by Francis Ray
Rio’s face lost the hard look. Mrs. Dupree was willing to get to know him. “Several times in here and too many to count in the other restaurant on the terrace. Blade’s wife, Sierra, is Brandon’s sister. She and Faith are close friends. While the Grayson family booth was being enlarged at the Red Cactus, they ate here a lot.”
Mr. Dupree’s frown deepened. “What have—”
“Not now, Beau,” Meredith cut in. “The waiter is here to take our order.”
Her ex snapped his mouth shut. Skylar’s shoulders slumped. Beneath the table, Rio nudged her knee with his. She glanced up. He smiled. She smiled back and sat upright.
As Rio glanced down at his menu, he noted that Skylar’s grandparents sitting next to him had witnessed the exchange. Her grandfather looked thoughtful; his wife, pleased.
The waiter took their food orders, asked about wine and drink orders, then withdrew.
“Can I continue now, Meredith?” Mr. Dupree asked.
“Only if you have to, Beau,” his ex came back. “Personally, I’d like to hear more about the auction tomorrow evening. I can’t wait.”
“I’m a bit anxious myself,” Mrs. Carrington admitted. “There are a couple of things I have my eye on.”
Her husband shook his gray head. “What if I left my checkbook and credit card at home?”
She smiled at him. “I made sure you didn’t.”
Everyone laughed, including her husband.
Rio saw Skylar in fifty years in her grandmother, still having the last word and making him like it.
“Well,” Beau began, only to be interrupted again.
“Your salads.” The server placed the food on the table. “Appetizers will be out shortly.”
“What has your employer and his wife eating here have to do with you?” Beau asked in a rush.
“I hardly think that’s any of your concern, Beau.” Meredith frowned.
Rio agreed, but he answered anyway. “When possible, Blade and Sierra are together. Sierra has four bothers, including Brandon. All are married. They’re a close family and enjoy being around each other,” Rio explained. “I’m head of Navarone security worldwide, and Blade’s personal bodyguard.”
“Father,” Skylar said, impatience and annoyance in her voice. “You already know that. I told all of you about Mrs. Grayson and her children when I explained about the auction.”
“She certainly did.” Her mother picked up her salad fork. “Now drop the subject and let’s enjoy our meal.”
Beau pushed his salad aside and stared across the table at Rio. “I’d like to know more about the man taking my daughter out.”
“Which means the private investigators you hired were too inept to find out anything,” Rio said, his voice flat.
Skylar gasped. “Father, you didn’t.”
Beau’s uncompromising gaze swung to his daughter’s. “I love you. I’d do anything to protect you.” His attention switched to Rio. “You’re the first man our daughter ever mentioned more than once. Even before now, your name had come up in conversation. Protecting her and keeping her happy is what’s important.”
“That’s why I’m still sitting here,” Rio replied evenly.
Skylar’s mother was appalled. “You’re just pushing her farther away.”
“I’m seeing to her well-being.”
“Like you saw to it by sleeping with that woman and destroying our marriage,” Meredith snapped.
“I’ve told you that—” Her ex shoved his hand over his neatly trimmed head of hair. “What’s the use? You only believe what you want to believe.”
“Because it’s the truth. You make me ill,” Meredith said tightly. “To think I trusted you. Believed in you, and it was all a lie. I wouldn’t be anywhere near you, and certainly not sitting beside you if it wasn’t for Skylar. Let her run her own life before you mess it up any further.”
Beau braced both hands on the table. “I—”
“Please stop,” Skylar said, her voice shaky. She wanted to hide her face and crawl out of the restaurant in embarrassment. How could he act this way? Have Rio investigated and then try to interrogate him after she’d specifically asked him not to.
Rio’s hand covered Skylar’s, clamped tightly in her lap. His thumb gently stroked the back of hers. She couldn’t look at him.
“Father, I’m removing your name from the guest list for the charity auction.” She swallowed. “Good night, Mother, Grandmother, and Grandfather.”
“You can’t mean that, baby,” her father said, his handsome face a study in disbelief. “I was just trying to protect you.”
“You went about it in the wrong way.” She stood on unsteady legs. Rio curved his arm protectively around her shoulders. “Good night.”
“Don’t worry, Mrs. Dupree. She’ll call you and her grandparents a little later,” Rio told them.
Her father stood, his face angry. “Now, you’re running her life and telling her what to do?”
“You were so focused on me, you forgot that Skylar is her own woman,” Rio said quietly. “She loves you and you hurt her. Don’t make it worse.” His arm tightening around Skylar’s trembling shoulders, he led her from the restaurant.
* * *
“It’s all right, Skylar. It’s going to be all right.”
Rio had repeated the words on the way to the valet station, and after seating her in the BMW SUV and fastening her seat belt. She hadn’t responded, just closed her eyes and leaned back against the headrest.
Feeling helpless to soothe her misery, he got in and pulled off. She’d been looking forward to him meeting her parents and grandparents, showing him off. He didn’t mind for himself. He’d been judged and found lacking in the past, and it would probably happen again.
He didn’t care what others thought of him. As the Man With No Name had taught him, know who you are and whose you are, and then no man can make you think or feel less of yourself. If it had been anyone but her father, Skylar would have blown him off or put him in his place. She respected and loved her father too much to say anything more than she had.
Uninviting him to the charity function, however, made it very plain that she was disappointed and upset with him. He’d been shocked. Her mother angry. Her grandparents upset.
Rio kept looking at her to make sure she wasn’t crying. When he wasn’t shifting gears, he was holding her hand. At least it wasn’t trembling any longer. He wasn’t sure if he should talk or leave her to her own thoughts. He finally figured she’d talk when she was ready.
He found a station on the radio that sounded like the same kind of melody as the Johnny Mathis song they’d danced to, hoping the music would help. “We’ll be at the castle soon. We can take a walk or sit out back or anything you want.”
Her eyes closed, and her head remained against the headrest as it had been since he’d seated her in the car. Silence. He vividly recalled the other time when she had been upset. She’d thought some other woman was after him.
He turned into the driveway, rumbled over the drawbridge, and stopped in front of the castle. He went around and opened her door. “Your father didn’t bother me. Your being upset does.”
Silence.
“Come on, Skylar.” His hand swept down her arm. “It’s all right. Talk to me.”
Her head lifted. Slowly her eyes opened. “He had no right to investigate you. None. I can’t apologize enough.”
“You have nothing to apologize for.” He let out a relieved breath that she was talking. “Luke made inquiries about Blade.”
“But I bet he wasn’t sneaky about it,” she said, her eyes narrowed angrily.
“No,” Rio admitted. “I think her entire family pretty much let Blade know they were watching him. I think Shane and Paige’s mother had a talk as well.”
“Their families probably didn’t try to stop them from dating Shane or Blade. Or interrogate the men at dinner,” Skylar said.
Rio gently cupped her face. “I’m not sure that would have worked with Sier
ra or Paige; although she’s quiet, she not weak. Otherwise she and Shane wouldn’t be together. When a family loves you, sometimes they overstep.”
“I’m not such an idiot that I can’t tell when a man is trying to con me. Father should know that!”
“Then you’ll just have to convince him otherwise. You made a good start tonight by canceling his invitation.” He almost smiled at the memory.
“I never expected he’d do anything like that. I wanted them to get to know you, you to know them.” She leaned her head against his. “Instead, I was embarrassed and angry.”
“There’s no reason to be.” He lowered his hands and helped her out of the car. “Check your phone, I’m sure you have calls.”
“I didn’t feel it vibrate,” she said, but she opened her small purse and picked up her cell phone. “Five calls. Mother and Father each called twice. My grandparents once.”
“Let’s go inside and you can call them while I fix you something to eat.” Catching her hand, he started up the steps.
“I’m not calling Father until he apologizes to you.”
Rio entered the code and opened the front door. “If you don’t call him, how will you give him a chance to apologize? He doesn’t have my number.”
She stopped. “You sound like you want me to forgive him.”
He placed his hands on her shoulders and stared down at her. “Skylar, it isn’t in you to hold a grudge against those you love. You’ll be miserable if you try. So sooner or later, you’re going to have to talk to him. It might as well be now.”
“I can try,” she stubbornly said.
“Come on.” He started toward the kitchen. In the great room, he saw Blade and Sierra curled up on the long sofa watching a movie. “Maybe I won’t have to cook if Sierra left any of the food Martin prepared.”
Sierra’s dark head popped up. “Martin cooked a fantastic dinner for us. I don’t think—” She stopped when they neared and she saw Skylar’s miserable face. Sierra stood, her questioning gaze going to Rio.
“Maybe Sierra should tell you what overprotective Brandon and Pierce thought of Blade while I raid the kitchen.” Rio kissed Skylar on the top of her head and kept walking.
“They hated my guts, especially Brandon.” Blade got to his feet and chuckled. “Luke and Morgan were a little bit more restrained, but Luke made it pretty clear that if I messed up he’d be standing on my doorstep.”
Sierra rounded the sofa, hooked her arm through Skylar’s, and followed Rio toward the kitchen. “Brandon and Pierce were pitiful. You should have heard them go on and on about Blade’s reputation, as if I was a ninny. They actually thought about trying to keep me in Santa Fe instead of entering into the selection process for the position of executive Realtor at Navarone Place in Dallas.”
“What happened?” Skylar asked.
“Mama,” Sierra said simply. “She said I could go. We might be grown and gone, but we still listen to her.”
“As I understand it, there was a meeting and a caveat to Sierra’s going to Dallas,” Blade said. “They would be watching me and if I caused her any pain, they’d be there and I’d regret it until the day I died.”
“Family can be a blessing, but they can also make you want to send them to another planet to live,” Sierra said.
“My father would be on the first flight,” Skylar said tightly.
“Good timing.” Rio placed a plate with a thick slice of prime rib, red potatoes, and broccoli on the table. Bread and butter were already there. “I’ll get you something to drink.”
“I’m not hungry,” Skylar murmured.
“Sit down, Skylar,” Sierra urged. “I’m trying to picture this new Rio. Perhaps the next time Martin is away or on vacation, Rio can do double duty.”
Rio placed the glass of lemonade on the table. “As long as you do the grocery shopping, wash and chop the vegetables, set the table, clear the table, wash the dishes, and do a few other things to help.”
Sierra crossed her arms. “You’re good at multitasking. Why can’t you do it all?”
Rio crossed his. “Because you’re going to be doing it.”
“We’re missing the movie.” Taking Sierra’s hand, Blade pulled her from the kitchen.
Skylar finally smiled. “You and Sierra don’t give an inch, and Blade loves both of you.”
“I like that smile.” He sat in the chair in front of the plate and held out his arm for her to sit in his lap. “Come and sit down so we can eat.”
She placed her purse on the stone counter and sat on Rio’s lap. He hugged her, kissed her cheek. “It’s going to be all right.”
“I believe it when you say it,” she said softly.
He kissed her again. “Eat. You were running around so much today you missed lunch.”
“I thought I’d eat—” She jumped up and reached for her purse. “I might not be the only one that didn’t eat.” She punched in her mother’s cell phone number. “Mother.” Skylar reached for Rio’s hand as soon as her mother answered. “I’m fine. Rio and I were about to eat and I thought about you and the grands.” She shook her head. “If you don’t order room service, I’m going to be annoyed with you. Besides, you want to be at your best tomorrow evening.
“Yes, I arranged a car to pick all of you up so you can arrive a bit early and view the pieces unencumbered.” Skylar bit her lower lip. “I’m not sure I can talk to Father tonight, but I’ll call the grands. Yes.” She smiled up at Rio. “I’ve already apologized. Being such a great, understanding guy, he understood. I love you, too. Good night.”
Releasing Rio’s hand, she called her grandparents. “I’m fine. Did you enjoy your meal? You left Father at the table? I’m glad you ordered room service. Yes, we were about to eat. Love you both. Good night.” She ended the call, then rubbed her forehead.
Rio massaged her stiff shoulders. “Go on and call him.”
“Grandmother said when I walked away, he just stood there staring after me, then sat back down. She said the only time she’d seen him look so lost was the day Mother filed for divorce.” She leaned against Rio’s chest. “They all left him sitting alone at the table.”
“You won’t be able to sleep—and like you told your mother, you need to be at your best tomorrow.” He lifted her hand. “Put him out of his misery.”
“Why do you care?”
“Because you care. I’ll reheat the food while you call.” Rio picked up the plate and went to the microwave.
Skylar stared at the phone. She was worried about him. Despite what he’d done, she loved him and knew he hadn’t acted maliciously. Then there was the very real threat against her life. She didn’t want his last memory of her to be of her angry and walking away. She punched in his number.
“Skylar, baby. I’m sorry—I…” He blew out a breath.
“You should be. The man you tried to investigate and browbeat is the reason I’m calling. Unlike you, he knows and understands me.”
There was a long silence. “Is he with you now?”
“Yes, and he’s not going anyplace!”
“Could you put on the speaker, please? I want him to hear this.”
She glanced at Rio. “Why?”
“To apologize.”
She put the phone on speaker and went to Rio. “You’re on speaker.”
“Rio, I’m sorry. What I did was uncalled for. I lost her mo … Never mind. I just miss her and I don’t want to lose her, too.”
“She loves you, Mr. Dupree. Neither I nor anyone else will ever be able to change or diminish that love. I think she has something else she wants to say.”
“What is it, baby?”
“You can come tomorrow night. And don’t you dare make me regret my decision. The auction means a lot to people I care deeply about, and some well-deserving students,” she told him.
“Thank you. I’ll arrange my own transportation. Meredith…” He sighed again. “Thanks for calling.”
“Did you eat?”
“No. Just
sat there like a fool as the waiters placed everyone’s order on the table. Which might be apt.”
She’d never heard him sound so down. “Like I told Mother, order room service.”
“You think she listened?”
There it was again, the deep concern her father always had for her mother. “You still care about her, don’t you?” She’d never had the nerve to ask before.
“Of course, she’s your mother,” he answered.
He’d evaded, but what else had she expected from one of the best lawyers in the country? “Good night, Father.”
“Good night, and thanks again. I love you, Skylar.”
“I love you, too, Father. Good night.” She ended the call and heard the ding of the microwave. For a moment she just stood there, then put the phone back in her purse.
“Come here.” Rio extended his arm.
She went to him, curving her arms around his waist and placing her head on his chest. “I think Father still loves Mother. He wouldn’t admit it.” She lifted her head. “You were right. He sounded miserable. Mother has her parents with her. He has no one.”
“You can have the world and it still won’t help the ache of loneliness,” he said quietly.
“I understand that now.” She rubbed her finger across his lower lip. “I miss you when you’re gone, and nothing else can fill that void except you.”
“One day I’ll be gone.”
Skylar ignored the pain in her heart, and lifted her lips to his. “But you’re here now.”
* * *
Later that night, Rio lay awake with his arms around Skylar’s shoulders as she lay with her arms draped loosely around his neck, one of her legs thrown across his. Before Skylar, he’d never slept with a woman, never stayed longer than the act of intimacy. He’d never wanted to. He’d simply engaged in a biological need. And never the same woman twice.
Even before he began working for Blade, women were never difficult to find. He was in his teens when he realized he presented them a challenge—bending him to their will. More often than not, he walked away. The Man With No Name had taught Rio that a man who couldn’t control his baser needs would never control his destiny and would always be at the mercy of someone else.