Tessa gasped. “Oh, my, God, you are so not buying me a Ferrari! Or any car. Or one more thing, Ian. I mean it. Not a blouse or a pair of earrings or even a bra. Nothing. Do you understand?”
Ian grinned. “Yes, my feisty little birthday girl. But there is still one more present left. Relax – this one didn’t cost very much at all. And I think you’ll like it a lot.”
Her curiosity was piqued as he led her back inside the house. They had breakfast first, a simple meal of granola, fruit and tea. Ian cleaned up the few dishes, still refusing to let her do any work this weekend, and then brought out a modestly sized box. This one was as beautifully wrapped as all the others had been and she eyed the box suspiciously.
“If it’s more clothes, I’ll tell you right now they’re going back.”
He smiled at her indulgently. “It’s not. And you won’t want to return this. Open it, darling.”
She unwrapped the box slowly, lifting the lid, and then stared down at the contents in stunned disbelief. She would never in a million years have ever thought she’d receive a gift quite like this one, and her hand was shaking as she slowly withdrew one of the three items.
“My mother’s books.” Her voice was unsteady as she held one of the volumes with reverence, as though she were afraid it would disappear. “My God, Ian, where in the world did you find these?”
“I know several rare book dealers, both here in the States and in other parts of the world,” he replied quietly. “I’ve had every one of them on the lookout for these for some time now. They were able to locate three of the four books your mother had published, and one of the dealers may have a lead on the fourth. Do you like them, Tessa?”
She hadn’t known she was crying until she raised her gaze to his and he wiped away a tear. “This – this is the most wonderful thing you’ve ever done for me,” she told him brokenly. “I had nothing – nothing – of my mother’s. We moved around so much that we always had to leave things behind. And the few remaining items I had of hers burned in the fire. The first fire. All I really had left was one very old photo of her in my wallet. And, well, the second fire took that away. So, yes – I adore them. And I adore you for giving me this.”
“Darling.” He pulled her close against him, holding her as she wept, stroking her hair and murmuring soothing words.
When she felt in control again, she lifted her head from his chest and gave him a sweet, tender kiss. “Thank you,” she whispered. “I can’t even tell you what this means to me. Or how much I love you for finding these. It’s just – too much for me to express right now.”
He nodded in understanding. “I get it. And I’m so pleased you like your gift. Look, there’s even a photograph of your mother on the back cover of this book.”
Ian took out one of the other books from the box, this one a hardcover with a glossy jacket that was in excellent condition. The other two books were paperbacks and a bit on the well -used side. Tessa gasped as he flipped open the back cover, and she ran her fingers over the smiling image of her mother in stunned disbelief.
“It’s really her,” she murmured, starting at the image of the happy, glowing young woman who looked so much like her own self. “And this – this is how I prefer to remember her, Ian. Young and healthy and full of life. Not – not the sad, sick woman she became as I got older. This is my real mother right here.”
Ian pressed a kiss to her temple. “She was beautiful, Tessa. You could be her twin, the resemblance is remarkable. And I was thinking – there’s a photography studio I know of in San Francisco that specializes in restoring old photos. I’m willing to bet if we brought them this book jacket that they would be able to find a way to reproduce the image into a proper photograph. Obviously the quality wouldn’t be the best, but - ”
“I don’t care.” She flung her arms around his neck, hugging him tight. “I’ll take anything, the quality doesn’t matter. Thank you, thank you, thank you!” She pressed fervent kisses all along his cheeks, jaw, neck.
“You’re more than welcome, my love,” he whispered. “Now, come. It’s your twenty-fifth birthday and no more tears, hmm? Let’s vow to make this the happiest birthday of your life so far, all right?”
And it was most definitely the most wonderful birthday that Tessa could ever remember having. Not that she had very many happy memories of past birthdays. The last two years prior to this one had been spent alone, since Peter had been on a trip somewhere far away on both occasions. And she couldn’t honestly remember ever having something as traditional as a birthday party as a child – that certainly hadn’t been her mother’s style.
But spending this day – this weekend – with Ian wiped out any memories of less happy times. They spent a quiet, blissful day together – taking a long walk on the beach; driving into the small town just north of the house to get a cappuccino; browsing through the boutiques and art galleries in town, where he bought her a beautiful copper bowl filled with multi-colored pieces of sea glass. Back at the house, they soaked in the enormous hot tub out on the deck while sipping wine and watching the wild surf below.
And they talked – for hours, it seemed. Over a beautifully prepared dinner the caterer had left – including a fabulous white chocolate birthday cake – they shared stories of their respective childhoods, though most of Tessa’s memories weren’t always happy ones. She told Ian more about her relationship with Peter, how they’d been almost virtual strangers when they’d married so young – still children, really. They had been awkward and uncertain around each other but had gradually grown closer and become the best of friends. Tessa confessed to having felt lonely and sad and frightened when Peter had begun to travel, and how hard she’d had to stave off falling into a deep depression at times. And it had tugged at her heart to recall Peter’s almost nightly bouts of insomnia, the nightmares that had plagued him, and how it had been rare for him to actually sleep in the same bed with her.
They had moved back out to the deck by now, curled up on the wicker settee with a plush cashmere throw tucked around them, sipping a post-dinner snifter of brandy. Tessa’s head was on Ian’s lap as he played idly with one of her thick blonde curls.
“Is that why you love to cuddle in bed so much?” he asked her gently.
She smiled and rubbed her cheek against his heavily muscled thigh. “Probably. Though some of that goes back to when I was a little girl. Because we moved around so much I was always a little scared getting used to a new place, especially – well, in the shelters. There were usually some creepy people living there, and my mother wasn’t always in a sane enough state of mind to make me feel secure.”
He rubbed her neck, and she could tell from the grip of his fingers that he was disturbed at the mental images he must be conjuring up. “I still can’t bear to think of you in a place like that.” His voice was rough, thick. “It makes me want to wrap you up in this blanket and cuddle you close for the rest of my life. You know I would do absolutely anything for you, Tessa, and that I will always keep you safe and protected.” He bent down to place a lingering kiss on her lips. “I will slay dragons for you, my love, and whatever other monsters might try and hurt you.”
She reached up to caress his cheek. “I take it back. The books and renting this house weren’t the most wonderful birthday presents ever – you are.”
Then, because she was fairly certain she was going to start crying again, she swiftly changed the subject and asked him about a particular matter that she’d been avoiding for months – that of his former fiancée.
Ian sighed. “It seems like such a long time ago, when it was really less than ten years. At times it almost feels like it happened to someone else, not me. But, truthfully, there isn’t a whole lot to say on the matter.”
He told her a bit about her – a lovely, dark-haired woman named Davina, who was three years his junior. They had traveled in the same social circles, had several friends in common, and had dated on and off for a couple of years before becoming engaged. But that had be
en during a time when Ian was traveling three weeks out of four, and working sixteen hour days, and they saw very little of each other.
“And Davina was an especially sociable woman – adored the whole party scene. Her family wasn’t as wealthy as mine, but they could trace their roots back for centuries and had some sort of minor connection to the royal family. Davina didn’t work – not really – but she was on the boards of several charitable organizations and did a lot of fundraising for them. And it didn’t take very long at all for her to become extremely disillusioned with a fiancée who was rarely around to escort her places.”
Tessa was sitting upright on the settee now, snuggled close against his side. “So she broke things off?”
Ian shook his head. “I did, actually. I knew it wasn’t fair to her, my not being around much, but the real truth was that I simply didn’t love her, couldn’t envision spending the rest of my life with her. She was upset for a time, but it didn’t take her very long to meet someone else. Last I heard they’d been married for several years and had a child.”
“And there was never anyone else for you?”
He shrugged. “No one serious, no. I worked so hard, traveled so much, that having a relationship was a very low priority. However, I can say without a shadow of a doubt that if I had met you somewhere along the way, my priorities would have changed overnight.”
“We very nearly met a couple of years before I moved to San Francisco, you know,” she recalled. “I was still going to college, finishing up the certificate program. You were scheduled to pay a visit to the resort, we were all in an uproar getting ready for it, Mrs. C. insisting that everything had to be beyond perfect. Your visit was on one of the days I didn’t normally work, but Mrs. C. was demanding that I be there anyway. And I would have, if the date hadn’t coincided with final exams at school. There was no way to re-schedule them and I had to take them, she knew that. But she wasn’t at all happy with me, and I could never figure out why.”
Ian grinned. “I’d say it was rather obvious, wouldn’t you? She wanted us to meet, likely knowing full well what would have happened the moment I laid eyes on you.”
“And what would that have been?”
He threaded a hand into her hair, tipping her head back so that he could stare into her eyes. “What wound up happening eventually anyway – I fell instantly and hopelessly in love with you at first sight. Only it’s not so hopeless any longer, is it?”
They stayed out on the deck a while longer, not saying much more, content to simply gaze at the stars and bask in each other’s company. And when the night air grew a little too brisk they moved inside to watch a movie.
And, though they had touched, kissed, caressed frequently throughout the day, they didn’t have sex that night. It was odd, because there had been extremely few nights they had spent together when they hadn’t made love – the night she’d told him about her past; the awful night of the fire at her apartment; and a few times when she’d had her period.
But as they fell asleep wrapped in each other’s arms, both Tessa and Ian had never felt closer, or more intimate with the other, than they did on this particular night.
Chapter Twenty-One
It would have surprised most people who met her to learn that Joanna Gregson had spent the majority of her sixty-seven years largely in the company of men. After all, she was a dainty, exquisitely feminine woman, always perfectly coiffed and dressed to the nines. No one looking at her now would ever envision her as a scruffy tomboy who’d roughhoused with her three brothers, and who’d played competitive field hockey during her school years.
Fate had decreed that all three of her children would also be boys, despite her secret longing for a daughter. But Joanna doted on her sons, and they in turn were completely devoted to their mother.
Hugh, the eldest, had been a placid, easygoing boy, very much like his father. He’d never given his parents a moment’s worry, always the dutiful son and in later years the quintessential company man. He had married Victoria, the girl he’d fallen in love with at university, and they had presented Joanna and Edward with four beautiful grandchildren – all boys.
Colin, her youngest, had been the complete opposite of his eldest brother – rambunctious, constantly getting into mischief, and rarely doing what he was told. He’d been the wild child who’d grown up – if one could call it that – into the notorious, womanizing playboy. Joanna had wrung her hands in near despair over him for years, shuddering to learn about his latest escapade or see the most recent photo of him in the tabloids, usually in the company of some actress or model. But Colin had finally settled down in recent years, once he’d been assigned to the Asia/Pacific regional headquarters in Hong Kong and met his future wife there. Even Joanna – who wasn’t easily intimidated by anyone – was rather in awe of her regal, confident daughter-in-law, the one woman it seemed who’d had the power to rein in the previously untamable Colin. Selina had given birth just over a year ago to their first child – another grandson.
But it had always been her middle son – Ian – who had given Joanna the most concern over the years. Oh, definitely not because of his behavior or relationships or lifestyle. Unlike easygoing, affable Hugh or mischievous, fun loving Colin, Ian had always been quiet, composed and in complete control - the perfect gentleman. Joanna couldn’t recall ever seeing him really lose his temper or betray his emotions. The only times she’d ever seen him let loose a bit had been in the boxing ring at school. And even then Ian had always been in total control, besting opponent after opponent, due not just to his physical strength and conditioning but to his ability to block off his emotions at a moment’s notice.
Even when Ian had become engaged to Davina, he’d maintained his air of reserve, never displaying overt affection towards her or seeming truly happy. It had hardly been a shock to Joanna when the ill-fated engagement had ended after less than six months.
Since that time, and to the best of her knowledge, Ian hadn’t been serious about a woman. When she and Edward had visited him in San Francisco, he had either escorted one of three or four different women – all of whom he treated more like a business associate than a girlfriend – or gone without an escort altogether. And during his visits to London, or family gatherings at the villa in Tuscany, he had always been alone – and lonely.
Joanna had always been puzzled about Ian’s reticence with women, for he was undeniably the handsomest of her three sons, and she’d very clearly seen the way women vied for his attention. But when she’d quizzed him on the matter on multiple occasions, he had always dismissed her concerns, assuring her he was more than content with his lifestyle and joking that no woman would put up with his schedule anyway. She hadn’t been especially reassured, however, and continued to fret over the fact that he was now forty, unmarried, and alone. He was too good a man, too kind and generous a person, to not have someone special in his life, someone to love and care for him the way he deserved. She had hoped and, yes, prayed, for years now that Ian would finally find the right woman to share his life and bring him the sort of happiness he deserved more than anyone she knew.
But when Edward had broken the news to her last month that not only had Ian apparently fallen head over heels in love, but that the woman in question was also living with him, Joanna had been immediately concerned. The very last trait she would have ever attributed to her middle son was that of impulsiveness, and this very sudden, unexpected action on his part seemed completely out of character.
The alarm bells had really begun to ring, however, when Edward had told her the final two bits of news. The woman in question – Tessa was her name - was not only a former employee of Ian’s but a very young one at that. Upon hearing that this young woman was a full fifteen years Ian’s junior, Joanna had immediately pegged the girl as a fortune hunter, an opportunistic gold digger, and had fretted and worried about all the ways the girl must be taking advantage of her son.
Edward, however, had only chuckled about the whole mat
ter and dismissed her concerns. “My dear, this is Ian we’re talking about after all, and not Colin. Or your thrice-divorced brother Gavin, who was unfortunately one of Colin’s role models. Ian is the most sensible, level-headed person I’ve ever met, and lovesick or not there is no possible way he would let anyone take advantage of him. Have some faith, Joanna. After all, it does seem that all of the praying you did for him over the years has finally shown results.”
“My prayers didn’t include a twenty-four year old floozy who’s only interested in his money,” grumbled Joanna. “Well, it’s a good thing we’re paying a visit next month so we can see for ourselves what’s going on. Hopefully it’s not too late to save Ian from this little schemer.”
No amount of reasoning on Edward’s part had served to change Joanna’s mind. And since she wasn’t about to accuse Ian over the phone of taking up with an eager little fortune hunter, she was obliged to keep her opinions to herself during their conversations. He did sound extremely happy, far more so than she could ever recall, and he assured her that she was going to fall in love with Tessa as quickly as he had. Joanna had to bite her tongue on those occasions, and rather stiffly tell her son that she was looking forward to their visit very much.
But now that they were actually here in San Francisco, their luggage being loaded into Ian’s Town Car by Simon, Joanna found herself dreading what she feared was going to be an awkward and unpleasant encounter. If this young woman was in fact the greedy, opportunistic little tramp that she feared, it was going to make for a very long, uncomfortable visit.
Simon was as efficient and accommodating as he’d been during their previous visits, loading up their luggage and driving them smoothly out of the airport with a minimum of polite conversation. But Joanna was uncharacteristically chatty with Ian’s chauffeur, anxious to get his opinion on this Tessa and to pry whatever information she could from the very proper Welshman.
“So, Simon. What can you tell us about Mr. Ian’s new, ah companion?”
Splendor (Inevitable #2) Page 41