Am I?
She laughed.
Its part of the whole running-away thing, he admitted. And that, he thought, was absolutely true.
We were at the part about your ex-wife, she prompted him.
Camille.
Pretty name. Was she beautiful?
He looked at her. Yes. But Camille had never talked to him like this, peppering him with questions. Camille had never cared.
Im guessing red hair, blue eyes, skin like ivory.
Now how the hell could you know that? She did know who he was, he thought. Or at least she knew Camille Strong.
Thats just the way her name sounds, she said.
Youre not that fanciful.
Its fanciful to conjure an image based on a name?
Yes.
Then I guess Im fanciful.
Youre a heat-seeking missile.
Her eyes went wide as she looked at him. Oh, I like that one.
It wasnt quite meant to be a compliment.
Ill take it as one anyway. So you found Camille on Mars and told her that there was no sense in building things anymore without your father?
Not exactly. Why the hell was he telling her this? Because, he realized, hed told no one. Not even his attorneys. Hed held the truth over Camilles head, knowing she wouldnt want it to get out to the media in case she managed to bag another billionaire like himself. Husband Number Two might not appreciate the way shed dealt with her first pre-nup agreement. In the end, Camille had walked away from his money in exchange for his silence. Shed had no choice. If hed talked, she wouldnt have gotten the money either. At least this left her hope on the horizon.
There had been a clause in their contract that said if they remained married for ten years shed get a sizeable settlement in any divorce thereafter. A day less and she got nothingunless Max called it quits first. And he could only do that in the event that she committed adultery. Hed had the foresight to walk into that Paris bedroom with a camera in his hand, if only because hed recognized the throaty cries coming from inside.
Deep silence, Elise observed.
Sorry. Max shook himself out of it. When I got home, Camille was in bed with another man.
Honey felt herself wince deep inside. Ouch. She couldnt imagine a woman having him and wanting someone else. He was the first man who hadnt brought on the bam-bam-bam-rat-tat-tat business. And she happened to know that if he handled the rest of sex the way he did kissing, the woman couldnt have had a complaint in the world. So then you dropped out and went to Cairo.
Actually, I went to Mazatlan first. Then Greece. Then Italy.
Convenient of your uncle to kick off when he did. Leaving you the boat and all.
Right.
Mazatlan must have been expensive on a carpenters salary.
I wasnt a carpenter. Exactly. Not at the end. The whole enterprise had sort ofexpanded. And its all in the way you travel anyway. Not that youd understand that.
This time it hurt. Maybe it was just a lingering edginess from the scene at the house but it made something twist in her gut. You dont know me well enough to judge me.
Then tell me the truth. Have you ever not flown first class?
No. But that doesnt mean I wouldnt.
Theres no champagne before takeoff, he warned her.
I prefer beer on a beach anyway.
She did, he thought. The moonlight was slanting across her face in a way that made her cheekbones seem stark and elegant, but she had shifted her weight during the course of their conversation, moving a little so that she more than halfway faced him, and she was leaning toward him urgently. Her azure eyes were clear and bright even in the murky light and that same forest-flowery scent of her was filling his head. She leaned closer still.
What are you doing? he demanded.
Giving you every opportunity to kiss me again now that weve gotten all that talk out of the way.
I already told you thats not going to happen. If he had a brain cell in his head, he thought, hed get up from the sand right now.
Afraid youll lose our bet?
Yes.
Tell me why you think that would be unpleasant.
Maybe I didnt like kissing you.
What an outrageous lie.
It was, he thought. Just looking at her mouth, he could taste her all over again. Youre one of the things Im running from.
The kind of woman who flies first class, she clarified.
He couldnt fall into the clutches of another Camille, he thought. He didnt have it in him to survive it twice. But he couldnt say that Camille had married him for his fortune, had played games so sterling silver in their perfection that hed only seen the gleam. That shed signed the pre-nup gushing that it didnt mean a thing. That shed almost immediately begun spending most of her time in whichever of his homes he wasnt in. That shed cooed about having his children, then had gone on the pill for those rare occasions when they had actually ended up in the same bed together. That shed been serving a ten-year term until the pre-nup was invalidated so she could walk away with everything shed worked for while keeping lovers in the various cities around the world.
He couldnt tell Elise any of that without having her realize that he was Maxwell Strong. And the more time he spent with her, the more he found the prospect of that appalling. He just wanted to keep on being the man he was when he was with her.
Im strictly adhering to women without complications at the moment, he said finally. He wondered if he was trying to convince himself. Youre the biggest basket of contradictions I ever came across.
Yes, but in a few days Ill be gone again so what do my contradictions matter? By the way, your mouth is moving no closer to mine.
Ah, now youre catching on.
He barely got the words out before she reached for the shorn-off hem of her T-shirt. Before he could blink she had it up over her head.
What the hell are you He started to yell. He meant to yell and grab that shirt from her hand and do something with it, cover her up again somehow, anything to change the course of these events before they could turn into everything he didnt want and everything he craved. Then, defiantly, she tossed the shirt back over her head, into the sand. And there was no little yellow bra this time. There was onlyher.
Im allowed to try to change your mind, right? Thats fair play? she asked before her hands found his shoulders and her mouth covered his.
Something was shaking inside her, Honey thought, something that knew this was outrageous, even for her. But bigger than that was the need, a clamoring urgency to escape, to run, to get lost in him. He was a place where none of the usual hurts and fears and frustrations mattered.
His mouth was hard, but only for a heartbeat. She felt his palms on her skin, a little chafing, but there was desperation there, too, as they slid up over her sides to cover her breasts possessively. Yes, oh, yes, was all she had time to think. And she was free of the panic. S
he was flying.
His mouth crushed hers and his tongue swooped. His thumb found her nipple and circled there. An agony of delicious wanting started coiling inside her as he slanted his head for better access to her mouth. She got the idea to nip at his bottom lip with her teeth. Then he sat up hard enough and suddenly enough that he would have spilled her if he hadnt caught her.
He couldnt do this. The thought raked through Maxs mind like something with claws. It wasnt because he was still afraid that she had claws of her own. He was starting to believe that she didnt.
He couldnt take her, couldnt let himself sink into her, when almost everything hed given her of himself was a lie. Even the truths hed told her tonight had been only half of his heart.
Maybe she didnt want more than that. But maybe he did. And he couldnt elude Max forever.
What? Her voice was a throaty gasp, and he heard hurt around the edges of it.
Im sorry. He set her away from him and stood.
Suddenly she felt nothing inside, Honey realized. Nothing at all. No shame. No desperation. Not the lancing of being rejected yet again in a single night. Nothing but stillness.
She watched him get to his feet and walk a few steps down the beach. He scooped up her T-shirt from the sand. She launched to her feet as well and went to him to grab it.
Elise
Never mind. When she did feel again, it was going to come crashing in on her, and she had no intention of being here on the beach with him when it happened.
Its not you, he said. Its me.
I think thats on a list of clever rejection lines somewhere. You disappoint me. I thought youd be more original. She yanked the shirt over her head again.
I told you I was no speech writer.
Go to hell. Hed made her feel everythingeverythingand then hed yanked it all back from her again. Roast there.
Then she hurried away from him because Honey Evans never cried.
Eight
S he was not in the mood for a wedding, Honey thought early the next afternoon.
She dragged her hair out of the braid shed just woven it into. Shed planned to thread flowers into it, but she wasnt the bride. And hadnt some frost-nosed etiquette expert once said something about anyone else wearing flowers to a wedding being a touch gauche?
It was probably Mom, she muttered. That sounds like a Mom-ism. But she slathered her hands with gel instead and mussed her curls into a riot.
As though Honeys thoughts had summoned her, Sarah Evanss voice floated through the bathroom door. Honor, are you about ready?
Nobody here by that name. Then again, she really didnt know who she was these days. Honey went to the door and opened it a crack to peer out at her parents. I need a few more minutes. Go ahead without me.
What are you wearing? Her mother fretted. Not that?
Honey looked down at herself. She wore a vibrant red dress with long bell sleeves and a slit up one side. It was even reasonably long, stopping just a few inches above the knee. She felt the beginnings of a headache coming on. Whats wrong with it?
Its rather Sarah trailed off. Flamboyant, she finally decided.
Thats what I like about it. Honey stepped back and closed the door again.
She was recapping her lipstick before her conscience got the better of her. There was nothing wrong with flamboyant, she thought, nothing at all. The dress came pretty darned close to being appropriate for the occasion. But just in case, what right did she have to screw up Samanthas wedding?
Damn it, she said aloud. She left the bathroom and jogged back upstairs.
She dragged the dress over her head, making her curls even more wild. She stomped over to the wall where shed hung a few hangers on pegs for lack of a closet. One by one she yanked the dresses down. No to the yellow sundress cut down to her navel, she decided. And no to the kicky green ruffled skirt that barely covered her bottom. She held up a strapless and sheer lavender sheath with a deep purple satin lining.
What you see is what you get, folks. She snapped off her bra and slithered her way into the dress. She was halfway to the door again before she remembered to change out of her red pumps and into the Kogi sandals shed spent the equivalent of two paychecks on.
When she reached the kitchen, she heard soft music filtering in from the big room. The wedding was starting. Suddenly her chest felt constricted. The dress was too tight. Why hadnt she ever noticed that before? She tucked into the big room just as Marcus took his place in front of the chaplain who had been boated over for the occasion.
Jimmy! She recognized the best man, Petty Officer First Class James Robinson. He was Marcuss swim buddy and best pal. When had he arrived? Probably this morning, she realized, when she had still been sleeping off the hurt of last night.
The seating was arranged on the dance floor. Honey spied an empty chair next to Carey and slid into it.
Where were you? Carey whispered without looking at her. She was watching the door where Samantha would be entering.
I was trying to be appropriate.
That jerked Careys attention back to her. You? Why?
I had a hiccup of conscience. Honey shrugged. It happens.
Her mother leaned forward and frowned at her from a chair on the opposite side of the floor. Ticked off because I didnt sit with her and Dad and Drew, Honey thought. Then again, Sarah would have had just as much of a cow if shed disrupted the whole room by trying to get to the seats over there.
Her chest really hurt, Honey thought. She tugged at a seam under her left arm.
Ah, Carey sighed. Shes beautiful.
Honey looked at the door. Sam had arrived and was starting up the aisle. The bride was indeed radiant. Honey caught the look the woman sent her brother. Not sappy enough to be adoring, not misty enough to be blissful. Samantha was just grinning from ear to ear.
BAM. Honey jerked in her seat at the kick of her heart. She hadnt just felt that. It made no sense. There wasnt a man within three feet of her except Matt Tynan, seated on the other side of Carey, and she sure as hell wasnt going to try to seduce him.
BAM-BAM. No, Honey murmured aloud.
Whats wrong? Carey whispered.
Honey shook her head. It wasnt the same thing. This wasnt a panic attack. It couldnt be. It was just the dress.
She wondered if she had ever looked at a man in quite the same way Sam was looking at Marcus now. The bride joined the men in front of the fireplace and Honey caught a glimpse of her brothers face. He was adoring and misty. Ah, Jeez-Louise.
BAM-BAM-BAM.
Honey fixed an unblinking stare on the chaplain. He was holding candles aloft, his voice all resonating gentleness. These two candles are symbolic of separate people in their own right. Joining the two candles into one symbolizes the strength and the unity of two joining together to become one, depicting Marcuss and Samanthas belief that together they can become greater than either could be alone. The side candles he moved
a bit to show them on the mantel remain burning to further symbolize the continuing importance of the individual integrity within the marriage relationship.
It was perfect, Honey thought. Way to go, Marcus. Her eyes burned a little. She used her pinky finger to wipe at one. She had to get over this crying business. Maybe that was the fault of the water, too.
BAM-BAM-BAM. Honey heard an odd noise and realized that she had groaned.
Marcuss voice was reverent. With this ring I thee wed. Take it and wear it as a symbol of all that we share.
Honey felt perspiration begin to bead on her forehead. Then the bam-bam-bam went to rat-tat-tat and her lungs squeezed so hard, trying to shrink in on themselves, that dizziness swept her. She lowered her head, willing the sensations away.
Ive got to breathe.
If she ripped down the zipper of her dress, her family would never forgive her. Honey got to her feet unsteadily. The room tilted slowly then righted itself. Her vision was too focused, too sharp somehow. Everything seemed etched. There was Marcuss handsome puss, scowling at her as though he was contemplating the odds of getting away with murder. Samantha was wearing a smaller frown, half of dismay, half of concern. Her fathers face was reddening. Down the row of chairs, Drews mouth was falling open. Her mother looked as if she was hyperventilating a little herself.
Im so sorry, Honey murmured aloud. Then she backed up clumsily, almost knocking her chair over. She turned and fled the room.
She reached the door before she thought she was going to and hit up against it hard. Her balance was off. The door swung wildly and she pushed through, her head pounding, a light show of white and pale-blue dots dancing around the edges of her vision. Rafaelas voice came to her from far away, a cry of concern. Honey veered for the back door.
Air. She just needed air.
Honey made it outside and ran. She figured shed either black out at full throttle, or force her lungs into expanding again whether they liked it or not. She stumbled in her flimsy Italian sandals and paused, hopping on first one foot then the other to pull them off. She tossed them on the lawn and took off down the road.
Family Secrets: Books 5-8 Page 57