now. That’s why I was running behind and wasn’t there to greet you all,” he said.
She raised her eyebrows expectantly when he paused.
“I was wondering if you would consider taking a look at it as well, along with our last quarterly and a few annuals. To see if you spot any significant trends. I admire that knack for numbers you have. There’s no hurry, though. I know you need to get settled in, and your kids are coming tomorrow. You aren’t obligated,” he added when she didn’t respond immediately.
“Sure. I’d be happy to,” she said once she’d gotten over her surprise at his request. The idea of losing herself in numbers—of escaping all this strangeness and surrounding herself with the familiar—sounded very reassuring at that moment. She perked up a little, as if she was finally rising out of the strange oppression that had come upon her since she first entered this house.
He nodded, seeming satisfied by her response. “Thanks. I guess we better go make a showing at the party,” he said, not seeming very excited about that fact. “Shall we?”
Much to her dismay and bewilderment, he fell into step beside her, as if he planned to escort her. Alice couldn’t think of anything to say to stop him. She couldn’t tell him what to do in his home and at his dinner party. They walked through the quiet house together, and down a flight of stairs. When they reached a large, high-tech family/media room at the back of the house, she hesitated.
“This way,” he said, touching her bare upper arm again, obviously misunderstanding her uncertainty.
He unlatched one of many French doors and guided her through the opening. His fingertips lightly touched her bare back, stealing her focus. Suddenly, the entire Durand party was right there in front of her, several of them turning at the sound of the door opening, their attention snagged when they noticed Fall’s tall, singular form emerge from the house. Alice’s cheeks flamed in embarrass
ment as their host walked down the steps to greet them, his hand only falling away from her back when they reached the bottom step.
ALICE endured the group’s curious, puzzled glances at her entrance with Fall, but inside, she was boiling over in mortification. Damn him. Alice longed to stay under the radar. Dylan Fall had thrust her into the limelight, just by standing next to her in all his powerful male glory. As soon as Fall approached Sebastian Kehoe and shook his hand in greeting, Alice faded back from his side and hurried toward Kuvi, ducking her head in an attempt to avoid attention.
“How did you end up with Mr. Top Hot?” Kuvi asked her a moment later as they stood at the fringes of the crowd, her hushed voice vibrating with amusement.
“I wasn’t with him. I … I had to use the bathroom, and when I came out, he was there, so he showed me the way,” she said, flustered. In Little Paradise, Alice had become an accomplished, stone-faced liar. Why was she losing the skill now?
She noticed Brooke watching her from where she stood at the back of the terrace. Alice turned her back deliberately to her. “And don’t call him that … that stupid name,” she hissed at Kuvi, her embarrassment now choking her. “That’s what Brooke calls him.”
“Really? That’s what Dave called Fall when he was joking earlier,” Kuvi said unconcernedly, taking a sip of her champagne and glancing past Alice’s shoulder. Given Kuvi’s prurient interest, Alice had a pretty good idea who she was staring at. “Personally, I think it’s an excellent description. Bloody hell, that man is smoking. Those eyes. That hair. That body. And he was touching you.”
“Stop it, Kuvi,” Alice implored shakily under her breath. “Please.”
Kuvi’s gaze flickered to Alice’s face and her smile faded. She nodded toward a bar that had been set up near five round tables surrounded by chairs. “Let’s get a real drink, shall we?” she suggested.
FALL’S tyrant generalissimo cook, Marie, did a fantastic job of directing the campaign of their dinner. Alice relaxed a little as they ate a chilled cucumber soup followed by perfectly cooked salmon, potato croquettes, a frisée salad, and finally a delectable chocolate cheesecake, all served in the midst of the idyllic garden setting. Thankfully, she sat at the table farthest away from the head one, where Fall sat with Kehoe and many of the Durand executives. Thad, Dave, and Kuvi were good company, even with Brooke there. Brooke went everywhere Thad did, and Tory trailed Brooke in turn. In all fairness, Brooke was okay during dinner, occasionally including everyone at the table in her conversation. And whenever Brooke’s attention was focused exclusively on Thad or Dave, Tory was actually pretty nice.