Break Every Rule

by Francis Ray

  “Thursday.”

  “Flying?”

  “Driving.”

  “Start out early,” he advised. “They’re doing a lot of construction and the traffic getting in and out of Houston can be maddening. My truckers complain about it all the time.”

  “My brother, my father, and Higgins and I have already had this talk.”

  “Who’s Higgins?”

  “An old friend of the family,” she answered, telling herself she wasn’t pleased that he sounded jealous.

  “How old is old?”

  Dominique laughed. It just slipped out. He sounded so annoyed. “Seventy-two.”

  “You have a nice laugh.”

  Smiling, she slipped off her heels, scooted up against the headboard padded in silk brocade, then crossed her long legs. “So do you.”

  “Does most of your family live in Houston?” he asked.

  “Just my brother. My father and his parents live in Oklahoma, my mother’s parents in Boston,” she explained, thinking of how they had all dropped everything to be with her tonight.

  “You’re lucky.”

  “Extremely. What about your family?”

  “It’s just me. I never knew my parents. I grew up in foster homes.”

  “Oh. I’m sorry.” She felt an odd clutch in the region of her heart that he had had to grow up without the love and support of a family. She couldn’t imagine where she would be without hers.

  “Don’t be. I’ve met a lot of good people through the years, and made some lifetime friends.”

  “Janice is one of them. She mentioned how successful you are. What you’ve accomplished is remarkable,” Dominique returned, true admiration in her voice. She hoped she could do half as well.

  “A lot of good people helped me along the way,” he told her. “I don’t want you to think I did it all on my own.”

  “Still, it must have been difficult.”

  “Sometimes, but I learned early that life wasn’t going to give me anything. I’ve worked long and hard for what I have, and never regretted a moment of it,” he said with feeling. “You can succeed just like I did.”

  “I’m going to give it my best shot,” she said, her confidence soaring.

  “Good. Hey, can you believe we’ve been talking for five minutes and neither one of us has gotten angry?”

  “Maybe it’s because we can’t see each other,” she said, and immediately a picture of him staring at her lips at the airport filled her mind. She got that restless feeling again.

  “Maybe,” he said, his voice oddly husky as if he were thinking of the same thing, “I’d better go. I’m getting goose bumps on my goose bumps.”

  She flushed and sat up in bed to swing her legs to the carpeted floor. “I’m sorry. I should have ended the call earlier.”

  “Don’t be. If I hadn’t wanted to talk to you, I would have ended the call myself.”

  “You’re very frank.”

  “I’ve been told that, but then lies and secrets can destroy a person’s life. I can’t see a reason to lie.”

  While Dominique agreed with him in principal, she was harboring secrets of her own. “Sometimes extenuating circumstances demand bending the truth a little.”

  “Lying is lying no matter how you dress it up,” came the emphatic answer. Trent obviously didn’t even believe in little white lies.

  “I suppose.”

  “Glad you agree. I wouldn’t want our friendship to suffer because we couldn’t trust each other.”

  “You think we can be friends face-to-face?”

  “The best. Goodnight, Dominique. I’ll tell Janice you called.”

  “Goodnight.” Dominique slowly hung up, fine tremors rippling through her, and it wasn’t the prospect of opening her studio that caused the reaction.

  “Trent Masters, you could be a real problem,” she said. Silence was her only, unsettling answer.

  * * *

  In Dallas, Trent began whistling as he finished drying on the way to the bathroom. He wasn’t aware that a broad smile accompanied the whistle until he passed the tri-fold mirror in his bedroom. He stopped, his gaze fastened on his reflection as if he was seeing it for the first time.

  He didn’t like what he saw.

  “Oh, no you don’t. Don’t you even try to go there. Dominique and I are going to be friends. Nothing else.” The second the last words left his mouth, he knew he was fooling himself.

  Naked shoulders slumped. He had never lied to himself in the past, and he wasn’t about to start. Dominique got to him on every level, and not just the obvious ones of her face and body. Her haughtiness challenged, her throaty voice intrigued.

  What really got to him was that she needed a second chance—the one thing he believed every person deserved. How was a guy supposed to resist?

  She was like no woman he had ever known. And she was making him do things he had never done before. Not once in his life had he ever been jealous about a woman … until Dominique.

  He had known her barely a day and he was ready to defend her honor and keep her safe. He could discount the airline clerk, but he couldn’t discount that he had been jealous when Dominique mentioned the guy named Higgins.

  He could still hear her sweet laughter, part teasing and part surprise. His body had hardened instantly. If she had been there, he would have pulled her into his arms and tasted the laughter on her lips, then the passion and need.

  Trent spun away from the mirror. Jerking open a dresser drawer, he yanked out a pair of white cotton briefs and pulled them on. He then reached for a fresh pair of jeans. They were at a strategic point and going no further without discomfort when he glanced down.

  His head lolled back and he stared up at the ceiling. Why me, Lord?

  Dominique Everette could turn out to be a real problem and a test of everything he believed in.

  * * *

  Trent gave Janice five minutes to deactivate her alarm, grab a diet drink, and make it to her bedroom before he punched in her number. She answered on the second ring.

  “Hello.”

  “Hi, Janice. Dominique called around ten. She’s driving back Thursday.”

  “Thanks for taking the call,” Janice said. “I thought you were coming for some strawberry shortcake.”

  Trent refused to glance down. “I’m not hungry.”

  “Could you repeat that?”

  He knew Dominique could be trouble. Never in the past had he had to think before he spoke. “I had something before I left work.”

  “Since when has that changed anything?” she asked.

  He rubbed his throbbing temple. “Sometimes things happen when you least expect them.”

  “Trent, you know I’m very fond of you, but you’re not making very much sense. You sound distracted. You and Dominique didn’t have words, did you?”

  “No. We’re going to be friends.”

  “You don’t sound too happy about it.”

  “I just have something on my mind tonight. Did the Nelsons buy anything?” he asked, grasping for a way to change the conversation.

  “The Queen Anne secretary for Mrs. Nelson’s office.”

  “Good. I’d better get some sleep,” he said.

  “It’s only ten-thirty. Are you feeling all right?”

  “I’m fine.”

  “Well, goodnight, and thanks again. I’ll call her in the morning.”

  “Goodnight.” Trent hung up and headed for the shower. Exercise sure hadn’t helped.

  * * *

  Dominique’s brow arched on seeing Daniel waiting for her in the dining room the next morning. A perfect, deep red rosebud lay on the pristine, white linen tablecloth by his coffee cup. She only needed one guess to know who the freshly picked flower was for. “Good morning.”

  “Good morning.” Standing, he pulled out a chair for her, then retook his seat next to hers. “You seem surprised to see me.”

  She picked up her napkin and spread it on her lap. “As I said yesterday you have a lot o
n your mind, and I’m two years older since we had our last big brother little sister conversation before I left for Paris.”

  His large hand brushed back a strand of heavy, black hair from her face. “No amount of years will ever make me stop worrying about you.”

  “You and life taught me to take care of myself, remember?” she said, spearing a cube of honeydew in her fruit cup.

  “I remember a lot of things,” he said softly. “The trouble is, so do you.”

  She couldn’t deny his words. Her hand stilled, but thank goodness it didn’t tremble when she turned to him. “I won’t be made a fool of again,” she told him, her eyes and voice as cold as ice.

  “You’re so much like I used to be it scares me.” He held up his hand when she opened her mouth to speak. “I was so busy judging Madelyn on the basis of all the other lying, scheming women I had met, I didn’t see her for the honest woman she is until it was almost too late. Be careful you don’t do the same thing and let the past ruin your chance for happiness.”

  Despite her best effort an image of Trent crystalized in her mind. In rising irritation she firmly pushed the image away. “I’m happy for you and Madelyn, but a man in my life is the last thing I need.”

  He shook his head, his salt-and-pepper hair sliding over his broad shoulders. “As I said, you’re just like me.”

  “Excuse me, Mr. Falcon, Mrs. Falcon’s tray is ready,” said a slim, young maid in a black and white uniform.

  “Thank you.” Standing, Daniel placed the rose on the tray, then took it from the servant.

  “You’d better get that up to Madelyn,” Dominique said, smiling that her guess had been right.

  “Trying to get rid of me?” he asked, but he was smiling.

  “No, but it’s a thought. I like Madelyn,” she said, leaning back in her chair. “She was all set to send her brother, Kane, and his family into the studio until I told her I wanted to keep a low profile.”

  “She’s really big on family.”

  “Sounds just like the man she married. I’ve never seen you this happy.”

  “I didn’t know I could be.” His black eyes probed hers. “Don’t let what happened eight years ago steal your chance for happiness.”

  Before she could speak he whirled and walked out of the room. Just like Daniel to want the last word, she thought. She watched him head toward the stairs, then she dug back into her fruit. Why was everyone so eager for her to have a man?

  The answer came almost instantly. They loved her and wanted her to be happy. To them that meant a man in her life.

  Before her disastrous marriage she had agreed with them. Now she knew better. The only thing that was going to make her happy was a successful photographic studio. Her mind firmly made up, she speared another cube of melon.

  Finished with breakfast twenty minutes later, Dominique was rushing out the door when the maid informed her she had a telephone call from Janice Yates. Sprinting back, she picked up the phone in the living room. “Hi, Janice.”

  Janice didn’t waste any time. She wanted to know every single detail about the surprise party. Dominique delighted in telling her. Teasingly, Janice told Dominique she had a present for her, but she had to wait until she came back to Dallas. Since Dominique loved surprises but hated to wait, she tried every way she knew to get the information out of her godmother. No luck.

  “Stop fishing. My lips are sealed,” Janice said, laughing, then sobered. “Trent phoned me last night to tell me you had called. He had sounded distracted, and he wasn’t hungry.”

  Dominique barely kept from rolling her eyes. “Janice, Trent is a big boy and can take care of himself.”

  “I know, but he just didn’t seem himself. Did you two have an argument or something?” Janice inquired.

  “No we didn’t. We were quite civil and mature.” She glanced at her watch. “Gotta run. I have an appointment. See you tomorrow around eleven. Love you. Bye.” Hanging up, Dominique shoved the thick strap of her oversized bag over her shoulder and headed for the front door.

  Outside, she started down the curved stone steps just as the architect, Robert Lawrence, drove up. The short, compact man emerged from his metallic green Jeep carrying several cylindrical tubes beneath his jacketed arm, his movements slow and methodical.

  When he saw her, his round face resigned, he tried to smile as he greeted her, but the results looked more like a grimace. He started up the steps.

  Dominique said hello and got into her Jaguar convertible. She thought of telling the harassed looking man that Daniel had turned the project over to someone else, then decided to let him find out the good news for himself. Because no matter what Daniel said, he wanted nothing less than perfection for his first child.

  Driving past the recessed double doors, she saw the architect being greeted by Daniel, Madelyn, and Higgins. Daniel had stayed to introduce Higgins. Madelyn had stayed to make sure Daniel didn’t institute any last minute changes. Her grandparents remained in their rooms. Good thinking on their parts. The next five weeks were going to be very interesting in the Falcon household.

  Her life in Dallas would be just as interesting. Downshifting, she pressed on the gas and zipped through the high, black, iron security gates of the estate. The red sports car gave her all the power and maneuverability she wanted. Although the vehicle was eleven years old, it had been meticulously cared for.

  She hit the freeway with a burst of speed and merged with the traffic. Moments later an eighteen wheeler pulled beside her and tooted its horn. Her heart lurched. She glanced around sharply.

  A bearded man wearing a once beige, straw cowboy hat grinned down at her. She waved and willed her heart to calm down. She was not disappointed, she told herself, but that day she spent an unprecedented amount of time glancing at the drivers of eighteen wheelers.

  She also spent the day doing something else she had never had to do before—comparative price shopping. The owner of the third photographic equipment shop introduced her to price matching, turned his office over to her, and gave her a phone book, a pad and pencil, and a soft drink.

  By early afternoon the trunk and backseat of her car were almost filled to capacity. She had purchased cameras, lenses, power packs, umbrella, soft boxes, stands, backgrounds, and the cases to store them. She couldn’t remember ever having as much fun.

  Pulling up in the circular driveway at Daniel’s house, she got out of the car and went inside. Since she was leaving early the next morning there was no need to unpack the car. Heading for the stairs, her smile broadened. Her equipment took up so much room, she was going to have to take a small suitcase and ship the rest of her things.

  “Miss Falcon, I’m glad you’re here,” said Mr. Lawrence, looking even more unhappy than he had that morning.

  Her brow furrowed. “Is Daniel still here?”

  “I wish he were. It’s Higgins.”

  Her eyes widened in surprise. “Higgins?”

  “Yes, Ma’am. Mr. Falcon said to follow his instructions, but I can’t believe he wants to do something like this.”

  “Not the sky dome?” she asked, trying to keep a smile off her face.

  The man’s eyes widened for a fraction of a second, then shut.

  “It was only a thought my brother had. Are my grandparents here?”

  His eyes opened. Dominique couldn’t figure out if he looked desperate or resigned. “No, they left shortly after I arrived and haven’t returned.”

  Dominique’s lips twitched. She’d always known the grands were intelligent people. “I’ll go explain to Higgins.”

  The harassed man’s appreciative gaze found hers. “Thank you. He’s in the bedroom we’re remodeling, watching every move my guys make.”

  “Higgins takes his responsibilities very seriously. My family has always relied heavily on him.” She started up the stairs and the architect fell into step beside her.

  “I heard you were leaving tomorrow with your grandparents. I don’t suppose your trip can be postponed?
” he asked hopefully.

  “Sorry, I waited a lifetime for this. You’re on your own.”

  His shoulders slumped. “I knew I should have been a dentist, the way my mother wanted me to be.”

  Dominique laughed, thinking she couldn’t wait to call Daniel. He had never spoken truer words than when he said he had created a monster. Mr. Lawrence might not be happy, but Higgins would know he was loved and needed, and he wouldn’t be lonely anymore.

  Out of nowhere came the questioning thought When will I know the same thing?

  * * *

  Dominique arrived at Janice’s house shortly after noon, Thursday. Climbing from the low slung car, she stretched her hands over her head, then went around to the passenger side and got the one suitcase she’d managed to bring.

  Janice, in a black gabardine coatdress with white collar and cuffs, met her at the kitchen door with a warm greeting and a hug. “You’re an hour late.”

  “Traffic,” she said succinctly, and set the small Louis Vuitton pullman down. “I have to be at the studio at twelve-thirty to let the telephone man in and receive some equipment I had to have shipped.”

  “What about lunch?” Janice asked.

  “I’ll grab a bite later,” she said, and started back out the door.

  “Here. Your present.” Janice handed her a gold ring with three keys and the initial D. “The small one is for the glass storm door. The other two are for the double locks on the front and back doors.”

  Dominique clutched the keys in her hands. One more symbol that her dream was becoming a reality. “Thanks for this, and everything.”

  “You know you’re more than welcome. As I told you, I’m going to enjoy having you here.”

  “I’m looking forward to living here, too.” Dominique reached for the door. “I’m not sure when I’ll be home.”

  “It had better be before dark,” Janice said with a tinge of worry. “As I said, the area is in transition. It has a lot of traffic in the daytime, but things close up at night.”

  “Yes, Godmother.”

  Janice smiled. “Get on out of here. I have to get to the shop myself.”

  Smiling, Dominique hurried back outside and drove away. If she stared at Trent’s house as she passed it was no one’s concern but her own.