“Elizabeth?” she managed to croak, feeling faint. This girl was her family. Even if she never saw her again, at least she had that much.
“She likes to be called Beth,” John said, his voice strangely gentle. Where before he’d seemed menacing, angry, now he radiated calm, to her surprise. He smiled at her and all the little laugh lines she’d suspected crinkled into existence around his eyes. God, he was beautiful.
Tentatively Liselle smiled back, trying not to hyperventilate. She had to swallow again. If she didn’t get something to drink, soon, she wouldn’t be able to talk at all.
“Are you my aunt?” the girl asked, her face open and curious.
Liselle’s heart gave a hard thump. This girl, her niece, was looking at her as if she just assumed she would be a nice person. Liselle didn’t remember the last time she’d felt that way when meeting someone new. She briefly mourned the innocence she’d never really had and squared her shoulders. She had to clear her throat in order to speak.
“Yeah, I’m Liselle. You don’t have to call me aunt,” she said quietly. “I wasn’t around when you were growing up, so…” She shrugged, vaguely ashamed, though she’d had no idea the girl even existed.
“Aunt Liselle, let me take your coat,” Beth offered, coming the rest of the way down the stairs.
Liselle smiled. She couldn’t help it. What had she done to deserve this? Beth grinned at her and Liselle felt something hard and cold inside her chest break apart. “We have the same eyes,” she said, like an idiot.
John’s face darkened unexpectedly. “Yeah, that’s all she got from that—”
Liselle tensed, but before he could finish, a woman bustled down the hall, wiping her hands on a towel.
“John! You didn’t tell me she was here,” she said, cutting him off.
Liselle looked at the newcomer: shoulder-length blond hair, same green eyes as John. She must be one of the sisters, she thought, unbuttoning her coat slowly. She used the time to get herself back under control.
“Hi, I’m Jenn Steele, Beth’s aunt.” The woman offered her hand.
Liselle took it and shook tentatively. The woman’s hand was warm and slightly damp.
“I’m Liselle Parker. Um—” she broke off, not wanting to bring up her brother’s name.
“Yes, I know, Beth’s long lost aunt. We’re happy you’re here.”
Liselle’s brows rose. The woman seemed completely serious. Maybe this visit wouldn’t be a disaster. Beside her, she sensed John calm down, to her relief.
“Thanks.” She slid her scarf off and stuffed it into the sleeves of her coat.
“I’ll take that,” Beth said, slinging the thick wool over her arm. The girl grinned impishly at her, then tossed it over the rack near the door. It teetered precariously on top of the already overflowing pile of winter coats.
John watched his niece, eyes twinkling. “I don’t think you’ve got enough coats on that thing yet. Maybe you should hunt down some more.”
Beth rolled her eyes at him. “You’re such a dork, Uncle John.”
The first completely natural smile spread over Liselle’s face. Beth was lovely and kind and her uncle and aunt had welcomed her, against all expectation. She’d never felt so relieved in her life. Her brother hadn’t damaged his daughter. She took a deep breath, trying to wrestle her swinging emotions into some sort of calm. Just when she thought she’d managed it, another woman stepped out of the kitchen. She was younger. Her hair was the same length as Beth’s. She wasn’t smiling. Her light brown eyes were cool. Liselle’s gut abruptly twisted. This had to be Matt’s wife. Ex-wife. God.
“Hello, I’m Julie,” the woman said. She didn’t offer her hand.
Liselle sensed the same damaged wariness in the woman that she felt herself almost every day of her life. “I’m Liselle.” She gathered her courage. “Please, I want to tell you…” She had to stop when her voice shook. The woman didn’t smile or offer a hand or say anything. Liselle straightened her shoulders. “I want to tell you how terribly sorry I am that my brother hurt you.”
Julie blinked, then grimaced. “I thought you were going to apologize for his death, you know, like most people do.”
Liselle felt sick. “Um, no. That was one of best days of my life,” she blurted out, then hurriedly glanced at Beth. Shit. She shouldn’t have said that in front of the girl.
“I’m sorry,” she muttered, looking away.
“It’s okay, Aunt Liselle. I didn’t see him much growing up, so I didn’t really know him until—” the girl broke off this time, her face wrinkling.
Liselle put out a hand—Beth should never, ever, have to even think of her father again. “No, don’t. I’m sorry. You don’t know how sorry I am.”
The girl stared at her, and hysterically, Liselle wondered if this was where she was going to spend the entire visit: stuck in the hallway between the foyer and the kitchen, facing off with her brother’s widow and daughter and all their relatives.
“This is stupid,” John muttered. He rolled his shoulders, and Liselle noticed the faintest grimace cross his face, but then he tugged at her arm and urged her forward. “Let’s at least sit down and have something to drink while we hash all this out, ok?”
Liselle nodded as she walked, wondering if they had beer. Or possibly vodka. She never drank, but she was willing to suspend her normal habits just for today.
“That sounds good to me,” Julie said, relief coloring her voice. “I’m glad you were able to come.”
Liselle’s brows rose. “I don’t understand.” She shook her head and tried again. “Really? I’m just glad you let me visit. When I first found out about Beth, I was shocked. I’d had no idea she existed.” She very deliberately didn’t mention that it took her most of a year after her brother’s death to call. “I didn’t think you’d let me meet her.”
Julie shrugged. “It’s not your fault he was an asshole.”
Liselle grimaced and caught the same expression on John’s face. Before she could respond, they were in the kitchen. Two more women sat at the large table placed in the center of the open space. The ceiling had exposed beams and the windows on the one wall were floor to ceiling. Liselle took it in, amazed. It was the most beautiful house she’d ever seen.
“My Dad built it,” John said, coming up behind her and correctly interpreting the look of appreciation on her face. He put a hand over her elbow and guided her to the table. Liselle startled when he touched her and he dropped his hand with an apologetic look. She felt bad, but she couldn’t help it. She didn’t like being touched unexpectedly.
“Jean, Janet, this is Liselle Parker. Liselle, these are my two other sisters.”
The women offered friendly greetings. Liselle smiled back at them, chewing on the inside of her cheek when she realized that all their names sounded similar. Should she mention it? It seemed rude, but she caught John grinning at her as if he could tell what she was thinking. She gave up on keeping her mouth shut. She had to say something. “You all have names that start with J?”
John laughed, startling her again. He sounded so relaxed. Liselle wasn’t used to that. Most of the men in her life had been … difficult. You mean angry, mean, tense, she thought to herself. No sense sugar-coating it. She sighed internally, trying to shake the strange mood that had taken hold.
John was speaking. “Yeah. My parents thought it was hilarious. When Janet named her boys Anthony and Daniel, it nearly caused a riot in the family.”
Janet shook her head, grinning. “I certainly wasn’t going to give them J names. I couldn’t do that to them. I know what that was like, growing up.”
“Yeah, unpleasant,” Jenn chimed in from near the stove. She shuddered dramatically and the rest of them laughed.
Liselle looked around for Janet’s sons, but didn’t see anyone else. The room that lay beyond the low wall was dark except for the fire crackling in the fireplace.
“They’re not here,” John said, once again reading her mind. “Anthony lives in New York and Dan
iel is in Maryland, at school. We don’t see them often enough.”
Janet nodded agreement. “They have to live their own lives.”
“Oh.” Liselle bit her lip. What did you say to that?
“Yeah, yeah, it sucks, but whatever. They used to put snow down my shirt when they lived here. I don’t miss that,” Beth interrupted, pulling out a chair and throwing herself into it. She squirmed around, then extracted a cell phone from her jeans pocket and started typing very intently.
“Beth! What did I tell you about texting at the table?” Jean asked, frowning.
Beth looked up, blinking vacantly for a second, before focusing on her aunt. “Oh. I thought that was just when we were eating? Sorry.” She grinned, then tucked the phone away.
Liselle smiled as Jean rolled her eyes. She really liked this family. John pulled out a chair and offered it to her. She hesitated, looking at his hand on the chair and then followed the line of his arm up to his shoulder. The muscles in his forearm flexed as he held the chair. Damn, he was strong. He’d rolled the sleeves of his shirt up, exposing skin up to his biceps.
“Would you like to sit?” he said, breaking into her reverie.
She blushed, hoping no one saw her acting like a teenager mooning over the quarterback, and sat down. He didn’t move away. Instead he loomed over her, all handsome and smelling good and really, really tall, and she felt her face go even hotter. The last thing she’d expected when she’d decided to come here was to meet a hot guy. She didn’t date. She didn’t really like men, not after how her brother and father had treated her. She’d long ago given up on finding someone and wasn’t planning on changing her mind, so having John stand near her being amazing and beautiful was seriously messing with her.
Just because you don’t date doesn’t mean you can’t look, a traitorous part of her mind whispered. She gritted her teeth and shoved her libido down, throwing a mental lock over that part of her psyche. Getting involved with her niece’s uncle would be a disaster. Particularly since despite all of his niceness, she had the feeling he didn’t feel particularly happy about her visit.
“Thank you,” she said to him. He sat down next to her. “And thanks for having me over,” she said to the women around the table.
“I’m glad you came,” Beth said.
Liselle smiled at the girl, feeling a little less unsettled now that John wasn’t standing over her.
“Dinner will be ready in five,” Jenn said. She pulled something that smelled divine from the oven.
Liselle picked up her water glass, determined to ignore the man sitting beside her.
An hour later, she knew she’d failed. She couldn’t help stealing glances at him throughout the meal. He was polite, kind to his sisters, and knew how to use a napkin, all things which were foreign experiences for her when it came to men. Her brother had been a total slob, and her dad … well, no need to even go there. The guys she’d dated had reverted to selfishness almost immediately after their first dinner together. Clearly she was bad at picking dates. Liselle forced herself to look away from John and focus on her niece. The girl was the reason she came here, after all.
After talking with her throughout dinner, she’d come to realize that Beth was just as sweet on the inside as she seemed on the outside. Beth’s mother Julie was a little bit cooler toward her, but Liselle thought she’d made progress in convincing the woman that she didn’t want anything from them. She just wanted to meet Beth. The oldest of the four sisters, Janet, kept grinning at her throughout the meal, and Liselle was mortified when she thought about why. John had been extremely charming for the last hour, a sudden switch from his initial standoffishness. It made Liselle feel strange. Most of the guys she’d dated had been assholes like her brother and father. John wasn’t like that and Liselle wasn’t quite sure what to make of him. Why was he being so nice to her, especially when he’d been so hostile at the beginning?
“Did you like the pie?” he said, sitting back in his chair. He sipped his beer, looking relaxed and masculine. Damn him. Liselle tore her eyes away. Again. Every time he lifted the bottle to his mouth, she had to watch him swallow. His lips were full and pink, and they made her want to do something crazy, like push away from the table and drag him off with her so she could kiss him. She fiddled with her napkin.
“Yes, it was delicious,” she replied. She really had to get the hell out of here before she did something stupid. She pushed away from the table and glanced out the windows. It was snowing and she remembered the forecast was calling for a couple of inches.
“I really should get going. The weather’s supposed to deteriorate and I don’t want to drive down the mountain on unfamiliar roads, particularly if it gets icy.”
Jenn nodded and got up from the table. “Let me pack a piece of the pie for you to take with you.”
“Oh, no, you don’t have to do that,” Liselle protested. “You’ve already fed me dinner.”
“Don’t bother to argue,” John said, a smile playing around his mouth. “She’ll win, and you’ll feel like a truck ran over you.”
Jenn rolled her eyes at her brother, but he just winked at her.
Liselle couldn’t help smiling. It was just so strange to watch a man act nice.
“Where are you staying?” John asked.
She started, once again forcing her eyes away from his mouth. How can he look so damn masculine with such pretty lips? she wondered.
“I booked a room at the Holiday Inn near the highway.” She glanced out the window. The snow was coming down harder now. She frowned, beginning to worry.
John sat up, his air of relaxation suddenly gone. “That’s about an hour’s drive.”
She looked away from the window and lifted her eyebrows at him. Was he worried about her? He didn’t even know her.
“I’ll be okay. The car I rented has front wheel drive, so as long as I leave soon, I should be fine,” she said.
“I’ll follow you down the mountain—” he began, but Liselle hurriedly shook her head.
“No! No, that’s okay.” She hoped he would take her word for it. The thought of him following her made her skin crawl. It didn’t matter how nice he seemed at dinner, to her it would feel like he was stalking her. She firmly pushed away the memory of her brother showing up at her apartment when she’d moved to Arizona a few years ago, with their father not far behind him. It had taken her four months to lose him again in California. She shook her head. “I’ll be okay, I promise.”
He looked at her skeptically, but nodded. “If you run into trouble, I’ll be leaving in about an hour, just so you know.”
Liselle tried to imagine him coming to her rescue and failed. She even let herself picture him in that beat up old truck she’d seen out front, instinctively knowing it was his, and she couldn’t do it. She associated men with fear and danger for too long. Even though John was the nicest man she’d ever met, she couldn’t let herself count on him to come and save her. She’d save herself, just as she had in the past. She done so too many times to expect anything different.
“Thanks, I appreciate it,” she said politely, and turned to Beth. “Hey, thank you. I’m really happy I got to meet you.”
The girl smiled and scooted in, giving Liselle a completely unexpected hug. “My dad was an asshole, but you’re not like him at all.”
The unexpectedness of it had tears pricking at Liselle’s eyes, even as she tentatively hugged Beth back. “Um, thank you.” She drew back. “You know, if you ever need anything…”
Beth rolled her eyes at her just like she did the rest of her family. Liselle loved it.
“Yeah, yeah, I know. I have your cell number.” Beth dug her phone from her pocket and waved it around.
Liselle smiled. “Okay. Good.”
Jenn appeared with a foil wrapped paper plate. “Thank you for coming.”
Liselle accepted the pie. “No, thank you for having me. You didn’t have to do this, open your house to me. I really appreciate it.”
; Jenn smiled and Liselle headed for the hall. Just as she passed the steps, Julie hurried up to her.
“Wait!”
Liselle covered a sudden stab of worry with what she hoped was a neutral expression. Julie held an envelope out to her. “What’s this?” she asked, taking it gently.
“Pictures. Baby pictures of Beth.”
Liselle stared at her, surprised.
Julie smiled tremulously. “I’ll be honest with you, I didn’t really want you to come. But I’m glad you did. You’re nothing like him. I’m glad I met you, especially because now I know there’s something decent in his genes and that’s comforting, believe it or not.”
Liselle had to blink back tears for the second time in an hour. “I … thank you. I’m glad I came too. Thank you for letting me meet your daughter.”
Julie grinned. “You can come visit anytime you want to.”
Liselle reached out and impulsively hugged her. “Thank you,” she whispered, not mentioning that it wasn’t likely. Now that she’d seen what a good family Beth had, she could never risk leading her father here. She let go and stepped back quickly, trying not to cry. John was watching them from the hall. “You’re all very nice, and I’m really glad I met you.” She turned and grabbed her coat, nearly spilling the others on the floor.
“Let me hold that for you,” John said, coming up and taking the pie and envelope from her.
She stared at him, still too overwhelmed to think clearly.
“Put your coat on,” he said, glancing out the window by the front door. “It’s snowing.”
She took a deep breath and nodded. “Okay.” She slipped her arms into her coat and buttoned it up. “Thank you.” She took the pie and envelope back and carefully tucked the photos into her purse.
He smiled. She tried not to think about how ridiculously handsome he looked.
“You’re welcome,” he said, opening the door for her and she walked out, trying not to think about the lonely life waiting for her. Resolutely, she trudged through the snow. Nothing she could do about it. When she got in her car, she couldn’t stop herself from looking back one last time. John was still standing there, bare feet just touching the snow, blond hair tousled. His green eyes gleamed as he waved. His smile warmed her more than she wanted to admit.
Seducing Liselle Page 2