Especially when I could see Max’s chest in the mirror and right beside me.
Ready well before me, he’d left to do Max things which I discovered, when I’d left the bathroom to go get my clothes, didn’t include making the bed. But on the way back to the bathroom when I looked out the windows, I noted it did include shoveling the steps to the house. So I made the bed, got dressed and did my hair.
Max could be dictatorial or, I should say, just plain was but I was ignoring his wet-hair, makeup-free edict. As ever, “fancy Nina” would be in attendance at the breakfast meeting that day. This was habit but it was also the fact that I was confronting my Dad and I needed fancy Nina. Fancy Nina didn’t take anything from anyone (anymore). I’d never tried out wet hair, makeup free Nina. There was no telling what she’d do. She might be a wimp, who knew?
So I’d put on a designer sweater I’d bought at Harvey Nichols. Full price, it was a small fortune but it had a snag so it had been marked down and then put on sale (and I had a friend who was a dab hand at knitting so she fixed it and you couldn’t even tell). It was a soft taupe with a hint of rose, loose-weave and a bit see-through. It had long, wide sleeves, a deep vee neck that showed serious cleavage and a fair amount of chest thus it necessitated a camisole. Therefore I wore a fitted white one under it which only seemed to pronounce the cleavage. I also wore my Colorado adventure jeans, my high-heeled tan boots and the silver earrings and matching ring Max bought me. In fact, I’d never taken Max’s ring off.
I walked into the bedroom and saw it was two after eight. It took fifteen minutes at least to get to town. We were going to be late.
Normally this would put me in a panic. I didn’t like to be late nor did I like it when others were late, late was the worst, unforgivably rude. But since this was my Dad and he was a jerk, I didn’t much care. Though, to be fair, it wasn’t nice to make Niles wait however, to be unfair, I wondered if he’d even notice.
I scurried to my suitcase and gathered some clothes for the laundry, lights but I didn’t have enough so I opened the walk-in closet and found a massive pile of Max’s dirty clothes strewn all over the closet floor.
I stared at the mess, deciding he seriously needed a hamper.
I picked through them, finding not many lights so I gave up on the lights, dumping them in a tidy-ish pile in the closet. I grabbed some darks, Max had loads of darks, going back to my suitcase to get my own.
“Nina!” Max shouted.
“Coming!” I shouted back and rushed to the stairs.
I went directly to the back room, shoved in the clothes, measured in soap, turned on the washer and heard voices.
I walked out, still carrying my empty coffee mug and turned the corner to see Max in the kitchen, talking to a plump, petite woman with mouse brown hair which I decided in an instant would look fabulous with highlights.
I walked toward them, my heels sounding on the wood floors and Max’s eyes came to me then they dropped to my cleavage and stayed there. I ignored Max and looked into the warm, brown eyes of the woman to see she was smiling at me
“Hi,” I said.
“Hiya,” she said back.
“Babe, this is Caroline, Caroline, you’ll probably remember Nina,” Max introduced.
“Hi Caroline.”
“So cool to meet you!” she exclaimed. “Last week, you were o-u-t, out. Never seen anyone that out and my kids get sick all the time. You even slept through me vacuuming, not just down here but the rug under the bed.” I stared at her in horror when she informed me of this tidbit but she just kept talking. “Good to see you’re feelin’ better.” I’d hit the mouth of the U of the kitchen and once I did I lifted my hand to pull my hair away from my face to hide my embarrassment that she’d vacuumed around a bed I’d been o-u-t out in, opened my mouth to say something but her eyes zeroed in on my hand and she cried, “Oh my God! You have Jenna’s ring!”
Before I could react, she rushed forward and grabbed my hand, pulling it down and yanking it to her.
“Um…” I muttered, her head snapped up from her study of my ring and I saw she was wearing no makeup and she had the most beautiful peaches and cream skin I’d seen in my life.
“Jenna only makes these special and they cost a fortune!” Caroline cried out this information in an excited tizzy. “She says it’s ‘cause they’re a pain in the ass to make, seein’ as they’re rings and all. They cost more than the earrings which are a whack. I don’t get it, it’s less silver but what do I know? I’m no jewelry designer,” Caroline told me.
“Um…” I mumbled again, not knowing what to say about the fact that Max bought me a ring that cost a fortune. I knew how much the earrings cost; if the ring was more that was saying something.
But Caroline didn’t give me the chance to say anything, she kept right on going.
“I’ve wanted those earrings for ages, had my eye on them for… ev… er. I keep startin’ to save and then shit happens. Still, I hope someday to live the dream.” The entire time she spoke, Caroline did it through a big smile. “The ring, shoo! No way!”
For some insane reason, I told her, “Max bought it for me.”
At this news, her eyes bugged out and her mouth dropped open.
Then she twisted her torso to look at Max still holding my hand and she practically shrieked, “Killer! I love this!”
My mind was racing to find a way to make this news a little less “killer” and thus stop it from being spread around town when her fingers curled tight around my hand, she turned back to me and shook it with excitement. At that my hopes were dashed and I knew this would be all over town in a matter of hours. Maybe minutes.
“Caro, you wanna let Nina go? We gotta get into town,” Max said and I knew from his voice he was grinning and also he didn’t mind if news of his ring on my finger was around town within minutes.
“Oh, right,” Caroline muttered and dropped my hand then swept my empty mug out of my other one. “I’ll take that, you two get.”
“Nice to meet you,” I said to her.
“Right back at ‘cha, sister,” she said to me, turning toward the sink and I decided that I was definitely going to like Caroline. She had great skin, warm eyes and any woman who calls other women “sister” was a woman you’d like.
Max caught my hand, I quickly grabbed my purse from the counter and Max led me to the closet. Then he opened it, grabbed my coat and helped me put it on. Then he took my hand again and without putting on a jacket he led me to the door. He was, by the way, wearing a pair of jeans, boots and a heavy, navy blue, flannel shirt over a white thermal.
“Later, Caro,” he called as he opened the door.
“Later,” she called back and I heard the sink go on.
“Lock up when you leave, would you?” Max asked from the open door he’d pushed us through.
“Gotcha,” she replied on a wave and Max closed the door.
It was cold, definitely colder than it had been and there was a new layer of snow over the other layer that hadn’t quite gone away. It coated the landscape in white and made Max’s vista brand new again. There wasn’t much snow, maybe an inch or more, but it was there and the effect was magnificent.
There were also clouds covering the sun and the steps had been cleared but the gravel drive was still blanketed with white.
“You gonna be safe in those heels?” Max asked, dropping my hand and sliding his arm around my shoulders as we started down the steps.
“I think so,” I replied but suddenly, on the last step, his arm disappeared from my shoulders then reappeared behind my knees, sweeping my legs out from under me.
I started to fall, a small cry escaping my lips but he caught me in his arms, lifted me and carried me to the Cherokee.
“Max!” I exclaimed, wondering what Caroline would think if she was watching and she was probably watching.
“I’m hungry,” he stated, crunching through the snow to the Jeep. “You breakin’ your neck will keep me from breakfast.”
> “I wouldn’t have broken my neck,” I snapped.
“Not takin’ the chance.”
“I’ve been walking on high heels since I was six and my Mom bought me plastic, little girl dress up shoes,” I informed him.
“Still not takin’ the chance.”
I really had no option but to let him carry me, regardless of what Caroline would think (and tell everyone in town). I couldn’t exactly wrestle him in my present position, he might drop me and I wouldn’t win anyway.
Therefore I muttered, “Whatever,” as he opened the door and set me in the seat.
He slammed the door, rounded the hood and got in as I buckled my seat belt. He strapped himself in, started up, did a three-point turn and drove down the lane.
“I’ll take you, Nellie and Steve to The Mark for breakfast after you do your thing,” Max offered as he turned into the road.
“The Mark?” I asked.
“Where we had burgers,” Max answered.
I liked the idea of revisiting The Mark where we’d had our first kind of date. And visiting it with Mom and Steve. Mom, like me, loved her food and Steve was a no-nonsense, stick-to-your-ribs food kind of guy so I knew he’d enjoy it. Something to look forward to after something definitely not worth looking forward to.
“They do breakfast?” I queried.
“Best biscuits and gravy you’ve ever tasted,” he replied and guided the Cherokee through another turn.
I scrunched my nose. “Um… I’m not a biscuits and gravy person,” I told him.
He grabbed my hand and pulled it to his thigh. “They also make homemade granola. Never eaten it but everything at The Mark is good.”
Homemade granola. I’d never had homemade granola. That did sound good.
We drove for awhile in silence and when Max had to make another turn and downshift to do it he placed my hand on his leg and this time, of my own accord, I turned it and curled my fingers around his solid thigh.
There was a fresh nuance to this action that I liked a great deal. I’d touched his hard thigh naked in bed, in the sauna and in the shower and I’d felt it between my legs. It felt better naked and in those places and touching it just then keenly and pleasantly brought up the reminder.
I let that nuance wash over me and closed my eyes at the happy feel of it then they popped open when an unwanted, unwelcome, highly intrusive and intensely painful thought popped into my head.
That thought was to wonder if Max held Anna’s hand while he drove and curved her fingers around his thigh when he had to let her go.
And that thought was so intrusive and so painful, it made me slide my hand away. I hid this from Max by using it to pull my hair from my face. Then I snapped down the visor, snapped up the cover for the mirror and dug into my purse to find my lipstick.
We neared the main road and Max stopped to wait for a clearing to make a left.
“Nervous, Duchess?” he murmured softly as I uncapped my lip liner and focused on my lips.
I wasn’t, not really. Instead I was thinking about Max and the dead love of his life and trying not to let those thoughts sear my soul.
“A little,” I lied and lined my lips with a slightly shaky hand.
“It gets ugly, honey, we’re out of there,” Max declared, finding his opening, taking the turn and accelerating down the cleared-of-snow road.
“Okay,” I replied, capping my liner, dropping it in my mini-makeup bag and finding my lipstick.
I finished my lips, flipped the visor back up and placed my hand on my purse, not on Max’s thigh although I wanted to do that I just found I couldn’t.
Max didn’t notice. Instead, he pushed back into his seat and his hand dug in his jeans pocket. He pulled it out and without taking his eyes from the road he held up my engagement ring between our seats, the ring between his finger and thumb.
“Found that after you had your thing the other day,” he muttered as I stared at the ring. “Take it, babe, and do with it what you have to do.”
I reached out and took it, still staring at it, remembering how I felt when Niles had given it to me. He hadn’t gotten down on a knee. He hadn’t slid it on my finger. He’d just placed the box on the table at the restaurant where we were eating, slid it next to my empty plate and said, “I’d be delighted if you’d accept that.”
And I’d been delighted to accept it, delighted at the thought of not being alone, of belonging to someone and the ring was gorgeous, the diamond was over a carat and excellent quality, set in a thick, just-this-close-to ostentatious band heavy with gold.
My mind moved from Niles and like women so foolishly do when they meet someone they like, it flew forward months and months and I wondered, if things worked out with Max, how he’d propose.
Then suddenly I wondered how he proposed to Anna.
Then I shoved that thought aside and wondered what his ring would be like.
Then I wondered about the ring he gave to Anna.
Stop it, Nina, and talk to him, Charlie ordered in my head.
I swallowed, tucked the ring into my own pocket, looked out my side window and didn’t utter a word.
Max didn’t take my hand again as we drove in silence into town and he parallel parked on the street three cars down from the hotel. I opened my door, jumped down, shut it and rounded the bonnet, meeting Max on the sidewalk.
I had my head down but stopped when his hand took mine and he didn’t move.
I turned, looked up at him and saw his face was blank but there was something working behind his eyes, something I didn’t get but they were roving over my face.
Finally, Max spoke. “A warning, Duchess, I won’t let your Dad give you any shit.”
The conflicting emotions I had in the Jeep settled at his declaration of support and I moved closer to him.
“Okay,” I said.
His hand squeezed mine and then it tugged, bringing me closer and his other hand went to my hip.
“Another warning,” he muttered, his eyes locked on mine.
“What?” I asked when he didn’t say anything further.
He looked at me a second then I saw his jaw tense, his hand got tight in mine and his fingers gripped my hip.
“Max?” I prompted, his apparent battle to gain control over something I didn’t understand was beginning to worry me because it didn’t seem at all like Max.
“The right thing to do would be to let you do what you need to do,” Max stated.
I felt my brows draw together in confusion and I repeated, “What?”
“Not gonna do that, babe.”
“What?” I asked again.
“You think to slide back, settle for something that made you run away because you think it’s safe, because it’s familiar, because you’re scared of takin’ a gamble on me, I’m warnin’ you now, Duchess, I’m not gonna allow that.”
Oh my God.
He was worried. In his Max way, he was worried I’d walk in, take one look at Niles and go back to my old life. Or let Niles and my father talk me into it. That was why he was silent in the Jeep and that was why he didn’t take my hand, because this was on his mind.
“Max –” I whispered, moving closer and putting my hand to his chest.
“You just need to know, I gotta fight to keep what we got so we can build on it, I will. Him, your Dad, you, I don’t give a fuck. In my life, I’ve learned when to let shit go and when to fight. This, babe, what we got, I’ll fight for.”
My hand slid up his chest and curled around his neck as I got closer. I felt tears prick the backs of my eyes and my stomach melted. I was back to thinking settling for Max would be perfectly all right. Definitely.
“Max –”
“Fair warnin’.”
My fingers tensed on his neck and I squeezed his hand. “Okay,” I whispered, “fair warning.”
He dipped his head and touched his mouth to mine, let me go but his arm curled around my shoulders, mine curved around his waist, my thumb going into his belt loop and we
walked to the hotel. We no sooner opened the door when we heard it.
My mother screeching, “You dare!”
My head whipped to the side and up and I saw Max already looking down at me, his face both surprised and amused.
“Oh no,” I whispered.
Over my words, I heard my Mom scream, “Let me at him!”
Max’s arm dropped but he grabbed my hand and walked quickly with long strides and I had to rush double time to keep up with him as he dragged me to the hotel restaurant. When we entered we saw everyone in the restaurant had their heads turned to a corner table.
This was because, at the corner table, Steve was holding my mother back and her arms were outstretched toward my father, her fingers curled as if she was imagining strangling him.
Niles was standing, looking somewhat troubled and uncertain what to do but Dad was sitting, staring up at my mother with an ugly smirk on his face.
Upon sight of this scene, I realized my mistake at being late.
Perhaps I should have come as wet-haired, makeup free Nina.
“I see you haven’t changed, Nell,” I heard Dad remark acerbically.
Oh dear.
“I… you… I… argh!” Mom screeched.
Max and I hit the table and I opened my mouth to speak but Max got there before me.
“What’s goin’ on?”
Niles was now staring at Max, not me, but Max, not looking somewhat troubled but looking like he’d been punched in the stomach which, I had to admit, made me feel more than a little guilt. Dad still didn’t move. Steve kept struggling to control Mom but she suddenly stopped fighting and turned to Max.
“You didn’t say yesterday what he did!” she shrieked, her arm swinging out in an arc to point at Dad on the word “he”.
“No point,” Max calmly replied to Mom.
The Gamble Page 38
