“What do you want to do?” Nick asked.
“I’d like to touch base with your mom and all my grandchildren, but I don’t want to make things difficult.”
Difficult was an understatement.
Molly and Roxanne returned. Molly carried a plate of cookies and Roxanne held a tray with a teapot and mugs on it. She set the tray on the coffee table and stepped back with a quizzical look at Nick.
“I don’t know what to say,” Nick finally said, “I need to talk to my mother.”
Lionel nodded. “I’ll abide by any decision you make, but I do want to say, I would very much like a relationship with all of you. I’ve been wanting to make things right for a long time.”
Molly glanced at her husband. She patted his arm, a gentle look on her face.
Roxanne poured the tea. Nick didn’t know what to do now that the knowledge was out in the open. At least for him.
He tried for small talk with Lionel, but the situation became even more awkward. Finally Roxanne suggested they leave and let all the information that had just come to light be processed.
Nick gave Lionel his phone number. And Molly smiled sweetly at him as she opened the front door and let them out.
Back in the car, Nick studied the house for a moment.
“What do you want to do?”
“I don’t want to be alone.”
“Let’s go back to my house.” She tugged on his arm and he followed her to the car still unsure how he was supposed to feel.
* * *
Roxanne opened her front door. She called out to see if her grandmother was home, but Donna didn’t answer. She put her purse on the hall table and found a note from her grandmother saying she was dining with friends and would be back late.
“First,” she said, “dinner. I’m starving and you need time to process everything.”
In the kitchen, she put a bottle of wine in the fridge to chill and forced Nick to sit down at the snack bar. He seemed a little lost and she hurt for him. “Family is always full of surprises.”
“That was a lot to handle,” he said.
“That’s a lot for anyone to handle,” she said as she rummaged through the freezer to see if Donna had any leftovers she could use. She found some stew and frozen garlic bread. She set the stew in the microwave to defrost and leaned against the counter watching Nick. He sat at the snack bar, elbows on the surface propping his head up. He looked like a lost, vulnerable little boy. She ached to comfort him.
He said little as they ate. Afterward, they sat on the patio swing watching the sun go down over the ocean.
She didn’t remember who kissed whom first. Just that his lips were on hers and the heat of his body sent her blood racing through her veins. She gasped. His kiss deepened and she suddenly pushed back and stood.
“I don’t think we should give the neighbors a show,” she said. She held out her hand and led him into the house and straight to her bedroom.
Warmth rose off his skin. He smelled like cool water and man. She bit her bottom lip realizing she was lost. She let her gaze explore him from his wide shoulders down to his narrow waist. She wanted him so badly.
Desire rose inside her and should have scared her, but didn’t. He made her feel safe, protected, but mostly wanted. Very much wanted. That sensation hadn’t happened to her in a long time. Her stomach somersaulted as he moved closer. She closed her eyes for a second and imagined his hands on her body, his lips on hers and him inside her. Nick was her every fantasy come to life.
He shrugged. “Roxanne. Tell me you want me.” She tilted her head. “I do.”
He brushed a strand of hair off her cheek, answering her with a seductive smile. The tip of his finger left a trail of fire on her skin. “Good.”
Roxanne prayed she wouldn’t embarrass herself. Her nerves were doing the funky chicken about now. She hadn’t been with someone in a long time, but the burning desire in his brown eyes gave her confidence.
Heat spiraled out of control and she felt his hands grip the hem of her shirt and pull it off. She unhooked her bra and bared herself to him.
He smiled and stared into her eyes. “We can go slow.” He ran his finger along her chin and then down her throat.
“Slow is good.”
“Slow it is.” He kissed her neck. He licked the hollow of her throat at the pulse that she was sure he could feel jumping.
Roxanne felt his tongue against her skin. She reached up and slipped her arms around his neck.
“You taste good.” He nibbled the spot where her shoulder connected with her neck.
She moaned. Heat engulfed, spinning outward from her core.
“Slow is real good.” He licked her lower lip.
Who was she kidding? She didn’t want slow. She wanted everything he had to give.
“I want you.” Nick grabbed her wrist and guided her hand to the bulge in his jeans. He was so hard, the material of his jeans seemed to barely contain him. Roxanne gave him a squeeze, liking how he felt in her hand.
Nick slid his hand over her stomach. His warm fingers teased her skin. She held her breath.
The velvet texture of his skin consumed her.
He eased his fingers up her stomach, until he touched the curve of her breast. He moved with a deliberate intensity. She enjoyed his touch. She let her head loll back.
Her whole body trembled as she leaned toward him, and he fondled her breast. Her nipples beaded to hard points.
Nick drew in a harsh breath.
Her lips parted and Nick kissed her. She responded, her tongue touching his.
She fit her body closer to him, molding against him. “Maybe slow is overrated.”
“Maybe.” He pulled back a bit and laughed and slipped his hands around her.
He ran his tongue down her neck to the tops of her breasts, then to her nipples and back to her mouth. “I want you.”
Roxanne moaned as she rubbed herself against him.
“You are so beautiful.”
Funny, when most men said that to her, she couldn’t care less, but from him it sounded so right. She liked how he made her feel. She unbuttoned his shirt to reveal his hard chest. Then she freed the buttons of his jeans and reached inside to grasp him, giving him a gentle squeeze.
“Slow is for losers.” He leaned over and kissed her again. He sank his fingers into her hair and pulled her head back, exposing her throat to plant a kiss on her neck. “You taste good.”
“Make love to me.”
He pushed her pants and underwear down and slid his fingers inside her. Her muscles contracted under his touch. She groaned.
“I plan to.” Before he slipped out of his jeans, he grabbed a condom from his pocket. He ripped the packet off and slid on the condom.
Somehow they ended up on her bed, the sheets cool beneath her heated skin. For a few moments time stood still as he entered and moved deep inside her.
She could feel her orgasm building. Spurred by the intense sensation, she wrapped her legs around him, feeling his taut muscles work under her legs. A low moan escaped her mouth. She was almost there. Thrusting her hips up, she took him all the way inside her. Her body rushed toward that peak. Her muscles clenched around him.
He began to thrust harder.
Roxanne couldn’t breathe. She was almost over the edge. He buried himself inside her, pumping hard. She pushed her hips against him and spasmed in release.
Chapter 8
“Don’t you think this dance is a bit simple?” Roxanne asked. She felt awkward as she stood in the center of the rehearsal studio watching him explain the steps. After their night of love making, she didn’t know how to act with him. A cameraman filmed their rehearsal and she wondered if their night of passion showed on her face.
Nick had ch
osen the iconic meeting between Dorothy and the Scarecrow from The Wizard of Oz.
“Not simple,” Nick said. “Effortless.” He positioned her and then took up his own stance. The music started and she twirled around him while he acted as though he truly was made of straw.
She stumbled and he just grinned. “Again.”
She started from the beginning, but keeping her mind on the dance was difficult after last night. The memory of his hands on her body sent spirals of heat through her. And now as they moved through the dance steps she couldn’t box up the memory so she could keep her mind on her steps.
They moved through the routine a couple more times. The cameraman, having gotten what he wanted for the show, waved as he took off, leaving them to finish in private.
“You’re getting better,” Nick said.
“I’m just getting better at moving my feet faster and catching myself before I fall.”
Nick laughed. He whirled her around. The preshow interview had been that morning and Roxanne realized she was beginning to relax.
Nick kissed the tip of her nose. “Keep your mind on the steps.”
“Hard to after last night.”
“I am kind of impressed with myself.”
Roxanne punched his shoulder. “Stop that.”
“The whole world knows we kissed.”
“I don’t want the whole world to know we’ve gone way beyond the kiss.” Roxanne’s body tingled at the memory of him in her bed, his solid warmth and gentle lovemaking. Even though she’d dated over the years, she hadn’t found a man she could tolerate long enough to get beyond the getting-to-know-you stage. She always had the feeling that her parents had set her up with some of the men she’d gone out with. Too often the men would question her about her relationship with her parents and once the word parent was out of his mouth she was gone. She’d walked out a number of times on men who’d pushed and prodded so much she just knew her parents were trying to trap her into some outburst that they could exploit.
And now she’d allowed Nick to get close to her and worried he would leave because of the crazy that was in her life at the moment.
“You’re frowning,” Nick said. “Stop frowning.”
“I’ll try.” She paused for a moment. “Not working. I’m afraid I made a mistake.”
“What do you mean?”
“You’ve been exposed to the crazy that’s my life. Do you want to get any deeper?”
“I like you. I’ll deal with the crazy because I have my own brand of crazy.”
“Deveraux crazy is special.”
“True,” Nick countered, grinning. “But I still think I’m man enough to take it.”
Roxanne tilted her head. “I’ve never heard anything about you.”
“Broadway is a long way from Hollywood.”
“So what happened?”
“Her name is Margo Kirby.”
“I’ve heard of her.” Margo was one of the top-grossing Broadway performers.
“I choreographed her last show.” He frowned as he slowed to a stop. “And we kind of got involved and things went downhill from there.”
So I’m not the first colleague Nick has gotten involved with?
“Did you love her?”
“Looking back, I think I was in love with the idea of being in love with her.”
“Did she love you?” Her words sounded stilted.
“No, she wanted to own me.” He slid an arm around her and drew her into a step. They practiced a few more minutes and he stopped again. “She wanted her own personal pet and I didn’t want that.”
“What happened?”
“She turned nasty. And my reputation suffered. When Mike offered me a chance to relocate here, I took it.”
She cupped his cheek knowing how he felt.
They twirled a bit more with Nick coaxing her to smile.
“What are you going to do about your grandfather?” she asked when they stopped to take a quick break and drink water.
“See, I have my brand of crazy, just like yours.”
“I don’t think finding a missing part of your family is crazy.” She understood his ambivalence. How did a person react after discovering that everything they knew was something else entirely?
“I’m going to talk to my brother Daniel about how this needs to be handled. Daniel’s good at making sense of difficult situations.”
“You started this search for your mom and for you because you wanted to know, too, and it’s not turning out the way you envisioned.”
“My mother is a tough woman. She can roll with the punches and I’ll be telling her the truth because she would want to know.”
She took a sip from her water bottle and recapped it. “Come by tonight. My grandmother helps me and she’s uncovered a little bit more about Lionel Stanton’s ancestors. I think you’ll enjoy finding this out.”
He smiled at her in such an intimate way that her insides went all soft and rubbery. “I’ll be there. I could bring dinner.”
“Thanks, but my grandmother is on a cooking binge and my refrigerator is stuffed with food.”
* * *
Nick rang the doorbell. Roxanne opened the door and grinned at him.
“You look happy,” he said.
“I am.” She stood aside and gestured him into the house. “I found some interesting news.” She led the way to her dining room.
The house smelled deliciously of fresh bread. His mouth watered. “What kind of news?”
She pulled a sheet of paper out of a folder and handed it to him. “I discovered a little more about your grandfather Lionel. His family settled in Philadelphia in 1870. And you’ll never guess where they came from.”
“Come on, he’s black, it’s a gimme.”
She grinned and handed him another sheet of paper with a list of names. “His family migrated from England. This is the passenger list of the steamer, Summerland.” She pointed to a name. “Dr. Charles Stanton, his wife, Victoria Stanton, and two children, Cornelius and Miles, traveled from London to New York.”
He studied the list. “So my grandfather’s family came from England. What’s so important about that? England had slaves, too.”
“Your ancestor and his family traveled first-class.”
Nick took another look at the passenger manifest. “I’m not certain I know what that means.”
“Your ancestors had money. A lot of money.”
He squinted at the names. “First-class! I don’t know what you’re getting at.” He tried to wrap his mind around the fact that his grandfather’s family had come from England.
“You are not understanding. First class in 1870 was not the same as first class today where you might get a better seat and a warm, moist towel. First class in 1870 meant you had a butler, a maid, maybe your own personal chef and possibly a nanny for the kids. I doubt the use of doctor was honorary.”
He frowned at the list of names realizing that his idea of where his family might have come from might not have been correct. “So where do you go from here?”
“I have contacts in England and though it will take some time, I think this trail is going to go somewhere unexpected. And since my grandmother provides cheap labor...”
“I heard that,” a voice called from the second floor.
“...and is incredibly nosy, we’re going to give her a day or two to search through English records.”
“What kind of records?”
“First off,” she said with a smile, “we know he was a doctor. So that means medical school. Since he had enough money for first-class tickets for himself and his family that meant he probably attended a good school. Edinburgh is where we’ll start and branch off from there.”
“Charles Darwin and Sir Arthur Conan Do
yle went there.”
She grinned and handed him another sheet of paper which appeared to be a newspaper article. As he read, he felt a deep surge of excitement.
The Right Honorable Lord Baron William Bartlett of Kindersley House, Sussex, announces the engagement of his daughter, the Honorable Victoria Bartlett, to Dr. Charles Stanton, a London physician.
“Wow,” he said.
“Your three-times great-grandmother came from minor aristocracy.”
He read the marriage announcement again. “I don’t know what to say.”
“In the world as we know it, there isn’t much that trumps English nobility.”
“How is that possible? They were black.”
“England was a different country.”
“But England did have slaves.”
She nodded. “But not all blacks were slaves. From what little research I’ve done so far, blacks started appearing in England in the mid-1500s. That doesn’t mean they didn’t have as tough a time in England as they did in America, but in order to get a better picture, I need to do more research. One thing I will say about the English—they were masters at record keeping. Not as good as the Germans, but pretty close.”
“I’m stunned.”
“Like I told you up front, looking for your ancestors is going to dig up a lot of information and a lot of secrets and a lot of gaps.”
“Is there a way to find out why Dr. Stanton left England?”
“That’s my grandmother’s job. She hasn’t found anything yet and tomorrow is another day. Digging through history is an enormous jigsaw puzzle and painstakingly slow. So you need to be patient.”
“I don’t think my mother knows any of this.”
“A lot of times, stories are handed down from generation to generation and the facts get scrambled. Imagine waking up one day and looking at yourself in the mirror and realizing you’re related to Thomas Jefferson. A few months later you meet your blue-eyed, blond-haired cousin. Until DNA tests were done, no one officially knew about his distaff side even though speculation raged for years. Imagine the shock around the dining table one day. And look at me—I’m from a long line of con men. Ending up acting put me right inside the family business.”
Love Tango Page 11