“Petra Gaines, if you don’t quit that nonsense I’m going to get down off this ladder and give you what for!”
Petra quaked in her boots. “I wouldn’t want that to happen.”
He climbed down and gave her a hug. He was around four inches taller than she was. He was not an imposing man with his slight build, but to her he was a giant among men. “I missed you, girl,” he said, smiling, the skin around his eyes crinkling.
“I missed you, too,” she said and kissed his weathered cheek.
“Where is everyone?”
“Oh, Mabel’s somewhere inside the lodge. Probably in the kitchen, knowing her. Mina and Jake are in their cabin, and the baby, who turned out to be a girl but I love her anyway, is with her parents. No doubt that’s who you really came to see.”
Petra laughed at his allusion to Mina and Jake’s daughter being disappointingly female. Grandpa Beck had been campaigning for another boy following the birth of Lauren and Colton’s son, C.J. He said females already outnumbered the males in the family.
“I’m heading over to Mina and Jake’s place,” she told him. She began walking in the direction of the outlying cabins.
A few minutes later, she was knocking on Mina’s door.
Jake answered with baby Journey in his arms, bundled in a pink blanket. He smiled. “Petra! Why didn’t you tell us you were coming?”
“It wouldn’t have been a surprise if I’d done that,” Petra said, stepping across the threshold and dropping her shoulder bag onto the foyer table. She moved closer and looked into the pink-and-brown scrunched-up face of her niece. “She’s adorable,” she cried. She peered at Jake. “She doesn’t look a thing like you.”
Jake laughed. “Thank God for that. I’m glad she’s a mini Mina.”
Mina slowly came into the room wearing her bathrobe and slippers and rubbing sleep from her eyes. Her natural hair was in braids down her back. When she saw Petra, she ran and hugged her tightly. “I just spoke to you earlier this morning, and now you’re here? Why you little—”
“Language,” Petra said, laughing. “You’ve got to set an example for Journey.”
Mina laughed. “Now you know I don’t use profanity. I was going to call you a sneak. Getting information from me to make sure we were going to be here when you arrived!”
“Yes, well, I didn’t want to show up and you were gone somewhere,” Petra said, looking around the cabin. “Let me go wash up so I can hold my niece.”
She went to the guest bathroom, just past the foyer, and washed her hands. When she returned, Jake placed Journey in her arms and she gazed at her niece, her heart full and her eyes watering. She sniffed and tilted her head back, blinking. “Allergies,” she murmured for Mina and Jake’s benefit.
“Liar,” Mina said, smiling at her.
* * *
When Petra got back to New York, Chance was waiting for her at the airport. He had gotten there over an hour earlier and had been impatiently anticipating seeing her again. He logically knew it had been only two days, yet it seemed much longer.
She had invited him to go with her, but he’d had to handle some business that needed his attention. Now he stood in the waiting area, looking in the direction of the passenger boarding bridge, his heartbeat accelerating because he’d just heard the announcement that passengers would soon be disembarking.
Passengers began entering the terminal, and he craned his neck trying to spot Petra. When he saw her, looking sexy-chic in her jeans, white T-shirt and black leather boots with four-inch heels, and holding that carry-on bag, her hair in a high ponytail, he smiled. He was grateful for her tendency to travel light because they would be able to get out of there as soon as possible and go back to his place.
He saw her looking around for him and called, “Pet!”
She flashed him a toothy smile and cried, “Babe!”
It did something to his insides when she called him that. It made him feel as though she were claiming him as her own. It was caring as well as blatantly sexual, in his opinion. But that was possibly because she cooed the word quite a lot when they were making love. He got a little hot under the collar every time she called him babe.
They met in the middle of the waiting area, and she put her carry-on bag down and hitched her shoulder bag farther up as he grabbed her in a warm hug that made her moan.
Then they kissed. She kissed him with gusto, no holding back for his queen. When she kissed him, she electrified him and made him feel emotions he didn’t even know he possessed, the strength of which intensified as the kiss deepened. He’d read somewhere that your lips’ sensitivity sent signals to the brain, which caused the brain to release chemicals that made the act pleasurable. In which case, his brain was working overtime because Petra was the best kisser he’d ever known.
When they came up for air, she looked at him with starry eyes. “I feel like we’ve been apart forever! Am I crazy?”
“If you are, so am I,” he told her, and kissed her again.
Chapter 10
Chance wanted this night to be special. He’d had his assistant make reservations for him and Petra at Le Bernardin for dinner, and he’d personally visited his family’s favorite jewelry store, Van Cleef & Arpels, in preparation for their Saturday night date. He told Petra to dress up because they were going to splurge tonight. When he got to her apartment and she opened the door, he saw she had taken his advice to heart and was wearing a beautiful red ruffled-back, off-the-shoulder knee-length cocktail dress with black strappy sandals that made her lovely legs even sexier. She held a matching black clutch in her hand, as well as a black pashmina to put around her shoulders should the temperature drop. Although it was August, he knew Petra, having lived in a temperate climate for years, got cold easily.
“You’re a vision,” he breathed, leaning in to briefly kiss her lips. After they parted, he stepped back to admire her further.
She smiled and stood on tiptoe to kiss his clean-shaven cheek. “And you’re making me want to stay home,” she said huskily.
He smiled, reached into his pocket and retrieved a jewelry box. Opening it, he presented the contents for her viewing pleasure. It was a Sweet Alhambra pendant, exclusive to Van Cleef & Arpels, made of white gold and studded with diamonds. Alhambra jewelry was supposed to be a symbol of luck. He hoped it brought him good luck tonight, because this was only a fraction of what he had planned.
She peered down at the necklace, and he could guess what was going through her frugal mind. She raised her gaze to his and said, “It’s gorgeous! But it’s much too expensive a gift. I know that jewelry store, and they don’t sell trinkets.”
He gave her a mock stern stare. “Listen to me, woman. If you’re going to be with me, you’re going to have to get used to expensive gifts.”
She started to protest again, and he bent and kissed her objections away. When he raised his head this time, she simply took the necklace from the jewelry box and put it on. She gingerly fastened it around her neck, fingers slightly trembling, and walked over to the mirror on the foyer wall near the front door.
He stood behind her, admiring her reflection in the mirror. Her hair hung in waves about her shoulders. He knew jewelry and expensive clothing were not high on her priority list, but sometimes you just had to spoil the one you loved.
“You look amazing,” he said softly. “Please, just accept it as a token of my affection.”
He’d come up behind her and put his arms around her waist. She turned in his embrace until they were facing one another. Their eyes met. “Thank you,” she said. “I’ll cherish it.”
“And I’ll cherish your heart,” he said. “Always!”
She smiled, and this time it seemed her smile encompassed her whole being. The reticence he’d sensed in her at accepting an expensive gift was replaced by the promise of everlasting love. That’s what was important to her. It was refres
hing for him to know a woman like her.
They briefly kissed again, and then she collected her clutch and pashmina and they were on their way.
Over dinner, he said, “Pet, we’ve known each other for over six months now, and I think you know how I feel about you. I know you think we got off on the wrong foot, but I never held that opinion. I believe meeting you was the luckiest day of my life. It was kismet. How else can you explain the fact that we met again after spending the night together when we both figured we’d never see each other again?”
She was watching him with quiet intensity. All night, in fact, she’d been gazing at him with tender affection. It excited him that she might be open to what he was about to ask her. He’d been skeptical for a while because he knew she valued her independence, and she had also told him she’d been averse to marriage ever since Gareth Graham had broken their engagement. She had also, however, told him that she realized she shouldn’t lump every other male on earth in Gareth’s category. There was hope for him.
“You’re adorable when you’re nervous,” she said.
Around them in the three-Michelin-star restaurant, diners were holding intimate conversations, their voices muted and the tinkling of silverware on fine china as they consumed sumptuous meals a kind of musical accompaniment to the elegant atmosphere.
“Yes, I’m nervous,” he admitted. “Because I adore you, Petra. I can’t imagine my life without you.” He paused. Walking toward their table was someone he never dreamed of running into, anywhere, anytime.
Yet there he was, making a beeline for him and Petra.
Petra’s eyes widened, undoubtedly having noticed the stricken expression on his face. “What is it?” She turned her head to glance in the direction he was looking.
She half rose out of her seat in apparent panic when she saw who was approaching their table. She turned back around and looked pleadingly at him. But all he could do was give her an encouraging smile. They were either going to get up and leave, causing a scene with a quick departure, or they would stay and see what Gareth Graham wanted.
He reached over and grasped her hand. “We can go if you want to, Pet. Whatever you decide, I’m here for you.”
She squeezed his hand until it hurt. She was clearly not looking forward to this encounter. Neither was he.
* * *
Petra’s body reacted negatively to seeing Gareth Graham again. Her stomach muscles contracted painfully and her heartbeat accelerated in a fight or flight response. Flight was winning right now.
Gareth was grinning, his perfect teeth showing in his obnoxiously handsome face. He was still in perfect shape, something he worked hard at. You couldn’t be a world-renowned adventurer with a beer gut. He was impeccably dressed in what was undoubtedly one of his Savile Row suits. He was as suave as James Bond and, worst of all, he knew it.
He smiled at her as he stopped beside their table. “Petra Gaines, as I live and breathe!” he said in his proper British accent. “I was shocked to see you walk into the restaurant on the arm of Chance Youngblood.” He smiled in Chance’s direction, and Chance narrowed his eyes at him, his ruggedly handsome face a mask of barely contained loathing. But to her amazement, he rose and offered Gareth his hand to shake.
“Mr. Graham,” Chance said with a nod of acknowledgment.
Gareth shook it with enthusiasm. “Yes indeed, Mr. Youngblood, it’s a pleasure to meet you. I’ve heard good things about your company.” He switched his gaze back to Petra. “I never thought our Dr. Gaines would be associated with your network, though. You’re into entertainment for the masses, and she’s more eclectic in her tastes. However did you two meet?”
“First of all, let me make this perfectly clear,” Chance said in steely tones. “You are here only because Petra hasn’t indicated that she wants you gone yet. So watch your manners.”
Gareth trained his dark blue eyes on Chance. “Of course. I’m a gentleman, after all.”
“That’s debatable,” Petra said at last. She took a deep breath. “What possessed you to come over here? You could have ignored me and I would have never known you were here.”
Chance sat back down, and she reached over and grasped his hand for emotional support.
“It’s been two years,” Gareth said. “I figured you would be over it. I’m in town on a press junket. And when I heard about your new show and happened to see you here tonight, I thought I’d come over and offer my congratulations.”
He politely asked the couple at the next table if the extra chair at their table was taken. When they said no, he pulled it up to Petra and Chance’s table and sat down.
He regarded Petra with a hint of humor in his keen eyes. “I was a fool. I can say it now. An arrogant fool. But I’ve paid for my arrogance. Haven’t you heard? Danica left me for someone else.”
“I don’t keep up with gossip,” Petra said. “At any rate, what do you want from me, sympathy?”
“No, I don’t deserve your sympathy,” Gareth said. His soulful eyes, eyes she used to endlessly gaze into, begged her to understand. “I just wanted you to know I’m sorry for how I treated you. I debated whether or not to come over here, and some sense of chivalry made me get up and do this. I was a cad and you deserved so much more. Accept my apology, or not. That’s how I feel. It may not do you any good, but I’ll know I tried to make amends, and I’ll sleep better at night.”
“Okay, you’ve had your say, you can go now. Sweet dreams,” Petra told him, looking down at her and Chance’s clasped hands. Chance was probably under the impression she was allowing Gareth to speak because she needed to get closure, but that wasn’t the case. She was doing it to confirm that she was over him. She had been convinced the relationship was a thing of the past, but how her spirit, what she was inside, would react when she saw him again, if she ever saw him again, was something she hadn’t been sure of. Now, sitting less than two feet across from him, she knew that part of her that had belonged to Gareth Graham was free. The butterflies in her stomach were gone, and her heart beat with a healthy rhythm. It had been shock that had made her react so violently to his sudden appearance.
She met Gareth’s eyes. “You know what? You did me a favor by coming over. Now I know, without any doubt whatsoever, that I’m free to wish you well. There is no more acrimony. I don’t hate you, Gareth. So if what you’re looking for is my forgiveness, you have it. Go, and be happy!”
Gareth looked stunned. She knew him well enough to recognize when he was stumped for words. What his agenda had been when he’d decided to confront her, she couldn’t be sure. However, he was most certainly surprised by her attitude.
He rose a bit shakily, she thought, then took a deep breath and, looking down at Chance, said, “Thank you for being so understanding when I came over here. I realize it was presumptuous of me.” He gazed into Petra’s eyes. “‘She walks in beauty, like the night of cloudless climes and starry skies; And all that’s best of dark and bright meet in her aspect and her eyes.’”
Chance rose menacingly at that point, and through clenched teeth said, “Man, I was patient with you, but if you don’t leave now, you’re going to wish you had. Quoting Lord Byron to my lady right in front of me? Get lost!”
Gareth looked at Petra.
“You heard my man,” she said, smiling. “Get lost, Gareth.”
Gareth walked off, adjusting his tie no doubt because his throat was full of the crow that he’d been forced to eat. He had obviously thought he could come over there and disrupt their romantic evening. Well, he hadn’t. Petra gave a little sigh of satisfaction. That had actually felt good.
Chance sat down, and she reclaimed his hand and brought it to her mouth and kissed his palm. “Thank you,” she said, looking deeply in his eyes. “For not letting that escalate into a slugfest, and for being there for me, no matter what.”
“You had to do it your way, my Pet,” he said reaso
nably.
Petra pressed his hand to her cheek and asked sweetly, “Now, what were you about to say before we were so rudely interrupted?”
* * *
Chance was still angry over the colossal nerve of Gareth Graham! What could he have possibly hoped to gain by showing up out of the blue like that? But perhaps it hadn’t been out of the blue at all. No, come to think of it, the odds of his coincidentally being in the same restaurant as he and Petra, when New York City had thousands of restaurants, were astronomically low.
Focus, Chance told himself. Petra held his hand firmly in hers. He knew she’d just asked him a question but his mind was elsewhere, trying to figure out what had just happened.
For one thing, Graham had stolen his thunder. He’d been so hyped up to propose to Petra tonight. He’d planned everything down to the last detail, and now he felt like if he proposed, some of the impact, the chance of it being a highly memorable occasion, would be lessened somehow.
Petra must have sensed his mood because she squeezed his hand and said, “Don’t let him ruin our evening, babe.”
He took a deep breath, rose, bent down and kissed her lips. He didn’t care who was watching. When he sat back down across from her, she was beaming. Her smile, which reflected her essence, helped dispel the rancorous emotions that were seething inside of him. To hell with Gareth Graham!
He got up again and got down on one knee beside Petra, grasped her hand in his and looked into her eyes. Retrieving the engagement ring he’d hidden in his inside coat pocket, he brought it out and presented it to her. “Petra, Pet, will you marry me?”
She gasped in surprise, then she stared into his eyes for what seemed an interminable length of time to him, and finally she cried, “Yes, yes, Chance, I’ll marry you!”
Love in New York ; Cherish My Heart Page 26
