Reckless With Their Hearts

by Terri Anne Browning

  Eve positioned a present front Cameron to Garth, trying to find a way to ask what needed asking. Finally she just went for broke. “So are you in love or what?”

  He didn’t laugh at her like she had imagined he might. Instead he frowned at the Christmas tree for a while before shrugging. “Yeah, I guess I am.”

  Eve blinked. “Wow! I wasn’t expecting you to actually admit to it, but hey, that’s wonderful. It’s that French chic right? I have actually met her before. She seemed nice.”

  Cameron grunted. “Ami is a stubborn pain in the ass.”

  “O-Kay.” She set there, expecting him to go on if she was just tenacious enough. She wasn’t wrong.

  “She got it into her pretty head that I love my job more than her. She said that she wanted to come first with me…just once.” He glared at the tree, like he couldn’t understand anything about what he had just said.

  Eve raised a brow at him. He sounded as if he really could not figure out what Ami’s problem was. “Well, you are a slave to your camera, Cameron. And before you bite my head off just let me tell you something.” She said quickly when he started to protest. “Yes, I know you are an artist. You like to work when you see something that inspires you. I even know that your camera is like another appendage to you, just as if it were another arm or leg. But I also know that you, who would cause world hunger all on your own by eating anything in sight, would give up a meal to take ‘the picture’.”

  He had been glaring at her while she spoke, but slowly the glare turned into a frown and he groaned. “Am I really that bad?”

  “To me you are perfect, Cameron Savage. But to someone like Ami, who would expect you to love her first, I can see you coming off as a bit of a jerk.” She finished arranging the last of the Christmas presents under the tree. “You could always call her. Say how sorry you are and ask her to pretty please join us for Christmas.”

  “Do you think she will forgive me?”

  Eve laughed. “As cute as you are? She would have to be crazy not to.”

  Cameron jumped to his feet, bent to give her a quick kiss on the lips and with a whoop practically ran from the room.

  As he was leaving the family room Garth was entering it. His blue eyes were surprised as he watched his son. “What’s with you?” He called after him.

  “Love.” Cameron called back, laughing.

  The older man sat down in the chair closest to where Eve was still seated by the tree, shaking his graying head. “Who is the boy supposed to be in loved with?”

  She shrugged. “I’m sure you will find out soon enough.” She scooted over and pressed her back against his legs. “Rub my head?” She gave him a little pout. “Please?”

  “Spoiled.” He muttered but there was a smile in his voice. He started running his fingers through her hair, massaging her scalp and her eyes drifted shut.

  She felt exhausted. The last few nights she had been finding it hard to sleep. Nightmares from the robbery continued to haunt her dream. That was when she could actually fall asleep. Last night she had tossed and turned for hours, her body aching for Sebastian. When she had finally drifted off to sleep she hadn’t gotten more than an hour or so before she awoke in a pool of sweat with the room smelling distinctly of fear. Her fear.

  “So what did you get me for Christmas, angel?” Garth asked, continuing to stroke his long fingers through her hair just the way she loved.

  “Not telling.” She informed him, her eyes still closed.

  “Did I say spoiled?” He playfully tugged on a lock of her hair. “More like a brat.”

  She smiled. “All true. But you love me anyway.” She rested her head back on one of his knees and sighed. There was something that she had been meaning to talk to him about all morning. “I received a Christmas card this morning.” She confided.

  “Oh? Was it a nice one?”

  She bit her bottom lip, torturing the delicate tissue. “I don’t know. I haven’t opened it yet…It had a post mark from another country.” She felt him stiffen and finally opened her eyes and turned to face him. “It was from my grandfather.”

  Her mother’s father was a very well-known French Ambassador to some foreign country in which she knew nothing about. She had never met the man that had helped give her mother life. As Giselle’s mother had been his second wife, and an arranged marriage in which to get him into a certain dignitaries good graces, Giselle had been over looked in favor of wife number three and subsequent children born thereafter. As far as Eve knew her mother had only ever met her father—Eve’s grandfather—a few times in her entire life.

  Therefore Eve had never met the man personally, nor ever had the desire to look him up. Not even after the death of her mother. She supposed that with her grandmother no longer living that her grandfather and what children and grandchildren he had with his current wife were all the family that she now had. But to her they didn’t really matter.

  She did, however, know that her grandfather was considered a powerful man on the little island in which he was a French Ambassador. The island, which was under the rule of a king that had recently been in several English newspapers, was one of the richer kingdoms. Her grandfather was in tight with the old king who had recently stepped down in favor of his sons rule, or so the papers said.

  The Christmas card had been bothering her all morning. Ever since the housekeeper had handed it to her she had this horrible feeling of dread. Eve wanted nothing more than to tear it up and burn each tiny piece without even looking inside. But another part wanted to know what the old man wanted. Because that could be the only reason he would dare contact her now.

  “Okay.” Garth gave her a small, but encouraging smile. “Maybe you should open it.”

  Grimacing she pulled the envelope from her back jeans pocket. After only a small hesitation in which Garth nudged her with his foot she tore it open. There was a nice picture on the front of the card that she recognized as the island country in which he now lived. The island was inside a snow globe with glittery snow falling.

  Flipping the card open she began to read aloud:

  “Dearest Granddaughter:

  It is with great hope that this card finds you in good health this so celebrated holiday. I was hurt to find that your darling mother had passed from this world. I trust that her husband has treated you kindly. However I see fit to inform you…”

  She trailed off as she silent read the rest of the letter. Then with an outraged cry she jumped to her feet, dropping the offending card as she began to angrily pace. How dare he?!?

  Garth sat forward. “What?” He demanded, sounding worried. “What is it? What does he want?” He reached for the card that had landed at his feet. “Eve, you are really starting to scare me…”

  Fury, pure and uncontrollable fury was rushing through her veins. “He…” Words failed her and she turned away, ready to scream her rage at a man that wasn’t there. A man that she so desperately wanted to slap in the face right then!

  But Garth was already reading the card and she could see the tension gathering in his shoulders with each sentence that he read. Eve took a calming breath. “He has arranged for me to marry the newly crowned king of his precious country. That man has practically sold me to some guy that I have never met. All he has is sons and grandsons. So now I have been bartered off.”

  --

  It took quite a while for her to calm down.

  First she tore the Christmas card with its beautiful picture and so hurtful words into a thousand pieces before tossing them into the fire. Then she went into Garth’s office to find some stationary and a pen.

  After taking a few minutes for meditation she was no longer shaking with rage. She sat behind her stepfather’s desk and put pen to paper. She put all of her fury—and yes hurt—into each sentence she wrote. Instead of English, which was not her grandfather’s first language, she wrote it all in French so that there would be no doubt exactly what she was saying to him.

  She told him exactly what she
thought of him. His treatment of her mother, his acknowledgement of Eve as his granddaughter only when he needed her for his precious king, were all spelled out in perfect French. She informed the bastard that she wanted nothing to do with neither him nor the man ruling the country in which her grandfather was now a powerful dignitary.

  Eve refrained from curse words, which were actually burning in her throat from wanting to spit them out at the old man’s feet. But she was better than that. Garth would have been very disappointed in her if she were to act in such a childish manner, even if she was sure that he was feeling the same urge to do so as well.

  It took nearly three pages for her to express her disgust with the man before she felt she should end the letter. She ended the letter by telling him she wanted nothing to do with him and for him to leave her alone. At the bottom she put a Merry Christmas! and then scrawled her signature before folding the thick letter and sealing it in an envelope. After addressing the letter she gave it over to the housekeeper and asked her to take it to be mailed right away.

  Two hours had passed since she had a complete melt down over the letter and the horrible man that she unfortunately shared genes with. Now she was much calmer and felt better for having addressed the situation in a letter where she could come across as cool and collected, instead of a phone conversation in which she was sure she would have ended up saying things that would have her poor mother turning in her grave.

  She returned to the family room to find Garth picking up a gift and shaking it carefully. “Hey!” She laughed, taking the gift from him and replacing it under the tree. It was marked to him from Quinn and was in a medium sized box wrapped in beautiful silver paper. “Stop that.”

  He swatted at her but returned to his favorite chair. “Feeling better?”

  Eve shrugged as she sat on the sofa and tucked her feet under her. “A little, I guess. Although he should thank his lucky stars I am not in front of him right now. His king would have to find another ambassador.”

  “Just don’t fret over it right now, angel. I will take care of it.” He gave her a smile that told her she could trust him, which she did wholeheartedly. But there was something about the glint in his blue eyes that told her he was in a dangerous kind of mood.

  Poor old man, she thought with a malicious smile. Her grandfather wouldn’t even see the danger of this Savage man until it was too late.

  Eve’s love for Garth swelled in her chest. “I love you.”

  “Back at you, sweetheart.”

  Chapter 7

  Christmas Eve night found everyone gathered in the family room. The lights were all off except for those that glowed on the beautiful Christmas tree. The soft light along with that of the fireplace was comforting. Garth was relaxing in his favorite chair while Eve and Quinn, both in their pajamas cuddled under a large throw on the sofa. With Cameron in the only other chair and Sebastian leaning back against the sofa as he set in the floor closer to the fire, it felt complete to Eve.

  Everyone was enjoying big mugs of homemade hot chocolate that Eve had made for them. She hid a smile behind her own warm mug as Garth continued to attempt to bribe anyone who would listen to let him open a present. He was worse than any child when it came to Christmas and presents and kept glancing at the tree with glittering eyes in anticipation.

  Finally she decided to put him out of his misery and went to the tree. No one could stop at getting each other just one gift, so she had several in which to choose from. She found the ones that she was looking for and gathered them into her arms.

  She passed out one to each of her beloved family members, saving Garth’s for last. She placed it in his hands and perched on the arm of his chair while everyone else tore at the pretty, shiny red wrapping. But even though he was last to receive a present he was the first to get his opened.

  “Eve!” He exclaimed, pulling her down onto his lap for a tight hug. “Thank you, angel.”

  She had taken a picture of her mother and Garth—one of the last ones before her death—and had it cropped and enhanced in black and white. She had put it in a beautiful crystal and platinum frame which had cost a small fortune. But the love on the couple’s faces in the picture was priceless. Eve could see how happy her mother was in that picture and just how much Garth Savage loved Giselle as they stared adoringly into each other’s eyes, secret smiles on their lips.

  “Hey.” Quinn was running her new silk scarf through her fingers. “This is wonderful, hon. I love it. Thank you.” Eve blew her a kiss, knowing that her stepsister loved scarfs. Add in silk and you had a happy Quinn. This one was multi-pastel colored which Quinn was even now wrapping around her slender throat.

  “This is perfect, kiddo.” Cameron was busy going through the camera satchel that she had given him. It was leather and big enough for all of his gear. She had had it personalized with his name on the shoulder strap. When she had first seen it in the shop a few weeks ago she had known that he would love it. “My old one needed to be tossed anyway, but I couldn’t bring myself to buy a new one. Thanks.”

  “It has your name on the shoulder strap.” She pointed out and watched him drool in pleasure.

  She would have been ecstatic that they loved their gifts if Sebastian wasn’t still quietly sitting by the fire. She bit her lip, wondering if he liked what she had given him or not. She had spent weeks tracking it down. It had been the main reason that she had even left the house on Friday…Don’t think about the robbery!

  He had a collection of first editions. For all his muscle and brawn, he could be a little bit of a nerd when it came to books. Something that she found so incredibly sexy! Eve knew he had had a favorite as a child, but for some reason had lost it. She also knew that he had been looking for a copy of it for years. It had been pure luck that she had found a first edition copy and even though she had had to pay much more than she normally would have it was worth every penny to give him something so special.

  On the front inside cover she had written a little note: Something special for my someone special~

  Love E.

  And now he just sat there staring down at the book without a word. She didn’t get a thank you, or even so much as a smile in acknowledgement. Tears burnt the backs of her eyes.

  Garth yawned long and loud. Now that he had gotten his way he was ready for bed. Eve blinked back her tears and gave him a big, if forced, smile. “Time for bed, I think.” She stood when he did and he dropped a kiss on top of her head. “Thanks again, angel. I’ll put it right beside of my bed.”

  “I’m glad.” She murmured, her smile less forced this time but filled with a sadness that she shared with him. “Goodnight.”

  After he was gone she returned to sitting beside of Quinn. She pulled the soft throw over her bare legs and reached for her half empty, no longer cup of hot chocolate.

  “What about you?” Quinn asked. “Want to open something from me? I promise you will like it.” She wiggled her eyebrows in encouragement.

  Eve laughed. “No thanks. I can wait.” She gave her another one of her forced smiles. “Knowing you guys liked your gifts so much is enough for me.”

  “Well, Dad really loved his.” She assured her. “And I have a dress that will look wonderful with this.” She ran the scarf through her fingers once more. “Thanks, hon.”

  “Welcome.”

  “Ami’s plane gets in early.” Cameron said after a few more minutes of comfortable silence. “I promised to meet her, so I am going to turn in.” He gave each of his sisters a kiss, said goodnight to his brother—who didn’t seem to hear him—and went upstairs.

  Feeling let down by Sebastian’s reaction to her gift Eve finished off her now cold chocolate and hugged Quinn goodnight. Without a look in Sebastian’s direction she left the room, fighting tears. It was senseless to feel this way. So what if she had put so much time and thought into finding it for him when she knew how much it would mean to him? It was just a stupid gift anyway.

  Upstairs she washed the tears from her
face and brushed her teeth, then tossing her pajama bottoms on the foot of the bed she crawled under her covers in only her tank top and panties. She punched her pillow a few times, more in frustration than any need to fluff them. Her day had royally sucked all around.

  With a frustrated sigh she turned on her side to face away from her door and closed her eyes…

  She dreamed that he came to her.

  Sebastian sat on the side of her bed and grazed his fingertips down her bare arm. She shivered deliciously and turned to face him. “Bastian..?” She murmured.

  “Sh.” He whispered and bent to brush a kiss against the top of her head. “I just wanted to say thank you.”

  Eve blinked. “I couldn’t tell if you liked it or not.” She couldn’t keep the hurt from her voice and he smiled.

  “I was in awe, babe. That book means so much to me. And that you gave it to me…I love it, Eve. Thank you.” His eyes, what she could see of them with the moon as the only light, were glazed with passion. “Sleep now, babe. Tomorrow I want to talk.”

  She sighed happily. “Okay.”

  Another kiss caressed her cheek. “Goodnight, sweet Eve.”

  --

  When Eve woke the next morning she was more than a little hurt and more than just a little angry. Her dream last night had shown her exactly what reaction she had been wanting from Sebastian. She jerked on her pajama bottoms, pulled a sweatshirt over her head and brushed her teeth. Not even bothering to brush the tangles from her long hair she pulled the heavy tresses back into a messy ponytail that hung half way down her back.

  Tomorrow, she swore to herself. Tomorrow she was getting it chopped off to her ears!

  Down stairs in the dining room she found the table loaded with platters of breakfast foods. Garth was already half way through his plate of bacon, eggs and toast and other delicious smelling food. Cameron was seated across from his father with a beautiful woman beside of him. Her warm brown eyes and short dark hair were gorgeous. Her kind smile was breathtaking even to Eve.