“I wondered about that myself,” he said, and smiled. “Come on, this is almost over.”
Almost, but not quite. Lenny explained the scene to him. It was late, the end of a perfect day of sun and fun. And the evening was going to be even better, because they’d been doused in sunblock all day. No painful burns. No skin that couldn’t bear to be touched.
“You’re carrying her off for a night of ecstasy now. That’s all you have to remember. Got it?”
“Oh, yeah, I’ve got it,” Brendan said dryly.
Kaitlin was standing there. He took a step forward and lifted her off her feet. She gasped when he held her like a sack of potatoes. “Okay, Lenny, where am I supposed to be when I start looking forward to all this ecstasy?”
“Right there. Just stare into her eyes and come toward me.”
Brendan walked to the end of the hall with Kaitlin in his arms. “Ecstasy, Kaitlin,” he said sarcastically. “Remember, we’re anticipating ecstasy.”
“Yes, because the night really is almost over,” she said.
“No talking, you two,” Lenny called. “Just eyes, nothing but eyes. Okay, action. Roll ’em!”
Brendan started down the hallway. Eyes. Oh, yeah. Hers were the most delicate blue he had ever seen in his life. Eyes…but he could feel her fingertips at his nape. The beautiful sweeping skirt left her knees bare, and her elegant stockings were rubbing against his hip. He could feel the soaring heat of her body and the beating of his heart.
“Cut! Gosh, guys, I’m sorry, but we’ll have to do it one more time. I just realized that there’s a cord in the shot. Hey, get that out of there, huh?” he shouted to the nearest technician.
Kaitlin closed her eyes. “Damn! I thought we were done!”
“Hey, I’m the one doing all the work,” Brendan reminded her curtly. “And you’re not exactly a featherweight.”
She kicked him, but he only held her closer. “Watch it, Ms. O’Herlihy. I’ll drop you flat next time.”
She narrowed her eyes. “You wouldn’t dare.”
“I dare anything, and you know it,” he reminded her. She must have believed him, because her arms tightened around his neck. He smiled.
“Ready?” Lenny asked.
Brendan looked into her eyes again. “Yes.”
Action…and the cameras rolled. Brendan walked with her to the door, then thrust it open with his foot before walking inside with her and closing the door behind him.
“Perfect!” Lenny called. “Perfect!”
They were alone in the room. She was still in his arms. And her eyes were still on his.
Slowly, very, very slowly, he eased her to her feet. Her body rubbed along the length of his, and it was torture.
Then she was standing on her own, and he knew he had to go.
“Dinner next Wednesday. I’ll pick you up at eight. Be ready.”
She nodded.
“I’ll send the tux to your office,” he said harshly.
She nodded again.
Almost blindly, he swung around. Then he felt her hand on his shoulder, and he turned back. “What?”
“If I’m so good at getting what I want,” she said softly, wistfully, “why is it that nothing ever went right for us?”
He had no answer for her. He wasn’t even sure she had really voiced the soft, painful question.
“You’re not going to stand me up?”
“No.”
He turned and opened the door, then hurried down the hall, heedless of Lenny calling to him. Heedless of everything.
The day was over. And he needed to get away.
On Friday morning Kaitlin came into the office and found Danny, Sam and Janis watching a preliminary version of the commercial in the conference room.
She stood in the back, watching the day unfold before her eyes, and wanted to scream. It was too painful to watch.
She wanted Brendan to be real so she could run to the screen and smack him right in the face. Ever since he had walked—no, swaggered, or at the very least sauntered—back into her life, thoughts of him had been plaguing her.
She had spent a night with Gram, looking for dresses, and Gram had found a beautiful creation in dove-gray silk and lace. But Kaitlin hadn’t quite managed to be as enthusiastic as she felt she should have been.
Her mind had wandered.
And wandered.
And then there had been her dreams. Decadent dreams. Dreams so real she had woken up in a cold sweat.
She had always done things wholeheartedly. When she had been with Brendan, life had been a feast. And since they had parted…
She hadn’t had a single real involvement, throwing herself into her work instead. She had dated, but she had never let anyone come close. Now she wished she had. She wished she’d had all kinds of experiences. Then she could have dealt much better with her feelings for Brendan.
Instead, all she did was dream of him.
Sometimes the dreams were wonderful. She could almost hear the laughter, the sighs.
Other times the dreams were painful. She would be walking in a mist, and then she’d find herself in the cemetery. Brendan would be standing there, and she’d call to him, but he wouldn’t look up. And then, when he did look up, he’d look right through her, and no matter how loudly she called, he didn’t seem to hear.
And sometimes she would relive the agony when she had lost the baby. Once again she was there all alone, hearing the doctor tell her there was no heartbeat. She wondered again how anything could hurt so much, and she called to him again. Again and again.
But he didn’t come….
The lights went on, calling her back to reality. The sixty seconds were over. The voice-over had faded away. And everyone in the room was staring at her.
Danny was grinning from ear to ear. “Wow, boss! I have never seen anything so hot in all my born days!”
“My fingers are still sizzling!” Sam laughed.
“All right, all right!” Kaitlin groaned. “No more.”
“I have sweat breaking out all over my body!” Danny said.
“Good! Because you’re about to sweat your way to the unemployment office,” she assured him.
She turned and left the room quickly, hurrying to her office and slamming the door. It was a great commercial. So why wasn’t she in seventh heaven?
“Damn you, Brendan O’Herlihy!” she swore. Then she noticed that her private line was buzzing. She picked it up. “Yes, Sam?”
“Private call,” Sam said quickly and hung up.
“Hello?” Kaitlin said. It was probably Gram or Barbara.
“Hello. Just checking on Wednesday.”
It was Brendan. She held her breath, counted slowly, then spoke. “I never welsh on a payment.”
“I’ll remember that. See you then.”
And he was gone.
It was the name O’Herlihy. Why had she kept it?
Brendan had been gone so long. They’d sent him to the Middle East. Even when she had realized that he wasn’t coming back to be with her, she hadn’t been able to file the divorce papers at first. She had spent long nights awake and miserable, realizing slowly that no matter how tender he had once been, he hadn’t really wanted the cold, quick ceremony that had made them man and wife. It had just been for the baby. And now the baby was gone.
When he’d finally come home, he had been both distant and hungry, hungry as she’d never known him. The service had changed him; the things that he had seen had changed him. He had seemed to need her, but he hadn’t talked, and he hadn’t been able to listen, either. And then he’d gone again.
All she’d had left were school and her part-time job with an ad agency. And by the time she was twenty-one, she’d already acquired a very nice professional reputation as Kaitlin O’Herlihy.
She had kept the name for business purposes.
Or had she kept the name because she had really prayed all along that he wouldn’t allow her to give it up, to give him up?
Kaitlin si
ghed, hesitated a moment, then sprang to her feet. She’d created a great ad, and she’d endured hell to do it. She deserved a break.
She left the office, stopping just long enough to tell Janis that she was in charge.
She spent the afternoon in a desperate flurry of shopping, then remembered just in time that Gram was bringing Mr. Rosen to dinner, and Barbara and Joe would be joining them, too.
And she didn’t have a thing in the house for dinner, including the steaks she had told Gram she would make.
She bought the steaks, Idaho potatoes and the ingredients for a Caesar salad, then hurried home. She straightened the house quickly, then started the salad and the potatoes, watching the clock all the while.
When the doorbell rang, she swallowed a mouthful of wine and hurried to answer it.
It was Barbara and Joe. Kaitlin stepped aside quickly, welcoming her cousin with a warm embrace and giving Joe a big hug, too. They both seemed to have a glow about them. Barbara was beautiful to begin with, with her coppery curls and green eyes. And Joe was tall and lean, sandy-haired and hazel-eyed and very handsome. But tonight they both looked dazzling.
“You guys look great,” she told them laughingly.
Barbara wiggled her hand beneath Kaitlin’s nose. “It isn’t us—it’s the diamond. Oh, Kaitlin, isn’t it beautiful?”
It was a beautiful diamond. Pear shaped, throwing off a million different colors in the light.
“Gorgeous,” she agreed. “But the glow is coming from the two of you. Joe, I bought some champagne, want to crack it open? Gram is never late, she should be along any second.”
“I’d love to crack open the champagne,” Joe assured her. He and Barbara followed Kaitlin into the kitchen. “Kaitlin,” he murmured, hesitating, then plunging in, “did Brendan come to see you?”
She managed to keep her smile. “Yes, he did.”
Joe exhaled with relief. “Then everything is all right with you?”
“Of course,” she said. “Here’s the champagne.” She heard the bell ring again. “And there’s Gram. I’ll bet she’s glowing, too. I’m going to feel like a fifth wheel tonight. I’ll be the only one not glowing.” She grinned and started for the door, then paused, realizing that Joe and Barbara were staring at one another with nervous expressions.
“What?” she demanded.
Barbara shook her head. The bell was ringing more insistently.
“Barbara…?”
“I’ll get the door,” Barbara said.
“No, it’s my house. I’ll go,” Kaitlin told her.
It was Gram. And she was with a tall, handsome older man with a full cap of white hair, dancing blue eyes to match Gram’s, and a delightful smile. Kaitlin welcomed him warmly and urged them both in.
“Kaitlin, this is Al Rosen. Al, me granddaughter, Kaitlin O’Herlihy.”
“Al!” Kaitlin took his hand, and she liked him immediately. He had a firm grip and that great smile. And he had given Gram a glow.
“Barbara and Joe are already here, in the kitchen. Joe is just opening the champagne.”
“Just Barbara and Joe?” Gram asked. They were already through the entryway, with its high ceiling, by the kitchen door. Kaitlin stopped and looked at Gram inquisitively.
“Who else is coming?”
Joe was behind her, clearing his throat. “I was trying to tell you, Kaitlin. Your grandmother ran into Brendan this afternoon at our house.”
She turned and stared at him. He grimaced and whispered, “Well, at least you’re not going to be a fifth wheel.” She didn’t smile. “Kaitlin, I didn’t invite him.”
The doorbell was ringing again, and Al Rosen was looking at her with a question in his eyes. Should he get the door for her?
No…Gram wouldn’t have done this to her!
Kaitlin hurried to the door and threw it open.
Gram had.
Brendan was standing there, wearing a red polo shirt and form-hugging jeans. And those glasses with the dark lenses that hid all his thoughts.
“No!” she whispered.
And then Barbara was beside her, laughing nervously. “Guess who’s coming to dinner? Brendan, hi, come on in.”
“Brendan!” It was Gram, coming forward. “Thank you for comin’. I’m so glad you made it.” She turned to Kaitlin. “He told me that he couldna come, and I twisted his arm, I did. I assured him that ye’d be pleased, Kaitlin.”
“Pleased as punch,” Kaitlin managed to say.
Gram smiled delightedly. “Come on, Al, let’s see to that champagne!”
She and Al Rosen disappeared through the swinging door to the kitchen, with Barbara nearly running at their heels.
And once again Kaitlin was alone with Brendan. “I thought I was supposed to see you on Wednesday!” she said.
He pulled off his glasses and leaned against the door frame. “You are. I just came tonight because I couldn’t seem to resist your grandmother.”
“The evening has just gone straight to hell!” Kaitlin groaned.
He grinned and sauntered past her. “Oh, I don’t think so. I never did have a problem with your cooking. Steak, Joe tells me. Sounds like a good meal.”
He started for the kitchen. At the swinging door he paused. “Coming, Ms. O’Herlihy?”
She closed the front door and leaned against it. He waited, and she groaned aloud. “Yes, I’m coming.”
“I knew you’d see it my way.”
She swept by him as regally as she could, pausing just before entering the kitchen. “Your way, Mr. O’Herlihy? This is my house and it’s my party!” she informed him heatedly, then pushed through the door.
She managed to look at Joe casually and ask, “Is the champagne open?”
“It is. Ready for a glass?”
She glanced at Brendan. “I’m ready for a bottle,” she said pleasantly, then accepted the glass that Joe had poured for her, draining it quickly.
She was in for another long night.
Chapter 4
There was a certain amount of chaos in the kitchen as the champagne was passed around, and Brendan met Al, and Joe greeted Brendan, and Barbara kissed Brendan like a long-lost relative. Then the noise level began to die down, and Barbara told Kaitlin that the table looked beautiful and that she would set another place for Brendan. Kaitlin drank her second glass of champagne, then a third, then she managed to shoo her grandmother and Al Rosen out of the kitchen so she could check on the meal. Joe, nearly as comfortable in her house as he was in his own, offered to show everyone the living room.
Kaitlin turned, only to find that she was rid of everyone except for her unexpected guest. He was standing at the refrigerator, pulling out the salad. She wanted to tell him to get out, but she poured herself another glass of champagne instead, watching him.
“Isn’t that stuff still deadly for you?” he asked politely.
“I’m older,” she said with a shrug. He let it go at that. He set the salad on the counter, along with the fixings for the dressing and the anchovies to be added at the last minute.
She brushed past him, wishing there was a little more room in her kitchen. “Wouldn’t you like to go out and sit with the other guests? The invited ones?”
He leaned against the counter, grinning. “I thought I’d try to be helpful.”
“If you’d really wanted to be helpful,” she reminded him heatedly, “you would have turned down the invitation.”
“How could I turn down your grandmother?”
“Oh, it might have taken some strength, but I’m sure you could have managed it.”
He stepped past her, making himself at home and reaching into the refrigerator again. He rummaged around for a beer, popping it open as she stared at him. “I can only take so much champagne, no matter how great the celebration.” He smiled.
She turned to her steaks, which were still marinating. She took them out of the mixture, set them on the broiler pan and put them into the oven. When she turned again, Brendan was finishing the salad. S
he let him, sweeping out of the room with the rolls and butter. Brendan followed her with the salad, and she went to turn the steaks. By the time she had pulled them out, everything else was already on the table. He took the platter from her to carry it out.
“You wanted me to turn down steaks?” he asked softly. “I’ll give you this—you always did broil a great steak.”
“And I’ll give you this,” she replied sweetly. “You…” She hesitated, knowing that what she was about to say was true. “You were always good at helping out in the kitchen.”
“Was that a compliment?’ he asked her.
She shrugged, then smiled. “No, that was probably four glasses of champagne.” She walked out, and he followed with the platter. She called to everyone else, and they came to the table.
Ten minutes later, Kaitlin was glad of the champagne. She was feeling mellow, something she hadn’t thought possible. Not with Brendan at her table.
But she realized that he and Joe and Barbara were very comfortable together. As comfortable as she was with them herself. And she knew then that they had seen a lot of Brendan—and that they had just been careful not to mention it to her.
As for Gram, she had always doted on Brendan. And Al Rosen had seemed to like him right away, too. Brendan had a way with people. Gaelic charm with a soft New England accent, she decided. Al Rosen, it seemed, was a passionate boat enthusiast. And few people knew the Eastern seaboard better than Brendan.
Brendan told Al about his latest project, searching for a small Spanish man-of-war that had been blown off course and probably sunk near the Upper Keys in the late fifteen hundreds. When Al told him wistfully that it sounded like the dream of a lifetime and a great way to make a living, Brendan cast Kaitlin a quick glance.
“Some might see it as modern-day piracy,” he murmured politely.
She smiled back. “Some might.”
She really had bought good champagne. And the ice bucket was right next to her. It was easy to reach for more. And it was nice. She didn’t feel in the least as if she had over imbibed. She felt comfortably drowsy. Content. Able to weather any storm.
Including her ex-husband.
“So tell us more about the wedding,” Brendan said to Gram, deftly drawing the others into the conversation.
Wedding Bell Blues Page 7