Into the Woods
Page 7
She grabbed the crown-shaped pillow Jack had given her last Christmas and hugged it to her chest. She hated sounding like such a child, but she was completely pissed off. The woman had been in her house for an entire two weeks and she hadn’t yet convinced her brother to let her go to New York to audition. In fact, she was pretty certain Tatiana hadn’t even brought up the subject yet, much less persuaded him to change his mind.
“I understand,” Tatiana said.
“No, you don’t,” she countered. “You have everything you want! You’re living in this great house with this ready-made family. Only we’re not your family. I’m just some girl who found you in the woods and who somehow believed your whacked-out story about being lost and wanting to help me and my brother is just a guy who can’t take his eyes off your rack.”
The words were supposed to hurt and yet, Tatiana gave the tank top she’d purchased during a shopping trip with Mrs. Bradley a defiant tug.
“I am trying to help you,” she insisted. “Apparently you haven’t noticed, but your brother has been awfully nice to be around lately, hasn’t he? Easy to laugh. Relaxed. Not trying to schedule every minute of your day. If you hadn’t pulled that stupid trick in your math class, I might have been able to talk to him about your audition tonight.”
Harper opened her mouth to argue, but no matter how furious she was, she couldn’t deny the truth. Jack had been laughing a lot lately. He’d even come up to her room a few nights ago and watched TV with her. He’d loosened the reins on her study schedule since Tatiana had taken over supervising her schoolwork, trusting when Tatiana decided that Harper had done enough. She’d actually had time to go into her studio to rehearse without feeling as though Jack was going to bust in any minute and yell at her to forget about music and study, study, study!
Of course, it was because she’d been working on a new song that she’d ignored her upcoming algebra test, which had resulted in her spontaneous decision to scribble the formulas on the bottom of her shoe. She’d convinced herself that she’d get away with the old-school trick since teachers nowadays only confiscated cell phones and backpacks to keep kids from cheating.
Unfortunately, her math teacher was old-school enough to catch her glancing at her sole one time too many.
“Well, I did my detention and I took the zero on the test. So now when are you going to talk to Jack about the audition?” Harper asked, pushing aside the sinking suspicion that yet again, she’d been her own worst enemy.
Tatiana scooted closer and plucked at the silver sequins that spelled out the word, Princess on her pillow. “I was going to ask him tonight.”
“So do it,” Harper encouraged.
“After you just proved yourself wholly incapable of making the right moral choice? Harper, honey, I’ve been using your computer during the day to research this Broadway. It’s in New York City. I’ve heard about that place. I once knew this prin—um, girl,” she said, stumbling over a word, “whose stepmother arranged for her to go there. She had no idea what she was doing and could have gotten into a whole lot of trouble except she was lucky enough to find this guy who—”
Harper rolled her eyes. “If you’re trying to scare me with some story of a friend’s self-destruction in the big, bad city, you’re preaching to the choir. I know what happened to my mom there. She got mixed up with the wrong crowd and drank a lot and ignored her responsibilities and contracts. I’m not going to do any of that. I just want to sing!”
Tatiana frowned. “How is Jack supposed to believe you when you can’t make the right choice about an algebra test?”
Harper cursed and threw the pillow across the room, knocking over a collection of perfume bottles she’d inherited from her mother—the kind with the little squeeze balls at the end of tubes, that singers used to fill with special tonics to soothe their throats.
“He can hire anyone he wants to look after me! You can do it,” she offered. “It would be great. You could come with me and tutor me in all my classes. If I nail this audition, I’m sure the producers would pay for you to teach me. Jack knows you and likes you. It’s perfect!”
Tatiana shifted backward, her teeth tugging on her bottom lip.
Her sudden reluctance hit Harper hard.
“You don’t want me to go, either.”
“I didn’t say that,” Tatiana shot back, though it wasn’t quite the denial Harper wanted to hear. “But if you want me to fulfill your wish to go to New York City with Jack’s approval, then you’re going to have to prove to him that you’re a responsible young woman who won’t be tempted to do the wrong thing just because it’s easier.”
“He would have freaked out if I’d failed that math test,” she argued.
“And he’s not freaking out now that you cheated?” Tatiana countered.
Harper huffed and tried to keep her tears at bay, but one stupid drop escaped from each of her eyes and trickled down her cheeks. “Okay, okay! I screwed up. I made a stupid choice and I got caught. What do I do now?”
Finally, Tatiana’s familiar and pretty smile returned. Harper really could see why Jack seemed so happy lately. He was, after all, a man—even if the idea of her brother being romantically involved with anyone made her stomach hurt. She supposed he had to be lonely living out in the bayou without anyone around except for Mrs. Bradley and her.
Tatiana patted Harper’s thigh, then rose to her feet.
“If you’re old enough to live in New York City and perform on a stage that is usually reserved for adults, then you need to be old enough to figure out how to show your brother that you can handle the grown-up pressures of living on your own. Even if you have a chaperone, me or anyone else, he has to be able to trust you. But I don’t need to remind you that you don’t have a lot of time. I’m going to go talk to Jack. Why don’t you join us when you’ve made a decision about what to do next?”
12
YOU’RE GOING to have to prove to him that you’re a responsible young woman who won’t be tempted to do the wrong thing just because it’s easier.
Tatiana wandered into the garden, her shoulders drooping from the weight of her own advice. In her entire four centuries of existence, Tatiana had never once felt like such a hypocrite. How could she counsel Harper about not being tempted to do the wrong thing for the sake of ease when she was doing precisely the same?
She was supposed to be granting Harper’s wishes, doing everything in her human power to ensure that Jack gave his blessing to his sister’s audition with the Broadway producers. She’d deluded herself in thinking that enjoying a sexual relationship with the man to soften him into changing his mind was acceptable. Because it hadn’t been merely acceptable—it had been fabulous. And now, the affair was clouding her judgment. Broaching the topic of the audition with Jack was going to cause trouble, and she had been avoiding the inevitable argument the way Sleeping Beauty should have avoided that stupid spinning wheel.
Now, however, Tatiana had to make things right. She’d pulled off her conversation with Harper. Centuries as a fairy godmother had prepared her for communicating effectively with a headstrong teenager. But trying to convince a man to do something he did not want to do without a wand up her sleeve was new. And frightening.
Once upon a time, she’d pinned all her hopes and dreams on attaining a crown by marrying a handsome, powerful prince and then serving as his queen. Yet no matter how much she’d dreamed of that outcome—no matter how she’d flirted, schemed and manipulated—she’d been denied.
She supposed this was why she understood how Harper felt about her Broadway ambitions—and why she was deathly afraid to entertain any hopes for herself beyond breaking the spell that bound her to the fairies. If she truly considered the possibility of loving Jack, marrying him, starting a family with him, would she survive if, as before, her aspirations were ripped away?
“So,” Jack’s voice intoned from somewhere around a blooming bush of fragrant, pink azaleas. “You’ve emerged from the lion’s den alive.”
“She’s really a bright girl, Jack. She’s fourteen going on twenty-four.”
He reached around and loosened the tie she’d used to hold her hair away from her face, then slipped his hand through the strands. “She can be twenty-four when she’s twenty-four. She needs to enjoy being fourteen.”
“But she’s not enjoying it,” she whispered.
Since she’d made her vow to Harper, Tatiana had concentrated on building Jack’s trust in her at the same time as she enjoyed the perks of being his secret lover. But she had only two weeks left to change his mind about Harper’s audition. She wasn’t entirely certain his position was wrong, but a promise was a promise. She’d never have any future with Jack if she couldn’t free herself from her fairy contract.
“She will appreciate her childhood when it’s over,” Jack said. “All adults do.”
“Are you sure? Some kids really are destined to do more than just be kids. Some handle grown-up jobs well, with help from adults who guide them, but don’t necessarily guard them.”
In the light from the half moon and stars, Jack pulled back.
“Is there something you want to talk to me about?” he asked.
“I’m already talking to you about it,” she replied.
He shook his head. “No, you’re dancing around something. Is it the audition? Has Harper gotten to you, too?”
“Jack, I—”
But her stuttering was further interrupted by the sound of Harper calling his name.
He stood, nearly forgetting to set Tatiana on her feet before he disappeared into the garden.
“I’m here,” she heard him reply.
Tatiana remained still for a minute, stunned by his abrupt departure, but not surprised. Harper was his sister. She called and he came running. Tatiana was simply a stranger he’d been sleeping with for a few weeks. A stranger whom he’d invited into his bed and into his home, but whom he hadn’t made part of his decision-making process where his sister was concerned.
Jack and Harper might have gone out of their way to make her feel like family since her arrival, but boundaries still existed. Jack guarded Harper the same way another famous giant protected his treasure. And since Tatiana’s relationship with Jack was based almost entirely on something as fleeting as sex, she had to tread carefully or find herself booted out the door.
Needing time to think, she put her shoes back on, pushed her way through the foliage and headed toward the dock.
A golden light shone at the point where the long, wooden structure met the land. The lamp, Jack had explained, made it easier to see the ’gators. None seemed to be hanging around the way they often did during the day, sunning themselves on the banks, so she stepped quickly onto the deck and wandered to the end. He’d warned her about not dangling her feet over the edge, so she sat on the bench instead.
Fireflies skittered over the still, dark water. Bullfrogs squawked in the distance, the guttural sounds echoing through the mossy cypress trees and giving Tatiana a shiver. She’d run into more than a few frog princes in her life, though only one who literally fit that description. Witches changing princes into amphibians had gone out of style years ago. Frog princes nowadays were usually less-than-handsome boys who, on the outside, didn’t quite measure up to some bubbleheaded princess’s idea of the perfect man. But then, with a little prodding from Tatiana, the chits discovered a truly remarkable man underneath.
How lucky was she that Jack was beautiful both on the outside and the inside? And yet, she could see little hope that she’d remain in his life once she’d fulfilled Harper’s wish. Unless she could somehow change his mind—and soon—making the girl’s wish come true was going to mean defying him. And she was pretty certain he wasn’t the forgiving type.
Not when it came to his sister.
“There you are,” he said, his voice booming over the buzzing noise of the bayou.
She waved and he hopped onto the dock. His footsteps reverberated over the crackling planks, increasing the tension as he neared. She couldn’t run away from this—confronting Jack about Harper’s wish to sing was her only way out of her servitude. Her only way of having the future she wanted, in his world or hers.
“Why’d you disappear?” he asked.
“Harper wanted to talk to you, not to me,” she replied.
He slung his hands into his pockets, a reluctantly proud grin on his face. “She apologized for the way she treated you at dinner. And for cheating on the test.” He shook his head, but with a chuckle. “She said you told her she had to start acting like an adult before I could start treating her like one.”
“That’s not exactly what I said,” Tatiana explained, though she was impressed that Harper had made the connection. “I know she’s not an adult yet. But she’s going to be one sooner than you think.”
“I suppose my protecting her all time won’t make her growing up any easier. Until now, I’ve never seen that as bad.”
“It’s not bad.” Tatiana crossed her arms. The instinct to reach out and touch him was overwhelming, but she had to keep this conversation focused. “Look, I’ve never been a parent, but I’ve worked with a lot of young people and sometimes, you have to give them a chance to fail before they learn how to truly appreciate success.”
“Did you ever fail? At anything big?”
Like failing to marry a prince when she’d wanted nothing else her entire life? Did that count? It wasn’t as if she’d had a choice in the matter.
“I never really had much of a chance to fail.”
“Overprotective parents?”
She snorted, causing them both to laugh.
“Yeah, major understatement,” she explained. “But my parents weren’t in my life much once I turned seventeen. I went off to school and soon after, was on my own. But I’ve never seriously crashed and burned, no.” Not yet, anyway. “I guess I’ve been very fortunate.”
He nodded, but didn’t add to the conversation.
But she needed to know—wanted to know—more about what made Jack St. Cloud tick.
“What about you?” she asked.
“I crashed and burned lots of times,” he said. “Mostly with Harper—trying to raise her when I was just an overgrown kid myself. My dad died just after I’d been drafted into the pros. I was living on my own, enjoying celebrity and excess during the off season and then busting my ass during training and on the field. Then Mom died. I could have been great, I guess, if I’d had more time.”
“But you quit to take care of Harper,” she filled in.
The idea of a brother raising his sister was very unusual. In her world, affluent parents rarely had anything to do with their offspring until they reached young adulthood. Orphans would have been looked over by regents or older, even distant, relatives before they would have been put in the care of an unmarried sibling. Even she had spent the majority of her childhood with governesses and tutors, which perhaps explained why her parents had found it so easy to give her to the fairies when their debt to the magical creatures came due.
“You could have hired a nanny or arranged for Harper to live with relatives until you were done with your career, married or settled down.”
“I could have,” he agreed. “That’s what my agent wanted me to do. And my coaches. And my teammates. And my fiancée. But I knew it was wrong. She was only two years old and worth millions. How could I turn her over to strangers? I lived a privileged childhood. I knew what could happen to a kid who didn’t have a parent in her life 24/7. It might have happened to me if I hadn’t played ball. It’s hard to be a spoiled brat when you’re getting your brains kicked in five days a week
.”
A breeze stirred the air, sending her a subtle whiff of his spiced cologne. Unable to resist touching him any longer, she smoothed his dark hair away from his forehead. “I’m glad your brains survived.”
“Does that mean you think I’m right to keep Harper away from Broadway?”
She pressed her lips together tightly. It was now or never. If she kept running away from this conversation or losing herself in the sexual and emotional delight of being Jack’s lover, she’d never be free to take their relationship to the next level.
“I think Harper has a fabulous talent,” she admitted after a deep breath. “And I think she has an amazing desire to share that talent with the world. Her ambition is very real and very sincere. But mostly, I think she feels like she’s wasting away here. I also think that she loves you very deeply and she desperately wants your approval. Her singing voice connects her to her mother, but you connect her to her father. Keeping her away from that audition and withholding your approval, to her, is like erasing your mother and father from her memory.”
As she feared, with each word she spoke, Jack’s eyes grew darker and harder. His jaw set in such a way that she knew he was clenching his teeth. After a thick swallow, he stood.
“Wow,” he said.
“I know that’s a lot to take in—” she began, but he held up his hand to stop her.
“It is. You’ve clearly thought a lot about my sister. And I appreciate your opinion,” he said, but Tatiana could hear the distinct sound of forced politeness in his tone. “I’m glad you came here and that you’re helping Harper with school, but I can’t allow you to encourage false hopes. I watched that industry drain my father and kill my mother. I won’t allow the insanity and fickle nature of fame destroy my sister, too. If she’s as talented as you believe, she can wait until she’s mature enough to handle the pressure and the temptation.”
More than anything in the world, Tatiana wanted to take the word temptation and turn it into some kind of sexy innuendo that would spin the conversation away from Harper and repair what she suspected was a widening rift between her and Jack. But she couldn’t. The clock was ticking. Her time to be free, to spread her wings rather than wear them, was running out.